The other day I was sitting in church.

That’s its own story, of course. After leading the Sunday service at the hospital for more than nine years, after being on church staff for most of fifteen years before that, I’m in a season of sitting with Nancy in church on Sunday mornings. Not in charge of anything. Not responsible for anything other than my own attention.

I think it’s good for me to sit and listen. And, though I’m not going to explore it right now, sometime I’ll talk about how much I understand the people who feel frustrated and hurt and annoyed and abandoned by “church”.

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Anyway, the other day I was sitting in church making notes about things other than the message.

“Jesus literally walked on dirt.”

“Jesus is, at this moment, in jail.”

“Jesus at this moment is hungry.”

“Jesus is, at this moment, a stranger.”

Those thoughts are rooted in words late in the walking around on earth ministry of Jesus.

“’For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’”

It’s a familiar text to many people. It’s quoted in Facebook posts all the time these days. I even talked about the sick part while I worked in the hospital.

I want to spend some time thinking about what Jesus says. And I want to start by using some stories that we read in the Bible to help us think about what Jesus was saying.

I know. I should have this all written before I start to share.

I think what I want to do is to tell us stories. And then make sense of them later on.