Cross – The Rev

A missionary who has given his life to serving God and people is diagnosed with cancer. A loving father who is at the beginning of his journey of walking with Jesus develops what turns out to be an incurable infection. The child of a pastor who is highly regarded because of her faithful service to the community and Jesus dies of cancer before his life even begins. A woman with a gentle and quiet faith who prays and serves wakes up one day alone because her husband left her for another. These brief snapshots are real life stories of people who I love and care for. They are all people who are authentically trying to follow Jesus. These are not people who are false or who simply sit in the back of worship service to be entertained. These are people who you want to be around and whose faith would cause you to stop and wonder about their God. These are...

Don’t we all love the prayer scene from Talladega Nights? httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7pco3TTV5k OK, maybe not all of us. But, I sure do. What strikes me is that today is the day when we all celebrate “sweet baby Jesus”. On Christmas Eve we watched a full slate of classic Christmas movies for kids and all of them dealt with skepticism regarding the existence of Santa. At the end of the day the point was always, “Christmas is about helping poor people” or some derivation. In my head though this wasn’t ringing true. I am becoming more and more convinced that Advent and Christmas cannot be separated from the Cross. The Magi brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh, all important for middle eastern burials. Jesus was most likely born near Passover (that’s a discussion for another time) and he died at Passover. The Lamb of God born at Passover, the Bread of Life born in the City of Bread. What is Christmas about? It’s simple, it’s about a Cross...

Tag: Cross

Why Carry a Cross?

A Baby, A Cross, and a Catharsis