Blog Posts - Grace United Methodist Church - Franklin, IN

To Follow - John 1:43-51

3/12/2019

It is clear in reading the Gospel of John’s account of Jesus calling the disciples that the disciples were people with very ordinary lives and biases. Indeed, what does Nathanael say to Philip? “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). His question belies a kind of prejudice: “What good can possibly come out of a backward place like Nazareth?”

And yet, as Jesus approaches Nathanael to calling him into discipleship, Jesus’ response is also quite telling, for rather than criticize Nathanael, Jesus pays Nathanael a compliment: “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit” (John 1:47).

That’s not something we could say about everyone, not even about every Christian. Sadly, persons have deceit, a word that in the King James Version of the Bible is translated as guile: that is, in Nathanael, there was no guile, no trickery, no slyness. Eugene Peterson in The Message paraphrases Jesus’ statement as “Here is a real Israelite, with not a false bone in his body.” Sincere, upright, someone who is not looking for some kind of ethical wiggle room, not looking to get “one-up” on others.

Jesus responds to Nathanael’s put-down with a compliment. In fact, Nathanael is surprised as to what Jesus actually knows about him and apparently the condition of his heart (John 1:48). Raising the question as to what Christ really knows about us! What does Christ see in us? Guile? Deceit? Humility? Words are important.

Whatever it was that Jesus recognized in Nathanael, it prompted Nathanael to confess Jesus as not only a rabbi and carpenter’s son, but God’s Son and Israel’s King (John 1:49). Not a bad choice of words to describe such a person from the hills and hollers of Galilee! Nathanael will follow Jesus, despite his own bias toward him.

A reminder that all discipleship involves interacting with Jesus. That one’s identity as a disciple is always grounded in Jesus, that when Jesus calls us to follow him, Jesus wants us to demonstrate qualities that speak of who Jesus is, qualities like honesty, mercy, compassion, even curiosity or seeing where God might actually take us.

Where is Christ calling us to follow this season of Lent? What words would Jesus use to describe us?

A Grander View - Matthew 17:1-9

3/9/2019

When you look at the people that surround your daily life, what do you see? Sons and daughters trying to figure out what it means to be strong or what real beauty looks like? An aging parent or spouse losing their capacity to remember? Students? Workers? Colleagues? Neighbors? When you look in the eyes of a stranger, if you look in the eyes of a stranger, what do you see? The sales clerk at Kohls, or your server at your favorite restaurant, what do you see? A single parent barely getting by financially? A young adult being the parent and head of household to her brothers and mom? Tattoos? Scars? Piercings? A criminal record. A way of life different than yours? When you look at the faces in this room what do you see? Joy? Sorrow? Judgement? Gladness? Frustration? And finally, when you look at our world today, what do you see? Heroes? Villians? A world of people hiding behind mask after mask?

Is that all there is? Is what we see all there is? What if there is more? What if Jesus has more to show us - a greater vision, a grander view?

The Transfiguration moment of Jesus with his three disciples is our lesson in more. It is the moment Jesus’ appearance changed from his earthly state to a heavenly one, revealing a grander view of who he was and what he was about.

With only a few days before the beginning of Lent, this is a good weekend to consider what it is we see when we look at Jesus; when we consider his life, what he taught, and whether or not we see God’s intended glory and truth, or simply see what we want to see.

Jesus had been with the disciples for three years. They had traveled many a miles together, walked many a dusty roads, witnessed many a miracles, and heard many a teachings. They saw with their own eyes what Jesus was about, how he treated people, taught people, changed people, challenged people, and loved people.

AND YET they still struggled to answer Jesus’ question “Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:15) They still wrestled to grasp the kind of suffering and death Jesus told them he had to endure. (Matthew 16:21) They could not see beyond what they were looking at to comprehend God’s grander view made manifest in Jesus. They saw what they wanted to see.

I ask you people of God, are we any different? Do we see beyond what we are looking at? Beyond the categories and boxes we put things and people in? Beyond the labels we so easily attach to define one another or keep others in their place? Beyond any number of political, religious, spiritual, racial, mental, sexual, or mental issues that scare us, challenge us, or make us uncomfortable? Perhaps we are not so different after all, for we often see what we want to see, and fail to see beyond what we are looking at.

That is why we need the transfiguration moment today as much as those early followers. Jesus knew what waited for him and his followers. He knew they had not yet grasped the bigger picture of who he was, why he walked among them, and what he wanted for them after he was no longer physically with them.

So imagine for a moment, you are in the initial steps of the biggest, most breathtaking yet horrific journey of your life, and the people closest to you don’t fully understand the weight of what you are facing or what you are about to endure. I think I would want them to come with me and get away for a time of sharing, remembering, reflection and prayer. And that’s what Jesus did. I think Jesus did this at some level for his disciples and for himself, because he needed the support of his friends. He needed them to see the bigger truth of his identity and authority.

He also needed God in a way we may never fully comprehend. He needed to make absolutely sure, it was God’s will for him to continue to Jerusalem. This was not the first time Jesus took time to get away, pray and fill his tank with the assurance of God. Now more than ever, he had to know with every ounce of his being that God would be with him every step of the way. It didn’t hurt in this case, that Moses and Elijah showed up as well. Moses the greatest of all the law-givers and Elijah,he greatest of all the prophets. It was as if the great figures in Israel’s history came to Jesus, as he was setting out on the last and greatest adventure into the unknown, and told him to go on.

On the slopes of Mt. Hermon, the disciples see the glory of the Lord Jesus like never before. They hear God speaking truth over Jesus, claiming him as God’s beloved son, in whom God delights. But more importantly, they hear God say, “listen to him.” It is important to note that the Greek word used here is not your casual, “hey you might want to hear what he has to say.” It is a direct command from God. Much like at his baptism, this is the moment, Jesus’ identity and authority are fully recognized.

This moment held power to open the eyes of these three disciples. To help them see beyond what was right in front of them.

God was giving the disciples the bigger picture to hold on to through the coming struggle and shame. The view from the top which was a view of triumph through the humiliation and a view of the crown beyond the Cross.

The experience on Mount Hermon gave the disciples what they needed to keep going even when they didn’t understand. Even when their fear and uncertainty, when all was said and done, they would remember what they saw that day, and it would give a new understanding of what Jesus taught them and modeled for them. It would give them clarity to love the way Jesus loved even others chose not to, and passion to go about life in a way that brought hope, peace, comfort and joy to others even when what they saw said otherwise. It would give them vision to create the kind of community Jesus showed them was possible regardless of what their eyes were seeing around them. The transfiguration gave them the realization and truth to see the glory of Jesus and the big picture of God’s love.

The same truth God has for us when we look beyond what we see. When we look beyond opposing thought and opinion and find common ground. When we look beyond the labels, categories, and issues and see the actual person. When we look beyond anger, judgement and prejudice and see the gift of other. When we look beyond disputes and divisive action and see the need for one another. When we look beyond perceptions, assumptions, and limitations and see God’s grace, goodness, and glory. When we are willing to go up that mountain, and see what such God designed glory, we may very well fall on our face in fear and trembling as well - for such glory is a sight to behold.

Lent has begun. It is a season for followers of Jesus to reflect on their spiritual walk, take inventory of their faith, and surrender that which keeps them from fully experiencing the abundance of Jesus’ sacrifice. We cannot do that dear church if we do not recognize God’s grander view for us - as individuals, as family, as a church, as community, as people sharing life on this planet together. We cannot fully experience the glory of God if we do not look beyond our assumptions, beyond our ego, our agenda, our criticism, our fear and our shame and see vulnerability, connection and the common ground found in Jesus. Jesus, who stands with his hand on our shoulders saying, “Do not be afraid.”

I pray as we step into this season of growth and glory, we will recognize and confess where we fall short. I pray we will let go of our need as Christians to be right at the expense of hurting others. I pray we are willing to offer and receive forgiveness. I pray we will see beyond what we are looking at.

May it be so.
Pastor Jenothy Irvine

Something Beautiful - Leviticus 19:1-2, 18

2/26/2019

Do you ever look at the world today and think to yourself, “What a mess!” I know I do. I mean, it’s a mess. From the men and women on Washington’s capitol hill, all playing a grown up version of the childhood game of “king of the hill,” to people staging a hate crime attack in an attempt to get more money from their employer, you might the world we live in is a mess. People taking the law into their own hands and hurting innocent people. Young children being treated for severe anxiety and depression, some as young as 8 years old being admitted to treatment centers. Teenagers and adults alike thinking that taking their own life is the only answer to their questions of who they are, who they love, and who loves them. Something is messed up. When Christians, followers of Jesus, can’t accept one another, and instead judge one another in order to manage their own sin, making themselves feel better, something is messed up. When we fail to even try to get along or agree to disagree and rather argue, build walls, and allow fear of the unknown, fear of being uncomfortable, and fear of being wrong, to stand in the way of the kind of community God ordained and Jesus modeled, something is messed up.

Pick up a newspaper, watch the news, pull up a podcast, or read someone’s feed on Facebook or Instagram and you will see life is a mess right now. Whether it is on a national, local or personal level, or whether it is politics or religion. What are we to do? How can anything beautiful, good or true come from such a mess?

The words of Leviticus 19 help us step into the answer. Yes, Leviticus 19. It’s not the first place I would have looked either. It’s not the only place to find our answers. I don’t know that I have ever heard a sermon based on this book of Old Testament law, codes, rules and regulations. Perhaps that is why it is so powerful. Perhaps the strength of what it offers is in the fact we don’t expect to find much there. Perhaps that is why it can take something so messy and create, discover, build and imagine something beautiful.

From the perspective of a modern or postmodern reader, Leviticus appears to be the least useful book of the Bible. However, here is something that could cause us to rethink all that: In the New Testament, Leviticus is quoted several times, including by Jesus himself. When Jesus was asked about which commandment was the greatest, he answered by citing two: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” That second one, “Love your neighbor as yourself” is a direct quote from Leviticus 19 (our text for today), and Jesus said that “Upon these two commandments hang ALL the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures” (Matt. 22:40). The apostle Paul also quotes that verse from Leviticus in his letters to the Romans (13:9) and to the Galatians (5:14). What’s more, the New Testament book of James, which almost everybody agrees is a helpful and important book, actually seems to be a sermon based on Leviticus 19:12-18.

Given all that New Testament attention to Leviticus, perhaps we should take another look at this book, especially chapter 19. People of God, hear these words again - Lev. 19:1-2 and 18. In it, we are taught the whole great big mess of life in community comes down to and can be cleaned up in two verses. All you have to do? Be holy and love your neighbor.
Easier said than done right? Maybe, but maybe not. Maybe, we as humans simply makes things much harder than they need to be. One of the first questions we ask is “How?” How do we demonstrate a holy life? How do we love our neighbor? Wait, no that’s not right. No, the first question we need to ask is what every two and three year old knows to ask, “why?” Why live a holy life? Why love my neighbor, especially that one?

Answer? “Be holy God says, because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” I am going to tell you something that will serve you well if you don’t already know it. Remember when you would question your mom, dad, or maybe your grandparents? More often than not, what would they eventually say to you? “Because I said so, that’s why!” The phrase “I, the Lord your God, am holy” is the the divine “because I said so”.

If you think about it, yes maybe from our parents it was sometimes said in frustration but if you could hear behind their words and into the depth of their voice, they were really saying, “because I love you.” It is easier to say, “because I said so” but there is much more to it. So it is with God. “Be holy.” Why? Because I said so - because I love you far more than you can possibly imagine. I want to provide for you, sustain you and bring you into completion. I want to be in relationship with you. I love you.

That is why.

The trouble with being holy, is that is cannot be rolled up into a single activity or be reduced to a way of dressing or expressed solely by carrying a Bible everywhere. Church attendance by itself doesn’t count. Knowing the Lord’s Prayer, Apostles Creed, or the 10 Commandments in and of itself doesn’t cover it. Rather, the presence of God - the very imprint of God among us is expressed in our daily practices and acts of thoughtfulness, kindness, justice, mercy, compassion, generosity, and wait for it...love. Those are the expressions of God’s holiness in the world. Whether that world is right here in Franklin, the bank down the street, the drop off line at school, the doctor’s office, in your own house, or across to the nation's capital and around the world. That is the loving your neighbor part.

Behind the archaic sacrificial instructions found in Leviticus, the outdated rituals and complex dietary restrictions that are unnecessary for contemporary Christian living is this rock-solid truth: we are to be a holy people because the God who created, designed and loves us, is holy. We are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. EVERYTHING else, Jesus said, hangs on those two: love God, love neighbor. In doing so, we come to recognize, it is not about us - what we want, what we like, what we can or cannot accept, what makes us comfortable, what makes us feel popular or in control. It is not about being right, having more experience or authority.

The times and culture may have changed but the essence and truth of God’s message has not. It was and is and forever will be about our lives being an expression of a holy God who so loved the world that he gave everything to us out of a desire to make something beautiful, good and true. That “something” begins in and comes to life by living in community WITH others; alongside and accompanying ALL people on this crazy train called life and faith.

The bottom line dear people of God, is and always has been this: whatever mess we find ourselves in in this life - in this world, in the church, in our families, with friends, with strangers, and with those who think, act, live, choose, and believe differently, the only way through is to recognize it is about love and relationships. God’s love expressed in our connection to people and them to us. It’s called community and we need to be about loving and relating to people, all people. Not because we agree with them, or we like them, or they us. Not because we fully understand them, but because being in relationship, being connected to others is what it means to experience the completeness and perfection of God.

May we all do our part to make it so. Amen.

Pastor Jenothy Irvine

Your Cheatin' Heart - Jeremiah 17:5-10

2/19/2019

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

Snuffed Out? - Matthew 5:13-20

2/12/2019

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?

Pastor Andy Kinsey

God Blessed Living - Matthew 5:1-12

2/5/2019

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

The Mission of God - Matthew 4:12-23

1/29/2019

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!

Pastor Andy Kinsey

Come to the Water - A Celebration of Baptism - Matthew 3:13-17

1/15/2019

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

The Way of Light - Matthew 2:2

1/9/2019

A great darkness hung in the air...something had to change. The winds of political unrest crashed against the people. The hunger for power and the ability to control it devoured those who sought it and those who stood in it’s way. The people were caught in currents of “they said”, “we said,” our word against yours, and many struggled to know what was Truth, and who they could trust. People were condemned, lived in hiding, or worse, were beaten, some almost to death because of who they loved. Others were ridiculed, shunned and marginalized for the color of their skin. Many were abused with words and fists, held back, or overlooked because of their gender. A great darkness indeed, surely something would change.

When do you think those words were written? What time in history? I don’t know about you but I think they could be written at just about anytime throughout history, including today.

December 25 has come and gone and with, the greatest story ever told is probably already boxed back up with the decorations and ready to go back down stairs, in the closet or up in the attic.

Today, I to ask you to wait, just a little longer. I ask you to keep one thing out this year...and here’s why. Because we still need the message of the greatest story ever told. We still need the hope, joy and promise that comes with the telling and living of the story.

There is still a great darkness in the world for a lot of people. I am not talking about “out there” or “over there” in the world. I am talking about right here, in this room, in our community, and yes, in our beloved “land of the free and home of the brave.”

While we think of Christmas as a season of light, the truth is, the birth story of Jesus Christ is filled with darkness. Anticipating the birth of the Christ child centuries before Mary was great with child, Isaiah writes that the light that was coming into the world, came to a people shrouded in darkness (9:1-7). Gloom, anguish, and contempt were just some of the adjectives used to describe this darkness.

In order understand the full revelation of the light which came into the world when Christ was born, we need to recognize the darkness into which our Christ was born.

Political unrest. Government power struggles. Hunger for status and control. Poor decisions that impact the lives of the poorest among people. Senseless violence. Division. Brutality. It may sound like our world today, but this is the darkness that surrounded the birth of Jesus.

When we consider that Christ came into such darkness in order to bring light, the truth is staggering, breathtaking, and beautiful. For we all face seasons of darkness, and God in the flesh knows exactly what that looks like and feels like.

In the church year, the Epiphany season is when we remember a time when we walked in darkness, or tried to find our way through the shadowy places of life. We remember that there are still corners of our world today that walk in social, economical and political darkness; that our world today deals with spiritual darkness. Epiphany is the time we remember that it is in that darkness - the darkness of: cancer, addiction, tragedy, illness, childhood disease, senseless violence...Divine Light still shines. God’s goodness and glory are brought forth in Jesus; his actions, teachings, miracles, and most of all his love.

This is the season to celebrate that God’s love is love enough for all. That is what the story of the Magi is about; perceived outsiders coming to the new King, NOT just to find him but to worship him; to recognize his authority and call him King. God’s love is love enough for all. The insiders, the outsiders, the uptowners and downtowners, residents and immigrants, foreign and domestic.

The light of God’s love shines in the midst of our darkness - sometimes it is but a faint spark or flicker. Sometimes it is so bright hurts our eyes, or catches us by surprise. And sometimes it even reveals more than we want to see - calls us to see what is hard, demanding, scary about following Jesus.

Yet it is in this epiphany light and by this epiphany light we follow Jesus. The light of Epiphany brings to the surface questions like:

What areas of your life need more God light?
How can we be vessels of light - reflectors of light? Lighting the path for others - shining hope for the hopeless - showering grace to others?
What is it God is asking you to bring into the light of love?
What events can become epiphany moments; light switches of God’s movement and presence for you?
How will you walk this journey of faith differently not just because you sang happy birthday to Jesus a few days ago, but because God seeks to manifest God’s love in our lives every single day?

Dear church, let us walk in the way of light, for our light has come and the dark will not overcome it. AMEN.

Pastor Jenothy Irvine

The Way of Hope - Hebrews 11:1-3

1/1/2019

In our lesson from the Letter to the Hebrews, we learn about the way of hope, by realizing how it is grounded in the life of faith: faith, as the Preacher of Hebrews writes, is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith gives birth to hope, and hope, as Paul says in Romans, does not disappoint us (5:5). For hope reminds us that even in the worst of times, God is with us, and hope says to us that even when life is difficult, there is a way through our difficulties. Hope is a gift.

Perhaps we may remember the great scene in the movie the Shawshenk Redemption, where Red (played by Morgan Freeman) tells Andy Dufresne (played by Tim Robbins) that hope is a dangerous thing. The reason Red felt hope was dangerous was because hope can get us to think the end is near, but then it never comes. And after being denied parole year after year, Red was losing hope. Andy Dufresne, on the other hand, had something else in mind: hope as freedom.
That’s what hope can do! Hope can tell us there is something to live for; there is another future worth fighting for, even worth dying for.

That’s why, we may say that hope is dangerous: hope can spark us to do what folks say can’t be done! Like Abraham and Sarah, who were old and barren, without children: God called them to a new future and they obeyed; they left their homeland behind and they set out for a new land of promise, not always knowing what the future held for them (Genesis 12:1-3a; Hebrews 11:8-16). To be sure, Abraham and Sarah couldn’t see it at first, but by faith the promise of hope became a reality (Hebrews 11:8-13).

That’s what hope can do: hope can carry our faith over the finish line. Hope can assure us that our faith in what is invisible (in God) will become visible (in mission). Hope provides a kind of confidence or substance that our faith will bring forth fruit – good fruit (Hebrews 11:1-3).

Perhaps we cannot see such fruit in the present, but hope keeps us looking forward because our faith in God keeps us grounded, even when we can’t see the results. It is why we really cannot separate faith and hope.

What are you hoping for now? What gives you hope? As we move into the future, may God give you hope and faith in all things! Amen.

Pastor Andy Kinsey