Twenty years ago I was on a late-night radio program in Phoenix with a rabbi and a Christian host who insisted the Bible was simple — just open it and read. The rabbi stiffened. So did I. What followed was one of the most clarifying conversations I’ve had about faith and reason.

This Sunday I’m preaching on the Road to Emmaus at St. Martin’s in Providence — a story about two people who walk beside the risen Jesus for miles without recognizing him. It’s a sermon about averted vision, about God hiding truth not to frustrate us but to honor the wisdom and wit we were given at creation, and about the moment when the bread breaks and suddenly you see.

Looking sideways at God. That’s what we’re doing Sunday. And that’s what you can hear more about in the sermon below.

(You can view the sermon directly at this link.)