Following Jesus in rejecting empire
“Hey sir!” A voice calls to me from the parking lot. “Sir!” I pause on my way toward the Sherwin Williams paint store to pick up a gallon of “Sea Salt.” It’s a blue grey. A young man is calling to me. He is disheveled and carries a bag chock full of clothes and a…
Human beings are pretty inefficient. First of all, we are genetically designed to shut down for 1/3rd of our lives. That’s a lot of time we could be getting stuff done. A donkey, for instance, only requires about 3 hours of sleep per day. Donkeys can get a lot done. Consider the time it takes…
The ashes that mark your forehead on Ash Wednesday came from burning the palm fronds from last year’s Palm Sunday celebration. That’s deep. Think about it. On Palm Sunday we celebrate Jesus riding into Jerusalem as king. A defeated and oppressed people go wild with hope at the installation of this Righteous Ruler, waving their…
When I’m feeling especially peeved about my country, it’s important to call to mind some of the things I love about it – Freedom of press, trial by a jury of one’s peers, and squirrels. However, there are times when the privilege of leaving the borders of America for a period of time serve as…
Once when we had a Middle Eastern student living with us, he took off on Janine’s bicycle. This was a bit disconcerting given that he did not ask permission. Whisk! There goes Yahya on Janine’s bike. Where is he going? How long will he be gone? Perhaps he is running away. Maybe he intends to…