Lord, have mercy upon us. We have shouted more than we have listened. We have looked through rage and defiance and have brutalized our brothers and sisters. We have forgotten your Word, which calls upon us to turn the other cheek, to defend those who are on the bottom rung, and to live at peace […]

Just another time to worship… Then, suddenly, something happens. Flecks of the ceiling are falling on the teacher’s shoulder. The flecks turn into chunks and out of a gaping hole a paralyzed man is lowered down by four guys in the first elevator in church history. The man is healed and the people went away […]

We all learn that people come and people go. You could lose the one you love in the turn of a road, in a sudden bend in the stream and life in its infinite mystery vanishes like the morning dew in the warm break of dawn. The universality of loss is indellable. I remember dropping […]

The child arrives on the planet and a new daddy shouts, and the grandparents weep with joy, but the mother is the first to see her child deeply. Children are born and you don’t have to teach a mother or child how to feel love. They bring their love with them. She sees her baby and […]

  Every now and then, pain steals something so important to us. External forces or internal conflicts arise and over time, we discover that we have lost our song. How is it possible to sing when our hearts are heavy and our hope wanes? You lose a friend to cancer. You are unjustly attacked. A child turns his back on you. […]

The seven last words of Jesus have been lauded in songs and art. But when we consider the first words of Jesus after the resurrection, we discover what this new reality and commission looks like for believers. Let’s take a look at seven of the first sayings of Jesus.  All of them are found in John 20. “Woman, why […]

It’s Sunday. And Jesus is with us! His obituary is in the paper and, for goodness sakes alive, He is sitting at our breakfast table! He is supposed to be behind a stone, flanked by Rome’s finest. Dead, dead, dead… But instead He’s hungry and wants fish this morning! And where has He been since […]

It’s Saturday. The tomb is sealed. The guards are in position. The sheep are scattered. The light is gone. There is nothing more than silence on the other end. These are the times when we look back and replay all our errors and missed opportunities. The words we should have said… The swords we should […]

It’s Thursday evening. Darkness falls on a Middle Eastern city and a group of men gather around a table. Some men want answers, others want power, others conceal their furtive motives and plans, and still others resign to die. Tonight is different. In the past, their times of feasting were filled with so much laughter […]

It’s Wednesday. Jesus remains in Bethany among friends. He is cloistered, away from the opinions of the multitude. There is peace in Bethany. (May we all have a Bethany.) This day is silent, until a worshipper enters carrying a year’s salary in the form of a rare and exquisite ointment ornately encased. The assembly watches […]