The Good News story from Lectionary readings for the Second Sunday of Easter is the same every year and it is a story that even if you don’t know the details you know the nickname taken from it, Doubting Thomas, that has given dear Thomas an undeserved bad reputation these past 2000+ years. So here’sContinue reading “The Opposite of Faith”
Author Archives: Nancy Springer
Newness
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that there isn’t a single person among us who is doing what they expected to be doing when making life plans even a year ago, much less two, three, or four years ago. A year ago at this time, we were expecting the pandemicContinue reading “Newness”
Living Seasonally
Hi, Y’all! How are you on this blessed Tuesday? It’s a good time for a coffee break and conversation, don’t you think? In the church tradition I participate in, Easter like Christmas is celebrated as a season not just a day. We refer to the time from Easter Day until Pentecost as Eastertide. This spiritualContinue reading “Living Seasonally”
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! “Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone was moved away from the entrance. She ran at once to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, breathlesslyContinue reading “Alleluia! Christ is Risen!”
Fire is Kindled
For me, the most significant sentence in the Book of Common Prayer is the rubric at the beginning of the Great Easter Vigil: In the darkness, fire is kindled. The Vigil is observed sometime between sundown on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter Sunday. Before the procession begins, the clergy make a small fire fromContinue reading “Fire is Kindled”
In the Dark
On this Holy Saturday, we wait in darkness with the women and disciples. We have the privilege of knowing what’s next, but image that we don’t. Sit with them in the finality of the death of the one who preached peace and freedom, who spoke of salvation from the darkness and is now dead inContinue reading “In the Dark”
The Goodness of Friday
In five short days, the celebratory cheers and impromptu parade of Palm Sunday have morphed to angry crowds demanding a drama of vengeance directed by fear and produced by hate. The people who had shouted Hosanna now stand with the leaders from whom they had wanted to be rescued. They had asked for freedom butContinue reading “The Goodness of Friday”
The Footwashing Way
The Thursday before Easter is called Maundy Thursday. The word Maundy comes from the Latin mandatum and refers to the mandate, the new commandment Jesus gives to love one another as he loves us. On this day we commemorate the final meal that Jesus had with his disciples before his arrest. Many congregations also offerContinue reading “The Footwashing Way”
Economy of Relationship
The third test with which Satan tries to get Jesus to be less than he is a test we face every single day. Satan tells Jesus: All this will be yours if you forget who you are. And, the joke’s on Satan – the whole world, all of creation, already belongs to God, even ifContinue reading “Economy of Relationship”
God will Catch Us
Since you are God’s Son, jump. This is the second of the three tests with which Satan attempts to get Jesus to be who he’s not, to accept less than what God gives us. From the highest point, from the top of the temple, Satan says, “Jump and God will catch you.” There’s a bigContinue reading “God will Catch Us”
Mother Nancy's Coffee Thoughts 