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On Tuesday mornings when I pray for my friends, I use the above image from Matthew 9 to center my prayer.
Though the passage doesn’t use the word κοινωνία (koinonia), I think the scene is the epitome of it.
Koinonia is the Greek word used to describe the relationship between God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. It’s also the word used to describe our relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. And therefore, it’s the word used to describe our relationship to one another.
Last week, I received the following text from my best friend: “He did it! I just watched Samson roll from front to back!”
We’ve been rooting for her 6-month-old son to start rolling, and last Friday was the glorious day.
I spend most of my days with this little guy, so when I got her text, I was thrilled. I let out an excited shriek, did a little jump, and shed a tear of joy. This new skill was worthy of all celebration. Though the victory was his, I was intricately connected to it.
For one of my Bible classes, students are required to write their final paper on the letter to Philemon in the New Testament.
The paper asks students to trace Paul’s argument, or rather, petition, for a runaway slave named Onesimus, with a specific emphasis on several verses. One of which is verse 15 (NRSV), “Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever.” The word I have students focus on is perhaps.
It’s a small word, which is used only one other time in the New Testament (Romans 5:7). It comes from the Greek word, τάχα, an adverb meaning “possibly” or “peradventure.”
However, it packs a big theological punch.
My husband and I are landscaping novices.
In February of this year, we trimmed the tree directly in front of our house, in an attempt to eradicate a rat from our attic.
Let me rephrase that—we had a tree trimming company trim the tree directly in front of our house because our pest control company told us we needed to…
When I’m not teaching, I get to spend my mornings with the coolest 2-year-old in the world—my best friends’ little boy.
While playing with his Thomas The Train bubbles the other day, he wanted to take charge of the bubble dispenser and wand. He let me know, very declaratively, “I do it Jess!”
Like any normal 2-year-old in Erikson’s Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt psychosocial developmental stage, he wanted to blow the bubbles on his own…
