When Mark crafted his gospel he deliberately pointed us to the story of Jesus' second passion prediction and his disciples' reaction. It's not the most exciting story in the narrative, but it summarizes the contrast between the patterns of our world and the way of Jesus. Where the world tells us to react to fear by scrambling for control, Jesus calls us to the way of the cross: the way of service in which we discover that we are welcoming God.

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The Key to the Way of Jesus

The truth about humanity is that we make mistakes, and this is especially evident in our closest relationships. But our failings are not the whole story. When we can recognize our brokenness, it opens the door for grace, both in the space we make for each other and in the openness of our hearts to God's welcome.

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Law and Gospel in Relationships

In all of scripture there is only one person who rejects a direct invitation from Jesus to follow him... and it is not who we would expect. The man is someone who wants to learn, who lives a moral life and values God's law, and whom Jesus immediately loves. But he says "no" to Jesus because he lacks "one thing." He thought that what he lacked was life, but the root problem was a lack of love. He was turned in on himself and his own sufficiency, and even though that left him wanting, he could not give it up to lean into love.

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When We Lack Love, We Lack Life

As adults, we have been conditioned to present an acceptable face to the world, because when we are too obvious in our self-centeredness we elicit judgment. But what if we treated such lack of guile the way we do with children: what if we saw it as innocent honesty and a bid to be fully known? Maybe then we could hear Jesus' teaching about discipleship as instruction about how to engage in genuine, honest relationship with him.

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What Toddlers and Jesus Can Teach Us About Genuine Relationships

When the gospel for All Saints provides the story of a resurrection that does not correspond with any of the stories of loss that sit heavy on our hearts, the connection comes not from the parallels of grief but from what we learn about who Jesus is. Jesus is the one who weeps with us, the one who has ultimate power over death, and the one who has power to also free us on this side of death.

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Revelation Over Miracle

Sometimes we can learn as much from Jesus's attention as from his teachings. When he sits back and watches the people coming to the temple with their offerings he gives his attention to the power of a gift that might seem insignificant to anyone else. Jesus is not impressed by power and wealth. That has never been his way. He sees the importance of small things done with faith. 

What We Learn When Jesus Watches

The week before his death, Jesus warns his followers what NOT to do when faced by instability and anxiety: Don't sling to symbols of strength and power. Don't follow after false leaders who promise they can protect you. Don't collapse into fear. So what CAN we do when we feel overwhelmed and alarmed? We gather as community and focus on the good we can do together. 
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Apocalypse and Hope

As cultural Christmas surrounds us with soft twinkling lights and warm holiday smells, we might be tempted to interpret the Advent call to "prepare for Jesus" as a season that is focused on getting reading for the manger and the Jesus who comes to us as a precious baby. The scriptures of Advent, however, call us to prepare for a different kind of coming: the return of Jesus to bring justice and truth, to remake all that is broken in the world. It's not a gentle, cozy preparation we are called to, but rather a call to stay awake and get ready for the disruption that is necessary to bring about change. It's a more challenging call, but also a more hopeful one, because it is focused on change.

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Alert Hope

What is hopeful about a call to repentance? A call that is about changing the assumptions we make about a world that seems to be against us. When power structures are corrupt or oppressive, we can easily fall into a mindset that sees no hope. That is what we need to repent of. Because God has repeatedly shown a pattern of working outside the power structures and established institutions to work through people on the margins. When we remember this, we can embrace the subversive hope that God really is more powerful.
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The Hope in Repentance

Hope requires three things: a goal, a path to reach that goal, and the belief that we can. When we see the things that are wrong with our lives and our world, we will respond with hope if we learn to ask the question "what then should we do?" None of us can make the needed changes alone, but the operative pronoun is "we." And when we ask the question, Jesus will answer. 
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The Hope of Doing

Whereas Advent hope calls us to act, Christmas hope calls us to awe. The reality of God-with-us is an interruption of our world-weary lives, challenging us to lean into the possibility that God really is changing the world on this hold night. 

A Thrill of Hope

Welcome to the sermon feed for Abiding Peace Lutheran Church: Journey of Faith. We would love to have you with us for worship, but if you can't join us on Sunday mornings, we hope these messages bring the challenge and grace of the gospel to your life.

The Key to the Way of Jesus

Abiding Peace Lutheran Church

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