This is a psalm addressed to God and to the "nations." Where do we come in? What are we able to hear that is addressed to us? And what's to…
The psalm speaks of the "Fear of the Lord," (rendered "honor" by some translations). "Fear" does not mean "to be afraid" but rather a posture toward God similar to the…
The Sermon on the Mount, a collection of Jesus's teachings, opens with the Beatitudes. Jesus has called people to follow him. But what is the substance of that following? What…
With the Psalmist, we sing with such bold confidence in the light and salvation of God precisely at those moments when we are filled with fear. We sing our way…
The psalmist says that God "leaned down to me; he listened to my cry for help" (v. 1). Psalms of thanksgiving tend to have a stereotypical form: the crisis is…
John begins at the beginning, intentionally paralleling much of the language from Genesis (which means “In the beginning”). If you thought that the birth of Christ was a sweet story…
Matthew explicitly says that Mary was a virgin, thus signifying that this is no ordinary human birth. In this birth, God is at work bringing about God’s purposes for the…