"God hears their complaint as if it were a prayer... Rather than evaluating their complaint--both for content and tone, judging whether they were right or not in what they said and how they said it--God instead listens with empathy, hearing their grumbling in terms of feelings and needs."

"Easter’s a day for those who’ve gone through it."

Join Wayne and Dan for a conversation about Jesus' authority in this week's midweek reflection. As they discovered as they talked, Jesus' authority presents a transformative challenge, but also a liberating hope!

“The reason Jesus came to earth was love, broken-hearted-but-refusing-to-give-up-love… The standing together, sticking out in the midst of the storm, kind of love. The til-death-do-us-part kind of love. The til-resurrection-finally-brings-us-back-together kind of love… It’s the story of Jesus being faithful even when we weren’t, Jesus being faithful on our behalf, inviting us to accept his faithfulness as if it were our own. It’s God saying, ‘Despite everything, I’m going to stay true to my promise to love you, even to the point that it undoes the betrayal and heartbreak you’ve caused me. I still love you, and I’m asking you to love me back.’”

In our first mid-week reflection in our Journey to Easter, Dan invites us to ask ourselves, "Why am I here? What do I seek? Is it following Jesus on my terms, seeing what I can get out of it? Or have I come on this journey seeking God?"

"Our hope in all this is that, as we walk this road together—following Jesus alongside each other on the journey to Easter—we’ll find ourselves in this crowd…. And as we walk forward together with Jesus in the weeks ahead, there’s an invitation for each of us… For each of us—and for all of us together—it’s an invitation to be formed, reformed, and transformed in the presence of the crucified and risen Jesus."

"Faithfulness is carrying a tambourine into the desert, holding tight to God’s future in the midst our present. But beyond that, this tambourine also strikes me as a profoundly prophetic symbol, as an instrument that prophesies just by showing up in this scene. Nothing says, 'Things aren’t the way they’re supposed to be, but God is at work making all things new' like owning a tambourine in slavery, like carrying a tambourine into the wilderness. The simple choice to pack this item is an act of forth-telling, a proclamation of God’s truth in challenging times."

Painting: Nathalie Villeneuve, pauseandpaint.com

Song: Pentatonix

Cassie Summers-Corp: In the thin spaces of life as birthworkers, Shiprah and Puah saw a tiny picture of hope in the midst of their despair, in the midst oppression, in the midst of hopelessness and pain and murder and tragedy and very little cause for happiness or hope. Every day they saw a tiny picture of the way that God intended it to be.

Fred Rogers: “Deep down, we know that what matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves; what really matters, is helping others win too—even if it means slowing down and changing our course now and then… (so)make those choices which will allow you and your neighbor to become the best of whoever you are.”

Paul: “We who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of the weak, and not to please ourselves, so let’s each please our neighbor for their good, to build them up.”

Wayne: "We who share in the same story, the same Christ, and the same Spirit can share in the same commitment to join in the life of God by making the kindest choice, acting for the good of our neighbors by bearing their weaknesses rather than exploiting our strengths."

“As a result of God’s presence, what are you called to do? It is the Holy Spirit that propels us to do the things that we do, to see injustice and not be silent. It’s our way of demonstrating what it means to be a follower of Christ… And so, how can we remain as quiet as we have typically been?” -Sylvia Rose