Pure Joy
This Sunday’s gospel story, often called The Parable of the Good Samaritan, tells us how to live well and be happy: “Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.”* Obviously, sadly, there’s something most of us on this […]
Rules for the Journey
Jesus appoints a group of 72 to go ahead of him. They will test the waters, see where the welcome waits and where it does not. More importantly, they will leave the secure camaraderie of their tight circle and venture forth, two by two, into God’s wide world of blessed and bewildered people. To prepare […]
Having Enemies
Most of us will admit that there are parts of the Bible we skip over – all the “begats,” particularly dry parts of Leviticus, the confusing imagery of Revelation. But I pay pretty close attention to the gospels, which is why it was surprising that this brief vignette at the beginning of today’s passage* was […]
Dining with Demons
It has always seemed to me that what the Bible calls demon possession* looks a lot like mental illness. Because it runs deeply in my family, I have learned to live with cyclical depression, which periodically disorders my thinking like an inner demon that wants to drive me to ruin. After so many years, I […]