By the Waters of Babylon
“We sat down and wept.” The exiles are remembering what it was like to live in their own land, to be masters of their own destinies (sorta–what human being ever really is?).
What’s your ministry?
“Since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.” II Corinthians starts today with this sentence.
The Plague of Frogs from the “Golden Haggadah”
Psalm 131, 132, 133; Exod. 7:25-8:19; 2 Cor. 3:7-18; Mark 10:17-31 The Plague of Frogs from the “Golden Haggadah,” probably the most lavish of medieval Passover manuals, gold leaf and tempera paint on vellum (prepared lamb skin), Catalan, ca 1320, British Library London Plagues continue today, having kicked off with bloody waters yesterday. Plagues of […]
Building a Christening Marriage
Psalm 119:145-176; Exod. 7:8-24; 2 Cor. 2:14-3:6; Mark 10:1-16 Jesus heightens the moral commands on all fronts. Hatred is the gateway to murder. Ogling is the gateway to adultery. Insults are the slippery slope to hellfire. Over and over again, He says that your interior moral compass needs a work-over, that simply not harming people […]
Pharaoh-thinking
Psalm 120, 121, 122, 123; Exod. 5:1-6:1; 1 Cor. 14:20-33a,39-40; Mark 9:42-50 Asians making bricks, Egyptian fresco, tomb of Rekh-mi-re, high official in the mid-1400s BC, outside Thebes, Egypt Pharaoh seems to be an expert in laziness, although no doubt he’s never lifted a finger to do anything more strenuous than shoot lions from his […]