According to Nehemiah, we should not become mired in shame. Instead, we should celebrate God’s grace and find joy that the Lord gives us the strength to try again, to do better, to be drawn into a deeper understanding of how God would have us be in the world.

Regardless of his initial reticence, Jesus obeys his mother, far exceeding her expectations, turning water into the best wine anyone there had ever tasted.

In this passage, Paul is reminding the church that within the body of Christ, there are a variety of gifts.

This psalm invites us to consider the effect of sin on our relationships and on what we contribute to the world.

Is there power in a name?

This is a story that invites us to think about what our baptism, what God’s claim on us, means in our lives.

We, too, are to be bearers of good news to all people, even and especially to those we might otherwise think of as unworthy or unacceptable.

Will we use the strength and power that is within us to hurt and destroy? Or will we use it for blessing and for peace?

The promises God makes to Israel in these passages point to the intimacy between the Creator and the created.