A hard, cold winter greeted the Pilgrims who reached Plymouth Rock in 1620. Miles Standish was Military Captain for the Colony and one of the few to escape illness. His wife, Rose, was less...
For years, Moses sojourned in Midian, having fled from Egypt because the Pharaoh sought his life. During this period, the Israelites continued...
I grew up in a culture that was uncomfortable with sadness. When children cried, they were urged to stop. If adults broke...
We are in difficult financial times, and our own emotional well-being often sinks with the Dow Jones Industrial Average. In times such...
Today I want to base my reflection on two verses from Psalm 22. In the first verse, the psalmist laments God’s lack...
In this section of Romans 9, Paul is explaining God’s freedom and authority to do what he wills, even if it doesn’t quite make sense to us. Though we may not especially like...
Yesterday we focused on Romans 8:23, where it says that we join creation in groaning. Though life can be filled with many blessings, there are times when we suffer and when we cry...
In yesterday’s reflection, we noted the “groaning” of creation as it experiences the wreckage that comes from sin. In Romans 8:23, we join creation in groaning. Even though, through the Holy Spirit...
Three times within ten verses, Romans 8 uses the unusual language of groaning. In today’s reflection, will focus on the first of these instances. Future reflections will examine the other two.In...
The Servant of God in Isaiah is a “man of sorrows.” The Hebrew phrase (’ish makh’ovot) means, literally, “man of pains,” and...
The prophecies of Isaiah testify to the “deep waters” and “fires” of Israel’s experience. Because of her persistent rejection of the Lord...
As Jesus suffered on the cross, he cried out to his Heavenly Father with familiar words: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” This question is the opening line from Psalm...
Ever since sin broke God's perfect world, sadness pervades our existence. Oh, to be sure, there are times when we rejoice. But we also experience times of mourning, even extended seasons of...
Suffering and death remain a mystery. We can understand some kinds of suffering as the result of human freedom and choice. But other suffering is so great and so unfair and so terrible...
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My friend Don heard two men discussing Father Mychal Judge, the New York Fire Department chaplain who died in the World Trade Center collapse. One man said, “Wrong place, wrong time!” Don jumped...
Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard.
The great poet John Milton, author of the epic Paradise Lost, was totally blind by age 41. But he learned to compose poetry in his head. In a famous sonnet titled "On His...
Father Alfons Wachsmann was a Catholic priest in Berlin when Hitler gained power, and the clergyman made the mistake of allowing and...
Illuminated by streetlights and oncoming headlights, raindrops chased each other down the window of the car. This isn’t happening. I studied the raindrops bumping, merging, and colliding, as if I...
