Several commentators use the word “intimate” to describe the incident in Mark’s gospel of Jesus healing the blind man. There’s a lot of physical touching involved.

For many believers, the portrait sketched out in the 23rd psalm is the most stirring of them all. “The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.” It’s a scene that has engraved itself on countless imaginations all through the centuries.

If we ever longed for a paradise scene, a place of rest where it all comes together, psalm 23 paints it.

If ever a psalm could set a tone for celebrating an anniversary, psalm 98 is the one.

In the beginning of the year, we celebrate the feast of Epiphany. The word itself means manifestation, a showing up, a coming to the surface of what was mostly hidden inside.

“He missed the signals” – a phrase to describe someone who observes something but doesn’t connect it with what is being pointed to.