The persecution complex, to me, is problematic for Christians. Don’t tell me you are persecuted when you are simply trying to defend your practice of discrimination. Don’t tell me you’re persecuted because you believe you should be free to ignore the rights and needs of the oppressed.

I don't buy that Thomas was a doubter. I think he was a mystic, a mystic like Pope Francis. Pope Francis was a voice, yes, but he also ways a way-shower. He showed us this way of Jesus time and again. I wish more Catholics, more Christians, were like Francis.

Practicing resurrection means remembering that though cruel tyrants may hold sway from time to time over politics, they do not have to control our minds, our hope, our imaginations.

On Palm Sunday, the Rev. Simone Drinkwater preaches about power, as the world defines it and as Jesus manifests it.

On the fifth Sunday of Lent, the Rev. Lee Lowery preaches on extravagant love, and extravagant joy as practices of faith.

Lent isn’t about our ability to repent. Lent isn’t about our capacity to fix anything. Lent is about God’s wild mercy. Lent isn’t meant to teach us about our ability to apologize. Lent isn’t even meant to teach us about self-discipline. Rather this season is meant to teach us about the wildness and the wideness of God’s forgiveness. We believe in a God whose mercy defies all odds, defies all expectations.

Beloved, the real power lies not in what we fear, but in what we trust, or rather, in whom we trust. Are we able to trust that God will give us the strength and courage to live through difficult and scary times?

One of the most difficult questions I face as a priest seems like it should be one of the simplest. How do I join the church? I can give a technical answer. But the question of membership is a trickier than paperwork. Taking a page from Buddhism: true belonging is a process of vulnerability and taking refuge.