A few years ago, I preached about a friend of mine who sent me a letter about his struggle with sadness, grief, and depression. Everything about this weekend’s Gospel reflects his life, and maybe ours. For whatever reason, a person struggles, those times of darkness, struggles or feeling hopeless are real. My friend described his experience like being stuck in a cave and tied up by regrets, fears, anxieties, and the overwhelming feelings of hopelessness. He talked about feel

Jeremiah never gets a break. He does what God wants and people walk away. He says that God tells him to say and they want to kill him (and try a few times). He talks about faithfulness to the covenant of Sinai and people ignore him. False prophets are able to drown him out with a more comfortable and easier message. Jesus had the same problem. He came as the eternal witness to the Love of God because he was the Love. He came in poverty to be in solidarity with those who most

As we come to the end of the fourth week of Lent, it is hard not to see the Cross looming in the near future. On Sunday, we will hear the story of the raising of Lazarus. Jesus being perturbed at death destroys the hold it has on his friend. This is the foretaste of what he would do for all humanity by his own death and rest in the tomb. No one let him go free on Easter morning; he was freed from death by the power of the Love that flows from the inner life of God himself. He