-
An open letter to Thomas the Twin
Dear Thomas: It seems the church is never going to let you off the hook we created for you when you first encountered the risen Christ. Two thousand years is a long time to live with a misunderstanding like that, a misunderstanding so big it renamed you, so now nobody knows you as Didymus (the… Continue reading
ambiguity, behind locked doors, certainty, Didymus Thomas, doubting Thomas, Easter, exploring faith, fear, first-hand faith, from doubt to faith, living faith, original faith, Pogo, resurrection, second-hand faith, the beginning of faith, the peace of Christ, Thomas the Twin, true faith, uncertainty, wars and rumors of wars, we have met the enemy -
Plotting Resurrection
On the first day of the week some women came to the cemetery to find the body of Jesus. They did what any of us would have done. They came looking for him where they had left him, where they had last seen him, where they knew he must surely still be. And there they… Continue reading
-
The other side of Good Friday
In popular tradition, the cross of Christ is a sign of rejection, shame, suffering, and death, which is the point St. Paul made when he wrote that Jesus “humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8). You can’t get more humble, you can’t get lower,… Continue reading
-
The sacrament of service
The first time I count receiving the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, I was in seminary, serving as the student pastor of a small congregation in New Jersey. Since I was confirmed as a youth I had frequently received the bread and cup. One of my earliest memories of the church is the taste of… Continue reading
-
Go the distance
“By your endurance you will gain your souls” (Luke 21:19). The end of Lent is not Easter; it’s this Holy Week, and it begins with Palm Sunday. Easter is in God’s hands; Palm Sunday is in ours. On Easter Day, we celebrate what God has done; on Palm Sunday we have to choose what we… Continue reading
-
The unbinding
Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” (John 11:44) The season of Lent does not end with Easter. Resurrection is not enough. The risen Christ alone cannot provide the abundant life God offers, “real and eternal life, more and better life than [we] ever dreamed of” (John 10:10 The Message). Something more… Continue reading
-
Reframing Lent
It’s time to reframe the season of Lent. The way we usually define it is not wrong, if you hold the traditional Latin view of God as an “original sin” kind of god who holds loving grace in one hand while holding punishment and rejection in the other – the hope of heaven and the… Continue reading
abundant life, accepted by God, Ash Wednesday, curiosity, darkness and light, day of the Lord, defining choices, heaven and hell, Isaac the Syrian, Joel, Lent, living fully, Margot Bachol Bisnow, original blessing, original sin, questions, redemption, remembering who you are, repentance, resurrection, spiritual maturity, the light within, Thomas Merton -
The spring of life
I was mulling over what I would say to you today when I met Steven Spielberg for lunch and we started talking about his latest movie, The Fablemans. The film unlocks the meaning of most of Spielberg’s earlier movies – E.T. and Close Encounters, Jaws and Jurassic Park, the Indiana Jones films, Schindler’s List, Saving… Continue reading
disenfranchise, East Side, Elijah, eternal life, Florida, fully alive, fully awake, fully human, going through Samaria, Governor DeSantis, Jacob's well, Joseph Campbell, meaning for life, racism, rapture of being alive, reconciliation, Samaria, Samaritan woman, segregation, spring of water, St. Irenaeus, Steven Spielberg, The Fablemans, the glory of God, The Power of Myth, Tops Market killings, transforming love, West Side, woman at the well
The Sauntering Pilgrim 