Jody Vickery

“Don’t get anywhere near that street! Do you hear me?” “Yes, ma’am,” my brother and I called back in unison to our mother as we bolted out the door to play. After a week of rain the sun was finally back and we were ready to romp. Of course, we headed straight for the street. There was a deep dip in the asphalt right in front of our house on Shadburn Avenue. After a big rain, water would pool up six, maybe eight inches. When passing cars splashed through it, a ten-foot-high wave exploded from beneath their fenders and crashed … Read more…

If you’re a graduating senior, your parents are probably going to seem a little – clingy — for the next few weeks. Over the last 18 years, they have pretty much organized their lives around you. Your schedule was their schedule. And now you are leaving. Even if you aren’t moving away, the relationship is going to change. That’s going to leave a huge vacancy in their lives. So if they are weirder than usual, they aren’t trying to control you. They’re just trying to figure out how to say goodbye. The adults in your life are all wondering – … Read more…

Let’s play an image association game. I’ll describe a scene, you tell me the first thing you think of. Ready? Jesus takes bread, gives thanks, breaks it, then gives it to his disciples. So what did you think of? Communion, right? The Lord’s Supper. Of course. Take a look at Mark 14:22 – While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take it; this is my body.’”  But there are other events in Jesus’ ministry that perfectly match the description I gave you. Look at Mark 8:6 – When … Read more…

I haven’t figured out how to say this without sounding uppity, so you’re just going to have to take my word for it – this isn’t bragging. This is confession. I am addicted to excellence. In fact, I have idolized it. I like for things to be done well. Especially things that have to do with Sunday church. If we get to the final amen and there have been no technical glitches, if there were no unscripted moments of silence, no departures from the order of worship because somebody “felt led,” if the prayer leaders prayed thoughtful prayers and the … Read more…

What would you like for the preacher to say at your funeral? I think it would be nice for my eulogist to say something like, “We will really miss this special man.” Or maybe, “I can’t believe more people didn’t read his blog.” Better still, “Hey, look! He’s breathing!” I have an old friend who told me once that when she died, she wanted everyone to exclaim, “Oh Lord! Whatever shall we do now?!” This post’s title comes from a 16th century poem written by a man named John Donne. He’s the guy who wrote, “Ask not for whom the … Read more…

If he had lived in another time and place, Luke, the author of the third gospel and Acts, might have been an Academy award winning screen writer. His characters are vivid, accessible and authentic, a feat few historians achieve. In chapters 22 and 23 of his gospel, he puts us not just in Jerusalem for the final hours before the crucifixion, but in the story itself. He invites us to witness the event through the eyes, from the perspectives of those who were there. We see Jesus from every angle. And if we stay in the story long enough, we … Read more…

In two weeks, we’ll gather with other believers to celebrate The Resurrection. Between now and then, we do well to reflect on what happened before the stone was rolled away from the entrance to the tomb, before the angel told the women, “He is not here,” before death was swallowed up in victory. It is curious that the only Gospel writer who was anywhere near Jesus when he prayed in Gethsemane, John, did not include the story in his gospel. He records the betrayal and arrest, but not the Garden prayer. Matthew was certainly nearby, but by his own admission … Read more…

When someone offers you a breath mint, take it. Maybe they just want to share. That, or your breath smells like a week old tuna sandwich. Either way, take the mint. I applied that same logic when a friend of mine, a Vietnam vet and Green Beret, suggested I meet his personal trainer. (Was he being nice or subtle?) And I was really looking forward to it – in the same way you look forward to a simultaneous root-canal, prostate exam and tax audit. On the scheduled morning I drove to the gym and met “Bobby” – the trainer. He … Read more…

My friends in the counseling business tell me about a thing called social comparison theory. It’s where we figure out our social standing, competency or worth by comparing ourselves to other people. Depending on how you keep score, you can focus on just about anything; wealth, weight, height, looks, accomplishments, possessions, position . . . you name it. Frankly, if you take one look at social media, they can stop calling it a theory. It’s a fact. One of the domains where we frequently play this game is religion. For some of us, it’s all about the rules. The more … Read more…

In 1843, George Ripley established a community in Massachusetts called Brook Farm. His goal was to balance labor and leisure. Each member of the community got to choose whatever work they wanted to do, the thinking being that if you loved your work, you’d do it enthusiastically. Soon, though, they discovered that some of the work that absolutely had to be done had no one to love it. So Ripley started forcing the younger members to do the dirty jobs. Since none of them were named Mike Rowe, they left. That, plus some financial problems and a small pox outbreak … Read more…