Featured
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3 Instructions on How to Touch the Hem of His Garment
Today is the day to come to Jesus and touch the hem of His garment. Isolation, from others or from God, due to negative emotions such as shame or grief, often leave us enduring a kind of perpetual anxiety. We need contact with God and with others in order to feel safe and loved. The story of the woman with the issue of blood is a case in point. She was ‘unclean’ due to the physical issue she suffered. Ritual impurity is not something we identify with in our society, but the aspect of shame and isolation is. Our negative emotions flow from us, defiling others. In those days, no…
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Every Poem Wants to Be Jesus: Why Christians Need Art
How mysterious is the incarnation of God in man in the person of Jesus Christ! God, who is spirit, makes Himself known in the body of Jesus. Making the word flesh is, of course, the aim of every poet. The goal of art is to turn what is spirit into a poem, a painting, a dance, or a song. It is the same impulse, to turn what is ineffable into something concrete. To turn the abstract into something that can be lived within the body. The Greek word, Logos, which means the Word and the Deed, is an attempt to explain the mystery of metaphor and the nature of incarnation.…
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You Are What You Eat: Communion Reimagined
While in Jerusalem some years ago, we visited the Upper Room. It had long since been turned into a small chapel, and as we sat on the wooden pews, a tour guide took us through the story of Jesus’ communion with the disciples. Afterwards, one of the students I was with asked about the authenticity of this site as the actual location of the Upper Room. The tour guide smiled and then told us about the six other Upper Rooms in the vicinity. Apparently, an ambitious tourist could go around and partake of the sacrament in seven Upper Rooms in an afternoon. Honestly, if I had the time, I might…
