In Moses’ final discourses, he makes it clear that entering the land God has chosen, by crossing over from Moab, is equated with entering into our covenant with God. We can’t fully grasp our purpose as a people unless we understand the decisive connection between God, the people of Israel and the Land of Israel.
Read MoreAs a well-worn saying goes, it’s the preacher’s job to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. They’re both challenging tasks, which is why Jewish tradition devotes, not just a day or two, but a whole season to affliction and comfort.
Read MoreThe commandments are for our benefit; in a sense, they are one aspect of God’s ḥesed toward us. The sages of the Talmud contend that this is a model for us: we imitate God by showing ḥesed to those around us, and even to the natural world.
Read MoreI long for the day when “Messianic Jewish” is not a religious brand, but a description of the values of our community, values that reflect the presence of Messiah among us. This week’s parasha opens with a foundational text for creating this sort of community.
Read MoreIn our parasha this week, Re’eh, we are faced with a shot over the bow. While life and death will be set before Israel at length at the end of Deuteronomy, here the choice is presented earlier, and more succinctly.
Read MoreA circumcised heart enables us to follow God in ways we might have previously not thought possible. Through it we can love God and love others, even the outsider, with everything we have.
Read MoreThis week, as I looked back to the opening words of the haftarah portion, did I truly understand what it means to find comfort in the presence of God? How does that prophetic word penetrate our world, fractured, conflicted, and now in constant turmoil?
Read MoreThe Exodus was historical and the Seder forces it to be experiential. Yeshua’s life was historical. Yet, when we follow him, it becomes experiential and transformational. Each generation is called to be the Joshua generation that enters the promises of God and showcases gratitude for God’s salvation by living out a life that reveals his character.
Read MoreWe live in a culture of addiction. Alcohol and drug addiction rates, already elevated before the COVID pandemic, continue to rise steeply. And if you include what we call “process addictions”—like gambling or compulsive shopping, screen time, or pornography use—nearly everyone is touched by addiction in one way or another.
Read More“Human life is but a series of footnotes to a vast obscure unfinished masterpiece.” The quote is haunting, the implications are troubling, but the meaning speaks to a sense of anxiety to which I think everyone can relate.
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