Every year on Good Friday I repost this memory, originally published almost ten years ago. The child referenced is about to graduate from high school, and life has changed just a little. But this remains one of my favorite memories of mothering and pastoring and Holy Week. Blessed Pretty Good Friday. Holy Week is rather intense around our house, primarily because Mom is working a lot and we all spend quite a bit of time at church. Since this also... Read more
I am two years away from the completion of my term of service as mother to teenagers. Two years. I have learned a lot in this decade and a half of serving on the frontlines, possibly the most profound lesson being: I cannot control the behavior of other people. I can only control my own behavior. This is a good lesson for life in general, not just in the periods of life when you’re sentenced to hard labor, like parenting... Read more
The palms waved us into Holy Week just last Sunday and we’re already well along into the events of this week, the final chapter of Jesus’ life. Since Christmas we’ve been hearing again stories of the life and ministry of Jesus: teaching in the temple, healing the sick, preaching sermons about loving our enemies, and speaking for people who couldn’t speak for themselves. Jesus has fed a bunch of people, invited outsiders to sit at his table, and made his... Read more
Can I Step Up? Palm Sunday Luke 19:28-40 I don’t know what you’re seeing everywhere you turn, but all I see is politics, politics, politics…in today’s scripture lesson from Luke’s gospel. As you know, politics—good politics, that is—is all about narrative, about telling an alternate story as counterpoint to the troubled story going on around us…and getting people to buy into it; to believe it. Our first clue that this is what’s going on in today’s gospel lesson is that... Read more
Can I Be Open? John 12:1-8 For thousands of years nobody has quite known what to do with today’s gospel story. I’ve always thought of it as a biblical story with so many awkward scenes, even hearing it 2000 years later, it’s full of cringe-worthy moments. It’s kind of like the story I’m about to tell you right now. This is a story of my Uncle Al’s 80th birthday party. I was probably 8 years old, and as is the... Read more
I guess this is a good time as any to think about change. Nature is teasing us with suggestions that biting wind and freezing temperatures will soon be distant memories; I even saw a few crocuses pushing their leaves up out of the frozen ground just this past week. While nature is trumpeting change all around us, the truth is there never is a time when change isn’t happening. Change is just part of being human. Fundamentally, if we aren’t... Read more
Can I Forgive? Luke 15:11-32 As some of you may know, I am the eldest of five children. One of the best things about being a kid in a family with many siblings is that, if one were to, say, break a rule of the house (sneak into the snack drawer and eat a handful of cookies before dinner), there are myriad options for possible scapegoats. Occasionally my parents would line us up in a row and question us... Read more
Can I Admit I’m Wrong? Luke 13:1-9 Today we find ourselves in the third Sunday of Lent, a period of 40 days leading up to Easter in which we are invited on a journey with Jesus, a journey of self-examination, a process of gathering the courage we need to ask hard questions about our lives. Over these past weeks we’ve asked the questions: Can I resist temptation? And, can I give up my life? Hard questions for sure. Today’s passages... Read more
Parched Psalm 63:1-8, Isaiah 55:1-9 How many of you have ever been to Hawaii? If you have, you will know that homes in Hawaii are generally unairconditioned. The reason for this is that usually there is always a breeze called a trade wind blowing across the islands off the ocean. Even in the hottest weather, when the trade winds are blowing, you’re generally comfortable. If not, then, you just go to the beach and jump in the ocean. No need for... Read more
Can I Give Up My Life? Luke 13:31-35 A few weeks ago, on Transfiguration Sunday, we were reminded of Jesus’ powerful words to his disciples as they all turned toward Jerusalem and what would be his crucifixion and death: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me, for those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will... Read more
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