I find it meaningful to rename some of Jesus’ parables from the perspective of the giver rather than the recipient. It helps me to focus on the grace in each parable...

There is something disconcerting about how many persons in scripture play favorites, even God. “Isaac loved Esau . . . but Rebekah loved Jacob.” God “had regard for Abel and his offering, but for...

One of the saddest sins is boredom—taking things for granted. The cliché phrases are familiar: If you’ve seen one sunset, you have seen them all. Ocean, flowers, whatever. Been there, done...

At the monastery, we pray all 150 psalms in a two-week cycle because they were Jesus’ hymnbook. Today’s psalm is terribly repetitious: Various phrases keep saying the same thing—be obedient, walk...

Rebekah and Isaac were in love, but she was barren. Yet she was not unique; throughout scripture, key roles are played by women who are barren—Hannah the mother of Samuel the...

As we read these beautiful verses we note a paradox. We are called to God when we feel weary and burdened but then are invited to put on a yoke. How...

There is a growing rift between Jesus and his beloved cousin John who is the first to hail Jesus as Messiah, baptizes him, and sets his feet on the path of...

Even amid love’s fulfillment, the Song of Solomon offers a grave warning: “Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards” (2:15). Sometimes “the little foxes” erode our relationships,...

Today we read another love story, symbolically placed in the exact middle of the Protestant Bible with its meaning central to our life with God. This splendid anthem, sometimes called Song...

Today’s reading tells us of the fulfillment of this courtship, but the story continues in the hearts of lovers. It is the story of God’s call and the human heart. An...