Christ Jesus lay in death’s strong bands For our offenses given; But now at God’s right hand he stands And brings us life from heaven. Therefore let us joyful be And sing to God right thankfully Loud songs of hallelujah! –Martin Luther The characters in the following story will remain anonymous in order to protect both the innocent and the guilty. 🙂 A few years ago a good friend of mine shared a recent conversation she’d had with her middle school-aged kids. The older asked if they would be going away for spring break. She replied that, no, this year spring break happened to fall over Holy Week, and since their parents...
Matthew 27:50-51
posted by DJL
Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. No doubt the onlookers waiting to see if Elijah would come to rescue Jesus were disappointed. For shortly...
The Kingdom
posted by DJL
Palm Sunday is tomorrow. I know we now call it Passion Sunday, or The Sunday of the Passion, or Palm/Passion Sunday. (No doubt there are other variants as well.) And I understand the reasons for the change. When attendance at Holy Week services dropped off, the folks who guard our worship...
Matthew 27:47-49
posted by DJL
When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “This man is calling for Elijah.” At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” Tragedy...
Brene Brown on Church as Midwife
posted by DJL
Given that we are closing in on the climax and conclusion of Lent and, additionally, that in this morning’s devotion we looked at Jesus’ cry of dereliction, I found this meditation on the relationship between faith, doubt, and struggle by Brené Brown both interesting and helpful. Referencing the spiritual awakening (slash, mental breakdown) she described in her breakthrough TED Talk, Brené confides that she went to church to find comfort. Instead, she found challenge. “Church wasn’t an epidural, it was a midwife. It just stood next to me and said ‘Push, it’s supposed to hurt a bit.’” (One of the more quotable quotes I’ve...