Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
The Gospel and the Passion for Judgment

The Gospel and the Passion for Judgment

Last updated on: July 19, 2020 at 2:01 pm by Frederick Schmidt

The Gospel and the Passion for Judgment 2020-07-19T14:01:53-06:00 Frederick Schmidt

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

It’s not often that I connect the Sunday lectionary with my observations here. But The parable of tares, or weeds (Mt 13:24-30, 35-43) offers wisdom for the circumstances we face today. For reference, here is the text:

The Parable of the Weeds

24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds[a] among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants[b] of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

The Parable of the Weeds Explained

36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. (ESV)

The Gospel is a difficult one, but we have heard it so often, that I think the impact of it is all but lost on us. A paraphrase may help us to hear it anew:

Jesus put before the crowd another not-so-thinly-veiled-parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good people in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed bad people among the good people, and then went away. So when the people grew up and it became clear what kind of people they were, then the bad people appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good people in your field? Where, then, did these bad people come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather up the bad people?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the bad people up you would uproot the good people along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the bad people first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the good people into my barn.’”

Jesus didn’t pull his punches here, so, let’s not evade the challenge of this parable. The following truths become immediately apparent:

We aren’t talking about farming.
We are talking about the state of the world.
We aren’t talking about wheat and weeds.
We are talking about people.
Specifically, we are talking about people who are good (which Jesus understands as those who hear and do the will of God).
And people who are bad (which Jesus understands as those who refuse to hear and do the will of God).
We are also talking about mystified disciples, who are a stand-in for you and for me.
They are surprised by the presence of evil in the world. We often are as well.
They would like to fix it – now, if not, then next week. And so would we.
And they want to know if Jesus would authorize them to do the weeding.

Jesus is also pretty clear:

The presence of those who refuse to do and hear the will of God is the work of “the enemy.”
And, no, he isn’t going to give his disciples (and, by extension, you and me) permission to do the weeding.
That could do unforeseen damage. Weeding is God’s job and God will do it.
Effectively, Jesus tells them, “Keep planting, I’ve got this.”

As tough and uncompromising as this parable is, it is also really helpful, if we sit with its lessons – especially, if we are looking for spiritual direction in tough times. So, I would like to highlight a series of insights that I think that this story offers.

One, don’t be discouraged, there are always weeds.

So far, 2020 has offered up its share of weeds. There has been a lot to cope with: a pandemic that has taken lives around the world and threatened others; a global, economic shut-down that has threatened the livelihood and security of millions; racial tensions around the globe have surfaced in new ways; and, if we look beyond our own national borders there are still other challenges. Christians are being martyred in Nigeria; the independence of Hong Kong is threatened by China; the relationship between North and South Korea has deteriorated – and those are just a few of the problems that we face.

When events of this kind occur, and they disrupt our lives, the natural response is disillusionment. We tell ourselves: “This isn’t the way things are meant to be.” “How can these things happen?” “I thought that we were making such good progress.” “I thought the arc of history bends toward justice.”

There is a lot of confusion and grief to shoulder these days. But disillusionment is not one that we need to accommodate. Disillusionment is a corrosive force. It is a distraction. It is based upon false expectations and dangerously, it looks for someone to blame. It can also be debilitating. A sense of helplessness sets in and constructive efforts come to a halt.

Jesus is clear. Things are going to be this way. In fact, they were already “this way” for our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world before the pandemic hit. Christians were already being martyred in Egypt and Nigeria. The freedom of Hong Kong was already threatened and Christians there and in mainline China were already struggling with the threat of suppression. There was already evidence every weekend of the year that communities in our inner cities were torn by violence.

Hear me clearly: This doesn’t mean that these things are acceptable. But it does mean that as Christians we are called to deal with the world as we find it, not the world as we wish it would be. Finding spiritual direction in hard times doesn’t mean escaping challenge. It means finding ways to be available to God’s purposes in the middle of the challenges that we face. And that can’t be done if indulge despair every time things don’t go the way we wish they had.

Two, the parable teaches us that the things we fine discouraging about our world represent a spiritual struggle.

Sociology, psychology, political science, economics, and other disciplines have things to teach us. But Jesus is uncompromising with his disciples. We do not completely understand the world around us unless we understand the spiritual dimension of the problems we face.

That means that civic debates over national issues will always be incomplete to some degree. Not because there isn’t truth to be found there. All truth is God’s truth. But because in a civic conversation that does not share our understanding of the world, the truth we find there will always be fragmentary.

Take for example, our public conversation about rights. When we talk about human rights, nationally we think of them as God-given – maybe – but not all Americans believe in God, so many of our fellow citizens believe that rights are somehow universal or protected by the Bill of Rights and other founding documents.

But, for us, as Christians, we believe that human rights are rooted in something both deeper and transcendent. They rest in the fact that we believe that all human beings are made in the image of God. Our reverence for human life is rooted, then, in the conviction that our lives are God’s work and God’s gift. Determining what that requires of us is a tough and demanding business, of course, and because we bear that responsibility, there is no way of discharging that responsibility simply through laws or legislation.

But what the parable teaches us is that we are nowhere understanding what any challenge requires of us until we locate the spiritual dimension of that challenge.

Three, we are not the world’s judges.

Clearly, the disciples are ready for that job. Shall we wade in and sort them out?

And Jesus is equally clear: No, don’t do that, you will do more damage than good.

You can see the consequences of failing to do that all around us today. The high price of self-righteousness is and always has been destruction and division – both of which carry us further from healing and restoration.

Why does Jesus tell his disciples this?

One, no one ever grew spiritually by judging someone else. Spiritual growth is an inside job. If I am busy trying to decide whether your behavior is wheat-like or weed-like, I am not engaged in the business of listening to God’s word for my life.

Two, I can’t be certain what is going on in your life. Doing spiritual direction with others, I’ve learned that it is only after you patiently listen to another person’s spiritual journey, do you learn what drives them. I knew one woman who was dying, who repeatedly expressed her dread about dying. On the surface of things, one might have assumed that she was simply afraid of death itself. It was only after a long conversation that I learned – and she learned – that the real reason she feared dying was because she did not believe that God could forgive her for things that she had done in her life. It was praying for forgiveness and learning that God forgave her that freed her. And any judgment that I might have made at the outset would have been completely wrong.

Three, judgment forecloses on grace. One of the truly poisonous and destructive characteristics of American life today lies in the public judgments and personal attacks that have become so common. To do this to other human beings is a violation of everything we know about the love and mercy of God. And that is bad enough. But, to make matters worse, when we judge others, we foreclose on God’s grace, declaring our brothers and sisters beyond redemption and forgiveness and – in so doing – we reveal more about the state of our own hearts than we do the hearts of those we judge. The parable that Jesus tells doesn’t just suggest that we aren’t capable of judging others, it holds out hope for all of us. Hope that we can change. Hope that we can love and allow ourselves to be loved.

The fourth lesson the parable has to teach us is this: Be patient, be faithful, keep planting.

More than once in the Gospels, Jesus makes it clear that God is in charge and that God will bring things to a conclusion when God sees fit. That’s part of the reason that we should not look to history for evidence of where God is taking us or when God will bring things to a conclusion.

Our Jewish brothers and sisters must have thought that the end was upon them, when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. They must have thought that was the case during the Holocaust. Americans had reason to believe that things were at an end during the Civil War and again, during both World Wars.

But just because we can’t know where God is taking us and just because we don’t get to be God’s judges, doesn’t mean that we don’t have things to do, or that we are called to be passive. We have been entrusted with the good news that in Jesus, the reign of God has begun. And that good news means that our relationship with God and with one another can be healed. God loves us more than we love ourselves and our lives are meant for glory.

That’s an important message to embrace these days, and it is profoundly different from the dominate message of our day which seems to be, “Tell me who to hate and how to destroy them.” But it will take courage to preach that message, and it will require confidence in the Lord of the harvest.

Photo by Daniel Páscoa on Unsplash

Previous Post

July 10, 2020

America’s New Religion and the Scandal of the Cross

Next Post

July 27, 2020 Sin and guilt have made a comeback…but they aren’t what they used to be.

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category "cultured despisers" "Knife: Meditations after an Attempted Murder" "Mountaintop" Experiences "The Second Coming" 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 1 Thessalonians 5:4-6 1 Timothy 1:12-17 1 Timothy 1:14 1776 21st Century 24-Hour News Cycle 250 Anniversary 9/11 Abide abortion Abraham Abraham Cycle Absolution Abuse ACNA Acts Acts 2 Advent Advent 3 Advent One Afghanistan Aging Agnosticism Agnostics Akedah Al Mohler Albert Mohler Albert Outler All Saints All Saints Day Allies Ally ALS Alzheimer's America AMIA Amy Coney Barrett Anarchists Anarchy Anger Anglican Anglican Church Anglican Communion Animals Anniversaries of Loss anorexia Anxiety Apocalypse Apocalyptic Apocalyptic Dread apocalyptic literature Apologetic Theology Apologize Apology Apostle Apostle Paul Archbishop Desmond Tutu Archbishop of Canterbury Art Acevedo Asbury University Ascension Ash Wednesday Ashes to Go Ashes with glitter Atheism Atheists Atonement Augustine Authority Authors Awake Awareness Baptism Baptism and Eucharist Baptism by fire Baptism by Spirit and by Fire Baptism of Christ Baptism of the Holy Spirit Baptismal Covenant baptismal vows Baptizing Jesus Baton Rouge BBC BCP Beatitudes Belief Believing Benedict Benedict's Rule Benedictine Benefactor Beneficiary Benton Johnson Beth Dutton Bexley Bi-vocational Ministry Bible biblical creation Biblical Interpretation Biblical Narrative Big Bang Bill Brosend Bill of Rights Bioethics Bishops Black Lives Matter Blessed Board of Examining Chaplains Body Image Body of Christ Book of Common Prayer Book of Discipline Book of Revelation Book subtitles Book titles Books Boomers Boundaries Bret Weinstien Brian Thompson Buddy Christ Buffalo Buildings bulemia C. S. Lewis C.S. Lewis Call Call of God Calling Camp Mystic Cancel Culture Cancer Capitulation Care for the Poor Care giving Catechesis Cathedrals Catholic Catholicism Celebratory Theology Celtic Spirituality Celts CES Chaplains Charlie Gard Charlie Hebdo Charlie Hedbo Charlie Kirk ChatGPT Children Children's Grief Awareness Day Christ Christ as Judge Christ our Passover Christ the King Christian Christian Conscience Christian education Christian formation Christian leadership Christian life Christian response to violence Christian Spiritual Journey Christian Spirituality Christianity Christmas Christmas Eve Christmastide Christy Thomas Church Church and State Church growth Church of England Church planting Church revitalization Church vitality church weddings Civic discourse Clergy Clergy Spouses climate change Clinton Cognicide Collect Common Prayer Communication Communicative Theology Communion Community Comparative religious studies Compassion Conciliar Christianity Confession Confirmation Conflict congregational life Congregational Vitality congregations Conscience Consciousness conspiracy theories Constitution Consumers Context Conventions Conversion Coptic Christians Coptic Church Coronavirus Councils Counselors Covenant School Covid Covid-19 Crackers and Grape Juice creation creation debate Creationism Creator Critical Theology Cross Crucifixion Cultural Christianity Culture Cure of Souls Dallas Damon Linker David Harbour Deacons Dead Poets Society Dean R. Hoge Death Death and Dying Death of Innocents death of the young Decline Deconstruct Deconstructionism Deconstructionists Definition of Woman Dementia Democracy Democrats Denominational decline Denominational Leaders Denominations Derision Desmond Tutu Diane Feinstein Difference difference of opinion dignity of all human beings Disability Disagreement Disaster Discernment Discipleship Discrimination Disillusionment Dispensationalism Dispute Resolution Diversity Divine love Divine Mercy Divorce Doctrine of the Trinity Dogma Dogs Donal Trump Donald A. Luidens Donald Trump Dones Dorothy Sayers Doubt Doubting Thomas Dreams Dreams and Dreamwork dunamis Easter Eastertide Ecclesiology Economic Shutdown Ecumenism Education Egeria election Election Day Election Night Elizabeth Jeannette Taylor Moulin Elizabeth Lesser Ellie Wiesel Emilio Gentile Epiphany Episcopacy Episcopal Church Episcopal Church Building Fund Episcopal Divinity School Episcopal Elections Epistle to the Hebrews Equity Esau Esau and Israel Esau and Jacob eschatological expectation Eschatology Eternal Life Eternity ethics Eucharist Eucharistic Spirituality Evangelicalism Evangelicals Evangelism Evangelist Evil evolution Examen Exploitation Faith Faith and politics Faith Formation Family Fatherhood Fathers Feeding of the Multitude Feminism First Responders Flag Flood Foot washing Footwashing Forgiveness Formation Fortitude Founder Fourth of July Frederick Douglass Freedom Freedom of Speech Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Schleiermacher Friend Friends Friendship Fruit of the Spirit fundagelicals Fundamentalism Fundamentalism and Politics Fundamentalist Christianity Fundamentalist vs. Progressive Christianity fundamentists Funeral Directors Funeral Industry Funerals Future Futuring GAFCON Galatians 5:22-23 Galileo Gen X General Conference General Convention General Ordination Examination General Theological Seminary Generation Generation X Generational Differences Generations Genesis Genesis 22 Genesis 32:3-32; 33:1-11 Genesis 40-41 George Floyd George W. Truett Theological Seminary Giving Global Church Global North Global South Globalization God God of the gaps God with us Good Fridauy Good Friday Good Samaritan Google Gordon-Conwell Gospel Gospel of Mark Gospel of Matthew Gospels Grace Gratitude Greatness Grief Grief Awareness Month Grit Guilt Gun control Gun Violence Guns Habakkuk Hal Lindsey Hamas Harmonial Religion Harry Potter Healing and Restoration Health care professionals Heaven and hell Helping Professions Henri Nouwen Higher Education Hillary Clinton history Hobby Lobby Hold my mule Holidays Holocaust Holy Family Holy Spirit Holy Thursday Holy Week Homeless Homiletics Hope Hospitality Hotel California House of Bishops Hugh Hefner human dignity Humility Hypocrisy I Corinthians Identity if your pastor doesn't Ignatius of Loyola II Corinthians illness image of God Immanuel Immigration Immortality Incarnation Inclusion Independence Day Independents Infant baptism Inheritor Inspiration Instagram Intergenerational relationships Internet Intimacy Irenaeus of Lyons ISIS Islam Islamic Fundamentalism Israel Israelis Jacob James Pike James Stewart Jascha Mounk Jeff Hardin Jeffrey Epstein Jesus Jesus as Judge Jesus Christ Jesus followers Joan Chittester Job's Comforters Job's Friends jobs Joe Biden John 13 John 15 John 18:33-37 John 1:1-18 John Lewis John McWhorter John Shelby Spong John the Baptist John Wesley John's Gospel Johnb 1:1-18 Johns Hopkins University Jonah Jonah 1:11-16 Jonah 2 Jordan Peterson Joseph Journalism Journey Jr. Judging Jesus Judgment July 4 Justice Justin Welby Karl Menninger Karl Rahner Kate Spelman Ken Burns Kenosis Kentucky Kevin Ho Kingdom of God Kings Kings of Israel Knowledge KY Labor Lament Lance Armstrong Language Larry Ellison Lawyers Lazarus Leadership Leadership and Fear Left Behind Lent Leon Kass Lex Credendi Liberal Protestantism Liberalism Life poured out Limitation Litigation Liturgical Revision Liturgy Living in the moment Lk 6:17-26 Loneliness Long-Term Care Lord of the Rings Los Angeles Loss Louise Perry Love Love Command luches toward Bethlehem Luke 10 Luke 12:49-56 Luke 14:13-14 Luke 14:28-30 Luke 18:1-8 Luke 19:1-10 Luke 21 Luke 21:25-36 Luke 21:27-28 Luke 24:36-48 Luke 3:15-17 Luke 3:7-14 Luke 4:1-13 Luke 6:27-38 Luke 9:1-13 lvation Madonna Magic Mainline Protestantism Manchester Mandalorians Marcus Borg Marilyn Monroe Mark 13 Mark Driscoll Mark Sandlin marriage Mars Hill Martin Luther King Martin Scorcese martyr Marxists Mary Mass Murder Mass Shootings Masters of Divinity Materialism Materialist Matthew 13 Matthew 20:1-16 Maundy Thursday Medical Ethics Meditatio Meetings MegaChurch Meister Eckhart Memes Memorialist Men Mentoring Menu Mercy Mere Christianity Messiah Complex Metaphor Methodism Methodist Church Micah 6:8 Micah Jackson Michael Curry Michael Tobin Millennials Minds ministers Ministry Ministry of Reconciliation Minneapolis Minya Miracles Miracles and the Kingdom of God Mission Monastic spirituality Money Montana Moral Inventory Moral Theologies (aka Ethics) Moral Theology Moral Therapeutic Deism morality Mortality Mother of Jesus Mother Teresa of Calcutta Mothers Mt 11:2-3 Mt 13:54-58 Mt 24:36-44 Mt 3:13-15 murder Murder of Brian Thompson Music Musicians Name-calling Nashville National Children's Grief Awareness Month NATO Natural Disaster Neo-Nazis Neurological Diseases Never Again New Atheists New Testament Studies New Year New Year's Resolutions News cycle NFL Nicene Creed Non-denom Non-Man Nones Normal Norman Perrin Notre Dame Nurses Nursing Homes NYC October 7 Online Services Online worship Open Communion opinion Oprah Winfrey Oracle Ordained life Order of St. Benedict Ordination Orthodox Palestinians Palm Sunday Palm Sunday Liturgy Pandemic Parable of the Generous Landowner Parable of the Tares Parable of the Weeds Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard Parenting Parents Paris Parish Growth Parish Revitalization Parkinson's Part-time Ministry Partisanship Passover Pastoral Care Pastoral Leadership pastors Patheos Patriotism Paul PayPal Peace Penal Substitution Penal Substitutionary Atonement Pentecost People of Ukraine Perkins School of Theology Peter Peter Thiel Pets Pew Foundation Pharisees Pharoah Philippians 2:5-8 Physical violence Physicians Pit Playboy Plot Politics Politics and Spirituality Politics and the Pulpit Poor Possession Post-Christian Post-Christianity Post-modernism Poverty power Pray Prayer Prayer Book Revisiton Prayer in public Prayerbook revision pre-marital counseling Preaching Prejudice President President of the United States Presidential Candidates presidential election Presidential Primaries Presiding Bishop Priesthood priests Priests and Politics Prima Scriptura Primitive Christianity Prince Andrew Prison Problem of Suffering Professional boundaries Program Progressive Christianity Progressive Protestantism Progressives Prophet Prophetic Speech Protest Protestant Reformation Protestantism PRRI Public Discourse Public Office Public Policy Public Prayer Publishers punching down punching up Putin Racism Radical Feminism Razib Kahn real presence Reconciliation Regret Relationship Relationship with Jesus Relationships Religion Religion and Politics Religious News Service Repentance Republicans Resilience Resurrection Retirement homes Revelation Reversal Revival Richard Dawkins Righteous Indignation Rights Robert W. Lyon Robin DiAngelo Robin Williams Rock Concert Roman Catholic Church Romans 13:1-7 Ronald A. Binzley Ronald L. Numbers Rosh Hashanah Rough beast Rowan Williams Royal Wedding Rueben P. Job Rule of Life running Russia Ruth Bader Ginsburg sacrament Sacramental Sacraments Sacred Space Sacrifice of Isaac SAG Awards Saints Salman Rushdie Salvation Sanctification Sarah Mullally Sarah Olson Saving Work of God SBNR SBNRs Schism School safety School shootings Science Science and Christianity Science and Religion Scientific rationalism Scot McKnight Scripture Seabury Seabury-Bexley Second Corinthians Seeing Seekers Self-Care Self-examination Self-Governance semeia Seminarians Seminaries Seminary Seminary education Seneca Sentimentality Sequel Sergey Brin Sermon Preparation Sermons Servant Service SETs Sex Sexism Sexual Harrassment Sexual Revolution Shame Shanghai Shenandoah Shutdown signs Silence Sin Sin and Guilt Skepticism Slavery Snake Pit Snakes Sobriety Social agenda Social Media Sola Scriptura Solidarity Son of Man Soren Kierkegaard Sorrow Soteriology Soul Care South Africa Southern Baptist Church Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Sovereignty speaking truth to power Speech Spin Spiritual Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Community Spiritual Direction Spiritual Directors International Spiritual Disciplines Spiritual Formation Spiritual Formaton Spiritual growth Spiritual Guidance Spiritual journey Spiritual Leadership Spiritual maturity Spiritual Perspectives Spiritual practice Spiritual Receptivity Spirituality Spiritually awake Squirrel Hill St. Francis of Assisi St. Ignatius St. Ignatius of Loyola St. John Chrysostom St. Matthew St. Paul Star Wars Stephen Hawking Steven Charleston Stewardship Stoicism Story Stranger Things Stuck Student Evaluations Suffering Suffering Messiah Suicide supernatural Supreme Court Syria Søren Kierkegaard Teaching of Jesus TEC TED Talk Television Temple Temptation Temptation of Jesus teras Termination of Care Terrorism Test Pattern testimony Texas Texas Hill Country Thanksgiving The 12 Disciples The Ascension The Avengers The Body of Christ The Book of Job The centre cannot hold The Church and Covid-19 The Church and Online Communities The Dave Test The Dual Commandment The Episcopal Church The Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem The Feast of St. Matthew The future The Good The Gospel of John The Grave The Great Pastor Resignation The Kingdom of God The Language of Derision The Last Seven Words of Jesus The Last Temptation The Law The Lord's Prayer The Mandalorian the means of salvation The New American Spirituality The New Normal The Parable of the Good Samaritan The Parable of the Sower The Peace The Problem of Pain The Saints Go Marching In The Thursday of Holy Mysteries The Trinity The United Methodist Church The War on Poverty The Week The Weight of Glory The White Helmets the wrong side of history Theodicy Theodore Dalrymple Theological Education Theology theories of communion Theosis Therapy Thomas Aquinas Thomas Attig Thomas Merton Thomas O'Loughlin Thought and prayers Tiger Woods Tim Keller Tim LaHaye Tithing Tolerance Torah Tornado Totalitarianism Trade Towers Tradition Tragedy Transfiguration transubstantiation Travel Trinity Trinity Episcopal Church Trump Trust Truth Turmoil TX Ukraine Uncategorized Unemployment Union Theological Seminary United Methodist Church United States United States and the Holocaust United States Armed Forces United States Congress United States of America Unity Universal Communion Until We Have Faces violence Virginia Virtual Church Virtue Virtues Vision Vladimir Putin Vocation Volodymyr Zelensky Voting Vow of Stability W. B. Yeatts War Washington National Cathedral Way Wealth wedding weddings Wesleyan Western Civilization Whataboutism When Suffering Persists White Supremacists Will of God William D. Davidson William J. Abraham witness Woman Women Women's bodies wonder Woody Allen Words Work World War II world weariness Worship Writers Yellowstone Youth Ministry Zacchaeus Zealots

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 November 2018 October 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 August 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz