Jesus at 2AM - A Humorous, Intelligent Look at the Bible, Church History & the Life of Faith

Today we turn our attention to events immediately following the exodus - as Israel makes her escape from centuries of slavery in Egypt. For God has acted with mighty power to save, and our first imagination is that - under divine care - Israel will be safe evermore. But as Israel flees into the Sinai desert, she soon discovers that Pharaoh is in pursuit with the full might of the Egyptian army. And as the Egyptian chariots approach, Israel finds herself trapped by the Red Sea. And has her toes touch the water, Israel - and we - are forced to learn an essential lesson of the life of faith: in this age, salvation is not so much a once-for-all event, but a process by which God continually rescues his beloved people. If you've ever felt trapped in your own life and circumstances between the Red Sea in front and the Egyptian army behind, this is the sermon for you! Have a thought? A comment? A question?  I’d love for you to get in touch!  You can reach me anytime via the contact link at jesusat2am.com, by sending me email, chatting with me on BlueSky, or finding me on Facebook or Instagram.  And while you're at it, might you be up for supporting the podcast? You’re tax-deductible gift to Canvas is a major help. As are your prayers, your online reviews, telling a friend or two! Want to follow along with the biblical texts for this sermon? Here's the link: Exodus 14:5-29 (NRSV)

The exodus from Egypt becomes the gravitational center of the Old Testament as it forms Israel’s image of what it means to be saved! After centuries of suffering, God acts with incredible power to break the bonds of Israel’s slavery and leads her to new freedom under God’s direct care. It is a story of divine strength and mercy and directly foreshadows a larger salvation that is to come when God breaks the ultimate bonds of sin and death. But…, the exodus also comes with immeasurable suffering as God’s deliverance for Israel is matched by God’s judgment upon Egypt – the death of the firstborn of every creature that has not be set apart for salvation. It is a horrific scene of divine violence, and it begs the questions: What are we to make of a God who would do such a thing? And how on earth do we reconcile this image of God with Jesus of the cross? In this episode we’ll explore God’s saving mercy (Exodus), and the Passover and wrestle together with the God of rescue and of judgment. Have a thought? A comment? A question? I’d love for you to get in touch!  You can reach me anytime via the contact link at jesusat2am.com, by sending me email, chatting with me on BlueSky, or finding me on Facebook or Instagram.  And while you're at it, might you be up for supporting the podcast? You’re tax-deductible gift to Canvas is a major help. As are your prayers, your online reviews, telling a friend or two! Want to follow along with the biblical texts for this sermon? Here's the link: Exodus 11:1-10, 12:21-37 (NRSV)

After more than 400 years of slavery in Egypt, the cries of God’s people rise to heaven — and are heard! God’s response? A call to Moses from the burning bush and a revealing of the Divine name (“I AM”) – a name that speaks to far more than eternal existence, but of unending compassion and grace. It is in this encounter that God reiterates the promise to save (making the Exodus something of a preview of salvation to come) and which reminds us again that we have a God who hears our pain, remembers the covenant with Abraham, and who acts not as a distant observer but as the One who is present with us in the midst of hardship. Have a thought? A comment? A question? I’d love for you to get in touch! You can reach me anytime via the contact link at jesusat2am.com, by sending me email, chatting with me on BlueSky, or finding me on Facebook or Instagram.  And while you're at it, might you be up for supporting the podcast? You’re tax-deductible gift to Canvas is a major help. As are your prayers, your online reviews, telling a friend or two! Want to follow along with the biblical texts for this sermon? Here's the link: Exodus 2:23-3:15 (NRSV)

In this episode in our journey through the biblical story we come to the beginning of the book of Exodus where we find Israel in a very unexpected place - enslaved in Egypt. It’s a circumstance that begs the question: What has gone wrong??? For, as we have discussed in previous episodes, Israel is God’s elect – a people set apart for priestly office in the larger project of the salvation of the world. So how is it that God’s beloved community suffers such oppression (as Israel will be slaves in Egypt for 400 years!)? Has the covenant of election been annulled? Has God turned his back on the Abrahamic promise? In a word, no. And this is an essential lesson of the life of faith: to be set apart to join with God in the project of salvation is not a license to escape hardship, but rather a call to live the fullness of the human experience. Up for getting in touch? You can reach me anytime via the contact link at jesusat2am.com, by sending me email, chatting with me on BlueSky, or finding me on Facebook or Instagram. I’d love to hear from you. And while you're at it, might you be up for supporting the podcast? You’re tax-deductible gift to Canvas is a major help. As are your prayers, your online reviews, telling a friend or two! Want to follow along with the biblical texts for this sermon? Here's the link: Exodus 1:1-22 (NRSV).

Today we return to a fundamental theme in the biblical story, that of election – the idea that we belong to the community of salvation not by anything we do, but by the sovereign will of God. To be elect is to be chosen by God for salvation apart from any merit or effort or agreement on our part. It’s often a difficult idea for 21st century westerners to swallow as we like to see ourselves as the captains of our own destiny. We imagine that if we are included in the community of salvation, it’s because we somehow earned it (at the very least by “having faith”). And if one is not included in the community of salvation, it must be because they are receiving just desserts. But in scripture matters of election are not nearly so clear and clean as this, as we shall in our passage for today – the story of Jacob and his twin brother Esau. Esau, as the elder brother, ought be the primary heir not only of his father, Isaac’s, property, but of his blessing and of the covenant with God. And yet, it is Jacob – who schemes and calculates and who by abject manipulation and deception receives, both the birthright of the firstborn, but also the covenant blessing. To be clear, the promise of inclusion does not pass to both sons, but only to Jacob. And it forces us to ask: What does it mean to be chosen? Is the covenant of salvation only for some and not for others? Does God willfully exclude some from redeeming grace? Are the boundaries of the chosen people fixed forever? …or might it be that, in the end, they are far wider than we imagine…? Up for getting in touch? You can reach me anytime via the contact link at jesusat2am.com, by sending me email, chatting with me on BlueSky, or finding me on Facebook or Instagram. I’d love to hear from you. And while you're at it, might you be up for supporting the podcast? You’re tax-deductible gift to Canvas is a major help. As are your prayers, your online reviews, telling a friend or two! Want to follow along with the biblical texts for this sermon? Here's the link: Genesis 27:1-49 (NRSV).

Today we come to one of the most emotionally charged moments in all of scripture: God’s command to Abraham that he sacrifice his son Isaac – the heir to the covenant of salvation! And even though God ultimately prevents Isaac from being killed, the divine intervention comes at the last possible moment. And it leaves us wondering:  What was God doing?  Why would God put both Abraham and Issac through such trauma??? Was this some ancient near eastern practice we don’t know about? Or – as many of us assume - was it some obedience test for Abraham; a measuring of his commitment?  And if it was, ought we fear or even expect that God might test us in a similar fashion? (I think many people of faith live with the suspicion that God is going to demand we surrender that which we love most in this world.) Is that really who God is? Because what kind of God would do such a thing? Or…, is there more to this story – a meaning that we can only see clearly through the lens of the fullness of scripture? Once we know the whole story, are able to look back and see a deep inner meaning in these events - a meaning that actually gives us great hope and prompts us to love? I think just maybe there is… Up for getting in touch? You can reach me anytime via the contact link at jesusat2am.com, by sending me email, chatting with me on BlueSky, or finding me on Facebook or Instagram. I’d love to hear from you. And while you're at it, might you be up for supporting the podcast? You’re tax-deductible gift to Canvas is a major help. As are your prayers, your online reviews, telling a friend or two! Want to follow along with the biblical texts for this sermon? Here's the link: Genesis 22:1-19 (NRSV).

In our endeavor to understand the biblical story from Genesis to Revelation, we have come to the question that drives the entire narrative: Can the consequences of sin be reversed??? Or is humanity's fate sealed - doomed to a tragic existence in which everything adds up to nothing in the end? Today we get the all-important answer: Yes, something can be done. And it comes in the form of a covenant - a one-sided contract in which God pledges himself to the work of reversing the curse of sin and bringing the divine blessing to all creation. It is one of the pivotal moments in the biblical story – and in human destiny! - as the salvation of the world hinges on a unilateral promise given to Abraham, and thru Abraham to all creation... Up for getting in touch? You can reach me anytime via the contact link at jesusat2am.com, by sending me email, chatting with me on BlueSky, or finding me on Facebook or Instagram. I’d love to hear from you. And I'd also love for you to check out Canvas! It's a wonderful congregation and there are many ways to get involved - even if you live at quite a distance. Want to follow along with the biblical texts for this sermon? Here's the link: Gen. 11:27-12:3, 17:1-7; 15:1-17 (NRSV) .

In this episode we come to the Bible's version of The Flood Story - a story that was told by many Ancient Near Eastern cultures. Yet the Bible tells the story very, very differently. For in the Bible, the Flood Story is about far more than a hero and some animals on an ark. Indeed, at its heart, the biblical account is the story of what it means for a holy and loving God to be heartbroken by humanity’s sin—and yet to still refuse to give up on us. From divine wrath to divine promise, the Flood narrative is the story of a God who can rage! And who can also repent and forgive. And then make promises that point towards salvation.   Up for getting in touch? You can reach me anytime at jesusat2am.com, by sending me email, chatting with me on BlueSky, or finding me on Facebook or Instagram. I’d love to hear from you. And I'd also love for you to check out Canvas! It's a wonderful congregation and there are many ways to get involved - even if you live at quite a distance. Want to follow along with the biblical texts for this sermon? Here's the link: Gen. 6:5-22, 7:11-24, 8:13-22, 9:8-17 (NRSV).

As we continue our journey through the biblical narrative from Genesis to Revelation we come to the essential element of plot: conflict. What has gone wrong? Why is God's good creation in need of salvation?  The answer, of course, is given in highly symbolic terms invoving the Tree of Life, the Tree of the Fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and, of course, a very wiley serpent.  In this episode I’ll do my best to decode the symbolism and get to the heart of why creation is broken in the ways we all experience. Indeed, we'll look at the very nature of sin and evil as well as giving a hint as why divine love – particularly love enacted at the cross - is the only thing that can save us. Up for getting in touch? You can reach me anytime at jesusat2am.com, by sending me email, chatting with me on BlueSky, or finding me on Facebook or Instagram. I’d love to hear from you. And while you're at it, might you be up for supporting the podcast? You’re tax-deductible gift to Canvas is a major help. As are your prayers, your online reviews, telling a friend or two! Want to follow along with the biblical texts for this sermon? Here's the link: Genesis 2:4-9, 15-17; 3:1-24.

Welcome to part 1 of our series Healing Eden - a detailed journey through the grand story of salvation, from Genesis to Revelation. And as you would expect, we begin at the beginning with the creation story, indeed the two creation stories in Genesis.  But our goal is not simply to explain how the world began, but why the world began. For the creation story is a love story, told not in scientific detail, but in the mythic language of the Ancient Near East that reveals divine intention. And so we’ll uncover the deeper meaning behind light and darkness, sea monsters and sacred rest. And in the process, we’ll meet a God who speaks the universe into being with peaceful power, and we’ll find ourselves—humankind—created not by evolutionary accident, but in the very image of God so as to join God in love and creation. For a big part of what it means to bear the image of God is to join in the work of creating. We can’t create ex nihilo (something from nothing). But God has clearly given us resources from which we are to become co-creators in the making of beauty, truth and goodness. So if you can, grab a cup of coffee, settle in, and prepare to be re-enchanted with the beginning of what really is the greatest story ever told—a story that starts not once, but twice upon a time… Up for getting in touch? You can reach me anytime at jesusat2am.com, by sending me email, chatting with me on BlueSky, or finding me on Facebook or Instagram. I’d love to hear from you. And while you're at it, might you be up for supporting the podcast? You’re tax-deductible gift to Canvas is a major help. As are your prayers, your online reviews, telling a friend or two! Want to follow along with the biblical texts for this sermon? Here's the link: Gen. 1:1-2:24.

With this episode we begin an extensive and very personal-to-me new series titled, Healing Eden: The Story of Salvation from Genesis to Revelation. And the series is exactly as it sounds: a detailed journey thru the biblical narrative as I try my hardest to reveal and clarify the fundamental story the Bible is trying to tell. Despite its 66 books, written in 3 ancient languages, by a wide variety of authors and editors, across well more than 1,000 years, the Bible is trying to tell a singular story - that of God healing Eden, of setting his broken world to rights. It's a story that is about soooo much more than merely securing a place in "heaven," as salvation is not only a future event, but a here-and-now transformation in love. And if we can grasp this truth, understand this overarching story, then the whole of scripture comes into vivid focus. Not only do the individual pieces make tremendously more sense, the book as a whole takes on a life-giving freshness that will change your life. At least it has changed mine. In this opening episode we get a bit of a look at what the biblical story isn't, why what is often taught as the essence of Christianity is a good bit wrong, as well as some of my personal motivations for wanting to set the record straight. I hope you find it helpful! Up for getting in touch? You can reach me anytime at jesusat2am.com, by sending me email, chatingt with me on BlueSky, or finding me on Facebook or Instagram. I’d love to hear from you. And while you're at it, might you be up for supporting the podcast? You’re tax-deductible gift to Canvas is a major help. As are your prayers, your online reviews, telling a friend or two! Want to follow along with the biblical texts for this sermon? Here are the links: Gen. 1:1-5, 26-31; John 1:1-5; 1 John 4:7-12; Rev. 22:16-16, 21-22.

Continuing our experiential examination of contemplative prayer in the Christian tradition, we turn this week to the great Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine of Hippo (d. 430 AD) and the form of meditation that has developed in the Augustinian school. (It's quite similar to Ignatian contemplation, but rather than seeking to place ourselves - by active imagination - into a biblical scene of the past, Augustinian meditation seeks to bring the scene itself into the present. It'll make more sense as you listen!) As with the other episodes in this series, I highly encourage you actually engage in the meditation and not just listen while driving or dining or mowing the lawn. If you do, I think you'll find the experience very rewarding, mainly by having a moment or two of actual contact with God (and wouldn't that be cool)! In the intro I mention some previous series on the spiritual life, so here are some quick links to Loving God 101, Loving God 201, Loving God 301 and 401. And I really would love to hear if this series has been helpful (or not)! You can reach me anytime at jesusat2am.com, or send me email, chat with me on BlueSky, or come find me on Facebook or Instagram. I’d love to hear from you. And while you're at it, might you be up for supporting the podcast? You’re tax-deductible gift to Canvas is a major help. As are your prayers, your online reviews, telling a friend or two! And in case you'd like to follow along with the passage, you can find it here: Mark 1:29-39 (NRSV). Thanks so much for listening and blessings upon you!

“How can I hear God’s voice?” “Would I recognize God’s voice if I heard it?” “How do I know if a sense of call is really from God?” These are some of the key questions of Christian spirituality. And thankfully, they are some of the very questions St. Ignatius of Loyola sought to answer (and did). What we are really talking about is the practice of discernment – learning to distinguish the voice of the Lord from the countless other voices (internal and external) that fill our lives. It is to take it as a given (I believe very rightly) that God is consistently speaking – to us. And thus our work is to become skilled listeners. (This is in contrast to the common fear that God must be sought by heroic means – that God speaks only to those who have achieved some impressive measure of holiness, often by great sacrifice or spiritual rigor. It is not the case! Jesus – throughout the Gospels – is constantly seeking to be heard and understood by regular old  humans…) In many ways, the great task of Christian prayer is to quiet our mind as much as we can, to identify the voices that are likely not the Lord, and then to see if we can hear through the din the still, small, loving, compassionate voice of God. And for this work, the practice of Ignatian contemplation is excellent. In this episode we’ll take a brief look at the life of St. Ignatius of Loyola (it helps to understand how his method of contemplation developed) and then we’ll pray together with a guided contemplation. If you’ve not done it before, I hope you may find it quite a revolutionary experience! If you enjoy the guided Christian meditation, you can find more of them on the Canvas website . And if you’d like to read the passage yourself while we pray together, you can find it here: Mark 1:21-28 (NRSV) Up for supporting the podcast??? You’re tax-deductible gift to Canvas is a major help! As are your prayers, your online reviews, telling a friend or two and getting in touch! You can reach me easily at jesusat2am.com, or send me email, chat on BlueSky, or come find me on Facebook or Instagram (I'm slowly making my way back...), I’d love to hear from you!  

Prayer - as in abiding, personal contact with God - is the very heart of the Christian life. And yet for most of us, the practice of prayer is a struggle (it often is for me as well). Indeed, “How can I feel closer to God?” is probably one of the most asked questions in Christian history. And the good news is: there is an answer! Actually, there are many answers. And in this short series we will examine (and experience) three of the best: the Benedictine answer, the Ignatian answer and the Augustinian one. Today we begin with the Benedictine method of prayer, often know by its Latin name: lectio divina or “divine reading.” It is a very simple but very powerful process of praying the scriptures that can lead to us to a very intimate experience of God’s love and presence. In this episode, we’ll explore the process of lectio divina, but even more importantly, we’ll practice it together (a form of guided meditation/prayer).  (As an added bonus you’ll get a short explanation of what makes a Presbyterian a Presbyterian and why we would benefit greatly by adopting some very “Catholic” practices!) If you enjoy the guided Christian meditation, you can find more of them on the Canvas website . And if you’d like to read the passage yourself while we pray together, you can find it here: Mark 1:14-20 (NRSV) Up for supporting the podcast??? You’re tax-deductible gift to Canvas is a major help! As are your prayers, your online reviews, telling a friend or two and getting in touch! You can reach me easily at jesusat2am.com, or send me email, chat on BlueSky, or come find me on Facebook or Instagram (I'm slowly making my way back...), I’d love to hear from you!      

With this episode we conclude our short series on the abundant life – exploring what it means to live a fully human existence in a world that that can been very dehumanizing. It's a series that has taken us deep into the 10 commandments, as I’ve been doing my best to make the case that far from being a checklist of restrictions, the 10 commandments are actually divine instructions for freedom—freedom from slavery, freedom from fear, freedom from our worst impulses, and esp. freedom the false gods we are so inclined to make for ourselves (and then worship in vain!).  So today I want to go back to the beginning – to the story that started this whole endeavor: Jesus’ healing of the man born blind and to consider again what it means that God desires for us a life of abundance—full of breath, creativity, and joy. A life in which holiness not about repression, but as wholeness in love. The texts for this sermon can be found here: John 9:2-10:10 (NRSV) and Exodus 20:1-20 (NRSV) If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible  contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) For more sermon series, resources and means of contacting me, simply head to jesusat2am.com, send me email, or come chat on BlueSky.

To put it bluntly, if it’s the abundant life we seek, then covetousness has to go. Mainly because yearning for the things of others turns life into a constant competition that we can never win. Whatever we possess or achieve, we can always find someone with "more." And the tragic result is a never-ending experience of deprivation and a fundamental dissatisfaction with our life (not to mention a sense of increasting tension with others). It's an important lesson brought to us by guest preacher Erika Karimi who started out as a Michigan based podcast listener and is now an ordained elder at Canvas and a regular part of our preaching rotation! (Maybe God has plans to use you at Canvas? Stranger things have happened!!) The text for this sermon can be found here: Exodus 20:17 (NRSV) If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible  contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) For more sermon series, resources and means of contacting me, simply head to jesusat2am.com, send me email, or come chat on BlueSky.

In this episode we turn to – you guessed it – the 9th commandment: You shall not bear false witness. It’s instruction that – like all the commandments – seems, at first glance, very simple and straightforward: When you are called as a witness in a trial, do not give false testimony. But when we look a little deeper, we see that this commandment is filled with implications that I think are critical to explore if we are to live the abundant life – not the least of which is to recognize that in life, there will be conflict. Wrongs will be done. Harm will happen. There will be disputes that require adjudication. If life in the community of faith were easy, there’d be no need for a commandment about truth-telling. Indeed, it turns out that truth-telling is key for a healthy community. And in fact, can be very healing when wrongs have been committed. Sometimes the only justice that can be granted is an honest accounting of what has transpired. But owning wrongs goes a long way towards making repair. And yet there is another reason that the people of God are called to be honest brokers in all that we do – we bear witness to God himself, whom we believe raised Jesus from the dead! …a claim that strains credulity to its breaking point. If we want to be the least bit credible when it comes to bearing witness to Christ, we had best have a long reputation of integrity – intellectual and otherwise... The text for this sermon can be found here: Exodus 20:16 (NRSV) If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible  contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) For more sermon series, resources and means of contacting me, simply head to jesusat2am.com, send me email, or come chat on BlueSky.

This is part 10 of our series on the abundant life as we try to figure out what it looks like – in practice – to live fully, to live richly as a human. It’s a search that has taken us deep into the 10 Commandments of all places - today to the 8th commandment and one of the most obvious lessons in life: You shall not steal. Seems clear enough: no robbing banks, no mugging anyone on the subway, go ahead pay for that pack of gum… And yet…, theft isn’t just about what we take with our hands—it’s about what we take with our power, with our privilege and sometimes what we acquire with our silence. It’s about the ways we allow systems to profit at the expense of others and about the trust we break when we misuse what’s been placed in our care. From corporations exploiting workers to governments selling out the public good, stealing is everywhere. And if we’re honest? It’s probably closer to home than we’d like to admit. But here’s the good news: we were never meant to live in scarcity, fighting for what we can get. God’s desire has always been for us to live fully, freely, abundantly—not by taking, but by giving. The lesson of this and all the “Commandments” isn’t mainly about checking moral boxes—it’s about stepping into the kind of life that brings wholeness, justice, and joy, both for ourselves and for others. The text for this sermon can be found here: Exodus 20:15 (NRSV) If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible  contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) For more sermon series, resources and means of contacting me, simply head to jesusat2am.com or send me email here!

We continue our search for life and life abundantly, a search that has taken us to unexpected places, not least the 10 commandments – which has turned out to be far more than a list of religious rules, but a source of profound insight into what constitutes a fundamentally healthy life. Today we turn to the 7th commandment: "You shall not commit adultery." And by we I mean “not me,” in that you have here another sermon from Ian (who has really been helping share the preaching load with me, which is a huge help and a big part of my no-burnout strategy!). As you might expect, Ian’s first lesson is going to be: Don’t commit adultery. But there is much more to adultery than things sexual. I will let him explain the virtue of integrity... The texts for this sermon can be found here: Exodus 20:13 (NRSV) and John 8:1-11 (NRSV). If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible  contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) For more sermon series, resources and means of contacting me, simply head to jesusat2am.com or send me email here!

Today we arrive at the 6th Commandment: “You shall not murder…”  That, at least, is how the NRSV translates it. But as you’ll see, there is much, much more to the 6th commandment than not murdering someone. (Though not murdering is a darn fine place to start!) The goal, however, is to go much farther than not taking life. Rather we are to honor the sacred gift of humanness and all the beauty that is inherent to human life. That is to say: if we want the abundant life, we begin by honoring humanity - our own and that and of everyone else. In this episode I highly recommend checking out the meditation app Happier. (They are not sponsors, I have no financial stake..., it's just an app I love and think you might, too!) If you'd like to check out the biblical text for this episode, you can find it here: Exodus 20:1-13 (NRSV). If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible  contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) For more sermon series, resources and means of contacting me, simply head to jesusat2am.com or send me email here!