BibleWorm

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This week we’re reading the story of Moses’ encounter with God on Sinai as told in Exodus 2:23-25; 3:1-15; and 4:10-17. We notice that in this text, God responds to the cry of the Israelites by first saying, “I’ve come down to rescue the people from Egypt” but then saying, “So you get going. I’m sending you to Pharaoh.” The way...

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This week we read stories about Jacob’s young adulthood in Gen 27:1-4 and 15-23, and Gen 28:10-17. We think a lot about the push and pull of driving toward our desired outcomes vs just letting things unfold. How is Rebecca SO sure of what she’s doing? Why does Isaac bless even when he knows he’s getting mixed signals? Why does ...

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This week we’re reading one of the most difficult passages in all of scripture, the story of the near-sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 21:1-3 and 22:1-14. After years of waiting, Sarah and Abraham have finally received Isaac, the child promised to them by God. But almost as soon the promise is fulfilled, God commands Abraham to ta...

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We are back to the beginning this week, reading Genesis 1:1-2:4-the very first Bible story, the story of creation in 7 days. But come on. Isn’t it really 6 days? In 6 days, God shows us a way of creating in “yes AND” mode–constantly making space for what is breathtakingly new without destroying or diluting what was there. A mod...

In this replay from Summer 2024, BibleWorm concludes our summer series on creation care with Ezekiel’s vision of a river of life flowing from the temple as told in Ezekiel 47:1 –12. The prophet Ezekiel, writing from the devastation of the Babylonian exile, envisions a radical re-creation of the world that takes place when God’s glory returns to the Jerusalem temple. What begins as a tiny trickle of water emerging from under the alt...

In this replay from Summer 2024, BibleWorm continues our series on Creation Care, with Leviticus 26:3-22, 34-35, and 40-45.  It's a text that presses the question – what happens when we lose track of the fact that we are part of magnificently interconnected system, and begin to imagine that we can – or even that we must -- function on our own? How does the anxious productivity of humans impact the rest of creation? And once we real...

In this replay from Summer 2024, BibleWorm continues our summer series on creation care with Psalm 104, a profound text celebrating the magnificence of creation, which brings joy not only to the human heart but also to all creatures, from the birds in the trees to Leviathan in the deeps of the sea. We even see the celebratory nature of God, who whisks about on the clouds, wearing a fabulous cloak made of light and rejoicing in all ...

In this replay from Summer 2024, BibleWorm continues our summer series on Creation Care with Psalm 65 and special attention to the water. This psalm brings together scenes of prayer and silence, of humans and of nature, and of a God who is the orientation point for all of it. It made us wonder: What if we could see ourselves, for a moment, as almost like a sibling to the water? Both of us oriented toward God, both of us in relation...

In this replay from Summer 2024, BibleWorm continues on in our summer series on creation care with Job 38:1-38 in which God speaks to Job from the whirlwind, reminding Job of the beauty, grandeur, and complexity of nature that is beyond human understanding. Where humans were said to have “dominion” over the world in Genesis 1, in Job 38 humans seem almost irrelevant—God guides the constellations; God nurtures the sea; God sends the...

In this replay from Summer 2024, BibleWorm begins our summer series on Creation Care with “the” Creation text, Genesis 1. For such a familiar text, it sure did open up a lot of questions for us. How should we think about our place so late in the proverbial line-up – what does it mean to us that God has already issued a commandment directly to the animals before we are here; that we are created on Friday afternoon as everyone is clo...

This week we conclude our series on Revelation and Resistance with John’s vision of New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:1-7, 22-27, and 22:1-5. The text presents a moving depiction of God come to earth, dwelling among the people and wiping every tear from their eyes. In a renewed world with no death or suffering, humanity thrives beside the river of living water, eating from the tree of life, relieved from pain and suffering and death. ...

This week we are reading Revelation chapter 7, a vision that unfolds in the midst of the unsealing of seals and undoing of worlds as we have known them. It’s a vision that seems anchored in the past and the future simultaneously, a vision that evoked for us Ezekiel and Isaiah and Genesis and Kohelet and Exodus and also a also future time when whatever suffering the faithful have endured, they can stand together in their multitudes ...

This week we’re continuing our series on Revelation and Resistance with the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2:1-7 and 3:1-22. We note that most of the churches receive both praise and admonition from Jesus, celebrating what they have done well but warning them against their shortcomings. But we also notice that in these letters appearances can be deceiving. Those churches that appear poor and powerless are said to be we...

This week we are reading Revelation 5 – the whole thing, which is only 14 powerful verses long. We encounter the image of a scroll covered with words that might change the world as we know it -  but it has been sealed tight, with nobody to open it. We encounter the Lamb, in a series of images that just make no sense – this lamb who is the lion, this lamb who stands as if slaughtered. This slaughtered lamb who can open the scroll, w...

This week we’re continuing our series on Revelation and Resistance series with Revelation 13:1-18 and 17:1-6. We examine the grotesque images of the Beasts rising from land and sea as images of the Roman Empire, a misshapen, deceptive, and violent creature trapping people unknowingly in the worship of Satan. Then we turn our attention to Woman Babylon, the beautiful seductress whose goblet is filled with the blood of the saints. Ha...

Welcome to our summer series, Revelation and Resistance. This week we begin at the beginning, with Revelation 1:1-20, which sets the stage so beautifully for us and especially for me, who has never read Revelation before. We contemplate the “is-ness” of God – one that is beyond time as we know it – and hold all of the evocative images and sound metaphors like complex treasures. We relate to the pain of holding in your awareness bot...

This week we’re reading the Pentecost text in Acts 2:1-4 and then Galatians 4:1-7 and 5:13-26. We talk about the experience of the Holy Spirit, who transitions us from disciples to apostles, sent into the world to show the way to others. We wrestle again with the relationship of faith and Torah and to what extent the faithful need guidelines to show us the right way to live. And we ponder the fruits of the Spirit, wondering how we ...

This week we are reading from Galatians 3:1-9 and 23-29, which may be the most challenging and vulnerable interfaith conversation we’ve had over the years. What exactly is Paul saying about Torah Judaism and those who follow it? Is there a way to talk about this fundamental shift in history that he perceives without erasing or degrading everything that was before – everything that set the stage for his cherished moment? How can Chr...

This week we’re beginning our foray into Paul’s letter to the Galatians with Galatians 1:13-17 and 2:11-21. This is a difficult text, particularly for an interfaith podcast, as Paul pushes back against the Judaism of his past as he wrestles with the significance of Christ for the Gentiles. As we read, though, we begin to realize that what Paul rejects is not Judaism, per se, but rather against the sort of religious striving that ma...