by Matthew Steem
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“There is a noise that is different to grief. Sadness wails and cries and lets loose a sound to the heavens like a baby calling for its mother. That kind of noisy grief is hopeful. It believes that things can be put right, or that help can come. There is a different kind of sound to that. Babies left alone too long do not even cry. They become very still and quiet. They know no one is coming.”…
Some Bible verses bother me, especially the ones that tell me to do things I don’t like. Then there are the scriptures that are downright troubling. I have a hard time with the verse in Philippians 2:3-4 that tells me to esteem others as higher, better, and more important than myself. In a way, I can even love my enemies more easily than esteem those with whom I disagree, because to love isn’t quite the same as to esteem. But to esteem others as higher? How can I imagine that? And, of course, the great trouble is that there is…