tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74571429286551624362024-03-15T18:12:56.117-07:00Danny BradfieldPastor of Bixby Knolls Christian Church, Long Beach, CAUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger707125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-77122875769723288882024-03-10T07:52:00.000-07:002024-03-10T07:52:00.130-07:00Snakes! (Numbers 21:4-9)<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; text-indent: 27pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Back when I was a teenager, we made mixtapes. Any of you ever make a mixtape?</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-e79b4491-7fff-9b98-ad6a-529f20ab6ecd"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">On my mixtape there were songs by John Mellencamp, Boston, The Cars, Billy Joel, Huey Lewis and the News, Michael Jackson…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I would make these mixtapes by recording songs from vinyl record albums that I or my friends bought—or, sometimes, we’d record it right off the radio, sitting around, listening, waiting for a song we liked to come on, hoping the DJ wouldn’t ruin it by talking over the start of the song…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And when I was done making my mixtape… I would pop out that little tiny tab in the corner of the cassette, the tab that, once removed, would prevent anyone from accidentally or intentionally recording over the songs I had so carefully selected.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But sometimes, I </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">would</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> want to record </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">over</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> a song, or several songs, that I had put on my mixtape. How do you record over those songs, when that tab is removed?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">You put a little piece of Scotch tape over the spot where the tab was. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Voila!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Now you can record.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And if I would go on a long car ride, like when I was in boy scouts and we were off on some trip, I would take my walkman and my headphones, and listen to my mixtapes to pass the time. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And when I went to college, I got a nice boombox for my dorm room that could play my mixtapes… although that boombox could also play a brand new thing called a compact disc, though I didn’t have any of those… yet. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Well, hardly anyone makes mixtapes anymore. Most people don’t even listen to CDs these days. Instead, we have custom-made </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">playlists</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> that can be streamed digitally.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is just one way that our world has changed. Our world has changed </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">a lot. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So much is new and different in this digital age, and these changes have affected </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">everything</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Including religion.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Right now, we have folks joining us for worship via our livestream. It’s not the same as attending worship in-person, but what a blessing it is for those who are unable to be here, for whatever reason. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We have meetings that take place over zoom.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And this is just the tip of the iceberg. The internet has completely changed how we access information. It’s completely changed how I prepare and write sermons. It’s changed how we shop. It’s changed how we communicate.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Really, it has changed everything! - - - -</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Phyllis Tickle was an American author and lecturer who spent a lot of time analyzing these changes. She died in 2015, but people still talk about how she described this period of change as a giant rummage sale. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And she said that the church has one of these giant rummage sales every 500 years.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Every 500 years, she said, the church is compelled to have a giant rummage sale in which it trots out things that have accumulated—things like doctrines, traditions, and practices—and sorts through them to see what should be kept and what should be discarded—just like one would do at a rummage sale.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We are in one of those time periods right now, no doubt about it. Doctrines, traditions, practices—everything is being sorted through, reevaluated, and some of it is being kept, and a lot of it is being discarded… </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Religion is changing. It will never be what it once was.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In case you’re wondering, the last time the church had one of these giant rummage sales, 500 years ago, we were experiencing the Reformation, when Luther wrote his 95 theses and the Protestant branch of Christianity began to take shape. That time of change was fueled to a great degree by the invention of the printing press, just like our own time of great change is fueled by digital communication.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">500 years before the Reformation, it was the Great Schism that shook up religion, when Eastern Christianity and Western Christianity split over issues like the source of the Holy Spirit, whether leavened or unleavened bread should be used during communion, and the jurisdiction of the pope.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">500 years before </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">that</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, the church was dealing with the aftermath of the conversion of Constantine, when Christianity went from being an oppressed religion of the poor, to the established religion of the empire.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And 500 years before </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">that</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, we had Jesus.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Every 500 years, a time of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">radical</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> transformation. And we are living in one of those once-every-500-year periods right now. And the changes we are experiencing are even more profound than just the evolution of music media, from mixtapes to CDs to streaming. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s an exciting time to be alive!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, yeah: if it seems that the world is changing so fast, it’s not just you. It really is a time of radical change, the likes of which the world hasn’t seen in at least 500 years.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But the change doesn’t happen in an instant. We don’t just snap our fingers, and all of a sudden, we’re living in a new age.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This time of transformation is spanning several generations. It takes several generations to get used to the changes… and the changes are still happening.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But so many wonderful things have come from it all. The ability to livestream worship, for example; or, the ability to carry around an entire music library or an entire book library in a device that fits in the palm of our hands. Even Gene Roddenberry couldn’t have imagined all the things we can do with a cellphone.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But sometimes, it can be overwhelming. Sometimes, it feels that things are changing </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">too</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> fast, that there’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">too much</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> change. Sometimes, we just want to retreat, to go back to a time when life was simpler, and easier to understand. We long for the days of mixtapes, or even 8-tracks; we long for the days of manual typewriters and rotary phones and roll-down windows, and…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">…and if any young people are listening, you probably have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If you’ve ever felt that way, if you’ve ever longed for the old days, despite all the advantages of modern technology, then maybe it won’t be too hard to understand the frustrations of the Israelites, as they journeyed toward the Promised Land.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Life in Egypt was far from perfect. After all, the Hebrews were slaves to Pharaoh; they had few rights; they were forced to labor long hours.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Freedom was their dream, their hope; and when Moses led them out of Egypt, they were overjoyed…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> the journey to a new land and a new nation was a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">huge change</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. Their transformation as a people was a lot more challenging than they anticipated. They wanted the time of transition to be over quickly. They wanted someone to snap their fingers, and bam: new life, living easy!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But that isn’t how transformation works.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For the Israelites, it took 40 years. An entire generation, and then some. They grew impatient. They began to grumble, and complain.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And the changes that did come, the changes they were already experiencing… well, it wasn’t what they had expected, and it was all so new… they had never done things this way before!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So: maybe it began with just a few people, standing around a campfire one night. One of them says: “You know, back in Egypt—hear me out! I know we were in slavery, but in Egypt, at least we knew where we would be laying down to sleep each night. And at least we knew we would be getting food to eat. And at least we knew what the future would hold, because every day was the same…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“No worrying about where we were going, or what we would eat… No being overwhelmed by how different and new everything is…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“Was it really so bad?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And someone else around the campfire would chime in: “In Egypt, Pharaoh made us work hard. But this journey through the wilderness is hard, too.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And the thing is, they were absolutely right. Any kind of transformation is hard work. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">freedom</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is hard work. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Liberation</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is hard work. It’s hard physically, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">and</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> it’s hard mentally.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Just like many of the changes we are experiencing today are mentally exhausting.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I don’t know about you, but when I ask one of my kids to help me with some tech issue, it’s usually not because I’m not capable of learning or figuring it out; it’s just that I’m tired, mentally, from all the learning and all the figuring out that all these changes have forced upon me.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And… it makes me lazy. I don’t </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">want</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> to learn it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And sometimes, people get mentally tired trying to keep up with all the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">other</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> changes taking place in our world… demographic changes, for example. Neighbors speaking different languages. Neighbors redefining love, redefining gender, redefining what constitutes a family. Neighbors who insist on eating things like curry, or boba, or avocado toast. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I never heard of curry or boba or avocado toast when I was a kid.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">All these changes are a lot to adapt to. No wonder so many people long for the “good ol’ days.” And yes, I know people for whom the good ol’ days include a lot of curry, but that’s not my experience….My point is that when the world changes, it’s hard to adapt to, and we’re tempted to grumble and complain about it all… </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Well, God got upset with the Israelites. God got upset with </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">their</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> grumbling and their complaining. God was trying to lead them to freedom and liberation and a new beginning and new life, but their minds were stuck in the past. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But what could God do? God wasn’t about to say, “Don't make me turn this </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">journey to the promised land</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> around!” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, God sent snakes. Poisonous serpents. Which bit many of the Israelites; and those that were bitten started dying.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now, I heard our General Minister, Terri Hord Owens, say the other day that the snakes are, in her mind, a “narrative device,” because God doesn’t intentionally inflict evil on people. And that may very well be so. But let’s stay immersed in the story, and treat the snakes as real, something that was causing great pain among the people…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So the people went to Moses and said, “We’re sorry! We sinned by complaining and grumbling! Please, pray to the Lord, to take the snakes away and heal us!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So Moses prayed, and the Lord told Moses to make a serpent of bronze, and put it on a pole, so that anyone who was bit by a poisonous serpent could look at the serpent made of bronze, and be healed. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now, you may be asking: Why snakes?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In several different ancient religions, snakes were considered divine beings. Snakes also symbolized new life, or eternal life, because of the way they shed their skins. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When a snake sheds its skin, it casts off the old, and becomes new once again… and isn’t that what God was calling the people of Israel to do? Wasn’t God calling them to cast off their old way of living, and the old mindset that went with it, and embrace a new way of living and a new mindset? Wasn’t God calling them to cast off their slavery mindset, and embrace a liberation mindset?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">People often wonder why it took 40 years for the Israelites to get out of Egypt. Well, I once heard it said, it didn’t take 40 years to get the Israelites out of Egypt; it took 40 years to get Egypt out of the Israelites. It took 40 years to get that Egypt-mindset out of them, and for them to fully accept and embrace the new life God was leading them to.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This season of Lent is a time of transformation. Lent is 40 days, a reminder of the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness, but also a reminder of the 40 years that it took the Israelites to transition from life in Egypt as slaves, to life in the Promised Land as a new, free, nation.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And during the season of Lent, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">we</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> are challenged to examine our own lives, and discern what it is that we need to leave behind. What needs “casting off” from our lives, just like the old skin that is cast off by a snake? And what new way of living is God calling us to embrace?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Jesus, who compared his death on the cross to the snake Moses lifted up on the pole, is always calling us to leave behind this world, this kingdom, and all that this world says is important, to embrace a new future of life and wholeness and freedom.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But to do that, we have to die to our old selves and our old ways, to let go of so many of our ideals. The values of this world are not the values of God’s kingdom. This world: profit margins and a scarcity mindset. God’s world: generous giving, and an abundance mindset.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This world is about divisions and barriers and us vs. them. God’s world is about unity and acceptance and coming together as one body.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">God is calling us to leave behind the ways of this world, and embrace the ways of God’s kingdom. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">God is calling us to leave the past behind. We can remember the past; If the past was good, we can give thanks for the past; if the past was harmful, we can heal from our past.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But God’s not calling us to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">live in</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> the past. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">God is calling us to live into a present and future glory. God is beckoning us to live in God’s kingdom. The kingdom of transformation. The kingdom of freedom and liberation. The kingdom where the old is made new. The kingdom of eternal life. ⚫</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Btw, curry is really good. A member of my last church made the most amazing curry, from a recipe she brought over from Pakistan when she immigrated to the U.S. Meanwhile, my son Tristan in California loves avocado toast. But boba: I still think boba is kinda weird, but let’s keep that between us; I don’t want God to send a snake to try to convince me otherwise.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-36621339767949801002024-03-03T11:10:00.000-08:002024-03-03T11:10:00.134-08:00Overturning Tables of Injustice (John 2:13-22)<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; text-indent: 27pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was just a little over two months ago now that we heard, in worship, the story of baby Jesus’ presentation in the temple. Mary and Joseph had traveled to Jerusalem with baby Jesus, went up to the temple, entered the massive courtyard, and offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord: a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-20014a99-7fff-71d4-3017-b2f619a0e78e"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Actually, what the law of the Lord said (You can read it yourself in Leviticus 12) was that the offering should consist of a lamb AND a pigeon or turtledove; only if the person making the offering could not afford a lamb, could an offering of two turtledoves or two young pigeons be made.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mary and Joseph were poor. When they went to the temple, they could not afford a lamb. Even an offering of turtledoves or pigeons was a stretch for them.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And, you may recall, it was made even worse by the way the whole process was manipulated and engineered to take advantage of those wanting to make an offering.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The sellers would only accept temple currency; no Roman coins were allowed. So, first, before they could even purchase their offering, pilgrims like Mary and Joseph had to exchange their Roman currency for temple currency.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And when they exchanged their Roman currency for temple currency, the moneychanger kept some as profit, and Rome kept some in the form of a tax on the exchange, which means Mary and Joseph lost money on the exchange.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Then, when they took their temple currency to buy their offering, the seller kept some as profit, and again there was a tax on the sale, which means that, in the end, Mary and Joseph paid out way more money than what the actual offering cost.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was all about commerce. It was all about cheating the poor, to make the rich richer.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And it made it hard, so very hard, for people like Mary and Joseph to fulfill their obligations to the Lord.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As James Baldwin said, it’s extremely expensive to be poor.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is just the way of the world; that’s just how the world works. In the world, economic systems are rigged in favor of the rich. That was true then, and it’s true today. The rich get their loopholes and their deductions, while the poor get stuck with heavier burdens.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">To cite just one modern example: last week it was reported that, in 2023, General Electric made a profit of seven billion dollars, yet somehow paid no federal income tax and, in fact, received </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">from</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> the government 423 million dollars. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For many other corporations, the situation is the same. They pay little or no taxes, they receive giant subsidies and tax breaks, all while making record profits.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Yet at the same time, they keep raising the prices that you and I have to pay. They blame their price raising on rising costs, yet the fact that they are making record profits shows that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">greed</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is really what’s causing them to raise prices.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s the same as the sellers and the moneychangers in the temple. Greed drove them to create a system that sucked as much money as it could from the poor, in order to line the pockets of the rich.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is the injustice that all of the Old Testament prophets wrote about. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s interesting, that all those Old Testament prophets only appeared in certain time periods. As it turns out, when the prophets were active,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> those</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> were times when the gap between rich and poor was extreme; in other time periods, when the gap wasn’t as great, and the poor weren’t quite as poor, and the rich weren’t quite as rich… in those time periods, the prophets are silent. There are no prophetic writings from times of relative economic equality. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This makes it clear that the exploitation of the poor is a primary concern of God’s… No wonder Jesus got so upset at the exploitation and injustice taking place in the temple.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The temple, God’s house of prayer—the house of prayer for </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">all people</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">—was supposed to be a refuge from the world’s corruption. God’s house of prayer was supposed to be a place where people could draw closer to God, but the economic barriers actually made it harder for the people. Instead of drawing people closer to God, the temple was keeping people separated from God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, when Jesus returns to the temple, he sees the sellers with their animals, and he sees the moneychangers, and he sees the people counting out their coins, knowing of the great sacrifices they are making, knowing that, for many of them, the sacrifices they make mean it’ll be that much harder to afford food to eat, or clothes to wear, or homes to live in, for themselves, for their families.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And Jesus knows there are others, those who are even poorer; people for whom any offering at all is an impossibility. Yet there are no concessions. If they can’t afford to exchange their money and purchase an offering, then they are deemed to be not right with God. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s all so unjust! Do you see the injustice? Do you see how religion has been corrupted and perverted?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is not what God’s house of prayer is supposed to be all about!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So: Jesus decides to (as we say) cleanse the temple.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">He finds some cords, makes them into a whip, and runs around the marketplace, chasing all the animals out. Can you picture it? Cows and sheep all running amuck, mooing and baa-ing; people screaming and jumping out of their way as the animals rush past… And the birds in their cages getting all riled up by the commotion, adding their own noise to the mix, and flapping around so that feathers start flying out of their cages and swirling around in the courtyard…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Oh, what a beautifully chaotic scene!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And, as if that weren’t enough, Jesus overturns the tables of the moneychangers. Their coins all crash to the ground, and start rolling all across the courtyard. The moneychangers go chasing after their coins, and many of the people in the courtyard do as well, trying to pocket some without anyone noticing.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But Jesus notices; and maybe he smiles a little, thinking to himself that, at least in this moment, some of the money is going where it belongs: to those who need it most.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Then Jesus turns to those who were selling the doves and pigeons, and says: “Take these things out of here!” His voice must have been quite loud, or no one would have heard him, given all the noise that was around.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And then he says (even louder, I think): “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because the injustice of the temple-empire complex is just too much for Jesus. The way the temple and the empire have conspired to rob the poor to feed the rich.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The temple is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">God’s house</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. Jesus loved the temple, or at least, the temple as it should be. A place where all people can draw close to God, with no barriers or obstacles. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But the way the temple was being run, it was making it harder—and, in some cases, impossible—for the Jewish faithful to worship God, to present themselves before God, and to present an offering acceptable to God.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The etymology of the word “religion” can be traced back to the Latin word “religio,” which means to bind or to connect. It makes me think of the ligaments we have in our bodies: bands of tissue which </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">connect</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> bones, joints, or organs.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, religion, done properly, connects us to God and to one another. It enables connection to happen. It creates a conducive and favorable environment for reconnecting.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But religion done improperly disconnects. It makes it harder for connection to happen. It sets up obstacles and barriers, creating an unfavorable environment for reconnecting.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The moneychangers and the sellers were making it harder for people to connect with God—especially poor people. Originally, their presence was meant to be a service, a convenience, to those arriving at the temple and needing to purchase an offering. But the way they took advantage of the situation for their own gain did just the opposite of how it was supposed to be.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And it makes me think about how religion works in the world today. For some, connecting with God has been made </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">harder</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by religion—or, to be more precise, by religious institutions. Religion, for some, has become a burden. Religion has caused people harm. Religion has kept people apart from God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But that’s not the way religion is supposed to be. Religion, by definition, is supposed to help people reconnect; and, in reconnecting, find healing and wholeness.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And even though there are many places today where religion is corrupted, and works to separate people from God and harm people, there are also many places today presenting a truer, more authentic form of religion; a religion that really does help people reconnect with God, with humanity, and with their true selves; a religion that makes people whole.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the three months that I’ve been here, I’ve heard people say these things about First Christian Church: how they have found hope and healing through the ministry of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">this</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> congregation; how the love and support and affirmation they received here helped put together the broken parts of their soul, and make them whole again.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That’s what religion is supposed to be like.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">— — — </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In a few weeks, Lent will come to an end. We’ll find ourselves in Holy Week. And on Good Friday, we’ll hear again the story of Jesus’ death on the cross.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And we’ll hear how, at the moment that Jesus, on the cross, took his last breath, the curtain in the temple was torn in two. This curtain hung in the Holy of Holies, and served as a barrier between sinful humanity and the holy presence of God. The curtain was large, and likely embroidered, with blue, scarlet, purple, and other colors; and it was thick. Jewish tradition says that the Temple veil was as thick as a man’s hand, and I even read one description that said it was a foot thick. Which, I’m sure was an exaggeration; but the point is that the curtain was a barrier, a separation, between people and God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But at the moment of Jesus’ death, the curtain was torn in two; and this tearing of the curtain at the moment of Jesus’ death symbolized the removal of all barriers between God and humanity. Jesus’ death on the cross removed the barriers, and brought humanity and God together. It reconnected God and humanity, once and for all.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So any religion, any version of Christianity, that makes it harder for people to connect with God, is not representing what Christ stood for. Any religion, any version of Christianity, that is about judgment and condemnation more than it is about grace and love and affirmation, is not representing what Christ stood for.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">one thing</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Christ could not tolerate, was the act of erecting barriers that kept people disconnected from God. The </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">one thing</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Christ could not tolerate was placing heavier burdens on the lives of people who come seeking rest, relief, and redemption. Especially when those burdens were placed on the backs of the poor and the oppressed.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If you have been hurt by religion; if religion has pushed you further away from God; if religion has made you feel that you can’t come into God’s presence as you are, with all your goodness, with all your brokenness… If that’s what religion has done to you,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">…then, on behalf of the church, I apologize. I apologize for what the church has said and done, and for how the church has actually made it harder for you to connect with God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">do</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> hope that you find here, at First Christian Church, a place where the barriers no longer exist, and where you feel you can come into God’s presence with your whole self, and know that God’s Spirit dwells within you, and that God’s love embraces you, and that the abundant life of Christ is available to you, free of charge.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I hope that you know that, whatever you have to offer to God, is acceptable. You don’t have to exchange what you have for something else, and you don’t have to change who you are to become someone else, someone that you are not.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The curtain, the veil, has been torn in two; and God is waiting to reconnect with you, God’s own child; because God has loved you from the beginning; and God has never stopped loving you; and God will always love you, to the end of time.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-67969538357673502862024-02-25T12:47:00.000-08:002024-02-28T12:48:40.780-08:00Take Up Your Cross (Mark 8:31-38)<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-indent: 27pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Imagine that you were there, with the disciples, or that you were one </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-indent: 27pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">of</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-indent: 27pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> the disciples, and Jesus starts explaining to you how he must undergo great suffering, be rejected, and be killed. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-a7d4a1ad-7fff-ea39-518c-5c3c037c3f31"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">You have no knowledge of how this story ends. You don’t know about Easter, or resurrection, because those things haven’t happened yet.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In your mind, Jesus is God’s anointed one, sent to establish a new kingdom, over which he will rule with justice, just as King David ruled over a united Israel and Judah many generations past.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So when Jesus says that he will soon undergo great suffering, be rejected by the authorities, put on trial, and executed, it doesn’t make sense. You wonder: Is he serious?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And he mentions something about rising, but that doesn’t make any sense to you. Death is final—who knows what Jesus means by that?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, when Peter rebukes Jesus, he’s just saying out loud what you and all the others are thinking. None of you wants to think about dying. Who wants to think about dying? I’m not going to die, you’re not going to die, and Jesus—</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">yes! </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">God forbid that Jesus ever die!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Let’s not even </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">think</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> about dying!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And yet, Jesus </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">does</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> want us to think about dying. He wants us to think about </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">his</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> dying; he wants us to know that he will die, and that his dying will </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">not</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> be from old age.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, Jesus wants us to think about our own dying. “If your focus is on </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">saving</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> your life,” he says, “then you will lose it. But if you lose your life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">then</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> you will save it.” ……</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Rabbi Sharon Brous wrote a book that was just published a few weeks ago called </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend our Broken Hearts and World</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, which I am currently reading. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In one chapter, she tells the story of Robert, a member of her community, who was diagnosed with cancer, and told he had just a short time to live. Robert said that when he got his diagnosis, “his whole life came into sharp focus. His love of his daughter and wife was so profound and vivid he could almost touch it. He was determined to make every moment matter.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“But then, only a couple of weeks later, Robert's oncologist called with wonderful, improbable news: the initial diagnosis had been inaccurate; the tumor was benign.” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Robert said when he found out that he </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">wasn’t</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> about to die, “his sense of gratitude, wonder, and connectedness faded almost immediately.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, when Robert thought he was going to die, he started truly </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">living</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">; but then, when he found out he wasn’t going to die, at least not anytime soon, he stopped living so fully.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What is it about knowing we are about to die that makes us live life more meaningfully, and why can’t we find that meaning and purpose without that grim diagnosis? As Rabbi Rous writes, “What would it take for us to feel that urgency, lean into that purpose, without standing at the edge of death?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I don’t know if we can. Maybe we need to come to terms with dying in order to truly live. Maybe that’s the only way.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As you know, many congregations are dying. This is a difficult time for houses of worship. But few are willing to face their dying head-on.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Many of these congregations live in denial. “Well, maybe things will get better,” they say. If anyone does have thoughts about the congregation’s dying, they keep those thoughts to themselves, and never say them out loud. They never talk about death so openly… as Jesus did.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But there are some congregations that, faced with their imminent death, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">have</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> said quite openly, “we’re dying, and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">since</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> we’re dying, we’re going to go out with a bang. We’re going to life as if this year is our last, because it quite likely is. We’re going to do all we can to help as many people as we can, for as long as we can, giving even more to our community…” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Which is actually the opposite of what all those churches-in-denial do, because </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">they</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> usually hold back from doing any outreach, because they are so focused on their own survival.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But often, those congregations who decide to go out with a bang, and who increase their outreach giving, knowing that they are about to fade away, draw attention. People are attracted to a congregation that is doing so much for others, even though the congregation has so little to sustain itself.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And sometimes, this attention draws more interest, and more visitors start showing up, and more people start joining the church, because this kind of self-sacrificial ministry is what interests them. They want to be part of a church that is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">doing something</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, making a difference, even if that church is only going to be around a few more years.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">They’re not interested in joining a church that continues to limp along, doing very little except trying to prolong its own existence.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">church, the church that is so concerned with its own survival, will eventually die, because it’s not doing anything. Some would say that it has </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">already</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> died, it just hasn’t admitted or acknowledged that yet.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But the church that said “we’re dying, let’s go out with a bang…” Sometimes, because of the people who noticed how much it was doing for the community around it, a church like that begins to grow, and ends up finding new life. It’s happened, and it was a great, happy surprise to the people of those congregations who thought they were about to die. They said, “Let’s go out with a bang,” but they ended up getting new life.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“Those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A church that is willing to die, or risk dying, for the sake of the world around it, is a church people want to be part of. They want to be part of a church like that, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">because</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> that is a church that is making a difference. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That’s part of the upside-down kingdom of God, where everything works differently than we expect. The greatest is the one who serves. The first become last, and the last become first. The rich go hungry, and the poor eat until they are full… and those willing to die are the ones who find life renewed. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Many years ago, I was meeting with a group of church leaders who were discussing what they could do to stop their congregation’s decline. That was the number one question on their minds. One of them began the meeting by stating the question out loud: “What can we do to keep our doors open?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I looked at her and said, “Keep them open for what?” The look on her face told me that she didn’t understand, so I said: “Why is it important for the church to keep its doors open?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">She said, “So the church doesn’t die.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I responded, “Why not let it die? What’s so important about keeping the church alive?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And she couldn’t answer.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now, if that church leader had responded, “We need to keep the church open because it tends to the physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental needs of its members and the community around it… </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If she had responded, “We need to keep the church open because it is a beacon of hope to the community…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If she had responded, “We need to keep the church open because of all the ways we bring wholeness to a fragmented world…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If she had responded, “We need to keep the church open because it is a mission outpost of God’s kingdom, working for all things right and just in the world…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">…If she had said any of those things, she would have been closer to the truth…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And it would have been</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> even better</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> if she had said, “Whether the church stays open or not is up to God, as long as we focus on what’s really important, what we’re called to do: living out the self-sacrificial love of Christ in all we do, following Christ’s way by denying ourselves and taking up our own cross for his sake.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And, yes, I understand how hard it is to say such things, because every church I’ve been a part of, I’ve wanted to see it succeed, I’ve wanted to see it grow, I’ve wanted to see it prosper. And it is my hope that First Christian Church succeeds, grows, and prospers. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In fact, if I’m being honest, I probably care about such things a little </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">too </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">much. If I’m being honest, my thinking probably isn’t all that much different from the thinking of that church leader who I had that conversation with all those years ago. If I’m being honest, my mind is too often set on these human things, and not on divine things…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Which is why I’m pretty sure I’d be agreeing with Peter when he cuts Jesus off, refusing to accept that Jesus will suffer and die. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s not what I want.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But unlike Peter, I do know how the story ends. And actually, Peter would know how the story ends, too, if he had listened to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">everything</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Jesus said: that, after three days, he would rise again; that those who are willing to lose their lives for Christ’s sake and for the sake of the gospel, will find their lives renewed and restored.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I guess the question is: do we have enough faith to believe that? Do we have enough faith to believe that, if we risk dying for Christ, that we will find our life renewed?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s like the decision Harry Potter had to make in the series of books by J.K. Rowling. Say what you will about the author—her own statements in recent years have been a great disappointment to many—but the most remarkable thing about the stories is how Harry Potter discovered that, in order to defeat Lord Voldemort, he, Harry, had to die. Only Harry Potter’s death—given willingly and sacrificially for those he loved—would allow him to achieve victory.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That’s the same decision Christians are faced with every day: Do we live for ourselves, or do we live sacrificially, for others? Is it possible for us to love the world so much—to love neighbors we don’t know, neighbors we’ve never meet, and even neighbors we </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">have </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">met and find difficult to love—can we love them anyway, to the point that we are willing to do what is right for them, even at great cost to ourselves?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">By this measure, this standard, I know I come up woefully short. I fail at this all the time. It’s hard. It’s hard, even though I know that, in the end, new life will spring forth, that death leads to life, and that love overcomes all.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That’s what Lent reminds us. Lent begins in winter, when the world is cold, frozen, and when all appears lifeless—yet Lent ends in spring, when new life appears. And God is faithful, and the spring returns every year.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Lent begins in darkness. But already the days are getting longer, and by the time Easter arrives, we’ll have more hours of sunlight than hours of darkness. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Lent leads us through death. We follow Christ on the road to Jerusalem. We feel the love he showed to his disciples at the meal he knew would be his last. We hear the soldiers arrive and arrest him—and we hear the protests of the disciples. But the disciples soon fall into silence, as the self-sacrificial path becomes too much for them. They value their own lives too much to follow Jesus all the way to the cross.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And then, death comes on Good Friday.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But after that, on Sunday: resurrection! New life! And Jesus, full of compassion and love, greets his disciples, and entrusts the building of God’s kingdom to them. There is mercy and forgiveness, for the disciples are only human, and they are willing to keep walking with Christ, learning a little more every day about how they are called, even now, to love the world with the same love Christ had; how they are to live out that love, sacrificially, for Christ’s sake and for the sake of the world he came to save.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And every day I ponder that love, and how I can grow that love in me, and how we can grow that love in our church. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We’re on the right path, I think. We </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">do</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> give, in many ways, of ourselves, to those around us. We have a strong ReachOut ministry that I’m still learning about, and in so many other ways, we</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> are</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> showing true love to our community and our world. The love that is present here is genuine, and the prayers we offer up for one another and for the world are sincere. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There is so much sacrificial love present in this congregation and in the lives of you who are committed to this ministry, not just for the sake of the ministry, “to keep the lights on and the doors open,” but for the sake of the world we are called to serve.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We are on the right path.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But still, Christ calls us further. To keep walking. To keep growing in love. To keep growing in faith. To keep walking, humbly, with God and with one another, trusting in God to lead us, each and every day.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-767727197375064132024-02-18T07:33:00.000-08:002024-02-22T07:33:46.407-08:00Tempted (Mark 1: 9-13)<p> </p><span id="docs-internal-guid-e2462bc5-7fff-e1eb-ec51-2740aeea91be"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Tenth grade English class: that was the year we studied American Literature. So, no Canterbury Tales, no Shakespeare… but we did read Mark Twain. And one of the stories we read by Mark Twain was </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In this story, the fictional town of Hadleyburg prided itself on being incorruptible. The citizens of Hadleyburg were honest </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">to a fault</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. They did all they could to distance themselves from any and every temptation, and to remove all temptations from their children, so that no one would be, well, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">tempted</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But one day, a stranger came to town, and he had a bone to pick. He devised a scheme that was so ruthless, that, in the end, the 19 most upstanding, reputable men in town, and their wives, all end up giving in to temptation, and they all get caught lying and cheating as a result.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The ensuing scandal drew great attention, because everyone knew of Hadleyburg’s incorruptible reputation. How shocking it was that such a scandal could take place in Hadleyburg, of all places!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the end, the people of Hadleyburg learned an important lesson. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">With all the prominent citizens of the town disgraced and humiliated, the town was given permission to change its name, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">and</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> to change its town motto. The motto </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">had</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> been, “lead us not into temptation,” but the new motto now read: “lead us </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">into</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> temptation.”</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This story left a mark on me, in part because, in the tenth grade, I didn’t quite know what to make of it. I grew up going to church, and every Sunday I prayed the Lord’s Prayer, just as we do here, which means every Sunday, I prayed: “Lead us not into temptation.” I wasn’t sure how it could be that being led </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">into</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> temptation could be a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">good</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> thing, something you’d want as your town motto.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Several decades later, and I’m still pondering how and when it might be a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">good</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> thing that we face temptation… I’m still wondering about the role temptation plays in our lives, how temptation </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">can</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> be our downfall, but how, sometimes, facing temptation can also make us stronger.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I wonder if Pope Francis has had similar thoughts. A few years ago, he declared that the wording of that part of the Lord’s Prayer should be changed. It wasn’t right, the Pope said, to pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” because it’s never God who leads us into temptation. Or, as Rita Mae Brown said: “Lord, lead me not into temptation, I can find the way myself.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A better way to pray it, according to the Pope, would be to pray: “Let us not </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">fall into</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> temptation, or, let us not </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">give in</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> to temptation.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But is the Pope right, that God </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">never</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> leads us to temptation?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In our scripture story today, Jesus came out of the waters of baptism, and right away, the Spirit whisked him off to the wilderness, where he faced temptation. And this temptation is one of the key events in Jesus’s life; the story appears in Matthew, Mark, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">and</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Luke. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And it certainly does appear that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">this</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> temptation, at least, was part of God’s plan. God’s Spirit </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">drove</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Jesus into the wilderness, to face temptation…</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It never occurred to me until this week, but the story </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> reminds me of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. That’s the 1971 film version, the one with Gene Wilder, which is the one I’m most familiar with, because it came out the same year I was born, and I watched it many times as a child, even though I found it haunting and disturbing.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now I realize: temptation is a big part of that story. Isn’t it? The five children, when they tour Willie Wonka’s chocolate factory, are all tempted to steal his secrets. In the end, Charlie is the only one to resist that temptation.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Was it good that these children faced temptation? Was it a good test of their honesty and integrity? In Mark Twain’s story, not one citizen of Hadleyburg was able to pass the test, but in </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, one person </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">did</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> pass the test.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The stranger who corrupted the town of Hadleyburg says in the story: “The weakest of all weak things is a virtue which has not been tested in the fire.” In other words: temptation makes us stronger. If we don’t face temptation, we remain weak. If we’re not tested, we won’t become strong. If we don’t stare our temptations in the eye, and face them, then we won’t develop the strength we need to live our lives with honesty and integrity.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It certainly seems that Jesus wasn’t ready yet to begin his ministry, until after he spent time in the wilderness, facing temptation.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, yeah: I can’t help but wonder about how it is that temptation can be a good thing, a help, something that makes us stronger; and I can’t help wonder about when it is that God might actually lead us to temptation, to the test, so that we can learn and grow from that experience…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One of the fruits of the Spirit, listed in the book of Galatians, is self-control. I know several people who are into fitness and life-improvement who tell me that ice baths are a great way to rejuvenate your body and test your self-control.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And you can go on social media and look up fitness influencers, and you’ll see lots of them willingly, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">voluntarily</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, immersing their entire bodies in tubs and barrels filled with water and ice; and as they do, they do it with controlled breathing, as calmly as they can, controlling their instinct to yell or scream or jump quickly back out of the water.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s all about self-control. It’s all about overcoming one’s urges and instincts—and if you can do that by immersing yourself in a tub of ice water, then think of how strong your self-control will be in other life situations.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I admire their discipline. I, meanwhile, have already asked if there’s a heater in our baptistry, because when I baptize people, the temptation to scream or to jump right back out if the water is too cold is not a temptation I think I could resist.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But I do understand how, for some people, an ice bath can help them build their self-control, and I understand how that can help them in other situations. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Last Wednesday at the noon small group I lead, the topic of cell phones came up, and how some people are so addicted to their cell phones. Some of us really have no control over how often we are on our phones. The </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">temptation</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> to constantly be on our phones is one we cannot resist.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And some people I know choose to take a break from their cell phones, or from certain social media sites, either for Lent or for some other period, because they realize they have lost all self-control when it comes to such things, and they need to regain some of that control.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It makes me wonder what tests of self-control might be helpful to us. Maybe, for someone, testing their self-control in an ice bath helps them know that they can exercise self-control in other areas of their life. Maybe it even helps them control the temptation to be on their phone too much…</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So why did Jesus teach us to pray, “Lead us </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">not</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> into temptation?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bible scholar John Dominic Crossan, who wrote a whole book on the Lord’s Prayer, has looked at the context of that prayer and the situation of Jesus’s first-century life, and he believes that this line in the Lord’s Prayer is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">specifically</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> referring to the temptation to use violence. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One of the temptations Jesus faced in the wilderness was the temptation to use armies to carry out his will, to establish the kingdom of God on earth. That was, after all, how every other kingdom on earth was established. They were established by force.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As a society, that is one temptation that we find so hard to resist. Right now, as we speak, violence is being committed all over the world. Violence is being committed on a massive scale in places like Gaza, but also in homes and neighborhoods much closer.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Our society is so addicted to violence that even events that are meant to be joyful and celebratory, like the Kansas City NFL team’s victory parade, are marred by violence.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">How can we as a society stop giving in to that temptation, the temptation to commit violence? Is there some kind of test that can help us achieve the self-control we need to resist? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Is it better to face our temptations, than to ignore them? Is that why Jesus spent that time in the wilderness?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I’m afraid I’m not going to offer you an easy answer or resolution to this. Rather, my hope is that you will ponder seriously the temptations in your own life; what it is that lures you away from a life of honesty and integrity.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If you were tempted like one of those citizens of Hadleyburg, do you think you would resist that temptation? It’s easy to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">say</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> yes, but we know that, in the moment, temptation is often so hard.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What can we do to build up our self-control, so that we can maintain our honesty and our integrity?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">No one said this journey would be easy.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When Jesus spent his 40 days in the wilderness, the struggle was real.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When the Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness, on their way to the promised land, the struggle was real.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As we journey through these 40 days of Lent, we may find that our struggle is also real—more real than we’d like it to be.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But as our daily Lenten devotional reminds us: at the end there is resurrection joy. Our struggles will come to an end, and we will experience peace and joy. We may have a long journey ahead of us, but we will get there.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That is what Lent is: a long journey. A journey from winter into spring. A journey from darkness to days filled with sunlight. A journey from death to life.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Whatever struggle you’re facing, whatever temptations come your way, know that things will get better.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It doesn’t happen without struggle. But in the end, victory and joy await.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-26560505316658087742024-02-11T07:45:00.000-08:002024-02-11T07:45:00.246-08:00Uncontainable God (Mark 9:2-9)<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; text-indent: 27pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">You may have gone on a vacation somewhere, or gone to visit a famous museum or amusement park, or seen a Broadway play…and you enjoyed it so much—it was such a great experience—that you just had to buy a souvenir, and you just had to take a bunch of pictures, because you wanted to somehow bottle up that experience and bring it home with you, and maybe share it with those who didn’t get to go.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-0296cc0f-7fff-d202-8f3d-0f9e7dd6dff5"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And so you come home with your Hamilton t-shirt, or your Mickey Mouse, or your autographed baseball from Wrigley Field (or, Busch stadium–whatever); and you post your pictures on facebook or instagram.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But you know… nothing makes you quite as happy as being there. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And it’s not even just the fact that you were </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">there</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">; it’s who you were there </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">with.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> And it’s the taste of the food you ate, and the smells you smelled, and the emotions you felt.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s the whole </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">experience</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">How do you bottle that up and bring that home?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">You can’t, really.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Peter, James, and John experienced something truly amazing up there on the mountain. They experienced Jesus, transfigured.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Our scripture reading is the Bible’s attempt to share that experience with all of us, who weren’t there. The story in scripture is like a little 2-minute video shot on a cellphone of an event that must have been so much more impressive in person.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When Jesus was transfigured, his clothes became dazzling white, making visible the divine presence within him. And in that glow that surrounded him, Elijah and Moses could be seen, and they were talking with Jesus. And a cloud appeared, and a voice emanated out of the cloud, and said: “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And Peter, James, and John, they had sensed this divine presence within Jesus before, and they believed it was there…but they hadn’t </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">fully</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> experienced that divine presence; it hadn’t </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">yet </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">been revealed to them in all its glory, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">until</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> the transfiguration.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The transfiguration was an unmasking; a revealing. And these three disciples got to see and experience what they had only </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">sensed</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> previously.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Spirit of God is all around </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">us</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, like the wind; the spirit dwells within </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">us</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, like our breath.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But to actually see it in a way that mortal human eyes are normally unable to see; to actually experience it </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">fully</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">… now </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">that’s</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> an experience you want to take home with you! You want to bottle it up, and take it home with you, and share it with those who weren’t able to be there with you.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So: Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, teacher, it is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">good</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Peter didn’t really seem to know why he said that. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what to think. He was overcome and terrified and overjoyed. The other two disciples, James and John, were rendered speechless, but not Peter. Never Peter. Peter is never at a loss for words. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But sometimes, he has no idea what he’s saying, or why he’s saying it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But here’s a guess: Peter wanted to erect three dwellings, three booths, three mini-tabernacles, as a way to contain the glory, to bottle it up. Kind of like the ark of the covenant, these three dwellings would be where God’s glory, in the form of Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, could dwell.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And maybe Peter, James, and John could carry these dwellings down the mountain, or the people could come up to them, and peek inside; or, if that was too much, they could just stand outside the dwellings, and know that, within them, the glory of God dwells.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That’s my guess; I don’t really know </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">what</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Peter was thinking. But I think he thought he could somehow bottle up this whole experience, and maybe use it for his show-and-tell presentation to the rest of the disciples, the ones who weren’t there. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But then, suddenly, the cloud went away, and when Peter looked, Moses and Elijah were gone, and Jesus’ radiance had dimmed back to normal.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Apparently what the disciples experienced there on the mountain with Jesus was </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">not</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> something that could be bottled up and carried back home.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I wonder if, in that moment, Peter was thinking that things would be a lot easier if God </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">could</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> be contained, if God could be put in a container and carried around.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A God like that would be so much easier to understand. When you had the time, you could take that God out, examine that God, then put God back. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A God like that would also be easier to control. We want to control what people think about God. We want to shape God in our own image, the image of what we think God should be like. We want God to be small enough to fit in a container.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If God were able to be contained in some sort of container, it would be easy (if one wanted to) to share only those parts of that God that you felt like sharing. If there were things about that God you liked, you could open up the container to reveal them; but if there were things about that God you didn’t like, maybe you could keep those things hidden in your container.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">People do that, or at least try to. I think all of us do it, to some extent. We latch on to those aspects of God we like, those aspects of God we feel comfortable with; and we hide away those aspects of God we don’t like, or which make us uncomfortable.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Or, maybe, we just leave those uncomfortable parts of God up there on the mountain. Why even carry them around with us? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If God says “put away your sword,” but we rely on weapons of violence to make us feel secure, well, we’ll just leave that part of God up there on the mountain, and not carry it around with us. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And if God says, “do justice for the poor,” but we rely on our wealth to make us feel secure, well, we’ll just leave that part of God hidden in the container, and not show it to anyone. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And if God says, “love your enemy,” but we just can’t let go of our hatred toward that one person who is against everything we believe in, well, we’ll just keep the container closed up, and not show anyone, and tell them they don’t need to see God for themselves, that they should just trust us when we tell them what God is like.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But God cannot be contained. God cannot be carried around in your backpack, and taken out and shown as </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">you</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> feel fit. God is so much bigger than that.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And this bigger God was revealed through Jesus to Peter, James, and John, at the transfiguration. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s interesting that, just before the transfiguration, Jesus asked his disciples who they thought he was. It was Peter who answered, “You are the Messiah.” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And Jesus commended Peter for his answer. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But then, immediately after that, Jesus talked about his death and resurrection, and Peter rebuked Jesus for saying </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">that</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, because apparently that did not fit with Peter’s idea of what a Messiah was supposed to be. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Peter had this idea of what a messiah was supposed to be; he had that idea in a box. It was an understandable, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">containtainable </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">idea. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But the idea that the messiah could die and rise again was outside that box that Peter had constructed. Peter’s understanding of what the messiah would be did not allow for death and resurrection. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And when Peter rebuked Jesus for saying that the messiah would die and then rise again, Jesus in turn rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind me, Satan!” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was as if Jesus was saying to Peter, “Your idea of what the messiah is is too small. Your idea is too limiting. How dare you limit what God can do? Come on, Peter; expand your understanding. Don’t let your mind limit who God is or what God can do.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Last Sunday evening, our middle school and high school youth started brainstorming ideas for Youth Sunday, which will take place next month. One of the ideas suggested was trying to understand a God who is known through Jesus, but also through Buddhism and Islam and other religions; and honoring the questions that naturally arise when one ponders just how it is that God can be so big…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And it seemed like such a mature topic. It was, essentially, a suggestion to ponder the God who exists beyond the boxes and containers we have created for God.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Micah 6:8 says “what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.” I often pondered what it means to “walk humbly with God,” but I’ve come to realize it means, among other things, not putting God in a container. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It means understanding that God is so much bigger, so much </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">more</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, than my </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">understanding</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of who God is. It means knowing that there is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">always</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> so much more to learn about God. It means honoring the questions we have about God, and knowing that, no matter how many answers we may find, that there will always be more questions.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So no wonder we all have slightly different ideas about God—or, in some cases, big differences in our ideas about God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And even though I went to seminary and have spent 25 years as an ordained minister, studying scripture, I would never claim to have all the right answers about God. I am always learning. I am always listening. I am always asking questions.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I am learning from </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">you</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. Already, in small groups, in conversations, and in emails I’ve received from some of you, I am learning. I am growing. I am opening my box, my container, to ideas that I haven’t considered, or ideas that I have overlooked.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And if I’m always learning, always trying to understand more of this God who is so much bigger than I can imagine, it means that the me of five years from now will have a greater understanding than the me of today, which means that the me of five years from now will look back on the me of today and wince at some the things I am wrong about, just like the me of today winces when I look back at the me of five or ten years ago, and I see the lack of understanding I had then.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, as we all learn and grow together, it’s important to keep our minds open. We value diversity at First Christian Church, and that includes valuing diversity in how we think about God. Your neighbor in the pew may have a different idea than you about some things. Can you at least listen to their idea, and try to understand where they are coming from? Maybe you’ll come to see that they are right; or, maybe you won’t quite agree with them, but you will gain a new insight into what you </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">do</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> believe. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sometimes, I’ve had to do this for issues of justice and privilege. When I read or hear someone talking about injustice committed against people because of their race, or about the privilege that white people have in our society, they sometimes come across to me as angry and accusatory, and my initial reaction is to put my defenses up.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But I have learned the importance of truly listening—not just to their words, but to their emotions, and the experiences they’ve had which contribute to those emotions; the pain they have suffered because of how they’ve been treated.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And once I get past my initial defensiveness, I realize there is a lot to learn— I </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">thought</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> I knew everything, but I actually knew very little.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s not always easy. It’s often humbling. But to admit that you may not be in full possession of the truth—that there are others whose experiences may help you achieve a greater understanding of the issues we face—is key to growing in wisdom and growing in faith.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At the transfiguration, Jesus was fully revealed. The full truth of who he was and who he is was put on full display. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Peter, James, and John were there. They experienced it all. But they didn’t quite know what to make of it at the time, and it was just one step in their growth and learning as disciples.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As we prepare for this season of Lent, which starts on Wednesday: may we approach faith with the same awe, the same humility, that the disciples did. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">May we learn to open ourselves to new understandings and new wisdom. </span></p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">May we recognize that none of us is in possession of the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">full</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> truth…but </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">together</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, as we listen to one another, share with one another, dialogue with one another, pray with one another, read scripture with one another, and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">be church</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> with one another, we will continually draw closer to God, the one is abundantly far more than we can imagine.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-35205735459970767122024-02-04T13:26:00.000-08:002024-02-04T13:26:00.133-08:00Power to Heal (Mark 1:29-39)<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Last week’s sermon was about Jesus casting out demons. This week, not only does he cast out demons, he also heals people, starting with Peter’s mother-in-law.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-aafacec5-7fff-3887-3af1-d04741593919"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One could say that casting out demons involves the wellbeing of one’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">soul</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, while healing people from various diseases involves the wellbeing of one’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">body</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. That’s a simplification, but I think it’s helpful. Casting out demons involves the spirit, and healing people from sickness involves the body.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And since last week’s sermon focused on demons, this week, I’ll focus on healing.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Jesus healed people. Crowds came to him, because he was able to heal. They brought to him those who were sick, and those who were blind, and those who were crippled and unable to walk. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And he healed them.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Jesus also taught his disciples to heal. And eventually, they did heal, performing many of the same healing acts that Jesus himself did. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We today seek to follow the same path as Jesus, the same path as the disciples, the same way of living. Jesus and the disciples are a model for us. Which means healing is an important part of our ministry and our lives of faith today.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But the topic of healing today is a little complicated, isn't it?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There are a lot of empty promises when it comes to healing. Fake cures abound. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And there are too many examples of fake healers, those who will stage healings under a spotlight, in an attempt to draw people to themselves, to convince people to follow them or join their church, and to convince people to contribute large sums of money. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">You’ve probably seen videos of church services where people come forward to the altar—or, if they are unable to walk, they are carried forward—and the preacher/healer lays hands on them, or maybe whacks them across the head, and they fall to the floor, but then moments later they rise back up, and are healed.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If they were blind, now they see. If they were deaf, now they hear. If they were crippled, now they can walk. If they had cancer, they’re told to go to the doctor and see if the cancer is still there, although they apparently already know, in their heart, that the cancer is gone.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Is any of that real? I don’t know. Maybe some of it is. But some of it, I’m pretty sure, is not, and that makes me hesitant to engage in any sort of healing that is so theatrical.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And yet, I think most, if not all, of us, do believe that God heals, that God heals through us, that God heals through our prayers, and through our ministry. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We pray for healing all the time. We pray for healing in worship—we’ve already done so today. We pray for healing in our small groups. We pray for healing when we are by ourselves. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We do this, because we believe in prayer, and we believe in God’s power to heal.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And maybe you, like me, have even seen people find healing, a healing that can only be attributed to God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Maybe you prayed, and then the tumor did go away, and the doctors are surprised, and say they’ve never seen that before.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Maybe you prayed, and your weakness went away just in time for you to attend your grandchild’s wedding.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Maybe you prayed, and some other type of healing took place, which could only be described as miraculous.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That’s why we pray, often, for God to heal.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The ways in which God heals through us and through our prayers is hard to understand. It’s a mystery, how God works through prayer.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I once heard about a Japanese water scientist who studied the ways our thoughts affect the world around us. His name was Dr. Masuru Emoto, and he specifically studied the effects thoughts have on water molecules. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">He would conduct experiments where containers of water were prepared, and different words were said over the containers. On one container, the word “hope” was written, and researchers meditated on hope while in the presence of that container.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This was done with a bunch of containers with different words. Positive words like </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Love. Gratitude.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> And also negative words like</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> hate </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">and</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> fear.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Then he froze the water, and studied the molecules of water under a microscope.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The water that had positive intentions directed toward it formed beautiful crystals, but the water that had negative intentions formed misshapen, ugly crystals.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The results of his study are used to show that our thoughts and prayers can affect reality. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But how, exactly, does that happen?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Obviously there is still so much here that we don’t know or understand. Dr. Emoto’s work continues to inspire scientists today, who continue his research. And it has me wondering: just how does God work through our prayers to bring about healing?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I may never find an answer to that, but I’m glad our God is a God who heals.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For the past few years, I’ve been thinking more about ways the church can help foster and nurture healing. If healing was an important part of Jesus’ ministry, and if healing is what drew so many people to Jesus, maybe we in the church should spend a little more time pondering how we can make our ministry a ministry of healing.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As I’ve already said, we do pray for healing. In fact, First Christian Church is particularly good at praying for healing. One of the things that drew me to this congregation were the prayers that were being said for me and my family, long before I ever accepted the call to come and be your pastor. You didn’t know it, but your search committee was lifting me up in prayer, praying for me on your behalf, and I felt those prayers, and those prayers made a difference.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So we pray, and a big part of our prayers are prayers for healing.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But how else are we called to heal? Can we do more than just pray?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">While I was pondering this, a thought occurred to me: is it right to pray for a miracle, when the result we long for is something we are capable of achieving on our own?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For example: a kid in school prays, as the exams are being passed out, that they get an A on the exam, that the answers miraculously come to their brain despite the fact that they didn’t study.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I suspect all of us prayed a prayer like that at some point when we were in school.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now imagine that, later in life, you’re no longer a student in school—in fact, it’s been a very long time since you were a student—and your physical health is declining. Maybe it’s your kidneys, or maybe it’s your heart, or maybe it’s type 2 diabetes, or maybe it’s just the inability to walk up a single flight of stairs without needing to pause halfway and catch your breath.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And you pray, O God, give me strength, give me health…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And yet, all your life, you drank too much soda, and ate too much red meat, and you spent too many days sitting on the couch or at your desk without walking any further than the distance from your living room to your car in your garage, or from your bed to your couch.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Do you see where I’m going with this?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Given the typical American lifestyle, is praying for good health despite all the bad health choices we’ve made, any different than a student who didn’t study, praying for an A, or at least a passing grade, on their exam?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Prayer needs to be paired up with action. Pope Francis has said that the way we pray is that, first, you pray for the hungry; then, you feed them. The Pope said that’s how prayer works.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So is it right to pray for health, when we fail to live healthy lives?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now, I’m not saying that every health problem, every sickness, every disease, is the result of our health choices. People are afflicted with different health issues all the time that have nothing to do with their health choices. Even Olympic athletes get diagnosed with cancer.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And sometimes, all we </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">can</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> do is pray.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But other times, there </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">are</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> things we can do, or things we </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">should</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> have done…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And what are the implications here for a congregation that feels called to more actively engage in a ministry of healing? Can we do more than just pray (when it comes to healing)? </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Should</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> we do more than just pray?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A few years back I was meditating on the Shema, the ancient command that Jesus quotes; the command that Jesus says is the most important command, that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I thought about each of those four ways of loving God: heart, soul, mind, and strength…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">How do we love God with all our heart? How do we love God with all our soul? How do we love God with all our mind? How do we love God with all our strength?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I realized that the best way to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, is to ensure that my heart, soul, mind, and body are as healthy as they can be. The best way I can love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, is to put in the effort to take care of my emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical health.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now, among churches, some do a good job helping people find emotional health, most do a good job at helping people find spiritual health, and some even do a good job at helping people find mental health. But I don’t know very many churches that do a good job helping people find physical health.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What would it look like if the church more actively helped people find healing in their lives? Are there examples of churches doing that?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I looked for examples. I do know of a few churches that offer classes in yoga; but other than that, I didn’t find much. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But I </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">am</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> happy that the Pension Fund of the Christian Church is sponsoring a retreat for clergy this September, and that at this event, they will launch </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cornerstones</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> – a new initiative with an emphasis on clergy health and wellness. I’m hoping to learn more about how to not only care for my own emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical health, but also how we as a congregation can grow a ministry of healing, focusing on all four of these aspects of health and wellness.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Why should we wait until someone is sick or afflicted to be concerned about healing? Why shouldn’t we work to help people make choices that will make it less likely that they’ll become sick or afflicted, at least for those illnesses and conditions which we know can be prevented?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There are many examples I could share with you about this type of health and healing. I’ve been fascinated by books and documentaries about blue zones—communities where people are healthy and active into their 90s, where many people live to 100, with sharp minds and healthy bodies, because of how their environment encourages healthy living.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But I’ll just close by lifting up to you a name you may have heard of…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Dick Van Dyke is currently 98 years old. He recently said in an interview, “I look forward to going to work every morning; I go to the gym three days a week, and do a full workout.” And he’s still singing, and dancing! Last year, he was on the TV show </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Masked Singer</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, and a few years ago, that was really him in </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mary Poppins Returns</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">jumping </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">up on the desk, and dancing, to the amazement of the cast and crew. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A few years ago, in a TV interview, he said: “People are more afraid of aging than they are of death; we need to tell them, there’s a lot of good living to do!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And, in that TV interview, he demonstrated how he does sit ups, and commented, “a lot of people my age don’t do this. And many of them can’t even get out of bed.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When it comes to health and healing, 98 year-old Dick Van Dyke is a model and an inspiration.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The power of prayer to bring about healing is real. Let us continue to pray for healing, for ourselves, for our families and friends, for our church, and for the world.</span></p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But let us also act, and do </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">what we can</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> through the choices we make. Let us search for ways to foster healing through our lives, and through our ministry. Because that is also a significant way that the church can bring healing to the world today.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-51469084382371782032024-01-28T09:08:00.000-08:002024-01-28T09:08:00.131-08:00Demonic (Mark 1:21-28)<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-weight: 700; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sermon: “Demonic”</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-e639202b-7fff-74a0-a48c-7c66177f388b"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So Jesus’ ministry is off to a great start. He got baptized by John and heard the voice from heaven pronounce him “beloved,” as we heard two weeks ago; he spent some time in the wilderness, successfully wrestling with his temptations; he emerged from the wilderness, announced his mission, and recruited some followers, as we heard last week; </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">…and now, Jesus arrives at the synagogue in Capernaum and begins teaching, and the people are blown away by what he says </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">the way he says it. They recognize the truth and the authenticity with which he teaches, and they are astounded.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Really, you couldn’t ask for things to go any better.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But then: there arrives a man with an unclean spirit. A demon! A demon, which had taken over the body of a man, and which was speaking through that man.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This demon interrupts Jesus’s teaching. The demon, this unclean spirit, confronts Jesus, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">shouts at Jesus!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, and challenges Jesus.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Imagine what that was like! If you were there, what would you see? What would you hear? What kind of a voice would that demon have? Was it that man’s own voice, or was it some deep, gravelly, non-human type of voice?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I don’t watch many horror films, but I did see, last year, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Pope’s Exorcist.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In that movie, a little boy named Henry gets possessed by a demon. This boy has an almost angelic face, but when the demon takes over, the boy’s eyes bulge out, the pupils look more catlike than human, his smile twists into the most evil, sinister grin, and his voice… it’s this </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">loud</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, guttural, super-deep, monster-like growl that no human—much less a child—would be capable of.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Is</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> that</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> what the demon in today’s Bible story was like?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mark’s gospel always describes things quickly, without a lot of detail.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Yet Mark does describe the demon as crying out with a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">loud</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> voice, and causing the body of the person that was being possessed to go into convulsions. So, that’s enough to get our imaginations going… right? The commotion, the chaos, all happening right there in the place of worship.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I don’t know if you believe in the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">literal</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> existence of demons. I’m not actually sure if I believe in the literal existence of demons, so that’s okay…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If you do believe in the existence of literal demons, do you think they are like the ones we see in movies like </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Pope’s Exorcist</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">: supernatural beings with monster voices that can take over individuals, control them, and inflict harm on them and those around them? Is that what demons are like? Or is that just the stuff of Hollywood?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">do</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> know that belief in demons has risen and fallen at various times throughout history. In some historical periods, lots of people believed in demons, and descriptions of demons and exorcisms are plentiful; but at other times in history, there are almost no descriptions of demons and exorcisms.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, why are there some historical periods with lots of accounts of demon activity, but in other historical periods, the demons seem to disappear?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Scholars have noted that Galilee, in the first century, seems to have been a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">particularly</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> active period for demons and exorcisms. Although scripture says that Jesus acted with an authority that was rare, he was far from the only exorcist around. There were exorcists all over the place.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What made Jesus stand out wasn’t that he was casting out demons, but that he was doing it </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">with authority</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Scholars have also compared Galilee in the first century with other cultures and historical periods where demons and exorcisms were prominent. These scholars were looking to see if they had something in common, besides the high number of demons and exorcisms. Maybe there was some commonality that would explain why demons appeared so often in certain times and places, and why demons didn’t appear in other times and places…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What the scholars discovered is that, in all these cultures where stories of demons appear, the people were being ruled by an outside, colonial power. In all these cultures, a foreign power had come in, and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">taken possession</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of the land and its people, and this foreign colonial power was seen by the people as an oppressive, dehumanizing, outside power </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">controlling</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> their lives.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Like a demon.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the case of the first century world in which Jesus lived, the Roman Empire had taken control of the land, and taken control of the lives of the people. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Rome had occupied Galilee, Judah, and the surrounding regions. Every person’s life was now under Rome’s control. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Even the synagogues</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> were, in a very real way, controlled by Rome. The synagogues were under Rome’s influence. One could say that the synagogues were </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">possessed</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Rome. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The scripture says that the demon, the unclean spirit, appeared in “their” synagogue.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I still remember my seminary professor, almost 30 years ago, making a big deal of that word, “their.” </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was “their” synagogue.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Who does that refer to? Whose synagogue was it?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Well, it </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">should</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> have been God’s. Every place of worship </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">should</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> belong to God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But in the first century, Rome had control over the places of worship. Rome used its powers of persuasion to get religion to align itself with the empire, so that it would be easier to control the people and keep them in line.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Which is why Herod went to all that trouble to build, in Jerusalem, that magnificent, gleaming temple. If Herod could control and manipulate the religious institution, and if he could control the religious narrative, then he could control and manipulate the people.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Constantine did something similar a few centuries later. Before Constantine, Christians were persecuted, but then, in 312, Constantine converted to Christianity and made Christianity the official religion of the empire. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I have no idea how sincere Constantine was in his conversion. But by making Christianity his official religion—the official religion of the Roman Empire—it allowed Constantine to control and manipulate Christians, and keep them in line. Same thing as Herod did with the Jews.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Last weekend, some of us heard William Barber speak at the MLK Awards Luncheon. William Barber mentioned how Ronald Reagan made King’s birthday a holiday—signed it into law—and then went about dismantling nearly everything King stood for. It was Reagan’s way of controlling King’s message and legacy. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the same way, the Roman Empire in Jesus’ time had taken over the Jewish religious institution, to tame it, control it, and use it for its own purposes.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">that</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, scholars say, is why there are so many stories of demons and exorcisms in the first century.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, Mark’s story of a demon in the synagogue is Mark’s way of saying something about the Roman Empire, and how it had </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">taken control, taken possession</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of the religious institutions. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">According to Mark, the demon was </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Rome</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There’s another story in Mark’s gospel, about a demon. In chapter 5, Jesus meets a man with an unclean spirit, who lived among the tombs, and no one could restrain him. The people even tried chaining this poor man up, but because of the demon, he was able to break the chains. He was uncontrollable.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And the scripture says he was always </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">howling</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">; just roaming around, howling.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Jesus asks the demon its name, and the demon says, “My name is Legion.” In the first century, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Legion </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">was the name given to a group of Roman soldiers, up to 6,000 strong. A Roman Legion was a symbol of Rome’s oppressive power.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The demon’s name is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Legion.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, again, Mark links demonic power with the Roman Empire.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Then there is the book of Enoch. The book of Enoch was written, maybe, two centuries or so before Mark. Enoch isn’t a part of our Bible, but Enoch’s descriptions of demons may have influenced Mark…The book of Jude (which </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">in our Bible) actually quotes the book of Enoch, which shows that New Testament writers knew about Enoch and were influenced by it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When Enoch talks about demons…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Well, Enoch talks about the nephilim, which are half-god, half human giants; and, according to Enoch, these nephilim literally </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">breathe out</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> demons into the world.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But Enoch doesn’t mean this literally. Enoch identifies these giants and their evil spirits with the oppressive, dehumanizing institutions of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">his</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> time: the kingship, the temple, and the priesthood, all of which were, in Enoch’s time, abusing their power.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Of these </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">institutions</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, these Nephilim, these giants, Enoch says that “they take no food, but nevertheless hunger and thirst and cause offenses. They consume all the acquisitions of human beings; and when human beings can no longer sustain them, they turn against them and devour humankind.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In Jesus’ time, the Roman Empire so dominated society that it deprived people of their livelihood. It made people into something less than human. And the highest-ranking religious leaders collaborated with Rome in all this.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">New Testament professor Herman Waetjen wrote this about these institutions: “Metaphorically viewed as giants, they were too powerful to be conquered or overthrown. They breathed evil breath, unclean spirits, into society;” unclean spirits that took away people’s autonomy, glory, honor, freedom, and dignity.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Let’s go back to Enoch. Enoch says: “evil spirits have proceeded from the giants’ bodies… The spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth and cause trouble.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, according to Enoch: evil spirits come from the giants. The giants are really the institutions that took away people’s rights, oppressed them, and denied them their humanity.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And Mark, it seems, was drawing on this imagery when he wrote about demons.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Jesus’ encounter takes place in the synagogue; in “their” synagogue; the synagogue that had become one of the giants, one of these </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">nephilim</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">; the synagogue that had become, according to Professor Waetjen, “a subversive reality which fosters necessity, bondage, destruction of individual sovereignty, and living death.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As someone who cast out demons, Jesus wasn’t just casting them out of individuals; he was casting the demons out of the synagogue. He was cleansing the synagogue. He was cleansing the religious institution, getting rid of the powers that dominated and controlled the religious institution; he was working to return the religious institution to God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In casting out demons, Jesus was demonstrating that the kingdom of Rome was </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">no longer</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> in control. The kingdom of God was now at hand.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the kingdom of God, we are set free from </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">whatever</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> force or power binds us or controls us. In the kingdom of God, the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">church</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is set free from whatever force or power binds us; the church is set free from whatever prevents us from living out the gospel. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because the gospel always sets people free and makes people whole. The gospel is a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">liberating</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> force in our world, not a force that binds or controls. The gospel restores people to wholeness. The gospel defends people’s rights.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So when the church tries to take away people’s rights, that’s a sign that it is possessed by an unholy spirit. When the church is bent on controlling people’s lives, rather than helping them to live freely the lives God has given them, that’s a sign that the church is possessed by an unholy spirit. When the church refuses to address the powers of oppression and injustice, which all try to control people’s lives, that’s a sign that the church itself is possessed by an unholy spirit.</span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">But a church that works to help free people from the powers that bind them, that’s a church that is alive with the spirit of God. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">A church that works to free people from poverty is a church that is alive with the spirit of God. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">A church that works to free people from the powers of racism and homophobia and transphobia is a church that is alive with the spirit of God. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">A church that works to free people from the stigmas associated with mental health care is a church that is alive with the spirit of God. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">A church that works to free our society from its addiction to violence is a church that is alive with the spirit of God. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">A church that works to free our world from the power of greed and the destruction that power has on creation is a church that is alive with the spirit of God.</span></p></li></ul><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">May God free us from all that binds us and controls us and possesses us, so that we can be a church that frees others from all that binds and controls and possesses them, and so that, together, we may all dwell, in God’s kingdom, of shalom.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-31281072948783900122024-01-21T08:44:00.000-08:002024-01-21T08:44:00.241-08:00Kingdom Come (Mark 1:14-20)<p> </p><span id="docs-internal-guid-1dd88910-7fff-ade0-1ff6-7c098fda9f1b"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">By now you’ve probably noticed that every Sunday I start by introducing myself, and then I offer a statement of welcome, which includes a sentence or two describing who we are at First Christian Church. I do this because I know that any given Sunday, we are likely to have someone in worship, here or online, who is joining us for the first time. I want them to know they are welcome; I want them to get an idea of who we are and what we stand for; and most of all, I want them to know that, no matter who they are, this is a safe, welcoming space. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At the start of worship today, I shared with you our church’s vision statement and mission statement. These statements are important. The </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">vision statement</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> says who we aspire to be; and the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">mission statement </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">says what we are called to do. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For vision statements and mission statements to really work, they need to be short, aspirational, and easy to remember.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I want to share a couple of examples…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Some of you work for State Farm. Do you know State Farm’s vision statement?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I looked it up…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">State Farm vision statement: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“to be the customer's first and best choice in the products and services we provide. We will continue to be the leader in the insurance industry and we will become a leader in the financial services arena.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Maybe a little long, but it’s pretty good.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Another example: if you are a Star Trek fan, you probably know the mission of the Starship Enterprise: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no one has gone before!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That’s a really good mission statement!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Our church’s vision statement and mission statement are pretty good as well. Let me repeat them for you:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Our vision is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">to be a growing church that welcomes all, grows spiritually, and serves others.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Our mission is</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> to invite and welcome all to the Lord’s Table; to strengthen our spirituality with God and one another through prayer, worship, study, and fellowship; and to serve our community with passion.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And if you have that memorized, let me know, I’ll be sure to put a gold star next to your name! </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus presented statements that summarized what his ministry would be about. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In today’s scripture from Mark’s gospel, Jesus says this: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s not quite formulated as a vision or a mission statement; but, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">like</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> a vision or mission statement, it is a succinct summary of what Jesus’s ministry and message are all about. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In fact, the notes in my study Bible say that the entire gospel of Mark is an expansion of this one verse. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That, in a sentence, is Jesus’s entire message.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now, there are a number of “churchy” words in that short statement. And, a lot of times, we use “churchy” words without really understanding what they mean, or without understanding what they meant to people in the first century. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because the meaning of words varies from person to person, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">and</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> words and languages change from generation to generation. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In 12th grade English class, my teacher was an austere woman named Mrs. Leonard, who reminded me a little of Margaret Thatcher. One day Mrs. Leonard assigned us the task of memorizing the first 18 lines of Chaucer’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Canterbury Tales</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Of which vertu engendred is the flour;</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Inspired hath in every holt and heeth</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hath in the Ram his half cours yronne…</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The first time we heard that, we asked Mrs. Leonard, “What language is that?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And she said, “English! It’s Middle English, the English that was spoken around 1400.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And from then on, I understood that words change. Language changes. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ancient Hebrew and Greek are as different from modern Hebrew and Greek as Chaucer is from modern English. (No one today speaks the Hebrew or Greek that’s in the Bible.) And if you want an example of how much English can change in just one generation, ask the Nussbaum’s to show you their Bible for Generation Z.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, for today’s sermon, I’m going to do something a little different; something that, I admit, is a little nerdy. Because this statement from Mark’s gospel is so important, and because it contains several rather “churchy” words, I thought we’d explore those “churchy” words and their meanings, so that we can have a better understanding of just what it is that Jesus is talking about when he uses words and phrases like, “kingdom of God,” “repent,” and even, “believe.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">First, Jesus says, “the time is fulfilled.” That’s basically his way of saying: all your waiting has come to an end! Jesus is saying that his message isn’t about some far-off future. It’s about the present! It’s about the here-and-now. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The time is fulfilled. This is it!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Many Christians today think faith is primarily concerned with what happens after we die. Yet Jesus was very concerned with what’s happening </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">now</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. “The time is fulfilled.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Which leads right into the next phrase: “The kingdom of God has come near.” Basically, what that means is that God’s kingdom is starting </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">right now</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. God’s kingdom is about to begin, in this moment. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Elsewhere, Jesus is asked when the kingdom will come, and Jesus says, “the kingdom is present, within you and among you.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We’ve already prayed the Lord’s Prayer this morning, and in that prayer we prayed that God’s kingdom may come, on earth as in heaven.” We’re ready. The time is now!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And what is the kingdom of God?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The kingdom of God is life ruled by God. It is our life together, characterized by love for God and love for our neighbor. Filled with that love, we live as God intends for us to live, and our world is filled with harmony.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The kingdom of God is the vision of the prophets: a world where justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The kingdom of God is the beloved community Martin Luther King, Jr. talked about.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sometimes, you’ll hear people talk about the “reign” of God, or the “kindom” of God, or even the “commonwealth” of God. That’s because, in the way language evolves, the word “kingdom” has come to mean a patriarchal society, with overtones of colonialism; and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">those</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> connotations are </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">not</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> what God’s kingdom is about.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because language evolves and meanings change, we’re always looking for better ways to translate and present these ideas, and while I continue to use “kingdom” language, I’m thankful for those who search for alternative language.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One more thing about the kingdom: even though it is “near” or “at hand,” there is a final aspect of the kingdom that awaits fulfillment. The kingdom has begun, it is present, it is within us and among us, but the kingdom will not be fulfilled until Christ returns. So there is still that future aspect of it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But more often, the kingdom Christ talks about is a kingdom that is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">now.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Next in our statement is the word “repent.” The word “repent” often does not bring us joy, because we think of it as a negative word, a word of punishment, perhaps; a word of self-deprecation.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But to me the word “repent” is a word that signifies a new opportunity, a second chance, to reorient one’s life; to begin anew.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If you’re on a journey, and you discover that you are going the wrong way, don’t you want the opportunity to get back on the right path?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If you are using a GPS to get to your destination, and you make a wrong turn, isn’t it a good thing that your GPS will </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">recalibrate</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, and redirect you back to the way you want to go?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Without repentance, we’d be stuck on that wrong path. We’d reach a dead end, and that would be it—the end of our journey.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But repentance gives us the opportunity to turn from that wrong path, and get back on the right path.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I promised last week that I’d explain why Jesus submitted to a baptism of repentance, even though he himself was without sin.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">All four gospels describe Jesus submitting to John’s baptism of repentance. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And people ask: “What sin did </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Jesus</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> have that required a baptism of repentance?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But the fact that Jesus </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">was </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">baptized suggests that repentance doesn’t quite mean what we think it means</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We live in a highly individualistic culture—the most individualistic culture in human history—so when </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">we</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> think of sin, we think of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">personal</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> sin. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Individual</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> sin; and when we think of repentance, we think of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">personal</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> repentance.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But the sins the Bible is most concerned about are the sins of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">society</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. A lot of people aren’t going to agree with me on that, but when I read the Bible, that’s what I see. Which means it’s not so much about </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">my</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> sin; it’s about </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">our</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> sin.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We, like Jesus, live and breathe in a world where greed and injustice and violence flourish. A world where profit margins are more important than protecting the planet. A world where the rich get favorable economic treatment, while the poor carry an unjustly heavy burden. A world where wealth and power and popularity put you at the front of the line.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And this sin surrounds us; it’s like the current in a stream. Even if we do nothing on our own, the current carries us along; we’re caught up in that sin; we are carried along in that current of greed and injustice and violence and racism.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the waters of baptism, Jesus repents of all that. He turns from the way of the world to a new way, a new path. He says “no” to the ways of the world, and “yes” to the way of God. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One more word: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">believe.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> That’s an important word for us. When we invite people to join the church, we ask them if they </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">believe</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, the Lord and Savior of the world.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But it’s better when we change one word of that phrase. Instead of asking if people believe </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">that</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, it’s better to ask if people believe </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">in</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Jesus Christ, the son of God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because, in the Bible, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">belief</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> isn’t just agreeing that something is true. Belief implies trust and commitment. Believing </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">in</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Jesus means trusting him so much, that you’re willing to follow him, just like those disciples in today’s scripture—Simon and Andrew and James and John—who left their old lives behind to follow Jesus. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Jesus’ message about the good news was so compelling, that they decided, then and there, to let </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">their</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> lives take a whole new path. They believed </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">in</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Jesus, and in the good news, and they repented of their lifestyle, and they started a whole new life of discipleship.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So now, let’s go back and read this introductory statement in Mark’s gospel with a better understanding…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“The time is fulfilled–it is now–and the kingdom of God has come near–the kingdom of love and justice and wholeness, the kingdom where it’s about </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">us</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> and not just </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">me</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, where all people live in harmony and freedom; that kingdom is present, now, in our midst.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So: repent; turn away from earthly kingdoms, where it’s all about profit, and greed, and violence, and injustice…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And believe </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">in</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> the good news—submit to the good news—give yourself over to the good news—commit to living out the good news…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">…the good news that all this is happening in our lives, and that all the brokenness and fragmentation of this world is now being transformed to healing and wholeness; the good news that violence is giving way to peace, and hate is giving way to love.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-26871918834487763402024-01-14T08:00:00.000-08:002024-01-14T08:00:00.154-08:00Beloved (Mark 1:1-11)<p><br /></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-548f0f4f-7fff-6e94-dac9-2f19e7a484b5"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is how the gospel of Mark begins. There is no birth story, as in Matthew and Luke. No shepherds, no angels, no magi. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mark’s gospel gets right into it. “This is the beginning—the dawn, the inception, the new birth—of the good news.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And it </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">is</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> good news. It’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">good news</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> for all those who have heard only bad news in their lives. It’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">good news</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> for all those who have suffered under the empire’s oppression. It’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">good news</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> for the least, the lonely, the outcast; It’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">good news</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> for all those who have been told that they are unworthy, unlovable, that their lives don’t matter.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For them, it is GOOD NEWS.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It is the good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In Mark’s gospel, it begins with John proclaiming a baptism of repentance. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Next week, I’m going to talk about repentance. I’m going to talk about why repentance is a good word, a word of hope. I’m going to talk about why Jesus himself needed to submit to a baptism of repentance, even though he himself was without sin.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But today, I want you to notice what happened as soon as Jesus was baptized…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As soon as Jesus emerged from the waters of baptism, the water still dripping off his head and his body, he heard the voice from above, pronounce him, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“Beloved.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> He heard that pronouncement, and he recognized the truth in it, and he knew himself as God’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">beloved</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, before anything—before the miracles, before the healings, before any parables were heard, and before any confrontations with the authorities—Jesus knew himself as God’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">beloved</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> child.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">He didn’t have to prove himself </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">first</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. He didn’t have to face temptation </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">first</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, he didn’t have to spend 40 days in the wilderness </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">first</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. That came </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">next.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> That came </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">after</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">First</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> came the knowledge, the pronouncement, the awareness, that he was </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">beloved</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That means that his status as God’s beloved was </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">unconditional</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">His status as </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Beloved </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">didn’t depend on all those other things, because he hadn’t done all those other things yet. He hadn’t done the miracles, the healings, or anything else, yet. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So it wasn’t, “because you have proven yourself, you are beloved.” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And it wasn’t, “because you have followed the right path, you are beloved.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And it wasn’t, “because you have done what you are supposed to have done, you are beloved.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The pronouncement that he was </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">beloved</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> came </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">first</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. Before anything, Jesus knew that he was </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">beloved</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And because we are all Christ’s brothers, sisters, siblings, we are </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">united</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> in Christ, and we share that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">belovedness</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That’s where it begins. For </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">all</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of us. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Knowing that we are loved, that we are </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">beloved</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The first step in ministry, the first task, is knowing yourself as beloved; knowing that you are loved </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">unconditionally</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by God, and that nothing will ever keep God from loving you. It all starts with that affirmation.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I hope that, when you arrive here at First Christian Church for worship, or for any other activity or event, you feel loved. You feel affirmed. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I hope that, even before worship starts, you get a sense that you are </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">beloved</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. I hope you feel that love and that affirmation from the way you are greeted and welcomed. I hope you feel it from the design of the building, from the signs and the banners. I hope you sense from the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">vibe</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> that is present here, that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">you are beloved.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because the worst thing our church or any church can do is make someone feel that they are not beloved; the worst thing we can do is make someone feel unloved.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Many years ago, when I was still quite new to ministry, there was a particular teenage boy who, most of the time, was quite happy, but every once in a while, he would withdraw physically and emotionally, and I could tell something was eating at him.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One day, he wanted to talk, and I of course was ready to listen. It took him a long time to say what was on his mind; but finally, through tears, he told me that he didn’t think anyone would ever love him, or that God would ever love him, because he was gay.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Can you imagine believing that you would </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">never</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> be loved, not by God, not by anyone, simply because of who you </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">are</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That is one of the worst abuses of the church: making people believe that they are </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">not</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> beloved, not loved by God, not worthy of love, not worthy of blessing.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, son of God, is knowing that you are loved. You are </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">beloved.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Which means that the first task of ministry, and possibly the most important task of ministry, is letting people know just how much God loves them; letting them know that what Paul says in the eighth chapter of Romans really is true: that nothing can ever separate you from God’s love.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is a life-changing, life-saving message.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I’ve been told by people that the affirmation and love they received from church literally saved their life. I’ve been told by some high school youth who went to church camp that the love and affirmation they received at church camp literally saved their life. They’ve told me that they wouldn’t be here today, if it weren’t for that.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is ministry done right. If we in the church do nothing else, but let people know that they are loved, then we will have done what we are supposed to do.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This weekend, we celebrate the life and ministry of Martin Luther King, Jr. King knew how important love is. King preached about love, and the love of Christ was made present through him in a powerful way.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">King spent a lot of time explaining about </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">agape</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> love, the unconditional, selfless love that is prominent in the New Testament. It’s the love that one has for the neighbor, the stranger, and even for the enemy. It’s the love one has for those who are different: those who don’t look like you, talk like you, live like you.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s the love that is manifested through justice; as Cornel West said, justice is what love looks like in public.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">King knew that what we needed to repent from in our society is the idea that some people are more worthy of love, while other people are less worthy of love.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That idea—that some people are more worthy of love than others—manifests itself in all kinds of evil, from racism to sexism to classism. When laws are passed that take away rights from immigrants, or from transgender individuals, that all stems from the idea that some people who are different from me are less worthy of love than I am.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And if I actually believe that I am more worthy of love than others, then it becomes easy for me to insist that others don’t deserve the same rights, the same privileges, the same opportunities, that I have.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">King knew that, in this country, we do </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">not</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> treat all people as </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">beloved</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. We never have. Some are treated as more beloved than others. Some are given more rights than others. Some are treated as more good than others. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is, of course, contrary to the message of the gospel, and contrary even to the stated ideals of this country.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve had many opportunities to learn about the privilege I have in our society, and to understand some of the ways that I and people who look like me are treated as if they are more worthy of love than others.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One time, I took a group of church youth on a weekend camping trip. We made reservations at a privately-owned campground, and when we arrived, it was evening, and it was hard to see the campsite numbers, so I drove around </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">very slowly</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> trying to read the signs and find which campsite was ours.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When I finally found it, I parked, and walked to the office to check-in; but before I got there, the manager of the campground marched out of the office and confronted me, saying, “You know, this is a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">family </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">campground; we have children playing, and we don’t need you driving through here recklessly.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Knowing that I had driven extra slowly and carefully, I was baffled and upset by his demeanor. Why was he yelling at me, and treating me so rudely?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I walked back to the campsite greatly disturbed. The youth who I brought were still in the car, waiting, and I told them how the campsite manager yelled at me, and that I had no idea why.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But then I looked at the youth in my car. One was blond, one was Asian, one was Black; and without really saying anything, I could see in their eyes that they had experienced this before, and they knew </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">exactly</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> why this campground manager was being rude and disrespectful. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When that campground manager looked in my car, he did not see three kids who were all equally worthy of love. He did not see three lives that all mattered the same.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We ended up not staying there. Instead, we drove down the road to a nearby state park, and the ranger at the entrance station gave us a friendly greeting when we arrived. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I asked, “Can we stay here?” She looked in my car, gave us a great big smile, and said, “Of course you can!” and she warmly welcomed us to the park. In her eyes, we </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">all </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">mattered, we were </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">all</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> worthy of love, and we felt welcomed and affirmed.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We still live in a world where some lives matter more than others; we still live in a world where some people are deemed more worthy of love and respect than others; we still live in a world where some enjoy privileges that others do not have.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Our job in the church is to let every person, no matter who they are, know that they are loved, that their life matters. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And we are called to especially reach out to those who have been told by the world, in one way or another, that their lives do not matter. We are called to show love to those who have been denied love. We are called to work for justice on behalf of those who have been denied justice.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s what the Torah instructs. It’s what the prophets require. It’s what Jesus commands in the Sermon on the Mount…</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I am still learning how to love my neighbor as I love myself; I’m still learning how to treat every person as a beloved child of God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s not always easy.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So I am thankful that God has never given up on me, and that God is always willing to lead me to greater love…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I’m thankful that God forgives me when I fail to show love as I should, when I fail to act in a way that lets others know that they are beloved.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I’m so thankful that, even with my shortcomings, God still loves me, and still calls me beloved, and that nothing will ever change that. Nothing will ever change God’s love. Not for me, not for you, not for anyone.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-24683082824610210212024-01-07T11:34:00.000-08:002024-01-09T11:35:16.551-08:00A Star to Guide You (Matthew 2)<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; text-indent: 22.5pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One of the things I’m looking forward to in 2024 is spending time at Camp Walter Scott, which is the camp and learning center owned and operated by First Christian Church and the other congregations of the Illinois-Wisconsin region. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-48a0ae19-7fff-3c57-e031-e3687db70a2b"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Camp is such an important experience for young people. It enriches the lives of youth, and strengthens congregational ministry.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One of my very favorite things to do when I’m at camp is to take campers out at night to a dark place, and look at the stars.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I tell the campers that, for thousands of years, humans have gazed up at the stars. People throughout history, in countless generations, watched the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">stars…night after night…season after season;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> and after observing the stars night after night, season after season, they began to notice some things.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">First, they noticed that all the stars moved together across the sky, rising in the east, and setting in the west, much like the sun; and that the path that they followed was an arc, with Polaris, the north star, at the center.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Those ancient observers also noticed that, if they used their imagination, they could see shapes and images in the stars. They imagined animals, gods, and mythological creatures.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At this point, at camp, I would point out a few of these constellations: Ursa Major (the Big Dipper); Scorpio; the constellations of the Summer Triangle… </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And every night, all these constellations move together across the sky, rising and setting four minutes earlier each night; for this reason, some of them are seen more easily in one season, and others are seen more easily in other seasons.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It all follows a predictable pattern.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But ancient people noticed that a few of the stars they saw </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">didn’t</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> follow this pattern. These few stars seemed to follow their own paths. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And maybe, in one season, these stars would be located in one constellation, but as the seasons changed, so did the position of these few stars. Sometimes, these stars would even appear to move in one direction for a while, but then stop, and move in a different direction.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The ancient Babylonians were the first to realize that these </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">wandering</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> stars weren’t stars at all, but something else entirely. Eventually they were given the name </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">planets</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, from a Greek word that means “wanderer.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ancient people also saw comets, which looked like stars, but with tails, and which also seemed to follow their own paths.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And, generation after generation, people would continue observing the night sky, learning more about the wonders of the universe God created.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In today’s scripture story, magi came from the east to Jerusalem, looking for Jesus. They were guided by a star, which they had been observing.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I don’t know if this star that they saw was actually a planet, or if it was a comet, or what. Many have speculated over the years about this particular star.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And, in Matthew’s gospel, it could be that this story is more parable than historical account. I’m not sure that Matthew even knew the difference between a star, a planet, and a comet.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But, as Matthew describes it, these magi were observers of the stars, and they came to Jerusalem and, eventually, to Bethlehem, following this </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">particular</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> star, which seemed to follow its own path, and which was leading them to the “king of the Jews.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now, there’s a lot more to this story. It sets up the conflict between the kingdom of Herod, and the kingdom of God, a conflict that is central to the gospel.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And we could talk without end about how much of this story is literal and historical, and how much is parable and metaphor.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Nevertheless, I am fascinated by the story of these magi, travelers from a far away land—foreigners who probably didn’t even worship the God of Abraham—following a star a long distance, a star that didn’t move like all the other stars, a star which followed its own path, and guided them to Jesus.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I’m fascinated that the star led them to Jerusalem, led them to Herod, led them to Jesus—yet the star didn’t guide them to the temple. Last week, I talked about how the temple was the most magnificent house of worship on earth. Yet the temple doesn’t even appear in this story. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I wonder how tempted I would be, if I were one of those magi following this star, to take a little side trip, to visit the temple. What better place is there in the ancient world to take a selfie and post on social media? A picture that says, “look at me, I’m at the temple!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But these magi were not distracted by that. They were intent on following the star.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One of the brightest stars in the sky—and one that’s easy for me to find and point out to campers at summer camp—is Arcturus. That’s what we call it; but in Hawaiian, the name of that star is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hokulea</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, which is a Hawaiian word that means “star of joy.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Not long ago, a group of modern-day Hawaiians from the Polynesian Voyaging Society built a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">traditional</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Polynesian canoe—the first canoe built in the traditional Polynesian way in over 600 years. When it came time to pick a name for their canoe, they named it after this star. They named their canoe </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hokulea, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">since Hokulea was a star that guided ancient Polynesian voyagers.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In 2017, I had the opportunity to lead a group of youth from the Pacific Southwest Region on a trip to Hawaii. We learned about </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hokulea</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (the canoe), and how its crew had to re-learn, almost from scratch, the ancient way of navigating. They learned to navigate by the stars and the sun. No compass, no GPS. Just sailing their canoe, like Moana, across the vast ocean.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Their goal was to prove that ancient Polynesians were expert navigators, that they were capable of pinpoint accuracy in their navigation. Compared to the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, the Hawaiian Islands are so small. Finding them in a canoe without a compass or GPS would be as hard as finding a needle in a haystack. Some doubted that anyone, ancient or modern, could do that, guided only by the stars. Yet the crew of the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hokulea</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> was determined to prove that it could be done.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hokulea’s first voyage, from Hawaii to Tahiti, was a great success.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Then, Hokulea set sail for a three-year, around-the-world voyage—again, using only the stars to guide them.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When Hokulea returned from that three-year, around-the-world voyage, its arrival was the biggest cultural event in modern Hawaiian history. It was a symbol of the rebirth of Hawaiian culture. 30,000 people were there at the waterfront, to welcome Hokulea and her crew back to Hawaii.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And among those 30,000 people was our little group of Disciples from southern California.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hokulea’s journey is an inspiration to people all over the world. In Chicago, there is an organization called the Hokulea Academy of Polynesian Arts. On their website it says that they are inspired by “Hokulea, the star of gladness, which guided early Polynesian explorers to the shores of Hawaii.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One of the reasons Hokulea’s journey is so inspiring is that navigating a canoe by following the stars is no easy task. Remember that scene in </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Moana</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> where she dozes off, and all of a sudden, her canoe is going in the wrong direction? It’s hard to stay focused!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The same is true in life. It’s so easy to get distracted, to lose our focus, to lose our way, to lose sight of what it is that is guiding us.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So often, we chase after other things…we find ourselves being </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">guided</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by other things…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Think back to the year that has just passed. In 2023, what was it that guided you? What “star” did you follow?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Was it leading you to Jesus? Was it leading you to love? Was it leading you to wholeness? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Or not?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">How often were you tempted to follow </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">other</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> things? Other </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">distractions</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">? How often did you stray from the path you knew God was calling you to?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What star did you follow? What purpose guided you? What was your goal, your mission, your purpose? What was your “why,” your reason for doing what you do?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For the past five years, I have given out stars on the Sunday closest to Epiphany— stars with words on them—because I realized that we all could use a little help when it comes to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">navigating through life</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. Today, we have a basket full of stars, and you are invited to take one. You can take it when you come up for communion, or you can come up after worship and grab it then.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If you are worshiping with us online, you can wait until the next time you are here in person to get your star… or, we have set up an alternative way for you to get a star-word, which you can find on our Facebook page…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Each star has a different word. The hope is that the word on your star will, in some way, help guide you on your faith journey in the coming year.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Maybe your star (and the word on your star) is a reminder to give thanks for how God guides you. Maybe your star is encouraging you to focus more on whatever word appears on it. I’m not telling you how your star or your word should guide you. That’s for you to figure out.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But if you ever have trouble praying, maybe the word on your star is a good word to focus on as you pray.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And if you’re not sure where your faith journey is leading you - if, on some days you aren’t sure what to believe anymore, or you aren’t even sure that you </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">do</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> believe anymore - maybe the word on your star can help.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If your heart is filled with fear, or anxiety, or doubt - perhaps your star can help with that.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Your star word may be a challenge, or an affirmation, or a comfort. That’s for you to figure out.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But hopefully, it helps guide you in some way, as you journey through the coming year.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So when you take your star, don’t try to pick out a particular word. I heard a clergy friend of mine who also gives out star words at Epiphany say that the magi didn’t choose their star, the star chose them. Reach in to the basket and try to select a star without looking at the word. Look at the word </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">after</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> you’ve pulled your star from the basket.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Take your star home. Place it where you will see it every day. I don’t know how much help it will be to you, but who knows? Maybe it will guide you to something as profound and wonderful as the star that guided those magi all those years ago.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-84254531023095268612023-12-31T06:49:00.000-08:002024-01-02T06:50:35.796-08:00At the Temple (Luke 2:22-40)<p><br /></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-1fe1761e-7fff-16ef-2056-24c30e8bc2a9"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Let’s go for a walk. Are you ready?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I enjoy a good walk. I’ve taken some walks around downtown this past month, getting to know our immediate neighborhood, as well as some walks—and runs—in the neighborhood where I live.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For me, walks are enjoyable, and they’re good exercise, too. I don’t know about you, but I have consumed an above-average amount of calories these past few weeks, so exercise is especially important right now.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So come on, let’s go for a walk. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In fact, let’s walk with Mary and Joseph and their now 5 ½ week-old baby Jesus. They are walking to Jerusalem – it’s a long walk. It’s gonna take several days.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">You may ask why anyone with a 5 ½ week-old baby would </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">take</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> such a journey. Why don’t they just wait? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The answer to that is found in the ancient book of Leviticus.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Leviticus, chapter 12, states: eight days after the birth of a male child, the child is to be circumcised. Then, 33 days after that, the woman’s days of purification will be complete. At that time, she shall bring to the priest in the temple a lamb in its first year, and a pigeon or turtledove, for an offering. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If she cannot afford a lamb, then two pigeons or two turtledoves will suffice.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Joseph and Mary could not afford a lamb.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> A lamb was way beyond what they could afford. So when they arrive at the temple, they will go to the sellers in the temple courtyard, and buy two pigeons, or two turtledoves; even that is a stretch for their budget.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But they </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">will </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">go to the temple, and they will make their offering, even though it is a big sacrifice for them, because they are faithful and devout.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But we’re not at the temple yet; we’re still several miles away, so let’s keep walking.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If you look up ahead, you can already </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">see</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> the temple, rising up into the sky. The massive structure was built atop a hill; the walls are 150 feet high, all made of gleaming, polished, green and white marble.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The area within the walls is as big as 14 football fields. The walls mark the perimeter of a massive building… and on what could be called the roof of this massive building are more walls surrounding multiple courtyards.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the center of these courtyards is the Holy Place, a two-room sanctuary used by the priests, which rises up even higher into the sky.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is the largest human-made structure on earth! It was built by Herod, for the Jews, but mostly for himself, as a way to draw attention to his own might and authority. Herod called himself the king of the Jews, and the building of the temple was his way of saying to the Jews: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">look what I did for you; now, what are you going to do for me?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As we journey to Jerusalem with Joseph and Mary, the temple, rising ahead of us, reaching up the sky, is truly magnificent. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For Mary and Joseph, what a difference this is from that dark, dank, drafty, smelly stable where Jesus was born…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We’re almost there; let’s keep walking. The road here is busy and well-worn. If a legion of Roman soldiers comes our way, be sure to stand aside and keep your eyes down until they pass…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Finally we approach the outer wall of the temple, and we can’t help but reach out with our hands and touch the massive carved rock, and we can’t help but lean our heads back and look up. It makes one dizzy, to look at something so tall; it’s even higher than the birds in flight!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We start up the outer stairs. They lead to a doorway located about halfway up the wall. There, we enter the opening.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Our eyes adjust to the darkness, and we see a large passageway… and more stairs.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We take those stairs up, and up, and up… all the way to the top, and we emerge onto the outer courtyard, the Court of Gentiles.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This courtyard is huge. It is surrounded by massive porticos.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Court of Gentiles is where the vendors were located. In fact, this outer court was like a giant bazaar. There, vendors sold the lambs and pigeons and turtledoves that weary travelers required in order to make their offerings. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">These vendors wouldn’t accept just any money, however. Roman money bearing the likeness of Caesar was forbidden for temple transactions; so, alongside the vendors there were also money changers. You could give your Roman money to them, and they would give you temple money.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Every time money was exchanged, taxes were levied and profits were made. It was quite a racket. You exchange your Roman money for Jewish coins, and you lose some to taxes and to the money changers profit. Then you make a purchase from the vendor, but you lose some more money to taxes and the vendor’s profit.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But what choice did you have? What other options were there? For Mary and Joseph, transporting a lamb (if they could have afforded a lamb) or even a pair of turtledoves from back home would have been impossible. Yes, they were being ripped off by the vendors and the moneychangers, but that’s just the way it was.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mary and Joseph purchase their offering, and now we walk with them across the Court of Gentiles to a gate that leads to a smaller, inner courtyard that, by itself, is still as big as two football fields… and there, at the gate, we see a sign, written in Greek, warning non-Jews to pass no further, or they would be put to death.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the ancient world, everyone had their place in society, and the boundaries that separated people by category were firm. Both Jewish holiness codes and the Roman codes of conduct enforced this separation of people. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For the Jews, it was about purity. For the Romans, it was about maintaining social order. Whether Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free, everyone had their place in society, and that place needed to be respected.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mary and Joseph are Jews, so they are allowed into the next courtyard, which is called the Court of Women. It’s called that because that’s as far into the temple as women were allowed.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Years later, this court is where Jesus would do much of his teaching, all those times when scripture says he was teaching in the temple. Anytime you read in the gospels about Jesus teaching in the temple, you should picture this courtyard.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At some point in all this, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus attract the attention of a man—a righteous and devout man—named Simeon.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And they also attract the attention of an elderly woman named Anna, described in Luke’s gospel as a prophet and a widow. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because she’s a widow—with no children to care for her, apparently—she has no home. There was no social security, no safety net. Widows almost always found themselves without means of support, and thus, without a home. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In Anna’s case, Luke says she lived there at the temple, never leaving. Perhaps she slept under the colonnade surrounding the courtyard at night.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In Luke’s gospel, Simeon and Anna are lifted up as people of wisdom and faithfulness. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">They</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> are the “holy people” in this story: the ones guided by the Spirit, who recognize the significance of this moment: the arrival of Jesus and his parents.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Neither one of them is described as a priest. Where are the priests? The priests don’t appear at all in this story. All this takes place in the temple; there must have been priests around. But Luke doesn’t mention them.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because Luke isn’t impressed by titles. Luke isn’t impressed by the magnificence of the temple, and the rituals that take place there. Luke isn’t impressed by displays of human power and strength and authority</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This, according to Luke, is all part of the great reversal that is central to the gospel. The people with power, the wealthy ones, the rulers—they are not first in God’s kingdom. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But Anna, the poor widow; and Simeon, the faithful-yet-humble servant of the Lord; </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">they</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> are lifted up as models of faith. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">They</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> are the ones who matter, and it is their words and their actions that Luke includes in the story.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now, think back to what has happened already: the announcement of Jesus’ birth was not made to the priests, but to shepherds in the field. Filthy young men who probably were prone to cursing on occasion, who were so desperate to make any kind of a living that they left their homes to go and live out in the fields…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Where were the priests </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">then</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">? They weren’t at the stable. They weren’t in the countryside ministering to the shepherds. They were busy worrying and working, spending </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">all</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> their energy trying to maintain Herod’s favor so that the mighty fist of Rome didn't come crashing down on them.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Which it would seventy years later.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There is so much irony here. The massive, gleaming temple, financed by Herod, overseen by Herod-approved priests in their fancy clothes… and yet Luke pays so little attention to any of that. Luke is not impressed. In fact, Luke is making an emphatic point here, that those whose attention is drawn to the grandeur of the temple miss the truly important thing that is happening here.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">They miss seeing God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because God is not in the glitz and the glamor. God is not in the gleaming white and green marble, polished and shining in the sun. God is not in the orchestration of orderly conduct, with separate courtyards for people depending on their status in society … “separate but equal” courtyards.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">God is not there in “separate but equal.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is Luke’s message. This is the point Luke is making. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As travelers to Jerusalem, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">our</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> eyes are drawn to the gleaming, polished marble rising to the sky. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Our</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> attention is drawn to power, to wealth, to grandeur, to celebrity. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But Luke says no. No, no, no. Luke says: that’s not what you should be paying attention to. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because the real wonder, the real holy of holies, is among the poor and the humble.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s among people like Simeon.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">People like Anna.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And people like a baby born in a stable, whose parents were so poor, they couldn’t even afford a lamb.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-31689868503620601592023-12-24T10:23:00.000-08:002023-12-24T10:23:00.130-08:00Imperfect Christmas (Luke 2:1-7)<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; text-indent: 27pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I remember, from a few years back, a Sunday morning worship service that happened just before Christmas, a special worship service that was filled to the brim with music. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-47cf40be-7fff-6147-b08a-f4febeb6e7bc"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The choir, filled with regular members as well as other singers who joined just for the occasion—and accompanied by several musicians—had worked extra hard on its songs.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We even had a handbell choir perform that day. In fact, the very first thing in the order of worship was the handbell choir calling us to worship with their rendition of “Silent Night.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At the appointed time, the members of the handbell choir took their places. The congregation eagerly waited for the music to start. Everyone was ready for what we expected would be the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">perfect </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Christmas Sunday worship.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The bells began to ring, and it sounded heavenly. The angels themselves could not have done it better. This was Christmas worship at its finest!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And even though it was all instrumental, we knew the words, and could hear the words in our heads as the bells rang.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Silent night. Holy night. All is calm…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The church where this took place was located not far from an airport. Now, the church was far enough away that the sound of airplanes taking off didn’t normally affect the worship service.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But a couple of times every year, the U.S. Navy F-18 fighter jets conducted training operations at the airport. They always flew in pairs, so when they took off, it was always one right after the other.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And they were </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">loud</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And as it turned out, they were conducting maneuvers on that particular day.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, as the handbells were ringing the notes that went with the “all is calm,” we began to hear a sound that started quietly at first, like a whisper, but which gradually got louder. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">By the time the bells got to the end of the verse—the part that goes, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“sleep in heavenly peace”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">—we couldn’t hear the bells at all, because of the roar of the fighter jets. We could see them being rung, but all we could hear was the jets.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The musicians pressed on, however. And wouldn’t you know it: the next song was also interrupted, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">this</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> time by some fire engines passing by on the street in front of the church, their sirens blaring.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. As pastor, I had wanted this special Christmas Sunday worship to be perfect. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was turning out to be anything but perfect. We couldn’t even get one song in without being interrupted by noises from outside!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">My mood turned sour. Instead of being transported to a heavenly realm by wonderful out-of-this-world music, the thunderous interruption at the start of our worship, and the other unwanted noises that continued, did not allow my mind to escape this world and rise up to heaven, which is what I wanted for me and for all those who were present. I wanted a worship service that took us out of this world with all its troubles, and transported us to where the angels are.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">*Sigh*</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It wasn't until halfway through the service that a thought occurred to me. Maybe Christmas, I thought, isn't about being taken out of this world, and transported to a heavenly realm. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">After all, 2,000 years ago, God didn't choose to take the faithful </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">out</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of this world. Instead, God chose to come down </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">to</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> this world, to dwell among humanity, to share all the worldly experiences humanity deals with, all the imperfections, all the trials and tribulations… </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At Jesus's birth, there </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">were</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> angels singing, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">but</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> there were also sheep bleating and oxen lowing and snorting. (Try imagining the sound of a snorting ox in your ear while your child is born; not very romantic or idyllic, is it?)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Also, at Jesus’ birth, there was the distant (and perhaps not so distant) sound of Roman soldiers marching through the streets, which I guess would be even worse than the sound of those fighter jets, because the Roman soldiers were </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">not</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> friendly.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Yet that’s how that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">first</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Christmas was. It wasn’t perfect. At all. It wasn’t an experience that lifted hearts to heaven.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But it was an experience that brought heaven down to earth.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The beauty of Christmas, I realized, isn't that we are taken out of our world and all its troubles. The beauty of Christmas is found in the fact that God chooses to dwell with us, in the midst of this world and all its troubles.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I was reminded: that’s what the word </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Emmanuel</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> means: God with us.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">By the time worship ended, my mood had improved. I was even filled with joy, a joy that was perhaps greater than it would have been if I had felt transported to a heavenly realm, because I was reminded that God is here in this world, with us - with me - in our lives - working to bring wholeness to a world that is troubled, and broken, but still good.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This world, with all its imperfections, is still good; and God still loves this world in all its brokenness so much. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the Bible, among the Jewish people, the idea of “perfection” doesn’t really exist. As Christianity developed and was influenced by </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Greek</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> ideas and</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Greek</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> philosophy, the Greek idea of “perfection” did creep into some Biblical passages, but generally speaking, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">perfection</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> was not the highest ideal in the minds of biblical writers.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Instead of perfection, what the prophets and other Old Testament writers emphasized, and what Jesus emphasized, was </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">goodness</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Goodness</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">; not perfection.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We see this starting with the creation story: In the beginning, God created the world… </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">and it was good.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (It doesn’t say it was </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">perfect</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And when God created humanity, and creation was complete, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">it was very good</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That worship service wasn’t perfect; but it was good.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The first Christmas wasn’t perfect; but it was good.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Six years ago, just a few days before Christmas, my mom died suddenly and unexpectedly.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">…Which made </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">that</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Christmas the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">least perfect</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Christmas I’ve ever experienced.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">On Christmas Day, just a few days after, there was a big family gathering planned. Most of my mom’s seven brothers and sisters would be there, along with their spouses, and a great many cousins.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At first, I wasn’t sure I wanted to go. But then, I realized: I </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">had</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> to go.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It wasn’t easy.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">To see my mom’s siblings, who naturally resemble mom in appearance and in the way they talk, was difficult. But together we mourned, together we cried, together we even laughed some. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And never have I felt more loved and supported and cared for than at that Christmas.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And even though it wasn’t perfect, it was good. It was very good.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For Mary and Joseph, the night Jesus was born:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">They were not where they wanted to be. They were far from home. There was no room for them in the inn. They didn’t have much money. There didn’t seem to be any extended family members around to tend to their needs.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The only people present were some strangers, some shepherds from the field, and shepherds—they were a bit rough around the edges, to say the least.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Then, after Christmas, did things get better? No. Herod made their baby his number one most wanted, so instead of going home to Nazareth, Mary and Joseph had to flee to Egypt. They became refugees.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And yet, we know that—because God was with them and with their baby—goodness was present. There was still reason for joy and celebration and praise, even in the midst of those most trying circumstances.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because God had come to earth; God had chosen to be a part of this troubled, broken, world, to be </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">actively </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">present among humanity. God was present in the lives of Mary and Joseph, and especially in the life of their newborn baby.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And the presence of God is present with us today. Present through the Spirit of Christ and the body of Christ.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I don’t know how perfect or imperfect your Christmas will be this year, but no matter what, God is present. Christ is present. In whatever you’re going through, God is with you and God’s love surrounds you.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And in this troubled world, where homelessness and war and hate and bigotry and injustice and all sorts of brokenness keep this world from being perfect, God is still present. God is still with us. And God still shows us the way to healing, wholeness, and salvation.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-11335322770260095232023-12-17T10:28:00.000-08:002023-12-17T10:28:00.127-08:00A Bold Vision (Luke 1: 46-55)<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-indent: 22.5pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Today’s scripture is Mary’s song of praise, also known as the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-indent: 22.5pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Magnificat</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-indent: 22.5pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. It seems to find its way into the lectionary every year, even though it only appears in Luke’s gospel; and it is, for me, one of the most important Advent scriptures.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-724fa0dc-7fff-e876-c34e-1967ff05ef36"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now, I don’t know what impressions you have of Mary, but I know that studying the Magnificat has had a big influence on my impression of the mother of Jesus.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I remember growing up, being in my share of Christmas pageants as a child</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (like Linus in the Peanuts special, I was always a shepherd)</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">; and Mary—I don’t remember Mary ever saying much in those pageants. She had the spotlight, but not a lot of lines. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The few words that she did speak were spoken quietly, with wonder and reverence, like when the angel greets her, and she responds, “How can this be?” And then, “May it be so.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I do </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">not</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> remember, from those pageants of my childhood, hearing Mary sing her song of praise; and certainly not the whole song.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!… He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts!… he has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly! He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">These are </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">attention-grabbing</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> words! I think if they had been included in the pageants of my childhood, I would have remembered them.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But in fact, there have been many people throughout history who’d rather we </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">not</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> remember these words.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mary’s song of praise was actually banned from being read or sung by rulers and governments. It was banned from being read or sung in India during the British colonial administration; banned in El Salvador and Guatemala in the 1980’s; and, after mothers of disappeared children in Argentina put Mary’s song on public display, it was banned there as well.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s not hard to see why…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Lord has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mary’s song presents a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">bold vision</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of a new world order, a new world that is nothing like the old world where power corrupts, and where rulers oppress the people.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And the Mary who sings this song, she’s not a meek, docile, submissive Mary. Her hand is in a fist, and raised in a show of power.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And she is ready for change! She is Dorothy Day; She is Rosa Parks; She is Dolores Huerta. She is Malala Yousafzai. She is Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Gobels Johnson. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When you listen to the words of Mary’s song, you realize, that’s the kind of woman Mary was.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I’m not sure why we usually see Mary portrayed so meek and mild. Maybe patriarchy has something to do with that. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because if you read through her song of praise, and if you pay attention to the words, you begin to realize Mary had spunk. She was feisty.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And just where did Mary get this bold attitude from? Who were her influences?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I think some of it, she got from Hannah, the mother of Samuel. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hannah appears in 1 Samuel, chapter 2. There, we read about how Hannah was fierce and determined in her prayer life; so much so, that when the priest saw her praying, he accused her of being drunk. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And when God answered Hannah’s prayer, Hannah sang a song to the Lord that went like this:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">My heart exults in the Lord; my strength is exalted in my God… the bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry are fat with spoil.… The Lord raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (1 Samuel 2)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It all sounds kinda familiar, doesn’t it? Mary’s song is, in fact, based on this ancient song of Hannah.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mary’s bold attitude may also have come, in part, from Miriam, Moses’ sister. In Exodus 15, we read that, after God rescued the Israelites from Pharaoh by leading them through the Red Sea, Miriam sang a song to the Lord, that went like this:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (Exodus 15) Like Hannah’s song, and like Mary’s song, Miriam also sings of a reordering of society, in which those at the top and those at the bottom find their places reversed!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mary’s bold attitude may also have come from her cousin Elizabeth. After all, Mary sang her song in response to Elizabeth’s blessing upon Mary, when Elizabeth said to Mary: “Blessed are you among women.” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">These words of Elizabeth, in turn, echo the words of blessing sung by the prophet Deborah, in the book of Judges. Deborah was a bold warrior, judge, and prophet, who pronounced this blessing upon Jael, yet another bold woman from the Bible.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, all this is to say: Mary’s boldness did not arise out of a vacuum. Her challenge to the ways of the world, the ways of empire, the ways of oppression, did not come out of the blue.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And Mary’s own life circumstances probably also contributed to her bold attitude. Like many Jews living under Roman occupation, she was oppressed; like many women living in a patriarchal society, her rights were limited.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But Mary shared a vision for the way the world </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">could be</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, a vision shared by the ancient prophets.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mary’s radical vision of the way this world </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">could be</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, is the vision God has for the world. It is the “new heaven and new earth” Isaiah talks about, when everyone’s thirst and hunger are satisfied, regardless of how much money they have, and where good news is brought to the oppressed…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s the vision spoken of by Amos, who spoke of justice rolling down like water, and righteousness like an everflowing stream…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s the vision spoken of by Micah, who spoke of justice and kindness as what God requires…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is the vision that became central to Jesus’s ministry. When Jesus talked about the “kingdom of God,” or “the kingdom of heaven,” he was talking about a new world, a world of justice and steadfast love. A world where (as I’ve already said) the poor are lifted up, and the mighty are brought low; where the first are last, and the last, first. It’s a world where the blind see, but many who see walk around as if they are blind.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mary shared this vision, and like many in her time, she was awaiting the coming of the Messiah, the one who would usher in this new age.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So when the angel told her that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">she</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> would be the one to give birth to this messiah, this son of God—and when her cousin Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, confirmed this miraculous event—Mary realized that the hopes and fears of all the years were about to come together, through her; and no wonder Mary burst forth in a song of praise! No wonder she drew on the spirit and words of Hannah, Miriam, and Deborah, in giving praise to God for what was happening and what was about to happen.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That vision is alive today. As Christmas draws near, we once again lift our hearts in praise to God, the giver of peace; and we pray that God’s kingdom may come on earth, as it is in heaven; that peace may prevail upon the earth, that all people will be able to live in harmony, that parents won’t have to fear for their children’s safety, that the hungry will be satisfied with good food, that the voice of the poor will be heard, that the earth itself will find healing and restoration.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And so we actively engage in the “work of Christmas,” as described by Howard Thurman:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">to find the lost,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">to heal the broken,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">to feed the hungry,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">to release the prisoner,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">to rebuild the nations,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">to bring peace among the people,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">to make music in the heart.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is what we are called to do; and we are called to do it with all the boldness of Mary.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And it is my hope that First Christian Church can continue to engage in this work and these tasks of ministry, to do this “work of Christmas,” and to do so boldly. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It takes a certain amount of boldness to start a church. When I arrived in my office for the first time, I found some historical information about our church that the ladies who meet in our history room left for me, and I read about William T. Major and the 13 charter members who started FCC way back in 1837. What a bold vision they had!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At least some of their bold spirit remains with us today.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It takes a certain amount of boldness for a church to proclaim itself as open and affirming, as FCC has. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It takes a certain amount of boldness to build and install a helping shelf, and to invite the community to make use of it. Nearly every day I see people at our helping shelf, so I know it is blessing many lives.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It takes a certain amount of boldness to join with others in working to eliminate medical debt; </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">…And it takes a certain amount of boldness to share space with the Boys and Girls Club, an organization that empowers young people to reach their full potential; because of my experience teaching, I know how important that is.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, this work of Christmas: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">we are doing it</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">! In these ways, and in so many other ways as well!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I give thanks for the ministry, and I give thanks for all of you who make it possible.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Your presence, your prayers, and your generous support are what makes it all happen.</span></p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And when we pray “thy kingdom come, on earth as in heaven;” and when we work with the Spirit to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">make</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> God’s kingdom come; that kingdom, that new world, that vision of Mary and the prophets, becomes real and present in our world today.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-75404549456963366302023-12-10T10:11:00.000-08:002023-12-11T10:12:22.880-08:00Comfort (Isaiah 40)<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This year, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend some time working as an instructor at a science camp on Catalina Island, off the coast of Long Beach. There, middle schools brought their students to spend 3 or 4 days to learn about the unique ecosystem that exists on Catalina. We saw bald eagles and sea lions and dolphins and Catalina Island foxes, a species of fox which exists </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">only</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> on Catalina Island and nowhere else in the world.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-294f5013-7fff-08f8-f48a-67229983fc00"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And we did all this while going on hikes, snorkeling in the ocean, kayaking, exploring tide pools, and dissecting squid.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Well, before the first session, we had a few days of training; and, just a week before the training session, I found out that part of the training involved getting certified as a lifeguard. To lead these kids out in the kayaks, or snorkeling in the cove, we had to be certified lifeguards.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That made me panic. I’ve never considered myself a particularly good swimmer. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> I hate the cold. And if you’ve ever been in the Pacific Ocean, you know that water is not warm. It’s not like swimming in the Gulf of Mexico. And it’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">especially</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> cold in March, at the end of winter.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I thought of backing out then and there.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But I’ve learned over the years that sometimes, it’s good to push yourself beyond your comfort zone, to do something that makes you uncomfortable.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, I promised the people in charge that I would do my best. I didn’t know if I would be able to complete the lifeguard training, but I would try.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">On the day of our swim test, it was cold and drizzly. Our instructor brought us cups of hot tea to drink before we got in the water, and the kindness of that gesture almost made me cry. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Then: it was time. The water was so cold, at first I couldn’t even breathe. And I thought: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If I can’t breathe, there’s no way I’m going to be able to swim!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But I pressed on. And I successfully swam the 500 yards, and passed all the requirements, and–at the age of 52–became, for the first time, a certified lifeguard.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I’m rather proud of that accomplishment, since achieving it took me so far out of my comfort zone.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Isaiah talks about “comfort, comfort.” I </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">long</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> for comfort. I resist what is uncomfortable. I really didn’t want to get in that ice cold water. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Yet Isaiah was speaking to people who had experienced something far worse than a little discomfort. What they had experienced wasn’t just the discomfort of swimming in the cold waters of the Pacific.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What the Isaiah’s community had experienced was trauma. Deep trauma. Trauma as the result of exile, suffering, and devastation, as Melissa Bills writes in this month’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Christian Century</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Likewise, the years leading up to the birth of Jesus were years of trauma brought on by generations of oppression that the Jews suffered at the hands of one empire after another. As Kelley Nikondeha writes in her book, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">First Advent in Palestine:</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> “Each successive generation endured another wave of occupation. More sons lost in battle, more land confiscated, more hopes dashed…” Towns were razed, women and children enslaved, rebels crucified…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Today, the people of Israel and Palestine continue to endure hardship, occupation, terror, and trauma. Too many are being killed, or are watching their children die, or are being forced to leave their homes, despite having nowhere else to go. The suffering, the trauma, seem to never end. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">To them, and to all who endure deep, lasting trauma, Isaiah promises comfort. And the comfort Isaiah promises is more than a warm blanket and cup of hot tea after swimming 500 yards in the cold ocean. That warm blanket and cup of tea sure is nice, but God promises so much more to those who have experienced true trauma. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">God promises hope when all hope is lost. God promises healing to even the deepest wounds. God promises a new chance at life when you thought your life was at a dead end. God promises assurance and affirmation and love to those who thought they’d never be loved for who they are, or welcomed in any genuine way.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sometimes it’s good to go outside our comfort zone. But when what we’ve experienced is so traumatic that we think we can’t go on, God comforts us, takes us by the hand, and leads us on a new path; a path of healing, wholeness, and salvation.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-14141816984983536692023-12-03T08:54:00.000-08:002023-12-06T08:55:12.542-08:00Beauty from the Muck (Isaiah 64:1-9)<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; text-indent: 27pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When Ginger and I flew out here from California last September to meet with the search committee, everything was so beautiful here in central Illinois. The sun was shining, the temperature was perfect, the humidity was just right, and the trees were full of beautiful green leaves, with just a few early hints of changing colors. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-4a2e2d18-7fff-3b33-09d4-86f55a779662"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But now, look…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Except for one beautiful but short fir tree outside my bedroom window, the only leaves I see now are on the ground, withered and faded.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, naturally, when I read today’s scripture, what stood out to me was the verse that compares God’s people to a fading leaf; or, as the CEB puts it, a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">withered</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> leaf.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And while the leaves may still be green back in California, here in Illinois, they’re pretty much all withered. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">People don’t like to look at withered leaves. Decaying leaves. Leaves on the lawn and in the gutter, all turning to muck.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So the leaves get raked up… and collected… and vacuumed! Not more than 30 minutes after we arrived at our new home, got the keys from the landlord, and began settling in, we saw the city workers come by and vacuum the leaves.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">They don’t do that in southern California. I had no idea they did that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">anywhere</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. Yes, I took a picture. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ecologists and naturalists tell us that it’s good to leave leaves on the ground, to not rake them up, because then they can decompose into the soil, and they become fertilizer, helping the trees and flowers grow in the spring. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But I hear that the leaves that the city vacuums up get mulched and delivered to farmers to use as compost for their crops. So that’s good. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I do get why we want the leaves off our lawns. Faded, withered leaves that fall and decompose turn all icky and messy and gross after a while.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But even though they look icky and messy and gross to us, they become the fertilizer that makes next spring’s flowers and crops grow so beautifully. Beauty and new life come from these faded, withering leaves. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Like Thich Nhat Hanh said: no mud, no lotus. There is beauty and life in the muck. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And that’s how it is in God’s kingdom: what we often consider icky and messy and gross is actually what makes life possible and beautiful. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In that same verse that talks about the faded, withered leaf, Isaiah also mentions that the people have become unclean, and their deeds like a filthy cloth. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But when I read this verse in the CEB, it didn’t say, “filthy cloth.” It said “menstrual rag.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I didn’t know</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> that</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> was in the Bible. Is that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">really</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> what it says?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I looked into it, and sure enough, in Hebrew, the phrase does indeed refer to a menstrual rag.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Apparently the translators of the NRSV, who were almost all men, were a bit embarrassed by this phrase. That’s my guess, anyway: that these men were too uncomfortable to talk about menstruation. So they just called it a filthy rag. The NRSV is a great translation, the one I use most, but no translation is perfect.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The CEB had 20 women on their translator team. I don’t know if that’s the reason or not, but they decided that it was important to be specific, and translate this phrase as menstrual rag. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A part of me wishes they hadn’t. Because then I wouldn’t feel compelled to talk about menstrual rags, and menstruation, in my very first sermon with you. That’s something they didn’t teach me how to do in seminary!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But they did teach me to tell the truth. And a lifetime of preaching and ministry taught me to not shy away from the truth, and to be </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">real</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, whenever possible, and to not sweep things under the rug just because they make me uncomfortable. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We do that in the church, sometimes. We sweep things under the rug. We refuse to talk about things, and we silence people from talking about things… even though these are real things, real issues, that people are dealing with… It’s not very helpful.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And not just in the church; there is at least one state that has made any talk of menstruation against the law, at least in elementary school. But some girls experience their first period at the age of 9 or 10, and if it happens at school, but there’s no trusted adult who can talk to them about it, it can make a potentially scary and confusing experience into something far more traumatic. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Also: 1 in 5 girls in the U.S. have missed school because they didn’t have access to menstruation products.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In developing countries, lack of access to menstruation products often forces girls to quit their education altogether. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Not only do they miss school, but their mental health also suffers. They feel broken inside; less than whole. And their communities suffer, too. Less educated young people means a higher rate of poverty in their community. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So some organizations, including some church groups, make reusable menstrual pads to send to girls in developing countries. With access to these products, the girls miss less school, they get an education…, and this benefits the entire community. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Those reusable menstrual pads are a blessing. They allow those who receive them to keep going to school, to get an education… and maybe even learn to see themselves and their bodies as sacred, holy, and beautiful. It restores them to wholeness.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So even though it’s an unusual thing to talk about on a pastor’s first Sunday, not to mention the first Sunday of Advent, I hope you can bear with me. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Both decaying leaves, and menstruation, really are signs of hope, of beauty, and the miracle of life. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Leaves decaying and turning into fertilizer, to nourish crops and trees and flowers, are signs of life and beauty.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And menstruation is a sign of the human ability to bring new life and beauty into the world.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And as I pondered these things, I wondered how it is that the church has no problem talking about and singing about the blood of Jesus. There is power in the blood! Life comes through the blood of Christ!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Why can we say that life comes through the blood of Jesus, but not that life comes through the blood of menstruation?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I used to donate blood regularly. Donating blood helped make me more aware of how blood gives life. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Every time</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> I donated blood, they thanked me for saving lives. And what could be more beautiful or sacred than saving lives?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And even though I am a bit squeamish, being a blood donor helped me see blood as something beautiful, something sacred, a symbol of life. It’s a completely different way of thinking about blood than we might be used to. It’s not icky, or messy, or gross at all.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And all the dead, decaying, rotting leaves that are left on the ground this winter: they, too, can be seen as something beautiful, something sacred: symbols of life.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And this</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> the power of the gospel: God takes what humans consider filthy, icky, gross, and unclean, and transforms it into a thing of beauty.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Last week, as I was driving across the country from California (I think it was as I was passing through Tucumcari, NM,) I was listening to a podcast, and a woman was telling a story about finding beauty in herself after having a mastectomy. And she talked about other women she knew who, after chemo, and after they lost their hair, refused to be seen without a wig on, or have their photo taken. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">They thought they had become ugly or disgusting.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But this particular woman had learned to see the beauty in herself and in others, despite these circumstances.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That’s what the gospel does. That’s what Jesus did. He helped those who had been told they were ugly or disgusting or unclean see the beauty in themselves, the beauty that had been present since they breathed their first breath. And it made them whole. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As my drive across the country continued, I pondered how to share with you all these things that God was placing on my mind…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because as a preacher, when God grabs my attention, and helps me learn something new, I know I’ve gotta share it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I need to be ready for that. I need to be ready. I need to keep my mind open, so that I can continue growing in understanding. I need to keep my eyes and my heart open.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I need to be ready.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">being ready</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is the larger theme that is conveyed not only in this passage from Isaiah, but also in the other lectionary scripture readings for the first Sunday of Advent. Today, all around the world, Christians are hearing scriptures and sermons urging them to keep awake, and be ready… </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Be ready</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> for Christ’s coming. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Be ready</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> for the kingdom of God, which is always breaking into our world. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Be ready</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> for whatever new insight God has in store for you. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Be ready</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> to find new ways of showing love, to God, to yourself, and to your neighbor, whoever and wherever your neighbor may be. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Advent is a time when God really seems to reach out and grab our attention. It’s a season of scripture passages filled with words like, “Behold!” and “Lo!” which is really just scripture’s way of saying, “Yo, check this out!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And if we are open to what God is saying in this season, and if we are ready to receive the message that God is sending to us, then we will see new things. We will see God tearing open the heavens and coming down! We will experience mountains quaking!</span></p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And if we are open, and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">ready,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> we will notice God taking what is often </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">thought of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">as icky, messy, and gross, and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">revealing</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> the true beauty that is within. We will see just how it is that God takes all our uncleanliness, and all the world’s uncleanliness and transforms it, bringing us </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">hope</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> and new life. </span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-1836592381696720022023-11-19T10:00:00.000-08:002023-11-19T10:00:00.142-08:00A Word of Thanks (Matthew 25)<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; text-indent: 36pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Lately I’ve been talking a lot, almost non-stop, about how awesome Bixby Knolls Christian Church is, how much love is here, and how much potential there is for this church’s future ministry. I’ve been doing this for two reasons. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-4e528ebb-7fff-7e62-ea08-19f02f54dcaf"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One: it is absolutely, 100% true. BKCC has everything it needs to grow, to evolve, to transform, and continue sharing God’s love. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It may not be easy; it may require some radical changes, as we’ve talked about in the New Beginnings conversations; but God’s blessings are upon this congregation, and the future is bright. That is all 100% true. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But the other reason I’ve been talking about how good and positive everything is, is that then I don’t have to talk about how much I’m going to miss this place, and how much I’m going to miss each of you. The beginning of a new chapter always means the end of the previous chapter, and no matter how good and promising that new chapter is, a part of us always wishes we could go back and relive that chapter we’ve just finished. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This fall I’ve been studying the raising of Lazarus. I’ve learned that some have speculated that, when Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb, that Lazarus was </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">reluctant</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> to emerge. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We have no way of knowing what it was like, for Lazarus, to be dead for four days. But if he was at rest, at peace, and totally transitioned to whatever life after death is, I guess it might be that he would have resisted the pull back to life.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For readers of scripture, this is seen as Jesus’ greatest miracle; yet Lazarus may not have seen it that way, at least not at first.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I’ve also wondered what it’s like for a newborn baby, to emerge from the womb into a cold, harsh world.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Many years ago, I met a young child, about 3 or 4 years old at the time, who insisted she remembered what it was like in her mommy’s tummy, before she was born. She told her mom this, and her mom said, “What was it like?” And the girl said, “It was warm, and it was safe.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">None of us would trade the gift of life for anything, but I could see how one would long for a life before birth, that was warm and safe.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Graduating from high school is another example. It is a happy, joyous day, filled with celebration, because it meant the completion of one stage of our lives, and the transition to the next stage of our lives. Yet a part of us still longs to go back, to stay in the past, and enjoy the familiarity of what we might now consider to be the good ol’ days. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In fact, I still remember being that age, and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">not</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> wanting to grow up, into an adult, because the adult world was unfamiliar to me, but being a child—that was familiar. It was comfortable. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But God is always calling us into an unfamiliar future, because it is there that the potential for greater things exists.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Several times this fall, we’ve talked about the Exodus. And we’ve seen that the Israelites were tempted to return to Egypt </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">where they were in slavery</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, because slavery was comfortable and familiar. It was strange, but who wouldn’t want to leave slavery and journey to freedom?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So if Lazarus was reluctant to leave the familiarity of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">the tomb</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, and if the Israelites were reluctant to leave the familiarity of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">slavery</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, then it should not be surprising that we are reluctant to move into a future that, though it may be filled with hope and promise, is also a future that is new and unfamiliar. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But as sad as I am about this chapter of our lives coming to an end, I believe that God has something even better in store, for you and for me, that something new is being born, that we are graduating to the next stage of our lives.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What else is there to say? Well, the only real thing I have left to say is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">thank you.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> In this season of Thanksgiving, I cannot overlook what a blessing this church has been to me and my family.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One thing I do when I teach is let my students know that, if they were not in the world, they would be missed. It’s not always possible to do that as a substitute teacher, but I try my best. I tell the students, “I’m glad you’re here,” even if they come into class late.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Here</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, I’ve said it many times to you: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I am blessed by your presence.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> If you were not here, you would be missed. Your presence is a blessing to those around you, but especially to me. This church is a better place because you are a part of it. This world is a better place because you are a part of it. And my life is better, because you’ve been a part of it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I am thankful.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And everything we have experienced together, and all that God has done for us and through us, is paving the way, or laying the foundation, for what comes next. God will take what we’ve experienced, and build on it something new, something wonderful.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As I look back on the past 15 ½ years here at Bixby Knolls Christian Church, I see that a lot has changed. And yet, there is, at the same time, much that has stayed the same. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When I started putting this sermon together, I didn’t really know what God was calling me to say. So I went back and read some past sermons I’ve preached which were based on the same lectionary scripture we heard this morning.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I read a sermon that I preached twelve years ago, back in 2011, when I hadn’t really been here very long yet. And I was surprised at how, what I said then, is so fitting and appropriate for us today.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And so, for my last sermon at Bixby Knolls Christian Church, I’m going to read to you part of one of my earliest sermons at Bixby Knolls Christian Church…</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bixby Knolls Christian Church has been a part of this community for over 65 years. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">[Almost 78 years now!] </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">God has called us to be a movement for wholeness in our community and in our world, seeking justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God. The saints of our own congregation’s past have given to us an inheritance of many talents: this building, this ministry, our life together.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When I talk to people who don’t currently attend church, I often find that the type of church they wish they could find is exactly the type of church we are. They’re looking for a church that reaches out beyond its walls; a church that is doing good things for the community, rather than simply judging people; a church where it’s okay to ask deep questions, where you don’t have to check your brain in at the door or agree to a lengthy doctrinal statement.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In short, a church that follows Jesus by serving the poor, bringing healing and wholeness to those whose lives are broken, and working to build a world of peace and justice.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is what we do. This is who we are. And the reason it is what we do and who we are is that we ourselves have experienced the transforming power of God’s spirit in our lives. We’ve experienced healing. We’ve felt the prayers that have been said on our behalf. We’ve been accepted at the Lord’s Table just as we are, with all our strengths as well as our imperfections.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What a wonderful gift we have received in the ministry of this congregation!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Do we dare hide it from the world? Do we dare dig a hole in the ground and bury it?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Of course not.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Our congregation is a treasure worth more than any number of talents. The generosity that you all have shown toward maintaining this ministry signifies that you are aware of just how precious this congregation is, and how life-transforming this congregation is for you and can be in the lives of our neighbors.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So let’s take our talents and invest them. Let’s renew our commitment to the ministry we share. Let’s celebrate the many ways we serve our community, the ways we bring wholeness to our community, and let’s constantly look for new opportunities to serve and to share and to invite our neighbors to experience God’s transformation.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, that was part of a sermon I preached back in 2011. A lot has changed since then, and a lot hasn’t; and a lot will change in the years to come. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 6pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But what is true then is true now and will always be true in all the years to come: that the God we worship and serve–the God in whose name we share love and show hospitality and work for justice–is a God who is ever-present, in every circumstance, and who will continue loving each and every person, and who will continue working through us all so that we are constantly being renewed by the Spirit and transformed by hope.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-32883158686317410502023-11-12T10:00:00.001-08:002023-11-12T10:00:00.134-08:00Oil for the Lamp (Matthew 25:1-13)<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; text-indent: 22.5pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Oil for the Lamp</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-5f8e5cc6-7fff-e962-4be0-c447426bcc16"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><a href="https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=566296786" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Matthew 25:1-13</span></a></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 61px; overflow: hidden; width: 82px;"><img height="61" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/HeWus8T7kp5aMWfSMTAe8_1ustEl7YSRvH0c5XAhYUPVagjw5rSbIp2mLKGpcx6U7k30E27W7RI8kffvyISa6xWRHDlKzbHIQl4x3-BCwciJj3vxibyU2Txq0ieOGiXJJh3-UKznfISpFWmgWdndzFM" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="82" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is a hard scripture passage for me.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The surface-level interpretation here is that you need to be prepared, you need to be ready. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, I can accept. I was a boy scout, after all. Our motto was, “Be prepared!” This is a good lesson.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But when the foolish, unprepared bridesmaids asked the wise, prepared bridesmaids for some oil, the wise, prepared bridesmaids said to them: “NO!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> doesn’t seem very compassionate… or Christ-like…</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> I have a problem with…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A few years ago, I was on a hiking trip with some friends from various Disciples churches. We were up in the Sierras, near Tioga Pass. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We hiked for several miles to a beautiful lake. The shoreline was covered with colorful wildflowers. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A few of my companions did some fishing, while I explored.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A short while later, one of my companions gave a little yell. She had gotten a fish hook stuck in her skin. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">She had no trouble getting the fish hook out. The hook was small, and the wound was minor. But she needed a bandaid, and maybe some neosporin.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Fortunately I had my first aid kit, and I willingly, happily offered her some neosporin and a band-aid. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And she made a comment about how, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">of course</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Danny would remember his first aid kit, since he’s an Eagle scout. And she offered me her gratitude and thanks.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And then we went on with our day. It wasn’t a big deal.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I couldn’t imagine saying to her, “No! There might not be enough for me and for you. You should have brought your own.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And this is not to brag, because I am certain that anyone on that trip would have done the same for me, and that any of you would have done the same for me, if I were the one in need of a band-aid and a little neosporin.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s just simple kindness. It’s an easy act of compassion that really requires very little of us. Why wouldn’t we share?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 57px; overflow: hidden; width: 81px;"><img height="57" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/hmAZinZiC2NgQKEP107a2on5fx9NhSzr1164-0ExscQvUJu2tfZ-VxZ2j3KaHPKorM8HH0vizOfXfpClfB3_XLd4ms4U8ghneiAIbhrEjNORyIK_uwwSPWZ_PuSBKUkuiTvxE2NtfloOIbiTTtxPcTY" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="81" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The issue of the oil and the lamps isn’t </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">exactly</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> the same, but it’s close enough that I can’t help but think of those so-called wise bridesmaids, and their refusal to share their oil. What is up with that? How is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">a parable that shows us what the kingdom of God is like?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I mean, let’s compare it to some other parables of the kingdom of God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The kingdom of God is like a sheep that got lost, and the shepherd said, “Well, I got 99 wise sheep who know how to not get lost, I can’t be bothered to go look for that foolish lost sheep…”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Or, The kingdom of God is like a traveler who was attacked and beaten by robbers. A priest came by, and a holy man came by, and they passed by on the other side. And then a Samaritan came by, and said, “Why was this guy so foolish as to travel out here by himself? And if I, a Samaritan, were to stop and help him, a Jew, that would make </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">me</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> the foolish one; after all, it could all be a trap…”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But that’s not how </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">those </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">stories go, is it?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In fact, Christ calls us to risk being seen as fools, to risk being seen as fools for choosing compassion and justice over wealth and power. In the upside-down kingdom of Christ, “foolish” is more often a compliment than it is a disparagement. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the kingdom of God, we help one another, we share, even when doing so goes against our own self-interest, and even when others may think of us as foolish.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We know that this is not the way it is in the world. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">People accumulate wealth, more than they need, while others are </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">in</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> need. Our economic system rewards those with wealth, because the system sees them as wise, while the poor are penalized and made to work even harder for less pay, and pay a greater share of the tax burden. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Their poverty is seen as being the result of their own </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">foolish</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> decisions, yet the truth is that, for most, it is the result of an economic system that puts them at a disadvantage. But even if it was their own foolishness that led them to be poor, wouldn’t those who are rich </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">still</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> have an obligation to help them, at least according to the rules of the kingdom of God?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So I confess that I don’t really understand how it is that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">not</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> sharing is how this parable demonstrates life in God’s kingdom.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">end</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of this parable says it is about the need to keep awake, and be ready. Well, everything else I’ve learned from Jesus has taught me to keep awake, but it has taught me to keep awake </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">so that</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> I can see the plight of those who suffer from unjust economic systems, and to be ready, because the opportunity to provide help, to share, to show compassion, can arise at any given moment.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That’s what I need to be ready for.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And if I do share what I have with you—a little oil, a bandaid, or whatever—I do so because I know that ultimately, all that I have doesn’t come from me; it comes from God. The reason I have what I have is so that I can serve God by serving others, using what I have to help build God’s kingdom and share God’s love.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 63px; overflow: hidden; width: 100px;"><img height="63" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/uz9RK7a0VX3OqXSZXJMHdYU9vIIDA_NV_dztTmEjw62rDSf7SGwT3jpczNibkYUAefHhDCf_3vP6PH8VPYbfanD30M57icwPglB4Wo4AsCpRVTEceCHWhbTLPBrPYDPvAjeHj1Ajn_BkfVHZPBWVENg" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="100" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As a little aside, I consider every dollar I have to be a representation of my life energy. After all, our life-energy is what we exchange for the money we receive. If you earn 15 dollars an hour, fifteen dollars represents one hour of your life-energy. If you earn 50 dollars an hour, then 50 dollars represents one hour of your life energy.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So every decision about how to spend your money is really a decision about how to spend your life-energy. And where does your life energy come from? It comes from God. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Your life, your energy, your strength, your ability to work; it comes from God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Everything you have, comes from God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And if you have more oil for your lamp, you need to remember that your oil comes from God. God is, ultimately, the source of every good thing you have.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, since it all comes from God, you should use it in a way that is pleasing to God and in accordance with God’s will and God’s desires.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And so I think God would want those bridesmaids to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">share their oil!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">[Maybe I’m still missing the metaphor… </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And more than one thing can be true at the same time. It is true that the foolish bridesmaids should have been ready, with oil for their lamps, if acquiring oil was within their means…</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">and</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> it is true that the wise bridesmaids should have shared their oil. Both things can be true. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s also true that this parable is a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">metaphor</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. It isn’t really about oil at all. It’s about how we need to be ready for Christ’s return, Christ’s appearance, in our world and in our lives. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But what we need to be ready for, I think, is that, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">at any moment</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, we have the opportunity to make Christ’s kingdom a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">present reality</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, by showing love, by working for justice, and, yes, by sharing what we have.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 72px; overflow: hidden; width: 91px;"><img height="137.2104" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/LZr83uPTZjeOuB3c5WEyL8uWeSYBKswbmq6WUW7F4PMvWPghQ-mqqzBGxGOF40dp6mX5jItW83aytQE6_Rqh0JLk4C5mdLlomwT3sZBMzExSXjhQPULjPFs5wdZh9jtmyWUMTA3W70fu9TW0_6tvgzQ" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: -32.8896px;" width="91" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">To expand the metaphor a bit further, when Bixby Knolls Christian Church called me to be your pastor over 15 years ago, you all gave me the time and the commission to go out and find that oil, then report back to you on Sunday mornings what I’ve found: to let you know where the oil is.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s not my oil. But you have made it possible for me to go out and search for it, and to share with you what I’ve found.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And you have also shared with me the oil you have found. You have been generous and gracious in sharing your oil.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> I heard a quote once that evangelism is simply one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. (I tried to find the source of that quote, but discovered at least three different attributions, so I don’t know which one is right…)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But whether it’s bread, or oil, or the good news that God loves each and every person, with no exceptions, no conditions, that’s really what it is: Sharing what we’ve found with one another.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I’m sorry if I ever made it about me. What this church is about is not me. The essence of what makes Bixby Knolls Christian Church such a special place was present before I arrived, and it has grown over the years because of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">each</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> person who is a part of this congregation: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">each</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> person who is a recent addition to this congregation and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">each</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> person who has remained a part of this congregation through the years.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And if the future ministry of this church fails because I’m now being called somewhere else, then that means I have failed in my job here. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If the congregation’s ministry is dependent on one person, even if that person is the pastor, then the pastor has failed to equip the congregation for the task of ministry, which is, according to Paul, what the pastor is supposed to do.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s not because my faith is stronger that I’m the one up here preaching. It’s not that I have any kind of special access to God. I wouldn’t even say it’s because I know the Bible better, because some of you who have been going to church your whole lives and going to Sunday School and Bible study your whole lives are probably more familiar with some parts of the Bible than I am.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The oil we have lights our path. Sometimes we run out of oil. Maybe it is our fault. Maybe it’s because we weren’t prepared.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Or, maybe it’s just that the path we’ve had to walk is darker than others’ paths, so that we need more oil to see; or maybe we just weren’t able to acquire that much oil to begin with.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But if everyone shares their oil, then all can see where they’re going. If everyone sticks close, everyone can even use the same lamp to light their way.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, for us, a better metaphor for the kingdom of God is an image of us sharing our light, and helping each other through the darkness.</span></p><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-10198717271817183892023-11-05T10:05:00.001-08:002023-11-05T10:05:00.143-08:00From Everlasting to Everlasting (Psalm 90)<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-indent: 27pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 56px; overflow: hidden; width: 74px;"><img height="74.2127659574468" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/NQGyPKCIHQA7VQONJXPV00ZW4cH7IYtZ2IHMYaIlM3uFNMDaBNSWFihAqi06AXYE4eDm0NQqGH_5flxel2L_svwiAn0YacYGFy9nWDL7EP3eDFTrZmTJDgxA25-HYokbcUN2d0Y5I4qLSfVPWgEwYh0" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="74" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-indent: 27pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">All Saints Sunday can be a day of big emotions:</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-dd362c84-7fff-9696-4de0-6f10bc6e30c1"><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Gratitude</span><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"> for the lives of those who we have known who have passed away, and their blessing and influence on our lives.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Sadness</span><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"> that they are no longer with us.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Wonder</span><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"> about the meaning and mystery of life, including life after death.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Contemplativeness</span><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"> as we consider how we are living our own lives, and what legacy we will leave to those close to us after we are gone.</span></p></li></ul><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">These thoughts and emotions, in turn, may lead us to wonder: What is our purpose? What are our own thoughts about death, and about life?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One day, I pondered the question: what is it that can help me face death without fear? Is there </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">anything</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> that can help me face death without fear?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I pondered this for a while.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Eventually, I realized that there is something.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Love.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">To be surrounded by the love of family and friends….</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">To be able to share my love with them….</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And to know the love of God, from which nothing—not even death—can separate us.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I realized that if I have love, then I’m not afraid.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Last week, I preached about how love is the greatest commandment. And I’ve mentioned how much I have learned from you, from the people of Bixby Knolls Christian Church, when it comes to love.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">You have taught me more than you know, by the way you have shown love to me, and the way you show love to one another.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And it’s only natural that some of you have asked, out of love, how it is that I am now choosing to leave Bixby Knolls Christian Church.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It began as a decision rooted in financial necessity. Almost a year ago, when we had our congregational meeting, it was brought to our attention that the days of Bixby Knolls Christian Church being able to maintain current levels of spending on staff salaries were limited. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That notice entered my mind and my heart, and while, at the time, I hoped that things would change and I would be able to stay, I realized that I needed to prepare for the possibility that things would not change—or, at least not quickly enough for me to stay. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is not a criticism of anyone, for your level of generosity is, and has been, more than I could have ever hoped for.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So I began updating my profile in the denomination’s search and call system.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 50px; overflow: hidden; width: 79px;"><img height="50" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/hOEaZkar24-dPddjNVR83CzHBbnXKpU3W7ozlq8z2X924-n8OxXbpn3mTGlG4W-SBJTQhc9XGGA0f7C_dnfOWwRECH7NVrww8yXphUvp9yDUCXW9ooeNwgWYHXFy5Jc0NTBKMYP6qLTVEwGXNce3TDY" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="79" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I don’t know if you realize it or not, but updating one’s profile in the search and call system means answering questions of purpose, of calling, of strengths and weaknesses. In other words, answering questions that are very similar to the questions you all have discussed in those after-church meetings.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Questions of “What is your ‘why?’” My questions used slightly different language, but they were basically the same.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And it took me a while to answer them. First, I read in my profile the answers that were already there; the answers I provided the last time I was in the search and call process, 16 years ago, which eventually led to me becoming pastor here at Bixby Knolls Christian Church.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I thought about all the ways I’ve grown and changed since then, how you all have helped me grow and improve as a pastor over the years, and what my strengths and growing edges are </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">today,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> and what type of ministry God is calling me to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">today</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It took me a month to write new answers to those questions. I didn’t want to rush it. I saw the value in the process, the journey, and didn’t want to rush to answers or solutions too quickly.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And what a powerful, beneficial process it was for me. It truly did help me gain a greater understanding of God’s call on my life, at this point in my life.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And as we </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">all</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> were pondering questions like this—me, in search and call, and you, in the New Beginnings conversations—I began to sense that God was calling me to a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">new</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> adventure, a new chapter, a new journey (or whatever you want to call it) … </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">and</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> that God was calling Bixby Knolls Christian Church to a new adventure, a new chapter, a new journey…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And it was then that I realized that I was being called to a new ministry for more than just financial reasons. I realized that God has greater things in store for both you and for me. New journeys and new adventures.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And through this process, I’ve learned to trust God more. I thought I knew what I wanted; but I made a commitment to being open to whatever it was that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">God</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> wanted.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And the journey had many twists and turns. Sometimes, I was so sure that God was calling me in a certain direction, only to have God put up a roadblock and say, “Nope! That’s not the direction for you!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I’d say, “Really?!?” Because I was so certain that it </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">was</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I’d alter the coordinates, and my personal spiritual GPS would recalibrate and recalculate, and I’d head off in some new direction, not knowing where this journey would take me, or how many other detours there would be along the way…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But with each detour, each roadblock, each surprise, I learned to trust God a little more.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I’ve become a little more philosophical, and a little more able to trust God to lead me, even when the future seems unclear.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 58px; overflow: hidden; width: 94px;"><img height="58" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/z_AEfWXf6rs_njqZ9eA5Ufr4XC1EYKjQoU9OcrQqUHDTdAnDzd7Scrgy9Z5S1Sj5QVW5IJpADR_FN6d03ZIuFF3Owsjz6F0jg1byofoI_3muPwFzddfBtMyHI8m15-CbwGl82vA18Lgn4U-C2uhlbNw" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="94" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Our scripture today is a psalm that is labeled, “A prayer of Moses.” Most likely, it was written by someone many centuries after Moses, someone who perhaps tried to imagine what it was like for Moses.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Moses learned to trust God as he led the Israelites out of Egypt, and through the Wilderness, and, eventually, to the promised land where they would be made into a whole new people and a whole new nation.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was an incredibly difficult journey, through the wilderness, filled with wanderings, detours, and countless challenges. The people, and even Moses himself, wanted to give up at times.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Yet, in the end, Moses could see how God remained faithful, and how God was with them, and how God was leading them.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“Lord, you have been our dwelling-place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Our God is the God of our ancestors. Our God is the God of all those who have died: those whose names we read this morning, and all those who died in years past.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When we get impatient, or when we wonder why things happen when they do, or why we are being led on a journey into the wilderness, this prayer of Moses reminds us: “a thousand years in God’s sight are like a day, or like a watch that passes in the night.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This prayer of Moses reminds us that our own days are limited. They pass by quickly. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But with the passing years comes new wisdom.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Richard Rohr has written a book about how a person’s spiritual journey evolves and matures in the second half of life. In the first half of life, he says, one’s spiritual purpose is about constructing a good, solid container for faith. In the second half of life, our task changes; the task then becomes filling that container.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For me, I think the second half of life involves asking more questions than answers, and knowing that the answers aren’t even that important; but that asking the right questions is.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But the one thing I still hold on to is love, as well as trusting the one who is the source of all love.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 48px; overflow: hidden; width: 128px;"><img height="48" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/z4-53m2OBDRYo0veWdka6h6M75bQyZAHNIAOege4bJBJ_KOdJc1f4jD5TOmdXREldnibObRv5JEPB55etOgs81EV_rP1IWVeb3oJMkxtTXi6O6gPMYMn5jksDJZDY5mCj3Dp1TjfKJEGbXMh7sLWxZE" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="161.9072" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I know that many of you feel anxiety and sadness at my upcoming departure. It will, for me, be a difficult goodbye. But I want you to please trust God with the future of Bixby Knolls Christian Church. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">You may have a lot of questions, and that’s good. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The answers may not come as quickly as you’d like, and that’s OK. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The God of our ancestors will be with you. The God who has been our dwelling-place in all generations will be with you. The God who was with the Israelites on their 40-year journey to the promised land will be with you. The God who has guided this church’s ministry for over 77 years will be with you.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That God can be trusted. I know this better now than I did a year ago, or at any other point in my life.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When the future is uncertain, trust God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When life’s journey takes an unexpected turn, trust God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In any and every circumstance, trust God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">From everlasting to everlasting, trust God.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-16575174846131072292023-10-29T09:54:00.001-07:002023-10-29T09:54:00.153-07:00All That's Required (Matthew 22:34-40)<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; text-indent: 22.5pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">All That’s Required</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-6e6ae1cc-7fff-033f-04cf-b22c941e4aa1"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><a href="https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=564479135" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Matthew 22: 34-40</span></a></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 50px; overflow: hidden; width: 76px;"><img height="50" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/gwgQr80HQNETQSyCjuFPlWs5xtfQima7V4S3mL385pWUBLjDpSh9wEtCCjPd4gTYr2u2qv655ldVeNP0ATwhBV8V1Wq9SPaFbpBZwVHp3JKgXxRLaf8IJH2ZB7vP7WsOrhovTVjf0KqqwodMZ_D5Jl4" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="76" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Jesus’ father, Joseph, was a carpenter, and it is assumed that Jesus grew up learning how to work with wood, and that he worked as a carpenter before he began his ministry. As a carpenter, he learned how to build furniture and utensils, doors, and door frames; he also learned how to prepare roofing beams; and he may at times have doubled as a brick mason or a metalworker.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was a lowly craft, putting him in the artisan class, far removed from the aristocracy. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Yet, I imagine that working with wood was something Jesus found pleasant and perhaps even enjoyable. Sometimes, he was probably able to add his own creativity into the work he did, adding designs and ornamentation, depending on the desires of the one he was working for. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At other times, when the work was more mundane, more monotonous, he could get lost in his thoughts, as he worked to sand and smooth a particular piece of wood. As his hands moved back and forth and back and forth over the wood, he could pray, meditate, and reflect on the Torah as he worked. Perhaps, specifically, he would meditate on the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Shema</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Shema</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is the central affirmation of Judaism. It appears in the 6th chapter of Deuteronomy.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In Hebrew, “shema” means </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">hear</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, Because the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Shema</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> begins with the words: “Hear O Israel!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Then, the next line says: “The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And then, finally, it says: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Put all together, the Shema goes like this:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“Hear O Israel! The Lord your God, the Lord is one… Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 77px; overflow: hidden; width: 73px;"><img height="97.75150000000001" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/crQ6e--Nxi2gQW2HJWy3OvjRgkzAwJwoBHM6A9v9qfhEBt_He1iPB5KedwZp5rwo4hU7CaAAdKkKleHKHGqSwcRaMoVhdo79vl-3_MlJHjkZn9fSV4Izg5ekzXkId06pEDxBbi85bhWQ0q6HOFKko5w" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: -12.597199999999999px;" width="73" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This passage in Deuteronomy then goes on to instruct God’s people to “recite these words to your children. Talk about them when you are sitting around your house and when you are out and about, when you are lying down and when you are getting up. Tie them on your hand as a sign. They should be on your forehead as a symbol. Write them on your house’s doorframes and on your city’s gates.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And many Jews did just that. They literally wrote the Shema on little pieces of parchment, then placed those little pieces of parchment in tiny containers, which they strapped onto their wrists and onto their foreheads; and they did indeed write these words on their door frames.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Perhaps Jesus, when he was doing his woodwork, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">building</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> door frames for Jewish neighbors, made sure there were spots on those doorframes where the Shema could be displayed… And while he was busy building such things, it’s quite likely that Jesus himself recited the Shema and meditated on it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because of how centrally important the Shema was and is to Jewish faith, it should not have surprised anyone that, when asked what the most important command is, that Jesus recited the Shema.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This little episode—when Jesus is asked what is the most important command, and Jesus answers by quoting the Shema—appears in all three synoptic gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; filter: brightness(1.15); height: 56px; overflow: hidden; width: 79px;"><img height="77.3864" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/p83xp0SHh18nLA3RopB-GOJrtH-ps5Aku8voRzRFMvFCWBt8QZttiY5CLnc9Kc3BfN1z8pySb1ev_JMfg9Qb0LQiRac-fWF8tCCl1Y0FqPZz6TQ_VoJvZ4ysEmKj6YwSzYcY-ze4cxuYMJm6qY-JZ38" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: -10.6232px;" width="79" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There is some slight variation, which I appreciate:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In Deuteronomy (as it has been passed down to us), it says: “Lord the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength…,”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">mind</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In Mark’s gospel, Jesus says: “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">strength</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In Luke’s gospel, it says: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind.” Interestingly, in Luke’s gospel it appears that a lawyer is actually the one who recites the Shema, and then, when he does, Jesus responds: “You are right.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And, in all three synoptics, not only the Shema from Deuteronomy is quoted, but also a command from Leviticus: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And then it is affirmed that these are the most important commands.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I like how it spells out that we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. My own reflection on this command has led me to believe that, in order to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, that I need to take care of every aspect of my being. I need to take care of my emotional health, my spiritual health, my mental health, and my physical health.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because when I am emotionally strong and healthy, and spiritually strong and healthy, and mentally strong and healthy, and physically strong and healthy, then I am able to better love God and do what God calls me to do, and go where God calls me to go, and live as God calls me to live.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Some of you may remember that, once upon a time, several years ago, I preached a series of four sermons, and each one focused on one of these different aspects: Taking care of our emotional health, taking care of our spiritual health, taking care of our mental health, and taking care of our physical health, so that we could love God to the best of our ability.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Of course, taking care of our emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical health is also how we love ourselves.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hence, the addition of the command from Leviticus, to love your neighbor as yourself.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Then, in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says something very interesting. He says: “On these two commands hang all the law and the prophets.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 55px; overflow: hidden; width: 82px;"><img height="55" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/VbHbigR7NJvq7HqUHyADqF7uKlj-Ja_TvAMfqTcfDJbM_c8kgF6Bo5gc5pAUJKVHPd0pO_JAJVoaT9VCs2nq7XpPSH8cwxQJLkk2clgg_5MwZRGqklbrOsrqyWJfrzcN7R5b1hQCojvc6ySSrLOIDqE" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="82" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I always thought that the use of the word “hang” here was peculiar, that maybe another word would have been better, until I remembered that Jesus was a carpenter. Once I remembered that Jesus was a carpenter, I realized that he was picturing a door like the ones he used to make, the doors he would then hang on the frame after making them, hanging them on the two hinges that would attach the door to the frame.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The two hinges are what hold the door. The door hangs from the hinges. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">These two commands—love God, and love your neighbor as yourself—are like the two hinges. Everything else hangs from them.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If you don’t have strong hinges, then it doesn’t matter how strong or beautiful the door is; it will come crashing down.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If love for God and loving one’s neighbor as oneself isn’t holding up what you believe in, then that belief will fall to the ground.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In fact, if someone tells you a command that isn’t rooted in love for God and love for your neighbor and yourself, then that command </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">should</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> fall to the ground. It should fall to the ground and be swept out with the trash. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because a command not rooted in love is a command you shouldn’t follow.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now, as I said, you may remember me preaching on all this before. It is the Shema, after all. The most important command.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But what I want to say to you today, is how grateful I am to have been your pastor, because you all take seriously the command to love God and love your neighbor, and you’re not content to just keep loving at the same level, but to constantly be growing in love.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I firmly believe that there is no such thing as perfection in these types of things, but there is improvement, there is growth, and there is goodness. Even Jesus demonstrated the capacity to learn and grow and improve when he was chastised by the Syrophoenecian woman. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">You all have been willing to learn and grow in love, to look inward and find the areas where your love could improve, and then to make the commitment to actually do better… to love better.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And it’s hard work, as some of you know. There are some people, some neighbors, we just don’t want to love, or whom we find it so very difficult to love.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And you’ve prayed to God about that, and you’ve described to me how you are growing in love, working to expand your love to be more like Jesus, whose love was radically inclusive and all-embracing and wholly affirming.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Somebody posted online this week that Jesus’ greatest commandment wasn’t </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">convert </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">your neighbor; it was </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">love</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> your neighbor.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Many Christians forget that.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And some Christians think that their highest calling is to “out-debate” their neighbor, or “prove wrong” their neighbor, instead of love their neighbor.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mostly, the only people Jesus debated were the teachers, who believed they were right—</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">more</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> right than anyone else—and who spent most of their time debating and defending their way of practicing their faith. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Jesus did engage in some debates with them… but far more than that, he simply loved the people who followed him. And he challenged everyone, including the religious teachers, to be more loving.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So I am grateful for the love you have shown, to one another, to me, to my family, to all who walk in our doors, and to our neighbors near and far. The hinges on your doors are strong. I do believe that you have taught me more about how to love as Jesus loved than I have taught you. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And that really is all that’s required. You know what is the most important thing, and you live it out. And I know that the love that is shared here will remain strong, for many months and years to come.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And if you’ve been a recipient of that love; if your life has been transformed by the radically inclusive and all-embracing and wholly affirming love that you’ve experienced here… then you’ll want to share it. Right? Don’t you want to tell others the news that Jesus’s love is so much greater than anything else the world has to offer? Don’t you want them to know that here, at Bixby Knolls Christian Church, we’re learning about that kind of love, and we’re practicing that kind of love, and we’re growing in love for the world?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The world is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">desperate</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> for that kind of love. A lack of love is the root of every kind of evil in this world, every kind of violence, every war.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Let’s continue growing in love. Let’s invite the world to grow in love with us. Let’s transform the world with the love of Christ. </span></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-65946182505014249582023-10-22T10:00:00.002-07:002023-10-22T10:00:00.143-07:00Are You There, God? It's Me, Moses (Exodus 33:12-23)<p><br /></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-c4f2999a-7fff-c3ae-7743-8d6662a2edbd"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 81px; overflow: hidden; width: 69px;"><img height="102.19834710743802" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/ltzZlOslFwSkPED-gXK3z_5cbsFqd9JDOJgkOdJQb8f6P50460WQhbCKufNzXdJ2rMUvkYn9MoH6rtA585Ox7h3CONzBme8MM-meen3SzU67zKImMskHBDEnKQf8QKnUlvqqTrXjmxGMSb9bxNqbFiM" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: -17.40495867768595px;" width="69" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Old Testament lectionary readings lately have been from the book of Exodus, and in today’s scripture, there is a verse where Moses basically asks God, “Are you there? Are you with us?” … and it made me think of the book, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Are You There, God, It’s Me, Margaret</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Judy Bloom… </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Except I never read that book, and I never saw the movie that came out this year, (which I heard is wonderful, by the way).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Who here has read the book?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I mentioned to Ginger that I had never read the book, and she found a copy at a used bookstore that cost one dollar, and I started reading it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This happened just before the regional clergy retreat and regional gathering that took place last week. For the retreat, the region hosted clergy and their spouses at the Fullerton Marriott, which is probably the nicest place I’ve stayed at in a long time. (That’s not saying much, since my little cabin on Catalina Island has no plumbing and no electricity, but still…)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, anyway, that’s how it is that I ended up one afternoon, laying by the pool at the Fullerton Marriott, with an umbrella over me and that warm, golden California sun shining down, surrounded by palm trees, my shirt off, iced tea on the table next to me, trying to look cool, while reading my second-hand paperback copy of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Are You There, God, It’s Me, Margaret.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For those of you who don’t know, the story is about a girl named Margaret Simon, who is just a few months away from turning 12, when her family moves from New York City to Fartbrook, New Jersey. Margaret's mother is Christian and her father is Jewish, but Margaret has been raised without an affiliation to either faith. Nevertheless, she frequently prays to God in her own words, beginning by saying, "Are you there God? It's me, Margaret." </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now, it’s not a coincidence that her family is moving to a new state just as she’s about to turn 12. Both moving to a new home, and transitioning into puberty, are two drastic life changes. There’s the physical journey, from her old home to her new home; and there’s the spiritual, developmental journey, as she figures out who she is. Both journeys involve new beginnings, new discoveries… and leaving behind all things familiar. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In that sense, it’s very similar to the journey Moses and the Hebrew people took to the promised land.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Like Margaret’s journey, theirs is a double journey: It’s a physical, literal journey, from Egypt, through the wilderness, to Canaan; but, more than that, it’s a spiritual, developmental journey, as they transition from their old lives as slaves, and prepare to create a whole new nation, basically establishing for themselves a whole new identity as God’s liberated people.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 40px; overflow: hidden; width: 45px;"><img height="47.484" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/xT3E9pg3H8dd6eiWB5tvRoxxWuCKc7eb5kGZWNE_NqLWrt35SQG8E1QeA-6OuYdfOlwWkI86Cw7vYk3c_v07clMPWC_XO8RCFBGrJ-COQEE9cO9FXyyWFzzweGX18yacoxhCqhWmscLVo6pxr5WzE8Q" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: -7.484px;" width="81.6075" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And in the part of the story that appears in today’s scripture, Moses all but says, “Are you there, God? It’s me, Moses.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now, thus far, God has led the people out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and into the wilderness. At Sinai, God established a covenant with them, and God gave them the 10 commandments to guide them as they prepared to live in covenant with God and with one another in the new land they were about to enter. And God held back his anger when the people got impatient and made a golden calf, and worshiped it instead of God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">God loved the Hebrew people, and had promised to be with them, but after that golden calf incident, when God’s anger was kindled, and God almost destroyed the people in anger… God wondered if maybe going with the people into the Promised Land wasn’t such a good idea. What if these stubborn, impatient, unfaithful people got God angry again, and God reacted violently by destroying them? Maybe it would be better for the people to enter the Promised Land without God…?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Moses did not agree. Moses wanted God to assure him that God </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">would</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> go with them, that God’s presence would accompany them. God again gave in to Moses’ petition, and said, “Yes, I will go with you,” but Moses wanted even greater assurance.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Moses said, “Don’t play with me, God. If you really are there, show me. Show me your presence. I need to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">see</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> you. I need to be assured of your presence now, and assured that your presence will stay with me, and with us, as we continue this journey.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now, at this point, I should mention that this depiction of God, whose presence is limited to a specific location, doesn’t quite match what I believe about God. Does it match what you believe about God? Do you think God’s presence is limited to certain locations? Or do you believe that God is everywhere, that there is nowhere in creation where God is not?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ancient people were influenced by other religions, and by the gods of those religions, who dwelt in specific places, not everywhere all at once.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And one of the things I actually like about scripture is how human understanding about God evolves across the pages of scripture. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For example: In the Garden of Eden, God was walking in the garden, and Adam and Eve hid from God; behind a bush or a rock, I presume. So there, in Genesis, God appears to be limited to a specific location. Yet later, the psalmist says “Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” And the implied answer is: nowhere. Because God is everywhere.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And when Jonah comically tried to outrun God, it didn’t work. Because even at the ends of the earth, God is there.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When Jesus talked theology with the woman at the well, part of the conversation centered on whether God’s home was on this mountain, or was on that mountain, but then Jesus said that God is spirit; God is wind; God is breath. Just as the wind does not reside on a single mountain, neither does God; and just as breath is in every human, so is God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So I don’t look at these depictions in Genesis and Exodus of God as present in one location but not present in another as definitive. Rather, they are a glimpse into how the people thought of God, and how human understanding of God grew and developed over the ages.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And even in this story today, which begins with a question of whether God will be present or not, we move to the realization that God’s presence will not be withdrawn, that God’s presence will be with the people, and God’s presence will be with Moses. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 77px; overflow: hidden; width: 91px;"><img height="77" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/oU8EbjJ61t9H6-x4WGjgaXVCk0LH8aTrYNG__VJStACFKo7xHX8MHj5E4ac4Lnbupq7OycAqjqU1QZmpAgpOTyyFx84RJ7-WlkZHrgloRSfvw1f1q_g4rL_Zu13WtownmzC6524VniJH8Gdmyi4L6s8" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="91" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The assurance is given.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Are you there God? </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Yes, I am. I am here, with you. And always will be.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">No matter where your journey takes you.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So… back to our story. In this story, people didn’t quite think of God as being everywhere, like the wind, or breath, and Moses wanted an </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">assurance</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> from God that God’s presence would be with him and with God’s people as they complete their journey into the Promised Land.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So Moses said to God, “Show me your glory.” It was a presumptuous demand. Moses was dictating the terms of their relationship.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But God agreed. “I will pass by you, and you will see my glory,” God said. “But you cannot see my face. I’ll cover your face with my hand until I’ve passed you, and then I’ll remove my hand, and you can see my backside as I go by.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And this begs the question: “What exactly does God’s backside look like? And am I going to hell for asking such an irreverent question?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Well, no one is ever sent to hell for asking questions. But perhaps a more important question is: What does this story teach us about God?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 66px; overflow: hidden; width: 91px;"><img height="97.11240000000001" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/A5hgpWcDjnZ0E4OnIVoEId6CADZpk-idUoie_JPYFpJ5kdwvgb2IzLrN_UAZbt_YvzLF12W1kCvbVJHTDmrN5l9lfTVsFM1aK6ez-glrdmWPITrVbQJpMRicyoacjYB_z4QTP37R3hr73jsQTMgisqc" style="margin-left: -5.4327000000000005px; margin-top: -14.632200000000001px;" width="96.43270000000001" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And what it teaches us is that God is present. And that it’s OK to ask God to reveal God’s presence, to make that presence known. Because even though God is always present, we aren’t always aware of that presence, and that sometimes, even though God is always present, what we feel is God’s absence.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Even prophets and psalmists have felt the absence of God. Even prophets and psalmists have questioned God about these things.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So whether your name is Margaret, or Moses, or anything else, it’s OK to ask, “Are you there, God?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And no matter what type of journey you are on, and no matter what new land awaits you, it’s OK to ask, “Are you there, God?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Then, wait for God to answer. </span></p></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-41153042539050722012023-10-15T10:00:00.001-07:002023-10-15T10:00:00.143-07:00Trustworthy (Exodus 32:1-14)<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 61px; overflow: hidden; width: 86px;"><img height="61" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/aBWEjcbRiNn3nlL98fW9jJ_m_dN4Zp--h-jpDzljNaqk0jCR_2nO3PzNy_xLxgrAHS4uSKFgGYfFRHuU1I6IEkwgmHiw7hpTT2QL0Qm2PM0Q6jr-lZwrtwHHrvKl4z5FJLuGvXR0dUvFt8cwqk1HQS8" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="86" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When I was little, I had a children’s Bible; but even though it was a children’s Bible, it still had a lot of words in it. So Dad would read stories from it to me and my sister…</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-043fe5a2-7fff-c6de-0800-5d512fc9b507"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And this is one of the first stories I remember.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And back then, as a young child, I thought: how could the people have made such a bad choice, creating a golden calf while Moses was up on the mountain, talking to God, and receiving the Ten Commandments?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I admit, in my young mind, I judged the Hebrews for what they had done, and I especially judged Aaron for going along with it, when he should have been the one to talk them out of it!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Well, my thoughts on this story have changed a lot over the years. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">These days, I’m more inclined to identify with the people, and with Aaron… I judge them much less harshly these days. I sympathize with them, and I wonder if I would have done the same as they did, if I were in their situation.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because: the scripture says that “The people saw that Moses delayed…”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I hate delays. I want a timeline, and I want people to stick to the timeline. Just ask Ginger how annoyed I get when we agree that we’re leaving the house at 9:00, and it’s 9:05, and we still haven’t left the house! I’m in the car, ready, because this is the time we said we were going to leave!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It happens all the time.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Moses was delayed; the people were annoyed.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Why was Moses delayed? Why didn’t he come back when expected? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Did Moses know how long it would take? Did he say, “OK, I’ll be back one week from today, in time for dinner”? Or did God not tell Moses how long it would take? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I think a schedule, a formal timeline, would have been helpful here, as long as everyone stuck to it…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That way, the people would have known when to expect him.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Then, when some of them started getting antsy and anxious and annoyed, others would say, “Hey, it’s only Tuesday; Moses said he wouldn’t be back until Friday.” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And then everyone would chill and relax, and all would be well.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But no. Apparently the timeline wasn’t given. It was indefinite. And things were taking longer than expected.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And yeah, that’s the kind of thing that drives me crazy.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 58px; overflow: hidden; width: 66px;"><img height="58" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/IfeETBHKu-K9MvESUbHfvv6F4snODQJaZPkx3-z2MBa3rHbAKKFYF74OTClHmGLyogV00vUBsTfjp9Ta-x53bCx-m9eRWxGeC9MTDJoFIvl-31gG5OKNqOup1gCiQtcTxlBVu4BTjIjdNKK5VjYO900" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="66" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I mean, do you see how we check our watches, check the clocks on our phones, so we start worship on time? (And by “we,” I mean, “me.”) Don’t want to be late!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We often have people worshiping with us online, and I know that if </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I’m</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> waiting for a live, online event to start, I start to wonder what’s going on if nothing happens after just a few minutes. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If the time comes, and a minute goes by, and another minute goes by, I say to myself, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It hasn’t started yet? But it’s three whole minutes since the time it was supposed to start! What’s going on?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Once it gets to five minutes, I’ll go back and double check the posted time, just to make sure </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> didn’t get it wrong.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Once it gets to ten minutes, I assume they are having technical difficulties, and that it’s not going to happen at all, and I’ll just give up, and go look for something else to do.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Well, Moses was gone a lot more than ten minutes.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">—</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 81px; overflow: hidden; width: 54px;"><img height="81" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/EnSWBVG1tuLreR0IVX_ClWluQflgasNhkYg-CmgXcXKrJalHIPVcroCy30-_yRwiv98EJ5vdyODXSG8Y90ZCzEOOhZgWwGHPNvlgPkPZGL3hKCW6_FuXsEmmYb4ZP6R2HVHNh8rGF4Cjd84xINudO-s" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="54" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Like me, Presbyterian pastor Kathryn Z. Johnston has sympathy for Aaron. This, despite the fact that Aaron was the one who actually made the golden calf.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Pastor Johnston has wondered if maybe Aaron was just stalling for time. The people were upset, who knows what they’d do, so Aaron told them to go gather together all their gold. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That’s going to take awhile, right? Especially among all those thousands of people…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And while they’re off collecting all the gold from everyone, maybe Aaron is muttering, “</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Come on, Moses… I can’t stall forever…”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I don’t know.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But I do know how easy it is to get impatient when things don’t happen when we think they should happen, when things are delayed… and how easy it is to, maybe, do something you might regret or wish you hadn’t done just because you couldn’t wait for things to unfold.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So they gathered all their gold, and they gave it to Aaron; and, giving in to the pressure, unable to stall any longer, Aaron melted it down and made it into a calf. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And the people said to each other: "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">—</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 54px; overflow: hidden; width: 97px;"><img height="54" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/B6nYj4cmZB2boYbvkrr0Ex9TtIYZ1hImpsKDzGJ7xlhz-asxHC4kvMiy1OdK_80WwJ18OkXt26PRPDYLr9cVBPQrwJNmdSwDvOACw2T6JbY5nmZZoVqqpNIJ5RAWhtlVp940c8i96SId4iLkD-ZJLpw" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="97" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Meanwhile, up on the mountain, The LORD said to Moses, "Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">quick</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> to turn aside from the way that I commanded them.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Notice the use of the word, “quick.” </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">They have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Well. It didn’t seem all that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">quick</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> to the people. It seemed to them like they had been waiting </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">too long</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, that God had been acting </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">too slowly</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, that things hadn’t been moving </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">quickly</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> at all.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What seemed </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">quick</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> to God seemed like </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">too long </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">to the people.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And isn’t that something we all have experienced! </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In Psalm 106, the psalmist reflects on these things, and writes that the people “forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt” (106:21). They forgot God’s faithfulness. They forgot that God could be trusted, no matter how long things took.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">—</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I’m currently studying the story from John’s gospel about when Jesus raised Lazarus. I’m actually reading two books about it; one a nonfiction exploration of the story by James Martin; and the other, a fictionalized novel about Lazarus.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 61px; overflow: hidden; width: 91px;"><img height="61" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/4_ax9nf46OtEfxE2fmC4RTJtYvNQeoO8UlAEXn5_JXvqVjxjdIL3Dwgi3BLk-hyGCD1385wS-cZ_2LqHGMMwjiT046y9dQaLwFniBD8fXD_rQYv-Ykak2sDAdPj0T_-9nBNq32cTkL-B5p-8K63cTyc" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="91" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And in the story of Lazarus, when Lazarus is sick and eventually dies, his sisters both say to Jesus: “If you had been here, our brother would not have died.” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Jesus took too long. And Lazarus’ sisters—Mary and Martha—were upset. They didn’t understand. They were angry, and justifiably so. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Jesus took too long, and his delay in coming allowed death to take their brother.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I’d be upset too!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Just like I am upset at the many ways that God seems to move too slowly.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Why hasn’t God brought peace to Israel and Palestine?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Why hasn’t God led us to ending hunger and homelessness?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Why hasn’t God revealed more of his mysteries to me, so that I might have some of my deepest, most troubling questions answered?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">—</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But my comfort comes when I remember these stories from the past, how God was with Moses on the mountain, taking the time to help Moses prepare to lead the people into the promised land.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I remember how God did raise Lazarus back to life, once Jesus arrived in Bethany.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I remember that, though God may not always follow the timeline I </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">wished</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> God would follow, God was and is always there, always present, always working to bring greater healing and wholeness.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And these stories—of Aaron and the people losing patience and quickly falling away from God’s commands, and of Mary and Martha losing patience with Jesus and expressing their frustration at his delay—let me know that, whenever I feel annoyed or anxious, that I am not alone, that better, more faithful people than I have felt the same.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And these stories also remind me that, in all circumstances—even though God may not act as quickly as we hope or expect God to act—that God is always faithful, always trustworthy.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">—</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Five years ago, I preached a sermon on Habakkuk, and in that sermon I talked about our New Beginnings process. In that sermon, I said: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“In our New Beginnings program, we keep finding ourselves rushing to find solutions and fix problems. Slowly but surely we're getting there. But “slowly but surely” is hard for some of us, isn't it?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And, in that sermon, I also said: “It’s hard to wait.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Well, now it’s five years later, and we’re </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">still</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> figuring things out, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">still</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> having these New Beginnings conversations. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Granted, part of the reason for that is that the pandemic came along and stopped everything, and so much time passed, but all that just added to the delay, didn’t it?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">How long must we wait?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And yet, throughout this whole process, have we not been made aware of God’s presence? Have we not learned new things about who we are, and who God is calling us to be?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, maybe the waiting has been worth it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 76px; overflow: hidden; width: 76px;"><img height="76" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/m2r4v9K73kl_RZZspr-uyWS6fcJmUsc3OsB-CqR1Wjv-nLshdbrknDbMZqCHRSpXxVI8LBADAUgK6Du8_GmgmfWPc_k8A9YpMk_pRaGu4dhn1orTI9pnHxPQ6cJB2R5ApykvE6UWBLBxvV0jy7qyku4" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="76" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The prophet Habakkuk wrote: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There is still a vision for the appointed time. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That is a message we too easily forget. We want what we want, and we want it </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">now</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Yet I know—and I </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">believe</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">—that God is trustworthy. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I may not understand why God takes the time God sometimes does, or why God seems to delay when the need seems so urgent…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I may not have the patience I would like; I may get annoyed, or anxious, or even angry…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But God is trustworthy. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And when I forget that, or doubt that, I know I need to re-read the countless stories in scripture that remind me of God’s trustworthiness and faithfulness,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I need to remember the times in my own life when God acted faithfully, and how I often did not even realize that God was doing so until after the fact.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I’ll remember that what seems like a too-long delay to people often seems quick to God. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And if I do forget (</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">when</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> I do forget), I know that the Spirit will intercede on my behalf, just as Moses interceded on behalf of the people, and God will be patient with me—far more patient than I am with God—and God, who is slow to anger, yet abounding in steadfast love, will give me grace, and will not let anything separate me from God’s love.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because God is faithful, and God is trustworthy.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-12890729594619907192023-10-08T10:00:00.001-07:002023-10-08T10:00:00.143-07:00In Covenant (Exodus 20)<p><br /></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-b60b175c-7fff-2cd3-78c6-86b8e3a52fef"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 56px; overflow: hidden; width: 74px;"><img height="56" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Stj-Mk86C8ndtXCY_QCkwAYXkhirMgSR-k_DB7yiy6dfIMfDKvgKTd9X5dS0O0xFsahxnIKomTFfIRsHOqc3-ZdvJbHeNGiqR7KJtw-o2-voBUGcxmQiTOGgv4S47G1GRUsH46RcY1WSsxLZv8_0qN4" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="74" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I’m bringing back out one of my camp pictures to start, because you know I love camp…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When our summer youth camps take place at Loch Leven Camp and Retreat Center, one of the first things that happens is that the campers work together to create a camp covenant. It doesn’t matter what age the campers are; I’ve led camps for 6 and 7 year-olds, and I’ve led camps for high schoolers. At the beginning of camp, we create a camp covenant.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The covenant you all created as part of the New Beginnings process is very similar.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There are a few necessary parts of the camp covenant, to ensure that the campers stay safe. Campers are told to always stay within the camp boundaries, and to never go off by themselves. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But mostly, the items on the covenant come from the campers themselves.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Campers like to include in their covenant statements about how they will treat each other. Depending on the age of the campers, they may suggest things like:</span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Be nice.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Listen before responding.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Use “I” statements.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Take turns.</span></p></li></ul><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At camp, the covenant we create is how we begin to form a community together. Generally speaking, the campers like making a covenant. It reassures them that camp is a physically and emotionally safe place for them to be.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For younger campers especially, there can be a lot of anxiety coming to camp. Some have never spent a night away from home before. They arrive, and are thrown into a community that mostly has people they’ve never met before. That can be scary.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For older campers, there can also be a lot of anxiety. They may have been to camp before and are happy to be back with friends they haven’t seen in a long time, but they are also dealing with difficult, emotional issues in their lives, and they know that camp is a place where they will be invited to process some of that, and to share some of that, and to perhaps explore new ways of dealing with the challenges of life, and new ways of expressing their identity in the world.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Creating a covenant together is the first step to creating a community where campers feel safe, despite the anxiety they feel.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 47px; overflow: hidden; width: 72px;"><img height="47" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/zsMVPlxZvzL3xW_kS4Oh65jgk60VfdejE-rnBfcBj5efUlAJvGf2DTZplyXcOcr4gvvbaAQifmf3ZbE-bIjcXWycgWUDBN1ajPhvmXz1FD67LFU6l1dGcndnL2C5Fa68OWx32giI6bSbI4DEGhSWTw4" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="82.1088" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It makes me wonder how much anxiety the Hebrew people felt as they journeyed through the wilderness, and prepared to start a new life together in the new land God promised them. The nation they were about to form was something </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">completely</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> new to them. Like camp, it had the promise and potential of being something amazingly wonderful, but at the same time it was all so new, so unfamiliar, that there was bound to be a lot of anxiety.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There was no roadmap to what they were doing. There were so many unknowns.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the past, back in Egypt, everything they did was dictated to them by Pharaoh. They had no choice, they had no freedom, and they didn’t need to think about </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">how to form a community</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, because the very structure of their society was determined </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">for</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> them.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And, to be honest, there was some comfort in that. Several times on their journey to the Promised Land, they expressed their longing to return to Egypt, back to where things were familiar, because familiar felt safe, even if they were living as slaves.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I can think of times in my life when a new decision held so much potential, when a life change was filled with such great promise, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">and yet</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> I found myself wishing things could stay the same, or that I could </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">return</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> to what was familiar. I didn’t </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">want</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> to move into this new, hope-filled future, no matter how good or promising it was, because it was filled with so much uncertainty and so many unknowns.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Hebrew people had left behind everything that was familiar to them, and were about to enter a new land and start a new nation. But they were in covenant with God, and God knew that they were anxious, and so God gave them some guidelines to give their about-to-be-formed nation some structure. And even though the Ten Commandments sounds to us like a restrictive, constraining list of rules, for the Hebrews, it gave them the freedom to feel a little more secure, to feel a little more safe, in the land they were about to enter. It allowed them to feel a little safer, a little more reassured, as they embarked into this new unknown.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; filter: brightness(1.08) contrast(0.75); height: 51px; overflow: hidden; width: 79px;"><img height="51" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/JQ-YFWMNqE5SnUtBjT6ibbPw_ryIkGOouiYIFYc856TuNVzylrgrzPnZT5DRkMQ2VwiLREWVXwWEfP3cj5QAdR5rZ0OXVASL1PHWnMWqk-2mL-Q5M8-tYOmIDV1AJtHHoq7CrbS5WYQk-282T1iF2Ac" style="margin-left: -5.7512px; margin-top: 0px;" width="89.2384" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Maybe you never thought of the Ten Commandments as a liberating, freeing set of rules. Maybe you’ve only thought of them as restrictions, limiting freedom, even if for the common good. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So let’s take a look at these commandments, and see if we can’t get a new perspective.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“You shall have no other Gods before me;” “You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain.” The first two commands are about how we show love to God. They remind us that this covenant we are in is a holy covenant, and that God is at the center of it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If God is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">not</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> at the center of our life, then whatever </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">is</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> at the center of our life has become our idol. Keep God at the center, and the covenant can move forward, and the community can thrive.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“Remember the sabbath day; keep it holy.” Keeping one day a week as holy, as sacred, as set-apart, provides a weekly reminder to us of the covenant we are in. Without that weekly sabbath, we forget about the covenant that guides us.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“Honor your father and mother.” For the Hebrew people, their fathers and mothers, their grandfathers and their grandmothers, these are the ones who made the decision to leave Egypt and follow God into the wilderness. Maybe a part of the reason for this command is that, as we contemplate following God into </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">our own</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> unknown future, we may find reassurance and courage for making bold decisions that allow us to enter into whatever new land God is calling us to.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“You shall not murder.” I don’t know about you, but I like the comfort of knowing that my neighbor isn’t going to kill me. And I like the comfort of knowing that my neighbor isn’t going to steal from me. I like that my neighbor is going to honor the sacred relationship I have with my spouse. I like that my neighbor isn’t going to say false things about me that tarnish my reputation. I like that we can live peaceably together.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That’s what covenant is all about.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And knowing that this is how we are going to live together, how we are going to honor God together, and how we are going to respect one another, is reassuring to me. It calms my anxiety. It allows decisions to be based on love, and not fear.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Which is exactly what a covenant should do.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At camp, once the covenant is created, and everyone agrees on it, it is common for all the campers in the group to sign their name on the covenant, as a way of affirming their commitment to live by the covenant.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Hebrew people also affirmed their covenant, in various ways, including verbal affirmation, various liturgies and acts of worship, and circumcision.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Many generations later, Jesus would talk about a “new covenant,” but the covenant he talked about was actually more of a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">renewal </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">of the old covenant, or a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">restating</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, or maybe even a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">correction</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, not of the original covenant, but of how it was being lived out in his time. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">After all, the covenant Jesus talked about is a covenant of love, and love is what the original covenant is also about: love of God, love of neighbor. That’s really what the Ten Commandments and all the rest of the Torah are really all about.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And we renew our part in the covenant each week, when we participate in the Lord’s Supper. At the Table, we accept the love of God we know through Jesus Christ, and we recommit ourselves to loving God and loving our neighbor, doing all Christ taught us to do, sharing in the work of making God’s reign of shalom real on earth, as it is in heaven.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 43px; overflow: hidden; width: 85px;"><img height="43" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/0TjGRiBp2HyPq4YR0H4K8a1WjZlhyc6cODFXOI1Yne54ta5xlFQdHyYfuNrHUcLTPXhh3xzWqpMGtael6fUzo02EbbvFw9r6E2FjRKOHIiEytGCtWBvTuVNASrOIvyxYacENFo82rHv6uZxxZRFOtcg" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="85" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In addition to being in covenant with God, we are in covenant with each other. And there are several ways we affirm that covenant. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Each Sunday in worship, we state that this is a safe space for all God’s children.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We agree to abide by that as we worship together, in an effort to make everyone feel safe and welcome, in the same way that our covenants at camp help campers feel safe and welcome. This statement, and the other “rules” we live by, free us as individuals to be who we feel God is calling us to be in this space, and it frees us to be the church we believe God is calling us to be.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As a denomination, we have a “Design” that guides and structures our life together. The Design is an agreement rooted in our love for one another and our love for God. It frees us to be who we feel God is calling us to be. It’s a document that we came up with, that basically outlines how we are going to live and work together as a community of Disciples.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Design was adopted in 1969. A lot has changed in the world since then! And, in some ways, the Design has become restrictive in what it allows us as a church to do.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, we are in the process of revising the Design. At the General Assembly this past summer, several changes were made to the Design, affecting things like how future General Assemblies will meet, and how congregations will be represented at the General Assembly and on the General Board.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Some events will be online-only, while others will be hybrid, with in-person and online participation. This will allow more people to attend, will reduce costs, and will allow a more streamlined process, strengthening our covenant with one another across the denomination.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Being in covenant is hard work. It requires commitment, sacrifice, and agreeing to abide by the rules we’ve agreed upon. We forego some of our rights, and agree to live by a set of rules, because we value being part of a community.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Being in covenant frees us to join together in ministry, to form a community grounded in the love and hope of God, and to do far more than any one of us could do by ourselves, or any single congregation can do by itself.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Being in covenant is a commitment to unity. Uniting our hearts with God, we agree to follow the rules God has given us. Uniting our hearts with one another, we agree to abide by the rules we have set for our life together.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And, in the end, this allows us to be and to do far more than otherwise would be the case. It allows us to be a part of something big, something wonderful, something sacred: God’s holy church, a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I guess I can’t end without reminding you that we have, coming up next weekend, our Regional Gathering, which is a one-day coming together of our congregations here in the Pacific Southwest Region. It is one way we strengthen and affirm the covenant we have with each other…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It takes place next Saturday in Fullerton; check your bulletin or your weekly email for more info.</span></p><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-15341201835091095952023-10-01T10:00:00.002-07:002023-10-01T10:00:00.147-07:00Sound the Trumpets (Numbers 10:1-7)<span id="docs-internal-guid-3e4088ce-7fff-1577-50a2-86ed8c409deb"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 56px; overflow: hidden; width: 56px;"><img height="56" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/1CVoLNnPY6zmEeqVGyaOuSIy_GU69tz8CqTPmy75vIZWqxIK93vXhSeF8CAnwxOacAaLcOgavmReT61Y02SXR_ND6cUnEc1p0m0zIlx5GccCaFrfNS-HGxzRNrrJ0eGGdvelcMyu6U7B2u7vwyz0lQ4" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="56" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This month is our reconciliation offering. The reconciliation theme is “sound the trumpet,” based on the scripture. I’ll get to that shortly, but first, I want to tell you about an experience I had at science camp on Catalina..</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The organization that runs this science camp is not faith-based, but most of the schools who come are Christian schools, and the camp facility is owned by an organization that runs its own Christian camps throughout much of the year.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One week, I was there on site the night before campers arrived, and was invited to attend a Bible study that the staff of the camp hold each week. The passage for that particular week was from the second chapter of James, which instructs believers to not show favoritism to the rich. It sounded pretty straightforward to me.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; filter: contrast(1.25); height: 47px; overflow: hidden; width: 84px;"><img height="47" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/g-JVwfIBNraCdlw2aI3mTJKunR8xysZQiVAw33W8PzPDgL-qqxCGip2kSzVrEQ7XT_uvLxy8pmw-MrUxfF75lXBjxvYGpWATv2akw1IoVq_LgwaZZGzsybpRsmxXMiHTIF8ipPcpIyRKTGEYRe2OfHU" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="84" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Part of it reads: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> “If a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, ‘Have a seat here, please’, while to the one who is poor you say, ‘Stand there’, or, ‘Sit at my feet’, have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? … Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom? But you have dishonored the poor…If you show partiality, you commit sin.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At the Bible study, we read the passage, and then everyone was invited to share their thoughts. Well, I had a whole sermon running through my head! I thought about all the Bible passages that talk about the poor. I thought about the prophets, and their calls for justice for the poor, and about how God only called prophets in times of great economic inequality. I thought about the beatitudes, and “Blessed are the poor…” I thought about Jesus’ statement that the Spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">All this, and more, came to mind… </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But this was not the time for a sermon. So, instead of speaking, I listened.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Some of those in the group shared good thoughts. Some offered up questions. Some shared their experience working with the homeless. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And then someone started talking about how </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">they</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> heard on Fox News </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">(God help me!) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">that the poor live in poverty and the homeless live on the streets because they are lazy or addicted; and some others around the room nodded their heads in agreement. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">No one in that group mentioned that rent has tripled while wages have remained flat as a cause of poverty/homelessness; and no one mentioned that the disparity between CEOs and frontline workers has widened considerably in recent years; and no one mentioned that the U.S. tax code greatly favors the wealthy and places an unfair burden on the poor and working class.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So now, I felt called to speak up; yet I decided to wait, and listen a little more.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The conversation turned briefly into a defense of our status as </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">not like them</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, and giving thanks to God for that. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> are hard workers, and while we may not be rich, at least we’re not on the streets, or living in poverty. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Thank you, Jesus!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At this point, as the conversation progressed, I was starting to wonder if anything I could say would even make a difference. I didn’t know how I could say what I felt God calling me to say without sounding self-righteous, or having it sound like I was attacking those around me. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I knew I needed to respond out of love, and they needed to know that my love was genuine, or it would be in vain. But at the moment, I couldn’t feel love, I could only feel judgment within me. And doesn’t this same scripture that we were studying condemn judging others?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So I knew that I was not yet ready to speak.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I should point out that these are some truly wonderful people, extraordinarily kind, who had shown great friendship and hospitality to me, who remembered me from last spring and who enthusiastically greeted me by name when I arrived back at camp this fall. I really like these people, even if I did disagree with some of the points they were making.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, still, I kept quiet.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 56px; overflow: hidden; width: 89px;"><img height="56" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-aL0QaMXTdoCJXDSYe1gDeTCl04fosu7Lz4ypznSFqImwGT4h2VUt8X7PJDHkpOWF_DhQj_G_1dQK0RNHOJIlpXhD-SU_s_X7DA6MR5n7Qpj3tdmWPQ8VCGRbSUSka-CgzKLKaPSu8eJSeC4OXyoOSI" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="89" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Also, the more I listened, the more I learned. Really. The more I listened, the more I started to wonder if my </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">own</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> ideas about the poor were just as biased. I started mentally examining my own prejudices about the poor. I knew that if I judged those around me for their attitude toward the poor, I’d be condemning myself. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At this point, I realized that this Bible passage, which had seemed so straightforward when we read it at the beginning of our Bible study, was anything but.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The conversation made me aware of my own biases and prejudices toward the poor, and this humbled me. It brought me away from that realm of judgment. And it helped me figure out what I wanted to say.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Finally, when I spoke, I said this:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I hear God speaking to me through this scripture and through our conversation. And God is first and foremost calling me to examine my own biases and assumptions concerning the poor. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I want more money. I think if we’re honest, all of us will admit that. We may insist that we don’t need A LOT of money to be happy, but most of us are always finding ourselves wanting at least a little more money than we have now. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So this scripture is challenging me to ask myself: how does my attitude toward money influence how I think of the poor, or how I judge the poor? How does it influence how I judge the rich? What assumptions am I making about WHY people are poor? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And finally, I know Jesus says “blessed are the poor;” and Jesus says, “I have been anointed to bring good news to the poor.” Now, I believe that Jesus’ good news includes EVERYONE. But why does he mention ONLY the poor? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“This is hard, and that’s how this scripture is challenging me today.” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I stopped there, because I felt like I had said enough. But I’ll go a little further with you, here and now.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If the good news includes everyone, why does Jesus </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">just</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> mention the poor? (“I came to preach good news to the poor…”)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">After thinking about that, I realized that’s the same as asking, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">if all lives matter, why do we say “Black lives matter”?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Rich and poor, black and white; </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">all</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> lives matter to God. Why does the Bible specifically name poor lives? Why do we specifically name Black lives?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And of course, it’s because it’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">poor lives</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> that are being exploited. It’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Black lives</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> that are endangered because of hate and injustice.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And God calls on us to look past our assumptions and biases and speak out on behalf of those who are being treated unfairly or unjustly, and to work to remove injustice and get rid of oppression.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And to do that, we need to speak out. We need to turn off the mute button and speak up. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And that’s not always easy to do. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s not always easy for me as an introvert. It’s hard for me to jump in to a conversation that’s going along. I guess that’s why I preach! It’s the only time I feel comfortable sharing my thoughts!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But sometimes, God calls on me to speak out at a time other than Sunday morning.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Injustice happens 24/7. The ongoing exploitation and oppression of the poor is happening 24/7. The ongoing injustice committed against those who are Black is happening 24/7.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And there are times when God calls on me to speak out, even in situations where that’s hard for me.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And there are times when God calls on you to speak out, even in situations where that’s hard for you.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I mean…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We want people to like us…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We’re shy…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We are afraid that if we stand with those who are being persecuted, that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">we</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> will then be persecuted. (!)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So we keep quiet.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Yet God calls us to speak out for justice; to speak out for what is right; to sound the trumpet; to raise the alarm;...</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">…When people are being treated unfairly. When poverty is the result of exploitation and engineered economics… When racism is embedded in our society.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s what Jesus did.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And don’t we claim to be followers of Jesus? Don't we call ourselves Disciples of Christ?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 49px; overflow: hidden; width: 84px;"><img height="49" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/7vg2dFgaVakS3ShYY8lV7cBRZ9DlUrWTummCElfMcau1gtVsE4Yh9ned5GvGed_Ajdk7mvCLDOjUfD7pTzfscMTwDMzypxbk68vshIXNoupGxWxIX8fM15IT66uYvADijiJnkjW_LyV5dW6E5_r3M8o" style="margin-left: -24.5196px; margin-top: 0px;" width="133.5348" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We Disciples proclaim that we are a “pro-reconciling, anti-racism” church. God has put on our hearts the importance of doing this work. Systemic racism is real, and it pervades every sector of society; even the church.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As a “pro-reconciling, anti-racism” church, we are committed to examining the way we do church with an eye toward the ways </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">we</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> have perpetuated racism, so that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">we</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> may work to overcome it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We examine our own racism first, because that keeps us from being judgmental toward others. It keeps us humble. Just like when I examined my own attitude toward the poor before speaking out, we must begin by examining the ways racism affects us and manifests itself in our lives.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Once we do that, we are then equipped and ready to answer the call to address racism in the world, to speak out, to sound the trumpet, to bring racism to light, so that we may work to overcome it in the world.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I guess you could say that that inner work, examining ourselves first, can be compared to all the practice that a trumpet player must do, to learn how to properly play, to sound even one note on the trumpet. Practice first, then sound the trumpet. Examine your own racism and prejudice, and then sound the alarm.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We have a message to proclaim, a message given to us by God, a message the world desperately needs to hear. A message that leads to peace, and unity, and love for all humankind. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Let’s share that message with the world.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-69476853769296210082023-09-24T10:00:00.001-07:002023-09-24T10:00:00.147-07:00Less Grumbling, More Love (Matthew 20:1-16)<span id="docs-internal-guid-66a6ad13-7fff-d3ee-019a-576ab6151ec9"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 51px; overflow: hidden; width: 67px;"><img height="51" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/rgdJJd5X8uG0b2FspaT7eGb6LpuYDIpZG38juFS0KZH3sxrUtQH3ftd_42xtmKRW2t9VrL3VhstosNMmBsUDK2ssBFbeE7kELVHKTRQ1FksAOpGgZNaAcjVQbSL9cMeYCaVE5Sl_suigJpSO6vYSdaQ" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="67" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The workers who got hired at the end of the day, just an hour before quitting time, got paid the same amount of money as those who had been working all day. They </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">all</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> got paid a full days’ wage.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Does that sound fair to you?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It didn’t sound fair to the other workers, the ones who had been working all day; they grumbled when they realized they were all getting paid the same. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And probably, it didn’t sound fair to the folks listening to Jesus tell this story. I bet they grumbled as well. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And yet, Jesus says that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">this</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is what the kingdom of Heaven is like. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I’ve had to sit with this story for a while. I’ve had to let it marinate in my mind. I’ve had to grow into it. I’ve been growing into this story for years, and I’m still growing into it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because the kingdom of heaven isn’t quite what I thought it would be. The kingdom of heaven isn’t anything like what I had been taught.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I had been taught that there were rules, and that those who followed the rules, did what is right, would be rewarded accordingly; and those who didn’t follow the rules, or who did what was wrong, would be punished accordingly.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Like on the TV show </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Good Place</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">: everyone gets points added or subtracted, based on the number of good things or bad things they did in life. Get enough points, and you go to heaven; but if you don’t get enough points, then down to hell you go.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That made sense to me as a child. It makes sense to me as an adult! It sounds fair. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But God doesn’t work that way. And, in some ways, God doesn’t seem fair.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What if this parable was changed, so that, instead of workers in a field, it was about passengers on an airplane…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The kingdom of heaven is like a pilot who flew a plane full of passengers to a vacation destination. Some of the passengers paid for first class seats, some paid for business class, and some paid economy; but when they walked on board, they were all given first class seats. When those who had paid for first class seats saw this, they grumbled, because those who paid less got the same first-class treatment they got. But the pilot said, “Friends, I am doing you no wrong; are you not still getting what you expected? So, if I choose to show kindness and generosity to others, what is it to you?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Or, how about this:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The kingdom of heaven is like a teacher who told their students that anyone who had perfect attendance for the month would get to attend a free pizza party. But when the end of the month arrived, and the teacher handed out the invitations to the pizza party, even those who had missed one, or two, or more days of school, got invited.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When the students who had attended every day saw this, they grumbled, because even those who had missed days were invited. But the teacher said, “I am doing you no wrong. I promised you a pizza party, and you are getting a pizza party. If I choose to invite others, what’s that to you?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The more I think about all this, the more I realize that, sometimes, grace and generosity are hard to accept, when they are shown to others. People sometimes have a problem with God showing grace and kindness and generosity to others.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 50px; overflow: hidden; width: 89px;"><img height="50" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/nNOWv9LBg5moql3J_ZmEo-XTpWhMqYmXyJFkimDK3y47CV12dICLnuUhNWwyctJgCQrUg5ofi_w1iI8o4EUpocNvsVwvngFvBXeJiJWrcATu8ATiLA6NekXYrBQFlyZvRfx2pVsegwY0UBm7Eq3hx5g" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="89" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The prophet Jonah was called by God to go and preach repentance to the people of Nineveh. But Jonah firmly believed that the Ninevites were not worthy of even the opportunity to repent. So Jonah hopped on board a ship and sailed as far away as he could in the opposite direction, away from Nineveh.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Well, God found Jonah, of course. A giant fish swallowed Jonah, swam back to land, and spit Jonah up on the shore.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So Jonah reluctantly went and preached to the Ninevites, still believing that they were incapable of repentance and unworthy of any grace from God. Yet the people of Nineveh </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">did</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> repent, and God </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">did</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> forgive them and extend grace to them. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And Jonah thought this was incredibly unfair. Jonah became angry. He grumbled, I’m sure, and prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord! Is this not what I said would happen? I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.... And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now, none of God’s grace was taken away from Jonah. God had done no wrong to Jonah. And yet, the fact that God decided to be generous and forgiving and extend grace to others was too much for Jonah. It made Jonah angry—so angry, that he wished to die!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It sounds crazy; and who hasn’t laughed at Jonah for getting so worked up over everything? When I read Jonah’s story, I think, “come on, Jonah; of course God is forgiving and full of love and grace!” And I think of Jonah as a petty, narrow-minded sort of person. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But when I hear the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, I’m more inclined to agree that the distribution of wages isn’t exactly fair, that God’s justice is indeed a bit skewed… Because it doesn’t match with what I think is fair, or with how things work in the real world.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And the more I think about the story of Jonah and how it relates to what Jesus says about the kingdom of God, and how the workers who worked all day grumbled about the workers who worked only part of the day receiving the full days’ wage, the more I realize that, even for many of us today, the extravagance of God’s grace doesn’t always sit well with us.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And that’s why Christians have developed ideas and theologies and doctrines about hell that go way beyond anything scripture talks about.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">still</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> want grace withheld from those we think are unworthy or undeserving! We’re so afraid of extending grace and kindness and generosity without some sort of limit or requirement.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And this is the type of thinking that influences how many in this country think about things like healthcare and welfare and other benefits. It is common for politicians and constituents to believe that not everyone is deserving of health care, not everyone is deserving of social services, not everyone is deserving of food, especially if they aren’t working.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It doesn’t matter </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">why</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> they aren’t working. Our country is one which believes that people must work in order to receive food or health care or other benefits or services.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And if the parable of the laborers in the vineyard happened in real life, nearly all of us would be among those who grumble.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 49px; overflow: hidden; width: 88px;"><img height="49" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/7ITEw8wrhzfDS1_wQmIggn0cDy_EBs88FL_al2bXQk7F_cL7VSyHISGqtwTBa7Uaj_-o_7SIIwdCsMZPwc9W9RB-cUAH3kpgRGWQrCoatzpv1VsuwDSWAxUwIUtGHv55QzHCM0Y53vAl93Glw266QtU" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="88" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">During the pandemic, federal funds provided free lunches for students in school. When that program ended, a number of states decided to continue them. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But in other states, the programs have ended, and now many students have school lunch debt. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">To some, it doesn’t seem fair that lunch is provided for free. I imagine that those who are against providing free lunches to students are the biggest grumblers in today’s Bible story. No one should receive, unless they are willing to work, or pay, or earn what they receive in some way.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Do you see how God’s grace is a hard thing for some people? Can you think of ways in which God’s grace is a hard thing for you to accept?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 45px; overflow: hidden; width: 81px;"><img height="45" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/N8bEJYJYT22t00K7hmdvoD1r2EKWenXy-ZLs5bab4LjXrYMm36SIROhn9a16SpGBi5DNMq5hNla2A5jmRpMFMFZjtcnIb1TiUDCNDy0fryijSXXBiUTEzhTuUrC2HqN34412rfLN3Nj8QcyY4QAxAl4" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="81" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Some of us have a hard time accepting God’s grace for ourselves. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As a pastor, I’ve heard people confess to me that they don’t think they’re good enough. They’re not good enough to receive communion. They’re not good enough to accept a call to be an elder, or a deacon. They’re not good enough to even come to church. They tell me: “Lightning would strike the church if I showed up!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">No, God isn’t going to strike you with lightning. And God isn’t going to send you to hell. And God isn’t going to punish you in some way, or keep you out of heaven.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because, as today’s scripture shows, God is a God of grace; a God of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">extravagant</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> grace.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Isn’t that the point of these “kingdom of heaven” parables?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Here’s another one that you may be more familiar with:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Once upon a time, there were two brothers. The older brother was loyal to his family and a hard worker. But the younger brother didn’t like to work; in fact, the younger brother demanded his father give him his share of the inheritance, and he took it and he went off and wasted it on reckless living.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When all the money was gone, the younger brother realized how foolish he had been, and decided to go back home. He didn’t feel that he deserved to be accepted back into his father’s household as a son, but perhaps his father would allow him to be a servant, and at least then he would have some food and shelter.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Well, when he returned, his father threw his arms around his son, welcomed him </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">as his son</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, and threw a huge party for him.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">To the older brother, this did not seem fair. His younger brother didn’t deserve such grace. The older brother complained to their father, but the father said something that sounds very similar to what the landowner said to the grumbling laborers; he said: “Look, everything I have is yours; this does not affect my love for you in any way.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“But I have to celebrate, because this brother of yours was lost, but now is found.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The older brother thought there should be a limit to his father’s love and generosity. Maybe he thought his father’s abundant wealth would run out, if he kept bestowing it on the brother who would waste it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But God’s grace never runs out. God’s love never stops flowing. Someone else receiving God’s love does not mean there is less love for you. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Richard Rohr writes that “Every time God forgives us, God is saying that God's own rules do not matter as much as the relationship that God wants to create with us.” God is always willing, and eager, even, to let love and grace outrank rules and requirements.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And if that leads you to grumble, listen to what the wealthy landowner says: “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 22.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This parable is a challenge to me—and, I think, to all of us—to grumble less, and love more. It’s a challenge to be more accepting of the extravagant grace God bestows on others, and the extravagant grace God bestows on us.</span></p><br /><br /><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457142928655162436.post-80098867927355056972023-09-17T09:19:00.001-07:002023-09-17T09:19:00.137-07:00The Audacity of Achsah (Joshua 15:16-19)<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Audacity of Achsah</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-60a4e4d0-7fff-5fb3-774a-7a73b5111968"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><a href="https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=560942993" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Joshua 15:16-19</span></a></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 59px; overflow: hidden; width: 77px;"><img height="59" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/KWYpoesdWn2SfA4nHVcm8qxNr372NA3TLBm0N8Q80CZ8DNGQ6CqgZOgXiYY1reH4thpUMs_m9AxNtmYcYIcoxV877ErzoUmHx6Vn3PE_PJXj_wH_71J8e3IbETjGYXsb9AeQrfW4whaUhOnSOU0_cHM" style="margin-left: -11.573099999999998px; margin-top: 0px;" width="95.89580000000001" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I am a Christian who believes:</span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">that God loves everyone unconditionally, </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">that every person is, first and foremost, </span><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">good</span><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"> in the eyes of God, </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">that homosexuality is not a sin, </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">that the gospel is woke,</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">that God ordains women to preach the gospel,</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">that our climate crisis is real and demands immediate action, </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">that science and faith can coexist</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">and that </span><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">love</span><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"> is the most important thing. </span></p></li></ul><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> I believe these things, every so often, I get asked: “How can you believe these things in spite of what the Bible says?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And I need to make it clear that it’s not </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">in spite</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of what the Bible says that I believe these things. It’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">because</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of what the Bible says. It’s because I take the Bible seriously, if not always literally. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">because</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> I believe that the most important command </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">is</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> to love God and love one’s neighbor, and that our love for our neighbor should be complete, whole, and genuine, just as God’s love is for us.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And it’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">because</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of my research into just what the Bible is actually trying to say, and how the Bible has been</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> misinterpreted</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">misunderstood</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> over the years, usually in ways that reinforce the fears and prejudices of the ones doing the interpreting.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And all this, I’m going to demonstrate to you, using today’s scripture.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 47px; overflow: hidden; width: 76px;"><img height="47" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/LFFZMdpy5--iKPt424Cx0PhYzZSoxLrYUTMtq1dFEkSxg8aIFqXzXgE0oXOHk9IhKWpIqeTzH-Ogm-jz8IsneupCLw4Rldnltxx52zYHygWP0EtfuMRJopMlVkCI1NPlmeyY09J8_fHQ04yBHnwv4jM" style="margin-left: -3.6176000000000004px; margin-top: 0px;" width="82.7336" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At the start of today’s story, Achsah’s father Caleb trades her away to a man named Othniel in exchange for some land. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, just like Rizpah (who we heard about last week), Achsah lacks power and agency and even the right to her own freedom, just because she is a woman.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">By now you know that that was a common experience for women in Bible times. Women did not have rights. Society was patriarchal; the men made decisions for and about the women.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In some ways, women really were like slaves. They were the property of men.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And yet, if you heard my sermon about Shiphrah and Puah a few weeks ago, or my sermon about Rizpah last week, you know that, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">in the Bible</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, women have a way of going against the norms of society and exercising initiative, even manipulating the men who control them in order to preserve life or bring about justice.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So: Who thinks Achsah will also speak out and challenge the patriarchy of her male-dominated world?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">exactly</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> what Achsah does.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">According to the scripture, after she was sold for some land by her father Caleb, Achsah then turns around and asks Caleb to give </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">her</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> some land… Actually, she doesn’t even ask. She’s bold, and audacious, and she just says, “Give me some land.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It’s very short—it happens very quickly—and it’s easy to read through this story and not think much of it, until you realize what boldness and audacity Achsah had, to make this request. Getting involved in matters of property and finance was something women just didn’t do! And, according to what was then considered acceptable behavior, a woman would never make such a request; the proper thing would be to leave it to her husband. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Women just didn’t take part in public affairs.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 50px; overflow: hidden; width: 67px;"><img height="50" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/y9gixge-bO4qaVx0Jh_xDB4hiVhtbXyIjH-J3juoo2j4jN7EIC6zTpO5LJyvHZ-RetXLB3a3_YOayQfdkaZY8zxyqKY-nog9hy0hgj3EA1dwfH8rQG26B1IihqxPaWIhpu3TO0fSC0xfJFU30CtBSzQ" style="margin-left: -11.912600000000001px; margin-top: 0px;" width="87.7432" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Think of the disciples, who were </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">shocked</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (shocked, I tell you!) to find Jesus engaging in conversation with the woman at the well, talking to her about theological issues, treating her </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">as an equal</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">… </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">…or think about how</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> shocked</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> they were when they saw how Jesus affirmed Mary, who chose to sit and listen with the men rather than help Martha in the kitchen (which would have been the proper thing for a woman to do). Martha said, “Jesus, tell her to help me!” And Jesus replied, “Nah, she’s good.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What’s doubly surprising in the story of Achsah is that, after she boldly demands more land from Caleb, Caleb doesn’t object. He says, “Yeah, sure; here you go.” And he gives her not just any land, but </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">good </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">land, with springs of fresh, flowing water.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is Caleb, Achsah’s own father, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">who traded her off as property</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, treating her as </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">less than human</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">,.. now engaging in business with her as if she had equal status of a man, because she was bold enough to insist on being treated that way.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Many people today read right past this story and don’t think much of it, but for some, it presented a problem, because it challenged male-dominated ways of thinking. This was a challenge to people in ancient times, who lived in patriarchal societies, just like the stories of Shiphrah and Puah and Rizpah were.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But Achsah’s actions don’t just challenge the patriarchy of an </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">ancient</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> male-dominated world; her actions (and the actions of many other women in the Bible), </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">continue</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> to challenge patriarchy and notions of male superiority in our world today…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So much so, that in some versions of the Bible, the translators have altered the story. They’ve altered it, because they couldn’t handle the challenge to their patriarchal way of thinking.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the story of Achsah, it’s actually quite easy to do. Just change the phrase, “she urged him” to “</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">he</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> urged him…” And change “she said” to “he said” and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">voila!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Now it appears that Othniel, her husband, does the speaking, and the challenge to male superiority has disappeared!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">They changed it, because when they read this story, they thought, “that can’t be right,” because they couldn’t imagine a story in which a woman acts so boldly and with such audacity. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So they changed it. They “fixed” it. So that, in some translations, it’s Othniel her husband doing the talking, instead of Achsah.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Another example: there is an apostle mentioned in the New Testament, whose name is Junia. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Junia</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> is a female name. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But some translations of scripture list this apostle as Junias instead of Junia. Junias is a male name. The name got changed, because when the translators came to this passage, they said to themselves, “that can’t be right.” In their bias and prejudice, they assumed there were no female apostles, so they changed Junia to Junias.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And just like that, the challenge to their biases and prejudices is no longer in scripture.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">You see the same thing in the Bible in regards to homosexuality. There really are no Bible passages that explicitly refer to homosexuality as we understand it today. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">(Say it again?)</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> And the word homosexuality isn’t even in the Bible—or, at least, it wasn’t, until the Revised Standard Version of the Bible was published in 1946.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In 1946, the translators of scripture, who bore their own prejudices against homosexuals, tweaked the meaning of Bible passages so that the Bible would more closely mirror their own prejudices and biases, and so that Bible passages that really are about something else entirely are now </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">misinterpreted</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> as condemning homosexuality.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So when you study the Bible and use scholarly tools to understand what it’s really saying, you find nothing in the Bible that is against homosexuality as we understand it today.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In fact, for </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">every</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> one of those issues I mentioned at the beginning of my sermon, I can provide examples of how people have misinterpreted or misused scripture to support their biases and prejudices, when, in fact, scripture does no such thing.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Next week, we’ll hear one of the parables of Jesus, and I’ll tell you now: sometimes the meaning of parables gets changed, because what it actually means is too challenging to the ideas and prejudices of the one reading it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We want something tamer. So the meaning gets changed.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In a few places, we see this happening already in scripture itself. There are places where, in Luke’s gospel, for example, Jesus tells a parable, and then there is a sentence at the end that says something like, “Jesus told them this so that they might have faith,” or something like that. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, basically, Luke took this story of Jesus, and then added his own interpretation to it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But sometimes, if you read the story, the interpretation doesn’t really make sense. It doesn’t </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">match.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because, for some reason, Luke felt compelled to include this story/parable, and yet also felt compelled to add his own explanation of what the story means, which is obviously </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">not</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> the point the story is actually making. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Why did Luke do this? Probably because what the story really meant was too challenging for Luke to accept.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Every parable of Jesus is meant to turn our world upside down. Every parable is a challenge to some deeply-held belief or understanding. Every parable is a threat to the prejudices and biases people have, then, and now.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 55px; overflow: hidden; width: 71px;"><img height="55" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/8jGohPjsej22JZq3p7ZfG96fj8izxwKdstNs9_QlcUml-yvg7dF767EKHn57rNtFmHArgAsRoqcIsrSL8SEfSrX3ABminlXvsif4HS3jaa5wKWbCDefY_gwtfX-0DrN4w8lJbsbQ9yt_Aqd8z-oD_po" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="71" /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Bible challenges our preoccupation with wealth and consumerism. The Bible challenges our preoccupation with weapons. The Bible challenges our preoccupation with gender roles. The Bible challenges our preoccupation with tribalism, and our obsession with determining who’s “in” and who’s “out.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And when our deeply held beliefs and biases are challenged, one way we respond is to downplay the challenge, to insist that the Bible doesn’t really say what it’s saying, and to change the story so that instead of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">challenging</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> our biases and prejudices, the Bible ends up</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> supporting</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> our biases and prejudices.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And so, that’s how the Bible gets misinterpreted, to say something that it doesn’t really say. And people come up with </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">other</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> ideas of what they think the Bible says, that they think are important, because </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">those</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> ideas (the ones they’ve come up with) don’t challenge </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">their own</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> biases and prejudices. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And they’ll latch on to ideas, like “homosexuality is evil,” or, “women should be submissive” or, “science is contrary to faith,” and ignore the real issues that dominate the pages of scripture: things like justice for the poor, and welcoming the stranger.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But the gospel is about justice, and inclusion, and affirmation—even and especially of those </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">we</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> find it hard to include and affirm. As Catholic priest Richard Rohr says, “if your notion of heaven is based on exclusion of anybody else, then it is by definition NOT heaven.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is a conclusion he and I and so many other pastors and theologians and people of faith have come to, and it’s not </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">in spite of</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> how we read scripture or how we understand God. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And that’s why I keep on reading books and articles written by knowledgeable Bible scholars, so that I myself can continue growing in understanding of scripture. In fact, the most helpful books for me are those written by people who have often had the Bible used against them: female Bible scholars and queer Bible scholars and indigenous Bible scholars and immigrant Bible scholars. They help me see more clearly what the Bible is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">really</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> all about.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And they challenge me to rethink the biases and prejudices that influence how </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> have interpreted scripture.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I want scripture to speak for itself; I want scripture to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">challenge</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> me, and to challenge </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">my</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> biases and prejudices, so that I can </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">become</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> more loving, more welcoming, more affirming, which is in fact what God calls us to be. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I want to read the Bible in a way that “seeks justice, loves kindness, and walks humbly with God,” as our BKCC mission statement and Micah 6:8 command.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I want to let the Bible be the liberating, life-giving word of God that it is.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So that’s why I am a Christian who believes:</span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">that God loves everyone unconditionally, </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">that every person is, first and foremost, </span><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">good</span><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"> in the eyes of God, </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">that homosexuality is not a sin, </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">that the gospel is woke,</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">that God ordains women to preach the gospel,</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">that our climate crisis is real and demands immediate action, </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">that science and faith can coexist, </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">and that </span><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">love</span><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"> is the most important thing. </span></p></li></ul></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0