Truth-tellers are uncomfortable folk to be around. We proudly show Uncle John and Aunt Pat our church building. We do so with a certain amount of trepidation and particularly because they claim some sort of superior knowledge about church architecture. To make matters worse the rector bumps into us as we are going into the…

Who first said, “Show me the money?” No, not Cuba Gooding, Jr, but in today’s Gospel, it is Jesus who says, “Show me the money … used for the tax!” (RSV) The Gospel is not about the separation of church and state. Such a thing never would have occurred to anyone in first century Israel….

A man flips lazily through the television channels and stops for a few minutes to look at a religious program. He then turns the set off, gets up, and walks into the hall where he encounters his wife. “Will you,” he asks her, “be ready when the Bridegroom comes?” “Yes,” she responds quickly, “I have…

Among the most powerful forces we experience in life are expectations. Some expectations come from other people. Parents, spouses, peers, bosses, friends, children, neighbors, customers, and plenty of others all have their expectations of us. They expect certain things regarding our speech, our behavior, our character. Often, the most influential expectations are the ones that…

Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! [Ezekiel 18:31 – NRSV] In the campaigns waged around the Bible, and its role, or lack of it, in the public schools, one of the laments is often that we have forgotten…

A grandmother tells about growing up the oldest of four children. “My mother was always very fair,” she said. “She didn’t play favorites. We always knew that we could count on her to be fair. But my father — well, that was another story. The truth is, I grew up secure in the knowledge that…

Daily television images flood our imaginations with pictures of suffering and destruction. On September 11th, 2001, the world witnessed events that blew away any remaining sense of security. Death, destruction, loss, innocent suffering, and grief have seemed constant companions for many of us. The remembrance of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and…