Service Recap; October 30

Homily | Luke 19:1-10

Bob's sermon on the Zacchaeus story was NOT about Zacchaeus. The second lesson this past Sunday was the familiar story of the wee-little-man. What a great story. It might be the most familiar story in the entire New Testament. Yet, it is quite unremarkable. Nothing super-natural happens. We love it for its familiarity. Children especially understand the difficulty of being short. They understand being unpopular and left out of the in-group. Typically, we focus on Zacchaeus in this story: what changed him, when did "salvation" come to him, what does it mean that it came to his house, what caused him to become generous instead of greedy? On Sunday, Bob suggested that this story is not about the details of Zaccheaus's conversion. It is about the lack of conversion in the crowd. 

The star of this passage in Luke 19, is the crowd. They do not want Zaccheaus to see Jesus. They stand in his way, deeming him unworthy to lay eyes on Christ, and unworthy of having Christ lay eyes on him. Both the crowd and Zacchaeus are jaw-dropingly surprised when Jesus stops, looks up, and invites himself to Zaccheaus's house. Zacchaeus and the crowd are equally shocked that Jesus would regard Zacchaeus as worthy of hosting Christ. 

While there are lessons to learn by focusing on Zacchaeus, what if this story is less about Zacchaeus's conversion, and more about the lack of conversion in the crowd? Jesus and Luke both seem to have the crowd in mind in the Zacchaeus encounter every bit as much as they have Zacchaeus himself in mind. The crowd spends its energy guarding the road along which Jesus travelled. The crowd puts their shoulders together with their backs towards the unfit. They roll their eyes at Jesus' flippant acceptance and apparent endorsement of Zacchaeus. 

We are the crowd. Who are we keeping from the road that Christ travels on? Who have we put our backs to?

Prayers

Our hearts continue to lift up those who seek refuge from war. So many are losing their lives in a record way in a journey to a better place. We ask for refuge for those who seek it. may governments and communities seek ways to provide relief and may your church respond to the call of the innocent. And above all things we pray for peace.

Heavenly Father we lift up to you the Grace members who are having challenging times in their work environment.  Give them grace, patience and a spirit of courage and joy to endure, overcome and bless their colleagues.

O Living God, who raised Jesus from the grave, destroying the power of death, raise us with Christ through the power of your Holy Spirit, that our lives might testify to the forgiveness and hope found in him.

Lord in your mercy...Hear our prayer

Announcements

Our Fall Lecture is THIS SATURDAY. We're thrilled to have Dr. Kristen Deede Johnson with us. More information about the lecture can be found here. Please RSVP for the event here. 

Women's Meetup is happening on November 15th. Check out the calendar for details. 

Interested in storytelling? We're starting a story telling group in January. Contact Paula (paulacarter1@gmail.com) for more information. 

EDGEWATER! If you live in Edgewater or are interested in being part of a new community group, email Caleb. We are starting a group there!

Horizontal Faith; January 24

Many parts, one body.

Paul says that the church is like the human body.  The simile would have been familiar to 1st Century folks. In fact, it was used by the powerful to remind the lowly of their proper place. If you are a foot, then at the bottom you belong. Those at the top used the analogy of the human body to reinforce social roles that kept the bottom at the bottom and the top at the top.

When Paul launches into this analogy in 1 Corinthians 12, his readers might anticipate a similar line of thought.  But instead, Paul uses the image to affirm that each member of the body is equal. The head cannot say to the feet, “I have no need of you.” “On the Contrary,” Paul says, “the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable…God has so arranged the body giving the greater honor to the inferior member.” So, I guess, he doesn't actually say they are equal...he actually says that those regarded as less, for the Christian church, ought to be regarded as superior.

Churches preach blessings to the poor, but internally, they often overlook the meek. Cultivating a culture of listening to quieter members and minority voices is not as easy as giving it lip service.

The first step in creating a culture that values everyone is recognizing God’s image in the people seated next to you. Pastor Bob talked about the dichotomy we often draw between our vertical relationship (Between God and ourselves) and our horizontal relationships (between other people and creation). We have an expectation that God is ‘up there’ and that our relationship with him is created when we stop looking horizontally and focus only vertically. While time spent focusing on God alone is necessary, scripture more often identifies God being present on a horizontal level, among people.

As you stand in line for communion, one way of approaching God might be to think of your sister in front of you and pray for the eyes to see her as Christ sees her and to see the Christ in her. The church is so necessary for Christians because it is in our relationships with one another that we constitute the Body of Christ.

God so often seems silent, particularly when we sit quietly expecting to hear some sort of audible voice. I was encouraged this week to listen for God’s voice by looking for Christ at work, not only in the vertical, but in the horizontal of the everyday grind.