Learning Jesus' Way

"Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."                                                                                      --Mark 1:14-15 After his baptism and forty days of testing and clarification in the wilderness, Jesus returns to his home region of Galilee to begin his ministry among the people.  It is a vulnerable time:  John the Baptist, who had immersed not only Jesus but countless others in the baptismal water of the Jordan, has been arrested by King Herod for sedition. Jesus is returning to familiar territory, but he  comes back different than he was before he left.  He car...

What is Worship?  We began to compile a list: --the Learning of God --Praise --Prayer  (intercessory) --Uplifting --Listening -- Sense/Experience of Community --Confession --Repentance --Liturgy ("the work of the people") --Connecting with God --Time of Comfort --Forgiveness ("forgiving space") Here's some more you may not have thought of: Worship is at the heart of the faith community's life. -- Sabbath is a radical practice! --Our worship is a daring act of imagination. --Our worship reflects belief in God who is doing hands-on work to make new human futures. --Worship is resistance to the dominant, life-flattening order. --In worship we explore the experience of covenant community:     (a) the celebration of a God-ordered life     (b) engaging in the practice of hope in the face of the world's helplessness. --Worship is celebration of a world that is fruitful and generative (not use-ful). --We lift ...

We spent the early part of our class time up in the sanctuary.  When we discussed the meaning of "sanctuary," one of us said it was a place of safety.  That is indeed the meaning of the term.   What will it mean for the church to commit itself to be a "safe place" for all people?   "Refuge" is another term to describe the sanctuary.  We noted that at St. Andrew's it is where we gather together for worship. So it is our gathering place and our worship space. Here are some pictures of things we saw and talked about.  How many of them do you remember?  What is the significance of each one? What did we say about the "geography" of the sanctuary and what it communicates?

Immediately following his baptism--where Jesus receives the names "Son," "Beloved," and "God's Pleasure"-- the Holy Spirit leads (or even drives) him out into the wilderness, where Jesus dwells for forty days and forty nights, fasting. It is a time of clarification.  The names he was given were wonderful, but what would they mean?  In other words, what kind of person would Jesus really be? In the wilderness he was emptied ; he had nothing that he was used to relying on, other than God's loving power.  After forty days without food Jesus was "famished"    (which means really, really hungry!).  The story is asking us to consider what the different ways are that we are nourished in our lives:  with food obviously; but what about with love, or knowledge; life experience; friendship; encouragement; affirmation; community; purpose; direction; the promises of God?  Aren't each of these things critical to our well-being and growth?  ...

In last week's reading and reflection on Luke 2:41-52 (when Jesus was 12, right around "Confirmation age") our members were able to relate to Jesus and the relevance of this story  in their own faith journeys.  They are roughly the same age, have instances of worrying or disobeying their parents, they love to learn and craft good questions.  They explored what Jesus may have meant when he said he was "in my Father's house" at the Temple.  He may have been referring to a place of spiritual nurture, as well as a place in God's family.  The class discussed that Jesus was starting to reveal his purpose:  growing up, paying careful attention, seeking to learn and contribute, making his own decisions, considering the shape of his ministry.  What types of questions might he have been asking? This gave way to some questions and topics of discussion coming forth from the class (see above!). Fertile territory.

"And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor."                                                                --Luke 2:52 Tucked at the end of the second chapter of Luke's gospel is the one account we have of Jesus growing from a child into an adult (Luke 2:41-52).  He is twelve years old and accompanies his family on the yearly pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover.  When the family begins the journey back home to Nazareth in the north, Jesus stays in Jerusalem.   Realizing his absence, his frantic parents return to the holy city and--after searching three days--discover Jesus sitting among the teachers in the Temple, "listening and asking them questions."  Luke writes: "And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers." The anxious ...