An ecumenical video meditation for Good Friday.
Author Archives: First Presbyterian Church
Finding Courage to Face the Cross
This final Sunday of Lent is more popularly known as “Palm Sunday.” But it’s also known as “Passion Sunday,” which recalls the suffering of Christ that unfolds in the days ahead, as Jesus travels the final steps of his journey to the cross. Knowing the destination to which he is bound serves as our invitationContinue reading “Finding Courage to Face the Cross”
Dying to Grow
Jerusalem in the days leading up to Jesus’s crucifixion provides the setting for this morning’s Scripture lesson. But it is recent events taking place in nearby Bethany that set the stage for everything we’ll shortly hear from the Gospel of John. In Bethany, Jesus has been hanging out with his friends Lazarus, Mary and Martha,Continue reading “Dying to Grow”
Upside-down and Backwards
John 3:16 – “for God so loved” – is one of the most familiar and recognizable verses of the New Testament. The statement is full and true on its own, but like all Scripture, you miss out on a lot when you avoid drinking-in the intoxicating concoction of verses that come before and after. TheContinue reading “Upside-down and Backwards”
Time to Clean House
What’s it going to take for us to believe? What’s it going to take for us to believe that God desires a change of heart and mind in each of us? What’s it going to take for us to believe that God has given to Jesus all the power and authority necessary to affect thatContinue reading “Time to Clean House”
Splintered Faith in a Splintered Savior
The telling of hard truths is an intimidating endeavor. Perhaps the only thing more difficult than the telling of hard truths is the acceptance of hard truths. And this morning’s Scripture lesson tells some really hard truths and shares the honest human struggles to accept them. Hard truths are, well, hard, because they challenge ourContinue reading “Splintered Faith in a Splintered Savior”
You Are Beloved
Lent begins in the wilderness, and that’s not a particularly safe place to be. In any wilderness, you face tangible risks both physical and mental, and in the Bible, wilderness always signals a place of grave spiritual peril, too. Wilderness is scriptural shorthand for the realm of the devil, the danger of temptation, and very-realContinue reading “You Are Beloved”
Milk Truck on a Snowplowed Road
Following the big blow, the road to the town five miles away was plugged solid with drifts that reached as high as the telephone wires. Milk had to be got to the city, and everyone – the farmer, the creamery, the trucker – wanted to get it there.
Chasing Chickens
Another chore that the children helped with was cleaning chicken manure out of the coop. This was easy work compared to barn cleaning, for chicken droppings were light and much mixed with straw. Usually, a fresh, sunny day was chosen for the job. Chickens are jumpy. If anyone cleaning under them makes an unexpected move, the whole flock will fly into the air. One chicken might even fly out the door to the glistening snow. Then, William’s mother would yell, “William! Come here, catch the one that got away!”
Hauling Hay
“No matter how much hay was laid up in the barn, there was never enough to last the winter. So, William and his father had to hitch up the team and drive across the frozen ground to the hay stacks piled high in the fields the summer before.”