MARCH 22
10:15 I Facebook Live
UTTERLY AMAZED
Well friends, we’re all one week into the national emergency due to the COVID-19 virus. How y’all doing? I’m sure the answers are all over the board. And our answers say much about us — things like where we work, what personality type we have, where we gather our information. But most importantly, this is a great time to find out what we truly value. Testing has a way of making some things clear to us that we can’t see when life is easy, when nothing is asked of us. And what is testing but a time of being asked for things? Let’s dig in this week and see how Jesus handles this, and what it has to teach us, and let’s see why his answers let the crowds utterly amazed.
February 13th, 2022
10:15am I Facebook Live & Zoom
Watch last week's message here
Title
Who Gets It Best?
Text
Question of the Week
What practices are you using to cultivate gratefulness?
Introduction
Anyone here know what the single worst shift to pull in the Restaurant business is? (You can guess, but I won’t tell you until Sunday) One of the things Jane and I have almosted insisted of our kids is that at some point in their lives they work in a Restaurant. There are a number of reasons for this. One, it’s a great lesson in human behavior (unfortunately, most of it bad). It’s a terrific way to get to work with and know people from all walks of life. There is also some deep experiential learning that comes from practicing serving - the Biblical word for deacon is “one who waits on tables”. But one really important thing is gaining an understanding of what it takes to create and meal and serve it. What is takes to plan, prep, prepare, serve, clean up and then do it all over again. In a good operation, you really gain a sense of appreciation for what all that takes. And that understanding helps you value the experience when you are the one being served. At least it should.
Like everyone else, I’m steeped in the mindset of looking for a bargain, of the idea that paying “full price” is paying too much, that there’s a direct and unbreakable line between “lower prices and living better”. This is the accepted orthodoxy of American consumerism. And this idea transcends just the things we buy, but almost all of our imagination around relationships and life, and even God. It rules our expectations. It relegates “what things cost” in importance to “what can I get it for”. It makes “getting the deal, coming out on top, the ultimate goal. It clouds our ability to properly value things and that in turn, stunts our ability to be grateful, to truly show appreciation.
And Jesus has a whole lot to say about gratitude and how important it is to show proper appreciation.
Let’s dig into our text this week and see what we can find.
Grace and peace y’all,
John Ray and the teaching team
The Big Idea:
Clearly understanding exactly who Jesus is and what Jesus is about, and understanding who we are and what we are about is essential to cultivating a proper attitude of gratefulness.
Take Away:
Being grateful is not an emotion we can just “make happen”, sustained gratitude takes intentional practice, willingness to learn and change our ideas about “the way things are” and the willingness to be changed ourselves.
How does this fit with "Belong, Become, Believe"?
At Grace, our practice of gratitude is bound up with our practice of hospitality, of helping others belong. As we practice it, we become more and more people who do it because we “get to” rather than “have to”. This practice forms our believes which in turn, spark out practices.
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
As you read this story, where do you find yourself? With the hosts? WIth the woman? With the others there? Is it easy, or even possible, to think of yourself as a “sinner”? Is this even a good thing? Are there benefits? What about negatives? How does how we estimate ourselves connect to our capacity for gratefulness?
Kid Focus
Have you tried to incorporate a “people-first” linguistic practice in your home?
Our friend Matt Mooney and his staff at 99Balloons taught us this concept as we launched our first rEcreo. The idea is that we don’t look at a person and use an adjective first, such as, “those illegals,” or “the autistic boy,” but instead refer to their humanity first, and then add necessary details. If you’re not used to this practice as an adult, it’s the perfect opportunity to model learning for your children. Note when you catch yourself not using people-first language, and correct it out loud.
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Watch this video Depending on the age of your children, talk about how referring to the woman as “the sinful woman” sounds. Does that terminology line up with what we know about Jesus? The important message about the gospel is that Jesus over and over again reminded us that all of us have worth and hope for transformation. Because we are all made in God’s image, we need to look at others through that lens first. Discussion questions for your family:
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1. What do you think this woman had heard about that made her want to be in the presence of Jesus? Imagine if someone was describing you with the worst thing you ever did as you entered your friend’s birthday party!
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2. How are we guilty of looking at a person and labeling them first with a negative attribute or false generalization? How can we correct that behavior?
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Suggested Activity: Cut out a bunch of pictures of people from magazines, and gather them on the table with markers or crayons, a large piece of paper, and glue or glue sticks. Model for your children in looking at pictures of people and describing their beauty and uniqueness first as you glue the pictures onto the paper. If your child is able or interested, have them write words that affirm God’s creation of different humans with varied abilities on the poster. You might write, “beloved child,” “a person who listens carefully,” “a person who would be a good friend,” etc.
Resources
What's Next?
We take a look at Mary and Martha in Luke 10
February 20th, 2022
10:15am I Facebook Live & Zoom
Watch last week's message here
Title
Choose Your Own Distraction
Text
Question of the Week
What does “sitting at the feet of Jesus” look like in your life right now?
Introduction
Back in the early 1800’s, a group of German Lutheran separatists turned their focus to the mystical religious teachings of a charismatic self-proclaimed prophet, George Rapp His followers sought to create a utopian community in America after being chased out of Germany. The vision of the so-called Harmonist was a society purified from the private ownership of things, the distractions of marriage and raising children, freeing them to focus on the imminent return of Jesus. Unlike almost every other utopian community based on such things, the Harmonist actually thrived, for a while, establishing three different communities lasting just over a century.
However, when you base a community on celibacy and increasingly become more and more insular, the results are inevitable. After their charismatic leader died, with the promised dates of Jesus' return having come and gone, the group eventually dissolved in 1905.
But the attractions of such Utopian visions persists, the idea that if we could just be free of all the concerns that keep us tethered and tied down, all the things of our current lives that distract us, we’d really be much better off.
And if we look at our text this week in a certain way, we might think that is exactly what Jesus is teaching. But is it really? Let’s dig in and see what we can find.
Grace and peace y’all,
John Ray and the teaching team
The Big Idea:
Jesus calls us to pay attention to what is important in the midst of seeming constant disruption and anxiety, not as a way of being free of distraction, but as a way of ordering what we pay attention to.
Take Away:
There’s a temptation to wait until things are calm, all the fires put out, all the distractions quieted before turning our attention to Jesus, or the idea that if we do focus on Jesus, everything else will just take care of itself. Instead, we must cultivate the practice of paying attention in the midst of it all while still attending to what is necessary.
How does this fit with "Belong, Become, Believe"?
As we order our attention around Jesus, we become necessarily attentive to the need of others to belong. This informs our practice of hospitality and through this practice we are draw closer to who Jesus wants us to become. This attention and practice are reflected in and formed by what we believe.
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
How would you “finish” this story? What do you think might have happened next? As you read this story, who do you identify most with? What do you think of the idea of “ordering your attention” as opposed to “paying attention”? What practical steps will you take to more faithfully order your attention around Jesus?
Resources
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Thoughts on this text from Sermon Brainwave
What's Next?
We take a look at Jesus washing feet in John 13:1-17
February 27th, 2022
10:15am I Facebook Live & Zoom
Watch last week's message here
Title
Take Care
Text
Question of the Week
What does it look like in your life to be served by Jesus?
Introduction
Fifteen years ago I was standing in front of a group of eager students on a converted houseboat anchored to the side of the Dnieper River in the middle of Kyiv. This morning, I sat scrolling through the pictures of their faces, the faces of their kids, praying. Are those kids now soldiers? Are their parents huddled in the shelters? What about all our friends on the other side of the border in Belarus, now a Russian staging base for the invasion? What will the sanctions and backlash mean for them?
It all seems so far away and yet so close. These are people I know, people I’ve traveled trains with, pitched horseshoes and shared pizza with. We’ve played jokes on each other and dreamed dreams together. The crisis there now is obvious.
And I don’t want in any way to diminish our need to pay attention to what is happening there and to do everything we can to respond sacrificially and lovingly. At the same time we need to let this help refine our awareness of the needs close at hand. This is not an “either/or” situation but an opportunity to reassess, reevaluate and form a renewed response.
It’s also interesting this comes as we start the season of Lent, a time we’re all invited to engage in this very practice. We’re invited to stop and pay attention, take stock and make the necessary adjustments in our hearts, minds and lives.
All this starts with taking a deep look at Jesus, listening to and responding to his clear instructions. So let’s do that this week as we dig into the story of Jesus watching the feet of his disciples.
Grace and peace y’all,
John Ray and the teaching team
The Big Idea:
Christianity, at its core, is a “one another” religion.
Take Away:
Taking care of each other, especially in the most mundane and difficult ways, is to be a hallmark of the followers of Jesus.
How does this fit with "Belong, Become, Believe"?
At Grace Church, serving one another through hospitality, welcoming them to belong, is a clear reflection of the call to care for one another. This practice of serving forms us as followers of Jesus and gives us revelation about what we proclaim to believe.
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
Have you ever practiced observing Lent before? What practices are you planning for this Lent? Imagine that you’re Peter in this story. How do you think you would have responded? Where do you find it easy to receive from Jesus and where is it difficult? Where do you find it easy to serve others and where is it difficult?
Resources
In Our God of the Kitchen Floor, author Kristen Thomas Sancken writes, “Servanthood is a choice, an attitude. Servitude is being forced to serve other people.”
Lent Practice
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Subscribe to this project and make space to use it each day
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The Lent Project by the Biola University Center for Christianiy, Culture and the Arts
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Choose one of these books and use it throughout Lent.
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Bread and Wine Devotion for Lent and Easter
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A Way Other Than Our Own by Walter Bruggemann
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40 Days of Decrease by Alicia Britt Chole
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The Word in the Wilderness: A poem a day for Lent and Easter by Malcom Guite
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Prayer: Forty Days of Practices by Scott Erickson and Justin McRoberts
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Make a playlist for Lent. Start here if you need inspiration:
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Porters Gate Lament Songs
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Art and Theology’s Lent Playlist
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Family Focus
Traditionally, Lent is a time for prayer, sacrifice, and giving. Here are a few ideas for your family to intentionally practice these spiritual disciplines:
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Get three plastic or glass jars and items to decorate them. You might use stickers, permanent markers, or other items. Label one Prayers, one Sacrifice, and one Giving. Talk with your children about the importance of this season in the church calendar in remembering Jesus and the journey to new life.
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Decide as a family how you can be better at praying. Maybe you can put the prayer jar on your table and write down prayers as you place them in the jar, or you could try making generic prayer categories by writing “family,” “those who are lonely,” etc. on wooden sticks and pulling them out of the jar each night.
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Talk about making sacrifices. You might give up something you enjoy, such as candy or a certain game, or possibly, you might give up something you enjoy as a family. You could talk about the many sacrifices people are making as we live in this pandemic: from wearing masks to spacing apart from people, our sacrifices are in hope of a future outcome. Record your sacrifices on paper and place them in the jar, or write some ideas for things you could give up during the coming week and have individuals draw them out of the jar.
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For the giving jar, talk about how your family could grow in giving in this season. Most of us don’t carry as many coins around, so filling a jar with loose change might not be a useful way to encourage giving. Maybe you can pick some projects such as filling a Little Free Pantry, Little Free Library, or donating used toys to Potter’s House or the toy box outside the pantry at Good Shepherd Lutheran, and write those projects on paper slips or wooden sticks, drawing out one or two each week. Sacrifice and giving go hand-in-hand. Talk about sacrificing something as a family that will allow you to give more generously.
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In some faith traditions, families color a graphic “Alleluia” and have the children bury it under some rocks in a spot that will be undisturbed inside their house. (Maybe under some rocks on a platter, with a small potted plant on top) Then, on Easter morning, they “roll away” the rocks and rejoice in the Alleluias.
What's Next?
We take a look at John 21:1-19 NET