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  John 12:20-25 Listen to today’s devotional I was in junior high when the phone rang. This was back in the days of landlines, when phones were still attached to walls, and you didn’t screen your calls. When I picked up, a nurse from the nursing home where my great-grandmother lived was on the other end. She asked for my mom. I told her she wasn’t home. There was a pause. Then she asked if I could take a message. I said yes. She replied, “Tell your mom that Byrd has expired.” I always wondered if that nurse felt strange leaving that message with me. Byrd was my mom's grandma who I always remembered as sweet and kind. That day she was  expired . I remember standing there a little confused. That was the word they used for milk or coupons. I wondered if I had misunderstood the message. That was a word used for something that had passed its usefulness. And it felt strange to think of a family member that way. In John 12, some Greeks come looking for Jesus. And Jesus responds in a ...

My family chuckled during our little family Ash Wednesday gathering.  I told them Ash Wednesday reminds us that we sin and we're going to die. Or as I posted for a colleague who asked us to describe our job poorly, I said: I apply sacred soot and whisper existential truths.  They giggled because it didn't fit the mood we had been having. It had been a joyful day; we celebrated my son's finishing Basic Training and the first time we had been together in months. But those ashes were calling.  So, how's this for existential truths? I've already planned my funeral. It happened several years ago, one morning as I drove to church.  But one thing I haven't decided on for sure is whether to have someone sing Over the Rainbow either at the graveside or at the party that'll be planned for afterwards.  Do you hear that song as sad or hopeful?  I tend to hear the hopefulness in it. That's why it's a favorite song of mine. Well, certainly Eva Cassidy's cover ...

  Romans 1:8-17 Listen to today's devotional The letter to the Romans will get to some heavy matters of faith. But before all that, Paul reminds us of something we should not lose sight of along the way. He writes of his desire to see the church in Rome again, "so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. He is, of course, a spiritual giant to many people. But Paul also admits he needs the encouragement of others in his faith, too. Faith, for him, is not a solo climb but a shared strength. This last Ash Wednesday, our family gathered around a table at our Airbnb. The day's activities kept us from attending a service at a local congregation. So, all of us sat side by side, marked with the same cross of ash I quickly made. No one had a spiritual advantage from the barbecue ashes we had earlier. We were dust together. In the moment, I thought of the famous “pale blue dot” image, captured by NASA. From space, Earth is barely visible. It's a tiny speck b...

Google Voice did me wrong this morning. I was easing into the day with my inbox open, scrolling through messages I’d ignored for a few days. Nothing urgent. It's a Friday morning, after all. Then I saw it. An email from Google Voice. Apparently, my number was about to expire. “Use it or lose it,” basically. I almost laughed. Even my phone number needs attention now. So I clicked the link and logged in, ready to make a quick call just to keep it alive. The screen loaded. Right beneath my number, neat and casual, as if it were doing me a favor, Google offered suggestions of people I might want to call. The first name stopped me. My grandmother. The second one hit harder. My sister. For a split second, it felt normal. Like I could just tap their names and hear their voices ring through the speaker. Like nothing had changed. Like time hadn’t moved. But time has moved. They’re no longer with us. And there I was, just trying to keep a phone number active, when an algorithm casually hande...

  Ecclesiastes 6:1-6 Listen to today's devotional When I tell people what my favorite book of the Bible is, they think they know why. Yes, the book of John does have the greatest verse of all time in it: John 1:6 (There was a man sent from God whose name was John). But it's not the name of the book that I'm drawn to. It’s the light, the promise, the invitation to abundant life in Jesus that runs through every chapter. Now, people who have read Ecclesiastes are surprised when I tell them that's my second favorite. It seems so dreary and cynical when you first read it. But I love it! I don't think the Teacher of the text is trying to drag into despair. I think he's trying to wake us up. The book tells me to enjoy the gift that is the abundant life of Jesus. You know the old phrase we say when someone dies unexpectedly. "You never know." We call that wisdom, but we don't always live like we believe it. My children, the Fletchermints, are in their twen...