“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)In his commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Joseph Fitzmyer says that this is the “programmatic verse” of Acts; it sets…

Is this passage of Scripture familiar? The quote, “I am the vine and you are the branches” does stand out and feels like a message that really fits in this season of Easter. It seems especially appropriate when you think of it as preparation for the approaching feast of Pentecost as well—especially in the sense…

The dramatic, fast-moving pace set by St. Paul once he made the decision to respond to God’s summons to enter Macedonia continues with this visit to Thessalonica (Thessaloniki in Greek). Someone must have told Paul the story of the city: how it used to be called Therma, and how Cassandros, a general in Alexander’s army,…

An Episcopal bishop who served for many years in the upper Midwest loves to tell stories he learned from the Native Americans of the area, many of whom are Episcopalians. Here is one of them. A wise man among the Indians—many Native Americans in the Midwest still prefer to be called Indians—was asked by his…

Doubt and disillusionment, discouragement and despair: these are emotions that are common to all of us at some point in our lives. Loss of a job, loss of a loved one, divorce, illness, even the loss of a pet, any of these things and more can throw us into a tailspin and fill our hearts…