1 Samuel 17 - Goliath... What is your frame? What are you focusing on? The Israelites were filled with fear. David was filled with the experience of the Living God. In our day, the Church has gone to war with culture because our frame has been filled with fear. We look a lot like the Israelites & the Pharisees but not much like Jesus! Do we see an opportunity for the Living God to work through us or will we be paralyzed by fear.

We have a tendency in the modern church toward Gnosticism, the idea that body (flesh) is bad and spirit is good. We see this in the way church people talk about the sacred and the secular. But that would be foreign to the biblical writers, because the scriptures see life as holistic. When we talk about the gospel of Jesus, we talk about a gospel that took the form of flesh. Jesus embodied the gospel for us, and we in turn are called to embody the gospel for others.

We live an embodied faith, not above the fray but real. "We want a king." "No you don't." "Yes, we do." "Fine." God is our King. When we ask for another king, we have stopped trusting in God as our leader, protector... We are called to Listen, Remember. Who are we listening to?

Hebrews 10:19-25 - We have confidence through our relationship with Jesus. 3 invitations: Draw near, hold unswervingly, spur one another on.

The day of Pentecost - The miracle of Pentecost was the removal of the curse of Babel. One main power of Empire is having a common language to build a culture of dominion. This was thwarted at Babel because God did not want the people building an empire for themselves. At Pentecost, since we are all one in Christ and there is no other, all the difference cultures and languages understood each other without erasing the beauty of their different cultures, races, nationalities. One in Christ while still a beautiful mosaic reaching toward the Kingdom of God.

Colossians 3: What is the therefore, there for? There is no.... because of this/since there is NO distinction or categories - therefore - We are all one in Christ. So put on love - practice love. That means we bear with one another. We stay at the table. We do this best when we start from a grateful place.

1 John 4:7-12: We are being called out to be brought back to loving as Christ loves. If the way we live, spend, vote etc... are based in fear, we are not living in the way of Jesus. God is love and Love casts out all fear. Do we live in the way of love or fear?

John 15: #1 - Love One Another. For everything else.... see #1. Love is not just a mental ascent or a feeling. It must be acted out. Love is action chosen over and over through time.

He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! May we feast on the goodness of God! The resurrected Jesus shows up in whatever darkness you may be in. Message today in partnership with Rev. Ruby Varghese

Jesus was a liberating Jesus, right until the end. The brave woman is willing to cross barriers of tradition, patriarchy, and religious rules to anoint Jesus' feet. She does what she can. What is it that we can do?