The View from the West Mesa

 I have mentioned Lauren Winner’s Mudhouse Sabbath before. The book has a number of poignant and insightful observations. The following is appropriate for our community because many of us share the reality of being older than the average American. In the chapter on aging, Winner writes this: The elderly are asked to age well, and the communities that support them are asked to help them do just that. (Rabbi Zalman Schecter-Shalomi has dispensed with the gerund “aging.” He speaks instead of “eldering.” I’ll admit a certain squeamishness with the term—it strikes me as a little twee, and every time I think of it, I have to adjust. But there is something vigorous about it too. To age is to be passive, to sit like a bottle of wine—you just sit there and time passes and age happens over you. To elder—or, in another of Reb Zalman’s clever infinitives, “to sage”—is to try to shape the last years of one’s life with intention.) Aging is not just a process of physical decline. It can also ...

J esus meets the woman while the disciples are off getting something to eat. She is there to get some water for the day and stumbles over him. You know the story from here most likely. They have a conversation, and we learn that she has had several husbands and was currently living with someone to whom she was not married. As his part of the conversation, Jesus tells her (and us) that if she would just ask, he would give her refreshment, springing perpetually in her. Then she goes to tell her community what has happened, and they come out to see who this man is. These are Samaritans which underscores a bit the significance that Jesus spends days with them.   Photo by  Jeremy Bezanger  on  Unsplash One thing we do not see in this story is Jesus telling this woman to clean up her act before he will talk with her. The woman caught in adultery he tells to go “and sin no more,” but this woman he does not. He simply offers her this spring of perpetual refreshment. We often...

“And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” [1]     Peter and John have been arrested and are being interrogated by the Jewish leaders. They have healed a lame man and have drawn the attention of the crowd. The commotion eventually gained the attention of the authorities. During their interrogation, Peter replies with one of his speeches which apparently was pretty well done. He rehearses the recent history of Jesus and Israel in these words: 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And...

I n a disturbing turn of events, after declaring his fidelity and wielding a sword in defense of Jesus, Peter denies even knowing Jesus not once, but three times. It is curious that Peter will attack a member of a mob with a sword, but when confronted by a servant girl, he nearly swears his denial. I guess in the heat of the moment, brave (even if ill-advised) action is easier than after we’ve had a chance to cool off and seemingly face the reality of defeat. But I digress. This thrice denial by Peter is one of the most famous stories from Sunday School and it is somewhat confusing because Jesus says that whoever denies him, he will deny before the Father. But Jesus welcomes Peter back and commissions him with a teaching position for the people of God. What’s going on? Is this just an example of forgiveness for a guy who we all know was a little rash in his behavior? Peter’s denial was a denial under pressure and resulted from a concern for his personal safety. If he hadn’t felt so...