Lectionary Reflections | Richard's Food for Thought

The Man by the Pool: A Reflection on John 5

Thirty-eight years of waiting, and the first question Jesus asks is whether he wants to be healed.

Moses turns aside to look at a bush that will not stop burning — and I wonder how often I walk past my own.

Elijah collapses under a broom tree and asks to die. What God does next has stayed with me for years.

The Beatitudes in Matthew 5 are among the most familiar verses in the New Testament. They are also, on close reading, among the strangest.

Advent is, structurally, a season about waiting. Which makes it countercultural in the best possible way.

The book of Ruth is often read as a love story. I keep returning to it as a story about the kind of loyalty that costs something.

The parable of the prodigal son is usually told as a story about the younger son. I keep returning to the father.