There is one pivotal event in the sacred story of Christianity which is crucial for understanding what it means to be a follower of Jesus. That is the resurrection of Jesus. The good news at the heart of the Christian message described in the New Testament is not that Jesus… Read More »Resurrection Where It Counts
What’s it like to be on the inside? How is being on the inside different from being on the outside? As I walk through my neighborhood, I pass the homes of my neighbors. I have impressions about what it’s like to be inside of those homes, to be members of… Read More »Inside and Outside
The ancient story is retold each year throughout the world. On the first day of the week, the women went before dawn to the place where they laid his body. Arriving at the tomb, they found the stone rolled away. His body was gone. Scholars tell us that the first… Read More »Making Sense of the Resurrection of Jesus
Crucifixion: truly a brutal, violent way to kill another human being. A person hangs naked on a cross with lungs filling with fluid, struggling to breathe, and then succumbing after hours of struggle to the inevitable last gasp and death. All the while, one’s suffering is a public spectacle. Such… Read More »Making Sense of the Crucifixion of Jesus
Extravagance: that’s not something we usually associate with Lent. Yet, extravagance is key to understanding the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. To be extravagant, to be lavish, to be imprudent, to be over the top and do something no one else would do — yes, these are all key… Read More »The Extravagance of Lent
Friendship. The term is used frequently and conveys a myriad of meanings. On social media, we “friend” others including people we’ve never met. We refer to people we haven’t seen in years, perhaps since school days, as “friends” yet other than sharing a moment in time, we have little in… Read More »The Way of Jesus in Friendship and Grief
It’s a job I really don’t like doing, but I’ll appreciate getting it done. The weather is now consistently above freezing at night. This week, I’ll clean the garden beds and begin to plant seeds. Because the soil is poor, I have three raised garden beds where I can plant… Read More »Letting Go to Die … and Something New
It’s an age-old question … one that people continue to ask. Why is this happening? Things happen to us that we view as bad. We look for a reason. We ask these questions when we don’t get the job we want, when a relationship doesn’t work out, or when a… Read More »Jesus, God’s Glory, and the Law of Attraction
