Our Scripture Lesson for this coming Sunday is the story of Jesus turning the water into wine. We read it in anticipation of considering what it is that we are called to, as Jesus' disciples, in carrying out our love for Neighbor with all our strength.
The question this passage raises for me is this, "How far does the work we do for our neighbors, does the love of neighbor, extend?" Never really considered Jesus to be a Sommelier, but, never know where we might be called.
Peace,
Pastor Pete
Our Scripture Lesson today is the story of Jesus healing a woman crippled and bent over by arthritis for eighteen years. He does so on the Sabbath. When Jesus is called out for His behavior, apparently breaking Sabbath law, Jesus' response is swift and overwhelming.
Luke 13: 10-17 shall be the passage for our healing service this coming Sunday, where we remember again that healing is the ministry of Christ Jesus, and for us.
Peace be with you.
Pastor pete
To You Who Are Beloved of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Our Scripture for this week, August 16, 2026 is Luke 6: 17-36:
17 He came down with them
and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great
multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and
Sidon. 18 They had come to hear him and to be
healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were
cured. 19 And everyone in the crowd was trying to
touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
20 Then he looked up at his
disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of
God. 21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you
will be filled. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
22 “Blessed are you when
people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on
account of the Son of Man. 23 Rejoice on that day
and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven, for that is how
their ancestors treated the prophets.
24 “But woe to you who are
rich, for you have received your consolation. 25 “Woe to
you who are full now, for you will be hungry. “Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep. 26 “Woe to you when all
speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.
27 “But I say to you who are
listening: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; 28 bless
those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If
anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from anyone who
takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30 Give
to everyone who asks of you, and if anyone takes away what is yours, do not ask
for it back again. 31 Do to others as you would
have them do to you.
32 “If you love those who
love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love
them. 33 If you do good to those who do good to
you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 If
you lend to those from whom you expect to receive payment, what credit is that
to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35 Instead,
love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your
reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself
is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36 Be
merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
We are saved by
Jesus, saved from our sins, gifted with eternal life, restored fully as
Children of God. We are called upon to
love God as the first and greatest commandment because God first loved us. Our salvation is the expression of that love,
love from God’s heart, love we return with all our heart.
The second
commandment like unto it is to love our neighbors. That love begins from the heart, from the center
of God’s being to the center of our being in the grace given in Jesus. It is that same love we are called upon to
share with our neighbors. How we show
that love reflects then from how we love our neighbor with all our soul.
We love God
with all our soul by basking in the joy of our salvation. We love our neighbor with all our soul by
deciding how then we will share that joy.
How shall we take God’s love to them?
How will Love decide and guide our actions? What is right and what is wrong in our
outreach to our neighbors? What does
Jesus teach us, and through the lens of Jesus, what does the Bible teach in how
we shall love our neighbors?
It is something
to struggle with. Love your enemies is a
key theme in our passage from Luke. Let
them hit you, let them take your stuff, offer them more of your stuff. Is that love or victimhood? It’s not a simple call to make. Jesus says turn the other cheek. Does that mean I should offer up my cheek to
be slapped? Go looking for trouble? Seek to avoid trouble? Or is this where I take my stand? Loving our neighbors…and the ‘how’ of it.
Life in Christ
is a whole new way of being. Different
from how the world exists. Are we ready
to dig into our faith and make the decisions needed to live that new way?
Pastor Pete
As we are called upon to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, so do we seek to love our neighbor with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. As we continue our sermon series this week, we are considering the love of neighbor with all our soul.
Leading to that, to love God with all our soul is to be overwhelmed and embraced by what has been done for us in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
We are fed from the River of Life. New life, the glory of the Lord, total love, these are ways to try and describe what it means to be made new in Christ Jesus. To love our Neighbor with our soul, that then demands a decision. How will we choose to treat people in the Name of Jesus? In the embrace of God's love and our response to loving God?
Each decision we make in the love of God (or not), every attitude we choose to take as Christians, this comes from the soul, from where we know the joy of Jesus and where we choose how we shall pass it along.
The $5 Christian word for that is "theology". "theos-", meaning God and "-ology", meaning science. The Science of God. But as imposing as that sounds, of the millions of pages that have been written in theological books and tomes, at its foundation, theology is simply described as how I, as a Christian, will bring my faith into how I deal with the world and all that is therein.
For that, as with all of life, shall we let Jesus be our guide?
Pastor Pete
Our present sermon series should best be entitled "Our Dreams as Christians".
These are not our dreams as a Congregation
per se, except to acknowledge that our Congregation has dreams of who we hope to
be in Christ Jesus. Rather, these are our
dreams as Christians, each of us a person of faith. That is what the present sermon series is
focused on. Using the Love of God and
the Love of Neighbor as our guide, interpreting each through the lens of loving
with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, these are, for our Neighborhood
in the Kingdom of God, how we seek to come closer to Jesus.
In my mind, I was calling these our
‘aspirations’, what we aspire to be as Christians, which is fine for how far it
goes. It is better than calling these
our ‘value statements’, because Value Statements, to me, are benchmarks of behavior for what is important to us. 'Aspirations', things we hope to achieve as people of faith, are better seen as hopes and goals.
Aspiring to be Mystics and Contemplatives
and Stewards and Theologians and Pastors and Social Workers…sounds like we need
multiple advanced degrees in multiple disciplines to get close to the Lord Jesus. And 'aspiring' to them, sounds...well...rather highbrow if I stop to think about it. Because the last thing I want is for these titles to devolve into some kind of sense of how many "Ph.D.’s in
Jesus" we need to accumulate to be true imitators of Christ.
Having said that, there are some amazing Christians known for being Mystics and Contemplatives and Theologians and all the rest. But none of them is a 'one trick' Christian. Because loving God and loving neighbor with
heart, soul, mind, and strength, the Dream, the Greatest Commandment Jesus has given us, that's a package deal to a ‘well rounded’ faith (Sounds like an advertisement, doesn't it?)
Maybe this is a better way to put it. We are all called upon to be close
to God, to pray to God, to give of our gifts to God. We are all called upon to treat our neighbors
in a Godly way, to care for our neighbors, to do for the world in need of
justice and support and the basics of every day living. As we dream of creating a Neighborhood in the Kingdom of God here on Earth in the pattern of the Kingdom in Heaven, these are the things we can do, the skills and attitudes we can build to get there.
God has a Dream for us, one accomplished in the work of Jesus Christ. So too should we have a dream for God in our lives. We are Sent, we have a clear statement about that. As a church, how about a clear statement of who we dream to be in Christ as we are sent as well?
Peace
Pastor Pete
To You Who Are Beloved of our Lord Jesus Christ,
5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the
following instructions: “Do not take a road leading to gentiles, and do not
enter a Samaritan town, 6 but go rather to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim
the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Cure
the sick; raise the dead; cleanse those with a skin disease; cast out demons.
You received without payment; give without payment. 9 Take
no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, 10 no
bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff, for laborers
deserve their food. 11 Whatever town or village you
enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. 12 As
you enter the house, greet it. 13 If the house is
worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace
return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or
listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house
or town. 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more
tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for
that town.
16 “I am sending you out like sheep into
the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware
of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their
synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before
governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the
gentiles. 19 When they hand you over, do not worry
about how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will
be given to you at that time, 20 for it is not you
who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Sibling
will betray sibling to death and a father his child, and children will rise
against parents and have them put to death, 22 and
you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end
will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in this
town, flee to the next, for truly I tell you, you will not have finished going
through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
The disciples were stewards of
Jesus. They did as Jesus did. 7 “As you go, proclaim the good news,
‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Cure the sick;
raise the dead; cleanse those with a skin disease; cast out demons.” So, is this a matter, for us, of
“go and do likewise”? The proclamation
piece most definitely. The miracles of
verse 8? Maybe not as obviously, but how
many hospitals betray their origins within the church seeking to do just that?
New York
Presbyterian Hospital jumps to my mind.
There are Baptist and Lutheran Health networks in the nation. Or closer to home, Our Lady of Lourdes, of
Roman Catholic origins, and Jefferson Methodist Hospital in Philadelphia.
Having said
that, there is a rather significant disconnection that has taken place from the
times when faith-based healing was a centerpiece of the health care
industry.
But we are
still healers. We offer that in worship
every fourth Sunday. While the general
expectation is that the pastor provides spiritual care, our Deacons are our
Care Team, of whom I am privileged to be a member. It’s the skills Jesus has invested in us that
we use to work with others. We are
stewards of those skills, as surely as we are disciples of Jesus just like the
Big Twelve in the Gospel.
It’s not just
our skills-our talents that we have to offer.
We have time, we have treasures. That
is the tag line of our Stewardship Committee, the offering of time, talents,
and treasures.
It’s not just
about being Stewards, it is more than that.
It is showing our love for God with all our Strength according to our
Aspirations as a Church. But each
aspiration drives something even more central, how we, by the Holy Spirit, are
ever more united with Jesus Christ.
Imitation of Christ is another way the Bible puts it. But that’s a little more “fake it till you
make it” because we are on the way to becoming fully realized and renewed in and
as Christ beyond sin and brokenness and death.
And in so
doing, we use our strengths to continue to build the Kingdom of God, and our
Neighborhood in it, here in the world.
Pastor Pete
This coming Sunday, we will be continuing our sermon series on what it means for a Christian to Love God and Love Neighbor "with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength". This week, we speak of loving God with our whole strength.
In our verses from Matthew 10, we read the story of Jesus sending His disciples out for a practice run in their own training. They are limited in their scope, limited to the proclamation of their moment, and the miraculous healing powers that Jesus has expressed.
In their time, the disciples were given the Holy Spirit that Jesus Himself would indwell them when they stood against the world. It was a promise given to them and one that continues to be given to us as we, too, seek to follow in their footsteps to do the work of Jesus here on the earth.
Peace,
Pastor Pete
