Jon C. Swanson's Blog, page 16

A hospital Easter: Why are you crying?

Continued from yesterday.

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On Sunday morning, as early as she could she went out to the graveside. Mary M and some of the other women were going to do what women in some cultures still do: clean the body, pack spices around it, wrap it up carefully, wrap it up right.

When Mary got there, the grave was open. The body was gone. And Mary was upset, as she should be. It’s like going to the funeral home and finding that they don’t have any record. It’s like finding out from family memb...

A hospital Easter, part one.

I’ll admit it.

Easter is often hard in the hospital. We hear about the hope of the resurrection, that Jesus rose victorious over the grave, that we have life because he does.

But we are in a building that exists because death still exists. Cancer still lives inside these walls. Accidents happen elsewhere and come here.

I walk the halls. I sit in rooms. Sometimes I see someone in tears, though I don’t know why And so I gently ask, “Why are you crying?”

I suppose sometimes it’s obvi...

A prayer for Easter.

God.

It is Easter. It is Resurrection Day.

It is a massive celebration of new life and bunnies, Peeps and people singing, chocolate and resurrection, new dresses and empty grave clothes. It is a day of arguing over how to celebrate you and how to find you and who has the best party.

It is, we confess, a really confusing day.

We confess that we want to celebrate you but we often celebrate us.
We confess that we want to understand resurrection but we want to resurrect ourselves.
We co...

For Good Friday, 2025

This is for our service at the hospital today. It’s longer than usual.

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In the days of His humanity, He offered up both prayers and pleas with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His devout behavior.  Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him, being designated by God as High Priest according to the o...

On that last Thursday evening together.

I wrote this three years ago. It seemed worthwhile to share this again.

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I’ve spent some time starting to write for you today, feeling a little, perhaps, like a chef in a cooking competition:

“Judges, today I have made for you words about Maundy Thursday. On a base of Judas’s betrayal there is a side of bitter herbs and a synthesis of implications of unleavened bread. The invisible but likely present lamb was roasted with suggestions of Peter’s denial and sliced with a sword.”

...

Purpose

Rich Dixon helps us think about what to do.

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Concluding FREEDOM TOUR 2017, the team discussed “purpose.”

We read the story of Moses’ encounter with God speaking from a burning bush, focused on verses 10-11.

“So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

God called Moses to a difficult journey. Our teammates talked about whether t...

During the week before his death, Jesus spent time with people.

This week, it may be worth thinking about Jesus’ last week. The one we call “Holy Week.”

That week, Jesus lived in relationship.

He spent the nights in prayer. He spent the days in teaching. But he spent the evenings in Bethany. With Martha and Mary and Lazarus. With friends. At the house of Simon the leper. I’m guessing that the meals and the conversation were remarkable and normal. As normal as could be with a formerly dead man.

And he spent the breaks with the disciples. There wer...

Following the parade.

It’s holy week. I’m going back to archives for this week.

Sunday, following was pretty easy. Suddenly, Jesus was the popular one, Jesus was the celebrated one, Jesus was the one that everyone was cheering. After all those months of being misunderstood, of having regular attacks from all the religious leaders, now there is recognition.

It had to be interesting for the disciples. Was Jesus going to remember them now that he was a big star? Were they going to be recognized, too? Was this ...

A prayer for Palm Sunday

God-

We call this Holy Week.

We try to figure out new things to say, or new things to feel about all that happened during this week. Jesus was celebrated. Jesus turned over money tables. Jesus debated and won. Jesus washed feet. Jesus started what we call communion. Jesus gave the disciples a summary of the heart of his teaching. Jesus taught us about you, Spirit. And then Jesus was betrayed, was mocked, was crucified, was stabbed, was buried.

In this week Jesus gave up being in cha...

Planting the seeds of failure?

A guest post from a long-time reader and correspondent, Jim May.

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Praying is not always encouraging. It can seem like God takes forever to care for people we’re praying for, or does not hear or even care.

Since the cold, dark days of late winter, I have been sprouting seeds inside in preparation for planting them out in the garden. 

When I plant each seed in each small pot, I hope that it will grow. This spring most of the seeds I planted have not grown. I don’t know why. Some...