• How to Love Change

    How to Love Change

    The empty tomb is the great symbol of change. To proclaim the good news, we have to confront the truth. That we don’t hate change, we’re afraid of something else. Why we need the empty tomb The Great Vigil of Easter  |  Mark 16:1-8 “I hate change!” That’s what people tell me. Every day I…

  • Ending Violence

    Ending Violence

    In the Passion, we become the witnesses, not only to the brutality put upon Jesus, but to the violence we impose upon one another. the Crucifixion destroys the justification for violence Good Friday  | John 18:1-19:42 It’s often said the Passion preaches itself. Its power is self-evident. But it doesn’t quite preach like the fire…

  • This Thursday of Holy Week

    This Thursday of Holy Week

    Between the Last Supper and the Passion, Jesus confronts the place of abandonment, his purpose and confusion. In the garden, we find a moment of intimacy which means so much more than we think. Tonight we’ll be gathering for our Maundy Thursday service. We’ll hear part of the story of the Last Supper from John’s…

  • This Wednesday of Holy Week

    This Wednesday of Holy Week

    The bridge from the start of holy week to the end reveals the wide difference between the world God dreams for us and the world we insist on perpetuating. Even as the dream comes alive in our midst. After three days of confronting the Temple authorities and challenging everything they believe about power and influence,…

  • This Tuesday of Holy Week

    This Tuesday of Holy Week

    Jesus’s confrontation at the Temple challenges us to see past their questions of authority, but the reason for the questioning. Jesus ducks their questions because they are questioning the authority of God. On Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem in a parody of authority. And after the crowds died down, he took a quick look inside…

  • This Monday of Holy Week 2018

    This Monday of Holy Week 2018

    It’s the day after the great entrance. Palm Sunday was yesterday. Jesus seems to change before our eyes. But he doesn’t. It’s our stunning inactivity which gets called out at the beginning of Holy Week. We all know this story. It often goes by the strange name: the cleansing of the Temple. But it doesn’t…

  • Where do we come in?

    Where do we come in?

    The challenge of Palm Sunday is fighting the impulse to skip ahead. But we’re invited not only into a bittersweet day but a whole week which challenges how we see the hope of Christ in our lives. We arrive at Jerusalem with Jesus expecting hope and fear Palm Sunday B  | John 12:12-16 Where do…

  • The Scandal of Holy Week

    The Scandal of Holy Week

    The challenge of keeping Holy Week is that there’s way more than we can fit into a couple of days. But we’re not doing ourselves any favors by not even trying. I grew up with Holy Week. As a life-long Episcopalian, Holy Week was a natural part of my upbringing. Just as all the seasons…