First United Methodist Church of Costa Mesa

This week, Pastor Sarah and Lamont continue their conversation on what we as church mean by "We" and how we can best serve each other as people who are already loved by God.

In this week's sermon, Pastor Sarah and Lamont start the conversation on who we are as a church and what we mean when we say that we are already loved by God.

Join us in a mediation practice led by our very own Allison and Daniel. For this week's service, we wanted to break out of our normal rhythms and take a moment to pause, reflect and recenter. Times are different and disruptive, but our rhythms can help us navigate through life. 

Communities are made up of individual friendships. The health and potential for genuine love within the community is only as good as the interpersonal relationships within it. Paul in Romans 12 declares that a community should have genuine love as its overall goal. Paul then declares that genuine love requires that people love each other with mutual affection, outdoing one another in showing honor. “Outdoing one another in showing honor” simply means being willing to celebrate other’s successes. That sounds like it would be easy and we may even want to assert “of course I am happy for my friends when things are going well,” but if we are honest often it is easier for us to mourn with those who mourn, than to celebrate with those who celebrate. We spend a lot of time in churches talking about sitting with those who suffer, but we don’t always talk about what it takes to celebrate with others. In this weeks message Pastor Sarah shares how learning to celebrate with others will require us to- surrender the outcome of our relationships, have a mindset of abundance, have a deep understanding of our own giftedness and an ability to empathize with others.

We all instinctively know that friendships require some level of time commitment. In the past, when it came to our "church friends," we had weekly opportunities for running into them and connecting. Now with sheltering in place separating us, we realize what has always been true, if not always recognized: Friendships take intentional time commitment. We have to set time apart for a regular rhythm of nurturing our connections. In the book of Acts the new church is described as setting time apart for breaking bread together. This time together broke down the usual walls and hierarchies. They met in each others homes and later, when it is clear that some of the societal structures are seeping into the gathered community, they are reminded that the community of the church was meant to be different. When we eat together we take time for connection. Listen this week as Pastor Sarah talks about why we need that kind of connection during this time when we cannot meet for a simple lunch or even communion.

In community we grow spiritually and discover our purpose. In community we also encounter conflict. In this sermon we will look to the radical way of Jesus to discover how we engage conflict within community. It’s time we stop avoiding conflict and love one another well by confronting conflict in the spirit of humility!

This week we began a series  on important relationships called Community. As we continue to shelter in place we are reminded just how important community is. From FaceTimes to zooms many of us are connecting with more people than ever before! But to live a healthy emotional life we need more than just surface level community, we need friendship. Friendship requires people being willing to make room for each other and to be willing to allow other people into their lives in deep and meaningful and vulnerable ways. We have lots of famous examples of deep friendship from Jesus' disciples, John Wesley’s class groups, and the cast of friends (ok some are a little more pop culture than others). All of those example friendships share some things in common. Each week in this series we are going to talk about an element in friendship that is important for developing healthy communities. This week we talk about the unfairly named “doubting Thomas” and why the story of his doubt is actually a story that should encourage all of us to make space for the doubt of others and ourselves. Thomas’ friendship with Jesus allowed him to be authentic even when it was scary. This week Pastor Sarah will share why communities need more people willing to make space for doubt. 

As we continue to shelter in place Easter feels very different. We cannot gather with our usual celebrations and traditions, and we are physically separated for an unknown amount of time. During this time many of us a feel a sense of unease, anxiousness, and grief. Easter this year may feel very different from how we are used to celebrate it, but it is actually closer to how the first Easter must have felt. Just as everyone is experiencing all of these changes because of the Corona virus in different ways, so the first witnesses experienced the resurrection in different ways. Jesus doesn’t scold any of the reactions that people have. Join Pastor Sarah as she shares why Easter holds hope and a chance for us to experience the resurrection in a new, maybe even more authentic way.

The wilderness road of Lent can feel like a labyrinth—  although there is only one road it is hard to tell how close you are to where you are trying to head. There are plenty of moments that are both/and moments. As we look at the story of Palm Sunday we see each character seems to be both experiencing what is right in front of them a parade and they are also unsure what it all means and where it is all headed. This scene of Palm Sunday is both victorious, and filled with loss and fear. As we have been Shelter in place we too are experiencing moments that feel like a labyrinth. Some moments are filled with joy and others are filled with fear and sometimes those moments are side by side. Listen as Pastor Sarah shares why Palm Sunday can help us understand where our hope comes from, and how it give us courage to keep going on this wilderness road. 

This week Justin McRoberts uses the story of Lazarus to remind us that times in the wilderness often feel difficult because we are dealing with unmet expectations. Everyone in the story of Lazarus had a different expectation of how Jesus should have reacted and what their desired outcome is. During this time of sheltering in place many people are dealing with deep disappointments based on the expectations of what the previous couple of weeks "should" have looked like. Justin helps remind us that a shift in expectations can lead us to finding some unexpected meaning in times when we are feeling disappointed and abandoned by God. Listen as Justin tells us how a surprise Beastie Boys concert turned into a life lesson. 

This week Pastor Sarah shares how times of wilderness can bring confusion and needed disruption. All of us are experiencing disruption to our daily lives as we continue to experience social distancing and the changes that the Covid-19 outbreak has brought. Disruption is not a foreign concept to our faith. Scripture holds many stories of Jesus causing disruption in order to change a community or system. This week we talk about the blindman that Jesus healed by the side of the road. Jesus is breaking a lot of understood laws and changes the way that people "see" how God acts in the world. Listen to the ways that although disruption can be disorienting, it may be the very thing that we need.

During our first digital worship Pastor Sarah shared the story of Jesus’ unexpected connection with a Samaritan woman, and why sometimes in the wilderness people are worth risking relationship with (doesn’t mean you have to be in the same room!) We all have wilderness seasons, seasons or situations where we feel like we are wandering or things are unsure. Often it is only after a wilderness season that we can look back and see what needed transformation occurred during that wandering. The question for this season is what gifts and unexpected transformations will occur as we feel socially isolated from one another.

"The wilderness can often feel unholy, because we can't control it, or what people think about our choice of whether to venture into the vastness or not. But it turns out to be the place of true belonging, and it's the bravest and most sacred place you will ever stand." Brené Brown The season of Lent is one that takes us into the wilderness. As Lamont shared last week, the wilderness feels dangerous, and we often feel alone and isolated. The gift of community is that although we each have our own wilderness journey, we do not have to do it alone. Lamont also reminded us that our time of waiting in the wilderness is the beginning, not the end. Jesus began his ministry in the wilderness, and when we give into the lessons during this season, we have the potential for something new to develop. This week, Pastor Sarah will share why time in the wilderness requires letting go of old patterns of thought and old coping mechanisms. As an example of letting go, we will hear the story of Nicodemus from the book of John. Nicodemus tried desperately to use his former frameworks to comprehend the kingdom of God, but it will take an analogy of birth to begin to understand what Jesus is trying to share. Join us this week as we journey further into the wilderness and allow ourselves to let go enough to experience change.

As we enter Lent season, Lamont Hartmon will examine Jesus' experience in the wilderness as we learn how we can navigate our own wilderness seasons.

"The life journey has led me to love mystery and not feel the need to change it or make it un-mysterious.” - Richard Rohr  People often talk about life as a journey, and like most journeys, there are times when the path before us is very clear. At other times, we can feel like we've lost our way, and we're unsure which direction we should go. Over the last couple of weeks, we've been asking how the psalms can help us pray and help us find our way along the journey of life. Last week, Pastor Sarah talked about the more difficult parts of our journey - the moments when we feel disoriented. One of the gifts of having the psalmist's account of life is that we can see that feelings of disorientation are normal...and in fact, an important part of the journey. It is not a season to be rushed or denied. Feeling abandoned by God, although devastating, is normal, and even Christ had a moment of feeling forsaken. Some people remain in this space, but if we want to continue our journey with God, there will be a season or re-orienting ourselves. Psalms of re-orientation are those that look back on trying circumstances and praise God for God’s faithfulness through the valley. Psalm 66 says, “Come and see what God has done." While we cannot fabricate or pray our way to redemption, we can tell our stories and look back on the path for moments when we can see "what God has done." Prayers of re-orientation are prayers of thanksgiving for the mystery of the journey. Join Pastor Sarah as she shares how we can use the psalms to re-orient ourselves.

When we can't seem to find our way, it can feel like we're all alone on the path of life. Even when surrounded by friends and family, feelings of abandonment and lostness can combine to leave us wondering if even God has somehow disappeared. There's nothing more disorienting than feeling lost and alone.  This week as we continue our series, Pastor Sarah talks about those moments of disorientation when the path isn't clear, you feel alone, and life has hit you hard. These disorienting moments are not only difficult for the one who feels lost, but also for those who want to provide support. Sometimes, faith communities and well-meaning friends ask us to move quickly toward hope and away from despair and devastation. The denial of pain isn't an honest response, and it actually isn't faithful to the process. The Psalms have a different path for us to take. Psalm 88 offers a voice for those who have been swallowed up in loss, pain, or fear. The Psalms teach us that crying out to God is not only “ok”, but it is faithful. In this passage, the psalmist writes that his life has been swallowed up in the pit, and he finds himself in the gray space between life and death known as “sheol.” And yet, he raises his voice to God. The cries of lament in the Psalms confront our notions of faith. They challenge our assumptions of acceptable prayers, and they share in the same cry that is found on the lips of Jesus in the gospel of Mark. Jesus cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” In Christ, God goes to the place of forsakenness and cries a similar prayer as our own in Psalm 88. Join us this Sunday as we talk about feeling lost and how sometimes that's the beginning of...finding our way.

We have all had moments in our lives when we've felt lost and unsure of the next best step to take. Maybe, we had a big life decision or maybe we were headed in one direction and everything fell apart. Or, maybe it was a simple moment where things felt a bit off. In those moments, people may have offered you the advice to pray for discernment or direction, but that's hard to do when you feel like prayer is a difficult concept to understand...let alone practice. Many of us ask the question, "What is prayer, and how does it help me find my way?" This week, we begin a series entitled "Finding Our Way: Praying the Psalms." The Psalms are a collection of prayers in scripture written by people trying to find their way. Those who wrote the psalms, often referred to as psalmists, have a lot to teach us about prayer and the different ways prayer can help us both lose and gain our bearings. Join Pastor Sarah this week as she shares how prayer can help us understand our important feelings of disorientation. Sometimes being lost is the best way to find ourselves.

This Sunday, we wrap up our series on authenticity and “Becoming Who We Were Created to Be” by talking about “Why We Do What We Do.” Therapists, spiritual directors, and life coaches tell us that asking “why questions” are the most difficult, because they get at our motives, our dark sides, and the many realities underneath the waterline that we might not be aware of or even want to face. They also make us uncomfortable. Authenticity is about bringing our whole self into relationship with God and others, but this can be scary and often leads us to creating false “life compartments” where we can keep parts of ourselves separate from other parts, living in very dis-integrated ways. The good news is that integration is the result of authenticity. We can only truly appreciate our lives if we are living as fully integrated people. Authenticity invites us to bring every part of ourselves into the light – where healing, growth, and joy can actually take place. In 1 Corinthians 3:10-16, we get a creative glimpse at the type of materials we might be using to build our lives and how those “materials” will stand up to the pressures and fires of life. We’ll also see how “going through the fire” might be the most revealing thing in moving us to becoming more authentic people. (Message by Michael Bischof)

As we continue our series this Sunday, we will ask how being authentic with what we do helps us become more aligned with who we were created to be.  Studies say the average person over the course of a lifetime spends an estimated 90,000 hours at work. Work, broadly defined, is how we spend about a third of our total time. That’s a lot of time!!!! Every person’s “work" looks different, but we all have some vocation and some way of spending the majority of our time. Maybe, you have a full-time job or career in a more conventional sense; maybe you are a student; maybe you are retired; maybe you are a stay-at-home parent. Maybe what you do for a living is not the thing that you live to do. Whatever your circumstances, chances are you are engaged in some sort of a vocation—a way of spending time that is meaningful and engaging. Even if you are retired, you are still engaged in the world and invest your time in different areas. What we do with our time matters! God cares about the way that we spend our time. This week, Pastor Sarah will share how being authentic helps us use our God -given passions and purpose to participate in the restoration of the world and how those 90,000 hours matter! 

One of the biggest questions each person spends their life answering is, "Who am I created to be?" Last week, we began asking that question by retelling the story of Jesus being baptized by his cousin John. In this story, Jesus' authentic identity is revealed in the statement, "You are the beloved with whom I am well pleased." That's Jesus' base identity even before he has done anything. As we remembered our own baptisms, we recalled that our identity is the same. We are the beloved. Directly following this story, Jesus' true identity will be challenged by temptations. In the same way, we often lose sight of our authentic selves as the world around us presents different identities. Pastor Sarah shared that being authentic isn't always automatic and requires intention and practices that remind us of who we were created to be.  As a church community, we started a challenge to spend 21 days practicing activities that seek to help all of us know ourselves and challenge us to become who we were created to be in the first place. If you haven't had a chance to start the challenge, no problem at all. You can hop in anytime and feel free to e-mail the office at info@costamesafirstumc.com to get a book mark that lays out the week's challenges. This week, the challenges asked us to look at WHO we are in relationship to ourselves and others. This Sunday, Pastor Sarah is going to continue in that theme as we look at Psalm 139, a deeply intimate psalm that connects us to how God sees the deepest parts of who we are. Don't miss this week as we continue to challenge ourselves in 2020 to be more authentic and connected to our belovedness!

We are heading into the third week of a new year, 2020! Lots of folks who made resolutions on January 1st are beginning to let go of their resolve and going back to old habits. We've all heard the statistics indicating that most resolutions don’t work, and yet, many of us still make resolutions. Why is that even against the odds we are willing to hope we can do or be something different? As people who want to live into the way of Jesus, we seek to have the kind of eyes that see potential for positive change everywhere, even in the midst of what can seem like some devastating statistics, and even more devastating news headlines. This kind of audacious hope is what began the process of revitalization at First United four years ago. The church may have looked close to shutting its doors, but with Kingdom eyes, there were glimpses of what could be. This same hope is what compelled us to create our vision statement - "First United exists to remind us that we are already loved by God and called into genuine relationships as we follow the radical way of Jesus.” For many people, the idea that God has already loved them is in opposition to the messages they've received in the past. The previous messages suggested that in order to be loved, they have to do or be something. At First United, we see following the way of faith is simply being reminded of what has always been true - you are deeply loved, and that changes everything.  This kind of hope is rooted in a deep sense of purpose and sense of self. It requires us to know our identity and be deeply connected to the divine image of God where that identity comes from. This week, we start a series based on a 21 day challenge Pastor Sarah created for Abingdon Press. The challenge asks us to become more authentic in order to live out of that identity in ways that can change our own lives and may even inspire change in the people around us. This series “Becoming Who We Were Created To Be” looks at several places in scripture where identity and purpose are discussed and will help us see the potential in all of us to live out of that authentic self. We begin this week looking at the story of Jesus’ baptism. Jesus' identity was made clear as the beloved and out of that, his ministry began. What could our lives look like if we lived out of our own identity as the beloved?

Can you believe we are in 2020? What’s hard to believe is that we've been in the 2000’s for 20 years!  When the Times Square ball dropped at midnight in the year 2000, many had a sense that something was about to happen. The world was about to change. For some, this change was welcomed. For others, the change created great fear and anxiety. The fear was heightened by the concern that computers wouldn’t be able to handle this new calendar. Many wondered...could the changing of one number lead to the crumbling of all our digital systems and wreak havoc on the world? Thankfully, a catastrophe didn’t happen! Fast forward to this New Year's Eve. For some of us, there was a sense that the world was changing once again. We entered a new decade...the 20’s.  Rolling into a new decade causes us to pause, review, and evaluate where we have been and where we hope to be. This evaluation often gives us a new sense of purpose and a new understanding of ourselves. We often call these epiphanies - a new way of seeing our lives and the world around us.  This week at First United, we will be celebrating what many traditional churches call “Epiphany Sunday” - a time to reflect on the coming of the wise men to visit Jesus. This Sunday is set aside to remember a time when the world experienced a shift in the way things were seen. On Epiphany Sunday, people saw a new light and a new way of approaching God and one another. As we head into 2020, join Pastor Sarah as we talk about a new way of seeing the world around us.

Christmas has come and gone. We have heard the messages of hope, love, peace, and joy that remind us all why Jesus was born. Now what? The celebration of Jesus' birth was never meant to end on December 26th, but the reality of his birth should live in our hearts throughout the year. We will explore the concept of praise and how simple praise can lead us into a joyful 2020. GUEST PREACHER: Lamont Hartman is the former lead pastor of Emmaus Church, a multiethnic, multigenerational church plant in Santa Ana, CA. Lamont's vision/ministry is to see people live out the ministry of reconciliation, seeing people reconciled to God, to one another, and to the local church. Lamont is father to three beautiful children, Selah (10), Elsye (7), and Jackson (5). For a piece of candy (anything sweet), his kids will quote bible verses.

All you need is love - or at least that's what The Beatles tell us. Love can be a vague ideal, and it comes in many forms and is expressed in numerous ways. This is the last Sunday of Advent and of our series on what God can't wait for. It seems only fitting that we save the thing that God can't wait for the most...LOVE. In fact, it's the very reason our church exists...to remind people that God already loves them. But, love isn't just the gushy feeling we get when we encounter someone who is easy for us to care for.  Love always requires courage, and when we think of the Christmas story, there are countless moments that required loving courage. This week, we are going to hear how Joseph is a model of the kind of love that God is asking us to share with each other. To love something is to allow it to affect you which is risky and requires courage. In the middle of this divisive time in history (which in some ways mirrors the time of Joseph and Mary), we are going to need the kind of courage that is willing to believe that God is with us - Emmanuel. 

The psalmist says, “The one thing I ask, the one thing i seek, is to dwell in the house of the Lord forever, to gaze on his beauty….”   I would love to do that, too… but can you tell me where I’m supposed to put my gaze? Where is the Lord? Where is the Christ that I can come to and be healed and transformed? Often you can know something about someone by looking at what they love. So perhaps we can catch a glimpse of the invisible God bhttps://amzn.to/2PeUE4Hy gazing on what It loves, and in that gazing discover the Christ that has come to us! Emmanuel, God with us! GUEST SPEAKER: Scott Erickson is a touring painter, performance speaker, and creative curate who mixes autobiography, mythology, and aesthetics to create art and moments that speak to our deepest experiences. Using his passion and commitment to craft, Scott has been a working artist for over a decade, and has had his work appear on CNN, National Geographic, and various magazines, newspaper outlets, and book covers. He is the co-author of Prayer: Forty Days of Practice and May It Be So, a Spiritual Director to brave women and men, and a professional dishwasher for his food blogging wife.

As we shared last week, Advent is a season of waiting that prepares us for Christmas and the coming of the Christ child. Advent connects us to the people of Israel who were waiting for the promised Messiah, and this season seeks to slow us down, to be focused, and to be intentional about what we are waiting for. Yet, Advent is not meant to be passive. Instead, we are to be focused on how to take action, because there are things that God can't wait to bring into the world. Last week, we talked about how God can't wait for us to experience hope. This week, we are going to talk about how God can't wait for us to experience peace. Peace can seem like such a vague notion, but the book of Isaiah (Isaiah 11:1-10) describes peace in very specific terms. Peace will look like wolves and lambs lying down together and all kinds of other seemingly impossible natural occurrences. More than this, a child will lead them into this peace. A peace like this requires action - repentance. This week, Pastor Sarah will share how repentance (or turning around) is something we can do today as a way that leads to peace whilst we wait.

Advent is a season of waiting, but is idle waiting what God wants of us? In preparation for the coming Messiah, we wonder together—what things can’t wait? What demands our immediate attention? What requires our work and preparation? During our Advent season, First United will ask together, "What is it that God can’t wait for?" Is it our praise, reconciliation, and proclamation? Is it the end of suffering, isolation, and fear? This Advent, we invite you to join us in imagining, prioritizing, and preparing. This week in worship, we are going to talk about how God can't wait for us to participate in hope. On this, the first Sunday in Advent, we will focus on the need to hold onto hope - to continue dreaming of and reaching for God’s promised day where there will be peace and all will know love. Pastor Sarah shares from the book of Isaiah and its telling of "God’s promised day" — a day when wars end, swords are beaten into plowshares, and spears become pruning hooks. Together, we will ask — How does unrelenting hope change us? What does Hope look like in Costa Mesa today? Where are places where the kingdom is here and now even when it feels so distant?

In our final week of "For the Bible Tells Me So", and we're asking one of the biggest questions for those of us who want to take scripture seriously if not literally. How does the Bible tell us to be church? Scripture seems pretty clear that we are to gather together, but why, and in what way? For thousands of years, people have been gathering around this one book and using it to inform how they are to function as a community. Entire communities have been created and split over the translation of one word from scripture. People meet on different days of the week all dependent on how they interpret what scripture is saying about church. Clearly, there are lots of ways to understand what "church" should look like.  Scripture both invites us into a beautiful family-like community, but it also contains some disturbing community practices (slaves obey your masters!). This week, Pastor Sarah shares about the different ways scripture guides us toward being an authentic community that follows the way of Jesus and why we don't have to disregard all of its teachings when we come across things that seem antithetical to that way. This is going to be a powerful time as we talk about church and why First United exists.

From talking shrubbery to people coming back to life, there are many stories in the scriptures that break the natural laws of how we believe the world works. These occurrences are often referred to as "miracles", which Webster's Dictionary defines as "a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.” In the very definition of the word "miracle" is the idea that God must be the explanation for the unexplainable. This Sunday, as we continue to explore the Bible, we'll talk about these miracles and wonder...does the Bible tell me so when it comes to what is possible or even probable? For many people, the miracle stories in the Bible are a reason they can’t take the book seriously. For others, theses stories require a faith that they find hopeful. And, still for others, they feel the need to treat miracles with an "apologetic reading" - one that seeks to explain what seems irrational using rational means. Those who use this method suggest things such as, "Of course it looked like Moses created a sea of blood. That’s the time of year that a certain kind of red algae would have appeared killing fish and causing the Egyptians to tremble." These are only three different ways of looking at the stories of miraculous events in scripture, and there are so many more ways of placing miracles within our own way of looking at the world. This week, Pastor Sarah uses the story of a healed leper in Mark to explore why the idea that everything is a miracle may be the only way to take the Bible seriously if not literally.

This week, we continue our series on "For the Bible Tells Me So" as we look at the book of Amos and his warnings to the nation of Israel. Darcy Anderson helps us examine what happens when our actions are all show and no substance and God calls for bigger things than displays of grandeur. Darcy is a member and leader at Costa Mesa First United Methodist Church. She holds a Master's degree is in American Studies, which examines the how and why of American history and culture. Darcy's research areas include death, dying, and grief in American culture, as well as gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, and ideals and institutions. She currently works at Cal State Fullerton as an Academic Advisor, Program Coordinator, and Adjunct Professor.

How do we absolutely know right from wrong? Some of us grew up with the notion that the Bible would give us all the answers. We were even told that the word Bible stands for "Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth." Yet, if we look at the scriptures as an instruction booklet, we're often left feeling the same way we do when staring at Ikea instructions....lost. There are so many areas of life that the Bible doesn't cover, and our culture has changed so much that there is often no equivalent to what has been included. "How am I supposed to treat people on social media?" is a different question than "How do I care for my multiple wives?" Some people say the Bible is a rule book, but clearly life looks different than when it was written. So, if the Bible isn’t a rule book, what does it have to offer us? This Sunday as we continue our series, we're going to talk about how the Bible offers us something different than instructions...it offers God's wisdom. God's wisdom may not teach us rules to live by, but through scripture, we are given helpful lenses and questions to help us engage the world around us. Join guest speaker Rev. Anthony Boger as we talk about the way scripture helps us see the world around us.

I think we can all agree the Bible is a bit weird. Merriam-Webster defines weird as "of strange or extraordinary character," and I think that definitely applies with a number of passages. As familiar as we may become with the Bible, it still contains things that remain a mystery, and some of those mysteries are quite disturbing - so disturbing that we may want to discount the entire book. As we continue our series, we're diving into one of those disturbing areas of scripture that causes people to discount the Bible altogether…the subject of war. Does the Bible tell us who we are to war with?  If we're going to take the Bible seriously, if not literally, we have to address that God seems to encourage and demand violence in the Hebrew scriptures. No matter how you translate it, God is given the credit for violent genocide, women being assaulted, entire cities being wiped off the face of the earth, and numerous other negative events as Israel is establishing itself as a people group. We can’t just dismiss this image of God as an ancient understanding of how God operates. Even today, whether it's on the football field or the battlefield, God is often given the credit for very violent victories. How can we reconcile that with the God who teaches us, through Jesus, to turn the other cheek and to love our enemy? Is Jesus the hippie son of an angry God? Or, is the Bible offering us more than an either / or approach? In this message, Pastor Sarah shares about the idea of war in scripture and why people recorded God as the violent victor, and she will offer some ideas about how we can engage these stories in ways that make space for a different reading. 

Some of us have fond memories growing up and learning Bible stories that made us curious or confused or interested or even angry. Others were taught that we must believe every word of the Bible literally...or we really don’t believe the Bible at all. Some were taught in college that the Bible is merely a book of literature full of contradictions and historical inaccuracies. And, still others were led to believe the Bible is an instruction manual that if read carefully, will have the answers to everything from climate change to whether to be vegan. There are huge problems with these approaches. In fact, many humans have turned their backs on the wisdom in this great book because of hanging on to a misguided perspective. This week, Michael Bischof continues our series called “For the Bible Tells Me So” by considering our own journeys with the Bible and asking the question, “How are we taken care of?” The Bible is a book with many stories of deliverance and freedom, and the best news is that it still offers each of us deliverance in more than one way today.

As a child, you probably sang the song, "Jesus Loves Me." My guess is the lyrics are probably burned in your mind. "Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so." For many of us, the Bible has been a central component of our faith practice, and each week when we gather as a community, we read from the ancient text as most Christian communities do. The Bible is quoted in many different settings from pulpit, poetry, and political spheres. Clearly, this text is important, not just within the faith community. And, yet, people use the Bible and view it quite differently. Opposing sides will even say, "The bible clearly says..." when arguing two different sides of an issue. "For the Bible tells me so" isn't as clear of a statement as we may have thought. This week, we begin a new series to talk through some of the things we may have been told the Bible clearly says. We begin at...the beginning or origin. People use scripture to suggest we were created as part of a seven day process by the divine. Creationism, as it is known, takes scripture to be a literal account of how we got here...the product of two people. For creationists, the miracle of creation is that from dirt our relatives were formed. This week, we're going to talk about some different ways to look at our origin story and why the story holds mystery even for those who assert that the creation narrative is nothing more than an analogy. There is deep mystery to be found in this ancient text, and together we will figure out why it’s a gift to read it together.

As we close up our series on "Re-Formation: Building a Faith After Deconstruction," we're also finishing up our object lesson of repurposing the church's original front doors. Last week, we talked about how even after being with Jesus for years, the disciples were still asked, “Who do you say that I am?” They needed to re-evaluate and rename who they thought Jesus was. Those of us who have experienced a faith-shift or a community-shift have also been invited into re-imagining who Jesus is. Once that happens, there's a shift in how we see ourselves and our faith. The result - something new is being revealed. In the midst of this reconstruction, the most important question, not just for individuals, but for our community, is to ask "Why?" Why have we gone through this shift? Why are we repurposing these doors? What now? In this message, Pastor Sarah helps us look at why Jesus’ words found in Matthew 7:21-29 are Good News, and we learn how they can help us build something new. This new thing will never be just for us, but it will make space for others as well.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines reformation as the act of “putting or changing something into an improved form or condition.” When it comes to re-forming our beliefs, it requires an imaginative vision, and it demands that we're willing to ask tough questions. This week in our series on building a faith after deconstruction, we move toward reconstruction or re-formation, which can be a disorienting experience, but also a time of great freedom and creativity. Re-forming our faith begins by asking the same question we asked at the beginning of our faith journey - “Who is Jesus?” There are as many answers to this question as there are people, but our answer creates the framework upon which our faith is built. For some, Jesus is a model for the way we live our life. For others, Jesus is the Savior who rescued them from a certain demise. This question has created denominations, invited people into a life of benevolence, caused a number of wars, and made people leave behind everything they have known to start a new life. Sometimes, churches have told us that this question should only be asked once, and the answer should lead us to a particular prayer that seals our answer to the question. Scripture seems to give us a different example. Even after walking with Jesus in the flesh, his own disciples are asked, “Who do you say that I am?” This question and their answers will define the next steps in their faith. In reality, it serves us well to ask this question often as we create a healthy framework to build our faith upon. Listen in as Pastor Sarah shares why we have to answer "Who do you say that I am?" more than once, and why that is good news.

“Your imagination is a weapon of mass construction.” - unknown  In any building project, there comes a time when 'what was' begins to fade away, and 'what could be' begins to emerge. Momentum seems to increase, and suddenly, things are moving more quickly than before. This is not only true about the restoration of a door, a piece of furniture, or a home, but it's also the case with the transformation of our ideas and faith. Once something new can be imagined, our minds begin to shift in many ways - not just in the original area of transformation.  Over the past few weeks, our series entitled “Re-formation: Building a Faith after Deconstruction” has taken us through the beginning stages of deconstruction, which requires a stripping away of what once was in order to evaluate what will remain as we move into the next stage of life. This process happens for almost everyone - whether they are joining the faith for the first time, watching their faith community change, or if they are experiencing a personal change in faith. The sanding and stripping away stage can feel all encompassing and leave one feeling disoriented. Last week, Brian Tipton shared how we must move inward and evaluate our own sense of faith. This week, Pastor Sarah shares about the need for a change in imagination and possibility. In the gospels, we see Jesus take three of his disciples up to a mountaintop where they experience what is often referred to as a transfiguration. The way they see Jesus will never be the same after they encounter him in the presence of their faith heroes. There is a change in what is possible, and it will take them time to be able to place this experience into the framework of their faith. If we are going to restructure our faith, it will require a re-imagining of who Jesus is and a willingness to see things in a new way.