Second Sunday of Advent (Year 3, NL)

The dams on the Klamath River are coming down. Their removal reflects a very different theology than their construction.

It is so tender that God would say God owes us one.

In Joel I encounter the God who has counted what I’ve lost and promised to pay it back.

How could Jesus assume that all those who heard him preach would never treat their children in such a way?

Most days I hover somewhere between Adam’s “I was afraid” and John of Patmos’s “Come, Lord Jesus.”

What would Jesus say about it?

What if, when praying for our daily bread, we had real food in mind?

Prayer is ministry, and ministry is prayer.

It's hard for me to grasp that mortality is my fate, too.

What is the point of prayer? The question is writ large in the texts from both the Hebrew scripture and the Gospel for this Sunday. The terrain is fraught with places to trip and fall.

How on earth do we balance the quietness of our hearts with a public call to repentance?

Ellen Davis is full of surprises. Some are delightful, others raise questions for further study, and still others throw up stumbling blocks.

In the Bible, forgiveness involves repayment of what is owed. One way to pay down the debt is through charity to the poor.

Deo gratias. That’s what the sign in my office says. It’s not fancy, just two words laser-printed on office paper and tacked up over the computer monitor so I can read it dozens of times a day. 

The phrase—which means “Thanks be to God”—is the traditional Benedictine greeting that monks offer visitors.

Monastic vows sound familiar to anyone who's been to a wedding. In both marriage and celibacy, we promise to be faithful.