I was worn out last week, so I didn’t make a podcast. Then, I had a great conversation with a friend which helped me remember (again) that salvation is not a thing to get, or do, or achieve. Rather, Jesus *is* our salvation. That sets me free to be a person in abiding love with a Person – ever becoming a living character in God’s story – rather than a task machine.

I need sobering reminders that snap me out of the spell of apathy, passivity, and disengagement with life. This week, I’ve been hearing Jesus’s call to stay present and to participate deeply through talks given by friends during Anselm Society’s “Imagination Redeemed” online conference (imaginationredeemed.com). I’ll talk some about that, and close with a passage about bravery from Marilynne Robinson’s “Gilead”.

Psalm 135 says, “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, Made by human hands. They have mouths but cannot speak, Eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear… Those who make them will become like them, And so will all who trust in them.” But what happens when we worship Jesus – a person with eyes that do see, and ears that do hear? Do we become like him? Do we have a real shot at becoming fully alive and human again?

This week, I’m sharing a live song and story from a house concert I played last Fall. The song is “Meet me here”, and it was written for the Easter season as a reminder of the joy that Jesus has set before us – literal bodily resurrection and subsequent deathlessness forever. “You can meet me here in 10,000 years, and I’ll know your face, and you’ll know mine.” Also, I’m premiering the Song & Story video at: youtube.com/matthewclarknet tonight at 7pm Central. Come join me and chat a bit!

…But wait, there’s more! It’s still Easter, or Easter-tide, all the way till Pentecost on May 31st! So, today I’m sharing two interrelated readings on the theme of Easter Joy. One from Alexander Schmemann that I’ll read, and one from Lewis’s “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” read beautifully and joyfully by Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson. We may weep, yes, but since Christ has come we have a “secret strength” and participate in a “deeper magic”. This changes everything.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Well, friends, thank so much for walking through this week with me. I’ve really needed it, personally. In this last Holy Week episode, Amy Baik Lee will read her piece “In the space of a single word”, Son of Laughter (Chris Slaten) will sing “The Gardener”, Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson will read John Updike’s poem “Seven Stanzas at Easter”, and Brian Brian will close us with a prayer. “One Thousand Words” will be back as usual every Monday.

What do we do with this strange, suspended Saturday? This in-between time, this “Nondum” or “not-yet” time, after Jesus’s death but before his Resurrection? For his first followers there was no certainty of what was to come. Surely, this silent Saturday is a part of Jesus’s gift to us, too, right along with Friday and Sunday? I’ll talk a little about that, read a poem, Taylor Leonhardt will share an original poem and her song “Lights gone out”, and Brian Brown will close us in prayer. Join us again tomorrow on “One Thousand Words”.

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 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. Tonight, 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 night 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”.