In this world we sin and we die. It is only in faith that we share in the Lord’s victory over sin and death. Thomas seeks proof; it is only the direct experience of the Lord’s suffering that brings him to confess that Jesus is Lord.

A man came up to me in a parish years ago after a talk I had given about scripture. He prefaced his remarks by telling me he didn’t believe in the Bible as more than fairy tales, and Jesus as more than a wisdom teacher. However . . . .

Four years ago, I moved from one part of the country to another—not far geographically, but worlds apart culturally. Over the course of those years, as Americans became increasingly divided, I made two good friends on the opposite side of the divide.

Years back I attended the wake of the father of my cousin’s fiancée (it’s an Irish thing). As my father, sister, and I stood in line to wish our condolences to the man’s widow, whom we’d never met, we heard a commotion up near the casket.

The Boston Red Sox had never played the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field. But years back, interleague play finally brought them there. I cashed in a lot of my “pastor’s chips” to get some seats for myself and a few friends who came from the East Coast to share some friendly rivalry with me.

Let us pray for the love in which we follow and obey our God.

The gate of heaven is very low; only the humble can enter it.