April 3, 2010

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April 1, 2010

Christ’s Passion Sure we’re trained to his suffering, sure the nine-inch nails, and so forth. And the cross raised up invoked the body’s weight so each wound tore, and from his abdomen a length of gut dangled down, longing towards earth. He was a god, after all. An eternal light swarmed in his rib cage no less strong than the weaving nebulae that haul this dirt-speck planet through its course. Surely his flesh mattered less somehow, less than yours to... Read more

April 1, 2010

Descending Theology: The Garden We know he was a man because, once doomed, he begged for reprieve. See him grieving on his rock under olive trees, his companions asleep on the hard ground around him wrapped in old hides. Not one stayed awake as he’d asked. That went through him like a sword. He wished with all his being to stay but gave up bargaining at the sky. He knew it was all mercy anyhow, unearned as breath. The Father... Read more

March 31, 2010

Descending Theology: Christ Human Such a short voyage for a god, and you arrived in animal form so as not to scorch us with your glory. Your mask was an infant’s head on a limp stalk, sticky eyes smeared blind, limbs rendered useless in swaddle. You came among beasts as one, came into our care or its lack, came crying as we all do, because the human frame is a crucifix, each skeletos borne a lifetime. Any wanting soul lain... Read more

March 30, 2010

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week always feel a little unsettling to me. I know what to think about on Sunday. I can focus and meditate on Christ’s journey Thursday, Friday and Saturday. But what about these three unnamed days? Though there is plenty to read in the Gospels, teaching and events occurring within those few days between Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and his Passover feast with his disciples, I always still feel a bit unprepared when Maundy Thursday... Read more

March 29, 2010

As I write this, it’s still Palm Sunday, the day we pick up our palm leaf alongside our worship brochure and wave it. (And try to pay attention to the sermon while secretly folding our palm leaf into a cross that can sit on our dresser for the next few weeks until we throw it away.) It’s a strange day of celebration, knowing what lies ahead this week, knowing what we’re actually commemorating. Just as we celebrate the Christ walking... Read more

March 25, 2010

It’s not often that Sunday’s sermon loiters in my head throughout the rest of the week. It may be because I helped lead the discussion on the same passage last night in our church small group, but it’s been lingering today and I need to talk to you about it. In Luke 14, Jesus turns to a massive crowd that had gathered, drawn by his miracles, his charisma, his entirely new interpretation of the scriptures, and his radical challenge of... Read more

March 24, 2010

Lord God, protector of all who trust in you, Without you nothing is strong, nothing is holy; Support us always by your love. Guide us to use the good things of this world, That even now, we may hold fast to what endures forever… This is the prayer laid out for me this morning in my Benedictine Handbook. It’s not a prayer for Lent or a prayer for a certain holy day. It’s simply a prayer for a Wednesday, which... Read more

March 23, 2010

This past Saturday, our little family picked up our newest Craigslist purchase, the baby hiking backpack, loaded up a picnic lunch, and drove twenty miles north of the city to a beach in Marin County. Still new to this area of the country, I can’t get over the fact that both the ocean and mountains can be within driving distance of a city. It’s so unfair! Our lovely afternoon started with a picnic near the beach before we loaded up... Read more

March 22, 2010

I spent two days last week with my mother and her sister, Vicki, visiting my great aunt Lorraine in Los Osos, California. It’s been fifteen years (that’s half my life) since I’ve hugged her. She’s now 92 and stunning, thinner and frailer but still absolutely beautiful with fantastic style and fire red hair (she’s had it dyed every three weeks for the past 50 years). It’s interesting to me how I feel about Lorraine. I have many great aunts and... Read more

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