John 5:16-47 – Here we reach the first of John's theological discourses. For 50+ years John fondly recalled Jesus's teachings during three foundations years of his life. Here, in old age, divinely inspired, he writes in the words of Jesus, encapsulating what Jesus was about. Framing his Father-Son Connection in the specific drama of the Pharisees disputing his healing of the Lame Man on the Sabbath, John extracts dramatic irony that put his big points into greater relief. As the chasms between Jewish religion and Jesus grow, we are forced to ask which we cling to: the delusional man-made labels of religious society, where men seek each others religious affirmation and slap each other on the back (even while they demean the sick, poor and lost)–or one that finds it's affirmation only in Jesus, and allows him to refine all human systems?

John 5:1-18 – A missing verse, Jesus performing a disappearing and reappearing act, and a suggestion that sickness comes from sin. The healing of the invalid is a story with strange messaging and seemingly unclear take-aways. What is this story about? Central to my study was Jesus' question, "Do you want to be healed?" and his follow up to his miracle, "Stop sinning!" It seems Jesus here is after our attitude and, while he can do anything, desires our connection, and our faith, and our reliance. Without those, the invalid-who-can-now-walk in this story makes it clear that he is only "half-healed".

Philippians 3:17-4:1 – We are a country polarized and divided, yet as Christians we are a people united. Believe it or not, the Philippian church faced similar challenges to us. Since Paul's departure, many teachers and leaders had risen that identified as followers of Jesus, but showed poor character, distorted goals, and power-focused leadership. Paul's chief encouragement to those who respected his word was: remember your Heavenly citizenship. We are ex-patriots as it were in this world, no matter if we live in America or Venezuela, we are not at home. Yet we are called as churches to be embassies of Heaven on Earth, bringing Jesus' beautiful vision for community to the eyes of the world. As we face this coming week, it is my encouragement to stick to Jesus' focus on 1) personal holiness and 2) servant leadership as we face division, contempt, rage, and potential volatility even in our closest relationships.

[Correction: Cyrus Habib is stated in error as the Secretary General of Washington State, in fact he was the lieutenant governor.]

John 4:43-54 – Jesus and his disciples return to Galilee where he first called them. However, word has travelled ahead of his great wonder-making miracles. He is greeted now with excitement, though strangely, not the kind he desires. When an official who works for Herod confronts Jesus with a big ask to heal his dying son, whom he left 20 miles away in Capernaum, Jesus starts by raising the bar to test his faith. In effect, Jesus asks this official (as he asks us), "Do you trust not just my visible works, but the power of my word itself?" Jesus, a man of his word, is asking the official to trust his word, no matter how it reconciles with his own desires. He in effect asks, "Do you trust me... even when I don't give you the response you desire?"

In this teaching, we will find that holding a firm grip of Jesus's word (even to death), results in the glory of God breaking through the cracks of this broken world.

John 4:1-42 – The woman at the well is a story ripe with imagery, cultural and literary color. We've heard it many ways, but have you ever heard it told through the lens of a marriage story? Here we look at this most unlikely of couplesL the most devout of rabbis and a five-times married (and divorced?), pluralistic worshipping, Samaritan woman. In this text we will mine the depths of the marriage Jesus gently offers us to redeem us in our darkened world. And, like the disciples who (once again) miss the point–how pride causes us to miss what he asks of us to see and trust in faith–as he makes our fields white for harvest.

John 3:22-36 ESV - While we're focusing this series generally on the conversations between Jesus and his created people, this week we look at the murmurs that surface around Jesus. In this passage, these are voices of questioning, doubt, prodding at his power, that lead the broken human hearts of John the Baptist's disciples to envy the disciples of Jesus (who, in 4:2 we learn are baptizing more disciples than they are). Zooming out from envy, we will look at the larger question of discontent–and seek to find an approach to correcting our wandering hearts through Exaltation (making much of God), and Exultation (rejoicing as those under him who have his great love and power as our authority).

John 2:23-3:21 – Nicodemus, a man of great power and privilege desires to understand Jesus without feeling the pressure to follow him. He wants to keep the Jesus, complete with his incredible miracles, at arm's length. Inside all of us is a Nicodemus, a side of us that wants to intellectually understand Jesus before following him. We want to see the beauty of his Kingdom without first giving up our Kingdom. But to do so Jesus says we must be "Born all over again from above". While we keep him at arm's length, he seeks to pull us in close. While we want our relationship to be professional and free of pressure, he brings pressure and makes it personal. What do we do when we meet the real Jesus? Nicodemus didn't "follow Jesus" as his disciples did, and from his life we see a life that may have eventually come to the light–but did so with guilt and regret–missing many opportunities along the way.

John 2:13-22 - Jesus Cleanses the Temple.

Interestingly, when Jesus first "goes public" in John's ministry, it is not a mass healing event, or some other fitting social renewal–but a confrontational act of religious reform which paints a target on his back and begins the simmering drama that will crescendo until the cross.

Why does Jesus come first to make a spiritual reform and not a social one? Today we look at Jesus's divisive Truth, which is necessary for his generous grace. Jesus comes in the flesh to re-order the center of the hearts of those who worship Yahweh (God the Father). But he doesn't simply re-take the center, he transforms it–claiming and proving to be the very access point to God that the whole world has desired. Better yet, through faith in his death and resurrection, we have eternal access in our fleshly bodies to God, in a way that no worldly pursuit will ever compete with or compare to in it's goodness or power.

John 2:1-11 - When Jesus bursts into the neighborhood in John 1, surprisingly, we don't find him lining up the sick to healing them all in droves–the world's material woes are actually–quite unchanged on the surface. Instead John continues his gospel story with an intimate story of personal care. A wedding celebration that has just hit the skids. The proverbial music dies, the silverware is clinking, and Jesus's mother Mary calls out to Jesus to save the wedding hosts from embarrassment. In this compelling story, John writes a story that demonstrates that Jesus is near–even as 2020 sprawls in all of its puss and agony–he hears our requests made in humble prayer, with trusting faith. Though Jesus may offer offers strange answers, through our steadfast obedience, at the sound of his word, he gives miraculous–abundant grace beyond Mary (and everyone else's) wildest dreams.

John 1:35-51 - We're beginning a new series on the Gospel of John. We won't move through verse by verse but will instead focus on key conversations between Jesus and those he encounters.

In chapter 1 what is emphasized is not Jesus' birth, nor even his baptism (though it is mentioned) but instead–his relationships. His conversations. No sooner does Jesus arrive than the church is born as young people grapple with the wonder and riddle of his appearance and make the decision to check out what he's about. John makes the profound dilemma of "The Word become Flesh" especially accessible and refreshingly human in his exchange between Nathanael and Jesus. Here we see the tendency to deny Jesus is built into each of us from sin–and is challenged repeatedly by the phrase "come and see".