Well of Hope Sermons

So often we hear parables like this and our first instinct is to cast judgement by labeling others, or sometimes ourselves, as morally wrong... or bad; deserving punishment. But that is the opposite of what Jesus is suggesting here. Rather than judgement Jesus asks us to continue growing, to focus on living together, and bearing fruit, and promises to take care of the rest. He suggests that Mercy for one another is more important to our own well being than judgment. This can be a hard lesson indeed. 

So often we catch ourselves centralizing the soil in this Parable of the Sower from Matthew, but that is to lose some of the grace that Jesus is putting on display here. The Sower scatters seeds all over, in silly, unexpected places just like God's Grace lands in unexpected and unrealistic places. Our only job, no matter what kind of soil we find ourselves as, is to allow grace to land on us and to let it do its work.

As we celebrate the ideals and achievements of our country on one hand, many folks are wondering how we also hold remember the failures and missed ideals in the other. How do we remain Christian in a country where Christian Nationalism is so prevalent? When all feels loud, fast, and shallow, we remember that the real work of human dignity, justice, and mercy through Christ, is consistent, persistent and mysterious. 

This week, we find Jesus continuing to teach about what discipleship looks like. More specifically, he has an honest conversation about what it costs. Echoing the words of the prophet Micah, Jesus warns that walking in the way of God—actually showing compassion to those most in need—may cost us something. "Those who lose their life for my sake will find it," Jesus says. So the question for us is this: What are we willing to let go of in order to truly know the Gospel?

The day before this sermon, Well of Hope held a big and audacious fundraiser for New Beginnings, a congregation that meets inside the Denver women's correctional facility. This sermon was a debrief of that experience, but also an encouragement to explore the compassion and call of Jesus, to embrace vulnerability, and to be freed from our fear of failure. This text is a call to be pulled by compassion, to try things, to have grace with ourselves, and to reimagine "Success".

We talk in Church a lot about Jesus' Love and His Way being for all people, but if we are honest, there is always someone we wonder about. Matthew the Tax Collector's story should challenge us to include those people as part of the movement of liberation that we might prefer to leave out. As a tax collector and former lackey to the Empire, Matthew's welcome into the movement of Jesus should stretch us to reconsider who can be included no matter what part of the table we find ourselves at.

We are baptized into the Trinity (Creator, Son, Holy Spirit) and sent out to teach and make disciples and baptize other into the Trinity. Often times, a brand of "Coopted Christianity" that takes this sending out seriously looks like strands of Christian Nationalism. We rebuke that. Today we remember that we are baptized into community itself, love, and Mercy. That is who God is and how we try to live.

Happy Pentecost everyone. In the bright, flashy, chaotic, and loud world we live in, it can feel impossible to believe that the Holy Spirit can still move and make a difference. Where we usually hear from Acts about the Pentecost, John's Gospel offers a pentecost that ties the Holy Spirits work to the quiet and powerful work of healing. Perhaps it is worth paying attention to this year. 

As we prepare for the Jesus Ascension after Easter, we are promised another Advocate. Someone to walk along side us. We kind of zip right over the top of this, but when we stop and think about that, this is a big deal. It means that Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit are all in the business of being with us and caring for us. It's who God is. 

In todays text from John 14 we meet one of the more famous texts in the Bible, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no-one comes to the father except through me." Though this is a kind and pastoral encouragement to Jesus' disciples, it often gets oversimplified to exclude and harm non-christians. Contrary to a lot of simplified teaching on this text, Jesus is showing a whole new way to be in the world. A way linked to God, Neighbor, and Self.