Weekly Outlook - The cross isn't just about guilt and shame ✝️

Dear Outlook readers,  When I was 24, I went through what I call my "mid-20s crisis." I was working a good job and lived in a fun city but I felt unsettled, like a dog that keeps getting up to turn in circles as they try to sleep.  Ultimately, I quit my job, moved home, and worked at a bakery for a year before the Holy Spirit directed me towards seminary. That year at my parents' house was a prolonged threshold, a lonely time of waiting and growing. Perhaps for that reason, I remember being floored by Henri Nouwen's interpretation of the passion in Finding My Way Home.   In this book, Nouwen tells the story of a sick friend who felt adrift. His whole sense of worth was built around doing things. But now, he couldn't do anything. He had no control. And so, he asked, “Who am I?”  In response, Nouwen and his friend look at Jesus' passion. When Christ was betrayed, the Greek says he was “handed over” (from the verb paradidomi). And it was in this handing over that God’s glory was revealed. My friends, this is the hope I offer you today. When we allow ourselves to fully feel our lack of control, we can learn something of God’s glory and come in touch with new life. We know that God will ultimately destroy oppressive forces like illness, death, greed and violence. We will acknowledge that on Sunday. But for now, we can take comfort that God is with us in the grief, pain and anger of feeling powerless.  There is glory in acting to bring about the kingdom of God — Jesus demonstrates this for the first part of his life. But there is glory to be found in being handed over too.  In Christ, Rose Schrott Taylor Outlook digital content editor

A call to celebrate the Trans Day of Visibility on Easter Sunday by Shea Watts The hospitality of yes by Colleen Earp and Clayton Rascoe Reflecting on Jesus’ last words and unspoken truths by Ron Byars The cross isn’t just about our guilt and shame by Elana Keppel Levy In case you missed it... Transformative hospitality: To be welcomed shapes us into a welcoming people. Teri McDowell Ott reflects on hospitality from the perspective of her local hospital's emergency waiting room. Building trust ‘for the sake of the Gospel’ Nassau Presbyterian Church and Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church work to build trust that has been missing since 1840. — John Bolt Austin-area Presbyterian church calls for fasting in solidarity with famine victims in Gaza University Presbyterian Church (UPC) in Austin, Texas, is calling for a day of prayer and fasting on Good Friday, March 29th, in solidarity with victims of an impending famine in Gaza.   Holy Saturday prayer "Help me stay with the transformative tomb./ Help me trust it’s not over," writes Arianne Braithwaite Lehn. Perennial A poem for gardeners, for springtime lovers, for the hopeful by Andrew Taylor-Troutman. “Ode to Joy” and the harrowing of hell Katy Shevel contemplates Christ's descent into hell on Holy Saturday through the lens of Ludwig van Beethoven's "Ode to Joy." Hosts and guests: We and the Other Writer Alejandra Oliva meditates on preparing feasts for friends — and strangers. Acting Stated Clerk joins 140 other Christian leaders calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and a halt of arms sales to Israel The Rev. Bronwen Boswell and others say ‘the killing must stop.’ — Mike Ferguson