Have you noticed that scripted television shows frequently focus on two relationship settings; the family and the workplace. Of course there are exceptions, but consistently there are shows being made about families and workplaces. Those shows get made because they resonate with us. The families on the screen may look and sound different than ours, but something about their experience connects with our family experiences. The workplace may be an industry entirely different from our own, but the relational dynamics resonate. Jesus lived in a culture that held family relationships in an extraordinarily high regard. As a result, when Jesus claimed that allegiance to him was more important than allegiance to family, it was an incredible scandal.

That begs the question, what divides your allegiances? Is your allegiance to Jesus more important that your allegiance to your family, your work, your politics, your finances, your patriotism, your hobbies, your alma mater, or your favorite team?

A few years ago we were searching Netflix for a family friendly show to watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I don’t remember the name of the show, but we settled on a reality show in which 8 or 10 “normal people” were dropped off in the middle of the South American wilderness. Their goal was to find their way back to civilization with nothing more than a few supplies and survival gear in order to receive a cash prize. A map provided a route with resupply points, and each contestant was given an emergency transponder. If they were injured or simply wanted to quit all they needed to do was activate the transponder and they would be evacuated by a helicopter. I found the show to be tedious and painful. What began as an adventure show about teamwork, problem solving, and the strength of the human spirit devolved within minutes, into a voyeuristic display of strangers trudging across barren landscapes in the cold and rain as they starved. Instead of something inspiring and motivation, the show became a spectacle of soul crushing meaning-less suffering.

It’s not uncommon for this to become our perspective on historic spiritual disciplines like fasting, solitude, intentional prayer, and meditation. We envision those experiences as pathways to enlightenment and spiritual awareness, but when we engage in them we only feel cold, wet, and hungry.

What place does fasting, or any discipline for that matter, have in the life of a Christian?

Our scripture this week comes from Mark 2:13-17. In this passage we read these words from Jesus: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Jesus says these words in response to the Pharisees, the righteous, who were reacting to Jesus eating with a group of tax collectors and sinners. Imagine their surprise when they hear Jesus say that He, the Son of God, did not come for them, for the righteous, for those who have it all together, but instead he came for the sinner, the lost cause, the outcast.

Today we sing songs that include the words “Jesus friend of Sinner” with gratefulness and thanksgiving. But when Jesus was called “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” in Matthew 11:19 it wasn’t intended as a positive comment. The righteous were upset that Jesus befriended sinners. These actions of Jesus proved, to them, that Jesus was not ‘holy enough’ to be the Son of God. They could not understand why he would call an evil despicable man like Levi, the tax collector, to follow him. In their minds Jesus should be grateful to them and spend his time with them, the righteous, because they upheld the law.

But that is not what Jesus was about. God looked at this world and saw brokenness, hatred, and sin so God sent His Son into that dirty, sin-filled world to save all sinners. In God’s eyes, no one is beyond his redemption. Not even the Pharisees, all they have to do is open their eyes and see that their good works are not what God requires of them. God desires to bring the righteous into His redeeming grace; all they have to do is open their eyes to see that they too are sinners.

In His mercy, Jesus became a friend of sinners, He saw a world that was sick, that needed His healing. May we live each day in hope knowing that Jesus died, and lives for us, sinners—in need of His healing.

He is Risen!

When I was growing up Easter seemed a little odd. I liked it, but it didn’t see how it was all that different from any other Sunday. We went to church every Sunday and talked about Jesus every Sunday. Easter was like every other Sunday, but we got a little more dressed up, more people came to church, and ran a little later. In my opinion, the real win for Easter was all the food and candy.

As I got older my impression of Easter was impacted by my realization of its historical significance. Easter is the reason we count the years like we do. (Granted, the calculations were off, but still the point was to count time based on Jesus.) The death of Christ also began to resonate with a new depth and meaning. Jesus died out of love and self-sacrifice for me, and because of my sinfulness.

As I’m older still, my journey with Easter continues. In some way it is like all the other Sundays, we talk about Jesus at church, but we dress up a little more, and the food and candy are still fantastic. I’m also still awed by the love and grace of Jesus who responded to my sin, rebellion, and rejection with self-sacrifice, suffering, and death. More than ever before the empty tomb resonates in my soul. Jesus died, but he overcame death. The empty tomb testifies that Jesus is Lord over everything, even the death and despair in my life. The empty tomb gives me hope; that life is coming, healing is coming, love is possible, forgiveness can be given. Jesus is alive and that is hope, hope we get to celebrate.

Easter is a season we associate with fluffy bunnies, copious amounts of chocolate, neon bright flowers, beautiful dresses, and the joy of new life. Easter week begins with Palm Sunday. We wave bright green palm branches and celebrate that Jesus is our king. Like the people of Jerusalem we say “Hosanna.” Hosanna is one of those church words, that only gets used at church. It is easy to lose its meaning. Hosanna literally means “save us.” On a Sunday morning each spring we celebrate by shouting “Hosanna.” But the children, women, and men that shouted, “Hosanna” as Jesus arrived in Jerusalem didn’t sing it out in celebration, they cried it out in desperation. The people of Jerusalem didn’t want to ask Jesus into their hearts so they could feel better, they’re lives were defined by suffering under an oppressive occupying military and they were desperate to be liberated. They wanted relief from their real suffering. They wanted an end to oppression. They wanted to work meaningful jobs. They wanted their children to grow-up without the threat of violence. They wanted real peace. It’s easy to lose sight of the gritty reality of Jesus’ ministry with the pleasantries of our celebrations. But we need a gritty Jesus. We have dark realities in our own lives and world that need a Jesus who will hear both our celebratory singing of “Hosanna” and our desperate cries of “Hosanna.”

Long before Jesus began healing and teaching in Galilee there was a legend about how the city of Rome was founded. The story began with Princess Rhea, the daughter of a king who had been defeated and deposed by his brother. This new king forced Princess Rhea to become a temple priestess so that she would never marry or have a son who would be the rightful heir to the throne. Yet, as a temple priestess she became pregnant by the god, Mars. When Rhea gave birth to twin sons she was imprisoned and the twins, Romulus and Remus, were “exposed.” Exposure was the ancient Roman practice of abandoning unwanted infants, frequently at a temple, where they would die or be taken and raised as slaves. The twins didn’t die, but were nursed by a wolf, fed by a woodpecker, and adopted by a poor shepherd and his wife. The boys became great warriors and restored their grandfather king to his throne. They then built cities on neighboring hills. In a quarrel Romulus killed Remus, thus Romulus’ city thrived and became the city named after him, Rome.

In Roman culture the exposure of unwanted infants was a common practice. As a central feature of the story about founding of their city, exposure was not a moral or ethical problem for the people of Rome. As shocking and unnerving as it may be for us, it was a normal part of their culture. As the Gospel of Jesus began to spread and Romans began to follow Jesus, the culture of exposing infants was challenged. Christian churches began picking up and taking in exposed infants. At first, it was believed that Christians where using the infants as part of a cannibalistic ritual, called Communion, where they ate the body and drank the blood of their Messiah. But, then it became revealed that the Christians were raising these abandoned infants, and not even as slaves. They were raising them as free people.

In our reading this week Jesus forgave a man of his sins. Then to prove he had the authority to forgive sins Jesus healed the man’s paralysis. When we follow Jesus, we bring spiritual forgiveness and healing into the world. But the world will only recognize spiritual redemption when it is accompanied by physical restoration. In order to offer our friends and neighbors and communities spiritual healing we must step into the realities of the brokenness of their situations with hope and wholeness and restoration.

“Time is money.” Ben Franklin is credited with the quote, but the idea is everywhere. It seems our culture is super saturated with a moral conviction that busy-ness is next to godliness. We wear full calendars like a badge of honor. We humbly brag about our sleepless nights, harried days, working vacations, and the ceaseless thrum of demands that our splinter attention.

It is increasingly popular to make a “bucket-list,” a list of experiences a person wants to have before old age or death make those experiences impossible. A person’s sense of urgency concerning their bucket-list is directly related to their age and health. One would expect that Jesus would have a profound sense of urgency concerning his bucket-list. Jesus had an incredible sense of purpose and mission for his life, and a profound awareness that he would not live to be old man. Yet, we never encounter Jesus in a moment when he is too busy. We never encounter Jesus lashing out at those he loves most because of stress or fatigue. Rather, Jesus is always self-possessed. Jesus always has a minute. Jesus gets angry, frustrated, and confrontational; but those moments are always intentional, not reactionary.

Do we order our lives after Franklin’s credo? Do we sacrifice our sanity and souls on the altar of productivity? After all, prosperity is the god we worship in spirit and in truth. Or is there a different way?

Timing is important. When Anne and I met we were in college, we were both single, and we were both open to being in a romantic relationship. We sometimes joke that had we met in high school we would not have dated. A few years in college had transformed us from the people we had been in high school.

Jesus didn’t begin his ministry until John had completed his ministry. The first thing that Jesus said, was to make the claim that the timing was right. Jesus proclaimed that at that moment, God was doing something new. The kingship of God in the world was being revealed through Jesus. Everything that follows in this story of Jesus is built around this idea, it’s time for good news to come from God; good news that God’s kingship of the world has begun.

This Sunday is “Hope Sunday - 2” we are featuring our partner ministry, Covenant Kids Congo. Covenant Kids Congo is a ministry that builds on the long history in the Covenant of churches partnering together to support the hope and restoration of Christ in the Congo. The Congo is home to some of the most remote and poverty ridden communities in the world. Access to basic education, healthcare, and nutrition are persistent struggles. Sponsoring a child through Covenant Kids Congo supports local efforts in the Congo that seek to ensure access to education and healthcare for children and their families. On Sunday, February 21 we will hear from the Covenant Kids Congo Project Leader, Donn Engebretson, on the transformational and redemptive work we have the opportunity to engage in the sponsorship of a child. If you are not currently sponsoring a Covenant Kids Congo child, please prayerfully consider planning on committing to a sponsorship on this Sunday. If you already sponsor a child, consider doubling your investment by sponsoring a second child. This will be a Sunday you surely don’t want to miss.

I can still remember my favorite class from high school. It was a Humanities class that was co-taught by a couple Social Studies teachers. It was a class only for Seniors, it required an application, and a minimum GPA. Those things were required because, for the class to work everyone in the class had to take it seriously and work hard. The class primarily consisted of reading classical works of social philosophy like; Plato’s “Republic,” Dante’s “Inferno,” Thomas More’s “Utopia,” and Aldus Huxley’s “Brave New World.” After reading each work the class would discuss and debate the ideas that had been presented. At our conferences I remember one of the teachers, Mr. Anderson, saying I had become the resident Bible Scholar for the class. I was 17. I didn’t think of myself as a scholar of anything, besides maybe sleeping until noon. When my mom pressed him on what he meant he explained that as our class discussed the books and their ideas, I would introduce material from the bible. At the time I was working very hard at developing a bible reading devotional life. I found that our class discussions connected to what I was reading in the bible. The bible offered meaningful insight on the discussions.

It’s not a complicated idea, but we often miss the basics. I was only able to see the insight the bible offered because I was becoming increasingly familiar with what was said in the bible. During this season of Lent, we are going to begin a sermon series designed to explore what is said in the bible, specifically what is said about Jesus by Mark. Mark is the shortest Gospel, at only 11,304 words, only 58% of Luke’s 19,482 words. Mark’s version of the Jesus story rushes from scene to scene, and event to event. Mark’s desire is to tell us exactly what we need to know about Jesus, and get us to the Cross as quickly as possible. Even Mark’s account of the resurrection is very brief. With all this in mind, During Lent, we are going to begin a sermon series in Mark we’re calling “Rushing to the Cross.” But, we are not going to rush through Mark. We are going to look at the entire story that Mark tells us about Jesus, and that is going to take us nearly a year of Sundays. We will carefully explore what Mark said about Jesus in his hurried story about Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection.