Devotionals

He was a friend in desperate straits, suffering from severe panic attacks. A successful businessman and entrepreneur he nevertheless had pulled to the side of a road one day thinking he was having a heart attack. Quickly he dialed 911.

The circumstances may vary from one person to another: dwindling finances, moving from one location to another, health issues, pursuing a new career path, retirement, questions on the education front. The list goes on and on. Still, wherever you find yourself, the commonality for all is that such circumstances can be quite unsettling, disorienting, confusing,

Over the last few weeks, as the church has observed the season of Easter with the liturgical calendar, I have been meditating on the subject of “tomb time.” I’m referring to the space between Jesus’ crucifixion and Easter Sunday. We call this in-between time Holy Saturday. Author Mary Ford-Grabowsky calls this “tomb time.”

I’ve been meditating on a passage in the gospel of Mark, chapter 7:31-37. It is the account of the man, both deaf and mute, brought to Jesus to be healed. Mark’s account of this man’s healing is quite specific in its detail.

Dear Family and Friends, As most of you know, no sooner are the Christmas items cleared from merchandise shelves at our local stores than Valentine cards, candies and cuddly stuffed animals replace them. I don’t know about you but I want to shout, “Can we please slow down a minute! I’m still pondering the beauty of God’s incarnation in human flesh, his very presence (‘God with us’) in our every-day lives.”

How are you with New Years Resolutions? Frankly, I don’t do well with them. It may take a day, a week or a month. But, sooner or later, my resolution, however well intended, will fall by the wayside. What’s my problem, you may ask as I certainly ask myself? But let me ask this: Is there really a problem? Or is there another way to fulfill the desire to make change, even to do better next time?

I love beauty. I am sure you do too. Sometimes, in our busy, noisy, confusing world, beauty isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. And yet it is all around us if, as the Scripture tells us, we have eyes to see and ears to hear.