Dumbfounded

After Luke 2:41-52 

His parents stare, almost

in shock. Their 12-year-old

son, their young son, this boy,

is teaching the teachers,

astonishing the teachers

in the temple of the most

high God. Searching for

this boy for three days,

fearing the worst, anxiety

almost out of control,

his parents are almost 

in shock. They say what

any parents would say:

“Where were you? We

looked everywhere! We

though the worst, we

feared the worst. How 

could you do this to us?”

The boy looks calmly

at them, as if surprised. 

“Why were you looking

for me? Didn’t you know

where I was, the only place

I could be and would be,

here, where I belong,

in my father’s house? Why

would I be anywhere else?"

 

Photograph by Toa Heftiba via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

Hildegard of Bingen: A Sonnet – Malcolm Guite.

 

Even as the Soul Prospers – Kyle Borg at Gentle Reformation.

 

Missionary, Your Life Makes Sense – Seth Porch at Desiring God.

 

A Theology of Music – Griffin Gooch at Reality Theology.

 

Canada’s MAiD Regime: How We Became a World Leader in Assisted Death: And How Christians Should Respond – Ray Pennings at The Gospel Coalition Canada.

Found

After Luke 2:41-52 

The boy they’d lost,

the boy they feared

was dead, is found,

and found in the most

unlikely of places,

the temple of God;

doing the most unlikely

of things, teaching

the teachers, questioning

the teachers of the law,

amazing the teachers

with his understanding

and his answers. Who is

this 12-year-old from

Nazareth; can any good

come from that place?

And a boy, astonishing

the teachers, the old men,

the wise men, the sages,

with his understanding

and insight of God’s word.

 

Photograph by Jean Valjean via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

“All Bright Things,” poem by Steven Peterson – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.

 

Defending the Faith Like the Apostle Paul – J.V. Fesko at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

Britain just proved that assisted suicide is not inevitable – Jonathon Van Maren at The Bridgehead.

Three days

After Luke 2:41-52 

The travel group is large,

men and women, old

and young, children and

the elderly, parents and

grandparents, many

related, all known

to each other, all knowing

they’d watch out for each

other and the children.

They travel a day before

the couple realize their

son, their oldest, is not

with the group, Panic

seizes their hearts;

they hurry back to the city,

to Jerusalem. They look

everywhere, searching,

asking everyone if they’d

seen the boy, panic rising

in their hearts as they visit

and revisit every place

they’d seen and visited and 

rested. After three days, 

three days of imagining

the worst, three days 

of panic and anxiety, 

three days of growing

fear and despondency,

three days of looking

everywhere except,

perhaps, the least and

the most obvious,

the temple, the house 

of God. Three days, 

and the boy they feared

was dead, was found,

as if he’d risen again

in their hearts.

 

Photograph by Cole Keister via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

The Face We All Look For – Ami Wickiser at Gospel-Centered Discipleship.

 

Delicious Life – Elizabeth Stice at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

A Shepherd’s Heart: Honest Conversations when Members Leave Upset – Dan Reiland.

Annual visit

After Luke 2:41-52 

It was something they did

every year, a journey

from Nazareth to Jerusalem,

to celebrate the Passover,

the remembrance of God’s

salvation of the people,

deliverance from Egypt,

deliverance from slavery,

the passing over the houses

marked with the blood

of the lamb over the doorway,

protected from the angel

of death. Jerusalem was

crowded, as it always was

at Passover, people crowding

into the city, packed throngs

around the temple, noise and

chaos and the bleating of lambs

to be sacrificed, food vendors

shouting, confusing to those

who did it every year. This year,

the couple from Nazareth brought 

their oldest, a 12-year-old boy,

a boy coming to visit

his father’s house.

 

Photograph by Toa Heftiba via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

“The Wish to Be Generous,” poem by Wendell Berry – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.

 

“Lord of A Hopefulness,” poem by Joyce Anstruther – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

The Illustration – poem by Seth Lewis.