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.

Deliverance and Redemption Today

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Jesus meets you on whatever road you are on in your life to give you the grace you need so you can head in the direction of his kingdom. It’s like the phrase you have hopefully heard recently: no justice, no peace. That’s it. You can’t get to peace without justice. You need justice today so you can head in the direction of peace tomorrow.

You need deliverance and redemption today and God wants to give it to you today. So today is the day for you to open your eyes and see what God is doing.

What we are seeing on the streets of America and indeed throughout the world is people of all races and demographics coming together to protest, to call out, to demand deliverance from the choke-hold of systemic racism in our country and redemption from the evil of white supremacy that has embedded itself in our society—today—this is kingdom work.

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?

Braving The Wilderness: Five Details from the Good Samaritan You May Have Missed

When you are conscious that your life is not about you but you are about life, then you always do the loving thing, the connecting thing, the life-giving thing, the compassionate thing. Compassion means to suffer together.

The love of neighbor that the Samaritan demonstrates is conscious love, love that is conscious of the divine presence in every human being that makes us all one.

(Podcast Audio Coming Soon)

Braving The Wilderness: The Easy Way Or The Hard Way

What drives your decision-making. In the wilderness, when the stakes are high—do you do the easy thing or the right thing. Do you let the values of the kingdom of the world influence you or the values of the kingdom of God. 

There was an article that really stuck with me recently—part of the title is: American is Paying a Heavy Price for Freedom. 

The article points out how we use the idea of freedom as an excuse to serve ourselves before others, freedom becomes a shield to hide from personal responsibility. 

 The argument goes: I’m not wearing a mask, this is a free country, you can’t tell me to do that, and they are so hot and uncomfortable anyway, I’m not wearing one. Despite evidence that clearly shows that masks protect both the wearers and the people around them. Wearing a mask is not easy but it is right. Our marquee at the corner says: Love your neighbor as yourself. Wear a mask.

 That’s the kingdom of God. It is this ethos of love of neighbor that leads to a society of self-giving and sacrifice and ultimately shalom.

Braving The Wilderness: God Chooses You... And Everyone Else!

God is the initiator, God reaches out, God wants the relationship, there are no prerequisites Jacob must meet in order to have this divine encounter. The term we use for this is prevenient grace, it’s this idea that grace comes first, that God chooses you before you choose God. 

I want you to know that God chooses you. God sees you as unique, special, precious—God looks at you and sees you, God sees your inherit, eternal value…

Yes God chooses you and when you are in the wilderness, when you find yourself in places of uncertainty and vulnerability, God reminds you that you are chosen and chooses to be with you and to reveal to you the truth about you that you have purpose, that you are a part of God’s purposes.

Braving The Wilderness: God Provides

God provides in the wilderness. Author Anne Lamott puts it this way: “It’s almost indigestible: death, divorce, old age, drugs; brain damaged children, violence, senility, unfaithfulness. Good luck with figuring it out. It unfolds, and you experience it, and it is so horrible and endless that you could almost give up a dozen times. But grace can be the experience of a second wind, when even though what you want is clarity and resolution, what you get is stamina and poignancy and the strength to hang. Through the most ordinary things, books, for instance, or a postcard, or eyes or hands, life is transformed.” 

God provides, maybe not the all-you can eat buffet you really wanted but you’ll eat and be full, yes God provides, God provides, God provides.

Braving The Wilderness: Keep Going

If we want cleaner air, we can make it happen. If we want to protect our doctors and nurses from the next virus — and protect all Americans — we can make it happen. If we want our neighbors and friends to earn a dignified income, we can make that happen. If we want millions of kids to be able to eat if suddenly their school is closed, we can make that happen. And, yes, if we just want to live a simpler life, we can make that happen, too. But only if we resist the massive gaslighting that is about to come. It’s on its way. Look out.”

So how do we resist the gaslighting that is about to come? 

We have to break with Egypt in order to heal, we have to choose to break from the commands of Egypt—the consumerism, the self-centeredness, the greed, the narcissism, the pride, the ego, we have make an intentional decision to no longer live under these priorities anymore and choose instead to give our obedience to God, to live under God’s ordinances, God’s commands, which Jesus makes clear: love God and love others.

While It Was Still Dark

You see when you know God’s history with darkness, when you know God’s grace and steadfast love, you don’t fear the dark so much. You know God is faithful and will be faithful to you and see you through these dark days

Jesus Never Said "God Won't Give You More Than You Can Handle"

We will experience times in our lives when we go through really difficult things, we will face adversity….we are in one of those rare—oh how I pray it is rare—moments in history when we are all going through something hard, we are all grieving the life we used to have just a month ago, we are all grieving the uncertainty of the future, grieving the loss of security for ourselves and our beloveds, what is there to hold on to?

As one of my favorite theologians puts it: Our life on earth can be unpredictable, we can be happy one day and sad the next the next, healthy one day and sick the next, rich one day and poor the next, what is there to hold on to, who is there to feel secure with, who is there to trust at all times?

Only Jesus, the Christ.  He is our Lord, our shepherd, our rock, our stronghold, our refuge, our brother, our guide, our friend. Hold on to him.

Testimonies: Things About God I Had To Unlearn

This week, we hear from Dr. Gary Fox and Brandi Manes as they give testimonies. This week’s podcast is the entire service.

Jesus Never Said "Everything Happens For A Reason"

We are given responsibility, we have the ability to respond to God’s invitation, to God’s commandments, but we can refuse, we can choose not to care for the earth and when we do that, well the earth will suffer…but God doesn’t just create us and give us dominion and leave us alone…

God tries to help us and influence us to do the right thing and make the right decisions: God gave us a conscious, and a brain, God gave us commandments and prophets to guide us…

God came in Jesus to show us what it means to be human, to show us how to live selflessly and generously, and then God gave us the Spirit to be with us, to counsel us and nudge us in the right direction…yes God never gives up on helping us to make the right decisions but we still make the decisions.

Spirit Led, Spirit Fed

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

This is what we are created to produce. This is our purpose, this is what Christ wants from us, this is what we are made for, the Holy Spirit helps make it possible for us to bear this fruit in the world, God does God’s part so that it is possible for us to bear good fruit, but we do have to do our part, you don’t just buy a farm and expect a big harvest to appear.

So all this leads me to ask you: have you produced the fruit you were made to produce? Is your life fruitful—Is there evidence of the Spirit’s work in your life: are you loving? Are you joyful? Are you peaceful, do you regularly experience peace, do you practice peace? What about patience, are you a patient person? Are you a kind person? A generous person. Are you faithful? Are you gentle? Do you have self-control?

Spirit-Breath

Religion without the power of the Holy Spirit is dead…religion without the influence of the spirit is dead, religion without the discipline to listen to God’s guidance and direction is dead…the people of Israel exist, they exist but they are existing as people who are dead, they are a dead sect, they are dry bones.

Do you sometimes feel like you are dry bones? That you are existing as one who is already dead, that you are going through the motions…or that parts of you are slowly dying.

What this passage says, what our faith says is: you can live, you can come alive again. You don’t have to live like dry bones.

So how does that happen? 

The spirit of God. The spirit of God has the power to bring you to life again—and—and here’s what’s even more remarkable. It’s not just that God has the power to bring you to life again, God has the desire to bring you to life, God wants you to come alive again.

A 5C Church: Committed

God doesn’t just call the equipped, God equips the called. God gives you what you need: God gives you the time and resources and people and money and everything—but you do have to manage it, that’s how it works, God doesn’t micromanage, God says: you manage it.

That’s the last part of the scripture today, Jesus says: if you are going to build a tower, you have to map it out and think through what it is going to take to finish it—you need a plan, this is very practical, you have to get organized and set your intentions so you can use the resources you have been given well, so you can fulfill your purpose.  

Podcast: Rule Of Life

So you filled out your Rule Of Life - now maybe you need some resources! Listen to Pastor Blair, Pastor Cathy and Aaron Manes talk about what resources they like and use to aide them on their path of spiritual growth! Listen as they share what weekly emails, apps and other resources are important to them as they seek their own spiritual growth.

A 5C Church: Christian Community

That’s the church, that’s Christian community—you know sometimes folks say to me, well I go to my yoga studio instead of church, and look, I love yoga, I try and do yoga, I think it is very spiritual, but just to be clear: your yoga studio isn’t storming the gates of systemic racism, your yoga studio isn’t going to be there with you every week, two or three times a week, helping you to storm the gates of illness…you need the church. 

And the church needs you. I want you to hear that, the church needs you. I need you to storm the gates of hell, Jesus says.

A 5C Church: Creative

A 5C Church: Creative

When you start to live in the reality that God is making all things new, then you start to see the pattern, you see the new thing coming from the rubble, you see the stump of the tree to be sure but you know to look closer and you see the shoot of new life coming through.

So you can trust what is coming next - you look back and you grieve what was and you feel the pain of what is not there but then you turn to your imagination and you trust that something new is going to come out of even this.

I will tell you in February last year when the General Conference of the United Methodist Church doubled down on discriminating against LGBTQ+ persons, I was so deeply sad: this is not the church I know, not the Wesleyan theology and tradition we are about It was the darkest time in United Methodism I have experience but then the Spirit hovered over our congregation and what emerged is our conviction and courage to not just say we are inclusive but to show it through our actions by voting to open up our altar to same-gender weddings and it has made us an even greater witness for Christ’s love.

The #Thanksliving Gratitude Podcast

Pastor Blair and Spiritual Director Aaron Manes sit and talk about what Tim Ferriss, Brené Brown, Robert Emmons and several others have taught them about gratitude.

Here are a few books we recommend:

“Thanks!” by Robert Emmons (click here)

“Dare To Lead” by Brené Brown (click here)

Giving Thanks In Every Thing?

Adversity happens to everyone, it’s how you respond to that adversity that separates you from other people.

How will you respond to the adversity in your life? With grumbling or gratitude? You may not feel gratitude but you can choose to look for things to be grateful for. Will you say our verse today with me again?

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.