Dr. John Judson
August 26, 2018 Listen Print Version Psalm 23; John 14:15-31 . As many of you may, or I suppose may not know, my wife Cindy and I recently took a 6,500 mile road trip from here, to Houston, to Oakland, California, to Colorado and then back home. While there was much to look at along the way, there was also a lot of nothing. Beginning in West Texas and extending across much of New Mexico, Arizona and eastern California there is nothing but flat, scrub brush and cows. And I say this as someone who has lived in West Texas. Knowing this would be the case, we came prepared. We had my phone loaded with music and pod-casts. One of our favorite pod-casts that we listened to was “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me”. On this show listeners call in and try to win prizes. When they call in, they are asked to identify themselves and tell what they do for a living. One of the callers was a young man who had just graduated from college, taken his first job and set up an apartment. He said, “Yes, I am finally an adult.” The host of the show, responded with, “Wow did anyone tell you have much being an adult stinks?” I offer you this morning that insight, that growing up can stink, for two reasons. First, because both of our stories are about growing up. Second, because growing up was difficult for both David and the disciples. We can see this in the section of the Psalm we are dealing with this morning, “Thou prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou annointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over.” If we look closely at the language and imagery it offers, what we witness is a shift from the Psalm being from the perspective of a sheep to the perspective of a shepherd. While people have tried to make this portion of the Psalm about sheep, it simply doesn’t work. Instead I would argue that it is an explicit reference to David’s move from being a child and young man often running for his life, a sheep if you will, to becoming the King or shepherd, who was supposed to protect others. The psalm describes the moment when David is forced to grow up and take hold of his responsibilities. Jesus’ words as he and the disciples depart the upper room describe the same thing. Jesus has been with the disciples, protecting, teaching and caring for them as a shepherd cares for their sheep. He understands all too clearly that this time is past and that the disciples must go from being the sheep, taught and fed, to being the shepherds who will care for each other as well as for others. Both stories are about the difficulty of growing up. Both David and the disciples discovered that being an adult, being the one in charge, was not easy and was often dangerous. David would have to lead his armies against neighboring kingdoms who wanted to enslave his people. He would eventually have to flee Jerusalem because his son, Absalom, wanted to kill him and take his place. The disciples would find themselves persecuted and cast out of society. They would be scorned, mocked and some killed for their faith. They would discover that growing up can stink. Yet, they would each discover that they were not on their own, but that God would go with them, giving them everything they needed to succeed. And the same is true for us, for you see, we are also those who are called to grow up; to leave behind our sheepness and take on our shepherdness; and as we do, we will discover that God gives us what we need to grow up as well. First, there is protection. “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” I have to say that this phrase always bugged me. It didn’t seem to make any sense. Why would someone set a feast for another in the presence of that person’s enemies? The answer can be found in a tradition not familiar to most of us, and that is when a Bedouin receives someone into their tent to spend the night, they extend their protection around them. In other words when a shepherd finds themselves in trouble, perhaps harassed by other shepherds, or enemies trying to kill the shepherd and take their sheep, there is one who will receive the shepherd into their tent, provide them with food and protect them from their enemies. This is what would happen to David when he is chased by his son, Absalom, who wants to take his life. God watches over and protects David. This is what happens with the disciples, after Jesus’ death. God watches over, protects and cares for them, even in the face of their enemies. The same is true for us. God’s tent is open wide and we are invited in so that as we make the tough decisions in life that God calls us to make, we are not alone, but we sit at God’s table. Second, there is purpose. “Thou annointest my head with oil.” Again, this always seemed to be an odd thing to do. Why would someone pour oil over the head of another? The answer again comes from David’s life, when the prophet Samuel finds David, anoints him with oil and declares that he will be the king of Israel. In these events David is given a new purpose. He is no longer to be a sheep, but the shepherd of the people. He must watch over, protect, and care for the nation of Israel. The disciples’ moment of anointing will come with the gift of the Holy Spirit that Jesus promises. At that moment the disciples role becomes those who are to carry on the work of Jesus; loving one another and caring for those in need. They are to be the ones feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and giving water to those who thirst. In the same way the Spirit has anointed us all and we have been commissioned to be those who care not only for one another, but for the hungry, thirsty, naked and afraid. We are those who have been anointed with oil. Third, there is provision. “My cup runneth over.” Of the three phrases, this is the one that made the most sense to me. To have one’s cup running over meant that there was more than enough and that the enough was generously given. This is what David realized that God was doing for him. God generously gave him everything that he needed. He was given men and women to support him. He was given courage and strength. He was given the ability to out fox his enemies. He had it all. Granted, he squandered much of it. But in the end his cup overflowed to the very end of his life. The same could be said for the early church and for the disciples. Through the gift of the Spirit, they were given enough and more. They were given spiritual gifts that made the church come alive. They were given the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and compassion. They experienced the very presence of God. They were given everything they needed for their mission. The same is true for us. We too have been given the gifts and fruits of the Spirit. We have been given all that we need to be the church of Jesus Christ; to be the people of God who carry out our mission of compassion and care. I am on a daily devotional from The Society of St. John the Evangelist. This was a line from the devotional on the day I began writing this sermon. “We may wish to stay in the past, clinging to sticky memories. We may wish to stay in the present. God calls us into the future. Jesus invites us to change, to become more. Jesus grasps us and pulls us on.” In other words, God calls us to grow up. To grow into our calling as Jesus’ followers. But as we do, we can remember that we have been given protection, purpose and provision; that we don’t go alone. My challenge to you then this week is to ask yourselves this question. How am I growing up in Christ, this day and every day? Rev. Joanne Blair
August 19, 2018 Listen Print Version Psalm 23 We continue our sermon series on the 23rd Psalm, and today our focus is on verse 4: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” We also continue what I refer to as our “beginner’s class on sheep and shepherding” … which adds to the richness and understanding of the psalm. As we know, sheep need to be kept on the move while grazing, so they don’t deplete an area. And shepherds would wisely work around the seasons as they traveled between valleys and mountains. Although we are reading the poetic King James Version of the psalm which says “valley of the shadow of death”, a better translation of the Hebrew is actually, “the darkest valley”. Valleys were not the safest of places for sheep. Though we usually think of them as peaceful and relaxing … valleys were known to have floods and rock slides. Surrounded by hills and mountains, and filled with foliage, they contained plenty of dark shadows and places of cover. This gave the various animals of prey plenty of opportunity to hide while they waited to strike … and sheep are very vulnerable animals. A good shepherd knew this, of course, and would always be on the watch. He would use his rod, which is like a club, to hit or throw at animals who tried to attack his sheep. He would also sometimes throw it toward a wayward sheep to get it to change course and rejoin the group. And the shepherd would use his staff to hook a sheep that got stuck in the thorns or fell into a river … and pull it to safety. “The Lord is my shepherd” … This beautiful and comforting psalm is a tribute to God’s guidance, protection, and faithfulness. And while we so often hear it read at a funeral or memorial service, this psalm is not really about death. The 23rd psalm is about a life lived in relationship with God. And it promises us that God is with us as we walk through the darkest of valleys. I am privileged to know most of you in this congregation … and even more privileged that several of you have shared your stories with me. And one thing I can say for certain: you have had your share of dark valleys. That is an inevitable part of this thing called life. And so we turn our focus to the title of this sermon … “Paying Attention to Grammar.” I ask you all now to look at our scripture reading in your bulletin. Notice that the first part of the psalm claims that the Lord is the writer’s shepherd … but talks about the shepherd in the third person. “He maketh; He leadeth; He restoreth.” Now, in verse 4, there is a subtle but significant shift to the second person: “for thou art with me.” “Thou” … meaning “You”. The writer is claiming personal knowledge of, trust in, and relationship with the Lord. It has become intimate. The writer is saying, “Not only do I know about you … but I know that you know me.” And you are with me. Go up one more line. For the real crux of this verse is the word, “through.” And in that one preposition lies an enormous promise. God does not leave us in that dark valley, unless we choose to stay there. The darkest valley is not a permanent dwelling place. It doesn’t last forever. It is a place we walk (not run) through to get somewhere else. And although it may be unsettling or painful … it also contains treasures. Just as the valley may flood; may have dangerous animals; may have rock slides -- it is also where the sheep find some of the freshest water to drink and some of the greenest grass to eat… both of which strengthen them. The shepherd stays with the sheep, so they need not fear. And our shepherd stays with us ... so that we need not fear. I was at Fox Run retirement community this past Wednesday, and was talking with a woman who is in a very dark valley right now. As I listened, she went on to say that she had faith in God to be with her through the darkness. That when she looked back on previous “dark valley experiences”, she could see God’s faithfulness and how God was at work in her life, shaping her into the person she is today. What an attitude. What faith. What understanding. For the darkest valleys are where we learn the deepest lessons. Over and over and over, scripture tells us not to be afraid. We will face hard times… we will walk through dark valleys… but God has promised to be with us through it all. We need not fear. In 2013, a man named Mike Livingstone suffered a brain aneurysm, and he blogged about it during his recovery. This is an adapted version of one of his entries: Nighttime in the ICU was the worst. Long, sleepless, uncomfortable nights. During one of those nights, in one of my worst and weakest moments, I lay in bed recalling some favorite Bible passages. I needed a word from God. My mind turned to Psalm 23 and I silently recited the words … Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me … for you are with me … you are with me …. What came next? For you are with me … I couldn’t remember the next line. Likely from a combination of heavy-duty painkillers, fatigue, and brain trauma, I couldn’t recall what came after for you are with me. I kept trying. For you are with me … for you are with me … but my mind was blanking out. In that moment God spoke, not audibly, but God’s word to me was unmistakable: What else do you need to know? I am with you. That’s all you need. A peace washed over me, and I repeated again, this time in a triumphant declaration of faith: You are with me! You are with me! You are with me! That was all I needed to know. Psalm 23, this beautiful psalm of a life lived in close, intimate relationship with God, is not just something for us to hang on to as we walk through dark valleys. It is a connection with God we should strive for every day of our lives ... whether we are in a dark valley … or on a mountaintop. And so, our challenge this week is to ask ourselves:
Rev. Joanne Blair
August 12, 2018 Listen Print Version Psalm 23 During this sermon series on the 23rd Psalm, we’re learning a fair amount about sheep. It’s kind of like taking “Shepherding 101.” And there’s a good reason that we should. Without understanding some of the nature of sheep and shepherding, we cannot fully grasp the Biblical writer’s intent. Just as Jesus used common day examples in his stories and parables, so the psalmist made his words applicable to the circumstances of his day. And the more we understand those circumstances, the richer and more meaningful the words become. Sheep actually require quite a lot of careful handling and direction. Left to their own devices, sheep will graze over and over in certain areas, gnawing and pawing to the point that even the roots of the grass are destroyed. The result is that the land gets rutted, the soil depleted and eroded, and these areas become infested with various parasites … which of course, infect the sheep. Sheep also have a strong instinct to follow the sheep in front of them … even when it’s not in their best interest. They don’t think about it … rather, it’s just “hard wired” into them. Sheep have been known to jump off a cliff solely because the one in front of them did. Neglectful shepherds have lost large groups of sheep this way. Then there’s the rogue sheep that actually veers away from the group to seek greener pastures. The problem here is that sheep have a horrible sense of direction and become totally lost … even when the flock is not far away. A good shepherd, of course, knows all of this. And a good shepherd of the Psalmist’s time kept his sheep on the move … and moving in the right direction. He was a man of integrity who never left his sheep and would protect them whatever the cost. He knew which paths were reliable and led to better grasses. Through his skill and his relationship with the sheep, he was able to lead them through narrow paths safely. And he knew when to walk in front of them, behind them, or alongside of them. A good shepherd cared for, and about his sheep. And the health, behavior and well-being of these sheep was a direct correlation to the shepherd’s own reputation. I really hope that by now you are seeing the connection between shepherds, sheep … and us!
We need a shepherd. We need a good shepherd. And Jesus tells us that he is The Good Shepherd. In the book of John, Jesus says “I am the good shepherd.” He also says, “I am the gate for the sheep.” And Jesus will lead us in paths of righteousness. In our scripture from Matthew this morning, Jesus prepares us that the road to the narrow gate is hard. But he will keep us moving in the right direction. The problem is that we have more autonomy than sheep, and we often choose not to follow. I would venture to guess that if you looked at a drawing of each of our lives, most of us would not have a straight line from birth to the narrow gate. My own probably looks like a lot of scribbles … with lots of starts and stops. Most of us know life as a winding road, and that is our humanness. Sometimes we lose the shepherd … but the shepherd never loses us. Sometimes we seek to hear the shepherd’s voice, but don’t know how to listen. And sometimes the shepherd leads from behind. We are asked to follow and be obedient to God not because we are forced to, but because we choose to. And if we truly have any grasp on the love and goodness of God, we will want to. But we need to take it seriously. Too often, I fear, we lean on in the words that, “in Jesus Christ we are forgiven”, and then we go on our merry way. Yet God is a loving and forgiving God. And even when we wander off those paths of righteousness and go wandering in the wilderness, God does not give up on us. God’s desire is that we each become more and more conformed to the image of Christ. Last week, John talked about our souls being restored. Well, God restores us so that we might be guided and led into right ways once again. The sheep that doesn’t stay close to the shepherd will be lost or stuck in a rut once again. It is up to us to be open to where God leads us. Sometimes the shepherd is in front of us showing the way. Sometimes the shepherd is beside us building relationship and encouraging us. Sometimes the shepherd is behind us, challenging us to discern. Yet the shepherd is still always leading … if we but follow. When our daughter was younger, I was teaching her how to ride her bike to my parents’ house. First, I led the way. After a few times, we rode side by side, so I could coach and encourage her. Finally, I rode behind her … and led from behind. But I was still there. The shepherd is always there to guide us. To guide us to the narrow gate that leads to life. To be with us when the road is hard. To guide us to paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. “For his name’s sake.” Just as the health and welfare of the sheep affects the shepherd’s name (or reputation), so we affect God’s reputation. God has connected God’s name and God’s glory with God’s people. We are ambassadors of Christ. But righteousness always begins and ends with God – not us. It is not for our name that we walk in paths of righteousness, but for the honor and glory of God. All paths of righteousness are paths of love. And we can only get there if we follow the Good Shepherd, who often leads from behind. The 23rd Psalm is a beautiful description of a life in close relationship with God. Once a famous actor was at a social gathering and got many requests to recite favorite excerpts from literary pieces. An old preacher there asked the actor to recite the 23rd Psalm. The actor agreed on the condition that the preacher would also recite it. The actor’s recitation was stunning and received much applause. The preacher’s voice was rough and broken and wasn’t very polished. But when he finished, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. Someone asked the actor what made the difference, and he replied, “I know the psalm, but he knows the Shepherd.” [Bible Illustrator for Windows (Hiawatha, IO: Parsons Technologies, 1994)] And so our challenge this week is to ask ourselves:
Rev. Dr. John Judson
August 5, 2018 Listen Print Version Psalm 23; Matthew 6:25-33 Bibles and hymnals were flying from the pews. People were running from the front of the sanctuary. It was not your typical ending to an annual congregational meeting. Yet it took place at a church in our presbytery last year. What were they doing? They were engaged in an active shooter drill. What this means is that they were practicing what they should do if someone came into their church and began shooting. While this may seem a bit strange, it is now standard operating procedure for many congregations. Following the shootings in Charlottesville and Sand Springs, Texas, churches have begun preparing for such and event. Some churches have created their own police forces…yes with people wandering their campuses with concealed weapons. Others lock their doors as soon as services begin…which seems odd for us Presbyterians since most of us arrive at five minutes after the service has begun Many others, including our church, have consulted with local police departments to explore options. But I have to say, there is always a part of me that wonders why we are so obsessed with this fear. I say that because of statistics. Here’s what I mean in two simple statistics. The odds of being struck by lightning…1 in 700,000. The odds of being hit by a bullet in church…1 in 6.5 million. In other words, you are ten times more likely to be hit by lightning than a bullet in church. So again, why are we so anxious about this? Because we are anxious people living in anxious times. And if anyone could understand this…it is sheep. I realize that this may seem a bit strange because if you are like me, your image of sheep was of these calm, cool and collected animals, just chilling in the pastures. Yet if sheep were able to talk I think all we would hear would be, “Dude I feel your anxiety.” You may ask then, why are sheep anxious? They are anxious because they are completely vulnerable. They are slow. They have no sharp pointy teeth or claws on their hooves. They make for a great meal and they have predators all around them that would like to have them for dinner…literally for dinner. What this means is that sheep are always on alert. They are always listening to the slightest rustle in the grass, watching for the slightest movement on the horizon, seldom even willing to lie down because they are not sure what might happen next, and fearful of rapidly running water because they might get swept away. In other words, they are anxious animals who react without thought or reason, which is something that they share with us. And it is into that reality that the Psalmist comes to talk about the shepherd. The role of the shepherd is multifaceted. But one of his or her greatest roles is to give the sheep a safe place; a safe place in which they can lie down, catch their breath and set aside their fear and anxiety. This is what the Psalmist is describing in these words, “He makes me to lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul.” The Shepherd is the one who provides that safe place where the sheep can lie down, feed on green grass and not be afraid. The Shepherd is the one who provides a safe place with calm waters where the sheep can drink and not be afraid of being swept away or startled by the roaring river. The Shepherd is the one who provides a safe place where the ninety-nine sheep from last week’s story, can be left in safety while the shepherd goes and searches for the other sheep. This is what God the Shepherd does as well. God is the one who provides a safe place for God’s people where they can leave their fears and anxieties behind them and restore their souls, even where there are dangers all around them. It is this belief and affirmation of faith, that God can ad does give a safe space, that is at the heart of Jesus’ message from the Sermon on the Mount. I say this because when Jesus tells the people not to be anxious, he is not telling them to use the power of positive thinking to create some new reality. He is not telling them to ignore the realities of life and live in some fictional reality in which there are no cares or concerns. Jesus is fully aware of the difficulties of life. He knows that there is oppression and onerous taxation. He knows that drought and famine could always be around the corner. He knows that war is brewing with the Romans that will take the lives of many of God’s people. Instead he tells them not to be anxious because God is present creating a safe space for them. Rather than using the image of shepherd and sheep, Jesus uses the image of creator and creature. If God cares about the lilies of the field will not God care about God’s people, God’s sheep? If God cares about the birds of the air, will not God care about God’s people, God’s sheep? Jesus’ message is rooted and grounded inot only in the 23rd Psalm but in the story of God’s people, where God led God’s people out of captivity, gave them a land and protected them in it, by giving them a safe space. This morning then we have a choice to make. We can either be those who arrive every Sunday, grab hold of our Bibles and hymnals, scan the area around us, ready to fight or flee…or we can come into this place, into this sanctuary and experience the presence of God and the safe space that God creates. My friends, I hope that we choose the latter; that we choose the latter not because there are no bad people in the world; not because there is no danger out there. But I hope we choose it because in this sanctuary, God is present. The great shepherd of the sheep is here and is creating for us a safe space in which we can restore our souls; something that in this anxious world is desperately needed. So this morning here is what I would like you to do…close your eyes, and then slowly breathe in…breathe out. Breathe in…breathe out. And feel God’s presence in this place. Feel God creating a safe place for you and then allow your soul to be restored. Amen. Rev. Dr. John Judson
July 29, 2018 Listen Print Version Psalm 23; Luke 15:1-7 My parents loved Marty. He was my parents’ pastor for almost fifteen years and they loved his sermons. They liked the stands he took on issues of race and poverty. They appreciated him as a teacher. And Marty was not only important to my parents but he was the one who helped me to discern my call to ministry and he participated in my wedding service, helping to send Cindy and I on to continual wedded bliss…well most of the time. But there was something about Marty that was always a bit off putting. And that was this sense that whenever you were talking to him one on one, that you were not there. It was as if he was looking through you, or past you, to some far away distant land, or to some other deep theological thought. As if even when he would say “John it is great to see you,” he was speaking to a non-existent entity. Eventually I asked my parents if that was their experience of Marty as well, and they smiled and said, oh yes, it’s just the way he is. Have any of you ever experienced that sense, that reality, that somehow you were right there, but you were invisible? Maybe it was at work when you did exceptionally well, but no one noticed your presence? Maybe it was in your family and you had other siblings who shined so brightly that you were just kind of forgotten? Maybe it was a store where everyone else got waited on and you were left wandering the isles. Maybe it was in a conversation…wait a second (pull out phone and look at it…then return to the congregation) oh where were we…when something like that happened? While these may seem to be trivial kinds of incidents, what they can do is trigger not only our frustration, but also a sense that we don’t really matter. That we aren’t important as human beings; that we have no value and no worth. After all, if we are invisible then why bother at all? If we are not valuable enough to be acknowledged, then surely that must say something about us. And my friends this is not new. This is as ancient as the story of Job where Job wonders about his own value and worth when it seems God is not listening. If you have ever been invisible and wondered if someone cared for you and about you and your intrinsic worth, then this Psalm is for you. It is for you because it says that you matter deeply to God. You matter deeply to God because God is your shepherd and the shepherd cares about all his sheep, including you. Here’s why. First, the shepherd cares for every sheep. One of the realities of being a shepherd was that every sheep mattered. At the most basic level every sheep was an asset. It was part and parcel of a shepherd’s inventory. To lose a sheep then was to diminish one’s inventory, an inventory that was difficult to replace. There were no Sheep Stores where one could go and buy new inventory. You had to wait for birthing season to come around again and hope for the best. In addition, many shepherds cared not just for their sheep, but also for the community’s sheep. Thus, whenever a sheep went missing, the shepherd had to go and find it, to account for it, so that they would not be accused of theft. Both of these ideas form the basis for Jesus’ story about the hundred sheep; that when one goes missing, the shepherd leaves the ninety-nine and goes in search of the one lost sheep and that when he brings it home, everyone celebrates. Everyone celebrates because every sheep matters. Every sheep matters to the shepherd and to the community. We are never invisible to God, because we each matter. Second, the shepherd marks every sheep. I don’t know about you, but to me, one sheep looks like every other sheep. Sure, there are some sheep that are a little larger and others a little smaller, or some that are slightly different shades, but all in all they are just sheep. They are just wool covered quadrupeds. The question becomes then, how do shepherds tell their sheep from the sheep of other shepherds? How to shepherds settle disagreements over ownership. The answer is that every shepherd marks their own sheep. They do so with a distinctive mark on one ear of each of their sheep. This way if there is ever any doubt as to ownership, it is easily resolved. This mark of ownership is something that God has always done for God’s people. In the Old Testament it was circumcision. In the New Testament it was baptism. In these two acts God marked God’s people as God’s own. And by so doing God was saying that God cared so much for God’s people that God would never let them go. God would never give them to another shepherd. God would always be able to tell which were God’s own sheep so that God could care deeply for them. Finally, the shepherd insures that the sheep lack nothing that they need. One of the interesting things about reading the Bible is that we are at the mercy of the translators. And in this opening of the 23rd Psalm, the first line is usually translated, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” That ending, I shall not want, has been taken by many to mean that whatever I want, God is supposed to provide. God is supposed to ensure that I am healthy, wealthy and wise. That I have flat abs and a full head of hair. That I never have any difficulty in my life. Whatever I want is whatever I ought to have. Yet, that is not what the original text says, or means. The Hebrew states that the shepherd insures that the sheep lack nothing that they need. They will not lack for water or food. They will not lack for care or protection. Which is, by the way, what is described in the rest of the Psalm. It describes what the shepherd provides that the sheep require. In a sense, what the Psalmist refers to here is what someone once described as Rolling Stones theology. You may not always get what you want, but you will always get what you need. My friends, we live in a world that often seems indifferent to our existence. In which it is easy to be invisible. In which it is easy to wonder about our worth and value. What this Psalm tells us is that we matter. We matter to God so much that God has found us, marked us and provides for us. We matter so much to God that God became one of us in Jesus Christ to show that love. This understanding then offers us two challenges. The first is, as I have said before, to awaken everyday with the acknowledgement that we are not invisible people; that we belong to and have been marked by God. Second, it is to insure as best we can that those people with whom we interact, are not invisible to us; that by our fully acknowledging their presence and humanity, we become Christ to them, reminding them that they too are loved. My challenge then is to ask yourselves, how am I living into the reality that I am loved by God in the way I treat myself and the way I treat others. Rev. Dr. John Judson
July 22, 2018 Listen Print Version Luke 2:1-14; Micah 5:2-5a His was the kingdom, power and the glory. He was the savior for whom the people had been longing. He was the one who brought peace to the world. He was the king of kings and lord of lords. He was the one of god and perhaps even a god himself. He was Imperator Caesar Divi filius Augustus, or as we know him Caesar Augustus, the man who truly created the Roman Empire. Oh, who were you expecting me to say? That I was talking about Jesus? Not yet, but we will get to that. I am talking about Caesar Augustus, because without understanding his role in this story we cannot fully appreciate the end of the Lord’s Prayer. But to understand that, we need to turn to our story out of the Gospel of Luke. For many of us, this Luke story belongs only at Christmas. When we read about a journey to Bethlehem, angels and the birth of a child we think about A Charlie Brown Christmas in which Linus retells this story. We think about children dressed as shepherds in bathrobes and head bands and sheep in fluffy costumes. It is a cute and comforting story. Yet, for those who first heard this story, it was neither of those things. This was a radically subversive story intended to shake the Roman Empire to its core. It was a direct challenge to Augustus and those who followed him, because the story made it clear that there was a new savior in town and he did not live in Rome. In fact, this savior was a Jewish infant born in a stable in Bethlehem. And so, when the early Christians began adding the phrase, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, they were making both a political and a theological statement. For us then to pray the Lord’s Prayer with the intent of those who professed it in the early church, we need to understand those two parts of the story. First, the political statement - I realize that in our highly charged, political climate, people may wonder if this is a Democratic or a Republican political statement. It is nether. Instead it is a statement concerning where one’s ultimate allegiance lay. By adding, “yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory,” the early church made clear that these three realities, kingdom, power and glory, belonged to the only true king, and that was God and God’s Son Jesus. These attributes did not belong to Augustus nor any of his successors. This meant that the primary allegiance of God’s people, of those who followed Jesus, was to God first and secular governments second. This belief is central to the entire Bible. We are taught that we are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. We are to proclaim that God is one and that we are to have no other gods, before this God. In other words, God is to be the one to whom we give our loyalty before anything and anyone else. I would argue that this is exactly why the early church added these words. They were a reminder to the early Christians that while they were to be good citizens of the Empire, that if it came to a choice between the Empire or Rome and the Kingdom of God in Christ, the latter always won. Second, by adding, “yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever,” the early church made clear that those three realities, kingdom, power, and glory, had taken on new meanings; that they no longer meant what Rome thought they meant. And so what I want to do is to take a few minutes and unpack these, so that as we pray them, we will have a clearer understanding of what it is that we are saying. For thine is the kingdom - The Kingdom for Augustus meant Rome was for Romans. While this may seem like a “duh” statement, in the Roman Empire only a small percentage of people were citizens. The vast majority of people were either slaves or barbarians who had few, if any, legal rights. And even among Roman citizens there was a strict hierarchical class system with little mobility between classes. Thus, all power and privilege was only for the few. The Kingdom of God in Jesus Christ was extraordinarily different. This kingdom was a radically inclusive community in which all persons were invited to participate on an equal basis. There was no discrimination. It was open to men and women, slave and free, Jew and Gentile, Roman and barbarian, rich and poor. There was no hierarchy or class system. All were to share not only their goods, but their spiritual gifts. This was a Spirit led community whose sole allegiance was given to God in and through Jesus of Nazareth. For thine is the kingdom and the power - power for Augustus and Rome was military power. It was legions of soldiers. It was violent invasion and conquest. It was crucifixion. It was the foundation of what brought them to power and kept them in power. The power of the God in Christ, was the exact opposite. It was peace. It was the power of Shalom. Shalom, the Hebrew word for peace, does not simply mean a lack of violence. It means the wellness and wholeness of individuals and communities. Shalom was the power of God that made it possible for the church to be the inclusive community that God desired it to be. Shalom healed broken relationships. Shalom allowed for forgiveness and reconciliation. Shalom allowed people to resist the temptations of the world. Shalom was a gift of God in and through faith in Jesus Christ which was given by the Spirit. Shalom was an attribute, according to Micah, of the coming messiah, and as such provided the power to transform the world from one of hate and violence into one of love and grace. For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever. Glory for Augustus meant the undying adulation of the people. It meant parades of slaves taken in his conquests. It meant statues and Temples being built in his honor. It meant having everything in the Empire focused on him. Glory for the early church was the opposite. Glory was the love, grace and presence of God focused on the world. The glory of God was God’s presence that traveled with the people throughout history; watching over and protecting them. The glory of Jesus was his willingness to give himself for the life of the world. In the letter to the church in Philippi, Paul speaks for Jesus not counting ‘equality with God’ something to be desperately grasped, but that instead he gave it up to become one of us, a human being, who was willing to die on the cross. This is the glory that is God’s. It is self-giving, that becomes a model for self-giving in the church. And it is this self-giving that makes possible, shalom, that makes possible the inclusive nature of God’s kingdom. The Lord’s prayer has been part of my life as long as I can remember. I prayed it in church. I prayed it with my parents at bedtime. I have prayed it as an adult. Yet, until this study, I had not spent much energy or effort to explore its deeper meaning. What I have come to realize is just how revolutionary this prayer is. It is revolutionary because we are giving our primary allegiance to God and to no others; Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. We are praying for the inbreaking of God’s radically inclusive community; Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We are praying for God’s shalom, God’s peace that binds all people together. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. We are praying for God’s protective and guiding presence so we might continue to the shalom community God desires us to be. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. My challenge to you then is this, as you pray this prayer, ask yourself how am I not only seeing this as a revolutionary prayer, but how is my life reflecting this revolution in how I live, love and share my life in Christ with the world. Rev. Joanne Blair
July 15, 2018 Listen Print Version Matthew 6:9-13 As we near the end of this sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer, I encourage you to reread or listen again to each of the previous sermons, for this prayer is not only our moral code, it is effectively the gospel in prayer form. It highlights two themes that are on Jesus’ mind throughout his ministry: how to love God more fully and others more deeply. The first 3 petitions in the prayer are requests for the Father’s glory, and the other 4 petitions are requests for the disciples’ (and our) needs. Today we focus on the 6th and 7th petitions: “And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.” “Temptation, Time of trial” … why these different presentations? If, as it says in the book of James 1:13, “… God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one”, then why do we use the word temptation in our Lord’s Prayer? First of all, the Greek word used can refer to temptations to sin, or it can refer to the trials and testing of faith and obedience. Secondly, there is an eschatological (or end times) testing through which we all must pass, and the petition is that God will not let us fail in this testing. But this morning I want to focus on: “What does this mean for us right now, here today?” And we can sum it up like this: this is a request for protection… and a plea to save us from ourselves. Jesus is teaching us to pray that we may be protected when we find ourselves faced with situations and enticements that would drag us away from loyalty to him. Protection from that which would separate us from God. God may not tempt us, but God does allow us to be tempted. And God allows us to be tested. And testing, while seldom pleasant, can be a good thing. Steel and aluminum undergo strenuous testing before they are used to make cars and airplanes. Would you really want to drive or fly in a machine that hadn’t been tested for strength? Testing in school is sadly used and abused these days, but the real intent is to see what students have learned and what they are prepared to handle in the future. And without our being tested along the way, how can we know if our faith stands up? After all, it’s easy to have faith in God’s goodness when things are going well. When I was a chaplain at Children’s Hospital in Detroit, I saw a lot of sadness and tragedy. [Some of it caused by other humans.] Never for a moment did I believe that what I saw was caused or planned by God. But I did see God’s presence, and I saw how God would use a heartbreaking situation for good… if we but open ourselves to it. Those parents were surely tested and tempted in a myriad of ways by their situations. But those with strong faith were able to glimpse beyond their own circumstances and trust that God’s ultimate goodness and love and faithfulness were even greater than their individual circumstances and their personal pain. They stood strong in their faith and held on to God, resisting the temptation to be drawn away. Evil is not just about doing “bad things” … it is about being drawn away from God. Evil is real. It does exist and it is powerful. Evil is out in the world and it is within each of us. When we worship anything other than God, we give power to the forces of malevolence… and we call that Satan, or the Devil, or the Adversary, or the Evil One. We do have choices. Those of us who are old enough to remember Flip Wilson’s comedy show will remember his famous character, Geraldine Jones. One of her most famous lines was, “The devil made me do it!” And while we laughed and often repeated this line in jest … we know in our hearts that we are responsible for the decisions we make and the things we do. And it brings to light that while God may not tempt us, there are surely many temptations in this life. Worldly forces tempt us every day… and they are different for each one of us. If anyone understands this, it is Jesus. Jesus teaches us to pray as someone who has come to the breaking point and knows the temptations we face. This prayer, this powerful prayer, asks for protection from the temptations that will come before us, and the trials we must go through. We are praying to be relieved from the great tribulation that will one day come on all the world. We are praying that no temptation will be too great for us. We are praying to pass that which tests our faith, and to be led into deeper relationship with God. We are praying with and for ourselves and each other. We are praying to be “God-centered” and not “self-centered.” How do we do this? We train. Soldiers train every day, and may never see battle. Athletes train every day, and may never play in a game. But they are as ready as they can be. We, too, need to train every day. For at some time or another we will see battle and we will be put in the game. How do we do that? Through trust and obedience. Through remembering that although evil is real and powerful, so is Jesus’ victory over the power of evil. By realizing that Jesus is here for us… and with us. By following Jesus, we can resist temptation and pass those trials that are set before us, and be delivered from evil. This part of the Lord’s Prayer asks for protection against the forces which try to separate us from God. But within it is also a prayer for transformation … and our motivation ought to be obedience. Our faith is strengthened not just by studying the Bible, or listening to sermons… it is strengthened by the trials we experience, and by the lives of others in whom we see God at work. Through our relationships, we can help each other keep God as the main focus and authority… and by example, demonstrate the love and the goodness of God. Through our relationships we remember that although we may have our individual trials, we are in this together. And so the challenge this week is to ask ourselves: How am I training now to face the unknown trials that will come? And how does my faith-life help others in their times of trial? Let us pray… Rev. Dr. John Judson
July 8, 2018 Listen Print Version Luke 15:11-24; Matthew 6:9-13 They came before our committee one by one. Each one telling their story of the abuse or sexual harassment they had suffered at the hands of a minister, an elder or a church member. And these people were not from another denomination, but they were all Presbyterians, describing the acts of other Presbyterians. They came before our committee at General Assembly because they believed that the denomination had let them and others down. They came because our committee had overtures before us that were intended to strengthen our processes for reporting and dealing with those who abuse others. And as they came it began to dawn on me that I hadn’t really understood forgiveness. I didn’t understand because I had confused forgiveness and reconciliation. I had assumed that they were the same, but they were not. So, as we explore this part of the prayer this morning, “forgive us our debts as we have forgiven the debts of others,” I want to define reconciliation, forgiveness and then how they work together. But first some background. When God created, God created human beings that were capable of living in right relationship with God and with one another. When any of those relationships were broken by abuse, violence or any other action, God desired that those relationships be restored; that they be healed. This process of healing was called reconciliation. Forgiveness, on the other hand, is no more and no less than an openness to be willing to reconcile. That’s it. Forgiveness is no more and no less than an openness to be willing to reconcile. It is not feeling good about someone who hurt us. It is not letting an unrepentant abuser back into our lives. It is not about making excuses for someone who causes us pain. It is simply an openness to be willing to reconcile. With those two definitions in mind, I want to spend a few minutes talking about how reconciliation happens so that forgiveness can fully operate. The first step in reconciliation is repentance. Repentance means that the one who broke the relationship through violence, anger or any other action, must acknowledge their complicity and work to change themselves so that they do not do it again. It is not simply saying, I’m sorry. It is doing the hard work of being different. It is a literal turning from acting in one way, that of harm, to acting in another way, that of love and grace. And this is a difficult thing for most of us to do. It is difficult because we must acknowledge our guilt. Rather than doing this, what we want to do is blame the victim. It was their fault. They tempted me. They looked at me wrong. What this blaming does is break the relationship even more. Only by being like the younger son in the Luke 15 story and acknowledging our failings, can reconciliation begin to be accomplished. Only by saying, “Father I have sinned against you and heaven, and I do not deserve anything from you,” and then working to be different, can reconciliation be possible. The second step in reconciliation is accountability. This is perhaps the most difficult step in the reconciliation process because those who do harm must not only acknowledge that they are at fault, repent, but they should suffer the consequences of those actions. What those who came before our committee made clear to us, was that those who abused them, if they had been willing to repent, wanted to walk away from the consequences. Ministers, elders or even members who victimized others would try and go to another church or perhaps leave the ministry so no one would force them to face their victims and accept the discipline of the church or perhaps even the legal system. Though I know that this sounds judgmental, that they need to accept the consequences of their actions, but what we need to remember is that, though God is a God of mercy, God is also a God of justice. God demands that those who break relationships through harming others, suffer the consequences of their actions so those who are harmed will know that God is with them; that they, the victims, matter to God. For if there is no justice then it says that the pain and hurt of the victims does not matter. Again, returning to our story, we see how this works. When the father goes outside to the older son, he reminds the son that everything that the father has is his. In other words, the consequences of the younger son’s having taken his share of the inheritance is that there is no more for him. The younger son is held accountable. The third step in reconciliation is healing. This third step requires the victimizer to give the victim time to heal. You and I live in a society in which we expect everything to happen immediately. Often, we expect the same thing of forgiveness. We say things like, haven’t you forgiven them already. God wants you to forgive so you need to do it now. God won’t forgive you unless you forgive, hurry up. When we say those things, what we often mean is, why haven’t you been reconciled? Why haven’t you patched things up? What this does is that it weaponizes forgiveness. We have made it a weapon to force reconciliation before the person is ready; before the abuser has repented or taken accountability, before the victim has had time to heal from the pains inflicted upon them. For you see that pain is inflicted not simply by physical means, but by words and deeds at home, at the office, on the internet or to others around us. To be reconciled requires time to heal. Again, we see this in the story when the father goes to the elder son who is not ready to reconcile with his younger brother, leaves him the time and space to do so. Nothing is forced. Nothing is required. The father lets the son heal. Several years ago, I told you about my friend Suzanne in San Antonio. She had grown up on a farm south of the city. When her parents died they left the farm, the farm house and all the contents and equipment to the eldest brother. Suzanne was not upset about that because all she wanted was a picture of her and her mother, that her mother had promised her. After the memorial service she asked her brother about it. He told her not only could she not have the picture, but if she set foot on his property he would have her arrested. Their relationship was broken. Years later after hearing one of my sermons on forgiving seventy times seven. She decided to look up her brother and try and mend the relationship. Once again, he threatened to have her arrested. Then, about three years ago, their only other sibling died. At the memorial service she realized that her brother was there and coming toward her. He said, “Suzanne I am sorry for the way I have treated you. I ask your forgiveness. Can you come by the house and visit?” Her answer was yes. At that moment, Suzanne had a choice. She could treat her brother like she had been treated, or she could forgive. She could be open to reconciliation. She chose the latter, and ultimately because she forgave, and her brother did the work; they were reconciled. The challenge for us is to do the same. If we have been hurt, the challenge is to forgive, to be open to the possibility of reconciliation. If we have harmed someone else, the challenge is to do the hard work of reconciliation, hoping the other will forgive. Here then is my challenge for the week, how am I being open to reconciliation with those around me, that I may play my part in the process of reconciliation? Rev. Dr. John Judson
July 1, 2018 Listen Print Version Exodus 16:1-8; Matthew 6:9-13 What in the world does this part of the prayer have to do with us? While the other parts of the prayer appear to have some direct connection to us, this one seems a bit irrelevant to our daily lives. How so? Well, I hope to show why with one of my famous Sunday morning surveys. So here goes. How many of you have a refrigerator? How many of you have food in it? How many of you have a freezer of some kind? How many of you have food in it? How many of you have a pantry? How many of you have food in it? How many of you know where the closest grocery store is? How many of you have been there in the last week or so? How many of you have been out to dinner, or ordered in, in the last two weeks? My point of all this is that for the vast majority of us here this morning, we have “bread” and enough to spare. We don’t have to worry about our next meal. So why then ought we to include this part of the prayer when we pray each Sunday? The answer can be found in an Old Testament story, a New Testament story and a couple of pronouns. So here we go. First, we have the Old Testament story. Jesus was teaching to Jews who knew their history and the stories of the ancestors. One of those stories was of the great Exodus, which undergirds much of this prayer. In the Exodus story, after the people have left Egypt and entered the wilderness, they ran out of food and began to complain. They whined that Moses has led them into the wilderness to starve to death. They whined that it would have been better for them to have remained in Egypt as slaves, because at least there was something to eat. To deal with this situation, Moses prays to God, and God decides to give the people food, in the form of manna, a bread like flower. The catch however, was that there would only be enough given for one day at a time, except on the day before the Sabbath when there would be enough for two days so that the people did not have to work in gathering it. And if people tried to store it, or save it, the manna would go bad. Therefore, they were given their, wait for it, daily bread. Thus, when Jesus teaches the people to pray, give us this day our daily bread, he is drawing upon a mighty act of God in which God feeds the people. Thus, the prayer is rooted in a trust of God that God can and will feed. Second is the Jesus’ story. This is the story of the feeding of the 5,000, the only story which is in all four gospels. In this story Jesus has been teaching the people, just as Moses taught the people. The people are in a place where there is not food, just like in the Moses’ story. This time however, there is no manna that suddenly appears. Instead Jesus asks the disciples if they have any food. They have seven loaves and few fish; hardly enough to feed themselves, much less a large crowd. Jesus, however, declares that the supplies are adequate. They give him the bread and fish, he blesses them and those few provisions provide enough so that not only are all fed, but there are leftovers. It is the disciples who provide the daily bread. It is the disciples who are God’s agents of fulfilling the prayer, give us this day our daily bread. And this leads us to our pronouns. The two pronouns are “us” and “our”. Note that Jesus does not teach people to pray, give me this day my daily bread. Jesus teaches the people to pray give us this day our daily bread. This is a community prayer. It is a prayer that reaches back into the depth of the Law of Moses and reminds people that God called together a community and not a bunch of independent, self-actualized, followers; and that God uses the community to be the agents of delivery for daily bread. He is teaching the crowd to care for, and share with, one another. What this means for us is that we are the “us” and the “our.” We are the disciples. We are part of the community that God has created that prays the prayer together and not apart. We are those who hold the seven loaves and a few fish. We are those who are to share and trust that God is going to multiply this food. This understanding becomes even more clear when you look at the order of the prayer. Just prior to this request, we are called upon to pray that God’s kingdom comes, the kingdom in which all will have enough, and that God’s will, will be done; God’s will that all is shared and no one goes without. Only after those two requests do we come to the plural pronouns of our daily bread. For us then we need to place this prayer into the context of our modern world, which in some ways mirrors that of Jesus’ day. We live in a world in which there are millions of people here in the United States and around the world who do not have daily bread; who do not know where their next meal is coming from. We live in a nation and world in which many are being left behind and are not given the tools or the opportunity to earn their daily bread. What this part of the prayer is calling us to do is to see all those people as “us” and that we are praying that God will use us to ensure that all of us have enough. The gift of God to most of us, most of us who have enough in our fridges, freezers and pantries is that we have enough to help give us our daily bread. We have enough to loan to deserving families and communities through KIVA.org, where our money is repaid and then re-loaned. We have enough to purchase animals through the Heifer project to help families produce their own daily bread. We have enough to help with Shop and Drop to ensure that families in Pontiac have their daily bread. We have enough to buy extra at the grocery store and drop it here at the church so people around the city have their daily bread. We have enough time to go to Forgotten Harvest and pack food so people will have their daily bread. My challenge to you then is this. As you come to the table and are fed by God, ask yourself how you might fulfill this portion of the prayer, by helping to give others their daily bread. Rev. Dr. John Judson
June 24, 2018 Listen Print Version Psalm 72; Matthew 18:1-6 They’re coming. They’re coming and you should be afraid. That’s what the flyers said. The flyers had been distributed in a white’s only neighborhood in Detroit. They’re coming, the flyers said. The blacks are coming. They are buying into your neighborhood and unless you want to see your home values fall dramatically and you have to live next to a black family, you better sell now. You better be afraid. And at the bottom of the flyer was the number for a local real estate agent, who would pay cash for your house. This was not the only way that real estate speculators got white families to be gripped with fear so that they would sell their homes. They would also hire black couples to walk up and down streets, stopping to look at homes that were for sale. Then the speculators would begin phone campaigns to spread the rumors of blacks moving into the neighborhoods. They were coming, the rumor would go, and so you needed to be afraid and sell. They’re coming. They’re coming and we need to be afraid. This is what America has always done. They’re coming and we need to be afraid. The Baptists are coming so we need to be afraid because they are…and you fill in the blank. The Catholics are coming so we need to be afraid because they are…and you fill in the blank. The Irish are coming so we need to be afraid because they are…and you fill in the blank. The Italians are coming so we need to be afraid because they are…and you fill in the blank. The Chinese are coming so we need to be afraid because they are…and you fill in the blank. The Japanese are coming so we need to be afraid because they are…and you fill in the blank. We need to be so afraid of them that we should not let them live in our neighborhoods, go to our country clubs, go to our schools, date our children or perhaps even be allowed to stay. We need to pass laws against them. We need to lock them up. They are coming and we need to be afraid. They’re coming. They’re coming and we need to be afraid. We need be afraid of those people coming from Mexico and Central America. We need to be afraid because they are…and here is the language we are hearing today…. murderers, rapists, invaders, criminals, job takers and an infestation. We need to be afraid because those mothers and their children escaping gangs, those fathers desperate to provide for their families, those young teens not wanting to be killed by or pressed into membership in gangs are coming. We need to be afraid of them. We need to be afraid of them so much that we needed to take away children as young as eight-months old from their parents…and then ship them to Michigan or New York where they are cannot speak with each other. We need to be so afraid that rather than giving them hearings to see if they might qualify under our laws for asylum, we have to lock them up and charge them as criminals. They’re coming and we need to be afraid. Now, before I go one, I want to admit something to you. I don’t know what the answer to the immigration issue is. While I may have some ideas, I know that we cannot simply open the door and say ya’ll come. I don’t know how to fix the system of who we let in and who we don’t. What that means is that I am not choosing the platforms of any particular political party…but then what we are watching is that neither party seems to know what to do either. So that is something that I do not know. But my friends, there are two things that I do know. The first thing I know is how Jesus felt about children. In the first century children were considered a burden until they were old enough to work in the shop or in the fields. There was no child-centric ethos. Children were not to be seen or heard. So, it was a stunning turnaround when the disciples wanted to know who was greatest in the Kingdom of heaven, and Jesus, rather than choosing some super-righteous Pharisee, chose a child. He declared in fact that all of us were to be as humble as children and not only that, anyone who put a stumbling block in front of a child, meaning to do something to a child that keeps them from fully living into their becoming full children of a gracious God, should simply fasten a millstone around their necks and go and drown themselves. And we need not stop here. Not only did Jesus welcome children, he welcomed all of those of whom people hated or were afraid; lepers, women with a flow of blood, tax collectors, sinners and even Roman centurions. Jesus refused to be afraid. He saw every human being as a child of God and challenged those around him to do the same. The second thing I know is how a righteous leader is supposed to act…and let me say again, this is a non-partisan theological reflection. Each of you can do with it what you will. We see this in Psalm 72. Listen again. “May he judge your people with righteousness…meaning as God would do. May he bring justice to the poor. May he defend the cause of the poor, give deliverance to the needy and crush the oppressor…for he delivers the needy when they call, the poor, and those who have no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy and saves the lives of them. From oppression and violence, he redeems their life…” My friends this is what a Godly leader is supposed to look like. These are the things that Godly leaders are supposed to do. They are supposed to do them because this is what God does. God frees the captives. God cares for the least. God watches over the widows and the orphans. God’s leaders then are to be God’s regents on earth imitating their God in heaven. So where does this leave us. It leaves us with struggling to find a balance between keeping our nation safe by insuring that real criminals are kept out, while those who need a refuge are allowed in. It leaves us trying to find a balance between insuring that our children are safe and that the children coming to our borders are safely cared for with their parents and not separated and sent to shelters far from home. What I want to do then is to offer you a series of challenges. First, I challenge you to pray for those coming to our country; that they arrive safely and are treated with the respect due to children of God. Second, I challenge you to pray for those who are tasked with enforcing our immigration laws. They are under a great deal of stress as they are often conflicted with having to enforce laws they do not believe in. Third I challenge you to pray for and to contact your legislators, charging them with creating a fair and compassionate immigration system. Finally I invite you to come to Knox Hall and watch a video called, the Genesis of the Exodus (https://genesisofexodusfilm.com/thefilm/) which will help you understand who the refugees are and why they are coming. Those are my challenges to you for this week and I hope and pray that together, we can show the love of God in Jesus Christ, to all who seek to find and new and better life. For more information about immigration our website click here. |
Categories
All
Archives
June 2024
|