Good FridayBy Christina Rossetti (1830–1894) AM I a stone and not a sheep  That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy Cross,  To number drop by drop Thy Blood’s slow loss,And yet not weep? Not so those women loved          Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;  Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly;Not so the thief was moved; Not so the SunContinue reading "Who of us can ever fully understand the enormity of Good Friday?"

Martin Luther King, Jr.One must learn to make the transition from "let this cup pass from me" to "nevertheless, not will but thy will be done."  And God grant that as you face life with all of its decisions -- as you face the bitter cup which you will inevitably face from day to dayContinue reading "Deciding to do God’s will … Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane"

I just finished black and white bible, black and blue wife by Ruth A. Tucker.  I was introduced to Tucker's writing back in the 1980s when she was a well-regarded professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity in Deerfield, IL, just outside of Chicago. Two of her books that influenced my thinking were From Jerusalem to IrianContinue reading "Domestic abuse by those in the ministry…"

The Donkey - G. K. ChestertonWhen fishes flew and forests walkedAnd figs grew upon thorn,Some moment when the moon was bloodThen surely I was born.With monstrous head and sickening cryAnd ears like errant wings,The devil's walking parodyOn all four-footed things.The tattered outlaw of the earth,Of ancient crooked will;Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,I keepContinue reading "The donkey on Palm Sunday is highly valued, and so are we!"

My Sunday column in today's Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette arose from reading one of the most emotionally stirring books I've read in a long, long time.  Here is the column...-----The painful emotions I felt reading Sue Klebold’s book “A Mother’s Reckoning – Living in the aftermath of Tragedy,” (Crown Publishers, 2016),  took me back to the feelingsContinue reading "The constant, enduring message of Lent … “Be merciful to me a sinner”"

"For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin -- because anyone who has died has been set free from sin."  Romans 6:6-7I've talked with people who say,"How can that be sinceContinue reading "You are free from the penalty of sin … not the presence or power of sin."

Very regularly I talk with pastors who tell me  they struggle with setting measurable goals (metrics, they now call them).  Because I have lived in the pastor world for more than three-and-a-half decades, I can imagine what they are saying and feeling. Is writing, say, a sermon, part of a pastor's work life?  I betContinue reading "Developing life-giving metrics for the pastor is very hard"

There are two gates, two roads, two trees, two followers, two builders... Matthew 7:13-27"Enter the narrow gate ... .""Narrow is the road that leads to life ... .""By their fruit you will recognize them ... .""Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only the one who does theContinue reading "Which way will we choose?"