As I was in the midst of writing this essay, I was also preparing a sermon on John 4:1-42, the story about the Samaritan woman at the well and Jesus. A well-known story, it is one of many in the Gospels that display, narratively, what it means to “love your neighbor as yourself.” We are provided a vivid portrait by Jesus of what welcome and compassion look like. Attentive readers are reminded that those who seek to be followers of Jesus must, like our Lord, embody this unusual, engaged and honest love …

The debate today among the churches on same-sex marriage has focused on the meaning of the texts—what behavior exactly was Paul condemning—and whether or not this prohibition is a culture-specific or timeless command …

April 15 is tax day in the United States. But while most people pay their taxes by that date, a group of us at Community Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, Va., take a different route. Concerned with the high percentage of our federal tax money that goes to the military while we pray for peace, we witness to our Christian faith through how we deal with this dilemma …

Memorial Day was established to remember those who served and died in the armed forces. For many people, it’s a time for picnics and cookouts or just a nice day off from work. But for some, Memorial Day is anything but a nice day. If you have a loved one who died in war because of their military service, it may be a time of sadness and grief. It’s not just a day to honor veterans of long-ago wars. People today are mourning loved ones who died in the more recent wars of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

In classical Greek tragedy, the driving force of the story often hinges on a conflict between two incompatible moral obligations …

An eighth-grade education, Amish faith, and farm chores don’t usually lead to urban ministry, a Ph.D. in spirituality and expertise as a church conflict mediator, but Marcus Smucker is far from what one expects. In fact, even he is surprised at where his life has led …