Archive for September 2023

“Stay Woke in an Eastered World” The resurrection does not make sense. It does not fit into our experience of what’s real. It’s not rational, it is not reasonable, it is not routine. But maybe that is just the point. Maybe the point of Easter is to remind me that my definition of what’s rational…

“Our Palm Sunday Choice” Our Palm Sunday Choice I picture Jesus’ Palm Sunday Parade as masterful street theater carefully planned down to the smallest detail. It is an orchestrated event. I see Jesus coming into the capital city through the South Gate riding on a borrowed donkey. In the Bible the donkey is a symbol…

“Transmitters of Life” My annotated Bible says that the raising of Lazarus is the “crowning miracle” revealing Jesus as the giver of life.” For some of us this is a true statement. We believe in the physical bodily resurrection, without question. If John says that Jesus called Lazarus to come out of the grave, he…

“The Politics of Exclusion” The story in the ninth chapter John that we heard today is about the politics of exclusion. The man who is blind from birth is judged to be a sinner. If not him, then surely his parents sinned. In the biblical tradition, because God is holy, the people of God must…

“God’s Mandate for a New Order” The story in the 17th chapter of Matthew is called the Miracle of the Transfiguration. It seems like either you believe it or you don’t and there is no place in between. Rationalists and children of the Enlightenment will say that it makes no sense. It’s just one more…