Tag: empathy
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Reflecting on Ezra 10 1-12
We are studying Ezra 10:1-12 for Sunday, April 11. This is a critical part of the episode of the post-exilic community’s decision to “separate” from “foreign wives and the ones born to them.” Ezra, scribe and priest, along with other community leaders interpreted these intermarriages with “the people of the land” as an enormous problem.…
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Hajj Like No Other
2020 has been a challenging year for religious observance. The Hajj starts today – and from this account, the pilgrimage will be very different from usual. Of course, many pilgrims who’d hoped to be making the trip won’t be, at least not this year. For the few who can, Zamzam water in plastic bottles and…
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The Past Casts a Long Shadow
Saul is from Gibeah (1 Samuel 10:26). (!!) Gibeah is the site of the atrocity in Judges 19 (Judges 19:12ff). The aftermath of that atrocity draws in Jabesh-gilead (Judges 21), so that the people of Gibeah are related to the people from Jabesh-gilead after that. Saul’s first act as king is to rescue the people…
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Forgiveness
Thinking about forgiveness this morning – why? Because we practiced “Forgive Our Sins as We Forgive” at choir practice on Wednesday? Because of trying to finish The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible for book group? For whatever reason, the thought unfolded something like this: Forgiveness – the act of forgiving another, the…
Matters of Interpretation 