Shepherd
We have all been hurt. And we have all caused harm. It makes it difficult -to trust, to connect, to care, to love, to fully live. The more it happens -the more difficult it gets. The truly great…they turn that pain into something creative and life-giving, into resurrection. John’s Gospel was written by a community […]
Indeed
It’s that time of the year. The season of the appearances, of God showing up. We are, as Flannery O’Connor wrote, “Christ haunted.” We are hearing the post-Easter appearance stories of Jesus, Jesus in the resurrection body, physical hauntings if you will. “The Lord is Risen indeed.” We proclaim it in our worship of God. […]
Good Dirt
Some bad ideas have a lot of staying power. You just can’t shake them. One of the earliest bad ideas of faith, the original sin of faith, is that creation is a bad thing, a barrier and a prison to true spiritual development. Faith and life in the Spirit are then hostile at worst, indifferent […]
Death Ain’t What it Used to Be
Well, I think it’s fair to say, on this day of all days, that death ain’t what it used to be. Not to make light of it, I imagine that we have all been grieved, harassed and terrified by death in more than one way, on more than one occasion. But, perhaps, on this day, […]
Forsaken
Crying in the dark with no one to hear. Ever been there? Alone, betrayed, no way out, no fix it. That place of forsakenness, of being forgotten. It is a place of desolation. Crying in the dark with no one to hear. That is today. That is the cry from the cross, My God, My […]
Love
I recently was given a big hug by an old friend. It was wonderful. It really was. That physical affirmation from someone that I loved and respected, who had shared some of the same long road. Love is like that. John’s Gospel calls our attention, again and again, to the physical details of life that […]
Fulfilled
So which is it? We have to choose all the time, don’t we? What is being fulfilled? Matthew’s Gospel says it over and over again, the scripture is fulfilled, as it is written. What is being fulfilled? The faith that crucifies? Or the faith on the cross? The faith of the one on the cross? […]
Water in a Dry Place
(HAMMER…) I call this court to order. The case of the Israelites vs. the Lord will now be heard. The question before us, “Is the Lord among us or not?” The plaintiff claims that they have been brought out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, to die of thirst in the wilderness.” […]
Being Wrong
I grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons in the 1970’s. I would get up early and claim the television before my brother could. Some of the best shows weren’t even cartoons, they were these low budget shows made by Kroft Productions and Filmation, shows like Space Academy and Jason of Star Command, Ark 2, […]
Ash Wednesday
So here’s the thing, the holy conundrum that we are caught up into. Freedom is not free. Yet freedom must always be a gift, a grace, from outside, from beyond. The journey of God’s people throughout scripture and history can be understood as the struggle to live with this paradox. Forty days, forty years, that […]
Visions
There are rumors going around about this thing called resurrection. It keeps coming up and it won’t go away. As if it matters, as if it changes something. The world falls apart, that’s the rule, the norm, and we fight over the scraps, clinging and yelling. Them’s the rules of the game! As if God […]
The Right Thing to Say
Have you ever wondered if the words are out there to make things alright? Have you ever searched and agonized and dreamed of the right thing to say that will fix things, pull things together, build something, fix what has been broken, save someone? Are there words, if put together in the right way, that […]
Fishing Fools
Losing a friend is hard. It brings a certain kind of loneliness. We become castaways in our own lives. Jesus lost John the Baptist. The four gospels say various things about how they knew or didn’t know each other. It’s pretty clear though that they shared a deep connection, an affinity, a certain perspective on […]
Set Free
There is no sound like the sound of chains sliding and clinking, of bars clanging, of locks clicking. There is no sound like the sound of chains breaking and falling, of cages flopping open, of locks fraying, of freedom flapping. The sudden silence. Then steps at first reluctant and then rapidly running and fading into […]
Fulfill
A forgotten old bucket sits outside, dry and full of dust. The rain starts to fall and the bucket slowly fills up until it overflows. Filled full. Fulfilled. The bucket fulfills its obligation, its purpose when it holds water. The Holy Spirit broods over creation at the beginning, creation is fulfilled when God’s breath enters […]
Christmas Eve
When I was a child I had a long protracted correspondence with Santa Claus. I would leave milk and cookies out on Christmas Eve and I would leave note where I would inquire about how the reindeer could fly. I wasn’t just curious, I had an ulterior motive, I wanted to fly myself, which is […]
Dreaming of God
A friend once asked me, “Do you suppose God ever dreams?” My answer, “I know my dog sure does. You should see her, feet twitching and barking.” Does God dream? That’s one of those questions that kind of sticks with you like an earworm, one of those songs that just keeps going through your head. […]
The Advent
So there is this bar and in walks this lion who then sits down at the bar. A minute later in walks this lamb who then sits right next to the Lion. They sit there together and order drinks. John the Baptist is there tending the bar. He serves the lion and the lamb. John […]
Proof
God, do something. Fix things. Make it better. Prove you are God. Prove you are real. The ancient prayers of the faithful both in scripture and beyond often echo this demand of God to be faithful, to be good, to be God. The demands of contemporary atheism sound much the same, a demand that I […]
Children of the Resurrection
We are forgetful. We forget who we are. We forget one another. We are all eventually forgotten, our memory endures for a time among the living, perhaps our name remains behind written somewhere for future generations to wonder who we were. We are forgetful. We will be forgotten. But God remembers. And for those who […]
For a Recovering Pharisee
Hello, my name is Jack, I am a recovering Pharisee. A long time ago I worked and lived in a halfway house for homeless men in recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. It was a long hard year. Lots of brutal honesty as men stood up, introducing themselves, naming their addiction and sharing their struggle […]
Never Lose Heart
You know those people. Those ones. Them. The ones who don’t know when to quit, when to go away, who are stubborn and tenacious in wanting to see the right thing done. As Bruce Springsteen sings “no retreat baby, no surrender.” While the rest of us kind of like things as they are, or see […]
The Faith River
There is religion that is poison. Then there is faith that is medicine. There is finding God useful to control and condemn others. Then there is the praise of God because God is God and we are not. There is gathering the people under the banner of fear and hate. Then there is the body […]
Trickster
My grandfather on my mother’s side was a Manhattan businessman who dressed and played the part with style. The hay day of his business was in the 1970’s and 80’s, advising companies on how to claim as many tax credits as possible. I remember him talking about how so much of his business revolved around […]