What We Believe as Followers of the Way of Jesus

Passage: Mark 15:33-41    

  Description: Annie Dillard a well known American writer once said, “On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? ….It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping God may wake someday and take offense, or the waking God may draw us out to where we can never return.” I first encountered these words several years ago, and I’m still pondering them. Do we have the foggiest idea of the power we so blithely invoke? Or, that the waking God may draw us out to where we can never return? Crash helmets and life preservers, indeed. But it was exactly this quote that came to mind as I set before me the task of walking around the significance of the cross in the Christian faith. To consider the cross is an invitation to enter a hard-hat zone because it involves life and death. We might want to hold on tight. We might want to prepare for the very real possibility that we will not return to our life as we know it because where those two beams intersect is the epicenter of God’s transforming power. Let me be clear. We are fooling ourselves if we think we can sanitize and domesticate this power in order to feel good about ourselves and avoid the real wood and nails of its significance. The cross was one of the most brutal and public forms of Roman torture and execution. It was used to send powerful signals to anyone or any group that opposed Rome or was perceived as a threat. It was designed to quell any hint of revolution. Rome’s strategy was to take out the leaders of such groups. Jesus was believed to be a danger to Roman peace (pax romana).

Passage: Galatians 5:16-25 & John 14:15-27    

  Description: Rev. David & Rev. Susan talk about the Spirit of God. How do we know the Spirit? What is the Spirit's role in our lives? Why would we want the Spirit of God active in our lives and our congregation?

Passage: Romans 8:37-39 & Mark 8:27-30    

  Description: Rev. Susan & Rev. David converse about the moments in their lives when they have experienced the presence of Jesus, who Jesus is for them now, and how they understand what Jesus came to do. As apprentices of the Way of Jesus, who are we committed to following? How do you picture Jesus?

Passage: Ephesians 3:14-21 & Revelation 21:1-5    

  Description: It all comes down to how we understand God to be interacting with the world. Through the centuries, and stemming back into our Jewish roots, it is a question with which theologians have debated and wrestled. What is God’s role with the world? Now, you may be wondering why such a question is important, or you may have thought that all Christians think the same about God’s interaction with humans and events of history. But, we don’t all think the same. And, it is helpful to figure out what we do think about God’s role with the world because it effects what we see as our role in the world and our responsibilities in the events around us. So here are the four basic ways of understanding God’s role in history and interaction with human beings – see which one is closest to your viewpoint: -God set it all in motion and is now hands off in terms of human history. -God punishes, rewards, and teases people according to God’s whim and mood. -God has decided and pre-determined everything that will happen and humans are along for the historical ride to learn what God has decided we need to learn. -God created humans to be partners in the creation of a peaceful, loving world, and in repairing the world when things go wrong. Where do you land in terms of how you see God in relation to the world?

Passage: Mark 1:9-12    

  Description: In the tradition of the early Celtic church, when the child is baptized they are taken by the pastor and given to a member of the congregation. The child is introduced to the congregation and eventually, the child is given back to the parents. The meaning behind this tradition is extraordinarily meaning filled. You see, the Celtic Christians understand that every child born is a child of God and born into a community—a family of faith. Baptism celebrates the wonder and holy nature of birth by recognizing the mystery that we are born as sons and daughters of God into a community of faith. After the child has been given to a member of the congregation, formal words of welcome are said and that person places the child back into the arms of the parents. As the child is placed back into the arms of the parents, it’s like the community of faith is saying we trust you, we support you, and we love you as you take care of and raise our child in your home. The community of faith participates at a deeply spiritual place within the child’s family life. They hear the child’s name. They lay hands upon the child. They bless the child and together with the child’s parents they reaffirm their commitment to following the wisdom and way of Jesus. It’s not uncommon to notice that the lights seem brighter, or that there are more voices in the room than there are people as the ancient words of faith are spoken. It’s like the heavens open and the thin veil is pulled back that separates us from who we are and all the saints who have gone before us. We have the sense that we are together with the whole family of God. Baptism should give us pause. It should evoke within us profound comfort that comes from resting clearly in our identity as ones born of God. This is the way our tradition names who we are. This is the way that the tradition sets before us the statutes and ordinances that guide us with answers to the question of “how then, shall we live?” For me, this is both mysterious and cosmic.