Day 32  -  March 20

Rachel Luna

Rewrite our Stories ~ John 7:52

“They replied, ‘Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.’”

I have often heard it said that God calls us to unexpected places and while I believe this is true, in John 7:52, I can see the narrative being shifted.  The refrain “no prophet is to arise from Galilee” is used to belittle and push aside Nicodemus and by extension Jesus too.  Yet, God incarnate walked this earth as a man raised in Galilee.  A place the Pharisees had written off and refused to believe could be a place where transformation would begin.  In a counter to the Pharisees, Nicodemus teaches us to rewrite our stories by not allowing ourselves to be defined by where we come from.

From 1st through 4th grade, I spent most of my school day in either a specialized reading class for kids with dyslexia or in speech pathology for a speech impediment that seemed like it would never go away.  The struggle was real, but these experiences were preparing me for where God was calling me.  I am pretty sure no one expected the girl from the special education class to grow up and become the leader of a nonprofit with an emphasis on literacy.

In my work, I get to watch as God calls folks from today’s Galilees to change the world.  From children in under resourced communities dreaming about a better world for everybody to young adults from across the country showing up to journey with kids reaching for their dreams.  Every summer, I get to watch children and young adults write their story and rewrite ours as a church and country and I read the rewrite that transformation can come from Galilee.