Meditations

Among the most profound teaching of Jesus occurs in John 3:1-8: Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you […]

Without forgiveness and its power to restore us and our relationships, we are destined to become hard of heart. And hardness of heart is anathema to God. The Good News is that Jesus Christ brought God’s forgiveness with Him. Yet there is an important catch to receiving God’s forgiveness: in response to God’s forgiveness, we […]

Love is the greatest of all the gifts of the Spirit of God. In truth, love is more than a gift; it is God, for “God is love” (1 John 4:8,16). God’s love for us makes possible our love for God in response, as well as our love for humanity. The words of the Apostle […]

You may not laugh as you pray, or pray while you laugh, but prayer and laughter have some crucial elements in common. Both help to lift you out of a situation, or the feeling of being trapped by the circumstances of your life. That is, they offer you an immediate way of stepping back from, […]

    Augustine of Hippo (354-430), famously said: “Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore, seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.” And Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) added, “I do not seek to understand so that I can believe, but I believe so that I may understand; and what […]

In the middle of his setting forth the gifts of the Holy Spirit, Paul turns to the highest gift of all: love. But not just any form of love; rather, the love which comes down from heaven. The Greek term for this love is “agape.” It appears almost exclusively in the New Testament in the […]