The prophet Jeremiah was a prophet during a hard time in Israel. All hell was fixing to break loose as the Babylonian Army loomed on the outskirts of Jerusalem, a sign of God’s coming judgment. Times were difficult.

Following King Josiah, there was a brief period of reform and good in the land. However, after King Jehoiakim assumed the throne, things went from good to bad to worse, as the people enjoyed more and more material pleasures, forgetting God’s laws and purposes.

And so, when Jeremiah says that the human heart is perverse, he is seeing firsthand what can go wrong when people are being unfaithful, or when a ruler goes bad.

Remember that in Jewish thought the human heart is the seat of reason. Emotion resides in the abdomen, or in what we call the “gut.” The cheating heart, therefore, is actually a corrupted or a deceitful mind, a way of not seeing clearly. Persons become deceived when they think they are better than others. There is a kind of thinking that wants to take credit for the good things and then blame others when the problems come. 

What the prophet Jeremiah wants us to do is wake up and live in a place close to God’s heart, making sure we have roots deep in the ground of God’s mercy (v. 8).

How may we stay close to God’s heart? What may we need to do to follow in Christ’s step and have a heart open to God’s Spirit?

Pastor Andy Kinsey

Perhaps we may remember singing the song “This Little Light of Mine” in Vacation Bible School. I know we sing it quite often in preschool. It is a song that is easy to sing, and, if not at times, to sentimentalize. Actually, however, it is a song that was sung in many African American churches during the civil rights movement: persons sang it as they were preparing to go out into the world: “This little light of mine, I’m goin’ let it shine. Don’t let Satan, snuf it out, I am going to let it shine.”

The words, of course, are based on the passage of scripture in Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus says “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. So let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:15-16). That’s the sermon in a nutshell: we are to be light-bearing followers of Jesus, lampstands in a dark room, not kept in a closet.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is wanting the people who follow him to be light. That may sound like an audacious claim, for isn’t Jesus the light of the world (John 1:4-13, John 8:12, John 12:46)? In John’s Gospel, Jesus is light of the world: “The light has come into the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:13). But now, Jesus says, “You are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth.” 

Does this mean that Jesus is now out of the picture?

Well, if you call yourself a Christian, no! Jesus’ light and your light come from the same source. Jesus’ calling and your calling come from God. Jesus’ mission and your mission are grounded in the kingdom. There is to be continuity between what Jesus did and what we do. Because Jesus is the Light, we can let our light shine. This is not a contradiction; rather, it is a kingdom strategy: it is a strategy to relate to others and to offer God’s love and peace.

How may we employ Jesus’ strategy in all we do? How may we serve as light and as salt wherever we are? What steps do we need to take to light up our world?
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Pastor Andy Kinsey

One of the reasons the Sermon on the Mount in general and the Beatitudes in particular continues to confound people today is because they do not buy into the logics of this world. They do not fit into the way we think about politics or religion, but rather point to what God is like and, in doing so, to what true religion entails. They paint a picture of what the followers of Jesus are to be about, rather than what we would like to see happen. In doing so, they turn our expectations upside down about life in God’s kingdom. 

This is another reason why Beatitudes confound us as well: the Beatitudes are tough because they represent a kind of speech that does what it says and fulfills what it promises. It’s why the two most important words in the Beatitudes are the words “are” and “will.” Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. And so forth. 

Jesus wants us to know who the persons are God is blessing. God blesses people, and not just any people but people who are hurting, who are humble, who are working for peace, or who are poor in spirit. 

Why? Because that’s what God does; that’s who God is! It is in God’s very character to act in such ways: to bless those who are hurting or who are striving for righteousness; because that’s exactly what God is doing: God is also working for peace and righteousness. 

That’s the good news of the kingdom: Jesus is announcing to those who are suffering or who are serving in the kingdom that God is making his strength and his mercy generously available, with all the benefits of his grace.

How are we seeking to be the kind of people who announce what God is doing and then fulfill what God promises? How will be the people God shapes into God’s kingdom purposes?

Pastor Andy Kinsey

In Matthew 4:18, the first disciples dropped their occupations in the fishing industry when Jesus called them; they all were involved in a highly successful business, and they were doing quite well. But now Jesus was expanding that business in ways that they couldn’t imagine!

Many throughout history have done the same, walking away from jobs of high earnings for the insecurity of pastoring, teaching, becoming a chaplain in a prison, being a monk or a priest or a missionary. Millions of Christians on a regular basis give up practices and attitudes and occupations and jobs to follow, to become part of Jesus portable community in the world. And the only way I can come to grips with this kind of change in people’s lives is Jesus himself: Just as the disciples heard his voice and felt his presence some 2000 years ago, so people still do today, sometimes as a whisper, sometimes as a shout, sometimes as a wakeup call in the night (or morning), sometimes as a low ache that won’t go away, or sometimes dramatically, suddenly, and powerfully. 

However it may happen, Jesus has ways of getting through. There is a visible change in behavior, habits, loyalties, priorities.

Now, to be sure, we cannot always know where this change is going to lead us, but we can be sure that Christ will go with us. We can be pretty sure that Peter, James, and John and Andrew had no idea where their lives would end that day on the Sea of Galilee. And we can be pretty sure that we don’t either. 

That’s how big the mission of God is! The Holy Spirit blows where it wills! The Spirit nudges us and, hopefully, we hear Christ’s voice, calling us and waking us up to follow him, giving our lives over to him. May it be so!
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Pastor Andy Kinsey

One of two sacraments we practice in the Methodist church, baptism is often described as an outward sign of an inward grace, and the way in which those who believe in Jesus are marked for discipleship.  In other words, it is two fold:  1. it is a public display of an inner decision to accept the love and grace given to us by God.  2.  It is the way believers mark their life in Jesus and the church. 

It is a long time practice of the church, rich in symbolism and meaning.  And whether it is done by pouring or sprinkling water over the head, or immersing the entire body, the meaning / purpose is the same - to tell all those who gather, “I have given my life to Jesus and will do all I can to let go of the life symbolically buried beneath the waters of God’s love and rise into the new life given me in Jesus’ name.”  And for those bringing their baby or young child for baptism, it is the moment they say, “I remember that which I believe in Jesus and chose to stand against the evil injustices of this world, and want you, the church community, to help raise my child into the follower of Jesus he/she is meant to be.”  

For the 75-80 percent or more of you that already know all that, great.  Good job.  Well done.  To you I say, remember your baptism and be grateful.  For the remaining 20-25 percent who maybe didn’t know some of that, or wasn’t brought up within the church, it’s o.k., don’t worry.  To you I say, baptism is personal and communal.  You have to decide if it is the next step for you and where you are in your faith.  It is something you and God decide to share and celebrate with the body of believers. 

Baptized or not, hear this church, baptism is not your ticket into heaven.  It is not a requirement to fulfill some holy expectation.  It does not make you any better a believer than any other believer.  It is not a free ride to continue acting in ways that hurt or ignore others or to do things that keep God at arm's length.

It is simply and profoundly…plainly and beautifully an act of joyful obedience representing the transformation happening from within, or as Frederick Buechner put it: “Baptism consists of getting dunked or sprinkled.  Which technique is used matters about as much as whether you pray kneeling or standing on your head.  Dunking is a better symbol, however.  Going under symbolizes the end of everything about your life that is less than human.  Coming up again symbolizes the beginning in you of something strange and new and hopeful.  You can breathe again.” 

Read Matthew 3:13-17

Why did he do it?  He certainly didn’t have to.  Of all people, he should be exempt from baptism.  Why didn’t he just stand high on the bank and watch the others?  Why didn’t he just let all the others come for baptism, those who need a second chance, messed it up, and those who waded out so deep into trouble they weren’t sure whether to turn back or finish crossing?  Of all people, he didn’t need forgiven did he?  Let the people whose lives are just a tangle of poor judgement, ridicule and criticism, and those rich in things and poor in soul.

Why did he do it?  Because Jesus approached baptism as an act of solidarity with our human condition.  This solidarity is specifically grounded in that which God requires of all humankind, namely, humbly submitting to and trusting in God in all things.  In his humanity, Jesus stands with us in the waters of this life.  In his divinity, he finds us in the river and brings us through to the other side. 

He did it out of loyalty to God.  It is the moment in his life that declares who he is and what is expected as the son of God.  On that level it is personal.  He did it out of love for us, showing us that he is with us, he stands with us, he wades the currents of this life with us. It teaches what is expected of us as followers of Jesus. 

Baptism summons us away from a life saturated in greed, self gratification, judgmentalism, fear, empty promises, and shame to a life dripping with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control.

Luther said, “remember your baptism.”  How can people do that?  In Luther’s church, most baptisms were of infants brought by their mothers and fathers.  How could they remember their baptisms?  Why did he say such a thing?  

Was it to make you feel guilty? “Aha! You’ve strayed from your baptism!”  Everyone of us strays from, forgets, or denies our baptism in ways we may not even realize.  “Show me a bird who can say, ‘I look like my song.’  We all fall short. 

No, what Luther had in mind was this: Remember your baptism by claiming yourself to be a child of God and by going about God’s business - serving other people. It means touching, loving, going, doing, caring for people. The crying and broken-hearted people.  Hungry and diseased people.  Alienated people.  Suffering people.  That is the business of one who follows Jesus - one who through baptism lives out the love and grace of Jesus.
Come to the water, may God find us there - gather with others who are finding their way.  Come to the water and remember the love waiting there for you.  Come to the water and receive blessing, new life, freedom, hope, and healing.  
Come, remember your baptism and be grateful.  
Come, consider baptism and be thankful.
Come, celebrate the waters of story, renewal and identity, and be glad.
Come and remember who you are in Jesus. 

O God, we rejoice and give thanks in your grace.  Grace given.  Grace received. We thank you that you have claimed us.  You wash and strengthen us.  You guide and empower us.  Make us water in a dry and thirsty world. Make us places of refreshment. Establish us in love.  With all your people, may our cups be filled as we fill the cups of others.  May our lives overflow in service and love.  AMEN

Pastor Jenothy Irvine 

We may wonder what God was thinking when God sent the Son into the world to save the world, but how else was God going to persuade us than by knowing our lives inside out, unless the Word became flesh and lived among us (John 1:14), unless God assumed our nature and became one of us, unless God took upon himself our faults, our weaknesses, our sin? For God knew that he could not save what he did not assume.
In God’s way of thinking, this is how the plan was to be put into action. This is how God would decide to get close to us again. This is how God would invite us to return to him: condescending to us and arriving in this world in the form of a baby, in the womb of a peasant girl named Mary, walking and teaching and, yes, dying, on this earth in Jesus (Luke 1:26-38).

No, it doesn’t add up. But perhaps that’s not the point. Rather, the point has to do with who God is and how God acts. The point is that this is how God chose to save us: by becoming one of us.

Call it a crazy kind of love, I know. Call it risky, daring. Call it sacrificial, costly. Call it compassionate, vulnerable. Call it what you must, but call it for what it truly is – God in the flesh, God with us in a way that would reveal to us the power and mystery of the God who will draw to himself all creation. Indeed, the whole world! 

That’s Christmas in a nutshell, after all! 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

What kind of love? Self-giving love! The way of love at Christmas is self-giving. 
 
How may we receive such self-giving love? If you have not, may we invite you to do so, to experience what Charles Wesley calls “second birth”? 
 
May God’s love in Christ find a home in your heart. 
 
Merry Christmas!
​Pastor Andy Kinsey

​In Matthew 11:2-11, we find John the Baptist in prison, placed there by Herod. While in prison, John is beginning to have doubts, even some fears, about his cousin Jesus’ actions in the northern part of the country. John is hearing things, and he is beginning to wonder if Jesus is really following his script as Israel’s Messiah.  

That is, John was reading the script where Messiahs would do grand and amazing things, but he is realizing that it wasn’t happening. John was expecting Jesus to do something revolutionary, like dethrone Herold and get him out of prison, but that wasn’t happening either. And John was expecting Jesus to bring his powerful kingdom to bear on Israel’s sins and set the whole place ablaze with God’s winnowing fire, just as the prophet Elijah had done with the prophets of Baal, but that also wasn’t happening.

John is beginning to wonder if he had made a mistake trusting Jesus. Hence, the question to Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Matthew 11:2-3). 

John is expecting action and deliverance, but what he gets from Jesus is a strange response. Jesus tells John’s disciples:

To be sure, if there is one thing that John the Baptist would have known it was this passage from prophet Isaiah. And Jesus would have known that John would have recognized Isaiah 35.  

But what John was wondering was whether he had been missed something: after all, Jesus was also going around befriending tax collectors and sinners (Matthew 11:19). Jesus was being accused of being a drunkard and a glutton (Matthew 11:18). And Jesus was gaining a reputation, but not for what John (and many others) were anticipating.

During Advent, what are we expecting God to do? Who is it we are truly waiting for? How may God confound our expectations? 

As we approach Christmas, may God surprise us with grace and truth?
Pastor Andy Kinsey