Today we have one of the gospel readings

that has captured the imaginations of millions of people.

This wild story,

where a woman is in the act of adultery,

and dragged into the temple precincts,

and they are about to stone her.

And of course,

this episode

is a test 

to see what Jesus will do.

They are trying to provoke him

so that they have a pretext to claim

he is a false prophet,

so that they can stone him

along with the woman.

Lots of people have talked about the obvious facts.

No one commits adultery alone.

Where is the other party?

Was he the married one?

And why were all these scribes and pharisees

in the right place at the right time?

And of course,

the real thing,

the thing that everyone is confused about.

Why did Jesus stop and write on the ground,

and what did the writing say?

You can get our Friday email at https://belonginghouse.substack.com

Christ John Otto writes at https://christjohnotto.substack.com

You can support us  at buymeacoffee.com/christjohnotto

You can view Belonging House Books here: https://bookshop.org/shop/belonginghouse

This Sunday is about repentance.

As it says in Hosea:

Come,

let us return to the Lord

who has stricken us,

and he will heal us,

and on the third day

he will raise us up.

You can get our Friday email at https://belonginghouse.substack.com

Christ John Otto writes at https://christjohnotto.substack.com

You can support us  at buymeacoffee.com/christjohnotto

You can view Belonging House Books here: https://bookshop.org/shop/belonginghouse

We have to be reminded continually

that Jesus Christ did not come to start a religion

but rather

he came to establish a Kingdom.

Our religious grids sometimes keep us from the Kingdom.

At the same time,

a lot of people think that the Body of Christ

is a jelly-fish.

All that matters is my relationship with Jesus

and everything else is up for grabs.

Have you noticed that jellyfish

never build anything?

The Kingdom

as it says in Revelation

is taking the world

from a wild garden

to a city.

And cities

and kingdoms

have order.

We see this in Leviticus.

There is a very clear order about God's plan for his people.

They were first given holidays,

then an order for the pattern of worship,

and then rules for life.

This was about creating a culture.

You can get our Friday email at https://belonginghouse.substack.com

Christ John Otto writes at https://christjohnotto.substack.com

You can support us  at buymeacoffee.com/christjohnotto

You can view Belonging House Books here: https://bookshop.org/shop/belonginghouse

Jay Ayliff's teaching on the word Leitourgeo: https://youtu.be/vWnKIq95M48?si=8O2B1mSm9GinsPH5

Nick Cave's blog: https://www.theredhandfiles.com/what-does-it-take-to-be-free/

My book Very God is here: https://a.co/d/07LeXYh

Legend tells us that Joseph of Arimathea

a tin merchant,

came to Glastonbury,

and put his staff in the ground

and it sprouted.

This tree blooms twice a year

in the spring

and on Christmas.

And this tree, the Glastonbury Thorn,

is the root of Christianity in Britain.

And by the way,

this tree,

genetically linked to the eastern mediterranean,

survives through cuttings

and still blooms at Christmas.

In the undercroft of the York Minster

is a tile from the first century,

and that tile is inscribed with the monogram of Christ,

the Chi-Rho.

So we have two bits of evidence

that Christianity has been in Britain for two-thousand years.

And it is the tree from which Belonging House springs.

Belonging House International is a community of artists and creative people called to build Jesus a throne in the earth.  In other words, we make disciples who will disciple the nations in the world of creativity.

You can get our Friday email at https://belonginghouse.substack.com

Christ John Otto writes at https://christjohnotto.substack.com

You can support us  at buymeacoffee.com/christjohnotto

You can view Belonging House Books here: https://bookshop.org/shop/belonginghouse

We have a community for those who have made the Belonging House Commitment on Mighty Network. https://belonging-house.mn.co

Belonging House International is a community of artists and creative people called to build Jesus a throne in the earth.  In other words, we make disciples who will disciple the nations in the world of creativity.

You can get our Friday email at https://belonginghouse.substack.com

Christ John Otto writes at https://christjohnotto.substack.com

You can support us  at buymeacoffee.com/christjohnotto

You can view Belonging House Books here: https://bookshop.org/shop/christjohnotto

We have a community for those who have made the Belonging House Commitment on Mighty Network. https://belonging-house.mn.co

Belonging House International is a community of artists and creative people called to build Jesus a throne in the earth.  In other words, we make disciples who will disciple the nations in the world of creativity.

You can get our Friday email at https://belonginghouse.substack.com

Christ John Otto writes at https://christjohnotto.substack.com

You can support us  at buymeacoffee.com/christjohnotto

We have a community for those who have made the Belonging House Commitment on Mighty Network. https://belonging-house.mn.co

From the beginning,

I have tried to model a basic ethic of hospitality,

and model the "Golden Rule."

Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

Put other people first.

Oddly,

some of you have seen this in action,

when we have had a few bad apples in our own mix.

Folks have interpreted my kindness to the ungrateful

as weakness,

and sometimes folks try to take advantage of me.

These situations do not change reality.

In the Kingdom 

reality is

Take up your cross and follow Jesus

to his death, and your death.

You become a disciple when you do this.

And when you choose to be a disciple,

you begin to become a master copy of the Icon of the Father,

Jesus Christ.

And we are promised,

that if we share in his suffering

we will share in his glory.

Christ John Otto is the founder of Belonging House.  We are called to raise up an army of artists who will build Jesus a throne in the earth.  

You can find him at

https://x.com/ChristJohnOtto

https://Belonginghouse.org and https://christjohnotto.substack.com

If this encourages you, support my work at https://buymeacoffee.com/christjohnotto

Christ John Otto is the founder of Belonging House.  We are called to raise up an army of artists who will build Jesus a throne in the earth.  

You can find him at

https://x.com/ChristJohnOtto

https://Belonginghouse.org and https://christjohnotto.substack.com

If this encourages you, support my work at https://buymeacoffee.com/christjohnotto

Christ John Otto writes at https://Belonginghouse.org and https://christjohnotto.substack.com

If this encourages you, support my work at https://buymeacoffee.com/christjohnotto

Malachi 3:1-4

Luke 2:22-32

It's hard to believe, but Christmas was forty days ago.

This year, the end of the Christmas cycle, The Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple falls on a Sunday.  

We have been talking about how the Kingdom of God is a symbolic Kingdom, and how this relates to the sacramental principle, and the means of grace:

God uses physical things and actions to communicate his Presence, Person, and Power.

Today we are going to look at the presentation of Jesus

and in order to discover how to encounter the Holy Spirit when God is moving.  

People miss what God is doing,

because they are looking at the wrong things.

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Christ John Otto writes at https://Belonginghouse.org and https://christjohnotto.substack.com

If this encourages you, support my work at https://buymeacoffee.com/christjohnotto