Grief of Jesus

by | Oct 14, 2024 | Uncategorized

Lately, I’ve imagined that I overhear the grief of Jesus. I hear strains of bewilderment and anger, loneliness and longing, protest and prayer. No wonder his followers have often used words from Isaiah to describe him as: “a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.”...

Simplicity and Boldness

by | Aug 1, 2024 | Uncategorized

Sometimes there’s a lot that needs to be said, but I’m unable to say much at all. There are so many problems to ponder, perspectives to consider, and questions to ask. My ponderings seem shallow, though. My perspectives are commonplace. My questions aren’t original;...

Encountering Jesus

by | May 29, 2024 | Uncategorized

This article appeared first on the Jesus Worldview Initiative website, jesusworldview.org As an elementary school aged boy in 1960s Atlanta, I spent most of my out-of-school time playing side-yard football and sandlot baseball, wandering in the thin woods near our...

Walking with My Grandfather and Jesus

by | Apr 28, 2024 | Uncategorized

I learned about the magic of walking from my father’s father. When he had a long hard day at “the” A & P (it was never just A & P), or when the noise in the house was too much for him, or when he simply needed to think and pray, he’d leave his little house at...

Silent, Barren Saturday

by | Mar 30, 2024 | Uncategorized

Good Friday. Holy Saturday. Resurrection Sunday. This sacred seventh day, this barren Sabbath, suspends us between Jesus’ cry of dereliction on Friday afternoon—“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”—and the angels’ astonishing announcement at dawn on Sunday —“He...

Calling Continues

by | Mar 27, 2024 | Uncategorized

On an early spring Sunday afternoon when I was eight years old, I walked the short distance from my family’s home to the home of our pastor, Ken Haag. I was often there, usually to see my friend, Tony; but, that day, I wanted to talk with Brother Ken. To use the...

Living While Dying

by | Jan 26, 2024 | Uncategorized

Ten years ago this month, I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, an incurable but increasingly manageable cancer of the bone marrow and blood. At diagnosis, the median survival rate was about five years, so I’ve lived far longer than I then had reason to think I...

Do You See What I See?

by | Dec 21, 2023 | Uncategorized

A week ago, I stood near a Christmas tree in a sanctuary.  We sang “Away in a Manger.” I had a lot on my mind, and I was also dealing with a good bit of pain. I sang without noticing what I was singing until I heard the others in the room and, in a slightly...

A (Kind of) Liminal Week

by | Nov 28, 2023 | Uncategorized

By a quirk and gift of the calendar, this year is one of those comparatively rare ones in which there is a week in-between the Sunday after Thanksgiving and the First Sunday of Advent. That extra week doesn’t eliminate but it does temper just a bit the scrambling...