Water City Church

Jesus' words, "Blessed are the meek," are a counter voice to the growing number of angry alpha pseudo-religious. They are an invitation... They are a challenge... They are healing...“We may say as a general rule for life that it is never right to be angry for any insult or injury done to ourselves – that is something that no Christian must ever resent – but that it is often right to be angry at injuries done to other people.  Selfish anger is always a sin; selfless anger can be one of the great moral dynamics of the world.” William Barclay

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." Matthew 5:4"Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break,"  Shakespeare, Macbeth

As a follower of Christ, what is our place in this moment? The way of the Kingdom of God is a different path.“Blessed are the poor. Blessed are you who are conscious of your lack of merit and readily open yourselves to the divine mercy.”
 Brennan Manning, The Importance of Being Foolish

Before Jesus ever began his sermon, the disciples first came to him. Are we willing to come to Jesus... even when that means God is going to disrupt our lives?

Matthew 2The Joy of the Magi is on display, contrasted against Herod's rage. “Son,'he said,' ye cannot in your present state understand eternity...That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, "No future bliss can make up for it," not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure they say "Let me have but this and I'll take the consequences": little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin. Both processes begin even before death. The good man's past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven: the bad man's past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness. And that is why...the Blessed will say "We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven, : and the Lost, "We were always in Hell." And both will speak truly.” C.S. Lewis, The Great DivorceArt Study: “The Adoration of the Magi” by Peter Paul Rubens1st - LINK2nd - LINK

Herod the Great is yet another example of the anti-peace of this world.Matthew 2:1 - 18"It is clear how such a man would feel when news reached him that a child was born who was destined to be king.  Herod was troubled, and Jerusalem was troubled, too, for Jerusalem knew well the steps that Herod would take to pin down this story and to eliminate this child.  Jerusalem knew Herod, and Jerusalem shivered as it waited for his inevitable reaction." William Barclay

Luke 1:5–25“Blessed are the ears which hear God’s whisper and listen not to the murmurs of the world.” Thomas A’ Kempis

Matthew 18:26 - 35There are times when the most loving and Christlike thing you can do is say:  “I forgive you…but this relationship has to change.”

Jesus is teaching us to pray in all directions:  The Now:       Give us today our daily bread. The Past:      And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. The Future:    And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

“One of the most curious facts of the Gospels is that there is no definition of the Kingdom.  The Kingdom is described in pictures and in analogies and in its demands and effects, but it is never in so many words defined.” William Barclay

In prayer, as in life, knowing God shapes all that follows.“To hallow God’s name means to treat His name as ultimate, as weighty – to center our entire being around who He is, not to reduce Him to a category of convenience.” Tim Mackie

“We live, as Jesus lived, in a world all too full of injustice, hunger, malice and evil.  This prayer (The Lord's Prayer) cries out for justice, bread, forgiveness and deliverance.  If anyone thinks those are irrelevant in today’s world, let them read the newspaper and think again.” N.T. Wright 

Guest Teacher: Rachel Yokers

In Ecclesiastes, the Teacher declares that limitations point to the meaninglessness of life. Yet, rightly understood, these limitations actually draw us into a life of true meaning.

Ecclesiastes teaches us that joy is God’s gift, even in the midst of life’s contradictions.“Estella, to the last hour of my life, you cannot choose but remain part of my character, part of the little good in me, part of the evil. But, in this separation I associate you only with the good, and I will faithfully hold you to that always, for you must have done me far more good than harm, let me feel now what sharp distress I may. O God bless you, God forgive you!”Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

How are we to navigate this present moment? What are our fixed points? The ancient paths - Love God, Love others AND Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Jesus says all the Law and the Prophets are fulfilled in these.“Those who lead disorderly lives tell those who are normal that it is they who deviate from nature, and think they are following nature themselves; just as those who are on board a ship think that the people on shore are moving away.  Language is the same everywhere: we need a fixed point to judge it.  The harbor is the judge of those aboard the ship, but where are we going to find a harbor in morals?” - Blaise Pascal, Pensees 697

“Happiness can be found neither in ourselves nor in external things, but in God and in ourselves as united to him.”
 - Blaise PascalEcclesiastes 1“I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” - Richard Feynman

Introductions. Who is this Teacher? Is there "wisdom" in Ecclesiastes?“Knowing God without knowing our wretchedness leads to pride. Knowing our wretchedness without knowing God leads to despair. Knowing Jesus Christ is the middle course, because in him we find both God and our wretchedness.” Blaise Pascal, Pensées

The opening chapter of the book of Ruth is complicated for a variety of reasons.  One reason is that the message we choose to hear shapes our hearts more than we realize.So the question is: What are you listening for?Are you listening for offense? For criticism? For failure?Or are you listening for grace, truth, and the whisper of God’s voice?

Ruth 1 - God wants to work in our uncomfortable in-between.