Month: April 2020

“He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” [Psalm 23:3b]. I don’t know about you, but I’m in a bit of a rut. I’m trying not to complain, but except for (a) my daily walk, and (b) a few hours during the past two Saturday evenings, when Jane and I have joined son, Walker, at his new house for a nice, take-out dinner (avec du vin) — don’t tell Governor Cooper — I haven’t left the house now for more than two weeks. I know, I know, for some of you, it’s actually much worse than that. For example, one wonderful couple from my Carolina Arbors…

While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him [Luke 24:15-16]. With a tip of the hat to my first writing teacher, Ms. Geraldine Johnston, at Huss High School so long ago, I’ve learned that writers should try to avoid the use of the passive tense. Yet, particularly when it is used sparingly, the passive voice can communicate a point with great clarity. So it is with the verses quoted above from St. Luke’s gospel. In this quite familiar “on the road” story, Cleopas, and an unnamed companion, are walking to Emmaus during the afternoon hours of…

Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you” [John 20:19b]. Some years ago, a friend called to say that I needed to “come over and see it.” The “it” was his newly completed residence. He’d spent several years in careful planning. He’d seen to every detail and now his project was finished. He was appropriately proud. After his tour of the various living spaces, he winked at me and said, “I’ve got one more thing to show you.” We went downstairs — his house had a significant grade that provided for a finished basement that was almost as large as the first floor. With his knuckles,…

They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” [Mark 16:3]. As I have joked with many friends, I had some serious concerns when I finally surrendered to Yahweh’s call for me to enter Duke Divinity School back in 1986. Chief among them was whether I’d be required to study Greek. “No, you’re a Methodist,” was the quick reply from Dr. Paula Gilbert, the Director of Admissions. “Greek won’t be required for you. Now if you were a Presbyterian …,” she added, with a mischievous wink. In my three years in “Div School,” I learned a lot, including…

”The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame” [Isaiah 50:9]. The Revised Common Lectionary appoints the same OT passage every year for Palm or Passion Sunday: the familiar “Suffering Servant” pericope found in Isaiah 50:4-9a. I suspect you’ve heard it read many times. Scholars say the servant portrayed here in chapter 50 is likely the same figure who, in chapter 40, responded to God’s summons to “Comfort, O comfort my people!” — the one who fervently asks of God: “What shall I cry?” [Isaiah 40:6]. The servant in…