As another Lenten journey ends with this Holy Week, I find myself reflecting on what has stayed with me as I have read through and thought about Christ's passion, one more time. I have a series of scenes in my mind depicting aspects of Jesus that leave strong impressions of extraordinary traits and behaviors. One picture is Jesus' weeping over at the death of Lazarus. Scripture tells us he was very troubled in spirit, and he wept. He does this even though he knows he will raise Lazarus up, quite soon. The … [Read more...] about Watching Jesus
Lent 2023
“Agony”
Agony. Agony is defined in the dictionary as “extreme physical or mental suffering,” and “the final stages of a difficult or painful death.” Agony certainly emerges during Lent if we are at all following the story of Jesus's path to the cross. It is certainly a part of the experience of Jesus as he was being crucified—the horrific, slow death. Some say it is quite possibly the most painful death ever invented by humankind. The English word “excruciating” comes from the word “crucifixion,” a form of … [Read more...] about “Agony”
Forgiveness
To forgive is to let go. To fail to forgive is to hold on. It is interesting to think about all the reasons why we might hold on to something that hurt us rather than to let it go. One reason is a desire for justice. We want the other person, the one who hurt us, to be held responsible. We might want reparations or some sort of action to be taken that attempts to right the wrong. We also want to hear the other person admit what they did and to show remorse. We want to know they “get” what they did to … [Read more...] about Forgiveness
Confession
The sobering thing about Lent is that I am asked to look at and think about my sin more than I usually do. Looking closely at my sin—even looking at my sin at all---is uncomfortable. It can be upsetting to focus on my own wrongdoing. The impulse with doing wrong is to downplay and deny that I did it. I want to pretend it never happened. Or I want to spin it so that it doesn't seem all that bad and to play up my reasons, my very understandable rational, for why I did what I did. What I don't want to do is look … [Read more...] about Confession
Temptation: The Little Lie
The third in our Lenten devotional series. Temptation. It sneaks up on you. It whispers, is this really such a bad idea? I'll just tell them I was late because I got an important phone call’I'll just tell them I read the whole thing’I'll just tell them I've had some experience with that’ And if, when we consider telling a half-truth, little white lies, something other than the whole truth, we hear a voice saying to us something like: is a small lie really such a big deal? If we heed that voice rather than … [Read more...] about Temptation: The Little Lie