Ok, Ok,... I Get It

Luke 4:14-21

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him.

The synagogue is the place that Jesus comes to and reads aloud of the words of the prophets to feed the hungry and heal the sick. It is within those walls that he hears, reads, and is instructed.  It is there that he is told that he is called to reach out to those in need.

This passage is a clear message to us that the church is important and has an important role to play in casting vision and setting forward people to heal a hurting world and transform lives.  In this passage Jesus came to the synagogue to get his marching orders. 

When someone asks me what 'church' is, or what 'church' means, I think of this passage. For me, personally, this is church. A place we go to hear the words, read the words, sing the words, in community with other believers. And this same place then calls us into love and action in the world.

So, the last week of the "This is Your Life, Jesus" series ends right here with Jesus in the synagogue.  This place (the synagogue) is the last 'character' to appear in his story of who set him forth in his path to ministry. Without his instruction and upbringing in the synagogue, he has little context for the ministry and the prophetic vision he is beginning to create.  He then, in this place, with all the community of believers around him, can say "Ok, ok.... I Get It, " and allow himself to become Jesus the healer, who would become Jesus the Christ.

 Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

Why do you think the place we call our church is important? Who/What do you find important within its walls? 

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"Your Mom is pushy!"

John 2:1-11

 The third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."


And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come."

 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

I put a subtitle of my own on this when I posted it on my Facebook page. It read,  "Otherwise known as 'Mary helped Jesus fill out his college applications.' "

 I was delighted to once again read this story of Mary pushing and encouraging Jesus to do what she knows he is born to do... what he is capable of doing.  As a mom of a senior getting ready to audition for Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting programs around the country, it feels comforting to read the words in John and know that even Mary is a pushy mom, a mom who is always encouraging her kid to do the next thing around the bend.

So, in week 3 of "This is Your Life, Jesus" we have perhaps the most important player of all in Jesus' journey to being Savior of the World. Mary, who uncompromisingly agrees to be the mother of Emmanuel, despite the dangers and the trouble that would bring her way.  Mary, in this passage, stands there and gives Jesus a little push onto the Savior Stage.  You can almost hear her whisper, "Go on... do it... change the water into wine... change these people's lives... change the world."

It is important to note that Jesus did not feel like 'the hour had come' for him to begin his work, for him to show the miracles he could offer to the world.  His mom, however, knew better.  What daily miracles do we forego because we fear the timing isn't right?  What people would we be better off to listen to when they nudge us to move forward even when we don't feel ready?

Remember Mary when you think about the Wedding at Cana.  Without her, the water does not change to wine and Jesus misses the opportunity for his first recorded, public miracle to occur.  Fortunately he was a good son and listened to his mother when SHE knew the time was right.

Comments? Email me or comment below.

Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Cousin Crooning

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

You hear the word 'crooning' and you probably think of Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra.  Or maybe you even think of Michael Buble.  A crooner sings with that mellow, smooth voice that makes your heart skip a beat.  And what does that have to do with a wild man who wears animal hides and lives in the wilderness?  Surely, we can't call John the Baptist a crooner...

But, come on now, those famous words sing out to us like a love song don't they? I think they do.
John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

He goes into some stuff just after that about separating the wheat from the chaff that sounds more like a soundtrack to a Stephen King film than a love song, but there is something about that announcement he gives to the people that compels us to listen to his words, just like we feel pulled into a crooner's song.
He is in love with the very idea of his cousin, Jesus, coming to the world as a Savior, as one who will baptize us with the Spirit.  John sets the stage, puts the needle on the record, allows us to get in the mood to await the One who comes to save us.

Words matter. We talked in Free Thinkers this morning about the way what words you choose to use are vitally important to the message you are trying to convey.   In this interpretation of the gospel of Luke, we have the words 'powerful' and 'Holy Spirit' and 'fire,' among others, to set a tone of the energy that is coming with the arrival of the Savior.

John sings to us a powerful message, telling us we better get ready for something unlike anything we have ever seen before.  What song lyrics would you write to convey how you feel about Jesus and what faith in the Divine is brought to your life?  What lyrics would you write to convey how you feel about your struggles in the faith?  Croon your own song.  Email me or comment below.

Every Time A Bell Rings An Angel Gets His Wings

John 1:1-14

This Sunday we will have our first annual Impromptu Intergenerational Interactive Christmas Pageant. Wish I could tell you for sure what will happen, but I'm not sure how it will unfold. Which, in my estimation, makes it just about as perfect as you can imagine a Nativity being.  I can't wait!

On Christmas Eve, we finish our sermon series on The Gospel According to George Bailey, the theological insights in It's A Wonderful Life. This week's sermon blog below focuses on the Christmas Eve sermon, "Every Time A Bell Rings, An Angel Gets His Wings."

What George Bailey discovers in his journey with Clarence, Angel Second Class, is that life can be wonderful even if it is not what we planned. He also discovers that every person's life affects everyone else's life... even people we will never know are touched somehow by our moving about on this planet with them.

John 1 reminds us that the Light of Christ has been with us from the beginning.  That in him was life and "the life was the light of all people."  That "the light shines in darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."

Our lives are the light.  The light of Christ shines in our hearts and in our souls and it is our duty and responsibility as people of Christ to release that light from within and let it shine on a world in darkness.

Clarence tells George that he will help him see that his life is worth living and that George, in turn, will help him get his wings.  Clarence will earn his wings by helping a lost soul that has gone terribly dark return to a joyous Christmas light.  And, in the last scene, when George sees all the pieces of his wonderful life shining around him in his living room, he gets it.  He knows his soul will no longer be dark and that the light he shines on the world matters.

Bells rang out across our land on Friday in memory of the victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. Each of those bells represents a life lost, but also must represent a light that will continue to glow throughout the ages.  We can never get back, in physical form, those who pass on, but we can see to it that their light shines throughout the ages.

We do this by making a difference in big and small ways each day.  We do this by understanding what the Christmas Season of Peace is all about. We do this by letting the Love of Christ pour out of our souls and into the world.

... to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.


How can you shine your light not only on Christmas, but every day?  What lights have shined for you in times of darkness? Email me or comment below.  Merry Christmas.

I Don't Care What Happens to Me.... I Wanna Live Again

Luke 1:39-55

George Bailey finally gets a chance to see, through the magic of the second-class angel Clarence, what his life would have been like if he had never lived.  And he realizes that his Place on Earth is special, beautiful, wonderful.  The money is still missing, jail time may still be ahead of him, but he doesn't want to lose another second of the life God gave him.  So he stands on that same bridge where he almost took his own life and he says, "I don't care what happens to me.... I wanna live again."

Mary has been entrusted to carrying to term the Savior, the Christ Child.  She could have run from this. She could have said, "Thanks, but no thanks." She had a choice. But she says, "My soul magnifies the Lord." She says, "My spirit rejoices..." She says, "(God) has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant." She understands that from now on, because of the choices she has made to face the road ahead, generations will call her blessed.

Knowing that something is happening in life that will forever affect your future is ominous and exciting. It is perilous and spectacular. The unknowns can paralyze you or they can make you soar.
Mary had no real knowledge of how things would turn out for her once she began the journey of becoming the mother of Jesus.  She just knew that she couldn't care what would happen, she needed to live into that reality, that promise from God that she would be blessed... regardless.

George faces an uncertain future and yet he is able to run through the streets with joy saying, "Merry Christmas" to all the parts of Bedford Falls that were, before his realization, more of a burden than a joy.

How do we move into an unknown future, an advent of expectation, with a calm reassurance that God will "look with favor" on our lives, no matter what lies ahead?  How do we begin to really LIVE again, despite not knowing what will happen to us tomorrow?

Email me or comment below.

Angel Second Class

Malachi 3:1-4

Luke 3: 1-6

One is coming who will prepare the way for you.
He will sit like a refiner and a purifier of silver.

John the Baptist says his mission is to tell people of the Coming Christ. His purpose is to make a straight path for Jesus, to refine a way for him to live into his life's purposes.

Not unlike our dear Clarence Oddbody, AS2. Angel Second Classs.  Clarence feels a bit inept that he has never earned his wings, but the Divine was waiting to send him on a mission perfect for him.  In that way, George and Clarence need each other. Clarence helps George out of his despair and into seeing that he really does have a wonderful life. George helps Clarence get his wings.

It's like that when we give of ourselves. We find that we, in turn, receive great benefits.  When we learn to give without any hope or possibility of anyone giving us anything back, it becomes a blessing.  That is what George has to discover about himself. He ends up in a set of life circumstances that, from the beginning, he never asked for or wanted.  But, he gave of himself, all the while. He gave people loans, he trusted people to pay back without signed contracts. He was a man of strong character, even if he has a secret desire to be spending his life somewhere else.

Clarence needs George to get his wings. But he also learns that his role in keeping George going is monumentally important. He learns that it isn't about getting his wings, it is about showing someone the way, being a guiding light when all the person you are with sees is darkness.

John the Baptist ends up giving his very life. He sets a stage of radical change, of something coming that people will not understand. He understands his role in this, but feels he has to do it anyway.  He understands that Jesus needs him to set such a stage. Jesus relies on John to get the ball rolling. If I may use theatrical metaphors,  Jesus needs John's 'stage managing' for his 'curtain to open.'

We all rely on each other for salvation from our current chaos, for setting the stage for the next act.  We need the people of our faith communities to hold us... and to push us into the spotlight when we are not sure we can do it anymore.

How do you see John the Baptist's role as vital in the Advent journey?  Could George have come out of his despair without his prayed for Angel Second Class to save him?

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"I'm at the end of my rope"

Isaiah 64: 1-6; Jeremiah 33:14-16)


"O that you would tear open the heavens and come down..."

"The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: "The LORD is our righteousness."

Ever felt lost, on the edge, hopeless, just certain that no matter how hard you've tried to do the right thing, you still end up at the end of your rope?  Then you know how George Bailey feels in that moment at the bar when he sees an arrest warrant in front of him and the loss of $8,000 looming in his face like a cancer.  He feels absolutely helpless. A powerful scene from the movie:

"Dear Father in heaven,.... show me the way, I'm at the end of my rope."

This, too, is the world of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. The world of diaspora. The world of never feeling at home because you might get trampled on again sometime soon.  And this is much the same kind of atmosphere into which Jesus is born. A time when Herod is declaring that newborn sons will die and moms are running scared.

George Bailey shows us the depths to which we can fall into despair as humans, based on circumstances often out of our control.  He is truly contemplating what reasons he possibly has to continue life as he knows it.

All this month, we will be exploring the theological insights in the classic holiday film, "It's A Wonderful Life."  This first advent reading puts us in the right mindset. Times are dark. Life is chaotic and filled with unease. Into this place, we plead for our savior to arrive. Into this world, we ask the Christ Child to come to us.

What does it feel like to be at the end of your rope? What does bringing 'light into darkness' mean to you? How do you prepare to bring the Christ Child into the chaos of your world?  Email me or comment below.