Hyde Park United Methodist

The reality is that both brothers live inside of us, the responsible one and the prodigal one. It is an uneasy coexistence made worse by the reality that neither is perfect, and that both make real mistakes. The good news is that we also get to hear the truth: God is waiting to come running down the road and welcome us back. Dutiful son, prodigal son, or a little bit of both … God knows us already, and God can’t wait for us to come home.

We think we have all the answers. But what do we do when unexplained suffering becomes part of our story. How do we respond and how do we let go of the uncertainty suffering brings?

The antidote to fear is hope. Discover how Jesus teaches us to be hope-filled people of faith.

The Scripture for this Sunday contains the story of Jesus’ temptation by the devil. Jesus essentially endures a season of Lent in his 40 days in the wilderness. How does this time prepare him for his ministry? How might we, too, be shaped and emboldened in this Lenten season?

Jesus gives us the keys to living the wise life, rather than the foolish one. It begins with being non-judgmental, and concludes with building our lives on Jesus.

We are consumed with worry about things that, in light of eternity, really do not matter. Once we release our priorities to God, we are more easily able to release our worries to God. Therein likes the power of something like the Wesleyan Covenant Prayer, which puts into proper perspective who we are, to whom we belong, and all that we have.

The Lord’s Prayer as we know it today is drawn from a few different gospels, and has variations among different faith traditions. Praying the Lord’s Prayer draws us together in communion with God and community with each other. It properly sets the framework of prayer as being first an act of praise to God before it is an act of petition. It acknowledges our faults and confesses our sins, and notes the impact that our behavior has on others. And it ends with a claim on hope, and the certainty of God’s abiding presence with us. The Lord’s Prayer gives us guidance on how to make balanced, holistic prayer a way of life, not just a thing to recite.

Jesus calls out those who flaunt their charity and their piety in front of others. They need to be governed by an inner motivation that is right with God, a “hidden holiness” that is sourced from a pure heart. Our external behavior needs to be consistent with our inner motivation.

These verses contain some of the most unsettling and radical ideas in the entire Sermon on the Mount. Jesus takes Old Testament commandments about murder, adultery, divorce, oath-keeping, and revenge and takes them one step further. It is not enough, according to Jesus, to simply keep the letter of the law. That is just the starting point. To truly fulfill the law, we need to pay attention to what is in our hearts, our motivations, and be governed by a spirit of love.

Few passages in the gospels are as iconic as the Beatitudes, the opening verses of the Sermon on the Mount. The key, repeating word is “Blessed.”. These are also radical inversions of contemporary wisdom, in which we are unsettled (and even disturbed) by what Jesus is calling us to. This Sunday, we will go through each of the beatitudes, and discover their power in and through us.