Reading in the shadow of the cross, all week long

It hasn’t escaped my notice that so far in Holy Week we’re reading about David killing an enemy giant and Saul getting jealous of David’s successes (we kind of skipped that part, but that’s why Saul is upset now) and then trying to kill David. Maybe you’ve noticed it too. And death is going to [...]

David, Goliath, and rapping hamsters

If you’ve watched any tv at all in the last six months, you’ve probably seen the commercials with the rapping hamsters. If you haven’t, don’t worry, you haven’t missed out.  They are incredibly annoying, and their raps get stuck in your head. I bring it up only because today I discovered that the advertising agency [...]

David and Goliath, part I

Ok, we’re only halfway through the story of David and Goliath. As far as we know, David is just an inquisitive kid who annoys his brothers. But I’ll bet a whole lot of you already know how this story turns out.  For one thing, “David & Goliath” gets used a lot to describe any situation [...]

Identifying the anointed

I am grateful for the gift of sight. I am grateful to be able to enjoy the variations of color in a rainbow or a garden, to be able to tell from a distance who is coming toward me, to be able to read and look at paintings. But sometimes our eyes get us into [...]

Whose job is it?

There are moments in Scripture when it seems like things are very clearly arranged.  Mostly I think this happens in the writing of the Law: Levites will be priests, so-and-so will have this parcel of land, no one will marry a foreign woman, etc. Then there are moments when a person might wonder if there [...]

A good man

Sometimes when we look at the mess of attack ads and predictions of doom that are so much a part of our political landscape, it’s hard to see a way out.  Is this all there is? That’s one of the big questions that writer Aaron Sorkin asked when he created the show The West Wing. [...]

The world’s oldest attack ad?

Politics is a messy business, whether you’re running a presidential campaign in 21st century America or negotiating for the political structure of ancient Israel. And when politicians are down, that’s when the claws come out.  That’s when the attack ads start.  And that’s when we start to hear the doomsayers telling us “If you elect [...]

Hannah’s likeable song

Fun fact: the Song of Hannah (2:1-10) has its own Facebook page. It’s true. It is listed as an “interest” and you can ‘like’ it, if you’re on Facebook and you want to.  Although only 2 people have done so – which isn’t so bad when you consider that the Magnificat (Mary’s song) has 0 [...]

Who do you think you are?

There’s a show on NBC calledWho Do You Think You Are? that traces celebrities’ ancestry back to identify interesting people and stories in their past.  The idea is that knowing where we came from tells us something about who we are. This is true in my own experience – knowing about my family helps me [...]

Questions

There is a lot of controversy about this chapter. Is Naomi’s plan a good one? Why does she send Ruth to do this? What exactly happens between Ruth and Boaz? Was Ruth right to obey her mother-in-law? Was she right to change the plan in the moment? Should Boaz already have “redeemed” Ruth? Was he [...]