17
May
2026

“What you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you” (Acts 17:23)

This message is based on one of the readings from this past Sunday (Easter 6, year A)
– David Sellnow

So many beliefs. One truth to proclaim.

You’ve probably heard the statistics about Christianity and religious participation in America. The statistics, in one sense, show religion in decline. In 2007,  78% of U.S. adults identified as Christians of one sort or another. By 2024, it had fallen to 62%. Two decades ago, an average of 42% of U.S. adults attended religious services every week or nearly every week. Now that number is at 30%. Half of Americans seldom or never attend religious services in person. Meanwhile the percentage of Americans who say they have no religious affiliation has grown from 9% in the early 2000s to 21% today. 

Don’t think, though, that people are becoming more unspiritual in general. What seems to be happening is that our society is becoming less religiously active while still having all sorts of spiritual beliefs. Other studies show that:

  • 86% of U.S. adults believe they have a soul or spirit in addition to their physical body.
  • 83% believe in God or a universal spirit.
  • 79% believe there is something spiritual beyond the natural world, even if we can’t see it.
  • 70% believe in an afterlife.
  • 30% say they have personally encountered a spirit or unseen spiritual force.*

There’s still a lot of spirituality out there in the communities around us. We are a society with all sorts of religious (as well as antireligious) ideas, all sorts of gods and idols, all sorts of beliefs full of all sorts of inconsistencies and contradictions.

Greek society in the first century was like that. Greek civilization and culture had various religions and beliefs. Greek thought was divided and unsettled, a myriad of moral and philosophical perspectives. On the far end in one direction were the Epicureans. Epicureans said there is no God. For them, the highest good in life was personal comfort. Seeking the most happiness and contentment one could find—that was the meaning of life as far as they could see. On the other end of the spectrum were the Stoics. Stoicism put forward virtue as the highest value in life. Be patient, endure pain, discipline your own body and mind, they advised. Stoics believed God was in everything—an impersonal force, the logic of the universe, a part of every creature and object around us. In the middle fell the rest of the Greeks. The common crowd still held to the old Greek religion. They were polytheistic. They trusted in many gods: Zeus, Hermes, Athena, Aphrodite, and more. They envisioned a god or goddess for every earthly need. But in all Greek thought, no god, no philosophy, was really there to help you beyond this life. Their perspective of the afterlife was that all went to Hades—the gloomy abode of the dead—without much hope beyond the grave.

When the apostle Paul traveled to Athens, the cultural melting pot of Greece, he could see that people were very religious, believing in many things. But they did not have a strong connection to who the real God really is. Paul wanted to speak to as many of them as he could, telling them about the Lord God who came to us in the person of Jesus Christ, about Jesus’ resurrection and our hope of resurrection with him, about the faith that the Spirit of God produces by his word.

Paul’s activity in the city attracted the attention of the city’s leaders. That’s how Paul came to stand before the Areopagus. Areopagus is a Greek name meaning Ares’ Rock or Ares’ Hill. Ares was one of the gods of the Greeks—their god of bravery and battle, the god of war. Ares’ Hill became the common name for the Council of Athens, since they originally met on that hill. At the time of the apostles, the Areopagus mainly dealt with major trials such as murders, plus the censorship of religion and education in the community. Since Paul was preaching a religion strange to their ears, the leaders of the city felt they had better hear him out.

Paul gave them an earful. He commented on the fact that religious thought of all kinds abounded among them. He pointed out their monument to an unknown God. “This is the God,” Paul said, “that I’d like to tell you about it. This God whom you don’t know is the true God.”

Paul explained who God, the Lord of all, really is. Paul said, “The God who made the world and everything in it—he is Lord of heaven and earth. … He himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things” (Acts 17:24,25). 

The Athenians, who thought their ancestors had sprung up out of the ground, did not know the full truth. Their profound philosopher, Aristotle, too, was mistaken, when he proposed that humanity simply always has been, is eternal. The Epicureans theorized that all life started with a simple atom and eventually grew to be more complex. These people made up their own ideas about divine origins, and how human beings came to be, not recognizing the greater truth about their creator. People still do this today, trying to make God in humankind‘s image—as though we could fit him into our minds and understand him, as though the creation could grasp the vastness of the creator. God is too great for that. God’s ways are higher than our ways as much as the heavens are above the earth (Isaiah 55:9). He is the source of life for us. As Paul described to the Athenians (Acts 17:28), “In him we live and move and have our being,” quoting their own poets who sensed that larger truth, saying, “We are his offspring.”

Worshiping the real God begins with acknowledging him as our creator and preserver, the one who truly governs this universe and guides all life in it. He is the Lord of our history. The lives of all people are in his hands. As Paul said to the Athenians, “From one ancestor he made all peoples to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God,” seeking to find him (Acts 17:26,27).

The true God is not just some impersonal force, as the Stoics believed. He is a living, thinking, personal being, very much invested in what happens to our lives. History is his story. Nothing happens without his awareness of it. He is personally involved with his creation. He knows you and wants you to know him. He loves you and wants you to love him. He reaches out to you and wants for you to be held by him.

He is not far from any of us, as Paul said (Acts 17:27). He is right there, overseeing our lives. But though God is so close, you can’t see him or find him on your own. You can’t make a statue and call it God. He “does not live in shrines made by human hands” (Acts 17:24). You can’t just speak prayers and hope somebody hears you. God, in truth, invites you to call him by name, approaching him in the name of Jesus Christ. That name is God‘s saving revelation to people. All of God‘s plans for human lives are intended to guide people toward the discovery of his name—the name of Jesus—and bring us toward repentance and salvation in him. On our own as human beings, we “fumble about” in our search for God (Acts 17:27). But God is leading us toward the day when Jesus Christ is revealed as judge of all the world. On that day, he will show us that he is truly the God in whom we find our being.

As Paul proclaimed, “God has set a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed” (Acts 17:31). Jesus is the one who provides saving justice; God has given assurance of this to all by raising Jesus from the dead (Acts 17:31). Trusting in Jesus—the living, resurrected, Lord—we have life in him and will be resurrected ourselves. As Jesus himself promised us, “Because I live, you also will live.  On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:19-20).

When Paul spoke of his faith in Jesus’ resurrection and ours, many in the Athenian audience were skeptical, “When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed, but others said, ‘We will hear you again about this.’” And some did hear him further and became believers (Acts 17:32-24). 

Believing in resurrection—that there is life beyond this present life—is hard. It’s not something we can see evidence of when we stand in a cemetery or go to a wake at a funeral home. Yet it is our greatest hope. As Paul said on another occasion in his ministry, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. … If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died” (1 Corinthians 15:17-20). That core truth of Christian faith is what Paul sought to share most of all. And that core truth of Christian faith is still what enlivens and invigorates us today, giving us the hope and strength to get through days of our lives on this earth that are dark or difficult. 

Like the Athenians, we also live in a country where knowledge of God is often clouded and people follow misconceptions. We ourselves are tempted to look in the wrong directions for help and hope so many times. But while there may be all sorts of paths to worldly success and wealth and prestige, the real truth, the real hope, the real blessing, is in Jesus Christ. His life-giving message that extends to eternity.

Yes, the world is already full of religion and belief of all sorts. Everyone has some god or gods that they follow, some hopes or philosophies that they think will give them reassurance. But so many have not found the confidence and comfort that is found in Jesus Christ. The God we have come to know and trust is a God who, throughout time, has done miracles for those who have trusted in him. He has put bread on the table when people had no idea where their next meal was coming from. He has brought healing of sicknesses when everyone thought there was no possible cure. He gave children to parents who thought they could not have children. And even with so many miracles that he has done, Jesus said you will see greater things than these (cf.John 1:50). The greater miracles that God provides for us are the love he brings us into together as families, the hope that he provides for us when hope seems lost, the forgiveness and grace he showers on us when all we could feel was guilt and shame, the life that he promises that overcomes death and will never end.

Those are truths that we know in Jesus, that we can speak about in our present day and age, rooted in the good news of his resurrection from death. Those are the truths in Jesus that inspire us to act in love to our neighbors. 

 

*Sources of statistics:

Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Posted by David Sellnow, 0 comments
10
May
2026

Mother’s Day thoughts

I had the opportunity this morning to lead a children’s devotion at church, and will share it with you here.

The faith of our parents

Do you know the story of our first parents, back in the Garden of Eden? It was the most beautiful place, and everything was wonderful. But then everything changed, and things weren’t wonderful anymore. They weren’t in the Garden of Eden anymore. Life was going to be fragile and often difficult. Having children and getting through life in this world would come with pain and sweat and all kinds of challenges. And they’d face death someday too. 

But even though they knew all that, do you know what they did? The man gave his wife the name Eve. That name means “life”—because, as the man said, “She would become the mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20). The man we call Adam. That was a word in Hebrew that means man. He was the first man. Eve was the first mother. They are our first parents.

It took a lot of faith for Adam and Eve to believe that they would keep living and that bringing children into the world would be a blessing.  They believed something God would later say to his people: “Surely I know the plans I have for you—plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). Adam and Eve trusted that God was still with them and would watch over them. They believed God’s promise that a child one day would be born that would be their Savior, someone to rescue them from their troubles in this world. They held onto hope and clung to God’s promise with faith. 

What you see here is a picture of my parents, from when they got married. My parents had five kids—I was the middle one. It took a lot of faith for them to raise a family and get through all the bumps and bruises and bigger difficulties that we all went through. The same is true for your mom and dad. Faith is what keeps them going—trusting God to keep them and you safe, and to get you through life when things don’t seem safe.

Of all the influences on you in this world, do you know has the most influence on your faith—on your spiritual life and beliefs? Surveys consistently show that it’s your mother.*  That’s something to give your mom a hug for today on Mother’s Day. It takes great faith to be a mother, bringing up children. And along with your moms, your dads are guiding and shaping your faith day by day too. More than what you read in books or see on TV, more than your friends, more than teachers at school or other people you know—more than pastors, even—it is your parents who shape your faith. They share God’s love with you and help you to trust in the promises of God. 

This is something God told us to do in our families—telling parents that they are to take the words and promises he has given and impress them on their children. God wants us to talk about his truths when we sit at home, when we go for walks together, when we go to bed at night and when we get up in the morning (Deuteronomy 6:6-8). So, keep doing what you’re doing at home in your families, talking about God’s promises and growing in faith. 

God bless you and your mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers on this Mother’s Day and every day.

For additional thoughts on this topic, see this previous post: https://theelectricgospel.com/eves-faith-and-ours/

* S. Joseph Kidder and Natalie M. Darisme, Who Has the Most Influence on Your Spirituality? Andrews University Faculty Publications 2024

Posted by David Sellnow, 0 comments
25
Apr
2026

The Lord leads me to life that lasts forever

On the church year calendar, this Sunday is Good Shepherd Sunday. I’ll share here a story that I wrote to illustrate a truth from the Good Shepherd psalm—Psalm 23. If you’d like to read more, you can find additional commentary and other stories in The Lord Cares for Me: Stories and Thoughts about Psalm 23.  The book is available in Kindle e-book edition or also paperback.

The LORD is my shepherd. He gives me everything I need.  (Psalm 23:1)

**********

 The story of Larry

 Larry struggled in school. He had a hard time remembering things. He passed his classes in high school, but his grades were below average. Larry’s parents were in poor health and did not have great jobs. They struggled to make ends meet. Larry could not have afforded university tuition, and he doubted he’d get accepted by most colleges.

Larry ended up at the community college, where classes were cheaper. He got a two-year degree which helped him get a job with a heating and air conditioning company. That went well for a while, but during a slump in the nation’s economy, the company went out of business. Larry found himself out of work. He had a series of odd jobs over the next few years. Most were temporary or seasonal positions. Finally, he landed a full-time job at the local meat-packing plant. The work was a chore, but the pay was good. Larry was able to save up for the down payment on a house.

Larry never got married. He was awkward and shy about talking to people. He lived alone in the small house he had bought … until his father died. Then his mother came to live with him, and Larry cared for her. A year or so later his mother also died. So now, in his forties, Larry was alone and barely keeping ahead of house payments and medical bills that he had taken on for his mother in her last months.

Then the meat-packing plant got new owners. The new owners had new ideas on how to run the plant. They fired a large number of the full-time workers and hired people for part-time and temporary positions instead. The new bosses were great at cutting costs to the company—but this also cost people like Larry their jobs and security. Larry had no success finding another solid job.  He collected unemployment checks for as long as he could, but eventually that money ran out.

Larry lost his house. He couldn’t make the monthly payments anymore. He rented a small apartment, but soon couldn’t even afford that. Larry was now 50 years old and homeless. He found a sheltered spot under a railroad bridge where he set up camp for himself. He wondered what he would do when winter came.

An old stray dog kept coming around Larry’s campsite. Though he didn’t have much food, Larry always shared some with the dog, whom he decided to call Rufus. Larry was glad to have the little bit of companionship that Rufus provided. It was about all he had left.

Larry did have one other thing left—something which he’d had with him through all the years, in good times or bad. Larry had his Bible. It was nearly worn out from daily use over the years. Larry treasured the book and kept it wrapped in plastic when not using it, to keep it from getting wet or damaged.

Larry read a chapter in the Bible every day. Lately he’d been reading several chapters a day. He marked verses that really grabbed his heart. He held onto God’s promises with all his heart. He believed the Bible’s promises that God was watching over him no matter how life looked. He knew God was preparing a place in heaven for him and for all those who trust in Jesus.

Sometimes Larry would flip through his Bible and reread favorite verses that he had marked, verses like  …

  • Come to me, all of you who are tired and are carrying heavy loads. I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).
  • The LORD gives strength to those who are tired.  He gives power to those who are weak (Isaiah 40:29).
  • Can trouble or hard times or harm or hunger separate us from God’s love? … Nothing at all can ever separate us from God’s love because of what Christ Jesus our Lord has done (Romans 8:35,39).
  • “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” Jesus said.  “There are many rooms in my Father’s house. … I will take you to be with me. Then you will also be where I am” (John 14:1-3).

Larry longed to go and live with Jesus in the Father’s house in heaven.  Life on earth was hard.

Winter came, and Larry hadn’t found steady work or a place to live. He slept in homeless shelters at night, but would go back to his campsite during the day to check on Rufus and bring him food that he collected from garbage cans. Larry had built a doghouse for Rufus out of stones and old bricks, lining it with torn blankets.

One afternoon, Larry brought Rufus some steak bones he’d found in the trash behind a restaurant. The temperature that day was in the low 40s, so Larry spent the afternoon with Rufus. While the dog chewed happily on the steak bones, Larry sat reading his Bible and praying for the Lord to see him through, no matter how hard things got. Rufus snuggled up next to Larry. Larry was tired and fell asleep. As night fell, a cold front blew harsh winds. Temperatures dropped into single digits. Rufus crawled into his doghouse to get out of the wind. Larry didn’t wake up. He froze to death that night.

The Lord whom Larry loved had not abandoned him.  Larry had prayed for the Lord to see him through life, and that’s just what Jesus did. Jesus carried Larry through all the days of his life, holding him extra close on the hardest days.  And he carried Larry on into eternal life when life had worn him out.

Larry’s most favorite Bible verse of all was Psalm 23:6 — I am sure that your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. And I will live in the house of the LORD forever. Surely God’s goodness and love had been with Larry every step of the way. And now he is living in the heavenly Father’s house. Never again will Larry be homeless. He is forever at home with Jesus.

**********

Additional commentary on the story available in The Lord Cares for Me: Stories and Thoughts about Psalm 23. 

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL READER’S VERSION®.Copyright © 1996, 1998 Biblica. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of Biblica.

Posted by David Sellnow
02
Apr
2026

A message for Holy Week

I came across a message in my files. For Holy Week, I’ll share this devotion that my father preached in the spring of 1998. It is fitting for a Good Friday observance, and for our contemplation at any time of year.

Christ’s words of forgiveness

by Donald C. Sellnow

Holy Week is the time of year we go up to Jerusalem with Jesus. For him, it was a journey to the cross. For us, it is a spiritual journey that reminds us how completely our Lord was willing to give himself for us. It is a demonstration of God‘s amazing grace.

We have made this journey to Jerusalem often over the years, as we have listened to the Passion history and found joy and strength in the gospel of our Lord. It is a journey we will want to make again and again so long as God gives us the opportunity to do so. 

When we go to Calvary, to stand in spirit beneath the cross of Christ, we  listen to our suffering Savior speak. He spoke seven times from the cross. His words tell us what his mission there was all about. His words give us guidance, comfort, and hope for our journey through this life to the life that never ends. The first words spoken by Jesus from the cross were words of forgiveness: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

It had been a long hard night for Jesus, from his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane to his trials before the Sanhedrin and Pontius Pilate. Now it was Friday morning and time for the execution of the death sentence imposed upon him. The Romans had not invented crucifixion, but they had perfected it as the cruelest and most hideous punishment they could devise. It was never inflicted on Roman citizens, but was reserved for slaves, pirates, and political or religious rebels—whose deaths were to be a public warning to others. On that Friday morning, the Son of God incarnate was crucified at the place called “The Skull” (Golgotha in Aramaic, Calvaria in Latin). Roman soldiers nailed his hands and feet to wooden beams and then lifted him up to hang him there on that cross, between two criminals, until he was dead, while they gambled for his clothes.

How did Jesus respond to what was done to him? We might expect someone in his situation to scream in anger, to curse his executioners, to ask God to rain down punishment on them. Who in the world would blame Jesus if he wanted revenge? Who would say that he wasn’t justified if he asked God to damn his abusers to hell? After all, he was innocent. He had been framed, falsely accused. He had been beaten, bruised, crowned with thorns and crucified—though he didn’t deserve any of it. Why not lash out at those who had done all of this to him? Why not vent his rage at them?

But wonder of wonders, the first words that Jesus spoke from the cross were not words of anger and revenge, but of love and pardon. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And let’s be sure that we know who Jesus means by “them.” “Them,” of course, means the soldiers who hammered spikes through his flesh to affix him to the cross. But it also includes the men higher up, such as Pilate and Herod and Jewish leaders and judges who condemned him. Peter, the apostle, later told his countrymen that they had crucified Christ, as they had clamored for his execution. “This man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed” (Acts 2:23). “You rejected the holy and righteous one …. You killed the author of life” (Acts 1:15). Jesus’ prayer, “Father, forgive them,” includes all of them—all who in any way brought the Messiah to the cross. And the Savior’s prayer includes also you and me. For what, after all, was it that laid the Lamb of God upon the altar of the cross? What was it that moved him to endure sufferings and crucifixion? It was the enormity of sin that we in this world had fallen into. Each of us says, along with the hymnist: “Ah, I also, and my sin wrought your deep affliction. This indeed the cause has been of your crucifixion.”*

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Thus Jesus prayed for forgiveness for the soldiers who were carrying out orders, but didn’t know that they were crucifying the Lord of glory. Thus Jesus prayed for the people and their rulers who did not recognize him as the promised Messiah. Thus Jesus prayed for us, who also were by nature enemies of God and of Christ and his Spirit.

Not only do we see Jesus praying for our forgiveness, we also see him achieving our forgiveness, redeeming us by his sacrifice. We don’t have to wonder whether there are sins and offenses that remain on our record and separate us from God. Christ took upon himself every sin every one of us has committed. Hanging on the cross that day, he was enduring all judgment for the sins of all the world. He was taking our place. He was suffering for us, dying for us. “Upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

What a great exchange we see taking place there at the cross! Jesus took on all of our infirmities, all of our weaknesses, all of our sins … and we got all the good, all the blessings, all the grace that brought us forgiveness, life, and salvation. One writer put it well when he said, “Jesus suffered, that we might be comforted. He was rejected that we might be accepted. He was separated from the Father, that we might be forever with him. He wore the shame of our sin and suffered the death of the cross that we might be rid of sin and shame forever. His garments were taken from him that we might wear the robe of his righteousness.” 

Jesus died that we might live. And so we say, “Thousand, thousand thanks shall be, dearest Jesus, unto thee!”**

********

“Father, forgive them.” The Savior who spoke those words wants us to speak such words too. We find that hard to do. Our sinful nature rebels at the thought of forgiving others. We want to take revenge. It seems more natural to nurse a grudge, to keep score of someone else’s faults, to rub it in, to be spiteful, to find a way to get even. In the home, on the job, in our private and professional lives, in our immediate family and in the larger family of church and community, it isn’t easy for us to pray, “Father, forgive them.” We want the Father to forgive us our trespasses, but we struggle to forgive those who trespass against us.

Yet though forgiving isn’t easy, it is something we can do, through Christ. When we look at Christ on the cross, we see our sins and all of their consequences, and we know in faith that Jesus covered our sins with his holy, precious blood, and with his innocent suffering and death. In turn, the love of Christ compels us to be forgiving. From now on, therefore, let us regard no one from a human point of view, because God has reconciled himself to us in Christ. We have been reconciled to God, and through him find reconciliation with one another. (Cf. 2 Corinthians 5:16-21.)

May we daily look to the Savior and his cross for the forgiveness that we need so very much. May we keep on hearing his word and partaking of his sacrament—through which our faith is strengthened, our love grows, and we are enabled to forgive one another, just as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven us.

“Father, forgive them.” Thank God, for this word from the cross—a word that is a continuing comfort and a powerful motivation for us, the forgiven, to forgive. 

Prayer:

  • Heavenly Father, you have forgiven me all that I have done. Every sinful word, thought, and action is cleansed by the blood of Jesus. So often I pray, as Jesus taught me, “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us”—but forgiving others is not easy. Work within my heart that I may willingly and joyfully forgive others. Forgive my spirit of revenge and help me overcome it. Draw my attention back to the cross of Jesus, that I may learn to forgive as he did. Amen.

  *From the hymn Jesu, deine Passion, by Sigismund von Birken (17th century), translated by August Crull.
**From the hymn Jesu, meines Lebens Lebe by Ernst Homburg (17th century), translated by Catherine Winkworth.

Scripture quotations, except where otherwise indicated, are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Posted by David Sellnow
14
Mar
2026

12 years of The Electric Gospel

A dozen years of blogging

The Electric Gospel blog began with its first post on March 15, 2014 (on the Blogger platfrom at that time). It was a continuation of sorts, going back to email messages I’d written for church members and other subscribers during my days as a pastor. The blog project was a part of my mentoring students in their spiritual writing when I was teaching at a ministry college, using it to post some of their devotional pieces. You can read more of the “origin story” of The Electric Gospel (if you want) at the “About” section on this website.

In observance of the blog’s anniversary, I’ll share here links to a dozen items from the past dozen years. I scrolled back through things and selected one from each year to highlight here. If a particular title catches your eye, click whichever link you’d like and read on.

– David Sellnow

Posted by David Sellnow
02
Mar
2026

“Love your neighbor” means more than being nice

Niceness isn’t enough

by David Sellnow

In Minnesota, where I live, there has long been a reputation that people are “Minnesota nice.” There are mixed emotions about what that means. Positive connotations point to politeness, courteousness, and goodwill. But there are negative undertones: sticking to small talk and surface-level relationships while burying deeper concerns, keeping people in their place and leaving inequities unchallenged, exhibiting airs of judgmentalism and passive-aggressiveness. It can be more about the appearance of niceness—wanting others to think we are nice people—than it is about genuine commitments to kindness.

“Minnesota nice” was deeply challenged recently, as thousands of federal immigration enforcement agents descended on the Twin Cities and their suburbs, and then expanded to Saint Cloud, Rochester, Mankato, and other cities in Greater Minnesota. Many Minnesotans were motivated to move from being “nice” and avoiding conflict to standing up for their neighbors and their communities. Niceness isn’t enough when people’s lives are at stake. Mutual aid networks sprang up in neighborhood after neighborhood, to get groceries to people scared to leave their homes, to do laundry and run errands for them, to give rides to work and medical appointments, to raise money to help affected families pay their rent. 

Niceness isn’t enough in a world where the poor, the marginalized, the outsiders are pushed down and shoved out  When persons in power have overstepped their authority and have begun to abuse and demean and dehumanize the people underneath them, God‘s prophets have not kept quiet or stayed passive. Prophets like Micah spoke out forcefully to heads of state and rulers, saying, “Should you not know justice?—you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin off my people and the flesh off their bones” (Micah 3:1,2)? He excoriated them for abhorring justice and perverting all equity, for building their country with blood and wrongdoing (Micah 3:9,10), warning that by practicing cruelty and heartlessness they would cause the ruin of their nation. Zechariah set before the people the right path: “Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy, do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against others” (Zechariah 7:9,10). Isaiah added: “If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday” (Isaiah 58:10).

Scripture’s instruction to us is not, “Be nice and non-confrontational.” Rather, we are asked to love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:31). That command concerns all neighbors—all the persons around us, not just those who look like us or share the same heritage. God told his people, “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself” (Leviticus 19:33,34).

God’s people too easily can forget that once we were not his people, but were welcomed by him. Once we had not received mercy, but were brought into his mercy (1 Peter 2:10). We ourselves were “aliens and exiles” (1 Peter 2:11), but have been brought into his kingdom by God’s limitless compassion. God demonstrated his love for us  “in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

God’s glory is seen most evident in Christ’s ultimate act of sacrifice on the cross. Jesus did not enter our world proclaiming religious nationalism or asserting a dominant group’s position and beliefs over all others. The way of Christ is much different than the way of those who would push out or push down minority groups and individuals whom they view as substandard. The way of Christ is one of giving ourselves to others. In Christ, we seek to lift all up equally as fellow human beings, all of us together having value as objects of God’s grace.

Let this Lent be a time not just for giving up some bad habit to make ourselves feel nicer or more virtuous. Niceness isn’t enough. Let us embark on a pattern of committed love in action, guided by the love we have known in Christ. Let us love not merely “in word or speech but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18).

A recent blog post here that you may have missed:  What’s in a name?

For a previous Lenten message here on The Electric Gospel, see:

* “A Point of View: I Am Uncomfortable with ‘Minnesota Nice,’” The Inclusion Solution (5/8/2017).
** “The Eeriness of Minnesota Nice,” CrimeReads (10/12/2021).
*** “In Minneapolis, Community Care is the Model for Resistance,” Prism (2/16/2026).

“Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Posted by David Sellnow
04
Jan
2026

What’s in a name?

The Holy Name of Jesus, and Thoughts for the New Year

by David Sellnow

“What’s in a name?” That was a question Shakespeare famously asked. It’s a question I’d like us to consider today. 

I remember a particular name from years ago, when I was a ministry intern at a large city church. A young mother asked us for baptism for her baby. I can’t recall her last name anymore, but I’ll always remember her son’s first name and middle names. The boy was to be called 

Derambo Jabarray Earl. I asked her about the name, and she showed me a sheet of paper on which she’d written multiple variations stemming from the name Rambo—which came from a Sylvester Stallone movie they liked. They’d settled on Derambo, liking how that sounded. Jabarray was chosen as a middle name, because it sounded good with Derambo. And they added the father’s name, Earl, to make the child’s name complete. Derambo Jabarray Earl. I quite like that name!

In our culture, often we choose names we like the sound of or names that have some sentimental or family attachment for us. In biblical times, names were given with a meaning, sometimes reflecting circumstances about their birth. When Rebekah had twin sons, the first to come out was ruddy and had lots of hair, so she named him “hairy” (Esau, in their Semitic language). The second boy came out holding onto the firstborn’s heel, so she named him Jacob (meaning heel-grabber). Later in life, he was given a new name, Israel, which means “wrestles with God.” After insisting God give him a blessing, Jacob was told, “Your name shall be Israel, for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” 

Sometimes names expressed hopes or aspirations for the child. Jacob’s grandfather had been named Abram when he was born—an Akkadian-Babylonian name (from the region where the family was living), meaning “beloved father.”  Maybe Abram was called “father” from birth because he was the oldest child, with the hope that he would carry on the family line. That name later seemed a cruel joke when Abram and his wife Sarai remained childless into their old age. But the LORD made a promise that came with a new name, telling Abram he would be a father. Indeed, “I will make you the father of a multitude of nations,” God said. He would be Abraham—”exalted father,” the patriarch of Jewish and Arab peoples and father in faith to all who trust in the Messiah descended from Abraham.*

When that Messiah—the promised one—came, what would his name be? Isaiah had prophesied a child to come who would be “Immanuel”—God with us. Jeremiah had prophesied he would be called “The LORD our righteousness.”. When Mary was found miraculously to be with child, an angel told her betrothed, Joseph, what the child’s personal name should be. And so, eight days after the child was born and it was time for his naming ceremony, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel. In English we say Jesus, from the Greek and Latin forms of the name. In Aramaic (the language spoken by the Jews in Jesus’ time), they would have said “Yeshúa”—a shortening of the Hebrew name Yehoshúa (or “Joshua,” as we would say it.) It means, “The LORD saves”—exactly what God was doing for us through the incarnation of Christ in our world.

We’ve come to know Jesus by many names that describe who he is and what he has done for us. The title “Christ” or “Messiah” designates him as the Anointed One—set apart to be our priest, our prophet, our king. He is also called “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” He is the Light of the World; following him we do not walk in darkness. He is the Bread of Life; whoever comes to him will never be hungry.

Do you notice something in Jesus’ name and the descriptions that are spoken of him? We are included in the meaning of his names. Jesus means “the Lord saves”—he saves us. Immanuel—God is with us. He is the Bread of Life for us, to feed our spirits; the Light of the World for us, to light our way. The name of Jesus—the identity of our God—is placed upon us and identifies who we are. Think of what we do each time we gather, sending you out into the world with the blessing of God’s name placed upon you. Just as God told his people long ago, he enfolds you in his name, saying:

The LORD bless you and keep you;
 the LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
 the LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. 

That is how God puts his name on us as his people and promises he will bless us.

In Jesus’ time and Jewish culture, it was customary to give a baby boy his name on the day of his circumcision, which was a religious rite with sacramental significance. In Christian history, baptism has that same kind of sacramental meaning. In early eras of the church, when adult converts came to believe in Jesus, often they were given a new name, their baptismal name, at that time. And children, given their names at the time of their birth, have their names sanctified and included in God’s family in their baptism. Scripture promises us that God sent his Son, Jesus, in order to redeem us and make us his own. We are adopted as God’s children. As his children, we also are his heirs. Through Christ, we have all spiritual blessings and an eternal inheritance.

Whether our names are Jim or Judy or Casey or Quinn, every child of God from the creation of the world to the very last day has their names written in the Book of Life belonging to Jesus Christ. We are new people with Jesus’ name attached to our names, new creations in Christ. 

Your name is part of your identity, who you are. Your personality, your thoughts, your passions, the things that are important to you—those are all part of your identity too. Your faith shapes your identity in significant ways. You are a person of God in Christ. Your plans, your priorities, your purpose will move in directions that God’s Spirit moves you. We may not always know where exactly life is taking us, but we have God’s words directing our way, asking us to acknowledge him in what we do. God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, and he helps us in our weaknesses. We may not even know how to pray as we ought, but Christ’s Spirit intercedes and helps us in ways words cannot express. 

The beginning of a new year often is a time we think of reasserting our identities, establishing new goals and purposes for ourselves. We make New Year’s resolutions to make new persons of ourselves—to quit a bad habit or start a good habit, to eat healthier, to be more physically active, to manage our time better or manage our finances better, etc. Of course, quite often we fail. Recent research has shown that just 9% of Americans actually keep their resolutions throughout the year. 

Probably we miss living up to our resolutions because we try to make the changes on our own, by ourselves, of our own willpower. And we’re not very forgiving with ourselves. If we resolve to cut down on sweets, and by January 18th we just can’t resist that Sunday morning donut, then we say, “Forget it!” and stop working at the resolution anymore. We give up on ourselves.

What if we saw any good, new intentions we set for ourselves not so much as New Year’s resolutions but as spiritual goals? What if we saw them as prayers, as hopes connected to our identity in Christ? We may not be very forgiving or patient with ourselves, but our gracious God is endlessly forgiving and patient with us. Long ago, when the LORD was giving his law—his word and commandments—to the people of Israel, in doing so he proclaimed his name to Moses. He declared himself as “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” That is the name, the identity, the truth of the Lord God whom we know and trust. As people claimed by him and baptized into his name, we also can be full of patience and generosity to ourselves and to others. Our lives are enriched with all sorts of meaning and value as lives of faith in Jesus’ name.

We don’t have to wonder about our worth or question our lives’ purpose. Wherever we are, whatever we’re doing, whoever we’re with, we are God’s children. We bear his name and carry his name with us in our world. New Year’s resolutions often are like trying to assert a new name, a new you, a new way of being. If we stop and think, though, we already have that newness as persons, because we have been baptized into the name of Jesus, our Savior. We are his. We are loved. We can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us. So, in the new year, in Jesus’ name, let us resolve as Scripture urges us—that whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, excellent and worthy of praise, we think about those things and rejoice in the Lord always. And each day, each week, each month, if we have times when we slip up and fail or make mistakes, we know that we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, who is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and for the sins of the whole world.

Blessings to you in Jesus’ name, as people wrapped up in all the strength and hopes that his name brings. We all share a family name together as Christians, so we will encourage one another and build each other up as God’s people, considering how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. May your new year be filled with grace and goodness, knowing that Christ’s Spirit goes with you each step of your way. The LORD will put his name on you, and he will bless you. 

Main scriptures for the Feast of the Name of Jesus: Numbers 6: 22-27, Galatians 4: 4-7, Luke 2:15-21

Additional Bible verses mentioned in this devotion (in order as the references occur): 

Genesis 32:8, Genesis 17:5, Isaiah 7:14, Jeremiah 23:6, John 1:2, John 8:12, John 6:35, Ephesians 1:3-6, Revelation 12:8, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Isaiah 30:21, Proverbs 3:6, Romans 8:26, Exodus 34:6, Philippians 4:1,8,13,  1 John 2:1,2,  1 Thessalonians 5:11, Hebrews 10:24

*For research on Abraham’s name, see this article: What Does the Name ‘Abraham’ Really Mean? | ArmstrongInstitute.org 

Posted by David Sellnow
25
Dec
2025

The Christmas gospel

The Reason for the Season is Christ

When a man named Mark sat down to write about Jesus’ life on earth, these were his first words: “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1 NIV). Mark’s gospel biography of Jesus doesn’t include a lengthy account of his birth. (The Gospel writer Luke gives us that.) Mark’s gospel biography doesn’t inform us of the worshipful visit young Jesus received during his infancy by wise men from the East. (The Gospel writer Matthew tells about that.) Mark’s history of Jesus doesn’t sketch out Jesus’ genealogy (his family tree of human ancestors). Matthew and Luke each give such details. Mark simply begins with a statement of the main theme he wants his book to convey: This is the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Those few words say a lot. The whole message is about a person—a very special person who is, in fact, more than just a human person. He is the Son of God. His name is Jesus—a name that means Savior, the one who rescues us. He is called the Messiah (Hebrew) or Christ (Greek). That title of “the Anointed One” refers to the central figure in human history, the one who is both God and man, the one who bridges the gap between God and human beings, the one whom the heavenly Father appointed before time began to be the Redeemer of the human race (cf. Ephesians 1:3-14).  

In the fullness of time, in the birth of Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of God’s promises had begun. It is the gospel—the glorious good news that all our troubles and woes have been met with an answer by a loving God. The LORD never stopped loving us, his people, even through times we’ve wandered from him and haven’t followed his ways. That is good news, that sinners such as ourselves, frail and fallible humans that we are, have hope. Salvation has come in the person of Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, the Son of God.

As you observe Christmas and carry on celebrations of this season, remember what it’s all about. It’s not just about decorating our homes and neighborhoods with lights and wreaths. It’s not just about festive meals and eggnog and holiday traditions. The reason for the season is Jesus—Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. As angels sang on the night of Jesus’ birth: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14 KJV). We, like the shepherds who first heard the angels’ song, are simple, ordinary folk. But we have received news of an extraordinary, wonderful truth. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and we have hope forever through him.

Merry Christmas!

Posted by David Sellnow
01
Dec
2025

Resending a link to last Sunday’s post

Advent greetings to you, Electric Gospel readers. There may have been a glitch with the email notification about last week’s post for Christ the King Sunday. So, I’m sending out this additional message with a link to last week’s message:

Christ is our King. We are at peace, and we spread his peace.

If interested, you could also review this related post from a few years back:  The King who Inscribes his Character on Us

Remember also that you can access previous posts at any time by going to the Posts link at The Electric Gospel main page.

Posted by David Sellnow
23
Nov
2025

A message for Christ the King Sunday

Christ is our King. We are at peace, and we spread his peace.

by David Sellnow

Readings …  Jeremiah 23:1-6, Colossians 1:11-20, Luke 23:33-43


I am not royalty. I’m not a VIP. I’m just an average guy, and I have more demerits than accolades on the report card of my life. Who am I to stand in the presence of Christ the King as someone speaking for him? 

Yet that’s just the thing, isn’t it? Christ “is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17). But he does not hold himself out of reach, out of touch above us. He descended down to us. He walked among us as one of us. He called himself “the Son of Man”—a human person, like you and me. He said (and demonstrated by his life): “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Ultimately, he laid down his life for us, his death atoning for our sins; his resurrection vindicating us (Romans 4:25). Jesus does not push us down, as people beneath him. He lifts us up, to be his people and serve alongside him. That’s the kind of leadership Jesus provides us. 

What kind of leadership do we frequently see in this world? We see bossiness, bullying, and belittling. We see intimidation, aggressiveness, and oppression. We see pettiness, pickiness, and bean counting. 

By “bean counting,” I mean paying more attention to reports and spreadsheets of every little detail rather than asking, “Are we meeting the needs of the people we serve?” A former deputy in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy described the problem as holding civil servants accountable for strict compliance with complex rules and requirements rather than evaluating the success of public services provided. There’s no holistic view of whether agencies are effective and helpful. It’s all about making sure workers jump through the prescribed procedural hoops (The Atlantic, 6/12/2023).

It can happen in more dramatic fashion too. In recent history, we’ve seen a government department head publicly post a memo that said: “All employees will receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week [listing five accomplishments]. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.” That strategy lasted only a short while and did NOT inspire the workforce (Just Security, 2/22/25).

We live in a world where bad leadership happens repeatedly. Our culture is saturated with the knowledge of that reality. Books and movies and TV series abound that tell of toxic work environments and maniacal corporate figures (Succession, Mad Men, Horrible Bosses, WeCrashed). Horrible handling of political leadership has been portrayed in shows such as House of Cards, The Regime, Scandal. Art is imitating life. In real life, examples of ruthless leaders span across the globe, from the likes of Hitler and Mussolini and Stalin to others like Muammar Gaddafi, Idi Amin, Pol Pot. Those are only some of the names from the past 100 years, with many more from the centuries that came before. Think of great epic sagas in literature or film, like The Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. Even in visions of mythical lands long ago or galaxies far, far away, we can’t imagine life apart from a struggle against tyrants and warlords and evil empires.

The Scriptures tell us what the pattern of leadership and governance is like in this world.  Nations are constantly in an uproar and kingdoms totter (Psalm 46:1). Those who are supposed to be shepherds often “destroy and scatter the sheep” (Jeremiah 23:1). They are supposed to lead the people but instead “have driven them away and have not attended to them” (Jeremiah 23:2).

Recall what God said about rulers in this world when the people of Israel said they wanted a king to govern them, like other nations (1 Samuel 8:5). The LORD told the prophet Samuel to grant their request, but also to “solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king[s] who shall reign over them” (1 Samuel 8:9). Kings would be less concerned about them, the people, than they’d be about building up their own armies and power, their own palaces and ballrooms and court attendants, their own wealth and prestige.

When we speak of Christ as our King, we are not thinking according to the pattern of kings and bosses and rulers in this world. 

Christ, our King, does not speak from the skies or come to us in our dreams to demand of us, “What five worthy things did you accomplish this week?” Rather, he speaks to us invitingly, saying, “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens … for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29).

Christ, our King, is not eager to eradicate his enemies, eliminate anyone who isn’t obedient to him, or condemn those who’ve gotten into trouble. When Jesus’ enemies commanded soldiers to nail him to a cross, he said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). To a criminal crucified alongside him, who asked, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom,” Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42-43).

A true king, a devoted king, is not one who stands above the people and looks down on the people. A true king, a devoted king, is one who lives for the sake of the people, who suffers with and for the people. Jesus dying on the cross is what a true, devoted king looks like.

Jesus’ kingdom is a different kind of kingdom. He doesn’t lead by pomp and circumstance, even though he is Lord of the universe. He welcomes everyone into his kingdom—welcoming criminals and sinners—by granting forgiveness of sins. He doesn’t seek power and domination, because everything is already under his dominion. His kingdom is about making wars cease, about breaking the weapons of war (cf. Psalm 46:9). Jesus gives us peace of mind and heart that the world cannot give (John 14:27). He assures us, “Be still, and know that I am God.” He is with us as our refuge and strength, our help in trouble (Psalm 46:1,10,11). Jesus makes us “strong with the strength that comes from his glorious power,” so we may have all endurance and patience.” In Christ’s kingdom, we are rescued from the power of darkness and have redemption (Colossians 1:11-14).

Think of what Jeremiah prophesied. God would raise up a Righteous Branch from the family tree of David, who would reign as the true King. The name by which the Messiah would be called is “The LORD—our righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:5,6). That name proclaims how Christ saves us and makes us secure. He gives us righteousness. He absolves us. When Jeremiah says that through him we will be saved, he used the same word that formed the basis for Jesus’ name. The angel announcing Christ’s birth said, “You are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). The salvation Jesus brings is not merely some political promise. Jesus saves us eternally. The safety and security that Jesus provides can never be shaken. As the psalmist said, some trust in horses and war chariots, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand firm (Psalm 20:7-8).

So, if our hearts are raised up in faith in Christ and we stand firm in hope in him, how then do we live? Will we be narcissistic, self-serving, rude, and dismissive? Certainly not. Yes, we are fallible and flawed. Yet Christ lifts us up and makes us his chosen people, a holy nation, people belonging to him (1 Peter 2:9). Jesus has “freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom” (Revelation 1:6), saying that we now are “kings and priests” in his name and that “we shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:10 NKJV). The Lord makes us his representatives, his spokespersons. He emboldens us to be agents of his mercy and peace, to go against the grain of all the bullying and browbeating and abusiveness that occurs in this world. We “are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:20). We entreat others on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God and to one another.

Whether we think so or not, we all are leaders in the lives that we lead. Parents are constantly molding and shaping their children. Brothers and sisters are examples and influences for one another. We show our neighbors and friends the kind of life we believe is worth living. We model integrity and commitment in how we serve in our workplaces. Everywhere we go, we are showing to others the life that Christ has awakened in us. 

Martin Luther said we are like “little Christs” to others in the way that we live toward them. In his booklet, On the Freedom of a Christian (1520), Luther wrote:

  • A Christian will think: “Though I am unworthy, my God has given me in Christ all the riches of righteousness without any merit on my part, out of pure, free mercy. Therefore, I will give myself as a Christ to my neighbor, just as Christ offered himself to me.”
  • We do not serve so that others feel obligated to us. We do not distinguish between friends and enemies or anticipate their thankfulness or unthankfulness. We simply extend ourselves and what we have for others, without worrying about whether we gain any reward. 
  • When we recognize the great and precious things given to us by our heavenly Father, our hearts are filled by the Holy Spirit with the love that makes us joyful servants of our neighbors—each of us becoming, as it were, a Christ to the other, and Christ may be the same in all, and we may be truly Christians.  

Christ is the King who served us with his life. Christ calls us to serve alongside him in his kingdom, sharing his peace in this conflicted, difficult world. While the kings of this world lord it over people, we are not to be like that. Rather, Jesus said, the greatest among you must become like the lowest and the leader like one who serves (Luke 22, 25,26). Jesus led like that, getting down on the floor and washing his disciples’ feet (John 13). He came to our earth as one who serves, and he calls us today to serve others in his name. May we see ourselves daily as ambassadors of Christ’s kingdom of grace and hope, bringing the message of Jesus’ love and peace everywhere we go, to everyone we meet, in all that we do. 

Scripture quotations, except where otherwise indicated, are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Posted by David Sellnow
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