Listen to the teachings! Joshua reminds the people of God’s faithful history with them. He invites them to revere and serve God. The people respond positively, but then comes a hard...

Listen to the teachings! The kingdom of heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who await the groom. With the delay of the groom, five bridesmaids do not have enough oil to...

Listen to the teachings! What emotional response arises in you as you read today’s text? Many people read Paul’s text as though it foretells the exact way in which the “end”...

Listen to the teachings! Sometimes in our zeal to follow the ways of God, we discern odd paths. This week’s texts remind me of William Miller, an American Baptist who studied...

Give ear . . . to my teaching.” Chapter 24 begins with a speech from Joshua and closes with his death. A portion of our text forms the beginning of Joshua’s...

Give ear . . . to my teaching,” says the psalmist. Today we choose to listen. Tomorrow we may choose another voice, but today we listen. The psalmist invites us to...

In the Sundays after the 9/11 tragedy, my church experienced a 20 percent jump in attendance. Three months later, our new attendees were gone; attendance slipped back to pre-9/11 levels. Why?...

Alabama’s legislature passed the meanest anti-immigration law in the nation. I wrote a letter protesting the spiteful law. An immigration activist asked, “But what are you going to do? Your letter...

Have you ever tried to be humble? A person who brags about having achieved humility probably hasn’t. Maybe that’s why Jesus doesn’t say to his disciples in his criticism of religious...

I teach a seminary course on “Ordained Leadership.” Among my maxims for aspiring church leaders: “Leadership is necessary for any organization that needs to move from maintenance to vitality.” “Leaders ask...