Good Friday: The axis of the cosmos
Holy Week for Newbies Have you ever wondered why an execution is known as, “Good” Friday? The early church believed Jesus was crucified on March 25th. Further, they believed that, since re-creation...
View ArticleThe In Between Day
Holy Saturday Today is the quiet day. In the church historic, the art for today portrays the Harrowing of Hell, Jesus making proclamation to the “spirits in prison” (1 Peter 3:18-22), trampling the...
View ArticleEaster: The Story that Shapes all Stories
Holy Week for Newbies A few years back an international student from China named Peter spent his senior year of high school living with us. Growing up in an atheist country, Peter had no spiritual...
View ArticleNarrative and Metanarrative: John 3:16, your story, and your place in the cosmos
We experience life as story. This seems hardwired; the way we assemble our discrete experiences as plot devices in a coherent narrative. And we continue to do this even when our stories ultimately...
View ArticleKilling it: How overwork leads to underperformance
Have you ever been really tired? As in, barely drag yourself out of bed, wonder how you’ll make it through the day, dog-tired? Have you ever been discouraged, depressed, or anxious? Are you any of...
View ArticleWhat are you waiting for?
No one likes to wait. Remember staring at presents under the Christmas tree? Or arriving famished at your favorite restaurant and the maître d’ tells you 90 minutes? Or standing in line forever at...
View ArticleTabloids, Tombs, and Digitally Curated News
I was in a grocery store checkout line on a late-night college food run. My eyes landed on a tabloid headline: “Resurrection True: Man Dead 50 Years Comes Back from Grave!” I knew better. Still, that...
View ArticleThe Greatest Comeback
It might have been the biggest comeback in sports history: Tiger Woods, once golf’s greatest player, had not won a major tournament in 11 years. His emotional issues, self-destructive behavior, and...
View ArticleThe Difference a Few Steps Can Make
A Sermon for October 6, the 17th Sunday after Pentecost. Habakkuk 1:1-2:4, Psalm 37:1-10, 2 Timothy 1:1-14, Luke 17:5-10 Chinese Philosopher LaoTzu famously said, “The journey of a thousand miles...
View ArticleWhy are y’all calling Thursday “Monday” and going to church?
Holy Week for Newbies Several friends have asked this. I think they suspect Christians of being so out of touch with reality that we are intentionally self-trolling. “Maundy,” however, is the...
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