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“Come, see a man who told me everything I’ve ever done. Could this be the Messiah?” [John 4:29, New International Version] Once each decade, Oberammergau, a town in Germany’s Bavarian Alps, offers up its famous Passion Play, held in its Passion Play Theater. Since 1634, the town has put on the the drama depicting the suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord. This year, 2020, the play will be in production daily from May 16 through October 4. A few years ago, a close friend, knowing that for a number of years I had traveled to the Frankfurt Book Fair in early October, asked me if I’d ever been to…

“So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; …” [Genesis 12:4a] Early on Monday, as I reviewed the Lectionary selections appointed for the upcoming second Sunday in Lent (Year A), and noted that the OT reading was the familiar passage often referred to as, “Abraham’s Call” (Genesis 12:1-4), I couldn’t help but wonder, “Is Yahweh calling out to Abram, or is Yahweh reaching out to you and me?” The answer, of course, is “Yes.” To be sure, Yahweh likely isn’t repeating to you or me the promise He made to Abram, that from our essence great nations will spring. Yet, while I can’t speak for you, I do seem…

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” [Genesis 3:4-5]. The Old Testament reading (Revised Common Lectionary) for the First Sunday in Lent is the familiar passage from Genesis (2:15-17; 3:1-7) that describes the irrevocable encounter in the garden of Eden between Eve and the serpent, and its aftermath. Occasionally — why does this seem to occur only during Lent? — as I have supinely lay in bed, waiting for sleep to overcome me, my thoughts have turned generally toward the Genesis passage,…