Imago Scriptura

We have moved into symbols now with our stained glass windows and this week, we centered on two windows with symbols of the Jewish faith and focused on the Jewish faith of Jesus. Our scriptures came from Luke 3 and 4 - the baptism and the temptation of Jesus but could have included many more that showed clearly the Jewish faith of Jesus. A bit about subscribing. I don’t anticipate pay-walling any of my posts because I feel that this is a gift that God has given me to share. So subscribe for free. All good. If you do, however, want to help support my work, you can subscribe for $3/mo or $30/yr and for that you will receive my deepest gratitude that you trust me with your resources to continue to share these things. Thank you. Get full access to Imago Scriptura at www.imagoscriptura.com/subscribe

Easter at ResoundingJoy Church - The passage was John 20:1-18 and we were continuing our series on the Stories in Stained Glass in our sanctuary. Interestingly, there aren't any stained glass windows that are "specifically" about Easter. So, take a listen and see where the sermon went. Get full access to Imago Scriptura at www.imagoscriptura.com/subscribe

Sermon from ResoundingJoy Church on March 29 - Palm Sunday. Scripture was from Mark 4, the parable of the sower along with the Mark version of the Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem story Get full access to Imago Scriptura at www.imagoscriptura.com/subscribe

The "Lost and Found" parables of Luke 15 through the stained glass windows of ResoundingJoy Church. How do these three teaching stories of Jesus show us core truths not only about our own faith lives but also one of the core truths of God? Get full access to Imago Scriptura at www.imagoscriptura.com/subscribe

Stories in Stained Glass - Jesus in the Nazareth Synagogue from Luke 4. Reflecting upon why the people responded as they did to what Jesus shared along with how we do some of the same today (although it seems with less throwing off cliffs) Get full access to Imago Scriptura at www.imagoscriptura.com/subscribe

A reflection on Mark 1:1-11 centering on the baptism of Jesus and our own baptisms Get full access to Imago Scriptura at www.imagoscriptura.com/subscribe

MaryAnn McKibben Dana and I had a great conversation today - super fun as we let the fates decide what Christmas songs/shows/movies would be subjected to the question, “Will it preach?” We didn’t get through our entire list but we got to some of the ones that I personally was most excited to discuss. I could have done an entire conversation just on the episode of The West Wing! Anyway, I referenced this article from William Barber and Jonathan Wilson-Hargrove when I was talking about A Muppet Christmas Carol - The Heresy of a God Who Hates EmpathyAlso, the algorithm clearly knows what will get some hits - this was the first clip that was autogenerated by Substack…(this is only a screengrab)Here’s the full list of things we had in the spinner to possibly get into…Songs:* 12 Days of Christmas* Last Christmas* Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer* Santa Baby* My Favorite ThingsMovies:* Home Alone* Die Hard* A Christmas Story* Love Actually* Elf* Muppet Christmas Carol* Christmas Vacation* Nightmare before ChristmasTV:* Carol of the Bells - Ted Lasso Christmas Episode* Rankin Bass Christmas Specials* In Excelsis Deo - West Wing episodeOver the next month-ish, we are going to get into:* Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (date TBD, but sometime between Christmas and New Years)* Pluribus (Apple TV show) - we’ll be doing that sometime in early-ish January* Lord of the Rings! - Late January. The extended editions (which are, in my humble opinion, the ONLY editions) are being re-released in theaters in January! Woot! Forth Eorlingas!GPLHJ,Ed Get full access to Imago Scriptura at www.imagoscriptura.com/subscribe

The trilogy is complete! Here’s the video of our conversation about the Charlie Brown Christmas Special! We covered a lot - from how people experience this time of the year, commercialism and capitalism, the power of sincerity, and of course the incredible music from the show! We did mention this reflection from Winn Collier at several points throughoutAnd finally, MaryAnn McKibben Dana and I will be back at 11am ET next Thursday (12/11) with our Holiday “Will it Preach?” Grabbag conversation! Get full access to Imago Scriptura at www.imagoscriptura.com/subscribe

Here’s the video of MaryAnn and my conversation about K-Pop Demon Hunters and the power of shame and the greater power that happens when we move beyond it. We dig into the messages in the songs and jump into connections to original sin, original goodness, moving beyond judgmental distinctions, and lots more. And you’ll hear MaryAnn talk about how her ipad made her head look big (which it actually didn’t). You’ll also see Scout in the background! Next one is this wednesday at 10a - A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving! Get your jelly beans, popcorn, pretzels, and toast! Get full access to Imago Scriptura at www.imagoscriptura.com/subscribe

Happy Halloween everyone! MaryAnn and I had a great conversation about spooky season in general and specifically about The Great Pumpkin! Enjoy! Get full access to Imago Scriptura at www.imagoscriptura.com/subscribe

First off, MaryAnn McKibben Dana and I had a great conversation in our Pop Culture Pastors’ Hour about the wonderful 2006 film, Stranger than Fiction. You’ll find the video of it here if you would like to take a listen/watch. More of those to come in the coming months - Battlestar Galactica, Station Eleven, and Arrival for sure.Ok - so Schrödinger’s Hope... If you aren’t familar with the philospohical/scientific concept of Schrödinger’s Cat, click here for wikipedia’s overview. In sum, it is a question of whether a cat in a box is only alive when it is observed to be alive. But if it is not observed, then it is simultaneously alive and dead. Got it?Anyway, my weird brain went to Schrödinger when I heard this from Joanna Macy in this week’s OnBeing conversation about Grief and Hope....we are called to not run from the discomfort and not run from the grief or the feelings of outrage or even fear, and that if we can be fearless to be with our pain, it turns. It doesn’t stay static. It only doesn’t change if we refuse to look at it. But when we look at it, when we take it in our hands, when we can just be with it and keep breathing, then it turns. It turns to reveal its other face. And the other face of our pain for the world is our love for the world.When we refuse to look at it...This is a statement that speaks to so much. It speaks to grief - if we refuse to acknowledge our grief, it isn’t that it goes away but it will (as a counselor friend of mine once put it) come out sideways. This refusal to look also applies to the ways that people ignore the ongoing realities of injustice that have been there, are still here now, and in fact are getting worse in so many ways across our country.One of the things about Jesus that I adore is that he never looked away. He didn’t look away from the persons with the skin diseases that others avoided. He didn’t avoid the woman from Samaria at the well, but instead engaged her in honest conversation. He didn’t look away from the woman who touched the hem of his robe. He didn’t ignore the religious leaders who were criticizing him. He didn’t look away from anyone. His followers seemed to pick up on that because there’s a beautiful story in Acts 3:4 when a paralyzed man calls to Peter and John for help. Rather than just keep walking, verse 4 says that “Peter looked intently at him...” Another way to translate it would be that Peter fixed his eyes on this man. He didn’t look away. And then the Spirit did a miracle through him and John and healed this man.It is so much easier to just look away though whether it is looking away from people, from situations, from injustice, or from our ouwn pain and hurt. Note what Macy said, “It only doesn’t change if we refuse to look at it.” When we look at it, it can begin to be transformed and healed. When we look, not only is what we are looking at have a possibility of being changed, but maybe even more so, we are changed. In this change, hope can emerge.I was originally going to center on a photo from a dinner a few weeks ago in our house where our son (who was in Spain the last few months) made an amazing tapas dinner for us all. I texted a dear friend who lived in Spain for many years about the dinner but didn’t send the photo and his reply was, “Pics or it didn’t happen!” The “pics or it didn’t happen” felt a bit like the Schrödinger’s Cat - or in this case Schrödinger’s Tapas...Here’s the photoBut then there was Wednesday morning walking across the same bridge where I photographed the railing with the spiderweb a few days ago. I was walking across while the sun had come fully above the horizon and I saw something that just stopped me in my tracks and I also suggested to several others walking by that they should stop to look as well. The video above is what I saw and what I invited others into. (note that I have edited the video to black and white to help bring a bit more clarity to the video)What it felt like to me was that I was looking down into the night sky. The glimmers on the surface of the water (from bugs, dirt, something else?) looked like stars and constellations and the mist looked like quick moving clouds across the sky. But for me to experience that moment, I had to not only see it but I had to be having my eyes, heart, and mind open as I walked. I couldn’t be absorbed into something on my phone or lost in listening to music or a podcast. I needed to be open to observing and beacuse (at that moment) I was open to seeing, I saw this moment and in my joy I invited others into it.Now in this case, just as with our tapas dinner, even if there weren’t pics/video, it did happen. The tapas were made (and they were amazing). The “looking down into the night sky” moment happeneed even if I wasn’t videoing it. But because of not only personally seeing but also sharing, others have been invited in. Hope emerges.Here are a few other photos from the lake (and a road near it) the last few days...Grace, Peace, Love, Hope, and Joy,EdPS - Scout’s big shadow she casts...its funny how my shadow sort of blended with her front legs’ shadow...A bit about subscribing. I don’t anticipate pay-walling any of my posts because I feel that this is a gift that God has given me to share. So subscribe for free. All good. If you do, however, want to help support my work, you can subscribe for $3/mo or $30/yr and for that you will receive my deepest gratitude that you trust me with your resources to continue to share these things. Thank you. Get full access to Imago Scriptura at www.imagoscriptura.com/subscribe

So here’s MaryAnn McKibben Dana and my conversation from today - just a brief one introducing our next round of Pop Culture Pastors’ Hour conversations. Our next will be the 2006 Will Farrell / Emma Thompson / Maggie Gyllenhaal / Dustin Hoffman / Queen Latifah film, Stranger than Fiction. MaryAnn and I will be re-watching it and then discussing it on Wednesday, July 2 at 1:00pm ET. It is an absolutely tremendous film with an incredible depth to it. We encourage you to watch it ahead of time (available to stream pretty much anywhere) and we’d love to have your thoughts before then or in the chat that day! Later in the summer, we’ve accepted challenges from each other to watch some favorite shows. I’m going to watch Station Eleven (streaming on HBO) and MaryAnn is going to watch the Battlestar Galactica miniseries from 2003. We don’t have dates for those conversations yet but look for them later in July. We may also sneak a few other films in there (one with Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner potentially) so watch for those. See you next week for our STF conversation!Grace, Peace, Love, Hope, and Joy, EdA bit about subscribing. I don’t anticipate pay-walling any of my posts because I feel that this is a gift that God has given me to share. So subscribe for free. All good. If you do, however, want to help support my work, you can subscribe for $3/mo or $30/yr and for that you will receive my deepest gratitude that you trust me with your resources to continue to share these things. Thank you. Get full access to Imago Scriptura at www.imagoscriptura.com/subscribe

Get full access to Imago Scriptura at www.imagoscriptura.com/subscribe

Get full access to Imago Scriptura at www.imagoscriptura.com/subscribe