Everything Changes: The Big Story - Tim Knipp (John 12, 19-20)

No turning back now -
we're past the point of no return -
we've burnt the bridges
behind us -
everything has changed.

Knowing it's the last time,
He comes once more
to Jerusalem,
choosing as mount
a dusted donkey.
Palm fronds and accolades
quiver the air
but a defiled temple
soon resounds 
with rebuke
and riotous clamor
bounces between
pillars.

Knowing they will
remember and repeat 
His words, 
He redefines
the ritual dinner,
unveiling His fulfillment
of every promise
in bread crumbs
and shared wine.
He says,
"Watch Me. I'll show you 
the Way"
as he kneels
to wipe foul feet.

Abandoned,
convicted,
tortured and 
abased;
then loaded down
like the beast he rode in on,
carrying a wooded beam
and the burden
of broken mankind -
twisted shards
that cut His flesh -
He dies
a grisly death.

His lifeless body
lies lonely in the tomb
til death looses its grip
and Mary hears 
her name from the lips
of an unfamiliar
gardener and 
knows Him
for who He is.

Everything changes.

He offers the ultimate 
quid pro quo:
your failure for 
His life; 
your impossible dreams
for His improbable
Truth.

What was inconceivable
becomes rational
and the most obvious
of answers
as the jagged puzzle 
pieces
of history
fit smoothly into place
revealing the
face of a
God who
will never stop
pursuing us
and who has
made a way
for us to find
our way
home.

This Man-God: The Big Story - Christian Lindbeck

Exposition.
Rising Action.
Climax.

And here we are,
at the apex 
of the plot triangle;
what all the rebellion
and exile have led to,
what all the love letters
have alluded to:
the ultimate expression
of who this God is,
unfolded through hints
and dropped clues,
bread crumbs
leading
to
this.

The Holy One
entered the flesh
of a created being,
to mold a new creation -
a man-God,
born in earthly mess,
umbilically bound
to His mother,
slipping wetly
onto soiled straw.

The maestro of Time
conducted 
through a four-hundred 
year gestation -
a minor pause -
a quivering string
reverberated
and built slowly
to the momentous
crescendo,
exquisitely timed.

And so we turn
to regard Him,
this human
in every way -
who defecated
and belched,
grasped Mary's hair
in miniature fists
and yawned
with untoothed 
gums.

Yet, this being
we recognize in
new, unblemished flesh
is older than time itself -
an irony that fractures
our expectations
and implodes our
realities.

And though He lived
each day,
confined by minutes
and hours like us,
yet unlike us,
He did not sin
in word or 
in deed.

When still unadulterated,
He baffled the PhDs
with a fully embodied
understanding 
of spiritual tomes,
able not only to articulate
but delineate and 
demystify 
the sacred texts.

Our hero-author
recolored and rewove
Truth, re-centering power,
wielding
without abusing it.
Even those who walked
beside Him
wondered, "WHAT??!!??
as He bent physical laws
like pretzels
not for entertainment 
or publicity,
but as parables
and compassionate
relief of 
sin's curse.

Even Death did not destroy
this man-God,
this love letter,
this 3D illustration
of the Father's 
lesson plan.
"This is what I meant,"
He says, "this is
the Way.
Come, walk
in it
as I intended
all along."

Immeasurable Devotion: The Big Story - Tim Knipp (Deut. 4:5-6; Judges 21:25; 1 Sam. 8:7-8, 19-20; 2 Sam. 7:16; Hos. 4:13)

After forty years

we are on the move again,

making our way
to promised territory.

"Follow My ways
and set a standard
among the peoples
of the land
so that they may turn
and know Me too."

But we are a fickle folk -
so easily seduced
by other gods
and shiny trinkets.
We took our liberty
as license
and descended
into decadence.

Wanting to change our ways
but still enamored
of our neighbors,
we asked for a human king.
We pouted
and demanded,
saying, "Why should we
stand out
and be ridiculed?
Let us have a king
and the nations
will give us honor."

We got what we asked for
(and deserved)
in Saul,
a king, cowering
in a corner.
Yet when David ascended 
his throne,
he received a promise
that his family line
would produce 
the truest king
of all
and though there 
was much to admire
in David, 
still he stumbled
more than he stood.

Solomon changed
the downward trend
of feckless kings -
commoners thrived
and nations gathered
to hear the wisdom
emanating from
our sage king.
Yet such wisdom
is not without flaws 
and arrogant entitlement
tainted David's seed
for generation
after 
generation.

Eventually a civil war 
fractured us
as down through 
the years
we wavered -
now obeying
and seeking repentance,
now falling into sin
and degradation.

Messengers arrived
with dependable
regularity,
speaking in love letters
spelling out tough truth,
outlining our faithlessness
and spotlighting 
our injustices
as they writhed in 
dark corners.
He pleaded with us
to come back to Him,
to find again
His way.

But we plugged our ears
and were exiled
once again,,
scattered 
and shattered,
an example only
of incompetence and failure -
nothing anyone
would follow -
worthy only of scorn and derision.
We, who were to be the
rescue squad,
left dangling over a cliff -
helpless helpers,
in need of our own
rescue.
Pathetic.

Still we cried out
to the God we know
has a plan,
though we have tried 
our best to sabotage it,
and though we
cannot see a way,
yet we cling
to the promises
and hope in 
who He is:
a lover who has
pursued us
with unflagging,
unabashed 
and
undeserved,
immeasurable
devotion.

The Great Rescue: The Big Story series - Tim Knipp (Exodus)

Aliens in Egypt,
we threaten the natives
by our numbers
and ethnicity.
In self-defense
they oppress
and enslave us,
but massively incarcerated
and vilified daily
we grow strong.

Trembling leaders
plan mass genocide,
extinction,
infanticide...
Our people wail
and writhe
under the weight
of injustice.

In desperation,
quite likely many
baskets are set afloat,
but only one gets through:
Moses, 
scooped from the Nile
and raised as one
of the enemy.
Yet somehow he 
is schooled in
the history of his people
and his sense
of justice simmers.

After an overflow
of rage 
goes awry,
and humility
paints him scarlet,
then 
God speaks.

RESCUE 

I hear you, My people
and My heart
aches for you. 
I will break the chains
that bind you,
overthrow tyranny
and confound the laws
of nature -
have I not created it all?
Is it not mine to command?

I am the One and Only God
and you shall see 
My power;
you shall feel My heart.
I will rescue you
from false idols,
from alienation
and homelessness,
and I will make you
a people
called by My own name.

MISSION 

In the desert 
I will sift you
finer than sand;
my sirocco winds
will blow away
the dust of worldly things -
see them tumble
down the dunes.

WAY

I will teach you 
a new way
and you will see Me 
for who I am.
I have saved you
and you are mine.
Now walk with Me
in a manner worthy of My name.

Let's set the fractured bones
of this world
and tenderly care
for every part
of my creation.

PRESENCE

And let us
dwell together,
you and I -
as close as shadows.
Learn from Me
how to see,
how to be.
I will water your
thirsty souls,
raise you up,
give you focus
and insight
so that you may
feed and sustain
those yet unborn.

My Beloved,
I give you a new 
beginning,
a new community
built on My holy truths.
Hear them echo
down
the years.

The Big Story of the Bible - Prologue - Tim Knipp

Fill Us Up: Shared Direction 2 - Christian Lindbeck (Heb. 10; Acts 1:8, 2:1-8; 1 Tim. 2:4; Acts 4:19-20, 29-31)

What's the heart
of this journey we're on?
Shall we go first class,
in comfort,
complacent and entitled?
Shall we crawl
on bloodied, gravel-encrusted knees,
intent on martyrdom,
self-focused
and self-righteous?

Or shall we wait,
intent and receptive
to the Holy Spirit's 
scalpel?

If we're traveling well,
the earth will tremble,
resistance will be the norm,
yet we'll press on.

We should be antonyms
to our cultural norms,
continually speaking truth
though ears seem closed
and scoffers turn stiff backs
or encroach threateningly.

Give us Holy Spirit vision
to see beyond denial
and cynicism - 
bricks built up to barricade
us from one another.

Give us Holy Spirit power
to melt shields
with patient persistence,
waves upon stones.

As we rest,
fill us up -
expose us to ourselves
and hold us 
as we weep
for shame; 
Light the flame again
and fan it 
into life-giving 
light.

Oasis Stopover: Shared Direction 1 - Christian Lindbeck (Gal. 6:9; Heb. 10: 23-25)

We are nomads,
traveling along 
the arc of time
together.
Unchecked,
we will eventually 
creak and crack
and wander.

So we pause
to survey maps
and reassess goals,
checking in with each other,
looking back over 
our recent journey
to celebrate,
and critique; 
looking forward
to plan pathways
and rest stops.

Re-invigoration:
a new wave of energy
that confirms
the relevance
and necessity 
of good deeds,
exhausting as 
they may well be
at times.

Enjoy this oasis
to recreate,
re-connect,
and dream.