“Hope!”Scripture Reading - Matt. 27:62-66Even the chief priests and Pharisees remembered Jesus words, “After three days I am to rise again.”  Odd, isn’t it, that His disciples seemed not to remember?  Jesus spoke of both His death and resurrection several times on a number of occasions.  Indeed, He promised to rise from the dead.  There are at least 10 Scriptures in which Jesus predicted His resur...  Read More

“Good Friday?”Scripture Readings -Friday AM – Matt. 27:1-34Noon – Matt. 27:34-453:00 PM –  Matt. 27:46-55Evening -  Matt. 27:56-61“The Paschal Triduum or Easter Triduum or Holy Triduum, or Easter Triduum, or the Three Days, is the period of three days that begins with . . . the evening of Maundy Thursday, reaches its high point in the Easter Vigil, and closes with evening prayer on Easter Sunday. ...  Read More

Scripture Reading - Matthew 26:17-75;                        John 13:1-17:26The first day of Unleavened  Bread.  Passover.  One of the holiest of days for the Jewish people.  It was the celebration of the miraculous deliverance from Egypt.  This celebration lives still today as a holy reminder to Jews around the world of God’s love and truth and power to deliver.The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luk...  Read More

Scripture Reading - Matthew 26:1-16The chief priests and elders were gathered together in the court of the High Priest.  They planned seize Him at some point and they would kill Him.  Unbeknown to them at the time, one of Jesus’ own had determined to make a deal with them.  He would arrange a convenient time and place where they could arrest Him and whisk Him off to jail before the crowds heard mu...  Read More

Scripture Reading – Matthew 23:1-25:46“Finding Nemo” has been a goldmine for Disney.  Depending on how you figure the gross income, “Finding Nemo” is either the 10th or the 1st in gross revenue of any Disney animated film with over $1 billion in total revenue.  Who knew?  The story line is that of Nemo’s father searching for Nemo when he wanders too close to the surface of the ocean and is caught ...  Read More

Scripture Reading – Matthew Matt. 21:18-22:46Sunday had been an exhausting day. Jesus and His followers returned to Bethany that evening and He returned to Jerusalem the next morning, Monday morning. Monday morning. It begins. Having created something of a stir on Sunday by overturning “the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves” for sacrifices (Matthew 21:12), ...  Read More

And so it was that slaves would pose the question that we often sing in the Negro spiritual, “Were You There?” We owe much to those slaves as they sought the help of God in their suffering and leaned into their hope in God for their deliverance – “swing low sweet chariot comin’ for to carry me home.” But the question is still before us, “were you there when they crucified my Lord?” The answer, of ...  Read More

He writes of things and people and events and circumstances that “help us untether our imagination from the tyranny of the status quo.” (Excerpt From: Brian Zahnd. “Beauty Will Save the World.”) I confess that I would never have thought of that on my own but now that I have been exposed to the thought, I am somewhat challenged by it. “The tyranny of the status quo.” It has a nice ring to it but if...  Read More

Shannan Martin confesses in her book, “The Ministry of Ordinary Places,” that she lived in dread that God might “call” her into “the ministry.” When she learned that her sister had shared God’s call in her life to become a missionary, Shannan felt like she was “off the hook.” Or, in her words, “Bullet Dodged!” Relieved, she picked up her life with new gusto and found a measure of peace that “minis...  Read More

I am not a huge fan of basketball, but I do like March Madness – I know . . . go figure. Basketball is pretty intense and so much can happen in the last few seconds of a game. Hardly seems fair that a team that plays so well can lose a game because of some lucky, last-second shot, a 3-point “Hail Mary” kind of shot from near half court. I know, I know. That’s what legends are made of and all that ...  Read More