Blog Category: Chaplain’s Blog

[“Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”] (Mt. 21:43) Jesus gives a pretty stern warning to His contemporary Jewish religious leaders.  They who have been given so many opportunities to repent, have refused. They who have been […]

[Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season, But stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth. Blessed is the […]

[“Stop judging and you will not be judged.“] (Lk. 6:37a) Sad, comical, ironic, disheartening: many of us Christians have perfected the very thing Jesus told us not to do. We can be really great judgers.  In a certain way this makes sense, since as Christians we’ve been blessed with Jesus’s teaching—know right from wrong.  We […]

[The Lord is my light and my salvation.] (Psalm 27:1a) During this Second Sunday of Lent we make this audacious claim with the Psalmist.  Is He though?  Is the Lord really my light and salvation?  Do I believe the words I speak? In saying “The Lord is my light and my salvation”, we exclude any […]

[“So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”] (Mt. 5:48) Does Jesus know He is asking the impossible of His disciples and of us? Yes, He knows it is actually impossible for us and not just figuratively. There is no way you and I can be perfect just as God is because, well, […]

[“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.  But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment] (Mt. 5:21-22a) In the course of His teaching and preaching, Jesus often criticizes the current religious practices […]

[Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.] (Psalm 138:3a) “I’m frustrated. I can’t do anything about it except pray”. I’ve heard this countless times and I’ve  said it myself probably as much as anyone else.  Expressed in such a sentiment is our own attitude of prayer. We can mistakenly think prayer […]

[…when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.] (Jonah 3:5) Instead of simply relaying to his readers that the Ninevites proclaimed a fast, the author of the book of Jonah prefaces it with when the people of Nineveh believed God.  Apparently only […]

[and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us] (Mt. 6:12) In the course of a conversation about the “Our Father”, my interlocutor said that when she prayed the “Our Father” she would always skip the phrase about forgiveness. Her rationale was that she did not want God to forgive her […]

[For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.” Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and […]