Whoopsie Daisy, You Are Not The Judge

Welcome to the First Love Church Podcast.

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

For the privilege of being with you this morning in the House of the Lord on the second week of the season of creation, the 16th Sunday after Pentecost.

We start marking time in the Christian calendar by Pentecost, reminding us of this beautiful truth that the Holy Spirit has been given to us.

Each one of us, the spirit of the living Christ living inside of us, the guide that we need, the comfort that we need, the teacher that we need within each one of us.

And this is a beautiful truth in our opening our hearts to the joy of what happens when we are able to celebrate together the promise of the Holy Spirit being given to each one of us.

When we come on Sundays, we practice resurrection, we practice paying attention to the life that is everywhere.

And that's why, in particular, the season of creation reminds us when you hear the birds, listen to their witness.

When you see the earth greening, look at that, hold on to that, and remember that even when things look dark or cold, that life is coming beneath the surfaces.

And so I'm so grateful to celebrate this time with you.

We're going to the text this morning.

And in this season, we have been in the book of Romans.

And this particular text reminds us is all about love.

Everything is about love, the love that God has for us and the love that we show the world.

But very often we need training in how to show love or how to be love.

And the apostle gives us some ways that we actually look at this.

And we're reminded of this when the apostle says, the evidence of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, long-suffering, and self-control.

Beloved, an evidence of the Holy Spirit in you is that you can find a way to regulate yourself.

You can find a way to take responsibility.

You can find a way to make sure that the love that you have is not harming anyone else.

Beloved, we read last week and we reminded love does no harm to its neighbor.

Love does not ask us to harm anyone.

Love, in fact, is the restorer.

Love is the grace.

And so when we listen to this, we're going to read only a specific set of verses.

But I remind you, in the context, it's learning how to live in community.

It's learning how to love together.

In fact, in the Hebrew uh text, if you're opening your Bible and it's to the left, the Hebrew scriptures, there's something called Ten Commandments.

And their rules, and I'm sure that someone has told you about them before.

Do not murder.

I think that's a really great one.

Don't take what is not yours.

Also, a really great one.

And we should be reminded of that.

But I was reading something this week and I was just tickled by it.

I've read the Ten Commandments since I was tiny.

I've had them memorized.

I know them in different kinds of weird songs, even songs that sound like Broadway musicals.

These commandments, and they're not really commandments, but I was reading something this week, and someone said, these are the rules.

I'm sorry, that's not what they said.

These are because God loves your neighbor and wants to keep them safe from you.

And I thought that was incredible.

Because a lot of times when we read the Ten Commandments, we look at that and go, that's what other people shouldn't do to me.

That's what should not be done to me, but we should look at that and go, this is because God loves my neighbor and wants to protect them from me in case I want to steal their stuff or take what's theirs.

And this understanding, Jesus came and gave us the Beatitudes, and we read them together today, that this is the hope for the world that we would change the way that we think.

One of the things the Holy Spirit does, and just one of them, is allow us to change our minds, to change the way we think about things, to see things with our inner eye, and to hear the voice of God speak to us.

And so I'm so grateful this morning to read to you, and I read to you from the book of Romans, chapter 14.

Romans 14 · chapter mention

Accept other believers who are weak in the faith and don't argue with them about what they think is right and wrong.

Beloved, this could solve so many problems in general if we would just listen to this.

Do not argue about things that you think are right and somebody else thinks it's wrong.

It's not worth it.

We're not supposed to do that.

So the idea is again, in the context of love, just to accept people, which is really difficult because people are different than you and they're different than me.

And people have different ideas about things.

And this is an invitation into learning how to love and how to allow the Holy Spirit to work in us.

Accept other believers who are weak in the faith and don't argue with them about what they think is right or wrong.

Weak in the faith.

Sometimes we believe that if somebody has a lot of rules, they're very strong in their faith.

But in this text, if you will read with me, it says those people are very weak in the faith.

And so if you want to get stronger in your faith, that's going to mean less rules and more invitation into spirit, more invitation into acceptance and love.

For instance, if one person believes it's all right to eat anything, and another believer is with a sensitive conscience will only eat vegetables, those who feel free to eat anything must not look down upon those who don't.

This is an invitation to learn how to be filled with God's Spirit and then live in love and give up contempt.

Beloved, judging people and saying they're right or they're wrong or they shouldn't do this, this is not the way of Christ.

We do not see Jesus behaving like this.

We see Jesus offering us another way.

And the apostle is reaffirming to us to look at somebody who does it differently and then to judge them as right or wrong.

The scripture says, don't do that.

Accept people as they are.

How can we do that when we know they're doing it wrong?

I mean, how can you possibly accept something wrong?

The truth is we accept them with the understanding that the Holy Spirit is the one who is in charge of convicting or changing.

And our invitation is into love.

Now, this doesn't apply if you see someone harming someone.

The scripture says, speak up for those who have no voice, to stand up for those who are oppressed, to speak up when you see someone being harmed.

This is not about harm or staying in an abusive relationship.

This is how to live in peace with people who are different than you.

And to follow the way of Jesus is to follow the way of peace.

Peace for yourself and peace for the world.

One of the ways that we can live in peace with people who are different than us is to bless them.

This is a personal practice of mine.

And it's a personal practice of the church and for of the mystics to bless what we do not understand, to bless what we would like to see changed.

I want to tell you one of the best blessings that you can give anyone, may they find themselves in the presence of Jesus.

That is a blessing you can give anyone.

May they find themselves in the presence of Jesus.

And I just want to ask you, what would they need other than the presence of Jesus?

Because at that moment everything is restored.

So no matter who you're in a relationship with or who you find difficult, you can bless them with the presence of Jesus.

But it says, don't look down upon those who don't.

And those who don't eat certain food must not condemn those who do.

Okay, so if you have a lot of rules in your life, you must not condemn people who do not.

The scripture tells us this the way of Jesus is not condemnation.

In fact, the scripture says in John 3.17, God did not send Jesus into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Jesus might be saved.

When you hear a voice of condemnation, recognize that is not the voice of the Holy Spirit.

The invitation is into life.

Do not condemn those who do, for God has accepted them.

And who are you to condemn someone else's servants?

Whoopsie Daisy, we just forgot who we were.

Whoopsie Daisy, we thought that it was our job to tell people they were doing it wrong, that we would somehow spare them from something.

The invitation, beloved, is to live and follow the way of Christ.

And in doing that, ignite a light in someone else.

Let them be excited about the way you're living and say, tell me more about this way of peace.

Tell me more about this way of love.

Who are you to condemn someone else's servants?

Their own master will judge whether they stand or fall.

And with the Lord's help, they will stand and receive his approval.

The invitation for all of us as believers in Jesus is to live at peace with ourselves and with the world.

And sometimes, and when I say the world, I just mean everybody else in the world, everything else in the world.

In this season of creation, we remember that God made creation.

Everything that is made, Thomas said this in the beginning, and I thought that he was going to go a different place.

God made everything.

And then the next part was I thought, and it is good.

Beloved, creation is good.

It witnesses to us.

Brothers and sisters, humanity is good.

God made women, and God said it's very good.

It's in the text, look it up.

And with the Lord's help, they will stand and receive his approval.

In the same way, and so Paul is reminding us it's not just about foods, it's not just about things that people would eat.

Because I want to tell you that's a really big deal in the culture that this was written to.

If you believed that somebody should eat meat, they could have offered it to idols and gods.

And so then you could not eat with them.

You couldn't participate in their sin.

You couldn't participate in what they did.

And the apostles, like, don't let that be a reason that you don't eat with someone.

Just don't eat your meat around them.

You know, do what you need to do, but don't be rude to each other, but include people.

So this is an invitation into a bigger table, into a more expansive faith.

In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another, while others think every day is alike.

You should each be fully convinced that whatever day you choose is acceptable.

That's hard for people who grew up really wanting to be right, and things like right and wrong mattered.

And if you were right, you got more gold stars, or if you were right, you got blessings, or if you were right, then you have all these things.

And the invitation here is each be fully convinced that whatever day you choose is acceptable.

This is an invitation into responsibility, into self-control.

Now, ever since the beginning of the church, over 2,000 years ago, it says the believers would all gather together on the day of Jesus' resurrection and they would do certain things together.

In fact, Acts chapter 2, verse 42 says that all the believers gathered and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the prayers and to the saints and to the breaking of bread.

Acts 2:42

And so we know this has been a part of the Christian tradition, and this tradition gives us a scaffolding.

And the scaffolding for our faith has to be love.

It cannot be rules, it can't be one way to do something.

The scaffolding is love because it looks like Jesus, and Jesus shows us what God looks like.

Before Jesus, we had gotten God completely wrong.

Jesus came and said, I want you to change the way that you think.

I want you to repent.

Repent means changing the way you think.

And you used to think an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, but I'm telling you something else.

Turn your other cheek.

I'm telling you another way of living.

You should each be fully convinced that whatever day you choose is acceptable.

Those who worship the Lord on a special day do it to honor him.

And those who eat any kind of food do it to honor the Lord, since they give thanks to God before eating.

And those who refuse to eat certain foods also want to please the Lord and give thanks to God.

And the apostle here is saying everybody's intent is to honor.

And so don't fight about what you think you know or how you think it's been revealed to you.

You don't have to push how you live on anyone else.

You have to live in love.

That's the key.

You have to allow this the evidence of God's Spirit to be in you.

And this is again an invitation into self-control.

You live as you believe, beloved, and you leave your neighbor alone.

That's what the scripture is saying.

You live in love.

You take your neighbor's trash in when they've left it on the street for two days, and we know that's not how to do it.

We know that's wrong.

Beloved, when the trash is empty, you take that can in.

That's how it's done.

And when your neighbor doesn't, you don't have contempt for them, you bring the can in for them without having a grumpy attitude or a note that said, I did this.

You just do it.

Do the things that you love to do.

Honor, we read this a couple of weeks ago.

Outdo each, outdo honoring each other.

Like make it a competition.

How can I be better at honoring?

I was listening to a beautiful therapist, and he was saying marriage is an invitation into generosity.

Just outdo each other in generosity.

Outdo each other in honoring.

Wouldn't that change how marriage was actually lived out?

If we just said, I'm just going to be so generous with this person.

I'm going to be so open with them.

And just whatever they need, how am I to support that?

There's an invitation for all of us to live that way toward the whole world.

We see Jesus lived that way, and we see God lives this way.

The invitation is for all of us to live renewed and to live in love.

For we don't live for ourselves or die for ourselves.

Don't we though sometimes we do live for ourselves?

I don't know if it's Mary Delta or Helen, but she's welcome here and she's adding to the service.

We bless her.

Is it Helen or Mary Delta?

Don't apologize.

It's Helen.

Helen has something to say.

This is how it is when all we do is live for ourselves.

And so this is the invitation for us to live for everyone.

What would it look like if you worked on your own inner self and recognized it wasn't just for you, it was for the world.

That you could become the best version of you, the most loving, the most like God.

We don't live for ourselves or die for ourselves.

If we live, it's to honor the Lord, and if we die, it's to honor the Lord.

So whether we live or we die, we belong to the Lord.

This is part of the catechism.

If you're a person who studied the catechism, but what is our only hope in life and death?

That we belong to God.

And this is from this text that reminds us we belong to God.

Your neighbor belongs to God, beloved.

Your neighbor is made in the image of God.

And before you say who is my neighbor, that's already been answered.

Everyone is your neighbor.

No one is excluded from that.

Your enemies, they're also your neighbors.

Everyone is included in the blessing of God.

Everyone is included in how we live, fully alive, open to love.

Christ died and rose again for this very purpose, to be the Lord both of the living and the dead.

So why do you condemn another believer?

Why do you look down on another believer?

Because that's what we've been taught to do.

And the invitation is to live differently, to live full of God, to live full of Christ.

You don't have to look down on anyone, beloved.

Everyone has an invitation to live fully alive, to wake up out of our sleep and to hear the voice of God saying, I'm inviting you into true life.

Jesus said this: I have come that you would have life and that you would have it to the full.

What does it look like for you to have a full and thriving life?

God wants that for you.

Love wants that for you.

And the invitation is to live, knowing that that is how God designed you.

And the invitation is for all of us to live as people fully alive.

Not on autopilot.

Have you ever driven somewhere and had no idea how you got there?

What a scary thing.

What a frightening thing that your mind was somewhere else while you were driving an automobile.

That's not the scariest thing we do, beloved.

What if you go through your whole life and aren't even aware of it?

What if you go through life and don't taste the food?

What if you miss the moths and the moths?

I was looking at paint colors the other day, trying to think, you know, design something, and someone said, Well, why don't you look at moths?

They have the best color combinations.

I wasn't that into moths until I started looking at them.

They're fantastic.

Beloved, I want a moth garden now.

I'm gonna like do something so that the when the moon eats white is what you do, and then the moon anyway.

Moths! Have you lived your whole life and not looked at the spectrum of the colors of moths?

Maybe you have, but maybe the invitation is wake up to the beauty that is around you.

Wake up to the love that is around you, to the uniqueness of every person you encounter.

C.S.

Lewis said this, he said, no one encounters a mere mortal.

Every single person that you meet made in the image of the divine.

You don't go to the grocery store and just meet mortals.

You meet another soul.

And our invitation is to live in love with other people and to find ways to be in harmony and to be in peace together.

So why do you condemn another believer?

Why do you look down on another believer?

Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

The scripture tells us this: everyone will give an account for their lives.

Everyone will give an account.

It also says it'll give an account for your words.

I'm glad that the judgment involves restoration and the judgments of God are true.

And the invitation is to understand it is not our place to judge anyone, to condemn anyone, to say someone else is not doing what they need to do.

The invitation is to bring your whole self, your thriving self, into the presence of love and let the presence of Jesus change us.

Allow our thoughts to ascend.

Allow us to open our hearts.

The scripture said, As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bend to me and every tongue will declare allegiance.

Praise to God.

That's hopeful, beloved.

At some point, everyone will see the Christ.

Everyone will have their eyes open so they can see the beauty of this incarnation.

God with us.

Jesus shows us what God looks like.

In fact, the apostle also tells us that Jesus is the perfect image of an invisible God.

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

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God looks like Jesus, and so we see Jesus tending to the hurting of the world.

We see Jesus being attentive to whoever was right in front of him.

We see Jesus being invited to a lot of parties.

That meant that Jesus was a really good time.

I just want to tell you that.

How are you a really good time?

How am I a really good time?

We're in the present moment.

No matter what situation you're in, no matter what happened before you got there, you can be right here in the present moment.

And in the present moment, there is grace.

And in the present moment, there is the power of Christ.

Each of us will give a personal account to God.

Good news, beloved.

You don't have to take account of anyone else's life and anyone else's living.

They will give an account before the all-loving God, the God who sees and knows everyone.

You don't have to keep record of it.

That's good news for you because there's a lot of things in your mind that you have to remember.

We live in 2026 and you need a password for everything.

I couldn't get into something this morning, so I went to an app that I have on my phone called Passwords.

And it says, Do you want to see all 413 of your passwords?

And I thought to myself, no wonder I can't remember them.

There's 413 of them.

And they're all different, beloved.

It's not like the one password I can use.

Everybody's got to be different.

And so there is hope.

Jesus doesn't say you have to have a password.

He says, I'm giving you my spirit.

You'll know it inside, an inner witness, and it will be liberating.

Not just to you, beloved.

You'll be liberating your neighbors.

You will live a life of liberation because you will stop condemning people and stop judging people, and you will allow the Christ in you to be the light by which all of us see.

So let's stop condemning each other.

Let's just do it right now.

Let's just say, this is my intention.

My intention is to live a life of no condemnation.

It also, beloved, means yourself.

To live as a compassionate witness of yourself, to not be hard on yourself.

To not say, well, what did I do?

How did I deserve that?

Beloved, maybe you didn't.

Maybe it's what happened in the wind.

The invitation is to live as a compassionate witness.

Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.

That's such a beautiful hope.

I'm going to live in such a way that I will not harm anyone.

This is again the basis of love.

Love does no harm to the neighbor.

Love doesn't only care about itself, love is generous and love honors.

And so this invitation is to decide.

Decide today.

This is a theme in the scripture.

Make a choice.

God says this I put before you life and death.

Choose life.

I put before you blessing and cursing.

Choose blessing.

And so the invitation for all of us is to decide.

Decide what it looks like to live in a way that you would not be a reason for someone not to feel welcome.

That's a hard one, beloved, because we all have our standards and we're all like, well, this is what I would do.

Beloved, love and let the love of Christ change everything.

I know and I am convinced by the authority of the Lord Jesus that no food in and of itself is wrong to eat.

This would have been a little sketch for anyone who was in that particular time when this was being written, because there were very specific rules that said what was supposed to be eaten and what wasn't.

We all know the rules.

Our parents gave us the rules.

We practice these rules, we practice our kosher traditions.

On the authority of Jesus, no food in and of itself is wrong to eat.

But if someone believes it's wrong, then for that person it's wrong.

It again, personal responsibility, personal conviction.

You're not asked to convince the neighbor that it's wrong.

You just don't eat it if you think that it's wrong.

Now, this is not about healthy food.

This is about the invitation that someone has put on our societies since the very beginning of time.

You should eat this and you shouldn't.

And it's not talking about things that are poisonous, beloved.

This is about things that someone has just deemed is not appropriate.

I was thinking about this recently.

Our children and I were thinking, during uh the Middle Ages and even after that, an institutional church has decided that in order to force people to fast, you can't eat meat on a specific day.

Now, fasting has always been a part of a Christian tradition and this understanding that we often give up our meals so that somebody else can have something, or we do it to attune to spirit and take rest from those things.

But there was an institution that said, on this day, you could have no meat.

Okay, whether you like that or not, but sometimes what if you only have meat?

What do you just, I mean, so go with me for a minute because my kids and I were laughing, going, but the fishermen, they like like slipped a bribe or something in.

They're like, yeah, but they could have fish on that day, remember?

And they're like, Yes, but you could have fish.

And so the invitation is not in fish or meat or what you're supposed to do.

The invitation is eat what is set before you.

What do you have?

How can you share it?

And how can you live in peace knowing that you are not gonna do, you're not gonna sin against your own heart.

If you don't think you should eat that, then don't eat it.

But you don't demand that somebody else doesn't eat it.

Let them enjoy it.

And in fact, enjoy in the presence of them.

Let them eat what they want to eat.

It's not about food, beloved, if you can go there with me.

It's not just about food.

Let people think what they want to think.

Invite them into a higher way, maybe by you having a higher consciousness, but you don't have to micromanage your neighbor.

You don't have to micromanage your people.

If another believer is distressed by what you eat, I love this language because it's a little dramatic, isn't it?

Distressed by what you eat?

That I didn't make sense to me until I went to another country and I saw someone eating something that was distressing.

And I thought to myself, we're all gonna be really sick if we eat this.

It's not true.

I just thought that.

These people had had eaten this their whole lives and they were fine.

But it was distressing, beloved.

Sometimes, because we I it made it distressing in my mind, is all that it was.

In my mind, I was distressed at the thought of that.

But these people thoroughly enjoyed it.

So the invitation is now this is not if you go to somebody else's home.

In fact, the scripture says if you go to their home and they're eating it, eat what's set in front of you.

Just participate.

But in your own time, you're not acting in love if you eat it.

So the invitation is you don't do this in front of someone who's distressed by it.

It's not loving to practice that your life that way.

If someone doesn't appreciate your smoking, don't do it in their house.

You know, like so, whatever it is, the invitation is let love be the guide.

Don't let your eating ruin someone for whom Christ died.

And then you will not be criticized for doing something you believe is good.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Beloved, this is what we're invited into: goodness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

That's what it looks like to be a person who is committed to God, that you live a life of peace, that you live a life where you find joy, that you live a life where you find goodness and you participate in those things.

Sometimes people have told us that living in the kingdom looks like a lot of rules.

And Jesus came and said, absolutely not.

Living in the kingdom looks like goodness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

So if you find yourself in a situation where there is no peace, beloved, give consent to the Holy Spirit to change the way you're thinking.

Give consent to the Holy Spirit to allow the situation to have peace over it and bless that situation, bless what somebody else believes.

Living a life of goodness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

There is for us an invitation here, a hope to be fully alive.

One of the earlier saints said, it's the glory of God to see a man fully alive, to see mankind fully alive.

It's God's delight and joy for you to enjoy your life.

Jesus said, I've come and I've come that you would have abundant life.

Enjoy your pets, beloved.

Enjoy them as ministers and witnesses of God's mercy and his love.

Enjoy nature.

Have you seen the ocean recently?

We live in Florida, beloved.

If you haven't, take a day trip.

I mean, just literally stand there and allow yourself to see the grandeur.

We live here in Florida too.

So if you can't get to the ocean, go to the springs.

Look at nature around you.

Let it testify to you that there is a God of abundance, that there is a God of diversity, and that God is inviting you to the table.

We're going to practice holy communion in just a moment, and that's the climax of the service.

I mean, that is the highlight.

I know most of you came for this reason.

How do we get the body and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ?

How do we participate?

How do we become one?

And the communion table does that.

I want to read to us this morning from 2 Corinthians chapter 9.

2 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

Remember, a stingy planter gets a stingy crop, and a lavish planter gets a lavish crop.

I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over and make up your own mind what you will give.

Every person decides, listens, God has, you know, uh, if you don't know how much, start with the tithe, start with the 10%, that's the bottom, and then start to this generosity.

In fact, the New Testament church in the book of Acts just said if they had a need, somebody else found a way to meet it.

That together there was this generosity, this idea of how do we use what's in our hands for the good of everyone?

How do we build a community where no one is left off?

I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over.

Make up your mind what you will give.

And that will protect you against sob stories and arm twisting.

God loves it when a giver delights in the giving.

This is an invitation for us to live generous lives and to be generous with everyone, but also to be generous with ourselves in the teaching and in the community of the church.

God can pour blessings in astonishing ways so that you're ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done.

As one of the psalmists puts it, he throws caution to the wind, giving to the needy and reckless abandon.

His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out.

This most generous God, and this is where the Holy Spirit expands our imagination.

There's a rabbi who said, You don't have to give if God didn't give it to you.

Well, I thought that was a really good thing.

What do you have that God didn't give to you?

Your breath?

Well, you don't have to give on that.

Just whatever God gave you, give a portion of that.

The most generous God who gives seed to the farmer and then becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you.

He gives you something that you can give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God, carrying out this social relief work.

Beloved, I want to remind you that Jesus is in the restoration business, that Jesus is in the restoration and renewal business, that Jesus invites us to practice resurrection, and we do that by being involved in social work, in work that concerns our communities and our societies, that we should be people aware of these things and working toward peace, working toward justice.

There's a verse in one of the Old Testament prophets, it's in Amos, and God says, Away from me with your noisy press festivals of praise.

Don't sing songs to me.

What I want is justice.

And so the invitation is for us to live as people who work for justice.

Carrying out this social relief work involves far more than just helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians.

It also produces abundant and bountiful thanksgivings to God.

This release offering is a prod to live your life, your very best.

Isn't that so helpful to be reminded to live your very best life?

To enjoy the food that is put before you, to enjoy the clean air that we get to breathe.

It's a little humid sometimes, but thank the Lord for air conditioning.

You can go inside maybe and breathe a little less wet.

The invitation is, though, for us to appreciate the world that we live in and how it draws us into community with God, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the plain meaning of the message of Christ.

What is the plain meaning of the message of Christ?

Good news, beloved, God is with us.

Good news, beloved, you can come home to God.

Good news, beloved, you belong to the family of God.

You show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters and really toward everyone.

Meanwhile, moved by the extravagance of God in your life, they'll respond by praying for you in passionate intercession for whatever you need.

Thank God for this gift, his gift.

No language can praise it enough.

The invitation is for us to live generous lives, not only with ourselves, but with the world around us.

How do you practice radical generosity?

You remember that every single person is made in the image of God and belongs in the family of God.

And whatever you can do to help in those ways, that's the invitation.

Be a part of that practice of recognizing everything that I have comes from God.

And so I intentionally look to be generous with people around me.

I intentionally look for ways to be generous and live life in a way that practices the radical love of Jesus Christ.

We're coming to this moment, and I hope that you would take a breath in with me through your nose.

Hold it for just a moment, and now exhale through your mouth.

Just to remind you to sometimes follow your breath in case you've been on autopilot.

We're getting to the part of the service that I would love for you to be fully engaged.

This particular thing that we do together is an embodied act of worship.

Jesus said, When you gather together, this is what I want you to do.

Following in the ways of Jesus is a way to learn how to live to be fully human.

What if there were things about your humanity that you had not even discovered yet?

How good it is for us to be human.

How good it is for us to be able to have complete joy and also experience despair.

How good it is to be able to have a heart that loves so much that it can actually be broken.

I know sometimes in the middle of heartbreak, it does not feel like a good thing.

But beloved, the capacity that we have to love and then have our hearts broken and love even more, even fuller, there is an invitation to live and to love our humanity.

God loves humanity, beloved, and God, through the incarnation, came and said, He got together with a woman.

I just want to remind you about this.

God said to a woman, I have a plan.

Would you like in on it?

And Mary said, Yes, be it unto me according to your word.

That wasn't the only Mary who said this.

Jesus was crucified, put in a tomb, and died.

And Jesus comes out of the tomb, resurrected by the Spirit of God, and said to a woman, I would like for you to go and explain this to my brothers.

How do you explain resurrection, beloved?

I just want to remind you: the incarnation says that women have a very specific role.

And not at the expense of men, but that there is an understanding that every single person has dignity and belongs and has reason together to say this is what the this is what loving looks like, that we expand our ideas about who's in and who's out and who has more power and who doesn't.

Love doesn't dominate, beloved.

Love includes and draws a circle.

And it's one of the things we practice when we come to the communion table because every single person is invited to the communion table.

You may have heard that there is a rule list for the communion, but I wanted to remind you of the story, and I want to remind you of something that maybe you forgot to think about.

Judas ate too, beloved.

At the meal that was prepared for friends, that was prepared for ones that Jesus loved, Judas was invited to eat too.

And so we need to be so mindful that every single person is invited into their own relationship with God and invited to the communion table.

What we do is enter a great mystery.

How does bread and wine become to us the body and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ?

And why eat it?

What you eat, beloved, you become.

Years ago, um, we were reading an author and he proposed a question.

If Jesus showed up tomorrow and said, you don't have to do anything, stay in bed, I'll live your day for you.

Would anyone notice that there was a difference?

If Jesus was the one serving breakfast, would they notice that it was different than you?

How about the way you drive?

Would anyone notice it was different?

How about the way you love your neighbor or your enemy?

Would it be different?

The invitation is for all of us to live as Jesus did.

The invitation is for us to enjoy our food, enjoy our friendships, enjoy being in the presence of other people, to love and to allow the Holy Spirit to let us have peace with ourselves and with each other.

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

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