Confrontation can be an Act of Love

When someone does something wrong to you, what is your reaction? For most of us, it involves some combination of gossiping, ranting online, ghosting a person or simply burying our frustration. But Jesus teaches a different way of mediating conflict, a way of loving our neighbor that calls for the truth to be spoken and heard in love.

Turns out it, this is so difficult, we do not simply need moral wisdom, but we need a savior, one has truly loved us and chosen to be with us in the midst of heartache and sin. 

Which of the 5,000 do I listen to?

 

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may discern the will of God."  Saint Paul, letter to the Romans (12:2).

The human mind produces about 5,000 thoughts and feelings a day.  That is a lot!!  Which do we listen to as we figure out how to move ahead?  Pastor Rob reflects on two big challenges:  

1)  The majority of our thoughts are negative and untrue.

2) The culture gives us a filter that is pagan and not Christian.

How can do move ahead then?  Saint Paul points us in the right direction when he speaks of "the mercies of God."

The power of persistence

"It is not right to give to the dogs what is meant for the children."  Jesus, to the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15)

These are certainly harsh words!  What is Jesus driving towards here?  Is he fanning the flames of prejudice?

Pastor Rob offers that today is a summons to persistence:  Persistence to overcome social divisions and persistence to endure spiritual droughts.

Ultimately, this passage points towards the persistence of Jesus, who bears all of our prejudices and sins in his body, persisting even against death.

Note:  This fascinating art comes from Rev. Ally Barrett.  (You can see all of her drawings about this passage here..)  © Ally Barrett (www.reverendally.org) and used by permission.

The Pearl of Great Worth

"The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant who found a pearl of great worth and sold everything to go and buy it." Jesus (Matthew 13)

Pastor Rob reflects today on pearls, not the things we find in the ocean, but things in our life where we’re willing to make huge sacrifices for them because they bring us joy and life!

Pastor Rob then reflects on how we distinguish between pearls and idols, between the passions that are of God's kingdom and those that are simply of our own kingdom.  This isn’t easy. It turns out that the bigger challenge in life isn’t simply making time for Jesus, but making Jesus the foundation of all the other things we do in our lives.

The sermon though ends with a word of surprising grace about Jesus and his own search for pearls!

Finally, God said No to the Weeds

Fire has been on our minds this week as the wildfires have brought super bad air to our region.  Fire is also the center of the parable of Jesus this Sunday (Matthew 13).

Jesus tell the parable of the wheat and weeds, that culminates with Gods holy angles burning up the wicked. It is a tough parable that makes us wonder, is our God a God of mercy and grace? Pastor Rob reflects on why this holy fire is ultimately a great comfort to us, knowing that God promises to say a permanent no to evil.

The Sower who keeps sowing

The parable of the Sower is a surprisingly haunting parable. Haunting because it talks about how evil works to take away our faith; haunting because we have seen it happen just as Jesus says it will.

The parable is about the Sower who sows seed on different types of ground, each of which represents a different condition of our heart and lives. Pastor Rob reflects on how he has seen people‘s faith wither away for different reasons, each reflecting the words of the parable.

Yet the parable is also about God goodness, generosity and ultimate victory. Pastor Rob also reflects on the amazing harvest that God‘s word produces, as well as God‘s willingness to continue to sow the seed, even when our heart is hard

250th: What it might mean for us as Christians

If your town is like our town, we had a big celebration this weekend (in spite of the weather!).  Everyone had a good time, but the weekend forced us as Christians to ask ourselves, what do we make our nation's 250th?

Truthfully, Christians, like many others in our country, come to the 250th anniversary of our nation with many emotions - pride, frustration and hunger for togetherness.  Pastor Rob works with the hymn "America the Beautiful" to lead us in a prayer for our country, a prayer that includes praise, confession and supplication (request).   This includes some reflections at the end on how we can both want a society in which people follow the teachings of Jesus, but we can also be skeptical of political projects that employ Christian language.

Note: The audio file is a bit longer because it includes the interwoven singing of "America."