Date: May 17, 2020

Bible Text: 1 Peter 3:13-22, John 14:15-21 |

Series:

The Messianic Age that Jesus opened with his resurrection has been laid over top of our current fallen age, growing in parallel, providing choices and options for humanity. We can see in Jesus how God's reign works and will ultimately be, and we can see the results of human sin and brokenness, and we can choose which we prefer. When these two realms are in conflict suffering may be the short term result. Sometimes we suffer for doing what is right. Sometimes others suffer when we choose what is wrong or if we are indifferent to the choice. This Sunday we will continue our exploration of what the Messianic Age means for us and for our society. We begin with a little video game play as way to think about something pretty deep and serious.


Notes From the Preacher

Here are a couple of articles I read that got me moving in the direction of the sermon today. There may be some language that some would consider inappropriate. Or there might not. I read quite a few things this week, and some did and some didn't and at the moment I'm not sure. Even without "bad words" some of this is challenging. That's not necessarily a bad thing at all. Just want you to be up for it.

The news stories I mentioned are fairly complex, and it is easy to jump to conclusions on one side or the other based on the limited information we in the public have. I will admit to having jumped to mine. When taken with all the other similar stories of people of color having their lives interrupted, and in too many cases ended, while doing what white folk do all the time, it's hard not to see a pattern.

The sermon was long and could have gone a good bit longer, to be honest. I hope you stick with it, nevertheless. One thing I didn't add and thought to was that if white folk want to start breaking the walls of racism and white normalization (that is assuming that what white folk do is normal and neglecting or ignoring the lives of brown people), one place to start is to make sure you have some friends who don't look like you. Maybe that's not a problem for you, but many white Americans have very little social contact with people of color. This gets a little dicey. If you set about making friends so you can say, "Oh, look, I have black and brown friends! See what a not racist person I am!" then you've missed the point. The idea is to expand your experiences and to grow to understand and love all sorts of different people. God loves diversity, and then so should we.

I'm no expert in dismantling systemic racism. I've been on the journey for several decades now, and I still have a long way to go. But if you would like to talk about your journey toward loving all God's children and your neighbor as yourself, I would be delighted to spend that time with you.

 

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