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Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 15h

Naaman's story would seem to tell us that God reserves the right to show up--and to work for good--precisely in those situations we think are too "ordinary" to matter.

beinggraced.blogspot.com/2025/10/our-...

Our Ordinary Rivers--October 15, 2025

Our Ordinary Rivers--October 15, 2025 "Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master,...

beinggraced.blogspot.com

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 16h

Hey friends!

We've got a new episode of our weekly podcast "Crazy Faith Talk," as we finish our series on "Profiles in Courage" from church history! Listen in here!

open.spotify.com/episode/5zRA...

Episode 453: Profiles in Courage, Part Eight--Anne Hutchinson

open.spotify.com

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 18h

When is it time to keep your head down... and when is it time to stick your neck out and speak up? And how do you know? The second half of the book of Esther gives us guidance for wrestling with our calling in "such a time as this."

youtu.be/DKnY8V6_W58

Faithful Rebels 06 10 16 25 Esther

YouTube video by Stephen Bond

youtu.be

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 22h

Good morning to the sun reaching through the fog and the tree branches to give light to the world that God loves…

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 1d

Mercy that stops at the boundary marking out "Me and My Group" isn't really love--not in Jesus' view. Compassion that can be revoked if the recipient doesn't say "thank you" deferentially enough isn't really kindness. They are counterfeits dressed as virtue.
beinggraced.blogspot.com/2025/10/wher...

Where Jesus' Mouth Is--October 14, 2025

Where Jesus' Mouth Is--October 14, 2025 Then one of [the people with the skin disease], when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praisin...

beinggraced.blogspot.com

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 1d

Good evening to the wisps of cloud above the pine trees behind the church yard, floating over the world that God loves…

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 1d

If so much in the world feels broken, wrong and unjust, does that mean God doesn't care about putting things right? Or that God isn't able to do anything about it? Jesus says God is committed to mending the whole world, no matter how long it takes.

youtu.be/9h3L9vDzQQM

Looking Ahead 10 19 25

YouTube video by Stephen Bond

youtu.be

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 2d

Hey friends!
Coming up next week, I'll be sharing another original song in worship on the occasion of a baptism, and you can check it out here if you like! It's called "Even (The One Sure Thing)" and it's drawn from next Sunday's Gospel from Luke 18:1-8!

mercymovesus.bandcamp.com/track/even-t...

Even (The One Sure Thing), by Mercy Moves Us

track by Mercy Moves Us

mercymovesus.bandcamp.com

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 2d

Good afternoon to the beetle making its way up an old trunk in a neighborhood block where new trees are being planted in a city within the world that God loves…

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 2d

Jesus deliberately creates the possibility that a miracle can happen because he chooses to walk through border territory. Jesus enters the space between "us" and "them" intentionally, knowing it will be provocative. That is precisely where he needs to go.

beinggraced.blogspot.com/2025/10/on-b...

On the Border with Jesus--October 13, 2025

On the Border with Jesus--October 13, 2025 "On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he en...

beinggraced.blogspot.com

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 3d

Sometimes, a Bow Tie Thursday does the strangest thing of all: it arrives on Saturday evening, in time for the Church talent show….

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 3d

Good afternoon to the leaf in full autumn color in a sea of green leaves on a tree trying to figure out what season it is in the world that God loves…

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 4d

Good evening to the clouds mottling the western sky as a day winds down to a close in this part of the world that God loves…

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 4d

We are going to call this the most renewing part of this day off: new stamps from the post office and a new audiobook from the Toledo Public Library (“The Good Lord Bird” by James McBride). Moment of serenity had. Onto the next thing.

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 4d

Good morning to my favorite bridge in Toledo, spotted on the way between stopping points on morning errands throughout the world that God loves…

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 5d

For all of us, it's nothing but grace, baby. There is nobody who earns their way in, and there is nobody who pulls themselves up by their own bootstraps from God's perspective. There has only ever been God's choice to call us "beloved."

beinggraced.blogspot.com/2025/10/god-...

God Stacks the Deck--October 10, 2025

God Stacks the Deck--October 10, 2025 "Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in s...

beinggraced.blogspot.com

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 5d

Good morning to the brightening sky in the east and the one pinpoint of light still deep in the blue that blankets the world that God loves…

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 6d

Good evening to the October rose we did not earn and did not expect, blooming in the golden hour light falling on the world that God loves…

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 6d

Notes to Self
a poem for October 8, 2025

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 6d

We are torchbearers, all of us, who first find ourselves as recipients of a flame we did not ignite by our own ingenuity but received as a gift, and who then pass it along from one wick to another that is waiting for the light.

beinggraced.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...

The Same Fire--October 9, 2025

The Same Fire--October 9, 2025 "I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constan...

beinggraced.blogspot.com

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 6d

Good morning to the moon playing hide and seek behind the clouds before dawn over the world that God loves…

Reposted by Stephen Bond

Tim Amor @timamor.bsky.social · 7d

Christian nonviolence is not a strategy to rid the world of violence, but rather the way Christians must live in a world of violence... faithful followers of Christ in a world of war cannot imagine being anything else than nonviolent.

~Stanley Hauerwas

2 7 20

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 7d

God is the One who is first outraged at the cruelty and violence of the world, and at least sometimes, God is the One provoking us to see it all, too, when we had been comfortably indifferent.

beinggraced.blogspot.com/2025/10/when...

When the World Feels Broken--October 8, 2025

When the World Feels Broken--October 8, 2025 The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw. O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you...

beinggraced.blogspot.com

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 7d

Hey friends!
Here's a new episode of our weekly podcast, "Crazy Faith Talk," with a new profile in courage--an introduction to the work and witness of Bayard Rustin! Listen in here!

open.spotify.com/episode/730E...

Episode 452: Profiles in Courage, Part Seven--Bayard Rustin

open.spotify.com

Stephen Bond @impiousgalilean.bsky.social · 7d

Good morning to the raindrops gathered on the ginkgo leave outside the hospital as another day begins in this part of the world that God loves…