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The Fish in Your Dark Subconscious Sea
Large bodies of water are heavy with mystery. Under the surface live strange creatures, both comic and terrifying. Movies show monsters, though more common are the schools of shimmering fish that fill dinner plates. But the sea is often a metaphor for our own minds, our will, and emotions battling under the surface of our societal mask. So when Jesus tells His disciples to cast their nets on the right side of their boat, He is speaking a metaphor into their lives. Often we default to the line about Jesus making his disciples fishers of men, but this is not the only context in which Jesus speaks of fishing. In…
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The Road to Jerusalem is in Your Heart
Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. Psalm 84:5 The heart is often under attack in the church. It seems that one verse in Jeremiah stands for the whole of scripture’s stand on the heart. “Your heart is deceptive and desperately wicked,” preachers tell me, but then I am told to guard my heart, for out of it comes the wellsprings of life, according to Proverbs. Seems contradictory. The New Testament is kinder to the heart, telling me to love others from the heart, to love God with a pure heart, and not to lose heart. And if my heart condemns…
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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…