Let’s Talk

Dear Sutton and Savannah

I think the most important journey we take is the inward journey. And, I believe that the most important conversation we have is the conversation we have with ourself. There are so many parts of our personality that generally remain in unconscious. Difficult or emotionally energized circumstances can often expose those parts. And they may surprise us. Often we are attracted to those people who carry the very characteristics that are undeveloped in ourselves. When those various parts surprise you, I hope you will greet them with grace, love and curiosity.

-Dad

Inside Out Lectionary Letters

Year A - First Sunday After Christmas

Readings for December 28, 2025

Isaiah 63:7-9   /   Psalm 148   /   Hebrews 2:10-18   /   Matthew 2:13-23

Summary of Matthew 2:13-23

Matthew continues the story of Joseph, Mary and Jesus. In response to a dream, Joseph takes his family to Egypt. King Herod realizes that he has been outwitted by the Magi and takes horrible vengeance on the people of Bethlehem. After some time passes, Joseph and his family return to Israel per the instruction of an angel in a dream. Finally, another dream instructs Joseph to settle with his family in Nazareth in the area of Galilee.

Scripture as Mirror of the Soul

This passage raises several difficult questions.

1. Why did God save the baby Jesus, but didn’t save all the other children in the Bethlehem area from the savagery of King Herod?

2. If God is sovereign, why is someone like King Herod, or his son Archelaus, allowed in power at all?

I have heard explanations and reasons that have been offered in response to such difficult questions. But they never seem adequate, particularly for those who suffer severe pain, or grieve horrific loss. Sometimes the only honest answer is “I don’t know.” My experience, or knowledge, or insight is inadequate to provide a response to such a question. And maybe it leads to another important question, “Would having an answer matter?” Or maybe it leads to the introspective question, “Why do I need an answer?”

What if we moved from the obsession of looking at all the outward circumstances, and instead heard the story as an invitation to look inward. The questions then change.

1. If King Herod represents a part of me (or you), what part might that be? The jealousy part of me? The part of me that is terrified of losing control? The out-of-balance competitive masculine energy that only defines success in terms of who I defeat?

All of us have a King Herod within. It is part of our shadow side. We project it onto the people we hate. It will lurk in the unconscious, affecting us in toxic ways until we begin to acknowledge it, and bring it to the surface. Doing so is an essential part of the journey to health.

2. If Joseph is a part of me (or you), what part might that be? The part that is sensitive to the divine voice within? The intuitive part?

I find it fascinating that the divine voice within leads Joseph to the land of enslavement (Egypt). The journey to health seems to inevitably lead a person to confront those ideas, experiences, wounds, trauma, voices, institutional values and cultural norms that have kept us bound and enslaved. Freedom comes, not from ignoring them, but from facing and confronting them.

3. If Jesus represents a part of me (or you), what part might that be? The birth of consciousness? A new idea, direction, value or identity?

The birth of something new often feels as fragile as a newborn baby. It feels like we never have enough knowledge to protect that new life. However, knowledge is not the only resource we have. Intuition, insight, common sense, love and grace provide a wisdom that takes us beyond our knowledge. Listening to that divine voice within, will lead us to engage the shadow, confront the land of enslavement and trek through the valley of the unknown on our path to health, wholeness and freedom.