American football players protesting racism recently gave the knee instead of standing at attention during a performance of the United States national anthem, triggering a Twitter storm from the president of the country and a cloudburst of editorial commentary. The wave of athletic protest began when a player named Colin Kaepernick, wanting to call…
Confronting a narcissistic ruler
The moral character of a ruler can reach such low ebb that prophets arise to name and condemn the scoundrel’s behavior, even if the ruler strikes back. In totalitarian states, immoral rulers imprison or murder adversaries. In democracies, they discredit and counter-accuse. John the Baptist saw and condemned the immorality of Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of…
A bit of heaven in my pocket
“That’s tanzanite!” said Bishop Amos Muhagachi of Tanzania when he saw one the stones on my windowsill. Indeed, the glistening green gem came from Tanzania, but I know it as chrysoprase. It completed my collection of twelve stones named by first-century prophet John on Patmos island (Revelation 22:19, 20). John ministered among early churches…
Letting the other guy win
With wars festering in many countries, and continuing conflict over land in the West Bank, I pray that political leaders might have the reconciling spirit of Abraham. Shortly after returning to Canaan from Egypt, Abraham found himself in conflict with his nephew Lot over access to grazing (Genesis 13). Abraham was rich, and as…
Danger and loss lie that way
We had not traveled the whole way to Crete to be intimidated by a few washed-out roads! Determined to cross the island to the south coast, Ellen and I rented a sturdy SUV and headed into the drenched central mountains. Our destination? A tiny harbor called Fair Havens where a merchant ship carrying the apostle…
Hope in the wake of a brutal killing
Perhaps those who have lost a loved one to the brutality of terrorism or war can begin to understand the disorientation and paralysis of two traumatized disciples on their way to Emmaus on the Sunday after Jesus’ crucifixion (Luke 24:1-35). Drained by the horror of Friday, confused by reports of Christ risen, the two apparently…
Cautionary tale of an arrogant leader
We know Gideon as the military strategist who startled and defeated an invading army of Midianites with a mere three hundred soldiers by sounding trumpets and smashing jars (Judges 7). But what happened after Gideon’s victory is a cautionary tale for all who would self-promote and gain power by trampling others. Gideon (also called Jerubbaal)…
Where truth confronted power
Today multiple versions of “truth” compete for attention in politics and media, and we ask the same question Pontius Pilate famously put to Jesus: What is truth? (John 18:38). Truth already had been compromised on the night Jesus stood in Pilate’s judgement hall. At the house of High Priest Caiaphas, Peter had lied by declaring…
Women at the growing edge
Among recent immigrants at the church where I worship in Indiana, it is women who come to faith first. Women then invite husbands and relatives, providing energy for outreach. Throughout church history, women often have led the way in growth and change. The first Christian in Europe whose name we know was Lydia, who…
Sanctuary for Jesus’ grandmother
With anti-immigrant fever festering in countries of the Western world, I find it instructive to drive on the King’s Highway into ancient Moab, east of the Dead Sea in modern Jordan. Here ancestors of David and Jesus found sanctuary during the era of judges when drought devastated Bethlehem and their Judean homeland (Ruth 1:1–5). The ancestors were…
Holy Lands Peace Pilgrim 