In Palm Sunday, the cross, and the empty tomb, Jesus blesses the world by declaring a new reality with his body. This is what Jesus is doing on Palm Sunday, inviting us with his body, gathered with our bodies, to proclaim the Good News he has come to make real.

As we listen to the lament of Psalm 22, of Jesus from the cross, of the prayers of Celtic spirituality, and of our own world, we find our way to this blessing: God blesses us with tears to shed with each other, the presence of God in the midst of our suffering.

In the blessing of a name, God claims us as God's own; and in our names for God, we use metaphor to offer glimpses of what we see of God.

In the blessing of anger, Jesus takes a stance against everything that does us harm, and invites us into Resurrection life.

Rev. Allie Utley leads us in a reflection on the troubling image of the cross and invites us to consider this:  In the suffering of the cross, God knows us, intimately, the whole of our human experience, including our sorrow and pain.

In our Lenten journey, God blesses us with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships so that we might live deeply and from the heart.

On Ash Wednesday, we remember that we are dust and that God’s steadfast love endures forever.  With God, what will we make of the dust of our lives?

Transfiguration brings us to the place where the words run out, and invites us into the holy experience of silence – the place where we meet God in ways that words simply cannot express.

In communion, we embody the real presence of Christ. The real presence of Christ is not complete without you.

Psalm 139 invites us to see ourselves and each other as seen and known by God.