Ancient words devoutly sung stung my heart today. “Sin had left a crimson stain you washed me white as snow.”
 New thoughts flung old meanings away. Could this image apply to the stain on my soul inflicted by another’s sin condemning me to wander barren earth in shame? How would you wash such stains? I long to believe you would wash them with your tears. Your angry, tender … [Read more...] about Tear Washed

When I notice the breeze playing the chimes, scooping the branches of the maple into a waltz, awakening my skin with the cool of its caress, I remember you. When I follow the cascade of breath flowing in, flowing out, filling, emptying my being, sustaining life without thought or effort, I receive you. When I sit in silence, letting the cacophony of all voices … [Read more...] about Resting With You

In the late-night dark roaches emerge, swarming out of corners to scuttle across my mind. I wake to the sinister sounds of the vast army of them scurrying around, laying eggs of accusation, leaving toxic trails of mockery. I am overrun. By your grace, I remember you. And my small prayer for help seems enough. Your voice whispers warm, rises like first rays of dawn, … [Read more...] about In the Dark

Heaven kissed me awake the day my sinning self broke through enough to expose truth I did not want to see, or know, or show about my self-serving ways. Wrapped tight in a thick cocoon of nice there had been no need —no desperate I-will-die-without-help need— to carry me to You. Heaven, kiss me again today, I pray, with Your awakening, saving grace. … [Read more...] about Heaven Kissed

The chorus of voices shouting condemnation in Your name echoes, echoes, echoes, until I am faint with horror. Oh, most Gracious, Most Merciful God, come. You who take up the cause of the oppressed, the orphan, the outcast, the foreigner, come. Come, Light of Enduring Love into the darkness of our hatred and divisions, our judgments and arrogance. Bells toll sorrow … [Read more...] about Come

“Thank you for coming.” These whispered words rose like a tender shoot breaking through rock-hard soil. “Thank you for coming.” This heart cry, carried on waves of grief over the day’s news, washed ashore to lie like a small treasure at your feet. “Thank you for coming.” I say like a person lost and disoriented might say to the person who came a great distance to rescue … [Read more...] about Thank You for Coming

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been…They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?’” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but did not realize that it was Jesus. He … [Read more...] about Anguish

Then they led him away to crucify him. Matthew 27:31 There was nothing bright or beautiful about the day the sun hid and the earth shook hard — that terrifyingly dark day you gave your life. There was nothing sanitized about the weight of wood you carried or the dust you fell into under its crush. There was nothing theologically comprehensible about the horrors of this criminal’s … [Read more...] about Nothing Bright or Beautiful

Early in the morning, all the chief priests and elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor. Matthew 27:1-2 Naked flesh yielded in love is passion. Protest speeches red-raging against injustice are passion. Harmonies rising from the soul to make music are passion. But a cold, dreary … [Read more...] about Your Passion

They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law came together. Mark 14:53 I stood with you at your trial today, from the safety of my home, removed by centuries of time. How often I have read this scene. How rarely I have stayed long enough to feel the stunning terror of its truth. This was not the court of a crazed tyrant, or of … [Read more...] about Your Trial