|"Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers who harvested your fields are crying aloud." James 5:4 |The words of James are harsh. The gold coveted by the rich will consume them. Their zeal for luxury murders the poor. ...

|"Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?" (Luke: 24: 32) |During their three years together, everything for the disciples had changed. Their old lives had ...

A Christmas Prayer | | Age after age, our people have waited so long. The dreamless nights. The hard climb. Our weary hearts. Our feet are sore. The disappointments have been mounting for quite some time. Eyes cast ...

An Advent Prayer||Advent and darkness come on together. Even turning back the clocks can't stretch the day. Shades are drawn. The furnace kicks on and off. Kids scramble for a register and squat with their cereal. The ...

They Brought Us to this Place|Jesus is born of Mary but his lineage traces back through Joseph. Before Jesus' birth in Matthew's gospel comes the genealogy of names, familiar and strange. A guiding thread runs through the ...

Out of the Holding Pattern||Prophets talk tough. Most of us prefer gentle reminders and constructive criticism. Prophecy with a light touch. But Jeremiah delivers jolts as he begs his people to come back. His vision is ...

The Fire and the Light||Malachi means "my messenger." Writing under cover of the generic, Malachi delivers the blunt message that renders prophets as suspect in their communities: now is the time to face our deeds and ...

The Sweetness and Indigestion of Faith||When I was young, treasures were things or animals: the bike, the dog, the doll with red hair. Things still matter, but now words glow like ripe fruit that can be eaten straight off ...

Through the Din Comes a Call|At first, the words of the Gospel sound daunting. Does Jesus ask us to surrender everything we cherish: family, friends, and life itself? Discipleship is too harsh; surely it targets the ...

God of the Hollows|The woman, it's said, was barren. The long, long wait had turned hopeless and then resigned. Now they were old and shame had aged with them. Sadness barely creased their faith. Years went into accepting ...