The Word in Transition

In Luke 15, the evangelist recounts three parables of Jesus, all with a common theme of finding lost things. The first two are the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. In both stories, one sheep/coin is lost, and rather than settling for what remains, the shepherd (15:1-7)

In the first chapters of the Gideon narrative (Judges 6-7), an angel approaches Gideon while he is hiding in a wine press and informs him that God is calling him to be the judge and deliverer of Israel. As transgender people must grapple with disbelief, acceptance, and coming out, Gideon

Judges 6-8 depict the Gideon cycle of judgeship over the Israelites and unlike many of the judge narratives, Gideon’s story contains large amount of detail allowing Gideon to undergo significant character development. The Gideon who is called in Judges 6 is timid and insecure, whereas the Gideon who dies in

The scene of Jesus’ transfiguration in Mark 9:2-8—not only Peter’s address to Jesus as “rabbi” and his offer to build tabernacles for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah (Mark 9:2-8) but also God’s affirmation of Jesus’ identity—offers instruction of allyship. Peter’s inappropriate response to Jesus’ transformation parallels poor allyship in which a