How Does Jesus Love?

Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse 

Recently, I have been watching Jesus love.  I watched him love a tax collector, a person reviled by Jewish culture. I watched him cure the daughter of a Roman oppressor. I watched him take the hand of a blind man, lead him away, and then rub spit in his eyes.

I have listened to him too. I heard him encourage and bless a woman who took a risk of faith, believing that she would be healed just by touching her robe. I heard him talk about the Kingdom of God, where we love our enemies, and live generously and graciously.

All week I've been hearing him remind me, "Our Father is kind; you be kind." (Luke 6.36 MSG)

And remember when we, together in worship, heard about Frank and Rhoda?  Not only did Jesus heal Rhoda, a crippled woman, but he refused to allow her to be blamed or shamed for coming to receive healing on the Sabbath. 

He leads us kindly and gently, teaching us with every part of him how to love…showing us the Jesus Way.

In Worship this week, we will read from Paul's letters, as he teaches his churches that watching how Christ loved us can show us how to love.  Then, having watched him, we can imitate him and walk the Jesus Way too.

Ephesians 5 1-2 MSG

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behaviour from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

From Colossians 3

So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.

I hope to see you there, but no shame or blame if you can't make it.  Maybe you'll be away showering the world with the love of Christ!

What Happens to us When We Worship Together? Can We Be Transformed?

 

Consider 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 MSG

Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.

Every week, as we gather in the Living Room of Love, Rev. Donna reminds us that God is always there first.

We enter the chapel, greet each other, and leave the world outside. We turn to face God as Moses did. Wow…really?  Can I honestly say that I am doing justice to this opportunity every single week? 

No, I cannot. Sometimes I find it difficult to leave outside whatever I am thinking about. Sometimes I am worried that I'll sing the wrong note or say the wrong thing. 

But I do want to do the very best that I can.  Because I know that if I put my heart and soul into worship, I just might be transformed by it. 

How about CVC, is the group transformed?  If we put our hearts and souls into worship and show up for each other, perhaps St. Paul is suggesting that the group will be transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.

In Worship this week, we will read more of what St. Paul wrote about this group, this body of Christ, to the church in Corinth. 

 1 Corinthians 12:12b-13 (MSG)

Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells, but no matter how many parts you can name,   you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives.  We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.

Colossians 3. 15-17 (MSG)

Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing.  And cultivate thankfulness.

What Do We Do While We Wait to See God?

Earlier this week, I prayed the scripture about Zacchaeus waiting in the sycamore tree to see Jesus, and about his conversation with Jesus (Luke 19:1-10).  

Putting myself in the story, I had a conversation with Jesus that went like this: 

Jesus said, “I found you!  I see you!  I love you! Will you let me restore you?”

“How?” I asked.

“Follow me.” Jesus said. “Do what I do.” 

On Sunday, Rev. Donna is going to say more about what we Christians do while we wait to see God.  Here's a bit of what we'll be reading together:

from  I Corinthians 13 MSG

We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. 

We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

Ephesians 5 1-2 MSG

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

So while we wait, we receive God's love. We keep company with Jesus. We observe how Christ loved us…not cautiously but extravagantly.   And we love like that.  Worth repeating.

I hope to see you on Sunday.

Susan

When Have You Felt the Shattering, Unforeseen Love of God?

Charlie Mackesy, from his book, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse 

Or maybe you felt the gentle help of a fellow human being, an angel sent by God, which brought tears to your eyes.  Could they be the same thing?

I felt this earlier in the week, on a day when I felt like I needed a dose of courage to face the road ahead.  

Rev. Donna sent me this YouTube song and it immediately boosted my spirits, reminding me of the goodness of God, running after me.

 

CeCe Winans - Goodness of God (Official Lyric Video)

Because His mercy never fails us, and his goodness is running after us.  Always.  It ran after me that day, until I stopped, paused, and let the realization of the goodness of God wash over me.

I hope you can join us on Sunday for communion, as he gathers us in, the lost and forsaken, the blind and the lame, the rich and the haughty, the proud and the strong.

May you have the courage to ask for help when you need it and may God's goodness catch you today. 

Nor is it only the joy of God and the comfort of God that come at unforeseen times.  God’s coming is always unforeseen, I think, and the reason, if I had to guess, is that if he gave us anything much in the way of advance warning, more often than not we would have made ourselves scarce long before he got there.  -  Frederich Buechner

 

           

Do You Know What Your Gifts Are?

“Pictured is a Mexican Talavera Wall Cross which is hand made and hand painted by the talented pottery craftsman. Only natural clays are used, rather than chemically treated and dyed clays and the handcrafting process takes three to four months. The process is risky because a piece can break at any point. 

The Cross represents the bright, warm, lively, vitality of One’s Faith and Love as represented in Mexican culture.” - Glenn Wong

We are delighted this week to have Glenn share with us a presentation about his missionary work in Mexico.

As you prepare for worship, I invite you to consider this passage from Isaiah:  

 

Isaiah 42.1-4 MSG

“Take a good look at my servant.

    I’m backing him to the hilt.

He’s the one I chose,

    and I couldn’t be more pleased with him.

I’ve bathed him with my Spirit, my life.

    He’ll set everything right among the nations.

He won’t call attention to what he does

    with loud speeches or gaudy parades.

He won’t brush aside the bruised and the hurt

    and he won’t disregard the small and insignificant,

    but he’ll steadily and firmly set things right.

He won’t tire out and quit. He won’t be stopped

    until he’s finished his work—to set things right on earth.

Far-flung ocean islands

    wait expectantly for his teaching.”

If I consider the fruits of the spirit named in Paul's letter to the Galatians, I would say that Glenn, by God's grace, has been given the gift of love. We have seen him show love here in Vancouver in the Homeless Outreach Project and we will learn about his work in Mexico this Sunday. 

He won’t brush aside the bruised and the hurt

    and he won’t disregard the small and insignificant,

    but he’ll steadily and firmly set things right.

Sounds like love to me! 

I'm sure Glenn has other gifts too…what are your gifts?

In celebration and wonder,

Susan

May the wellsprings of compassion flow deep within you, until you can taste the tears

of your brothers and sisters.  (2 Cor 1:3-7) - Joyce Rupp

Galatians 5:22-23

NIV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 

MSG

But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

Could These Be the Most Important Words That We Need to Hear From God?

The River Jordan, Israel

This week we are going to hear about a baptism. It could be a story about Jesus, or a drama between Jesus and John.   Or, if you pray like the Jesuits do, you could be the one in this story. 

I invite you to read this week’s scripture passage imagining yourself as the one being baptized…in the River Jordan. 

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 MSG

The interest of the people by now was building. They were all beginning to wonder, “Could this John be the Messiah?”

 But John intervened: “I’m baptizing you here in the river.         The main character in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”

After all the people were baptized, Jesus was baptized. As he was praying, the sky opened up and the Holy Spirit, like a dove descending, came down on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: “You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.”

The water is pretty muddy looking, isn't it?  It's raining, and about 10°C at the River Jordan in January. As you come out of the water, shivering, you begin to pray.  You hear the voice of God, the perfect parent, saying to you "You are my beloved…With you I am well pleased."

Despite what you may have done yesterday, last week or earlier today that makes you cringe, despite your difficult circumstances, God says, "You are my beloved…With you I am well pleased."  Sit with that for a moment. 

How do you feel?  Could these be the words that save you today?  Doesn't everyone need to hear these words?

Father Greg Boyle, founder of the world's largest drug and gang intervention program,The Homeboys, says that everyone is unshakably good.  

Everyone…me, you, and all the people that may have annoyed us today.  Do we see everyone the way God does?  I'm going to try to do that today. 

What Challenges are You Facing in 2025?

I hope your Advent and Christmas were as spiritually rich as mine. Every story I read contained signs, dreams, angels or stars, and characters who challenged me with their belief in these things and their trust in God. So many people who were willing to say, "Yes" to the call of God asking them to do things and who were excited by the promises given to them. 

And now we have Simeon, in the temple in Jerusalem:

Model of the Temple in 66 AD, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem

Luke 2. 21-40 (MSG, excerpts)

When the eighth day arrived, the day of circumcision, the child was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived.

Then when the days stipulated by Moses for purification were complete, they took him up to Jerusalem to offer him to God as commanded in God’s Law… 

In Jerusalem at the time, there was a man, Simeon by name, a good man, a man who lived in the prayerful expectancy of help for Israel. And the Holy Spirit was on him. The Holy Spirit had shown him that he would see the Messiah of God before he died.                                             

Led by the Spirit, he entered the Temple. As the parents of the child Jesus brought him in to carry out the rituals of the Law, Simeon took him into his arms and blessed God:

God, you can now release your servant;
    release me in peace as you promised.
With my own eyes I’ve seen your salvation;
    it’s now out in the open for everyone to see:
A God-revealing light to the non-Jewish nations,
    and of glory for your people Israel.

Jesus’ father and mother were speechless with surprise at these words. Simeon went on to bless them, and said to Mary his mother, 

This child marks both the failure and
    the recovery of many in Israel,
A figure misunderstood and contradicted—
    the pain of a sword-thrust through you—
But the rejection will force honesty,
    as God reveals who they really are.

When they finished everything required by God in the Law, they returned to Galilee and their own town, Nazareth.  There the child grew strong in body and wise in spirit.  And the grace of God was on him.

This passage doesn’t say how old Simeon is, but we do know that The Holy Spirit had shown him that he would see the Messiah of God before he died.  Most people assume that Simeon is elderly.  If so, we know that he may be facing one of the biggest challenges of his life - old age and death.

When he sees the baby Jesus, he says, God, you can now release your servant; release me in peace as you promised. Do you notice the word "peace"? 

He continues with a blessing and some challenging words for Mary. 

This child marks both the failure and
    the recovery of many in Israel,
A figure misunderstood and contradicted—
    the pain of a sword-thrust through you—
But the rejection will force honesty,
    as God reveals who they really are.

Can you imagine how Mary and Joseph must have felt at Simeon's words?  Joy and great challenge both at the same time, perhaps?

What challenges are you facing in 2025?  Are you ready to say, “Yes” to them?  In peace?  Joy?  If not, that’s OK.  Know that God loves you, and you can ask Him to help you with this.