So the premise of this trip is to learn how to read the Bible geographically. So we’re going to a lot of the places that show up in the Bible, looking at maps, reading scriptures, and getting a ton of background information and history from our teacher.

And there are so many things that I didn’t know! Like, significant, changes how I think about Jesus’ ministry things that seem simple and obvious when you’re walking around here with somebody who knows things.

For example, Jesus did a huge bulk of his ministry in and around Capernaum, on the coast of Galilee. As you can see below, it’s just a terrible place to hang out, and it’s not beautiful at all:

Obviously I’m kidding. It’s a beautiful place. And a huge portion of Jesus’s ministry happened within a days walk of here! Who knew? Well, for starters, I felt like I should have…

So….where else in my life could that be true? Where in your life could it be true?

So here’s some great news: We can all, always, keep learning! We can have our eyes opened, find new information that excites us and has the possibility to change how we think about or do almost anything.

I’m praying to stay open to a God who speaks in words, in places, in maps, and in ways beyond comprehension. Will you pray that way, too?

This is the fourth part of our four part Lessons and Carols service from Dec. 31 at St. Stephen’s UMC. If you’ve been reading along for the last few days, I hope these retellings have made you think a little bit, and have been fun. If you’re just tuning in now and wondering what in the world I’m talking about, the introduction is in a gray box just like this one on the first post. This one references Matthew 2:1-18.

Now since Jesus had been born in Bethlehem, a group of very wise men from out towards Persia who knew the stars showed up at King Herod’s asking him about the newborn king.

Herod, being both out-of-the-loop and a very jealous man, was deeply concerned. And his council of clergymen and scholars was troubled with him — they were the sort of clergymen and scholars who tended to feel exactly how the king wanted them to.

But he asked the scribes and clergymen where it was the Christ child was supposed to be born, and they told him, “Bethlehem, of course! It’s the City of David. Because, as the prophets said,

‘No matter what anybody says Bethlehem, you’re really not so bad. Because out of you will come a leader who will shepherd all God’s people.’”

But Herod pulled these Magi aside and really grilled then about when and how a star appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, and he told them, “Once you find this kid, swing back by my palace and give me his address. Because I want to ki..I mean, pay him homage, too.”

After the lengthy conversation with Herod, the wise men went on their way, and they followed that star they’d seen in the East until they were right in the spot where Jesus and his parents were staying. They were so excited, because the stars had literally aligned for them.

They were so excited that they threw Jesus a party, with much rejoicing and festivities and honor. Oh, and presents. They also gave the child lots of presents.

After this party, the group said their goodbyes. But they went home a way that did not take them by Herod’s place, because God told them in a dream to steer clear of there, and also because that guy gave them the creeps.

Once everybody had left, Joseph was visited by one of God’s angels. That angel told Joseph to get up, get moving, and take your family out of the country, go all the way to Egypt. Because Herod is mad and he’s not at all afraid to shed blood.

So Joseph got up, packed up, and in the middle of the night the Holy Family took off into Egypt as refugees from a dangerous ruler. They stayed in Egypt until Herod had died. In addition to keeping Jesus alive, this fulfilled the prophecy that God would call his son out of Egypt.

I cannot emphasize enough that Herod was a bad dude. Once he learned that the wise men had slighted him, he flew into a blind rage. He had every male child under two in the greater Bethlehem area slaughtered. The devastated families were reminded of the prophecy of old,

A voice was heard in Ramah,

weeping and much grieving.

Rachel weeping for her children,

and she did not want to be comforted,

because they were no more.

This is the 3rd of 4 parts from our Lessons and Carols service at St. Stephen’s UMC on Dec. 31, 2017. For more information about why they’re being posted like this or what in the world they are, check the first post. Hope you find it an engaging way to hear the story of Jesus!

So here’s how it all happened: You see, Mary was engaged to Joseph. Things were going along in the normal way, but then something happened. Mary got pregnant. But this was not an ordinary pregnancy. Mary became pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

Joseph was an honest man and a really good guy, but I wouldn’t say he was thrilled with this new arrangement. If he had wanted to, he could have had Mary put to death. But, like I said, he was an honest and good man, so he started working on arrangements to end their engagement quietly. In his defense, that was a pretty reasonable response to the situation, what with nobody in history ever having been conceived by the Holy Spirit.

But then another incredible thing happened, and Joseph saw an angel, who explained the situation. The Angel explained that, yes, really and truly, Mary would bear a son who would be truly special. The Angel also told him that he was supposed to name this special child Jesus.

This was certainly a lot to take in, but Joseph was up to the task. He raised that boy as his own — it was through Joseph, after all, that Jesus was a part of the line of David — and the world hasn’t been the same since.

This is part 2 of 4 from our Lessons and Carols service at St. Stephen’s UMC from Dec. 31. This one draws from John 1:5-28, Isaiah 9:2, 6-7; 11:1-4, Hosea 11:1, and Zechariah 9:9. For more info on what in the world this is, check out the intro on Wednesday’s post. 

Just before Jesus came into the world, his cousin showed up and started preparing the way. John was his name, and he was truly sent by God. He came to witness to the coming light of the world, the true Messiah, the Word Made Flesh.

Some asked, “Could this man be the Christ?”

But John knew that was not his role in this play.

John knew the words of the prophets of old. Of Isaiah and Micah, Hosea, Zechariah, and more. So he set to work, testifying about a great light that would come into this world.

Because the people who walk in darkness have seen a great light! A child has been born, the Prince of Peace! Wonderful Counselor, everlasting God! The true King!!

The true King will come from the root of Jesse’s tree; and this branch will be the true branch! He will stand up for the voiceless, he will proclaim justice and righteousness to the poor and the outcast. He’ll show the world once and for all what it means to love the true God.

John knew and proclaimed these words. And John did incredible things! So the people asked him if he was sure that he was not the Christ. And he said to them my job is not to be the Lord, but to prepare his way. Prepare the way of the lord! The Lord is coming! Prepare the way!

So the people in charge cornered John.

“What is it that you say you do here?”

“Who do you think you are?”

“If you’re not the one, are you the great prophet?”

John replied,

“I’m nobody from no place. I’m just a messenger. The one who’s coming? I’m not even good enough to untie his sandals. Yeah. He’s that good.

I’ve been out here baptizing people in the river. The Messiah? He’ll baptize with the Holy Spirit!”

“Out of Egypt he has come! And before it’s all done, he’ll ride triumphantly into Jerusalem on a donkey. The words you’ve heard from the prophets? They’re true. He is who he says he is. He’s the one and only. The holy one. Emmanuel, God-with-us!”

Hello friends!

We had a wonderful service of Lessons and Carols at St. Stephen’s UMC on Dec. 31. We had four readings that I pulled together from the traditional lessons and carols liturgy. But, rather than reading straight from a translation, I pieced them together and reworked them into paraphrases of sorts. A few people asked for them, so I decided that I would throw them up here, one at a time, Wednesday through Saturday. The first one, which is an adaptation of Genesis 1 interspersed with an adaptation of John 1, is below. Check back each day for the rest of them!

Before there was anything else and when the world had no form at all, when it was all a dark and empty wasteland;

The Word was there.

The very spirit of God, the essence of the creator was hovering, ready to begin a new thing;

And the Word was there.

So then, do you know what God did? God said, “let there be light,” and there was light!! God saw that the light was good and God divided up the light times and called those day and the dark times and called those night.

And the light and the Word immediately took a liking to each other.

And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day.

So then God got back to work because there was plenty to do. So God said something about expanses and waters and the universe and galaxies and stardust and the universe began to take its shape;

And there was the Word, right with God in the midst of it all.

Then God started arranging and pushing around water and shifting tectonic plates and spewing lava out of volcanoes and land and sea started to take shape;

And God said it was very good, and the Word  never, ever forgot this truth.

So God started empowering the Earth to do incredible things. And out of its own goodness and bounty creation started to create! And there were flowers and trees and grasses and all sorts of things springing up.

And God and the Word continued to fall in Love with what they saw.

So God started coaxing stars and planets in the sky and the light and the dark started to take shape as day and night and there was a moon and there were galaxies and the creating hasn’t ever stopped, even to this day.

And the Word was there, because the Word is so much more than simply with God, the Word is God.

Then the animals started to take shape! Fish in the sea and creatures on the earth, birds in the sky, more than you can count! And God commissioned all these creatures to be fruitful, to flourish and multiply and grow and change and do great things.

And this might surprise you, but the Word delighted in this part, because the word is the Light of Life.

Then God and the Word got to talking, and thinking, and dreaming, and decided to create someone in their own image. Can you imagine? A creature in the very image of God! So humanity was born. And they said, let’s give these humans special powers and abilities and responsibilities, let’s make them responsible for the other creatures and the plants and all of this. It was, and is, a whole lot of power to hand over. But we humans had our call from God, to take special care of this creation.

And the Word immediately fell in love with us.

And God looked out at all of this and said, “this is so, so good!”

 

And the Word knew that this was true. The Word also knew that there would be troubles. But that the darkness would never, ever win.

 

Then I heard the Lord’s voice saying, “Whom should I send, and who will go for us?”

I said, “I’m here; send me.”

Isaiah 6:8 (CEB)

This post originally appeared as part of the email devotional ministry of the Portico Collective.

I spent most of Hurricane Harvey sitting on the same couch that I am writing this from. The nice, comfortable, dry couch in my nice, comfortable, dry living room in my nice, comfortable, dry house. I did this for a number of reasons.

• The city officials told people to hunker down to wait out the storm.

• It was raining. A lot.

• My street, and streets around me, spent a significant portion of Friday through Tuesday functioning as rivers rather than thoroughfares. (This is actually an intentional design function of our road system here.)

• I don’t have any special skills, nor a boat, nor am I a first responder.

• A very large oak tree fell across one of the two roads out of my house.

Pretty good reasons, right? You know what they didn’t prevent?

Feeling like a dark mass of guilty nervous energy as I cooked things, watched Netflix, and hung out with my wife and my three dogs.

I say this to tell you that you don’t have to be in another part of the country or the world to feel an overwhelming sense of powerlessness in the face of this disaster. We are feeling it here, too. Even though we are crying, “here I am, send me!” many of us are finding that there aren’t neat and easy and accessible ways to respond.

Our need to be helpful and to do so on our own terms doesn’t often end well in times of disaster. The sentiment of people who are hellbent on donating supplies instead of money is a common one. Also common? Stories of unnecessary donations overwhelming the infrastructure and logistics of recovery efforts, and countless donations going to waste.

So what the heck do we do after we say, “Here I am Lord, send me?”

Research. Ask. Listen.

The things that have happened here are really, incredibly traumatic. We would love to be reminded that people all over are pulling for us.

Know somebody in Houston? Reach out and tell them you love them. Ask them what they need.

Want to help? Nobody likes this response, but we could really use some cash. Money given to organizations like the United Methodist Church’s UMCOR gets to the disaster and makes a huge difference in long and short term recovery.

Really want to come help? Line up someone to work with first. I know, that’s lame. So was hiding in my house. But it wasn’t lame to avoid becoming someone who needed saving because I got in over my head out of a well-intentioned desire.

Still certain you want to make in-kind or material donations? Figure out what the shelters are asking for, and don’t turn your nose up at the requests. Sometimes, the best thing you can give really and truly is a box of tampons.

One last thing: pray for us. For real. Recovery work is long. It’ll be happening for years to come. We’ll need support: physical, emotional, and spiritual long after the news crews leave.

I can't sleep. My alarm will go off in a few hours and I'll get to gather together with faithful people seeking to find deeper meaning and connection to God in a broken world that looks especially ugly today.

When the world feels like it's on fire, I can't help but think about what I know is true about the God of Jesus.

God is incomprehensibly, recklessly, absurdly committed to a boundless sort of love. A love that nobody can hide from, that pursues us relentlessly. And that is true for every last one of us.

But this reckless and absurd love is not impartial.

In the midst of pain and hurt, God picks sides. But God doesn't pick sides the way the world does.

If you are scared and hurting tonight because of the color of your skin, the country of your birth, or the accent of your voice, God is on your side.

If you are mad as hell that somehow, in 2017, thousands of people are reviving anti-Semitic, anti-minority, anti-immigrant cheers and thoughts and actions, God is on your side.

If you had the courage to peacefully stand up to people with racist, white supremacist, bigoted beliefs, God is on your side.

If you were plowed into by a car driven into the crowd, killed or maimed by hate-crazed violence, God is on your side.

If your little island finds itself a pawn in the angry posturing of world leaders and you are living in constant fear for what tomorrow brings, God is on your side.

These are things I know to be true because of how I read my Bible. Because again and again and again the God I worship looks at conflict and hate and pain and picks the side of the underdog, the despised, the outclassed outcast, and says, "this is where I will stand."

There is hope here for all of us. Even those of us who don't find ourselves in the people with whom God is standing.

Because God's grace is available to all people. Full stop. No exceptions.

Because all of God's beloved children are called to stand on God's side, no matter where their birth family or life circumstance places them.

Because God's kingdom is real and present and right now and forever, and it compels us to grab a hammer and start building.

God's heart breaks tonight. My heart breaks tonight. So I will pray with my eyes closed tight, and then I will open them wide. I will open them wide, seeking to see the world the way God does:

As a place to build a kingdom of peace and justice. As a place where people don't find themselves superior based on the color of their skin or the nation on their passport. As a place where the lion lies down with the lamb.

The Good News will triumph. This is as true today as it was yesterday. It will be true tomorrow. But this does not let us off the hook; it does the exact opposite.

It compels us to live boldly. Fearlessly. Justly.

And it compels those things now.

–N

On Sunday, I got to preach a sermon where I told one of my favorite stories about my grandmother and her “pizza plant.” It’s really fun to be in the place with a new congregation where we are still learning about each other: Who we are, where we’ve been, and where we’re going.

This reminded me of an exercise I did as part of a pastoral leadership development program I’m in. We were asked to write a poem about our spiritual biography. Remembering Gigi and Aiee (what I called/call my grandmothers) was as pretty special thing for me, so I saved the poem. After you read it, I encourage you to think about who shaped your faith and your story. Write it down, and, if they’re still living, share it with the people who have helped make you who you are!

 

It’s my grandmothers.

There have been others

and there have been places

and there have been experiences

and there was that time the cross fell at CAC,

and the conversations with Jay,

and the broken cement mixer in Juarez

that made me pretty sure

I

was

going

to

die

but it’s my grandmothers.

 

Yes the Hindu one, too.

 

I learned to pray in Sunday school, I guess.

But to really pray,

To take the big questions and the ideas

and the words about God

and the readings from seminary

and the anger

and the love

and the scary stuff;

That was all about talking to Gigi all these years after she died.

 

Aiee taught me that God shows up when you throw a party.

That faith and friends and fun and life are totally linked.

That it’s more important to take the fruits and throw them off the bridge

Or to go to the temple and be blessed before moving across the country,

Than to know the particulars of Hindu eschatology.

That love is transcendent and people are weird.

And that God shows up when you throw a party.

 

The other stuff matters.

 

But.

Really,

it’s my grandmothers.

 

 

–N