Are we just talking to ourselves?

Luke is very clear in the introduction to the parable of the tax collector and the pharisee that Jesus was speaking to “those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.” Many of the religious leaders of his day had fallen into the trap so familiar to the powerful of believing their [...]

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The Power of Pestering

We all know what it’s like to be worn down by persistent pestering. Dogs and small children both learn from experience that sometimes it works to whine. And if it works at least once in a while, they know to try it again. And so it is with the parable Jesus tells in today’s Gospel. [...]

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Grounded in Grace

In a touching scene in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s well-loved children’s novel The Secret Garden, the fiery tempered young orphan Mary Lennox begins to win the heart of grief-stricken Mr. Archibald Craven with her simple request for “a bit of earth” for a garden. In the course of bringing the long-neglected [...]

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Waiting Isn’t Always a Bad Thing

Several commercials for the VISA check card show a smoothly choreographed series of transactions at a store, a food court, a basketball game, until someone wants to pay with cash, and then everything grinds to an irritating halt.
Few will deny that we live in a world that glorifies instant gratification. We hate to wait—for anything! [...]

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Crumbs from Your Table

Sometimes the stories from the Gospels have become such a part of our cultural heritage that we don’t really hear them. Sunday’s parable of the Rich Man (sometimes called Dives) and Lazarus is one of those stories. The rich man neglects the poor beggar at his door, they both die, one goes to heaven, the [...]

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