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Where Are They?
6–9 minutesLuke 17:11-19 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten men with a skin disease approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ (Luke 17:11-13 NRSVue) These men were not simply ill. They were excluded. In the law of Moses, a “serious skin disease” meant more than discomfort. It meant exile, since the book of Leviticus commanded that such a person must wear torn clothes, let their hair hang loose, cover their mouth, and cry out, “Unclean, unclean!” They were to…
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Sharing Our Bread with Sinners
6–8 minutesSome years ago, I was in a town nearby buying firewood off an elderly gentleman. As is often the case, when I open my mouth, I receive the question, “where’s your accent from?” I proceeded to tell him and we kept talking. But imagine my unease when he began lamenting the influx of “foreigners” and the loss of local identity. My immediate reaction was, “Sir, I’m so sorry. I’m one of those foreigners” to which he then quipped, “Oh, it’s not people like you I’m worried about; it’s the… ” And I won’t bother repeating the rest of the conversation.…
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Choosing You Again and Again
7–10 minutesDizzy Rascals “This is dizzying.”[1] That’s how one newspaper described this week in current affairs. The world today is subject to carnival-like nausea due to the rapidly changing, dizzying nature of current affairs and geopolitics. On the world’s stage over the last several weeks, we’ve seen the breaking down of agreements that have been in place for generations as well as the realigning of alliances. Friends have become enemies; enemies have become allies. Now, when it comes to agreements, generally surprises are to be avoided, but some leaders just seem to have no end of surprises to offer an already…
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Resurrection: An Ordinary Fact of the Street
6–10 minutesA Parachute Mine Imagine being in your garden having afternoon tea while the children play. You see an airplane circling overhead. You watch as it goes round and round for about 30 minutes until a small object is released and slowly descends by parachute. The next thing you hear is a loud explosion. Sixty lives gone in an instant. If this story sounds familiar, it’s because it in fact happened in our village. In November 1940, a parachute mine was dropped on the village during the war, killing 60 soldiers.[1] Their memory and names are preserved on the war memorial…