When questions arise about a person’s competence, we typically have protocols or procedures to check a person’s background or expertise. In many cases, there is a letter from someone in authority or a diploma from an institution that can set the record straight or who can speak with confidence about a person’s skill level.

One of the traditional ways we find out about a person’s expertise is by letters of recommendation. Typically, they come from someone who can vouch for us if we are trying to find a job or if we are seeking a role somewhere. We often write them to help people. Perhaps you have written a few. Hopefully, we know enough about a person to give an honest appraisal. 

It is an important point to keep in mind; it is important to keep in mind because Paul is wondering why he needs a letter of recommendation to prove his authority. To be sure, unlike the other apostles, Paul did not know Jesus in the flesh the way Peter and James and Mary and Martha did. But Christ had appeared to Paul and called Paul to preach too; he was an apostle as well. In fact, as far as Paul is concerned, having a friend write a glowing recommendation is a bit self-serving. What is the point?  

But that’s how this chapter begins, with a wisecrack. “What do you mean, letter of recommendation? Why do I need to show you a letter? The only recommendation that matters is the one God writes on our hearts.” Hence, his comment: you are the letter of recommendation, when people see the kind of life you lead according to the Spirit, more so than any ink on a piece of paper or a checklist conjured up by your friends. After all, Paul writes, it is the letter of the law that kills, not the Spirit. What Paul wants to see are lives filled with the Spirit. That’s what he is trying to get his critics and the Corinthians to see.

How may lead lives according to the Spirit? How might we commend ourselves to Christ in such a way that when others see us they see the living God? 

​Pastor Andy Kinsey

​If you want to know what it means to follow Jesus in John’s Gospel, keep thet word reunion in mind. Keep the word communion in mind too, along with the words abide, glory, love, hour, cross, suffering, eternal life, bread of life, abundant life, vine, branches, sheep, good shepherd, resurrection. If you want to know what discipleship is about in John’s Gospel, we will want to remember the words intimacy and communion too, with one-on-one encounters with God’s Son, with Jesus as teacher-mentor, provider, or helper. 

It is in John’s Gospel, for example, that we see Nicodemus at night, one on one with Jesus, and we read of Jesus’ one on one meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well, and his encounter with a woman caught in adultery. Jesus is also one on one with Pontius Pilate before his crucifixion, and one on one with his beloved disciple. It is Jesus one on one with his mother at Cana of Galilee. Of course, Jesus is with others, but notice how many times he is with people individually sharing what is important.

That is why when you read John’s Gospel, you will want to note that this is not a Gospel for those who want to remain on the surface with their commitment to Christ. The love that Jesus and the Father share in the Spirit is intimate, real, deep; they abide in each other (15:4). It is the kind of relationship Christ has with his disciples – intimate, close; it is also the kind of relationships the disciples are to have with each other as well (15:3-6).

After all, in John’s Gospel, Jesus teaches a new commandment – to love one another, even to the point of taking off a towel and washing others’ feet (13:1-15). How much more intimate and vulnerable does it get than that? Indeed, Jesus says, greater love has no one than this, that they would lay down their life for their friend (15:13). In John’s Gospel, Jesus wants to see the church burning with love. 

In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, of course, Jesus speaks of love of God and neighbor. Here, Jesus is speaking to how the disciples are to love each other (13:13). There is overlap, of course, but we must not miss the point that Jesus creates a community of forgiveness among his disciples, among his friends. In John's Gospel we see a community of reunion. 

How might we reunite with Christ and stay connected to him? How might we abide in God and God in us?

Andy Kinsey

On September 6, 2013 in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny National Forest, Kurt Steiner achieved the Guinness World Record for “the most consecutive skips of a stone on water” when his skipping stone touched the water 88 times.  Yes, eighty-eight.  After thinking about this, what stuck in my mind was the idea that every time that rock made contact with the water, it left its mark - and then that mark left another mark, and another. The impact of that one rock and it’s connection to the water made something bigger than itself; something that started at the point of contact and extended out from there.  We call it a ripple. I have thought for a long time that a ripple is one of the most overlooked and underrated forces in the universe.  A force, I believe God is using all the time in ways we cannot see, do not always understand, and are a part of God’s divine conspiracy (Dallas Willard) to restore all creation. 

Today we take a look at the Lukan disciple. It is important to remember a few things about the gospel of Luke.   First it has been called the loveliest book of the world.  When asked to make a recommendation for a book on how to live a Christ-like life, one theologian responded, “Have you tried the book of Luke” (Barclay).  We have a pretty good idea that Luke was written mainly for gentiles, those who were outside the Jewish tradition and not Jewish converts.  One indicator of this is the fact that when the author of Luke traced the lineage of Jesus, it was traced not to Abraham, the founder of the Jewish race, as Matthew does, but to Adam, the founder of the human race.  Because of this, it is often said that the gospel of Luke then is the universal gospel.  More than any other gospel, Luke highlights the encounters of Jesus and those considered unclean, unworthy; the outsider, the poor, and the lost.  He tells us that “people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and sit at the table in the kingdom of God (13:29).  Above all, Luke shows Jesus as the friend of outcasts and sinners.  Luke’s Jesus is for everyone.   (Barclay)  

For the Lukan disciple, living out the gospel is about people.  The discipleship journey is focused on the relationships they build and maintain and not necessarily attendance and programs.  They are defined by the Greatest Commandment: love God and love people.  It may be tempting to say that Lukans focus on people over the mission of spreading the good news of Jesus, however, it is more accurate to say that people ARE the mission of the good news of Jesus. 

These are our process-oriented people.  The “how does that make you feel” people.  The “where do you see God,”  “What do you need to tell God today,” and “What do you need to hear from God today” people.  Their approach to discipleship is rooted in fellowship; getting to know others who are on the path of faith and walk alongside them on the journey; encouraging, challenging, growing and caring together.  They serve by listening, being available, gathering, creating safe places for people to be heard, accepted, and seen; a space that allows for transformation. 

Who was it that made you feel heard when you had questions or struggles? Who showed you what following Jesus really looked like?  Who assured you that you were not alone in your pain, not crazy for thinking or feeling the way you were, and not so far lost that God couldn’t find you?  Who empowered you?  Gave you a chance?  Who celebrated even the smallest of victories?  Who gave you space to find your way?  Who showed you God was bigger than what other people told you, held you to, or that you yourself imagined God could be?  Who stayed with you through the most difficult time of life assuring you God was there?  

Mother Teresa is quoted as saying, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.”  Lukan disciples create the kind of ripples that last.  A Lukan church casts things like hope, comfort, hospitality, support, acceptance,  and service into a community and be a part of ripple making servants.   A ripple that started in my life has reached the life of Grace church, and by God’s grace that ripple will go on to reach someone else through your life, and then another and another and together we do life.  

​Pastor Jenothy Irvine