Back of the Bulletin

Every Holy Week, Christians around the world gather to remember the death of Jesus. But it’s worth asking a question that has been answered badly and with terrible consequences for much of Christian history. Who actually killed Jesus? The short answer is: the Roman state. Crucifixion was a Roman method of execution. A Roman governor signed the order. Roman soldiers…

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a German pastor and theologian who very well could have sat out the Nazi era quietly. He was educated, respected, and had an open invitation to wait out the war safely in America. He chose to return to Germany instead, believing that silence and safety were a kind of moral failure. Bonhoeffer drew a sharp distinction…

When the Gospels talk about people afflicted by evil spirits, most of us hear that through a modern filter. Either we picture something out of a horror movie, or we quietly set the whole idea aside as pre-scientific thinking. Both reactions miss what’s actually going on. In first-century Judaism, “spirit” language was the primary framework for talking about forces beyond…

Let it be known: prayer is for progressive Christians. At its heart, prayer is about connection with the God who made us and sustains us. In prayer, we remember we are not self-created beings but belong to a love larger than all our striving. In the Psalms, we see people come to God with rage and doubt, confessions and thanksgivings.…

Lent is the forty day season before Easter, a slow walk with Jesus toward the cross and, finally, toward new life. Many churches begin with the imposition of ashes. A small cross traced on the forehead and the words, “Remember that you are dust” tell the truth about our limits. We are fragile and finite. The ashes are not about…

Taxes in Jesus’ day were not a background detail. They were a crushing, layered burden that shaped every meal and every decision. People paid Roman tribute, local tolls, and a temple tax, often all in the same year. The work of collection was done by locals. These collectors paid Rome upfront, then recovered the cost by charging their neighbors more.…

In the first century, disease was a constant companion. People lived close together, clean water was scarce, and injuries often turned dangerous. A simple infection could become life changing or fatal, especially for the poor. Illness was also confusing. Germ theory did not exist, so causes were guessed at through daily experience and religious tradition. Some sickness was linked to…

In the time of Jesus, synagogue worship was simple and communal. The synagogue was a gathering place, often a modest room, where neighbors came together on the Sabbath to pray and listen for God’s voice. The heart of worship was scripture. Portions of the Law and the Prophets were read aloud from scrolls, first in Hebrew, then explained in everyday…

Luke is named as the writer of a gospel and the book of Acts, a two volume story about Jesus and the early church. We do not know much about him for certain. Tradition remembers Luke as a companion of Paul and a physician, someone trained to notice details and care for bodies as well as souls. What we do…

The Book of Psalms is long, but not the longest book of the Bible. With 150 psalms and just over thirty thousand words, it ranks third, behind Jeremiah and Genesis. The psalms were written over a roughly thousand year span. That means some are separated by centuries, shaped by different political crises, exiles, rebuildings, and fresh hopes. The book holds…