Love Tenderly, Vulnerably and Fiercely

The Gospel is Matthew 9:9-13,v18-26

It is easier to define what is pure than what is holy, so we pretend these are interchangable.

Holiness is about “union with” and purity is about “separation from.” Jesus is holiness incarnate; the Pharisees were about purity codes.

There was no separation between Jesus and the bleeding woman. Jesus touched a dead girl and she came alive. In both instances, Jesus embodied holiness, uniting himself with those who were considered unclean, impure.

Jesus touched human bodies deemed unclean as if they were holy. He kept violating boundaries of “decency” to get to the people on the other side of the boundary. He cared about real holiness, the connection between things human and Divine.

The boundaries and rules may be intended to protect the sacredness of our being, but if they become more important than that which we seek to protect, they don’t serve us well.

In the second half of life, we have the opportunity to remove the barriers that protected our apparently vulnerable inner child of God, but which also walled us off from holiness, from connection. We can learn to love tenderly, vulnerably and fiercely.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Diversity in Unity

The Gospel is Matthew 28:16-203

God is three (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and also One. This is irrational in the minds of some.

We remain Trinitarians because this affirms a deep truth about God: at the heart of the Godhead are diverse persons, whose love is so close and intimate that they are One.

At the heart of the Godhead is diversity. We can look at Creation and see that God must love diversity.

It’s one unending flow of self-giving and receiving. God is perfect giving and receiving.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit—and imagine a fourth person, humanity in our aggregate. That’s how much God loves us, gives and receives with us.

Sadly, we often let our differences divide us, forgetting that we are created in the image of our Trinitarian God, Each of the persons of the Trinity is not a separate entity. They experience each other from the inside, not from the outside. They mutually indwell.

Jesus prayed that we may be one as He is one with the Father. What if we begin to live into our identity as the fourth members of the Holy Trinity? Wouldn’t this answer Jesus’ prayer?

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Receive the Holy Spirit

The Gospel is John 20:19-23

Lay members of our congregation, Linda and Mike Smith, provide the sermon and practice today.

It took awhile for the disciples to understand what they had received. They surely reflected and prayed to come to a deeper understanding of the teachings of Jesus, not a one time event but an ongoing revelation of the kingdom of God as Love which opened them up and lit them on fire. New opportunities open for growth, and learning to see differently.

Each of us can be filled with Spirit, and more than once in our lives—perhaps during a sunrise, seeing children playing, in the challenge of daily living. Our task is to notice and welcome the Spirit when it comes.

The Body Prayer of Julian of Norwich can be helpful to us in opening to Spirit.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Participation in the Divine Life

The Gospel is John 17:1-11

Jesus came that we would have life, and have it abundantly, thus reconnecting the Creation to the Creator.

What is the Divine life, the eternal life, that Jesus conveys?  That we may know God in Jesus, whom God sent.

This “knowing” is not head knowledge, but heart knowledge, intimate relationship. This participative knowing is eternal life, experiencing God and Jesus personally, and having the mind of Christ.

In Jesus, God’s name and true nature is made known to us, and participative knowing of God is eternal life.

As we participate thus, we are called to share the Divine Life with others. We are still in the world, and called to carry out the mission of the Father and the Son’s love. It is our glory that we are able to do so.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

God Our Mother

The Gospel is John 14:15-21

There is an epidemic of loneliness and isolation in the United States, and this has significant impact on our health. Too, a huge number of teens feel despair and suicidal.

We can be around people all the time, but feel lonely. We want to be around people who will be there for us, and who love us.

We need someone who will stand by us, encourage us, have our back. How many of us have these kind of people in our lives, and who are they? For many, this has been our mother.

Jesus served thus for his disciples. As he was about to leave them, he said “I will not leave you orphaned.” Jesus asked the Father to provide them another advocate, to love them forever.

Everything and everyone is held and sustained by God. It is love that is holding everything together.

We’ve not been left orphaned. The steadfast love of God our mother, our comforter, our counselor, is with us forever.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The Way, Rich in Wild Mystery

The Gospel is John 14:1-14

Thomas and the disciples don’t know where Jesus is going, but Jesus has shown The Way in its many aspects.

The Way isn’t like roads on a map, but something, Someone, we can trust: Jesus is the way, the Truth and the Life. Some might call this the Way of Love.

We can let go our certainties, no longer cling to what we know and what is familiar, and we can trust in Him who is The Way.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Beholding the Risen Christ

The Gospel is Luke 24:13-35

The Risen Jesus wasn’t recognized at first. He didn’t first appear to his inner circle of disciples, nor in the holy city of Jerusalem, nor in the synagogue or temple.

He didn’t return in a blaze of glory, but more like a candle flame in the dark, flickering here and there.

God shows up in our normal, everyday lives, when we are not expecting the Risen Christ to show up, as he appeared on the road to Emmaus.

If we want to see Him, we need to be open in every way, including open to risk, to recognize the resurrected Christ in people, situations, breaking bread.

We can see Him not just in his resurrected body, but wherever there is Love, burgeoning new life, wherever our hearts are burning along the way.

How might we better recognize Him when he does appear? One thing is to take a “second gaze” at everyone and everything we might see, so our “true self” can see what the “false self” does not. With the “second gaze” we do not just see, but we “behold” what actually is. Thus the walls of our world can begin to expand.

We can behold, behold, behold, the Risen Christ, take a second gaze at everyone and everything, and become what we perceive and receive.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Known By His Wounds

The Gospel is John 20:19-31

Evidence, evidence, evidence. Is this what believing in the Risen Christ is about?

In today’s Gospel, Thomas isn’t demanding arguments that can be learned from a book. He didn’t demand to see Jesus, but to see and touch His wounds. This is the same thing that convinced the other disciples, after which they rejoiced in seeing the Lord.

Jesus knew that he would be known by His wounds. As the singer Beyonce says, “Show me your scars and I won’t walk away.”

Why did Jesus, after He was raised, still bear His wounds? These were signs of His love, but these marks of His pain were not what defined Him.

Our own wounds are not erased when we are raised with Christ. These wounds stay with us.

We are walking embodiments of our entire story, wounds and all. Resurrection is not about rewriting our past, or forgetting what happened. Resurrection is not reversal.

God revealed Himself in Jesus, even in Jesus’ wounds. This is a God who would rather die than be in the sin accounting business, who went to the depths of hell rather than be separated from His betrayers.

Our scars and our sorrow will always be part of our story, but will never be the conclusion of our story. There is no stone that God cannot roll away.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Easter 2023

The Gospel is John 20:1-18

How do we understand Easter? We cannot make sense of it.

The accounts of the Resurrection differ from one Gospel to the next, which highlights the skepticism of the first witnesses. They could not wrap their heads around the idea that Jesus was raised from the dead.

Jesus didn’t just arise from the grave alone. In the Eastern Church, he is depicted as pulling other people up with Him.

No explanation of the Resurrection is possible. It is incomprehensible. Christ didn’t come into this world that we might understand him, but that we might be caught up in the immense event of the Resurrection, and to live resurrected lives.

So, where is Jesus now, for us? Who are we now, and what must we become in the light of the Risen Christ? The proof of Resurrection is played out in our lives today, where Christ can be Risen in us.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The Passion According to Matthew

The Gospel is Matthew 26:14- 27:66

On this Palm Sunday, our congregation reads aloud the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.