Sermons - Milagro Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

When the world presents us with violence, do not conform. Promote peace. When the world presents us with greed, do not conform. Be generous. When the world presents us with division, do not conform. Be healing When the world presents us with hatred, do not conform. Be loving. When the world presents us with doom, do not conform. Be hopeful. When the world presents us with oppression, do not conform. Offer liberation When the world presents us with division, do not conform. Be reconciling When the world presents us with darkness, do not conform. Shine a light.

Listen to the experiences of other people – without judgment and without assigning blame and without speaking in justifications – listen to the voices and the experiences of other people and then to take action so that they to know that they have a place. When someone comes at us boldly like the Canaanite woman came at Jesus, demanding to be heard and to be respected, when then come to us demanding a place at the table, we need to listen, we need to learn, we need to broaden our hearts and our minds and we need to scoot over and make room

He lived out this parable. He saw the kingdom of God in the marginalized in the outcast. He saw the kingdom of God in the unclean and the unholy. He didn’t say “you have to get better first.” He didn’t say “when you stop being a tax collector, I’ll have dinner with you.” He didn’t say, “woman, when you STOP bleeding all over the place, come see me.” He didn’t tell the woman at the well she had to convert to Judaism to be saved. He just accepted people for who they were. Brothers and sisters we all have something in us that somebody has deemed unholy. At one point or another.

But it’s not that we are greedy. It’s not that we are hoarding. It’s not that we want to protect ourselves at all costs and let the rest of the world fend for themselves. It’s that sometimes we get a bit full of fear.

Forgiveness isn’t only what the world needs. Forgiveness changes the world.

Sickness is the Great Interrupter of life. It enters without knocking, thwarting all plans, mocking the idea of certainty, and diminishing hope for the future. It intrudes like a burglar in our home, touching every part of life.

For centuries you expect the messiah to bring rescue and salvation and triumph and overthrowing of the oppressor, and then when this messiah shows up, he says, “oh no. rather than praise and glory, it’s humiliation and execution.”

Being welcoming means we are vulnerable and we take the chance that we might get our hearts broken. We take the chance that we might be taken advantage of. Being welcoming means we run the risk of having our deeply held beliefs and prejudices challenged. Being welcoming does make us vulnerable – but it is when we are vulnerable that God’s grace can do its best work.

Jesus knew that his message would cause trouble. He knew that it would be divisive. He knew that a message of peace would be difficult to spread in a time of war. He knew that a message of reconciliation would be difficult to spread in a time of retribution. He knew that a message of inclusion would be difficult to spread when so many base so much on being exclusive. He knew that opening up the sacred text and interpreting them to let more people into the kingdom of heaven would be difficult to spread when people would rather interpret it to keep people out. He knew that a message of love and forgiveness would be difficult to spread when so many invest so much in hate and ruthlessness.

But most of the time we are called to sail across our inner lake – to “go over there” and visit our inner enemies. To be bold and face those things within us that we are afraid to face. We sail into our own Roman Occupation – our fears, resentments, motivations, things that wake us up in the middle of the night, -- we go to those places so that we can share them with others.