Mike McClenahan

God calls Moses to leadership through the burning bush in the wilderness-- a bush that burns but doesn't burn up. Moses doesn't run away, but he draws closer to the bush and God calls out his name then gives him a surprising calling.  Moses  responds, "Who am I?"  Moses was an unlikely and imperfect leader: a shepherd all alone on the far side of the wilderness, eighty years old, and a foreigner;  faltering speech,  a murderer who fled Egypt,  and how can a hebrew raised in Pharaoh's household lead the people whose God has no name? And yet he was rescued as a child by Pharaoh's daughter and raised as a prince of Egypt. Was he delivered in order to become a deliverer? And then Moses asks, "Who are you? What is your name?" God reveals his name, "I am" or "I am who I am." This is the first time in scripture God has a name. God moves from the general name El or Elohim (God) to the specific name Yahweh, and the very persona...

In the movie Parenthood, Steve Martin's character Gil is  complaining about his complicated life, when Grandma enters the room. Grandma : You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster. Gil : Oh? Grandma : Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!  Gil : What a great story. [sarcastically] Grandma : I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it. ( See clip ) Grandma's roller coaster is an accurate way of describing Joseph's life in Genesis 37-50: his father's favorite son with a fancy coat, eleven brothers who hate him , a dreamer who dreams for God, his brothers sell him as a slave , earns respect in Egypt, falsely accused by the boss' wife, becomes deputy Pharoah... ...

Abraham caressing Isaac (Rembrandt) There is so much about the Abraham-through-Jacob-story of Genesis that is so unlikely: old bodies giving birth, lying, wrestling with brother, wrestling with God, refugees becoming great, stealing birthrights, to name a few. And on the back end of unlikeliness we have hope because we know how the story goes. But on the front end of unlikeliness, while we are still in the unlikely, there is often no hope.  Hope is not always immediately or obviously found. There are more reasons not to hope than to hope. Sometimes hopelessness comes in the waiting, sometimes in the barrenness, sometimes in the long journey to a new place.  I visited a friend last week who has declined over the last three months because something is attacking his brain. Tests are still inconclusive. The doctors are still scratching their heads. They think they know what it is not, but they don't know what it is. Without a diagnosis, there is no prognosis.  There is...

"So God created  human beings  in his own image,  in the image of God  he created them;    male and female  he created them." Genesis 1:27 Last Sunday we began our journey through The Story--31 weeks of connecting our individual and unique stories with God's epic and grand story. We covered the first nine chapters of Genesis, which is like fast forwarding through a movie and just getting a glimpse of all the action. As I was reflecting on the beginning chapters, where God creates everything we see and don't see, where God fashions human beings out of the ground ("Adam" means dirt) and establishes his relationship with every living thing ("Eve" means living one), a phrase caught my attention: "Let us make human beings in our image" (1:26). In God's image means to be in relationship. "Let us" reflects mysteriously the community of the trinity.  It means to be in relationship with God and with each other as God is in re...

Although we have enjoyed coffee all over the world, our love for drinking coffee began in Spain. We stand at the counter at La Mallorquina which has served pastries on the Puerta del Sol since 1894. "Dos cafés con leche." (I Iike the steamed milk at breakfast because it adds some nutrition to the meal.) He places the saucer, spoon, and sugar packet in front of us. The white cups and saucers add a respect and dignity to the drink versus paper cups and lids. "¿Algo más?" (The white jacketed man asks without making eye contact--he's very busy.) "Dos napolitanas con chocolate." (They are known for their napolitanas, and again, the dark chocolate is healthier than the crema.) He places a knife and fork before us and we love the clinking. There is such an effort in setting, clearing and cleaning real flatware and porcelain rather than tossing plastic and paper. Moments later he brings the pastries, then the cups with only espresso. He pours th...

Transportation in Madrid is social and patterned. Passing through turnstiles you commit to a way of being together: elderly priority seating, stroller and mom, squeeze but respect space, make room for oncomers, commuters in their own Kindle world and young teenagers in packs without supervision. Although public transportation can be confining, there is also freedom and adventure. We are on the metro to the Chamartin station to catch a train to Segovia. Twenty euro round trip ticket on the high speed Ave , and we arrive in thirty minutes. Thirty years ago I remember getting to the station with my backpack, looking up to the salidas board and deciding where to go. Today we bought tickets at a kiosk with a card and selected our return tonight at 9:30. Then I wrote in my journal and fotos with my camera, saving three months of film rolls in an X-ray bag; today I blog and sacar fotos on my phone. I love the time on the train for reflecting, talking, eating without worrying about renti...

We attach significance to spaces--memories and emotions that are very personal and can be very meaningful. Madrid is one of those spaces to me. I love the buildings and history, the metro and boulevards, the language, tapas, cañas, bocadillos , Retiro Park, cafe con leche, chocolate con churros and I actually like the ubiquitous cigarette smoke. I'm tempted to start smoking. We look for the same spots and still look for new adventures. "I" became "we" when my six week college experience five years later became Amy and my first international trip together and 16 years later became a sabbatical experience with ten year olds. Now we look at each other with the same "we love this" expression. In 1981 I saw a flyer posted in the Spanish department for a scholarship to El Centro de Estudios Hispánicos. I don't know why I was interested. I had just chosen my Spanish major that fall, mostly because you have to declare something and I had twenty adv...