"Bonds of Freedom"

I will pick up our conversation about change next time, but for those who asked, my notes from Sunday's sermon (1/25).  NOTE: I don't preach from manuscript, so these are just my "notes".

Blessings!
Pastor Ray

Today we continue our series, based upon the book, The Holy Intimacy of Strangers by Sarah York. Within that theme I’d like to lift up the subtopic of

“Bonds of Freedom”

• Scripture is full of references to encounters with strangers.

JACOB in Genesis, wrestled with the stranger (possibly and Angel, some say God) and was left with a distinct limp.

SODOM and GOMMORRAH, because of their inhospitality and cruelty to the strangers among them, their cities were destroyed.

The writer of Hebrews tell us to be careful how we treat the stranger, because we ENTERTAIN ANGELS UNAWARINGLY.

• So, in our relationship with the stranger or the strange…that which is or those who are is different from us, JESUS CHALLENGES US TO EXTEND OUR LOVE AND FRIENSHIP AND COVENANT BEYOND OUR SMALL CIRCLE OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS, as he is recorded in Matthew as saying:

“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”

• I believe scripture is clear, there is no doubt, we are called to the Ministry of the Stranger, AND today’s text is no different. For just as in previous encounters with the stranger:

1. The encounter with the stranger is unexpected.
2. God is speaking to us through the encounter.
3. The encounter will leave us transformed, if we welcome it with love and trust.

• I believe we are meant for community. We are better together.

• However, community takes a level of trust, that breaks our hearts wide open and beckons vulnerability. To be vulnerable is to relinquish the need to control and embrace the reality of interdependence.

• Four Kinds of People in Relationships:

Dependent (Needy)
Co-Dependent (Door Mat),
Independent (2 yr. old)
Interdependent (Team work…As Dr King used to say,  “We are caught in an escapable network of mutuality”…..)

•  The alternative is to live in fear and suspicion and miss the divine encounter by creating the Other….other than ourselves, other than normative and eventually other than human.

• So, if we called into community, then we are called into relationship with strangers and those who are in some way “strange” to us. Yet, we must acknowledge in full honesty and vulnerability that we need something from them.

• This is the paradox of what Sarah York calls “The Bond of Freedom”. The spirit often works within paradox…A paradox is a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.

• As People of God we are trapped in a Bonds of Freedom. Meaning, we are tied to each other and there’s nothing we can do about because it’s really the only way we can truly be free. We are not free if we are not living into the fullness of God’s grace…and let’s make this clear: God calls us to lavish love, extravagant grace and radical hospitality!

• Sarah York points out, that to be in relationship with God is to be in covenant with our neighbor and particularly the stranger. She continues by saying the extension of ourselves to the stranger (and the strange) is a spiritual calling because not only does it root us in our common humanity, but in doing so we become mediators of the Spirit. Or in other words, we are the body of Christ, and it is through our love, our effort, our mission that the world knows the very love and care of God.  We are here to offer holy presence to the world.

• I often think that the most prevailing question, the question of the ages is “Who Matter?”….

• What if we really rejoiced with those who rejoice and mourned with those who mourn? What our hearts broke for those who are hurting and we sobbed for those who are struggling.

• What if we truly saw our freedom and life and livelihood intricately connected to all people…whether they looked like us, talked like us, believed like us, acted like us, lived like us …or not?What if we cast our nets of community and love and inclusion and wellbeing to ALL of God’s people?

• What if we, once and for all, answered that age-old question…”Who Matters” with the resounding response…EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US??!! 

The Spirit "Moves"

In my last blog post I began a conversation about change. Change is all around us and in fact is inevitable. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus was the first to say, the only thing that is constant is change. So, whether we agree with it or not, understand it or not, or want it or not, everything must change. If this is so, then the ball is in our court. If change is inevitable, we must ask how we should not only cope with it, but be helpful participants in the flow or momentum of change rather than obstacles to progress.

Let's get one thing clear, God is a movement God. God moves. The Spirit doesn't sit stagnant, but even in our description of the work of the Holy Spirit, we are fond to say that the Spirit "moves" (which is why I find the term "progressive Christian" a bit redundant...what other kind of Christian can there be?) A church, a business, an organization, a family, a person, is either progressing or digressing. We’re either getting better or bitter, we're marching onward and forward or we’re falling behind. In life there’s no such thing as coasting.

Let's also be clear that it’s important to note that not all change is progress. So, I’m not simply advocating change for change sake. However I believe it’s incumbent upon us to recognize the difference, to be spiritually attuned enough to discern the zeitgeist or spiritual wind of God moving.

To do this, I'd like to suggest that we must have appropriate relationships with the past, present and future.  

Not to make this post too long, I'll pause here but in the next post I'll look at the past and how we might use it to understand what God is doing now.

Love ya!

Pastor Ray

New Year, New...."Me"??

Awww, change is in the air! The first of every new year is always filled with chatter of resolutions, new goals, and a fierce determination to do that thing that we've been putting off for too long (if you don't believe me, just go to any fitness center the first few weeks of January). However, what can actually happen (more often than maybe we'd like to admit), is our goals are derailed by the lack of attention, time, energy, resources, or will to get them done, thus leaving us disappointed and disillusioned. Sigh!

When considering this, a scripture comes to mind. In Philippians 3:13-14, Paul writes:

13 Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

One thing is for sure. Change is inevitable; it's all around us. Whether we agree with it or not, understand it or not, or want it or not, everything must change. Therefore we are faced with the challenge to either be a part of the change or fall victim to it. 

                                                                                        

I love Paul’s honesty and vulnerability in this text. He unashamedly admits that he doesn’t have it all together. But one thing he’s gotten down to a science, is the ability to let go of the past and press toward what lies ahead. For me, this means that Paul has decided not be thrown to and fro by the waves of a changing world, but instead he has chosen to be an active participant in life, engaging the change…even striving for it.  

New Year's Resolutions aren’t always good agents of positive change in our lives. While they can help us focus on areas of life we'd like to actively change, they can too often feel like a fad or trend rather than a real commitment to transformation. 

In my next few blog posts I'll use this text and offer some of my thoughts around being involved in real, lasting, positive change in our lives. I’ll also suggest ways we might embrace the change that we don’t necessarily welcome or find positive.

It’s a new year! It can also be a new you! Let’s embrace the grace and power of a loving God and let’s strive toward the mark of our high calling!

Love ya!

Pastor Ray