Living Lent (Week 1)
The art of the “soft-sell” is only becoming more common in our prevailing culture: cancel-at-any-time contracts, free trials, anything to help people ease into a new commitment. Jesus was terrible at the soft-sell. To start his ministry, he proclaims, “Change your hearts and lives!” This week, let’s talk about commitment in the life of faith, and why the transformation of the world could truly begin with one person committing to a new way of life.
Living Lent (Week 1)
The art of the “soft-sell” is only becoming more common in our prevailing culture: cancel-at-any-time contracts, free trials, anything to help people ease into a new commitment. Jesus was terrible at the soft-sell. To start his ministry, he proclaims, “Change your hearts and lives!” This week, let’s talk about commitment in the life of faith, and why the transformation of the world could truly begin with one person committing to a new way of life.
Deliverance and Redemption Today
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Citizens Of The Kin-dom
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?
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?