I would never, ever suggest that I am anything but a true blue follower of Jesus Christ. I would never hesitate; if someone said, “you sound like a hick. I bet your one of those Jesus-following disciples,” I draw myself up straight, look them in the eye and say, “you betcha.” It wouldn’t make a […]

Anyone can stay calm when there is no stress. (Well, almost anyone). Staying calm in the middle of chaos is much more challenging. Staying calm when facing death is, well, peculiar. In a short time (20 minutes maybe), here’s what Jesus does. He finishes a time of prayer and wakes up his team, the ones […]

Jesus and his friends get to a familiar place. They get to a garden, a cultivated place, in Gethsemene. Geographically, it is at the bottom of the Mount of Olives, a short way from Jerusalem. They ate supper together, and then went for a walk. It’s hard to talk about this story. Jesus tells eight […]

A Judas dozen of guys. Jesus was talking to the remnant of his disciples, the eleven that were left after Judas opted out of the group. “You are going to fall away,” Jesus told them. “Not us,” they said. “Not me,” Peter said. “Even if these wimps leave, I’m never leaving.” “Ah, dear friend Peter,” […]

“When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” When I was growing up, we always sang a hymn after communion. It was, after all, what Jesus and the disciples had done after the first communion. We never did, however, go to the Mount of Olives. The one seemed a […]