The Pilgrim Geek

I think Judas Iscariot gets a bad wrap. His name far surpasses “Benedict Arnold!” as a designation for traitor. He appears in the center of Hell in Dante’s Inferno along side Brutus and Cassius (betrayers of Julius Caesar!). He is the penultimate backstabber. And yet I have heard very few sermons about Judas. For someone who is near solely responsible for the short series of events that lead to Jesus’ state-sanctioned execution, he gets very little attention. Today is Maundy…

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What are you gonna give up for Lent, Napoleon? Whatever I feel like! GOOSSHH!” Many of us have a movie dear to us that we feel best encapsulates or embodies our high school experience. For some, it is The Breakfast Club. For others, it’s Superbad. And still yet for others, some logic or affinity leads them to Degrassi. Mine is Napoleon Dynamite. Most people seem to either love or hate Napoleon Dynamite. Shortly after its release in 2004, a church…

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I am a big fan of the work of Charles Dickens. Few writers of his era, or ours for that matter, wrote with such versatility. He could write satire, drama, and murder mysteries! He consistently wrote from the perspective of outcasts of society and about their interactions with the wealthy and elite. And he consistently and vividly described a Victorian England covered in grit, grease, and soot. He portrayed an England largely ignored by society’s upper crust. While such a…

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The death of a cherished friend or family member is truly an experience that is beyond description. Have you ever attempted to articulate the grief you feel at such a loss to someone who has never experienced it? All words fall short. It seems fitting, then, that God created in humanity a desire and drive for creative expression. Art of all sorts is what offers us a medium to express the inexpressible. If we want to begin to grasp the…

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Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth: Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen. Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Last night, my wife and I had these words spoken over us as we let a person…

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