Jun 19, 2023 |
God's Trust
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
God's Trust
...she like flung herself backward and I was like, whoa. I
gotcha. that's where I saw God. I saw God in
her throwing herself in my arms.
I listed a couple other places that I'd seen God and then, My spiritual director came back to that one and he asked me a question that maybe some of you are asking or thinking as well, he said, so I assume in that story you saw God in the way that you caught your daughter, like you saw God as the one who catches you when you fall. Except that is not where I had seen God in that story. I surprised myself because I was not trying to be thoughtful or interesting, that's just not where I saw God. I said, no, I saw God in my daughter throwing herself into my arms. It sounded a little bit like that.
That was a moment for me where my faith began to be transformed because my understanding of what having faith began to change in that realization. You and I spend so much of our spiritual thinking about how we are supposed to be faithful. What kind of people are we supposed to be?
I listed a couple other places that I'd seen God and then, My spiritual director came back to that one and he asked me a question that maybe some of you are asking or thinking as well, he said, so I assume in that story you saw God in the way that you caught your daughter, like you saw God as the one who catches you when you fall. Except that is not where I had seen God in that story. I surprised myself because I was not trying to be thoughtful or interesting, that's just not where I saw God. I said, no, I saw God in my daughter throwing herself into my arms. It sounded a little bit like that.
That was a moment for me where my faith began to be transformed because my understanding of what having faith began to change in that realization. You and I spend so much of our spiritual thinking about how we are supposed to be faithful. What kind of people are we supposed to be?
Jun 12, 2023 |
Perfect Faith
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Perfect Faith
There's a man whose daughter has died, that's the height of desperation. He doesn't say he believes in Jesus. He doesn't say he's going to follow him. He doesn't say anything about faith. He just shows up and says, can you please do something? And Jesus doesn't say, well, here's what I'm going to need from you. I'm going to need you to follow the seven-point Faith Plan, and I need to see you grow in your discipleship, and then I'm going to see what I can do for you. No, he heals the daughter. And then the woman who's been bleeding for 12 years is in isolation. She's seen as untouchable and disconnected. She's afraid, she is alone, she is marginalized. And what is more desperate than, if I can just touch, as the old hymn goes, the hem of his garment, I believe I'll be made whole.
What's more desperate than, if I can just touch the tip of the robe, I might be okay. That's desperation. Desperation is faithful too. Can you be desperate? Can you bargain? Can you argue and shout? Can you bring your doubt and shout that at God? Can you take your anger and throw that in front of God as well?
Can you keep at it even when you're not sure if it matters? That's faithfulness.
What's more desperate than, if I can just touch the tip of the robe, I might be okay. That's desperation. Desperation is faithful too. Can you be desperate? Can you bargain? Can you argue and shout? Can you bring your doubt and shout that at God? Can you take your anger and throw that in front of God as well?
Can you keep at it even when you're not sure if it matters? That's faithfulness.
Jun 07, 2023 |
Plural, yet One
| The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane
Plural, yet One
In our reading from Genesis this morning, we meet them, the
original they, them, theirs. The one who was in the beginning before anything
else ever was. When the earth was a formless void the rush of a violent wind
swept forth from God and formed the land, water, and light and life were made,
and God was in all of it.
Speaking and seeing, and blessing and making and calling it all very good. Before humans ever came into being, God was there. And billions of years later, human beings began to tell one another what they thought God was like. Some of the very first human writings that ever attempt to explain God, still struggle to profess that God was a small and simple little thing.
How could God be that way? Have you seen how complicated and beautiful this creation is? Even in Genesis, God is plural in form. Let us make humankind in our own image, according to our likeness. So God created humankind and God's own image in the image of God. They were created, male and female, God created them. Plural, and yet one.
Speaking and seeing, and blessing and making and calling it all very good. Before humans ever came into being, God was there. And billions of years later, human beings began to tell one another what they thought God was like. Some of the very first human writings that ever attempt to explain God, still struggle to profess that God was a small and simple little thing.
How could God be that way? Have you seen how complicated and beautiful this creation is? Even in Genesis, God is plural in form. Let us make humankind in our own image, according to our likeness. So God created humankind and God's own image in the image of God. They were created, male and female, God created them. Plural, and yet one.
May 29, 2023 |
Our Story
| Guest Speaker
Our Story
Peter interpreted the events of that Pentecost in the light of his tradition and his experience of following Jesus, but not everyone welcomed the message, and it's not hard to see why. It meant that these devout people would have to significantly revise their ideas about what constituted faithfulness to their God.
We're not told what was spoken and heard in all those different languages. Only that it had something to do with God's deeds of power, that God was a powerful God They could accept. But the egalitarian and universal nature of this revelation was a lot to take on board. And what did that Galilean troublemaker Jesus have to do with anything?
How do we recognize the movement of the Holy Spirit and become a part of God's work in the world in our own day? Many of us, myself included, picked up our ideas about what it means to be Christian and about the Bible in our early years, explicitly from Sunday school or church school, or perhaps implicitly from the behavior and attitudes of our parents and grandparents. Yet, the day that we realized that we were never going to graduate from the School of Christian Learning was a blessed day indeed. In this lifelong endeavor of discipleship our Christian faith calls us to be ready to open our hearts and minds to the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. And from the vantage point of seven decades of life, I can tell you that this can be an uncomfortable experience. We know that society is changing very rapidly, and it can be tiring, even painful to be asked frequently to reexamine our assumptions. It may even feel like a betrayal of our heritage.
We're not told what was spoken and heard in all those different languages. Only that it had something to do with God's deeds of power, that God was a powerful God They could accept. But the egalitarian and universal nature of this revelation was a lot to take on board. And what did that Galilean troublemaker Jesus have to do with anything?
How do we recognize the movement of the Holy Spirit and become a part of God's work in the world in our own day? Many of us, myself included, picked up our ideas about what it means to be Christian and about the Bible in our early years, explicitly from Sunday school or church school, or perhaps implicitly from the behavior and attitudes of our parents and grandparents. Yet, the day that we realized that we were never going to graduate from the School of Christian Learning was a blessed day indeed. In this lifelong endeavor of discipleship our Christian faith calls us to be ready to open our hearts and minds to the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. And from the vantage point of seven decades of life, I can tell you that this can be an uncomfortable experience. We know that society is changing very rapidly, and it can be tiring, even painful to be asked frequently to reexamine our assumptions. It may even feel like a betrayal of our heritage.
May 22, 2023 |
Left With Each Other
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Left With Each Other
I think we've reached that point in the sermon where I talk about the frustrating thing, which is you'll notice we can't find Jesus anywhere.
Like, have you seen him lately, in person? We have all these stories today and we had this Feast of the Ascension on Thursday, and we have these stories today of Jesus disappearing. He's here one minute and he says, I'm here with you forever. I got you. And then he disappears. Whoa, wait a minute, right? I'm no longer going to be here in the way that I was, Jesus says, and then they ask, “what are you talking about?” And then the worst thing happens. They look back down and all they have is each other.
Right, oh, I'm left with you, thanks, God. And this is how we act sometimes, that we'd love to have Jesus present in real and practical ways, but I guess we'll have each other as a great consolation prize. You are not a consolation prize, my friends. This is not God's consolation.
Like, have you seen him lately, in person? We have all these stories today and we had this Feast of the Ascension on Thursday, and we have these stories today of Jesus disappearing. He's here one minute and he says, I'm here with you forever. I got you. And then he disappears. Whoa, wait a minute, right? I'm no longer going to be here in the way that I was, Jesus says, and then they ask, “what are you talking about?” And then the worst thing happens. They look back down and all they have is each other.
Right, oh, I'm left with you, thanks, God. And this is how we act sometimes, that we'd love to have Jesus present in real and practical ways, but I guess we'll have each other as a great consolation prize. You are not a consolation prize, my friends. This is not God's consolation.
May 15, 2023 |
Sunday Sermon: Suffering and Hope
| The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane
Sunday Sermon: Suffering and Hope
For those of you who have not yet discovered the card selection at your local Dollar Tree, I entreat you to make a trip. You are sure to see both suffering and hope in the midst of everyday life in that place.
A few years back, I made a small pilgrimage to my local Dollar Tree to get my Mother's Day cards, and I of course picked up a few other things on my way to the register. Satin ribbon for gift wrapping, my favorite reusable washcloths with the mesh on the one side. Some hair ties, duct tape, poster board for a school project and a pack of double-mint gum just for good measure.
I was next in line as I stared down the slow-moving conveyor belt toward a small stack of grocery items that the man in front of me was purchasing for his household. You'd be surprised at the good stuff you can find in that back left corner of the dollar tree across from the glassware.
As I dug into the bottom of my bag for my wallet, I looked up and caught a glimpse of the woman working the register. Something was off.
A few years back, I made a small pilgrimage to my local Dollar Tree to get my Mother's Day cards, and I of course picked up a few other things on my way to the register. Satin ribbon for gift wrapping, my favorite reusable washcloths with the mesh on the one side. Some hair ties, duct tape, poster board for a school project and a pack of double-mint gum just for good measure.
I was next in line as I stared down the slow-moving conveyor belt toward a small stack of grocery items that the man in front of me was purchasing for his household. You'd be surprised at the good stuff you can find in that back left corner of the dollar tree across from the glassware.
As I dug into the bottom of my bag for my wallet, I looked up and caught a glimpse of the woman working the register. Something was off.
May 01, 2023 |
Sad Songs
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Sad Songs
Do I like being sad? No, not really. Nobody likes being sad,
right? We all prefer if we could just be happy and joyful and not experience
any sorrow. We know that we don't want to suffer at all. Sad songs don't
actually make you sad, okay? Sad songs are wonderful because they allow you a
space for your sadness that already exists. It allows a place for your sadness
to be.
One of the things that happens with us when we're suffering, when we're in pain, when we're in sorrow, is we turn sort of inward and we feel like we're all alone. There's a deep loneliness in being sad. There's this sense that there's just us, there's nobody else, no one, and we've all had this riff, like no one has ever felt the way that I feel right now.
I feel that like once a week, but you can't listen to music and feel that way because you can say, oh, I'm not the only one. And then you hear a song that sings this, and you go, oh, I'm not alone in it. I'm not the only one who's ever felt this way. I am not alone. I think that's a great gift. I think it's a great gift for us when we are suffering, when we are sad, when we are overcome, it is a great gift for us to be reminded that we are not the only ones who have ever felt this way.
One of the things that happens with us when we're suffering, when we're in pain, when we're in sorrow, is we turn sort of inward and we feel like we're all alone. There's a deep loneliness in being sad. There's this sense that there's just us, there's nobody else, no one, and we've all had this riff, like no one has ever felt the way that I feel right now.
I feel that like once a week, but you can't listen to music and feel that way because you can say, oh, I'm not the only one. And then you hear a song that sings this, and you go, oh, I'm not alone in it. I'm not the only one who's ever felt this way. I am not alone. I think that's a great gift. I think it's a great gift for us when we are suffering, when we are sad, when we are overcome, it is a great gift for us to be reminded that we are not the only ones who have ever felt this way.
Apr 24, 2023 |
The Family Business
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
The Family Business
I feel like that's a lot of the ways that people see the
family business of Christianity today, of the Church of God's work. It's
something that we think is kind of interesting and cool. So maybe kind of,
well, definitely not cool. No one ever says the church is cool, but sort of
like, you know, interesting and like, oh, this thing that we're a part of, I
know we've got these customs and we're going to get these kids baptized.
It's just a thing that you do. It's part of our family, but that's not the family business that Jesus is about. That is not what it means to be part of God's family to call God Father to call Jesus brother. Jesus, from before the foundations of the world, is destined to love this world and bring healing and reconciliation; to care for this world, to bind up the brokenhearted, to save people, and to liberate people.
And now you are in the family business. If you are baptized, that is now your job too. Baptism isn't just about what happens to you in this little moment or some joyous moment that you forget in the life of the church. It's about the rest of your life. Baptism isn't about where you get to go when you die.
Baptism is about who you are when you live and what you are about. You are about the family business. You are the body of Christ. You. I'm looking at God's daughters and sons right now. And what is Christ's work in the world? To love it deeply from the heart, to change this world, to make it more just and equitable, to create a world that is meaningfully and truthfully and practically better than it was when we got here.
It's just a thing that you do. It's part of our family, but that's not the family business that Jesus is about. That is not what it means to be part of God's family to call God Father to call Jesus brother. Jesus, from before the foundations of the world, is destined to love this world and bring healing and reconciliation; to care for this world, to bind up the brokenhearted, to save people, and to liberate people.
And now you are in the family business. If you are baptized, that is now your job too. Baptism isn't just about what happens to you in this little moment or some joyous moment that you forget in the life of the church. It's about the rest of your life. Baptism isn't about where you get to go when you die.
Baptism is about who you are when you live and what you are about. You are about the family business. You are the body of Christ. You. I'm looking at God's daughters and sons right now. And what is Christ's work in the world? To love it deeply from the heart, to change this world, to make it more just and equitable, to create a world that is meaningfully and truthfully and practically better than it was when we got here.
Apr 17, 2023 |
Raise Your Expectations
| The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane
Raise Your Expectations
What we look to as a Christian community is hope and joy.
Hope being the foundation of belief in resurrection. The belief that something
dead and lost and broken can live and be found healed and restored and renewed.
This is not just about being the kind of people who see a glass half full. It's
about pressing forward in desert places, confident that water will be there for
you when you need it most.
Believing in resurrection, it's about being counter-cultural. Not getting swept up in the 24 hour news cycle that obsesses over destruction and violence that promotes rightness over righteousness and upholds a system of punitive retribution rather than restorative justice. Cynicism tells us that people will always choose their own self-interests, but hope tells us that there are those who would lay down their life for one's friends like Jesus did.
We are not talking about a shallow optimism. It's so much bigger than that. What we are talking about is a radical kind of love that insists that we be in reconciled relationship with God and neighbor, and that this sort of reconciliation is the ultimate kind of joy and always to be the thing that we seek.
Believing in resurrection, it's about being counter-cultural. Not getting swept up in the 24 hour news cycle that obsesses over destruction and violence that promotes rightness over righteousness and upholds a system of punitive retribution rather than restorative justice. Cynicism tells us that people will always choose their own self-interests, but hope tells us that there are those who would lay down their life for one's friends like Jesus did.
We are not talking about a shallow optimism. It's so much bigger than that. What we are talking about is a radical kind of love that insists that we be in reconciled relationship with God and neighbor, and that this sort of reconciliation is the ultimate kind of joy and always to be the thing that we seek.
Apr 09, 2023 |
Jesus Movement
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Jesus Movement
When that stone rolls away and they see that Jesus is already
gone because he is already alive and out in the world again, doing the work. It
is not just that their friend has been raised up. It is that the movement that
Jesus began is not dead. The movement of creating a world where all people know
that they belong and are beloved. They have a place creating a world where
it's true.
The movement towards that is not dead because Jesus is not dead. They belong. You belong. And I belong because of what Jesus has done and is doing. This world right now, we are in, my goodness, we are in interesting times. The division that we are seeing, the existential dread and the fear, the people in our own culture and in others who on a systemic level are being told they are less than that they do not matter.
The Jesus movement started with a much smaller number of people than this. The movement that terrified an empire and threatened to change the world for love was a much smaller movement than this right here.
The movement towards that is not dead because Jesus is not dead. They belong. You belong. And I belong because of what Jesus has done and is doing. This world right now, we are in, my goodness, we are in interesting times. The division that we are seeing, the existential dread and the fear, the people in our own culture and in others who on a systemic level are being told they are less than that they do not matter.
The Jesus movement started with a much smaller number of people than this. The movement that terrified an empire and threatened to change the world for love was a much smaller movement than this right here.
Apr 03, 2023 |
Homecoming
| The Rev. Gary Lubin
Homecoming
If I were to pick a bird to symbolize Jesus' life, it would
be this albatross.
When Jesus was baptized, God declares, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. God expresses an enduring love as a parent does for their child. Just like Mary and Joseph cherished Jesus for just being who Jesus was. Then Jesus wanders the desert for 40 days, fasting, and he is tempted big time. I mean, this was the mother of all Lenten experiences. Through it all, Jesus comes to fully appreciate his belovedness and not as a possession or something to own, but as a gift to be shared with others. Then Jesus wanders the sandy oceans of the holy land for three years. Jesus heals and teaches and preaches the Good News of shared love, sharing his belovedness. And at one time a teacher of the law was so inspired by Jesus that he said to him, teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.
Well, Jesus warned him what it would be like saying, foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head. Jesus had no place to call home, no real place to call home. He may have been born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth, but he wandered far and wide like that albatross.
And the one time he did return to Nazareth, they tried to throw him off a cliff and he just flew away. And indeed, Jerusalem was his real destination all along. He may not have even known it. The temple is there after all, Jesus was drawn there like an albatross to its nest.
When Jesus was baptized, God declares, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. God expresses an enduring love as a parent does for their child. Just like Mary and Joseph cherished Jesus for just being who Jesus was. Then Jesus wanders the desert for 40 days, fasting, and he is tempted big time. I mean, this was the mother of all Lenten experiences. Through it all, Jesus comes to fully appreciate his belovedness and not as a possession or something to own, but as a gift to be shared with others. Then Jesus wanders the sandy oceans of the holy land for three years. Jesus heals and teaches and preaches the Good News of shared love, sharing his belovedness. And at one time a teacher of the law was so inspired by Jesus that he said to him, teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.
Well, Jesus warned him what it would be like saying, foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head. Jesus had no place to call home, no real place to call home. He may have been born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth, but he wandered far and wide like that albatross.
And the one time he did return to Nazareth, they tried to throw him off a cliff and he just flew away. And indeed, Jerusalem was his real destination all along. He may not have even known it. The temple is there after all, Jesus was drawn there like an albatross to its nest.
Mar 27, 2023 |
The Power and Wisdom of God
| The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane
The Power and Wisdom of God
Having a spiritual experience can happen in a split second.
And trust me, you'll know when you see it, when you feel it. It is essential in
understanding this dilemma that we remember who Paul is speaking to. The church
in Rome, a complicated convergence of two vastly different cultural communities
bound together by a common spiritual experience.
To oversimplify and generalize the two, we can do it like drawing the line down the center of the page. On one side, we have the Jews on the other side, the Greeks. I remember being a little girl and my dad telling me, you know, Melanie, there are only two types of people in this world, those who are Greek, and those who wish they were Greek. In Rome these two communities were separated by contrasting worldviews. The Hebrew view of the world was grounded in earthly material realities in which they lived, spiritual truth found only in justice.
And on the other side, the Greek view to simplify was asserted that the highest human experience is knowledge. Always seeking to explain why people fall in love like Aeros and Aphrodite. Why night turns to day like Hyperion and why it rained on my wedding day when there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Oh, just we don't talk about Bruno, no.
This is why in Paul's letter to the Corinthians, Paul reduces these two communities to their simplest form in saying Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom. It would be like summarizing the political divisions of our day to say, Republicans demand guns and Democrats they desire taxes, but we all know it really isn't that simple, is it?
To oversimplify and generalize the two, we can do it like drawing the line down the center of the page. On one side, we have the Jews on the other side, the Greeks. I remember being a little girl and my dad telling me, you know, Melanie, there are only two types of people in this world, those who are Greek, and those who wish they were Greek. In Rome these two communities were separated by contrasting worldviews. The Hebrew view of the world was grounded in earthly material realities in which they lived, spiritual truth found only in justice.
And on the other side, the Greek view to simplify was asserted that the highest human experience is knowledge. Always seeking to explain why people fall in love like Aeros and Aphrodite. Why night turns to day like Hyperion and why it rained on my wedding day when there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Oh, just we don't talk about Bruno, no.
This is why in Paul's letter to the Corinthians, Paul reduces these two communities to their simplest form in saying Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom. It would be like summarizing the political divisions of our day to say, Republicans demand guns and Democrats they desire taxes, but we all know it really isn't that simple, is it?
Mar 20, 2023 |
The Present Past
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
The Present Past
There are days when we feel as if we are connected to God
and clear about who we are, our place in the world, and what the world is
doing, and what God is doing in the world. Where we not only are in the light,
but we feel like we are the light. And then there are days when we
are darkness, where we cannot see God's presence, where we do not feel like
being any kind a good. Where we do not even know what good means.
There are days when we know what righteousness looks like and we are all in on loving and being just and kind in this world. And there are days when we just wanna wrap ourselves in a blanket and finish that sleeve of thin mints and say, I just gotta get through We just gotta make it.
And that's the reality for us, I think is less that there is this moment where we have this, we used to be something and then this big light shines, and now I understand, and now I live completely differently. I think most of us don't have that experience. Most of us have moments of light, moments of clarity, followed by moments of darkness and periods of fear and uncertainty.
There are days when we know what righteousness looks like and we are all in on loving and being just and kind in this world. And there are days when we just wanna wrap ourselves in a blanket and finish that sleeve of thin mints and say, I just gotta get through We just gotta make it.
And that's the reality for us, I think is less that there is this moment where we have this, we used to be something and then this big light shines, and now I understand, and now I live completely differently. I think most of us don't have that experience. Most of us have moments of light, moments of clarity, followed by moments of darkness and periods of fear and uncertainty.
Mar 12, 2023 |
Direct Access to Grace
| Tym House
Direct Access to Grace
...the reality is, is that God shows up through Christ
and the Spirit to show us that we are a blessing. He has come to heal us and to
reconcile us, and for us to then go and share that hope with the world because
God is with us where we are presently and where we are moving forward. But how
is that possible?
Well, that's where Romans 5 enters in. Before we jump in to explore the text together, though, I would just like to share a little bit of my own story with you all, not unlike all of us, I am a makeup of many things that make me who I am and create my identity. To share a few; I am a father, I'm a son, I'm a brother.
But also, I am divorced, I'm gay, and I'm a youth minister. So let me maybe unpack a little bit of that for you. I grew up going to a very conservative evangelical church. Now, I will not stand up here and say that it was all bad because I gained a lot of things from my church home. A lot of good things that have shaped me, informed me, and that have rooted me in the faith that I have today.
But as you can imagine, there were also things that I learned growing up that made me question, and really caused harm to me for things that I came to learn later about myself, specifically regarding my sexuality. It wasn't until later in high school where I started to even understand what that looked like, but my foundation had already been laid for me to question that part of who I was.
Well, that's where Romans 5 enters in. Before we jump in to explore the text together, though, I would just like to share a little bit of my own story with you all, not unlike all of us, I am a makeup of many things that make me who I am and create my identity. To share a few; I am a father, I'm a son, I'm a brother.
But also, I am divorced, I'm gay, and I'm a youth minister. So let me maybe unpack a little bit of that for you. I grew up going to a very conservative evangelical church. Now, I will not stand up here and say that it was all bad because I gained a lot of things from my church home. A lot of good things that have shaped me, informed me, and that have rooted me in the faith that I have today.
But as you can imagine, there were also things that I learned growing up that made me question, and really caused harm to me for things that I came to learn later about myself, specifically regarding my sexuality. It wasn't until later in high school where I started to even understand what that looked like, but my foundation had already been laid for me to question that part of who I was.
Mar 06, 2023 |
Being Righteous
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Being Righteous
If when you see God coming down the lane, you say, here
comes blessing, here comes love. My heart is filled. I can't wait to find out
how I'm loved. That is good and healthy relationship, and you don't have to be
religious to get this because again, you know this in your real friendships and
relationships in your life, you know the people that when they come over, you
don't even care that your house is a mess.
You know those people where you don't even say, I'm sorry, it's a mess cuz they're just in and they love you and you know it. Are those the good relationships, the healthy ones, the people who, when you see them, you see something beautiful and powerful and you recognize how they're loving this world and the people who make you feel like loving more? That is a good and healthy relationship.
And what Paul's talking about today is simply howwe have a good and healthy relationship with the one who made us. We do it first and foremost by just having the right lens at which we look at God.
You know those people where you don't even say, I'm sorry, it's a mess cuz they're just in and they love you and you know it. Are those the good relationships, the healthy ones, the people who, when you see them, you see something beautiful and powerful and you recognize how they're loving this world and the people who make you feel like loving more? That is a good and healthy relationship.
And what Paul's talking about today is simply howwe have a good and healthy relationship with the one who made us. We do it first and foremost by just having the right lens at which we look at God.
Feb 27, 2023 |
Two Sides of the Same Coin
| The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane
Two Sides of the Same Coin
Today in Paul's letter to the Romans, we are presented with
two diametrically opposed realities of human life as we know it. On one side,
we have sin brought about by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden; the wanting to
be like God, knowing good and evil. And we hear that this way brings death. And on the other side, we have Jesus, the pioneer and
perfector of our faith, the giver of grace and life and love. On this side is
life.
For a long time, I viewed these two divergent certainties as separate conundrums that I myself stood in the middle of and dabbled in each some of the time. But after years of contending with the two, I realize that they're not actually separate currencies, but two sides of the same coin.
Two sides of our true human condition, painfully captivated by revenge, dishonesty, and self-centeredness on the one side, and at the same time, capable of immeasurable good, and loving kindness and fortitude for the way ahead. Rooted in our deepest longing to be in loving relationship with our creator. The truth of who we are is sin and righteousness fused together in form and function, but wholly committed to different currencies.
For a long time, I viewed these two divergent certainties as separate conundrums that I myself stood in the middle of and dabbled in each some of the time. But after years of contending with the two, I realize that they're not actually separate currencies, but two sides of the same coin.
Two sides of our true human condition, painfully captivated by revenge, dishonesty, and self-centeredness on the one side, and at the same time, capable of immeasurable good, and loving kindness and fortitude for the way ahead. Rooted in our deepest longing to be in loving relationship with our creator. The truth of who we are is sin and righteousness fused together in form and function, but wholly committed to different currencies.
Feb 20, 2023 |
Superman Transfigured
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Superman Transfigured
Have you ever felt like someone saw you for who you really
were? How beautiful that is to feel that when someone really knows you and sees
your glory, It's overwhelming and beautiful, isn't it? But there's a
difference, of course, between Superman and Jesus. And it's not just that Jesus
isn't a superhero, he's, you know, our Lord and Savior.
It's not just that. The reality is that Superman will never be one of us no matter how much he disguises himself. His true identity is other than Us. And so all we can really do is stand back in awe of this superhero and say, wow, look at those things that he can do. I could never lift a car above my head. I'm not bulletproof. Isn't that amazing? But Jesus is not disguising himself as human. Jesus is human. Jesus is one of us. The powerful thing about Jesus is that he's not God disguising himself as a human to sort of just make it palatable for us to look at him. Jesus is God completely and totally connected to humanity, married to us forever, such that when we see Jesus, we do see the glory of God, but we also see the glory of our own humanity fully present in that space.
It's not just that. The reality is that Superman will never be one of us no matter how much he disguises himself. His true identity is other than Us. And so all we can really do is stand back in awe of this superhero and say, wow, look at those things that he can do. I could never lift a car above my head. I'm not bulletproof. Isn't that amazing? But Jesus is not disguising himself as human. Jesus is human. Jesus is one of us. The powerful thing about Jesus is that he's not God disguising himself as a human to sort of just make it palatable for us to look at him. Jesus is God completely and totally connected to humanity, married to us forever, such that when we see Jesus, we do see the glory of God, but we also see the glory of our own humanity fully present in that space.
Feb 06, 2023 |
Unrighteous blobs of goo
| The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane
Unrighteous blobs of goo
I searched, can the ocean ever run out of salt? It seems
like a ridiculous question or maybe just a rhetorical one. Can the ocean ever
run out of salt? What an absurd thing to wonder. I always get this way in the
dead of winter, the frozen Midwest tundra seems to elicit feelings of
helplessness and heartache for me.
Jesus' words of firing synapse of the taste buds of humanity, and the blazing presence of collective light, well they seem like a far off vision in this cold, cold little cave where we hibernate. So can the ocean ever run out of salt? Can I, in fact, hide the light that is in me? Can I hold it so tightly in that little squishy spot in my belly where fire rages and where passion comes from and where disciples long before me have found strength to preach the Gospel even in the midst of unspeakable violence, exile, and abandonment.
Can the ocean run out of salt? And can the Christian ever unknow the glory of God? The God who gives them life.
Jesus' words of firing synapse of the taste buds of humanity, and the blazing presence of collective light, well they seem like a far off vision in this cold, cold little cave where we hibernate. So can the ocean ever run out of salt? Can I, in fact, hide the light that is in me? Can I hold it so tightly in that little squishy spot in my belly where fire rages and where passion comes from and where disciples long before me have found strength to preach the Gospel even in the midst of unspeakable violence, exile, and abandonment.
Can the ocean run out of salt? And can the Christian ever unknow the glory of God? The God who gives them life.
Jan 30, 2023 |
Blessed Practice
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Blessed Practice
I showed up to my piano lesson one day, and my teacher could
tell that I was really frustrated. She'd been working with me since I was nine and she could tell that I was very frustrated. She asked, what's wrong? I said, I'll tell you what's wrong. I'm listening to Glen
Gould play this invention and I can't play it like that. And she said, Phil,
he's one of the greatest piano players in the history of piano, no one can play
it like that. Don't do that to yourself.
I said, well, I, if I can't sound like him when I play this, why play it at all?
I feel like this is how we get when Jesus tells us what it means to be a disciple. Jesus stands up before us today in the beginning of what we call his Sermon on the Mount, which in the Gospel according to Matthew, is the true beginning of his earthly ministry. And these are the very first words he says. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
I said, well, I, if I can't sound like him when I play this, why play it at all?
I feel like this is how we get when Jesus tells us what it means to be a disciple. Jesus stands up before us today in the beginning of what we call his Sermon on the Mount, which in the Gospel according to Matthew, is the true beginning of his earthly ministry. And these are the very first words he says. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Jan 23, 2023 |
Come Follow Me And...
| Brett Scott
Come Follow Me And...
He comes in and sits down across the desk from me and he
says, hey, I have got this great plan for your life. I know exactly what you
should be doing from now on. I've got it all worked out. And guess what? You
don't have to worry about the direction of your life anymore. So come on, let's
go. So of course, I get up and I grab my coat and off we go.
It, it's a great, it's a great mental picture and something we would all want to have happen, to have Jesus actually show up and clearly tell us what we should be doing, what our purpose in calling is, right? It's what we would want, right? Isn't it?
Is it though? Because of course, when I really stop to think about it, maybe it's not what I want. I suspect we all want some level of plausible deniability in our relationship with Jesus. If we can claim that we can't really know what Jesus personally wants from us, then it is left up to us to determine all of that. That feels safer somehow.
It, it's a great, it's a great mental picture and something we would all want to have happen, to have Jesus actually show up and clearly tell us what we should be doing, what our purpose in calling is, right? It's what we would want, right? Isn't it?
Is it though? Because of course, when I really stop to think about it, maybe it's not what I want. I suspect we all want some level of plausible deniability in our relationship with Jesus. If we can claim that we can't really know what Jesus personally wants from us, then it is left up to us to determine all of that. That feels safer somehow.
