Miscellaneous Missives

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb;  and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet… - John 20:1-18  Continue reading here » But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. - Luke 24:1-12  Continue reading here » Countless songs have been composed and art created about this scene at the empty tomb. We even have a few different gospel accounts of who saw what and how. Disciples are racing to the tomb, including Peter, who betrayed Jesus just days before. Then there’s Mary who has come to say good bye one last time.  These disciples who went to the tom...

For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease. Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant. - Job 14:7-9 Watch and wait with hope. I think Lent ends today.   While Lent is about contemplation and reflection, Easter is the time of rebirth.  It's the hope.  We sit and wait for Easter.  Spring is also a time of rebirth.  After being gone for a week, I was a bit disappointed to see the snow with not blooms or flowers in sight.  It's coming, and I need to patiently wait.  This isn't completely true.  Blooms were to be received today.  My dad (on his way through town) picked me up from the airport and took me out to a late lunch/early dinner.  He brought a tulip plant which was blooming.  More importantly, he brought malted milk Easter eggs... de...

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.  Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast. On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. - Psalm 22:1-2, 9-11 Where is the God to whom the psalmist is crying out? Where, in the psalmist’s most desperate time of need is ‘my God’?  For some, it is difficult to perceive a God who does not come to our aid; who does not respond when we call. For others, this is the God they know: one who remains silent in the face of trouble and of doubt.  Where is the God, who, up until this point, seems to have been present? We do not know. We cannot say.  Today we remember a Friday unlike any other. We remember a dy...

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. - 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 We share something in common with the Corinthians who Paul is writing to: a people living in a changing world and an increasingly globalized city with new traditions, cultures and spiritual practices. They had corrupted aspects of the church’s life. Paul writes to a forgetful people who have forgotten who they were. Like the Corinthians, it may be easy to forget that that we belong to God; to forget that our individual spiritual expe...

Be pleased, O God, to deliver me. O LORD, make haste to help me! Let those be put to shame and confusion who seek my life. Let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire to hurt me. Let those who say, “Aha, Aha!” turn back because of their shame. Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. Let those who love your salvation say evermore, “God is great!” But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay! - Psalm 70:1-5 Can you place yourself in the psalmist’s place? Could these words, crying for deliverance and help, be words that you have uttered at some point? Have you heard the voice of those ridiculing you, cry “Aha, Aha!”? Or perhaps there are those in our midst that cry out as the psalmist does. Are we too uncomfortable with their lament that we try to find the ways to quickly look past it and keep walking on? You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay!  How can we, in these...

Today's view.  The guys from yesterday found me prime seating.    It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. - Isaiah 49:6 A servant to raise up and restore? A light to the nations? Kind of a big responsibility. How do we do that when we sometimes struggle to be a light to our friends, our communities and our churches?  God has come to be present in the midst of exile and hopelessness, to reveal God’s love, life, and goodness in the lives of plain, ordinary people. People like us. Like our neighbors. Like our co-workers and family members and friends. Maybe even our enemies. Through us, the world will be made new. In the grit and despair of Holy Week, remember that we know how the story ends. We  are called to be a light to the nations. "We are called to b...

This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. What is it that you rejoice this day? Wow!  Some days the prompts are super challenging and some days...  What is it that I rejoice this day?  I rejoice the beach and the ocean.  Today hasn't been perfect.  Some problems have arisen in paradise.  When I arrived this morning, my room wasn't ready.  Of course this was not a problem because my swimsuit, sunscreen and sunglasses were in my carry on.  Three problems did arise.  1) I forgot to put sandals in the carry on.  2) I didn't have a room number to charge my Fresca, chips, and salsa.  3) I needed a towel card.  Perhaps the beach guys remembered me from last year because two and three were not problems at all.   Oh, I did have one more problem.  I spent the afternoon talking to a couple from Canada and a group that arrived for a wedding, so I didn't get any reading done.  Perh...