Like the rocking of the ocean, like the thrumming of peepers in spring evenings, the question Who Is God?  is a bass note rhythm in the midst of life, a note that becomes insistent in times when our need to know is great. Christian theology answers by calling God the tremendous and fascinating mystery, echoing biblical assertions that God is beyond our knowing. When pressed by Moses for a name, God answers, I am Who I am Becoming (Exodus 3:14).... Read more

When Jesus walked around Jerusalem, the Great Temple was still standing in its full seven-story glory.  The ancient, first temple, that Solomon built had been destroyed by the Babylonians in their conquest. Remnants of it remained, and were part of the campus of the Great Temple: The Tower of Siloam. The Portico of Solomon. And some made it a point to worship in these remnants, rather than in the Great Temple itself, because of their intense dislike of the Herod... Read more

  The second hour of Freeman’s  Story of God opens with him sitting at his breakfast table, reading the newspaper and glancing at TV news. He narrates his own scene, the common American morning. We gird ourselves to walk out into a world where alarming things are happening. In this, he demonstrates our fixation on the possibility of annihilation. We may think of Apocalyptic ideas as the stuff of crazy religious zealots, but the news is about this possibility, the... Read more

  Here we are, in 2016, and the earth is lit up by warfare fueled by religion. Not by wars exactly, as it was, say, in The Thirty Years War in Europe, nor by armies of Crusaders on the march. But Paris, Brussels, San Bernardino, Istanbul, and (groan) Syria have all been bombed by those whose hatred wears the name of some cruel god. All those bombs fly religious flags. And in an uncountable number of heinous acts, individual women... Read more

When you think about it, Jesus might have spent Easter and the next fifty days writing down a few things. What happened to him, for instance. Or he could’ve written down his stories so we’d remember them right. Or he could’ve strode into Jerusalem to show the so-and-sos he was back. Or spread a few more dazzling miracles around. He might have organized the church and written down a few expectations, maybe a liturgy of sorts, or a schedule for... Read more

The doubts that plague me are real, and they have power. They have the power to keep me from believing in myself. Especially at critical junctures, when they always start warning, scoffing, belittling, worrying away at my hope, if I can’t muster the presence of my angels, opportunities pass me by. In time, these lost moments become regrets. They are unforgettable. Sometimes they lend me confidence in another struggle, and sometimes they add to my doubts. And so it was... Read more

Easter is a head-scratcher, so What’s Up is a perplexing question. And Easter has so many possible answers, it’s a perennial question. Between the four gospels, there are twelve Easter encounters – and no two of them are alike – making the puzzle more complex. The one thing all twelve stories have in common is – no one was able to recognize Jesus right away. And that’s a big help, really. You can rattle on about amazement all you like,... Read more

The long and winding road from Palm Sunday to Easter passes familiar landmarks:  the loud crowd at the City Gate; gathering shadows in Jerusalem and the disciples in the Upper Room; the Last Supper’s bread and wine. The road winds on: an agony of prayer in the Garden and the sleepy disciples; Judas’ kiss and the soldiers’ arrest; the trial by night and Caiaphas’ calumny. Herod’s mockery; Pilate’s cruelty; the soldiers’ brutality. The cock crowing; Peter’s denials; the wailing women... Read more

Anne Rice’s novel, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, has been brought to the screen by Cyrus and Betsy Nowrasteh as The Young Messiah. The drama imagines the life of Jesus at age seven, and tells us of his family journey back to Galilee from Egypt. Imagination is a place of abundant hope, and is another word for faith, the part of us most often praised by Jesus. So my hopes were high for this film. Sadly, I found the... Read more