God and Sinner Reconciled | Week 5
The incarnation is the reconciling of two entities that were previously far apart. This brief Christmas day message will call us to be agents of reconciliation in a nation (and world) deeply divided over race, politics, and opportunity. The outcome, I hope, will be that our people will use their positions in the home or in the community to bring together people or parties that are far apart.
The Dwelling | Week 4
For God so loved the world that He gave his only son. He didn’t “like” us on Facebook. He didn’t “click here” to show his support. He came and lived among us. He moved in. He took up our infirmities. He became what we are. He showed us that His comfort was worth sacrificing for our benefit. To be incarnate, then, is to be fully present in the community where we live, engaging in sacrificial love for the benefit of our neighbors.
Being the Body | Week 3
Why does our language on earth, both inside the church and without, sound more like the accusations of the evil one than the grace-filled whispers of Jesus into the ears of the Father? The words we share with one another, both in content and in form, should be the re-creative and transformational ones which paint the new reality of heaven rather than the false depictions of Satan.
The New Normal | Week 2
The first and most obvious implication of the incarnation is what it means for human flesh. Contrary to the idea that to “err is human,” the incarnation declares it is not, for even in his humanity, he did not sin. Indeed, the more we sin, the less human we become. It is not normal to sin, and it never was.