“Why are you weeping?” Jesus speaks to Mary Magdalene, a woman conjecture and gossip made a prostitute, not the truth of scripture.   Easter’s shining morn has broken. The tomb filled by death night before now stands vacant.   At first, Mary does not recognize Jesus.   Then she turns astonished for death cannot hold the power of God.   Some will say God changed. They will argue the Old Testament God of wrath was replaced with the New Testament God of mercy, grace and love. Perhaps, like Mary...

Historically, a feature that often shows up for some people during troubled eras is an increasing obsession with predictions regarding the “end times,” or events surrounding the end of the world.   In our current difficulties and hard times, this concern has been heightened because of the war with Iran and reports of some US military leaders connecting the war as presaging, or even triggering, the “rapture,” the physical return of Jesus, and the end of the world.   Last week and this, I’ve...

O lovely Christ who  breathed life anew  into a child’s still form O lonely Christ who  endured agony and suffering  not just from the cross  but because of empathy  with Your beloved world still O lively Christ who  calls and commands, who  invites and admonishes  our leaving familiar,  habitual prejudice  to follow playfully,  lovingly, sometimes  doubtfully, traumatically,  through need and brokenness, finally to wholeness and home in You   O LORD   On this holy day when your people gather...