I sit in one of the dives On Fifty-second Street Uncertain and afraid As the clever hopes expire Of a low dishonest decade: Waves of anger and fear Circulate over the bright  And darkened lands of the earth, Obsessing our private lives; The unmentionable odour of death Offends the September night. Accurate scholarship can  Unearth…

“There’s a part of all of us that longs to know that even what’s weakest about us is still redeemable and can ultimately count for something good.”

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;            I will sing and make melody.            Awake, my soul!  2   Awake, O harp and lyre!            I will awake the dawn.  3   I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples,            and I will sing praises to you among the nations.  4   For your steadfast love is…

1Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging…

36Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. 37At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. 38Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter…

1In the twelfth year of King Ahaz of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel; he reigned nine years. 2He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, yet not like the kings of Israel who were before him. 3King Shalmaneser of Assyria came up against him; Hoshea became his…

“To have courage for whatever comes in life – everything lies in that.”

“But how do we make goodness attractive? By doing whatever we can do to bring courage to those whose lives move near our own–by treating our ‘neighbor’ at least as well as we treat ourselves and allowing that to inform everything that we produce. Who in your life has been such a servant to you?…

1   Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth.  2        Worship the LORD with gladness;            come into his presence with singing. 3   Know that the LORD is God.            It is he that made us, and we are his;            we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4   Enter his gates with thanksgiving,            and his courts…

19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22“The eye…