This is Crucifixion Day, Good Friday. This is a hard day, because Jesus’s brutalized face, faces us with the truth about ourselves – asking us to face him with our true faces, and discover that an unexpected new life is possible in Him. Amy Lee will share “The Blood-bought gift of loneliness”, I’ll sing a song, and Brian Brown will read T.S. Eliot’s “East Coker IV” and close us in prayer. Join us every day this week on “One Thousand Words”.

It’s Maundy Thursday. “Maundy” means mandate or command, and this is the day Jesus washes his disciples’ feet and mandates that they love as he has loved them. The Last Supper takes place today, after which Jesus prays at Gethsemane in anguish as his disciples fall asleep. Then he is betrayed with a kiss and arrested. Today, Chris Slaten (Son of Laughter) will sing for us, we’ll hear from Amy Baik Lee who will also read a G.M. Hopkins poem, I’ll sing a song, and Brian Brown will close us in prayer. Join us every day this week.

On this Wednesday of Holy Week, I wonder how lonely Jesus felt? No one really gets what he’s doing. But then Mary breaks the jar of costly perfume. She gets it somehow, and is promptly attacked by the others for her “foolishness”. Today, we’ll look at Mary’s beautiful act, Taylor Leonhardt will sing a Mission House song, my friend Grace Andrews will read George Herbert, and Brian Brown will close us in prayer. Join us every night this week on “One Thousand Words”.

On this Tuesday of Holy Week, I’m trying something different. I’m sharing a fictional imagining of Jesus as he camps outside Jerusalem, remembering the promises made to Abraham so long ago and how they are about to be fulfilled, finally in himself. I’ll also share a song, Malcolm Guite will read a sonnet, and Brian Brown will close us in prayer. Join us every day this week as we walk our story together with Jesus.

This Monday of Holy Week, we continue walking with Jesus to the cross. So far he’s wept over Jerusalem, entered to short-lived praise, and now he makes his way to the City’s broken heart, the Temple. I’ll share a reflection and a song, Malcolm Guite will recite a sonnet, and Brian Brown of The Anselm Society will close us in prayer. Join us every day this week.

This is Palm Sunday. Our Story begins today with Jesus, having resolutely turned his face toward Jerusalem, entering that City to shouts of praise that he knows will quickly change to shouts of condemnation. But He knows exactly what he is doing; he has come to die. I’ll read a passage from Frederick Buechner and sing a song, Malcolm Guite will read one of his sonnets, and Brian Brown will pray from the Book of Common Prayer to close.

Join me and my friends every evening this week for this special Holy Week series.

Yesterday around a friend’s Sunday Dinner table, I tasted “Luella’s Rice” for the first time and saw that it was good. My friend’s old family recipe brought something good from the past into the present and awakened a hungry hope for a future feast. This week, I’m wondering if the church is like a kitchen where we apprentice, through Scriptural doctrines, practices, and fellowship, learning to cook up good things, setting the table for a coming Feast?

This week, I’m remembering something Eugene Peterson said that showed me how we take on a lot of pressure to perform like machines; but we’re not machines, we’re people. Christianity’s emphasis on the grace revealed in Jesus – who, at the crucifixion, puts the locus of human identity on the fact of our belovedness, means we are precious completely independent of our performance, productivity, or achievement.

A dear friend of mine was asked, “What is the most lovely and beautiful future you could possibly imagine that the Lord might provide for you?” This week, I’m asking if the imagination might be a place where we keep pictures of what life could be like, and how good relationships, stories, and art can help ‘hang hopeful pictures’ on the wall for us. And I’ll end with Holly Ordway’s sonnet “A Sudden Goldfinch” as a benediction.

This week, I’m thinking about how we are called to work in faith, because we rarely are able to see how our part fits meaningfully into any larger story. Life and love can feel like a waste of time, but even at our lowest points God is at work in and through us, bringing his Great Tale to life in this world. I’ll share a little from the Book of Job and one personal story of how Jesus has encouraged me to show up but leave the results to him.