The Forward Day by Day Archives

“Who do you say that I am?” My spiritual director gave this question to me to contemplate for a liturgical season. She was clear: “Don’t try to spiritualize the question. Don’t try to be abstract with it or mystical: Just look at every word and think about your answer.”

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We prize freedom, so it might not exactly be good news to have Paul tell the Corinthians that their bodies are not their own. He says instead that their bodies are temples for the Holy Spirit.

So much of our spirituality seems to be outside our bodies, myst....

Christian author Tony Campolo has a great book entitled, Adventures in Missing the Point. Today’s lesson from Mark is such a moment in scripture.

The poor Pharisees begin to pontificate upon the law and the rules and what is “right.” On the o....

One of the most significant concerns I have about Christianity is the way we have domesticated Jesus. In our story from Mark, the Pharisees are incredulous that Jesus eats with outcasts and sinners. Jesus is explicit: These people are who he came to eat with, and this is where he is supposed to be. ....

Why do we always think that building a wall is a way to make peace? Walls to keep things out (or in) are a band-aid solution, at best. Walls do nothing to address real issues of how we live together, no matter where in the world we live.

The image of walls is a powerful, u....

Behind Jesus’ miracles and ministry is a habit that is easy for us to miss. He always had a rhythm to his life—a balance between extreme communal work and time alone.

I admit that I struggle with following Jesus’ rhythm of intense work and intentional....

Fame spread throughout the land regarding Jesus. And yet, popularity was not at all what he had come to attain or seek. Jesus was continually saying, “This is not about me—this is about the kingdom of heaven and my Father who sent me. See that in me.” Jesus sought out people who were willing t....

When the world seems out of control, words like the ones from our reading in Isaiah soothe me. At one time or another, all of us get a little carried away with our importance—surely with God, we must know just how important we are, how profoundly loved we are.

Two distinct theologies have developed around baptism. One, I call magic, and the other, I call decision. Magic requires no real change. Magic is terrible theology. God loves the unbaptized person—and indeed everyone, entirely, now, already—no matter what we do.

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Julia Chester Emery served as the national secretary of the Women’s Auxiliary of the Board of Missions for forty years, from 1876 to 1916. For the Episcopal Church, perhaps her most significant and longest-lasting legacy is the United Thank Offering.

The ....

Harriet Bedell was an Episcopal deaconess, first working with the Cheyenne people in Oklahoma. Later, she continued her work with indigenous people in Alaska, where she started a school in the small village of Tanana, a town I was blessed to visit several years ago. At the time, I had no idea Harrie....

Our guide in Cana told us this joke: “The wine is so bad in Cana that if Jesus were here today, he would turn the wine back into water.” I am not prepared to debate the truth of that statement, but Cana, Nazareth, Jerusalem, Jericho, and Hebron are all still cities—thriving, struggling, living....

The Epiphany of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is a celebration often missed in the flurry and exhaustion of Advent and Christmas. Nevertheless, the Feast of the Epiphany is the culmination of Christmas.

The magi went home, the story says, but they went b....

The word abide is defined as “to accept or act in accordance with (a rule, decision, or recommendation).” Abiding with Jesus means more than merely accepting or agreeing to spend time with him—it means living into and out of the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus.

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Born in 1774 in New York City, Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first person from the United States of America to be beatified by the Vatican. Mother Seton founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph, the first order of nuns in the United States. Seton’s name is on many schools and hospitals to this d....

As a youth, I stayed out way past my curfew. When I arrived in our neighborhood, I had my buddy turn off the headlights about a block away from my house. I slunk out of the car, tiptoed up the sidewalk, and gingerly opened our front door.

Just as I was abou....

Faith is a word that carries a lot of baggage in the religious world. It is bandied around easily by some and carefully avoided by others. Faith comes from the Greek word pistis, which (I would argue) is more akin to trust.

We have faith in many thi....

Mary treasuring and pondering all words she’d been hearing since her son’s birth may be one of the most loaded lines in scripture. “Treasuring the words” is an interesting take. “Pondering them,” even more. She treasured and pondered them, right up to the foot of the cross.

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If you knew Jerri, you knew one of the faces of Jesus. She was a beloved woman in our congregation who loved life and willingly gave herself to God and the service of God’s people.

Jerri was the first person to step up for anything. She joyfully decorated....

Camp Barnabas was a place I loved visiting as a child and young adult. A camp for disabled children and adults, Camp Barnabas was a place where many of us could feel relaxed and free to be ourselves, together with other disabled people. Some of us also served as staff volunteers, which I genuinely e....