brian shivers

Remember Veggie Tales, the popular Christian videos produced by Big Idea featuring the likes of Bob the Tomato, Larry the Cucumber, Junior the Asparagus, Silly Songs, and Bible stories acted out by anthropomorphic vegetables? These characters and their antics were everywhere for well over a decade. For a while they were even featured during the Saturday morning cartoon slot on NBC. Phil Vischer, the co-creator of Veggie Tales and former "top tomato" at Big Idea Productions, has his own podcast. A couple of years ago he discussed the book A Manual for Creating Atheists by Peter Boghossian. During the episode the following exchange took place between Vischer and his co-host, Skye Jethani. Vischer: Here’s what I want to do. I want to encourage parents and Christian educators to teach critical thinking skills… do you know why we don’t do that? Jethani: ‘Cause it’s hard. Vischer: ‘Cause we’re afraid our kids will actually use them. Jethani: And they might come to a differen...

Last year on this day, I was on a bus heading for Selma, AL to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the first march from Selma to Montgomery to demonstrate for voter's rights for African-Americans. Over 50 years ago, when that first group of demonstrators got to the Edmund Pettus bridge (a bridge named after a Confederate brigadier general, a US Senator, and Grand Dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan) they were met by local law men and an angry posse who greeted their peaceful march with the violence of swinging billy clubs, tear gas, fists, and feet. The moment was captured on camera and was broadcast across the country. The day became known as Bloody Sunday. As our bus got closer to Selma, the traffic slowed to a crawl. Several of us decided that we would disembark and walk the remaining two miles into Selma. It was a surreal and emotional experience. As we walked I began to imagine what those original marchers must have felt when they set out on foot to the state capital w...

On Ash Wednesday many will gather together, sing hymns, pray, hear the word proclaimed, eat the bread, drink the wine, and have ashes smeared in the shape of a cross on their foreheads. Ashes? Really?! What an odd way to begin a religious season. Yet that is the way many of those who try to follow the teachings of Jesus will mark the start of the forty days of Lent, the season in the Christian calendar that stretches from Ash Wednesday to the Saturday before Easter (not counting the Sundays). We enter this holy season with a smudge of ash on our skin and the words "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return" ringing in our ears. And somehow this strange activity seems... right. For in those ashes and through those words, I am reminded of my own mortality, and my body is honored as more than a vessel for my soul. When the ashes are smeared on my forehead I am reminded that there is solidarity among all of us, even with the Christ (or perhaps especially w...

Advent Week 4 This week we light the fourth candle of Advent Wreath. "We light this candle to symbolize the gift of God’s love in Jesus Christ." Psalm 89:1-4; 20-26  "I will sing of your steadfast love, O LORD, forever; with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.I declare that your steadfast love is established forever; your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens. You said, "I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to my servant David: 'I will establish your descendants forever, and build your throne for all generations.'" Selah Then you spoke in a vision to your faithful one, and said: "I have set the crown on one who is mighty, I have exalted one chosen from the people. I have found my servant David; with my holy oil I have anointed him; my hand shall always remain with him; my arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him, the wicked shall not humble him. I will crush his foes be...

Advent Week 3   This week we light the second candle on the Advent wreath. “We light this candle in peace; Jesus is our peace.” Philippians 4:4-7 "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Psalm 67 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah that your way may be known upon earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you. The earth has yielded its i...

Advent Week 2   This week we light the second candle on the Advent wreath. “We light this candle in peace; Jesus is our peace.” Luke 1:68-70; 76-79   "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old... And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." Luke 3:1-6 "In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and...

Advent Week 1 This week we light the first candle in the Advent wreath. “We light this candle in hope, the bright hope of Jesus, the Christ.” Psalm 25:1-10 To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me. Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long. Be mindful of your mercy, O LORD, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness' sake, O LORD! Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the LORD are steadfast lov...

Here we are in the season of Advent.  Regardless of what the displays in the stores, the hype in the commercials, and the music on the radio stations might want us all to believe, Christmas has not come. In the Christian calendar, the four full weeks plus before Christmas Day is the season of Advent, the season of waiting.  This season reminds us to take time to consider what it is that God is about to do.  This season encourages us to breathe deeply and experience the beauty of the divine presence in the ordinariness of our everyday.  This season asks us to struggle to live into the anticipation of the not yet.  Let us not hurry to Bethlehem losing ourselves in the tinsel, trimmings, lights, and bows and in so doing missing the growth that can be experienced along the journey toward the incarnation.  Join in this trek over the next several weeks, and may we find ourselves surprised by what we find along the way. I look forward to seeing you.  November...

Take three minutes today to Pray...Read...Sit in Silence...Read...Pray Today's passage... Matthew 22:1-11; 15-16; 34-40 "Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 'The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, 'Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.' But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, maltreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, 'The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find ...

Matthew 20:1-16 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, th...

"At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me." Where have you seen the humble spirit of a child? What might it mean to possess such a humble spirit? Where might you welcome the Christ today?

Nehemiah 9:16-17 16 “But they and our ancestors acted presumptuously and stiffened their necks and did not obey your commandments; 17 they refused to obey, and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them; but they stiffened their necks and determined to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and you did not forsake them. What is mercy? When have you received mercy? What does reading "But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful" do to you?

ROMANS 5:12–21 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned — 13 sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. 14 Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. 16 And the free gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. 17 If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift...

ROMANS 5:1–11 1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person — though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9 Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies, we...

Psalm 119:73–80 73   Your hands have made and fashioned me;           give me understanding that I may learn your commandments. 74   Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice,           because I have hoped in your word. 75   I know, O LORD, that your judgments are right,           and that in faithfulness you have humbled me. 76   Let your steadfast love become my comfort           according to your promise to your servant. 77   Let your mercy come to me, that I may live;           for your law is my delight. 78   Let the arrogant be put to shame,           because they have subverted me with guile;   ...

JOHN 5:1–18 1 After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. 3 In these lay many invalids — blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’” 12 They a...

john 4:43–54 43 When the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee 44 (for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in the prophet’s own country). 45 When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival; for they too had gone to the festival. 46 Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my little boy dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. 51 As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was aliv...

1 John 4:16-19 God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.  17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgement, because as he is, so are we in this world.  18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.  19 We love because he first loved us. Join in the Lenten Photo-a-Day Project. Take a photo each day that somehow reflects the theme. Post your photo to social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) with the word of the day and these hashtags #40days40looks and #lentwith2nd. This is a great way to journey through Lent together.  What is fear? Where do you fear?  Where do you see love driving out fear?

HEBREWS 4:11-16 11 Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall through such disobedience as theirs.   12 Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  13 And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.   14 Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.  15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.  16 Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Join in the Lenten Photo-a-Day Project. Take a photo eac...

JOHN 3:16-21 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.   17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  18 Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.  20 For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.  21 But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” Join in the Lenten Photo-a-Day Project. Take a photo each day that somehow reflects the theme. Post your photo to social media (Facebook, Twitter, I...