Good evening, friend! How is your soul this night? We have now completed three weeks of these nightly check-ins (or pastoral tuck-ins, as one reader described this blog—I liked that!) I asked Bekah in our communications department to analyze the response to the Sleep on This nightly blog. To my amazement, she told me that […]
Sleep on This: hupomone (April 16)
Good evening, friend! I’ve noticed one of our hummingbirds hanging around lately. Hummingbirds flit; darting from thing to thing, snatching quick sips of fortifying nectar. It works for them, apparently. But there are times when we need to loiter. And the passage of scripture I’ve introduced this week is not “flittable;” it deserves loitering. The […]
Sleep on This: God the alchemist (April 15)
Good evening, friend! Do you remember the meaning of “alchemy” from your history lessons? It was a medieval forerunner to chemistry in which the practitioner sought to turn common metals such as lead into a precious metal such as gold. Of course, it was quackery but that didn’t stop them from trying. Delightfully, God is […]
Sleep on This: Wasting pain (April 14)
Good evening, friend: How is your soul? Whatever its state, it cannot but have been helped by these gorgeous, gorgeous days. Drink in the beauty of God’s creation as you continue to live into this new pace of life. For me, one of the most captivating verses in the Psalms is found in Psalm 56:8. […]
Sleep on This: Easter Monday and my lousy lawnmower (April 13)
Good evening, friend! I have a lawnmower that I pretty much hate. I paid $85 to tune it up and sharpen it up. And still, after running smoothly for about fifteen minutes…enough time to do one half of my lawn…it begins to sputter and cough. (I think it has Corona for lawn implements.) When it […]
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A safer way to the empty tomb
I have led 10 groups to the Holy Land. Every journey ends the same way: a visit to the Garden Tomb where we celebrate the day that changed forever: the resurrection of Jesus. This is always a meaningful way to close out our pilgrimage. But 2015 stands out, by far, as my most memorable visit […]
Sleep on This: April 10 – Good Friday
It is perhaps the most ironic of names. “Good” Friday. Because, in so many ways, it was so bad. So, so bad. Jesus in all his bloodied dignity standing courageously before Pilate. Crowds, stirred up by a few mouthy rabble-rousers— (there are ALWAYS a few mouthy rabble-rousers in the crowd; it takes such courage to […]
Sleep on This: Maundy Thursday (April 9)
Good evening, friend. We call this “Maundy Thursday,” taken from the Latin word mandatum which means “commandment.” On the last night they shared together, Jesus told his disciples he had a “new commandment” for them: that they love one another as he had loved them. Of course, in those last moments, they had no idea […]
Sleep on This: Spy Wednesday (April 8)
Good evening, friend! How is your soul? Are you resting well? Are you finding a personal rhythm in your disrupted life-schedule? There are obviously inconveniences and annoyances—and worse—to our present lockdown. But there are also good things to be found in this new life that has been imposed upon us. I pray that you are […]
Sleep on This: Virtual communion—is it permitted? (April 7)
Good evening, friend! As you know, I write this blog each evening because I want to offer you encouragement and comfort as you prepare to take your night’s rest. On this third night of Holy Week, I would like to offer a different kind of encouragement…and forgive me for taking longer than I normally do; […]
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