To the ends of the earth. We must actively participate in the Kingdom of God, here and now. Phillip followed the Holy Spirit's leading to go from Samaria to "the ends of the earth" in that time. The Ethiopian man sought God against discrimination and found that Jesus was the Good News he was looking for as he heard from Isaiah. Will we follow the Spirit too?

The story of Gideon, mighty warrior, from Judges holds some things that we miss when we jump to the end of the story. When God called Gideon, he was hiding and was first required to tear down the idols that his people had woven into their worship of Yahweh.  We too, have woven certain things so deeply into our understanding of faith and what it means to follow God that we can't even see that it's idolatry. God, help us to see.

In the Meantime: Jeremiah is a prophet that speaks truth, asks God why he has to be tasked with a job that gets him disliked, but can't keep silent either. Before we get to the feel good promise of Jeremiah 29:11 - what does the warning in 1-10 say has to come first? What hard work has to be done first?

As we continue listening to the stories of every day people, we look at 2 Mother's - Mary & Elizabeth.  Both in tough situations, both of whom could have dispared but instead had hope and trust that what God said he would do through them, he would. Unwed, pregnant teenager and old barren woman. But they responded: Lord, may it be so with your servant. God loves to use broken, humble people to share His good news!

We are like Rahab, broken, hopeful, doers of small things with bravery. Those small acts can have big results. Rahab is, after all, Jesus's great....... grandma! Will we choose to be faithful to God above all else, even country, family, ideology ......? 

A story of 2 brave women doing what they do, nothing extraordinary, just doing what they knew to be right. From Exodus and the story of the Israelites living in oppression and injustice, we can take an example from them. One simple step that we can do to live into the heritage of these witnesses is to listen and learn stories of our brothers and sisters of color.

From the Great Cloud of Witnesses we find in Scripture and from some more current witnesses, we will learn what it means to live by faith through their broken, hopeful, and very human examples. Faith goes hand in hand with action. Hebrews 11 starts us off. 

Wonder - There was lots of it on that first Easter morning. What if we had more wonder? More curiosity? What if? What new life would we find?What if the resurrected Jesus isn’t only interested in getting you into heaven but wants you to enter and live in the kingdom now?

We know the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem on the colt, palm branches waving, "Hosanna" being shouted.... Yeah, ok, we know what to expect, heard it before, we know what's coming next.  But - what if we were to try to get past our confirmation bias? The Jewish people had their expectations, their lenses. We often miss so much because we are sure we know how things are. What if we try to be open to something new? What if we let go of our biases, take off our "I know how this goes" lenses and open ourselves up to see something new. Maybe we too are missing what Jesus is up to just like they did.

Luke 18:31-43 - Jesus heals the Blind Beggar who cries out, regardless of those who try to quiet him. “If we are to be healed & reconciled with our brothers & sisters of color, we must allow God’s judgment & mercy to fall on us; that our eyes might be opened & we might be able to see what’s right in front of our face. And to hear the cries of our brothers & sisters for justice, for safety, & ultimately to be seen.”