by Steven Rodriguez Who are we to put limits on the speech of God? My kids are absolutely riveted by the book of Leviticus right now. We are reading it at bedtime because my eight-year-old son Cædmon insists that we…
Flash-backs falsify the Past: they forget the remembering Present. ––W. H. Auden, from “I Am Not a Camera" by Steven Rodriguez Can you imagine what it would be like if we had documentary footage of the crucifixion? (I know this…
by Steven Rodriguez I've been reading some letters of theologians Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. They are a fascinating window into a friendship at a pivotal moment in the history of the church. It’s 2313, the world is about to…
by Steven Rodriguez Not all silences are the same. There’s a world of difference between the silences of cessation, caesura, and consummation. The first is simply stopping, the second is a break in the noise, and the third is the…
I did not take this picture. I found it on my wife's Pinterest. by Steven Rodriguez I don’t know why, but every Sunday, when I start to lead worship, my throat gets all scratchy, and I start coughing. Maybe it’s…
by Steven Rodriguez I’ve gotten some great feedback for my last article on The Twelve. One interesting thread of conversation has been about my Mexican American identity. I’ve talked with several people who have told me that the problem is…
by Steven Rodriguez What can I say after this election? So many people are already saying so many things, which makes me hesitant to add to the noise. I’m weary, words feel weary, the world itself feels weary.Like the Gatherer…
Therefore, I will now persuade her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. ... And I will take you for my wife for ever; I will take you for my wife in righteousness and in justice,…
Hosea went and took Gomer the daughter of Dibla'im, and she conceived and bore him a son. And the LORD said to him, "Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu…
by Steven Rodriguez First, feel powerless. Watch your child certainly baptized duly present in church catechized, Vee Bee Essed, awakened at camp and now everywhere but here on a Sunday morning. He is not an angry atheist nor a detached…