…In Bible Study on Tuesday, we shared all the uses of salt we could think of. We talked, of course, about salt as an addition to food—to add its own flavor, yes, but also to enhance the flavor of the food itself, like that French fry. Salt makes things better. We talked about how salt can preserve and even cook food, making it easier to store and transport, and dependable in a pinch, pardon the pun. We talked about how salt is essential to the functioning of our bodies—again, not too much, but the right amount helps maintain the health and functioning of our nerves, muscles (including the heart), and fluid balance. We talked about an “old salt,” a title we give to certain people who seem to know the sea. That title means wisdom, and experience, and calm in the midst of the (sometimes literal) storm. Salt was used as currency in ancient days; people bartered with it. Salt was also used to seal agreements and covenants. Worship in the great Temple in Jerusalem included a covenant of salt. Salt was sprinkled on the offerings.

To say “You are the salt of the earth” is to say some combination of: You are trustworthy. You are wise. You have experience living in this world, and that counts for a lot. You can be the still point in the storm. You make things better…

Image: Sermon on the Mount, Persian miniature depicting Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount. Date is not identified, nor the artist. From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt University Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. 

https://act.library.vanderbilt.edu/artworks/57790 [retrieved September 2, 2026]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Persian_depiction_of_Jesus_-_Sermon_on_the_Mount.jpg

Where does this leave us? We, who live, increasingly, with the inner conflict of what to do when a person approaches us and asks for money. We, who probably think of ourselves as comfortable, but certainly not wealthy. As I write this, I’m looking at a beautiful painting in my living room. The thought of giving it up makes me feel awful, even a little desperate.

Yes, at the end, we read, “With God, all things are possible,” which isn’t as much of an out as we might hope it is. If all things are possible with God, then following Jesus’s command to the letter is possible, too. What can we do? What must we do?

Image: Tissot, James, 1836-1902. Rich Young Man Went Away Sorrowful, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt University Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://act.library.vanderbilt.edu/artworks/56647 [retrieved September 1, 2026]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brooklyn_Museum_-_The_Rich_Young_Man_Went_Away_Sorrowful_(Le_jeune_homme_riche_s%27en_alla_triste)_-_James_Tissot_-_overall.jpg.

…“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the majesty of the heavens.”

The first beatitude describes those who are lacking not only tangible, life-sustaining resources such as food, drink, adequate clothing, and adequate shelter, but also the heart and spirit to keep trying to survive. The idea that people such as this are “blessed” is shocking. But Jesus insists that God blesses these people, that God blesses these people particularly. What can this mean?

Image: Bruegel, Jan, 1568-1625. Seaside with the Sermon of Christ, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt University Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://act.library.vanderbilt.edu/artworks/49594 [retrieved September 1, 2026]. Originalsource: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Paintings_by_Jan_Brueghel_(I)_in_the_Alte_Pinakothek#/media/File:Jan_Bruegel_d._%C3%84._009.jpg.

There are three timelines that matter, for our understanding of today’s story.

·      The first is the timeline of Jesus, approximately the year 30 CE, when he walked the earth teaching, healing, and feeding people wherever he went.

·      The second is the timeline of the gospel of Matthew being committed to papyrus, what they used for paper in the late first century. That timeline is somewhere between the years 80 and 90 CE—fifty to sixty years after the crucifixion. This timeline includes all that was happening in the still-new church at that time.

·      The third is our timeline, the year 2026 CE, in the United States, in the Southern Tier of New York, gathered as the church, the body of Christ, here in this pavilion, where we can touch grass and smell the trees…

Image: Wesley, Frank, 1923-2002. Jai Krist, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt University Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://act.library.vanderbilt.edu/artworks/59245 [retrieved September 1, 2026]. Original source: Estate of Frank Wesley, http://www.frankwesleyart.com/main_page.htm.

…It must have been tough to be a disciple, following Jesus around and trying so hard to emulate his love and goodness, when all the while the voices of the people you left behind were probably echoing inside your head. “You’re going to do what? To leave your family behind? Your community? Your livelihood?” It would be natural to wonder where all this was heading. Was there… perhaps… fame and glory at the end of it all? After all, whether we’re talking about the year 30 in Palestine or the year 2026 in upstate New York, “who is the greatest” remains a constant concern. Who would be the winner? Who would be the greatest of all disciples?

This is not really a stretch. Kings and emperors have generally been considered great, even if they weren’t very good. Why shouldn’t the disciples anticipate some kind of power structure in which they too might have a position of greatness? Not as great as Jesus, of course. But great enough…

Anonymous. Jesus Welcomes All, Sudan, 21st century; from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt University Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://act.library.vanderbilt.edu/artworks/57406 [retrieved September 1, 2026]. Original source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/amyashcraft/13885591354/ - photographer identified as Amy the Nurse.

…Ruth needs a husband. This is because the role of women in the ancient Near and Middle East was to be married and to bare children. In the absence of those conditions, it was to be cared for and, essentially, owned, by a man, whether father or husband or brother. A woman without any of these was desperately vulnerable, which is exactly how Ruth and Noami arrive in Bethlehem. By the end of chapter 2, though, a prospect has been identified: Boaz. Not only a good man, and kind, but a man who might fulfill the need for Levirate marriage: To be the next-of-kin to marry a childless widow, so that her husband’s name would be carried on into future generations.

At the beginning of chapter 3, Naomi has a plan. It’s a simple one. Ruth must seduce Boaz…

August 9, 2026

Image: James He Qi, Ruth and Naomi, Oil on canvas, used with the artist’s permission. Copyright 2021, all rights reserved.

…Grief nearly does Naomi in. You heard her bitter words to her daughters-in-law. What, I’m supposed to get pregnant and provide you with sons all over again? That’s not going to happen. The story begins with the emptiness of loss. Loss of home, loss of loved ones, and loss of hope. Loss of that imagined, hoped-for future. Naomi seems ready to sink into this abyss of loss. She wants to be alone. She tries sending Ruth and Orpah away, and they resist. Eventually Orpah gives in, but Ruth stands firm. And then she entreats Naomi with such a powerful a statement of commitment, her words are often used as wedding vows.

“Where you go, I will go, where you abide, I will abide;
your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
Where you die, I will die, there will I be buried.
May the Holy One of Old do thus and more to me,
if even death parts me from you.”

Naomi relents. It is a quiet journey to Bethlehem, but Naomi is not alone….

Image: Kelly Latimore, Ruth and Naomi, Icon, used with the artist’s permission.

… Jesus tells us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. This can be challenging when there is a divide between us, and that divide can be any number of things. The divide in “American Harvest” is cultural, religious, experiential, and educational, but it can also be a divide of language, race, national origin, sexuality, gender expression, able-bodiedness, and more. We will always find ways in which we are not like one another. But love one another we must. How do we do this when so many things may be seen as divides we cannot cross?

It’s always good to remember that love isn’t necessarily a feeling. Love, in its simplest terms, is an action, a verb. We love with our actions. We can feel awkward with someone who seems to be on the other side of a divide, but we can still be welcoming, we can still be hospitable. We can open our hearts in the way Marie seeks to, and, in the words of the great Ted Lasso, “Be curious, not judgmental.” When we don’t understand someone, we can ask a question that will help us, in one tiny way, to know them better. Ask a question you would be comfortable answering… “Do you like music, or sports, or…” and you can fill in the blank. Start gently. And always, remind yourself: We don’t have to agree with people to love them. We don’t have to approve of their values to demonstrate simple kindness and compassion…

Image: Joachim Kohler, Malanser Weintrauben (Grapes from Malans), Bündner Herrschaft, Switzerland, 2021. Used by permission. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Malanser_Weintrauben.jpg.

…Jesus said, when asked what was the greatest commandment, “Hear O Israel, the Lord, your God, is One. You shall love the Lord with your whole heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. And, he said, the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

In this glimpse of the earliest, post-Pentecost house-churches, we see people who have learned and are continuing to learn how to live out both these commandments. They are loving God with their heart and soul, mind and strength, by studying, and praying, and breaking bread together. And they are loving their neighbors by caring for them, from each according to their ability to each according to their need.

And, it is also true that loving God and loving neighbor blend and blur a bit here. When we love our neighbor, who is made in God’s image, we are loving God. Of course we are. And when we love God, we learn quickly that we can’t love God, whom we cannot see, if we don’t love our neighbor, whom we can see. And these early followers of the Way are doing both. And, so are we…


The Body of Christ, Canva, P. Raube, 6-2026.

…We can love our country with our body by doing something as weighty as enlisting in the military, or something as uplifting as working in one of our national parks. We can love our country by teaching in a public school, or by showing up on election day and exercising the right and privilege of voting. We can love our country by celebrating with a barbecue and fireworks and singing a patriotic song.

We can love our country by exercising our right to free speech. We may do this by writing a letter to our congressperson. We may do this by taking part in a demonstration when we believe our government is not living into its promise of the right for all to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…


Image: Caspel, Johann Georg van, 1870-1928. Vineyard, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57595 [retrieved May 29, 2026]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:W._Hoogstraaten_%26_Co._Fijne_groenten,_Huishoudgroenten_Soepen_en_Sausen.jpg.

…Our soul, or spirit, is our entire essence. Spiritually speaking. is the energizing force of each human being, breathed into us by God at creation, and it’s where our intellect and our conscience reside. Through the soul we can understand God as an immortal essence, and we can comprehend and treasure things like justice and honesty. Our soul is who we are created to be. Because the soul is immortal, we can trust in life beyond the lifespan of these bodies. [ii]

So what, then, is the heart? The heart and the soul are inextricable from one another. The heart is a part of the soul. The heart is our emotional and moral center. While the soul is entirely God’s, and can influence the heart, the heart is also open to other influences, not from God. Last week I spoke of the questions we may ask of God—the Why questions. These come from the heart, because the heart is open to all experiences and may well wonder why God permits the things that happen in our world…

Image: Mosaic from Lullingstone Villa, a 4th century house-church in the British Isles, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54395 [retrieved May 29, 2026]. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mharrsch/135554275/.

…Through Calvin I learned that God is revealed to us both through the world we live in AND through scripture. Here’s the passage.

Since the perfection of blessedness consists in the knowledge of God, he has been pleased, in order that none might be excluded… not only to deposit in our minds that seed of religion of which we have already spoken, but so to manifest his perfections in the whole structure of the universe, and daily place himself in our view, that we cannot open our eyes without being compelled to behold him.[i]

 Long story short, God is always putting Godself right in our faces. A howling rainstorm. Seeds we plant, which then sprout and grow. A sunset. The mighty pounding of ocean waves. The gentle trickle of a flowing river. In her gorgeous novel, The Color Purple, Alice Walker has her character Shug describe it this way:

 “I think it [ticks] God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.”[ii] Shug trusts that God created the universe and made it gloriously beautiful, including the color purple in a field, for us….

Image: Andō, Tadao, 1941-. Interior of the Church of the Light, Ibaraki Kasugaoka Church, Ibaraki, Japan, 1999. From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=58956 [retrieved May 29, 2026]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Church_of_Light.JPG.

…Our world, alas, does not seem to be aligned with Jesus’s teaching on this matter. And let’s be honest with ourselves. This teaching is not unique to Jesus. He draws on his own tradition, which today we know as Judaism, where love of God and neighbor—especially our vulnerable neighbor—take precedence. Islam emphasizes two types of love—divine love and human love. Hinduism teaches five stages of love. Buddhism teaches four elements of true love. Sikhism emphasizes love for God and God’s creation as one of five chief virtues. Christians don’t own “love God and love neighbor.” It is taught in every major religion.

Still, there seems to a dearth of love, which the world sorely needs. Dozens upon dozens of wars are raging on—not just the ones we hear about in the news. Nations are divided against themselves, and our own nation is a prime example of that division. There rise of the scapegoats is with us, people being singled out so that others can cast their scorn, derision, and hatred upon them. These are all distinctly unloving actions…

Image: Tiffany, Louis Comfort, 1848-1933. View of Oyster Bay, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57751 [retrieved June 12, 2026]. Original source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bobistraveling/6886465855.

… As I prepare to enter the next chapter of my life, I look at the scripture I read a few minutes ago. In Matthew 13:31-32, Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a mustard seed. Though it is one of the smallest seeds, it grows into the largest tree that provides shelter for birds. When Jesus told this parable, he taught us an important lesson about growth and potential.

In today's world, it is easy to feel small as an individual and doubt your ability to make change. Because of this, young people wonder whether our voices matter or whether we are ready for the responsibilities that lie ahead. As I prepare to graduate and begin a new journey, I feel some of that uncertainty myself.

But the mustard seed reminds us that God does not measure us by our size, age, or experience. God sees what we can become…

Image: Anonymous, Parable of the Mustard Seed, a painted window at the YMCA training center for German leadership in Kassel, Germany. Circa: 2000. Photo by tin.G. From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55890 [retrieved May 29, 2026]. Original source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tin-g/90272565.

…The original formula of Trinity is this: God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or as theologian Sandra Schneiders described it, two men and a bird. And for two millennia, this has held: the central language we know for the Trinity is male. Even the Spirit, which in Greek is a neutral noun and in Hebrew is a feminine noun, is often given masculine pronouns. In an interview and in her writing, Schneiders asked the question: Why has the church limited the language we use for so long, when scripture itself offers us the images of God as diverse as mother, father, friend, sower, baker, lamb, gate, water, wind, fire, and light? In fact, the solidification of our understanding of God as being male when our theology reminds us that God is pure spirit has resulted in harm to women throughout the ages, harm that still carries forward to our day. To quote another theologian, Mary Daly, “If God is male, then male is God.”…


Image: Joó, Zoltán. Holy Trinity, painted coffered ceiling (Public Art) in the doorway of the Holy Spirit Church, Veresegyház, Hungary. from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57916 [retrieved May 26, 2026]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coffered_ceiling_by_Zolt%C3%A1n_Jo%C3%B3,_Holy_Spirit_Church,_2019_Veresegyh%C3%A1z.jpg.

It’s interesting… let’s say, it’s important… that our passage begins with the sentence, “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in the same place.” In fact, they were waiting for Pentecost. Not this Pentecost, which, this year, we are celebrating with fiery balloons, and streamers, and the color red, and the sound of the bells of angels in our sanctuary. But their Pentecost, the Jewish feast of Pentecost. While our Pentecost celebrates the birth of the church—the coming of the Spirit of the living God in a wild and unmistakable and overwhelming way—the Jewish Pentecost celebrates God’s gift of the Torah, the law, the moment when Moses descends from Mount Sinai with the tablets, his face shining with the light of God, Godself. My understanding is that devout Jews await this by getting together for all-nighters, during which they study Torah—the first five books of the bible—and eat things that contain milk and honey, such as ice cream and cheesecake. I would like to put in a request to the Presbyterian powers-that-be that we, too, find a way to get in on this deal, because it sounds amazing.

But back to the important thing: the disciples, who are named in chapter 1 as consisting of both women and men, are all together in one room. And it’s my bet that, they, too, are studying Torah with all their might, continuing to seek out the wisdom that God has for them in this liminal, transitional moment.

Because Jesus is gone. Again. Gone from their sight and touch and tables. And Jesus has given them all kinds of words of encouragement, and wisdom, and the promise that the Spirit of the living God is coming, but they don’t know when…

Image: Isaac Helgeson-Roode, Radial Design, block cut, 2026. Used with permission of the artist.

…At Jesus’s arrival in Bethany, Martha goes out from the house to meet him. By Martha’s calculations, Jesus is late. Her first words are, “Rabbi, if you had been here, my brother would never have died.” Do we hear reproach in Martha’s voice? Is she angry? We have only words on page. We don’t have access to the faces, the eyes, or the hands of Martha and Jesus, so often those revealers of our innermost selves.

But the next words out of Martha’s mouth take on a different tone. This is not a reproach; it’s a plea. And not only a plea, but a strong statement of faith: “Yet even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you”…


Image: Vincent Van Gogh, “The Raising of Lazarus” (1890, in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France), Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Public Domain.

…The Sadducees have an issue with resurrection. The issue is, they don’t believe in it. That Jesus has a reputation for raising people from the dead doesn’t sit well with them, and they probably don’t believe that he’s done any such thing. In fact, they don’t believe in the immortality of the soul, and they don’t believe in heaven or hell. They do believe in the importance of scripture, and also in philosophical and religious debate. And they believe that human beings have free will.

But today, their concern is resurrection. They bring this riddle to Jesus: Whose wife will she be in the afterlife (which they don’t believe in), after marrying all seven brothers?

I’ve told lots of you about my mother, growing up in church, attending a religious school, and asking a lot of questions. So many, that the teacher finally asked her, “Are you a convert, dear?” Asking questions was not necessarily a good thing in that context. The answer, my mother said, was almost always, “It’s a mystery.”

This is true. So much of our faith is a mystery. Surely resurrection, of all things, is the greatest of these. It makes no sense. There is no explanation. And trying to understand takes you down a long and frustrating road.

Still, it holds us. It captivates us. At least once a year, we ponder it at some length. We sit in the stillness of wonder.

Or, maybe we don’t….


Image: Leonard Nimoy, Shekhina, Photograph, 93-4, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54186 [retrieved March 26, 2026]. Original source: www.RMichelson.com -- courtesy R. Michelson.

There once was a great, joyful story,

That started with sadness and worry.

Though Jesus had died,

God’s power applied,

And Jesus was raised up in glory!

And yet, that great tale was not ended

Because all whom Jesus befriended,

Still playing the blues,

Awaited the news,

Upstairs in a room well-defended…

Image: Thomas Touches Jesus’ Side (Anonymous), 10th Century, Ivory carving, Bode-Museum, Berlin, Germany, http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=58937.