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The church that came before us taught us how to love worship and to care deeply for its vitality and life.

What heals me may harm another.

This fresco is part of a 15th-century cycle of works related to the disciple Peter that was created by Tommaso Masolino (1383–1447) and Tommaso Massacio for the Brancacci Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence. Masolino’s fresco depicts two scenes from the book of Acts. On the left, Peter and John encounter a beggar unable to walk as they are about to enter the temple (Acts 3). The scene portrays the moment just before Peter heals the man.  The right half of the fresco depicts the raising of Tabitha, a woman devoted to acts of charity (Acts 9).

It's like a MOTH event—with the vulnerability of community.

It takes Jesus to introduce something new into the disciples’ routine.

away the stone

sealed with
wax and guarded
by a pair
of rome’s finest,

rolled it away far

far far away
from His
tomb’s mouth

it rolled and
rolled and rolled
away over and
over until it

covered over for
-ever and ever

the Hole in
My Heart left by

simeon’s sword

Paul is not ashamed of most parts of his background.

In the quiet of the stone tomb,
Knitting himself back together
Eyes, hands, heart, lungs
Was healing like a nap?
Did it hurt? To come from
The heated noise of harrowing hell
Now breathing in the dark
gritty air that tasted like joy

This time He gave up on parables,
And settled for the direct:
Meet me in Galilee.
Feed my sheep.
Do you love me?

That second birth was at least private,
Rather than that other dark night,
that poor girl, that sky
wild with angels.

Passing the peace is a word of welcome. It’s also much more than that.