Do not let your hearts be troubled. That’s what Jesus said to his disciples on the night that he was betrayed and arrested. How could he say that? Their world was about to be torn apart. The readings this week are troubling. The first reading tells the story of Stephen being unjustly accused, dragged outside the city and beaten to death with rocks. Peter is writing to a group of people who were being severely persecuted. The Psalmist cries out to God in a time of trial.

In this video I will guide you through the stories of Acts 9-16 using my visual, interactive map of Acts.

This is a reading of Acts 9:1-19 from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) using the images from A Cartoonist’s Guide to Acts.

Feel free to use it in your worship service or classroom.

Saul was headed to Damascus to arrest the followers of Jesus. He encounters the risen Christ and is forever changed. Saul does not experience true healing until he receives the touch of Ananias along with his forgiveness and acceptance. Saul, who would later be called Paul, understood the grace of Jesus Christ in a palpable way.

Here is my translation of 1 Peter 1:22-23. Having been purified in the obedience of the truth for unhypocritical sibling love (philadelphia), from a clean heart love (agape) one another intensely, having been born anew, not by perishable seed, but by the imperishable,...

Christ is Risen! Alleuia! Happy Easter everyone. My prayer for you this Easter season is that you will find new life and new hope to follow Jesus in the Commonwealth of the Heavens. The resurrection of Jesus is God's resounding "YES!" to new life and second...

It is Good Friday. This is the day that Jesus was executed on a Roman cross. People have been trying to make sense out of this event since the moment it happened. Why did this popular teacher willingly walk into Jerusalem and allow himself to be arrested, mocked,...

Today is No Kings Day. Millions of people around the USA are gathering to protest the authoritarian moves that the Trump administration is taking. I am not a Democrat, nor am I a Republican. I'd like to stay out of politics, but that is impossible. Whenever three...

Holy Week, or The Passion of Christ, is the time we walk through the last days of Jesus. We move from Palm Sunday, when the crowds shout “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord,” to Good Friday, when the crowds shout, “Crucify him! We have no king but Caesar!” to Easter Sunday when the disciples shout, “He is risen, Alleluia!”

In this video I walk through The Art Pastor’s Guide to Holy Week where I have compiled the visual resources from all four Gospels from A Cartoonist’s Guide to the Bible into one easy to navigate web page. Use these resources for your own study, teaching, and preaching.

This image was inspired by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan as they offer a hypothetical scene in their 2006 book The Last Week,

Two processions entered Jerusalem on a spring day in the year 30. . . One was a peasant procession, the other an imperial procession. From the east, Jesus rode a donkey down the Mouth of Olives, cheered by his followers. . . On the opposite side of the city, from the west, Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Idumea, Judea, and Samaria, entered Jerusalem at the head of a column of imperial calvary and soldiers.

Jesus’s procession proclaimed the kingdom of God; Pilate’s proclaimed the power of empire.

Jesus encounters Martha, Mary, and Lazarus in John 11. He meets them each where they are, and shows us how God brings healing to our mind, our heart/spirit, and our body.