Author: David Ellis

Jay: Is darkness, is blindness, beneficial to understanding who God is? Does it help our spiritual growth and our relationship with God over time? Do we need darkness? Can we know light without dark, sight without blindness? Several scriptural passages might help: I am the Lord, I have called You in righteousness, I will also…

As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him. And two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” The crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on…

Don: Jesus told the disciples that in his kingdom, the great are those willing to be servants,… “…just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28) He had made a similar point earlier: They came to Capernaum; and…

Don: In the early Christian church, harmony reigned—as long as there was no diversity. Its members were all Jews, who shared the same racial, cultural, and religious backgrounds. It was a pseudo community, as can be deduced from the fact that as soon as diversity was added (as soon as uncircumcised Gentiles were admitted) it…

Don: The ministry of Jesus is remarkable for its relationship to hospitality; in particular, eating. The gospel message—the good news about God—is bound up in the common, mundane practice of offering/taking food. The methods of Jesus, and the scathing rebukes of his contemporary critics, are often related to it. Jesus ate with tax collectors and…

The Stranger The Stranger within my gate, He may be true or kind, But he does not talk my talk– I cannot feel his mind. I see the face and the eyes and the mouth, But not the soul behind. The men of my own stock, They may do ill or well, But they tell…

Don: The kingdom of heaven is a true community where differences are not just accepted but embraced: After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and…

Don: Emptiness is the third and penultimate stage in M. Scott Peck’s taxonomy of community. It is characterized in part by silence and listening. The early Christians felt this after going through the chaos of stage 2, when Gentiles began to be admitted to what had hitherto been a purely Jewish congregation: All the people…

Don: People of all faith communities are united in seeking God, so why do our notions of God divide us? Why are we so polarized? We are divided in big and small ways, by age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, economically, politically, and in our perspectives on  such issues as abortion, gun control and education. According…