A continuation of last week’s post Finding Purpose. An imagining of the crucifixion based on Matthew 27:55; Mark 15:40-41; Luke 23:26-46; and John 19:25-27.
Thank God John had come to tell Jesus’s mother. Under a sky still black with night, the alarm sounded from house to house among the women. “They’ve…..
A further imagining based on Matthew 9:18-26/Mark 5:21-43/Luke 8:40-56 and Luke 8:1-3. A continuation of last week’s post New Life.
In the months that followed her healing, Johanna, who had lived twelve years an outcast, now found herself embraced with community. As much as she could, she joined along with the women supporting Jesus…..
A further imaging based on Matthew 9:18-26/Mark 5:21-43/Luke 8:40-56 and Luke 8:1-3. See my post The Touch for the beginning of the story.
It wasn’t a dream. Johanna woke up the morning after the Rabbi had healed her hemorrhaging, savoring her newfound cleanliness. Samuel rested peacefully beside her, doubtlessly still…..
While it’s easy to cast blame on others, dealing with our own misdeeds can really trip us up. Instinctively, we know guilt is toxic to us.
We have so many ways to evade feeling guilty – excuses and rationales to make us believe “there’s nothing to feel guilty about.”…..
Guilt is a peculiar thing. Like fire, it fascinates us at a distance, but we quickly draw our hand away when it gets too close.
Our biblical introduction to guilt speaks clearly to our human instincts. When God confronts the Man and the Woman in the Garden, they rush to exonerate themselves. Instead of asking…..
As we begin Lent this Ash Wednesday, I’m reminded what a contrast this waiting period makes against Advent with all its festivities and merriment. Many traditions recommend giving up something during this period – a kind of antidote to the indulgences of the run-up to Christmas.
Since it’s never been part…..
An imagining of Anna on Good Friday
They’ve crucified him! Abba says it’s true. None of us could believe it when the word came this morning that he’d been taken to the Romans. We knew the Temple priests had it in for Jesus, but selling him out to the Romans?
The Romans…..
A further imagining of Anna’s time in Jerusalem
Something is wrong.
We’ve been in Jerusalem since last week, making it just in time to celebrate the last Sabbath in the Temple before the Passover.
Jesus only came the next day. It was glorious the day he arrived. He came into the city on a…..
An imagining based on Luke 8:40-56
We leave tomorrow morning at dawn. I’ve never been so excited to go to Jerusalem before, even though I’ve gone at least twelve times. I guess maybe even more, since some years we’ve gone for all three holidays. Abba tries to set a good…..
We love stories that pit the good guys against the bad, especially when, with the odds against them, the “good” win.
But how accurate is this scenario? As an English teacher I would encourage my students to appreciate that realistic heroes are never purely good, nor are villains devoid of merit……