May 8, 2022 – The Bible is full of agricultural metaphors for what it means to be created and nurtured by God. Often we can feel so much pressure to flourish, bear fruit, and grow, that we can forget that in every one of these metaphors it is God who gives the growth.
April 17, 2022 – The women bring spices to the tomb, facing the ground, but then they hear the news.” He is not here. He is risen.” That news alone helps them lift their heads, bringing their gaze up from the ground to see his face.
April 10, 2022 – Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem to the cheers of onlookers who welcome him as a new king who would save us. They are ordered to stop, but Jesus makes it clear: if they were silent, the stones would shout out.
April 3, 2022 – All four Gospels have stories of a woman anointing Jesus. John’s version has Mary (sister of Martha and Lazarus) anoint his feet with costly perfume, using her own hair to do the anointing. Though Judas objects, Jesus’ response is clear, Judas is wrong. Mary gets it.
March 20, 2022 – Jesus approaches the cross during a time of violence and suffering. This week he gets confronted with both; but his reaction isn’t what anyone expects. In fact, he seems to suggest that even the world’s worst, even violence and suffering, can be redeemed. Even blood and manure can give way to…
March 13, 2022 – On the way to Jerusalem Jesus is informed that people are out for his life, like foxes circling a hen house. His response points to a promise which is good news for the hens and the foxes too.
March 6, 2022 – The first Sunday of Lent is traditionally a Sunday when we hear the story of Christ’s temptation in the wilderness. It’s a story about stones, and bread, and power–a re-telling of the Garden of Eden story, and a foreshadowing of the Garden of Gethsemane.
