#ShutTheHellUp.

An epilogue for 2017.

We’ve come to the end of another season of our Advent digital discipline, and words cannot express our gratitude for your involvement, your commitment, or your creativity. But Tuhina Verma Rasche and I will certainly try. :)

From Tuhina:

On this last day of Advent, and therefore the last day of #ShutTheHellUp, I am so incredibly grateful. I am grateful for my beloved co-conspirator and sibling in the faith, Jason Chesnut. He is a gifted storyteller, a damn good filmmaker, and a follower of Christ with immense faith. When we did #FuckThisShit last year, it was a terrifying endeavor; but isn’t call just that? It is also one of the areas of my ministry where I believe I have wrestled with my call, but also where I have been the most faithful and held accountable.

For this year’s devotional, I am grateful for each of our featured voices; each and every one of you is a gifted minister. Each and every one of you has a call. Each and every one of you has a gift for expressing the holy in the midst of chaos.

For each of you who participated in this year’s devotional, the words “thank you” are not enough. Thank you for being willing to risk with this iteration of the community. Thank you for being willing to add your voices and your gifts to a community where two or three or ten or twenty or more were gathered to be an expression of the Body of Christ. Thank you for being willing to bring your whole selves to this community.

You are illumined with the holy and divine.

From Jason:

As we near the end of Advent, I am so fucking grateful for my partner-in-crime, @tvrasche — for her passion, her artistry, her love for God and God’s people.

And I love that, one year ago, we both prayed and then said #FuckThisShit — and created an online digital discipline that remains one of the things I’m most proud of in ministry.

And I’m in awe of all of you who have walked with us, trusted us, challenged us, and created art that will last.

God’s amazing and offensive love continue to strike a nerve, and I’m honored to be a part of it.