We hear things differently from far away. On the day before Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, we flew out of New Orleans to California for a camping/winery vacation trip. As we traveled into Sequoia National Park, we lost phone reception and were not able to get the full details of the devastation that had been wrought by the great storm.…

It is striking to me how much of an atmosphere is created and held when you are in the presence or even participating in the dying process of a person.  Maybe it is not that the sacredness of the environment is so much created but perhaps ‘caught’ would be a better term. …

And so, Jesus entered Jerusalem…

The disciples went and did as Jesus had ordered them.
They brought the ass and the colt and laid their cloaks over them, and he sat upon them.
The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road,
while others cut branches from the trees
and strewed them on the road.…

What is the cost for giving new life? It can be very high. It can be death. Many of us know of someone whose mother died in childbirth.   Even when physical death is not involved, new life always without exception means that something must die.…

What kind of god would allow this suffering, this virus, this inconvenience, this social disarray, this economic plunge, this pandemic, this fear, this death?  Who is this god, and what power does he really wield?

We have asked for this by our immorality, by our disobedience.…