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Walking in the Light

12/26/2021

 
“Walking in the Light”
 
Dr. John Judson
December 26, 2021
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Isaiah 5:18-24; John 1:1-5
 
      They are solid. She is a dynamo.  He’s a rock.  I’m feeling up.  She is feeling down.  What light through yonder window breaks?  It is the east and Cindy is the sun.  I know it was originally Juliet, but Cindy works better for me.  Metaphors, these are all metaphors that we use all the time.  You might even call us “metaphorians.”  I say that because studies have shown that we use metaphors between 20 and 25 times an hour.  What is a metaphor? It is attaching the attributes of one object to another object to which you cannot literally apply it.  In other words, when say someone is a rock, we know they are not a literal rock, but we understand what the metaphor implies about that person.  We take those attributes of a rock and apply them to another person.  Metaphors enrich our language and our understanding of the world around us.  So why this morning, the day after Christmas, are we talking about metaphors?  We are doing so because without understanding metaphors we cannot understand the Bible in general, and the opening of the Gospel of John in particular.

      To understand this opening of the Gospel of John, this critical piece of our faith, we need to examine four metaphors, three of which are in this passage and one of which is not.  We will begin with the metaphor that is not here and that is the metaphor of the way.  The “way” is used throughout the scriptures, from the beginning to the end, from the journeys of Abraham, to the Book of Acts where the church is called “the Way.” It is used to describe the reality that the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the Prophets, Jesus, and Paul has laid out before us as a way of life; a manner of living that will lead us to life in all its fullness. Think about the way as our life’s journeys, including the choices and decisions we make. That “way” is supposed to be informed by the second metaphor we will take up, which is the life, or as we read, “What has come into the world was life, and the life was the light of all people.”

       Life within Judaism meant more than simply breathing in and out.  It meant life in all its richness and abundance.  It meant a life of abundance, and grace, and sharing; a life without violence; a life of loving God and neighbor.  Take a second and imagine what your ideal life would look like. Chances are it is filled with peace, fellowship, abundance, friendship, and community.  These words are all richly wrapped up in the metaphor of the life as it is used throughout the scriptures.  So those two metaphors, the way and life, show us what God desires for us, for all human beings.  God desires that we all have that rich abundant life and the manner in which we are to find it is to follow in the way. But the question has always been, whether it is in the Hebrew/Jewish community or within the Christian community, how do we find our way to that life?  The reason we ask that is that so often we live in darkness, which is the next metaphor.

      Darkness in the scriptures is the inability to see the way that leads to the life.  Let’s take a moment to dig into this metaphor of the darkness.  Have you ever been somewhere that is really, really dark? It may be your bedroom at night, or a closet with the light off, or a night in which there is no moonlight or starlight.  The danger of the dark is that we can lose our way, we can wander off the path, we can find ourselves in a ditch, or falling off a cliff, or in the presence of animals that may harm us.  The dark is the place in which people can secretly meet and plan and scheme.  The dark is the place in which, if we live in it, we will lose our way. We will wander off the path. We will not find the life that God wants us to possess.  The trouble is that the world is filled with darkness and with those who whisper to us that we should leave the way of God in Christ.  The struggle for the community of faith has always been that if we want to attain this abundant life by walking in God’s path, how do we be sure that we are staying on the way?  The answer is that we look for a light that will illumine our path.

      Within the Jewish community the light that illumines the way of God that leads to abundant life is the Torah.  The Psalmist says that Torah is a “lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.” What Judaism understood was that if people wanted to find life, they needed to be obedient to the Law of Moses including rules such as love God and neighbor, care for the widow and the orphan, don’t glean to the edge of your fields, make sure that the poor get fed, and help your neighbor in need. All of these good things, if we follow them, are the light, the lamp that dispels the darkness and illumines the way to life.  But something happens in the Gospel of John that moves beyond the Torah as light; and that is the light is Jesus, the Word made flesh.  And this is a light that cannot be overcome by darkness.  It is a light that cannot be extinguished. Jesus is the light, the lantern, that helps us see the way, the path, and find the life. And Jesus is the light because he was the one who was in the beginning with God creating all things. Think about the imagery of creation in which there was chaos, a void, and the Word of God spoke and there was order, there was light.  What John does is take that metaphor and say that Jesus is the creative and still creating light, which is why darkness cannot overcome it.  John tells us that together Jesus and God created all that there is, and so there is no power that can overcome them.  So, that if we are willing to follow that light we will stay on the path and find the life that God offers; a life filled with richness, abundance, peace, hope, and love.

      The challenge for all of us then is to take following Jesus seriously.  I mean this in a very, particular way, that we don’t just believe in Jesus, that Jesus is a particular something, or someone, but it is allowing Jesus, through his life and teachings to be our light, and our guide. It is about imitating Jesus in all that we say and do.  And if you want to know more about how to do this, join us on our next sermon series which is about this journey on the path, illuminated by the light, so that we find the life God desires for us.  My challenge to you for this week, and for the new year is this: ask yourselves, how am I consciously trying to imitate and follow Jesus, that I might walk in the light along the path, and find God’s abundant life?

Walking in Love

12/19/2021

 
“Walking in Love”

Dr. John Judson
December 19, 2021
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1 Samuel 2:1-10; ​Luke 1:46-56
 
     The year was 1953.  He had packed his duffle bag, put on civilian clothes, walked out of the gate at Camp Pendleton, and wondered how he was going to get back to Houston to see his young bride and their infant son.  My father had just completed his tour of duty in Korea as a Marine gunnery sergeant and now deeply desired to be home.  And even though Uncle Sam had given him a free ride to basic training, they were not doing the same for his way home.  At that moment a car pulled up.  It was one of the men from his unit.  The man called out, “Hey sarge, where are you headed?”  My dad replied, “Houston.” “Need a lift?” was the response, “I’m driving all the way to Louisiana, and I would be happy to have you ride along.”  My father expressed his appreciation, hopped in and away they went.  Several days later my dad arrived unexpectedly at his in-laws, where my mom and older brother were living. He thanked his friend, knocked on the door, and in the warmth of the welcome he received he found hope, peace, and joy.

     Let me ask this, this morning, do any of you need a lift?  If you do, then you need to hitch a ride as together we walk in God’s love.  Let me explain. In this world there are many kinds of love. There is motherly and fatherly love. There is brotherly and sisterly love.  There is romantic love and passionate love.  There is physical love and spiritual love.  There is love of country and love of neighbor. There is sacrificial love and love of self.  All these types of love have their place and time. Each of these types of love enriches our lives and the world.  They make life worth living.  What I want us to do today is add one more kind of love to our love lexicon, and that is lifting love. I want us to add lifting love because that is the most accurate way to describe the love of God.  The scriptures regularly refer to the steadfast love of the Lord or to the love of God, but our tendency is to want to take one of many forms of love and associate that kind of love with God’s love. We may think of God’s affection for us, or God’s care and concern for us…all of which are present, but at its heart, God’s love is a lifting love. It is a love that finds us when we are down, broken, alienated, and alone and lifts us up so we can find hope, peace, and joy.  We can see this in both of our stories this morning.
     Hannah was down.  As we discussed last week, she was childless while her sister wife had multiple children.  And even though she was loved by her husband, she felt the pressure from society to meet the expectations that rested upon all women to bear male offspring, and she felt the derision from her sister wife.  Again, to recap, Hannah promised God that if she bore a child she would dedicate her child to serving God in the Tabernacle.  Hannah becomes pregnant, delivers, weans her child, and then gives him back to God.  Those actions are then celebrated in the song we heard this morning; a song about God’s having lifted her and every other person who is bent down and oppressed.  Listen again.  “The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength…the Lord raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor.”  This is the love of God. This is lifting love that takes individuals who find themselves at the edge of defeat and raises their heads, changes their status, and offers them hope, peace, and joy.

     We can find this same lifting love in Mary’s song.  This time though, the lifting is not simply for Mary, but it is for a nation…and by extension the world.  Again, a recap. The Jewish people have been waiting more than four-hundred years for a messiah to arise who would free them from the oppression in which they had found themselves.  During those four-hundred years the Jewish people had been dominated by the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. While the Jews had been able to worship at their rebuilt temple most of that time, the pressure to leave their God behind and adopt Greco-Roman ways was becoming almost intolerable. The nation was bowed down under Roman rule. So, each day Jewish men prayed for a messiah.  Each day Jewish women prayed to be the mother of the chosen one.  We can hear Mary’s joy in having been selected for this task.  We can also hear her speak of God’s lifting love.  “God has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly…He has filled the hungry with good things…He has helped his servant Israel, according to the promise he made to our ancestors…” Do you hear the lifting of a nation?  This is what the love of God does.  It lifts.

     I want us to return to my father’s story for a moment.  In my father’s story there were two people involved, my dad and his buddy.  My father needed a lift, and his friend offered it.  While we can see this as an analogy of God lifting us, I hope we will also see it as God using my dad’s friend as a lifting agent…as the one who made God’s lifting love real.  For you see, that is what we are called to be and do.  We are called to be those who allow God’s love to lift us and we are called to be those who are God’s agents of lifting others.  And if you think this kind of lifting is hard…it isn’t…so let me tell you a story about Anthony Ray Hinton.  It was 1985 and Hinton was working the night shift in a factory that was locked so no one could get in.  Unbeknownst to him, miles away, someone brutally murdered two store managers during robberies. A third manager was wounded and picked Hinton’s face out of a set of picture cards.  Hinton was arrested, tried, and convicted, even though there were witnesses that he was in the locked factory all night.  The only physical evidence was a gun found at his grandmother’s house seemed to be the murder weapon…except later forensics ruled it out.  Hinton was sentenced to death.  Ultimately, he would spend 30 years on death row, most of it solitary confinement, in a 5x7 cell, only allowed out one hour a day.  As he tells his story, for the first several years he was angry and refused to speak with anyone.  If he needed to reply to a question, he would write the answers on a piece of paper. But then one night he heard the man in the next cell crying.  Moved by memories of his grandmother’s love, he asked what was wrong.  The man replied that his mother had just died.  Hinton replied, “Well now you have someone in heaven who can plead your case with God before you get there.” Then Hinton told the man a joke.  The man laughed…and Hinton had found his voice and calling.  He would be a lifter of people. And so for the next 30 years, he was a lifter of inmates and guards.  He was a force of God’s love in that prison.  In 2015, the United States Supreme Court unanimously overturned his conviction…and to this day, Hinton continues to be a lifter of people.

     This, my friends, is what we are called to be: those who find our voice as God lifts us as did Hannah, Mary, and Anthony and then use our voices to lift others.  Here then, is what I would like you to do, close your eyes and feel God’s love, lifting you…taking your hand, lifting under your arms, taking from you the pain, the weight, the fear, the worry and lifting you into God’s very presence, into the light of God. Then, as you are being lifted, think of someone who needs lifting…a friend, a stranger, a neighbor…and then find your voice and make a commitment to go and lift.

Walking in Joy

12/12/2021

 

Rev. Dr. John Judson
December 12, 2021

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1 Samuel 1:21-28; Luke 1:39-45

      It is always nice in life to know that there are some things you can always depend upon.  For me one of those is our own Detroit Lions.  We can always depend on them to find a way to lose. I say that because this season they have lost three times on the final play of the game…and this last week appeared to be no different. Leading late in the fourth quarter, deep in their own territory, rather than punt the ball, they decided to go for a first down on fourth and one.  Needless to say, as only the Lions can do, not only did they not make the first down, but they fumbled the ball closer to the end zone.  Their opponents quickly drove into the endzone, took the lead, and people were headed toward the exits.  But then, a true Christmas miracle occurred. With less than two minutes to go, the Lions drove down the field and closed in on the end zone.  Finally, there was time for one last play.  Our quarterback stepped back in the pocket and drilled the ball to one of his receivers for a touchdown.  In that moment it was as if cork had been shot out of shaken champagne bottle.  There was an explosion of joy.  One player was running off the field with his finger raised…as if to say we are number one…even though I suppose it stood for one victory.   That, my friends, is what joy looks like.

      Joy is one of those words we often throw around without thinking about it.  We talk about being filled with joy; or perhaps say we are joyful;  or maybe say we enjoy something. But what is joy?  First, joy is not happiness.  Happiness is a state of being.  It is a sense of contentment with life.  Joy, on the other hand, is a moment, an event.  Joy is something that often takes us by surprise.  Joy is a moment of transcendent delight.  It was the joy on our grandson’s face when he was splashing in the tub and suddenly his yellow rubber ducky got dunked and then popped back to the surface.  It was the Lions transcendent delight in their first victory.  The strange thing about joy though, is that these moments of transcendent delight diminish as we get older.  It is easy to lose sight of joy when we remember what happened at Oxford High School, or the tornadoes this past week, or now two years of Covid pain. Joy escapes us.  Yet, if we listen to the scriptures, joy is something that God wants us to have even in the most difficult of times. Joy is a gift that God gives us through the Spirit. So this morning we are going to go looking for joy.

      We begin our exploration by acknowledging that there are two kinds of joy.  There is giving joy and there is receiving joy.  Giving joy is what Hannah experienced.  On the surface, there would appear to be little or no joy in what takes place in our morning’s story.  Hannah, as you heard last week, prayed desperately to God for a male child. If she has a male child, she promises God that her son would serve God as a priest in training.  Hannah conceives, gives birth, weans her son, and then brings him to the tent of meeting in order to lend him to God. For any parent this would hardly seem like a moment of joy.  Yet for Hannah it is.  I say this, first, because she brings a bull for a sacrifice; and when a bull is sacrificed the bull is not just consumed by fire, but most of it becomes a barbeque for a family celebration.  I say this is a moment of joy because Hannah is going to sing a song of praise to God…which we will look at next week. For Hannah this is a moment of joy because she gets to give back to God a gift that has been given to her; a gift that fulfilled her deepest desire.  There is joy in the giving…even if there is sadness in the parting.

      Our second story is a story of joy in receiving.  As Rev. Bethany talked about last week, Mary was given the opportunity to be the mother of the messiah. God considered her worthy of the task.  So, Mary, probably a bit afraid of society’s reaction to her as an unwed mother, goes to visit her cousin, Elizabeth.  As soon as Elizabeth hears Mary’s greeting, the child in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy and Elizabeth is filled with the Spirit.  This causes her to cry out, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.  And why has this happened that the mother of my Lord comes to me?”  Can you hear the joy in her voice? Can you hear that this is a moment of transcendent delight?  This is pure, unexpected joy that comes to Elizabeth because God has given her an opportunity to share in the amazing, world-changing event that is going to be Mary’s son.  This is pure, unexpected joy because it says God has fulfilled God’s promise.  This is pure, unexpected joy because Elizabeth now knows that God has not forgotten God’s people.  There is joy in receiving.

      As I said a moment ago, the older we get, the less joy we seem to find in life.  It is as if we close ourselves off to the possibility that joy is out there waiting for us.  Yet joy is there for the experiencing.  Giving joy is possible.  I say this because I have seen this in the last couple of weeks.  I have been fortunate enough to watch many of you bring in your gifts for the angel tree.  And what I saw on many of your faces was transcendent delight.  There was a lightness in your steps. There were smiles on your faces.  My friends, this kind of giving is a moment to experience the joy of giving, not out of obligation, or guilt, but simply out of a joyous response to what God has given to us.  Receiving joy is possible…if we are open to it.  The unexpected joy of a beautiful sunrise or sunset; the unexpected joy of a word of thanks that surprises us; the unexpected joy of seeing someone you didn’t expect to see, or perhaps making a new friend; the unexpected joy of experiencing God’s love and grace in a new way.  All of these ways of giving and receiving joy are why we can talk about walking in joy…because there are moments of joy waiting for each of us if we are only willing to see them, to be open to them.

      I know that we are living in a moment when it is easy to look at the world and see nothing but bad news; Covid, gun violence, inflation, political gridlock…and on and on.  Yet we can never let those realities keep us from finding joy; keep us from experiencing the joy that comes to us in the love of God in Jesus Christ; or the joy that comes when we can share with others what we have been given.  So, my friends, my challenge to you is this: ask yourselves, how am I allowing myself to be open to joy…the joy God desires for me?

Seeing through God’s Eyes

12/5/2021

 
Rev. Bethany Peerbolte
December 5, 2021

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1 Samuel 1:9-20; Luke 1:26-38 


Over the years there is a conversation that has come up in a few different settings. I have had this conversation in seminary, with friends who are not church attenders, in this church, and over coffee with colleagues. The conversation is about what the church has that no other organization does. Why church?

I’m sure everyone had something pop into their mind when I asked that question. Quick sidenote, I want to clarify that I will use the word “church” because it’s a concept we understand here, but you could replace the word “church” with any other faith tradition’s equivalent word and this will also be true of their worshiping community. 

Okay, back to what popped into your mind as your answer to “Why church?” Maybe you thought about the community, the worship, the mission. There are endless reasons why someone chooses to include church in their life - all good and valid reasons. But what is truly unique about the church experience?

We build community around lots of things: sports teams, common interests, our favorite coffee shop. Community is not unique to church. Worship isn’t unique to us either. Concerts can evoke the same worshipful energy. Even a walk on the beach can be worshipful. We don’t need a church to worship. Mission - we can volunteer on our own. These are all great things that a church can do but they aren’t only found in church.

When I have this conversation, we are trying to dig down to the essential gem that will help us understand who we are and why we are unique. If we know who we are and what we have to offer we become better salespeople. What is the thing that we have that no one else has that would inspire people to choose us? What is it that we have that people need? 

As I have had this conversation over and over, I have learned to look past  all the things that people can find somewhere else. There is something I believe shows itself as a unique church exclusive gem. Something that can not be found anywhere else. No podcast, social club, volunteer work, nowhere else can you find this thing. It only exists in a faith community.  

It is so unique that its absence is one of the main reasons I believe the church in the United States is in decline. I do not see every church tapping into this powerful gem and by ignoring it they are diminishing their appeal and impact. I wholeheartedly believe that if Christians can refocus on this unique gem, we will get the revival for which so many have prayed. 

The gem is...Worth. A steady reminder that we are worthy. 

Not worthy because of the job we hold or the stuff we have. Not worth based on looks or humor, or how kind we are (even the jerks have worth). Out in the world our sense of worth is based on all kinds of distorted ideas. Where you were born, your gender, how smart your phone is, where you went to school, how many followers you have, how many likes you got on your last post. Out there, worth can plummet in a matter of seconds. 

Here your worth is always the same because it is set by God. Here we remind one another to look through God’s eyes. We are God’s eyes for one another. The worst week can happen out there. Your worth can be zero in the eyes of the world, but here you are fully worthy. 

The two women in our scripture passages today are up against their culture’s idea of a woman’s worth.  Both of them live in worlds that have downgraded their worth. Hannah because she cannot get pregnant, and Mary because she will be pregnant before marriage. Both women face the harsh reality that a woman’s worth in their world is narrow and fragile. 

Hannah has struggled with her worth for years. Her culture says her worth is dependent on her ability to have children, and more importantly, male children. Her husband's other wife has given him many children. Hannah feels the heavy weight that she has not been able to fulfill her worth in the eyes of her culture. It really is only her culture that is telling her that she doesn't have worth, because her husband loves her very much. He tries to show her she has worth in how he treats her, even giving her twice what he gives to the rest of the family. Hannah is still upset and struggling to see her worth. 

One day she is so distraught, she feels so worthless, that she goes to the temple and prays for God to send her a child. She promises that this child will serve the Lord and that she will raise this child to be a man of God. She hopes these promises will catch God's attention in some way so God will finally grant her prayer. Her self-worth has plummeted so low that she can't even bring herself to truly put voice to the words she's praying. She is terrified that someone will overhear her prayer and know that she is barren and judge her all over again. So she prays in silence, only moving her lips.  Her feeling of worthlessness has silenced her. 

A faith leader sees her praying, but Eli does not remember the gem that faith communities possess. He does not go over and remind her she is worthy in God's eyes. NO, he does what the rest of the world has already done to Hannah. He makes assumptions about her and judges her. Accusing her of being drunk and Eli brings her self-worth even lower. 

In her state of feeling worthless, she pleads with Eli and says, “Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman.” Worthless is not just how Hannah feels, it is her whole reality. Worthless is now a word she uses to describe herself to others. Eli immediately realizes his mistake and he says to Hannah, “Go in Peace.” 

Upon this declaration, we see a shift in Hannah. Scripture says her countenance was no longer sad from that point on. That is because to Hannah and her culture Peace was not just the absence of conflict. It was a blessing for wholeness. A reminder of her worth as a bearer of God’s image. When Eli says, “Go in Peace,” Hannah suddenly sees herself through God’s eyes. She is worthy of peace, worthy enough for wholeness, worthy enough just as she is.

Of course, the angel Gabriel does things a bit better than Eli. I want you to notice the difference in results when worth is declared first and not judgment. Gabriel goes to Mary and the first thing they say is “You are favored.” In their opening line Gabriel makes sure that Mary knows she is worthy. That sets up success for the rest of the conversation. When Gabriel then tells Mary that she's about to get pregnant, something that would have stripped her of worth in the eyes of society, her family, her friends, and her fiance. When Gabriel says this terrible thing is about to happen to you, Mary says, “okay.” She is able to give this response because she is already assured of her worth. This pregnancy-thing is not normally good news for unwed women, but if God says she is worthy, she is willing to serve in this way. 

Telling people that at their basic level of existence God has declared them worthy is the thing faith communities do on a regular basis that is not found anywhere else in the world. Every week we can come here with whatever happened to us, whatever we did during that week, we can be reminded that it does not take an ounce away from our worth in God's eyes. When we get that weekly reminder that we have worth, it places us on solid ground, like it did for Mary. And we are then able to share the gem with someone else, and let them know that they are also worthy and valid. 

It's not a coincidence that we pass the peace when we gather. It is an ancient practice of people with faith to remind each other that they deserve peace, they are worthy of wholeness. When we gather here, we remember that God declares peace to us, we declare it to each other, and then we go declare it to the world. Our failure to do this, I truly believe, is why the church is in decline. We are not doing a good job of telling people that they are worthy. We are not sharing peace and wholeness. 

Feeling worthless is dangerous. Our world is experiencing a pandemic from covid but our country is also experiencing a pandemic in our mental health. For far too long we have forced people with mental illnesses and mental injuries into the posture of Hannah where they can't even speak about what is troubling them because they will be judged. There is so much stigma around seeing a therapist or taking medicine so your brain can be chemically balanced. We would never tell someone with diabetes that they should just try harder to produce insulin, or they just need to choose to produce insulin. Yet we tell people who are depressed they should just try harder, that they should choose to be happy. All those judgments and tiny comments rip at a person's worth until they get to a point where they figure, I'm already worthless, what else can I provide this world?

Feeling worthless is not just dangerous to the person who is feeling that way, it's dangerous to all of us around them too. This week a child who felt worthless thought that the only way to regain his worth would be to bring a gun to school and shoot his teachers and fellow students. He had lost his worth and thought he could force people to see him if he acted in a violent way. When we feel like we are worthless, we grasp at anything that will make us feel in control of something again. If we have the power to control something, then we can't be completely worthless. 

Now I have tried every flip and stretch and bend to try to make sense of what happened in Oxford High School and there really is no sense to be found. But I wonder...I wonder if someone had declared some worth into that child’s life, or if someone had reminded him weekly that he is, at his essence, worthy... I just wonder. 

So much in our world is designed to strip us of our worth. We are taught that WE have to grow a thick skin. We are told we need to laugh in the face of bullies. There are college courses about becoming more resilient, and self-help books are a billion-dollar industry. Essentially, everyone is looking to develop the response that Mary had to Gabriel's news. They want to be able to roll with the punches and confidently walk through life, sure of their worthiness. What actually gave Mary the ability to do those things was her assurance that she was favored by God. She was told first she was worthy. Her worth wasn’t dependent on her response; she had worth no matter what. No one wants to be Hannah at the beginning of the story. Everyone wants to be Hannah at the end. Well, what got her there was the declaration of peace, shalom, wholeness, worthiness.  Being reminded of her worth made all the difference in her life. 

This is what we need to do more of. We need to see our worthiness reflected back to us, and for us to reflect worthiness on to others. We need to make sure that every child, every person, knows that they are worthy. I truly believe the world would be a completely different place if everyone was assured of their worth on a regular basis. 

I know this tragedy in Oxford has left a lot of us feeling helpless. Our worth has been damaged by this nightmare in our community. For a long time, I had no idea how I was going to talk about peace after this week. Then I realized peace is exactly what I can do in this situation. I can make sure that more people feel God's peace. I can live in a way that reminds people they are worthy of wholeness, that they deserve shalom. That gem that is uniquely experienced in places of faith, like this church, is what the world needs. People need to know their worth in God’s eyes is a worth that can never be taken from them or diminished. 

Peace is what we light the candle for today, It is the word we walk with this week. The peace that comes from seeing ourselves through God’s eyes and being sure of our worth.

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First Presbyterian Church
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