Encountering Jesus, Lent V: Keeping it real

Lent V 2023 (March 26)

It turns out that nothing forces us to be “real” about life like dying and death.  Today Jesus meets two grieving sisters, Mary and Martha (John 11).  They are completely real and authentic with him, declaring “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  Their real grief brings out the real love of Jesus, who reveals that he is truly the resurrection and life.

What about your story?  When has Jesus, as the resurrection and the life, showed up in your life, over and against the cross?

We know that people share stories in times of comforting others in the grief, often at or around funerals; what story will people tell of you? 

As they tell the story of you, may the ultimately tell the story of the who died and rose for you!

Note:  The picture of our youth readers during Lent.

Encountering Jesus, Lent 4: The more things look the same…

 

Lent 4 2023 (March 19)

The more things look the same…the more they’ve actually changed.  

In this week’s encounter with Jesus and a blind man (John 9), we open and close the story with two similar scenes: a man, on his knees, humbling looking up to Jesus.  But reflection quickly reveals the situations are very different.

Likewise, if we looked at our life in early March 2020 and early March 2023, we might say, wow, things look the same.  But reflection quickly reveals the situations are very different.

Pastor Rob works with how Jesus encounters the man, taking on his shame to heal him, as way of understanding how God has encountered us these past three years.

The picture of is former and current camp staff as we hosted “Camp Sunday” today.

Finding a Common Ground

 Lent 3 2023 (March 12)

It is beyond debate that we live in a world with many divisions, some ancient and others new. 

When Jesus encountered the woman at the well, he was encountering a millennia old divide.  Yet he finds a way to make a common sacred ground between the two people, building a bridge over the huge cultural chasm that existed between him and the woman.

How does Jesus do this?  How might we be able to follow Jesus in doing this too?

The answer, as it turns out, is neither breaking relationships nor watering down the truth, but something else.

(The picture is of our youth readers)

The Pharisee Project

 Lent II 2023 (March 5)

The Pharisee Project

“Hi.  I am Rob.  I am a sinner.  And sometimes a Pharisee too.”  

Jesus encounters Nicodemus, a Pharisee.  Turns out we meet Pharisees in our world today.  Sometimes they are in the mirror looking back at us.

Pharisees are people in Jesus’ day — and today — who decide to make obedience to the law the fundamental orientation of the life. In doing sp, they inevitably becoming blind to God’s love and their own sin.

A reflection on what it might mean for us to be a confessing church instead of those who advance the pharisee project.

The picture is of our youth who read the Gospel (John 3) this morning.