Nathan Williams (he/him)

The powers of the world keep ironically testifying to the truth that they don’t have any real power where Jesus is involved. #NarrativeLectionary https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2026/03/04/a-funny-thing-john-1828-40/

Jesus’ interrogation by the high priest and Peter’s denial (John 18:12-27) turn his Good Shepherd discourse inside out and upside down. #NarrativeLectionary https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2026/03/01/a-funny-thing-john-18-2/

The classical radio dj knew that an Iranian composer’s music was the prayer I needed right now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK_hn1U0X0M

Lord, I am angry. I am afraid. I am sad. Lord, have mercy. I pray for the people of Iran, the people of Israel, the people of the surrounding Middle East nations, the people of the United States. I pray for those who serve in the militaries of these countries, for the humanitarian workers, for the neighbors. Let there be peace. Let there be justice. Let there be safety for the vulnerable (and underneath it all, there’s no one who isn’t vulnerable). I pray for the political and military decision-makers, and I pray doubly for ordinary citizens trying to find our way. I pray for our humanity, for our consciences, for the capacity to recognize truth and feel kindness and discern righteousness despite it all.

We often want Jesus to do things for us and ask only our worship. It’s more challenging when he chooses to be our teacher and asks us to do the same things he does. #NarrativeLectionary https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2026/02/20/a-funny-thing-john-13-2/

Resurrection reveals God’s glory in a way that just living forever doesn’t accomplish. #NarrativeLectionary https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2026/02/15/a-funny-thing-john-11-2/

Sometimes we don’t fit in a religious community because Jesus is leading us beyond it. Even if leaving looks like being kicked out. The #NarrativeLectionary for #AshWednesday (John 10:1-18) continues the reading for #TransfigurationSunday. https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2026/02/08/a-funny-thing-john-10/

What conditions do we insist must be fulfilled before we’re willing to admit to the glory of God?

The #NarrativeLectionary for #TransfigurationSunday (John 9:1-42) only seems to be a story about #disability and #healing . It’s just as much about #GenerationalTrauma, religious conformity, testimony, #faith, and #discernment . It is emphatically not a story about #sin.

https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2026/02/06/a-funny-thing-john-9-2/

Kind (merciful/loyal), not nice: A parent pleads for his child’s life and Jesus grumps about it like a carnival magician who just clocked out. A man waits 38 years for someone to help him be healed, and Jesus asks if he’s even trying. #NarrativeLectionary https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2026/01/30/a-funny-thing-john-4-5/

Pneumatology in the Gospel of John: Jesus doesn't need a bucket to draw living water out of Jacob’s well because he has a really long straw instead.

#NarrativeLectionary

https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2026/01/26/a-funny-thing-john-4-2/

Petitioning to translate “again/from above” in John 3:3 as “from the top” and the first “so” in 3:16 as “thus.”

Along with other potentially more useful notes, including that this is structurally the dialogue/discourse about the sign at Cana that Nicodemus presumably didn’t see.

#NarrativeLectionary

https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2026/01/19/a-funny-thing-john-3-2/

When the #Bible talks about #money, I try to preach about money. How do our economic practices serve to restrict access to God’s presence? How do we attempt to control God’s activity through money? The temple protest in John 2:13-25 doesn’t suggest that anybody is stealing (contrast the synoptics), but Jesus still isn’t happy about it.

#NarrativeLectionary
https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2026/01/11/a-funny-thing-john-213-25-3/

The real feast of #Epiphany is a wedding buffet with an open bar.
#NarrativeLectionary

https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2026/01/01/a-funny-thing-john-21-11-3/

Jesus in John 1:35-51 knows people by names they don’t even have yet, but he can’t figure out why everyone is impressed enough to follow him around. Including Nathanael, who is silly enough to believe before he’s seen all the evidence like Jesus tells basically everyone else to do.
#NarrativeLectionary
https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2025/12/26/a-funny-thing-john-135-51-3/

My Presbyterian tradition doesn’t have much practice of testimony, probably in part because we think it means talking about ourselves. John testifies precisely by pointing away from himself. Even his iconic baptism of Jesus takes place offstage in between two paragraphs of a monologue. #NarrativeLectionary

(And truly, the Sunday after Christmas is one of my favorite services of the year.)

https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2025/12/19/a-funny-thing-john-119-34-2/

Christmas is a way of showing us what we can’t know while the light shines into the world.
#NarrativeLectionary
https://ecologian.wordpress.com/2025/12/19/a-funny-thing-john-119-34-2/