Posts by ROLUMCADMIN

The story of faith is not one of arrival but of journey.  The new butterfly’s struggle to push out of its confines produces a fissure that cannot be undone.  There is no going back, the journey to a new existence has commenced.  The post-resurrection story of Jesus opening the hearts of his fellow travelers along the road to Emmaus invites us to be companions of the one…

As ever-emerging spiritual creatures, we cannot contain our selves — the selves God has created us to be.  Coming out as people and as a church from what we have known into a new identity is filled with anxiety and unknowing.  Emerging will take effort and surrendering to “the assurance of things hoped for” even though we cannot yet see what the future holds. Sunday, May…

This account of the last moments of the life of Jesus on the cross is often recognized, but sometimes missed, robbing us of the importance of what is happening.  As Jesus breathes his last breath on the cross, he opens the doorway to God, our father, from that moment forward.  The rending of the temple curtain carries a message for each of us.  The barrier that was once…

Jesus’ words at the Last Supper were shocking to those in attendance.  His words can seem familiar, even comforting to us because we hear these words every time we have communion.  But at the moment of their utterance, they were anything but “usual.”  This week, we enter the scene of that last supper long enough to get a grasp of the shock that would have rippled through…

     Besides the Last Supper, Holy Week contains another important story that happens at dinner.  Earlier in the week, Jesus and his followers gather for a meal, and a woman shows up unexpectedly to anoint Jesus in an extravagant show of devotion.  To say she caused quite a “stir” might be understating it a bit.  We imagine ourselves in the room and we see the looks of…

 That last week, Jesus doesn’t “lay low.”  He puts himself out there, susceptible to those who want to traphim, twist his words, get him to say something damning.  He cannot turn from his vocation—he is not only a master teacher, but prophet and voice of the Divine.  It is his ability to draw the people to his teachings that pose a threat, a challenge, to the authorities.…

 Jesus’ response to a visit to the Temple in the midst of this busy, noisy, Passover “tourist season” is utter frustration turned to anger.  With so much at stake, “business-as-usual” seems obscene.  This can be true for us today.  The banality of our everyday lives sometimes seems ludicrous in the face of such suffering around the world.  But taking a moment inside the…

Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week was full of risk. Rather than a nice impromptu celebration, it can be seen for the carefully planned and significantly symbolic event that would rub those in power the wrong way. In a moment already filled with tension, this “victory parade” had many implications, and as we know, many consequences. We will stop the…

The promised encounter with the resurrected Christ on the shore of the Sea of Galilee is told in the Gospel of John.  Jesus, unrecognized at first by the disciples, instructs them to not give up in casting their nets.  They will be alright.  As usual, a meal is the setting for the reunion — a fitting context for the commission to go and feed God’s people out of our love…

     Jesus teaches “many things” from a boat to a crowd that has gathered on the seashore. He teaches in parables, including the parable of the sower — “let everyone with ears to hear listen!”  We often associate discipleship with “doing” — and certainly that is part of it. But we must also return time and again to the Teacher at the sea who offers us the stories that…