That's What She Said

New Mercies, Every Morning. Lamentations is a collection of poetry composed and compiled shortly after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. The poems name God as the punisher of all Israel’s sin. This is a God who initiates massive, generational suffering and blames the victim for it; imperial armies are only God’s instruments of torture. BUT in the middle of the Lamentations comes an ode to God’s mercy and steadfast love. In the chiastic structure of this book, the reader is invited to believe that this counter-testimony is the ultimate reality, the revelation of God’s true, life-affirming nature in a bleak season. Rev. Amber baker is preaching.

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Love the Earth. Jesus’s first parable (in Luke) is about growing food – the experience of planting grain in plowed earth, watching it grow, observing where it thrives and where it doesn’t. Of course it’s metaphorically about the reign of God – in whom it takes hold and in whom it doesn’t. And it’s meant to be at least a little bit funny; the farmer in the story isn’t a very careful one. But the parable works because Jesus’s audience was agrarian; they were close to the food production cycle. In the Information Age we have to be more deliberate to feel ourselves connected to the earth: go outside, “touch grass,” be stirred for a bird (Hopkins, “The Windhover”), grow something.

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Be in Your Body. Jesus points out to his host that his body could have used care – his head, his hands, his feet were all in need of gentle attention. The uninvited woman who gave care to his body used her body for his sake, kneeling to wipe his feet with her hair. It’s a sensual service for a sensual savior who cares for his fully embodied self. No less are we meant to appreciate and occupy our sensual, beautiful, exhausted bodies.

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: [email protected]. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle ([email protected]), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Speak Truth to Power. John the Baptist reappears in this gospel from a prison cell, conducting a conversation with Jesus via messengers. Jesus follows up with a deeply complimentary description of John’s brave work, acknowledging the reality that the gospel of God’s reign is not good news for everyone (i.e. those in power with so much to lose).

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: [email protected]. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle ([email protected]), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Cross a Boundary. The centurion (Roman officer) should not care about his enslaved person. Jesus should not care about the centurion. But here they all are, caring about each other across the boundaries humans make. What if a deliberate demographic crossover (generational, class, language, and otherwise) could make more room for God to work in the synergy? Carissa Robinson is preaching.

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: [email protected]. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle ([email protected]), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Be the Neighbor. How are we meant to comport ourselves in a world where our neighbors scorn our existence? When we are made to feel unwanted, even unsafe, by our fellow citizens? Jesus has an idea about that: love, blessing, non-judgment. This is likely a life-long practice, quite impossible to get quickly “correct” and move on.

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: [email protected]. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle ([email protected]), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Lament Honestly. The “Sermon on the Plain” is noticeably more grounded than Matthew’s version. Jesus here attends to the material condition of his followers’ lives, and dares to speak the truth about that. He says God knows it’s true, and has in mind a reversal of fortune that will honor the truth of their daily experience of lack. Carisa Robinson is preaching.

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: [email protected]. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle ([email protected]), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Honor Your Ancestors (Maybe Not All of Them). Think about where you came from. For most of us, there’s a wide variety of good, bad, and ugly in our heritage. Jesus is accused of not honoring the ancestors’ teachings; his replies show that he’s discerning what he takes and what he leaves behind from the history he inherits.

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: [email protected]. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle ([email protected]), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Praise Aspirationally. Levi throws a great banquet with all the wrong guests... Jesus’s disciples aren’t ascetic enough... Jesus responds to accusations with “Look, we’re doing the best we can with the time we have.” It’s not a huge, triumphal claim; it’s a right-sized hope in God’s coming redemption. “Maybe...all is not lost.”

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: [email protected]. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle ([email protected]), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

Reckon with Your Past. When you encounter Jesus, he goes straight to the heart of the problem. The healing he offers could be physical, or emotional, or spiritual. You have to be ready for him to clean things up, re-order your psyche, put you back together from the inside out. How do we partner with Jesus in this self-rehabilitation? What about therapy as a spiritual practice?

To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: [email protected]. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle ([email protected]), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060