The Parasite of Evil

Friends, I always love preaching on the Feast of the Holy Family because I think the biblical message here is very surprising. We say the Bible is associated with family values, and indeed it is, but they're probably not the ones we would automatically think of. We see this in th ...  Show more

Friends, we come now to Palm Sunday, also called “Passion Sunday” because we read, in its entirety, one of the Passion narratives from the Synoptic Gospels. This year, we hear Matthew’s version, and one of the distinctive qualities of Matthew’s account is his stress on Judas—and ...  Show more

The rich young ruler looked like he had it made. He’s characterized by moral excellence and he’s financially wealthy. He’s got it so together that he even admits he doesn’t have it all together—that there’s still something he lacks. He isn’t sure what it is. He’s gotten to the ...

In this Bible Story, Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem, the place where he would make his final sacrifice. There, he tells several parables. He makes a fig tree wither, flipps over the tables of corrupt money changers in the temple and tells a parable about a landowner whose s ...  Show more

In this Bible Story, Jesus speaks of generosity through the story of a glutinous rich man and a poor beggar. The rich man gorged on his wealth with no attention to the sick and cold beggar right at his door. As a result, the rich man suffered when he died, but the poor man was re ...  Show more

During today’s conversation on Backporch Theology we’re going to debunk the idea that faith should be a private matter displayed and discussed only among like-minded individuals toting quilted Bible covers and clad in pastel sweater sets. We’re also going to explore two evange ...