Pure And Genuine Religion

Welcome to the First Love Church podcast.

This is a collection of Sunday teachings inspired by the revised Common Lectionary and recorded weekly in Ocala, Florida.

I do love that scripture and remind us all of the power of that.

It is the power of the Holy Spirit that enables us to have hope.

It is not that all circumstances are perfect.

It is not that everyone does exactly as we please.

It is because of the power of the Holy Spirit that we have confident hope.

We have hope that love is eternal.

We have hope that one day all things that are sad will be made untrue.

That there will be a day, that there is an invitation.

Jesus offered it to us of a kingdom that comes.

Not in the sweet by and by, but now God's kingdom available to you.

Life in the spirit right now.

And during this time of the church season, where we celebrate, where we remember, where we recognize the power of the spirit.

Thomas reminded us this morning of change.

And I don't know if you understand this, but life will change.

As it is now, it is not going to stay like this.

It will change.

And in the change, we are invited into the spirit, the spirit that reminds us, that tells us, do not be afraid, beloved.

I am with you always, no matter how it changes.

God with us.

And that is our incredible confidence.

We get to read this morning from the book of James, and I am incredibly grateful for this particular book.

And I invite you this week, we will only have a chance to look at a small portion of it.

This is written by James the Just.

Right?

At the end of his life, people wanted to remember what James it was.

James the Just.

What if justice was what we were all known for?

In fact, God said, This is what I want.

There to be justice that comes like a river.

In our world around us, where we see injustice every single day, where we see people in power using power, not with mercy, not perfect in power, but they use power for their own gain, or they use power to imprison or to take away.

This is our confident hope that God invites us into a whole new world, a whole new way of thinking, and we're invited to share in that new way.

And this is an invitation, beloved.

We've been praying for you this morning already before you got here that the Holy Spirit would expand your holy imagination.

I think it's so important that we recognize that change, although it is difficult for us because what we love is an idol.

I don't know if you know this, but we do.

We have our idols.

And idols are things that we can understand and control.

And we know the whole shape of the idol, and we know what it looks like, and we know the offering that we'll be willing to give to this idol.

And though you might not have a gold statue in your home, there are idols in our life, and some of them are called certainty.

We love certainty.

We worship certainty.

If I can be certain, then I would follow.

And Jesus invites us into, again, we talked about the past couple weeks, but let's start walking on the water.

There's no certainty in that, but let's follow Jesus out of the boat that is sinking into the arms of Christ who is here with us.

There is no certainty when Jesus says to his disciples, listen, don't let them fend for themselves.

You feed them.

And they're looking around going, How can we do this?

With Christ, we take what we have and we put it in there.

And so the invitation in spirit is to leave certainty behind.

The invitation in the spirit is to abandon all others and follow Jesus.

And so this morning we go to James' gospel, and James tells us something about it.

Now, there's a few James in the New Testament disciples that follow Jesus.

This one in particular is his brother.

And I like the testimony of someone's brother.

Guess why?

Because they've seen you all the time, not just in your public face.

James's brother knew what Jesus was like growing up, watched him learn things different than the family told him.

Watched him change, watch him evolve, watch him full of the spirit, watch him live in the spirit.

And James is in charge of the church in Jerusalem for 30 years after Jesus has ascended.

The church at Jerusalem has gathered and they're looking after this fledgling church, James the Just.

And he has so many things that are just like Jesus that the high priests also said, this guy's got to go.

And so they stone him to death.

And so, I mean, this is how much he's like Jesus.

They're like, well, we got to put that to death too.

I want to remind you, beloved, that love is the way, but that love will require some kind of death in us.

And mostly it's the death of ego, mostly it's the death of self.

And it is to be allowed to be resurrected into the new.

So we go here to James.

James the Just reminds us of this this morning.

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters.

First of all, listen to the family language.

You are brothers and sisters.

I am a sister.

There is an invitation into family.

And then he says, dear.

Not just the brothers and sisters who assembled here.

Dear, listen to his heart.

You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.

And here, James is a meddler.

I just want to tell you that.

James the Just is also meddling in our real lives.

You must be quick to listen.

Listen to what?

Beloved, the invitation is to listen to the Spirit.

May that be our first response.

May that be what we intend.

When we are approached in a situation that we go, I need to listen for what the spirit would have me do here.

I need to listen to how the spirit would lead me.

Quick to listen.

And I want to tell you that this doesn't come by osmosis.

This comes through practice.

This comes through taking time.

I also want to remind you that in order to listen, you must stop the noise.

That might mean that you might need to turn off your television.

That might mean you might need to turn off the radio, whatever it is that is noise.

Now, do not turn off all noise because I don't know if you know this, but you cannot turn off the bird song.

You cannot turn off the squirrels.

You don't want to turn off those things.

Those are the things that remind us of our Father who says that there is abundance, that every good thing.

But turn off the noise and be silent for a moment and listen for the voice that speaks within you, the voice that assures you that love is real and love is eternal.

And then we allow the Spirit to help us see with our inner eyes.

You must all, I just want to remind us all of this, all means all.

Every single one of us.

Nobody gets out of this, there's no exclusion, there is no loophole.

All of us quick to listen, slow to speak.

This is very anti-cultural.

This is very un-American.

This is very un-21st century.

We are talkers and we want to talk a lot.

And James the Just reminds us in the following of the spirit, zip it might be the best thing that you can do.

Just know.

How many troubles would you be out of if you just didn't say that thing?

If you just didn't answer that email.

If you just didn't respond.

Now, sometimes the spirit requires us to speak.

In fact, the scripture tells us to speak up on behalf of the widow, on behalf of the orphan, on behalf of the immigrant, on behalf of those malured.

We are required to speak up.

Use your voice, it says, on behalf of the poor.

This is what we're required to do.

But as far as the talking all the time, there's an invitation into life in the spirit, and it requires us to listen.

And slow to get angry.

That was the scripture this morning.

If you find yourself quick to get angry, just remind yourself this is not the work of Christ.

This is not the work of God.

It doesn't say never get angry, because beloved, there are things to be angry with.

We should be angry with poverty.

We should be angry with hunger.

We should be angry that there are still wars, beloved.

We're still sending our sons to war.

This should not be.

Jesus has offered us another way, and it is the way of peace.

It is the way of love.

It is the way of mercy, mercy that triumphs over judgment.

In James's gospel, he says, this is how we start.

Quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.

Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.

What is the righteousness that God desires?

The scripture tells us, I'll tell you, old man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you?

That you do justice, that you love mercy, and that you walk humbly with your God.

This is what righteousness looks like.

This is what God desires.

And James goes on to further illustrate this.

But this is the kind of life that we're invited into.

This is the kind of culture that we're invited to imagine.

Jesus said, the kingdom is here, beloved.

It's here with us now if we will change the way that we think.

So get rid of all of the filth and evil in your life and humbly accept the word that God has planted in your hearts.

For it has the power to save your souls.

That's such good news this morning.

Get rid of all the filth and evil in your life.

How do we do that?

Jesus reminds us, we allow more love into our life.

More of the good, more of the thoughts of Christ.

We open ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit.

There is an invitation to humbly accept the word that God has planted in our hearts.

What is the word that God has planted in our hearts?

Jesus is that living word, but what is it that we are loved?

That God so loved the world that he gave Jesus so that we would all be saved.

And then he reminds us this has the power to save our souls.

But don't just listen to God's word.

You must do what it says.

And here's why I also think that James the Just is James the meddler, because he's meddling in our lives, saying you can't just listen to this thing.

There has to be action.

And here's what love does: love has the thought and the action has to match.

The words and the action have to equate.

This is the invitation so that people can say, This is who I follow.

Well, what are your actions?

That's what James says.

If you say that you follow Jesus, then show me.

Then do your actions show me that you are following Jesus.

It says otherwise you are fooling yourself.

And that's really disappointing, beloved, when we fool ourselves, when we choose illusion over truth, when we convince ourselves it's okay that I stay like this, it's okay that I don't change.

Beloved, the world needs you to surrender to the power of the Spirit that is bringing us to life.

The whole world coming alive.

This is the message of Jesus.

This is the invitation for us.

That we would not be fools, that we would be wise.

So many times in scriptures, the invitation is do not act like a foolish person and find the wisdom.

And in the following of wisdom, let it transform you, let it transform your life.

For if you listen to the word and don't obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.

You see yourself walk away and forget what you look like.

Have you ever straightened yourself out in the morning at a mirror?

And then by the end of the day, you thought, was there ever a time that I had straightened this out?

By the end of the day, when you looked again?

And so this idea is where do we put our focus?

What are we looking with?

With the eye of the heart.

How do we see ourselves?

Throughout the day, we start remembering I am loved by God.

I am confident in my place in all things because I am God's beloved.

And then through the day, things happen to us, and illusion comes to us and says to us, No, you're on your own.

This is a mess that you're gonna have to figure out all by yourself.

And this is gonna require a lot of worry while you sleep.

And this is going to require your stomach to be upset for days.

And that, you know, this is what the world tells us.

And we have to come back to that truth.

Wait, I am loved.

My father knows exactly what I have need of even before I ask.

The invitation is to life in the spirit, but it says you see yourself walk away and forget what you look like.

I was in Haiti one time and we had been in the back of a pickup truck for hours on these very dirty roads.

And I got to the place that we were being after being in the back of a pickup truck that was not covered, beloved, standing holding next to a pole for hours.

And we were greeted by a bunch of people that were so excited that we had come.

And I smiled and greeted every one of them with I was so happy to be there.

Gracious, gracious, gracious.

And I got into the little place that we were staying, and I saw their mirror, and I looked at myself and thought, that's just such a bad mirror.

I can't get over that mirror.

It's like must be a hundred years old or something.

It didn't terrible reflection of me.

Terrible reflection of me.

In fact, in that particular mirror, I look gray.

I'm not gray.

I know who I am.

It's a bad mirror.

And I thought, well, this is Haiti.

So it's possible they just have bad mirrors here.

Beloved, that is exactly what I looked like.

There's nothing wrong with that mirror.

I looked in my friend's sunglasses that were mirrored.

After I had said, stood in front of everyone, smiled, so happy to be here.

I was filthy.

The road dirt on my face was like half an inch.

In my smile lines, you could see my my skin color under the gray.

Like this is normal, just filth all over my face.

But I want to tell you something.

It mattered to me later when I thought I didn't look at myself.

I thought the mirror was wrong.

I looked at that mirror and said, it's a terrible mirror.

That's not how I look.

Beloved, the mirror may not be wrong.

Your selfishness might really be marring who you are.

Your anger might be really mirroring who you are.

Your worry might be worry marring who you really are.

And so be mindful not to disregard the scripture that says to us, look at this.

Don't forget who you are, but look at this.

And when life comes, when you're on the back of a pickup truck, when the dirt comes, beloved, wash it off.

Wash it off.

Don't say this is it's too hard.

Slow to anger.

Anger mars who we are when it is not righteous.

When it is righteous, it takes us to action.

And that's what James is asking us.

But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, this is essential, beloved.

The law that you are looking at is for your freedom, not for your bondage.

The law that you are looking at is not so that you would become smaller, but so that you would expand and become larger in the love that you already are.

When you look at the law that sets you free, beloved, you are free.

This is why Jesus came for freedom.

This is why we are here to have the freedom to change, to be transformed, to allow the Spirit to be alive in us.

If you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free.

And if you do what it says, James always talking about doing what the word of God actually says, not just hearing it, doing it.

What is it like for you to practice forgiveness?

What is it like for you to practice not talking all the time, sitting and listening to the spirit?

What is it like for you to remember that love is eternal and not choosing illusion but following truth?

Look into the perfect law that sets you free.

I want to remind you something that if everyone is not free, none of us are free.

This law that you are looking at is for the freedom of all people.

It is for the wholeness of all people.

Look carefully, it says.

Because you can find laws that will imprison you and imprison someone else, but you can also look at the perfect law of liberty that sets us free.

And if you do what it says and don't forget what you've heard, if you look in the scripture over and over again, you will find that we have a proclivity to forget.

That in our humanity we often forget.

And it is our job to remember.

It is one of the reasons why we come to the communion table every single week to remember that there is a feast set up for us, that there is love for us, and that there's room for everyone.

But there is a point where we have to remember over and over again.

God says, remember, remember.

And then if you recognize that all of nature reminds us, because we forget we are not alone.

God is with us, mercy is here with us.

Then God will bless you for doing it.

We are people who look for blessings.

We do that, and we name certain things blessed.

And the blessing is already built into obedience.

If you want God's blessings, you don't have to look for it.

Do what God tells us to do.

And the blessing is already there.

The blessing is built in, the abundance is built in.

If you claim to be this is beautiful, James the Just this morning, also James the meddler.

If you claim to be religious, you already, right?

And you don't control your tongue, you are fooling yourself.

Here's the part that's horrible.

And your religion is worthless.

I didn't say this, James the Just did.

Take it up with him.

Jesus' brother.

We all know in our hearts that is absolutely true.

Our words matter.

We pause here for a moment to thank you for joining us today.

If you're finding this episode meaningful, would you take a moment to share it with a friend?

This podcast is made possible thanks to the generosity of people just like you.

If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church and the continued work of our podcast, visit us online at firstlovechurch.org, reminding you to like, follow, and subscribe.

How we speak matters.

Because we have been given the power that God gave us to create worlds, to create freedom, to create wholeness with our words.

God said, Let there be light, and light was.

If you claim to be religious but don't control your tongue, you are fooling yourself.

And your religion is worthless.

What does it look like to control your tongue?

Jesus had it figured out.

And Jesus said this I don't say anything unless I heard the Holy Spirit, the Father, say it first.

How would your conversation be different if you only spoke the things that the Spirit was saying?

I just want to tell you it would only be good.

Jesus would never look at anyone and then speak a word to demean them.

Jesus would never look at someone and say, You are not worthy.

Jesus would never use language that separates us, always language that unites us.

You, beloved, have the power to bless.

Ar Silas does um impressions recently, and he um so pay attention around.

Here because Cellus is listening and doing some impressions.

And so he was doing some impressions, and I was so I was really tickled by it.

And I said, Do me.

Because he hears me the most, right?

Well, I just want to tell you, it's not always great to ask your kids to do impressions of you, but other times it is, it is.

But I offer I asked, and he said, bless, bless, bless.

And I said, Oh, good.

I'm glad that's not what you're hearing.

Because the truth is this, this beloved, when we see something that is terrible, we can either start talking about the terrible and make it bigger, magnify it, join into it, or we can choose blessing.

The scripture says this, I put before you this day blessing and cursing, choose blessing.

I put before you life or death, choose life.

When we have something that we do not know how to fix, bless it.

This has been my recent, I don't want to call it a hobby, but a therapy.

I have been writing blessings for all kinds of things.

If I cannot figure it out, I'm just gonna bless it.

If I don't know how to how to work it out, what I've heard on the news, what I've seen around, what is happening before me, I bless it.

Beloved, we have the power to bless.

Not to bless and to say carry on with that, but to bless it and say, in this place of injustice, I bless this with justice, with truth, with mercy, and choose another way.

If you claim to be religious but don't control your tongue, beloved, we cannot be calling each other names.

It's not okay.

We must recognize each person made in the image of Christ, we must see these kind of things and the healing it can be.

It was a couple of years ago I was approached by someone who didn't look like me and um just didn't look like me at all.

And he was angry, very, very angry.

And so I listened to him for a minute and I said, Brother, I hear you.

And I watched his face just turn from anger to recognition, just calling someone brother, just saying, I am with you, I am in the family with you, and hearing.

We don't have to argue with everyone who wants to argue with us.

We don't, we can be people of peace, we can choose peace over argument.

I don't know who told any of us that we have to argue.

Beloved, that wasn't the way of Jesus.

In fact, if you look at the scriptures, people set out to provoke Jesus, to ask things.

And you know what the scripture says?

You know it.

He answered them not a word.

Not every threat needs an answer, not every accusation needs an answer.

Now, there are times when we must speak up, and very often it's to speak up for on behalf of someone else, because it says here, you are fooling yourself and your religion is worthless.

Here's what I want to get to because this is the point of James.

And I encourage you to read the book this week and read it in a few different translations.

If you don't have the actual hardcover or soft or leather cover Bible, go online.

Every single one is there.

Except for the one that is the American Indian one.

I can't find that online.

You have to buy that one.

It's incredible.

You should really read that.

And you should read it in a translation that you're not super familiar with.

Because here's what happened: familiarity in the scriptures often makes us go, I've heard that, I know that.

And James was saying, wait a second, if you're not doing it, you don't know it.

And if it's not setting you free, then you also don't know it.

So keep looking at it.

And don't say that's an ugly mirror.

Look at that and go, Oh, I might need to change here.

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father.

Be mindful, this kind of um thought and this kind of action will really infuriate the religious people of our time.

This is what happened to James.

I mean, he got stoned to death for this kind of talk.

This is the way of Jesus.

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

It is corrupt to not care about the marginalized.

If you say there are people that we do not have to include or help, the scripture here says you've already been corrupted.

James tells us this pure and genuine religion in the sight of God, not in the sight of us, in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress.

Beloved, this is again, this is the text from the very beginning.

You can go back to the Hebrew Bible.

If you're in your Bible, you turn left, you can go to the Hebrew Bible.

From the very beginning, God said, I want systems in place that care for people.

People that need care.

Do you know why widows and orphans are in distress?

Because there are systems that exclude them.

Because there are powerful men who have put them in places of distress.

And this scripture says, I want you to be people who bring a change.

I want you to be people who say, we're not going to let orphans and widows, we're not going to let systems oppress people.

We are going to care for them.

You can go back and read in the Hebrew Bible, there's many scriptures that talk about this is what I want for a community that follows Yahweh, that follows God.

God says, you are going to plant your trees and you're going to have your crops.

That's fine, you're going to have agriculture.

But when you go out, after you have cared for these crops their entire life, you're not going to take a harvest from any of the outside edges.

That's going to be from for someone who didn't, for someone who doesn't have land, for someone who cannot afford it.

Always in the scripture, there is provision for people who do not have the privilege that you have.

Always in the scripture, there is this provision.

That is really always what the tithe was about.

It was so bring it here so that it could be distributed to those who do not have.

It was a way to make inequity equitable.

It was a way to make sure that everyone was cared for.

And the scripture asks us, look at the perfect law of liberty and see who is being left out.

And then go and do something about it.

And then refuse to let the world corrupt you and say, it's okay that those people do not have beloved, it is not.

This is what the Spirit is asking us to do.

Expand our tables, expand our ability to love.

This is what Jesus did.

This is what the disciples are asked to do.

Just a few weeks ago, we we read the scripture where there's a ton of people coming to follow Jesus.

And then the disciples goes, They're going to get really, I mean, they're already hungry, but they're even going to get more hungry.

So definitely send them away before they start expecting something of you.

And Jesus said, Me.

No, you.

You feed them, you care for widows and orphans.

You expand your vision to say, How can I be a part of making sure that all people know that they are loved?

That all people know that they are included in God's good kingdom, that all people know that they are welcome to the table.

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father.

This is the mirror for us, beloved, because the mirrors that we have up sometimes are no good.

Sometimes they're great, which is the mirror, Jesus.

But very often we put up mirrors and we're like, you know what, I did enough.

Or I did this is I'm gonna hold, I'm gonna be really careful with this one.

I used to do that.

Oh, I used to be a person who cared about the homeless.

Years ago, I served in the church.

Oh, years, beloved, today is the day of your salvation.

Get with it now.

I'm great.

There's a really odd song.

It says, What have you done for me lately?

God is not asking that, but I'm talking community-wise.

It's great that you did that in the 70s.

I'm excited that you did.

This is 2026, beloved, and we still have widows and orphans, and we still have marginalized people who are unhealed, uncared for.

And James the Just is reminding us: do not let the world corrupt you.

In you, within you is the Spirit of God.

That spirit is light, that spirit knows the truth.

You know it is not okay for some to have, and for, beloved, we can all imagine.

We do this every time we say the Lord's Prayer, Jesus taught us this prayer.

Our Father, say it with me, just so that I'm not the only one who knows it.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Pause just for a minute.

Hallowed.

We don't even use that word anymore.

Honored, esteemed.

Do you know how you esteem someone?

You recognize it for its worth.

Your name, beloved, you carry the name of Christ.

We are to be people of unity.

We are to be people of love.

We are to people of inclusion.

We are to people who look at the margins and go, absolutely not.

This door is open.

You come to Jesus and come and receive your healing and your wholeness.

Honored be your name.

Say it with me.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Pause just for a second.

Imagine heaven with me.

Just do it for a second with me.

I don't know what you were told about heaven.

I'm just going to use the scriptures.

You can use Revelation too.

It's really beautiful, some of the things there.

Pay attention to the fact that often we hear a lion and we need to look back and see the lamb.

Very often we need to have our sight changed by what heaven is.

Jesus showed us what heaven looks like.

But I want us to imagine for a moment.

First of all, we're all in heaven together.

Imagine that.

Everyone here is because it's a Sunday morning and we're in church.

Of course, all of us are going to heaven, you know, so I just want to be sure who's there.

I want to ask you in the heaven that you imagine, are there any hungry children there?

Because all of us know that that's not the way of Christ.

Is there anyone that lives in a gutter in heaven?

No.

We know this.

Even if none of us have ever been to heaven, we know in our heart there's no one living outside.

All of us living in the heart of God that is so huge, that is so beautiful.

Are there wars in heaven?

No.

Beloved, peace reigns and rules there.

Jesus is the Lord of heaven, beloved.

If he is the Lord here, then this is what we must be about.

We must be about peace.

We must be about love.

We must be about taking what's in our hands.

We saw this in the miracle in the past few weeks.

The bread moved from hand to hand to hand, and that's how the thousands were fed.

There is an invitation to life in the kingdom to say, what does it look like for me to love everyone?

Heaven as it is in earth.

Right now, heaven invading earth.

Right now, beloved, you have an invitation into heaven.

Not when you die, but right now, when you act like Jesus would act.

We see Jesus healing people.

We see Jesus setting those free.

We see Jesus healing people and giving them back their right mind.

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father.

Maybe your religion says you only have to show up for church.

According to this scripture, there's more.

Your actions need to be equating with what you say.

And we need to look around us as a culture too.

And there are many people who use the name of Christ.

And beloved, it is blasphemy.

It is blasphemy.

And here's why I know this: it is against what we saw Jesus doing.

We must be people who follow that kind of radical love, that kind of wholeness.

Jesus said, get out of the boat.

Yes, you can come follow me.

It's what the invitation was to all of the disciples: follow me.

Follow me into radical love.

Follow me into inclusion.

Follow me into opening more doors.

Follow me into the kingdom of heaven right here.

I love the story and the account of Mary Magdalene in the scripture.

You've loved her since I was a tiny little girl.

One of the things I love in the story is that she has loved Jesus and she has loved Jesus well.

And Jesus has been murdered.

I can't imagine the kind of grief that it looks like to watch someone that you love be murdered.

The scripture tells us she was at the cross the whole time.

Pay attention that it was the women who were at the cross the whole time.

The men left, they were afraid.

The women stayed.

Mary is at the grave in the garden there, and she is distraught as one would be when you've suffered that trauma.

And she sees Jesus.

And the story is told that she suspects him for a gardener.

I would say that all of us would say we love Jesus, everyone that is here this morning.

We've all had some kind of experience or encounter.

And we do love Jesus.

But I wonder if we're just supposing that it's the gardener.

It's just my neighbor.

It's just my brother.

It's just the checkout counterperson.

What if by the Holy Spirit we could see people for who they really are?

Now, good news in the story.

I was talking about this with Sue earlier.

He says her name.

And it comes clear to her.

He calls her name.

Beloved, this is the hope for all of us that our names have already been called.

The scripture says our names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Our names, your name.

The scripture also tells us that our names will never be forgotten because God has engraved them on his hands.

Each one of us loved, held, remembered.

And we are being invited into wrestling, looking, asking things to be changed.

We sat with someone Friday night in their trauma.

In a terrible situation where someone very innocent died.

And this person looked at me and said, This kind of thing makes me question my faith.

And I said, That's so good.

It should.

Beloved, you should question your faith on a regular basis.

I question mine.

We should all question it.

Not is God good, but what is happening around us that we're still allowing things like this to happen?

What's happening with the world?

We should question.

And then we should say, Why do I do this?

Why do I participate?

And not and say, because if you believe that everything stays the same, first of all, that's an illusion, beloved.

The wrinkles on your face will remind you, everything does not stay the same.

Things change.

And we need to be in the spirit, life in the spirit that allows us to encounter the presence of God, the purpose of God.

When things make you question and make you wonder, that's a holy thing.

Wrestle it out.

Jacob shows us this.

There's a whole story in the scripture about what it looks like to wrestle with God, what it looks like to wrestle with a question and go, why is this?

Now, not every why will get answered, but the intention is, do you wrestle it out with God?

Are you having conversations with God?

Are you having conversations that you ask and then you sit in silence and you wait for answers?

This is the kind of wrestling I'm talking about.

Or that you wrestle together with a group of people who also say, Yes, what is it like for us to love more?

What would it be like for a group of us to get together and say, How do we promote unity in our city?

What does it look like for us to say, we are a people who are marked by love and who are learning to love well?

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means carings for orphans and widows in their distress, and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

One of the ways that we refuse the world is by practicing holy communion.

I'm confident of it.

We are invited into holy mystery.

We are invited into so much more.

We are invited into an embodied experience with Jesus.

We're invited into the holy.

We're invited into peace.

We're invited into love and to remind ourselves that everything that we need is at the table of God.

In the name and in the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That we have been gifted ones so fresh from God.

That we have been gifted ones who are beginning their journey.

May they be heard.

May our cries this morning for justice, for peace, for mercy go before the voice of the Lord, and may they be heard.

In the book of Revelation, it says, all around the throne there are angels and there are witnesses, and there are those who have gone before us.

And it says the angels have these enormous golden bowls, and in the bowls they mix the prayers of the saints with incense, and they offer them before the Lord.

Each one of us this morning has prayers for a better world.

We have prayers for our families, we have prayers for our country, we have prayers for our neighbors.

And the scripture says that it's going before the Lord, and they're being offered before God.

And it is our joy this morning.

We'll join with all of those girls.

They're all girls.

Lord, hear our prayer.

And I just want to ask you: can any of us ignore that?

No.

The Lord does not ask us to ignore the cries of people and bless the fact that mothers and grandmothers are here with children who are crying.

It's also getting close to 11:30, and the girls are like, we need to get out.

But hear the cry this morning of the Spirit and do not turn a deaf ear to that.

I want to remind you, beloved, there are people all over the world, mothers who are grieving their children, because we have made decisions to murder them.

Beloved, this ought not be that all of us come to the table of the Lord and remember that Jesus is the way.

Following the Spirit is the way to new life, to new hope, to new joy.

We hope you've enjoyed this week's sermon.

If you would like more information about us, visit us online at firstlovechurch.org.