Connecting Scripture and Life

Cain made an offering of some fruit while Abel offered the choicest of his flock. God paid heed to Abel's proper sacrifice, and when God did not pay heed to Cain's, Cain became angry and jealous. God told him all you have to do is what's right and things will be well. Instead, Cain killed his brother. He chose exile from God rather than humility. How do our envies and anger keep us out of God's si...

The Transfiguration of Jesus before the eyes of Peter, James and John is a profound experience of something deeply private and immensely public. The three closest to Jesus did not understand the meaning of the theophany until the Holy Spirit in the upper room glorified Christ within them. Then the few set out and changed the world one person at a time. We do not know what Moses and Elijah spoke ab...

Yom Kippur - Day of Atonement - a day that reveals God's great and inexhaustible forgiveness. To know there is always a way back from our wanderings off the true way is a gift from God that is for all time. Catholics understand this ritual of forgiveness in the Sacrament of Penance. Leviticus 16 is a beautiful chapter about return, repentance and forgiveness. Join us for this moving conversation a...

Join us for this special podcast about Rosh Hashanah, the holiest day of the Jewish liturgical calendar. Rabbi Fruithandler shares the meaning of this special day and time of year. Click the following link that will take you to the video, Shofar 101, for Jason's teaching about the blasts of the ram's horn. https://youtu.be/iDr53o23u14

We complete our conversations about the Commandments, the Tablets given to us from God. They are a gift for a good life for us as individuals and as a community, as a society that understands that without boundaries, with these laws we have no true freedom.

We are ultimately responsible to create a world in which murder does not happen. Jews and Catholics both place boundaries around the reality that we live in a world where killing exists. This conversation discusses those boundaries and how they play out in our day-to-day reality. Join us.

The Commandment says to honor your father and mother so yo might have a long and happy life. It does not say to love or obey. Many have tumultuous or difficult relationships with parents so how do we live this commandment to honor when our relationships are full of strife? Please join Rabbi Fruithandler and Barbara Murphy for this powerful conversation about the command to honor and live.

Jews and Christians hold the "Ten" Commandments as a powerful guide to a good and happy life. Torah presents these rules for living in both Exodus and Deuteronomy. In Exodus as happening in real time and Deuteronomy as a living gift from God to people for all time. Join in this conversation that begins exploring the deeper meaning of the Commandments we hold dear and close to our hearts, the Comma...

The Lord's Prayer, the Our Father, the Prayer of the Church: This prayer, taught to us by Jesus has been called the summary of the whole of Scripture. Join us in this conversation that expands beyond the literal into the mystical and returns to us as a way to live our lives in order to know how to truly hallow God's name.

In this powerful and emotional podcast Rabbi Fruithandler and Barbara Murphy express this beautiful and central prayer of the Jewish people in the context of the world today. Christians, too, hear the Word of God as One. How do we impress upon our children daily that we are to love God with all our hearts, our souls, and with all our might so we may stand firm when the seas are not so calm? Please...

On the seventh day God rested. He told Moses on the mountain because that this day is meant for our holiness, and told us the result of not keeping it holy, just like the tree in the garden. What does keeping holy the Sabbath mean? Join us for this provocative conversation that raises many more questions than it answers, just as all Scripture tends to do!

A schmuck or a mensch, that is the question! On a sixth day God created humanity in His image, but not until after the animals wild and tame and creepy crawly things were already roaming around. Might there be a lesson of humility in this when humans are told to have dominion over the creatures? Within our creation is free will to master it all by our standards or by God's.

The Hebrew word for dominion is the same as the word for parable. What would this mean when we talk about the sun and the moon and the stars having dominion, and what is the parable within the story of the creation of lights in the sky? Join us in this conversation about dominion creation and our own lives.

God saw the light and said it was good, but doesn't approve again until the first part of day three! Is a second day incomplete? Why wait until the waters are gathered and the land emerges under the dome called Sky to see it was good? We talk about this and more in a second and third day. Join us!

What exactly does "in the beginning" mean? The beginning of what? Join us as we explore this question and others rising up in One Day.

Episode Twenty-Six: Who is this that even the Wind and Sea Obey? -Mk 4:35-41; Mt 8:23-37; Lk 8:22-25 by Catholic Bible Institute

Join us for this beautiful teaching about God's blessing for his people, and his loving patience and understanding that as human beings we sometimes falter. God's promise of blessing is definitive and infinite. All we need do is say yes.

This rebellion came about when some charged with care for the sacred vessels believed themselves holy enough to offer sacrifice. They made demands of Moses but who they really were questioning was God. This conversation explores the event and how we sometimes wish, or try to be something other than who God created us to be.

The Parable of the Dishonest Steward is a strange one. Join Rabbi Fruithandler and Barbara Murphy as they make their way through the dealings of the steward and find the message.

"For this command which I am giving you today is not too wondrous or remote for you...I have set before you life and death...Choose life." This conversation is about how we choose life and are redeemed. This amazing Scripture holds the way, the truth, and the life. Please join us.

Seed falls on all kinds of soil. In this parable Jesus challenges those present to use the ears of their heart to hear the deep and multi-dimensional meaning of the path, rocks, thorns, and good soil. Please join in this powerful conversation about tending to the seed so it will grow and bear fruit for generations "thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."

The world around Isaiah when the seraphim touch the prophet's lips with coal was one of faithlessness, war, and violence. Isaiah was called to bring God's word in order that the few who hear will be purified and saved. In a day when religion is shunned as divisive rather than a path to holiness, Rabbi Fruithandler and Barbara Murphy ask questions about how we, like Isaiah, are messengers of God.

We often focus on the "lost son" and the warm embrace of the father in this parable though we must remember that both sons are lost. One, the younger with his foolish ways comes to his senses, the other angry and resentful remains outside. Always there is the Father welcoming, encouraging, pleading with us to come into the house for the banquet, even if we have to do so with former sinners and tax...

As with genealogies, Leviticus and its recording of rituals and rubrics can appear tedious and best left for those anointed to the task. Embedded within the ancient rites are the rites and rituals we hold sacred today that help us come back to God, to our worshipping community, to neighbors, friends, family, and self. This conversation shows divergences and parallels in interpretation and understa...

When a genealogy comes up in Biblical texts eyes tend to glaze over, quickly scan without reading and move onto the story. The list of names in Matthew's opening chapter tell a rich and ancient story of anointed kings and priests and Jesus as the fulfillment of line. Not to be missed!