Matthew 28:1-10 I must have been about seven years old. We had gone to visit our Grandpa for Easter that year. I was standing in the kitchen. Although there were people all around me, the room went silent in my mind as I looked up. On the top shelf of the small closet which stood …
Category: Lectionary
The Holy Grail
I Corinthians 11:23-26 They say they found the Holy Grail a few weeks ago. And it was hiding in plain sight. Now I don’t know a lot about the search for the Holy Grail. I know that it has motivated searchers for centuries by now — rooted in the time of the Legend of King …
“Humble and Mounted on a Donkey…”
Matthew 21:1-11 I find myself thinking about the donkey and her colt whichJesus rode into Jerusalem so long ago. Now let me say first that I never much thought about the donkeys before, but this time through they caught my attention and my imagination. As I have sat with them this week, I have come to know …
Let the Same Mind Be In You…
Philippians 2:5-11 If I’m honest, the poetry and cadence of these familiar words from Paul’s letter to the Philippians almost always washes over me in such a way that I tend to lose track of its powerful and practical meaning for how I live in and interact with the world. It is easy to get …
Looking for Crocuses
John 11:1-45 I went looking for crocuses the other morning, and I found them, thank God. They were right where they are every spring — perhaps a little later this year than some — but there they were. Although they were looking a little peaked, I have to say — I ‘m thinking this hard winter …
Seeing and Believing
John 9:1-41 It is an amazing story we encounter this week — this one of the man who was born blind who gains his sight. Indeed, as I read it I am tempted to take a number of side trips away from the main point for, in fact, there are many such opportunities. For instance, …
A Story Worth Telling: Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well
John 4:5-42 Every story worth telling begins with something being out of place. Every story worth re-telling begins with a conflict. Every story told over and over again is about obstacles overcome — or not. Otherwise there is no story. Think it through with me and you will know this is so. For instance, I …
Nicodemus By Night
John 3:1-17 I saw a little of Nicodemus in myself this week. For you see, it’s the first week of a new session for my early morning workout class. Winter has worn on for us here in Northern Illinois and I have found it more and more difficult to respond immediately to my alarm when …
A Cross of Ashes and Another Cross
Psalm 51 “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me…” Psalm 51:3 This story comes to mind most every year on Ash Wednesday. I was six, maybe seven years old. We were on a family camping trip. The fold out camper had been backed into its spot and unhitched from our station …
Gifts for the Wilderness
Matthew 4:1-11 I wonder sometimes if the most challenging part for Jesus in the wilderness was not the tests that came at the end. I wonder if the hard part was those forty days which came before. Indeed, I wonder how it was at day seventeen when not a whole lot was happening yet — …