Populating the Pageant: Mary
Mary: her own personal catastrophe, her own personal redemption, and the redemption of the whole world. How does she know this stuff? How do we not? Luke 1:39-56.
Populating the Pageant: Elizabeth & Zechariah
Elizabeth took one look at her pregnant, unwed, teenage cousin and said, "Aren't you lucky!" Zechariah, confronted with good news in the holiest place on earth, said, "It can't be true." It's Advent, and for this season (extending through Christmas and Epiphany) we're paying attention to the people who make up the supporting cast for the coming of our Lord. "Lord, come quickly."
God's Glasses 4/4, guest post
Rev. Nathan Russell came to bring us the good word from Matthew 25:31-46 -- Jesus' last substantive teaching before his arrest and execution. Reading the gospel before the sermon, Nathan asked the church to withhold their "Thanks be to God" following the reading and instead answer two questions: "Is it true?" "Is it meaningful?" When he asks those questions again at the end of the sermon, I guarantee nobody's answers were the same as the first time.
God's Glasses 3/4
Virgins and lamps, slaves and money... Jesus has us scratching our heads when he says God's reign, God's impending future, is like these. Maybe we have to figure out what he's not saying before we take a stab at what he is saying. Matthew 25:1-30. Yeah, read the whole thing.
God's Glasses 2/4
We're in those pesky parables offered by Jesus in Jerusalem, the power center of his world, where he is making enemies faster than you can say "wicked tenants." Matthew 21:33-46.
God's Glasses 1/4
We're back into Jesus' parables, drawn this time from the set that comes late in Matthew's gospel. We're trying to learn to see the world (and its people) the way God sees it (and us). It's very strange, how this "landowning man" does business. Read Matthew 20:1-16 where Jesus quotes Bob Dylan. Or something like that.
No Empty Phrases 4/4
We finished up our worship series on the Lord's Prayer, reading Matthew 6:6-13 for the umpteenth time until we've almost got it -- get this -- memorized! Leah Jordan, a third-year student at Brite Divinity School, joined us to talk about the final petitions of the prayer: "Lead us not into [temptation, the time of trial]; deliver us from [evil, the evil one, the brokenness of everything]." It wasn't an easy assignment, and we'll be thinking about her words for long time to come. The prayer, like God's mercies, like our lives, is new every day. Thanks, Leah.
No Empty Phrases 2/4
"On earth as it is in heaven," we pray. So what does that mean about heaven? And what does that mean about earth? Wherein a plane ride with a fellow believer helps us clarify what we do, and don't, hope for our future with God.
No Empty Phrases, 1/4
We began worship in our brand-new space with a contemplation of the first lines of the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name." Hallowing, holy-ing, remembering that God is God and we are not. And we asked God to hallow the theater by praying all over it -- backstage, the balcony, even the bathrooms.
For Freedom Christ Has Set Us Free 7/7
A well-known homiletician says the most important part of the sermon is the first paragraph; within a few lines people decide whether to keep listening or check out. So this sermon begins with maybe the best/worst first paragraph ever. Exodus ends in Galatians: "For freedom Christ has set us free!" We read selections from Galatians 5 -- see the photos below.
For Freedom Christ Has Set Us Free 6/7
Have you ever tried to find music to celebrate ethical monotheism? Like, the "ethical" part of that? It was a good set for this night, but hard-won. And our 6th-grade reader of the 10 Commandments from Exodus 20 did the best job ever. Can you name all ten?
Jesus Is the Manna
Here was our communion devotion for the service with Exodus 16. Wowie kazowie.
For Freedom Christ Has Set Us Free, 5/7
Tonight we skipped ahead in our story, reading all of Exodus 16. "Freedom from Pharaoh's economy" was our theme. We made pillows. You'll see why.
For Freedom Christ Has Set Us Free, 4/7
We're making progress through the Exodus story, and landed here on Mount Horeb with Moses and that spontaneously combusting-but-not-consumed shrubbery. We read Exodus 3:1–4:5, then sang the strangest song I've ever had the pleasure of yelping along with in worship. Then a sermon about the ineffable Deity we like to call God.
Listen to the strange and perfect song here.
For Freedom Christ Has Set Us Free, 3/7
Continuing our reading of Exodus, we took a chunk from the latter half of chapter 2 (verses 11-25), a piece of the story not often told. Moses is a confused adult, driven to rage and exile by his identity crisis. Hebrew? Egyptian? Who is he?
And who are these people he leaves behind, the suffering slaves that are Moses' biological kin? They have been "Hebrews" up to now, ethnically kin but fragmented from each other. By the end of the chapter, they will be "Israelites," one people united in suffering, heirs to the promise of God to their ancestors. How do they change from one to the other?
God promises us freedom from isolation and fragmentation. Pinky swear.
For Freedom Christ Has Set Us Free, 2/7
And now, Exodus. The prequel for Moses, 1:8–2:10. Before anybody says, "Let my people go," five women have to say, "Let this baby live." Can they do it? You bet your buttons. Our service was about "freedom from helplessness."
For Freedom Christ Has Set Us Free, 1/7
Tonight we started a new worship series, "For Freedom Christ Has Set Us Free: Stories from the Exodus." But we weren't quite ready to read Exodus. We started with a condensed version of the Genesis-to-Exodus narrative from Psalm 105. We read the whole darn thing, and so should you before you listen.
Also, we had a worksheet. Fun times. (One of those Hs should be a Z. Bonus points if you find it.)
Riddle Me This: Jesus' Parables of God's Reign #5
Erin James-Brown has a way with words. But really, she has a way with life. We love the way she describes the with-God-way, with longing — and also with her teeth gritted, because, as she says, "doing what Jesus proposes here is stupid. Watch out." Yeah, we really should be able to admit that what we're doing, seeking this treasure with our whole lives on the line, is reckless and risky. Matthew 13:44-46 and following.
Confounding questions for our post-sermon conversation:
1. Have you ever found something for which you were willing to give up something valuable? Was it an easy decision, or difficult? Would you do it again?
2. What do you think about Jesus' scandalous relationship to money (i.e. asking people to sacrifice it all, requiring his disciples to depend on the hospitality of others)? How does his way of talking about money strike you? Does it challenge? inspire? leave you with more questions?
Riddle Me This: Jesus' Parables of God's Reign #4
Just two little short ones for this night: parables from the deli, Matthew 13:31-35, mustard and yeast. And Galileo Church's very first dedication of a baby to the reign of God, our very own mustard seed, CC Bates. Kinda scary. Kinda awesome!
Riddle Me This: Jesus' Parables of God's Reign #3
For today we read Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43. Can I just say, this church is bold for confronting texts in the Bible that don't square with our own ideas about how nice Jesus really ought to be? To disorient ourselves in preparation for a disorienting parable, we sat on quilts on the floor; during the sermon I moved from microphone to microphone around the perimeter of the room so that people had to pivot on their behinds to keep facing me. The message was something like, "Don't get too comfortable." And we did not.
After the sermon, we turned again to Confounding Questions for Conversation:
1. Katie quoted a friend quoting a Russian author (Alexander Solzhenitsyn in The Gulag Archipelago, brought to our attention again in Brian McLaren's Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha,and Mohammed Cross the Road?: "The line between good and evil runs through the center of my heart." Does that seem true to you? How do you know?
2. If someone were going to judge you -- wheat or weed -- what evidence would you like for them to consider?