First Presbyterian Church of San Anselmo

 In bewildering times, empowered by the Spirit, “what we can do” is the steady work that flows out of our baptism. 

In baptism, we enact what has always been true: God loves and welcomes everyone.

With the women at the empty tomb, we proclaim this Resurrection truth: Everything that lies ahead is life.

On Palm Sunday, as we turn toward the cross, Jesus joins us in the deep suffering of the world, with tender mercy there, too.

As Mary anoints Jesus, they embody for us a world based on sharing, reciprocity, and tender mercy.

We consider the call of the Parable of the Lost Son, with Rev. Floyd Thompkins preaching (Pastor, St Andrew Presbyterian Church, Marin City)

In our fear, God comes to us with the gifts of presence and possibility for a future in which we are not alone.

Our world these days can feel utterly disorienting. As we cry out in lament, we find God not far off, but near... in the midst of the suffering, joining our lament, and calling us into life. Psalm 22 invites us to lament (loudly); to listen for lament (the suffering of the world); and to draw near (to God and to each other).

In his testing in the wilderness, Jesus turns from evil and turns toward the Way that will lead to the cross – a way that leads us to life.

The glory of God in Jesus comes to life on the mountain top, and in everyday acts of healing, and in us.

In a world fueled by enmity and retribution, Jesus commands love: Love God. Love others. Love yourself. Love your enemy. Love everyone. No exceptions.

In these days of turmoil, God's grace meets us where we are and empowers us to be both humble and bold, in the name of Jesus.

The Body of Christ lives out love for the well-being of all people. It's the love we see in Jesus Christ – “the kind of love that longs for the well-being of the beloved.” It's a love that never forgets the vulnerable. It's a love that always seeks the common good. 

Grounded in Christ, empowered by the Spirit, we engage the work that is ours to do in the world. The Spirit gifts each of us with particular gifts that together we embody for the common good.

In the waters of baptism, we find our identity with and in Christ, in a community of mutuality and sharing. In a tumultuous world, we ground ourselves there.

The prophets look to what God is doing in the world: Always, God is bringing new life for a new day. Let's begin every day there.

In the ache of our world, God enters into the lowest places, comes alongside the most vulnerable, and makes God's home there.

With the angel, Mary proclaims that God is turning the world rightside up.With Mary, will you say “yes” to being turned rightside up?

In the clamor of the world, God gives us a holy hush – quiet to listen and watch for God's tender mercy setting the whole world free.

When we choose to live lives of gratitude, generosity, and sharing, it is a radical, subversive act. We say “no” to the dominant narrative of scarcity, and “yes” to sharing a world full of God's abundance.

In a world stripped bare, God's unshakeoffable lovingkindess grounds us, sustains us, and moves us forward.

On All Saints' Sunday, we remember how we have seen God at work in the lives of the saints. This Scripture reminds us that what God is doing in the world is so much bigger even than what eye can see and ear can hear.

Over the course of the Scriptures through the Hebrew Scriptures, and really on into the New Testament, again and again, a tenacious people make meaning out of the recurring rubble of their world. Standing in the reality of that rubble, the people lament even as they glimpse a path toward healing, weeping, and shouting, and singing “God is good. God is good. God's steadfast love endures forever.” God creates us for life in community and accompanies us so that, in a changing world, even in calamity, we can find our way to life.

At the Welcome Table, Jesus invites one and all, the deep need of the world becomes clear, and Jesus says to us, “You give them something to eat.”

Jesus gathers us in and sends us out, insisting that we create home for each other along the way. Home is both a place of shelter, steady and sure – and a vital and living place of encounter – moving out into the world – meeting and greeting the world – in ever-expanding circles of hospitality, welcome, and healing.

In worship, we welcomed to the pulpit Elder Susan Krehbiel from the Migrant Accompaniment Ministries of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.  Looking to the experiences of migrants and those who accompany and support, Krehbiel invited us to consider what we have to learn from heart-opening encounters with each other.

A sower went out to sow: In the work we do, the life of Christ comes alive in us.

In these courtroom scenes in Scripture, we have seen a lot of real life, and we've seen God right there in the midst of it all – with truth, wisdom, justice, compassion, mercy, and grace. In this Scripture, Jesus invites us to wade into real life and engage the worthy work of reconciliation.

Extending mercy to the brothers who have done him wrong, Joseph recalibrates entirely our understanding of what it is that we deserve, grounding us in our shared humanity. In God's mercy, God gives humanity what humanity deserves: Love. Life. Dignity. Food. Water. Access to healthcare. The freedom to live without constant fear of violence. All the things we need to live and to thrive.

We come to the Book of Job – with Job's big questions – and ours – and we don't find a neat and tidy answer. We come to the Book of Job – and what we find is a groan and a shout – as ancient as this story, and as fresh and alive as the dawn of this very day. In our suffering, God speaks with us out of the whirlwind, and we live, and we somehow find our way to love. 

In the reality of climate unraveling, God speaks truth to us, calls us to change, and invites us to become part of the operative healing reality moving forward.

God's wisdom calls us to see each other whole, in the fullness of life, and find together the ways of living that lead to more life.

We are beginning a sermon series exploring courtroom scenes in Scripture -- scenes that bring real life in focus as we seek some glimpse of the truth. In Jesus' trial before Pontius Pilate, Pilate asks the question, "What is truth?" What we find: Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. We are sent now to testify to that truth, that Word embodied in us.

God is sovereign by sharing God's own freedom with us, urging us to live out the self-giving love of Christ.

In Christ, we are citizens of a new humanity, where all of us belong and participate in the fullness of life. Citizenship is about belonging – that deepest of human needs. And citizenship is about the quality of participation that we put back into the community into which we all have been welcomed.

In a world that would tear them apart, Jonathan and David choose a better way. Friendship is a chosen relationship with another person in which we come to agree to see and be seen by the other; to act for the other's good; to be present with each other in challenge and struggle; and to be a loving place to which we can always return. In a world that would separate and tear folks apart, God gives us friendship as a way of living out, with each other, God's own love and loyalty – God's own hesed – God's own unshakeoffable love. 

Juneteenth calls us to remember and celebrate freedom and liberation, but also insists that we remember slavery and its continuing impact on our world today. God creates us all equally human, and insists that we work for the freedom and equality of all. 

Pentecost is a tale of wind and flame that becomes flesh and bone before our very eyes and ears – one that we can touch and taste and experience in our very bodies. While the day of Pentecost begins in the loneliness of loss and separation, in its mighty wind and crown of flame, we see connection – God and us – us and us. No separation – a leveling of power-over, a lifting up of all we are, and a radiating out so that no one is left out.

The Way of Resurrection is “enfleshed freedom” – an end to every separation and the freedom of every body. By the power of the Spirit, the Way of Resurrection moves us ever and always into more healing, more freedom, more life.

Radiating out with God's expansive embrace, the Way of Resurrection unfolds in the complexity of human relationship – in the complexity of community.

In the Way of Resurrection, the Spirit radiates out in ever-expanding circles of embrace. In the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch, we see that God welcomes everyone all the way in.