It is rather simple, really, this defining mark of a disciple of Jesus Christ. Jesus, of course, sums it up quite well with his pithy imperatives nestled within Mark 8:34. Here is what he says: And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let READ MORE
I’m angry. Angry that nine more lives were lost because some deranged man was infatuated with death. Angry that many of these lives were snuffed out because they were believers in Jesus. Angry that too many of the voices of influence in the public square do not seem to care whatsoever about that detail. I cannot READ MORE
Grace. It is the word that we use at some special meal when we ask someone to pray. “Would you say grace?” we ask. It is a word that we will hear over and over again while watching the Sochi Winter Olympics on NBC. “She skates with so much grace!” we will declare. It is READ MORE
Tucked tightly between the passage about Jesus’ healing the man with the withered hand and the calling of the twelve apostles is a seemingly modest account of a great crowd coming to Jesus for physical healing. Read carefully what Mark has penned about this particular moment in Jesus’ remarkable life: Jesus withdrew with his disciples READ MORE
Though routine the soldiers’ work on top of the hill attracted onlookers. They labored away, planting stakes and laying out the timbers that would form the stands for some rough crosses. The sun was devouring the morning fog, and from that hill one could see the beginning of a very busy Friday in Jerusalem. Across READ MORE
Five hundred and forty years before the first Easter a prophet named Zechariah captured the attention of God’s people, speaking directly into their vulnerabilities, fears and brokenness. After seventy years of exile within the high walls of a brutal empire, the Jewish people had been released to return to their ancient homeland and its capital, READ MORE
