Like sheep, we must follow and trust our Shepherd. Our readings today tell us to Know, Hear, and See.
As we kick off our Fan the Flame journey, we want to see that this is about the fire of faith in each of our hearts. Our readings illustrate the “triangle of fire.” In order to have a fire you need heat, fuel and oxygen. If any are missing, no fire. But Jesus gives all of these things to us!
It is the second Sunday of Easter, the end of the great octave. The vestiges of our Easter joy can still be felt. Yet, a faint shadow has snuck into our celebrations in the form of Thomas’ doubt and our own. Jesus is risen, and yet we can’t help but still be gripped by the reality of the darkness, sin, and brokenness that still plague us. When doubts arise, we revert to what we know and try and go at life on our own, trying to combat the darkness with darkness. Jesus, however, always draws near when we try and run away, He stoops down into our darkness and doubt to remind us of his presence, forgiveness, and light. Jesus always turns our doubt back to himself. He constantly gives himself to us in tangible ways to remind us of his presence, dispelling our doubt, disbelief, and fear.
"Who will roll away the stone for us?" the women ask. This is a profound spiritual question. Had Jesus not rolled it away, we would be stuck in our graves forever. But even now, that stone traps us in this life, a life filled with the fear of death and misery. The stone rolled away is a portal to a new life with Jesus.
March 28, 2024 at 12 noon service.
March 26, 2024 at 12 noon service.
Too often we have a false perspective of our suffering and only want to escape it.Jesus wants to show us through his suffering that there is some good in our suffering.Jesus welcomes us into his wounds so that we can see that perspective.
The great spiritual paradox is shared by Jesus today: “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.” (John 12:25).This is not self-hatred. It means that you think so little of your life in comparison to how much you love God, you are willing to sacrifice your life. Which is how you save it.The key to this is just like how a side “falls to the ground and dies” - it cracks open and gives way to life. So also our hearts must crack open in vulnerability. There is great risk in this, but it is also the birthplace of love. So we sacrifice our self-preservation which resists this and we find love.
Apologies, the gospel reading was not recorded correctly by Pastor Vieth so please skip forward to 1:40. Thank you
Today, Jesus asks us to sacrifice our crooked, disordered desire so that he might give us a greater, divinized desire. This is terribly difficult because our desires seem to be one of the deepest things about us. Satan has manipulated us into thinking that we are the only ones who can fulfill those desires. Yet, our hearts have become enslaved and have lost their freedom, leaving us looking only for the next pleasure, hit, high, or ecstasy that just might fulfill or satisfy them. We constantly choose darkness over light. In the midst of this, God shows his love for us by sending his Son in the flesh and we have shown our love back by loving the flesh more than the Son. This is horrifying, yet Jesus pursues us all the more. He doesn’t leave us because he knows what’s at stake. He doesn’t want our eternal exile, but our eternal freedom. He keeps pursuing us, even through the excruciating pain of the cross, not only because his desire is for us but because he knows that our hearts will only be satisfied if they desire him. Jesus asks us to sacrifice our desire because we don’t desire enough. He wants to divine our desire so that we can experience the One who can fill our hearts and our desire infinitely: himself.
There is objective truth.The more we hold onto our own, subjective truths the more they kill us. Jesus who is THE TRUTH comes to free us from the lies that deceive us and reminds us of the truest thing in the world: God and his love for us.
Your body is the Temple, a temple - where God dwells. So sacrifice your body - give the gift of yourself.
Do the opinions and approval of certain people matter more to me than what God thinks of me?If He mattered most, how might this liberate me?
Today Jesus is giving you and me, Abraham and Isaac, Peter and the disciples, and the whole church catholic a test: will we choose God or will we choose the treasures of God? Too often we choose the treasures of God because we think they’ll relieve our anxiety and worry and give us security. The truth is, though, that that is far from the truth. The more we try and hoard our treasures, the more worried and anxious we become. In that anxiety and worry, we try and rebuke Jesus when he comes to try and heal us. When we do this, he says to us what he said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God but of men.” He doesn’t say this to hurt us or to cast us into the darkness. On the contrary, he tells us this so that we would be reminded of who we naturally are and to lead us to the place where all of these treasures are sacrificed so that we might receive of the true riches of heaven thus freeing ourselves from all anxiety and worry.