Easter John 20, verse 1: “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark,” it says, “Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed.” It was still dark. The dark night of Good Friday lingered into Easter morning, two days after his death. And Mary […]
Isaac Villegas
Feet
Holy Thursday, 2017 This morning, in the parking lot of La Superior grocery store in Durham, I washed feet as part of a service of solidarity for members of our immigrant community. There a young girl, maybe eight years old—I can’t remember how many times I washed her feet. She kept on getting in line, […]
Who is this?
Matthew 21, verse 10: “When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, ‘Who is this?’” That’s what the people ask—the shopkeepers on the corner, the residents scurrying through the city on errands, pilgrims on their way to the Temple, children playing in the streets, servants preparing dinner, peering from a window, wondering […]
We are not blind, are we?
“Surely we are not blind, are we?” (John 9:40). That’s what the Pharisees, the city leaders, ask at the end of the story, after they’ve spent a long chapter questioning a young man whose sight has been healed—the leaders questioning everyone who has anything to do with him, blaming the man’s parents, condemning Jesus, accusing […]
We are the ones
Micah chapter six, verse 1: “Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.” That’s how it feels—today, this month, this weekend as the president told us his plan to build more walls at Mexico’s border, as he ramped up efforts to deport undocumented residents, as he ordered discrimination against […]
Follow me
“Jesus left Nazareth,” it says, “and made his home in Capernaum by the sea” (Matthew 4:13). Jesus makes a home. He settles into a community for a while. Probably making and selling some furniture, since he’s a carpenter after all. Maybe he builds a few barns, boats, a house or two. Soon the neighbors start […]
Undone
Advent 2 John appears near Jerusalem, with bugs in his teeth from his locust meals, with the wild in his eyes, howling at the world to repent. A voice crying out from the wilderness, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 3:2). Something happened to John the Baptist, drawing him into the […]
Advent at night
Advent 1 Sometimes, in the morning, when I’m waking up, I find myself in a dream world where everything is as it should be, a world without pain and sorrow, a world full of joy and peace: swords turned into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks. And even though I know I’m waking up, I want […]
Nation against nations
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. Dreadful portents. Signs from heaven. This part of the Bible, this passage from the Gospel of Luke, is called “the little apocalypse.” The word apocalypse means unveiling, uncovering, revelation, the truth exposed. The day after the election, in the neighborhood up the hill from our house, […]
Gratitude has made you well
“As Jesus entered a village, ten lepers approached him, keeping their distance” (Luke 17:12). These ten people aren’t even called people. They aren’t even acknowledged as human beings. They are called lepers. They are known as lepers. Their identity is leper. They are sick with a disease that made them outcasts. But, with Jesus, the […]
Tears becoming words
Last week during Sunday School, one of the kids asked a question that I’ve been thinking about all week, especially during a week like this one. We asked our class of 6 and 7 year olds what they wanted to learn about this year, what questions should we wrestle with—curiosities about God, about church, and […]
Break the chains
Jeremiah, chapter 32, verse 2: “At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard.” The people are in captivity. Jeremiah is under arrest. There is no hope. On the horizon, as far as the eye can see into the […]
Clean
When his friends found out that Peter was eating with gentiles, he told them a story, the story of his revelation from God. Peter explained it to them step by step. The key line is verse 9, after Peter tells God that “nothing profane or unclean has ever entered [his] mouth.” Then it says, “But […]
The Adhan and Ma’an lil-Hayat
Revelation 5:13, “Then I heard every creature in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing…” Psalm 30:4, “Sing praises to the Lord, O you faithful ones, and give thanks to God’s holy name.” Last week I stayed in a refugee camp in […]
washing with love
Fifth Sunday of Lent They say, when reading a Bible passage, that you should find yourself in the story, that you should try on one of the characters. See which one fits the best. So I did that a few times this week, with this passage for today, and I think I’m in trouble, because […]
My soul thirsts, my flesh faints
On Monday mornings I used to park my car on the service road along 15/501, there in front of the storage facility and Swedish Imports mechanic. I’d walk down to the end of the road, down a dirt path that cut through bushes and shrubs, winding around the skeletons of refrigerators and washing machines devoured […]
Behold the beauty
In the middle of the prison I visit, at the center of the compound, between the housing units, there’s a vast lawn with concrete walkways running through it. The prisoners are not allowed to spend time out there, not allowed to enjoy the grass, the sun, the open space, but they do walk those paths […]
like a dove
Four years ago I was in a bad car accident. My body hurt all the time, for months. Muscle spasms, throbbing pain everywhere. I couldn’t think of anything but the pain. I remember one Sunday, here at church, I asked for prayer, because I was overwhelmed, and after we all closed our eyes, and as […]
He grew
Advent builds with expectation—and after four weeks of Advent, four weeks of anticipation, four weeks of waiting, there’s a celebration, the celebration of the birth date of Jesus, the excitement of Christmas day. The incarnation is special. There’s so much there to capture our imagination, so much mystery and beauty there, when God becomes human, […]
The bread of tears
Fourth Sunday of Advent A verse from our Psalm for today, this fourth Sunday of Advent: “You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure” (Ps 80:5). Tears flow like a stream through the pages of our Scriptures, sometimes turning into a river in books like […]
For you I wait all day long
First Sunday of Advent There’s a book I’ve been reading lately, and I’ve decided that it’s basically an Advent book—a book about Advent, because it’s all about waiting. That’s actually the title: Waiting. It’s about some toys—these little creatures here on the windowsill—who do a lot of waiting. [Several excerpts from the book] “They saw […]
Warmth of the saints
All Saints Sunday Jesus gets there too late. He gets to Lazarus too late. “Lord,” Mary says—this is Lazarus’s sister Mary—she says, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:32). If only Jesus got there in time, a week earlier, then he would have been able to lay his […]
What does love remember?
At the beginning of the story, the story of Job, at the beginning of the book, Job has it all—wealth, possessions, family, perfect health. Then it’s all take from him. All of it. Oxen and donkeys, sheep and camels, sons and daughters, and he’s afflicted with sores, sores all over his body, and he sits […]
Fire and flame are your ministers
I’m sitting there, trying to write this sermon, getting some decent thoughts on the page, typing away, me and my computer, along with everyone else and their computers, their books, their lattes—a bright day, a flood of sunshine cooled by a fall breeze. Then a song comes on, one of those songs that dazes you, […]