Weekly Update

Genesis 12:1-4a

12:1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.
12:2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
12:4a So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him.

We are in an interesting time at Reconciler. It appears that Chase Cafe may be in the process of being evicted. We had been told that the relationship between Chase and their Landlord was not congenial so this is not entirely a surprise. We have only heard the eviction from Chase's neighbor and have been unable to confirm it with Chase Cafe.
We are though looking at our options. At the moment three possible options are looking at a Cafe in Edgewater Metropolis Cafe, open up talks with Heartland Cafe to see if space we were looking at last summer would still be available to us, and looking into renting the space directly from Chase Cafe's Landlord.
Much to pray about and seek God's leading.
God doesn't always give all the details of what God calls us to, like God's fairly terse command in our Genesis passage this coming Sunday. The details don't always seem clear. The encouragement for us in the story of Abraham and Sarah is that they didn't always get the details right, and yet they are our father and mother in faith. Abraham and Sarah though were following God in this specific command for the long haul. Walking by faith is perhaps this tension knowing what we are called to ultimately and seeking God at the details in the process. Even when God's leading in the details may seem a bit sketchy.
We know to what we are called in the broad outlines. The details can be a bit sketchy at times, and our faith can be tested in not having the details. Abraham to God "And God what land is that exactly, and can you show us the shortest root from here?" God "All in good time, for know go out from the land of your ancestors."

Peace

Pastoral Team

Sermon: First Sunday of Lent

There is no sermon per se, simply a series of notes to share. I was told that I preached fiver good sermons. So, enjoy!

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And so, after he was baptized, Jesus went into the wilderness. “This is my beloved,” proclaimed the voice…that great gentle voice. Then the same dove, that same gentle alighting upon the shoulder drove Jesus into the wilderness for forty days and nights. There in the wilderness, Jesus was tested.

In the wilderness there was hunger....and a battle with scripture.
Then in the city, Jerusalem itself, there was a thought to test God...and a battle with scripture
Finally, on the mountain top, Jesus was handed the whole world...he turned it down and there was a battle with scripture.

Get thee behind me, Satan. Go away. Do not come back here.

Why a test? Why this reenactment of the exodus? That is what we have here. This passage from Matthew is often called the Temptations of Christ. Perhaps some commentators are right and it would be better to call it "The Testing of Jesus." This is a test. And Jesus passes with flying colors. The test is the same that Israel faced in the wilderness. Consistent with the rest of Matthew, Jesus embodies all of Israel, the covenant and her people. But this time, instead of failing and testing the bounds of the covenant, Jesus lives fully into the covenant, following the will of God and not Satan.

Then Jesus goes out and heals and performs miracles. He does no such thing for the Devil. Intention, service, matters. Only after he passes the test does he go an perform the miracles. The miracles are the same that he avoids performing when the Devil asks him to. He performs them only in the service of God.

The issue is who he lives for, whose will he lives into. He understands the promise we have from God. That promise is given to us in the Psalm.

32:8 I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
32:9 Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you.
32:10 Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the LORD.
32:11 Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

God's eye will be upon us. We are not alone in this journey. We are not abandoned to it. As difficult as it is, God is with us in it. Even in the wilderness, God's will for us is the same and God will be with us.

We need not torment one another, one of our favorits passtimes. So often I read this passage and think that we are punished somehow by not following God, but the more simple truth of it is descriptive. We torment one anotther. We torment one another with our scriptural prooftexting. We torment ourselves, denying one another, even ourselves, the love of God, the promise of God's eye upon us. We seldom use the gift of steadfast love. We seldom stand with one another in adversity. We seldom treat ourselves as if we were actually God's beloved. We need stand in steadfast love with one another. This is the nature of God's will. We must trust in God, somehow this is our way and we must find it.

Daniel Harrington reminds us that "humility" and "fasting" share a common root in Hebrew. Jesus forst action, after he is Baptized by the Spirit, is to humble himself. For forty days and nights, he fasts, he prays, he humbles himself. Perhaps this is how he is able to discern Satan so easily. So often i assume that the thing I should be impressed with is Jesus' use of scripture, but that is not it. It is Jesus' humility and the will to follow God that follows humility. The discipline of fasting can lead us to humility and into the will of God. This is Lent. This is why we fast. This is why we "give up" things this time of year. It is not for suffering's sake alone. Our fasting is to make us humble so that we may better discern the will of God.

Then, and only then, may we find our way and emerge from this journey in the wilderness to perform miracles, signs of Gods will for the world.

Thomas Merton has this to say about contemplative prayer. I think that it suits our purposes here. How do we follow this promise in the Psalm? How do we manage the jopurney in the wilderness?

What you most need in this dark journey is an unfaltering trust in the Divine guidance, as well as the courage to risk everything for Him. In many ways the journey seems to be a foolish gamble And you may well make may mistakes. You are thoroughly capable of deceiving yourself. Humility and docile submission to the guidance of a good Director will neutralize the effect of your own mistakes. Even your Director himself may not always be right. But you must trust in God, who "writes straight on crooked lines" and brings good out of evil. What matters in the contemplative life is not for your Director to be always infallibly right, but for you to be heroically faithful to grace and to love. If God calls you to Him, then He implicitly promises you all the graces you need to reach Him. You must be blindly faithful to this promise.

God rewards us with steadfast love.

Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him sayst the psalmist.

Then the devil will leave you, and angels will come and wait on you.

Weekly Update

The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled, by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need that all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith.

When we gather together at Chase Cafe, sometimes I am struck by the novelty of the location. Sometimes I am struck by the starkness of the location. And sometimes I simply notice that it is dark outside. That we worship in the evening has meaning for me. We await the coming dawn. We proclaim a risen light in the midst of darkness.

Eventually winter will pass. Already I notice the difference. The sun is still up as we arrive to set up the worship space. Lent is a time of repentance, a time of darkness in some ways, a of deep reflection. But it is not a time of reflection and darkness for darkness' sake. No, it is always in the light of Christ, a light shining in darkness, that we gather to worship.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial and by reading and meditating on God's holy word. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our Maker and Redeemer.

Let us kneel in the presense of the Light of Christ.

Tripp Hudgins
The Pastoral Team

The Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler

(The italicized portions of this post are taken from the Covenant Book of Worship Ash Wednesday service. Here is a link for you. This is the entire liturgy from our Ash Wednesday service at the Community of the Holy Trinity)

Weekly Update: Friday, February 5

Welcome to another week at Reconciler. We continue to grow in discipleship with one another. Our time of reflection and prayer before the service continues to be of great benefit.

This Sunday will be the last Sunday for that particular shared discipline for a while, as during Lent we will be reading In One Body Through the Cross, The Princeton Proposal for Christian Unity together. It is an interesting book suggesting that ecumenism is a opportunity for repentance, forgiveness and spiritual poverty. If you care to purchase the book for the purpose of this study, let us know. We can use some of the weekly offering to offset any expense. Reading In One Body during the Lenten season might prove enriching for us all.

As a reminder, there is an Ash Wednesday service to be held at the Community of the Holy Trinity at 7 PM, February 9th. The Community of the Holy Trinity is located at 6443 N. Bosworth apt. #2. All are invited.

5:1-12
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

These are sayings of Jesus. They have been addressed to his own and to those who followed out of curiosity. They are guidelines for discipleship to those who follow him and they are prophetic words to the world. As we approach Lent, hold these words of Jesus close to your heart. Let them guide you in discipleship, so that your life may be a witness to the world.

Peace and all good things to you,

The Pastoral Team