Jesus
-
For years, I’ve been trying to think of a way to help people find the essential Jesus of faith. To strip away all the extra, accumulated stuff of Christianity so that they can focus on the core of the faith. Asking questions, finding what is essential to the faith. And in the end, to decide on what’s…
-
Clearly Jesus
•
8 min read
From day one, we have struggled to name Jesus. Name the Messiah. Name what he came to do. Name his substance. Name his mission. How “the real Jesus” is never really JesusEaster 4C | John 10:22-30 For three straight weeks, we have had good resurrection gospel stories. We’ve been praising the risen Christ. We’ve said…
-
Do This and Live
•
6 min read
After working our way through the great symbols of Holy Week: the palms and the Triumphal Entry on Sunday; the shutting down of the Temple on Monday and Teaching there Tuesday; the anointing of Jesus and the betrayal plans of Judas on Wednesday; the Last Supper and the washing of feet on Thursday; the Cross…
-
True Love
•
7 min read
Love for the Lawless and Crucifying the Blameless Good Friday C | Luke 22:39-23:56 Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.’ And he went out and wept bitterly. WHEN I FIRST DENIED JESUS When I first…
-
No One Can Say
•
5 min read
No One Can Say (Day 25 of A Simple Lent) | Wednesday In a most compelling turn, Paul leaves behind the abuse which bothered him yesterday to speak instead of what the blessed community should look like–how it should behave. But he centers it around being able to say “Jesus is Lord.” Therefore I want…
-
Ephphatha – Be Opened
•
4 min read
Ephphatha (Day 23 of A Simple Lent) Monday Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha’, that is, ‘Be opened.’ The daily lectionary actually carved up one of the most challenging moments in Jesus’s ministry, in which, giving us the conclusion today before moving on to one of the seemingly most typical. In…