SCRIPTURE: 1 Peter 1:17-23
TEXT: 21Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. THEME: We bring a God of love into our world. INTRODUCTION Being sheltered in, I have been watching a lot of Daniel Tiger, the animated version of Mr, Roger’s Neighborhood. Daniel sings little songs of what to do when angry, frustrated, or sharing. These are strategies to use when we find ourselves in these situations. It teaches us how to live in loving relationships with those around us. SCRIPTURE This passage in 1 Peter, is instructional on how to live as Christians in the world, although, instead of a ditty, it begins with a bit of sarcasm. Its asking, “What kind of God are we bringing into the world?”, vs.17 “If we invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile.” If we think of God as a judge, no matter how impartial, then we had better be on our best behavior at all times to avoid being held accountable for all of our sins. The stress would be constant as we live in a world of check and balances, sin and sacrifice, keeping a record of wrongs with good deeds. The author of 1 Peter is saying, “Don’t live like that! Don’t you know that we were ransomed, or freed, from thinking that our lineage or offerings could buy us favor with God. Nothing we do, can do that. Only God’s love for us can, as displayed in Jesus. Love brings us into fellowship with God.” Jesus’ love for us, marks the cross of his death with blood, as a sign for the spirit of death to pass over us, at our death as we are raised with resurrection promise. Jesus’ destiny is love. From the beginning of creation, God lovingly forms us out of the good dust of the ground. As a potter works with clay, we are made in God’s image. Then God breathes life into us, with a soul and a spirit so that we can be participants with God, in the work of creation and as stewards of God’s gifts. The truth that we are obedient to; is about God’s love for us that forgives. We trust that God has our best interest at heart. Nothing about God wants to hurt us, but continues to draw us in closer, into loving relationships with God’s self and with each other. This perspective of God, this understanding we have of who God is, this profound love we experience in Jesus, separates us from the thinking and values held by the world. Our mission, is for all to know God in the way we do and for all to realize the love of God in their lives. APPLICATION The good news of Jesus’ life and resurrection from death, is love’s power for us is transformational. How does this power change us to live transformed lives? I use theological templates to frame what I think about God, faith, salvation and life. These are theological theories of what I believe. I use them in my pursuit for the truth of God. These are the lenses I use to understand the scriptures and to apply discovered truth in my life. When they don’t work, I go back to old ones or modify these theories with the ’new’ that I have learned. I am constantly testing and open to other ways to understand God with what I read, study in the Bible, test out and experience for myself. Taking the truth of God seriously, with each thing I learn, it allows me to change how I see life and how I live. Glennon Doyle, online community organizer, said the first story she ever heard about God was the garden story. First there was one person, then He gave birth to Eve. That is not what she has ever seen in her life, but - okay. Then every time the woman wanted something and went for it, it resulted in something terrible. This story has made women fear what they desire. But that template is flawed, because what she has seen in the world, is that what women want, is good. And if women started to go for it, the power structures of the world would tumble. This is why power structures make women doubt what they desire. If women went for what they desired, our world would be rebuilt on equality, and justice and love and peace. I can see how our faith tradition have used this story to suppress women. Any power structure that instills doubt to control, prejudice for superiority, or manipulates the truth, is flawed. Any world based on equity, justice, love and peace are worthy desires to rebuilt, a better world. But we must be careful not to error on the side of gender bias. Last week Anderson Cooper interviewed the Mayor of Las Vegas who lacked the qualities of equality, justice, love and peace in her care of her citizens and visitors to Nevada. Greed, is a tempter who knows no boundaries. This is why the God we are a witness of, is not a judge out to punish wrong doings, but a God of power, whose love gives humans the ability to be changed and transformed by being loved. The garden story is not about us being a problem that needs to be fixed. It is about God who loves us no matter what. The Gospel story is not about humans who need to be fixed. It is about God who loves us no matter what. This is transformational as we move from our own self-sufficiencies, to a dependency that trusts in God, in a doing things God’s way, towards being in relationship with God as parent and Jesus as friend or sibling, who shows us the imaginative, unbounded love of God. Don’t lose hope. I am depending on the Holy Spirit as I say this. The people we live with, the people we are, the people out there that affect our lives by the decisions they make, have the ability to change and be transformed by the love of God for them, as experienced through Jesus and enabled by the works of the Holy Spirit in them. This template can change, Glennon Doyle’s take of the story of the garden. It can change our behavior of social distancing, from an obedience to the law, to a way to care for others, the vulnerable, over a limitation of our freedoms. Wearing a mask is a good symbol of love transforming our lives, as it will not protect us from COVID-19, but we wear it as a way to show love and concern for our neighbor. We could be sick and not know it, so just in case, we love others by being inconvenienced, by sheltering in our germs, because we have been loved, in an even more profound way by Jesus. CONCLUSION “When you feel so mad, that you wanna roar, take a deep breath and count to 4”, “When you are frustrated, take a step back and ask for help”, “You take a turn Then I’ll get it back”, “ these are simple instructions from Daniel Tiger’s jingles, that are helpful reminders for peaceful living. When we create a loving environment, it can create an opportunity for others to feel respected, valued, cared for and loved by us and loved by God. This is the God we bring into the world, A God whose love for us is imaginative and profound, and has power for us to be change by this transformational relationship with God, as demonstrated by the way we live, and how we live with God and how we live with others.
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April 2024
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