Wednesday, January 21, 2026 

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Author Mirabai Starr describes how the histories of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have been shaped by people who were brave enough to listen to and obey God’s call: 

Not all prophets do as they are told. Not at first, anyway. When the call comes, most of them turn left and then right: “Who, me?” they murmur. If the call is a true one, the voice of the Holy Spirit will roar: “Yes, you!”

Even then, the prophet will haggle with the Holy One. “There must be someone better suited to speak for the Divine.” But the God of Love is a patient God. The God of Love calls once, twice, three times. Only then does the prophet square her shoulders, gird her loins, open her hands, and say, “Hineni. Here I am.”

The history of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam abounds with accounts of great beings who trembled when they were confronted with the presence of the Divine and given a task of global dimensions. Traditionally, this reluctance is implied, rather than stated, yet when we read the scriptures with an open heart, we can feel the anguish behind the submission.

Responding to God’s call always comes at a cost: 

It is said that the Divine does not choose the wealthy and powerful to be prophets. [God] picks farmers and illiterate caravan drivers, orphans and poor Jewish virgins. [God] favors the ones who stand up…, talk back…, the ones who challenge the divine directive. When the angel of the Lord told the matriarch Sarah that she was going to become the mother of many nations, Sarah laughed. She was long past the age of childbearing, and the patriarch Abraham was even older. When her son was born the following year, they named him Isaac, which means “laughter.”…

“The prophets of Israel,” Karen Armstrong writes in A History of God, “experienced their God as a physical pain that wrenched their every limb and filled them with pain and elation.” Adrienne von Speyr says that the prophets are “inconsolable.” It is easy to see why they might have been reluctant to answer the call.

It is not only the biblical prophets who paid this price for responding to the divine summons. Prominent modern activists, imbued with the teachings of the God of Love, risked their lives on behalf of the most vulnerable among us….

Countless women and men—known and unknown—stand up every day to give voice to the voiceless—not because it seems like the right thing to do, but because they have no choice: The call comes storming through the gates of their hearts like an invading army, and they stand aside. In the act of surrendering to the Divine, the prophet relinquishes comfort, control, and any hope of being understood.

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JAN 21, 2026. Skye Jethani Neither on This Mountain Nor on That One

There is an old axiom in the real estate business that applies just as well to the ancient theology of temples: “Location, location, location.” As we explored in our Old Testament study of temples, ancient Near Eastern people believed the barrier between the heavens and the earth, between the domain of the gods and of people, was thinner in certain locations. This is why temples were often built on mountaintops or “high places.”Likewise, it was believed that a particular deity could be properly worshiped and encountered only in a specific location. Ancient temples did not function like wifi hotspots where any worshipper could log on to commune with any god they liked. Instead, temples were like dedicated networks where only the deity residing in that temple could be accessed. In other words, no one entered the temple of Artemis with the intent of worshipping Zeus. The importance of temples and their locations explains the deep division that existed between Jews and Samaritans in the first century. The Jews, of course, believed that YHWH could only be properly worshipped at the temple in Jerusalem. This was where David had built his capital a millennium earlier, where he had brought the Ark of the Covenant, and where his son, Solomon, had built a permanent temple for God’s presence to dwell.The Samaritans, however, rejected the legitimacy of the temple in Jerusalem. They saw its construction by Solomon as a political project to solidify the power of David’s dynasty, and not a location chosen by the Lord. Therefore, based on a different reading of the Torah, the Samaritans argued that Mount Gerizim was the proper location of YHWH’s presence and the only legitimate place to worship him. This deep division is highlighted in John 4 when Jesus passed through Samaria and talked with a woman there beside a well. Recognizing that Jesus was a Jew, she was surprised that he would strike up a conversation with her. After all, the bitter disagreement between their communities about the proper location for God’s temple had gotten violent over the centuries, with each side considering the other heretical and even subhuman.The Samaritan woman addressed the division directly. “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem” (John 4:20). With his response, we see Jesus repeating a tension first seen in John 2 when he drove the animals and merchants out of the temple courtyard. On the one hand, Jesus affirms the legitimacy of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Basically, he says the Samaritans are mistaken about Mount Gerizim being the proper location. But, on the other hand, Jesus is quick to dismiss both locations. Right after affirming the temple in Jerusalem, he says it’s irrelevant because the time has come “when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth” rather than on this mountain or that one.With one sentence, Jesus dismissed a violent, 800-year-old theological division as moot. The place to truly encounter God was now wherever Jesus was, and the true worshippers—the real people of God—are neither Jews nor Samaritans, but anyone from any nation who humbly comes to him. Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well is yet another example of John’s gospel declaring Jesus is the true temple of God who welcomes all people into the presence of his Father. DAILY SCRIPTURE JOHN 4:1-26  WEEKLY PRAYER. From Anselm (1033 – 1109) God of love, whose compassion never fails; we bring before you the troubles and perils of people and nations, the sighing of prisoners and captives, the sorrows of the bereaved, the necessities of strangers, the helplessness of the weak, the despondency of the weary, the failing powers of the aged. O Lord, draw near to each; for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God Calls Those on the Margins

Tuesday, January 20, 2026 

She was an Egyptian slave in a foreign land away from her people and seemingly without anyone’s protection. But God knew Hagar and God called on her to be a part of [God’s] plan.
—Marjorie A. White, The Five Books of Moses

Womanist theologian Delores Williams (1937–2022) connects the call Hagar experienced in the wilderness to the experiences of African American women.  

Although many themes in African-American women’s history correspond with many themes in Hagar’s story in the Bible, nothing links the two women together more securely than their religious experiences in the wilderness [see Genesis 21]…. Many African-American slave women have left behind autobiographies telling how they would slip away to the wilderness or to “the hay-stack where the presence of the Lord overshadowed” them. [1] Some of them governed their lives according to their mothers’ counsel that they would have “nobody in the wide world to look to but God” [2]—as Hagar in the final stages of her story had only God to look to…. 

For many black Christian women today, “wilderness” or “wilderness-experience” is a symbolic term used to represent a near-destruction situation in which God gives personal direction to the believer and thereby helps her make a way out of what she thought was no way.

Williams points to God’s support for Hagar as an ongoing source of inspiration and courage:

In the biblical story Hagar’s wilderness experience happened in a desolate and lonely wilderness where she—pregnant, fleeing from the brutality of her slave owner, Sarai, and without protection—had religious experiences that helped her and her child survive when survival seemed doomed. For both Hagar and the African-American women, the wilderness experience meant standing utterly alone, in the midst of serious trouble, with only God’s support to rely upon. 

As the result of these hard-time experiences and the encounters with God, Hagar and many African-American women manifested a risk-taking faith. Though she obeyed God’s mandate for her life, Hagar dared to give a name to the God she met in the wilderness. In a sense, this God is her God, and possibly not the God of her slave holders Abram and Sarai. No other person in the Bible names God. Many African-American women (slave and free) have taken serious risks in the black community’s liberation struggle. For example, in the midst of the violence and brutality that accompanied slavery in America, Harriet Tubman, with a price on her head, dared to liberate over three hundred slaves. She served as a spy and a general in the Civil War. She is said to have relied solely upon God for help and strength; she had no one else to look to. Thus we can speak of Hagar and many African-American women as sisters in the wilderness struggling for life, and by the help of their God coming to terms with situations that have destructive potential

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Heavenly Fire – Bradley Jersak

Evolving Imagery in Cultural and Biblical Context

JAN 19

Almost a decade ago, I came across the citation from St Athanasius (via creativeorthodox.com) that beautifully compares the resurrection of Christ to a fire that completely consumes death as if it were dry straw. The comparison reminded me of the range and frequent use of fire as imagery associated with the person or acts of God. A brief survey serves as a healthy meditation, not only on the various comparisons, but also how these evolve with our illumination by the Spirit, who is also linked with fire at times.

Ancient peoples would have experienced fire as destruction before they ever learned to employ it for light or heat, and when fire would fall from heaven as lightning or burst from the earth via volcanoes. Our forefathers connected the dots between destructive fire and the person and wrath of God. They assumed the fire that devours was sent by God as punishment, as we see in biblical stories like the end of Sodom and Gomorrah. When that fire is used against one’s enemies, it could serve as a powerful vindication that God is on ‘our side’ — as in 1 Kings 18 in Elisha’s showdown with the prophets of Baal or 2 Kings 1 when he calls for fire to kill Ahaziah’s troops.

But fire was not only seen as destructive. We have other passages where fire is employed for its cleansing properties. Malachi regards the judgements of God as a gold refiner’s furnace, purging the gold or silver of ‘dross’ or impurities. Similarly, Paul in 1 Cor. 3 describes the fire of God consuming all that is combustible in us … poor motives and faulty agendas, for example, as if they were wood, hay and stubble. But again, this is only so the gold, silver and precious stones of our true selves will shine brightly through the old tarnish. Hebrews 12 says that God himself IS this consuming fire. So in the end, the destructive fire is to be welcomed, even if seen as a ‘trial by fire.’

A third sense of fire is associated with the person and work of the Holy Spirit. We hear from John the Baptist that Christ will baptize with the Spirit and with fire, and while I suspect John was thinking of judgement, the New Testament sees that promise fulfilled with the outpouring of the Spirit in tongues of fire on Pentecost. This divine fire not only cleanses but empowers, and gives those who receive it the properties of fire (symbolically light and heat), which is to say, the Spirit inhabits us with glory, transfiguring us from glory to glory, so that we can stand in that glory which is the passionate love of Christ himself.

Some of the early church fathers used the image of a sword being forged in the intense heat that makes for the highest quality steel. Placed in the flames, it’s not that the steel would become other than steel, but while in the flames, it would bear the heat and glow with the light of the fire itself. So it is, they said, with those forged in the fire of God’s Spirit. Thus, the fire was not destructive, but rather instructive and constructive of our participation in the divine nature.

There are many ‘what about this questions’ that attend divine fire analogies. What about those parables of Jesus where unfruitful branches are cut off and thrown into the fire? Or when the wheat and tares are separated by angels and the weeds thrown into the fire. Rather than skirting the force of these texts too quickly, we need to undergo their message — their fire. Such parables remind us of the same point Lewis makes by using lion imagery for Christ. God is ‘good’ but he’s hardly ‘safe,’ much less ‘tame,’ if by that we imagine we can domesticate God!

But in saying this, let us also assert the first point as most important. God is good. God is love. And thus, for all its other properties, the Divine Fire is the unquenchable Flame of Love (also pictured by the Sun) — the One who radiates the Light and Warmth of Love to those coming in from the cold, dark night of winter.

Sunday, January 18, 2026 

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They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” —John 1:38–39

Father Richard Rohr considers the invitation to discipleship Jesus extends today:

When Jesus goes out to Galilee, his initial preaching is summed up in the verse, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand” (Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:15). “Repent” (or metanoia in Greek) means to turn around, to change. The first word that comes out of Jesus’s mouth is repent, change.

Jesus calls us to be willing to change, but many of us are not willing to change, simply because we’re not willing to turn away from ourselves! Usually, we’re not in love with God. Instead, we’re in love with our way of thinking, our way of explaining, our way of doing things. One of the greatest ways to protect ourselves from God, from truth and grace, is simply to buy into some kind of cheap conventionalism and call it tradition.   

But great traditions always call people on a journey of faith to keep changing. There’s no other way the human person can open up to all that God is asking of us. There’s no way we can open up to all we have to learn or experience, unless we’re willing to let go of the idols of yesterday and the idols of today. The best protection from the next word of God is the last word of God. We take what we heard from God last year (or from authority figures in our first half of life) and we build a whole system around it—and then we sit there for the rest of our lives.

Immediately after he begins preaching, Jesus calls his first four disciples. Jesus just says, “Follow me” and immediately they leave their nets and follow him (Matthew 4:19–20). But today, the way I see people transformed doesn’t happen this quickly. Maybe it happened that way with Jesus and the disciples; I don’t want to say that it didn’t. A true disciple will have that kind of readiness. Most of us, though, would prefer some process of conversion, a series of conversations over a few weeks, with Jesus saying, “Hey, I’m into something new. Do you want to be a part of it? Let’s go.”

I hope we realize that we’re all called to discipleship. We hope that the point comes when we’re ready to let go of our nets: our sense of self, our security systems, and the way it’s always been. Fishing is Simon (Peter) and Andrew’s economic livelihood, and Jesus says to let go of it. He says essentially, “I’m going to teach you how to fish in a new way, to fish for people” (Matthew 4:19). What he means is that he’s going to give them a new vocation. Hearing this Gospel passage, I hope we’re inspired to ask, “What is God asking us to do? Where is God asking us to go?”  

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Abraham’s Call

Monday, January 19, 2026 

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The story of Abraham is a mythic, primeval story, so much so that it became the founding myth of the three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
—Richard Rohr, Soul Brothers

CAC faculty member Brian McLaren describes how God called Abraham (initially Abram) and Sarah to a new covenant:

According to the ancient stories of Genesis, God is up to something surprising and amazing in our world. While we’re busy plotting evil, God is plotting goodness…. While we plot ways to use God to get blessings for ourselves, God stays focused on the big picture of blessing the world—which includes blessing us in the process.

You see this pattern unfold when God chooses a man named Abram and a woman named Sara. They are from a prominent family in an ancient city-state known as Ur, one of the first ancient Middle Eastern civilizations. Like all civilizations, Ur has a dirty little secret: its affluence is built on violence, oppression, and exploitation….

God tells this couple to leave their life of privilege in this great civilization. He sends them out into the unknown as wanderers and adventurers. No longer will Abram and Sara have the armies and wealth and comforts of Ur at their disposal. All they will have is a promise—that God will be with them and show them a better way. From now on, they will make a new road by walking.

Abraham and Sarah’s trust in God’s call is a model for our faith:

This story also tells us something about true faith. Faith is stepping off the map of what’s known and making a new road by walking into the unknown. It’s responding to God’s call to adventure, stepping out on a quest for goodness, trusting that the status quo isn’t as good as it gets, believing a promise that a better life is possible.

True faith isn’t a deal where we use God to get the inside track or a special advantage or a secret magic formula for success. It isn’t a mark of superiority or exclusion. True faith is about joining God in God’s love for everyone. It’s about seeking goodness with others, not at the expense of others. True faith is seeing a bigger circle in which we are all connected, all included, all loved, all blessed….

Sadly, for many people, faith has been reduced to a list. For some, it’s a list of beliefs: ideas or statements that we have to memorize and assent to if we want to be blessed. For others, it’s a list of dos and don’ts: rituals or rules that we have to perform…. But Abram didn’t have much in the way of beliefs, rules, or rituals. He had no Bibles, doctrines, temples, commandments, or ceremonies. For him, true faith was simply trusting a promise of being blessed to be a blessing. It wasn’t a way of being religious: it was a way of being alive.

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John Ortberg asked his mentor Dallas Willard what it would take to live the kind of life Dallas was always talking about—a life caught up in the goodness of God, a life lived from the kingdom of God, an abundant life of prayerful love. In short, the life of a disciple.

Dallas paused for a moment and said, “John, you must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”

John wrote that down and said, “Okay, I got it, what else?”

Long pause.

“That is all. There is nothing else.”

That’s Dallas Willard for you. But…how can that be all there is? At the risk of trying to speak for Uncle Dallas, perhaps what he meant, in part, is this: All of God’s abundance is there. The grace, the power, the resource of God has already been given. You simply need to become aware of it. And you become aware—and you become transformed—by slowing down. You must slow down into the life of God.

An Origin Story of Love

Friday, January 16, 2026

Theologian Elizabeth Johnson identifies love as the origin of all creation:

The question of why there is anything at all, why there is something and not nothing, finds an answer in the basic character of the Creator: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The living God is love, faithful, challenging, and compassionate love as the scriptures often declare…. This love is the wellspring of creation. There is no pressure on infinite holy mystery to create and continuously support a world. How could there be? It is done freely, as a flaming, generous act of love, the plentitude of infinite love overflowing. With simple reasoning one biblical book figures it this way: “For you love all things that exist and detest none of the things that you have made, for you would not have formed anything if you had hated it” (Book of Wisdom Chapter 11 verse 24).

The living God’s way of creating is sui generis, genuinely one of a kind. When humans create, whether it be a baby, a book, a building, a business, … a protest sign, a song, it is always done with material at hand. By contrast, the often-used traditional Latin phrase ex nihilo, “out of nothing,” points to the unfathomable act of God’s originating all things and continuously keeping them in existence with no material at hand, no intermediary, no pressure, no pre-existing conditions.

Poetic images abound. God speaks and the power of that word brings the world into being: Let there be, and lo! there it is. Again, God molds a human figure out of the dust of the earth and breathes the spirit of life into its nostrils, and it becomes a living being. Both are images in the book of Genesis. Like a woman giving birth, like a potter casting clay on a wheel, like a bird brooding eggs into hatching, like an artist making a beautiful work of art, God makes a world. These and other biblical images hint bravely at how we might imagine the relationship of creation. None, of course, can be taken literally. But each one keeps front and center the connection between Maker and what is made….

The Creator gives with great affection; creatures receive. Nothing in the great world would exist but for this constant relationship. Rocks, plants, animals, human beings, ecosystems, stars, galaxies, universes—without the ongoing creative power of God at every moment, all would collapse into … an unimaginable no-thing. Owing one’s existence to the ongoing creative love of the living God is the core meaning of being created.

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5 On Friday John Chaffee

1.

“Where there are no doubts, no questions, no perplexities, there can be no growth.”

– George MacDonald, Scottish Preacher

And, George MacDonald nails it again.

Just think about how often we protect and insulate ourselves from our own doubts, questions, and perplexities!  We are so uncomfortable with mystery, with unknowing, with being at a loss for words, or being without an explanation for things!

Are we cutting ourselves off from potential growth?

Doubts indicate that our current narrative or explanation has gaps that need to be filled, or that we need to tear it all down to rebuild it better.

Questions invite us beyond the edges of what we can already comprehend, and out into further mystery.

Perplexities call to us through our curiosity, or our wondering about how two seemingly opposite things are actually deeply connected.

Yes, we likely cut ourselves off from our own next evolution, growth, and blossoming!

So let’s examine our doubts, questions, and perplexities.

2.

“It is evident that thought is also necessary for action.  But the Church has for centuries devoted its attention to formulating truths and meanwhile did almost nothing to better the world.  In other words, the Church focused on orthodoxy and left orthopraxis in the hands of nonmembers and nonbelievers.”

– Edward Schillebeeckx, Belgian Theologian

I came across this quote through reading A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation by Gustavo Gutierrez.

For the most part, I think that this quote is true.  The Church has too often been concerned with the purity/correctness of its own thinking about the Christian life and has largely left the betterment of the world to those outside the Church.  This is a great tragedy and deeply unfortunate.

James 2:14-26 is well-known because it addresses this topic directly.  It says…

^“14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

²⁰ You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?²¹ Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³ And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. ²⁴ You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? ²⁶ As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”

3.

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.”

– Isaiah 61:1, Ancient Israelite Prophetic Text

The Gospel is often, in my opinion, reduced to simply the acceptance and forgiveness of God if you say the right words in response.

I believe it is so much more than that.

Jesus himself quoted this passage in the synagogue in Luke’s Gospel.  I guess this shouldn’t surprise us, since Luke’s Gospel is the most socially aware (some might say “woke”) of the four main Gospels.  It cares about the poor, the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the foreigner, etc.

In college and seminary, I was taught that if the Gospel is told in a way that is not comforting and takes into account those at the bottom of a culture, it has failed to be an accurate translation of the Gospel.  The Good News of Jesus takes into account the needs of the poor much more than we do now.

And, I am not even saying that I am necessarily any better.  I love to focus on the Gospel through the lens of “restoration,” but even that calls into question whether I sufficiently care about the “restoration” of the poor in a way that restores them to their proper dignity as image-bearers of the Triune God.

God, have mercy!  I do not understand the Gospel as I should.  It may be that very few of us do at all!  Fortunately, I believe you know your Gospel best and will do what is necessary to make it happen through us and even in spite of us.  God, have mercy!

4.

“Lord, make me a channel of disturbance.

Where there is apathy, let me provoke;

Where there is compliance, let me bring questioning.

Where there is silence, may I be a voice.

Where there is too much comfort and too little action, grant disruption.

Where there are doors closed and hearts locked, grant the willingness to listen.

When laws dictate, and pain is overlooked…

When tradition speaks louder than need…

Grant that I may seek rather to do justice than to talk about it; disturb us, O Lord.

To be with, as well as for, the alienated;

To love the unlovable as well as the lovely;

Lord, make me a channel of disturbance.”

– “Lord, Make Me a Channel of Disturbance.”  by Unknown

My coworker shared this with our team this past week.  It is an inversion of the famous prayer attributed to St. Francis called, “Lord, Make Me a Channel of Your Peace.”

The words of this prayer, though, are delightful.  They speak to my rebel heart.

5.

“Welcome, welcome, welcome.

I welcome everything that comes to me today, because I know it’s for my healing.

I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions, persons, situations, and conditions.

I let go of my desire for power and control.

I let go of my desire for affection, esteem, 

approval, and pleasure.

I let go of my desire for survival and security.

I let go of my desire to change any situation, condition, person or myself.

I open to the love and presence of God and God’s action within. Amen.”

– Thomas Keating, Trappist Monk

This prayer by Thomas Keating is something that I have shared before in this newsletter.  However, it came up in conversation this past week, and it took on a new spin for me.

The idea of “letting go” is often understood as a passive action.  “Letting go” is often understood as a defeat or a decision to stop fighting for something.  To “let go” feels to me as if it carries connotations of “giving up.”

On the flip side, though, “letting go” can be understood as a forward-facing and active decision.  It can be understood not as a defeat, but as a victory in choosing to give up a fight not worth our time or energy.  To “let go” might be more of a conscious decision to ride the current of the open ocean, or to go with the flow of a river, or to hang-glide on a gust of wind.

To “let go” might take more courage than to hold on, white-knuckle it, or try to force a particular outcome.

In all honesty, sometimes it takes more faith to “let go” than it does to “hold on.”

Inviting Good Questions

Thursday, January 15, 2026

Father Richard describes why the book of Genesis was so important to the people of ancient Israel:

Although many of the stories found in Genesis were passed down from generation to generation among the Israelites, they were not collected and put into their final form until after the Babylonian exile, around the mid-5th century BCE. In the aftermath of their national calamity, the Jewish people realized that their heritage might indeed be lost if it were not written down, and their religious leaders were inspired to gather together many strands of their oral tradition and weave them into a continuous narrative. They attributed the authorship to Moses, meaning that the authority for the wisdom of this tradition goes back at least as far as Moses’s time. We don’t know the actual names of the scribes who wrote it in the form we have today. They were less concerned with putting their names on their work than with preserving the wisdom of their religious heritage.  

The religious questions they were wrestling with are questions that thoughtful people ask in every age: What is the meaning of life? Where does it come from? Where does it go? What is the relationship between God and humanity? Why is there evil in the world? Why do good people have to suffer? These questions were especially disturbing for the Jews after their return from exile. They thought they had known who they were and what God’s purpose was for them, but the shattering of their dreams forced them to think again and to think more deeply. 

Perhaps the most important thing to bear in mind when reading the first eleven chapters of Genesis is that it is written not only about the past but about the present— the perennial present that is always with us. The authors of Genesis wrote down the Word that came to them in their time, but in doing so they were putting into human words the eternal Word which speaks the truth for every generation. They were writing what is always true about God and human beings, about the goodness of the world, and about “sin” which causes suffering.

Put in theological terminology, the story is saying that everything is grace, everything is gift, everything comes from God. God is the one who makes something out of nothing and gives it to us, not only then, but now. God created both the natural universe and our own human nature, and all of it is good. All of it is to be enjoyed, if we can receive it as a gift.   

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Sarah Young Jesus Calling

Jesus Calling: January 15

My face is shining upon you, beaming out Peace that transcends understanding. You are surrounded by a sea of problems, but you are face to face with Me, your Peace. As long as you focus on Me, you are safe. If you gaze too long at the myriad problems around you, you will sink under the weight of your burdens. When you start to sink, simply call out “Help me, Jesus!” and I will lift you up.
     The closer you live to Me, the safer you are. Circumstances around you are undulating, and there are treacherous-looking waves in the distance. Fix your eyes on Me, the One who never changes. By the time those waves reach you, they will have shrunk to proportions of My design. I am always beside you, helping you face today’s waves. The future is a phantom, seeking to spook you. Laugh at the future! Stay close to me.

RELATED SCRIPTURE:

Philippians 4:7 NLT

7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 14:30 NLT

30 But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.

Hebrews 12:2

2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

Then God looked at all God had made, and God saw that it was very good.
—Genesis 1:31

Cherokee theologian and CAC guest faculty member Rev. Dr. Randy Woodley considers how creation’s goodness includes diversity, balance, and harmony:

In the pronouncement that “it is good,” the Creator is making an accurate judgment about all that exists. By proclaiming that everything is good, right, in order, and as it should be, God sets the state of earthly normalcy. “Good” becomes the once-and-for-all standard of life on earth….

In the first account of creation, each action and each result of God’s action is differentiated. Not one created part is the other, nor does it become the other. Each part of creation was made unique and after its own kind, special. And yet, each part is incomplete without the whole, and everything is being and becoming in relationship to and with the other…. It is the essence of harmony and balance.

The celestials regulate the balance of the terrestrials. The night dusk comes to softly compel all creation to enter into rest and the calm brings about refreshing coolness to the world. The advent of the day provides new life and new opportunities like the embrace of warmth for plants, animals, and humans. The moon regulates all the waters. The sun regulates each season…. Everything created is in harmony and balance with everything else and with the Creator. The first week of creation is a grand picture of shalom on the earth.

God’s shalom, which is holistic peace and harmony, is discovered through the interconnectedness of all creation.

From God’s purview there is an interconnectedness of all God has made. All things are designed and created beautifully by their Creator. Each part of the created whole bears the mark of its Creator. Each element works in relationship with all the others. Each ingredient is connected through its common origin and, together, all share a common location in the universe; and when God is finished with creation there is a pause on the seventh day. Not a pause as if to look back and second-guess, but an intentional pause to celebrate the way it is. The Aboriginal Rainbow Elders in Australia say the Creator sang on the seventh day. The meaning is like that of a gathering or a community “get-together” where celebration is the only priority. The celebration is a party because everything is harmonious as it was meant to be. This is God’s shalom creation party. Though told in slightly different ways, many indigenous peoples around the world are able to recognize this story, and this pause, as the Harmony Way….

The idea of God’s shalom is not divorced from creation, but as we can plainly see from the earliest Genesis account, creation is central to our understanding of shalom. Creation (what God did and continues to do daily) and the carrying out of shalom (what we are to do daily) are inextricably interwoven. We have the opportunity each day to participate in God’s shalom activities.

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JAN 14, 2026 God’s Glory Returns to the Temple

In 516 BC, the Jerusalem temple, destroyed by the Babylonians 70 years earlier, was rebuilt. This story is told in the Old Testament book of Ezra. With a remnant of Jews returning from exile and the temple’s reconstruction and rededication, God’s people expected that his glory would also return to dwell among them. But it didn’t. As Old Testament scholar Carmen Imes notes, “The rebuilt temple had never offered any proof of the presence of God. Unlike the tabernacle, which God’s glory filled (Ex. 40:34), and the temple of Solomon, where heavenly fire also came on the altar (2 Chron. 7:1), the rebuilt temple was a disappointment. At its dedication, there was no fire, no visible glory—nothing to signify that God dwelt there.” Jewish writings during this second-temple period frequently lamented the absence of God’s glory. Without any evidence of God’s presence, the temple wasn’t truly a temple, which meant the people of Israel couldn’t truly fulfill their calling to be a priesthood that mediates God’s presence to the world, and therefore their covenant with God wasn’t truly restored. This awkward state of ongoing exile persisted for 500 years, but there was still hope that the prophecies would be fulfilled and that God’s presence would one day return to the temple. That day is recorded in the second chapter of Luke’s gospel.In accordance with the Torah, Mary and Joseph took the infant Jesus to Jerusalem to consecrate him to the Lord. This involved offering prayers and sacrifices at the temple. When they entered the temple courtyard with Jesus, they were met by two very old, very devout people. Simeon is described as righteous, full of the Holy Spirit, and “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” This is the Bible’s way of saying that he was waiting for God’s presence to finally return to the temple. When he saw Jesus, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God:“My eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel” (Luke 2:30-32) The way Luke describes him and Simeon’s prayer are both filled with temple language lifted from the Old Testament. The people believed that God’s glory and presence would visibly return to the temple, just as it had visibly descended upon the tabernacle in Exodus and the first temple built by Solomon. And here, Simeon says his “eyes have seen” God’s salvation and glory, but he’s looking at the child in his arms, not the building behind them. He is declaring Jesus to be God’s true temple, the vessel of his presence, and the visible manifestation of his glory.Building on this, he argues that Jesus will reveal God to the nations. This is what the Old Testament prophets said the new, more glorious temple would do. The temple would be a light that draws the Gentiles, and the nations would stream into the house of the Lord (see Isaiah 2:1-5). By applying this language to Jesus, Simeon is underscoring that this child is the true temple of God.The second person in the courtyard seals the temple theology that Luke is trying to communicate. Anna was a prophet who never left the temple, and she “spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38). That’s an odd phrase to our modern, American ears. What does “the redemption of Jerusalem” mean? This is exile language. God’s people had returned to the city, rebuilt its walls, and constructed a new temple, but they were still in a state of exile because God’s presence had not yet returned. Anna, like Simeon, understood that the arrival of Jesus at the temple was the long-awaited return of God’s glory and the true restoration of Israel from their long captivity. Recognizing the temple language in this chapter and putting these events within the context of Israel’s exile and restoration helps us better grasp the true meaning of Jesus’ birth. He is the fulfillment of the whole narrative of the Hebrew Bible; he is what the entire Old Testament has been building toward. Likewise, it helps us avoid a common misreading of the Bible, in which some Christians believe that the Old Testament temple prophecies remain unfulfilled. They argue that we should still expect the construction of another temple in Jerusalem, which will be filled with God’s glory, and the reinstatement of another sacrificial system that will usher in the last days. But the gospel writers are practically shouting to us, “No!” All of those prophecies have been fulfilled in Jesus. He is the new temple that was promised, he is the presence of the Lord who now dwells among us, and he is the glory of the invisible God. To place these expectations on some future construction project in the Middle East is to miss the whole message of the New Testament. DAILY SCRIPTURE LUKE 2:22-33 LUKE 2:36-38 WEEKLY PRAYER from Clement of Alexandria (c.150 – c.215) Be kind to your little children, Lord. Be a gentle teacher, patient with our weakness and stupidity. And give us the strength and discernment to do what you tell us, and so grow in your likeness. Amen.

Biblical scholars Jennifer Garcia Bashaw and Aaron Higashi point out the difficulties that arise if Christians try to read the Genesis creation stories literally:  

It can be difficult to fully appreciate the seven-day schema of creation in Genesis 1 when we’re reading the text in the modern world, where the sciences all attest to an earth that formed over billions of years. Many people in fact feel uncomfortable with this apparent contradiction….

Indeed, there are many Bible readers who, out of a sense of loyalty to a literal-historical understanding of Genesis 1, feel compelled to deny the conclusions of modern sciences. But this feeling is unnecessary because Genesis 1–2:3 does not claim to be a literal-historical text. Rather, it’s a part of a common genre of ancient religious literature known as the creation myth, which is not intended to be a historical representation of events.

The second creation story in Genesis contradicts much of the first. Garcia Bashaw and Higashi show how both are needed: 

In Genesis 1, God is a transcendent being who creates the world through acts of speech in a structured process where each step is already anticipating the next. In Genesis 1, God is so successful in creating the world that each day is called good, and God can rest at the end, certain that everything is working as intended.

In Genesis 2, we see something different. In this passage, God is a human-like being who creates by forming things with God’s own hands and breathing life into them. The process in Genesis 2 is fraught with setbacks, where God discovers man’s loneliness isn’t good. God proceeds to make animals to try to fix that loneliness, and then makes Eve because the animals don’t suffice.

In addition to the chapters’ portrayals of God, the stories flatly contradict each other in their orders of creation. In Genesis 1, vegetation is created before animals, then animals are created before men and women, who are made at the same time. But in Genesis 2:4 and following, Adam is created before any vegetation, then animals are created before Eve.…

In many ways, the Bible does us a favor by beginning with two contradictory stories. In so doing, the Bible signals to us at the outset what this text actually is: a diverse collection of religious traditions that have been brought together by different communities of faith over a long period of time…. When you read the Bible, you’re reading an anthology of ancient religious literature—not a textbook, not an instructional manual, not a love letter from God, and not a complete work of systematic theology.

Now, just because it’s an anthology of ancient religious literature doesn’t mean it can’t be inspired by God, or say true things about God, or be helpful in trying to understand God. Its being an anthology just means that whatever is in it that is true, inspired, or helpful will come through in many, sometimes conflicting, voices.

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JAN 13, 2026 Preparing for the Presence to Return

The Old Testament book of Ezekiel records a vision of God’s presence departing from the temple in Jerusalem. Remember, God warned the people repeatedly that their sin and idolatry represented a rebellion against his covenant, and Israel’s calling to mediate God’s presence to the world would be broken. That break comes in Ezekiel 10 when God’s glory moves from the Holy of Holies to the threshold of the temple. Then, in Ezekiel 11, his glory leaves the temple through the east gate of Jerusalem and departs from the city entirely. The year was 586 BC. Generations passed, the exiles slowly returned to Jerusalem from Babylon, they rebuilt the city, and they constructed a new temple. But God’s presence never returned; the covenant was not reconstituted as the prophets had foretold. For centuries, the people waited for the return of YHWH’s glory and for his presence to dwell among them again. This hope changes how we read the opening chapters of the New Testament. For example, after the angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and confirmed that Mary’s pregnancy was from the Holy Spirit, Matthew says: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us.’)” (Matthew 1:22-23).By citing this verse from Isaiah, Matthew linked Jesus’ birth to the long-awaited return of God’s presence among his people. According to the gospel, Jesus’ arrival is the glory of God that departed the temple in Ezekiel 10-11, now returning to finally end their long exile. This view is reinforced by the opening of Mark’s gospel. Speaking about John the Baptist, Mark identifies him by also quoting from Isaiah: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way—a voice calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for YHWH, make straight paths for him” (Mark 1:2-3 and Isaiah 40:3). The text from Isaiah goes on to say, “And the glory of YHWH will be revealed, and all people will see it together” (Isaiah 40:5). To Jews living under Roman occupation in the first century, and who’ve been waiting for YHWH’s glory to return for hundreds of years, Mark’s message would have been both clear and shocking. The time had finally come. God’s presence had finally returned to dwell once again among his people. But this time his glory would not reside in the hidden inner chamber of a building, but in a man from Nazareth. DAILY SCRIPTURE EZEKIEL 10:18-19 ISAIAH 40:1-5 WEEKLY PRAYER. from Clement of Alexandria (c.150 – c.215) Be kind to your little children, Lord. Be a gentle teacher, patient with our weakness and stupidity. And give us the strength and discernment to do what you tell us, and so grow in your likeness. Amen.

In the Beginning

A Brilliant Start

Sunday, January 11, 2026 

READ ON CAC.ORG

Feast of the Baptism of Jesus

Father Richard Rohr describes how the creation story found in the book of Genesis is good news: 

Genesis is the first book in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. It’s neither the oldest, nor the first Jewish Scripture written down, but its brilliance gets us off to a very good start. The Genesis creation story is really quite extraordinary when compared to other creation stories of its time. Some peoples envision creation happening by spontaneous combustion, or emerging out of a hole in the ground, or through a mythological figure, or even through an act of violence. But our creation story declares that we were created in the very “image and likeness” of God, and out of generative love (Genesis 1:27, 9:6). This starts us out on an absolutely positive and hopeful foundation.

The first act of divine revelation is creation itself. The very first Bible is nature, which was written about 13.8 billion years ago, at the moment that we call the Big Bang, long before the Bible of words. God initially speaks through what is, as we see Paul affirming in Romans 1:20: “Ever since God created the world, God’s everlasting power and deity—however invisible—have been there for the mind to see in the things God has made.” 

The biblical account tells us God creates the world developmentally over six days, almost as if there were an ancient intuition of what we would eventually call evolution. Clearly creation happened over time. The only strict theological assertion of the Genesis story is that God started it all. The exact how, when, and where is not the author’s concern. [1]

This creation story, which some modern scholars think was written down nearly five hundred years before Jesus lived, has no intention or ability to be a scientific account. It’s an inspired account of the source, meaning, and original goodness of creation. Thus, it is indeed “true.” Both Western rationalists and religious fundamentalists must stop confusing true with that which is literal, chronological, or visible to the narrow spectrum of the human eye. Many assume the Bible is an exact snapshot—as if caught on camera—of God’s involvement on Earth. But if God needed such literalism, God would have waited for the 19th century of the Common Era to start talking and revealing through “infallible” technology. [2]

Science often affirms what were for centuries the highly suspect intuitions of the Scriptures and mystics. We now take it for granted that everything in the universe is deeply connected and linked, even light itself, which interestingly is the first act of creation (Genesis 1:3). Objects—even galaxies!—throughout the entire known universe are in orbits and cycle around something else. There’s no such thing in the whole universe as autonomy. It doesn’t exist. That’s the illusion of the modern, individualistic West, which imagines the autonomous self to be the basic building block and the true Seer. [3]

 In the Beginning

An Intimate Origin Story

Monday, January 12, 2026

Brian McLaren reflects on the miraculous creation of the cosmos and everything in it: 

The first and greatest surprise—a miracle, really—is this: that anything exists at all…. The first pages of the Bible and the best thinking of today’s scientists are in full agreement: it all began in the beginning, when space and time, energy and matter, gravity and light, burst or bloomed or banged into being. In light of the Genesis story, we would say that the possibility of this universe overflowed into actuality as God, the Creative Spirit, uttered the original joyful invitation: Let it be! And in response, what happened? Light. Time. Space. Matter. Motion. Sea. Stone. Fish. Sparrow. You. Me. Enjoying the unspeakable gift and privilege of being here, being alive….

Genesis means “beginnings.” It speaks through deep, multilayered poetry and wild, ancient stories. The poetry and stories of Genesis reveal deep truths that can help us be more fully alive today. They dare to proclaim that the universe is God’s self-expression, God’s speech act. That means that everything everywhere is always essentially holy, spiritual, valuable, meaningful. All matter matters.

Through the book of Genesis we encounter a story of goodness and interconnectedness.

Genesis tells us that the universe is good—a truth so important it gets repeated like the theme of a song…. Every river or hill or valley or forest is good. Skin? Good. Bone? Good. Mating and eating and breathing and giving birth and growing old? Good, good, good. All are good. Life is good.

The best thing in Genesis is not simply human beings, but the whole creation considered and enjoyed together, as a beautiful, integrated whole, and us a part. The poetry of Genesis describes the “very goodness” that comes at the end of a long process of creation … when all the parts, including us, are working together as one whole. That harmonious whole is so good that the Creator takes a day off, as it were, just to enjoy it. That day of restful enjoyment tells us that the purpose of existence isn’t money or power or fame or security or anything less than this: to participate in the goodness and beauty and aliveness of creation….  

According to the first creation story, you are part of creation. You are made from common soil … dust, Genesis says; stardust, astronomers tell us … soil that becomes watermelons and grain and apples and peanuts, and then, they become food, and then that food becomes you…. Together with all living things, you share the breath of life, participating in the same cycles of birth and death, reproduction and recycling and renewal. You, with them, are part of the story of creation—different branches on the tree of life. In that story, you are connected and related to everything everywhere. In fact, that is a good partial definition of God: God is the one through whom we are related and connected to everything.

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JAN 12, 2026 The Enduring Exile

Throughout the Old Testament, we’ve seen a repeated pattern. First, God desires to dwell among his people. If you recall, this is the primary definition of a temple in the ancient Near East. A temple is where a deity dwells. In Genesis, God dwelt with the man and woman in Eden. In Exodus, God descended upon Mount Sinai to meet with Moses and give instructions to the Israelites—including plans for the construction of the tabernacle where God’s presence would dwell with them. Later, during Solomon’s reign, a permanent temple was built in Jerusalem. Again, the presence of God filled that special place with his presence.The second part of this Old Testament pattern is the repeated failure of God’s people to fulfill their calling as mediators of God’s presence. They were to be priests who represented God to the world, but Adam and Eve failed to keep the serpent, an unclean animal, out of the garden/temple in Eden. When its uncleanness spread to them, the man and woman rebelled against God and rejected their priestly calling. The story of the Israelites is also one of repeated disobedience and idolatry. The Lord repeatedly warned them that their special calling to be “a royal priesthood” would be revoked if they did not uphold their covenant to represent his character to the world. Of course, they didn’t, which leads to the third part of the pattern. When the people persistently rebelled against their priestly vocation to represent God, his presence departed from them, and the temple space was abandoned or destroyed. For example, the man and woman were expelled from the garden/temple east of Eden and prevented from returning. Much later, the same pattern is repeated when God’s presence departed from the temple in Jerusalem, foreign armies invaded the city, destroyed the temple, and God’s rebellious people were carried into exile in Babylon in the east.The exile in Babylon appeared to be the end of God’s efforts to dwell among his people. After all, their priestly calling to represent God was impossible without his presence and without a temple. But hope was not lost. Amid their exile, through the prophets, God promised to reboot his covenant with Israel. He vowed that a remnant would return to the land, a new and more glorious temple would arise, and that his presence would dwell among them once again. And this time, the pattern would not repeat because the people would not rebel against this new covenant. But by the end of the Old Testament, things were in an awkward state. On the positive side, many Jews had returned from exile and reoccupied the Promised Land, and a new temple had been rebuilt in Jerusalem in 516 BC. However, on the negative side, God’s people remained under the control of foreign, pagan rulers. The new temple was not nearly as beautiful as the previous one. And most concerning of all, God’s presence had not returned to fill it with his glory. Remember, a temple is only a temple if God’s presence is there. Without it, all of the priests, the sacrifices, and the rituals were just cosplay. The people were just pretending that things were back to normal. In truth, they were still in a state of exile.When would God fulfill his promises? When would the prophecies regarding Israel’s full restoration be fulfilled? When would a more spectacular temple arise and his presence return to dwell among them? These questions lingered over the people for centuries. Some Jews took matters into their own hands by waging war against their foreign overlords. It didn’t work. One pagan empire was simply replaced by another. Then, Herod the Great undertook a building project in 20 BC to massively expand the temple in the hope of fulfilling the prophecy. Herod’s temple was impressive, but God’s presence did not return. The state of exile persisted; the purpose of Israel remained on hold.This was the condition of things at the opening of the New Testament. And in the coming days, we will look at how our understanding of Jesus’ arrival changes when we read it through this Old Testament temple theology. DAILY SCRIPTURE ISAIAH 2:1-4 JEREMIAH 31:31-34 WEEKLY PRAYER. from Clement of Alexandria (c.150 – c.215) Be kind to your little children, Lord. Be a gentle teacher, patient with our weakness and stupidity. And give us the strength and discernment to do what you tell us, and so grow in your likeness. Amen.

A Thirst for the Good News

Friday, January 9, 2026

If you don’t go to the well, you cannot draw water. You must make yourself present and available to receive the living water God so freely gives. We must go to the well!
—Barbara Harris, Parting Words

Drawing on the story of the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:5–29), Episcopal Bishop Barbara Harris (1930–2020) describes how encountering Jesus offers each of us an opportunity to make a choice for wisdom:

I think this strange story of the woman at the well has some clear messages for us as we stand at our individual [and collective] crossroads and ponder the choices of life in a vain world that is no friend to grace; messages for us as we consider ourselves emerging people of Christ’s kingdom; messages for us when we, like the woman at the well, realize that while we are not yet what we should be, thank God we are not what we were. We are different because God has touched our lives; different because we realize we can learn from all God’s people even from such folk as the Samaritan woman.

When we encounter the good news of Jesus, we can choose to participate in the reign of God.

My friends, we thirst after many things in this world. We thirst after money, power, prestige, position. We put our trust in them; we may even pray for them. But like our Lord, we are at a crossroads in the church and in society. We still have a choice and the question our Lord is asking us is, “Do we have a thirst for the kingdom?”

Jesus is asking us, “Are we content to settle for the temporary thirst quenchers of life: the material values of this world, the right connections, the proper credentials, the things on which this society places so much value, things that will never slake the thirst of your parched, dry souls? Or do you thirst for righteousness, for peace, for justice, for the liberation of all God’s people?”

Do we thirst for those things that make for a just society as Jesus proclaimed the kingdom to be? If we gave our testimony today would we sing with the psalmist, “As the deer longs for the water-brooks, so longs my soul for you, O God”? (Psalm 42:1, BCP) Or would we sing with the elders: “I heard the voice of Jesus say, ‘Behold, I freely give the living water; thirsty one, stoop down, and drink and live!’ I came to Jesus, and I drank of that life-giving stream; my thirst was quenched, my soul revived, and now I live in him.” [1]

Do we have a thirst for the living water with which God truly enriches our lives? Do we have a thirst for the kingdom? Do we have a thirst to emerge as truly faithful Christians, to be more than we are? Each of us must respond for himself or herself. Do we have a thirst for the kingdom? Jesus is patiently waiting for our answer.

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John Chaffee 5 On Friday

1.

“People forget facts… but they remember stories.”

– Joseph Campbell, American Mythologist

Perhaps this is one of the reasons Jesus chose to predominantly teach through parables.

Back in 2022, I self-published my first book, What’s Another Word for Parable?  It was a collection of about 60 parables I created after being inspired by a movie, book, Scripture, passing idea, etc.  It was a fun exercise to be creative in such a fashion and use words to paint a story.  To this day, if someone were to say the title of one of my parables, my memory brings the whole thing back to me.  It is fascinating how powerful stories are!

2.

“Toxic cultures never keep healthy people.”

– Carey Nieuwhof, Church Consultant

I guess the inverse is also true?

Healthy cultures never keep toxic people.

After hearing this week’s news about Philip Yancey’s (a rather famous Christian author) confession of an 8-year affair, I have come back to particular thoughts about healthy spirituality.

I am also led to believe that celebrity culture is unhealthy for any one of us.  We all know the classic story of Hollywood celebrities imploding, but it should not surprise us how many “Christian celebrities” also implode.  The only problem is that they often espouse a particular morality that you think they wouldn’t give in to such a thing, but they do.

The only difference is that Hollywood celebrities never even put themselves on a moral high ground, which makes their potential fall feel less hypocritical.

As I understand it, healthy cultures tell toxic people they must either leave or get their act together, and it benefits all people involved.  And, on the other side, toxic cultures will shame, exclude, or scapegoat healthy people because their sheer existence highlights the toxicity of the culture.

I am not sure what I am trying to say here, but perhaps it is this: Let’s do everything we can to stay healthy and holy in the proper way.

3.

“The contemplative journey, because it involves the purification of the unconscious, is not a magic carpet to bliss. It is an exercise of letting go of the false self, a humbling process, because it is the only self we know.”

– Thomas Keating, Trappist Monk

I am utterly convinced that deep, meaningful, contemplative Christian spirituality is humbling.  It is not triumphant, nor is it showcasing anything.  Authentic spirituality is quiet and patient; it slowly forces us to confront all the worst parts of ourselves with courageous grace (or gracious courage).

When I see a particular interpretation of Christian spirituality that is loud, brash, and couched completely in the language of warfare or conflict, I am immediately turned off.

As I have gotten older, the image of a gardener has taken a stronger hold.  The gardener is tender, methodical, intentional, yes, but also decisive, ripping out roots that do not belong, and deliberately planting certain seeds at the right time to harvest beauty.

I just love that Keating says spirituality is “no magic carpet to bliss.”

4.

“The fools of the world will be doing cartwheels while the righteous will be walking in, overly concerned if they are singing on key.“

– Flannery O’Connor, American Novelist

As the Scripture says, “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.” (Matthew 20:16)

5.

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.

“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

– JRR Tolkien in The Fellowship of the Ring

The lovely wife and I have been rewatching The Lord of the Rings.  Originally, the goal was to watch the whole trilogy between Christmas and New Year’s, but that did not happen.  Watching it each year has been a tradition for me for more than a decade.  Without exaggeration, the movies are my comfort movies.  On bad days, sick days, or snow days, I would put them on in the background, and I make no apologies for it.

I believe that we are shaped by the stories we tell, and I am more than okay with the fact that The Lord of the Rings is a story that I enjoy so much.

In The Fellowship of the Ring, Bilbo laments that the Ring of Power (created by the evil Sauron) has fallen to him as a responsibility to destroy.  In response, Gandalf says the above.

One thing that I wish people understood about fantasy and even science fiction is that they are not really about wizards, dragons, sand worms, robots, lightsabers, starships, elves, Hutts, or Balrogs.  Those things are simply vehicles or narrative devices for saying something about friendship, commitment, goodness, beauty, truth, love, sacrifice, nobility, decency, liberation, rebellion, integrity, and so much more.

I think that The Lord of the Rings has stood the test of time because it addresses the deepest aspects of what it means to be alive.

What Bible Do We Read?

Thursday, January 8, 2026

We do not all follow the same Jesus. We also do not all read the same Bible.  
—Whitney Wilkinson Arreche, “Talking Book”

Minister and theologian Whitney Wilkinson Arreche compares the Bible that was preached to enslaved Africans with the good news they encountered while worshipping in clandestine hush harbor gatherings:

When enslaved Africans were taught the Bible, it was a heavily redacted version. The Exodus was removed, as was most of the Old Testament. References to racial unity disappeared, as did the entire book of Revelation. Scripture was butchered by white supremacy, leaving only what was good news to white people. Masters and pastors charged with the spiritual “care” of enslaved persons instead leaned heavily upon Paul…. Scripture was also forced into a sort of smiling compliance: writings about slaves obeying masters were elevated to supra-canonical status. This slave Bible was unequivocal when it came to obedience and submission…. 

In the hush harbors, enslaved Africans taught one another a different Bible. They pointed to and created a new reality. Through story-songs, they learned of an Exodus where the liberation of enslaved people was God’s primary concern. As Noel Erskine writes, “Down in the hush arbors, enslaved people … learned early to gather to worship and strategize under the cover of night or under the cover of the woods where a redefinition of their status took place.” [1] Under cover, hidden in plain sight for those with eyes to see, they learned of prophets who called out greed, especially money gained through unjust means. They learned of a Jesus who was very different from that so-called “good” ship [named “Jesus” used in the Transatlantic Slave Trade]; a Jesus who, like his mother, cast down the mighty from their thrones, filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty (Luke 1:46–55). They learned of a fire-in-the-bones Spirit poured out on all flesh, even and especially enslaved flesh (Acts 2:1–21). They learned of a Revelation of all that is wrong being turned upside down, in a flourishing garden not tended by enslaved labor (Revelation 22). This talking book was the antidote to slavery’s prooftexted shouting.  

Arreche cautions us against reading Scripture in oppressive ways:

That antidote is still sorely needed in a church and theology that continues to perpetuate the prooftexted lies of white supremacy. These lies come in many forms. They appear as an overrepresentation of Paul’s words, particularly his words about submission and obedience. They also appear as ideas that the New Testament renders the Old obsolete, or worse, evil….

If we only read, teach, and preach the New Testament, particularly when we heavily center the writings attributed to Paul, we are perpetuating a plantation church ethic of Scripture. If, instead, we center narratives of liberation and survival, refusing to sanitize Jesus and refusing to spiritualize physical freedom, we get closer to the hush harbor. We get closer to the power of the Talking Book. We get closer to what can actually be called gospel—good news.  

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Sarah Young, Jesus Calling

Jesus Calling: January 8

Softly I announce My Presence. Shimmering hues of radiance tap gently at your consciousness, seeking entrance. Though I have all Power in heaven and on earth, I am infinitely tender with you. The weaker you are, the more gently I approach you. Let your weakness be a door to My presence. Whenever you feel inadequate, remember that I am your ever-present Help.

     Hope in Me, and you will be protected from depression and self-pity. Hope is like a golden cord connecting you to heaven. The more you cling to this cord, the more I hear the weight of your burdens; thus, you are enlightened. Heaviness is not of My kingdom. Cling to hope, and My rays of Light will reach you through the darkness.

RELATED SCRIPTURE: 

Psalm 46:1 NLT

Psalm 46

For the choir director: A song of the descendants of Korah, to be sung by soprano voices.[a]

1 God is our refuge and strength,

    always ready to help in times of trouble.

Romans 12:12 NLT

12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.

Romans 15:13 NLT

13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

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Key questions for reflection:

Where have I learned a version of Scripture that emphasized control, compliance, or silence—and where do I sense Jesus inviting me toward a more liberating “good news”?

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As truth is being uncovered—personally or collectively—what does it look like for me to cling to hope as a ‘golden cord,’ trusting Jesus to be both gentle with my weakness and faithful to bring light?

“Jesus, what do you want me to know or remember today about who you are… and who I am becoming?”