Author: Jeff Hampton

For Wilshire Baptist Church

I’ve heard and read the Easter story so many times I probably don’t focus and listen as I should. But for some reason this year, one part of the story has bounced around in my head: the borrowed donkey.

We’re told in the gospels that before entering Jerusalem for Passover, Jesus told his disciples to go into the city and borrow a donkey for him to ride. Much has been written and preached about the incongruity and symbolism of the “King of Kings” parading into the city on a donkey, and a borrowed one at that. When it comes to four-legged equine-related animals, donkeys don’t rank too high. We don’t tune into the Kentucky Derby each May to watch donkeys plod around the track. The beloved companions of the Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry weren’t donkeys. No, Silver, Trigger and Champion were lightning fast, smart, beautiful horses.

Continue reading “Borrowed Donkey”

For Wilshire Baptist Church

I made an assumption, and I was wrong. That’s never happened before, right?

We have neighbors a couple of doors down and across the street who have a business hauling stuff in a large trailer. Occasionally there’ll be some noise as they come and go – and there’ll be an extra vehicle or two on the street – but it’s “over there” and so it’s not such a bother.

Continue reading “Getting Better Over There”

For Wilshire Baptist Church

Memory is not neutral or static. It can be a tool for good by reminding us who we are, where we’ve been, what we’ve done, what we’ve endured and what we’ve learned. It can help us stay on the good roads and not go back down the bad roads. Memory can also be a burden, reminding us of our mistakes and failures. It can keep us frozen with fear and self-loathing.

It’s a topic singer-songwriter John Prine covered simply and yet deeply in “I Remember Everything,” a song I had never heard until attending Wilshire’s first-ever Songwriter Vespers on a recent Sunday evening. I won’t peel back all the layers of that song here, but as one who likes words, I’m intrigued by how the first verse seems to encompass the depth and breadth of memory:

Continue reading “Memories and Benedictions”