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In the Baptist tradition, Genesis 16:1-16 emphasizes God's sovereignty and the importance of individual faithfulness in the face of human failure. This passage reflects the belief that God is actively involved in the lives of His people, demonstrating His grace...
In the monastery at Gethsemani, Thomas Merton once described a moment during night prayer when a violent thunderstorm shook the abbey walls. The windows rattled,...
In the monastery at Avila, Teresa once described the interior castle as having rooms the soul must enter without knowing what lies ahead. The deepest...
When James writes that God gives wisdom "generously and ungrudgingly," the Greek word is *haplos* — simply, without double-mindedness, without sorting people into categories first....
In the monastery chapel at Gethsemani, Thomas Merton once described a moment during night vigils when the wind howled against the Kentucky hills, rattling windows...
In Genesis 6:1-8, we see the tension between divine judgment and divine mercy, reflecting the Lutheran understanding of the Law and Gospel. The passage highlights humanity's sinful nature and the resulting sorrow of God, ultimately leading us to recognize our need for grace.
In the monastery chapel at three in the morning, a single candle burns. The wind pushes through cracks in the old stone walls, and the...
When the community garden in downtown Portland was bulldozed to make way for another luxury apartment complex, something unexpected happened. The displaced gardeners — refugees,...
In Galatians 5:13, the Apostle Paul declares that we are called to liberty — not liberty to serve ourselves, but liberty to serve one another...
When Jesus spoke, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you," He was not offering a concept to be grasped but a...
When Joshua heard God say, "Be strong and courageous," he stood at the edge of a land already occupied, already storied, already loved by others....
In John 14:27, Jesus declares, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to...
A master jeweler once told an apprentice, "Never judge a diamond's quality by comparing it to other diamonds in the case. Judge it against the...
Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is "the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." For too long, we have domesticated...
In the Baptist tradition, Genesis 32:13-21 highlights the importance of personal relationship with God. Jacob's preparations to meet Esau illustrate the need for believers to confront their past and seek reconciliation, emphasizing that true faith manifests in actions.
When Rachel Held Evans wrote about faith unraveling, she described something many of us know intimately — the experience of watching certainties come apart at...
In a Trappist monastery in Kentucky, a brother spent twenty years in the silence. Each morning before dawn, he sat in centering prayer, releasing every...
When James writes, "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault," he invites us into...
In the writings of Teresa of Avila, she describes seasons when prayer feels like drawing water from a deep well with a broken bucket —...
In the practice of centering prayer, there comes a moment Thomas Merton called "the point of nothingness" — that raw, undefended place where every title,...
In the monastery at Gethsemani, Thomas Merton once described how the monks would rise at 3:15 a.m. for Vigils, shuffling through cold corridors in darkness,...
Thomas Merton once described a moment in his Louisville hermitage when he realized his hours of centering prayer had not made him holier than the...
A small progressive congregation in Portland decided to rethink their annual stewardship campaign. Instead of pledge cards and guilt-laden sermons, they hosted a neighborhood potluck...
In 1978, a structural engineer in Kansas City discovered that a contractor had quietly modified the steel connection design for the Hyatt Regency hotel walkways....