Tag: The Grove Church Charlotte

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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Scripture:  John 3:1-21. 1 Peter 1:3

Dear Church,

He was a Pharisee, a member of the ruling council and a spiritual leader of his people. He was respectful and curious and sensitive to the moving of the Spirit. He knew the Bible inside and out.  You could sum up Nicodemus in one word:  Faithful.

And with all of that extraordinary faith and impressive pedigree, Nicodemus hears what every one of us hears when we seek the Lord:  You must be born again.

For centuries, Christians have wondered and argued and threatened one another over the meaning of these words. At times, the church has twisted this revelation into a weapon of exclusion or accusation.

But Jesus isn’t threatening us here, he’s promising us something – something astonishing and wonder-filled:

Wherever we are on our spiritual journey, the goodness of God is making us new. Life with Jesus is not a self-improvement plan.  We are not limited by our own will power and wisdom. We can have faith, not in our own efforts, but in the power of the love of God to heal and grow us. 

So we can breathe deep and unclench our souls. We can relax and rejoice. As we hear each Sunday after we confess our sins, we can be at peace because God is making us new.

We are not in competition with anyone. We are not in danger. Since that very first Easter Sunday, we have held by the love of Jesus who endured the cross for us, the love of God who raised Jesus from the dead and the love of the Spirit who lives in us, filling and connecting us to that great holy love.

On our best days, on our worst days, in what appears ordinary and in what appears extraordinary (spoiler alert: it’s all extraordinary), we can be astonished and comforted by the great mercy of God that has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Let’s come together to revel and rejoice in the goodness of God! God’s own Spirit is making us new. In Christ, we are born again.

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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Scripture:  Exodus 3:1-12, John 15:16

Dear Church,

For the last five years, I’ve been making a weekly podcast with my friend and fellow pastor Eulando Henton.  It’s cleverly titled “2 Pastors take a walk and make a podcast.” We talk about pastor-life, racial justice, transformation and growing healthy & holy multi-ethnic, multi-cultural churches. And we begin each episode by sharing what’s astonishing us.

Because if you make a practice of looking for it, something always is.  And if you don’t focus your attention on all the good and beautiful things in life that astonish you, you will quickly become overwhelmed and paralyzed by all the terrible things that astonish you.

To be astonished is to be filled with awe and wonder and amazement.  The goodness of God is astonishing, but sometimes sin and familiarity robs us of our attention and blinds us to the incredible goodness of God. One of the marks of the early church was that it was filled with awe.

At the Grove, we’re declaring this summer the season of astonishment.  Together, we are going to direct our attention on the active goodness of God.  We are going to practice noticing the presence and power of the goodness of God.  We are going to let it astonish us. We are going to seek the Spirit to recover our sight & astonishment.

The goodness of God is powerfully, palpably, perceptibly with us every moment of our lives, whether we notice it or not.  But life is better–and we are more joyful and loving–when we notice it. Let’s practice astonishment together.

Peace,

Pastor Kate

P. S. Speaking of astonishment, yesterday, our friend Wes Vander-Lugt released his book “Beauty is Oxygen: Finding a Faith that Breathes.”  If you want to dive deeper into astonishment, this book beautifully resonant with all the themes of our summer worship series.  We’ll be praying over and celebrating it a little later in the summer!

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Scripture:  2 John 1-13

Dear Church,

My favorite saint is a woman called Julian who lived a long time ago in a place called Norwich. She had visions, the most famous of which is the one of some thing ‘that appeared to be hazelnut.’ At that time, she knew the Lord was showing her that the tiny object was everything that ever was and ever would be, and it was held by God and so ‘it is well, it is well, and all manner of things will be well.’

It was years later in her life, a life marked by deprivation and wars and plagues and loss, that she asked God For the meaning of the vision. And this is what the Lord told her:

Wouldst thou learn thy Lord’s meaning in this thing? Learn it well: Love was His meaning. Who shewed it thee? Love. What shewed He thee? Love. Wherefore shewed it He? For Love. Hold thee therein and thou shalt learn and know more in the same. But thou shalt never know nor learn therein other thing without end. Thus was I learned that Love was our Lord’s meaning.

The meaning of life is love.

It always has been and always will be, but since the fall, we humans have never been satisfied with that.

But life came as a gift from God, who is love. Our creator who made us from love for love. And anytime our theology becomes anything other or easier than love, we’ve made ourselves an idol.

I hope you’ll join me as we read the last of St. John’s ancient love letters and remember again that the way is love and love is our way.

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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Scripture:  1 John 4:7-21

Dear Church,

I love the book of 1 John because the message is profoundly simple: God is love, and if you are God’s children, you will be people of love.

This is what Christianity is all about! In his marvelous little book The Love That Is God, Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt summarizes the basics of Christianity this way:

God is love.

The love that is God is crucified love.

We are called to friendship with the risen Jesus.

We cannot love God if we do not love each other.

We live our love out from the community created by the Spirit.

That fourth line is often the hardest.

We get tripped up by our busyness, by our tendency to narrow the scope of people we are called to love, by our fear, and by misunderstanding what it means to love.

But the message of 1 John is liberating: God has given us everything we need be people of love. The Spirit is with us, dissolving our fears and empowering us for a life of sacrificial love.

I hope you will participate in worship this Sunday at 10am in the sanctuary or on the livestream as we continue our series First, Love and remember who we are as people of love.

Grace and peace,

Wes Vander Lugt

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Scripture:  1 John 3:11-24 (NIV)

In the beginning, we understood that our only goal on the way of Jesus is to love.  Not to fix or change or judge or punish or even to save, not to be the holiest, or the most important or the most powerful or the best. God is all of those things, and the way of Jesus won’t make you God, which is what we’ve all desired from the beginning. The way of Jesus will heal us and show us how good and wonder-filled and enough it is to be people fully loved by our Creator. The way of Jesus will make us content and grateful to be human. It is the grace of God that delivers us from evil and into love, which is the opposite of death.

Love will set us free in the wild center of God’s liberating redemption of all creation. Love will lead us on the path back to shalom. Love, and only love, will take us everywhere we need to go. Love will make all things new.

Including our life in Christ.

I hope you will join me as we share the feast of communion and I hope you’ll come and taste and see that God is good and God is for you and God is with you and God is within you. 

Peace,
Pastor Kate

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Scripture:  1 John 2:7-17

In the year 125 AD, a Greek philosopher named Aristedes attempted to explain the popularity of Christianity to the Roman Emperor Caesar Hadrian’s. Here’s how he described these early Christians:

“They love one another. They never fail to help widows. They save orphans from those who would hurt them. If they have something, they give freely to one who has nothing. If they see an immigrant, they take him into their homes and rejoice over him as a brother…and if there is among them any that is poor and needy, and if they have no spare food, they fast two or three days in order to supply to the needy their lack of food.”

Who would describe Christians that way today?

This Sunday, we begin a new worship series based on the letters of John, the last living apostle to the early church. He was the one Jesus called ‘beloved,’ and he wrote to believers in the time before the faith was a religion, before it was institutionalized, before it was domesticated, when it was still a way of living. When it was still a way of love.

These letters were written before we replaced Jesus’ invitation to ‘follow me’, with the authoritative command to worship Jesus, before we replaced ‘pick up your cross and follow’, with ‘believe these doctrines or be damned.’ John wrote in a time when the church understood that Jesus did not leave us with a call to belief or worship, but with one command: ‘love one another as I have loved you.’  Keeping that command was the way the early church lived with Christ.

In those early days, keeping the faith was figuring out what does it look like to love my brother and sister the way that Christ has loved me?

You can see in Aristedes’ words that people answered that question in some astonishingly beautiful ways.  Now most Christians talk about Jesus as the only way to get to heaven after you die.  Then Christians talked about Jesus as the only way to live on earth as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.

At first, Christianity was a way of living with love.  Let’s go back to the beginning. 

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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Scripture:  Acts 2:1-21

When Jesus gathered his disciples together after his resurrection, before he returned to the Father, he gave specific instructions. ‘Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.’

So they stayed together in Jerusalem. They gathered in an upper room, they did a little administrative work, they prayed, and they waited.  They did not get what they were waiting for.  They did not get the kind of power they expected or desired. Because who in the world could have anticipated this?

Instead, they got the power Jesus asked the Father to give them.  They got Jesus’ own Holy Spirit. And in the moment they received the Spirit, they became the answer to Jesus’ prayer.

This Sunday is Pentecost.  We will remember the story of that day and the wisest and most mature among us will celebrate it.  Because the story of that day is still the story of our life together.  Those first disciples didn’t get what they prayed for, they became what Jesus prayed for–they were filled with the Holy Spirit, what was in them was not of them, and they became the church.  May it be so with us.

The church without the Spirit of God is just a religious institution, a collective, interactive man-made idol. Such a church might do things for God, but it cannot do things with God.  It is limited by its own wisdom, its own desires, its own culture, its conflict and its limited vision and resources. It can easily be seduced by the enemy.  It has and does tremendous damage.

But a community of believers who wait, pray and surrender to the Holy Spirit, they are empowered by God through the Holy Spirit and become the living body of Christ. They are limited only by the will of God. Such a church has everything it needs to flourish in faithfulness to God in all seasons.

I hope you will join me for worship on Sunday at 10am, in the sanctuary or on the livestream.  Like our ancestors, we will surrender our agenda and wait and pray for the power of God which is the Holy Spirit.  Apart from the Spirit we can do nothing.  With the Spirit, we have everything we need to become the answer to the prayers Jesus is still praying for the world.

Come and see!

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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