Category Archives: Holy Days

March 30, 2016 · 9:24 pm

Living an Easter Life

EasterThe season that follows Easter in the church year is called “Eastertide”.  In our house we’ve been talking about this week in terms of it being Easter Monday, Easter Tuesday, Easter Wednesday . . .   So, while the culture and world around us packs up the Easter season and moves on – to the latest news cycle, presidential primary, MLB season, or whatever – and while churches and pastors slow in their reporting (er- bragging?) about Easter Sunday attendance and hope they might see at least two-thirds of those folks again this Sunday . . . I’d like to linger a bit with Easter’s news and implications.

Every day after Easter is a day of hope and victory for those who follow Christ. Continue reading →

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Filed under Christian Faith, Holy Days

March 24, 2016 · 10:47 am

Brief Encounter – Lasting Impact

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 →

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January 16, 2016 · 9:47 am

New Vistas on a New Year

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I had the opportunity, along with fifteen other members of our short-term mission team, to welcome the new year while guests in Chile. I doubt that any one of us will soon forget this most unusual celebration of New Year’s, both because of our location and the vistas it provided. Nestled in the foot hills of the Andes, as guests of the Mapuche people (the indigenous tribal people of Chile) we were rich in both hospitality and scenery for the holiday.

The particular vista my host home offered was that of a pasture overlooking an alpine lake, with an active volcano jutting forth in the distance. (See picture above) Continue reading →

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April 1, 2015 · 3:51 pm

God Speaks

Daffodils  The attached picture is a scene from my morning walk from parking lot to office during these early days of Spring.  It was taken today, during Holy Week, as we make the annual pilgrimage with Jesus through the events of his passion.  It captures both the essence of where this week is headed – the hope and promise of new life; and reveals the residual holdings on of the what the next few days of the week bespeak – death, decay.

Notice the crumpled leaves hidden in recesses and alcoves of building and landscape that have clung through the winter. It’s so hard to let go of that which mires us down in the stuff of our lives and selves.  It’s always hanging on, around the edges, in the crevasses and the shadows – like a dead leaf that just won’t give in and blow away. Continue reading →

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Filed under Holy Days, Spiritual Formation

February 21, 2015 · 8:47 am

Leadership and Lent

As of this past Wednesday (Ash Wednesday) we have officially entered into the spiritual season of Lent. You may or may not come from a faith or personal tradition that observes Lent, but let me invite you to think about the season in relationship to the ways and places where you are asked to provide leadership.

Lent, a word derived from an old Anglo-Saxon term “lencten” means “spring” – a time of lengthening of days. Most of us are probably ready to see the tangible signs of spring about now as we are mired in the grip of winter.

In the church we have patterned our Lenten observances after the 40 days of temptation Jesus faced in the wilderness following his baptism. Through a period of fasting and prayer we see Jesus facing the temptations of the Evil One to live and lead in a way that is inconsistent with his identity and God’s will. Jesus manages his response to Satan through his faith, his knowledge and application of the Scriptures, and the strength he finds in communion with God. Continue reading →

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