This Sunday, we considered the familiar story of the two disciples who encounter the Risen Christ on the Road to Emmaus. The Risen Christ is alive in the world in the steady, sustaining rhythm of human companionship – sharing life’s journey – walking and talking – companions on the way.

Like the women headed to the tomb, we know what it is to wake up in a bad-news world. On Easter morning, there is a different kind of headline: Christ is risen! The Good News is alive in the world, and so are we.

Palm Sunday is a protest. The people follow Jesus, shouting and embodying together Good News. Holy Week is how that Good News then gets lived out.

God creates, commands, and impels an ethic and moral order that center the protection, care, and well-being of the most vulnerable.  NOTE: Our usual method of recording did not work as planned, and as a result the sound is not of as high a quality this week.

As a woman washes Jesus’ feet, we see her lavish love, in response to God’s, inviting us to live out our own.

In the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus invites us to sit down and rest in the presence of the holy.

At a banquet, Jesus tells a story about a banquet. The Good News is... all are welcome. The invitation is for everyone. The response is ours to make.

The Good News is that God’s love for us in Jesus Christ catches us by surprise – because God always loves us and the whole world more. What Jesus does in his testing in the wilderness and at the wedding at Cana should catch us by surprise. It’s not the way the world works – but it points us to the way the world ought to be.