That's What She Said

Ask for Help. Jesus calls his first disciples in an exchange of mutual aid. He needs a platform; they can share one. They’ve caught nothing; he can direct them to a big catch. He needs assistants; they can follow. The best relationships function this way, like a seesaw, in complementary partnership.

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The church that dreams together celebrates together! This Sunday we celebrate Pentecost and the beginning of the church all over again. The church continues on in the midst of chaos, dreaming and reconfiguring itself in order to be the body of Christ in this here-and-now world. 

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Cultivation of spiritual gifts for the life of the church and the community. This is the grand ending to John’s dream. John here is imagining in binaries: the forces of good and the forces of evil. Everyone who hears his message is invited by Jesus to “come,” partake in the water of life. 

What was it for John who had been the subject of imperial subjugation to imagine himself a free agent, able to discern what was the will of God? What was it for John and his faith community to think of themselves as followers of Jesus, their fellow tormented, persecuted, subjugated one? What is it for us to think of ourselves as free agents, capable of discerning the will of God? John’s call is a call into community (wash your robes, enter the city) in order to practice the ways of Jesus (how we welcome, resist, heal) and testify to his immanent return (rather than living as though the powers of the world are immanent, the reign of God is imminent). 

John, from the midst of the hardship and loneliness he is enduring, from the midst of wondering where God is, imagines God’s life and healing power flowing from out of Gods’ own self, always accessible; he likewise imagines all of God’s people working in service of this God, always having all that they need. He imagines a tree that provides peace among nations. What was it for John to dream of coming to God for all that is needed, and for it to be easily accessible, at a time when God might have seemed silent? For it to be easy to access all that is from God, including life and world peace? What is it for us to conceive of a God of abundant life who actively provides for the healing of this world, accessible to us as we serve God? What is it for us to attend gatherings of the church with this vision?

In this dream, John, who’s clearly been through hardship, imagines a situation in which the Lamb, the not-powerful, peaceful, gentle one, shepherds those who have suffered. What was it for John (possibly a refugee?) to witness a divine community in which everyone had everything they needed? What was it for John to imagine the one who had suffered (the Lamb) as the caregiver for the ones who suffer? What does this do to hierarchy? What is it today for the tormented and suffering to wear their suffering as robes for all to see— and allow themselves to be comforted and cared for in community? Or for those who have suffered to provide that community for others?

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

Presence, physical and emotional, at gatherings of the church. In this dream, John sees a river that is clear as crystal, and whose water gives life, flowing from the throne where God and the Lamb (Jesus) are. The river flows down the middle of the streets, so it is always accessible, and there is a tree of life whose leaves are medicine that can heal the nations. God’s subjects serve God faithfully and bear God’s name on their foreheads. God will become their light.

John, from the midst of the hardship and loneliness he is enduring, from the midst of wondering where God is, imagines God’s life and healing power flowing from out of Gods’ own self, always accessible; he likewise imagines all of God’s people working in service of this God, always having all that they need. He imagines a tree that provides peace among nations. What was it for John to dream of coming to God for all that is needed, and for it to be easily accessible, at a time when God might have seemed silent? For it to be easy to access all that is from God, including life and world peace? What is it for us to conceive of a God of abundant life who actively provides for the healing of this world, accessible to us as we serve God? What is it for us to attend gatherings of the church with this vision?

In this dream, John, who’s clearly been through hardship, imagines a situation in which the Lamb, the not-powerful, peaceful, gentle one, shepherds those who have suffered. What was it for John (possibly a refugee?) to witness a divine community in which everyone had everything they needed? What was it for John to imagine the one who had suffered (the Lamb) as the caregiver for the ones who suffer? What does this do to hierarchy? What is it today for the tormented and suffering to wear their suffering as robes for all to see— and allow themselves to be comforted and cared for in community? Or for those who have suffered to provide that community for others?

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

Discernment for our next steps together. In this dream, John imagines God and God’s people forever united. The imagery involves a bride/groom and a new city, with “beautiful” used as a descriptor. God in this vision erases death, mourning, crying, pain, and also tenderly wipes tears out of eyes. This is God making everything new; the old order that felt so impossible to unravel or escape from, that felt so impossible to repair or untangle, is subverted with finality. What is it to dream of such a fixed finality of perfection and beauty from a place of hopelessness, chaos, victimization, marginalization, and powerlessness? What is it for us to dream concretely about what God getting everything God wants looks like (not just temporary relief but a future fully and finally made new)?

In this dream, John, who’s clearly been through hardship, imagines a situation in which the Lamb, the not-powerful, peaceful, gentle one, shepherds those who have suffered. What was it for John (possibly a refugee?) to witness a divine community in which everyone had everything they needed? What was it for John to imagine the one who had suffered (the Lamb) as the caregiver for the ones who suffer? What does this do to hierarchy? What is it today for the tormented and suffering to wear their suffering as robes for all to see— and allow themselves to be comforted and cared for in community? Or for those who have suffered to provide that community for others?

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

Gracious receipt of care from the church family. In this dream, God’s people who have been subjected to societal violence wear their suffering like robes of honor. They worship God and serve God around God’s throne— and God shelters them. Their shepherd is this Lamb (Jesus); it is said this Lamb will make sure they are never hungry or thirsty or even hot and will lead them to springs of living water. Then, any tears that were in their eyes, God will wipe away.

In this dream, John, who’s clearly been through hardship, imagines a situation in which the Lamb, the not-powerful, peaceful, gentle one, shepherds those who have suffered. What was it for John (possibly a refugee?) to witness a divine community in which everyone had everything they needed? What was it for John to imagine the one who had suffered (the Lamb) as the caregiver for the ones who suffer? What does this do to hierarchy? What is it today for the tormented and suffering to wear their suffering as robes for all to see— and allow themselves to be comforted and cared for in community? Or for those who have suffered to provide that community for others?

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

Sharing material resources to further the church’s goals. In this dream, John sees a diverse, numberless crowd surrounding a throne declaring that the “Lamb who was slain (Jesus)” is worthy of power, wealth, wisdom, strength, glory, honor, praise, and dominion. In John’s world, the people calling for this sort of attribution were imperialistic rulers, and here John is dreaming of the slain one (the threat-to-empire, criminalized Jesus) as the one who is worthy. What is it to dream a dream like this when the powers-that-be are breathing down your neck, crying out for loyalty daily? When folkx don’t have enough money to buy food? What is it for the “Lamb who was slain,” the victim, the helpless, the suffering, the criminalized, the “guilty” one who was killed to be the one worthy of all these things? If this dream inverts those who are really worthy of wealth and power, what does that say about how we use our own resources as a church (in how we give, share, and create)? Maddy Hall Aaen 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

Extension of the Church’s Welcome to Friends, Neighbors, Strangers, and Enemies. Just like when you wake up from a strange dream and you want to tell someone about it, in this passage, John experiences a dream/vision from God, who tells him to write it down.

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

Feral Hope. Here’s a quote from an essay I’ve been reading and re-reading: “Feral hope is radical hope. As Jonathan Lear describes it, ‘What makes this hope radical is that it is directed toward a future goodness that transcends the current ability to understand what it is. Radical hope anticipates a good for which those who have the hope as yet lack the appropriate concepts with which to understand it.” Like… going to a tomb, finding it empty...

With thanks to Cody Sanders for his essay ‘Feral Hope for Futurist Leaders,’ accessed here.

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

The Expanse of His Care, from Small to Ginormous. (There is a section just before this, Jesus teaching in the Nazareth synagogue, that we read recently.) Here we see Jesus coming into his power as a holistic healer: tending to the spirits and bodies of all those who suffer. He has a remarkable capacity to deal compassionately and powerfully with big stuff – unclean spirits! – and small stuff – an old lady with a fever! And similarly we are called to attend to and alleviate the full scope of human suffering in our life together. 

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