Ambassadors of Reconciliation
Bridges are essential for connection, both in our world and in our relationships. Just like a physical bridge that links two sides of a town, relational bridges link us across divides. Right now, many of our bridges are broken—whether it’s in society or our personal lives—and that creates distance and disconnection.
Jesus challenges us to build these bridges, even when it’s uncomfortable. His love invites us to move beyond isolation, reaching out to others with compassion and hope. In loving our neighbors, we don’t stay in our comfort zones but instead, we follow Jesus’ example of stepping into hard places, offering peace and reconciliation where there’s hostility.
Paul’s transformation—from a persecutor to a follower of Christ—is a powerful story of how love builds bridges. After being welcomed by the Christian community, Paul embraced a new perspective, seeing all people as children of God, worthy of reconciliation. This "ministry of reconciliation" isn’t about pretending everything is fine, but about exchanging division for connection, hostility for peace.
Reconciliation is a process—it’s not about ignoring wrongs but addressing them honestly, repairing what’s broken, and working toward peace. Sometimes, though, love requires boundaries, and not every relationship should be restored. Love never asks us to return to harm.
The heart of reconciliation is finding those sacred places of connection where bridges can be built. Even small steps, like sharing a conversation with a neighbor, can lead to surprising transformations. God’s love travels across even the smallest bridges we build.
All Saints Sunday
We are all shaped by the lives of others—those who pour their wisdom, love, and faith into us. These people are our saints, not because they were perfect, but because they were used by God to nurture and guide us, leaving a lasting impact.
In the Bible, the word "saint" comes from hagias, which means "set apart" or "used by God." It’s a word for those whose lives continue to reverberate in us, like the faith of Timothy’s grandmother and mother, which Paul recognized as alive within him. This faith, love, and wisdom passed down through generations builds the foundation on which we stand.
We remember and honor our saints, those who have gone before us, especially on All Saints Day. Like a tapestry, their lives are woven with ours, binding us together in a deep, spiritual connection. Their influence is alive in us, and in many ways, they are still present, even as they rest in God's love.
But saints are not just figures in stained glass windows; they are everyday
people who have loved, supported, and shaped us. They show us how to live, how to give of ourselves, and how to pass on the good that has been given to us. We honor them not only with gratitude but with responsibility —to live in such a way that we carry forward their legacy of love and faith.
Worry Not: Fear, Anxiety & Hope
In this message, we learn how Jesus calls us to shift our focus from the narrow concerns of everyday life and anxiety to the broader horizon of God’s kingdom, which is rooted in justice, peace, and joy. Using the imagery of the lilies, Jesus teaches us to trust in God’s abundant love, freeing us from the constant grip of worry. When we seek God first, life opens up in unexpected and life-giving ways.
Jesus uses the analogy of the lilies to remind us that life’s beauty comes not from toiling anxiously but from trusting God’s care, just as flowers grow without worry. We are called to open our hands and hearts to life beyond our narrow concerns, finding freedom in God’s love and purpose. Big idea: When we seek God first, life opens up in surprising, abundant ways, and God’s expansive love transforms our circumstances, freeing us from the grip of worry.
Experience & Our Theological Task
What about our own experience? We all have wisdom of our own and our own "theology" — that is, thoughts about God. That wisdom is valid. And our own experiences can help us test whether something works (is life-giving) or whether we should think again.
In fact, the Methodist tradition says that this is *our theological task* — our part to play is to bring our own perspective to help contribute to the faith life of the community, participating in a process that is critical and constructive, individual and communal, contextual and incarnational and ultimately practical.
Deep Roots, Wide Branches — Tradition & Reason
What about other things we might learn? As the early followers of Jesus taught: "All truth is God's truth". That means that if something is true, then it is true — and our assumptions must adapt. This may seem simple, but it has been a place of wrestling throughout history. Partly because we are always learning more. We need to listen to science and social science and the best of human knowledge. We need to learn from the rich community of thinkers throughout history. And we need to hold our assumptions with open hands, ready to learn and unlearn as we journey throughout our life. Richard Niebuhr's idea of "absolute relativism" has encouraged me to stay flexible even while we fix our eyes on love.
For the City — Big Plans
"What is God's plan for my life?" No question brought more anxiety to my younger life. What if I miss it? What if I don't like it? What if? We often quote Jeremiah's famous verse about God's big plans, without noticing that it is a part of this message of digging in right where we are. Plans are not about some far off future, but helping pull near the future that God dreams. When we seek the shalom of the place we are right now, we find that God has big plans for our shalom as well — now and forever.
Pray for the City
Another way Jeremiah invites us to seek the holistic universal flourishing of our community is to "pray for the city". I don't know about you, but as a person seek to be a good neighbor in a pluralistic world, the idea of praying for someone can give me the heebeegeebees. But there are two liberating secrets in this idea: 1) that our faith is to be lived for the flourishing of our neighbor; and 2) the secret found in the rest of Jeremiah's phrase: "pray to the Lord on *their* *behalf*". We do not pray for our neighbors on behalf of what we want, but on behalf of what they want — their hopes and dreams and gifts. We’re called to first listen to our neighbors so that we can know “their behalf”, and then let our hearts be moved deeply for our city, and for that to call us to reach out to a power greater than us on behalf of our neighbors and neighborhoods. Let our hearts be moved to love. Let our souls be stirred to prayer. And let our hands be called to action.
Plant Gardens
God’s invitation to us is to be "for our city"—to seek the holistic flourishing of our neighbors and communities. Jeremiah explains that that looks like planting gardens and building houses — to dig in and make a home. What does this look like in action? Jesus once shared a parable that helps unpack this idea of digging in—that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed was sowed and grew to become a tree offering shelter and life to the world. What kind of seeds are we sowing in our cities? Let’s sow seeds that give shelter, support our neighbors, and offer radical love to our world.
Seek the Shalom of the City
We don’t always know exactly what we are supposed to do — where we are, right now. We look ahead to future dreams or back to more certain times. But what about here and now?
The book of Jeremiah describes a critical time in the history of the people of Israel, when they found themselves asking the very same questions. Israel had been conquered by Babylon and many of the people had been carried off to live in exile in a new country and culture and community. Some wanted to go back, some just wanted to blend in, but God had a purpose for them then and there, just as God has for us here and now.
Through the prophet Jeremiah, direction came: Seek the shalom (that is, “universal holistic flourishing”) of the place where you are, “for in its shalom, you will find your own shalom.”
Whether we are starting a new school grade, welcoming a new group of students, or beginning our 50th year in the same neighborhood, this continues to be good direction and God's vision for each of us, wherever we might find ourselves on life journey. Dig in to our community, and seek it flourishing in all the ways we can, and we will find ourselves flourishing as well.
The Essentials: Love Your Neighbor
Jesus starts his explanation of Love in a very practical place: love in action, for others. But those who listened had all the questions we do: who? how far? how long? Jesus answered with a vision of the infinite love of God: everyone, always, as long as it takes. Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan flips the script and shows a wider vision of love than seems possible. But like the Samaritan, we are invited to let love start right where we are on our journey.
