Writings:

The Manger and the Cross

Unmoved

Household of Prodigals

Remember

You Are Here

The Bible is Like Lutefisk

Behind the Mask

Jar of Tears

God in Twilight

The Empty Room

An Urban Liturgy

Trilogy

Let My People Go

Blood Brother

Live Life Alive

Only Love

 

 

 

Contact: mzahniser at gmail dot com

All "writings" licenced as: cc-by-nc

 

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24 December 2010

You Are Here

All is formless and void.
God says, "Let there be light" ... and there is light.
Adam and Even goof up.
Cain has anger management issues.
People lived long lives, back then.
(Except for the ones who drowned.)
God calls Abraham to leave his home.
Joseph is sold as a slave, but it works out well in the end.
Life in Egypt turns sour. 400 years of slavery.
God appears to Moses in a burning bush.
Frogs, locusts, hailstorms, flies...
The Israelites cross through the Red Sea.
40 years of eating weird stuff that falls from the sky.
Conquest of Canaan. Bloody, bloody business.
Israel is led by judges (and a prophetess).
Shamgar kills Philistines with an ox goad.
Jael kills Sisera with a tent peg.
Samson has a weakness for pretty women.
Israel wants a king. Saul does his best.
David fights lots of wars, becomes a hero.
Solomon builds a temple (and a harem).
The kingdom divides into Judah and Israel.
Lots of kings, some better than others.
Elijah calls down fire on mount Carmel.
More kings. Half-hearted attempts at reform.
Jonah gets swallowed by a big fish.
Amos and Hosea try to warn Israel what's coming.
Israel is conquered. Judah survives, for now.
More prophets: Isaiah and Micah speak to Judah.
Judah just keeps on being unjust and idolatrous.
Jeremiah tries to warn them and gets imprisoned in a well.
Habakkuk and Zephaniah don't have any better luck than Jeremiah.
Judah goes into captivity as well. I told you so.
Three men walk through fire unharmed, joined by a fourth.
Daniel spends a night with the lions.
Ezekiel sees some crazy visions.
Ezra and Nehemiah lead the returning exiles.
A few more prophets, then a long silence...
An angel gives Mary some alarming news.
Jesus is born in a stable. Shepherds celebrate. Kings freak out.
A crazy guy wearing camel hair dunks folks in the Jordan river.
Jesus starts befriending tax collectors and prostitutes.
The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are healed, the poor rejoice.
The daughter of Herodias dances well, and has John beheaded.
Jesus is really starting to piss people off.
He is crucified, and his followers scatter.
Three days later, the women find the tomb empty.
Jesus accompanies two disciples on the road to Emmaus.
(He is also able, now, to pass through locked doors.)
Jesus gives final instructions, then ascends to heaven.
The Holy Spirit descends in tongues of fire.
Saul makes it his business to kill off the church.
Jesus appears to Saul, blinding him in the process.
The apostles start to spread the good news farther.
Saul starts preaching to non-Jewish people.
(He's now known by his Greek name, Paul.)
The apostles argue over the rules Gentiles must follow.
Letters and stories are collected, copied, and preserved.
Nearly all the original apostles die violent deaths.
On the isle of Patmos, John sees even crazier visions than Ezekiel.
Lots of arguments about doctrine and Scripture.
Christians more or less agree what writings to put in the Bible.
The ecumenical creeds are written, to combat heresies.
(New heretics keep popping up, anyways.)
The first major divisions in the church occur.
Eastern (Orthodox) Christianity splits off from Western Christianity.
Martin Luther nails some fighting words to a door.
Protestantism and Catholicism split, citing irreconcilable differences.
Protestants divide into a dizzying variety of denominations.
Johnathan Edwards preaches scary sermons.
Finney invents altar calls as a way to recruit abolitionists.
Folks on Azusa Street start speaking languages they don't know.
  You are here
Jesus comes back (finally).
The dead are raised, in new and incorruptible bodies.
The mess that we've made out of God's creation is repaired.
There is no more death or mourning or crying or pain.
(But there are trees whose leaves are for the healing of nations.)
Things go on this way for a very long time...