Jesus experienced severe, physical pain. It’s easy to gloss over this, but no other religion has a god who suffers physically. Indeed, that would be a picture of weakness, not power – why would anyone want to worship a suffering God?
Well, I would.
Tag Archives | Jesus
Jesus the Refugee (Mary’s Story) – Prepare Them Room #4
God’s chosen child was despised by those who were still praying fervently for the Messiah’s arrival. I might have enjoyed the irony if I hadn’t been so hungry. And lonely.
Never Enough
I lose my temper; I lose my way, I fail. I am never enough.
But God says, counterintuitively, we are already enough.
The Good Bad Friday
Before Sunday comes, in the mystery of suffering, in faith, we call it Good Friday, when it still looks like Bad Friday. In this upside-down kingdom of God, we say that the poor and weak are blessed above others, and even this needless, horrifying suffering has worth in itself, it carries hope.
If suffering has stolen your joy and you can no longer stretch to resurrection and Sunday blessings, I dare to prophesy to you: it is still a Good Friday, and God is there with you.
Mary’s Story, Jesus the Refugee – Prepare Them Room 4
We ran because God told us to run. No one aspires to become a refugee: the taste of humiliation is bitter. We ran, not to improve our lives, but to save them.
On Overcoming and Chronic Illness
It’s not a battle: it’s losing your foothold and swirling beneath the waves. You cannot overcome when the hard times come; you are overcome.
This is our reality. But it is not the only story.
Poem for a Blue Christmas
If this year you’re feeling quite blue
And your patience is all but worn through
If your children are restive
Or your nose is congestive
And you wish that the old year was new
Joy in a Minor Key – Mudroom
Sometimes life is like that. We have joy, but in a minor key. This life mixes up the best and beautiful with the ugly and evil of the world, and sometimes they play at the same time. As I approach Advent, the season of waiting and in-between, I want to be honest about the joy and the sorrow together.
