Easter and Ego

As I walked the half mile from my hotel room towards the Arc-De-Triumph this morning, I pondered the word, Ego. A Latin word for self, adapted by Freud, in his attempt to quantify the various inner drivers that motivate mankind to speak, feel, and act. The word is much older than Freud. Discussions about self,

The Bible & Culture Part III – Our Culture Influences Our Connection To God

For some of you, the very title of this post causes you to bristle a little. You were raised in a Christian Tradition that taught you that there were only a small number of people who have this Christianity stuff figured out and that the rest of us are on a broad road to eternal

God Washes Feet

Jesus spoke and taught among the people, he worked miracles and fulfilled scripture to prove he was God, but people did not recognize him because his approach to power did not align with their understanding. This book reflects on Jesus’s methods of managing political power and contextualizes some of his speeches to illuminate how his

Jesus in Fresno – A Christmas Story

This story was first developed as an attempt to contextualize the Christmas story for my children. The Christmas Story in our modern-day setting:  Mary and Joseph are a young couple from a working class in Mentone California, both coming from conservative Christian homes with parents that raise them well.  They are active in their church

God Came to Earth as a Baby to Birth A Kingdom

Note:  All scripture is from the YouVerse Bible New Living Translation 2021 Jesus’ Origin “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to

Enabled

kingdom
enabled
empowered
equipped
Gideon

Power Post 8: The Betrayers Knife is Always at the Table

After the “Eat My Flesh” Speech, Jesus and his disciples wandered north to a Roman city on the northern tip of Israel called Caesarea Philippi. This city has very few Jews in it which gives Jesus the freedom to speak openly about his death. On one of the occasions where he is speaking about his

Power Post 4: Jesus Moves Away from Home

Luke Chapter 4 provides us with a small glimpse into Jesus’ connection to his relational community and an appreciation for how alone He was in his Mission as Messiah. As I understand the book of John, the events leading up to this story are as follows: John, Andrew (Peter’s brother), Peter, Philip, Nathaniel Here is

Power Post 3 – Divine Restraint

“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. During that time the devil came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.’ But

Power Post 2: Young Jesus and Earthly Power

Luke gives a little story in his narrative that is often overlooked or miss understood.  Here is the text: “His parents went every year to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast; and when they had fulfilled