“Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Wow! Jesus seems to be setting an impossibly high bar in Matthew 5:20. The Pharisees and scribes were the keepers of all of the spiritual ordinances and practices that defined what was required for a Jew to…

A well-known passage in Matthew 7—”Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you”—opens up a deep well that can lead to either wisdom or misdirection. The misdirection comes when we simply think of this passage as the Bible saying that God will…

Are you following a Lenten ritual? Have you decided to give up something over these 40 days, or committed to specific practices during this time? This diary you are reading is a part of my Lenten commitment to do more Bible study and meditation. But I am reminded by Psalm 51 today that what we…

In teaching us how to pray, Jesus underscores the importance of forgiveness, That lesson is central to how we will overcome and heal from America’s legacy of racism and White supremacy. This morning I was reading a story in The New York Times about President Jimmy Carter’s political evolution. Carter is remembered now as an…

Some gospel songs include lyrics that refer to the joy we would experience upon seeing Jesus after we die. But a passage in Matthew 25 reminds us that waiting until our transition from this life to see Jesus might mean missing opportunities to see Jesus in our midst right now. I:n this passage Jesus teaches…

Frankly, I would much rather talk about justice, love and inclusion than about sin, but we need to be comfortable about talking about what sin is—and what it isn’t. In Matthew 4, Jesus is seen fasting in the wilderness for 40 days, and while he is fasting he is tempted by the devil three times.…

The prophet Isaiah said that those who minister to the needs of the marginalized shall be known as “repairers of the breach.” Jesus showed how by reaching out to and welcoming the people looked down upon by the rest of society.

I’m thinking today about the one bottom line Jesus Christ left us with, and what it would mean if our churches today actually practiced it. Today’s Bible readings come in the context of what church calendars mark as the date of the Feast of Saint Matthias the Apostle. Matthias is mentioned in only one brief…

I’ve learned it’s never worth it to gain the world and lose yourself. There is nothing more valuable than the you which God has made. Treasure it as God treasures you. Then he said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and…

Lent is an opportunity to come to terms with who we are and the things that keep us from experiencing God’s love and acceptance. Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.Wash me thoroughly from my iniquityAnd cleanse me from my sin. —Psalm 51: 1-2 (New…