​You will remember that in the scriptures there is the language of covenant or promise. A covenant is the way God promises his mercy to provide for us and to care for us. In the Bible, there are several covenants that God makes with the people. The first is the covenant God made with Noah and with every living creature in Genesis 9. In this covenant, God promises never again to destroy the earth. Instead, God is going to restore and recreate the earth according to his purposes. God promises in this covenant life not death.

Later in Genesis, God makes a covenant with Abraham and Sarah (12:1-3). Through this couple, God will call forth the people of Israel to become a great nation through which God will bless all nations. In this covenant God promises Israel a land and a future, to be a people.

In Exodus, God makes a covenant with Moses through the giving of the law (13-16). In this law, God sets the bounds within which Israel must keep the land and relate to others. It is a law that promises fruitfulness in the face of challenges. 

But we are not finished. Following the giving of the law, God makes a covenant with David; through David, God will bless those who follow as rulers of Israel. God will promise to sustain Israel via faithful and obedient leadership.

All these covenants have a common theme, and that theme is promise. God promises to be Israel’s God, and to abide with Israel through thick and thin, through obedience and disobedience. After all, God’s promises are irrevocable (Romans 11:29), a reminder of the biblical principle that once God calls Israel God provides for Israel. This is the promise at work in scripture: once God calls us, God provides for us, even when we might fall away, even when we think we don’t have enough, God will be faithful.

It is the message we hear again, and again in the prophets of the Old Testament, of how God will forgive and restore the people when they go in another way. It is the foundation of God’s covenant.

In the end, of course, the ultimate answer to God’s covenant or promise is Jesus, as Jesus is the new Noah and the new Abraham, the new Moses and the new David. Jesus embodies the salvation of Israel, if not the whole world. Indeed, Jesus is the One who is faithful and obedient. He is the One who won’t break "covenant" with us. As the Lamb of God who suffers in his body the pain of all broken covenants, Jesus works to forgive us and reconcile us. He is the Good Shepherd who goes after us as lost sheep and brings us into the fold of a new and unbreakable covenant, which is the basis of who we are and what we do as Christians.

How may we respond to God’s covenant with us? What can we do to share in God’s covenant of promise and mission? How may we trust in God's good work?

Andy Kinsey

“Worship is ecstatic, mystical praise and celebration.  Worship is what you do inside and outside of church when you DO God’s word.” 
                        -John Wesley

When I reflect on worship - what it is and what it means, I find myself thinking that worship is about people, purpose, and place.  

Worship is people - intergenerational, learning and growing together through the act of worship; sharing our stories alongside THE story.  Worship is my story informing your story and your story influencing my story and hearing, seeing, and living it all out within THE story.   Seeing how they intertwine, support, inform, build up, and challenge one another along the way.  It is about milestones and moments shared that recognize and celebrate Christ with us in the living out of our days - births, deaths, accomplishments, achievements, hard work, celebrations, memorials, loud moments, quiet moments, still moments, and even the difficult moments.  Especially the difficult moments. 

Frederick Buechner writes,
 “phrases like Worship Service or Service of Worship are tautologies.  To worship God means to serve him.  Basically there are two ways to do it.  One way is to do things for him that he needs to have done - run errands for him, carry messages for him, fight on his side, feed his lambs, and so on.  The other way is to do things for him that you need to do - sing songs for him, create beautiful things for him, give things up for him, tell him what’s on your mind and in your heart, in general rejoice in him and make a fool of yourself for him the way lovers have always made fools of themselves for the one they love.  A Quaker Meeting, a Pontifical High Mass, the Family Service at First Presbyterian, a Holy Roller Happening - unless there is an element of joy and foolishness in the proceedings, the time would be better spent doing something useful.”  Wishful Thinking-A Theological ABC. 

Worship is about purpose and must have purpose to have impact.  That purpose is to be in relationship with the One who created us; to turn and look at God looking at us.  Our greatest desire, whether we name it or not, is to be in connection with our creator.  Worship provides us time and space for that purpose.  We balance our purpose between messages, music, prayer, arts, something old and something new; between challenging, equipping, inspiring, convicting, teaching, encouraging, and leading one another while walking alongside each other. 

Worship is about place.  It is a place for us to experience the presence of the Holy in the midst of all that goes on in our life and world.  It is the act of doing God’s word.  It is a place to intentionally work on being with God and with one another.  It is also a place in which we make a place for God.  It's about finding your place - seeking to serve, participating in missions and outreach, as well as volunteering.  It’s about providing a place for others.  A place for people to be who they are and where people are on their journey.  It’s about recognizing God’s place among us whether in a formal or relaxed, planned or spur of the moment, organized or organic way.  When the Christ in me honors the Christ in you, we create a place for the divine to work on us both.  Worship then is about people, purpose, and place.  

Prayer: May all that we are be an act of worship in which all that you are is celebrated and made known.  Amen.

​Pastor Jenothy Irvine

God uses many avenues and channels to meet people:  – whether going to Peter along the sea, or to a woman by the well, or to Nicodemus at night, or to Zacchaeus in his home. The scriptures don’t prescribe a one-size-fits-all experience to the Christian faith. If they did, I know I would probably fail the test. I didn’t have a dramatic call or conversion to Christ like Paul. No, it was more like a growing awareness that God’s grace was real and that there were people who communicated and demonstrated that grace to me over time. I was loved into the kingdom, so to speak! It wasn’t spectacular, but it was life-turning. 

What about you? 

I don’t believe there is only one way to experience the risen Christ. Instead, what we need to see is how such experience is always followed by faithfulness, by displaying the fruit of the Holy Spirit, like love, joy, peace, patience (Gal. 5:7-8). True conversion will always lead to a life of commitment, to living the commandments of loving God and neighbor. Indeed, if a person is not demonstrating such activity following their meeting Christ, we might ask if conversion has taken place. 

Remember that the person who was persecuting Christians, Paul, is also the same person who will write to the Corinthians that “love is patient and kind; not envious or boastful.” There was a real change.

Paul’s encounter with the living Christ along the road to Damascus was a painful encounter, with Paul coming to a dramatic change in his life. It reminds us that Christ surprising him unexpectedly. How might we remain open to Christ this season? Where might Christ surprise us in the days ahead?

​Pastor Andy Kinsey

What do our words say about us as followers of Jesus?  Our faith?  Our church?  Do our words hurt, or do they heal?  Do they work in service to truth or to falsehood?  Do our words build up, or do they tear down?  Do they connect or divide?  Do they reveal or cover-up?  Are they full of hope or just empty promises?  As a church, what are we saying to those outside our walls, to those who have been hurt by the church in the past?  What do our words sound like to those who grew up in the church but now question their faith, or those who have served the church their whole career and now see things changing?  What do those who are searching for answers or looking for meaning hear us saying?  Do we speak the truth in love? 
    
These were some of the same concerns Paul had when he, from prison, wrote his letter to the Ephesians.  His letter addressed a collection of ethical advice and instructions on how those who followed Jesus; who proclaimed to be a believer (the term Christian wasn’t around yet), should work together, utilize their gifts as individuals and as a whole,  talk to one another, and stay connected through the Spirit of God to show unity in the body of Christ.  His words challenge us to consider how we, the followers of Jesus at Grace UMC, speak the truth in love to ourselves and to others. 

Paul wrote this letter to Jews and non-Jews, two groups that were divided by so many factors it would have taken an act of God to unite them. The two groups had very different cultural backgrounds,  religious histories, and faith expectations or approaches to the teachings of Jesus.  Can you think of any groups today we could say the same thing about?  One would think something like oh, maybe the death, burial, and resurrection of God’s son Jesus would bring people together!  

In the first three chapters of this letter, Paul teaches about the great measures God took in order to make these two groups into one new humanity in Jesus. Then in the last three chapters, Paul shows them how Jesus’ unifying work should impact every relationship and aspect of their lives.  When you follow Jesus, you don’t get to pick and choose when, how, or with whom to be “Christian” with or to.  You don’t get to pick and choose who gets the truth and who doesn’t.

Telling the truth is straightforward and simple.  It is the way we tell the truth that gets us in trouble.  That is why Paul writes to the believers in Ephesus and reminds them they are the examples of God’s Kingdom on earth.  They are to live as the Easter people they are so that when others see and hear them, they will see and hear a new way of being and doing community; a better way of living alongside one another, understanding who our neighbors are, and a better way of living for the greater purpose of Jesus.  

Paul wasn’t naive.  He had been around the block a time or two and he knew how people were and could be.  He had seen the best and the worst in people.  He didn’t expect the church to agree on everything, or that everyone would hold hands and sing peace, love, and happiness.  He knew people were people; with emotions, tempers, individual ideas, life experiences, and varying expectations.  He knew the believers he wrote this to were coming from very different perspectives and experiences.  BUT he also knew it was critical they understand the unifying power of Jesus.  

It was crucial that they understood they could not attain such unity on their own.  It was not within their human ability any more than it is within ours. We cannot love like Jesus loves when left to our own devices.  We are all too human.  It takes a willingness and a reliance on the presence of Jesus with us to exist from such a place of love. Paul knew it and was reiterating it to the church. 

He was not telling them never to be angry.  Never argue or challenge one another.  Never be emotional.  He was not telling them to never speak their mind or their convictions.  He was not saying always compromise and give in.  What he was telling them was that when disagreements, challenges, conflicting ideas, miscommunication, or anger shows up, (because it will), then talk, share, listen to understand not to debate, and work through it from a place of love, not comparison, competition, or useless criticism.  Speak the truth in love.   

Speak truth without belittling or beating up the people who disagree, disengage, or dispute what is being said or decided.  Speak truth without punishing, persecuting, or pushing aside the people who challenge, dissect, or seek to understand the why of it all.  Speak truth knowing that not everyone is going to get it, hear it, or want it AND that is o.k. Because it is God through God’s Holy Spirit that works in people’s hearts and lives, not you or me.  

To speak the truth in love, takes work and intentionality.  It takes a willingness to get out of our own way and seek the way of God - the way of Jesus.  It takes courage to say what others might not like, or hear what might challenge our own understanding.  It takes humility to say it in a way that is not arrogant or prideful.  It takes conviction of Spirit with the understanding you might be wrong.  It takes compassion to speak words of kindness even when sharing hard truths.  It takes letting go of ego - of self and holding on to God - holding on to the example of Jesus.  

Paul’s words are a summons to righteous behavior - a challenge and calling to do better with our words; to be better with what we say and how we say it.  It is a call to see both the humanity of a person and the face of Jesus at the same time - to see the humanity and the divinity of a person because they are created in the image of God, just as you were.  This text is a call to the church - the body of believers to be one in Christ; to always start there. 

That doesn’t mean we all act, look, think, and sound the same.  It doesn’t mean that we agree on everything, approach things the same, or understand things equally.  It means at the core of who we are as followers of Jesus, that we seek the same truth - to live as Jesus taught us.  It means at the core of who we are as followers of Jesus, we are on this long walk in the same direction together.  It means at the core of who we are as followers of Jesus, we still have work to do.

That work, people of God, must again and again return to this table of communion, and flow from the love with which we are welcomed, the mercy with which we are forgiven, and the grace we are freely given.   It is at this table we remember and are equipped to follow Jesus.  May this table help us keep a clear perspective of truth, a willingness to be the body of Christ in the world, and the courage to speak the truth in love.  

Amen

​Pastor Jenothy Irvine

​We need to remember that Jesus following Easter does not come back to Caesar or to Herod, or to Pilate. He comes back to his followers. He is trying to get to them: to bless them, to give them peace, to send them on their mission, to breathe on them the Holy Spirit! 

That’s Easter! Jesus is always finding ways of getting through to us as his followers, just as he is always finding ways of breaking through our locked hearts and minds. In fact, the stronger the lock, the bigger the intrusion! 

Let me try to put it the way John puts in our passage: Jesus won’t be locked out from his own people – the church.  

And yet, I don’t think we as the church try to lock Jesus out intentionally. No, I suspect that in our attempts to secure ourselves from the world, we don’t consider how we are leaving out Jesus too. We don’t think about how we might not be welcoming him as a stranger or as a guest. Indeed, we don’t think about how we might be locking him out when we avoid devotion time, or serving him, or giving, or praying; and we also don’t think about how we might be locking him out when we keep our faith to ourselves and not share it with others. But we do.
          
Again, our passage in John's Gospel is not about how the world keeps out Jesus; it’s about how the church doesn’t always receive Jesus as its Lord and God (John 20:28). It is about how the church can erect (and has often erected) walls that keep others from experiencing the full peace of the risen Christ and receiving God’s grace (Eph. 2:11-20). We can so easily forget that the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile has been abolished in Christ (2:15-16), or that “God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:28). We can forget that we who were far off as Gentiles now have access to the mercy of the God of Abraham because of the peace of Christ (Eph. 2:18). We are guests in the house of Israel because of the grace of God after all.

Therefore, try as we might to hide behind barriers or erect walls, Jesus has ways of entering anyway, all because he demolished them on the cross; he has put an end to the wall of hostility between us (Eph. 2:14). And not just by breaking that down, but by then coming out on the other side to seek, to find, to reconcile. 

To receive Christ as Lord and God means that there are no more walls. 

How may we receive the Spirit in our lives and so live without fear or behind walls? How we serve in a mission that shows no partiality but only the peace of Christ?

​Pastor Andy Kinsey

Edevotion:  He is Not Here
A reflection on Luke 24:1-12 by Pastor Jenothy Irvine

Easter and Christmas are both my favorite and my not-so-favorite days to preach.  They’re my favorite because I get to retell the most beautiful, drama-filled, life-changing story of all time.  They’re my not-so-favorite because of the pressure pastors often feel to present the most beautiful, drama-filled, life-changing story of all time.  

When it comes right down to it, however, there is only one thing to say for Christmas and one thing to say for Easter.  For Christmas, the good news is: “he’s here!” For Easter, the good news from the tomb is, “he’s not here!” Books-ends to the greatest story ever told.  You can’t have one without the other. 

With everything happening in our own country and around the world, the season of Lent felt longer this year.  Ash Wednesday feels like forever ago…like a long hard winter. The war in Ukraine is just one of many countries torn apart and battered by war.  When we hear about and witness things like the poverty in our own country that so many refuse to see, protests and demonstrations across our country and around the world, we need Easter now more than ever.  The spike in crimes against first responders, minorities, and the marginalized.  Political tensions.  Increased social and economical division and fracturing.  We need Easter now more than ever. 

When we walk through challenging situations, face difficult circumstances, and wade through deep waters of personal trauma, local disputes, institutional change, cultural differences, governmental instability, life transitions, mounting frustrations, or global uncertainty we come to know what it was Jesus was up against and what he and his followers were living through.  We come to know and perhaps understand why the followers of Jesus were so shook up, confused, scared, stunned, and left asking why.  

They saw his miracles.  They heard him teach and preach about a new kind of kingdom, a new way to live in community, a new kind of rule.  They witnessed how he handled the religious leaders, how he stood up for those with no voice, those left for dead, and those ignored by the system.  They received firsthand, his acts of service and sacrifice.  How could he be dead?  What did they miss or not understand? They, like us, were left with more questions than answers.  They, like us, lived in the midst of cultural divisions, political fracturing, and systemic agendas.  They, like us, were trying to navigate life and find a way through challenges, turmoil, and the unexpected. 

I wonder if that was the inspiration behind what has been called one of the greatest Easter sermons ever preached.  It was 1976 and the Rev. S.M. Lockridge spoke at a church in Detroit, MI.  Lockridge captured the power and essence of Easter by expressing the corruption and brutality of what led to Easter morning.  He brilliantly put to verse the people involved in those last hours of Jesus’ life, the actions carried out, and the implications of how it appeared things would go.  Lockridge creates a scene of emotional and physical darkness and connects the human experience of betrayal, anger, fear, defeat, and pain to the divine providence of God; to the promise and hope found in Jesus. 

Lockridge wrote:
“It’s Friday. Jesus is praying. Peter’s a sleeping. Judas is betraying. But Sunday’s comin’.  It’s Friday. Pilate’s struggling. The council is conspiring. The crowd is vilifying. They don’t even know that Sunday’s comin’.  It’s Friday. The disciples are running like sheep without a shepherd. Mary’s crying. Peter is denying. But they don’t know That Sunday’s a comin’.  It’s Friday. The Romans beat my Jesus. They robe him in scarlet. They crown him with thorns. But they don’t know that Sunday’s comin’.  It’s Friday.  See Jesus walking to Calvary. His blood dripping. His body stumbling. And his spirit’s burdened. But you see, it’s only Friday. Sunday’s comin’.  It’s Friday. The world’s winning. People are sinning. And evil’s grinning.  It’s Friday. The soldiers nail my Savior’s hands to the cross. They nail my Savior’s feet to the cross. And then they raise him up Next to criminals.  It’s Friday. But let me tell you something Sunday’s comin’.
It’s Friday. The disciples are questioning. What has happened to their King.  And the Pharisees are celebrating that their scheming has been achieved. But they don’t know it’s only Friday.  Sunday’s comin’.  It’s Friday. He’s hanging on the cross.  Feeling forsaken by his Father.  Left alone and dying. Can nobody save him?  Ooooh…Its Friday. But Sunday’s comin’.  It’s Friday. The earth trembles. The sky grows dark. My King yields his spirit. It’s Friday.  Hope is lost. Death has won. Sin has conquered and Satan’s just a laughin’.  It’s Friday. Jesus is buried. A soldier stands guard. And a rock is rolled into place.  But it’s Friday. It is only Friday. Sunday is a comin’!”

The power of this day called Easter is found in the profound reliance life and death have on one another. Joy and sorrow.  Victory and defeat.  Hope and despair.  We know the good because we endure the bad.  We know the relief because we carry the burden.  The fact that we know what it means to struggle; we know how it feels to lose love, face tragedy, endure pain, confront injustice, walk-in uncertainty, and live in systems of shame, division, and fear and because of that, the beauty of this day is made that much more rich, vivid, and full of color; because of that, the good news of this day is that much more valued, needed, and life-giving.  Without one there is not the other. 

I’m no S.M. Lockridge.  But I put before you people of God:
Sunday is here!
It was still quiet and dawn was just below the horizon
The air cold and quiet.  Questions lingered heavy on the women’s chests.  Do they not know Sunday is here?  They rush to the tomb. Tear-stained faces, spice-filled hands. Hearts pounding - minds racing.  Do they know Sunday is here? Uncertain, they approach.  Perplexed and afraid. Scattered and scared.  Belief waning, hope fading.
Don’t they know Sunday is here?  Their eyes adjust, morning light and shadow climb stone walls.  Holding their breath they look - they wonder.  Is Sunday here?  What did they see?  What was found?  Nothing.  Nothing.  Nothing!  Sunday is here!  What does it mean?  Where did they take him?  Confusion and belief hold hands. The angel proclaims He is not here!  He is risen!  It was Friday, but Sunday is here! Run Mary, run.
Tell the others.  Be the first to make it known.  Trust - Believe - Hold on. Sunday is here.
Sunday is here.

We have our Fridays too.  The pain, fear, struggle, confusion, defeat, and grief.
We have our Fridays - times of doubt, conflict, challenge, dissension, and uncertainty.  We have our Fridays - deadlines linger, bills come due, hardships happen, illness takes over, tragedy strikes, frustrations mount, and differences surface. 
Oh yes, we have our Fridays people of God, but Sunday is here! 

Hope remains.   
He is risen!
Amen

Pastor Jenothy Irvine

What did that stone over the tomb represent to Jesus? 

To answer that question, we won’t want to forget the story of Jesus’ friend Lazarus who was in the ground for four days.
We also won’t want to forget Martha’s response to Jesus for Jesus being late on the scene and Jesus’ answer to Martha about what had just happened, when he says: “Do you want to see the glory of God, or don’t you?” 

It is a question Jesus is still asking today, a question that unravels our grief from the past and dismantles our compromises in the present. It is a question that Easter places before us as a new future: Do we want to see the glory of God, or don’t we?

What stones need to roll away? What needs to shift from our past? Is there sadness back there? Missed opportunities? Bitterness? Are there hurts we can’t forget and blessings we can’t remember? Easter that is the moment when the stone from our past begins to roll. Watch it roll! 

But what about the present? In what ways have we tried to tame the Lord or keep others at arm’s length, even fail in serving Christ? How are we walking away from commitment? Indeed, how have your dreams turned into more busyness and programmed your life in such a way that there is no more space to imagine life anymore? When was the last time you felt peace?  

We all have a stone in our life. Hence the question: “Do you want to see the glory of God, or don’t you?” See how God can move that stone, the one weighing you down; take a moment to imagine your life without it. In fact, see how that stone occupies your attention all the time, or keeps creeping into your mind, placing limitations on your energies and resources. Maybe there is something that God is holding before you and you don’t want to face it. If so, know that the stone is rolling. Easter means that the stone has been rolled away. Ask yourself, “Do I want to see the glory of God, or don’t I?”

​For it is Easter! Feel the joy of all your grief and folly and feel the wonder of Christ’s resurrection. Know that the stones of sin and control, of sadness, of death – have been pushed aside. Know that there is more to the story, and it’s not finished. No, it’s just beginning.  After all, it is Easter – the day of rolling stones! 

Pastor Andy Kinsey

In Holy Week, Jesus exposes it all: our sinfulness, or the ways we try to keep it all under wraps. It is why “control” is not a good way to comprehend Holy Week, as Jesus shatters the alliance between Imperial Rome and Jerusalem religious power. There are no safe harbors for playing it safe or holding back during this sacred season. Indeed, if you want to play it safe with your faith, or hold back, then you probably don’t want to participate in Holy Week, as the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is fraught with the uncontrollable and the unpredictable. 

Holy Week marks Jesus’ final week on earth, and in Luke’s account we need to pay attention to what he is saying and doing. We need to understand from the Parade of Palms to the cross how Jesus is taking center stage, which means we are not going to control him; as Luke says earlier in his Gospel, when Jesus sets his face to Jerusalem, when he decides at that moment he is going to go to the cross (9:51), we can’t stop him. We can only choose to follow him, or not. 

Secondly, Jesus’ entrance into the Holy City brings to the surface the expectations of the crowds, the disciples, and the religious and political rulers of the day. And though we call this the Parade of Palms, you will notice that in Luke’s version people are not waving Palm Branches; instead, they are placing their coats and cloaks on the ground as Jesus and the donkey pass over them (19:35). In Luke’s Gospel, we might want to call this a parade of coats and cloaks, as the people welcome Jesus as their king (19:38). As he receives the royal coat treatment! 

But it is enough to unnerve his critics. After all, the people are shouting, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” (19:38). That’s right, they are calling Jesus a king! There is a new ruler in town. And his opponents can see how they might be losing control. Hence their outburst to Jesus: “Tell your disciples to keep quiet! Stop all this praise. Tone down the joy” (19:39).

The Celebration of the Palms is one of the few times during the year when God expects us to shout and sing and praise the Lord! No need to lower our voices today! No, no! Let everyone say, Amen! Let that “inner Pentecostal” come out! 

Hence Jesus’ remarks to Pharisees, to the preachers of his day: “Listen, I am not going to tell these folks to be quiet. It is not going to happen. No, if these disciples are silent, the very stones would shout out” (19:40). In other words, Jesus says, “Stop thinking that you can control what is going on here because just when you think you can, God will prompt the very creation to sing.” 

How is that for a comeback? It is as if Jesus is saying, who do we think we are to keep the truth undercover? We can’t.

What are you holding back from Jesus' parade? Is there anything you would like to share but are afraid of doing so? What praises do we want to share? How might this serve as the beginning of a new journey toward God?

​Pastor Andy Kinsey

Humanity is very talented in making a mess of things.  We seem to have a knack for making things harder or more complicated than necessary, and a skillset that thrives on comparison and competition.   Like a well-oiled machine, we feel better and work more efficiently when we keep things, ideas, and people divided according to any number of attributes: money, influence, skin color, power, talent, education level, gender, mental health.  We feel our strongest when we keep God, others, and ourselves in a box on a shelf, or fractured along various lines of tradition, progress, politics, economics, and  theology.  That is the “kingdom system” we have created and that we operate out of day in and day out.  

How is that working out for us?  How well has that served us - all of us, in the past?  What kind of system will that leave for future generations?  It does not take much convincing to realize our current system is not what God intended it to be. That is not to say humanity does not have its moments of doing better, of putting others first, and of helping one another.  In general however, here and around the world, we operate from and exist in a system of honor, shame, competition, greed, power, division, and fear. That is not the kind of kingdom we were created for. 

That is why everything Jesus did was a message, lesson, or example of the Kingdom of God - the kind of community God intended for us to be then and now.  Through the telling of parables, Jesus drew upon the people, places, and practices that the disciples were familiar with, and revealed to them a new way to understand the concept of community - a new way to be God’s community.  Using objects, events, and scenarios common to them Jesus gave them a new way to understand who their neighbor was, to see and experience what true hospitality looked like, how servanthood would turn hierarchy upside down, and how authority, sacrifice, and eternal life were all connected in Christ.  From the first day Jesus called them to “come and follow,” the disciples had one object from: believe in who he was and live out his ways.   If they could fully embrace and carry out that objective they would be living examples of the Kingdom of God and those around them would see the kind of community God intended all along. 

The parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids appears in a section of scripture known as the “judgment discourse,” (NIB) which right away makes some readers uncomfortable and others defensive.  Yet, all that means is that it is found in a section in which Jesus criticized the religious leaders, challenged the rules and ways of thinking that limited God’s love, presence, and forgiveness to an elite few, and warned people, primarily those in the church, to stop playing games with their faith and instead always be ready to encounter Jesus - always be ready to encounter God’s work now and in the future. 

When we approach this parable with western eyes it may seem based in unusual practices, perhaps even unrealistic or completely made up.  However, it doesn’t take much looking to find that around the world, even today, there are cultures in which this wedding scenario could play itself out.  The language would not have been foriegn to the hearers of the day and in other places of scripture, Jesus does describe himself as the bridegroom coming for his bride, the church.  

Far too many times in the western church and in some Christian circles today, followers of Jesus do not know how to keep oil in their spiritual lamps and pay attention to the Spirit of God. A church cannot sustain itself on potlucks and picnics or on Christmas and Easter alone.  Believers cannot persevere on special services or seasonal activities alone.  We must be fueled throughout the year, every day, every week, every month.  All the planning, preparation, organizing, rehearsing, and energy put into one special moment does not a church make.  A momentary mountain top moment, heightened emotion, a powerful prayer, stirring music, or a single profound insight, a lifetime supply of faith does not provide.  Without follow up, preparedness, discipleship, growth, and intentionality, the oil runs out and while we are scrambling to find more, or focussing only on the end goal and not the process, or running from one thing to the next to the next in search of answers, we miss it.  We need to keep our lamps and the lamps of others full - so that we do not miss those moments when Jesus passes by.  Those moments when God’s divinity brushes up against our humanity and we find a way through that we hadn't seen before, or we come to understand another way of doing and being or we see the kind of community Jesus intended us to be. 

Matthew chapters twenty-two through twenty-five, where the story of the bridesmaids is found, show Jesus’ followers the flaws in the kingdom of humanity verses the kingdom of God, the price he was willing to pay to make it right again, and how it was up to them, his followers, to prepare, watch, and be willing to go the long haul.  

The Kingdom of God is both now and not yet.  It is both judgment and grace, struggle and peace, tradition and progress, physical and spiritual, brokenness and healing, and being lost and being found.  

Throughout this season of Lent, we have been given the opportunity to see God in plain sight and realize that things like dust, bread, the cross, coins, shoes, and oil can bring us closer to comprehending the Kingdom of God.  May we strive to live out the lessons we have learned. 

Amen

Pastor Jenothy Irvine

What a sight it must have been.  The side of a mountain.  Late morning sun warming the rock and valley below; or perhaps the beginning of late afternoon with its rich and vivid glow.  Untouched - ungrazed green patches of tender grass and scattered clumps of bushes and shrubs nestled against the rock.  As if that wasn’t enough, God then shows up - actually, I think God was there all along, so I’m going to say, God’s presence broke in and revealed itself to a shepherd named Moses.  Right place, right time?  Lucky day?  Coincidence? 

It is one of the most familiar passages of all scripture.  He is one of the most recognizable figures in the Old Testament.  It is one of the most popular stories of all time.  But what is the object used to identify the significance of this epic story?  What item illustrates such a remarkable encounter?  What thing comes to symbolize the moment as holy?  

Moses, standing in amazement gawking at a bush that was engulfed in what appeared to be flames but it was not burning up.  When he went near to investigate, the Spirit of God said “take off your shoes, this is holy ground.” 

Take off your shoes.  That’s odd, most people believed that when you stood in the presence of a proclaimed god, king, or great ruler you brought riches, extravagant gifts, or something of great value to the one giving it.  Not that Moese had much, but God didn’t say throw down your nice, warm, well-made shepherd's coat, remove your hand woven head covering, or get those stinky sheep off my mountain.  God said, “take off your shoes.”  Sandals in this case - nothing more than old dusty, probably well worn, straps of leather tied to a solid piece for the sole that protected the foot from the rough terrain.  

The story of Moses and the burning presence of God has been told thousands of times in a thousand different ways.  Yet when was the last time you heard a sermon about his shoes?

How often do you think about your shoes?  Oh, I know there are some who obsess over their shoes (or maybe have too many boots) and I am fully aware that the question I am about to ask is a first-world kind of question:  How many of you own more than two pairs of shoes?  More than four or five?  I would imagine you have various dress shoes.  Work shoes.  Yard work or lawn-mowing shoes.  Everyday shoes.  Going out shoes.  Athletic or sport-specific type shoes (golf, running, dance, etc.).  Summer sandals.  Winter boots.  Spring in Indiana boots.  Lounge around the house shoes.  Just for fun, “I had to have them” kind of shoes.  Slip ons.  Tie ups.  Velcro closure.  

But have you ever thought about the shoes sitting in your closet or lost under the bed as symbols of your walk with God?  Have you considered the metaphorical message your shoes might be telling you?  We talk about taking off the masks we hide behind.  We talk about taking off that extra layer of guilt or resentment that we wear like a heavy coat.  We talk about taking off or setting down the baggage we carry with us.  But what about our shoes?  

We can take off and let go of all that other stuff but it strikes me that if we don’t take off our shoes and touch the very dust from which God created us and ground ourselves in God, then we still walk in or walk from a place, mindset, or paradigm that keeps us from experiencing the fullness of God. 

Have there been times in your life you needed to take off your shoes - take off that which kept you from fully experiencing what God had for you?  Is now the time?  Could this season of Lent be a time to take off the false narratives you walk around with?  A time to take off the dirt of gossip, cynicism, and judgmentalism that keeps you from enjoying the good around you?  Or that keeps you from hearing and seeing others as God sees them?  Do you need to take off your shoes of control and recognize God’s faithfulness?  God’s timing?  God’s way?  Is it time to unlace / untie certain expectations, assumptions, or speculations and feel your feet sink into the presence of God; being grounded once again?   

I think part of what Moses had to remove was his being comfortable.  I think he needed to take off his security and learn to trust God.  Moses could not approach God until he took off that which was stuck to the bottom of his shoes.  It is not until we do the same that we can stand on the holy ground and recognize God in our midst; recognize God revealing God’s self to us in ways you don’t expect; recognize that God may not be what we have always thought God was.  It is then we see more clearly what God is doing and how we are a part of it.  

You’ll notice Moses doesn’t take off his shoes, step in that moment with God and then stay there barefoot and blinded by what God is doing and asking of him.  He steps back out and does what?  He puts his shoes back on.  But here’s the thing, I bet they felt different.  Once you have stood on holy ground, your shoes don’t fit the same. 

Maybe they feel lighter.  Maybe they fit better than before.  Maybe you have more room for growth or maybe they were reshaped for the journey ahead.  Maybe they don’t fit at all and you have to put on new shoes - different shoes for new understanding, new insights, new ways of thinking, doing, and being.  Maybe you feel stronger, more determined to walk on; or maybe you feel like what I like to call confidently terrified yet ready to take those next steps.  The point is, those ordinary shoes illustrate an extraordinary encounter with the holy.

May we, like Moses, take off our shoes, and be transformed, inspired, challenged, affirmed, and encouraged.  May we continue to see God in plain sight.  Amen. 

Pastor Jenothy Irvine