Sometimes it feels like modern day power structures (American imperialism, capitalism, the carceral state) are eternal - they have been here so long it's hard to imagine a world after them. But Obadiah, the shortest book in the Old Testament, is here to remind us that all empires do fall, and he issues a warning against investing in the evils of a temporary empire over building the everlasting kingdom of God.

Every new parent thinks their newborn baby is perfect, right? Well God thought that about you at the moment of your creation, and unlike human parents, the shine never wore off. Sometimes we talk about God as the "perfect Father" - but what if God thinks of you as the perfect child?

We come into this world through irresistible forces of movement and change. Through our lives, we learn to resist change. What if we released our resistance and surrendered to the flow of creation?

Try as we may, we cannot avoid suffering - for ourselves or for our loved ones. What does the suffering of the innocent tell us about humanity, creation, and the nature of God?