Peonies Blown in the Wind, John La Farge, American, ca. 1880; Source: The Met
CEFR Level B2-C1
This is the final post on jhagencyllc.com. The site is moving to thevarietypage.com. New blog posts will be there. In the Garden of Gethsemane
There is a scene in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prays for God's will to be done. (Matthew 26:36-44) I have only heard this talked about as God’s will being that Jesus be executed. Under that understanding, God sounds cruel. What loving entity wants his son/himself to be tortured to death, even if it is for the greater good? What kind of messed up entity designs a plan for their child/themself to be tortured to death, even if it is for the greater good?
We can talk about God’s ways being hard for humans to understand, but what if we don’t have to in this case? What if God’s will means something else here? If this passage is read under the assumption that God is love and that love does not harm, then other interpretations of God’s will open up. What could we learn about God’s character if in the Gethsemane scene, God’s will is that humans are free to make their own choices, even knowing that they will make the choice to execute Jesus-God? What we might learn
We might learn that there is a possibility that God did not want Jesus to die, but that God was so committed to allowing humans to make their own decisions that God designed a way to make something good come from humans’ bad choices. We might open the possibility that if all the people Jesus encountered decided to follow the way of Jesus and accept him as Messiah, then there is the possibility that Jesus would not have been executed and we would be experiencing 2,000 of fulfillment of all the goodness and restoration that God wants. We would open the possibility that Jesus did not have to die in order to bring salvation and healing and all the goodness humans long for. We might discover more love and respect in God’s character than the crucifixion story suggests.
This interpretation also helps to answer the question about why God doesn’t just come to earth and fix everything. Through reading the Gospels, we learn that God already did that. The problem is, Jesus-God did not go about fixing things the way humans think it should happen. Jesus-God continued to allow humans to make their own decisions about how to respond to God. Jesus-God went around healing and restoring and teaching people a better way of living. Bit by bit, person by person, he brought God’s kingdom to earth, starting the process of making all things new. The humans without power didn’t understand why God didn’t come in, destroy all the people doing bad things, and protect God’s special people. The humans with power really did not like Jesus’ restoration project because it made them look bad and challenged what they accepted as the way things should be. In both cases, God stayed true to God’s nature of not forcing humans to do what God wants, of valuing all humans (even the ones doing bad things (see Jonah and Nineveh)), and of continuing to work towards restoration of Earth and its inhabitants despite humans working against it. If Jesus’ prayer was for God’s will for humans to be free to make their own decisions to be upheld, even if it meant his own execution, that’s a very different picture from a god who wants a blood sacrifice in order to be appeased (AKA penal substitutionary theory of atonement). It also teaches us that God sweeping in to fix things won’t turn out the way we imagine because of God’s character and human responses to God’s character. Your will be done
Your will be done: Let humans continue to make their own decisions. Don’t change that part of the relationship between you and them just to save me. Let humans continue to be humans. We will conquer all that harms them, no matter how long it takes. Your will be done.
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Saint Bridget of Sweden, Master of Soeterbeeck, ca. 1470; Source: The Met
CEFR Level C1-C2
Humans really like having a deity angry at them.
CEFR Level C1-C2
“What is the good news that Jesus himself announced and told his followers to announce as well (2)?” This question frames the purpose of the entire book and Wright takes readers along as he works through the question in the context of 21st-century Western Christianity. Appropriately, Wright does not use the modern context of the discussion to inform the answer. Rather, he answers the objections and questions he anticipates people living in 21st-century Western Christianity may have, using Jesus’ context when defining what the good news is. This historical context is what Wright calls the “backstory,” proposing that we cannot understand the good news if we do not understand the backstory (3).
CEFR Level B1-B2
Cake or pie?
Brownies. Pepsi or Coke? Tea. Cat or dog? Bird. Christian or not? What do you mean by “Christian”? Boy or girl? Why is that the first thing you want to know? 
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This article comes with a big caveat about economic realities. Nothing I wonder here is a condemnation of people doing what they have to do to survive or the choices someone makes on how to divide their income. This essay isn’t intended to comment on what we do. It is intended to wonder about the unintended, and perhaps hidden, outcomes of what we do. This essay is not advice; it’s curiosity.
 CEFR Level C1-C2 I’ve occasionally had conversations with people who say they like movies better than books because they can actually see what happens. These same people don’t like closed-door scenes because even though they understand what is implied, they say that without seeing it, they don’t know what happens. They say it makes it more real to actually see the action rather than having to imagine it from implication.
CEFR Level C1-C2
Our Culture Approves of Assault
St. Patrick’s Day brought back something I think about often: consent. My understanding is that assault is legally defined as touching someone without their consent when that touch is harmful or offensive (https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/assault). With that definition, the US has a holiday where we teach children to cause others physical pain and call it fun, perhaps especially if the person we are trying to hurt is running away from us. Accompanying that practice, we teach children that they are wrong to be upset when someone causes them physical pain during the day when society has agreed that a specific type of hurting someone without their consent is acceptable.
Take a minute to think about how those socially acceptable practices may or may not affect how a person thinks about domestic violence or sexual assault, then come back for my thoughts on consent and spiritual practices. 
CEFR Level B1-B2
Continuing with our consideration of how the different ways people relate to money could be connected to their theology of money, let’s look at the money personality that is characterized by spending money to help others. My summary of this type is that they find security in feeling needed by others and they create this value by giving generously. If there’s something to donate to or someone in need, helper types will probably give!
CEFR Level B1-B2
As part of a seminary class on money and ministry, I filled out a [confidential] money autobiography. That set of journaling questions is from Dan R. Dick.
After completing that exercise, I was curious about what other forms of a money autobiography there were. The internet loves “what are you” quizzes. Okay, fine. I am entertained by those quizzes, even if I have my doubts about the validity of the conclusions. I searched for “money autobiography quiz” and found various options, each with their own labeling system. I won’t use anyone else’s creative titling here. I’ll just talk about broad themes.
CEFR Level B1-B2
The Background
Education is dangerous. It gives people ideas. When people have ideas, they start to think. Thinking means asking questions. Asking questions means authority cannot have unwavering obedience. That is bad for The Authority.
I was raised to obey The Authority without question. I was told The Authority always has my best interest in mind. Whether or not I was explicitly taught this, I came to believe that it was disobedience to even want something different from what the person in authority wanted. Any of my own ideas got shut up in a filing cabinet called “They Must Know Something I’ll Learn Later.”  St. Valentine by Jacques Callot CEFR Level B2-C1 At least, if you believe in obeying laws that violate your religious beliefs.
 CEFR Level B2-C1 This is not a sponsored review. I completely read any book I write a review on. The Justice of Jesus by Joash Thomas (2025) is a thoughtful consideration of what it means to live like Jesus Christ. This is no academic treatise, though! Nor is it a restatement of ideas commonly found in books shelved under “Christianity” in a bookstore. In accessible language, with plenty of section headers and a clear table of contents, The Justice of Jesus would make a good companion to personal devotions, a book for high school or college discussion, or to use in a group Bible study. I think it would be especially useful in a seminary class focused on the theology of the church or as assigned reading during a church-based internship.
CEFR Level B2-C1
At the moment, my life feels like constant triage. Do I memorize Hebrew verb paradigms or read for my other class? Can I push off prep for that paper a day or two more? Do I do boring paid work or the work that I enjoy and hope will one day pay? Have I practiced for my piano lesson? I suppose I need to eat more than cheese and crackers, but that means cooking. Exercise would make me feel better, but the tub needs cleaning or I’ll regret it next time I clean.
 CEFR Level C1-C2 The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James Cone is an intense read at the beginning, especially if a reader has been taught to avoid saying anything that will make others uncomfortable or to use euphemisms or vague references if it is necessary to talk about such things.
CEFR Level B2-C1
This is not a sponsored post.
I was tired of fighting with the groundhog over who gets to eat the produce of my vegetable garden. I wish the groundhog no harm and don’t begrudge it the need to eat, but I also want to eat what I plant, ideally without any parasites from groundhog droppings. After a few years of the groundhog thanking me for giving it a safe enclosure to eat all the tender plants its great big rodent heart desired, I bought a raised garden bed from Garden-In-Minutes.
Now, this raised bed is three feet tall. The configuration I used makes it 1.5 feet wide and 4 feet long. I’ll let you do the math to figure out how many cubic feet of soil would fill up that thing. The important part is, I’m not rich enough to buy that much soil.
Snake photo below the break
 CEFR Level B1-B2 When I left public library work in 2022, I wasn’t sure what my next profession would be. All I knew is that I had given my heart and soul to doing my best in a role that required me to practice all the skills that are outside my innate talents and limited my opportunities to use the skills that help me to thrive. After ten years, leaving was 100% the right decision for me.
I didn’t know what my next profession would be, but I wasn’t limping into the void with no destination. Where did Saturnalia come from?
In ancient Rome, a day in late December was dedicated to the god Saturn (or Saturnus). On this day, there were religious rites in a temple, followed by a public feast. In this ancient celebration, social norms were abandoned. Strict social dividers were set aside. Gifts were given. Songs were sung. Mischief was encouraged. Drinking was prominent. One can imagine that much harm was done to others in the name of “mischief.” Saturnalia is not exactly connected to the winter solstice, but it is a holiday that happens about the same time. What is a modern Saturnalia? Some people, especially Pagans, still observe Saturnalia. Observance practices depend on the person. Some people may wear colorful clothes, make a feast to share with family or friends, or drink indulgently. Others may observe Saturnalia with what might appear to be Christmas traditions (the practices for the two holidays are closely linked). Decorating with evergreens, feasting, and giving gifts are part of Saturnalia observances. Others may perform purification rites or have rituals specifically to honor Saturn and related gods and goddesses. Saint Lucia’s Day is a December holiday in Scandinavia. It is on December 13. December 13 was the winter solstice in the Julian calendar in use when the holiday started.
St. Lucia’s Day is very important in Scandinavia. Even for those who are not practicing Christians, the holiday is an important cultural event. Who was St. Lucia? St. Lucia was a young Italian woman who lived in the 3rd century. She was a Christian at a time when it was dangerous to belong to that faith. St. Lucia brought food to the poor and to Christians in hiding. When she went to Christians, she traveled at night. This is where the tradition of her wreath of candles comes from. Why does St. Lucia wear a wreath of candles? St. Lucia put the candles in a wreath on her head so that both hands could be free to carry food when she snuck out at night. Remember, this was before electricity. Candles were the flashlight of St. Lucia’s day. Whether or not the wreath of candles was a reality or the story evolved over the years, what everyone agrees on is that St. Lucia was a Christian who brought food to the poor and hungry. Why was the woman Lucia made a saint? In general terms, Christians call anyone who is a practicing Christian a “saint.” More specifically, some Christian traditions, most notably Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians, select specific people known for their piety and, perhaps, miraculous works, to be capital-S Saints. It is uncertain where history ends and legend begins. St. Lucia’s story is that the Roman government tried to execute Lucia when she was a teenager or in her early 20s. At the time, being a Christian was illegal and Lucia would not recant. The penalty was execution. The story is that the Roman soldiers tried multiple ways of executing St. Lucia (or St. Lucy), but nothing worked until a dagger or sword was thrust through her throat. St. Lucia’s commitment to her faith, even in the face of execution, earned her a place among those remembered as Christian martyrs. Eventually, those Christian traditions that have Saints recognized Lucia as a Saint. How is St. Lucia’s Day observed today? As with many national holidays that are of religious origins, St. Lucia’s Day is currently celebrated with a mix of secular and religious practices. In Scandinavia, a procession of girls, and sometimes boys, wearing white robes with red sashes will be led by a girl with a leafy crown and candles on her head. Thankfully, the candles today can be battery-powered. The exact components of the procession will vary depending on the country. There may be boys dressed as elves or gingerbread men. There may be boys carrying stars. There may be a contest or a drawing for who gets to be the girl representing St. Lucia. Whatever the precise traditions of the procession, St. Lucia’s day isn’t complete without food and sweet treats. Saffron buns are traditional. There might be ginger cookies. Other pastries are likely, accompanied by mulled wine and coffee (for the adults) and hot chocolate (for the children). In some families, the oldest daughter dresses in a St. Lucia white robe and serves the family a breakfast of the saffron buns, etc. However St. Lucia’s day is celebrated, candlelight, treats, and singing are integral. What is a nativity set,
Why do we spend, And stress, And decorate, All in the name of Peace on Earth? What is a nativity set That we select Because That’s what one does, All in the name of Make it Yours? What is a nativity set, What do we learn, And teach, And bring to mind, All in the name of It’s My Faith? This is a nativity set: A sign of wealth, A tool, A faithful art, All in the name of Jesus Christ What are Polish szopki?
Polish szopki are nativity sets. These sets tend to be more elaborate than the sets typically found in homes in the United States, but in a different way from how Italian presepe are elaborate. How are szopki different from US nativity sets and Italian presepe? Polish szopki are miniature versions of Krakow, or at least, inspired by architecture in the city. This inclusion of city-specific references makes a szopka colorful and distinctly Polish. Potentially different from a presepe, a szopka might also include figures from Polish lore. Szopki are also singular units, where presepi tend to be displays containing several distinct elements that can be rearranged. Unlike a typical US nativity set that focuses on an imagined historical Bethlehem, a szopka combines modern and historical elements, as well as Polish and Hebrew images. Also different from Italian or US nativity sets or scenes, Polish szopki once were stages for puppet shows. How are szopki similar to US nativity sets and Italian presepe? Like an Italian presepe, a szopka might include politicians and other contemporary figures. Like typical US nativity sets (the kind that comes up first with an internet search), szopki include a Bethlehem scene with Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus in a manger. How big is a szopka? Szopki can be a few inches to several feet tall - I saw six feet mentioned on multiple websites. Szopki are works of art and, except for a few rules, the design is left up to the creator. |
