Hello Friends,
Here’s a short excerpt from my upcoming book (releasing this Summer!). It’s about grief, collapsed temples, imploding universes, and God being birthed in the midst of our losses.
We look at 30 stories from the Gospel of Matthew through the lens of his first century readers/listeners who were living in the wake of their greatest loss (the destruction of their Temple at the hands of the Roman Empire) and wonder how they might have received those stories given their context ... AND how we might be able to receive them given ours.
It's a book for anyone who has ever lost something/someone that mattered to them, written over the course of this past year as I slowly lost someone who mattered deeply to me (my dad). We'll begin to process our grief together and (hopefully) find some balm for our wounded souls.
Here’s a small excerpt from chapter 16.
Much love,
Glenn || SUPPORT THE PODCAST
Matthew 14:22-23
Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. 25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” 29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” 32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
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“The boat was already a considerable distance from the land.” Have you ever felt that way, like the boat of your life had drifted a “considerable distance” from the land so much so that you found yourself in incredibly deep waters, facing incredibly high winds, being tossed around by incredibly strong waves … wondering if you’d ever make it back to land, if you’d ever overcome all that you were up against?
I remember feeling this way a bunch of years ago when I began to publicly rethink/deconstruct my faith.