My favorite pericope in the entire Bible is John 20:11-18. Days after the Crucifixion, Mary comes to visit her friend Jesus in the tomb, only to realize his body is no longer there. In shock and confusion, she races back…
Resurrection’s joy ascends, but so, too, its detractors
For many years the joy of Easter Sunday’s resurrection observance has been contested by the continuing powers of death. Easter’s portable feast (due to its lunar calculation) means it typically falls in the vicinity of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s execution by the…
Why Good Friday matters as much as Resurrection Sunday
Long ago, Liz was visiting a historic Roman Catholic church in Argentina when her companion paused in front of a carving of Christ on the Cross. “This is how we evangelicals are different from Catholics,” he said. “We don’t have…
He is risen indeed: Living with purpose and hope after easter
As the Easter holiday fades into our collective memories, we may find ourselves returning to the routines of daily life. But let’s not let the principles of the holiday fade with it. Easter wasn’t just about colorful eggs, family gatherings…
Two ideas for living with death
The sociologist Peter Berger once said the power of religion rests, ultimately, upon the credibility of the banners it puts in our hands as we walk toward death. A recent brush with death awakened me to the surprising fact that,…
At the Cross: What I see
The Lenten season has been especially intense for me this year on a spiritual level. I have sought to follow its rhythms, demands and opportunities from Ash Wednesday until now, Holy Week. Each day I have read the Mass readings…
Baptists are body and blood related to Mary Magdalene
Baptists have made plenty of mistakes in how we regard women. Women have just begun to take a full stride as pastors in many of our networks and denominations, while the Southern Baptists still disallow women to serve as pastors….
What did the crowds expect on Palm Sunday?
You may have heard someone, maybe a preacher, ask on Palm Sunday, “What did the crowds waving palm branches and laying coats on the ground expect?” And you may have heard a dozen different answers. What, in fact, did the…
Scripture changed his mind on women in ministry, Rick Warren tells Russell Moore
The Great Commission is one of several scriptural reasons Rick Warren believes women are called by God to leadership in the church, he told Russell Moore in a March 8 podcast. Warren, recently retired pastor of Saddleback Church in Southern…
Eastertide: The outing of the church
We have entered Eastertide, the liturgical season beginning with Easter and ending 50 days later on Pentecost (also known as Whitsunday). The formulation of this season parallels the period in Judaism between the first day of Pesach (Passover, marking their…
The good news of the Resurrection transcends the social agendas of any Christian faction
Christ is risen! This the greatest story ever told, the most important event in human history, the central truth of the last 2,000 years. It’s also a breaking story and an ongoing revolution, because Jesus is still alive and still…
Christ came to make us truly human: Remade in the image of Christ
This is the second in a three-week Advent series. In six places in the New Testament, five of them in the (probable) writings of Paul, the image of God is reinterpreted in light of Jesus Christ. The imago dei becomes…