December 8, 2025 · 8:00 am

Jesus’ Birth Changes Everything

In choir we have been working on Christmas anthems over the past several rehearsals.  We are singing a variety of beautiful, sometimes ethereal, songs that give expression to Jesus’ natal story.  Many good words are found in the lyrics. Some catchy rhythms comprise the music, with more than a few disconsonant chords, which are there by intention.

Jesus’ birth comes unexpectedly to a world embroiled in oppression for some, domination by others. It comes as “light” into darkness, hope into despair, life into barrenness, and spark to tender. Jesus’ birth changes everything, though humankind continues to act and believe otherwise.

Jesus’ birth is about redemption and reconciliation.  It’s about hope and promise, covenant renewed and restored, mission set in further motion, and the fullness of time being realized. Jesus’ birth is the “already but not yet” of the Kingdom of God, inaugurated and begun, set forth and set free.  It’s a morning song bursting forth at daybreak.  And it’s a mourning song coming to a mother’s lips at end of day.

Everyone has a unique birth story, yet in Jesus’ birth we each have the ability to find our story of rebirth as well. Birth is hard. It’s difficult to enter this world. It’s the stuff of “labor” and pain, moaning and groaning. Let us not be glib in thinking otherwise. Yet, there’s little said of that side of Jesus’ birth in the Scriptures. We do not get a report of Mary’s waters breaking, or the length and struggle of her labor. The closest thing to Joseph’s anxiety we see is the difficulty he has in procuring lodging for his family in a “stuffed to the rafters” Bethlehem Town.

The gospel writers, like the hymn and anthem writers after them, do not choose to dwell on the struggle, save for what can be deduced about the difficulty of a registration pilgrimage at 9 months of gestation. Why? I suspect it’s because like most birth stories, the focus moves quickly from the pain and struggle of the process to the joy and relief of the outcome.

A newly born, healthy baby is greeted with awe and fascination at the Creator’s design. We wonder who this child will become, and how they are already blessing and making our lives more full. From the moment of safe arrival a birth signals that all has changed. That which we didn’t even know was missing has now brought fulfillment. It’s as if this was always meant to be.

So it is with Jesus’ entry into our world, our lives and hearts. This is the wonder of Christmas.

© Daniel M. Cash 2025

Leave a comment

Filed under Christian Faith, Holy Days, Hope, Ministry, Pastors, Seasons

Tagged as , , ,

December 3, 2025 · 9:38 am

Advent is “New” Each Year

“Advent reenacts a past event as if it was new each year.” – Diana Butler Bass, A Beautiful Year

There is a familiarness to this Advent time of year. We use familiar decorations, assume familiar routines and find ourselves among familiar people. We attend the usual services, programs and parties. We observe the well known traditions of our upbringing or adulthood. We revisit things from past years by memory or physical reunion.

“This is the day of the Christmas program.” “The yuletide dinner happens on the 12th.” “There’s a gift exchange with staff on the 21st.” It’s a time to reflect, to retell the story, and to make pilgrimage.

But, for all that is familiar, there is room for something new. Afterall, you are not exactly who or where you were last year, or any year prior. There are new factors in your life – new situations and circumstances too. Maybe you are in a new relationship, with a new friend or new grandchild. Maybe you are newly retired, newly unemployed or employed, have newly moved, or find yourself newly energized or challenged.

Life is never static. It’s organic, always changing and growing and evolving. The very composition of your body continues to change as old cells die off and new ones emerge and grow. Your mind is renewed by your thoughts and dreams, by what you read and what you hear and reflect on. Your spirit is refreshed by your devotion, prayer and worship life.

The annual invitation to the Advent season of preparation and waiting is to lean into the new, even as you revisit the familiar. Retell and listen again to the stories of Advent as you encounter the Scriptual themes. But do so in light of what’s new or fresh in you. Listen with a new focus. Allow your new situation to be the lens through which you encounter the familiar once again.

Anticipate Jesus’ coming again. Yet ask, “what’s new in this anticipation” for me? What is it that you are to pay attention? What does this Advent have for you to learn – about yourself, your faith, your relationships, your God? Might you be being asked to pay attention in a new way during this season that feels so familiar but can be so new?

© Daniel M. Cash 2025

Leave a comment

Filed under Christian Faith, Holy Days, Ministry, Passageways, Seasons, Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , ,

November 25, 2025 · 1:05 pm

A Thanksgiving Exam

There is an ancient practice found in the history of the Church called “The Examination of Conscience” or “The Examen”.  I learned about this practice years ago and have found it to be a helpful exercise. Today I taught about it in my Introduction to Christianity class, as an example of a practice of faith that helps us in the Christ way of living.  I’m not sure how it connected with my group of 18–22-year-olds, but maybe it landed with a few of them.

Revisiting this ancient practice, during this Thanksgiving season, gave me pause to consider its merits for the practice of thanksgiving. Here’s how an adapted version of the practice that I call “Stop, Look and Listen” might work for you:

Stop: Stop what you are doing, find a comfortable place to sit with both feet on the floor and your body relaxed (no arms or legs crossed) with palms open.  Breathe – pay attention to your breath, “let go” of any stress, worries or mental squirrels you are apt to chase. Just stop!

Look: Look back over the past year.  Ask yourself: “What is there to be thankful for?”  Make a mental list or perhaps write down your list.  What are you grateful for?  How has God blessed your life in the past twelve months?

Offer those thanksgivings to God in prayer – this can be naming the list itself, or just mentally revisiting what you’ve listed.  No need for fancy language.

Now, looking back, ask yourself: What am I not grateful for? What do I need to repent of, let go of, seek forgiveness for, or say ‘I’m sorry’ about, and to whom? 

Once you’ve made that list – take action.  Bring these things before the Lord or resolve when and how to address them with the people whom you’ve identified.  Let go!  Release these hindrances to thankful living.

Listen: Be still.  Sit in silence. Try for at least five minutes – longer if you dare. Light a candle as a focal point for your listening.  Use a mantra to focus your mind: “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner”.  Or read over a favorite scripture.

Listen. Allow God to speak and read your mind, your person. Just be still and know that God is God.

Don’t rush this part of the exercise.  It’s ok to feel a bit uncomfortable. Just be still!

When you are ready, recite the Lord’s Prayer or Psalm 23, blow out your candle (if you lit one) and move into the remainder of your day or season with thanksgiving.   Amen.

© Daniel M. Cash 2025

Leave a comment

Filed under Christian Faith, Holy Days, Ministry, Pastors, Spiritual Formation

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

October 29, 2025 · 9:00 am

Why does a Woolly Worm cross the road?

Why does a woolly worm cross the road? I’m not sure it does make it across the road, but I’ve seen many of them from my bike lately, catching the sunshine on the pavement of our county roads.

As morning temperatures dip, reflecting the coolness of Autumn, these orange and black creatures seem to seek the warmth of the sun-soaked pavement. Or maybe they are just out going for a stroll?  Their sunbathing comes at great risk, however.  I may easily dodge them on my bicycle, but its doubtful a grain truck or pickup would be so conscientious.

Wooly worms are fascinating little creatures. They follow an interesting life cycle on their way to transformation. Upon hatching from their eggs on plants, they begin eating and shedding their skin, up to six times as they grow. As caterpillars, with their distinct “woolly”, bearlike appearance, they have the capacity to overwinter in their full-grown state by producing a type of antifreeze in their system to survive the cold temperatures. They will hunker down under a log or other protective surface and wait for spring, some eventually spinning their silk cocoon to enter the pupal stage during winter, others overwintering as caterpillars and not pupating until spring.

Once in the cocoon, it’s just a matter of a few weeks until the transformation is complete and they emerge as the Isabella Tiger Moth. They live in their adulthood for a few more weeks until the life cycle begins anew as they mate, lay eggs and die.

The lore of the woolly worm has long been associated with predictions about winter.  The amount and placement of the various hues of orange and black on their coats is interpreted to mean something about the coming colder months.  More black coloring and a harsher winter lies ahead.  Black on the ends, and winter’s early and late months will be more severe than the middle, represented by orange.

A few years back, as I was riding the county roads, there was an abundance of woolly worms out on the pavement. I haven’t seen that many at one time again, but I do always see some this time of the year. I think one thing is certain, wooly worms, like most other creatures know without a doubt that winter is coming. Somehow their life cycle and constitutional makeup is a harbinger of just this truth.  They are another of God’s creative signs to pay attention to the changing seasons.

© Daniel M. Cash 2025

Leave a comment

Filed under Christian Faith, Cycling, Passageways, Seasons

Tagged as , ,

October 27, 2025 · 4:13 pm

Ministry Mondays with Meg Podcast

This week I was honored to be the guest on “Ministry Mondays with Meg” – a podcast from my friend and colleague Rev. Dr. Megan Biddle. We talked about 35 years of ministry, writing, teaching, chaplaincy and pastoring. We discussed my three books: 8 Questions Jesus Asked; The Changing Church and Dakota Dreams and Hoosier Homeland.

It was a fun conversation and I invite you to give it a watch/listen. Just follow the link:

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/ministrymondayswithmeg/episodes/Dan-Cash-e39v77j

Leave a comment

Filed under Christian Faith, Community, Leadership, Ministry, Pastors, Seasons, What I Am Learning, writing

Tagged as ,