Category Archives: Holy Days

Each year during Holy Week I try to spend time reading and reflecting on Jesus’ last days – not as one who preaches or teaches, but as a Christ follower – one who seeks to understand and identify with what Jesus went through for me (for you).  This morning as I read Luke 23 I began to think about the lasting impact Jesus had in his very brief encounters with so many different people during his last hours.

There is a phrase that we hear used during this week: “Three days that changed the world.”  In historic church lingo these days are called the Triduum, the three day period from late Maundy Thursday/Good Friday to Easter Sunday.  Truly these three days did change the world – but they also changed lives. Continue reading →

The world has changed a lot since I was a kid. It’s the new year, and specifically “New Years” that makes me think of this. A family tradition of several years running in my growing up days was to attend the New Year’s Eve Watch Service at church. What’s that? It’s where you gather with folks at church to “watch” the new year come in.

Our celebrations were often filled with food, games and conversation in the church basement. I faintly remember one year when Father Time and Baby New Year made an appearance in some kind of dramatic presentation. I think this was imprinted on me as some adult relative played the part of Baby New Year, clad in nothing but a cloth diaper!

As the hands on the clock crept ever closer to midnight Continue reading →