Winn Collier's Blog, page 63

The Challenge of Easter {introduction}

The Apostle Paul famously said that if Jesus did not raise from the dead, our "faith is futile." (I Corinthians 15:17)



Interesting, isn't it, that Paul did not say that if Jesus had never been born or if Jesus had never lived a perfect life or if Jesus had never gone to the cross (though perhaps he could have said any of these) -- our faith is absolutely and utterly pointless. Rather, for Paul, everything hinged on the shattering moment when Mary Magdalene ran to the tomb and amid her tears ...

Silent Saturday: The Last Day of Lent

Lent draws to a close. For those who haven't participated in the Lenten Twitter posts, here are a few from the past couple of weeks.



Ponder. Wait. Sit in these silent hours. Joy comes in the morning.



|Good Friday|

The darkest darkness settles over all the kingdoms of men. God has murdered himself.



Sin is shalom-breaking. 

{Cornelius Plantiga}





The Psalms act as good psychologists. They defeat our tendency to try to be holy without being human first. {Kathleen Norris}





Repentance...

Faux Community

In The Villages, Florida, a well-funded developer has created a planned community unprecedented in vision and scope. The Villages has been created to look historic, look quaint, look pristine. With fake historical plaques, fake railroad tracks, ubiquitous golf carts that look like Bentleys and Mini-Coopers and a population engineered to weed out the undesirables (in this case, the young whipper-snappers), The Villages population has exploded, from 8,000 to 80,000 in ten years.

Here are a...

Guides for our Easter Readings

I am eager for Easter, eager for life. I'm very much looking forward to reading and chatting about N.T. Wright's  The Challenge of Easter  here with you. If you haven't purchased your copy yet, you still can, really. We will discuss chapter one here on Monday - and you can read it in about 15 minutes. 



Also, Andrew and Tmamome, you won the drawing and haven't sent me your address. If you still want your copy, let me know ASAP.

One of the things I'm most eager about is having other voices...

A Blessing for Death

This week...

May you gather up everything that you cling to

     as if your life depends on it...

Your reputation, your energy,

     your creativity,

Your business skills, your beauty,

     your contrary nature.

Your fear and your skepticism

     and your greed.

Your story.

Your hurts.

Your hopes.

Your desires that have turned into

     demands.

Those things you hide from others,

And those things you judge others by.



May you gather up these things - and everything

     that holds you back fr...

My Friend Raul

Some people leave you feeling more lonely after you were with them than when you were alone. We all have too many of those people in our life. Most of us are dying to be seen, known.



I have a small cadre of friends, a handful really, that knows me - all the stuff that makes me me, good and bad. One of these friends is Raul Cruz. I first met him in Denver in the summer of 2001. That night, he introduced me to the tunes of Santana (being a soulful Puerto Rican and a smashing musician, he has...

The Gospel According to Biff

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore (3.5 Stars)



This is one of those occasions when I wish Goodreads had 1/2 stars. I would give this 3.5 though not willing to round it up to 4.



Moore has one of the sharpest, steadiest wits I've read. I laughed out loud more in this book than I have in a very long time, probably since Sedaris' Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. Moore's sarcasm is potent, which makes sense - apparently his character Biff in...

Still Time for a Free Copy of N.T. Wright's Easter Book

We're having a book discussion during Easter. Jump on board.



And...if by Monday 10 of you let me know you are participating via a comment here or on the previous post, then we'll have a drawing for a free copy. If 15 jump on by Monday, two people will get a free copy.



Look for winners Monday in the comment section.

Easter Book Conversation

Easter is coming, thank God. In Charlottesville, spring has tempted us the past couple days - downtown and the parks have come alive. I know that Lent has not finished its work with me (does it ever, really?)



I've been thinking for a while about some new directions I'd like to take my blog, more on that later. However, here's something I want to do with you right away. For Easter (remember, it's a season, not a day - it's 50 days, in fact), I'd like to have a conversation here on resurrectio...

Skylight and Starlight

Well, I'm typing this on a bus, the Starlight Express from New York City back to Charlottesville. Did you get that - on a bus! Yet another technological wonder. I was at a conference, but I needed to come home early - our house is full of sick people.



I wanted to share this piece (interview, really) I did with Kate Barton and Skylight Studios. Juli Kalbaugh (our friend, painter and current housemate) works with Kate @ Skylight.



The conference I'm leaving and this piece I'm sharing have a co...