Growing up with three older brothers, I have a keen sense of what’s fair and what’s not. Take for example, the day when my brother closest in age to me (3 1/2 years older), was given more chocolate chip ice cream — my favorite — by our mother. “He’s got a bigger stomach,” she said. Really. Let’s see. He didn’t have...
Read MoreRead MoreThe Scarlet Cord is off to prison in Broward County, Florida, where it’s being read by sixty women inmates. And I couldn’t be more thankful. That’s the whole point of the book: to help women find redemption and hope, even in the toughest of times — for that’s often when God uses our actions to help heal the world. Here’s...
Read MoreRead MoreParting the waters of the Red Sea is the central theme in the Book of Exodus, and Moses gets considerable attention for doing it — and for freeing the Hebrew people from tyranny under Pharaoh. But without at least five women, there wouldn’t have been any Moses; he wouldn’t have lived. And those five are the very ones whose words...
Read MoreRead MoreAs part of Bible Women Project 2012, here’s a summary of the nine women in Genesis who are on record as having spoken — and there’s not a wimpy one among them. Some are skeptical, some are bright, some are defiant, and some are promiscuous. One laughs hilariously in God’s presence. Most are highly committed to having children — or...
Read MoreRead MoreForever blessed. Forever courageous. Forever empowered. She’s not going back. And neither should we. ...
Read MoreRead MoreNothing I can say here will come close to the significance of this day and Jesus’ actions, so let me be silent. And blessings to you on this sad, yet powerful day. For more info on this week’s woman of the week, click here....
Read MoreRead MoreUsually I don’t feel sorry for biblical characters. But that all changes when considering Leah’s fate. Jacob is in love with Rachel, Leah’s younger sister. As the story goes, he works for seven years to earn the right to marry her, and then father-in-law Laban shuffles Leah into the bridal chamber at night. Apparently the older sister must marry first....
Read MoreRead MoreRachel and Jacob appear to have fallen in love at first glance — and where else but around a well? When Jacob asks Laban, Rachel’s father, for her hand in marriage, he is told that he must earn her by working for seven years. So he does, so much in love that the years “fly by.” But after seven years, —...
Read MoreRead MoreSex. Power. Intrigue. Today’s lectionary reading, the story about Joseph and Potiphar’s wife (Genesis 39:1-23), is a brilliant reminder of why we need to teach Bible stories to our youth — and soak them up them ourselves. Joseph could have so easily sold his soul when Potiphar’s wife reached for him, trying to lure him to her bed. And it...
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