Presbymom

John 10:22-30 Interesting that the Jews in the Gospel According to John should be saying exactly the same thing so many of us today are thinking. Why can't Jesus just tell them clearly and succinctly that He is the messiah? He says in his reponse in verse 25 that he has said this, but for the life of me, I don't know where it was ever stated that clearly. Jesus speaks to us in parables and through the way he lived his life. Jesus showed us repeatedly and often but doens't use the clearcut statement. Messy thing faith. No wonder so many of us start trying to map out things that the Bible says to specifics in the world today and in history. As a former computer programmer, wouldn't life be grand if it were a series of clearcut if/then statements? There would be no ugly terrorist attacks without warning or explanation. Death would happen in its expected time and never too early. I have heard so many people this week falling back to the Psalms - even did so myself. ...

John 21:1-19 Breathing a sigh of relief last week I set about cleaning my desk to find the surface again, catching up on e-mails, cleaning laundry, shopping for food to actually feed my kids something other than fast food. Pastors are probably worse than anyone else in getting so caught up in Holy Week that everything else goes on hold. And, perhaps rightly, this week should get special attention and hold a prime real estate in our priorities for the year. Yet, here I am back in my routine. Much like those disciples, when all else fails - it's back to the norm. The disciples had trouble recognizing Jesus on his first two appearances, but he spoke to them and charged them and sent them out into the world with the power of the Holy Spirit in John chapter 20 verse 21. This week, we are in the very next scene. Instead of doing something profound, inspiring and motivational to change the world, we find the disciples fishing. Much like me, and I would guess many of you, afte...