Written by the Story

The past few days, I have kept running into the idea of living one day at a time. It's come up enough in different things I've read, that I take notice. I'm still one of those "pre-moderns" who thinks that there's an unseen reality, that God speaks to us if we listen. So when the same idea keeps showing up, I feel like I should take notice. One story that stood out to me was about a woman who, in the course of a very short span of time lost one of her twin babies at birth, found out that the other would have permanent hearing loss, lost her father in a car accident that also permanently injured her mother. The car accident resulted in her having to oversee the selling of her father's business, and help her mom through a criminal investigation against the drunk driver who hit her parents. All while dealing with the loss of one baby, the loss of her father, and navigating life with a new baby who could not hear her mother's voice. Merely one of these thi...

  Dear Good Shepherd and friends, You are made in the image of God. You can't really improve on that. Yet, we try and try and try to make ourselves into something, as if being made in the image of God were not good enough. The wisdom teacher who wrote the book called Ecclesiastes called it "chasing after the wind." All our human striving is like trying to capture the wind or grasp a puff of smoke. It's not that he thinks our human pursuits are pointless. He thinks that chasing after things  in the effort to make our identity, to find meaning in life through acquiring and achieving , is a waste of time. None of it makes us who we are, none of it can improve on the claim that you and I are made in the image of God. And so also is the person you might see if you look up right now. At the end of the day, you and the person you see are absolutely no different. We're just really gullible at believing the differences based on the identities we have created. The reality i...

  Every year, it is Easter Sunday that gets the focus. Before Holy Week even hits, churches advertise Easter services, looking ahead to the big event. And I understand it (sort of)...churches need to do it in our triumphant culture. We want to celebrate the triumph and the "victory," the hero who overcomes.  I fear we're missing the point.  The actual stories of the gospels have a curious difference in perspective. The gospels spend much less time on the resurrection than they do on the crucifixion. It makes me wonder if we have put the emphasis on the wrong syllable. I mean, if we want to get the story right, shouldn't we follow the script a little more closely? Combined, the gospels spend a total of eight chapters on the trial and crucifixion accounts, and less than half of that amount on the resurrection (Mark gets a mere eight verses).  And the focus on the crucifixion is not limited to the stories of Jesus' trial and death. Leading up to his death, Jesus spea...

  "Kiss my ring. Bow at my feet. Wash my feet. Make sure you serve and honor me the way that I deserve." All things nearly every king, ruler, and person in power has said throughout human history. All things the gods and goddesses of the religious marketplace of the ancient world demanded. All things Jesus never said. During Jesus' last night, he revealed in startling ways what he had been all about from day one. As God's presence on earth: He was born in obscurity and poverty in a garage filled with animals, the living "tools" of a pre-tech age. He never made it his mission to make his way out and climb to the top of the social ladder. Jesus is not a poster God for the American dream. He lived among the struggling and the sick; among the sinners and the overworked. He didn't come to lend a hand from a higher, safer position. He lived among the ones he came to save. He was no different in his life than they. He tended to the needs of the forgotten with h...