I’ve often thought that before the good news is good news, it’s bad news. Why? Because it’s so totally what we don’t expect. We expect fair, and we get generous. We expect justice, and we get mercy. We expect “getting what you deserve,” and we get grace. All those words –...
Easter 2
posted by DJL
Dear Lord, Come to us behind our locked doors, that you may unbind whatever holds us back and send us forth in mission. Come to us in our fear, that you may release us from all that terrifies us and send us forth in good courage. Come to us in our doubts, that you may create in us faith and...
Pregnant Church?
posted by DJL
There are lots of reports of the mainline church’s decline in recent decades. And there are actually new reports, about the decline of evangelical and conservative churches as well. But while the facts and figures may be grim, Presbyterian minister (PCUSA) and writer MaryAnn McKibben Dana...
Easter
posted by DJL
Blest are you, Lord Jesus who came to us a little child one of us, flesh and blood to share in our humanity For God so loved the world ALL: That all might have eternal life. Blest are you, Lord Jesus who came to us as carpenter and yet in whose creative hands a world was fashioned For God...
Good Friday – What Does it Mean?
posted by DJL
When you think about it, it’s an incredibly odd name: Good Friday. This is, after all, the day on which Jesus was crucified, nailed to a wooden cross until he died. It is the day nearly two thousand years later on which we remember his suffering. It is the day we read the story of his trial, sentencing, crucifixion, and death. It is the day we hear of how all of his companions and friends either betrayed, denied, or abandoned him. How can this day be good? Because, we confess, that in and through Jesus’ life and death God acted in a unique way to save the world. For this reason, and for this reason only, do we make bold to call this...
Passover
posted by DJL
Many of us will be going to Maundy Thursday services. If we listen to one of the accounts of the Last Supper as shared by Matthew, Mark, or Luke, will be listening in to the Passover Meal Jesus shares with his disciples. (If we listen to the account of John – from which we get the...