When people are accustomed to—and willing to—pay a ticket price for a well-produced event, what’s the harm in charging a nominal fee for a Christmas Eucharist? And when so many pay membership dues to gyms or subscribe to services, what’s wrong with charging a fee for Christian community?

So when Jesus — a Jewish rabbi — sits alone with a Samaritan woman, speaks kindly to her, engages her theologically, and reveals himself more clearly to her than to almost anyone else… this scene is already scandalous in all the right ways.

It’s a story about crossing boundaries, not shaming sinners.

... we too often given short shrift to the hard work of understanding why we believe what we believe and what shapes our foundational values and deeply held convictions around so many important issues, not least of which is money.

Michael Chan revisits books from the Bible to remind us that those who forget history can be doomed to repeat it.