This past year I’ve been encountering individuals in our community who seem to have no conscious awareness of God and little to no exposure to anything Christian. Recently I began meeting with a Mexican man in his thirties who is incarcerated in our local jail. He’s the son of farmworkers who had raised him here in the Skagit Valley. His mother had come by Tierra Nueva right before our Sunday worship one night, asking me if I could visit him. I have been meeting one-to-one through the jail attorney visitor booths for the past six weeks. Glass separates us and we talk through black phones. On my first visit I asked him how he’s doing, and he tells me some of the details of his charges, and that he is looking at 200-220 months in prison. “I’m fine with admitting to three of my charges, which I definitely am guilty of,” he said, shaking his head remorsefully. “But I’m not guilty of the worst charge which carries most of that time. But the only witness they have that I did it is a cop—but it wasn’t me!” he said. He tells me that his public defender is refusing to go to trial to defend him from the charge he says is false. She wants him to accept a plea agreement. I encourage him to hang in there, insisting on his innocence and to pray and see what happens. He then shifts the conversation, telling me:. “My mom apologized the other day for never taking me to church. And when I left home and hit the streets at age 13, there were never any more opportunities. I don’t know anything about God, about prayer– nothing,” he said. “Do you believe there’s a God?” I ask him. “No, I guess I don’t,” he responded. “Do you ever feel yourself being nudged or guided away from situations of danger or trouble?” I ask. “Like there’s maybe someone on your side making you aware of other options so you can escape a bad situation?” I ask, looking for some evidence of spiritual awareness. “No, I’ve never felt anything like that,” he says. “Do you ever notice the presence of anything dark or destructive, like a negative power that’s invisible but predatory?” I continue. “No, I haven’t noticed,” he said. “But my homies tell me they notice demons and shit, and get creeped out and afraid sometimes,” he continued. “But not me.” “Do you feel a need for God?” I ask. “No, not really,” he said matter-of-factly– suddenly looking a little self-conscious, like he’s giving wrong answers, and that he should know that he needs God. “What is prayer?” he asks, surprising me with his sincere interest. “I’m telling you I know nothing,” he humbly confessed. “Prayer is just talking to God, telling him what’s on your heart” I say. “But it’s also God communicating with us, so it’s a two-way conversation, with God is usually speaking first—though we often don’t notice,” I add. “And you can do it with your eyes open.” “Oh, that’s good,” he says, looking relieved. “Yeah, you can even do it without talking, silently in your head,” I add. “Seriously? He asks. “Yeah, you can think what you’re trying to tell God,” I say, “and God hears. You can pray anywhere, anytime: in your pod, in the courtroom, in your cell, in the shower, in the rec, now. No one has to know that you’re praying. It can be your own secret communication.” “Wow, really?” he said. “That sounds f…ing cool,” he said. “It can feel kind of weird,” I acknowledge. “After all, God is invisible. He came into the world in his son Jesus, but Jesus is invisible too,” I add, feeling myself somewhat self-conscious that this was all sounding crazy. “But it’s because the authorities executed Jesus. The Bible teaches that he then resurrected from the dead, and his followers saw him. But then he left and went to be with his Father in heaven. So praying is communicating with an invisible God, whether it’s the Father, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit.” He sat there through the plexiglass divider taking all this in, looking like he fully agreed with me that prayer is weird. “But you say you don’t need God,” I say. “Right?” “Yeah, I don’t see why I need him,” he said honestly, looking at me like he wondered if I thought he was crazy or a lost cause. “Well, you did mention that your public defender wasn’t wanting to take your case to trial, but wants you to accept a plea for something you’re not guilty of, right?” I summarize. “Yeah, that’s right,” he said. “Do you feel like you need help from someone more powerful than your public defender, if that person were available?” I ask. “Yeah, for sure! I do need someone more powerful than her,” he readily acknowledged. “Well, God is described in the Bible as hearing the cries of the oppressed, including prisoners. When his people were slaves in Egypt he intervened to liberate them. God kept helping them since then, whenever they messed up—which was often. Then he even came directly into the world to save us through Jesus. And in Jesus’ first public message he came to set prisoners free.’ If God and Jesus truly were and still are like this, would you say you could use their help?” I ask him. “If God and Jesus are like that, I definitely need them,” he acknowledged. “But I still don’t think I believe in God,” he added. “Would you want to believe in God if God were like that?” I ask. “Yeah, for sure,” he said. “I would.” “Okay, cool. So you could try speaking to God—in other words praying. Even if you’re not sure God exists, you could just decide to trust, even if you’re just pretending or hoping he’s real. You could try faith out. Like you’d test-drive a car or something. You could just tell God you want to believe in him, that you need his help. You could ask him to show you if he’s real and to save you from this false charge,” I suggest. “Can I really?“ he asked. “Yes, you could even do it right now if you want, I say. “But I don’t want you to feel any pressure from me,” I say. “No, I don’t feel any pressure at all,” he said. “I think I want to try. But what do I say?” he asks. I go over a simple sample prayer and he listens hard. He tells me he wants to try talking to God. I ask him if he wants me to pray, and he can repeat the prayer, or if he wants to try it out on his own.  “I think I’ll just try it out,” he says nervously. He then sat there silently for a while, looking increasingly strained. “I don’t know what’s wrong. I’m completely pitting out. I can’t say anything,” he said, frustratedly. “If you’d like I can pray for you, that God would free you to be able to try praying,” I suggest. He tells me he wants me to pray. I pray for him and then he’s able to formulate a prayer. He prays something like this. “Jesus, if you’re real, please give me a sign, even the littlest sign. I need your help, and I want to believe.” I suggest he ask Jesus to help him with his legal situation, and he adds in a request for help. I’ve continued to visit this man every week or two and he’s progressing in his faith journey. Yesterday I asked if he’s been praying since we last met. He told me he found himself spontaneously saying: “Hey bro, I really need your help,” just after the sheriff had told him he had a no-contact order with his girlfriend that he didn’t know about, who he was regularly talking with by phone.   “It felt too weird to call him God or Jesus. Do you think that’s okay to call him “bro”?” he asked. I told him I’m sure Jesus would be honored that he called him bro. He accepted this with a warm smile.

This November as the weather has become rainy and cold our Friday afternoon Bible study in the park shifted focus to attending to people on the streets of Mount Vernon. For three weeks now we’ve been meeting outside Safeway for a brief Scripture reading and prayer. From there we divide up into groups of two to three, heading out on foot into the surrounding area where many unhoused people hang out. Each group carries a thermos of hot water, cups, hot chocolate and cider packets, Cup-a-Soups, gloves, hats, and socks.

The first Friday my group included three children and their mom, Jason and myself. One group headed West across a parking lot in search of people. We headed across the front of Safeway and approached an older man who leaned against his bicycle beside a younger man I recognized from jail, who was talking agitatedly on a cell phone, clearly high on something.

I asked the older man how he was doing and if we could pray for him about anything. He said yes, he wanted prayer. He hadn’t slept for several days. He said he was unable to get into lodging as he didn’t want to disclose his name. He said the Cartel was looking for him to kill him. He shared how tired he was of seeing so many of friends die of fentanyl overdoses.

Just as I was about to pray he took off on his bike towards the other entrance to Safeway, hoping to intercept the younger man, who he said had just taken off running into the store in an attempt to steal his phone. Unable to find either of them, we headed across the parking lot towards People’s Bank.

There we found two men sitting against the wall of the bank. We slowly approached them, letting them know we were from Tierra Nueva, there to offer prayers and hot drinks. One of the men said, “Hey no thanks,” and left. The other guy asked for a cup of hot chocolate. I told him my name and asked him his. “Moonbeam,” he said, and I couldn’t make out anything else he was saying.

Jason, who has spent years in prison and on the streets, asked the man if there was something wrong with his foot, as he’d seen him adjusting it uneasily in his boot.

“We can effing pray for your foot if you want,” he said. “Bob here was even healed of effing Lymphoma, and I’m sure Jesus can help you too,” he continued.

Moonbeam said his foot was all messed up after someone stomped on it, and then he had an infection on top of that. I asked if he had pain in his knee. He pulled up his pant leg to show that his knee was skinned. Jason then asked him his name, and he said he was Jake. Jason prayed a beautiful prayer for his healing and comfort. As people in our group said goodbyes and started heading off towards the back of Safeway to look for more people, Jake called me over and said with total clarity:

“Psalm 34:18. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.”

I have often seen people incoherent due to addiction or mental health issues come to sudden clarity during prayer. In Jake’s case he cited a powerful verse by heart, which totally fits the moment as a kind of prophetic declaration and invitation.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted ideally through you and me, as we respond to the Spirit’s promptings to “rescue those whose spirits are crushed.”

We made our way on foot behind Safeway, where we spotted a group of people at the edge of a big field beside some rubble and shrubs. We headed towards them, and then recognized the older man on his bicycle, who had recovered his phone. The younger man had his blow torch out and was smoking fentanyl behind the shrubs with some others. We asked the older man if he still wanted prayer, and he said he did. We gathered around him and prayed for him and the others.

Later we tried unsuccessfully to find lodging for the older man, and Jessica gave him some coveralls and a latte from Starbucks.

It felt like a sacred privilege to try to embody God’s closeness to the brokenhearted, whose spirits seemed so crushed.  We’ve continued these weekly outreaches, which are drawing others from our faith community—many of whom have themselves been addicted and homeless—all of whom have lost loved ones to overdose deaths. We pray for Jesus’ rescue to become real now, before we lose still more to this growing opioid pandemic that’s taken so many lives.

Check out my book on the first miracle story after Pentecost outside the Beautiful Gate– a treatise on Jesus’ embrace of the excluded.

Meeting with prisoners one-on-one is refreshing and even delighting me, inspiring me to listen more closely to people and to the Spirit.

I was given the name of a man in our county jail from a woman in our Tierra Nueva faith community. She urged me to visit him as they’d been friends for years, and he is facing serious charges which may well result in a life sentence.

I waited in one of the lawyer’s booths until the guard brought him to the other side of the glass partition that separates visitor from inmate. He sat down, took off his mask, and we each picked up our black phones from the wall and got acquainted. He then shared with me some of the details of his charges and the possible sentence he’s facing.

We came to a pause where he suddenly became more self-conscious and seemed to begin to disassociate. I was praying for the Spirit to give me an inroad, a key that would help us get beyond this impasse. Suddenly it was like I saw writing on the inside back wall of his head, as if it was a screen. 

“Are you someone with an especially good memory for details?” I asked, making an anxious attempt at an interpretation.

“No, I wish,” he said. “I think my mind is too damaged from all the drugs.”

Then suddenly words from a Scripture came faintly into my awareness like a soundless text message:  “I have written my law on your heart.”

I made a quick decision to share with him what I was “noticing and hearing”, but first asked his permission. He nodded his agreement and I proceeded.

“Hey, as we were sitting here talking I had a flash vision of words written on the back of your head—on the inside. That’s why I asked you if you have a good memory, I was trying to figure out what I was seeing. Then the words “I have written my law on your heart” came into my head regarding you. I’m wondering if you’re a person who knows what is right, fair and just, and if you are especially sensitive to injustice– almost intuitively, like you’re consciousness and awareness are highly attuned?”

At this his eyes widened and he leaned forward, shaking his head in what looked like amazement.

“Yes, that’s really true,” he said. “And it’s been like that from the beginning. That’s crazy that you’re saying this,” he said.

“Actually these words are coming from a passage in the Bible,” I said, trying to remember where.

Then it came to me- somewhere in Jeremiah 31. I searched for Jeremiah in my Bible and scanned over the chapter and found it in verse 31, skipping over the first part about the house of Israel I read:

“I will put my law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

I shared with him that the word “law” means teaching or instruction, coming from the Hebrew word Torah. I asked him whether this verse resonates with him in any way. Could it be that God is saying he has put his words inside you, and wants you to know he wants to be your God, and that he sees you as one of his people.

The man was nodding his head in agreement, looking really surprised and moved. I looked down at the next verse and asked if he was okay with me sharing it with him as it seemed relevant.

“Totally,” he said. “Keep going.”

“They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their [crimes], and their sin I will remember no more.”

I had exchanged the word “iniquity” for crimes on the spot, a fair translation that made it digestible to the man before me.

He was delighted by this verse and asked me to repeat it several times so he could remember it until he got back to his cell and could write it down. 

I affirmed him as someone who God was highlighting as already in the know about spiritual things in ways that he could lean into. I told him about Jesus, coming into the world as God’s Son to save us. I assured him that Jesus is always there with him, forgiving his crimes and completely forgetting his sins. 

The guard walked by the door, showing me his five fingers to let me know I had five minutes left for the visit. We prayed together and he asked me if I could keep visiting him. He then asked if I could visit some of his friends in his pod, and gave me five names. I’ve been visiting these men ever since, and three of them are now meeting daily, going through the Bible studies in Surprising Encounters with God, the first volume of Guerrilla Bible Studies. I returned home freshly inspired to re-read Jeremiah 31:33-34 for myself.

Check out my weekly podcast, “Disciple: Word, Spirit, Justice, Mission,” accessed below

The conflict in Ukraine has been rapidly escalating, drawing Western nations deeper into war with Russia– with increasing and grave risks of a nuclear confrontation. Followers of Jesus are inclined to take the side of the victim (Ukrainians), opposing powerful perpetrators (Putin and his oligarchs), which means agreeing with NATO’s efforts to support Ukraine in its campaign to expel Russian invaders from its territory using the means of modern warfare. Russian Orthodox Christian supporters of Putin are led to believe Russia is the victim of NATO aggression, a perspective which is used to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Jesus-followers thus become directly identified with killing, destroying, deceiving, hating, shaming and all available means to defeat the enemy– representing a complete break with Jesus and his way of suffering, victorious love.

Now is the time to look to Jesus as he faced unjust perpetrators, and take seriously his call to his disciples. If we believe he is the Messiah, the Christ who is Savior of the world, how should we respond to superpower aggressions?

Christ-followers in the Ukraine, Russia, the USA, UK and other NATO countries, and throughout the world, must consider how to effectively bear witness to Jesus and his kingdom “not of this world,” and renounce the logic of violence and war.

The United States and its NATO allies are currently supplying Ukraine with billions of dollars of weaponry, intelligence and guarantees of support “as long as it takes.” These weapons are being used to kill Russian soldiers, blow up bridges and destroy infrastructure, while economic sanctions are aimed to make this invasion even more costly for Russians.

While Russian aggression is rightly denounced, and Ukrainians (and Russian soldiers) understandably seek to defend themselves, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Western leaders, military experts and the media seem to go out of their way to shame and provoke Russia.

Every day I read accounts where world Russia’s military ineptitude are exposed in detail (see). In contrast, every advance of the Ukrainian underdogs are lauded. Zelenskyy, Biden and European leaders tell Russia to withdraw and accept defeat. This brings shame on Russia, effectively pressuring Putin and his supporters to up their game and succeed, escalating the war. Shaming and hating on Putin is risky behavior in the light of his threats of using nuclear weapons. Yet public distain seems to be only increasing.

When an explosion caused the Kerch Bridge linking Russia to Crimea to collapse on October 8, the day after Putin’s 70th birthday, many Ukrainian officials and social media posts, mockingly presented this act of sabotage as his birthday gift. The next day Russia fired a barrage of missiles in retaliation, and Western media showed that the majority were intercepted before they hit their targets. While stopping killer missiles is certainly good news, publically celebrating these successes and highlighting how outdated and ineffective they are, further shames Russia, and is used to justify draing NATO further into the conflict as they send more Western air defense systems to Ukraine.

It doesn’t take 28 years of serving as a chaplain to inmates in jails and prisons to know that shaming a tough-guy bully only escalates conflict. The current approach is propelling us towards a nuclear Armageddon, and Christ-followers seem largely silent, sometimes even cheering for the underdog team like this is a sports event.

Ukrainian leaders decry Putin as a “terrorist,” and war criminal, and Biden went as far as accusing him of genocide. Human rights abuses and infractions against international law must certainly be investigated. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is currently investigating Russia’s possible war crimes in Ukraine (see). However, American and UK leaders responsible for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 are themselves vulnerable, showing the difficulty in prosecuting the leaders of the world’s most powerful nations (see).

Jesus followers should be praying for world leaders (including Putin), and seeking non-violent approaches to resolving conflict. World leaders should be encouraged to do everything possible to push for negotiations, and offering Putin face-saving offramps, which currently aren’t even on the horizon. Zelenskyy recently said he will not negotiate with Russia as long as Putin is President (see).

Jesus’ actions and words in the Garden of Gethsemane on the day of his arrest point the way forward for his followers as we contemplate how we resist injustice.

In the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of his arrest, Jesus calls his followers to join him in watching and praying to avoid temptation. What temptations would have there been for Jesus and his disciples?

I could imagine disciples being tempted to fight to defend Jesus, or to abandon his way of saving the world out of fear, unbelief, pride or outright embarrassment. Temptations to choose self-preservation, violence, or submission to the status quo are certainly present now, drawing people away from Jesus’ call to watch and pray so as to align with him in the midst of dire situations like the war in Ukraine.

Right after Jesus celebrates the Passover with his disciples before heading to the Mount of Olives where he’s arrested, Jesus tells his disciples plainly.

“You will all fall away because of me this night,” states Jesus, comparing his disciples to sheep that are scattered when the shepherd is taken out (Mt 26:31).

Despite this matter-of-fact prophesy of their desertion, Jesus assures disciples of his victory over death and unfailing commitment to them:

“But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee” (Mt 26:32).

Peter states his commitment to stick with Jesus through whatever comes, saying: “Even though all may fall away because of you, I will never fall away” (Mt 26:33).

Despite Jesus’ assurance that he will deny him three times that very night, Peter says: “Even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you.” All the disciples said the same thing too” (Mt 26:34-35).

Jesus then asks his disciples: “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He takes Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with him and becomes grieved and distressed. He tells them:

“My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with me.”

In Luke’s account Jesus “was praying very fervently, and his sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground” (Lk 22:44).

Jesus’ deep grief and call to stay and keep watch with him shows how difficult it is to choose him and his way of confronting evil- a warning that we should prepare ourselves appropriately, perhaps like extreme alpine climbers or athletes prepare for their challenges. It also shows that Jesus calls us his followers to join him fully.

Jesus then goes beyond them, falls on his face and prays: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Jesus himself acknowledges the extreme difficulty of his position. He then returns to his disciples and finds them sleeping. He says to Peter:

“So, you men could not keep watch with me for one hour? “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mt 26:40-41).

Jesus knew temptation first hand. After his baptism in the wilderness Satan tempted Jesus to use his supernatural powers for his own security needs or fame, and to pledge allegiance to himself as the ruler of this world to gain power. He most certainly could have been tempted to overthrow the Jewish religious leaders who opposed him or to rid his homeland of the Roman occupiers.

Jesus acknowledges his disciples spiritual willingness, and also names the weakness of their flesh. He tells them to “keep watching and praying,” as the way to “not enter into temptation,” detailing an approach that he sees as not only possible but essential.

Right then Judas arrives, leading the arresting mob. It is then that one of disciples, (which we know to be Peter from other Gospel accounts but could be any of them, or us, in Matthew’s account), draws his sword and strikes the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

“Put your sword back into its place,” says Jesus, standing in his strength he must have gained from his anguishing prayer vigil. Luke’s Gospel adds that an angel appeared to him, strengthening him there in the garden (Lk 22:43).

“For all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? “How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?” (Mt 26:52-54).

In a recent visit to the Garden of Gethsemane I was struck by the X through the firearm symbol on a sign at the garden’s entrance (see above)– a reminder of the need to resist the temptation to justify or engage in violence of any kind. A sign just opposite the entrance to the Garden in English and German reminds us that the disciples ran from Jesus and his way of being Messiah and saving the world– and calls believers to prepare to lose our lives for him.

Now is the time to resist the seductive sleep that took out Jesus’ disciples and threatens us now, removing us from the essential work of watching and praying. Temptations to hate, to agree with justifications of violence and war, to engage in partisan political divisions, to escape into distractions, or to abandon faith completely can only be effectively resisted through staying close to Jesus.

Thankfully he loves us despite our weakness, and never gives up on us, even when we betray him, defend him using violence, deny him or flee. He can teach us to be peacemakers, resisting the evils of this age with the weapons of the Spirit and the wisdom of tried-and-tested approaches to of non-violent direct action (see). May we commit ourselves afresh to fight like Jesus.

On that note I highly recommend a recent book by my friend Jason Porterfield, Fight Like Jesus: How Jesus Waged Peace Throughout Holy Week (see below).  I  also  highly  recommend  this  article  on  Ukraine  by  Chris  Hedges.

 

This past week I’ve been in Israel, traveling around with my son Isaac. I arrived a day before he flew in, spending an enlightening 24 hours in the Old City of Jerusalem. There I witnessed power dynamics at play between Judaism and Islam, Israelis and Palestinians, and between Christians of different denominations. I was struck afresh that Jesus located himself outside the walls, disinterested in seizing power in any way.

On my first night just after flying in, I headed to David’s Tomb, which is located just below the Upper Room where Jesus celebrated his last Passover on the eve of his arrest. The area is called Mount Zion, though most consider the true Mount Zion to be in another place– and there’s also disagreement about the true location of the Upper Room.

When I arrived at the Upper Room there were many Orthodox Jews playing music and celebrating something there, outside David’s Tomb. I headed up an outside stairway to the Upper Room and found it locked. I then walked down the steep, ancient stone streets to the Western Wall (aka the Wailing Wall), where religious Jews were standing and praying before what’s considered the only remains of the Jerusalem Temple. Even at midnight there were thousands of Orthodox-looking Jews milling around, apparently gearing up for Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish New Year and other feasts. Small bands of heavily-armed Israeli soldiers patrolled everywhere.

The next morning I returned to the Upper Room on a personal pilgrimage to retrace Jesus’ steps from the site of his Last Supper to Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives and eventually to the Via Dolorosa—a pilgrimage walk consisting of 15 stages, including Jesus’ crucifixion.

Things were calm when I started out, and I found myself easily able to get into a contemplative space that lasted most of the day.

In the Upper Room I sat atop a stairway and read the accounts in each of the Gospels and took communion, amidst crowds of pilgrims from many nations. A group from some Latin American country were praying in tongues in a circle below me.

I then walked down through the Kidron Valley to the Garden of Gethsemane, where I read the story of Jesus’ betrayal and arrest in each of the Gospels. I read these stories there in the garden, and as I was ascending the Mount of Olives I was struck afresh by Jesus’ outsider status.

Jesus is described in numerous Gospel accounts as teaching in the Temple and then retreating with his disciples to the Mount of Olives outside the city. From the Garden of Gethsemane Jerusalem’s walls and the Temple Mount, the site of the original Jerusalem Temple, tower ominously above.

From the top of the Mount of Olives I scanned the coveted burial grounds, where religious Jews seek to be buried facing Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, to be first in line when the Messiah returns and judges the dead. But there in the site of the Jewish temple stands one of Islam’s holiest mosques- the Dome of the Rock.

When Jesus is visiting Jerusalem from his base of operations in Galilee, he is often described as staying with his disciples on the Mount of Olives. From there he makes incursions into the Temple, where he teaches, often getting into confrontations with the religious authorities.

From the Mount of Olives hillside looking across at Jerusalem, Jesus and his disciples appear as outliers, and it’s not a stretch to see them as a sort of non-violent guerrilla band—challenging the established authorities with poignant teachings on the Kingdom of God, backed up by healings and acts of non-violent resistance like the cleansing of the Temple. Jesus spoke as a prophet, offering fresh revelation that stirred people’s hearts, while also challenging misinterpretations, and abuses of power.

In John 7 the scribes and Pharisees are plotting to arrest Jesus in response to his prophetic challenge. Jesus heads out to the Mount of Olives to spend the night, coming back in the morning, where they seeks to entrap him as a lawbreaker by bringing a woman caught in adultery to him to see what he will do.

Jesus’ revolutionary perspective is especially clear in his words to his disciples right after his final Passover meal. In response to their arguing about who is the greatest, Jesus tells them:

“The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called benefactors. But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant… I am among you as the one who serves” (Lk 22:25-27).

As I reflected on this things I could hear the Muslim prayers and preaching broadcast from the Dome of the Rock. I made my way down the steep, narrow street from the Mount of Olives into the Kidron Valley. I then headed up towards the Lion’s Gate, where I found myself facing a huge crowd of Palestinians coming out of the city from the Friday service I’d been hearing.

Thousands of people streamed past me out of the Old City as I walked in. At the Lion’s Gate a group of Israeli soldiers were stationed. I asked one of them how many people she thought were there and she said 10-20,000. “They are not just from Jerusalem, but from all over the West Bank,” she added. I couldn’t help but seeing them as streaming out where Jesus is, outside the walls!

I made my way through the Lion’s Gate into the Old City and up through the Via Dolorosa in the Christian Quarter, joining a French Catholic group as they stopped. A humble French priest gave beautiful little talks about each of the Stations of the Cross, followed by prayers and songs. The last five Stations are inside the Church of the Holy Supulchre, an ancient church shared by Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, as well as Coptic Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox and Ethiopian Orthodox.

After taking my place in line to walk past the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, a Catholic priest offered to personally take me around. He showed me where he thought Jesus had been buried, in a hard-to-access cave that he said they’d decided to not publicize since the large number of pilgrims who visit couldn’t easily file in an out of it. He also showed me evidence of how this site was originally outside the walls of Jerusalem.

As he shared, our conversation was interrupted by a Greek Orthodox monk who came over to scold the priest for telling pilgrims that one of their sites inside the building was Roman Catholic. The priest lamented the internal tensions that sometimes flare up between the groups. Power struggles inside the walls contrast so dramatically with Jesus’ way of suffering love.

I returned to my lodging inside the walls, remembering how Jesus came into Jerusalem and the Temple, but stayed outside the walls, together with his disciples. No wonder those on the margins felt so drawn to him!

May we, disciples of Jesus today, consider afresh the locatedness of Jesus– outside the walls. In these times of political and religious division, may we remember to heed the call of the writer of Hebrews 13.

“Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come” (Hebrews 13:12-14).

Consider joining our new CTMM 2022 Module 1- Online (live) Certificate Program begins Sep 27 Certificate in Transformational Ministry at the Margins (CTMM) This training is designed to further equip those already serving (or feeling called to pioneer work) amongst poor, under-reached, and marginalized communities. Register now: https://www.peoplesseminary.org/product-page/ctmm2022m1

This summer we’ve continued to meet for Bible studies on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons. On Fridays we’ve been meeting in downtown Mount Vernon by the Skagit River. There we’ve run into many people we know from the jail, the homeless community and beyond.

Yesterday afternoon about ten of us sat around a picnic table there and read Philippians 4:4-7, which begins with: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all people. The Lord is near.”

We talk about what it means to rejoice– being glad, and joyful, noting that it also says “in the Lord.” We then discuss what we could rejoice in the Lord always about.

People mention answers to prayer and other things for which we are thankful. Noticing God’s action in our lives certainly gives us reasons for joy. It is easy to forget to deliberately acknowledge the good. We all recognize our tendency to focus on negative things: what worries us, angers us, or causes us to be anxious or afraid. We are bombarded by bad news, and there are very disturbing and threatening things happening in our community, nation and larger world.

“Sometimes it’s quite difficult to come up with things we’re thankful for in our personal lives and in the world– like when we’re going through especially hard times and everything seems to be going wrong,” I say, and everyone seems able to relate. “What else has God done that we can be glad about, in addition to whatever we can think of in personal lives and families?” I ask.

So we came up with this list.

• God shows such love by sending Jesus to save us the world.
• God destroyed death itself through Jesus’ death on the cross, and his resurrection and offer to us of eternal life.
• God sent the Holy Spirit, who comforts, fills, strengthens, and guides us.
• God’s powerful Word in the Bible teaches, encourages and guides us.
• Jesus seeks after the lost sheep until he finds them.
• Jesus launches and recruits us all into his Kingdom of God movement, to bring the beautiful Gospel everywhere.
• That we are here now, thanks to the saints that have gone before us, thousands of years of years since this movement’s been underway.
• For the Kingdom of God that is drawing close, and for the new heaven and new earth that God is creating, where “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away” (Rev 21:4).
• The Lord is described as being “near,” not far away!

What examples can you think of?

As we speak out these truths joy is visible on people’s faces. We then continue to read the following verses.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

We talk about how counter intuitive it is to “be anxious for nothing,” which seems almost irresponsible and certainly difficult to practice. But rejoicing in the Lord always for God’s saving actions, makes it more possible. We agree that we need to be reminded by verses like these to engage in these actions of rejoicing, not being anxious and asking, since our natural way is to do the opposite- to be anxious about many things. But these verses are not counseling us to be in denial of reality, or just having a positive mindset.

Prayer and supplication (a fancy word for a precise request) are deliberate actions. When we pray and make our requests known to God, we humbly put our needs out there, believing and expecting concrete help. The result is that “the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

I ask people whether they feel more attacked on the level of their hearts or their minds when they’re tempted to relapse. At first people say it’s their thoughts that get them all agitated and plotting to use. But this leads to a deeper discussion about emotional pain from past wounds, and shame, guilt and fear that people feel they can’t bear, tempting them to seek relief through drugs or alcohol.

“Imagine the peace of God as being far beyond the biggest pit bull guard dog, since it can effectively guard our hearts and minds,” I say, surprised by my unorthodox contextualized example.

People laugh and we wrap up our time with Sarah, a Native woman who lives on the nearby Swinomish reservation, praying a beautiful prayer for us all to step into practicing the counsel in these beautiful verses, so we can experience God’s peace guarding our hearts and minds. 

Please remember to pray for our Tierra Nueva community as we continue to gather for Bible studies in numerous places, and for our Sunday worship service. Remember to try out our Tierra Nueva farm coffee, which you can order here.

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The healing of the man born blind in John’s Gospel became especially real and highly relevant to our Tierra Nueva community this past week. In this story we see Jesus breaking the rules to heal and empower a person who meets no particular requirements. Jesus himself is on the run. But he still models and mobilizes his disciples and us to like action.

This fresh reading was triggered by including the final verse of John 8 in our reading of Jesus’ healing of the man born blind.

“Therefore they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple” (8:59).

Jesus was on the run from religious leaders who sought to administer the death penalty there in the temple.

“What were they doing and how did Jesus respond?” I ask the participants of our Wednesday afternoon Bible study.

“They picked up stones to throw at him. Jesus hid and got away fast,” someone responds.

I then invite someone to read John 9:1.

“As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.”

“So what happens right then when Jesus was on the run?,” I ask.

Someone points out the obvious, but it suddenly looks different. Jesus is on the run, but as he passes a man blind from birth he sees him.

I ask our group how many of them remember actually running from the police or an enemy. A number of them nod their heads or raise their hands.

“Would it be normal to take note of a blind or homeless person on the side of the road at a time like that?” I ask.

“No way! My adrenaline would be pumping and all I’d be doing is trying to get away,” someone says.

“I’d be looking in the rear-view mirror,” says another.

“So even though Jesus is running for his life, hiding from the authorities, he’s chill enough to still notice people in need around him,” I say. “Let’s see what happens next in verse 2.” Someone reads:

“And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”

“How do the disciples view God based on their question?” I ask the group.

Someone mentions that the disciples think God must be looking for someone to blame in order to punish the guilty.  Someone else asks how a newborn baby could sin, and says the disciples seem to view God as unfair.

“Would God actually punish an innocent infant with blindness due to his/her own sin or the parent’s sin?” someone asks.

“Do people today see God as blaming and punishing, harsh and unfair?” I ask.

People say that many see God as unjust, and see God as only blessing those who fulfill the requirements in order to deserve blessing. They themselves often see God that way! What about you?

Let’s see how Jesus responds,” I say, inviting someone to read John 9:3.

“Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

“So how does Jesus respond exactly here?” I ask. “Jesus doesn’t blame anyone⎯ the man or his parents,” someone says.

“Jesus sees the man’s blindness as an opportunity for God to act.

At this point I invite people to look back in John 8 to see why the Jewish religious leaders were trying to stone Jesus in the first place.

Jesus had challenged the religious leaders’ view of God, clearly stating that God was his Father.

“If God were your Father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on my own initiative, but he sent me” (John 8:42).

Jesus here fulfills what was stated earlier in John 1:18. “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, he has explained him.”

So Jesus is on the run from the religious leaders, who are trying to execute him for identifying himself with God. And as God, Jesus is now refusing to cast blame on the blind man. Instead he’s explaining that the man’s blindness from birth as an opportunity to engage in a liberating work. On top of that, Jesus deliberately includes his disciples then and now in God’s saving action.  I invite someone to read the next verses, which broadens Jesus’ action to include the disciples—and you and me.

“We must work the works of him who sent me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. “While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world” (John 9:4-5).

“Jesus includes his disciples in the “we” when he says: “we must work the works of him who sent me,” I continue.

Jesus refuses to leave a blind man beside the road as condemned by God because of someone’s sin. Instead he steps forward as the Light of the world, bringing his followers along with them, including us in his mission. Let’s see what he does next,” I suggest, inviting someone to read John 9:6-7.

“When he had said this, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing.”

We notice together that Jesus doesn’t introduce himself to the blind man. He doesn’t state his name, mention that he’s the Son of God, God incarnate, or Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus crassly spits on the ground, makes mud with the spit, applies it to the man’s eyes and tells him to wash in a pool called Siloam (Sent).

“What happened after this?” I ask our group.

“The blind man found his way to pool, washed the mud off his eyes and could see,” someone says.

I then rapidly summarize how the Pharisees question the man’s parents, criticize Jesus for breaking the rules by healing on the Sabbath, and engage in a hostile back and forth conversation with the increasingly vocal man before they throw him out of their group, telling him: “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” (8:34).

The answer is of course “yes,” but we notice that the Pharisees here answer the disciples’ original question to Jesus about why the man was born blind, blaming him and his parents, and then they ex-communicate him.

“So what is God like if Jesus reveals God? What were the requirements for the blind man to recover his sight?” I ask.

“Did he have to believe that Jesus was the Son of God, confess and repent of his sins, be born again or follow him?” “Did he have to go to go to detox, get clean and sober, get into a treatment program, attend church, or pay his court fines or child support as pre-requisites? I prod.

Everyone is shaking their heads enthusiastically “no,” and stating the beautiful obvious, which is very good news for people accustomed to having to comply with the many requirements of our criminal justice and social service systems, housing applications and job demands. Jesus reveals a God who sees us and loves us right where they’re at. No questions asked. This love effects change⎯ healing for this man born blind! Jesus shows that God is recruiting us all to engage with him in his Father’s liberating works.

We’d started our Bible study with the door open to keep the air circulating due to a recent Covid upsurge. Midway through our discussion Gracie had closed the door so as to shut out afternoon road noise that was making it hard to hear.

Minutes before this last discussion about Jesus’ unconditional healing, Gracie had gotten up and opened the door again. Almost immediately, two men stepped in, one of whom we knew and had been quite worried about because he’s smoking fentanyl. The other man we didn’t know stood at the door and asked us all a question that shocked us due to its timeliness.

“Hey, can you tell me what the requirements are to be part of this church?” he said.

“There are no requirements,” several people said all at once.

“Hey come on in and join us now if you’d like,” I said, while others ushered them inside and offered each of them a chair in our circle.

The man we knew peeked in but then stepped back out onto the sidewalk, and his friend then said:

“Hey, I’m really worried about my cousin, and about myself too. I know that we need God. I sure do! Maybe now’s not going to work, but I’ll be back,” before running after his cousin who was heading down the street.

We all prayed for these two men then and there, before wrapping up the Bible study by reading later in the story how Jesus came back and found the once-blind man he’d healed.

Before wrapping up our time with prayer, we read together how Jesus found the man, asking him: “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

We laugh about how the man has no idea who the Son of Man, but humbly says: “Who is he Lord that I may believe in him?”

I’m deeply moved by how Jesus doesn’t give a big explanation from Scripture but simply tells him: “You have both seen him, and he is the one who is talking with you” (8:37).

The man’s response: “Lord, I believe,” and his worship of Jesus is something we’re all ready to do then and there.

I ask whether there’s anyone in need of prayer before we wrap up. A man who’d suffered as a Vietnam veteran two-years clean off crack cocaine says he needs prayer for COPD, a chronic lung condition that makes it hard for him to speak beyond a faint whisper. We gather around and lay hands on him, praying for his healing. Almost immediately he notices a big change. He is astonished as he starts to breathe more freely and we notice the volume of his voice increases significantly. We all marvel at the beautiful presence of Jesus moving in our midst, delighted by the radical goodness of God.

Check out my weekly podcast, “Disciple: Word, Spirit, Justice, Mission,” accessed below.

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These past weeks have been marked by horrific gun violence, with mass shootings in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York and Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. These surprise attacks have provoked insecurity, fear and outrage– leading to urgent cries for gun control by some. Many others have rushed to buy a gun to protect themselves.

What doesn’t make the news are stories of shootings abandoned, prevented, or survived due to the prayers and interventions of believers.

Early this Saturday morning a woman from Tierra Nueva’s faith community instant-messaged us with an urgent prayer appeal and photo. The 16-year-old step son of one of our community members had been shot in the chest during a drive-by at 2:30am in our town. He’d been taken by helicopter from the local ER to a trauma center in Seattle and was in critical condition on a respirator. With a collapsed right lung and having lost over 800 ccs of blood his life was hanging in the balance. His step-mom was there by his side praying, while the rest of us prayed from a distance.In a remarkable turn of events, the boy’s bleeding stopped that morning and he began to recover. Within two days he was up walking around. Thursday, five days after the shooting, I visited him at his home and heard about his experience. He showed me his bullet holes, and how the bullet barely missed his heart. He showed me where it came out his back.He told me the details of how the drive-by happened. He and his “brothers” were drinking and walking late at night where he said “they shouldn’t have been,” when a car from a rival gang drove by.

“I didn’t hear the shot but just felt something like a bee sting,” he said. “But then I noticed all my attention was on my chest, and saw blood flowing onto my shirt.”

He told how he ran for three blocks and hid under a car, before he was taken to the ER and then eventually lost consciousness. He has no memory of the helicopter ride or entry into the Seattle trauma hospital. He’s amazed and grateful to be alive. He tells me he believes a Higher Power protected him, and feels like his life is beginning again.

This young man’s story reminds me of the story of the boy on the brink of death, whose father, an official from Capernaum, journeys to the mountain town of Cana, hoping to bring Jesus down with him to heal his son (John 4:36-44). But Jesus tells him:

“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.”

Jesus seems to want people to believe without his physical presence, without seeing. Like when he tells doubting Thomas after he finally sees and believes.

“Because you have seen me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (Jn 20:29).

The official doesn’t stop ‘praying’ (understood as telling Jesus he needs his help now). “Sir, come down before my child dies!”

Jesus tells him: “Go; your son lives.” The man believes the word that Jesus speaks to him and starts off. He’s no longer ‘praying’ but heading home in peace. On his way down, his servants meet him and tell him his son is living! He asks them when his son recovered, and learns its right when Jesus spoke the day before: “Your son lives.”

Jesus speaks a word of healing from a distance, and the boy is restored without him being physically present. The result is that the man and his entire household believe.

The young man who had been shot had his step-mother at his side praying, whilst others prayed and spoke words of life and restoration from a distance. Her step-son now recovering, this step-mom’s faith is now activated and her household is in the process of coming to believe in Jesus. She’s now attending Tierra Nueva’s Sunday worship and Wednesday Bible study.

This doesn’t mean that prayer will stop all mass shootings and keep all shooting victims from dying. It is hard to understand why God doesn’t intervene more directly and consistently in response to our prayers, to rescue innocent victims and stop perpetrators. This can cause us to abandon hope and lose faith. We can then miss out on noticing the many interventions that happen when we’re working, watching and waiting for miracles in the trenches.

It’s important to remember that the tragic death toll rises as a direct consequence of a myriad of human factors that we can address: growing alienation in our society, the glorification of violence, unrestricted access to firearms, the disintegration of families and community, oft-inadequate and ineffective mental health counseling…

We need a movement of deputized, praying and attentive Jesus-followers in touch with vulnerable families and individuals is needed to address the roots of the gun-violence pandemic. Fear-breeding isolation must be confronted by persistent efforts to reach out to the lonely and the desperate, the mentally-ill and the addicted, welcoming them into non-judging, love-infused community where an alternate vision of reality can be learned about and experienced.

The Kingdom of God must advance as the only real response–not a surveillance State–though sensitive, respectful and effective law enforcement is also surely needed. There are many agents of Jesus’ love and justice at large, already preventing and responding to myriads of acts of violence and near-deaths. This “good news” goes unreported by media in favor of that which alarms and outrages.

This will only change as we become regular witnesses of Jesus’ miraculous interventions, borne out of persevering intercession and love-your-neighbor precision actions. In this way once vulnerable, violence-breeding households will become believing safe houses for the Jesus movement.

Consider enrolling in our Disciple! Diploma in Integrated Spiritual Accompaniment for the Jesus Movement 

This week I’ve been struck by the Gospel of Luke’s description of Jesus’ humble entry into Jerusalem. Though he is Israel’s Messiah and the world’s Savior, no delegation from Jerusalem comes out to meet Jesus as he approaches the earthly capital of the spiritual universe.

Like a renegade guerrilla commander Jesus sends his disciples with instructions about how to secure his transport from a sympathizer:

“Go into the village ahead of you; there, as you enter, you will find a colt tied on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. “If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of it.’”

The plan works. “They threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he was going, they were spreading their coats on the road” before him as he approaches the city.

“The whole crowd of the disciples” are then described as “praising God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen.”

As I read this story with a group of farmworkers at Tierra Nueva’s Sunday service I ask them to recall any recent miracles attributed to Jesus for which we can praise God.

Marcelino, who was dying on a respirator last summer, was instantly healed when we prayed for him over the phone. Octavia no longer has bad headaches. Tomas is experiencing relief from insomnia. Other answers to prayer are mentioned, including a victory in a recent confrontation with employers over wages.

We read on how the crowd of disciples were shouting.

“Have any of you ever shouted recently?” I ask, remembering they’d told me about their protest for fair recompense at the headquarters of a Skagit Valley flower-growing operation.

“Yes, we have,” they said, and described how they has shouted at the protest: “Si se puede! Si se puede!” (“Yes we can! Yes we can!”)

What were the disciples shouting? I ask, inviting someone to read Luke 19:38.

“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

We note that though the authorities in Jerusalem are absent (and silent), the disciples of Jesus shout joyfully and loudly.

What that would look like to proclaim Jesus loudly and publicly today? Certainly people are similarly unaware and unimpressed by Jesus now, it seems.

“How do the religious leaders react to the disciple’s worship?” I ask, inviting someone to read the next verse.

“Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples” (Lk 19:39).

The Pharisees try to silence any special attention given to Jesus that day, though he is the King of the universe, God’s beloved Son, come to save the world.

“Have you ever experienced being ignored or silenced?” I ask.

The people describe how at their first protest against unfair wages, one of the heads of the company told them to leave the property or he’d call the Sheriff. These workers had been working 6-7 days a week, 8-10 hours daily in cold, rainy weather to prepare for the tulip festival. This really discouraged them.

I have watched the silent suffering of immigrant workers continually scapegoated by politicians and the public. Calls to expel undocumented immigrants, to build a wall along the US-Mexican border, and the refusal of the powerful to promote real immigration reform harm people’s self-esteem and push them underground.

“Let’s see how Jesus responds to the Pharisees’ distain,” I suggest, inviting someone to read Luke 19:40.

But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!” (Lk 19:40).

“What would it look like if the tulips cried out in your favor?” I ask.

“What if they all cried out from the fields: “Si se puede! Si se puede!?”

People look up with big smiles, delighted as we all imagine the tulips shouting out.

Thankfully the President of the company met with his workers and resolved the labor dispute the day after the standoff. This week the festival is underway, drawing thousands of tourists to our valley.

Let’s not remain silent in this time when injustices are covered over. Let’s not bow to pressures to minimize Jesus.

Disciples of Jesus must certainly not remain silent in the face of intimidation. And yet the rejection of Jesus by the powers goes from bad to worse: arrest, torture and the brutal death penalty by crucifixion.

God’s humble descent into the fields, prisons and war zones of our broken world moves me deeply. From that suffering the resurrection breaks out, inaugurating a movement that will eventually overturn the established orders for ever, when Jesus, the King is enthroned.

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