Maybe for you that’s social issues- areas where you see the world with a clarity to know where your investment and attention needs to be put.

Maybe for you that’s about something relational- knowing where in your life, what specific relationships in your story, you need to invest and involve yourself in.

Maybe it’s something profoundly personal for you- knowing where specifically in your life, you need to invest and grow and find new life and courage to change.

The truth is each of these are scary in their own right. Going first is always scary. In fact the story of Esther is going to deal with fear and insecurity a lot as we read. The key for us perhaps is always remembering that we are part of something much bigger than our moment. Esther is neither the beginning nor the end of the tale. It is both incredibly and simply a moment along the path. I would argue, that this is to be the frame for us as we reflect on our lives and as we engage in the Jesus story today. What is the particular part of the story we find ourselves in, what is the specific challenge we face in moving that story forward to where God imagines it could be, and ultimately, what is the bigger narrative by which we will choose to define ourselves?

So maybe you know God but you don’t feel up to the task of pushing against the tide of culture. In fact maybe you feel like you’re drowning in culture. There are addictions and ugly habits and patterns that you want to change. There are things that come out from the story around you but it always seems to feel like they dominate you. The story of Esther says, yes, we all struggle with that and at times it can seem like the world around us influences us far too much but that struggle does not get to define you. Esther was not defined by the role her culture placed on her as woman, or a slave or an immigrant. Her story was part of something much bigger. Perhaps her story says to us that we are not defined by the struggles and the missteps in our lives but instead by the grand imagination God has in mind for us.

Maybe for you the struggle is to actually believing that things can change. You know the times. You watch the news. You read the paper. You see how broken our world is and you despair for it. I feel that way at times because we can forget the goodness and the generosity that defines creation. We lose sight of it behind the blemishes that grab at our attention with headlines. So maybe for you, reading Esther is an incredible act of faith because to honestly to say that you are oriented around a picture of a better tomorrow seems like too far a stretch for you to make. Well, that’s okay because believing that we can change culture is big thing to believe and so maybe as you read Esther you simply need to watch her go first. You need to see her struggle with fear and courage. You need to see her rise above the place she is given. Maybe it’s only after reading the story that you can believe that your small story is tied to something larger.

Maybe you are motivated and full of faith and maybe you really do believe you can change the world, you’re just looking for where. Maybe your struggle as you read Esther is just to see your world clearly. You want to know the time, you want to understand your role and your place in the story, you want to find what it is, that God has for you. You see Esther and you want to know where I can be ahead of the curve.

All of these are questions that bubble up from out of the text because they are the reflection of Esther’s story in the reality of where we live. It’s part of the brilliance of a good story because there are no lessons to be learned, there are only implications to consider.

coming at some point

Part 2: When God Does’t Show Up
Part 3: Courage and Fear
Part 4: Ironic Isn’t It?
Part 5: Wrapping Up and Getting It Wrong