The Open Arms of Jesus
Jesus refuses to be constricted by religious and cultural convention and in the process:

• he transforms a predicament into a person
• a theological and moral problem becomes a human being
• a marginalized outcast becomes a woman, a child of God. ...

The heart of our faith is a wondrous love:

• that did not condemn a Samaritan woman for immorality,
• did not exclude her because of her religion or race or gender,
• but graciously accepted her and loved her back to her humanity, her God-given status as a child of God.

It is a love that is offered to each of us: to you, no matter who you are or how excluded you have been.

It is a wondrous love that comes to you to affirm who you are and to remind you that whatever words others may use to define you,

whatever words and ideas you have come to use to describe yourself,

the one permanent, unchanging, indestructible thing about you is that you are God's child,

and God's own Son came to make sure you never forget that.

by John Buchanan
--from "Astonished"
more Talks on Lent

Our Spiritual Journey is not like most trips. There is not a set starting point, designated route and predetermined destination.

Rather, the Sacred Journey is about broadening our image of God, about 'becoming' rather than being, about asking questions, about always moving forward toward the heart of God. ...

Fortunately, there are 'guides' for our journey. ...

There was talk of Jesus--and Judas--on the front page of most major newspapers throughout the world last Friday.

These, following a news conference the day before, were announcing a major, new, Dan Brown-like find: the lost Gospel of Judas.

So, what does this new gospel have to say? Plenty. ...

It tells the story of Good Friday in very different terms from how it will be told in churches around the Western world this Holy Week. ...

by Jon Sweeney
--from "Just in Time for Good Friday - The Conversion of Judas"