We all experience the very real longing for security and significance, but how can we reconcile that with Jesus’ call to deny ourselves, hold riches lightly, and become the servant of all? While the disciples consider the rich to be blessed, and argue over which of them is the greatest, Jesus holds up the example of a little child as the only way to receive the kingdom.
The story of Zacchaeus is a model for how Jesus’ way includes everyone. This new community is diverse and at times uncomfortable. But love is greater than comfort and is able to bring us all together no matter how different we are. This new community is nothing short of a redefinition of what it means to be family.
This week we look at the Jesus’ experience of baptism, the wilderness and an exorcism; and how he “repents”, receives the life of God, and resists and confronts evil. This seems to be a model for experiencing and living a new way, in a new dimension – the Kingdom of God. We also look at Jesus’ challenge to follow him into this new way, and consider how we can receive God and overcome evil both within ourselves and in the world.
A message from the series “New Beginnings.” New Year’s resolutions reflect our hope that our lives don’t have to stay the same. The magi saw a new star and resolved to follow it wherever it led. Our lives are also journeys into unknown territory, and we may still be surprised by how God acts and where we find the Divine.
The birth of Jesus is the epitome of incarnation (God with us). God is love and present in all things. Jesus, as God’s presence, points us to see God all around us: in ourselves, in one another, in nature, in art, in beauty. Christmas is a time when we celebrate that God is here and embrace the new world that God is bringing into being: a dream made real in the birth of a baby in Bethlehem.