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Alianore Smith writes about - Extending grace in the face of feelings

Recently, I’ve been thinking about feelings.

More specifically, I’ve been thinking about the size of feelings.

More specifically still, I’ve been thinking about the size of my toddler’s feelings.

You see, my son has recently graduated from his ‘potato era’ (baby) into his ‘chaos monster era’ (toddler), and with this comes experiencing feelings like disappointment and frustration for the first time. I’ve spent a lot of time marvelling at the sheer size of these feelings.

This article is from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity section on Connecting with Culture

His trial reeked of injustice. His own disciple sold him out for a few pieces of silver, betrayed him with a kiss… and hung himself.

As he was arrested, one of his closest friends disregarded all his teaching on love – pulled out a knife – and cut a guy’s ear off. (Jesus called him out… and healed the other guy). A lot of the stuff that happened that first holy week was pretty unholy.

Once arrested, he was passed back and forth between politicians and bureaucrats. There was Caiaphas the priest, the Sanhedrin council, Pontius Pilate, the crowd – everyone seemed to want him dead, but no one wanted blood on their hands. Even Pilate washed his clean.

They had all kinds of accusations… Insurrection. Inciting a riot. Conspiracy. Terrorism (plotting to destroy the temple). Blasphemy.
But all he did was love. And heal. And give people hope.

An Easter reflection from Shane Claiborne