Why is it so hard to achieve our goals? Some of us have tried for years to no avail. For others, their goals are nothing more than a wish dream.

I can’t tell you how many times I have adults tell me they “wish” they could play a musical instrument. When I ask them why they don’t take lessons they usually respond with a laugh or a shrug.

What if conquering your goals was as simple as saying yes?

Mom, through all those years of exhausting labor, fierce love, and unseen tears, you were laying the foundation of a beautiful legacy. Every good deed I have ever done or will do, every life touched or blessed, every person influenced and inspired, any good thing that comes from my six children, their children, and their children’s children, is because of you.

In motherhood, you were the ultimate gardener.

People who possess eternal life are not afraid to risk what they can’t lose. The question we should ask is not the teacher’s “who is my neighbor?” but the more expansive “to whom should I become a neighbor?”

How can we dismantle the distrust of this emerging tribalism? We are on the crazy cycle of distrust and defense. Your tribe attacks mine, we answer tit-for-tat. Your tribe becomes more defensive and even violent, mine reciprocates.

Jesus said, “Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (Luke 6:28, NIV).

We need not be naive about the pursuit of truth. Civil dialogue can lead us to better understanding, empathy, and even compromise, but there will inevitably be disagreements. We should not be frightened by the prospect of disagreement, but welcome it as one of the gifts of a free society.

Do we want a beautiful city free of violence, racism, classism, sexism, greed, self-righteousness, partisanship, and ongoing division that is wasting our communities? These are shackles and fetters that must be broken and only the truth can do that.

So let us sit together in the public square and boldly pursue the truth together. We can do it with openness, transparency, humility, laughter, and joy.

After much mental and spiritual despair, I am now confident, even optimistic, that there is a way forward. I have the privilege of witnessing the beginnings of it happening right here in York, PA. It is a tenuous start, but it is a beginning nonetheless.

We can build a beautiful city and I believe God wants us to do it together. This construction requires the recognition of four emerging problems in public life: outsourcing, ambivalence, intolerance, and tribalism.

Easter Sunday is still the ultimate reset for the followers of Jesus. Just as the Church was awakened to a bright new reality 2,000 years ago, so too, the modern Church should embrace again the life-giving power of the resurrection of Jesus.

I propose there are several affirmations the Church can make that will chart a new trajectory for generations to come.

Jesus voiced His trust on Good Friday that God would not abandon Him to the grave. He had no other option when He was at the end of His rope than to trust God. Even for Jesus, God was silent on Saturday.

Sometimes God is silent on Saturday. We might even have to endure Saturday seasons.

Holy Saturday is never the final word. During these dark times, you have to remember that God has not abandoned you. He is at work in your life for your good.

Holy Saturday is hard, but not hopeless.

If you pay attention to the vast sum of human suffering in the world, it surely must break your heart.

The question each of us must ponder every day is this: What am I doing about the issue that is breaking my heart?

Good Friday is a day we should allow our hearts to be broken again.

God delights in reconciling estranged people. From the first pages of the Bible to the last, God repairs and restores broken relationships.

This theme of reconciling estranged groups, specifically ethnic ones, is so dominant in the New Testament, specifically in Paul’s letters, that I almost missed the forest for the trees.

On the first Palm Sunday, Jesus forced people into a perplexing dilemma as they tried to understand His life and teaching. Was He a prophet, a triumphant king, compassionate healer, or was He a blasphemous fraud who created turmoil?

2,000 years later on this Palm Sunday on March 28th, 2021, we still are struggling to understand this Man of Nazareth.

Progressive and conservative Christians are locked in a divisive battle over who more accurately represents Jesus. Both groups claim they are the ones who faithfully emulate His life and teachings. It is the other side that gets Jesus wrong.

We build gates in communities that are restricted with key-code access, and erect fences in our neighborhoods to mark off our territory, give us privacy from our neighbors, and safety from unwanted intruders.

The logic of good fences seems indisputable. Fences keep little kids and pets within our boundaries, but more importantly, they keep the unwanted and unwelcome out.

Anti-Asian attacks around the country have been on the rise during the pandemic. Hatred is being directed at people of Asian descent for the irrational reason that they are somehow to be blamed for COVID-19. We cannot allow these injustices to stand, especially in the Church.

I am not quitting the Church anytime soon, and it is not due to a shortage of plausible reasons.

In my 44 years of life as a Church insider, I have often been dismayed and horrified by the Church’s behavior: the leadership failures, sex scandals, clergy abuse of children, authoritarianism, blatant hypocrisy, judgmental attitudes, idolatrous alignment with American politics, consumerism, discomfort with science, poor treatment of women, flirtation with conspiracy theories, unwillingness to confront racism, lack of compassion for the poor, etc.

Deflated and disappointed, Cindy was brave enough to confess, “Is this all there is for me in life?” The uninformed observer would have been surprised to hear her ask that question. 

On the outside, Cindy had it all: attractive looks, beautiful home, successful husband, and cute kids. But on the inside, Cindy was experiencing an existential crisis that left her with a crushing sadness.

I am suggesting that social media has aided the multiplication of judgmental critics who do not operate out of a deep well of virtue and constructive concern. They are dangerous because they are destructive and lead others astray. 

What is worse, they even discourage the very people we need to declutter the path before us: the creatives.

In the midst of busy lives, often chaotic schedules, and a fraying and raging world that demands our constant attention and loyalty, I am convinced we often miss the most lasting reality in life: love.

Love is the most important legacy you will leave. Love remains. Love never fails.

The progression or regression of who you have become since 2011 is a net result of life experiences and choices you made over the last 3,650 days.

Each one of us has three versions of ourselves: the past, present, and future. Your present self is different from your past self. You have become a different person. Your present self has also not yet become who your future self will be.

To refuse to see the plight of your brothers and sisters is to be robbed of the opportunity to feel your heart thump with the compassion of God. We must resist the impulse to look away.