How do you pray? What do you pray for? In what way? If I’m honest, my prayers are mostly a presentation to God of the list of things I want God...

The Bible can be funny. Take the judge in today’s parable. He “neither feared God nor had respect for people.” That is not surprising for a politician. The judge’s self-reflection surprises...

Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. Its 176 verses say one thing over and over: the law is great. It is an acrostic poem, in which each letter...

As a member of Generation X, I often warn my baby boom generation colleagues against using sentimental language around “family” to describe the church. The baby boomers were the first to...

The Bible rarely asserts its authority self-referentially. When it does, we should pay attention. Second Timothy promises that “all scripture is inspired by God.” The scripture Timothy refers to—the only scripture...

My teenager recently lost a tooth. He’s long past the age where he believes a tooth fairy will appear with money in exchange for his dental offerings, but he still put...

Jesus restores ten lepers to life and community. From their forced separation because of their disease, he gives them access again to their families. Only one, a Samaritan, a foreigner to...

Last fall I traveled with a group of colleagues from the Mayo Clinic to Rome and Assisi in Italy. Since an order of Franciscan sisters along with the Mayo brothers co-founded...

What does it mean to “remember Jesus Christ” in this letter to Timothy? For the writer of the epistle, it means that though he may be held captive, the word of...

How do God’s people maintain faith and hope when confronted with divisions in their denominations and in congregations? Well-meaning Christians, purporting to defend the faith and the Giver of faith, draw...