The story of Jesus on the road to Emmaus must have claim to be the finest scene Luke ever sketched. It's a story that parallels so much of what the Christian life is like; offering hope, community, and unexpected support that leads to finally seeing Jesus in the most difficult places along the road of life.

John's account of the resurrection chronicles three very different snapshots of the eyewitnesses: the grieving Mary, the fearful disciples, and the doubting Thomas. What about us? How does the resurrection impact us when we're grieving, fearful, or doubting?

On Easter Sunday, we examine Matthew's account of Jesus' resurrection. If there is enough reason to believe that it actually happened, what do we do with that information? Does it make a difference to our lives? Jesus seems to think it does.

On the cross, Jesus experienced a cosmically unprecedented reality: God the Son lost his intimacy with God the Father. In doing so, Jesus both defeated Loneliness itself, as well as provided an example for how to lament during times of loneliness.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus' humanity is on full display as he wrestles in prayer with the reality that his appointed time on the cross is near. Overwhelmed with extreme sorrow and grief, he invites those closest to him to keep watch and pray with him, thus revealing how the Son freely chose, out of love, to be bound to human mortality for our sake. In the process, we also learn ways to support one another in times of great sorrow and grief.

In the last week of Jesus' life, he gave voice to three laments. The first was over the city of Jerusalem, and his people Israel. He lamented their rejection of him as their rightful Messiah. Jesus provides us a model for lamenting over loved ones.

Church is more than an individual affair, but rather a corporate reality. We are called to lean into these relationships in the context of our obedience to Jesus.

In his final greetings, Paul allows us a brief window into what this early church looked like and how it functioned. We can take both challenge and encouragement from this look under the hood. The church is supposed to be a beautiful mess of overlapping stories.

A clique is by definition "a group of people with shared interests who are resistant to outsiders joining their ranks." The church is not supposed to be resistant to outsiders, but oftentimes outsiders aren't even on our minds when we think of church. Paul wants us to reframe our thoughts about unbelievers, and to posture ourselves toward them.

Paul addresses slaves and masters, and doesn't dismantle the institution. What!? What is going on? Is the Bible outdated and regressive? After we deal with the elephant in the room, it turns out Paul has a lot to say about vocation and meaningful work as we live out our lives for Christ.