Observations on the Road to Emmaus

This is the third week of our series “For the Road.” 

We are exploring scriptures that take place on the road and what is consistent is that Jesus meets people on the road, while they are on the way, he doesn’t wait for them to get to their destination, doesn’t wait for them to get themselves together, he meets people right where they are, he meets you and me right where we are—Right in the middle of whatever we are feeling, whatever pain, frustration, sadness, disappointment, grief we are experiencing—Jesus shows up…just not in the way we might expect him to.

Listen, Learn, Lament, Leverage

Listen, Learn, Lament, Leverage

It is obviously not enough for white people to be pleading from the sidelines against racism in our country, we have to be actively working to stop it, to end the systemic structures that are oppressing and killing our black brothers and sisters. If we are not actively opposing racism, we are a part of the problem. 

If the church is not actively opposing racism, if the church is not actively working to break down systems that divide and oppress, the church is part of the problem.

That is what the scripture today is really about, at the heart of it is this question: will the church stand up against established systems that have long denied rights and perpetuated the power and control of one group over another or will the church simply align with the powers that be and reinforce systemic injustice?

Beyond Racial Reconciliation

We have to go outside of the boundaries of our normal path to find people who are our neighbors.

This message from Jesus could not be more relevant today…the world is becoming more and more diverse…by 2045 America will no longer be a majority white nation…learning to see those who are different than us as our neighbors is critical… 

If we do not go outside of the boundaries of our own normal path and discover our true neighbors whom Jesus defines as neighbor, it is to our own peril, our own detriment as a society, as a planet, and certainly as people who claim to follow Jesus.

Beyond The US/Mexico Border

Beyond The US/Mexico Border

You are citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Your citizenship, your membership, is ultimately in the house of God, that’s where you reside—and the laws in the house of God are: everybody is welcome. Everybody is invited in. Everybody is treated as a child of God. 

Any law that contradicts this, any law that contradicts the greatest commandment, any law that contradicts the law of the sermon on the mount for us who claim to follow Jesus the Christ is not acceptable and it is up to us to speak out and say so.

Feed The Birds

George Banks can see there is an alternative reality, if only he can see he doesn’t have to live the bank values. If only we can see there is a better way to live, too.

We can see there is a better way. Because of Jesus the Christ we see there is an alternative vision of reality, a vision of generosity over greed, kindness over arrogance, compassion over consumerism, the question is no longer do we see the difference between the bank values and the cathedral values, the question is will we choose the cathedral values, will we choose to live our lives according to the teachings of Jesus Christ?

That is our baptismal covenant, we say the words, we make the promise, we actually reaffirm this commitment to live according to Christ every time we do a baptism, but words are just words until they are supported with actions.

Will we actually take actions and make decisions and live in a way that shows the reality we are living in - the reality that Jesus Christ is Lord of our life and we live like him, we live with his values and his way of seeing, which means we live generously.

Citizens Of The Kin-dom

Faith & Justice Series:
Citizens Of The Kin-dom

Pastor Ginger Gaines-Cirelli, a fellow Methodist minister in D.C., makes this profound and challenging observation that instead of thinking of ourselves as Americans who happen to be Christians as we have tended to do in recent decades...

"The extraordinary alternative is for Christian communities to claim primary citizenship not in America (or the nation in which they live) but in the Kin-dom of God." 

To say yes to Jesus and yes to His kingdom is to say 'no' to the standard behaviors and standard operating procedures of the kingdoms of this world which means we will stand out a bit. I have been returning to this question again and again as I have been thinking about what it means to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God, from Ginger Gaines Cirelli:

If churches are seeking to live as citizens of God's Kin-dom, then why are so many Christian people barely distinguishable from anyone else in their values and priorities?