Matthew 5:1-16 | Rev. Dr. R. Brandon Harris | Almost every Christian has experienced that the life to which Jesus calls us seems sometimes to be unattainable (at best) or unreasonable (at worst)! But, if Jesus is Lord, it means we don't have to wait for any future state of things to respond to his calling, to live as his subjects, and to reflect the ways of his kingdom. To flip that around, if we begin anticipating the the kingdom, then the contours of it come into view for our lives.

Mark 10:35-45 | Rev. Dr. R. Brandon Harris | What is God's purpose for my life? What kind of person am I to be as a Christian? People have taken all kinds of

approaches to these two questions. Some might even argue that they are different questions. But, I believe that Jesus shows us that they overlap in the call to be transformed for the sake of the mission to which we are called. To put it another way: purposive mission begins with transformation.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 | Rev. Dr. R. Brandon Harris | Every night ends with the dawning of a new day. There is a new day--the day of the Lord--on the horizon, and Christians are called to be alert in anticipation of the dawn that is just breaking. Paul calls Christians to go ahead and live a daytime life even though it is still night, knowing full well the day will break any moment.

1 Corinthians 2:6-16 | Rev. Dr. R. Brandon Harris | When children are learning to speak, they learn through listening to others, repeating sounds, and hearing

themselves. Much of our growth as disciples and our being conformed to Christ involves much the same process.

Exodus 19:1-6; Matthew 19:27-30 | Rev. Dr. R. Brandon Harris | We are comfortable with the idea of Jesus as high priest. We are familiar with the idea of Jesus as Lord (a title

connoting authority and sovereignty). But, do we ever consider that humans are also vested with sovereignty? Have we ever considered that God's chosen people are also called to be priests? This means that part of our purpose as Christian disciples is to participate with God in a redemptive and creative capacity for the transformation of the world.

Matthew 22:34-40 | Rev. Dr. R. Brandon Harris | There is sometimes a temptation to want to make faith easy. "Just believe in Jesus." Belief is important, but can we hang all of the law and the gospel on something so undemanding, so simple, and so easy? Jesus, when given the opportunity to narrow the commandments of God, does exactly the opposite: he focuses us on a whole-life commitment to God and neighbors one that involves "all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind."

Micah 6:1-8 | Rev. Dr. R. Brandon Harris | Justice, kindness, and humility are not just characteristics of a life lived before God; they are requirements! These practices continually dislodge us from the settled and the comfortable and call us to move beyond ourselves for the sake of God's work in the world. When we fail to do justice, when we fail to extend mercy and lovingkindness, and when we fail to show humility, we fail to follow God; instead we follow ourselves. The Great Requirement ensures that we are constantly turned to the Lord.

Matthew 28:16-20 | Rev. Dr. R. Brandon Harris | Our mission as disciples is discipleship, that is, to make new disciples who have been drug through the death-dealing waters of baptism and then formed and shaped in the ways of Christ. Fulfilling this commission happens when disciples who worship and disciples who doubt submit to the power of God to give new purpose and direction.

Matthew 15:32-39 | Rev. Dr. R. Brandon Harris | Robust, living faith involves questions. We ask questions of God; God asks questions of us. It's in wrestling with these questions that we better come to understand ourselves and discover the growing edges in our relationship with the Lord.

Jeremiah 37:1-17 | Rev. Dr. R. Brandon Harris | The question is on the lips of the King Zedekiah. But the question he asks is not the one truly on his heart. What he really wants to know is whether there is any hopeful word from the Lord. And, as a matter of fact, there was not. There was only a message of destruction. Zedekiah treated God as a genie rather than the sovereign Lord of Israel. Zedekiah, we learn, was not inclined to listen to what God was really saying. The question Zedekiah asks is poignant and powerful, yet who among us are truly ready for the answer?