There’s an old legend that tells how God sent one of his angels to Satan with the message that all the methods the devil uses to defeat Christians would be taken from him.  The devil pleaded to be allowed to keep only one.  The angel, thinking it an unusual, modest request from the greedy devil, agreed Satan could keep that one.  “Which one would you want to keep?” the angel inquired.  “Let me keep discouragement,” was Lucifer’s reply.  The angel agreed.  Satan could keep discouragement.  And the devil rejoiced for, said he, “In this one I have secured all I shall ever need to accomplish my dastardly work.”  
    
If there is one thing that will tear a person apart more than just about anything else, it is discouragement.  Broken bones can be repaired.  Torn muscles eventually heal.  Even grief, loss, and disappointment mend in time.  But a discouraged soul is hard to overcome.  Even those we consider some kind of “super human” face discouragement at one point or another.  In recent years more and more people of influence; actors, professional athletes, inventors, musical icons have cleared their throats of the embarrassment or shame and given voice to their experiences of discouragement and the toll it took on them; the manner in which it nearly destroyed their lives, careers, and families.  Harrison Ford, Prince Harry, Adel, Lady Gaga, Dolly Parton, Micheal Phelps, Duane “the rock” Johnson, 

Fame, fortune, or education.  Status, accomplishments, or skin color.  Experience, location, or lifestyle.  Religion, spiritual formation, or biblical foundation.  None of it matters to discouragement.  Even the biblical greats found themselves at the mercy of the devil's use of discouragement.  

Take Elijah for example.  Elijah was perhaps the greatest prophet.  Best known perhaps for his showdown with the 400+ prophets of Baal, a popular pagan god during the time of King Ahab.  
During the reign of King Ahab, there was a horrible drought and famine in the land and people had turned to praying to and offering sacrifices to the pagan gods and following the pagan prophets in desperate attempts to appease them so that the rain would come, crops would grow, and life would get better.  People were turning away from the God of Israel and prophets of Israel were being killed.  Elijah comes on the scene and confronts the situation.  He tells the people of Israel to make a decision - to stop trying to please a pagan god, listening to the prophets of Baal, while claiming to worship the God of Israel.  Stop worshiping idols, make up your mind, and trust the One true God.  So he tells them, get two bulls and prepare them for sacrifice.  He tells them “You take one and put it on the wood of the altar with no fire to it while I take the other, prepare it and put on another pile of wood and put no fire to it.  Then you call on the name of the gods of Baal and I will call on the name of the Lord and the god who brings fire, is God.  The challenge commenced and the prophets of Baal called upon their god from morning til noon and nothing happened; no fire.  Elijah comes and basically eggs them on saying, come on call louder, and they continued until late into the day.  No fire.  

At a time when Elijah should have been feeling incredible, undefeatable, secure in his calling, and like he was being used as a powerful voice for God, instead, he felt vulnerable, insecure, and scared.  “After the heights of triumph come the depths of despair.  And it is often when in this second state of heart and mind that we are more open to new learning.” What begins as running for his life, becomes a pilgrimage of compassion.  Elijah learns the life giving and life saving message of compassion for self through God.

When we listen to and observe the life of Elijah, we hear and recognize common emotions, questions, and struggles we have all had in times of stress, struggle, and maybe even during times of perceived victory.  It often seems as though on the tail of success, discouragement can creep in.  In those moments it is easy to want to run and hide, or run away to the last place we felt safe, strong, or grounded.  It is when we want to pull the covers back over our heads and say, “nope not today.”   So often and especially in our western culture, self compassion is seen as being weak, or too touchy feely, or some self-centered act of self help.  When in reality self-compassion is the restorative work of God’s love for God’s people. 

We have all been through a lot this past year and a half.  Many have been through a lot without the pandemic.  Now, it seems, we have the relief and joy of seeing things on the other side a little bit, which feels like victory.  Let’s not allow discouragement to take that from us.   Be kind church - to others, yes and to yourselves.  Do not let discouragement steal potential of new beginnings and possibilities, or stifle creativity and hope.  Be kind.  Don’t make a big splash about it.  Don’t overthink it.  Be kind to others AND to yourself.  Don’t feel bad about it.  Don’t wallow in it.  Just be kind to yourself too. Laugh a little more.  Play a little.  Rest.  Do what feeds your soul and be prepared for the journey we have ahead.  

 In the name of Jesus, may it be so.  Amen.

Pastor Jenothy Irvine

Holding a baby as it takes its first few breaths.  Holding the hand of someone as they take their last breath.  These are moments that leave you speechless.  Watching the sunrise while standing on a 13,000 foot mountain.  Watching the sunset over the ocean as the tide carries your worry away.  These are moments that leave you silent and in awe.  When was the last time you saw something so beautiful you couldn’t find the words to adequately describe it?  Or, heard a sound, a song, a melody, so incredible you stood speechless?  We have all at times experienced the limitations of words when trying to describe those transformative moments.  It’s like trying to explain the unexplainable.

The famous painting, The Trinity, created in the fifteenth century by Russian artist Andrei Rublev helps us do just that, explain the unexplainable.  According to Richard Rohr, this painting has become “the icon of icons” for many in both the Catholic and Protestant traditions.  It is said to be based on the biblical account in Genesis chapter eighteen, in which three visitors came to Abrhaham and Sarah.  Abraham called to his servants and Sarah and they prepared a meal for the guests.  It was during that meal, the visitors told Abraham and Sarah they would have a son even though they were along in years and Sarah was considered barren.  Upon that story and the powerful encounter, Rublev depicted the holy guests sharing a meal together.  

So powerful is this painting that a story is told that one artist became a flower of Jesus just from gazing at this icon, exclaiming, “If that’s the nature of God, then I’m a believer” (Rohr).  The original is still on display in the Tretyakov (Tret-ya-kov) gallery in Moscow.  The invitation for you, for all of us, is to allow this painting to teach, inspire, and broaden our understanding of the trinity.  It is my prayer that all of us will expand our awareness of the role, significance, and power of the Trinity. 

The Holy One expressed in three - each revealing a unique aspect and quality of the whole; each interdependent on the other;  eating and drinking, in infinite hospitality and mutual indwelling; both separate but one, sharing the deepest connection between themselves in true communion and community.  (Rohr).

Like with any powerful piece of art, the more you look at this piece, the more you can see; the more it “speaks” to you of its mystery.  Every part of it was obviously meditated on with great care: the gaze between the Three, the deep respect between them as they all share from a common bowl.  Note the hand of the Spirit pointing toward the open and fourth place at the table.  Why would Rublev include this action?  What does it mean? Is the Holy Spirit inviting, offering, or clearing a space and if so, for what?  For who?  

Perhaps the words penned by Paul in the book of Romans 5:1-5 will provide our answer.  The answer is “you” in the plural form; you all, you-ins, all y’all. Everyone and anyone. 

The power of the Trinity is found in its relationship to itself first and to us second.  Without understanding or at least acknowledging the depth of love and communion in the relationship between God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, we cannot come to understand or acknowledge what our relationship with them is nor what our relationship one to another is to look like.  Without the trinity we cannot understand true community.  We do not grasp the depth of love, service or sacrifice without the trinity.  

That was the mystery within invitation to Abraham and Sarah - to be a part of God’s bigger plan and that is (at least in part - as much as I can articulate) the mystery of our participation with God, with Jesus, and with the Holy Spirit - All in one. We are invited to sit at the very table with the Three in One. We - the collective we are the fourth presence at the table! 

The question for us then, is this: What does it mean for you to know that God, the all in one, invites you to participate with them in all things good, beautiful, and true?  What ramifications does it have on your life to know that at any given time and in any given situation or circumstance, there stands with you, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, all in one?  How might your life be changed, your interactions different, your decision making challenged, your relationships transformed, knowing that all of God, represented in all of Jesus, is given to us by all of the Holy Spirit?  All in one.

Dear People of God, if that doesn’t leave you speechless and standing in awe, I don’t know what will.  Amen. 

Pastor Jenothy Irvine

Pentecost is the birthday of the church, and it is one of those “holy days” we tend to forget – much like the “shy member” of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. 

We can tend to overlook the power of Pentecost, and, therefore, bypass the workings of the Spirit: for, as Christians, how do we understand the creation of a new community by the Spirit, where we are to share “all things in common”? Or how do we carry out the mission of the Spirit that shares the love of God in any language with every tribe and people? Or how do we ask ourselves what the Holy Spirit is bringing about, or how God’s Spirit is forming us?

Pentecost is that day when we realize that the church is more than a voluntary organization. It is that, but it is also more than that: on Pentecost, we affirm that the church is both human and divine. All too human, yes, but also a creation of God, which calls forth our response as people and asks of us: Have you received the Holy Spirit? Are you open to what the Spirit is doing? Do you want to be part of the Spirit’s mission? 

If we are to consider how we are to find our place in God’s mission, then we cannot leave out the power and presence of the Holy Spirit; we cannot somehow think the mission leaves out the Spirit with us. 

In fact, that is the very point of this devotion: Pentecost is the day when the Spirit creates and shapes the church for its mission. It is the day when the Spirit comes upon the disciples and fills them with power, and moves them, and shakes and even disturbs them, into becoming a new force of transformation. 

That is Pentecost – the event where the people who gathered in Jerusalem “from every nation under heaven” were able to communicate and understand each other in their own language (Acts 2:1-3). Indeed, as Luke tells us, the people who had “gathered in one place” were all “amazed and astonished” when the Holy Spirit came. They didn’t understand what it meant (Acts 2:12). 

As we celebrate Pentecost, how may we understand the Spirit? How may we seek to receive what God wants to give us? How may we join in the Spirit’s work?
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Pastor Andy Kinsey

Do you ever find yourself asking, “is there more to what I have, who I am, what I am doing, or how I am doing it?”  Do you wonder what more is out there?  What more you could do with what you have?  What more God God could do in and through you? What more is waiting for you, your family, your relationships, your money, experience, gifts, and skills?  

Paul and Lydia were two significant believers in the life of the early church.  Paul, an apostle, and Lydia a businesswoman.  Both had the desire to do something more with their life.  Both wanted to find their place in God’s bigger plan for them and God’s work on earth.  Paul was reaching and teaching people for Jesus but wanted to do more.  Lydia had not yet heard of Jesus, but believed in the God of Israel and wanted more out of her life.  Although the answer to the “more” question manifested itself differently for each of them, the exciting, powerful, and beautiful thing about their story is that the answer was found in God.  That doesn’t sound like much, three verses, Acts 16:13-15 contain one of history’s greatest faith conversion stories ever!

In those three verses God does more than either Lydia or Paul, or us for that matter, could imagine.  In those three verses, the good news of Jesus crossed into Europe, into one of the most strategic Roman colonies in history, by way of and through the heart of a woman!  She also owned her own home, which became the base of operation for Paul and the apostles for the work of the church.  In three verses, Christianity crosses into Europe and the first church is established.  Both because Lydia sought more from her faith and her God. 

Lydia was not originally from Philippi.  She was from the region Thyrtira (thigh-ya-tie-rah), in the province called Lydia, in the country of Asia Minor.   The area of Lydia had five large cities: Ephesus, Smyrna, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Thyatira, all located on or near the chief rivers and connected with coastal cities by well traveled roads. (All the Women of the Bible 222).  She would have had connections all along those major routes, why?  Because remember she was a dealer in fine purple cloth.  She was a business woman who made and sold fine purple cloth and textiles, a skill only certain women from a certain area knew how to do. This meant that the good news of Jesus that Paul and the other apostles were teaching and preaching could go anywhere. 

When God does more, it’s way more!

The Lydian market, as it was called, had enjoyed for generations a wide and valuable trade throughout the Graeco-Roman world.  This woman evidently was so closely allied with her old province of Lydia, that her personal name reflected her connection to the place and the people (All the Women of the Bible 222).  

Could it be that because Lydia was looking for God looking for her that she found her place in God’s mission?  We are told she believed, became baptized, her and all her household.  Then think about how far reaching the possibilities were from there because of the location of Philippi and Lydia’s business contacts / connections; roads and trade routes went in every direction from that starting point.  

She found her place because she was praying, seeking, and opening herself to the possibility that God was seeking her (N.T. Wright 63) and indeed came to know that God would use her to impact the spread of the good news across the known world.  

Finding your place in God’s mission is about listening, watching, and waiting for more.  It is about seeking more out of your faith and yourself.  It is about knowing that God’s “more” is far greater than ours if we but seek and trust it.  It is about looking for God looking for you and then trusting God to use who you are and what you have. 

I wonder how God is using you to reveal God’s self - God’s love, mercy, kindness, and forgiveness to those around you, to those who need it most.   I wonder, are you looking for God looking for you?  May we all find our place in God’s mission and continue to share the good news of Jesus.

Amen  

Pastor Jenothy Irvine

What happens following any one of these situations or circumstances?  Rebuilding.  A time of finding a way through the rubble and building back what was lost.  A moment of finding the strength to keep going when it would be easier to quit.  A time of remembering what truly matters and evaluating who you really are as an individual and as a part community and culture.  A process of remembering, reimagining, and rebuilding. 

We are a year and half into a global pandemic.   The entire globe has been impacted by this virus.  Things are different than they were a year and half ago.  All of us have had to adjust, adapt, and alter schedules, routines, plans, expectations, and how we understand the world.   Most of us, if we are honest, lived this last year and half somewhere between faith and fear, confidence and caution, anxiety and relief. 

Now it seems we are coming through the other side; slowly, cautiously, moving toward what life used to be like, yet knowing it will never be the same.  Now is the time we rebuild; put things back together in a way that reflects the lessons learned, priorities identified, and awareness and wisdom gained over the last year and a half.  Now is the time to consider what we do and how we can do it better for God, others, and ourselves. 

Jesus uses this story to symbolize God replacing arrogant, selfish religious leaders with his appointed leader (Jesus), who would be the starting point of a new work of God (Isa 28:14–17; Zech 10:3–5): God uses the stone that the builders rejected (Jesus) to begin a new work.  Jesus’ parable of the tenants depicts how God is beginning a new work by entrusting his kingdom to new “tenants” (Matt 21:42–43).  In other words: the vineyard is the nation of Israel - the people of God; the owner is God.  The cultivators are the religious leaders.  The messengers who were sent are the prophets sent by God and often rejected and killed.  The son who came last is, of course, Jeusus - the cornerstone. 

The cornerstone, sometimes interpreted as the capstone, was considered the most important stone.  It was the one stone that held everything else in place.  It was the one stone that kept just enough pressure and tension on everything else that the entire structure held together.  The cornerstone was often the first stone placed - the foundational corner of the entire structure.  It determined the length, height, and width of the structure.  The capstone was often the final yet most important piece, without it, the structure would not stand.  So either way you look at it, without that stone, nothing would stand.  Nothing would last.  

It is pretty clear then, that Jesus was and is that stone; the one we are to build our foundation on; the one that determines and defines our meaning and purpose, and the one that holds everything else together.  We can have the biggest and best of everything here at Grace, but if we don’t model, follow, teach, and preach Jesus, we won’t stand; we will fall apart, slowly erode, or collapse.  We can have the best ministries, programs, classes, workshops, special events, and guest speakers; be on tv for all that we do,  but if we don’t begin and end with Jesus, we have nothing.  

Church I am not telling you anything you don’t already know.  Yet, one thing remains.  We know it, but we rarely live it out fully and completely.  We know it but we are afraid of what it might mean if we try something new, different, or outside our comfort zone.  We know it but seldom do we do the full on trust fall into the arms of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.  
The text speaks to God’s trust in us as the farmhands, workers, and tenants of God’s kingdom.  It speaks of God’s patience with us.  It is about service, responsibility, privilege, and accountability.  All of which is a part of the rebuilding on the cornerstone of Jesus. 

As we come through the other side of anything; economic strain, flood, violence, politics, tragedy, uncertainty, and yes, a global pandemic, we can do nothing less than remember who we are in Christ, reimagine what church can and should look like, and rebuild on the  model, example, and teaching of Jesus.

Let’s remember and live like we mean it.  Let’s reimagine and trust God’s leading.  Let’s rebuild and see what the Holy Spirit can do.  

I know it can be scary.  Maybe that’s how we know it matters.   Amen. 

Pastor Jenothy Irvine

John speaks of Christians as “children” or “little children.” Those who
are born of God are “children of God.” Those who receive the gospel are those whom God has given the power to become part of a special family (1 Jn. 2:29).

That is to say, we all are children of God – still learning, still growing, still needing to improve, still finding ways of understanding who God is, and what God is doing, still trying to make sense of life! John wants us to know that becoming a child of God is a gift, but a gift that continues to invite us to see more, for with God there always is more!
In fact, John himself writes, “What we will be (as children of God) has not yet been revealed; but we know that when Christ appears, we will be like him, for we shall see him as he is, and all who have this hope purify themselves as Christ is pure” (1 Jn. 3:2-3). As children of God, we can imagine what we can become in this life and in the life to come: to become like Christ, the perfect image of God.

In other words, it is all about who we are now but who we can become in the future; but always moving toward Christ, the goal of the Christian life. We are not fully there yet, of course, but someday, someday, we will be through God’s love and grace! John is inviting us to imagine what shape our lives can take and to see how our lives can offer light in a world of darkness, violence, deceit, delusion, and death.
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How is God inviting you to move into the future? How might you imagine what Christ is calling you to do that you might not have considered?

Pastor Andy Kinsey