Dear Magi,

Thank you for bringing gifts to help with the raising of our child. They sure came in handy! It wasn't more than an hour after you left that we needed to pack up and move to another country, and we never would have been able to do that so easily without the extra funds you provided. Thank you! We enjoyed having you as our guests.

I'm not so sure that the other parents in the area have quite the same fond memories of your visit...

We'll be sure to stop in if Joe and I ever head over your way! We're married now, so we can travel without bringing all the chaperones, but I suppose you know what it's like traveling with a crowd.

With gratitude,

Mary (and Joseph and Jesus)

You know all those pictures of the blonde women with harps and halos and swan's wings flying over a bunch of shepherds and some sheep while spotlights from heaven light them all up while the birth of Jesus is announced?

Where does any of that come from? Because it isn't from the stories in scripture. What does the Bible say happened? Oh, it's something so much better...

Join us for the third week of Advent and the true story of why it mattered to shepherds that this particular baby was born where and how he was.

We've grown a whole tragic mythology around the Christmas story that makes me CRAZY. This is supposed to be a CELEBRATION, people! Why do we insist on ignoring all the joy and adding false horrors into a tale that has enough difficulty of its own?

This Christmas, try sticking to the scriptural story of Christmas and see if the true story isn't a thousand times BETTER than the one you see on TV.

There is HOPE in the real story of Christmas that you'll never find under a tree. There are examples of people who have been clinging to the world's shame and condemnation accepting - if somewhat dubiously at first - that God can and does love and care for them for who and what they are. And that if that is true, which it IS, then the opinions being heaped on them by their family, their culture, and their world, do not matter one donkey dropping in the deepest desert.

This is the Advent story we all need to know.

A lot of stories people tell over and over take on a mythic quality. The story of the first American Thanksgiving is one of those. Happy Pilgrims and happy Indians planning out a feast of turkey and pumpkin pie is a fairy tale, not a history.

Many of the stories from scripture are the same. What we are taught isn't what you read. Sometimes the things you read are colored by your expectations and sometimes bits are skipped to make the story say what the narrator wants it to say. The REAL stories are often better, deeper, and maybe more uncomfortable...

One example is the story of King David getting involved with a woman who was the wife of one of his warriors...

"Jumpin' Jehoshaphat!" has been a humorous non-swear swear for a long time. But who was Jehoshaphat and why was he so jumpy?

This week I'm going to tell you a story from the Old Testament which highlights the difficulty of remaining at peace during times of way and how fight or flight are not the only options. There is a third way, a choice we can each make, one that involves following the Way of the LORD. 

Which way did Jehoshaphat jump and which path will you choose?

We live in a world full of violence and pain. Our culture celebrates retribution and preemptive strikes - the destruction or at least submission of our enemies as payback for what they have (or might have) inflicted on us.

The Bible certainly contains many stories of the same kinds of struggles, of harm being done to the people of God and of their responses. Obviously, this provides a righteous path for us to respond to those who would harm us or our families or friends with the same kind of brutality and death they visited on us, right?

Our final Horror Story of the Bible for this season is one of the deep craving we have to visit the pain we feel onto those we hold responsible for it and anyone associated with them. What does God call on his people to do in the face of violence being done to them?

It may be that Old Testament vengeance isn't what you think it is.

This week, the Return of Horror Stories from the Bible continues with a tale of ghosts or demons responding to a call from King Saul. Why would Israel's first king turn his back on the commands of God to chase after messages from the dead? And what will he do when the message he gets is not at all what he hoped?

Grab your popcorn and sit near a friend while we dig deep into this dark story from a dark time.

It's that time of year: Horror Stories of the Bible return to help lead us up to the celebration of all the saints who came before us. Today we delve into the twisted story of a man who was able to snatch bitter defeat from the jaws of victory. While his story may burn itself into your memory, don't light a candle for him. His choices left a legacy in ashes and are to be viewed as a warning that we should sacrifice our pride, not our pride and joy.

The fact that there are multiple stories in the Bible which could fit this description should remind us all to be careful to think before we speak or act. There is always a right choice that can be made.

Sure, the Beatitudes make a nice little framework for a life of faith in Jesus. Maybe I'll work on them sometimes, you know, like a church-related hobby. But we wouldn't want to go all in on them, would we? What would people think? We'd seem to be some kind of Jesus freaks if we did that. People might be mean to us. Some might even be angry! Jesus didn't really mean for his followers to take this stuff personally, did he?

Oh, let me tell you, he made this all VERY personal when he told us to put the salt of our lives into our manure!

Wait, what?

Join us today for salt, light, and the ninth blessing.