Advent gives us a rich opportunity to come together around Scripture in our churches. For four weeks, we anticipate and prepare for Jesus’s arrival and return. This is both an internal and external process. We each look in our own hearts, readying ourselves to receive Jesus in his humility as… Read More

My friend Bruce Main taught me the word praxis. I’m sure I had run across it in some theology text, but Bruce was actually using the word in a sentence, like it meant something. We were meeting at a South Jersey diner a few years ago. Bruce was giving an… Read More

How does God want people to respond to him? Scripture gives us many answers to that question—worship, fear, obedience, love, even curiosity—but one of the most basic responses is thankfulness. The Israelites had a “thank offering” as part of their worship rhythms (Leviticus 7:11-15), and the Psalms bubble with gratitude… Read More

As we celebrate the Fourth of July in Philadelphia, we hear a lot about our local Founding Father, Ben Franklin. Author, businessman, scientist, statesman, he was an extraordinary man in a crucial time. As a waiter told me at lunch yesterday, “I love Franklin. He was Bruce Wayne. He… Read More

The first year I observed the season of Lent in a liturgical church, I wasn’t ready to leave the tomb. Through the Scripture readings, I joined the two women on that fateful Easter morning—no doubt disoriented and weighed down by their grief. I entered the tomb alongside them and… Read More

by Bruce Main I was visiting the country of Malawi, one of the poorest in Africa. After flying for 24 hours, with only a brief stop in Addis Ababa, I needed a hot shower, a bowl of soup, and anything that looked like a bed. But my driver, a… Read More

Cynics might suppose that Valentine’s Day was created by a cabal of greeting card publishers, florists and chocolatiers. But, no, there really was a Saint Valentine who was martyred for his Christian faith on one February 14 in the third century. He was known for officiating at Christian weddings—hence… Read More

I wonder what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would say to us on Monday if he were still alive. Have we furthered his vision? What call to action would he ask us to take? Dr. King saw racial reconciliation as intrinsically connected with Scripture. In his… Read More

As a new believer, Pedro was on fire—but very frustrated. He longed to connect with God in his native Mayan dialect, but the local pastors all preached in Spanish, even though they were Mayan themselves. They had received their seminary education in Spanish, and that was seen as the proper… Read More

Advent is a time of hopeful waiting. It gives us pause in the movement of our lives to enter into the biblical story. We remember the long-awaited promise of a Messiah and its miraculous fulfillment. We come alongside the shepherds awestruck in a field, and Mary expectantly nurturing new life… Read More