s01-e08: By the Authority Vested Introduction On playgrounds across the country, there are certain institutions, certain standards of practice, that are universally followed. At least they were in the 70s, when I was a daily observer and participant in those playground institutions. One of those was the authorized method for dividing into two teams. In…

s01-e07: We’ve Seen Worse Introduction Do you know the story of Micaiah? This is a tale that would be at home in works of Tolkien, but it’s actually at the very end of the first book of Kings in the Hebrew Scriptures.  In this story, the king of Israel wants to go to war against…

s01-e06: Inside Outside Upside Down Introduction One of the shared but unspoken views of good church people is that the New Testament is version 2.0 of God’s Law. That God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit got together and worked all the bugs out of the Old Testament, and now we have the New Testament. New…

s01-e05: John Wick or Jesus? Introduction In the beginning, at the very start of the Bible, we have the book of Genesis. It tells us the story of creation, twice. It tells us about Adam and Eve, about Cain and Abel, Noah and the Ark, the Tower of Babel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Esau, and…

s01-e04: First, Do No Harm Introduction Simeon: Matthew, you say Jesus didn’t come to do away with the law, and then you talk about him like he’s a new Moses, delivering a new Deuteronomy. Replacing the Law of Moses with a new one seems to be the very definition of doing away with the law….

s01-e03: A More Perfect Union Introduction What is it that makes a nation great? At the heart of it, greatness is bound up with thriving. A great nation is one where the common trait shared by its citizens is one of well-being. In a great nation, there is peace. Peace between neighbors, between communities, and…

s01-e02: How Do You Fix What Is Broken? Introduction When we talk about Mary, the mother of Jesus, what are the stories and images that pop into your mind? I bet I know what some of those stories are. I bet those stories have a lot to do with the ways we celebrate Christmas. In…

s01-e01: A Tale of Incest, Prostitution, Seduction, and Rape Introduction Use your imagination to join me in eavesdropping on a conversation from a long time ago. It’s a conversation between two men, after a great calamity. It is set late in the first century of the common era, in the city of Antioch, well north…