#SundayCoffee “By what authority, and in whose name, do you do these things?” Getting into arguments on social media is its own punishment. But sometimes you just gotta. That’s how I felt this past week. And as they tend to do, the initial discussion took a sudden turn, this time into the current Israeli conflict. What dismayed me (I would say “surprised,” but it really was no surprise), was that the people I was engaged with, deep “Jesus-obeying” Christians, were loudly advocating for the bombing of Iran and further punishment of Palestinians in the guise of fighting Hamas. These were the peo ..read more

#SundayCoffee “Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures” I’m stuck on this sentence in today’s lectionary readings. It’s referring to the scene when the resurrected Jesus first appears to his male disciples (he’d already spoken to the women!), and they’re understandably shaken up and terrified. They don’t get it. They don’t understand. And their confusion, their shattered expectations, and now this sudden appearance of something shocking and so out of the ordinary — a dead man actually alive again and talking with them — completely disoriented them. But slowly they get it, and w ..read more

#SundayCoffee Blood and Brutality or Grace and Peace? I remember when I was a kid in Sunday School, and I asked the teacher about the sacrifices in the Old Testament. I guess the lesson that day had something in it about sacrifices, about taking an animal, a goat or a bull or a lamb, and tying it up, and cutting its neck, and having the blood spill everywhere. It seemed so cruel, so mean, to the animals who had done nothing to deserve that end. My parents had tried to raise us kids with compassion for animals — we had birds, turtles, mice, and a cat, and my mom was ALWAYS having to tell m ..read more

#SundayCoffee Messy endings just mean a new chapter is beginning Easter has never been one of my favorite holidays. As a kid, I looked forward to the chocolate bunnies and the candy, the colorful Easter baskets with fake colored straw, and the painted eggs. (What’s that all about, anyway?) But the resurrection of Jesus…? Okay, yeah, a fundamental of the Christian faith, but so what? The lesson, of course, is that bad situations don’t get the final word. Life ultimately overcomes death. Light ultimately overcomes darkness, even after the longest and most terrifying of nights. There’s something ..read more

#SundayCoffee Disappointment is part of the story This is Palm Sunday, and pulpits and sacred desks around the world will be talking about Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, hailed by crowds with palm branches and cloaks thrown on the ground. People, at least some of them, expected Jesus, the renowned miracle-worker and sage, to enter into the Temple, throw out the corrupt priests, and establish a holy headquarters for the next steps in retaking the country from the Romans and setting up God’s kingdom on earth. Didn’t work out that way. We all know the story. He does go into the Temple, a ..read more

#SundayCoffee #Lectionary Connecting with the Deeper — for your sake We all need a sign once in a while. Something, some signal, that our voice is being heard, that we are seen by the Great Other — God, the Universe, the Ground of Being, Source, and Ultimate Reality. How ever we conceive of the Higher Power, we need a moment of recognition now and then. Perhaps connection. Our Western, overly rationalized culture likes to think of itself as logical and scientific. But we’ve lost something in what philosophers call the “disenchantment of the world.” Our society has lost a sense of the “magical ..read more

Why Not John The Baptist? Have you ever been left out of a gathering or any situation that would have been extremely significant for you? It can be painful, and it will leave you scratching your head and wondering what you did wrong. Perhaps this is what John the Baptist (JB) felt as he languished in Herod’s prison cell. You see, Jesus was setting Israel ablaze with the Good News—the same Good News for which JB was sent by God to herald—but there he was, missing all the fun. After spending as much as a full year in jail, he finally broke down and had his disciples ask Jesus, “Are you the Messi ..read more

#SundayCoffee #Lectionary Created to do Good Getting older is an interesting experience. I get to see in real time how my priorities in life are changing. What once was so important, the focus of my energies, now seem unimportant, and what used to seem secondary now takes on greater significance. It’s normal, I guess. Different stages of life, different priorities. In some ancient Hindu thinking, life is divided into four stages, or ashramas. We could think of these as phases of personal development. In the first stage of life, the “student” stage, upto the age of 25 or so, our lives are focus ..read more

Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old nonbinary student, died the day after being beaten by classmates in a high school bathroom in Oklahoma. And an OK State Senator referred to them (and all LGBTQ+ people) as “filth.”  Richard Bowles offers this Lenten reflection …   I am “that filth.” It’s interesting to me that this was spoken during Lent. Remember that we are dust, and to dust we shall return. Those of us in the queer community who inhabit queer spaces already know that to the fascists in power we are indeed filth. These words are no surprise to us. They still hurt. But they are not a surp ..read more

#SundayCoffee Religion vs Spirituality If you’re at all connected to spirituality-focused people on social media, you’ve run across the memes. “Religion is believing in someone else’s experience. Spirituality is having your own experience.” Or “Religion is dogmatic, focuses on judgment and punishment, is exclusive. Spirituality focuses on experience, is reward based, is inclusive” Basically, religion is rules and death. Spirituality is personal experience and life. Those are all cute and simplistic. And kinda missing the point. It’s not about one versus the other. It’s not an either/or situati ..read more