by jakeowensby | Apr 28, 2017 | 3 Easter A, Luke 24:13-35, Uncategorized
Ledell Lee ate his last meal on April 20. Officials of the Arkansas Department of Corrections executed him by lethal injection at 11:44 that same evening. The last meal is a customary ritual for death row inmates. The condemned can ask for whatever they want. State...
by jakeowensby | Apr 22, 2017 | Easter 2 A, John 20:19-31, Uncategorized
For my birthday my wife Joy surprised me with a framed picture of my twenty-year-old mother Trudy. Someone had taken the photo aboard the ship that brought her to America. Doing some genealogical work while we were visiting Salt Lake City, Joy had come across that...
by jakeowensby | Apr 14, 2017 | Uncategorized
“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are [beautiful] in the broken places.” In A Farewell to Arms, this sentence reads that some are “strong” in the broken places. But I have substituted the word “beautiful” for Hemingway’s own choice, because today we are...
by jakeowensby | Apr 12, 2017 | Uncategorized
The news broke Monday that there had been a shooting at an elementary school in San Bernardino. Images of Sandy Hook—slain children and teachers littering hallways and classrooms—flooded my imagination. Within minutes media outlets had clarified the incident. A man...
by jakeowensby | Apr 7, 2017 | Matthew 26:14- 27:66, Palm Sunday A, Uncategorized
Woody Allen once said something like, “My one regret in life is that I am not someone else.” Humor has a way of delivering hard and tender truths that we might otherwise fend off. Satirists coax us into lowering our guard with the promise of a good laugh. The best...
by jakeowensby | Apr 1, 2017 | Ezekiel 37:1-14, Lent 5 A, Uncategorized
In today’s terms, the prophet Ezekiel resembled a refugee. Ezekiel lived in exile. He was uprooted by an invading army and forced to live in a land far from home. Nothing about his surroundings was familiar. The language, the food, the customs, the religious...
