title: Love in Flesh and Bone: Exploring the Christmas Mystery
author:  Amy E. Richter 
description: "Amy Richter and Joe Pagano break open the flesh and bone of our human condition, inviting us to glimpse the love that shines through. Through imagination and scholarship they illuminate the wonder of our vulnerability and the God who loves us in our very bones."<br>--Joan Penzenstadler, Vice President for Mission and Identity, Mount Mary University, Wisconsin<br /><br />"Preaching at its thoughtful and provocative best. Written with wisdom finely attuned to the joys and the sorrows of human experience, these sermons probe how fully and irrevocably God has become present to and for us in the incarnation of Christ Jesus."<br>--Philip J. Rossi, Department of Theology, Marquette University, Wisconsin<br /><br />"Richter and Pagano merge inquisitive intellects with the richness of faith as they explore the mystery of God made flesh. In the physical world, whether the context is a fog-shrouded hike up an unconquerable mountain or in imagined details such as 'Herod's splayed hands on a windowsill,' this book illuminates the paradox that God is in us, as us--that eternal love was made to dwell forever in the transitory house of flesh and bone."<br>--Laura Oliver, author of<i>The Story Within</i><br /><br />"Preachers are to bring alive the word of God such that individuals and the church are transformed by God's grace. Amy Richter and Joe Pagano bring alive the Word by thorough scholarship and vivid imagery, focused on faith experienced in daily living. Through Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, they witness in their words to the power of God's love as an incarnate--flesh and bone--reality for contemporary Christians."<br>--John L. Rabb, Bishop Suffragan (Ret.), Maryland
zlib_text: Ezra’s
  Awakening
   
  A Blood and Bones Christmas
   
   
  By: B.A. Stretke
  
   
  Copyright © 2019 by B.A. Stretke
   
  Published by Superiorland Publishing
   
  All rights reserved.
   
  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any
  means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the
  prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical
  reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
   
  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person (living or dead), place, or event is purely
  coincidence.
   
   
   
  
  I want to take a moment and thank all of my readers who have enjoyed my stories and
  made this one of the most incredible years. I dedicate this book to all of you. Thank you for
  reading and making me a part of your world. Here’s to a wonderful and happy 2020.
   
  -B.A Stretke
  
   
  CHAPTER ONE
   
  Louis walked into the Great Hall, a room of pur