James Pence

Maundy Thursday. Good Friday. Easter Sunday.  What about Saturday? In our zeal to get from the crucifixion to the resurrection, we often skip a day.  I call it Dark Saturday. In some traditions, this is known as Holy Saturday, the time when Jesus supposedly went to Hades and liberated the souls of the Old Testament saints. I prefer to experience this day from the viewpoint of the disciples. Can you imagine how they felt on the day after the crucifixion of Jesus? The shock of Good Friday has now settled into a grim new reality. All their hopes and dreams …

Image by Ri Butov from Pixabay I’ve heard some Christians say that they never question God. I’m glad the psalmists didn’t take that approach. Psalm 10 begins with the bold questions, “Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” (Psalm 10:1 NIV) I’ve pondered those questions a lot, lately. Just this morning I awoke to the news that the Russians had fired a cluster bomb into a train station where people were evacuating. As of this writing there are at least 50 dead. Where are you, Lord? A few days ago, the …

I’ve been thinking a lot about God’s providence ever since my SCA*.  My daughter Charlene did CPR on me for at least 15 minutes before the Campbell Volunteer Fire Department arrived and took over. But as I reflect on her being there at 4 a.m. to save my life, I’m amazed at God’s providence Years ago, half-jokingly, I’d told both our kids that if they ever wanted to move out to our place, I’d give them some land. And although I was joking, I was also totally serious.  Several years ago, Charlene decided to take me up on my offer …

For the last month I’ve been wrestling with the question of how to pray about the situation in Ukraine. It’s easy to toss out generic prayers like, “Lord help the people displaced by the war,” and “Please send people to help.” And, of course, “God, please overrule this evil and bring good from it. Use your people to be the hands and feet of Jesus.” Those are all valid prayers, but in the face of the horror and brutality we are witnessing, they somehow felt hollow. I prayed that God would stop Russia. That he would bring Putin down. That …

It seems that in today’s political climate the price of serving on the Supreme Court of the United States is to allow yourself to be brutalized by senators seeking to garner sound bites and video clips for future campaign videos while simultaneously posturing for their Twitter followers.  I’m fully aware that this conduct is not limited to a single political party and that both Democrats and Republicans take turns doing the brutalizing, depending on the nominee’s perceived political leanings. But in the midst of the political theater someone’s words occasionally cross the line into greatness. Yesterday those words came from …

Some time ago, a writer (I can’t remember who or I’d credit them) did a series of posts with the clever titles, (# of words) about (topic). For example, “250 Words About Quantum Theory.” (Actually, I don’t remember any posts about quantum theory, but you get the idea.) The number of words varied with each post and was reflected in the title: “184 Words About Dog Training,” “97 Words About the Oscars,” “253 Words About Pizza,” and so on. (By now you’re probably wondering where this is going.) Well, ever since my heart attack and cardiac arrest I’ve found writing …

I wrote the following post on Jan 11, 2021–five days after the January 6th assault on the Capitol. Like many Americans, I had watched in disbelief as what was previously unthinkable happened. I wasn’t surprised. I believed that the potential for violence existed; however, I had no idea that it would involve an assault on the Capitol itself. As I reread this post, one sentence stood out: I don’t believe Mr. Trump is finished, nor are the extremists who follow him. When I wrote the post, I meant that I feared more violence was coming before Joe Biden’s inauguration. Thankfully, …

We’re less than two weeks away from the first anniversary of the January 6th insurrection. I thought it would be interesting to repost the articles I wrote during the fall of 2020 up through January of ’21 with some commentary reflecting on this past year and the aftermath of the assault on the Capitol. I’ve edited the original post for space, but the content is not affected. My reflections follow the original post. ORIGINAL POST: So, how did a nice evangelical boy who’s voted straight Republican since 1976 end up becoming an independent who will vote for Joe Biden (and …

How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. 4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. (Habakkuk 1:2-4, NIV) When I reflect on the events of 2021 in the United States, I confess I am perplexed. If you followed my blog in the months up to the presidential election of 2020, you’ll …