Jesus and the disciples are leaving Jerusalem after a long day of teaching in the Temple, when one of the disciples gushes about how awesome the stones and buildings are. Jesus...

Deuteronomy is written as a farewell address by Moses. For forty years he has led the Israelites around and around in the desert. Most of the folks who came out of...

Do you ever get distressed when others are praising God for the blessings they’ve received? Do you feel left out in the dark while others are in the sunshine of God’s...

The prophet speaking for and to the returned exiles pleads for God to blast their enemies. But that doesn’t happen. It is time for a sort-of confession. “But you were angry...

The Israelites experience God not as an abstract set of attributes but through stories of saving power. Yes, God is described as holy, powerful, just, steadfast in love. But mostly God...

We have been walking through some tenuous scriptural ground this week, grappling with hell and judgment, salvation and righteousness, empire and God’s kingdom. It is no easy terrain, no simple way...

One of the gifts the Jewish tradition offers is the practice of midrash, a way of reading a biblical text with a question mark instead of a period. The practice of...

In today’s scripture reading, we find Jesus echoing Ezekiel’s prophecy to the Hebrew people. Jesus offers his disciples and us warnings of judgment and a call to righteousness. There is a...

A master letter writer, Paul offers a heartfelt and inspiring introduction to the church at Ephesus in today’s reading. Suggesting that he does not know them personally with the phrase “I...

I recently heard Rabbi David Horowitz describe the Kaddish, an ancient prayer recited regularly in Jewish worship services and originally known as the Mourner’s Prayer, as a prayer for those who...