An Elder Pilgrim's Reflections

But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’ (from Acts 7:55-60 ) The youth were in trouble.  Quinipet Camp & Retreat Center on Shelter Island, NY was the location of my student pastor MYF retreat. Some youth decided to energize the retreat with marijuana. They got caught with the "weed". Their defense was claiming using "weed" was OK because the Bible said "Peter got stoned."  It was time for a new beginning. So, I prophesied unto them: collect the weed now and I will dispose of it, or I will explain your Bible verse to your parents at the retreat's conclusion.  The new beginning: youth fellowship is about trust not deception. Steven was in trouble. Following the euphoria of Easter stories, Thomas' experience, and Jesus' Emmaus Road meal, comes this wretched story o...

That evening, the two on the road said,“Stay with us" So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him;  and he vanished from their sight." (from Luke 24:13-35 ) What do you think is Jesus' most distinguishing activity? The Crucifixion? Preaching to a crowd? Healing the sick?  Glorified at God's right hand? In Luke's Gospel, Jesus' most distinguishing activity is being at table with an ordinary meal and ordinary people.  Jesus also dined at table with sinners, tax collectors, and powerful people. Jesus' sharing and blessing bread with all sorts of people, is a radical act breaking down socially accepted boundaries. That's exactly what's happening on the Emmaus Road. Cleopas and another person were reviewing and debating the facts of Jesus' death and resurrection. Jesus joins them, unrecognized, yet they strongly ins...

"When it was evening on that day,  the first day of the week,  and the doors of the house  where the disciples had met  were locked for fear of the Jews,  Jesus came and stood among them and said,  “Peace be with you.”  (From John 20:19-31 ) Thomas got a really bad rap. It began when the disciples were in a locked room out of fear and Jesus appears to them saying, "Peace be with you." Jesus says "Peace be with you" twice, calming the disciples at this astounding, unexpected appearance. Jesus shows them his hands and side. Thomas, though, was elsewhere and didn't see Jesus hands and side, so when the disciples say they saw Jesus, he doubts their story. And thus, Thomas earns the undeserved title of "Doubting Thomas". This, however, is a resurrection story.  The resurrection stories intent is to show, that even in locked doors of fear and anxiety, Jesus brings peace. Because the human events of the past week were enough to wreck a sense of security ...

"After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it."  ( from  John 20:1-18 ) Mary Magdalene was heartbroken. It was a hard road she traveled, first with the delight of witnessing Jesus' healing, casting out demons, then the Jerusalem journey, trial, torture, crucifixion, last words, and death of her beloved Teacher. Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus' body, placed it in his own tomb, covered it, and sealed it according to custom. The inner darkness of these traumatic experiences leaves Mary desperate to find a ray of hope, the dawning of a new day. So, in predawn darkness, she sets off to the tomb to do whatever it took to serve Jesus in death. Arriving at the tomb, she sees the stone rolled away, runs and tells Peter Jesus body has been stolen. Others return home...

"I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,” says the Lord. (from Ezekiel 37:1-14 ) In 586 BC, the Israelite rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar came to an end and Jerusalem was in ruins. As was the custom of the time, the bones of fallen warriors are left on the battlefield, denied formal burial, and desecrated by animals. For the Israelites, this felt like God's broken covenant and unspeakable loss. God's hope for this desperate situation, is calling the prophet Ezekiel, showing him a valley of dry bones. God asks Ezekiel, “Can these bones live?" God tells Ezekiel to speak the Word of the Lord, in this valley of dry bones.  As Ezekiel speaks, God breathes into the bones re-creating new life. Thorough God's spirit, dry bones are not the last word. In Ukraine, 2,600 years later, Ezekiel's metaphor takes on real life.  Death, destruction, and despair se...

The man born blind answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." (from John 9:1-41 ) Going on a cave tour, the guide turned off the lights leaving us in total darkness literally unable to see our hand in front of our faces. I couldn't see any members of the group.  I was totally focused on my safety. When the lights came back on, I could see my hand in front of my face, other group members, the cave's unique features, and a sense of security. In the darkness no perspective; in the light is reality. It was probably a lonely experience for the blind man who's at others' mercy, lacking a sense of security, begging, and excluded from temple worship.  By God's Grace, Jesus, sees the blind man's situation, heals him and sends him to wash in the pool of Siloam. The blind man, interrogated by his neighbors, in frustration says, "One thing I do know, though I was blind, now I see." I'm convin...

Jesus said to her,  “Everyone who drinks of this water  will be thirsty again, but those who drink  of the water that I will give them  will never be thirsty.  The water that I will give will become  in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”  (from John 4:5-42 ) The Bible mentions w ater  722 times  as streams, wells, and springs with the power to heal, purify, provide deliverance, and destroy evil and enemies. "Water" is found in Genesis 1:2 and streams its way through the Bible to Revelation 22:17. At Jacob's well, water's power is about healing a person's vulnerability.  When Jesus appears at Jacob's well tired and thirsty and meets a Samaritan woman the  mutual vulnerability begins. Jesus, as a Jewish male, has advantage over the woman, but he's also a disadvantaged, thirsty, tired traveling foreigner without a bucket to draw water. The Samaritan woman is at disadvantage because of gender and race, but she...