Text: Mark 7:31-37 As humans, we rely heavily on our sight. While all of our five senses are important, sight is the one we use the most. Everything about typical human society is geared toward visual stimulus. It’s no wonder that most people would rather lose their hearing than their sight. Medical professionals, however,…
Text: Luke 18:9-14 An interesting thought experiment is to consider what it would be like to meet someone unexpected in heaven. Take, for example, a scene from Dante’s Purgatorio, the second volume of his Divine Comedy. In Dante’s 14th Century epic poem, the Roman Poet, Virgil, guides Dante through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. In the…
Text: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Growing up, my brother and I were very close. We were less than two years apart, shared a room until we were teenagers, and often had overlapping circles of friends. But when it came to keeping out of trouble, we could be very different. I was more conflict-adverse, a people pleaser,…
Today we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, one of the major Holy Days in the Christian tradition, in which we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples and the conversion of over 3,000 people in Jerusalem. In our reading from Acts, we read that the converts were pilgrims to Jerusalem present for…