Eastertide Daily Devotionals

Yes, dear readers, I somehow forgot to work in a reference to the wildly popular pop culture literary and small screen phenomenon that is Outlander.  The kids got Harry, the tweens got Bella, the teens got (well, kinda hosed as they received multiple knock-offs of...

Fun with history!  Boy can those British forebears complicate the $#%@ out of such a simple Christian festival!  A blessed and happy Pentecost to all, the Christian festival of the Holy Spirit lighting upon those original disciples (plus one) to unleash nascent...

Tomorrow culminates the Great Fifty Days of Easter, or Eastertide as I have called this very special time in the annual life of a liturgical Christian church.  To luxuriate in the light from the Empty Tomb.  To see Jesus astonish, rehabilitate, challenge, reveal,...

It’s sadly, finally time to bid my 4th century Spanish nun/adventure traveler/pilgrim Egeria a fond, bittersweet farewell.  It seems only right to hear her one more time now, as the recovered portion of her travel journal abruptly terminates just after her riveting...

Newbie from Cordie writes, “Dear Chump, you have provided questions or thoughts to ponder which have been great. Could you dig deeper into Christian meditations and ask readers to share what they receive from it? It might be kind of neat to hear what God is saying to...

The evangelist Luke tells us in Acts chapter 1 that following Jesus’ Ascension His (sorry cannot help it) followers took care of some housekeeping details, something akin to spring cleaning.  Read Acts 1:15-26 to see how they did it.  With Judas Iscariot dead by his...

Today seems like the proper moment to look back before we look forward.  The 10 days between the Feasts of the Ascension and Pentecost frequently feel like that liminal space, a long exhale from the (liturgical at least) rigors of the salvific march we began way back...

A popular Saturday Night Live skit from the late 1980’s spoofed the body-building movement headed by Arnold Schwarzenegger.  For a brief refresher see here.  Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon’s memorable Hans and Franz are a perfect introduction to today’s Reflection...

Well now Paul had his peaks and his troughs didn’t he?  Yesterday, a trough.  Today, a peak!  His intense experience of resurrection living gave Paul the clarity to pen this beloved scripture, again from Romans: Who will separate us from the love of God?!...No, in all...

Sorry.  There is no other suitable title for this unsuitable subject.  Ask a military veteran for translation, or perhaps not.  Yes, Paul knew this encoded message of astonished confusion very well even though he used slightly (but not much) differing language.  So we...

Ascension Happens!  Breaking Reflection News!!  Has anyone been tracking 40 days beginning Easter Day, April 12th?!  Just as Luke narrates it, Happy Ascension Day dear readers!  Geeky Episcopalians call today one of the Red Letter Feasts, because in the earliest...

Στον Χριστό En Christo.  Literally, In or into Christ.  Paul wasn’t picky with his prepositions ending with Christo!  With Christ, through Christ, by Christ…just about any motional preposition will do!  While yesterday we explored the oddly comforting yet rarely...

Yesterday we reflected upon the profound nature of God revealed in gospel resurrection, namely the eucatastrophic nature of God’s love, as the former great Episcopal Bishop of Colorado Bill Frey summarized with his pithy quote, “God’s never late but rarely early!”  As...

As you may well know, one of my enduring spiritual directors is the 20th century English Oxford Don, World War I veteran, faithful Roman Catholic, poet laureate and Godfather of Fantasy Fiction, Professor John Ronald Reuel Tolkien.  Tolkien’s pioneering literary...

Before we move forwards, a moment to look backwards.  For me this Eastertide is flying by, 50 days feeling like 20 while our Lenten 40 days felt like 4,000!  We began these Eastertide reflections on April 11th marking the Great Vigil of Easter, the next day...

Yes, it’s hard to stop exploring John or any of our rich biblical texts of resurrection.  Before we leave the Johannine resurrection cycle, a bonus reflection! You may have noticed my predilection towards John, as most Anglicans are so disposed.  And for those curious...

The final scriptural passage of our biblical resurrection romp, and I am sad to close this portion of our reflections.  But worry not, dear reader, as we have plenty enough to enjoy together before Pentecost Day in these daily visits!  And we close in the most...

The close of John 21 is not the ending of Jesus’ resurrection appearances, although today’s texts require some ingenuity to see clearly.  Just as the Pauline corpus of scripture contains more than Paul’s actual letters (Luke-Acts, and Hebrews which was subsumed under...

Here we meet the emotional anchor of John 21, and indeed one of the most intensive vocational encounters in the entire bible.  Read John 21:15-19 to appreciate the complex narrative John so ambitiously and adeptly weaves together for his church and for us.We stay by...

The Great Fifty Days, colluding with our present distancing societal protocols, provides us with an unparalleled invitation to luxuriate in the resurrection accounts, and indeed in Jesus’ resurrection itself!  Inhabit, stretch our scriptural legs a bit, poke and prod...

In 1899 Missouri congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver addressed a Philadelphia Men’s Club, and stated the following in his remarks: "I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I...

<EDITORIAL NOTE: This reflection featuring a marked divine preference for the right side of the boat, inferring a more abundant draught of fish over against the left side, demonstrates an unabashed dextral bias.  Your Eastertide Reflection Editorial Committee,...

Okee dokee smokee, here’s where John veers off the resurrection reservation bigtime!  Read John 20:19-23.  Remember for Luke the Resurrection of Jesus is paired with His ascension into heaven during one very long day?!  Well here, in John, the Resurrection is paired...

We continue our Johnannine resurrection journey with the candlelight flickering upon the corner table barely large enough for two in close quarters.  This is the anti-social distance resurrection story, and if my interpretation shocks you, well…..good.  While I have...

For the final time we return to the Empty Tomb, this time in John 20:1-10.  Note the distinctive Johnannine features.  Mary Magdalene visits alone here, not to complete the burial details (as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus have already accomplished) but just to...

We now arrive to our final grouping of resurrection texts, and finally, to a scriptural neighborhood with which I am actually acquainted!  Whew!  Our final texts cohere under the broad umbrella of John, or using a more accurate descriptor, Johnannine, meaning they use...