In our worship series, Lifeboat, we learn about a group of people desperately clinging to life after the yacht they were on sank. Three days after the accident, after drifting a considerable distance from where the boat went down, they pull a stranger into the...
The world is mourning and saying goodbye to Jorge Mario Bergoglio, better known as Pope Francis. Known as the “people’s Pope,” he was chosen in 2013 to lead the Catholic Church. His leadership was different from what most anticipated. Not long after taking office, the...
As we come to the final episode of our series, Who dunnit?, it’s time to wrap up. Ending a story is a challenge all storytellers face. How should we end our mystery? Our investigation into the case of who killed Jesus concluded last week with naming the governor,...
The U.S. wields substantial economic and military power, and U.S. presidents are authorized to use this power to defend our nation and its constitution. Since taking office on January 20, the current president has signed over 100 Executive Orders, several of which...
The story of Judas Iscariot is heartbreaking. You likely recall that Judas betrayed Jesus by turning Him over to the authorities. He is the disciple everyone loves to hate. Why? Perhaps we worry that there may be too much Judas in us. What happened? Like the others,...
The Bible doesn’t tell us much about the village of Nazareth. Most of what we know comes from archeologists, who tell us that Nazareth was hardly a village at all. In Jesus's time, Nazareth was a collection of huts, two-room houses that often consisted of a cave in...
Tobi Raji and Michael E. Ruane reported in a Washington Post article that background information on black, Hispanic, Native American, and female veterans had been removed from the Arlington Cemetery website. Pentagon officials defended the deletion as part of an...
The gospels are filled with stories in which Jesus faces off with the Pharisees. They are his most consistent foils, which is odd, considering that Jesus and the Pharisees had a lot in common. In fact, they had so much in common that some scholars have suggested that...
“Why did Jesus have to die?” There are a few scripted answers to this question, a plethora of theological justifications, and perhaps just as many explanations and speculations. Perhaps “why” is too heavy. Likewise, “Who dunnit?” is too simplistic without nuance. And...
During this year’s Lent observance, we, along with several other area UM Churches, are participating in a series titled Who Dunnit? The people who wanted Jesus dead (see article). The series begins after Ash Wednesday on Sunday, March 9. In Sunday school, when we...