April 20 | Easter Sunday | John 20:1-18 | Love Mingles with Sorrow In life, pain is inevitable. Sorrow is part of the deal. To be human is to suffer, but humanity and life are also meant for us to love. When we experience “no greater love than this,” when we experience Divine Love, it is life changing. Unfortunately, though, as Mary knows, it also leads to sorrow. To love something deeply will inevitably lead to sorrow. But that sorrow is also where we find love. These two, love and sorrow, flow mingled down.

April 13 | Palm Sunday | Luke 19:28-40 | Sorrow and Love Meet Palm Sunday shines light on the sins hiding in the dark. The Temple is being run by sins in the dark. Herod is being controlled by sins in the dark. Rome functions sinfully and in dark, sinister ways. The Pharisees have hidden, private agendas. And it is Palm Sunday that the darkness comes face to face with light. On Palm Sunday, sorrow and love meet.

April 6 | John 12:1-8 | Mary’s Centering Prayer Mary anoints Jesus’ feet. She declares in this act that his death will have purpose and meaning. The whole story is like a centering prayer for us to reflect on the power and majesty of Christ’s death. There is so much in this story that still matters today.

March 30 | Luke 15:1-3,11b-32 | Centering Case Study Part II The Parable of the Prodigal Son is the Best case study in the Bible for comparing living from the center vs. the circumference and then returning from the circumference to live in the center. So much about life and feeling the depth and pain of the human struggle is on full display in this parable. It is no wonder it stands as perhaps the most significant parable in all the Bible. It still has so much to teach us.

In Luke 15, Jesus introduces three parables that deserve our attention. The first two are the Lost Sheep and Coin. Together these parables help us see that no matter how hard we try to avoid it, sin is part of the deal. We will lose our way. We will find our way to the circumference. We must learn to see when we were (or are) lost, admit we have missed the mark, and repent so we can be found.

March 16 | Luke 13:31-35 | Centering from Others Others are looking to trap and kill Jesus. But Jesus rightly demonstrates how we can live out of the center of our lives and not be swayed by what others say or think of us. It may be easy for Jesus, but it’s not for us. We have a lot to learn in centering ourselves from others.

March 9 | Luke 4:1-13 | Centering from Sin Jesus is tempted in the wilderness by Satan. How he confronts his temptations is a Masterclass in centering ourselves. We have a lot to learn from Jesus here.

March 2 | Luke 9:28-36 | Homecoming The story of the Transfiguration is out of this world, but at the same time, it is a blessing of how Jesus is making for humanity a new home. The Transfiguration reminds us of all that Jesus is more than human, and his work on this earth is more than simple. He is bringing all of us “home.”

February 23 | Luke 6:27-36 | Homework Just like in Matthew, Jesus rattles off his “But I say to you” phrases. He touches on how we are to love our enemies and be merciful. We are not supposed to judge, and we are always to forgive. The lessons in this text prove that we have some serious homework to do.

February 16 | Luke 6:17-26 | Homesick Jesus heals everyone up and down the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had diseases and unclean spirits, and Jesus healed them all. After he healed them, he spoke what is essentially Luke’s version of the Beatitudes, and what we see is that part of Jesus’ healing and teaching is that he has come to help heal and bless the homesick.