A House Divided

 Mark 3:20-35 is the lectionary Gospel text for next Sunday, June 6

It was a house divided because the Sanhedrin, Temple Cult Leaders of that time and place were corrupt.  They had exploited the people through their power, position and status.  They had succumbed to empire values, and Jesus confronted them regularly for it.

Here, they went too far.

Jesus had been healing and casting out spirits in the passages previous, and the Scribes here accused Jesus of doing that under the power of the devil.  Anyone who refuted their false teachings, selfish practices and empire values must be of the devil.  They refuted the truth of who Jesus was and what Jesus was doing on behalf of God's people.  It did not benefit them directly or add to their power, wealth and prestige, so they had no value for it.  They had to claim it was of devil, because it flew in the face of what they claimed was truth.

Jesus called them out, pointing to the outcomes of His work and how it went counter to what the devil wanted.  He pointed out that if He were of the devil, he was working against the devil, which would mean division in the devil's house.  But Jesus in Mark also exposes the division in God's House.

Jesus was blunt here regarding their blasphemy.  They had called the Spirit within Jesus an unclean spirit.  They claimed that which was godly to be ungodly and contrary to God.  Jesus shut that down with a warning.  We should perhaps heed Jesus' warning today.  Making the faith of Jesus about personal salvation, gaining more blessings and favor, having our own purity and holiness and thus rendering Grace unnecessary, praising and tithing as the only necessary faithfulness, speaking in tongues without interpretation as a real litmus test of the faith are not faithfulness to Jesus.

The living of Agape Love and Grace in this part of God's Kingdom, here and now is faithfulness to God in Jesus.

Jesus re-defined His family as those who DO THE WILL OF GOD, in the living of Agape Love and Grace in the world.

Want to be faithful to Jesus and right with God?  Live what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us in the living of Agape Love and Grace.  Period.  

Nothing else matters.

To make this life with God about anything else, and to claim anything else as faithful while claiming Jesus' Way as not of God, is blasphemy, for it is not of the Spirit of God.

Pastor Jamie

Born from Above

 John 3:1017 and Romans 8:12-17 are lectionary texts for next Sunday, May 30.

A Pharisee would certainly have his loyalties challenged by Jesus, as did Nicodemus.  Was he a Pharisee first, and therefore must condemn Jesus' Way of being Jewish, faithful to God?  Was he a subject of empire first, and therefore must condemn Jesus' Way of resistance to empire in Agape Love and Grace? Nicodemus had to have been challenged.  So must we.

Jesus talked about being "born from above."  It was about living in Spirit with God.  It was about a new beginning, new life and new citizenship based on faithfulness to God's Kingdom values as Jesus taught them.  The new life of this different way of living under corrupt religious leaders and empire would force Nicodemus to make choices of loyalty and faithfulness.

The benefit of this new life was being a recipient of God's Grace in spite of past sins and sinfulness.  Jesus, the serpent on the stick in the current age, was lifted up to save a people who sinned and were afflicted because of it.  Jesus is raised up as the cure, or at this point in the Gospel, will be lifted up as the cure.

Why, says this message of Good News to believers in 90A.D.?  Because of God's LOVE for humanity.  God gave the Son to teach us a better way, God's Way to live in this part of the Kingdom, here and now.  In the face of church corruption, political oppression and exploitation and the host of sins that go along with living under a system built on greed, hatred, lust for power over others and desire for status above others, God offered an alternative to citizenship, faithfulness and life with God in Jesus.  And then, God sacrificed the Son as an act of Grace out of Love, to save the very sinful people.

All who believe in Jesus, as fulfiller of the Law and Prophets, as Redeemer and Savior and as Lord of our lives will be thus cured of the affliction - have our sins removed, have our lives saved for us.  All who believe in Jesus' Good News of Agape Love and Grace - the very Agape Love that God has shown in Jesus' sacrifice, the very Grace given in that sacrifice, which we are now commanded to live with one another as faithfulness to God.

Why, says the message of Good News to believers in 90A.D.?  Because God does not condemn us, but wants to save us from the condemnation that we have created for ourselves.  God wants to bring us together in Agape Love and Grace to live a new life, as Paul wrote, as Children of God, living in the spirit of adoption, heirs to the Kingdom.  We are to suffer the consequences of living this Good News in the world, just as Jesus did, so that others will be saved and that we will find our glory in that, in the Way of Jesus.  We are to be a part of the saving of humanity from ourselves.

We are "born from above" to live HERE AND NOW, with our hearts and minds in the HERE AND NOW, focused on the living of Agape Love and Grace HERE AND NOW, in THIS PART of God's Kingdom.  Our salvation for heaven is given, as heirs, children of God.  The salvation we are to be about the business of working on is the salvation of the world IN THE LIVING of Agape Love and Grace in the world, this part of God's Kingdom, HERE AND NOW.

If we cannot get with that, then we cannot get with Jesus.

Like Nicodemus, our loyalties are being challenged, and there is a choice to be made, HERE AND NOW.  Of what is our first citizenship?  To whom will we give our first (and only) loyalty?  Will we live a new life, or condemn ourselves in the living of the old one?

God has gone to extraordinary lengths to give us new life and salvation from the old one.  God does no condemn us.  Will we persist in condemning ourselves?

Well, Nicodemus?

Pastor Jamie

Come, Holy Spirit

 John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15 are the lectionary Gospel texts for Pentecost Sunday, next week.

Jesus informed His disciples that the Holy Spirit would come to testify on His behalf.  He would be physically gone, so God sends the Holy Spirit who points us, guides us and DRIVES US to Christ Jesus and His Good News way of being in the world - the living of Agape Love and Grace.

Jesus then talks about the Holy Spirit being the Advocate.  The advocate on God's behalf, on Jesus' behalf and on our behalf with God.

The purpose of the Holy Spirit in this advocacy is to prove the world wrong - to advocate on behalf of God and God's children against the world, empire.

To prove the world wrong about sin - the world, empire that defines sin in sexual terms only and does not look at its rampant immorality around greed, lust for power, desire for status and hatred of others.  The world is wrong because it does not follow Jesus' Way of Agape Love and Grace - it does not see Jesus as fulfiller of Law and Prophets and THE authority over God's Kingdom, here and in heaven.

To prove the world wrong about righteousness - the world, empire that defines righteousness based on merit and not Grace, demanding that people blindly obey the false teachers and prophets who make righteousness about Law-oriented personal purity and holiness, rather than on Jesus' New Covenant in Agape Love and Grace for the whole world.  

To prove the world wrong about judgment - the world, empire that makes salvation all about personal profession, praise, tithes and personal piety, rather than how we live with one another in Agape and Grace.  The world, empire that creates more goats for the judgment than sheep, while claiming to be "righteous."  The world, empire that focuses on the personal relationship with Jesus while ignoring how Jesus defines faithfulness to Him as loving, faithful treatment of stranger, enemy and the most vulnerable among us.

Make no mistake.  The mission of the Holy Spirit IS the mission of Jesus - to bring in the Kingdom, to bring us to live God's Will on earth as in heaven.  It IS the Good News of Jesus in Agape Love and Grace.

We ignored the Prophets.  We ignore Jesus and His Good News.  Our remaining hope is that we will not ignore the Holy Spirit of God who points us, guides us and DRIVES US to Jesus' Way of faithfulness with God.

Pastor Jamie

Loving Last Things

John 17:6-19 is the Lectionary Gospel text for next Sunday, May 16.

Jesus was speaking with the Father in love for His disciples.  Jesus lifted up His followers to God, summarizing how He fulfilled His mission in calling, preparing and sending them.  

This is in such loving terms that it touches me deeply.  It is an intimate and loving narrative about conversation within God, on our behalf.  It moves me.

Jesus protected the disciples, and THEN gave His life for them.  For us.

Jesus gave them God's Word, the Good News of Agape Love and Grace, which the world, empire, hated Jesus for and would hate the Apostles for sharing.  Jesus claims that the disciples, now Apostles, do not belong to the world, to empire, but rather to the Kingdom, both of heaven and earth.  They now belong to the Kingdom values of Agape Love and Grace, even as they lived under empire and its values of greed, lust for power and desire for status, even hatred.  Jesus was sent into that world to resist, bring repentance and usher in the New Covenant with God in Agape Love and Grace, thus transforming the world to be in alignment with God's Kingdom values.

Jesus is handing the mission back to the Father in order for the Holy Spirit to continue to drive them toward the fulfillment of that mission in the fulfillment of Law and Prophets, all in the living of Agape Love and Grace.

The world resists God's Kingdom values because, under empire, a few benefit.  They gain more wealth at the expense of the many.  They exercise and abuse great power over them in order to get more, always more.  They devise hierarchical systems of value based on status over one another defined by the empire values and gains achieved through the exploitation, abuse and hatred of the rest.  They justify all this through a false narrative of superiority and divine entitlement.  Their enslavement of others and genocide of others is justified by their wealth, power and status in their own eyes.  To Jesus, it is hateful, ruthless, arrogant and ignorant hubris.

We ARE the world in this nation.  We ARE empire.  We ARE the ones Jesus resisted, the ones Jesus' Gospel counters, the ones who represent all that is NOT God's Will for the world.  Now, there are some who get that and some who do not.  There are some who see the insanity and unsustainable nature of living under empire values, others who do not like the game but work to play it for their own gain, and others who have swallowed it, hook, line and sinker.  Some Politicians, Church Leaders, Corporate Executives, Stockholders, Bigots and Wall Street Manipulators have benefitted from selling this line of Bullshit for far too long, at the expense of the many.  They have convinced a vast number of those victimized by the system that it is absolutely faithful and absolutely the best thing going, even as those they sell it to struggle to survive while settling for the trinkets and scraps that keep them hooked.  They are the promoters and pushers of empire because they are among the few who benefit at the expense of the rest, and as long as they can invent divisions among us that keep us from seeing them as the real problem, they will continue to gain at our expense.

Jesus' Word, the Gospel, which is God's Word, condemns empire at its most basic levels.  It calls for resistance to and repentance from empire, and our transformation through the living of Agape Love and Grace with one another.  It really IS that simple, folks.

Jesus taught, commanded and modeled Agape Love and Grace for His disciples, and then sent them to continue the mission of spreading the wisdom and faithfulness of living it.  Are WE those disciples here and now who Jesus so deeply loves, or are we a part of the world/empire that hates them and Jesus?

The world or the Kingdom?  Empire or Jesus?

"You cannot serve two masters."

"Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

On whose side are you?

Pastor Jamie

Living In It

 John 15:9-17 is the lectionary Gospel text for Sunday, May 9.

Jesus owned it.  We are called to live in it.

We are commanded (an imperative) to "abide in MY love (Agape)."

"IF you keep MY commandments, you will abide in MY love (Agape)."

"This is MY commandment, that you AGAPE one another as I have AGAPED you."

Jesus owns it.  Jesus is fulfiller of the Law and Prophets, Redeemer, Savior and Lord of our lives.  Jesus owns this Agape Love as the foundation of our relationship with God.  If we would be faithful to Jesus, we will live this Agape Love with one another.  If we would be right with God, we will follow Jesus' examples on how to actively commit to one another for the well-being of one another.  Jesus reached out to strangers, advocated on behalf of sinners and enemies and provided sustenance, healing and community for the most vulnerable.  Want to follow Jesus?  Follow Jesus' lead... follow Jesus' Way.

Jesus sacrificed self for the sake of the other - in Jesus' case, ALL OTHERS.  Jesus taught a better way economically, politically, socially and spiritually - a faithful way to God and Neighbor - God's Way.  Jesus resisted the evil ways of empire that divide and destroy.  Jesus showed a better way in uniting and building up the lives of the children of God.  Jesus commanded us to live in that way, to live within Him and His love with one another as He taught, commanded and modeled for us.  If we would live within Jesus in that part of the Kingdom, then, we must live within Jesus and Jesus' Agape Love within THIS PART OF THE KINGDOM, HERE AND NOW.

We can spend the rest of our lives perfecting the living of Agape with Neighbor and thus, with God.  Let's get on with it.  Actively commit to the well-being of Neighbor, who Jesus defines as stranger, enemy and the most vulnerable among us (Luke 10:25-37).  

Want to be a friend of Jesus?  Do what Jesus commands you to do.  Live what Jesus commands you to live.  Want to live within Jesus in heaven?  Live within Jesus by living the Agape Love of Jesus, here and now.  Jesus owns it.  Want to follow Jesus?  Follow Jesus.

Pastor Jamie

The Connection

 John 15:1-11 is the Gospel Lectionary text for Sunday, May 2

Vine and Branches.

First, the threat, that the Vine-grower will remove those branches that do not bear fruit, AND prunes those that do to produce more.

Then, the command - Abide in me, as I abide in you.  If you keep MY commandments, you will abide in my love... 

Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches.

We are connected to Jesus, but more importantly connected to one another THROUGH Jesus.  The vine provides the life stuff to the branches, which are connected to one another and subject to the vine.

If some branches get diseased, other branches are threatened.

If some branches are cut off, it affects the whole vine.

It is about life, the stuff of life that flows from God to all of us.  There is no room for disease or unproductive branches.  It is about giving the stuff of life to the whole in order that good stuff will be produced for the whole world.

The well-being of EACH depends upon the well-being of ALL.

We are all connected.

The fate of EACH depends upon the well-being of ALL.

With regard to our environment, communities, families, individuals and our own souls, our connection to the source of life stuff provides and we must pass along that life stuff and produce good things for the whole.

If ALL do not have Shalom (completeness, wholeness, well-being and peace), then NONE have Shalom.

You cannot segregate yourself (emotionally, ideologically, geographically or socially) from others and remain connected to the True Vine.  Any apathy, hatred or complacency you may have means that you are not producing the stuff of life for the whole, and that you have cut yourself off from the True Vine, because you have separated yourself from the other branches who are connected to the True Vine.  Branches may be grafted in, and they are to be connected to the whole as well.  

This is about life: the life of the planet, the life of individuals and the life of humanity.  God expects us to be about sharing the life stuff that will sustain the whole.  Branches that are cut off die.  Branches that are connected thrive and produce more good fruit that sustains life.

And the life stuff is Agape Love: active commitment on behalf of the other, even stranger or enemy, and especially the most vulnerable - you know, our sisters and brothers, children of God who are connected to God, the other branches.  It produces, sustains and transforms lives and the life of the whole.

Be connected to the True Vine.  In order for that to be possible, you MUST BE connected to the other branches through the True Vine.

It truly is about whether we LIVE or DIE: as humans, as creation, as souls.

Pastor Jamie

LOVE in Truth and Action

 I John 3:16-24 is the Lectionary Epistle Text (with a LOT of Good News in it) Sunday, April 25.

Oh my.  There it is.

Reminiscent of the New Testament prophet, James (chapter 2), this is where the Good News of Agape and Grace hits the road.  Do we walk what we talk?  Are we committed, actively to the well-being of ALL people around us?  Is that commitment active?  Are we ACTING as we live the Agape Love commandment?  Agape is not feelings.  Phileos is about feelings for those of us or like us.  Eros is definitely about romantic feelings.  Philanthropia comes of feelings for humanity.  But Agape is ACTIVE COMMITMENT ON BEHALF OF THE OTHER, EVEN STRANGER AND ENEMY, AND ESPECIALLY THE MOST VULNERABLE (see Luke 10:25-37).  

"We know Agape by this..." - Jesus modeled it for us.  Selflessly, unconditionally and ACTIVELY Jesus lived Agape with us.

How can we say that God's Agape is in us, if we don't help a sister or brother in need?

We can SAY whatever we want.  We can quote the scriptures, we can offer marvelous prayers, we can share the Peace and we can profess our love for God and Neighbor, but Agape is not about words or speech.  It is all about ACTION.

Here is where it gets hard - we know we are living in the truth when our hearts condemn us - that tinge of conscience when we make it all about our own, personal salvation, our own prosperity, our own control over others' behaviors and our own status above others, while people around us are unjustly being denied enough food, medicine, justice and value in the world.  It is that still, small voice that says, maybe we shouldn't "otherize" them, or blame the victim.  Maybe it is wrong for me to think I can be right with God AND judge someone else for who they love.  Maybe I am on the wrong side in this thing?

It is about obeying Jesus' command to love God and Neighbor with heart, soul, mind and strength.  It is about believing in Jesus' Good News of Agape Love as a better way for the world, and faithfulness to God.  We abide in Jesus when we obey His commands.  The Spirit drives us to Him and His Good News.

I am convicted.  When I stereotype, judge, devalue, vilify, marginalize, disenfranchise or ignore others around me.  They are my sisters and brothers.  They are God's children.  If they have needs, I HAVE A NEED, because if they are in need, WE are in need.

Loving Neighbor as Self means that I no more want to see my Neighbor (stranger, enemy, most vulnerable) have pain or lack than I want that for myself.  (please read that again)

I certainly ACT when I am in need or in pain.  Agape Love demands that I ACT whenever someone around me is in need or pain.  

That is why Agape Love, at the center of the Good News of Jesus, is so Revolutionary.  Empire values more wealth for self, power over others and status above others.  It thrives in hatred and apathy.  Agape Love demands ENOUGH FOR ALL, SHARED POWER TOWARD EQUITY and EQUAL VALUE and WORTH among God's people.  It does not allow for hatred or apathy.  That is Jesus' Way.  If we are followers of Jesus, it will be OUR way in the world, this part of God's Kingdom, here and now.

AGAPE is LOVE in Truth and ACTION.

Pastor Jamie