Traveling Light Relay

Birthed Into Mission

Hosea 13:13, NRSV
John 3:1-10, 16-17, NRSV

Reflections

Just as we are invited to step into the worship of the Trinity in which the Son glorifies the Father in the Spirit, so we are called to share in the mission of the Trinity in which the Father sends the Son by the power of the Spirit to redeem the world. The word “mission” is derived from the Latin verb for sending. The Church is missionary because it is sent by the God who sends his Son. The Church does not have a choice about being involved in mission any more than it has a choice about being involved in worship. Worship and mission belong to the very being of the Church. We cannot be otherwise than a worshipping community and a missionary people because we have been adopted into the life of God. God’s life is a life of worship overflowing into a life of mission.

— Christopher Cocksworth
Holy, Holy, Holy

• Rebirth is messy but also glorious and beautiful
• Rebirth into mission, into the city

 

• Rebirth and keep renewing
• Mission is fuel of discipleship
• “crummy music freaks people out”

 

• Rebirth teaches God’s agenda, for us to be more Christ-like

Tags: city church sf, rev fred

Power that Crushes and Power that Heals

1 Kings 12:1-17, 25-29, NRSV
Mark 10:42-45, NRSV

Reflections

Whatever controls us is our lord. The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by the people he or she wants to please. We do not control ourselves. We are controlled by the lord of our lives… The only way to free ourselves from the destructive influence of counterfeit gods is to turn back to the true one. The living God, who revealed himself both at Mount Sinai and on the Cross, is the only Lord who, if you find him, can truly fulfill you, and, if you fail him, can truly forgive you.

— Tim Keller
Counterfeit Gods

• Fear makes us panic, frantic, over-reach for power
• Fear drives us to make bad decision, to behave we are not proud of

 

• Reacting to fear or responding with trust?
• William D. Eisenhower – Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but love from the Lord is its completion.

Tags: city church sf, rev fred

David’s Praise

2 Samuel 5:1-5; 6:1-5, NRSV
Acts 2:22-28, NRSV

Reflections

That which dominates our imagination and our thoughts will determine our life and character. Therefore it behooves us to be careful what we are worshiping, for what we are worshiping we are becoming.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson
quoted in Broken Tablets

• We do praising all the time
• where we find the deepest joy, and we tell others about it
• C.S. Lewis – We delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment
• But we also praise things with mixed motives

 

• God is trustworthy
• David praises God that accepts people who are in the mix and the messy state of mind
• By bringing the ark back, he places God back in the center of nation
• But David is also doing this for politics

 

• Well of gratitude
• Well of gratitude to draw from, to fuel our praises, to deepen our trust in God
• Trust and gratitude

Tags: city church sf, rev fred

The Courage of Ruth

Ruth 1:8-21; 2:1-12, NRSV
Matthew 1:1-5, NRSV

Reflections

When we demand satisfaction of one another, when we demand any completion to history on our terms, when we demand that our anxiety or any dissatisfaction be taken away, saying as it were, “Why weren’t you this for me? Why didn’t life do that for me?” we are refusing to say, “Come, Lord Jesus.” We are refusing to hold out for the full picture that is always given by God. “Come, Lord Jesus” is a leap into the kind of freedom and surrender that is rightly called the virtue of hope. The theological virtue of hope is the patient and trustful willingness to live without closure, without resolution, and still be content and even happy because our Satisfaction is now at another level, and our Source is beyond ourselves. We are able to trust that he will come again, just as Jesus has come into our past, into our private dilemmas and into our suffering world. Our Christian past then becomes our Christian prologue, and “Come, Lord Jesus” is not a cry of desperation but an assured shout of cosmic hope.

— Richard Rohr

• Courage in the midst of tragedy
• Suffering – not being in control, and not knowing how it turns out
• We all have an agenda; “God has not filled out my agenda” (Paula D’Arcy’s Book)
• Courage leads to redemption

Tags: city church sf, rev fred

The Limp of Jacob

Genesis 32:22-32, NRSV
John 16:20-22, NRSV
2 Corinthians 12:10, NRSV

Reflections

If there is such a thing as human perfection, it seems to emerge precisely from how we handle the imperfection that is everywhere, especially our own. What a clever place for God to hide holiness, so that only the humble and earnest will find it! A ‘perfect’ person ends up being one who can consciously forgive and include imperfection rather than one who thinks he or she is totally above and beyond imperfection. It becomes sort of obvious once you say it out loud. In fact, I would say that the demand for the perfect is the greatest enemy of the good. Perfection is a mathematical concept, goodness is a beautiful human concept that includes us all.

— Richard Rohr,
Falling Upward

• Story of a nation
• Story of transformation
• Israel to understand their relationship with God, how Israel got its name
• Struggling, wrestling, questioning with God
• Be blessed and broken, so then to be blessings to others

 

• Purpose of life is not to win, it’s not a game, but to love
• We all need and long for deep blessings
• There will be pain, but there will be rejoicing

Tags: city church sf, rev fred

The Laugh of Sarah

Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7, NRSV

Reflections

I know there are Christians, so called, who never crack a smile and who can’t abide a joke, and I suppose Presbyterians contribute their quota. But I don’t meet very many of them. The stereotype as such is a big lie created, presumably, by the devil. One of the delightful discoveries along the way of Christian discipleship is how much enjoyment there is, how much laughter you hear, how much sheer fun you find.

— Eugene H. Peterson
A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

• Laughter: Incongruity, Surprise

 

• Cynical laugh at first
• self-loathing
• “Shall I have pleasure”
• God is not shaming her for not admitting she laughed
• Sarah’s laughter is devoiding anything wonderful
• Laughter without wonder is bitter

 

• Transform Laughter
• Sarah is transformed
• Genesis 21:6 – God’s lasting laughter – Grace

Tags: city church sf, rev fred

Unintelligible Sunday Notes (9/13/15)

The Mark of Cain

Genesis 4:1-18, NRSV
1 John 3:11-18, NRSV

Reflections

We either bear the marks of Christ in self-sacrificing love
Or we bear the mark of Cain in self-justifying narcissism
The marks of Christ are the wounds of healing love
The mark of Cain warns people to stay away
The marks of Christ bring reconciliation
The mark of Cain increases our isolation
I am my brother’s keeper
The end of narcissism is nihilism
A life centered on self leads to the incriminating mark of Cain
A life centered on Christ leads to giving yourself away
When a rich man helps a poor man two men are rescued
One from the black hole of poverty
The other from the black hole of self
What am I?
I am a child of God.
I am not an only child.
I am my brother’s keepers.

— Brian Zahnd

• • Power that comes from violence, physically and verbally
  • This is story of insidious violence
  • This is also story of pervasive grace

• • First time being introduced in Genesis
  • Sin
  • Shame
  • Evil
  • City, civilization

• • God calls out Cain’s feelings, shows understanding
  • Asks him questions, pursue him
  • But Cain didn’t respond to God well
  • Sin is lurking, crouching

• • God doesn’t do eye for an eye
  • Love your enemy whereas the world teach to hate your enemy

• • To Do:
  • It starts with us, taking up the cross and follow Jesus
  • To bear the mark of Jesus, not mark of Cain

Tags: city church sf, rev fred