Here is the secret about bullies. Bullies are people or nations driven by fear to project an image that they are special, superior and sinless. In a bearded effort to cover up their own weakness, smallness and vulnerability, bullies puff themselves up to exert power over others who seem weaker…

People are good. Not evil. But fear makes us vulnerable to evil working through us. Here is how it works. Slave to his fear of people’s judgment King Herod did not have the courage to live his convictions. Although he knew John the Baptizer to be a “righteous and holy…

“Have I really seen God and remained alive?” asks the astonished Hagar when Living God finds and encourages her in the presence of her deepest despair. The slave woman Hagar belongs to Abram’s wife Sarai and when Sarai is unable to get pregnant she gives Hagar to her husband to…

If only we had the right politicians, the right king or president they would make and enforce laws that support our preferences, promote our programs for happiness and settle the storms in our lives. Right? Similar logic drove the elders of Israel whom we meet in the Hebrew Text 1…

Driving cross town on Thursday afternoon it was as if a hot poker was piercing my heart and my gut felt twisted as a grapevine. I was not listening to the news, not in a traffic jam, not late for an appointment, in fact nothing was happening to which I…

On the hook as “We the People.” Continuing in the tradition of our Israelite ancestors, from its founding the United States has recognized her dependence on God, which means our mission as “We the people” depends on moral considerations established in our relationship with God. Principles guide our actions and…

………Today’s take on Psalm 69.10–21, 30–33 (see text below) I make my prayer to the One Who Hears, rescue your middle masses let us not sink to oblivion while rich leftists and their rightist doppelgängers egomaniacal politicians red and blue covertly consort in greed, entitlement, power mongering demand loyalty, forsake…

One plus One plus One equals One. Alright, you may accuse me of being a terrible mathematician but instead you might ask, “One what? What three ones add up to One?” Let me suggest the Ones are names for God, words we use to describe the experience of our “with…

Acts 16:16–34 With Paul and Silas, we came to Philippi in Macedonia, a Roman colony, and, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed…