Advent is a season when we pay closer attention to the presence and absence of light. The days are shorter—light is more scarce—as we move closer to the winter solstice, after...

When we are impatient and restless, the counsel to be patient tends to evoke further impatience. Imagine James speaking these words to John through the prison cell bars (see Matthew 11:1-11)....

What was John to think when the messengers reported through the bars of his cell? Humanly speaking, he had to have wondered, What about me? There was no word of hope...

“Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me,” says Jesus to the delegation from John the Baptizer’s inner circle. Who would be offended at Jesus? It sounds odd to us....

When you are denied your share of the planet’s wealth, refused your humanity, or live in unending pain or mental anguish, the counsel to “be patient” is the last thing you...

Mary was one of the “lowly” ones in verses 48 and 52 (Hebrew: anawim; Greek: tapeinos). In the Old Testament, the anawim were the poor of every sort: the vulnerable, the...

In Psalm 146 the psalmist sees history—personal, societal, and cosmic—held in God’s faithful care. Intervening causes and human agency shrink before God who “reigns forever.” We are counseled: Do not trust...

Hope is in the air. Here are images of nature flourishing, bodies healing, highways leading home. You can taste it, feel it, smell it. God’s covenant promise tips toward fulfillment in...

Last week, my four-year-old son built a spaceship out of a cardboard box and invited my fourteen-month-old daughter inside. I listened to them laugh uproariously and had a vision of my...

We were chatting on the back of the ferry one day when Steve said, “So I’ve got to ask, Why did you decide to bring children into a world like this?”...