As I shared in a post last year, my best friend from childhood, Luke, was the son of a Greek Orthodox priest. As both of our dads were clergy, and as we both spent lots of time therefore at church, we also had a lot to talk about when it came to the faith. I remember very clearly learning for the first time – I must have been seven or eight – that Luke’s family celebrated Easter at a different time from when we did. Not always, but usually, and it made me really curious. As it turns out, and as I learned with the help of Luke’s parents, Orthodox Christians – including Greek and Russian and other members of the Orthodox faith –...

Christ Jesus lay in death’s strong bands For our offenses given; But now at God’s right hand he stands And brings us life from heaven. Therefore let us joyful be And sing to God right thankfully Loud songs of hallelujah! –Martin Luther The characters in the following story will remain anonymous in order to protect both the innocent and the guilty. 🙂 A few years ago a good friend of mine shared a recent conversation she’d had with her middle school-aged kids. The older asked if they would be going away for spring break. She replied that, no, this year spring break happened to fall over Holy Week, and since their parents...

Given that we are closing in on the climax and conclusion of Lent and, additionally, that in this morning’s devotion we looked at Jesus’ cry of dereliction, I found this meditation on the relationship between faith, doubt, and struggle by Brené Brown both interesting and helpful. Referencing the spiritual awakening (slash, mental breakdown) she described in her breakthrough TED Talk, Brené confides that she went to church to find comfort. Instead, she found challenge. “Church wasn’t an epidural, it was a midwife. It just stood next to me and said ‘Push, it’s supposed to hurt a bit.’” (One of the more quotable quotes I’ve...

In working through Matthew’s Passion for our Lenten Devotions this year, I’ve been struck again by some of the really difficult elements of his story. In particular, at several points he seems to work pretty hard to exonerate the Romans, and particularly Pontius Pilate, of responsibility for Jesus’ death and to cast that responsibility and blame onto the Jewish religious authorities and crowds. All of the gospels do that to some degree or another, but Matthew goes to greater lengths (although John’s Gospel comes in a close second). His is the only passion narrative, for instance, in which Pilate washes his hands of Jesus’...

Emma Watson, the actress who brought Hermione Granger to life in the Harry Potter films, is now starring the in Darren Aronofsky’s adaption of the biblical story of Noah. In a recent interview with The Telegraph, she described herself as someone who is “more spiritual than specifically religious.” She went on to say, “I had a sense that I believed in a higher power, but that I was more of a Universalist. I see that there are these unifying tenets between so many religions.” So here’s my question, in this trend toward a more generalized belief in God rather than adherence to a particular tradition, is Emma a representative of the...

Sometimes, while I’m attending church I think about what it would be like to be new. Not just new to this particular church, but new to church, to Christian worship, to everything. Usually when I do that exercise I’m almost immediately discouraged, as I realize that I would probably understand very little of what was going on. More than that, I’d have to juggle a book and bulletin or keep following what’s being projected on the screen. Most of the decorations around the sanctuary and the dress of the people up front would be foreign. And, let’s not forget, I’d probably be singing (or at least listening to) a style of music that I...