Read Reflect One of my most haunting memories is a visit to a church in Rwanda after the genocide. The bones of hundreds of Tutsi people lay on the floor where they had been killed. I was overwhelmed by the horror of decayed bodies reduced to bones in a place of worship. Standing before death, […]

Read Reflect Paul’s conclusion provides valuable insights into his life as an itinerant missionary-pastor. The first theme is the collection to assist Christian sisters and brothers in Jerusalem (vv 1-4). A famine had struck the region and members of the Christian movement, as a minority group, were particularly vulnerable. Paul and his associates organized a […]

Read Reflect Paul, the pastor-missionary, opens his heart and reflects on his vocation in 2 Corinthians. Some parts of the letter are intensely personal and reveal his inner struggles. The debate about the unity of the epistle (there are suggestions that it was composed of portions of two or more letters) does not affect our […]

Read Reflect Leaders that break promises betray the trust of their followers. In our time, politicians, presidents of corporations, and directors of service organizations are expected to stand by their word. The demand for integrity is even higher for church leaders. Paul, the missionary-pastor, had planned to make a double visit to Corinth on route […]

Read Reflect Leadership is always challenged. Yesterday’s reading showed that Paul’s delay in visiting Corinth resulted in public criticism that he was fickle and unreliable as a leader. Paul continues to address this personal attack in today’s reading. Paul calls on God as his witness. The main factor in his decision to change his travel […]

Read Reflect The theme of this passage is quite straightforward: Money cannot rescue you from death. And neither can land, or possessions, or influence, or “human glory.” As the psalmist says, “we each will go down to our ancestors;” all of us will one day find ourselves in a grave. The only thing that can […]

Read Reflect Each of us is in charge of tending to what God has put before us. From our homes to our jobs to our families, sometimes the work to maintain these areas of our lives is relentless. There are days when I wake up and my to-do list immediately starts rolling through my mind […]