Joining the Conversation Luther Started on the Ten Commandments

My sister, Jamie Kuiken, has kindly taken up my request for others to join in this conversation. Please go to #5 to see her addition.

There is a move today throughout the USA to mandate the posting of the Ten Commandments in classrooms and other public spaces which violates the freedom of religion provisions of our constitution. But, if the Commandments are to be posted, then let them be posted with addenda.

Because I am Lutheran and Martin Luther provided explanations of the Commandments in his Catechisms, I almost always think of them as something that comes with commentary. Timothy Wengert^[1] points out that the explanations were not intended to be the final statement on the catechism. Instead, Luther intended his comments to be a conversation partner for those who studied the Ten Commandments. In the spirit of continuing the conversation, I include addenda later in this piece to encourage your response and invite you to join me in considering how the Ten Commandments relate to 2025 and life in the United States. My reference for this conversation is A Contemporary Translation of Luther’s Small Catechism: Study Edition, by Martin Luther, trans. Timothy Wengert, Augsburg/Fortress 1994.

Before writing my addenda, I considered the legal precedent of the Code of Hammurabi from the late 18^th century BCE. It was already recognized in the Old Babylonian Empire (Persia, now Iran) before Moses brought the divinely given Ten Commandments to the nascent wilderness community in the Sinai Desert.

The prologue of the Code declares that these laws are set down to “prevent the strong from oppressing the weak”[2]. Just as The Commandments echo the laws of Hammurabi, God gives them not only for the good order of God’s people but to “prevent the strong from oppressing the weak”. Luther, in the Large Catechism, also realized that the poor and the oppressed had a special place in the commandments.[3] In striving to follow the Ten Commandments today, we endeavor to maintain good order in our society and seek to fulfill the maxim that “a great nation is known by its care for the weak and most vulnerable.”

This social contract to protect the weak and the vulnerable from the oppression of the powerful and the wealthy—principles our founding fathers fully appreciated—is at the core of governance. The US constitution provides for three co-equal branches—legislative, executive, and judicial. The checks and balances the three branches provide are to ensure these protections. Or at least that was the intent. Instead, the distinctive powers of each of these branches of government are currently blurred. The language and action of the day is focused on executive power and greed and ignore preventing oppression of the weak. The intent may even be purposely oppressing the weak.

    1.        You shall have no other gods.

What is this? (What does this mean?)

We are to fear, love, and trust God above all things.

Addendum:

We place God above all things because God calls, names, and claims us as God’s children. When God’s love and justice for the world challenges worldly and national powers, we are to choose God over those powers and act in accord with God’s love and mercy for the marginalized of the world over satisfying the personal financial and power concerns of government and business leaders.

2. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God.

What is this? (What does this mean?)

We are to fear and love God, so that we do not curse, swear, practice magic, lie, or deceive using God’s name, but instead use that very name in every time of need to call on, pray to, praise, and give thanks to God.

Addendum:

We place God above all things because God calls, names, and claims us as God’s children. Using God’s name to swear to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic, while planning to subvert its authority for the purpose of diverting monies and power to the privileged, not only violates and blasphemes the trust of the people but constitutes a blasphemy against God. Two recent examples, out of many, include:

1) revoking birthright citizenship guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, and

2) dismantling policies and programs enacted by the legislative branch.

These actions in turn devastate much of the social fabric that U.S. citizens, including those who are citizens through birthright, and our global neighbors depend on like Medicaid, SNAP, USAID, and the Department of Education.

3. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

What is this? What does this mean?

We are to fear and love God, so that we do not despise God’s Word or preaching, but instead keep that Word holy and gladly hear and learn it.

Addendum:

We place God above all things because God calls, names, and claims us as God’s children. We are to use God’s name in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving for God’s activity in our lives. Christian symbols, including Sabbath, the cross, and being chosen, should not be used for power and greed but should instead serve God and our neighbor. For instance, Sabbath, whenever observed, if used as an ostentatious act of piety, allows political figures, when they hear a bishop of the Church proclaim God’s love and mercy for God’s people, to condemn God’s messenger of faith, hope, and love. This reaction does not keep the time holy but shifts the focus away from God and God’s intentions for God’s people and places the center of attention on human concerns of power and the egocentric agenda of the person of the day. It both repudiates God’s words and obstructs learning and hearing gladly the tidings of great joy.

4. Honor your father and your mother.

What is this? What does this mean?

We are to fear and love God, so that we neither despise nor anger our parents and others in authority, but instead honor, serve, obey, love, and respect them.

Addendum:

We place God above all things because God calls, names, and claims us as God’s children. Certainly, for good order in the family and society, someone needs to be in charge. We recognize that authority as father and mother and others in authority who would guard and protect us, but, as Luther states in the Large Catechism, this authority does not excuse selfishness and tyranny.[4] Parental authority in the family is then to reflect God’s authority over creation—an authority that is ready to establish healthy boundaries and willing always to forgive humanity’s violations of that authority, even to dying on the cross.

5. You shall not murder.

What is this? What does this mean?

We are to fear and love God, so that we neither endanger nor harm the lives of our neighbors, but instead help and support them in all of life’s needs.

Addendum:

We place God above all things because God calls, names, and claims us as God’s children. Our country has perpetrated genocide on the Native American people and stolen their land.

We have allowed and perpetrated the placement of people into chattel slavery which stole their lives and labor, worked many to death, denied them personhood and citizenship, and obstructed their access to education and reduced their ability to accumulate wealth equity in our nation.

When we send refugees back to countries where there will be certain death and when we cut budgets that endanger health and lives, the suffering and death that result is murder.6. You shall not commit adultery.

What is this? What does this mean?

We are to fear and love God, so that we lead pure and decent lives in word and deed, and each of us loves and honors his or her spouse.

Addendum:

We place God above all things because God calls, names, and claims us as God’s children. Loving and honoring one’s spouse through being faithful to her or him “as long as we both shall live” is a part of the vows that most of us promise before God in our marriages. Yet, news coverage shares stories of many of the wealthy and powerful oftentimes treating this idea of fidelity as an archaic, plebian concept.

More than that, Scripture repeatedly claims worshipping other Gods as adultery (e.g., Jeremiah 31). In the same way, swearing a loyalty oath to any person who demands that you act contrary to God’s plan of proclaiming good news to the poor, liberation to the captive, restoration of sight to the blind, release to the oppressed, and announcing the day of God’s favor (Luke 4, Isaiah 61) is also committing adultery.

Between the issues of marital infidelity which is a violation of vows and the lack of reverence shown to God in the lust for wealth and power, why do we trust any promises made by our philandering government leaders? What power and authority are we willing to cede to the chief executive officer of our country? Have we failed to recognize our first commitment is to fear, love, and trust in God?

7. You shall not steal.

What is this? What does this mean?

We are to fear and love God, so that we neither take our neighbors’ money or property nor use shoddy merchandise or crooked deals, to obtain it for ourselves, but instead help them to improve and protect their property and income.

Addendum: 

We place God above all things because God calls, names, and claims us as God’s children. The Bible demonstrates that if we have more than we need and then do not share the abundance of treasure with neighbors who are destitute, then we are stealing from the neighbor. This is the lesson of the man who built bigger barns (Luke 12) and the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16). When a government intentionally cuts programs for the weak, the poor, and the vulnerable in order to give greater tax benefits to the wealthiest and more powerful, it is stealing, not only financially.

When the government ignores the needs of “those who have their backs against the wall: the poor, the dispossessed, and the disinherited” (echoing the words of Howard Thurman), instead of proclaiming good news, our government is building a bigger wall of exclusion. Against this bigger wall, the government allows those who are rich and powerful to arrange the people they disregard to await the firing squad. In this way, all that they have, even their life, liberty, happiness, and dignity, can be stolen.

8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

What is this? What does this mean?

We are to fear and love God, so that we do not tell lies about our neighbors, betray or slander them, or destroy their reputations. Instead we are to come to their defense, speak well of them, and interpret everything they do in the best possible light.

Addendum:

We place God above all things because God calls, names, and claims us as God’s children. In today’s world I find it difficult to put a positive construct on the comments of our present national administration. Their words are repeatedly disparaging and deceitful. At best, they are half-truths spoken to purposely mislead the hearer. At worst, they portray problems we face, as a nation, as caused by DEI policies, intentionally being racist (targeting minorities), ableist (disparaging people living with disabilities), sexist (legislating against women and transgendered people), and classist (defunding needed programs for the poor people). These statements are hateful and dehumanizing because they are false and should be publicly named and confronted.

For example, people living with disabilities and minorities were not responsible for the horrific aircraft crash in Washington D.C. Blind people regularly use the word “seeing”, as seeing fraud. The fact is, there are many minority people and people living with disabilities who are not only qualified but over-qualified for many jobs they hold or apply for. They are hardworking and ready to work. They only need the opportunity to demonstrate that they are capable. Competency can only be demonstrated through employment. Instead of demeaning people living with disabilities, people of color and those for whom English is a second language, and people who are not of the male gender by publicly humiliating them and falsely challenging their work and value to our government, we should recognize the value of the talents and gifts of all people.

9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.

What is this? What does this mean?

We are to fear and love God, so that we do not try to trick our neighbors out of their inheritance or property or try to get it for ourselves by claiming to have a legal right to it and the like, but instead be of help and service to them in keeping what is theirs.

Addendum:

We place God above all things because God calls, names, and claims us as God’s children. Our leaders want what we do not have. They covet and choose to illegally and even violently take what belongs to others. Martin Luther King, Jr. often claimed that the three evils of the world are poverty, racism, and violence. He further named violence as including colonialism, segregation, and militarism.

Our government chooses to continue to take land from those who lived here first. Because of national and personal greed, it manipulates land policies to allow the rich and powerful to obtain the riches of the land without honoring the land or its people.

Our present administration lusts after many foreign lands viewing them as something we should possess rather than countries inhabited by self-determining people. We look for ways to be able to call Greenland, the Panama Canal, and Gaza ours, and for Canada to become our fifty-first state. We attempt to coerce Ukraine to give us its rare metals without proper compensation. We are willing to trick or deceive our neighbors and make false legal claims to what we want to have as we attempt to plunder, conquer, and pillage.

10.  You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

What is this? What does this mean?

We are to fear and love God, so that we do not entice, force, or steal away from our neighbors their spouses, workers, or livestock, but instead, urge them to stay and remain loyal to our neighbors. 

Addendum:

We place God above all things because God calls, names, and claims us as God’s children. What a different place we would be in today if we did all that we could to help other nations keep their people safe. That, of course, was why USAID was formed, but we know what happened there.

Our covetous behavior now advances a policy of new colonialism, theft of land, people, and their gross national product (wealth). This coveting leads to the greed that steals land, heritage, and livelihood. This coveting will remove an entire people from their land in order to create a grand resort which will be coveted by nations around the world. We have elected leaders who covet being coveted.

What then does God say about all of these commandments?

God says the following: “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

What is this? What does this mean? Answer:

God threatens to punish all who break these commandments. Therefore we are to fear his wrath and not disobey these commandments. However, God promises grace and every good thing to all those who keep these commandments. Therefore we are to love and trust him and gladly act according to his commands.

Addendum:

We know that violence begets violence. We know that once life threatening circumstances enter family systems, it can take years to find our way back to healthy, loving and trusting relationships. Therefore, in these closing words, we are given the opportunity to envision a different world than the one we live in. With these commandments we are given the opportunity to regard them as both personal guides and as a fence that “prevents the strong from oppressing the weak.” Will we keep silent and let the violence of colonialism, segregation, and militarism rule and destroy us as a nation? Or will we seek the grace of God, that is, God’s undeserved love, mercy, and forgiveness, as we look for ways to serve, support, and defend our neighbors. Yes, in these commandments God gives us the choice. 

 

Note: Luther uses a common form of the Decalogue that does not always correspond to the texts of either Exodus 20 or Deuteronomy 5 in the Luther Bible. As a result, some later editions, including the Nuremberg editions of 1531 and 1558, correct the text here and elsewhere according to the biblical text.

(rev. 2/28/2025)

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[1] Wengert, T. J. Martin Luther’s Catechisms: Forming the Faith (pp. 33–34). Fortress Press, 2009.

[2] Durant, W. Our Oriental Heritage. Simon & Schuster, 1997.

[3] The Book of Concord. Edited by Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000. See especially LC, Ten Commandments, 246–47, in BC, 419.

[4] Ibid. See especially Luther’s comments in LC, Ten Commandments, 167–78, in BC, 409–10.

2025: New Year Appeal

Fifty years ago, I was a very angry young man. I was frustrated and angry at my inability to cope with getting my eyesight back; I was angry about my life circumstances in general; I was angry about the fact that I was angry about being angry. It was in the midst of one of my regular tirades that a friend of mine said, “I understand that you are angry, but you need to understand, ‘Rage without direction is wasted energy.’”

My friend’s words that day have not stopped me from being angry about many things, but they have made we consider, “How can I channel this energy into some action that might reduce my rage concerning the disparities in life?” To this end, I am writing this note to any, and all, who might read this 2025 New Year reflection.

As the political implications of the new administration become manifest, I am more certain that the Church in all its forms must more widely address the pressures of the Christian Nationalist movement. We must confront the ideology of Christian Nationalism, making certain that the people of God in our midst understand that this ideo-political posture is neither Christian nor patriotic.

It is now time for all of us, individually and corporately, in our faith and social settings, to inform ourselves about the roots of Christian Nationalism and its expression in today’s culture that continues to demean, dishonor, and dehumanize the marginalized (people living with disabilities, Black, Brown, Native American, Asian, and the 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities). It is now time for all of us to publicly repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery and denounce Christian Nationalism as being detrimental to a present and future understanding of God’s image and activity in our world including the confusing, iconic nationalistic messaging in our worship spaces.

The Church, through the promulgation of the Doctrine of Discovery (1452,1455, 1493), initiated the dilemma of today. Therefore, individually and corporately, we need to acknowledge, that, since the Western Church is largely culpable for the creation of White privilege, the Western Church is the body who can best resolve the entanglements which have arisen out of the shoddy theology inherent in this shameful doctrine and misplaced White privilege. When the Western Church owns this sin of dehumanizing, xenophobic hatred, then it can truly engage the work of condemning and dismantling Christian Nationalism as it continues to inform our local, state, and national attitudes and policies concerning refugee resettlement; immigration; racial, gender, and ableist prejudice; and just treatment of the poor in our nation.

In this coming year, let us no longer be silent, but proclaim God’s enduring covenant of presence, recognize God’s gracious desire that all should live in peace, shed light on those who sit in darkness, announce resurrection living to those who sit in the shadow of death, and point to the one who guides our feet in the ways of justice. Let us embrace Luther’s words of Christ’s incarnational living: see Christ in our neighbor, be Christ to our neighbor, and live together in hope.

In Romans 8, Paul tells us, “In hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what is seen, but if we hope for what is not seen, we wait for it with patience.” Yet, today, I would like to introduce some words of impatience, I paraphrase Grace Kim (theologian not the Australian golfer), “Hope is not some future goal to be waited for, but the engine of our work.” It is not the hoped for goal that draws us forward; the impetus for the work we do is hope itself. Another way of saying this is, “We do what we do, not in order to be saved, but because we are saved.” Our salvation hope empowers us to act.

The question, “Should the Church be political?”, is often asked. A podcast I heard pointed out that the Church by nature is political. Every time we elect a council and officers of our church, every time we teach and preach the Gospel, every time we voice our prayers, we are being political. So, the question of whether the Church should be political is the wrong question.

The question for the Church is, “How are we going to be political this year in this place?” Will we lift up the poor, the oppressed, the disabled, and the imprisoned and find ways to serve and advocate with them? Will we hear the words of Matthew 25:40, “As you have done it to the least of these, so you have done it to me,” as a personal challenge? Will we see the policies of our community, state, and nation and the work of those we have elected to act for us and in our best interests, as acts we participate in? Can we act in hope with policies concerning minimum wage, taxation, farm bills, and equal access to the abundance of our society? Will we embrace the gifts of diversity in our nation, or will we continue to suspect and hate those who look, think, and sometimes act differently than society’s privileged White selves?

Howard Thurman claims that the “Hounds of Hell” are fear, deception, and hatred. Do not be immobilized when you hear these hounds loudly bay the Christian Nationalist hunt of the vulnerable which signals much of the political agenda for the coming days.

Remember the angels’ words at Christmas, “Do not be afraid, there are tidings of great joy”. The one who was born in Bethlehem and laid in the eating place is also the one who is living and the one who will come again. In Jesus’ name, I urge you, “Become angry; feel the rage.” But rather than feeding the “Hounds of Hell”, find ways to speak in hope with those who have their “backs against the wall” (the poor, the dispossessed, and the disinherited) of our nation and our world.

Rage against the disparities of our world with energy that makes our voices heard in our local, state, and national politics and tear down the idol of Christian Nationalism. Our flag may call us to lay down our lives for others, but there is nothing salvific in it. Therefore, let us look to the one who does save and speak. For Christ’s sake, let us speak.

Happy 2025!

Christmas 2024

O come, O come, Emmanuel,

Our world is broke and on its way to Hell.

Our government has abrogated care

Of children shot in classrooms everywhere.

The noise! The noise! This grief we cannot bear,

But no one stops the sale of gun hardware.

 

O come, O come, Emmanuel,

Water we drink is poisoned in our wells

With dross from reckless manufacturing

Of things desired to make life worth the living:

More cars! more cars, more LED’s so bright,

More cell phones filled with AI delights.

 

O come, O come, Emmanuel,

Save us from the rising ocean swell,

From climate change and avaricious life

With carbon footprint, violence, and strife,

With wars! With wars and enemies we’ve sought,

Not seeking neighbors as you taught.

 

O come, O come, Emmanuel,

We hear our funeral tolling bell

That sounds of lonely death and graves

Apart from You and from Your Word that saves.

Our sin! Our sin is gluttony and pride,

Dark deceits from which we cannot hide.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,

For we are lost; our way from you we fell.

We wander without compass or a goal

Of helping neighbor, but patrol

Our walls! Our walls we build to separate,

Supporting fear-filled xenophobic hate.

 

O come, O come, Emmanuel,

The poor imprisoned, locked up in their cells,

They can’t afford the cost of liberty,

So, for release, they give a guilty plea.

“Police! Police, arrest, incarcerate

All those we fear now standing at our gate.”

 

O come, O come, Emmanuel,

Empower us to speak your love and tell

Your word of hope and mercies ever given,

That from grave in body you have risen

To bring! to bring salvation and release,

To live as one in wholeness and in peace.

Seeking Blind Justice

Love Is Blind

by Peter Heide

I must be love because I’m blind.

I must have faith because I’m blind;

And justice should rightfully be my estate

Because I’m blind;

But I, scaly-eyed, seek justice

In blind alleys, around blind turns

That lead to unseen possibilities.

Maybe I’m just batty,

Or Christ’s faithful fool

Following blindly.

Okay, we all know that it’s just a metaphor, but there are times when the reality of being blind and the metaphoric use of the word “blind” get confused—the blind person may get incorporated into the metaphor or the metaphor may become the describer of the blind person. This confusion is often humorous. For instance, I grew up hearing, “God is love. Love is blind. Stevie Wonder is blind; therefore, Stevie Wonder must be God.”

Most of the time I can forgive the inappropriate use of “blind”. Love and justice’s blindness signify impartiality, lack of prejudice, and accentuating the positive. Blind faith imagines absolute trust. These are not bad attributes. Even so, one should question using blindness as a metaphor in these ways.

When the confusion surrounds negativity, the metaphor and the reality of being blind can be painful. When one interprets the Blind Guide (Matt. 15:14) in Scripture as a metaphor in terms of unable to know where one is going, or ignorant of perils surrounding the people, or incompetent, it is especially problematic. Much harm is transferred between the metaphor and the characteristics attributed to those who are blind.

The use of disabilities as adjectives in our everyday language —lame arguments, dumb ideas, and people spazzing out—can be easily understood as micro-aggression. I heard a news analyst recently say that a particular public official had turned a deaf ear to the legitimate complaints of the people. When I hear a statement such as this, I cringe although I may excuse the speaker for being ableist and not knowing any better.

But the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back came for me April 5 on MSNBC’s Alex Wagner Tonight. One guest, Maya Wiley, reported on the voting issues in Louisiana, Alabama, and South Carolina. She spoke of the Supreme Court’s lack of timeliness and the work of some states to deprive Black communities of their democratic voice by “bleaching” their voting districts. Through gerrymandering, the Black vote can then be divided among stronger White districts. At the end of the interview, Ms. Wiley referred to the situation in this way, “Being race blind in this country today means being blind to injustice and refusing to address it. That is not good for democracy, and that’s why we are not going to stop fighting for voting rights.”

I appreciate what Ms. Wiley was trying to say, but I take umbrage at her use of blind in this case. First, since the entire concept of race is a sighted invention and is a means of discrimination sustained by visual cues such as skin color, hair texture, and facial characteristics, therefore, “race blindness” cannot be a factual representation even when race blindness is used by ableist, sighted people. In fact, it is an excuse for being racist. It is a lie that sighted people tell themselves in order to deny the personal identities of Blacks, Native Americans, Asians, and Latinos, anyone other than themselves. “I do not see your color as a difference. I think of you as being just like me—White.”

This is not to say that the blind, especially those totally blind, cannot be prejudiced, but their reference points for being “racist” more likely come from sighted slanders repeated rather than any personal observation. “Race blindness” in this context means that there is no category of race which accurately describes the genetic reality of humanity. This blindness allows for cultural and ethnic differences but not for the sighted distinctions which make racism fully possible.

Secondly, injustice is not the result of the actions of the blind! They know all too well what injustice is. As a group, blind people encounter injustice on a daily basis: inaccessible voting platforms, lack of signage in braille and large print, inaccessible menus in restaurants, Uber drivers who won’t let a blind person with a guide dog in their cars, collapsing mass transit service, being able to know the denomination of the currency you are given as change at any place of business, and let’s not talk about packaging that does not let the blind know what they are purchasing. Beyond those inconveniences, have you ever, with your eyes closed, tried to use a kiosk to register for a doctor’s appointment?

Instead, members of the blindness community have and do advocate not only for themselves but for our society as a whole. Jacobus Tenbroek, president of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), worked as legal counsel for Brown vs Education. George Card, a member of the American Council of the Blind (ACB), was part of the legal team for the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Currently, blind lawyers are working for prison reform. The Blind were involved in the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and they are involved in the many issues that influence the blindness and greater disability community today including reauthorization of the Older Americans Act.

We cry out not only for accessibility to the physical world in general, but also accessibility to the technology that keeps trying to run away without us. At this time, members of ACB and NFB advocate for accessible web sites, audible pedestrian signals, accessible durable medical devices, and audible description tv programming, movies, and live theater performances.

In the advocacy that we do for our own community, we also work for the many ways we intersect with the marginalized communities around us. We are blind, but we are also Black, Latino, Asian, Native American, 2SLGBTQIA, and all ages and genders. We are neither superheroes nor objects of pity. We struggle with the rest of society, losing our hearing as we get older and using wheelchairs and walkers as we become less mobile.

So be aware: blindness does not lead to injustice. On the contrary, blindness leads to advocating for justice for all people and lifts up all people as being worthy of inclusion. Blind people across the country are speaking out for DEI because we are part of the diversity in our country. We speak for equity because we are trying to get jobs that pay us for equal work in a work force of equal opportunity. We speak for inclusion because we have been standing on the outside, knocking on the door to be let in for many years. We are DEI demanding Accessibility; and we are voters seeking equal representation and justice.

DISABILITY PROMPTS PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY IN PROBATING ANCESTRAL PROPERTY

Well, the winter wonderland has arrived. I took a quick jaunt into the 16 inches of partly cloudy that has collected around Baraboo and got temporarily disoriented. Amid the piles of snow, I got a little turned around with the way that snow dampens sound. I was getting concerned because, although the temperatures are quite pleasant for this time of year (upper 20’s and low 30’s F.), it is still cold enough to popsicle a little mouse like me in just a short time. Fortunately, I ran into the telephone pole and found my way back to the driveway. From there it was just a short run to the steps and a quick trip to the back door. That’s enough winter excitement for me this year. I think I will stay in my cozy nook playing with the music box on the snow globe and imagine adventures of daring. That seems much safer.

I must tell you, I did not forget you last week, but life has been all a-dither lately because Peter (not the disciple) has taken the position of Pastoral Fellow, at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, in Evanston, IL, where he is preaching and teaching some of the work he has been doing on Reading Scripture from a Blind Perspective.

These coming weeks before Lent not only include his work there, but he is joining the ELCA Disability Ministries Advisory Team (ELCA DMAT) in New Orleans, at the annual Youth Extravaganza, and Peter (not the disciple) has invited me to come along. What to pack? What to pack? Where is my family address book so I can drop in to taste the culture of these new locales? I have promised myself I won’t do to them what they just did to me. I got so involved in packing last week that I just ran out of time to write. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

The lessons Peter (not the disciple) has been studying are, of course, not from the Revised Common Lectionary. That means I do not have the usual readings near me to discuss with you, although I can say that Nathaniel sitting under the fig tree reminds me of the fig tree in the Garden of Eden as presented in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) and that placement of the tree in the garden anticipates the tree of salvation (the cross) outside the Garden of Gethsemane.

As for the Israelite without guile? Peter (not the disciple) is going to speak of the guile that Isaac uses so that he blesses Jacob instead of Esau. It is so refreshing to come to understand that God uses people who live with disabilities as a means of advancing God’s activity in the world rather than hearing again about poor old Blind Isaac who cannot discern the difference between his sons because he is not able to see them.

After all, when was the last time you read this story in Genesis 25-27 and thought about the angel’s prophecy to Rebekah? Why is it that we believe the prophecies of the angels to Zechariah, Mary, and the magi, but forget the angel in the story of Blind Isaac. The verdict is in, people. Jacob got the blessing because Isaac was part of the deception. At a time, when in surrounding cultures, the oldest son received the blessing from the father, Jewish tradition begins with blessing the second, or younger, son.

Isaac, the second son, receives his blessing from Abraham. Isaac gives his blessing to his second son, Jacob. Jacob will give his blessing to Joseph, the son of his second wife, Rachel. We presume this practice continues to the time of Moses. Here again, it is not the older son (Aaron) that leads the Israelites. Moses is the leader who is blessed to be a blessing to God’s people. David is Jesse’s youngest son, and Solomon is the younger son as well. The pattern continues through the ages until we meet John and Jesus. Here too, the older son John (of Elizabeth and Zechariah) and his younger kinsman Jesus (of Mary and Joseph), repeat the pattern of the blessing for God’s people being given to the younger of the two.

Can this pattern of blessing the younger son help us in understanding the parable of the Prodigal son? Maybe, but this week we can be certain that the disability of Isaac’s blindness helps us understand God includes all people in the subversive work of lifting up those the world would not recognize.

We laugh and gasp at the antics of Blind Isaac as the world around them probably did as well. But, at the same time, one can almost hear the chosen of God laughing at the world because the world could not see (witness, attest to) the activity of God in their midst.

Do you suppose that a blind mouse advised Blind Isaac in his program of plausible deniability?

That’s all I have for now. I have got to pa-pa-pack. In the meantime, I understand that hurricanes are not only something to be experienced; they are also something to drink. I’ll let you know how that goes.

THE TIME MACHINE

This will be the first Sunday after Christmas. The season of Christmas is the shortest season of the year. Sometimes there are two Sundays after Christmas, but never three. It only has how many days? That’s right, twelve!!! Good job! At the end of the season, there is the day of Epiphany, sometimes called Three Kings Day. It is the day when we celebrate the magi (wise men, not to be confused with wise guys), coming to honor Jesus, the new king of the world. 

It is a tumble dry kind of time where one is always a little uncertain of where one is spatially located. I got caught in a dryer one day, and so I know whereof I speak. If the temperature had been set on high, I would have been nicely roasted by the time the clothes came out, but fortunately the person was just trying to get some wrinkles out. But, let me tell you, if you want a topsy-turvy experience, take a ride in the dryer someday. (Really, I don’t recommend it.)

Now where was I? … Oh yes, topsy-turvy world. Charles Dickens captures that topsy-turviness in his account of A Christmas Carol, with Scrooge flitting around between the past, present, and future, and yet that is not quite what happens during the Christmas season either. H. G. Wells tried to capture the hazardous vicissitudes of time travel when he wrote The Time Machine, but as fascinating as that tale is, it is too despairing and hopeless for the season of Christmas.

Kurt Vonnegut can be somewhat helpful with Billy Pilgrim (Sirens of Titan and Slaughterhouse 5) being unstuck in time, but his worship of God the Utterly Indifferent, fails to capture the celebration of the season. “So it goes.” Back to the Future does a good job of demonstrating what happens when one tries to change history, but here again, the story line fails because it is too self-serving, and then there are all of those hideous sequels that have to be suffered.

No, none of these really captures the tumble dry, topsy-turviness of Christmas and much of the liturgical calendar. Last Sunday, we learned that Jesus was conceived and was to be born. Sunday night, we heard that Jesus was born. Monday, we read of Jesus’ participation in creation (just a few years previous), and now this week in Luke 2:22-40 we jump forty days after Jesus is born (a text that properly belongs to February 2, most popularly known as Groundhog’s Day, but liturgically known as Candlemas, the almost halfway point of winter). It is no wonder that we can’t keep a decent timeline of the events surrounding the life and times of Jesus let alone an accurate timeline of what is happening in the rest of the Bible.

Still, Sunday after Sunday, we come to our own little time travel capsule called the sanctuary to worship and experience the topsy-turvy world of our liturgical year. Advent begins the liturgical year which does not coincide with our solar calendar. (Even our solar calendar doesn’t line up with the earth’s orbit around the sun, but that’s another conversation.) We sit through time running backward through the four weeks of Advent, from the little apocalypse at the end of Jesus’ ministry, to John baptizing at the river Jordan two weeks running, and then Mary discovering and celebrating that she is pregnant. Now, in Christmas we bounce along experiencing Jesus’ birth and some early life events—his presentation and Mary’s purification at the temple, the slaughter of the children, and Jesus’ time in the temple when he was twelve).

Then we get to Epiphany when Jesus is a baby/toddler again. The next Sunday, Baptism of our Lord, gets us to the beginning of his public ministry at approximately age 30, and we end the season with the Transfiguration near the end of Jesus’ ministry. There are times in our time travel capsule when time skips forward leaving parts of Jesus’ ministry untold. Other times, time slows down, and we spend weeks concerning ourselves with Jesus being the bread of life.

From Epiphany to the final Sunday after Pentecost time is like an accordion. Sometimes Epiphany time is expanding and the time after Pentecost is contracting. At other times, Epiphany is contracted, and the season of Pentecost expands. (One only hopes that one doesn’t get his nose whiskers caught in the ribs of the bellows.)  Regardless, the goal posts of Epiphany always remain in place, the length of Lent is constant, and Easter continues to be the great new creation week of weeks. It is a lot for a mouse to ponder.

Reflecting on the Jewishness of Joseph and Mary (see Lev. 12, the time for purification of a woman who has given birth) and the temple practices of the day (see Lk. 2, Simeon’s song and Anna’s proclamation) presents a time of reverence. How can one hear the words of Simeon’s song and not feel a sense of awe at his faith? “Now let your servant go in peace, Lord. Your word has been fulfilled. My eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the presence of every nation. A light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel.”

This newly married couple has already gone through their own topsy-turvy relations with angels, shepherds, and one another. Now they come to do what is right by the law, and some old codger takes their child from them and pronounces him to be what they have only suspected. And if that isn’t enough, the oracle spoken by this old codger includes, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be [exposed]. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

These are dire and dour words for a young mother whose child is claimed for such great hope. This is just a little more of that tumble dry topsy-turviness that follows with the problems of keeping up with the time travel world of the liturgical calendar.

Still, to me, a blind mouse, I can only sit and wonder what it might feel like to know that vision of salvation. The words awesome and humbling, amazement and terror, fear and trembling, all come to mind as I imagine this young family’s journey in the tumble dry topsy-turvy world of spiritual time displacement. Mary and Joseph return to their home in Nazareth where we are told, “The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom and the favor of God.”—one last time-jump or maybe just time stretch. (hmmm)

Your pal,

Nicodemus,

Editor, Theologian, Counsellor, Mouse

TRADITION IS THE LIVING FAITH­­­

’Twas the night before Christmas

And all through the house

Not a creature was stirring

Not even a mouse.

 

I love Christmas time. There are so many little schnippels left behind. It is a veritable smorgasbord of tasty tidbits for mice. It seems difficult to believe that mice in C. C. Moore’s 1823 would have been less active than today, but I suppose it’s possible.

 Anyway, Peter (not the disciple) and I were talking about Christmas traditions. (Wouldn’t that be something if had been talking to Peter, the disciple? First, I’d probably have to tell him what Christmas is.) Anyway, Peter (not the disciple) and I were talking.

Why are sugar plums not popular during other seasons of the year? Did the first stocking hung by the chimney have holes in it? How did the gifts of St. Nicholas and Santa Claus come about; and how did St. Nicholas day and presents for the poor on December 6 get mixed up with Christmas 19 days later? Traditions, where do they come from?

Holiday celebrations are often driven by traditions without always understanding where those traditions come from or what their meaning is. You have heard about the woman who cut the ham in half before baking it because that’s what her mother did, right?

I told Peter how important I think Christmas is, and how I keep pondering the sign outside a church that a friend of mine had seen, “If it weren’t for Christmas, there wouldn’t be Easter.” Wow! When I mentioned that, Peter made me sit through a rather lengthy monologue. I share it with you because I would hate to be the only one to suffer through it; I mean the only to have profited from it.

 

At Christmas, people bring evergreens trees into the homes, but they kill those trees in order to get them in their living rooms and then vacuum the needles from those trees out of the carpet until next July. Why? because they are symbols of everlasting life. And rarely do people talk about the Christmas tree carrying within it the upside down cross of crucifixion of Peter (the disciple!).

Lights strategically placed among the branches simulating candles or maybe sparkling reflected moonlight on ice crystals rarely lead to pondering Jesus as the light of the world. People hang those pretty globes of red and yellow and green and blue, sometimes silver and gold, without seeing the fruit Adam and Eve plucked from the tree in the garden.

Wreaths hung on doors or walls do not remind people of the crown of thorns Jesus wore nor of the laurel leaf crowns of victory and Jesus’ victory over death and the grave; they do not even remind them of the Advent season just past nor that the circle is the symbol of eternal life. When people put candles in the windows, they talk about how pretty in looks from the street, but do they speak of the tradition coming from lighting the way of Christ to our homes?

As you said, “this is a time of tradition,” but does it mean anything for us today beyond the sentimental warm fuzzy of childhood. Sometimes I wonder whether Christmas has become the metaphor of the Church. Does it just have sentimental attachment that gives a certain sense of nostalgic peace? Has Church become more about what we get from it rather than what we do to enliven it?

Is Christmas more about the presents to be received than the supreme gift of salvation received from the tree/cross? Jaroslav Pelikan said it this way, “Tradition is the living faith of the dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.”

Nickey, I’m afraid it is like so many other things in our lives. There is a process that we can trace throughout story and time. In Dialogic Imagination, M. M.  Bakhtin calls the process whereby divine stories become common entertainment grotesquing. He describes it through the history of Greek mythology from its divine beginnings to theater in the Turkish marketplace and Punch and Judy puppet shows of the 16^th century.

In the same way, we can see a direct line between the biblical narrative and South Park. Grotesquing is a natural process. It is the job of every generation to reclaim the importance of the divine story, thus releasing it from the grotesque.

If we ignore those stories as the “living faith of the dead “and act them out without thought, we, in turn, make them dead for those who follow. We move from tradition to traditionalism. We practice certain behaviors because they mean something, but then we just do them without thought.

If the process of grotesquing is part of what the Church is moving toward, then the presentation of a doll in the manger during times of seeking and needing life, may be the beginning of a process of grotesqued objectification that fails to present the living body of Christ among us. When that happens, we lose Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 2, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

I suppose the sign you mentioned makes sense in the course of history, but the fact of the matter is Christmas does not make Easter possible. Few remember the arguments that troubled the Early Church concerning the most faithful way to celebrate Easter, but it is Easter that makes Christmas possible.

Yes, before there was Lent, before there was a season of Epiphany, before there was Christmas, or Advent, the Early Church debated the faithful way to celebrate Easter. Should the celebration be a fixed date celebration, or should the cosmic placement of Easter be celebrated?

People had a record of the date of crucifixion. That day on the Jewish calendar translated to March 25 on the Gregorian calendar. They could therefore derive the date of Easter. Instead, the Church chose to celebrate Easter with the cosmos. Therefore, it is always celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox.

Calendars were not commonplace. Rome Chariot Repair and Insurance by Sparta did not give one out each year. So, if your birthday was celebrated at all, i.e. you were wealthy, it was likely celebrated roughly around the time you were born in the Roman and Greek cultures. In Jewish culture, therefore, birthday celebrations were considered pagan customs.

Philosophers and historians did come up with a process to determine the birthday of important people after their deaths because they thought that the day of your birth was also the day of your conception. From that date they determined the date of your birth. If Jesus was crucified on March 25, then he had been conceived on March 25. It followed that Jesus was born nine months later, December 25. Thus, my dear Nicodemus, we can state positively, if it weren’t for Easter, the event making Jesus’ life significant and his death on the cross the Friday preceding, March 25, there would be no Christmas, not on December 25 nor any other day.

This means that the event which has dominated our culture for so many years is truly subordinate to the event the world would rather forget. Though God’s promises to God’s people have never failed, though God’s steadfastness has never flagged, and though God’s love and mercy continues, humanity chose to rise up against God in the cataclysmic insurrection against Godself, that time of denial and rejection, where God is killed. Yet, in the mercy of God, God overcame the power of sin and death and is raised up from the dead, opening the way to everlasting life.

And so, the people of God come at this Christmas time to tell the story of faith again. The story is told through the lens of the crucifixion and resurrection, that is Easter, with pomp and pageantry, prayers and proclamation from the past, that is, tradition, in the words of the “living faith of the dead”. The body of Christ is again laid in the manger, the eating place, and we, like the shepherds of old come to “see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.”

And arriving, we do not witness a doll in the creche, but the body of Christ, the bread and wine on the eating place, the altar. And when we have told of all the things we have been told about the death and resurrection of Jesus, we are able to altar ourselves and, by that altering, be altered. Being altered, we return to our callings, glorifying and praising God for all we have heard and seen as it has been told to us.

In these days when the Church continues to ask whether it is relevant in the world, let us enter into this Christmas season asking ourselves whether our tradition enlivens us or just makes more work? Do we feel empowered at the end of the Christmas season or just exhausted? Are we living in a world of vibrant tradition or a traditionalism that leaves us empty? Do we believe that, without Christmas, Easter would not be possible, or, without Easter, Christmas could not happen? Is there a tradition you cherish that you need to research in order to make it richer? What are the words we, like Mary, need to ponder in our hearts?

Okay, friends who are still with me, I don’t know about you, but I was somewhat daunted by Peter’s discourse. I had planned on asking what the tradition behind Danish Christmas plates was and which plate Peter liked better, the Bing & Grondahl plates or the Royal Copenhagen plates? And, who made the first chocolate covered cherry? Is it true that chocolate covered cherries make you cheery? How big was the bowl full of jelly? I was waiting for, “And I heard him exclaim as he rode out of sight, ‘Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.’”

Still, there is something to be said for Christ is alive and living among us. See him in the eating place—given for all people for the forgiveness of sin. This year, may you be filled with wonder in the history and the mystery of the savior Jesus, the risen Christ.

Merry Christmas, tonight and for twelve more days,

Your pal,

Nicodemus,

Editor, Theologian, Counsellor, Mouse

LIVES INTERRUPTED

Well, they’re gone. There were some hard feelings at the end, but they are all gone. At the end, there were no hugs, no cheery, “Come and visit us some time,” and I haven’t gotten any thank you notes from anyone. The bags of mini-Pay Day and Salted Peanut bars I was leaving for Santa are decimated, and although there is much evidence of my family eviscerating each of the wrappers, I will never know who the particular culprits were. It’s a small price to pay for the peace I am enjoying, but a piece of candy would taste good right now. I suppose I will have to settle for some challah or just a little piece of kringle—maybe two pieces would be better—almond or pe- pe- pe- pecan would do nicely. Yes, I think I can settle for that.

Speaking of having to settle for something other than what you had planned, this week’s text for Sunday morning (Luke 1:26-38) is a doozy. Imagine what it might be like to think that your life is all planned out only to discover some stranger standing near you saying, “Greetings, favored one…you have found favor with God…you will…bear a son…the power of the Most High will overshadow you…the child…will be holy; he will be called Son of God.” Really? Can you imagine? Betrothed to Joseph, Mary is now told that her entire life is going to be changed. On the one hand, at this end of time, it sounds like a profound honor, but let’s think about this for a moment.

The title, “The Most High”, can be a synonym for God, but it can also indicate the highest political or military personage in the area, or even Caesar himself. Further, Son of God is what Caesar Augustus is calling himself.

And let’s just take a moment to consider what it means to be favored. Favored could mean comely or “a real knock out.” It could be, “I’ll get you my pretty,” from the witch or “Hey beautiful, followed by a wolf whistle” when walking by the construction site. These words might be really frightening. Is this a “come on” line from a cultural power source? Is there a choice that Mary can really make here? Or, is this one of those command performances of a sex trafficker?

In the course of the conversation, the intimation is that Elizabeth is too old to bear children and Mary is too young to know a man. What kind of proposition is this? Yet, when Mary learns that Elizabeth is already pregnant, Mary gives in. Still, the words, “Nothing will be impossible with God,” carries a veiled double entendre. There could be a veiled threat depending on whether you hear these words with a capital G or a lower-case g.

It is in of the uncertainty of the world—of wielded political power and desire to live faithfully—that the words of Mary come to us. “Here I am, a servant (slave) of the lord. Let it be with me according to your word.” Is this a resigned capitulation? Or, are these words an extraordinary statement of faithfulness?

What we know is that Mary immediately leaves to be with Elizabeth in those precarious times. It is not until she encounters Elizabeth and hears E’s greeting that Mary is able to discern the intent of the angelic greeting. It is not until then that Mary is able to feel free of political demands. It is not until then that Mary is able to sing, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior.”

In this fourth Sunday of Advent, let’s not jump too quickly to the script of promised life-plan interrupted. Take a few moments to walk with Mary. Hear the potential threat. Feel the discomfort of the encounter. Take time to appreciate the kind of courage this young woman possesses to stand before the stranger and accept the disruption of her life-plan. Then consider how that disruption for her disrupts our life-plan. For, within Mary’s words and action here, she becomes the Theotokos, God Bearer, for the world and makes of us God bearers too.

“Greetings, favored ones. God finds favor with you. Overshadowed by the spirit of the Most High, you are invited to bear, in this pregnant moment, God’s Word of hope and promise to the world.” Will you accept the interruption this will make in your life-plans? Can you say with Mary, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord. Let it be for me according to your word”?

It’s time to think about Christmas Eve now. Maybe I need to sample a little Challah left over from Chanukkah, or some pe- pe- pe- pecan kringle set aside for Christmas Eve. What do you think?

Your pal,

Nicodemus,

Editor, Theologian, Counsellor, Mouse

Oh, SNAP! (John 1:6-8, 19-24, Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11)

Let’s talk.

Oh, SNAP!

Have you ever wondered where that expression came from? I am here to tell you.

Around Thanksgiving time, I let my family know that I got a new mouse pad. I was talking about the close-cell foam square for the mouse on my computer. They heard place to inhabit. I told them that the pad included a sailboat and a lighthouse. I was talking about the tactile picture. They heard places to inhabit.

When everyone and my brothers showed up at the door, I was thinking the weekend; they were thinking winter quarters. When I first heard everyone at the door, I thought family. They meant family reunion, to the fifth and sixth, maybe the seventh generation. When I told them that I was cooking, I thought Thanksgiving dinner. They thought short order cook at all hours of the day and night. When I asked about a cracker stuffing, I was speaking of the turkey. They heard food eating contest. It’s time to talk about hospitality and being a good guest. (SNAP!)

(Oh, SNAP!) I was initially excited to be with my family and overjoyed to have adequate space for everyone. It has been a long time. You know, with COVID, nobody was going anywhere, and so usual mouse transit was greatly curtailed. Whoever happened to be in any one place tended to stay in that place. (Sounds like physics, doesn’t it?) (SNAP!) But now that the masks are off and people are moving around, my family is on the move also. Hence the popular populous movement at Thanksgiving. I thought it would be fun to play host to them all, after all, I have been welcomed in their homes, but I was unprepared for the events as they were revealed.

As I said, I was excited as my family came through the door, but then Auntie Pain-in-the… arrived with my cousins (we’ve never been close) and their kits and their kits and their kits. Grandma and Grandpa came next, and great grandma and grandpa, and great-great grandma and grandpa. The rest of my aunts and uncles trundled themselves over the threshold and then there was my own family with the kits and grand-kits and great-grand-kits. Soon my lodging space was so overcrowded that emergency housing was needed. (SNAP!) We tried to be inconspicuous, but the shelving in the cupboard where the peanut butter is kept got to be too much of a temptation for some of the more adventurous. (SNAP!) Suddenly it seemed there was family everywhere.

Peter (not the disciple) has been pretty understanding, but the peanut butter-thing initiated reprisals. Ever since then, he has been quietly moving some of the more raucous members of my family into the backyard where an owl seems to be lingering on his/her/their journey to wherever owls go for the winter. They(?) seem to be particularly plump, and Peter is not saying anything about it.

Well, it has now been 21 days since everyone arrived and you know what that means. Mice do it like bunnies only more quickly. What started out to be a weekend has turned into a population bomb of nightmarish proportions (SNAP!), and so I have tried to be gentle when I tell der folken that it is time to be moving on (SNAP!).

 I understand that hospitality is something that everyone tries to do with grace and aplomb, but Dear Abby, when is enough, enough? (SNAP!) I prepared lunches for them all to eat on their way home, but they thought it was time for a picnic and devoured everything and then shredded the napkins to make beds to sleep off their full bellies. I don’t know who raided the coffee filter supply.

Finally, I have been forced to act more aggressively. I have put out the spring-loaded wooden eviction pallets (SNAP!) but that hasn’t really made an impression on them. Thanksgiving was one thing, but Christmas is fast arriving, and I cannot even fathom the number of presents I will have to procure. By New Year there will be two new generations of relatives to deal with! Oh, (SNAP! SNAP-SNAP-SNAP) If something doesn’t happen soon, I will be evicted with everybody else (SNAP!) and with extreme prejudice. (Now there is a P word I really do not want to experience under any circumstance, let alone the extreme variety.) (SNAP!)

Gracious hospitality is one thing, but don’t you think that guests need to be gracious too? Shouldn’t guests know when it is time to move on?

I feel like I should sign this, “Unprepared and impatient in Baraboo”.

 

Nickey is a little beside himself these days, and so I thought I might add a few words for him.

Advent is a time of preparation and waiting. We hear, “Prepare the way. Make straight the highway. Cry out in the wilderness. Bear witness to the one who is coming who is greater.”

It is not enough to want to be hospitable in the world today. Hospitality needs a plan; it requires preparation. Especially in these wilderness days, we need to be voices of welcome with enough to feed and comfortably house. We need to make space at the table for those God sends us. We need to recognize them and give them a voice in the conversations that determine what happens in the future. And then, we need to find ways for each of them to participate in the mission and ministry we share.

Further, we need to know our personal boundaries and our limitations. No one of us is able to care for the whole world. Only God can do that, and, at that, we continue to know God as Father (Creator, or maybe Divine progenitor), Son (Jesus, God’s word revealed in the person of Jesus), and Holy Spirit (that ineffable, invisible, love, mercy, and forgiveness which empowers and vivifies us giving hope). But in our Lutheran understanding of who God is, we state God’s prepared plan for humanity as, “Through the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God intends that all should be saved.”

We do not know whether all people will be saved, but that is not our concern. Our concern is to treat those whom we meet as if they are saved. There are times when I would like to make exceptions, but that is not my place.

Nickey wanted to be the host with the most, but he was not adequately prepared for the enormity of his welcome. Unfortunately, fifteen (SNAP!), sixteen of his relatives have entered the great food chain in my yard. (Disclaimer: No mice were tortured, poisoned, nor died from any other form of slow death during the writing of this article, but our sojourning owl remains very happy.)

In this advent season,

·       Prepare (find an issue that concerns you and research it)

·       Make straight the highway (propose ways of resolution to your issue)

·       Cry out in the wilderness (be an advocate for those affected by your issue)

·       Bear witness (testify, point, to the One who makes us one).

God’s blessings in this Advent time,

Peter, not the biblical disciple but a disciple just the same