The human expressions of Jesus are simply beautiful as you read through the Gospels. The God who became human and made his dwelling among us experienced joy and pain, laughter and tears. One emotion that I love to read within these narratives is when Jesus gets angry but his anger is righteously directed. It can be hard to read because perhaps we like nice Jesus better but we can’t gloss over these verses, they are chalked full of righteous anger and for a good reason too.
The news is on a lot these days. From our current crisis with COVID-19 and before with the primaries. Our heads are full information and opinions that affect us more than many of us realize. The tension is real and the differing opinions are strong and numerous. It can be easy to get lost in the scuffle and forget that we belong to a different Kingdom entirely.
As we enter into the second day of Holy Week and our fifth week of social distancing, let us be reminded of what comes with this season: new life! The Springtime trees and flowers cry out this message with glorious colors and perfumes. Today we will read about a fruit tree that bore a flourish of green but was missing something big.
We start our Stay Holy, Stay Home journey today through the last few chapters of Matthew. As we continue to social distance, wear masks, and deal with the very new daily anxieties that today brings with COVID-19, let us walk on steady ground as we follow Jesus to the cross and celebrate his resurrection.
Holy week, or the Passion Week, is almost here and we find ourselves unable to participate with our communities of faith as we are mandated to stay home. This is a good thing, we are saving lives! However, we can still participate in Holy Week and create a sacred space right within our homes. Holy Week doesn’t happen just within the four walls of our churches, it can happen within the four walls of our cozy and perhaps very messy home.
I can only imagine it was difficult and perhaps a bit confusing for the disciples of Jesus when they heard the words “take up your cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). They were still a ways off from Jesus actually carrying his cross to Golgotha. Up to this point, all they have witnessed were miracles and Jesus’ radical teachings. Now talk of the crucifixion has entered the picture and his disciples, especially Peter, cannot believe it.
We are officially ten days into Lent, the season to remember Christ entering the desert for forty days and forty nights. Lent is traditionally a season for the church to engage in spiritual practices such as fasting, prayer and almsgiving. Lent is strongly themed around self-denial and remembering our finite mortality. Just as Jesus fasted for those forty days, he was hungry, expressing his most basic human need: food. Although Jesus was also God, his choice to take on our humanity came with limitations.
I was sitting in class my very first semester of seminary filled with tremendous excitement and trepidation. Once again, I was studying the subject my heart has never stopped seeking after: God and His Word. Very much like my first class of Bible College in 2003, I was simply giddy to be sitting and learning about the Bible and Theology. It was during one of Dr. Metzger’s fiery lectures in first semester Theology (which you would be familiar with if you have ever had the privilege of hearing him teach) that the simple phrase “Bigger Table Theology” came to me.
Happy New Year, friends! It’s a new year AND a new decade! What will you do with your life over the next ten years? (No pressure) It hasn’t even been a month and already the life lessons are taking some cheap shots as well as giving me a high five. Here are a few things I have learn in just a few weeks into this new decade:
