Tag Archives: bible

December 22, 2025 · 11:46 am

This – this is Christmas!

‘Twas just days before the Christ child’s birth, and pilgrims were traveling. They were going home to pay taxes by order of Ceasar Augustus. Among them, enroute to Bethlehem, the town of David, were Joseph and Mary. This engaged couple was from Nazareth, making a weeklong journey to their ancestral home.  Mary was very pregnant, her baby expected any day.

The trip was difficult. Mary was uncomfortable but did not complain. Joseph was anxious, doing all he knew to accommodate Mary’s needs in a caring way. Day by day, mile by mile, step by step, they made their way.

On arrival in Bethlehem town the young couple were at first unable to find a place to lodge – which was too bad because Mary had gone into labor. When lodging was finally secured, it would be in an animal stable. Here the young woman, no older than her late teen years, gave birth to a son – the Son of God – whom she laid in a manger for his first bed.

His was a humble birth, befitting common parents of few means, who were encumbered by the demands of an occupying empire. But this baby was of God’s chosen people, in the very line of King David and Father Abraham. His birth had been foretold by prophets Isaiah and Micah. It would be celebrated in heaven and on earth as angelic choirs burst forth in song, and meek, poor shepherds came to bend their knee to the newborn king.

The details of what would have otherwise been an unrecorded birth, have become the heart-warming natal story of our Savior Jesus. It’s a story read, sung, proclaimed and treasured each year. Why?

Jesus’ birth introduced a new realm, which He called the Kingdom of God. It is a realm we pray to be fully known “on earth as it is in heaven”. His birth makes possible the reconciliation of separated people with their Creator. It will one day lead to the restoration of creation in a new heaven and new earth. This restoration will include the fullness of communion between God and humankind. All because Jesus would come to earth – come to die – to bridge the gap caused by sin, giving us a path back to God. He came as “God with us” (Emmanuel) and God for us. He is God loving us and God forgiving us.

This – this is Christmas! It’s the celebration feast of Jesus’ birth, filled with the echo of “Unto us a child is born! Unto us a Son is given. . . And His name is called Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, Mighty God”, Savior, Lord, Messiah, Anointed One.

Behind all the glitz, lights and traditions of Christmas lies this story, the greatest story. The candy canes (like shepherd staffs), gift giving (in the Magi’s example), twinkle lights (for the Light of the World), carols and songs (ala the angel chorus), all point us to a night long ago in Bethlehem when “unto us” came one to be among us. It was God “pitching tent” in our very neighborhood. God in Christ – fully human and fully divine – our newborn king. Happy birthday King Jesus! Merry Christmas to all. Joy to the world!

© Daniel M. Cash 2025

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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

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August 26, 2025 · 1:39 pm

Meanness Unchecked Leads to More Meanness

It is sad to watch our nation turn into a meaner and more isolated version of itself.  But this is clearly what is happening under the current administration.  Despite the provision in the U.S. Constitution for three co-equal branches of government (legislative, judicial and executive) it seems that two of the three (especially the legislative) have mostly chosen to look the other way while the executive who occupies the people’s house remakes things in his own selfish, mean-spirited likeness. This is contrary to the founders desire that these branches serve as a check to balance the weight of influence and power.

Politics has always been dirty business, and I am sure we could point to periods of history that were fraught with decisions, actions and words filled with vitriol and unproductive outcomes. But surely this time in history will prove to have rivaled them, if we survive it intact and are afforded the opportunity to look back on it one day.

One of the simple lessons that may be most prominent is something we all should have learned in our primary education: meanness unchecked just leads to more meanness.

Do you remember this lesson from the schoolyard? The class bully who was given a free pass on unsavory behavior always took that as permission to increase said behavior. Worse yet, was when the bully garnered a following of kids who praised and fed that behavior. They did this by pouring flattery on the misdeeds of one who showed no conscience or sense of fairness. There’s nothing a bully needs more than to be flattered and made the center of attention.

It seems to me that we are witnessing this today on a much grander scale as national and even world leaders acquiesce to the whims and whiplash actions of an executive who feels he has a blank slate from which to wreak havoc on others. In just a few short months, having doubled down on experience gained from occupying the seat of power once before, this executive has challenged, and somehow blown past, almost every check on his office. It’s as if he can’t quite believe the people gave him the keys to the office again. Neither can I. One thing is certain he isn’t going to give them back without a fight.

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May 22, 2025 · 2:00 pm

Why Excavation is Important in Leadership

I have always found the practice of archeology interesting.  I admire the patience and craft of those who carefully dig and unearth the evidence of prior civilizations or chapters of current ones.  It’s careful, detailed work that can reveal insight and evidence of what life was like then, helping inform how life can be lived now. By examining the ruins and relics of people who lived years before, we come to understand not only the challenges and opportunities they faced, but also how those very issues have shaped humankind in the years that followed. 

When I applied this thinking to my craft and vocational history of pastoral ministry it generally proved helpful. By doing some archeological like work, examining and studying the contributions of those who lived and led before I ever arrived, I came to know and appreciate the history of the congregation I was trying to partner with and lead. Looking at prior historical records, talking with people who had been present during prior chapters, and gaining insight into what life was like in that community decades prior, demonstrated how patterns and culture was built that is still evident today.

In like manner, as a leader, this practice makes you aware of the importance of giving your best as you attempt to build on that legacy by not repeating similar mistakes, but displaying a capacity to learn, adapt and contribute in such a way that is for the good of all – including those who will one day follow you.

Here’s how the Apostle Paul speaks to this issue in some of his writing:


By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and
someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames. (I Corinthians 3:10-15 NIV)

In pastoral ministry you are almost always building on another’s foundation.  You are adding another layer to the work of those who have gone before. One day the archeologist historians who conduct digs will find layer upon layer of work in the artifacts and remains, including your contributions. Some layers might be thicker or more productive and meaningful; others slimmer or briefer.  But consistently – whether by intention or not – they each benefit from the foundation work that came before them.  Should they choose to try and eradicate that work, they would weaken the overall structure. Should they choose to improve upon it – or stabilize it & then add to it – they would benefit the structure.

What’s true in churches, regarding this building on prior foundations, is also true in other institutions, including industry, academia and government. Occasionally a leader will come along who displays no regard whatsoever for the foundation or layers of work that preceded him. (Could be “her”, but let’s face it this type of arrogance is most often male!)  This arrogant leader, who tends to believe he has all the answers, then proceeds to dismantle everything that has come before.  And, to the peril of the institution and it’s people, the result is to severely weaken the overall structure. Why? No attention was paid to learning from the layers of prior chapters. History was deemed an insufficient teacher, or too boring, perhaps requiring study and reading – something an arrogant leader may feel he has no time to devote toward.

But rest assured, archeologists would probably concur, this leader’s efforts will also one day lay in the rubble of relics and artifacts to be studied. Perhaps they will be found in the digs of a civilization that failed and has fallen because of it’s disregard for its foundation, or its arrogant assumption that one can build without a foundation.  Time will tell – as it almost always has a way of doing.

© 2025 Daniel M. Cash   

For more of my work, including a weekly podcast “The Cash cache” go to : https://cashdan.substack.com/

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May 6, 2025 · 8:49 am

Overcoming One’s “Dark Night of the Soul”

Recently the world news has focused attention on the passing of Pope Francis, whose death followed a 12-year ministry as head of the Roman Catholic Church. Though not a Catholic, I found Pope Francis to be an interesting and inspiring Christian leader. I appreciated his humble posture and more open stance on issues, as well as his generosity toward all people.

Not too long ago I read his biography “Life: My Story Through History”. In this book Francis referenced a two-year period of ministry he referred to as a “dark night”. This occurred in the 1990’s when he was removed from his position as a provincial of the Jesuit order in Argentina and sent to a rural parish. It was something of an exile which he called his “dark night of the soul” and a “great interior crisis”. Pope Francis did not offer much more than those comments on these two years of his remarkable life, but they clearly formed and shaped him. According to some he emerged from that time a kinder, humbler person; like the one who was so fondly remembered over the past days.

This is what can take place as a result of enduring what in spiritual terms is often called the “dark night of the soul”. The phrase is attributed to Saint John of the Cross, a 16th Century Spanish Carmelite friar and mystic who wrote a poem by that title. By definition, such an experience is “a period of spiritual desolation in which all sense of consolation is removed.” Plainly put, the dark night is a difficult, painful period in one’s life.

I suspect that many, if not most, spiritual leaders go through their own version of a dark night at some point. It might be a particularly difficult time of ministry during which your leadership is questioned, or you are questioning your call or faith. Dark nights can be self-imposed or just creep up on you. They are not limited to those in leadership. Any Christ follower can be susceptible to a dark night where there are more questions than answers and more silence than affirmations.

My own experience with this is still fresh. In the later part of 2022 I made a ministry transition, leaving a pastorate of fifteen years for another opportunity. Looking back, I can see that while I was correct that it was time to step away from that pastorate, the call that I pursued was of my own forcing. In other words, I pursued a job that was not a good fit, bringing on my own dark night experience. There was some arrogance and willfulness in my saying “yes” to that call, and I regret any pain or confusion it may have caused. I left that position after just three months.

What ensued was a very lonely time of introspection. The dark night followed me and, if I’m honest, endured another couple of years. I did not question my faith, but I did face the humbling experience of facing my failure and self-induced disappointment. There’s something about falling on your face that is humiliating. When you do in front of an audience of your peers, including those who questioned your decision and would probably like to say “I told you so” – that is truly mortifying. But, if you can dust off the humiliation and swallow your pride, so as to engage in the emptying work of prayer and formation, good can come from the void of silence and darkness.

Throughout my own dark night experience God continued to place opportunities of service before my path that have resulted in a reaffirmation of my call and gifts. I would call these opportunities part of my formation or re-formation. Hopefully they have caused me to be a gentler, kinder version of myself.

From time to time I have a flashback to my dark night days, feeling the emotions and disappointment of that time anew. Thankfully these experiences are becoming fewer and less frequent. But I think they remain as a means of my not forgetting the work God seeks to do in and through me today.

It’s a bit daunting to write about this from such a personal place of discovery, but I do so in hope that it may speak to someone else. If you are in that proverbial dark night place, please know that you are not alone. Many, maybe most, others have been or are there too. It’s not the end of things. There is a repeated theme in the Bible of wilderness. Jesus spent time in the wilderness, and Israel labored there. Why should we expect to avoid it? The important thing is not that we were in exile, but that we emerge from it – strengthened, changed, and open to continue in God’s grace and love.

© Daniel M. Cash 2025

If you are interested in reading or listening to more of my work, I offer a podcast called “The Cash cache” through Substack that features many of my stories and reflections written over the years in my own voice.

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