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Set Aside Your Mourning Clothes––A Prayer Exercise
The last two years have been a time of prolonged loss, anxiety, and uncertainty for many of us. And whether or not we remember when we put on our mourning clothes, many of us struggle with when we should take them off. How do we know?
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Live into Holy Week
The church across the world observes the most important week of the year in our tradition—Holy Week—which begins on Palm Sunday and ends on Easter. Both the Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions call it “the Great Week” because God did great works during the week we reenact. (Note: Orthodox Christians celebrate Holy Week on different days from those in the west—their Easter falling on April 24 and the west celebrating April 17 this year). On Wednesday, sometimes called Spy Wednesday or Good Wednesday, we consider that Judas (the “spy”) bargained to betray Jesus with a kiss. Listen in as Jodie Neznik and I talk about this betrayal on the So Much More podcast. …
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Meet Me at the Cross: A Poem
Looking to redeem your guilt and your shame? Hoping for a way to relieve the pain. Meet me at the cross. Seeking shelter in the storm, frail and worn. Fighting a battle you can’t seem to win. Longing for love that knows no end. Meet me at the cross. Trapped in a cycle of doubt and fear. Aching to know the comfort of peace. Meet me at the cross. He makes all things new. He is waiting for you. Meet me at the cross. Gather at the cross, it’s a compass for the lost. I’m just like you, so I’ll be there too. Meet me at the cross. Though…
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Good Friday- Following Jesus into the Light
At the small, country church of my childhood, 3 crosses would be placed by the roadside shortly before the week of Easter. The crosses would be bare or draped in purple for a time and then early in the morning on Good Friday a black cloth would be placed around the middle cross. Black, to symbolize the light of Jesus being extinguished and the heaviness of the world’s sin. It’s not just a figurative darkness, it was a reality for those in the presence of Jesus at the time of his death, for as Luke records: “It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three,…
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Someday Soon
I remember the pains of childbirth. For about 45 minutes, I was stuck in intense contractions that happen just before the pushing stage. Amidst the pain, 45 minutes felt like forever.
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I am Barabbas
As we begin to walk through the holiest of days of the Church, we will take time to recall the most fundamental truths that make Christians Christians and turn sinners into saints. We will revisit in various ways, through many different traditions, the events leading to the suffering, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, the son of God, the son of man. As we look at the Gospel narratives, we are introduced to a full cast of characters whom we only know because of the parts they played in this great story of redemption. I think of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who, though having repeatedly declared Jesus innocent, still condemned…
