Blue Ocean Church Ann Arbor Sunday Sermons

We talk about why we use the term kin-dom of God instead of kingdom of God, influenced by Mujerista and indigenous American theologians.

Offering midrash on Jesus’s response to Peter, “Get away from me, Satan,” AnaYelsi asks us to ponder what it means when traumatized people and groups interact with one another, and how we can hold space for all our stories in a way that better connects us in our work for interlocking justice.

The ancients told certain truths in myth form—like the truths that come to us in dreams, which don’t abide by the rules of the waking world. And one of the weirdest in Exodus, and the most oddly powerful, is the time God tried to kill Moses and he was saved by a black woman named Zipporah.

When Moses saw a bush burning in the wilderness, his whole life became about freeing an enslaved people from oppression and reimagining a world away from injustice. His questions and concerns were re-oriented. In this sermon, Rev. Cedric Lundy invites to ask ourselves how we’re re-imagining and enacting a new world—one free of white supremacy and oppression.

In prayer we hear the voice of the Divine telling us that we are enough. Telling us to trust and to rest in the Creator. Telling us that we are not alone. Telling us that there is grace sufficient enough for us, even when we’re at our worst or most fearful. That is the primary root and source of our strength.

From Cassie, our worship pastor: “This pandemic and its effects are taking a toll on all of us. How can we envision a reality beyond our current circumstances?”

James refers to Torah and the Exodus liberation story as the “law of liberty” He likens it to a mirror we need to look at long and hard, lest we forget who we are in the oppression systems of this world. There we find no counterpart to the “good white people” many us hope to be (compared to the bad people/racists. It’s not about being good: it’s about meeting the God of the Oppressed, and doing as we are instructed.

Exodus is the oldest story of liberation we have. And while the particulars are very different, the dynamics of oppression and liberation are very much the same.

This week we take a look at the prophet Miriam and how she was on the alert, looking for God to act to liberate the oppressed.

Midrash is the Jewish way to tell stories about the stories of Scripture and connect these stories to our story today. It’s an expansive and Spirit-led way to engage sacred text. Informed by Midrash, we look at the key text in Exodus, the book of liberation.