James Derkits

Originally Published in the South Jetty Newspaper God came to dwell among us: it began at Christmas, and on Maundy Thursday that reality is elevated to the new norm of the church; we are to live with an expectation that God is present among us when we break bread together, and when we serve one another as host-servants. In Maundy Thursday Jesus brings us an invitation, no, a commandment to live a life of love that is laced with eternal encounter with divinity. Maundy Thursday begins the Holy Triduum (3 days) that ends with the Resurrection of Christ in Easter. These three most-holy days of the church contain the final teachings of Christ paired with the actions he takes to conquer death by death. The word Maundy means commandment, related to our English word mandate. As we reflect on the meaning of this day, we might be attentive to what Jesus is commanding us to do. It is a simple, and challenging command: to Love. Jesus Loves, in the context of this commandment, by putti...

What I do this Holy Week does not change the course of what happened in the life of Jesus.  What I do, or do not do will not alter the story of those events from Palm Sunday to Easter Morn. I make this annual offering of simple participation, reflection, and remembering so that my own story may be altered,  as I follow Christ from cheering crowd to cheering crowd;  through the inflation and deflation; the exaltation to destruction; from crying for God's salvation to slaying God in the name of safety.  This Holy Week will change me and my life and the way I see the world.  Easter will arrive no matter what I do.  My experience of God's resurrection  will be qualitatively different,  if I am there, in my imagination, when we crucify the Lord. 

Originally published in the South Jetty Newspaper Every year our church board (and this year we were joined by our day-school board) go on retreat just down the road at Mustang Island Conference Center. The food and hospitality are always wonderful, and it's far enough away without being too far away. At the beginning of the retreat, we spend time checking in, and talking about our lives. A big part of the retreat is to get to know one another better, which improves our work together to serve God through our community. Since our culture doesn't place a high value on listening (instead teaching us to be preparing a response or defense even while another person is speaking) we spend some time on our retreat learning and practicing listening. Listening to one another intentionally helps us all to have clear conversation. It also helps train us to listen to God. We use a tool to help us remember who's turn it is to speak. Sometimes it's referred to as a "talkin...