Truth...

I admit two things about what follows:
I have often wondered just how much of what we think we know about the Jesus story is anywhere near the truth of the Jesus story...and,
I don't think those closest to Jesus in real life knew what the truth of the Jesus story was (almost) anymore than folks in our time and place do.

And so, I wonder if someday we will unearth written documents that go something like this:



Just a few short weeks ago, the man named Jesus was killed on a cross outside the city wall of Jerusalem. This is not rumor nor fantasy, it is true. Yet, while he is gone, he remains the hope of those who were his closest friends and followers. 
Many in Jerusalem and perhaps in some nearby villages and towns, are reportedly heartbroken.
Too much has happened to fully explain, let alone fully understand. Almost none of it makes sense.
No doubt there will be reports spreading that he was a fool, a liar, a flim-flam man.  There is no doubt that what he spoke of and what he promised has all gone, all disappeared.

Many of those who were in Jesus' inner circle are now being hunted by the authorities. If they are not all caught and dealt the same death sentence as Jesus, they will most likely have to lay low for the foreseeable future.  No doubt they will have some great stories to tell about their three years of being in his company. 
If Jesus' message is to be believed, these followers will probably defend and promote his life through living peaceably and lovingly wherever life takes them. The truth is that almost all that is known about the man named Jesus is that he cared little for what others believed to be true, but cared supremely for what he believed God declared to be true: That loving others was the only way forward.

Stuff I Shoulda Known Sooner...and Said More Often

For 41 years I delivered sermons from pulpits and spoke in leadership roles of various sorts...leading workshops and training events , addressing district and conference meetings, answering questions in official settings, etc.

It came with the job.  Pastor/Preacher.  Executive Director of an Urban Ministry agency. District Superintendent.

There are some stories to tell.  I made some genuine flubs.  I said some funny stuff (not always meaning it to be funny...it just came out that way).  I might have spoken some wise words on occasion. 

These last six years of serving a local church...after serving in administrative roles for the previous 16 years...have left me with some regrets that I could have spoken more wisely and more directly in my younger years.  In fact I now find that there was Stuff I Should Known Sooner...and Said More Often.

But, I didn't know it sooner and did not say it often enough.

With age comes wisdom.  Here is some of the stuff I shoulda known sooner...and said more often:

-Don't settle for skimming the surface of life...all the Good Stuff is below that.
-This world is a very tough place...tougher than you think.
-Each of us is pretty much like all the rest of us...in some very significant ways.
-That Kingdom Jesus spoke about is now (and always was) within us.
-God is a living mystery...never anything less.
-If it ain't patient, it ain't love.
-From Here-to-There just may be the longest, hardest journey we will ever take.
-Serendipity could turn spiritual in unguarded moments.
-"In-Between" is one of the most gnarly, dark places in life.
-God is always...or at the very least, almost always...at work among us.
-Our ideas about God and Life are too small...seriously, way too small.
-Our doubts and fears about God and Life are too big...seriously, way too big.
-We must love like our lives depend on it...because they do.
-Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning.
-If we take new paths, there will be new possibilities.
-The four actions of God that may best describe the Divine One are these: God Creates, God Loves, God Redeems, God Continues.

There's other Stuff...I may get to a recounting of that at another time.