John 17:6-19 I sat with my head bowed over my phone the other day as I attempted to take in words that were not surprising, but which I still somehow was not expecting. A colleague and friend of 30 years was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer less than two months ago. His children had just …
Learning to Love One Another
John 15:9-17 I picked up my guitar one evening last week. I bought it several years ago with a tax refund, remembering how I always wanted to learn to play. I pulled it out a few times early on, closely watching some on line videos to teach myself how to hold my fingers on the …
The Vine and Branches: On Music, Microbes and Memory
John 15:1-8 As I was driving across town this morning with a whole host of thoughts competing for my attention, this song came on the radio. “Pray” is performed by Sam Smith. As you can hear, the lyrics tell a story as old as time itself. It is a song of repentance and of yearning …
Those Other Sheep…
John 10:11-18 I have often wondered about those ‘other sheep’ to whom Jesus refers today. Specifically, who are they? And why does Jesus make it a point to mention them at all? In the midst of comforting words about his identity as the ‘good shepherd;’ Just before the promise that this shepherd would lay down …
Also Witnesses: Living in the Power of Forgiveness
Luke 24:36b-48 Not long ago I saw first hand how forgiveness can make all the difference. The sort of forgiveness which is the very heart of Jesus’ sending words for the disciples and for all of us today. But first, pause with me in the story itself… For it is so that we find ourselves …
I Can’t Wait: Embracing the Easter Promise
John 20:1-18 I carried the Sacrament of Holy Communion to one of our own the other day. It is quite certain he will not walk through the doors of our church ever again in this lifetime — and certainly not this Easter. So I filled a communion kit with wafers and wine and enough small …
Time Itself Hinged on This Moment…
Exodus 12:1-14 1 Corinthians 11:23-36 “This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you…” (Exodus 12:2) So begins this section of Exodus where Moses and Aaron receive instructions they are to pass on to the their still captive people: Words about taking a …
Even Death on a Cross…
Philippians 2:5-11 I know these words by heart by now, which is why, I expect, I find myself pausing in them again once more this year. For it had been a busy week and I found myself alone on a quiet drive home late the other afternoon. I had forgotten to bring a copy of …
A Single Grain: Dying for the Sake of Life…
John 12:20-33 “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:23) “Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:25) I have …
This Powerful Grace
Ephesians 2:1-10 …and we were by nature children of wrath. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved— … (Ephesians 2:3b-5) I have seen it …