Posts from July 2024

As Paul uses his letter to the Philippian church to describe the joy he feels at being in prison, a joy the church is struggling to share with him, he seems to perceive their will to find out how to help him. But Paul doesn’t need help getting out of prison; he’s overjoyed at the opportunity to share the gospel with the people he’s meeting there. But the Philippians can help him in a different way. The best thing the…

In Paul’s letter to the Philippian church, we encounter a joy that’s not rooted in circumstance, a joy not subject to the roller coaster of life’s various victories and failures, a joy that reaches its perfect expression when Paul finds himself in prison. The fact of the matter is, Jesus is a threat to those in this world with too much power and money. Nothing is more terrifying to Caesar than the gospel proclamation that the world really belongs, not…

There’s always another table, isn’t there? Always another meal, another source of sustenance. The table, the place of the experience of God’s provision, never seems to stop giving, does it? It is this knowledge that allows the people of God to boldly pray, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” What more could we want? In God’s presence, and at God’s table, we lack nothing, so we want nothing. God’s desire to keep bringing us to a table,…

When we read the story of Esther, we’re seeing the will of God find its way into the world through those with limited power. Ahasuerus and Haman have unlimited power, but it is Esther and Mordecai – those who mourn, those who feel out of place, those who take risks – who carry out justice and experience victory. That being said, by the end of the story, Mordecai’s power isn’t so limited anymore. “Mordecai the Jew was next in rank…

Haman is out of the picture, but that’s not the end of the story. The Jewish people successfully (and overwhelmingly) win the battle against their attackers, but that’s not the end of the story either. Before the story can end, we must be allowed the chance to live in the new, post-conflict reality, a new equilibrium. And this new reality is built around a dinner table. The conflict happened on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, and Mordecai declares…