“You have to manipulate the scar.” Nearly three decades ago I had cervical neck surgery requiring a horizontal incision on my neck above the collarbone. Post-surgical treatment required physical therapy. The...

This is the day. You have awoken in it. Your breath is still in your lungs—stretch your ribcage outward with a deep inhale and press it inward with a long exhale....

Into the grief and silence of death, the prophet whispers: “Drink plenty of water. Get something to eat. Remember that the rain will still come, and the seed will still grow;...

A familiar story stretches out before us today. The inevitability of the events might cause us to skim the passage. But the belabored details call us to pay attention to the...

The signs are as plain as blood on a doorpost. The hints of betrayal are as obvious as a kiss from Judas. On Maundy Thursday, however, the more subtle indications of...

The posture of pain and betrayal is defensive: back turned, shoulders hunched, head bowed, knees tucked in, arms crossed. We curl our skeleton around our soft core for its protection. The...

Life is not for the faint of heart. The stresses, insults, and injuries of the world splay our spirits and batter our flesh. We quickly pray the prayer that Jesus rejected:...

Death is coming. We notice it in the signs and stories of Lent. We feel it in the pleas of the psalms. We brace ourselves for it in the building drama...

Jesus enters Jerusalem in a triumphant procession and then cleans the Temple of those who have perverted it. Now it begins. Now we are at the beginning of the eight monumental...

The plot to kill Jesus, the Last Supper, travel to Gethsemane, betrayal, trial, denial, Pilate, crucifixion, death, burial. Reading these chapters of Mark may take more time than the usual reading...