Many of us are concerned about addiction, but struggle clinically and theologically to understand the phenomenon. To the family member, employer, or friend, it looks perplexing at best, and is often experienced as hurtful betrayal or outright defiance of a covenanted relationship. Civic society and social institutions have similarly wrestled with conceptualizations of addicted behavior […]
Healing
When people think of faith and healing, oftentimes images come to mind of charismatic televangelists summoning healing for people on a large stage. Maybe you think of Jesus encountering the man called Legion in the hills and summoning the unsettling spirits out of him, driving them into swine. No matter what image comes to mind […]
Called to Healing
“Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” – Mark 10:49 This coming Sunday’s lectionary texts contain the story of Bartimaeus, one which has taken on a particularly important meaning for me as I have learned to live […]