First Sunday in Lent (Year 4, NL)

“Life is built, and then it stops, and then Christ reaches in and brings it forward again.”

Lazarus’s story is one of grief—and hope.

Maybe Jesus’ tears at Bethany come from more than grief.

God called all of them good. Humans are rapidly destroying them.

Growing up, I never heard a word about God laughing, joking, or doing anything for fun.

Jesus acts in response to real human suffering and actual human tears.

What does it mean that Jesus weeps, when he knows Lazarus will be raised from the dead?

We embrace uninitiated visitors, rowdy children, and blue jeans. Why not tears?

I've experienced Pentecost as sweet, serious, or neither.

Romans 8:6–11; John 11:1–45