ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMarch 12, 2023Leon Benson was released from prison earlier this week after spending 25 years behind bars, including nine years in solitary confinement, for a crime he did not commit. I’ve now read a handful of stories about him and watched two video interviews, and I feel the same emotion as I do each time I hear of such a happening. I feel some responsibility, and as
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMarch 11, 2023What defines “good”? This is both a challenging and subjective question. How someone defines a good pillow, a good TV show, or good music is based on multiple factors, but in most cases, good is subjective. What makes a good person? Or a good community? Or a good nation? There is not a single characteristic by which everyone will be able to determine whether or
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMarch 10, 2023A little late to the party or whatever other idiom might fit, but Wednesday was International Women’s Day, yet I had it in my mind that it was today. I wrote the following Etching for today, even though it should have been Wednesday. Please excuse my tardiness, but pretend you’re reading this on March 8. In a recent study I was facilitating, the class found
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMarch 9, 2023For some reason, different dance ensembles have been showing up on my social media lately. Most of them are groups in nontraditional settings, though not in flash mob style. I know what good choreographers and good dancers can do, but what I see is only the product of a lot of hard work. I think about the Christian life and the world only encountering the
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMarch 8, 2023In John’s Gospel, we find what are often referred to as the “I AM” Statements offered by Jesus. To the ears of those who would have known the Exodus Story, there would have been recognition that Jesus was echoing the divine declaration from the burning bush, “I AM WHO I AM.” With that in mind, one of the I AM Statements in John’s Gospel is
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMarch 7, 2023Yesterday, Donna and I were driving to Lincoln, NE, to see my mother. Along the way, a certain billboard caught my attention. It read: Can a billboard end antisemitism?No.But you’re not a billboard. My sermon from Sunday echoed in my head, specifically the line, “One selfless act.” In a world where hate remains very real for many, including the Jewish community, and antisemitic tropes are
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMarch 6, 2023In my sermon yesterday, I said something like: “One selfless act, freely chosen, changed everything. So breath-taking in its selflessness that it invites others to do the same.” The world needs a little more selflessness, self-giving love, and self-sacrifice. Humanity has been at its worst when it fell into the trap of selfishness, where everyone is self-serving and self-consumed. Today, how might you add one
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMarch 5, 2023In Exodus 25, the Lord God says to Moses: “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you” (vs.8-9). Years ago, a wonderful Rabbi and I were talking about the Book of Exodus, and though he spoke with pride about the beautiful Synagogue he served,
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMarch 4, 2023Pope Francis wrote: “A little bit of mercy makes the world less cold and more just.” Laura Amy Schlitz is a librarian, storyteller, and author. She wrote: “Folklore has a moral center to it. Folklore is always, always, always on the side of the underdog, and children have a natural instinct toward justice. They feel indignation at needless cruelty and wistfulness about acts of mercy
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGSMarch 3, 2023As a church focused on the Love First Life, the assumption is that our love will be real, tangible, and life-giving for the sake of others. In John’s Gospel, we read about our lives bearing fruit, yet we must be connected to the vine, the true source (15:5). The Season of Lent is a time to reevaluate and find new ways of reconnecting to the