I spent last Saturday at one of the few remaining vast landscapes that lack cell service. We hiked through Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California. As we left the park, I opened my phone to share some of the group photos taken among the stunning scenery with my two sister-in-laws who were in the hiking group. And I saw a news flash that there had been another fatality in Minnesota.
We flew home on Monday, and all the way home I spent studying the scripture text for this Sunday. The theme we selected many months ago was “Jesus and the Party People”. I debated using four different scenes of Jesus dining with Pharisees or sinners, or perhaps one of the parables Jesus told about who was invited to God’s party and who actually showed up at the heavenly party. I read a half-dozen Biblical commentaries on Matthew and Luke. But on Tuesday morning, when I sat down to begin drafting the sermon, I just couldn’t write it. Having just watched the frame-by-frame analysis of what unfolded in Minnesota while I was blissfully hiking in the California desert, I no longer had my heart in “Jesus and the Party People”.
It is rare for me to step out of a sermon series to reflect on a current event. But it feels to me like that is what God is calling me to do. So this is a fair warning that Sunday’s sermon will be on “Blessed are the Peacemakers.” I do not pretend for one minute that all of us agree on the facts, nor the interpretation of the events. And I firmly believe that my job is theology and not politics. You deserve my honesty from the pulpit. You deserve a sacred space where you can bring to God the whole of who you are – which includes your personal life and our shared communal life. And so, our worship will sometimes be a space where we can prayerfully, scripturally, faithfully raise questions about how to follow Jesus in a culture not always consistent with the core values of our faith.
I pray for you as you navigate life as a follower of Jesus. I pray for our country as we seek to be a better people. And I ask your prayers for me as I prepare to bring a word on Sunday.
Grace and Peace,
Carla
