Month: July 2024

Scripture:  1 Kings 19:1-13

Dear Church,

For a long time I was part of a church that used a standardized liturgy each time we celebrated communion. The pastor would come to the table and say, ‘The Lord be with you,’ and we all knew to answer back, ‘And also with you.’

That part always bothered me. Because it seemed as though the pastor was saying, ‘May the Lord be with you’ like the characters said, ‘may the odds be ever in your favor’ at the start of the Hunger Games. Like we were praying that God would be with us in the future (maybe even in the immediate future once we took the bread and the cup) but for now, we were all acknowledging that God wasn’t with us. Our prayers were like a holy dinner bell, calling God in for supper.  The Lord may be with you…or maybe not.

And for most of human history, people have thought this way. We’ve believed that God’s sacred nature meant that God had to stay far away from ordinary sin-filled humans  People climbed mountains to get closer to God, or sought the holy in the depths of caves, acting like God was a prize that could only be won by the strongest and bravest and most exceptional. People thought God might come closer to those who devoted their whole lives to achieving spiritual perfection, but could not stand the stink of ordinary imperfect human lives. Or maybe we just hoped it was that way.

The consistent revelation of scripture is that God is with us. Already. From the beginning of Genesis to the glorious triumph of love in Revelation, God is with us. God is close, right now. Theologian Sam Wells speculates that the biggest problem of humans isn’t our morality–it’s our isolation. We weren’t made to do things ‘for’ God, but to be with God. As our friend Lisa Koons puts it, ‘God made us to hang out with us.’

So we start not with a hope–‘may the Lord be with you!’ but a stunned declaration, ‘God IS with us!’ God is WITH us. GOD is with us…close to…us.  It’s a glorious truth to savor in this season of astonishment.

I hope you can join us as we watch the prophet Elijah discover the nearness of God for the first time. It happens, not when he’s at the top of his game, but when he’s burned out and teetering on the edge of despair. Maybe you’re there too? Come and discover how tender and close God is to your beautiful weary heart.

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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Scripture:  Luke 15:11-32

Dear Church,

When my girls were little, we had to teach them how to say sorry. And we had to practice–a lot.  Like all young children, they had trouble controlling their impulses, using their words instead of their hands (or feet!) and asking instead of taking. Things could escalate quickly.

So we taught them how to talk instead of punch back when there was a problem. They’d run to me and I’d send them back to one another and coach them through a conversation. Tell your sister what she did that hurt you. Listen to what she’s saying to you. Can you tell her that you are sorry?

They were little and learning, so I didn’t expect perfect.  I ignored rolled eyes and huffy breaths and barely audible apologies.  But there was one thing they instinctively did that I always made a point to interrupt and correct. One would say, ‘I’m sorry’ and the other would answer back ‘It’s okay.’ And I’d swoop in:

Don’t say it’s okay, because it’s not okay.  Say, ‘I forgive you’. Because that’s how we can start again and make it better.

Forgiveness isn’t an implicit acknowledgment that what happened wasn’t important or harmful. Forgiving someone doesn’t mean that what they did was okay. Forgiveness opens a path to healing and change.

We are a forgiven people. We need to spend more time being astonished at that truth. What does it mean that we are forgiven? How does it change us? How does it connect us to God? How can it be?

This Sunday we return again to Jesus’ story of the Prodigal Son and the astonishing forgiveness and love he received from his Father when he least expected and deserved it.  But this time, we meet the older brother and learn what it feels like, not to be forgiven, but to watch someone else not get what’s coming to them.

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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Scripture:  Luke 15:1-24

Dear Church,

So far in our Season of Astonishment, we’ve marveled at two glory-filled truths:

We are Chosen & We are Changed.

But on their own, these might be astonishing and terrifying truths.

Recently, I was watching a sci-fi show where the evil supervillain could pick and switch any unsuspecting person, without warning, from a resister or bystander into a violent destructive ally. It’s only good news if we know the nature of the God choosing and changing us.

In the gospel of Luke, Jesus tells three stories about the character of God: a shepherd recklessly rescues a wandering sheep, a woman relentlessly searches for a lost coin and a Father who lets his youngest son go and then watches and waits for the moment he exuberantly welcomes him back home.

God has chosen us and God is changing us because God. Loves. Us. Right now. As we are. God is not waiting to love us until we become who we ‘ought’ to be.  We rush past the truth of God’s love too quickly in our quest for power, purpose and understanding. God IS Love. That’s an astonishing revelation. God is not vengeful. God is not destruction. God is not MAD at you. God is LOVE. God loves us.  AND Jesus’ parables and presence show us, God’s love is so extraordinary–extra-ordinary–so far beyond what we name and claim as love–that we barely recognize it.

God’s love seeks what is lost because sheep, coins and children have intrinsic non-negotiable worth. God’s love is limitless and non-transactional. It is not a resource to be hoarded or a reward to be earned; it is necessity. And, most improbably and offensive to us, God’s love refuses to conquer or compel us ‘for our own good.’ God’s love is not a prison. The younger son is free to walk away, but he does not have the power to stop the Father’s longing for his return. The Father waits as the shepherd searches and the woman seeks, expectantly.

Perhaps the most astonishing thing of all is not how hard it is for us to trust God’s love, but how recklessly easy it seems to be for God’s love to trust us to come home.  

I hope you will join me as we practice astonishment and wonder at God’s love for us.

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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