We begin our series "See All the People" at a time when the church is anticipating a significant time of Special General Conference.  Our series is not focused on this vote concerning human sexuality, but we cannot pretend as if it is not also on our minds and hearts in the days to come.

Luke 5:1-11

In our passage, Jesus calls the first disciples.  This calling is not about a personal relationship with Jesus.  Rather, Jesus invites them to come and be all about "catching people alive."  They are invited to follow him and commit their lives to something well beyond themselves.

In a world where we search for significance and meaning, we often find ourselves starved.  Jesus offers us the opportunity to follow Him as a part of the church--to let go of everything in order to follow in His way of life, healing/salvation, and truth.

Are we like the crowd pressing in on Him?

Are we like Simon Peter, James, or John?

Will we continue to press in hoping for what WE seek?

Will we leave everything we know and embrace what He seeks for us?

Love.  We love God, our family, our homes, and tacos.

In our culture we wrap up all sorts of meaning into four letters.

In Paul's time, the word is agape.  We read "love" but what Paul is referring to is something entirely different than anything romantic, nostalgic, sentimental, or sensual.

Instead, agape speaks to a "self-giving" active interest in the other.  God revealed this agape for us through Jesus' incarnation, birth, death, resurrection, and ascension.

We are called to BE LOVE in all that we do.

Are we ready for this kind of agape life?

Have we understood where this story begins in our lives?

In a world where independence and self-reliance are heralded as virtues...Paul calls the church to be in need of one another.

In a world where we make a name for ourself, the church invites us into an eternal family where we give all of ourself up...to be...a member of the very body of the Messiah/Christ.

This strange idea is illustrated by Paul's use of the body and its many parts/members.  Let's revisit the image to see how we can be renewed in our minds, hearts, souls, and bodies.

Will you receive the Word with open hands?

Will you accept the call to be needy?

Like a beautiful symphony, the church is a group of people working together with their unique gifts to follow the leading of the director by the will of the composer to work in partnership with the wind/breath to create rich and meaningful music.

We all have gifts.

We are all gifted for others.

Like the church in Paul's day, we sometimes measure ourselves in comparison which causes some to feel less worthy and others to feel more worthy.  This is not how the symphony of our faith is meant to be played.

If you proclaim "Jesus Is Lord" with your entire being (not just your lips), then you are gifted.

So what is your gift?

Will you join in and help us create the symphony of faith in Jesus' name?

The story of Jesus' baptism in our 3rd Gospel offers some compelling meaning that we can apply to our own lives--after all, that was the point of the author.

We are all offered the gift of God's grace and defined by God as "beloved."

When we fully grasp this message...it changes everything.

The image offered by John the Baptist of the work that can be accomplished when we receive the presence of Jesus in our lives, and the transformation that comes through the work of the Holy Spirit, is beautiful and often misunderstood.

Let's revisit the story.

Let's reconsider the grace.

Are you ready to accept your identity as beloved?

Are you willing to let Jesus bring the work of the Holy Spirit into your life?

Isaiah 60:1-6 & Matthew 2:1-12

The story of the Magi is as familiar as it is unfamiliar.  We often miss the crucial details of the story so that we can fit it into the Nativity scene of which it never sought to belong.

The mysterious and wonderful arrival of these strange travelers speaks of a faith that is coming to light through the presence of Christ.  We celebrate this meeting of the Gentile world with their Savior on Epiphany Sunday.

Again and again those that we would expect to celebrate the arrival of God's King instead seek to cripple and kill.

Again and again those we would never expect show up and offer all that is right: honor, praise, and a lack of expectation.

Will we FIND Jesus in our world today?

Will we approach him as a Herod...or a traveler from the edge of the world?

Luke 2.41-52

Jesus as a boy is lost.

His parents are searching.

When they find him, he was not where they expected he would be and he did not respond the way they anticipated.

Is this story so unique?

Have we wandered down the road of our everyday lives and simply assumed Jesus was walking with us?

Have we bothered to check if we are heading in the right direction?

Will we SEARCH?

Are we ready for the unexpected when we find him?

Luke 1-2:7

We walk through the first couple chapters of the Gospel we call Luke to consider the underlying message in light of our series.

All of the people we think will act appropriately struggle.

All of the people we think will act inappropriately seem to understand and be willing in ways that are faithful.

The presence of Jesus Christ turns the world upside down, so to speak.

Let's consider the opening stories and the faith of its characters to ask ourselves some important questions.

Do we make room for what God is bringing into our lives and into the world?

Do we have rigid expectation or are we truly willing to allow our lives to be done with as God says?

Zephaniah 3.14-20 & Luke 3.7-18

All kinds of people came to be baptized by John the Baptist.

Common people, tax collectors, religious leaders, soldiers, and even Jesus come.

Many ask, "What shall we do [to live into the way of God]?"

John gives different groups different answers with the same underlying message.

We must hear the message of justice and grace.

We must put it into action with everything we DO.

Do you approach God asking what God will do for you...

or do you approach asking what you can DO?

Malachi 3.1-4 & Luke 3.1-6

John the Baptist calls his fellow citizens to Prepare the Way.

The way of God is equity.

Mountains are brought low while valleys are risen up.

All paths are to be made straight.

This is very counter-cultural...sometimes even for the church.

We are given the Holy Spirit to be the very presence of the Divine within us.  Scripture talks of the purifying power of fire and the Holy Spirit is THE fire of purification given so that we might be made perfect.

While our human nature may lead us to resist the flame, the spiritual thirst we have draws us into the fire to be REFINED.

Are we willing to step into the fire?

Are we willing to let go of all in our life that does not truly give us life?

Are we willing to let the Holy Spirit make that distinction for us?