John 1:1-18 in anticipation of Sunday, Christmas II on January 5:
The Logos was with God. The Word was God.
God is the Word. Jesus is the Word made Flesh.
Full of Grace and Truth.
Giving Grace upon Grace to us all.
The result is that THE LIGHT OF THIS GRACE AND TRUTH SHINES IN THE DARKNESS,
AND THE DARKNESS DID (WILL) NOT OVERCOME IT.
While it is true that the world, those of empire in Jesus' time, did not know Him and ignored or refuted His truth, even His own people, those who claimed to love God and who should have followed Him, yet those who believed in His name (here Logos) - the Word - are children of God.
Jesus is my authority.
I believe that Jesus is the Word made Flesh, the fulfiller of Law and Prophets, Savior and Lord.
I believe that I must look at Jesus' Word as my authority in scripture.
I look at all scripture through the eyes of the Gospel of Jesus - what Jesus is witnessed in the Gospels as teaching, commanded and modeling as God's Will for us.
In this same Gospel, Jesus repeatedly OWNED the Word and commanded those who would be His disciples to abide in it, live it, heed it as how they fulfill the command to love (Agape) Him.
I believe that Jesus' Way, what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled as God's Way for us, is the best way in order for humankind to sustain Shalom (completeness, wholeness and well-being toward peace) in life for all people.
I believe that Jesus' Way, is God's Way for us to live Kingdom Values instead of the empire values of the world that create the darkness that must be overcome.
I believe that Jesus' Way is the Way of God for us. It is all about living the Agape Love that Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us (active commitment on behalf of the other, even stranger and enemy, and especially the most vulnerable - see Luke 10:25-37 and Matthew 25:31-46).
Grace and Truth expose the darkness for what it is - unsustainable as a way for all people to live.
The empire values of greed, lust for power and desire for status divide, create despair and thus destroy Shalom.
The Truth of Jesus' Way and the Grace that is shared in the living of it shed light that destroys the darkness.
It is a Truth, that when lived sustains life and Shalom in life, and the darkness does not overcome it because those who live in the Shalom of Agape Love and Grace spread its light.
This has NOTHING to do with personal salvation.
It has everything to do with sustaining life in Shalom for the most vulnerable, community and the world. What is saved is that Shalom by the living of Kingdom values in this part of the Kingdom of God, here and now.
In that, every valley is exalted, every mountain and hill made low, the uneven is leveled and the rough places made a plain.
In that, Kingdom Values are lived and it brings about Shalom for all.
The Word has been from the beginning. No manner of twisting or spinning, selective usage or ignorance of the Word will change it.
The question is, will we live within the Word?
Will we follow Jesus, the Logos made Flesh?
Will we live His Truth in this part of God's Kingdom, here and now?
Or will we continue to be subject to, occupied by and oppressed by the false teachings of empire that lift up the wealthy, powerful and "statused" at the expense of God's children?
Will we continue to live in its darkness?
No. If we are people of the Word, the light of God's Truth shines in our lives. The darkness cannot overcome that. The darkness of greed, wealth, status and hatred cannot overcome the light of the Word, unless of course we desire to live in the darkness, rather than the light.
Pastor Jamie
Sunday, December 29, 2019
Thursday, December 26, 2019
The Word made Flesh, Refugees and The Flesh made Word
John 1:1-14 is too beautiful not to reference this Sunday.
Matthew 2:13-23 offers the picture of the Messiah, Son of God, born in humility, forced to be a refugee in a foreign land in order to save his life, not unlike those generations before who went into Egypt during famine in order to survive... also a time when the first born male children were killed by those threatened by their power.
Children rounded up and separated from their parents, living in caged in areas is nothing new by abusers of power who are threatened by the presence of children of God.
These children of God must be saved, by whatever means necessary - crossing rivers (in a basket) and/or crossing borders.
Survival is resistance to empire. Empire abuses power for the sake of its own wealth and status over others. Survival is the first step in standing up to and speaking truth to power. Both Moses and Jesus found themselves in Egypt, struggling to survive. Both Moses and Jesus were sent by God to speak truth to power and deliver God's children from the oppression (and occupation) of empire. Now, those who are followers of Jesus, who know Moses, are called to do the same.
People advocated on their behalf. They were sheltered from the injustice.
It is time for children of God to advocate for refugees (facing starvation or violence) and resist empire in doing so. Speak truth to power. Stand up for those who need to be sheltered from the oppressive injustice of this age. It's time to take the side of the Kingdom of God.
You cannot follow Jesus, who was a refugee, if you ignore the refugees at our border or in our neighborhoods. You are either on the side of Jesus or on the side of empire. It is your choice.
The Word made Flesh calls us to be Flesh made Word in how we live the Good News of Agape Love and Grace that Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us in how to live in this part of God's Kingdom, here and now. If we are unwilling to live that Good News, we are not followers of Jesus.
It really is that simple.
You either will follow Jesus, or you will not.
You will be The Flesh made Word or not.
Pastor Jamie
Matthew 2:13-23 offers the picture of the Messiah, Son of God, born in humility, forced to be a refugee in a foreign land in order to save his life, not unlike those generations before who went into Egypt during famine in order to survive... also a time when the first born male children were killed by those threatened by their power.
Children rounded up and separated from their parents, living in caged in areas is nothing new by abusers of power who are threatened by the presence of children of God.
These children of God must be saved, by whatever means necessary - crossing rivers (in a basket) and/or crossing borders.
Survival is resistance to empire. Empire abuses power for the sake of its own wealth and status over others. Survival is the first step in standing up to and speaking truth to power. Both Moses and Jesus found themselves in Egypt, struggling to survive. Both Moses and Jesus were sent by God to speak truth to power and deliver God's children from the oppression (and occupation) of empire. Now, those who are followers of Jesus, who know Moses, are called to do the same.
People advocated on their behalf. They were sheltered from the injustice.
It is time for children of God to advocate for refugees (facing starvation or violence) and resist empire in doing so. Speak truth to power. Stand up for those who need to be sheltered from the oppressive injustice of this age. It's time to take the side of the Kingdom of God.
You cannot follow Jesus, who was a refugee, if you ignore the refugees at our border or in our neighborhoods. You are either on the side of Jesus or on the side of empire. It is your choice.
The Word made Flesh calls us to be Flesh made Word in how we live the Good News of Agape Love and Grace that Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us in how to live in this part of God's Kingdom, here and now. If we are unwilling to live that Good News, we are not followers of Jesus.
It really is that simple.
You either will follow Jesus, or you will not.
You will be The Flesh made Word or not.
Pastor Jamie
Sunday, December 22, 2019
power and light in love
Luke 2:1-14 (in anticipation of the Christ Mass on Wednesday)
"Love came down at Christmas."
God reached into the world, into our lives and touched us, giving us hope in despair and light in the darkness of oppression, corruption and longsuffering.
It was not without scandal.
They were engaged and not married, but with child.
They were not wealthy enough to bribe an innkeeper.
But God reached into common lives.
The shepherds were the lowest roughnecks, LIVING in the fields nights with the sheep.
They were not the owners. An angel came to them! God's glory shown around them!
The announcement was made to them!
Thus, the Son of God, all power and majesty, was born of commoners.
The Son of God, all glory and light, was born in a barn, not a palace or temple, in the darkness.
The Son of God, all purity and holiness, was born in blood and pain and tears, and in filth.
The Son of God, all wonder and awe, was covered with strips of cloth and not a robe.
To common people.
For common people.
Not kings or religious leaders, not the elite of society or landowners.
A lowly maiden with no status or power or wealth.
A common laborer with not enough means to bribe someone to get a room.
The night shift of shepherds.
The world that had suffered despair, oppression and corruption for so long.
This new hope was Word made Flesh, indeed.
He would bring the Good News of Great Joy for ALL the people, indeed was that Good News!
And for any who would follow, it would mean life, life abundant and life forever.
Life according to a new set of rules in Agape Love and Grace that would counter the established
corruptions of empire based on wealth, power and status.
Life lived in Kingdom of God values that lift all up, rather than tearing down the many for the
sake of the few.
Life fulfilled as people live within the Will of God that brings Shalom to themselves and
everyone around them in the world.
In humility, lowliness, scandal and filth, was born the Son of God who would identify with
common humanity.
God reaches into our lives powerfully, lovingly and intimately to bring us Good News.
All Power expressed in powerlessness.
Great Worth shared in poverty.
Highest Status found in humility.
This Good News of Great Joy is born to turn things around - to show us a different, better and
faithful way to live with God and one another - God's Way.
So that we may live in Light, in Love.
That's a God with whom I can (and do) identify!
Pastor Jamie
"Love came down at Christmas."
God reached into the world, into our lives and touched us, giving us hope in despair and light in the darkness of oppression, corruption and longsuffering.
It was not without scandal.
They were engaged and not married, but with child.
They were not wealthy enough to bribe an innkeeper.
But God reached into common lives.
The shepherds were the lowest roughnecks, LIVING in the fields nights with the sheep.
They were not the owners. An angel came to them! God's glory shown around them!
The announcement was made to them!
Thus, the Son of God, all power and majesty, was born of commoners.
The Son of God, all glory and light, was born in a barn, not a palace or temple, in the darkness.
The Son of God, all purity and holiness, was born in blood and pain and tears, and in filth.
The Son of God, all wonder and awe, was covered with strips of cloth and not a robe.
To common people.
For common people.
Not kings or religious leaders, not the elite of society or landowners.
A lowly maiden with no status or power or wealth.
A common laborer with not enough means to bribe someone to get a room.
The night shift of shepherds.
The world that had suffered despair, oppression and corruption for so long.
This new hope was Word made Flesh, indeed.
He would bring the Good News of Great Joy for ALL the people, indeed was that Good News!
And for any who would follow, it would mean life, life abundant and life forever.
Life according to a new set of rules in Agape Love and Grace that would counter the established
corruptions of empire based on wealth, power and status.
Life lived in Kingdom of God values that lift all up, rather than tearing down the many for the
sake of the few.
Life fulfilled as people live within the Will of God that brings Shalom to themselves and
everyone around them in the world.
In humility, lowliness, scandal and filth, was born the Son of God who would identify with
common humanity.
God reaches into our lives powerfully, lovingly and intimately to bring us Good News.
All Power expressed in powerlessness.
Great Worth shared in poverty.
Highest Status found in humility.
This Good News of Great Joy is born to turn things around - to show us a different, better and
faithful way to live with God and one another - God's Way.
So that we may live in Light, in Love.
That's a God with whom I can (and do) identify!
Pastor Jamie
Sunday, December 15, 2019
Matthew's Joseph was a faithful man
Matthew 1:18-25 - the lectionary text for next Sunday...
Whatever you think about the circumstance around the birth of Jesus, I believe that the message of God identifying with the lowly by incarnation is a powerful one. To go a little further is the scandal in which this took place.
Joseph's desire to dismiss her has a nice spin on it in Matthew, that it was for HER sake, though I would note that Matthew refers to him as "husband" already in the text. The Angel told him not to "be afraid" to take her as his wife. It was the better Angel of God's nature that convinced Joseph to stick with this vulnerable young woman, who would not have only been vulnerable, but more scandalized and stigmatized by his dismissing her. Joseph did the right thing. Ignoring patriarchal pride, he even humbled himself to do the right thing.
I think that it is significant, especially for the writer of Matthew, in that time and place, to then relegate Joseph to relative obscurity and NOT make him the hero of the story. This writer, and even more so in Luke's Gospel, kept Mary as the blessed and highly favored one of God - a poor, insignificant woman. That went against every social norm until the writing of the Synoptic Gospels.
God lifts up the lowly, even or especially vulnerable women.
When I look at the model God has for us in this, I see a God coming to us in humility, being born in scandal and in abject poverty, being announced to the lowest, night shift shepherds and being swaddled in a barn, laid in a feeding trough. I see a family who had to flee their own land because of political oppression, and for their own survival crossed the border into another land as refugees. I see a father who raises this child of God in relative obscurity while the child's mother is lifted up and adored. I can identify with this God. God has identified with me, with you and with the most lowly among us.
Should we not be humbled by God's wonderful, loving, even scandalous intervention in our lives?
Should we not treat the most vulnerable among us with the same honor, dignity and favor?
I believe that the example of God is lost on us if we do not.
I believe that we cannot follow Jesus if we do not.
I believe that we fail to live the Agape Love Jesus commanded us to live if we do not.
Is it just a nice, quaint, wholesome story to you, a historic event to remembered, or do you see the real world, the real message and the real call and mission in it?
Pastor Jamie
Whatever you think about the circumstance around the birth of Jesus, I believe that the message of God identifying with the lowly by incarnation is a powerful one. To go a little further is the scandal in which this took place.
Joseph's desire to dismiss her has a nice spin on it in Matthew, that it was for HER sake, though I would note that Matthew refers to him as "husband" already in the text. The Angel told him not to "be afraid" to take her as his wife. It was the better Angel of God's nature that convinced Joseph to stick with this vulnerable young woman, who would not have only been vulnerable, but more scandalized and stigmatized by his dismissing her. Joseph did the right thing. Ignoring patriarchal pride, he even humbled himself to do the right thing.
I think that it is significant, especially for the writer of Matthew, in that time and place, to then relegate Joseph to relative obscurity and NOT make him the hero of the story. This writer, and even more so in Luke's Gospel, kept Mary as the blessed and highly favored one of God - a poor, insignificant woman. That went against every social norm until the writing of the Synoptic Gospels.
God lifts up the lowly, even or especially vulnerable women.
When I look at the model God has for us in this, I see a God coming to us in humility, being born in scandal and in abject poverty, being announced to the lowest, night shift shepherds and being swaddled in a barn, laid in a feeding trough. I see a family who had to flee their own land because of political oppression, and for their own survival crossed the border into another land as refugees. I see a father who raises this child of God in relative obscurity while the child's mother is lifted up and adored. I can identify with this God. God has identified with me, with you and with the most lowly among us.
Should we not be humbled by God's wonderful, loving, even scandalous intervention in our lives?
Should we not treat the most vulnerable among us with the same honor, dignity and favor?
I believe that the example of God is lost on us if we do not.
I believe that we cannot follow Jesus if we do not.
I believe that we fail to live the Agape Love Jesus commanded us to live if we do not.
Is it just a nice, quaint, wholesome story to you, a historic event to remembered, or do you see the real world, the real message and the real call and mission in it?
Pastor Jamie
Sunday, December 8, 2019
The case for Ezekiel in Advent...
Matthew 4:12-23 is the text for Epiphany 3... and it is beautiful, to be sure.
I would submit that with Ezekiel 37:1-14, Matthew 4:12-23 offers a powerful Advent message for those under the occupation of Rome in the days of the Jesus of the Gospels.
Sure, Isaiah 9:2-7, the lectionary text for Nativity of our Lord, is beautiful about a people walking in the darkness of exile into a foreign, hostile land from their land, also annexed by the Assyrian Empire.
In Matthew 4, it is that the people who SAT in darkness now see the light of hope.
They were under the occupation of Rome for a long time. They were oppressed by Rome's imperial brutality, exploitation of their economy and outright enslavement of their people, with the corruption of their own political and religious leaders. They were barely surviving. It seemed hopeless for a LONG time as they SAT in their despair in this darkness.
Of course, Ezekiel 37 is all about the hope of life being restored to a long dead nation of people who had been exiled from their land into Babylon and had sat in it for a long, long time, so that their bones were long dry... so, why not include Ezekiel's vision of restoration (with resurrection implications) during Advent, especially in the lectionary year of Matthew?
And perhaps the message for us is that we, or many of those among us, have been sitting in the darkness and despair of this empire. Maybe this Advent is a time to look at the brutality of empire that still marginalizes, exploits and destroys life for many within this nation and across the world. Maybe this Advent is a time to look at our sitting in darkness again, and need for the intervention of God with God's presence, the power of the Good News of a different and faithful way of living, and the love upon which it is founded. Certainly there are parallels with the corrupt political leaders who have sat with corporate execs to promote their economic imperialism and its exploitation of cheap labor here and abroad, and who have used our military to occupy other nations on their behalf, to take the resources that provide cheap goods for those with means in our nation and provide great wealth for the few elites at the top of empire here, who enjoy the fruits of empire by promoting its values of greed, power and status as faithfulness to (a) god.
Perhaps for us, the Word made Flesh needs to be re-examined in light of our time and circumstance. Perhaps we need to invoke the God who reached into this existence with Agape Love and Grace as a response and resistance to the greed, power and status of empire. Perhaps we need to have these long dry bones of hopelessness for so many lifted up, put back together and breathed on by the breath of God to give us new life. How many people have struggled to survive under this empire and need this Good News of Hope in God? How many have sat under the false teachers who have promoted the evils of empire - the (imperial) church growth, prosperity theology and blessed/highly favored personal salvation theology that have kept them under the thumb of imperial occupation for so long?
How many have suffered under the corrupt political leaders, even neo-liberal ones who have promised change and have instead continued their collusion with imperial systems that have held them down, back and out from sustainable livings, justice, equitable treatment and breathable air, potable water and viable, clean land? For how long have they been occupied by empire? Thirty-eight years is a long time. Their bones are quite dry. Their hopes have been dead for quite long enough. Perhaps the Good News of Jesus and the Agape Love and Grace of Kingdom Values have a place here and now, in giving hope to millions, even billions across the world who have suffered under the insidious evil of empire for so long.
Yes, I believe Ezekiel 37:1-14 would be a great text with Matthew 4:12-23 in the Advent season of Year 1 of the Lectionary.
Matthew 11:2-11 and Isaiah 35:1-10 are very nice for December 15, but I advocate Ezekiel and chapter 4 of Matthew for the living of these days in the light of the Good News of Jesus.
What do YOU think?
Pastor Jamie
I would submit that with Ezekiel 37:1-14, Matthew 4:12-23 offers a powerful Advent message for those under the occupation of Rome in the days of the Jesus of the Gospels.
Sure, Isaiah 9:2-7, the lectionary text for Nativity of our Lord, is beautiful about a people walking in the darkness of exile into a foreign, hostile land from their land, also annexed by the Assyrian Empire.
In Matthew 4, it is that the people who SAT in darkness now see the light of hope.
They were under the occupation of Rome for a long time. They were oppressed by Rome's imperial brutality, exploitation of their economy and outright enslavement of their people, with the corruption of their own political and religious leaders. They were barely surviving. It seemed hopeless for a LONG time as they SAT in their despair in this darkness.
Of course, Ezekiel 37 is all about the hope of life being restored to a long dead nation of people who had been exiled from their land into Babylon and had sat in it for a long, long time, so that their bones were long dry... so, why not include Ezekiel's vision of restoration (with resurrection implications) during Advent, especially in the lectionary year of Matthew?
And perhaps the message for us is that we, or many of those among us, have been sitting in the darkness and despair of this empire. Maybe this Advent is a time to look at the brutality of empire that still marginalizes, exploits and destroys life for many within this nation and across the world. Maybe this Advent is a time to look at our sitting in darkness again, and need for the intervention of God with God's presence, the power of the Good News of a different and faithful way of living, and the love upon which it is founded. Certainly there are parallels with the corrupt political leaders who have sat with corporate execs to promote their economic imperialism and its exploitation of cheap labor here and abroad, and who have used our military to occupy other nations on their behalf, to take the resources that provide cheap goods for those with means in our nation and provide great wealth for the few elites at the top of empire here, who enjoy the fruits of empire by promoting its values of greed, power and status as faithfulness to (a) god.
Perhaps for us, the Word made Flesh needs to be re-examined in light of our time and circumstance. Perhaps we need to invoke the God who reached into this existence with Agape Love and Grace as a response and resistance to the greed, power and status of empire. Perhaps we need to have these long dry bones of hopelessness for so many lifted up, put back together and breathed on by the breath of God to give us new life. How many people have struggled to survive under this empire and need this Good News of Hope in God? How many have sat under the false teachers who have promoted the evils of empire - the (imperial) church growth, prosperity theology and blessed/highly favored personal salvation theology that have kept them under the thumb of imperial occupation for so long?
How many have suffered under the corrupt political leaders, even neo-liberal ones who have promised change and have instead continued their collusion with imperial systems that have held them down, back and out from sustainable livings, justice, equitable treatment and breathable air, potable water and viable, clean land? For how long have they been occupied by empire? Thirty-eight years is a long time. Their bones are quite dry. Their hopes have been dead for quite long enough. Perhaps the Good News of Jesus and the Agape Love and Grace of Kingdom Values have a place here and now, in giving hope to millions, even billions across the world who have suffered under the insidious evil of empire for so long.
Yes, I believe Ezekiel 37:1-14 would be a great text with Matthew 4:12-23 in the Advent season of Year 1 of the Lectionary.
Matthew 11:2-11 and Isaiah 35:1-10 are very nice for December 15, but I advocate Ezekiel and chapter 4 of Matthew for the living of these days in the light of the Good News of Jesus.
What do YOU think?
Pastor Jamie
Sunday, December 1, 2019
Changing minds so direction will follow
Matthew 3:1-12 (lectionary for Advent II)
Repentance is transformational
Metanoia means a change of one's mind so that one's direction will be changed, turn around...
John the Baptist, Elijah sent to usher in Messiah, came dressed as a prophet of old, wild and untamed like the truth he brought. He called for repentance in PREPARATION for the coming of Messiah. He called for repentance because the Kingdom of Heaven is immanent, to make way for the Lord.
Indeed, in order to receive the Lord and the Kingdom Values Jesus would teach, command and model, there would have to be a lot of direction changing. The Temple Cult leaders of that time and place were in collusion with Rome and were very corrupt. They put out the appearance of piety, but took the people to a very different place than Kingdom Values. That is why when they came to be baptized by the prophet, they were called out by the prophet. Their heritage could not save them. Their positions, status, wealth and power could not save them. These were things of empire and not the Kingdom. They, above all, would have to repent. The one who was coming was above them in every way, the real deal of God. They were in trouble. Their only hope was to bear fruit worthy of repentance. In other words, they would have to undergo a complete and genuine transformation that would produce good fruit in the world around them, rather than the destructive empire evil that they had been producing while using God's name.
The people who were duped into following them would have to repent as well, in order to receive Jesus. Their thinking and direction were all wrong according to Kingdom Values, because they followed the corrupt religious leaders who were in collusion with empire values. The people would have to receive Jesus with hearts ready to re-think and change direction, not just in how they thought and felt, but in how they ACTED in the world around them. The faithfulness of Jesus was centered on Agape Love (active commitment to the other), and not selfish, self-centered conceit. Faithfulness in Jesus would therefore have to be an expression of that same Agape Love in how one would live in the world destroyed by empire. This was to be a movement of faithfulness to God and Kingdom Values, which meant a movement in resistance to evil and empire values. Empty, outward signs meant to show everyone one's piety and position were not in order. This baptism was to be of true repentance, of the transformation of one's will and thinking and direction in living. It was the beginning of God's Kingdom Come and God's Will being done on earth as in heaven. They weren't ready for that. They had to repent in order to be ready for that.
Jesus is coming to you.
Are you ready to put away the false teachings that have eclipsed the teachings of Jesus in your life?
Are you ready to receive Jesus' teachings, commands and examples in how you will live your life?
Are you ready to give up devotion to personal wealth, power and status - the values of empire?
Are you ready to follow Jesus in how you live the Agape Love Jesus commanded?
Are you ready?
Take some time to change your thinking so that your direction will follow.
Read the Gospels and what the Jesus in those Gospels is witnessed as having taught, commanded and modeled for us.
Learn more about the living of Agape Love in the world as resistance to the evils of empire.
Change your thinking and direction, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near!
Live like you believe that.
Pastor Jamie
Repentance is transformational
Metanoia means a change of one's mind so that one's direction will be changed, turn around...
John the Baptist, Elijah sent to usher in Messiah, came dressed as a prophet of old, wild and untamed like the truth he brought. He called for repentance in PREPARATION for the coming of Messiah. He called for repentance because the Kingdom of Heaven is immanent, to make way for the Lord.
Indeed, in order to receive the Lord and the Kingdom Values Jesus would teach, command and model, there would have to be a lot of direction changing. The Temple Cult leaders of that time and place were in collusion with Rome and were very corrupt. They put out the appearance of piety, but took the people to a very different place than Kingdom Values. That is why when they came to be baptized by the prophet, they were called out by the prophet. Their heritage could not save them. Their positions, status, wealth and power could not save them. These were things of empire and not the Kingdom. They, above all, would have to repent. The one who was coming was above them in every way, the real deal of God. They were in trouble. Their only hope was to bear fruit worthy of repentance. In other words, they would have to undergo a complete and genuine transformation that would produce good fruit in the world around them, rather than the destructive empire evil that they had been producing while using God's name.
The people who were duped into following them would have to repent as well, in order to receive Jesus. Their thinking and direction were all wrong according to Kingdom Values, because they followed the corrupt religious leaders who were in collusion with empire values. The people would have to receive Jesus with hearts ready to re-think and change direction, not just in how they thought and felt, but in how they ACTED in the world around them. The faithfulness of Jesus was centered on Agape Love (active commitment to the other), and not selfish, self-centered conceit. Faithfulness in Jesus would therefore have to be an expression of that same Agape Love in how one would live in the world destroyed by empire. This was to be a movement of faithfulness to God and Kingdom Values, which meant a movement in resistance to evil and empire values. Empty, outward signs meant to show everyone one's piety and position were not in order. This baptism was to be of true repentance, of the transformation of one's will and thinking and direction in living. It was the beginning of God's Kingdom Come and God's Will being done on earth as in heaven. They weren't ready for that. They had to repent in order to be ready for that.
Jesus is coming to you.
Are you ready to put away the false teachings that have eclipsed the teachings of Jesus in your life?
Are you ready to receive Jesus' teachings, commands and examples in how you will live your life?
Are you ready to give up devotion to personal wealth, power and status - the values of empire?
Are you ready to follow Jesus in how you live the Agape Love Jesus commanded?
Are you ready?
Take some time to change your thinking so that your direction will follow.
Read the Gospels and what the Jesus in those Gospels is witnessed as having taught, commanded and modeled for us.
Learn more about the living of Agape Love in the world as resistance to the evils of empire.
Change your thinking and direction, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near!
Live like you believe that.
Pastor Jamie
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