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Snoring Through Communion
My middle schooler son, Ian, was snoring on stage as the bread of Christ was being passed. This was not a pastor-parent’s worst nightmare, lingering for a minute when I woke up, then fading out as I fell back to sleep. This was Palm Sunday, a few days ago, at Harvey Browne Presbyterian Church. Oh, and across from Ian was his younger sister, Elina, who swilled the blood of Christ, and then promptly spat it out, screaming “Yuck!” She slammed the communion shot glass on the floor, because it was her first taste of real wine and not the Welch’s white grape juice meant for children. She was also on…
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Flipping Rest into Work, Grace into Law
Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath. – Mark 3:1-2 (New Living Translation) No story gets me more steamed than this one of the Pharisees salivating because Jesus is about to heal a man on Sabbath and give them ammunition to finally “nail” Jesus with Sabbath infraction, a serious charge. Jesus knows they are springing a trap for him but steps right on it anyways, jeopardizing his life in hope this public confrontation will expose the hypocrisy…
