[I originally wrote this post three years ago, the last time these readings came up in the lectionary, and it was still the message that was on my heart for them. If you'd like a more focused discussion of the Beatitudes, please see my two posts on them from the Back to Basics series, here … Continue reading What God Requires of Us: A Reflection on Micah 6.1-8 and Matthew 5.1-12 [Re-Post]
While they say history is written by the victors, sometimes it’s written by the survivors — people trying to understand and contextualize what has happened to their people. This seems to be the case with the mysterious group of historians known to scholars as the Deuteronomists, whose hands are all over the books of Deuteronomy, … Continue reading The God of the Historians
Last time, we looked at early Israel’s charismatic theocracy, in which Israel was a loose confederation of tribes united by faith, language, and heritage, but who were largely left to their own local governance. In times of national crisis, God would raise up a leader who could rally the tribes to the cause. But, as … Continue reading The God of the Kingdom(s)
Last week, we saw how the departure of some of John the Baptist’s disciples to follow Jesus was not a rejection of John’s ministry, but its fulfillment, and how, as followers of Jesus we too much point to him through our thoughts, words, and actions. Today’s readings bring our attention to the second half of … Continue reading The Ups and Downs of Fishing: A Reflection on Matthew 4.12-23
You may have guessed from the lists of books I mention here every other week that I'm a quick reader. But it's also true that I have a strong preference to shorter fiction, which plumps up the numbers of books read. But much of the past two weeks since I last popped in here were … Continue reading Culture Roundup (January 24, 2026): On Big Books
Matthew Root 