SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the First Love Church podcast.
SPEAKER_00: This is a collection of Sunday teachings inspired by the Revised Common Lectionary and recorded weekly in Ocala, Florida.
SPEAKER_00: I bless you this morning from the house of the Lord on the fifth Sunday of Easter in this beautiful season of Easter tide where we practice together, not looking at things that are dead or dark and saying that is the end, but we practice allowing our minds to ascend with Christ and to remember that death no longer has the final word.
SPEAKER_00: There is such great hope here this morning, and I am thrilled to be able to spend this time with you as we come to the scriptures and as we allow them to witness to us the peace of Christ, as we allow them to witness to us the way that Jesus invites us to live.
SPEAKER_00: And it is with so much hope this morning that I remind you that you are ones dearly loved by God.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you hear this morning this message, I hope that you hear the words of Jesus who affirm to you that you are loved.
SPEAKER_00: You are not forgotten.
SPEAKER_00: What you are going through is not just a blip on the radar, that Christ is with us, God with us.
SPEAKER_00: That is the promise right now.
SPEAKER_00: So no matter what condition you find yourself in, you are loved and you are welcomed in the house of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to read to you this morning from John's Gospel, chapter 14.
SPEAKER_00: Do not let your hearts be troubled.
SPEAKER_00: Trust in God and trust also in me.
SPEAKER_00: There is more than enough room in my father's home.
SPEAKER_00: If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?
SPEAKER_00: When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.
SPEAKER_00: And you know the way to where I am going.
SPEAKER_00: No, we don't, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I love this part.
SPEAKER_00: I love Thomas in the Gospels.
SPEAKER_00: I love my own Thomas, but I love Thomas in the Gospel, who is first to remind the Lord, it's great that you think so highly of us.
SPEAKER_00: We have no idea where you're going.
SPEAKER_00: Do not leave us to find the way ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: And so we so much appreciate the humanity here.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying such beautiful things.
SPEAKER_00: Do not let your hearts be troubled.
SPEAKER_00: I remind you that in the course of the story, this is before the crucifixion, this part of the story.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus recognizes the anxiousness of the people's hearts, the people that love him, his followers.
SPEAKER_00: He is aware of the empire that is closing in on them.
SPEAKER_00: He is aware of the division of the things that will happen.
SPEAKER_00: He's aware that Peter will betray him.
SPEAKER_00: He's aware that people will scatter.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is reminding them of something.
SPEAKER_00: Do not let your hearts be troubled.
SPEAKER_00: Do not be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: Trust in God.
SPEAKER_00: Trust also in me.
SPEAKER_00: And He's giving us this beautiful key, this invitation into relationship is an invitation into trust.
SPEAKER_00: This is how things change for us.
SPEAKER_00: I was looking in the original language of this because I'm thinking here that God is not just saying to us, don't worry, because that would mean you're not paying attention.
SPEAKER_00: There are things to worry about, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: There are things that are taking our attention that cause division, that cause us to separate.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is saying something else.
SPEAKER_00: Do not let your hearts be troubled.
SPEAKER_00: And in the original language, your is definitely plural, a lot of us.
SPEAKER_00: But when he said heart, he says it singular.
SPEAKER_00: We have one heart, we have one faith, one Lord, one baptism.
SPEAKER_00: We are of one heart.
SPEAKER_00: And there's an invitation to us to recognize that we are invited into community.
SPEAKER_00: We are invited into relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus is showing us that we are in the presence of God at all times.
SPEAKER_00: What our own spirit is witnessing to us, what the hope is of Christ around us, do not let your heart be troubled.
SPEAKER_00: You have a choice, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: I have a choice.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is offering this to us.
SPEAKER_00: Trust in God and also trust in me.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, you know the way to where I'm going.
SPEAKER_00: No, we don't.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
SPEAKER_00: Do not put me in charge here.
SPEAKER_00: And I love this about the humanity.
SPEAKER_00: And please, for a moment, don't think that this is not recorded in such a way because all of us sometimes feel this way.
SPEAKER_00: When people say, follow the spirit, and you're like, I would, but I have no idea where the spirit is.
SPEAKER_00: I would choose that, but I cannot see it.
SPEAKER_00: And this invitation, Jesus offers something so much beautiful and says to us, Come and follow me.
SPEAKER_00: We have no idea where you're going.
SPEAKER_00: So how can we know the way?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus told him, I am the way.
SPEAKER_00: I am the truth and the life.
SPEAKER_00: No one can come to the Father through me.
SPEAKER_00: If you would really know me, you would know who my father is.
SPEAKER_00: And from now on, you do know him and you have seen him.
SPEAKER_00: And Philip said, Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: You gotta love Thomas and Philip.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, do just appreciate so much these real people who were saying, you know what, if you if you do one more trick for us, then we'd know for sure.
SPEAKER_00: If you'd show us the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Now I remind you, these people had seen the miracles.
SPEAKER_00: They have been with Jesus in the way that he experiences things.
SPEAKER_00: But again, it's not happening the way that they thought it was going to.
SPEAKER_00: Philip, if you'll just, Philip says, if you'll just show us the Father, we will be satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus replied, Have I been with you all this time, Philip?
SPEAKER_00: And yet you still do not know who I am.
SPEAKER_00: And before we are harsh with our dear brother Philip, has God been with us all this time and we still do not know who He is?
SPEAKER_00: Has love been with us this whole time and we still do not know that we are made of love, that we are born in love, and that we will return to love.
SPEAKER_00: The invitation is that we would awaken, that we would recognize our need to be born again, to have our thoughts renewed.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus offers this to us.
SPEAKER_00: The ancient scriptures offer the same thing: be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
SPEAKER_00: Allow your thoughts to be changed.
SPEAKER_00: This is an invitation into empowerment when we allow our thoughts to be changed.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.
SPEAKER_00: We read this and we're like, yep, Philip should have believed.
SPEAKER_00: You know, come on, Philip.
SPEAKER_00: That was, you knew that was going to be on the test.
SPEAKER_00: But the truth is, and you know this as I know this, Jesus was defying all of the things that they thought they knew about God.
SPEAKER_00: That God was angry, that God was punishing, that God wanted things separate, that God wanted things, and Jesus kept over and over again showing us open arms that include the spaciousness of God and saying to the whole world, come home, come back to God, come to God through relationship with me.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying this over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: Have I been with you this whole time, Philip, and yet you still don't know who I am?
SPEAKER_00: Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.
SPEAKER_00: The apostle Paul says this to us also.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the perfect image of the invisible God.
SPEAKER_00: Once we did not know what God was like, and now we do.
SPEAKER_00: It is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you ever have a question, what would God be doing in this situation?
SPEAKER_00: God is doing everything Jesus was doing.
SPEAKER_00: God was touching the lepers, God was healing the sick, God is feeding the poor, God is bringing the outcast home.
SPEAKER_00: This is the message of Jesus that he tells us this is what God looks like.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.
SPEAKER_00: So why are you asking me to show him to you?
SPEAKER_00: Why are you asking for something other than what has already been shown?
SPEAKER_00: Why do I ask for something other than what has been given to us?
SPEAKER_00: All of nature is an incredible curriculum to us of the beauty that we can trust in, that we can trust that God has a plan to restore all things.
SPEAKER_00: We're here in Florida right now, and yesterday we had a beautiful rain.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you went out this morning, but everything was green.
SPEAKER_00: It just took one beautiful rain and everything greened.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I am hopeful that even in our spirit there is a greening happening, that there is something that reminds us that the friendship that Jesus offers to us offers a life that is different.
SPEAKER_00: That we are ones deeply loved by God, and Jesus is showing us the way home.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.
SPEAKER_00: So why are you asking me to show him to you?
SPEAKER_00: Don't you trust that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
SPEAKER_00: The words that I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me and does his work through me.
SPEAKER_00: Just trust that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me.
SPEAKER_00: I love this next part.
SPEAKER_00: That was dramatic pause on purpose, just to get your attention.
SPEAKER_00: Trust that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.
SPEAKER_00: That sometimes feels like a really big ask to trust in an eternal, incredibly huge God who made all things, creator of all things, God that holds the cosmos together.
SPEAKER_00: Trust that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.
SPEAKER_00: Or at least I love the or at least because I am the person who wants to know where's the extra credit.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure we're gonna get all of this right, but is there extra work that I can do so that I can make sure that I'm on track?
SPEAKER_00: Or at least trust because of the work you have seen me do.
SPEAKER_00: Trust that the dead are coming to life.
SPEAKER_00: Trust that those who cannot hear now hear, those who were blind see, those who left home are now returning.
SPEAKER_00: Trust in this.
SPEAKER_00: I tell you the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone who trusts in me will do the same works I have done.
SPEAKER_00: And even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.
SPEAKER_00: You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so the Son can bring glory to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, ask anything in my name and I will do it.
SPEAKER_00: I tell you the truth: anyone who trusts in me will do the same works that I have done.
SPEAKER_00: This is an invitation.
SPEAKER_00: In John's Gospel and in the other gospels that say the same thing, that our choice is to abide.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Jesus said, if you ask, my father and I will come and we will be with you.
SPEAKER_00: And now your choice is to continue to live in that abiding.
SPEAKER_00: We sang a song this morning, I'm the branch, you're the vine.
SPEAKER_00: Just abide, just stay in.
SPEAKER_00: Silas and I were reading the other day uh Saint John of the Cross, a Spanish mystic.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that he is famous for, and maybe if you've never read all of his works or even some of them, you've heard this that he was talking about.
SPEAKER_00: And he made famous this idea or uh this phrase, the dark night of the soul, when things are as bad as you can think they could possibly get.
SPEAKER_00: Hold on, beloved, it's possible that they could get worse.
SPEAKER_00: But that dark night of the soul, and one of the things that he identified was sometimes there is a time in your life where everything that you counted on no longer works.
SPEAKER_00: Everything that you depended on will no longer be there for you.
SPEAKER_00: But the invitation in this season is to trust in the intimacy of God, to be able to say, even in the dark, I know that you are with me.
SPEAKER_00: Again, it sounds like the psalmist who said, if I make my own bed in hell, you'll be there with me.
SPEAKER_00: There's no place that I can run from your spirit.
SPEAKER_00: There is no place, there is no suffering that I go through that I go through alone.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is reminding us, I am in my Father, and my Father is in me, and we will be with you.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, this is such an incredible hope for us to a place that was fractured, to people who were fearful.
SPEAKER_00: God is coming and saying, I'm gonna be with you.
SPEAKER_00: I will be with you.
SPEAKER_00: Emmanuel, God with us.
SPEAKER_00: This is the hope for us.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus says to them in the very first part of that verse, do not let your hearts be troubled.
SPEAKER_00: I feel like my heart has been troubled for more than a decade.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you have.
SPEAKER_00: There is things that are happening around us that are astonishing, but there is a place to be able to stay in that, but then to also say, there is a promise that God is making all things new.
SPEAKER_00: There is a hope that there is a higher thought than what is just here.
SPEAKER_00: There is a way for us to join with Jesus in what God is doing in creating and bringing in this new kingdom, and how we are allowing our minds to be expanded.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Jesus says this.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to trust me, and I want you to know that in my father, there is so much space.
SPEAKER_00: In my father, there is multiple dwellings, that there are so many things in my father.
SPEAKER_00: My father, being in my father, is expansive and it is huge, it is not narrow and confining.
SPEAKER_00: In my father, there is so much space.
SPEAKER_00: This is reminiscent when Jesus says to the people, when he says, I am the good shepherd, I am caring for the sheep, I am the way that you are going to find the Father.
SPEAKER_00: But I have sheep in another fold that you don't know anything about, that I am also bringing in.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is reminding us about this expansiveness of God that when we look at our problems, if that's the only thing that we look at, they can get bigger.
SPEAKER_00: But then we remember bigger than this problem, bigger than this division, bigger than this betrayal is the love of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: God's love is so expansive, immense, unchangeable.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is saying to his friends that he knows will encounter a terrible event.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let anything separate you.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let your hearts be drawn away from each other.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is reminding us that healing happens collectively when we stay together.
SPEAKER_00: And in this particular time that we find ourselves, when people are divided for more ways than not, it is astonishing how often we can divide each other into groups and subgroups and microgroups.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, I'm making everyone one.
SPEAKER_00: This is our prayer that the Father would allow you to be one like we are one.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, Let them know how much they're loved, like you love me.
SPEAKER_00: Reminder this morning: you are loved the way that God loves Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's how God loves you, and that's how God loves me, and that's how God loves every portion of this world that God made.
SPEAKER_00: That God sent Jesus, that no one should perish, but that everyone should have eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: Because God did not send Jesus into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Jesus would be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, the saving of the world is the work of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And we are invited into the work of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We are invited into this practice of remembering that we are not alone.
SPEAKER_00: Which is a difficult practice when you find yourself alone.
SPEAKER_00: Or at least when you're alone in your head with the problem that you have.
SPEAKER_00: The invitation that Jesus is offering to us is that we would remember that we are part of each other.
SPEAKER_00: Do not let your hearts be troubled, do not let them be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: I remind you, after the death and after the resurrection, Jesus shows up in a room where everyone has gathered together, and Jesus says, peace, shalom, nothing missing, nothing broken, all things restored.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, receive the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: What Jesus offers us in relationship is that we would have peace, that we would have a balm for our soul.
SPEAKER_00: We pause here for a moment to thank you for joining us today.
SPEAKER_00: If you're finding this episode meaningful, would you take a moment to share it with a friend?
SPEAKER_00: This podcast is made possible thanks to the generosity of people just like you.
SPEAKER_00: If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church and the continued work of our podcast, visit us online at firstlovechurch.org, reminding you to like, follow, and subscribe.
SPEAKER_00: I was raised in um a church and we went to church a lot, seven days a week.
SPEAKER_00: That's a lot, I think, twice on Sundays.
SPEAKER_00: And so I had a lot of time to read the Bible because church went on for a long time.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody asked my brother when we were real little what time our church started, and he said, What's more important is when it ends.
SPEAKER_00: We start on Sunday, comes out sometime Tuesday.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes that's what it felt like to a little person.
SPEAKER_00: But I liked to read um when I felt like I was bored, and I would read in the King James Version, and one of the things I like to do was find all of the names for God, all of the way that God showed God's self to people.
SPEAKER_00: And if you start in Genesis, it's creator, and it's so beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: This is who God is, creator.
SPEAKER_00: And so very often when I find myself focusing on a mess, I remind myself that the creator is with me, a creator of the of whatever the fix needs to be for this thing.
SPEAKER_00: I serve the creator.
SPEAKER_00: But one of my favorite names, and I used to like it a lot, it's a little bit more famous now, but again, in the early 70s, not everybody was doing what I was doing, was naming all the names for God.
SPEAKER_00: But one of them was the Balm of Gilead.
SPEAKER_00: And it means it's comfort, it's healing.
SPEAKER_00: When your mind is troubled, when you are worried, when your stomach hurts because you have worried so much.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus reminds us, I'm gonna be the balm.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be that healing place for you.
SPEAKER_00: And the invitation that Jesus told us was that Jesus is the way.
SPEAKER_00: I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life.
SPEAKER_00: This invitation into another way of living is an invitation into life in the spirit, is an invitation into the unexplainable, is an invitation into the miraculous.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, Jesus said, I tell you the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone who trusts in me will do the same works that I have done.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to know what Jesus would be up to today, he would be feeding the hungry.
SPEAKER_00: So thank you for everyone who comes and helps us with the outreach and we feed the people.
SPEAKER_00: And thank you for everyone who gives the bread away and food away.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, because these are the same works that Jesus would have done.
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus would be healing those who are sick, that he would be visiting those who are in prison, that he would be welcoming the stranger, that he would be saying, No outcasts, I am drawing a bigger circle.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone comes in.
SPEAKER_00: When people had asked earlier, tell us what the father's life.
SPEAKER_00: This is Philip was not the first person who said, We want to see the Father.
SPEAKER_00: We want to see the one that you are following.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, God is like a shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: A good shepherd who will leave the 99 and go after the one.
SPEAKER_00: And God is like a woman who will search for the coin that is lost.
SPEAKER_00: And she will not stop until she finds what is lost.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, the coins do not get lost on their own.
SPEAKER_00: The coins get lost because someone wasn't paying attention.
SPEAKER_00: Someone was careless.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we find ourselves like the coins that are lost.
SPEAKER_00: Because of someone else's carelessness with our hearts or with our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says God is like a woman who's gonna lay down on the floorboards and look between the cracks.
SPEAKER_00: Love is coming for you, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: You are not left under the bureau or inside the drawer alone.
SPEAKER_00: God is coming for you.
SPEAKER_00: And God is like a father who, when his son decides to leave, finally comes to his right mind and says, Even the servants in my father's house have better food than I'm having here.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes home.
SPEAKER_00: The father runs and sees him and says, My son that is dead is now alive.
SPEAKER_00: Come into the feast.
SPEAKER_00: The invitation that Jesus keeps offering is life and that we would have it to the full.
SPEAKER_00: The invitation of Jesus is not that we would suffer alone, that we would just squeak by in this life.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus is saying, I want you to understand what it's like to eat good bread and say thank you, to go outside and to see the trees and to see them for what they are as living testimony of God who is providing for us.
SPEAKER_00: I was outside this morning, as I have been, I hope you have been too, listening to the birds.
SPEAKER_00: And in our listening, and in again, this is the way of Jesus who said to us, Are you worried?
SPEAKER_00: Go outside, listen to the birds, and look at the flowers.
SPEAKER_00: They do not toil, they do not make their own clothes, and they are so beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: And does your father not care for you more than these?
SPEAKER_00: I was outside this morning, and there are birds in our area.
SPEAKER_00: And I was having a conversation with the cows across the street from us, and it was very early, and the light was still coming up, and um the owls are still swooping at that time of the morning.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the other day, the owl was swooping so close to me that I felt like I had his chair.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I will move because whatever you need to see here, I am not interested in.
SPEAKER_00: But this morning there was a very large crow, and he was sitting in the tree and he was looking at me, and I have been telling the crows that they are welcome.
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to make friends.
SPEAKER_00: And so, what I have been trying to do is bring little treats for them.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is what I hear from the internet that you should do if you want to make a crow friend.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know exactly how everyone else has made their crow friends, but I have heard that they respond well to treats.
SPEAKER_00: And so I have been throwing nuts for the crows.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much, Miss Ruth.
SPEAKER_00: The squirrels have been um very happy with my intention to make friends with the crows.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the squirrel came up the other day to the stair way too close to me, like waiting with a little handout, like the kinds that's over a squirrel.
SPEAKER_00: Where is my nut, ma'am?
SPEAKER_00: Not for you, this is for the crow.
SPEAKER_00: And I was thinking about how foolish it was, how foolish I am that I had determined that these nuts were for the crows, because I am gonna make friends with the crows.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, I didn't make the nuts, beloved, neither did you.
SPEAKER_00: They are made by God, they are God's provision for all things.
SPEAKER_00: I had designated a little pile there for the crows for me to make friends with them.
SPEAKER_00: And the squirrels were just as happy that I had this beautiful idea to make friends with the crows.
SPEAKER_00: The crows don't even know that I'm there, but the squirrels do.
SPEAKER_00: And the squirrels are thrilled with this new life that I'm living, with my ambition.
SPEAKER_00: And I wonder if sometimes we as people don't have ideas, like lofty ideas.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna make friends with the crows.
SPEAKER_00: Excellent.
SPEAKER_00: But also the squirrels will be so happy that you have these intentions.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is reminding us it is in these small things that we do to take care of each other, to listen to someone else's problem, to pray with someone, to offer a meal with someone, whatever we do in community to join in with each other.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying, this is mattering.
SPEAKER_00: Now, maybe one day I'll come in and say, I've done it.
SPEAKER_00: The crows are my friends.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe not.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that will never happen.
SPEAKER_00: But I tell you, the witness of the squirrels is that I have found Christ, that I have found something beautiful and am offering to them something wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: Now I tell you what, I don't do is take it out of the hands of the squirrels or the mouths of the squirrels.
SPEAKER_00: I put it out in this beautiful gesture for something more, and everyone gets to eat.
SPEAKER_00: The other day, Siles came into my room, it was very light.
SPEAKER_00: He said, You have to come here because there's raccoons outside of your window.
SPEAKER_00: I had put out blueberries and other treats for the crows, and the raccoons had decided it was for them.
SPEAKER_00: And so again, I remind us that sometimes we have such narrow intentions.
SPEAKER_00: This is how I am going to live, or this is who I will bless.
SPEAKER_00: It is for the blessing of all, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: Everything we do is for the blessing of everyone.
SPEAKER_00: This is the way that Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, I am the way, and Jesus shows us how to be fully human, how to enjoy our dinner, and how to enjoy our friends, and how to sit at a table and how to talk about things that really matter, and how to weep with each other and how to rejoice with each other.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is reminding us of this truth that we are welcomed into the presence of love.
SPEAKER_00: And everything that we do in the way of Jesus, we are doing with God.
SPEAKER_00: How is God coming to your neighborhood?
SPEAKER_00: How is God coming to your backyard?
SPEAKER_00: How is God coming to your family?
SPEAKER_00: It is through you, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: It is through the acts of mercy, it is through the love that you will show.
SPEAKER_00: It is through the hope that you will give to someone else.
SPEAKER_00: And I remind you, we are one.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus told us that.
SPEAKER_00: I am in the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Trust this.
SPEAKER_00: The Father is in me, and then we are in you.
SPEAKER_00: This is the hope that the unity that Jesus has brought us to allows us to look not just beyond the squirrels, to the crows, but beyond ourselves to be able to say, How can I offer friendship to the person right in front of me?
SPEAKER_00: How do I offer brothers to the person right near me?
SPEAKER_00: Someone came to the church recently during the week while I was here doing some things, and they were going to complain about our neighbor, but and they were very upset and they wanted to call code enforcement.
SPEAKER_00: And they were telling me how terrible this certain thing was.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Oh, I said, I'm so sorry that displeased you.
SPEAKER_00: That's my brother's vehicle.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Oh, I just didn't know.
SPEAKER_00: I can try to make arrangements, but that's my brother's.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you would be just merciful, and he was like, I didn't know that that was your brother's.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know that you had anything to do with this.
SPEAKER_00: Of course we can make an exception.
SPEAKER_00: Of course we can be kind.
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about it, is what he said.
SPEAKER_00: We were calling code enforcement six minutes earlier, and now don't worry about it.
SPEAKER_00: My brother lives in Sadler, Texas.
SPEAKER_00: My brother has no vehicles here on this property.
SPEAKER_00: Not my brother that's named Aaron Rasmussen.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Every single person is my brother.
SPEAKER_00: Every single person is your brother, your sister.
SPEAKER_00: We are one.
SPEAKER_00: And what are we doing to make the world a better, more graceful, more merciful place by claiming people as our own?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's my brother.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm a part of the squirrel family.
SPEAKER_00: We're also going to eat what the crows were going to eat.
SPEAKER_00: We are one.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying, I want you to understand, if you trust in me, you will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.
SPEAKER_00: I am returning to love, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: And one day we will all return to love.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said there will be a place for us there.
SPEAKER_00: What a beautiful and hopeful thing that Jesus has returned to the Father, made a place for us, and that Jesus has made a place for you, for your family, for brothers and sisters, for anyone who believes and trusts in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: This is such a beautiful invitation for us.
SPEAKER_00: This is such a hopeful place that we will begin to claim our brothers and sisters, every single person.
SPEAKER_00: It's one of the things that we get to do when we have holy communion together.
SPEAKER_00: We remember that there is something absolutely sacred, mystical about what we do.
SPEAKER_00: We say this is the Lord's table, and this is also the table that we get to celebrate from.
SPEAKER_00: Not one of us have earned this place, but everyone is welcomed because Jesus set the guest list.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, every week, I want you to, every time you're together, whenever you're together, I want you to remember me.
SPEAKER_00: What is it like to remember Jesus who said to Peter.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter said, You know I do.
SPEAKER_00: You know I love you even when I mess up so badly.
SPEAKER_00: You know I love you when I betray you.
SPEAKER_00: You know I love you, you know I do.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says to him again, Do you love me?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus asks three times, Do you love me for the three betrayals that Peter has made, as in erasing them.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, If this is where you find yourself, then go and feed the sheep.
SPEAKER_00: Then get busy claiming our brothers and reminding them.
SPEAKER_00: There is a place for them at the Father's table.
SPEAKER_00: Come home.
SPEAKER_00: The pig slop is not working for you.
SPEAKER_00: Just come home.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus is saying.
SPEAKER_00: Together, I want to remind you of this.
SPEAKER_00: Do not let your hearts be troubled.
SPEAKER_00: Do not let them be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: I am with you.
SPEAKER_00: The person who was gonna call code enforcement met the person who was the owner of said vehicle that was driving them insane, but didn't say, I'm the owner.
SPEAKER_00: And this person said, Whatever you do, don't say anything about that, don't do anything.
SPEAKER_00: It's the brother of the pastor of the church.
SPEAKER_00: He goes, Good to know.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, We're just gonna leave it.
SPEAKER_00: You know, they do a lot for us, and so we're just not gonna make a big deal about it.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, excellent.
SPEAKER_00: Excellent.
SPEAKER_00: I agree with this.
SPEAKER_00: I want to tell you when the story was told to me, the other part of the story was we came here on a Monday after a quick storm, and there was an entire tree down in the back parking lot, filled the entire parking lot.
SPEAKER_00: It was more than Dennis and I could move, or even with our sons.
SPEAKER_00: My beloved next door neighbor brother has a big machine that takes care of it.
SPEAKER_00: And he saw what we were doing.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, I'm gonna help.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, by the way, we're related.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, We are?
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, You know I'm your brother, right?
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Oh, it dawned on me then.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, he goes, that was exciting for me to know.
SPEAKER_00: He goes, that I'm your brother.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Isn't it wonderful that we can all be brothers and sisters?
SPEAKER_00: All of us.
SPEAKER_00: This is the way of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The way of Jesus who said, if you're not going to be offended because of me, you're gonna see the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, and the dead being raised to life.
SPEAKER_00: This is the hope of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This is the practice of resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: This is the good news.
SPEAKER_00: I tell you the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone who trusts in me will do the same great works I have done, and even greater works because I'm going to be with the Father.
SPEAKER_00: And you can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son will bring glory to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Ask me for anything in my name and I will do it.
SPEAKER_00: This is how our hearts are not troubled, and this is how we do not have to be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: Because when everyone says what we need to do is separate and have more wars, we remind ourselves that Jesus, the very Prince of Peace, hears our prayers.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, in your mercy, have mercy not only on me, but on my brother, on my sister.
SPEAKER_00: Have mercy on the world.
SPEAKER_00: May your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Give us this day our daily bread.
SPEAKER_00: You know the prayers that Jesus taught us to pray.
SPEAKER_00: And in that same way, we're invited to pray, not just for us, but for ours, the whole world.
SPEAKER_00: The brothers and sisters, you did not know.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to the communion table in just a moment.
SPEAKER_00: There is something so holy about naming something.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, in the very beginning, God put humans in the garden and says, Your job is to name it.
SPEAKER_00: And when we go through our lives and we name things and people and creation as beloved or blessed, when the rest of the world wants to curse everything or bring a division, beloved, you have the power to bless.
SPEAKER_00: You have the power to claim.
SPEAKER_00: You have the power to hope.
SPEAKER_00: It was a few years ago, but it was in the parking lot of TJ Maxx during one of those rainstorms where it's a wet rain.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to get wet whether you have an umbrella or not.
SPEAKER_00: You are going to get drenched.
SPEAKER_00: And in the sound of that rain, I heard someone say, Sister.
SPEAKER_00: Not my brother, not my brother Aaron.
SPEAKER_00: But I heard someone say, Sister, can you help me?
SPEAKER_00: And it's a wet rain, like where you're embarrassed to be wet, that kind of wet, you know, like your hair stuck to your face, water, everything, just like soaked, every bit of you soaked.
SPEAKER_00: And I heard someone say, Sister, can you help me?
SPEAKER_00: And I turned around and I said, Beloved, yes, I can.
SPEAKER_00: I do not know what the situation is.
SPEAKER_00: I do not know how it's going to go, but beloved, beloved is all of our names, every single one of us.
SPEAKER_00: We are loved by God.
SPEAKER_00: That man gasped, put his hand to his own chest, and said, I cannot tell you how long it has been since anyone has called me beloved.
SPEAKER_00: He needed just money.
SPEAKER_00: And I was able to give him that.
SPEAKER_00: But more than that, what he needed was to remember that he was beloved.
SPEAKER_00: What all of us need to remember, and Jesus is telling us that.
SPEAKER_00: You are not alone.
SPEAKER_00: You are beloved.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let your heart get worried.
SPEAKER_00: Don't get separated.
SPEAKER_00: Join together.
SPEAKER_00: Call and claim those things that are, and my Father will do it for you.
SPEAKER_00: Ask in my name.
SPEAKER_00: Ask the way that Jesus asks.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is asking us to pray that the kingdom would come.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you've enjoyed this week's sermon.
SPEAKER_00: If you would like more information about us, visit us online at firstlovechurch.org.