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Scripture: Revelation 1:1-19

Dear Church,

A surprising amount of scripture was penned by prisoners. Paul wrote most of his letters while imprisoned. And Revelation, the fiery apocalyptic poem that concludes the Bible, was written by a pastor named John while he was jailed on the isle of Patmos.

Most people think the key to understanding Revelation is decoding ‘when.’ When will the events described occur? How long now? How much more time do we have?

But ‘when’ is the wrong question.

If you want to understand Revelation, the question you have to answer is ‘where.’ Where was it written? Where is Babylon? Where is New Jerusalem? And, most importantly, where will I pledge my allegiance?

Pastor John was in prison for a reason. His seven churches were small and struggling, situated on the margin of the mighty Roman Empire. He and his churches certainly didn’t seem like a threat. But the gospel he preached absolutely was. It exposed the lies and unrighteousness of the powerful. It demanded that disciples swear absolute allegiance to Christ, not Caesar.

The gospel still makes those demands of us.

Which is why we need Revelation–so that we can see beyond what appears to be real to what is true and eternal. John seemed like a weak, old prisoner, condemned to die in obscurity. But he was not powerless or defeated, and he knew it. He knew he had nothing to fear from the most powerful political regime in the world. He knew he was free, despite his chains. He knew that the one who fought for him was greater than the one who fought against him.

He knew how the story ends. He saw the glory of the living Lord. And then he wrote a poem so we could see it too.

I hope you will join us for worship this Sunday as we hear, rejoice and take courage from John’s glorious vision.

Peace,
Pastor Kate

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Scripture: Joshua 14:5-15

Dear Church,

The Bible is a dangerous book.

The word of God is power (see Romans 1:16) and power is neutral. As my old New Testament professor used to say, ‘the same electricity that toasts your bread can kill you dead!’ Power itself isn’t inherently good or bad. But the power of the word of God can and has been misused to accomplish (and justify!) great evil in the world.

The right response to this grim reality is not denial or to abandon scripture. The right response is to learn how to use the power of God’s word righteously. And we know what that looks like–because we have the witness of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. AND we have the guiding wisdom and continual presence of the Holy Spirit.

All this to say–this Sunday we are going to look at a tiny piece of scripture you may never have heard before. But it has been twisted into a weapon of destruction and is still used to justify genocide and ethnic cleansing to this day.

I don’t want us to hide from this story. I want us to learn together why it doesn’t mean what many Christians have been taught. But I also want us to learn together what it does mean–because I think we desperately need this truth in these days.

Ultimately, this story is about how we carry the promises of God.

Like all of God’s truth–it is outrageously good news. Not just for us, but for all of creation. Because the power of God is God’s unfailing love–and our hope is in God’s full redemption. Unfailing love. Full redemption. These aren’t our naive wishes–this is the testimony of scripture.

And if the power of God’s word can be misused to do great evil, how much more goodness, healing, love and life will flow out of the righteous use of the promises of God? Beloved–it’s unfathomable.

This is a word that will sustain and inspire us in these days.

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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Scripture: Mark 12:41-44

Dear Church,

There is a lot of controversy about the Bible story we’re going to hear today..

A widow goes to the temple and throws two small coins into the treasury. Jesus is watching and commends her. He explains that while other gifts seem larger, she has given all she possesses.

For generations, preachers have told the story of the widow, celebrating her piety and encouraging believers to ‘go and do likewise.’ Give all you have to the church…err–God.

But in recent years, scholars have begun pushing back. They point out that immediately before Jesus talks about the widow, he excoriates scribes and priests, for hypocrisy in general and specifically for ‘devouring widow’s houses.’ Turns out, temple officials were entrusted with overseeing the assets of widows (because #patriarchy) and were entitled to compensation for their labors.  The overseers did their job so well that many widows ended up penniless and homeless.

Kind of casts a different light on the scene doesn’t it?  Perhaps her gift was less piety and more prophecy. Maybe she was throwing in all they’d left her as if to say, ‘you might as well have this too!’

However you read it, this is the story about a powerless woman who had very little to give. And she gave it all to a temple that had betrayed and exploited her. And Jesus saw. And because he told the story, generations later, we still have the opportunity to watch and wonder–what does this mean? How shall we live?

What does it mean to give all you have to a wounded world as it wounds you?  Is it better to withhold gifts from the unworthy? If the widow is a window… what is she showing us?

What I know for sure is that in these days, we must let Jesus and the widow teach us why we give.

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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Scripture:  Exodus 3:1-15

Dear Church,

Moses was eighty years old the first time he met the Lord.  He was a failed revolutionary, a fugitive with a violent criminal past who was hiding out in the wilderness tending his father-in-law’s sheep. He had given up his dream of liberating his people from slavery in Egypt.

And then, one day, he saw something strange–a thorn bush wrapped in flames, but still green and whole. It was on fire, but it wasn’t consumed by the blaze. He wondered how this could possibly be. So he paused from his labor, turned aside and went to see. And in that moment, he discovered God; and in that moment he was discovered by God.

It was wonder that led Moses–to God, to his calling, to a life formed by the extraordinary promises of God.

And what I want us to see is that Moses, who had so given up hope that he no longer even despaired for the suffering of his people, Moses who was resigned to the oppression of the weak by the powerful, Moses who knew for a fact that nothing he did could make any difference at all–Moses was led into the work of liberation by his wonder.

Church–even when the world threatens to overwhelm you, even when the powers that surround rage and destroy, even when brutality paralyzes your heart with fear and despair–even then, the whole world is not woe.

Especially now, we must wonder.  We must make space, go out of our way, pause in our labor and take time to wonder. We must wonder like our lives depend upon it. Because they do.

Wonder will lead us to the Lord. And the Lord will show us the way that we can flourish as we wait, walk and work in joyful anticipation of the fulfillment of the promises of God.

Because Moses saw a bush on fire that wasn’t burning. He saw it. It couldn’t be–but it was. And when he turned aside to wonder at it–he discovered not a plant, but the God who does wondrous and impossible things. And he discovered that God was calling and equipping him to be part of the glorious, impossibly good redemption of the world. And the wonder of it all is–God is calling and equipping all of us in that way, for that work, as well.

I hope you will join me for a word of wonder and hope, a story that’s about Moses and also about all of us, a Seed of Faith that will astonish us and equip us to continue to trust the Lord and bear fruits of the Kingdom in this season.

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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Scripture:  Genesis 11:30-12:4

Dear Church,

Abram was 75 years old the first time he heard from God.  And that first (tiny) word God said to Abram is a seed out of which the Spirit grew salvation. That word?

GO

Go from your country and your family and your father’s house…to a land that I will show you. Move past all you know, all you understand, toward an unknown future for no other reason than…faith.

We expect our faith to comfort us, soothe us and settle us.  We’ve been told that faith is the way we can ensure that we get what we know we need and deserve.

But faith is what sends us out into the unknown, beyond what we have settled for. We expect faith to make us respected and honored by those around us. But what do you think Abraham’s family and community thought about his choices?

Biblical faith is wild and disruptive. It is God interrupting life, upending comfortable entrenched existence, and leading people beyond their own hopes and dreams. Faith is a seed dropped in our hearts that grows us into the life of Jesus, the living hope through whom God is redeeming and reconciling all creation.

In these tumultuous and uncertain days, we are exploring not the what, but the way faith: how it is like seeds scattered on fertile, fallow ground, how it makes us new in ways we neither seek, nor control, nor comprehend. Faith isn’t doctrine or ritual or assenting to orthodox theology.  Faith is hearing God say ‘go,’ and then deciding how you will respond.

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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Scripture: Psalms 130 & 131

Dear Church,

In 1966, Robert F. Kennedy made a speech citing the ‘ancient Chinese curse’ may you live in interesting times.  As you probably inferred from my punctuation, these words are neither ancient nor of Chinese origin. But the idea that living in interesting times is a curse sure does feel true, doesn’t it?

I’ve spent many hours this week listening. I’ve listened to politicians, historians, to pundits and other pastors–and we certainly are living in interesting times. I’ve listened with love and awe to several members of our community who opened their hearts to me–these days do feel like a curse to many of us. And I’ve sought the Lord on our behalf, searched the scriptures and strained to listen to the Holy Spirit.

Unexpectedly, I find myself tremendously excited to share the word with you this Sunday.  I believe the Lord has given me both our ‘word of the year’ to guide us as a community in 2025 and a word of courage, direction and hope for us through the prayers of our ancestors found in psalm 130 and psalm 131. (You might find it helpful to read them both in the Message paraphrase as well.)

Our faith does not allow us to live in denial or callow optimism. Still, because of Jesus, we can expect to uncover abundant life even and especially in these days. Beloved ones, we may not have asked for these times, but we were made church for times just like these. Because really, the rise and fall of political regimes, the antics and destructive foolishness of powerful leaders just aren’t novel. 

The most interesting–the most earth-shaking, power-filled and new-world-order forming time of all was when the crucifixion and death of the son of God resulted in the most improbable and unexpected outcome of all. The death of the messiah did not trigger the eternal triumph of death, violence and eternal rejection of creation by the Creator. Instead, Christ’s death unleashed a new age of life, mercy and reconciliation with God.

The most interesting thing of all is that the cross, designed by human ego to produce terror, suffering and death, was redeemed by God to become the source of forgiveness, love, life and grace. What should have eternally cursed humanity opened the way to new, abundant, and eternal life. Ever since that first Easter, we’ve been blessed to live in interesting times. The body of Christ has been here before. We have wisdom and purpose for these days. Come and see how we live in triumphant love and joyful resistance now.

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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Scripture:  Matthew 21:28-32

Dear Church,

(Almost) everybody loved Jesus until one day, and after that day almost no one did.

On that day, he rode a donkey, rearranged some furniture and argued with some powerful people. The next day, he cursed a fig tree (?) on his way back to tell them some stories. This is one of them:

There was a man who had two children. He went to the first and said, ‘Go and work today in the vineyard.’ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other child and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

Centuries later, James Baldwin gave the same people the same message in one sentence:

I can’t believe what you say because I see what you do.

And the thing about it is–Jesus and Baldwin weren’t speaking to people who disagreed with them. They were speaking to people who claimed to hold the same ideals, the same loyalties, the same vision and core values.

But there is what we say we believe and there is what we do. And life is gained and lost in the difference between the two.

I hope you’ll join me for worship on Sunday at 10am in the sanctuary or on the live-stream. We will focus on the final part of our mission statement at the Grove–coming alive in Christ. Spoiler alert: it happens when we obey the Father and show up to work in the vineyard. That’s where the holy magic happens–in each of us and in all creation.

Come and see!

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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Scripture:  Matthew 5:1-4

Dear Church,

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. (Matthew 5:1)

Jesus was in the middle of a crowd. And then he left. He climbed up a mountain and once he was there, he sat down and began to teach the passages of scripture we’ve come to know as the sermon on the mount.

Isn’t that strange?

Jesus was already in the middle of a large group of people. If he’d stayed put, many more would have heard his words. But instead, he went out of his way…to make people go out of their way to hear him. And presumably, many did not.

As is our custom, we set aside the first weeks of each new year to focus on our mission as a community. We are a community that runs on grace, but sometimes we misunderstand it. As the great Dallas Willard liked to say, ”grace is opposed to earning, not effort.”

There are things we believe in putting effort into at the Grove. Inviting folks into community. Serving our neighbors. And finding abundant life in Christ. We believe this mission is God’s will for us. And we want to embrace our mission ‘On Purpose.’

The choices we make, individually and as a community, matter. The promise of grace is that God will infuse our small acts of faithfulness with the purposes of the Kingdom.

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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Scripture:  Luke 2:41-50

Please welcome Nicole Thompson as she preaches from Luke 2:41-50

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Scripture: Luke 2:8-12

Hello Grove!

We find ourselves in that strange week after Christmas, but before the New Year, where, if you are off and have children home for the holidays, you may not know what day of the week it is. On the opposite end, if you are working or have timely demands of caregiving or appointment keeping you know exactly what day of the week it is.  I am here to offer the gentle reminder that no matter where you find yourself this day, the Savior was born for you. On Sunday we will revisit the text from Luke we read on Christmas Eve to remind us that God loved us all so much that the Savior was sent for all of us. So, whether you have already put your tree away or you are still stepping over wrapping paper, I hope you join us Sunday morning to be encouraged and reminded you are loved.

Peace,

Nicole

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