Joseph the Enslaver, by Jay Beck

I love Jay's voice and visage! It's so untamed, so aggressive. In the opening concert for the Wild Goose Festival Jay spoke of Joseph selling his family into slavery. I found that recasting of the Joseph narrative so compelling that I asked Jay to let me record him telling that story.

Joseph's story was the inspiration of the new Psalter's album, Carry the Bones. The Psalters are amazing musical storytellers and well worth our ongoing support.

The clip ends with a excerpt of the Psalters "Re-member".

The Boy Would Understand, by Chad Johns

Jesus mopped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. The day was warm and he was tired from healing so many. They just didn't get it. He hadn't come to fix all of their problems. He had come to show them the reign of God, to show them how to join with him in bringing it to life. His gifts were meant to empower them, to inspire them to become givers.

Yet they were so young. Like their ancestors, every gift led to a demand for more. Why couldn't they see?

Jesus groaned as he saw the multitude crest the hill. Here they come again. . . . Finish the story!

Free or Reduced Lunch, by Kellye Schroeder

Outings with a large group of kids is not always easy, but as a teacher, its something you have to do. Do I have them all? Where are the lunches? Are they safe?

These thoughts all ran through my mind as we became consumed in the crowd waiting to hear more from this man Jesus. The kids don't really know who He is or get his role in their community, but they don't really need to in their minds. He's interesting and unknown so they're intrigued--especially Michael. Meeting Jesus was all he talked about and as I did a quick head count, I realized he was gone . . . Finish the story!

A Series of Graciously Unfortunate Events—Episode 3

<<Read episodes 1 & 2 first.

(from Genesis 3—a story of creation)


Download a dramatic reading of
"A Series of Graciously Unfortunate Event - Episode 3" complete with sound effects and musical score!


"The woman you gave me made me do it!" the man blamed God and the woman.
"But—" God sought to interject.
"Be a man! You could have said no!" the woman retorted.
"Still—" Elohim tried to get a word in.
"Besides, that snake tricked me!" the woman passed the blame.
"Enough!" God commanded their attention. "You both were wrong. And as you can see, it's already begun to cost you. Look at yourselves. You're running from me. Me. I'm the one who loves you no matter what. 'You shall die' wasn't 'I'm going to kill you.' And listen to yourselves. Blaming. Resenting. That can't seem right."

Then Elohim turned his attention, "Don't go slithering off, deceitful one . . . Finish the story!

A Series of Graciously Unfortunate Events—Episode 2

<<Read episode 1 first.

(from Genesis 3—a story of creation)


Download a dramatic reading of "A Series of Graciously Unfortunate Event - Episode 2" complete with sound effects and musical score!


What a great image, attempting to sew fig leaves together to hide one's shame. Like the leaf of any tree, once stripped from its branch, fig leaves eventually become dry and brittle and crack and crumble into uselessness. Still, maybe it's human nature to try to hide, even defend, our foolishness.

And that's what the woman and the man continued to do in deed and in word. They must have asked themselves over and over again, "Why? What were we trying to accomplish?" Somehow the answer seemed so lame, so insufficient after the fact. How very much they had risked. The things they did all day. Unbelievable. The new things they discovered every day. The good, hard work and the delirious thoughts they would think and inventions they would come across—creation. It was the most amazing thing, to every day continue the creation that God had started. It was hard work, but good work. This was their true life’s work. They both knew it.

It was agonizing. The thinking. The mulling over everything in their minds. "What if I had just walked away?" the woman must have asked herself. "What if I had just said no" the man must have thought. "What were we thinking?" The waiting must have been agonizing as well. "Of course someone is going to say something, not the least of which, God. What will he say?" As many times as they told themselves that today would be no different, that nothing had changed, that the world was the same—waiting there on the rock, as the sun rolled away from them, a pain stabbed their eyes and they could not catch their breath—and they knew the truth—it was they who had changed. "We need to get our story straight? Maybe we should come right out and tell him. Yeah, that would be best. Honesty. Yeah."

But the resolve to be entirely forthright must not have had enough time to set in, because before he realized what he was doing, the man was up and running. "He’s coming!" . . . Finish the story!

A Series of Graciously Unfortunate Events—Episode 1

(from Genesis 3—a story of creation)


Download a dramatic reading of "A Series of Graciously Unfortunate Event - Episode 1" complete with sound effects and musical score!


So even if we come of age and no longer insist that our early creation stories are scientific or historical accounts about specific individuals and particular incidents, they still remain quite useful in helping us find ourselves. In that regard, they are invaluable. Take for example the third story in the Genesis saga, the one about the man, the woman and the talking snake. I've never heard an animal talk and don't have to believe that they did at one time to imagine that a story about a talking snake has something important to say to me. Again, we don't have to make the Bible something that it's not to recognize its value.

With that in mind . . . Finish the story!

"Is God Mean?" by Tim Seitz

Tim Seitz, a wonderfully creative yet meek soul, offered this beautifully simple window into the subversive nature of God, as seen through a paradoxical understanding of the flood. Doesn't scripture say something about using the simple to confound the wise.

The Pursuit of Respectability—Episode 2

<<Read episode 1 first.

(from Ezra, Nehemiah and Isaiah 56—a story of inauguration)

One would think that the vehement exclusion of one group—foreigners—for the sake of increased respectability would be enough, but as is often the case with this kind of thing, respectability is seldom satisfied with the exclusion of just one group of 'outsiders.' To do it once is to become addicted. It didn't take long before the ever more respectable Israelite insiders had compiled for themselves a growing list of outsiders to pick on: foreigners, Israelites married to people of foreign descent, the children of mixed marriages (all of whom coincidentally were longtime residents of the land these returnees from Babylon were trying to reclaim) had to go; those without land, women, children born out of wedlock, eunuchs (sexual minorities), weren't banished but were afforded few or no political rights. Only the most respectable could have full rights in the temple assembly. Only they could retain God's favor. At least that's what Nehemiah, Ezra and those most like them had come to believe.

Not everyone agreed . . . Finish the story!

The Pursuit of Respectability—Episode 1

(from Ezra, Nehemiah and Isaiah 56—a story of inauguration)

With the completion of the wall around Israel's capital city, Jerusalem, there arose a wave of national pride. It had only taken fifty-two days of focused effort. The repatriated exiles, the returnees from Babylon, were excited about being recognizable as a nation again, no longer the conquered and displaced people whose gentry had been carried off into bondage and whose peasants had been left to eek out subsistence on the surrounding lands. And as is often the case, as the returning gentry felt better about themselves, they also felt better about how God felt about them. The possibility of God's renewed pride for Israel was exhilarating. Had he not already extended his favor by allowing them to return and restore the temple and the city walls?

Though the total city had not been rebuilt, the 3 most important symbols of a promising future had been. The first was the temple, a symbol of God's abiding presence. Now the walls and gates. Walls and gates are symbols of a nation's self-determination. Like the walls of your bedroom which define the space you call "yours" and the door to your bedroom which limits access (even if it stays open all the time), Israel's walls and gates said, "This is our city, and we decide who gets in." Gates and walls also give a nation the ability protect itself as necessary. And wasn't that what God wanted? Wasn't that why he had allowed them to return: to redefine themselves and to protect that renewed vision?

That is exactly what Nehemiah, former cup-bearer to the king of Persia appointed governor of Israel, and Ezra, former scribe to the king of Persia commissioned as high priest, believed. Once the physical walls that defined who Israel was as a nation were complete, these two men believed it was time to erect by analogy the cultural walls that would help define the restored Israel further. After 70 years in exile, who were they? They were the people of God's favor, were they not? Okay, but what does in mean to be the "people of God's favor"?

What does God favor?
. . . Finish the story!