Touchpoints on The Gospel (Page 6)
Wounded Touch
“You see, the problem may not be that people don’t want to belong to the church. The problem may just be that the church doesn’t want to belong to the Christ. Perhaps we’ve been so busy worshipping Jesus we’ve forgotten to follow him.”
YES!!!
“But it isn’t a YES that says, ‘Yes, you do measure up,’ or ‘Yes, you are good enough.’ It’s rather a YES that says, ‘YES, you don’t have to measure up. YES, you don’t have to be good enough. Because it’s not about measuring up or being good enough. My YES will simply embrace and transform your NO.'”
Unstoppable
“That is what this week is about. That is what the passion, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is about. God will simply not stop being a loving, gracious and forgiving God. And not in some theoretical, metaphysical, mystical way. God will simply not stop being a loving, gracious and forgiving God here on earth – to us and with us.”
Getting Rid of the Bubble Wrap
“This is a text to read when it feels like the world is crashing down around us, when our minds are too jaded and our spirits too discouraged to see how God may be present in our current darkness. This is the passage to read when we come face to face with the mess we as humans have made of our relationships and of this world, when we recognize how profoundly broken and how incapable of fixing ourselves we are. For it is in this place of helplessness and disorientation that hope emerges.”
Let It Be
“Now I’m not sure what this says about God the Father, but I am clear on what it says about God the Son. He will not go back on forgiveness. He will not go back on grace. He will not deal with us on the basis of reward and punishment or getting what we deserve. Not now, not next year, not ever.”
Complain, Complain, Complain!
“Our problems are God’s problems. Prayer is in part a way of speaking to God that involves God in our daily lives. And in prayer, we remind God that God has promised to be faithful to being ‘Immanuel’ (God with us).”
The Second Dust-Up
“You see, it was dust and dirt from which we were created, and dust and dirt into which the Mystery gladly breathed its breath and Spirit, and then declared us ‘Very Good.’”
Blessing or Woe? Woe or Blessing?
“This passage comforts the afflicted … and afflicts the comfortable. And if you want to know which one you are, look no further than your response to this passage. Where does this ‘passage’ take you? To comfort or discomfort?”
Cliff Hanger
Grace and peace from the Mystery in whom we live and move and have our being. The Messiah of all. They got up, drove him out of town, and led him up to the brow of a hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.” Luke 4: 14-30 Why do I get the feeling this Touchpoint isn’t going to end well? Sometimes I wonder about the people who came up with the…
The Heresy of Individualism
“Now you know why Luther was mocked when he insisted on the Real Presence of the Christ in this meal. People laughed at him and said, “If Christ is really present in the bread and wine than you might as well say he is present in the cabbage soup at the local pub.” To which Luther supposedly replied, “Yes, exactly.”
God’s Wedding Reception
“This miracle story isn’t about celebrating the marriage of two people. It is a celebration of the marriage of God, the Divine, the Mystery, with humanity, with you and me. There are no roads that lead to God because God has come to be with us. God has come to marry us. Unite with us. Become one with us.”
Therefore, Be It Resolved
“Make no mistake about it. This is a reversal from how God is often portrayed, talked about, pictured. We always think we have to do something first. We have to act first, and then, God as judge, will decide after we are all done whether to accept us or not. But this baptism story, and where it is placed in Luke’s Gospel is a reminder that we have it all backwards. It’s only Chapter 3 and Jesus has done nothing at this point in the Gospel of Luke to warrant God’s love and delight.”