What lens are you wearing?

 Easter III 2023 (April 23)

Why can’t see disciples see Jesus as they walk with him on the road to Emmaus?  (Luke 24)

Pastor Rob suggests that what lenses we wear in life powerfully impact why we can see.  (The glasses in this image are from the movie National Treasure; without them, one cannot see the treasure map on the Declaration of Independence). After witnessing the crucifixion of Jesus, the disciples are looking at life through a lens of violence, defeat and death; Jesus must renew their lenses of resurrection.

Likewise in our lives, Jesus also needs to renew the lenses of resurrection, that we can see his presence in worship but also on the road of life.

The glasses above were for sale on Ebay.

The Gardener

 Easter Sunday 2023

Jesus is assumed to be a gardener by one of his early followers on Easter morning.

This is not a coincidence.  Pastor Rob reflects on how Jesus must be raised in a garden, for the restoration of the garden is his mission.  However grand though, this mission is, like a good gardener, Jesus tends to each person individually, including you.  A reflection on how THE gardener, Jesus Christ, connects the cosmic with the individual as he restores THE garden.

The photo comes from a Best Pick Reports gardening website.

Encountering Jesus, Palm Sunday: Judas and the Poor

 Palm Sunday, April 2 2023

Jesus rebukes Judas, telling him “The Poor will always be with you.”  These are words that can feed our growing cynicism, if not our greed.

Pastor Rob reflects on where we’ve been in John’s Gospel, showing how Jesus’ actions are again and again about helping the people in need, in poverty and on the margins.  It turns out that we cannot eliminate all the problems in the world, but we are called embrace and serve our neighbor.  Jesus words to Judas about the poor being with us remind us to turn our attention away from the big, grand problems that are beyond us and turn our gaze to the people who need our help.

This Lent we focused on encountering Jesus.  Pastor Rob concludes the sermon by reflecting on how we encounter Jesus in serving others and our need for something more than Palm Sunday.

The picture is of the youth helping to read our Gospel reading, in which Jesus encounters Judas.

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.