Summertime is supposed to be the slow season. School’s out; the temperature’s up; sandals are on, and sauntering is in. But some of us can be forgiven if our hearts are still racing this June.

Thirty years ago I spent some time volunteering at Covenant House, a child welfare organization in New York. As you can imagine, the concept of the covenant was a big thing there.

Forever is a long time. Ask the couple who promises fidelity for only one lifetime! Or the celibate who takes vows for the long haul.

If the riveting movie Doubt taught us nothing else last year, it’s that there’s always room for being dead wrong. We don’t like to entertain that notion even in the privacy of our midnight thoughts.

City dwellers may be accustomed to considering snakes only in the metaphorical sense. But in my backyard, they’re awfully literal.

The unity of the early church was in trouble. We know that from reading the letters of Paul and other pastoral leaders, who argue over table fellowship, circumcision, and dietary regulations.

Religious claims are a dime a dozen. You think Hindus and Mormons believe some outrageous things? Try Catholics. Virgin Birth, heaven and hell, the resurrection of the dead—none of that has a shred of “evidence” to back it up.

It’s always instructive to see what the world does with reformed criminals. Saul of Tarsus, formerly waging a zealot’s war against Christianity, seeks to join the ranks of the enemy in whole-souled conversion to Christ.

Last November we citizens faced an important question together: Who should lead? It has a related, shadow question that gets asked more rarely: Who will follow?

Last week in John’s gospel Thomas took the rap for demanding tangible signs of the resurrection of Jesus. This week in Luke’s account Jesus spontaneously offers concrete evidence of his presence to quell his disciples’ unuttered questions.