The birth of Jesus, which we remember through these weeks of advent and especially two days from now, is the deepest mystery I know.

The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. The Word put aside position and power, and took on human weakness to the extreme, while continuing to also be the Word, in the form of flesh.

There had been declarations, covenants, and words before, between God and creation... but finally the Word became flesh in order to fulfill all that had preceded. To flesh it out.

I love contemplating the craziness, shock, ridiculousness, absurdity, drama, brilliance, and simplicity of this event.

What a mystery: that the artist would enter into the art, in order to help it overcome the places where it's "stuck."

And what an inspiration. A stimulus package for worn out souls.

This year, here's another thing that inspires me about Jesus becoming flesh: the reminder that we need to and can do the same. We need to Flesh It Out too.

Ideas have their place but if they stop short of action and never take a real form, they're hollow, maybe even arrogant.

Words are great, but without real love they're just clanging cymbals.

Intentions are good for paving roads, not much more.

Dreams can only inspire so much, but actions, discipline, sacrifice, commitment, dedication, and resolve are needed to realize (fulfill) dreams, especially in a context so full of resistance as the human experience.

It requires faith to believe that the Word became flesh. (Of course, it requires at least as much faith to disbelieve this.)

But even belief, on its own, is fragile and vulnerable. Belief needs a companion. Belief needs bones and skin so it can go into the neighborhood.

It takes true faith to flesh it out - to demostrate and participate, in our daily lives, in the life-changing implications of what God has done and wants us to "do likewise."

The New Testament's gospels and epistles are centered on this theme, as is the whole history of God's redemption of God's own art.

Grace and Peace to you this season as you absorb more of the deep mystery of Jesus' birth, and become part of the peace on earth he came to unveil.

In Pakistan - a recently hired, Christian, janitor, living in poverty, gave his life to stop an attack from killing Muslim children in a school.

This is an extreme case of following Jesus. Most Christians in the world today won't find themselves literally in this situation of giving up their lives for others. But every Christian who follows Jesus should be ready to make this kind of sacrifice for others (regardless who they are) without time for second thoughts.

Are you ready? Am I ready? Would we think twice? Would it matter who we're saving, or helping?

It's important to hear multiple perspectives about complex situations -- before, during, and also after arriving at opinions or conclusions.

In America, far too often I hear people expressing strong but ill-informed opinions, which usually seem to be based on subjective sources of information (or misinformation) in which they place too much trust, and without having actually considered alternative perspectives.

Afghanistan is one example, there are widely divergent views and reasons given for why we should continue the war there, bring our troops home, send more troops, continue or change our strategy in the region. Probably the one area of agreement is we're not winning or accomplishing any longterm objectives yet in Afghanistan.

One of my all-time favorite photographers is Steve McCurry, who has started blogging. Steve is the guy who famously photographed the Afghan girl decades ago for the National Geographic cover.

On Steve McCurry's blog, he offers some thoughts about Afghanistan, painting in some background and history about the people, the culture, and the dilemma we face about what to do with the war, and whether we are honestly considering the needs and perspectives of the Afghan people.

I think if our leaders will listen to more voices like this, not just opinions and partisan conclusions but voices of reason and experience, we would find wisdom to make difficult decisions. Let's turn our ears to wisdom. It's something we need to watch for, listen for, search for. There's no other way.

If you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding,
and if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
- Proverbs 2:1-5

Ramadan is upon us, and around the world millions of Muslims are observing this sunup to sundown fast.

As always, the photos from The Boston Globe's The Big Picture - this set is from Ramadan around the world - are powerful and interesting images.

I love the Chinese lanterns in Cairo, used as Ramadan decorations by Arabs. What a small world we have.

Do you fast and pray? If not, why? If so, what is the experience like for you?

Do you ever consider fasting during Ramadan as a way of identifying with and praying for the Muslim world?

(This image of a crescent moon in Amman Jordan is by REUTERS / Muhammad Hamed)

This Washington Post article, Pakistan's Kiln Workers Bricked In by Debt, is an example of indentured sevanthood that keeps people in slavery in so many parts of today's world, through their whole lives, just as their previous and future generations experience.

If you read the article (5 minutes) and have any sense of justice, it can make your blood boil. A few rich kiln owners, perhaps oblivious (and perhaps not) to the slavery and forced poverty of the workers who make their wealth possible, live so estranged from the realities of their own business that they might even think they're doing these kiln workers a favor by providing life-long employment.

Middle- or upper-class consumers who build homes are one layer away in their complicity, perhaps also ignorant of the human cost of the bricks they use.

Stories like this, which are also repeated in dozens of other countries and even within the United States, show how evil can thrive when greed is unchecked, and just how wide greed can reach even to common folks who are part of an economic matrix.

And it's complicated, true. Greed is often accompanied by corruption, entrenched systems, ignorance, and patterns of justice and economics which favor those with resources and options, not those with none; systems whose path of least resistance is to remain unjust. Extreme separation between consumer and producer can exacerbate evil and injustice like this.

The only thing that makes my blood boil even more than this is when naive people complain about "personal responsibility" of the poor (that they don't work hard enough, that they're lazy, that they're welfare sponges) and the inherent "right" of the wealthy to create more of their own wealth at any cost to people who might happen to be lower on the economic ladder. I personally know some of these folks and a surprising (to me) number of them are Christians. Yep, it makes my blood boil because it contradicts what the Bible seems to teach about God's perspective on money and people; and I haven't yet found a way to reconcile this or have some healing, honest conversations.

When will God's kingdom come and God's will be done on earth, among Pakistan's kiln workers, as it is in heaven?

If this touches me or you, we must do something. We MUST do something. I don't give up on prayer, but does it change things NOW for this generation of Pakistani kiln workers, or even for the next generation?

In a country thousands of miles away, from where will light shine or hope come?

The light and hope of Jesus could potentially come from the church, I believe. No slam-dunk. But I do pray for the church, the very poor, tiny minority of believers in Pakistan who follow Jesus. Maybe some of them are brick makers. Many others are street sweepers, sanitary workers.

And I pray for the church in neighboring countries and cultures, and the church all over the world, to seek and find ways to insist on "liberty and justice for all," not just for some.

Brickmaking's fine, someone's gotta do it. But how about a living wage, education, healthcare, nutrition, decent working hours and conditions, profit sharing, and the eradication of indentured slavery for starters? If political and religious conservatives, especially Christians, truly care about moral values, families, people made in God's very image... you'd think they'd be all over issues like this. Hm.

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves;
defend the rights of all those who have nothing.
Speak up and judge fairly,
and defend the rights of the poor and needy.
- Proverbs 31:8-9

Though he's homeless himself, Eric Sheptock writes a blog, has a Facebook page and a Twitter account. He lives in Washington, D.C. and says he wants to educate the public about what he and many others like him are up against.

Who is more qualified to advocate for the homeless than the homeless? Not that people with housing don't have a significant role to play in addressing homelessness, because there's a lot we can do in collaboration with those who are homeless.

"...if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday."
- Isaiah 58:10

A few images from the June issue of National Geographic.

The world population, currently at 6 billion, is expected to increase to around 10 billion and then decline.

But already there are signs that our population is straining the planet's capabilities to produce and distribute food to everyone. At least this is true based on the way we are currently using resources.

The same is true of basic resources like water and clean air -- these are not things we will take for granted in the years to come.

"Nothing is left for him to devour;
his prosperity will not endure.
In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him;
the full force of misery will come upon him."

- Job 20:21-22 (read the whole chapter - the context is the outcome for the wicked who have oppressed the poor and left them destitute, seized things that were not theirs...)

What do you think? Have we abused the plenty we have had? ("We" could be anyone or any community or nation. For me as an American, I can ask these questions about myself and my country.) Have we abused the land? Do we responsibly share limited resources with others whom God has made? Do we consume things at the expense of the well being of others? How will we be judged? What if we didn't realize some of the repercussions of our lifestyles for a long time?

As a writer, I love words.

As a photographer, I love images, probably a little more than I love words.

As a designer and consumer of electronic information, I'm overwhelmingly bombarded with both words and images every day...

[More]

The serious and unwelcome "swine flu" is making its way into a growing number of countries and communities, another bad rap for pigs.

According to the AADS (Association Against the Defamation of Swine -- and as far as I know I just now invented this organization) this is nothing new...

[More]

Happy Earth Day. I don't know, is that the proper greeting on Earth Day?

Revelation talks about the old earth and the old heaven passing away.

It might feel to many of us like that's happening during our generation, as it has been during many previous generations and may continue into who knows how many future generations.

Until this Earth 1.0 does pass away and get replaced by the New heaven and New earth, this is the one we've got.

If we're obedient to the one who made us, we don't just sit it out, using up this earth and waiting for the upgrade. We've been given a mandate by our creator:

• to be fruitful, in all that means as God has taught us throughout all of scripture - what are the outcomes?
• to multiply and fill the earth - how are we doing on that one, when will it be full?
• to rule over, have dominion over, have stewardship over, be in charge of Earth 1.0

And until we have a New Jerusalem (which by the way won't be anything like the Jerusalem we have now, the new one will be SO different that it will come down from heaven) how well are we caring for the Jerusalem we've got? It's a place of division, mistrust, injustice, anger, violence, and suffering. All this happens in the streets and hillsides surrounding the temples and churches and mosques in various parts of the city.

Blessed are the ones who advocate for fruitfulness, who fill the earth as they work for true and lasting peace in the hearts and hillsides of the old Jerusalem and throughout the rest of the Earth 1.0.

May God's kingdom come and will be done on earth today and tomorrow, just as it is in heaven.