This text from John’s gospel that we read and hear today is also commended to be read as part of our burial rite. It is commended to us because it is a statement of Jesus’ promise to us in the light of one of our worst fears. This fear is the fear of separation. When…

Sometime last year I stood in my living room, watching a neighbor of mine cut his lawn. It was a typically hot and sunny Saturday afternoon. My attention was drawn to him because I wondered why he wasn’t inside watching the baseball game of the week. But there he was, outside, pushing the gas-powered mower…