Easter is here, Jesus is risen. To properly celebrate we need to turn to the Easter stories in the Gospels. A great example is the ending of the Gospel of Mark. You may notice (or remember) that in your Bible it has “other” endings to the Gospel, and we will get to...
It is really hard to imagine what the disciples; Mary, the mother of Jesus; and many others were thinking. Can you imagine what it was like to witness the entry into the Temple Mount on Palm Sunday, the events of Holy Week and the Last Supper? The arrest, the...
I guess Good Friday (the day of the crucifixion and death of Jesus) is good because of the theology that developed – that His suffering and death somehow pays for our sins. Or as Mark’s Gospel interprets, the death led to personal immediate access to God: “And the...
No matter how many styles of music that I listen to, I am regularly drawn back to the simplicity and beauty of Gregorian chant. One of my favorite chants to listen to for both the music and the text is “Ubi Caritas.” I was first introduced to this chant sitting...
Matthew 5:9: Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” On Palm Sunday, 2018, Tim and I went to Plains, Ga., to attend President Jimmy Carter’s Sunday School Class. President Carter asked me to begin the morning in prayer. It...
Scripture: Colossians 1:15-20 (The Message) I am not a world traveler. I would like to say that I am … or that, in another season of life, I will be. My 90-year-old Pop has traveled the world, in particular Europe and Asia, exploring and learning about...
Scripture: Luke 10:25-37 In 2019 I had the privilege of traveling to the Holy Land with an amazing group of clergy and educators from Greensboro. Many participate in the Greensboro Faith Leaders Council, whose mission is to build an interracial and interfaith...
Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46 The sheep at the Lord’s right hand and the goats at the Lord’s left give Jesus the same answer: “When was it that we saw you in the condition that you said we saw you in?” Notice, the Scripture says that the sheep on the right and...
Joshua 24:15: “… but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Household, home. Those word have taken on a whole new significance in the past 10 months, haven’t they? When the need to “stay home” first arose in spring 2020, I was not at all...
Scriptures: Genesis 28:10-17 and Psalm 27:4-8 “Surely the Lord is in this place – and I did not know it!” How often do we miss the presence of God among us? Jacob’s words in this ancient story are still true. Particularly this year when we have been unable to...
