A book summary in poem-like form, drawing from the author’s own language. In this case, a call to robust and grace-filled love for our neighbors from Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis in Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World. (New York: Harmony Books, 2021).

A book summary in poem-like form, drawing from the author’s own language. In this case, wisdom for our times from Steven Charleston in Ladder to the Light: An Indigenous Elder’s Meditations on Hope and Courage (Minneapolis: Broad Leaf Books, 2021).

My artist sister, Natalie Rahberg, and I are pleased to announce the release of The Gospel of Luke in Poem and Image. It is our third collaboration with the Gospels, combining my efforts to simplify the text into "reader's poems" with her response expanding the text through visual arts. It is a pleasure for us to share our prayer with others. Enjoy a pair of examples.

In sixteen action-packed chapters, the Gospel of Mark makes haste to convince readers of the good news of Jesus Christ. This collection of ninety-one reader's poems, combined with twenty-seven original pieces of art printed in full-color, offers an inviting first read to those new to the Gospel and fresh perspective to those long familiar with its themes. There is no substitute for reading the Scriptures themselves again and again. This resource, in fact, flows directly from that kind of sustained reading. Like artists throughout the centuries, siblings Samuel Rahberg and Natalie Rahberg have employed the disciplines of written word and visual art to share with others the fruits of their own prayer. May each reader be led back to the Christ revealed in the Gospel of Mark. This project follows The Gospel of John in Poem and Image, released in 2016. Readers have expressed appreciation for the artwork in that piece speaks to them when words are too much and the text for invitations deeper into prayer with the Scripture. Samuel Rahberg is a spiritual director and author in Saint Paul, MN. Natalie Rahberg is a working artist in McKinney, TX.

This past week I found myself right at home in Mark 6. The disciples are sent out two by two, preaching, casting out demons, and anointing the sick. After a time they return to Jesus and tell “him all that they had done and taught” (6:30, NRSV) Jesus replies, "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while" (31). Sometimes that's exactly what we want to hear, the expectation we have as we climb into the boat with Jesus. Listen for what really happens: “Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them” (33). The disciples did not get the deserted place they wanted. What the disciples do get is a boat ride with Jesus between crowds. This book and this evening is about the boat ride. What happens, what needs to happen when we're sent out, when we're serving, and when we're on the boat journeying with Christ on the way to the next crowd so that we get off the boat and continue serving like Jesus? “As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things” (34). Whatever happened on that boat, Jesus sets foot ashore and demonstrates an enduring ministry.

The Gospel of John opens with rich poetic imagery and unfolds into twenty-one chapters full of symbols and signs that point to Jesus Christ as truly human and truly divine. This collection of fifty-six reader's poems, combined with twenty-six original pieces of art printed in full color, offers an inviting first read to those new to the Gospel and fresh perspective to those long familiar with its themes.

There is no substitute for reading the Scriptures themselves again and again. This resource, in fact, flows directly from that kind of sustained reading. Like artists throughout the centuries, siblings Samuel Rahberg and Natalie Rahberg have employed the disciplines of writing and visual art to share with others the fruits of their own prayer. May each reader be led back to the Christ revealed in the Gospel of John.

The real journey is finding our home. Life becomes simple and whole, painful as well as beautiful. Where we already are is the path and the goal. Release habits of grasping, aversion and fear. Circumstances of life will insist on getting our attention. Stop evading the truth. Spiritual life is not about knowing much, but about loving much. Meet each personas brother and sister. Service is the expression of the awakened heart. One step at a time, one person, one moment. This moment.

It is curiously liberating to realize that tensions become life-giving. Christ walked in constant awareness of the world’s pain and beauty. I must accept myself in contradictions and contradictions in me. In Christ all things are held together. Recognize Christ’s love. Let yourself receive that love.

Community is a reality created by God in Christ.

We are reverent listeners and participants in God’s sacred story.

In fellowship we learn to be alone; in aloneness we learn to live rightly in fellowship.

Ultimately, we have no charge but to serve our brothers and sisters, for they stand as signs of God’s truth and grace.

Death is not failure. Death is normal.

Sooner or later independence will become impossible.

Medicine has transformed life into a long, slow fade.

The trouble is we expect more from life than survival.

When life’s fragility is primed ,goals and motives shift completely.

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