Jesus goes and preaches in his hometown. They're skeptical - they think they know everything about him - so they reject him. Sometimes the ordinary, the familiar, what we think we know can blind us to the extraordinary - can blind us to what God is doing in the world.

God reveals things to us through the ordinary. That's a positive thing to think about, but it probably should also make us a bit uncomfortable. How many times do we miss what the Divine is revealing to us because we think we know all the things we need to know about life and the way the world works? How many things have we missed because we're not really paying attention to the ordinary - family, kids, friends, neighbors, etc.?

We don't want to reject Jesus - we want to represent Jesus. Which is exactly what Jesus gives his followers the opportunity to do. He sends us out - empowers us to do the things he does. But we're just ordinary people - people around us might not sense the divine working in and through us - we will be rejected, too. Might have to wipe some dust off our sandals.

Here comes Jesus, asking his old neighbors and us to think differently, to learn new things, to follow him into new places, to do things we've never done before in ways we've never imagined before, to care more and give more and love more and include more and sacrifice more. And even if people reject it, there's probably no better way to live.

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: Mark 6:1-13

http://bible.com/events/48989378

1) There's something about religiosity that can make us prone to being judgmental. But maybe it's more than that. Maybe it's part of the human condition - it's just in us.

2) The religious experts set a trap for Jesus and how he gets out of it. He essentially turns the whole trap back on them. In doing so, Jesus gives us the best antidote to religious judgmentalism: we're all in the same boat - we're all part of the same human family and we're all making a mess of things.

3) He gives the woman grace. He's just shown up the religious elite - that means they're now gunning for him. He essentially takes the hit so that she can be set free. It won't be easy, but she now has a chance to make amends and live a transformed life.

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: John 8:2-11

http://bible.com/events/48985747

This is the second of Isaiah's Servant Songs. These songs reveal some things about the nature of God's servants - people like us.

First, servants are called and formed for a purpose. We aren't an accident - we were formed by God and called for a purpose.

Second, if we're called and formed for a purpose as servants, then we've got work to do. What kind of work? We see themes in this passage of restoration and reconciliation. If we reach back further in Isaiah we see themes of justice. What that looks like in all of our lives is going to be different. But one thing we can know - it's going to be hard. This is why Jesus says "if you want to follow me, you have to pick up and carry your cross first."

Finally, we will not fail. God will not be denied. The enormity of the task and the seeming inadequacies of God's servants does not mean that God will fail.

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: Isaiah 49:1-7

https://www.bible.com/events/48982220

This is a story that definitely fits in the horror genre. Demon possession, gore, violence, possessed pigs running off a cliff...it has it all. Because it has such heavy and disturbing themes, it's sometimes difficult to approach this story.

We'll start with the question Jesus asks. "What is your name? Who are you, really?" It's a loving question - Jesus is approaching the man with compassion. What would happen if we let the Divine ask us that question: who are you, really?

The man says, "Legion." A great multitude. A fast many. An incalculable swarm. Maybe it doesn't matter how we define demons, other than to say that it's anything that wants to possess us - anything that seeks to take away our true identity and separate us from God and other people. Woof - we all wrestle with Legion.

But the story isn't over. It also reveals where we find our freedom. The man falls at the feet of Jesus. The people find him sitting at the feet of Jesus. Freedom comes at the feet of Jesus. Freedom is in the surrendering to Jesus. Which, of course, is the Sunday School answer. But that doesn't make it easy.

We don't have to surrender. The people in town don't. Instead, we come back to the original question: "What's your name? Who are you, really?"

At the end of the story, Jesus won't let the guy follow him. Instead, Jesus trusts that the guy will live into his new identity - his original identity rooted in the divine - and that's the thing that will transform his community. Hmm, maybe we could do that too.

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: Luke 8:26-39

http://bible.com/events/48978623

We were created in the image of God, in other words, we are icons representing God. When Jesus preached in the temple, he read from the passage that declares good news for the poor, proclaiming freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight for the blind. This reading of a proclamation of freedom and healing is one made by a king, and it was significant to the people listening, who would have understood this. Jesus shook up the status quo by declaring freedom was for those who were marginalized.

So how are we doing the same?

Speaker: Tony Vis

Scripture: Colossians 1:15-20; Colossians 3:18-25; Luke 4:16-21

http://bible.com/events/48975186

Parable of the widow and the judge. Luke tells us that this is a story about praying and never giving up.

Pray always and never give up. But sometimes we don't want to pray - all we get is silence from God. Jesus' story says "keep praying, even when you get silence or inaction from God in return." Jesus teaches us this because it's something we need to be taught! Otherwise we would quit praying.

There are a bunch of Psalms about poets praying into the silence, saying things like "How long, O LORD?" "Why?" "Wake up from your slumber!"

That's the tradition that gets handed down to us. We have permission to pray - to bear our souls. We have permission to question God - especially when all we get in return is silence. We keep praying because we've been taught to keep praying. We keep praying because we've learned what God is like: patient, kind, loving, full of grace. God is everything the judge in the story is NOT.

Pray always - not just when it's religiously appropriate - pray whenever we're moved by anything in this world.

Most of all - God wants us to always pray because God wants us to be with God - wants us to open our eyes and our hearts to God - wants to be in relationship with us.

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: Luke 18:1-8

http://bible.com/events/48971537

This is the parable of the two lost sons. A very familiar story, one that we talk about all the time in church. Typically it's called The Parable of the Lost Son, or something similar.

We all know the feeling of something being lost. But this parable gives us a different perspective on that concept. The two sons are lost - but not misplaced - only hiding.

The first son literally runs away - we live in a world that runs away from the divine.

The second son is still home, but he's lost. Lost inside his resentment.

But in this story, lost isn't really lost at all. "No one's ever really gone," in the words of Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. We can lose things, misplace things, but Jesus' story teaches us that God doesn't have that freedom. To God, when someone is lost it doesn't mean that God doesn't have the ability to find them. When someone is lost it simply means they're cut off from the kind of relationship God desires to have with them. But in this story, the father comes to find them - both of them. Remember how far God has come to find you.

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

https://events.bible.com/en/event/edit/48968109

Passionate faith - what does it look like?

1) Passionate Faith is an absolute trust in the God who loves and protects us in spite of our imperfections.

2) Passionate Faith is a sacrificial faith.

3) Passionate Faith is a forgiving faith. The forgiveness in this case is more than just "I forgive you." Stephen is actually wishing well those who are killing him. He's essentially asking that God would bless them.

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: Acts 7:51-60

http://bible.com/events/48963097

It's all about love. Jesus says that as the Father has loved him, so also has he loved us. Remain in his love. If we're going to remain in Jesus' love we ought to know what his love looks like. When you boil it down, his love brought him nothing but trouble - danger everywhere, the sick pulling on him, crowds pressing in on him, across every social barrier - and eventually it took him to the cross.

If we remain in the love of Jesus we may find ourselves serving in places we might not want to be while the world laughs at us. Do we really want to remain in the love of Jesus?

When we do - Jesus calls us friends. The one who walks beside us - serving with us. And we bear fruit. Our love turns into action, turns into sacrifice. Abiding in the love of Jesus bears fruit, brings joy, and transforms the world.

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: John 15:9-17

http://bible.com/events/48960106

Jesus heals a woman in the middle of a worship service in the synagogue. God is large, unmanageable, and full of surprises.

Then, something curious happens. The leader of the synagogue gets upset because you're not supposed to heal on the Sabbath. Jesus works on the Sabbath. He breaks the law and traditions. Something he does with regularity. Jesus rebukes the guy revealing that the leader of the synagogue is just as bent over on the inside as the woman was on the outside. In the name of God's law the leader of the synagogue missed an occasion of God's love. God's love is what the law was meant to point to - and when it's used to push out or hurt it's a misuse of the law.

Let's become a community, not of laws and traditions, but of love - the kind of love revealed in Jesus.

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: Luke 13:10-17

http://bible.com/events/48957006