{"id":1311,"date":"2025-09-10T15:26:39","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T15:26:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/?p=1311"},"modified":"2025-09-10T15:27:30","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T15:27:30","slug":"into-the-mess-other-jesus-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/into-the-mess-other-jesus-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"Into the Mess &amp; Other Jesus Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>by Debie Thomas<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Debie-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1312\" style=\"width:323px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Debie-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Debie-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Debie-100x150.jpg 100w, https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Debie-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Debie.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>\u201cTo reflect on the Jesus of the Gospels is to reflect on paradox, mystery, wonder, and messiness,\u201d says author Debie Thomas. \u201cIt is to find God in the shadows, the tensions, and the ambiguities of life on earth as it is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her essays on the stories of Jesus are seen as \u201cinvitations to faith in all its complexity and untidiness\u2026 These are the stories of the Incarnate God who finds and loves us in the messiness of our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amy Olrick, author of <em>The 6 Needs of Every Child<\/em>, says Thomas\u2019 book \u2014 subtitled \u201cReflections on the Life of Christ \u2014 \u201cbreathes new life into sacred texts, inviting us to experience Christ with fresh eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My discovery of the book came when looking for a new resource to use for leading a spiritual development group. From the moment I started reading it, I was drawn into the wonderful way she dug deeply into the scriptures to give her reader an opportunity to ponder new and deeper ways to consider the chosen verses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I love soaking up all the lessons these verses share. Thomas digs deeply and broadens our understanding.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Review by Carol Boseman Taylor, an author and retreat leader in Rocky Mount, N.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Debie Thomas \u201cTo reflect on the Jesus of the Gospels is to reflect on paradox, mystery, wonder, and messiness,\u201d says author Debie Thomas. \u201cIt is to find God in &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1312,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-group-study"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1311"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1313,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311\/revisions\/1313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}