According to Jesus: Heart of God

In Mark 12:28-44 we discover what Jesus says about being a part of God’s Kingdom of Light:  a Kingdom of justice, mercy, peace, and joy as we ask how to live each day in the realities of our nation, city, and neighborhoods.

Read: Mark 12:28-44

What catches your attention?   What do you learn about the Heart of God?

This passage is also recorded in Luke and Matthew.  It is important.

Here’s some background on Scribes:
Scribes were Legal experts, a trained class of writers who drew up contracts for business, marriage, estates, and wills. Some Scribes were Pharisees. Around 150 BC  Pharisees began as a party of the people, a grass movement to not succumb to the Greek culture around them and to uphold the law of Moses.  To know God was to obey the law – so they put their energy into preserving the law. As can happen – the rules of the law became more important than the heart of the law.

In these three different engagements with Jesus, what does Jesus’ show us about the Heart of God:

1)   Love is at the center of God’s Kingdom

Often Jesus is questioned and challenged by the Scribes and Pharisees because he threatens them. This Scribe seems earnest with a real question. To Jesus he says:  you seem to know our holy writings. Which commandment is most important?

Now, we might think it is obvious what Jesus will say --- but this is because we’ve learned his answer. Keep in mind that these scribes and pharisees are trying to faithfully obey 613 commandments in the Hebrew Scripture (248 postive; 365 prohibitive).
It seems this man is saying to Jesus:  I want to take these seriously, how do I rank them?  What is most important? (And, perhaps he is saying:  I am exhausted in trying to KEEP ALL these Laws).

Jesus responds with the Shema, the morning prayer that all Jewish people prayed from Deut. 6:4-5: Love the Lord Your God with all of your being? Jesus combines with a second commandment from Leviticus 19:18:  Love your neighbor as yourself

And, then Jesus describes these singularly – no other is greater than this.  
Love of God flows into love of neighbor as oneself.
Love of neighbor as oneself flows into love of God. They are woven together.

Jesus, our Living WORD, answers OUR questions today as well, for we ask the same one: What is most important for me to do right now? Where do I focus?

Jesus, word of God, says to us:
Begin each day with LOVE toward God who created your mind, heart, and soul and allow this love to flow into love for yourself that flows into love for your neighbor.

What is also wonderful in God’s Kingdom is that God trusts you to be a neighbor!

GK Chesterton wrote: We make our friends; we make our enemies; but God makes our next door neighbour. 

Neighbor means near.  Jesus loves to ask this question  Who is “near” you that you can love with the love I show you?

Jesus also shows us that:

2)   Abuse is never a part of God’s Kingdom

Jesus, who is nearing his time to go to the cross for all he came to LOVE, provides a very necessary warning that is for all ages:

Beware the abuser – they often come clothed as religious and political people who are supposed to care for the needs of people. Wolves in sheep’s clothing. Instead they devour.

Jesus’ words about these other scribes are not soft. They are claiming to be represenstatives of God’s character and they are hypocrites, unjustly using position & prestige for own gain. These scribes had been given authority to be guardians of women after their husband died --  make sure they have enough to live on. People often left their whole fortune to the temple, and the scribe were supposed to manage. Instead they have shamelessly cheated  these widows out of their  property  and taken it for themselves. Then they pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public in long flowing robes.

Jesus’ communicates what God has declared throughout all of the Old Testament

Exodus 22:22: “You shall not abuse any widow or orphan.  If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry?”

For Scribes who sought to obey the law – they sure missed God’s heart because they didn’t take seriously love God and love neighbor!

Jesus also shows us that:

3)    Abundance is to be shared in God’s Kingdom

After Jesus’ harsh warning about abuse he stays in the Temple and watches the crowd put money into the Treasury for the Temple, We are told that many people put in large sums.And, then a poor widow put in two coins – barely worth a penny.

This becomes a radical teaching moment of Jesus for the disciples and us.

In how this story has been told and preached in isolation, we may take this story out of context and miss what Jesus is really revealing to us about being a part of God’s Kingdom of Justice and Mercy.

What do you make of this story in light of what Jesus has just said?

Here Jesus says:  “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.  For all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Last week, James B reminded us that our faith is to be a public faith not a privatized faith (just me and Jesus). When we only live with a privatized faith, we can turn this story into a sweet message about a poor widow who trusted God so much that she gave all that she had. While this is true that she gave in faith and teaches about trusting everything to GOd who is her only provider.

There is a BIGGER TRUTH revealed when we look at the whole story and we begin to ask questions:

• Why is this widow poor?  Why does she need to give out of her poverty when so many around her have an abundance?

Is it possible that she is one of those widows whose property and house were devoured by the greed and corruption of the Scribes who then spiritualized it all by saying that the widow’s “property” was for the TEMPLE? 

I challenge all of us today.  I challenge all of us in this time of uncertainty. 

Is by chance this story of the poor widow who “gave all” she had, our invitation to ask,

• In God’s Kingdom how can we share abundantly together?

If you were to continue this story, what might you add as a Kingdom story?

This is my Abundant Kingdom Story:
And, some of the people who were bringing of their resources to the Temple saw the woman give her two coins – and they took of their abundance and invited her to dinner and asked her to share about her story.  And suddenly this “poor widow” had a name and the beginning of a community in which she can share even more of herself.

 These three encounters reveal the Heart of God:

1)Love is at the center of God’s Kingdom

2) Abuse is never a part of God’s Kingdom

3)   Abundance  of all kind is to be shared in God’s Kingdom

 What does this mean for us? 

CLIMB ON!

 On Belay?

Belay on

Climbing?

CLIMB ON!

Before every ascent, a climber goes through this exchange with their belayer--the person who is tending the climbing rope to provide rest and to catch them in case of a fall-to know they are in sync with each other. Belay is the question of readiness, “Are you set and paying attention?” “Climbing” signals the desire to begin--and that desire is met with another word of assurance and encouragement: Climb On! In faith that the belayer is trustworthy and competent, the climber begins to risk and move up the face of the rock.

 Welcome to the CLIMB ON Guide for groups!

With Belayer Jesus, we are free to risk knowing God and life more fully. 

In our time together you will discover seven activities that can enrich our experience of God, deepen our faith and help strengthen our community life together as we live into being externally focused, internally alive and eternally connected. Enjoy!

 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.                                                   ~John 1: 1-5

celebrate+listen+investigate+move out+bless+ overflow+nourish

Walking with Jesus after Easter

On Easter we proclaimed, Christ is risen indeed!

Perhaps the complexity of these past few days makes you ponder what the risen Christ means for you. For us. Thanks be to God that Easter is not a one and done. It is a beginning!

The next few weeks we are journeying with people who asked a lot of questions after Jesus rose from the dead.

Are you a question asker? A doubter? A wonderer? An explorer? You are in good company. Let’s live into resurrection together!

On Sundays in April, we will focus on the Risen Jesus, who walked, talked, listened, explained, encouraged, and made breakfast!

Our Soul Care Retreat on Saturday, April 20 is designed to give you guidance and time to slow down & “walk” with Jesus. There will be space to literally walk, if you wish, as well as spend time journaling and praying about what walking with Jesus means for your life. This is a time for you, in the company of others, to reflect on the gift of new life that Jesus offers you.   We invite you to come as you are and enjoy!

Sign-up here.

May this be a season between now and Pentecost (May 18) that you can find space and time to give thanks for Jesus, your risen Lord who walks with you!

Embrace Lent 2024

“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. Luke 15:20

Imagine the judgement, scorn, and ridicule the young man who had gone so far astray expected when he returned home to his father! His only desperate hope was that he might be treated like a “hired hand.” Instead, his father saw his long-lost son in the distance, lifted his robe, and ran to embrace the child that he loved and had always loved.

During the season of Lent (which means the time of lengthening), we invite you to a time of embrace.

Take these 40 days that give you space to receive God’s embrace of love as we journey with Jesus,who through his life, death, and new life invites us home. Take time to embrace practices and pauses to give space for our embracing God.

Lent is a season to set aside time individually and communally to humbly and joyfully reflect on your gift of life and your homecoming with God.

Here are our special services:

Ash Wednesday | February 14 | 7:30 pm
Palm Sunday | March 24 | 10am
Worship in Action Maundy Thursday Simple Dinners in homes | March 28
Good Friday Worship | March 29 | Noon and 7:30 pm
Easter Celebration | March 31 | 10 am

More information coming in February!

Study. Invitation to Sabbath Rest

An Invitation to Sabbath Rest.

Is this possible? 

A four-week study of scripture in dialogue with others

Week One:  Sabbath Rest as RECEIVING & REJOICING.  

Week Two:  Sabbath Rest as REMEMBRANCE

Week Three:  Sabbath Rest as RESISTANCE

Week Four: Sabbath Rest as RESTORATION

Introduction to your Invitation to Sabbath Rest

Sabbath [Shabbat in Hebrew]: To cease from work/labor, to pause, to rest, to celebrate.

 To keep Sabbath in our culture of 24/7 commitments and technology that can keep us incessantly linked to anyone anywhere in the world is challenging and countercultural.
To keep Sabbath is to embrace God’s alternative way.
To keep Sabbath is to recognize the rhythm of life.  There is morning and there is night.  There is a time to work and a time to rest. Sabbath creates a pause so that life is not one long, endless grind of labor until our last breath.  

Within the context of our labor, we shabbat! We pause to rest and to live at a different pace; to notice and to celebrate. 

To keep Sabbath is to recognize we are a part of community – a global community that extends into time.  When we keep Sabbath, we are connected to those who’ve kept Sabbath before us and we also acknowledge those who will come after us.

To keep Sabbath is not formulaic nor rigid (we will get into the abuse of it the third week) it is a way of being. “God gives Sabbath rest as a gift of sheer grace.” (Rachel Held Evans)

Staying Free

We don’t like to be commanded. We do not like to be told what to do—except when we find ourselves in over our heads. Before they receive the 10 Commandments the Hebrews find themselves in a place that outstrips all their resources. For 400 years they have lived in Egypt as a part of a mighty empire. Pharaohs came and Pharaohs went but the empire continued. And they had been shaped by that ongoing empire and its culture. They had learned the lessons of empire well, without even trying. Life is cheap. Power is everything. Work is ceaseless. Might makes right. Exploitation is normal. Conformity is always expected, Wealth is highly concentrated, and there is a high value on a control. That is life in the Empire.

But God had freed them from that empire. God had Moses lead them out of Egypt through the Red Sea into a land not controlled by Pharoah.  Not to just bring freedom from backbreaking manual labor of brickmaking and working in the fields along with much more. God wanted to restore them into the people whom God created them to be. People who stayed free and did not collapse back into patterns and ways that diminished human life. To not see themselves or others, as expendable, valueless factors of production, or providers of comfort for the ease of the ruling class; but, to know their true identity;  beloved by God, created in the image of God and capable of a just and flourishing society for all nations. God was doing a new thing, fashioning a new people through whom God could reveal Godself more fully and bless all the nations and the Earth.

That's why God gives the 10 commandments. The Hebrews have witnessed God's activity as God led them out of Egypt, and now, God gives words to make sense out of what they've seen and equip them for life not controlled by the empire. When the people hear the commandments they don't roll their eyes and say, “Are you kidding me? What's up with this?” Instead, there is awe and there's rejoicing because they're not hearing rules to make them miserable, to control or to oppress. They're marveling that a God, who has acted on their behalf, is further revealing God's character that they may know God and live in ways that are vastly different and abundantly more life giving than life in the empire. God is giving them strategies to prevent their return to an enslaved life—whether by physically returning to Egypt or by enslaving themselves by embracing the embedded values and perspective they learned by being raised in the empire with which they are so familiar.

2023 Fall Sermon Series: Staying Free | Exodus 20

Are the "10 Commandments" that we find in Exodus 20 relevant for our lives today? 

How do these “words” move us from a confined life to an expansive life?

What do we discover about our liberating God? 

How do these words of God speak into our time of violence and hate?

October 29:   Staying Free: Honor God

November 5:  Staying Free:  Take Neighbor Seriously

November 12:  Staying Free:  Develop a Sabbath Heart

November 19:  Staying Free:  Practice Gratitude 

Ways to Give Your Scripture Reading a Lift

Know the Big Picture: God is loving everyone into wholeness, through Jesus Christ, so that we can enjoy and participate in God’s reign forever. 

See Jesus as Central Character: the Old Testament is preparing our understanding of who Jesus is and why he comes; New Testament reveals Jesus and what it means to bear witness to Christ participating in God’s reign. 

Read With: Holy Spirit—we trust Spirit to guide and teach,  

• Questions—What questions does the passage prompt?  

• Others- we read with community and for community; not just for ourselves  

-how do I hear this scripture for another person? 
-what is this saying to how we live together? 
-what is this text asking of us as a community? 

•  Anticipation—expect challenge, insight, comfort, mystery… 

What is the Context? What happened before this text? After? What is the historical setting? What did the text mean in its original setting? 

Narrative is not normative: just because someone did something in scripture it does not mean it is meant for us to do same e.g., Gideon setting out a fleece or the disciples “drawing straws” to determine God’s will. 

Read scripture in light of scripture: Let your reading of scripture be informed by other scripture.  

Choose Hardest: when you have a choice in translation between two words, choose the hardest one and wrestle with it. Likely the softer” word is a historic scribal error or a modern help to smooth reading for less rigorous readers.  

Remember you are a part of this Big Unfolding Story!