Our buildings may have been shuttered to combat an invisible enemy, but we must live into the reality that the church is not closed. Our church is not a building, an organization or a worship service. According to the New Testament Greek, the church is the ekklésia, the called-out people of God.
Read MorePaul’s new community and the movement away from more traditional religious practices started to “turn the world upside down.” Paul encouraged them to continue to share the story of God’s love with others. And finally he told his community to be reminded that God chose them. They were the ones entrusted with the greatest treasure on Earth.
Read MoreHow easily we can go through life without truly knowing others or letting ourselves be known by them, even and especially in our faith communities. How genuinely faith might grow if we asked each other the deep questions, made space for hard and authentic stories, and learned to let our legs tremble as we made it a regular practice to share from the heart. Knit together through stories, how powerful we might be as disciples for the sake of the world.
Read MoreMartin Luther once wrote, “You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.” We all have the moral obligation to use words and actions—God’s word and our voices, hands and feet—to serve our neighbors and proclaim the gospel. The world is truly chaotic, and we are only now beginning to realize the extent to which we are connected to one another. Now is the time to speak. Now is the time to be the church that speaks God’s reign into reality.
Read MoreThe acronym FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) is one that we often hear and perhaps experience. The stories of the women in this Gospel lesson show them missing out, or at risk of missing out. Jairus’ twelve-year-old daughter is, in her culture, at the cusp of adulthood — as in our culture she would be on the cusp of increasing responsibilities and independence. The death of a young person with a full life ahead of them seems somehow harder to bear than other deaths; we reflect on all the things that person will miss out on.
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