Peace Be With You
I can’t help thinking about the last time this passage* came up in the lectionary: April 2020. Five weeks into the pandemic shutdown, our world had been turned upside down. With every passing week, reality seemed to become less and less tethered to… well, reality. Things that had been inconceivable before the pandemic were happening […]
Moving On
A photo of the house Jack and Jackie Kennedy rented when they were newlyweds is for sale in Georgetown. A color photo of it appeared in the paper today with a black and white overlay of the bright young couple at the front door. I found myself remembering that different era of confidence and joyful possibility, before […]
A Suffering Love
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” This old saying echoed around my childhood and most likely yours. And it’s a bold faced lie. Of the painful words I can still remember, cast in stone ages ago, the scars remain. I read them in my body like braille. In my work […]
Redemption is Waiting
I struggled and struggled with this passage, the resurrection of Lazarus.* Finally I had to accept there was no getting around it: I have really complicated feelings about this story. If I’m honest, what comes first is the hardest to acknowledge: resentment. I seethe as Jesus justifies letting Martha, Mary, and Lazarus suffer “for God’s glory.” Jesus […]