The Praise of Agony Yet you are the Holy One, * enthroned upon the praises of Israel. Psalm 22:3 “Eli! Eli! Lama sabachthani”, the voice of Jesus cried out from the cross. Most scholars agree that those words were written as a Greek transliteration of the spoken Aramaic of Jesus’ day. They also are …
Category: Lent
Wisdom, Let Us Attend!
Wisdom, Let Us Attend “Let us test him with insult and torture, so that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance.” Wisdom 2:19 It’s only one more week till Good Friday, a day which no doubt is one of our high holy days as disciples of Jesus. We …
Strange Voices
Strange voices 'They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.’ John 10:5 There are many voices in our world, each calling out for attention. Yet only one of them holds any hope for our lives. The plurality of voices in our modern …
The Greatest Force In All the World
The Greatest Force In the World Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Romans 8:35 NRSV Go ahead. Let your imagination run wild. I guarantee you won’t be able to think of anything so powerful, or so horrific …
To Eat or Not to Eat?
To Eat or Not to Eat? Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. John 6:27 Have I mentioned how much I love to eat? And not only eat, but I enjoy the pursuit of cooking a deliciously …
Follow the Yellow Brick Road
Follow the Yellow Brick Road "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus replied, "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later." John 13:36 NRSV I know it’s a weak metaphor, but I love the Wizard of Oz. When Dorothy is told that to get home she needs to find the Wizard …
Beauty of the Ashes: Get Back In the Ring
Get Back in the Ring And not only that, but we* also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, Romans 5:3 I have an autographed picture of Muhammed Ali in my office at home. No, I never actually met him, but my nephew Jason did. He lived near the legendary boxer in Michigan …
The Beauty of the Ashes: Search Me O God
Search Me O God O God, you know my foolishness, and my faults are not hidden from you. Psalm 69:6 There are many wise sayings attributed to Abraham Lincoln. One of the most common is this: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the …
The Beauty of the Ashes: A Change of Position
Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, and kneel before the Lord our Maker. Psalm 95:6 Repentance is a major theme of the season of Lent. One of the best ways for me to show my repentance before God is to change my position. Yes, I mean literally change my position before Him. …
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The Beauty of the Ashes: Rainy Days and Mondays
Remember your word to your servant, because you have given me hope. This is my comfort in my trouble, that your promise gives me life. Psalm 119:49-50 “Hangin around, nothin to do but frown, rainy days and Mondays always get me down.” Back in 1971, Karen Carpenter sang these words to the top of the …
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