Lent

As Easter people, we are called to embody a hope that may make us seem to appear as fools according to the world's values.

As Easter people we are called not only to celebrate that death does not have the final word in our life but act accordingly in the world.

I often think of Holy Saturday as the feast day of broken dreams and broken hearts because we are asked to hold loss and uncertainty as we wait in the dark.

On Good Friday Jesus did not so much die for our sins as offer us a model of giving everything in the service of God's kin-dom.

On Holy Thursday, Jesus gathers with his friends and gives them a final lesson on being a servant in the world.

It has been easy for the church to portray Judas as outsider and traitor. Yet seeing ourselves in him offers us deep spiritual insight.

Like many people throughout history, Jesus is disappointed, betrayed and misunderstood by other people. We are often in the same boat.

Jesus' friend, Mary, generously tends to Jesus. He takes in what she has to give with an open heart and receives her generosity.

Jesus' Palm Sunday parade offered the world an alternative to the dominator model. It is now on us to make sure that parade continues.

The fear of Roman retaliation drove some of the religious authorities of Jesus' day to turn against him. This same dynamic continues to play out in our world.

Both Jeremiah and Jesus face rejection from the very people that they are trying to set free. How do they and we not let ourselves succumb to negativity?

In the scriptures, names have meaning and power. We are invited to reflect on our own names and the name God calls us and live into that meaning and power.