A few weeks ago I performed a story at church, in collaboration with my pastor, about the apostle Paul being shipwrecked on an island. My pastor, the incomparable Reverend Todd (he hates being called that, so here ya go Todd), is a lover of improv theatre, and we share a common bond when it comes to trying out “different” storytelling techniques that engage and involve the audience.

So, when Todd asked me to perform the story as part of his sermon (about 20 minutes before the sermon) I eagerly took on the role, even bringing in my packed suitcase and backpack to illustrate Paul on a journey. The journey was symbolized by the congregation - by me walking through the entire congregation, row by row, through each row, shaking each person’s hand. Todd distributed index cards ahead of time to selected congregants, each index card summarizing some random calamity that would befall me when I met them.

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So, Alexis and I were in the shuttle bus returning us to our car in the airport parking lot. As the bus made its rounds of the surrounding lots, dropping off other passengers, something interesting happened. At one point a lady was scanning the lot anxiously for her car, and for a while it looked like she had forgotten where she parked. When she finally found it and was getting off the bus, she said something along the lines of: “I’m glad I remembered where I parked, thank gosh!”

Wait a minute… thank gosh?!

Wow… if gosh helps me find my car in an ocean of cars, I’m going to start thanking gosh myself!

I’ve heard of this gosh before - people swear by gosh all the time, and they are often well-mannered and polite people. This gosh must be nice, to have such a nice following.

I’ve also heard that gosh has the power to darn! People often invoke the power of gosh when in sticky situations, and I find it appealing how easy it is for them: they simply (and politely) say, “gosh, darn it!”

Maybe today I’ll ask gosh to darn my socks.

Oh my gosh… I’m simply at a loss for words for how much I love my tame gosh!

And why should it stop with me? Why should I keep the knowledge of gosh to myself? If I have such a personal relationship with gosh that I can thank gosh in public, that I can ask gosh to darn my socks in public, that I can claim fervently that gosh is MY GOSH in public, then I really should tell other people about my gosh, by gosh!

So, gosh bless you! May the power of gosh always be with you, and may gosh always darn your socks for you.

But please don’t take my gosh’s name in vain. Otherwise you will offend me.

Today we start a discussion series on “stories of a reckless God,” where we become familiar with the Bible as a collection of stories of messy people interacting with an equally messy God.

Well, that was the plan anyway - today we woke up to 8 inches of snow and more falling steadily! So, we postponed the grand start of the group until NEXT Saturday…

We were supposed to meet at a local pizza place - Kiro’s Pizza, the best pizza in Belchertown! I will still go there - it has been a while since I talked with Alex, who owns the place, and his brother Hany. They have been looking forward to the discussion group being at their place so that they could participate in community - running a small pizza place in a small town takes a lot of work on their part, they work 16 hour days 7 days a week.

In the meantime, here are a couple of outlines that I wrote up for the discussion group:

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