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...
Matthew 27:45-46
posted by DJL
From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The verses up to now have depicted Jesus’ increasing isolation....
Matthew 27:38-44
posted by DJL
Then two bandits were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” In the...