Jesus’ final hours continue to play out and it’s as if they are ripped from the headlines. Pastor Yvette explores what it means to “know the truth,” as Pilate continues to question Jesus.
Jesus’ unwavering, intentional, knowing response to those who are faithful and to those who betray him, to hatred, danger, and fear–to everything–is love.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus travels back and forth between Jerusalem and Galilee several times. In the story of one trip, we hear that Jesus “had to go through Samaria”–which was enemy territory. But there were well traveled-routes between Judea and Galilee that avoided going through Samaria. So why did Jesus head straight for the place where he and his disciples were outsiders, where they would meet people who did not look or live or worship as they do, people with whom they had a long history of hostility and hurt?
When Nicodemus takes a walk to visit Jesus one night, he leaves the places he knows best, where he feels comfortable and in control, and seeks the place where Jesus is. What about us? Will we leave our comfortable places, the places where we know our roles and rules and status, to find where Jesus is?
Pastor Yvette’s sermon tells the Christmas story from the perspective of a shepherd.
I am not of this time and place, but it seems to me that it is not so very different from my time… In this time, also, God still needs unlikely messengers like we were to receive and to share good news of great joy. God needs you to carry the light of Christ in the midst of darkness.
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There are so many things that cause us to forget that we are beloved children of God and make us think that God can’t possibly want us, or that God just is not with us. But God is the one who remembers.
Again and again God’s people forgot. They forgot how to live as God’s people, called to justice and mercy, blessed to be a blessing to all God’s world. They forgot God’s faithful love for them. But again and again, God sent the prophets to remind them of God’s call and God’s promises.
In place of a of a traditional sermon, Pastor Yvette lead the congregation in a community reflection. As part of this reflection, everyone was asked to consider their answers to the following questions:
What’s a place where the love and grace of God has been made clear to you?
What person/people in your life who made God’s love and mercy clear to you?
A) What barriers do you see that might bar some people from experiencing God through the church? B) How can we work to break down those barriers?
In the Old Testament, God’s people saw tangible signs of his presence in the pillars of fire and smoke, the manna and quail, and the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments.
Today we may no longer see tangible signs of God’s presence in the world, but the eternal promise of his faithful pursuit and steadfast love remains. Like Samuel, we can also be witnesses to the presence of God.