The Good Shepherd

Psalm 23 

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

he refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths

for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk

through the darkest valley,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely your goodness and love will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord

forever.

There are a lot of things to talk about on Father’s Day. As I reflect on my short time of being a father, I often think about the image of God most prevalent in the bible, a Good Shepherd. This Sunday’s lesson is not for fathers though. This lesson is for those who are called to walk alongside God as sheep. To twist the metaphorical imagery, we who are sheep are called to walk alongside others in the way of the Good Shepherd. As sheep who walk alongside the Shepherd, we become like the Shepherd for others to walk alongside. If you’re a father, you have this responsibility to your kids. If you are a mother, you have this responsibility to your kids. If you are a kid, you have this responsibility to your parents and siblings. If you are single, you have this responsibility to your sisters and brothers in the church. Do I need to keep going?

We all have a responsibility to model the Shepherd to one another. The Good Shepherd knows the sheep intimately, caring for their well-being, knowing their struggles, and putting their wellbeing ahead of their own. The Shepherd does not have to fully understand the plight of the sheep in order to care for them. There is a kind of “with-ness” that the Shepherd has with the sheep that they find comfort and peace. Hebrews 2:17 and 4:15 says that Jesus became like us in every way, fully human, and was tempted like us in every way. This does not mean that he understands exactly what you’re doing through as a 21st century American but that he experienced the fullness of being human and can come to a place of empathy and understanding of our struggle. As those who model the Good Shepherd, we take a position of empathy toward one another and create space for “with-ness” so that peace and comfort can be found.

In John 10, Jesus calls himself the Gate for the Sheep, the Good Shepherd. The earliest depictions of Jesus were of a young man carrying a sheep. The image of Christ being a soft, gentle, kind, and pastoral presence is what shaped the early church, how they did life together, and led one another. Take some time to read John 10:1-21 and reflect on who Jesus is for us and who we are called to be for one another as we move from merely being sheep to walking in the way of the Good Shepherd.

A Shepherd is self-sacrificial. Not just sacrificial but selfless in their sacrifice. A Shepherd knows the sheep by name, their tendencies, and their needs. The sheep know the Shepherd’s voice because the Shepherd spends time with them, meeting them where they are, and invests in their lives. This kind of with-ness draws the sheep in, and they want to be close. As those who walk in the way of the Good Shepherd, we must know the voice of Christ in such a way that we respond to sheep with the same kind of love, compassion, and gentle guidance that the Good Shepherd response with. Sheep have a responsibility to follow these Shepherds, but they will only do so if they are known by name. Sheep will draw close to those who know the voice of the Good Shepherd and replicate to for others.

As our church looks to the future, we know that we have a Good Shepherd who leads us and will bring us to green pastures, quiet waters, and be our peace in the darkest of times. What images of the Good Shepherd do you find most comforting? Which ones do you struggle to emulate? What is the Holy Spirit calling you to change in your life to better hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and be that voice for others?

Times of Transition - Christ With Us

“God provides” is a common theme through the wilderness wandering for Israel. They complain about their backs against the wall at the Red Sea and God provides a path (Ex. 14). They complain that they are going to starve in the wilderness and God provides manna (Ex. 16) and in the same chapter they complained about only having manna, so God provided quail. They then realize they are thirsty and quarrel with Moses because he led them into the wilderness to die of thirst. What does God do? He provides water from a rock (Ex. 17). This theme continues throughout the narrative. With the manna, God only allows them to take enough for the day (Ex. 16:4) as an act of faith knowing/trusting that God will then provide again the next day. God led them in a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night (Ex. 13:21). God provides food, water, direction, and protection while in the wilderness. All he asks is that they follow. This ends up being a huge ask and they struggle to do it.

If you’re familiar with the story of the Exodus, you know that they make it to the promised land and they fail to believe God will provide a way and rebel against Moses and God (Numbers 14). They then are sent back into the wilderness to wander for 40 years till they all die. Will the next generation of Israelites allow God to be God and trust that he will provide, or will they be like their parents?

A water filled rock makes an appearance again in Numbers 20. This time Moses is supposed to speak to it but instead he hits it and misses out on taking the people into the promised land. I bring this second rock up because Paul has an interesting interpretation of the rock. In his first letter to the church in Corinth, he gives warning from Israel’s history (1 Cor 10). Side note, he is writing to Gentile Christians and including them in Israel’s history. Paul warns that simply eating and drinking spiritual food and drink does not guarantee that they will be protected. What we are called to is to faithfully follow God, trusting that he will provide. This is not a passive faith but a very active one. Simply going through the motions of eating and drinking spiritual things does not mean you are saved. A life of discipleship, transformed by the one we follow, is the life to which we are called.

Paul says two interesting things here. First, the rock went with them through the wilderness. Second, the rock that accompanied them was Christ (1 Cor 10:4). In this part of his letter, Paul is pointing to the Lord’s Supper as the spiritual food and drink that they eat. It is Christ that gives them their nourishment, but this nourishment cannot be mixed with food from other sources (10:14-22). The struggle we all have is that we want assurance that our needs will be taken care of. We look to politicians, spiritual leaders, ourselves, etc. When we recognize that it is Christ who goes with us and provides for us, we realize that nothing else in this world can fill us the way that he does. The nourishment we receive from Christ challenges all other offerings of this world. I hesitate to say “idols” because that is easily dismissed since idolatry has taken on more nuanced forms in our world today. Anything we seek nourishment from that isn’t Christ, is an idol. Anything we place our hope in that isn’t Christ, is an idol.

Eradicating the idols in our lives takes work, especially when we do not recognize the idols we worship. This is what makes the Christian faith active rather than passive. It is a continual practice of submission to the one who provides and a relinquishment of all notions of providing for our own security through what we make, how we vote, power we hold onto, and anything else that gives us comfort. That is not to say that any of these things are wrong in and of themselves. We must hold them loosely and make sure they have no hold of us.

I will end where I believe Paul begins this section, 9:24-27:

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Times of Transition - Discernment

There are times in the past that when I thought about the early church, I assumed God gave them a clear set of guidelines and rules for how the church should work and function. We want things to be that clean so we can look at the Bible and follow the model without any risk of messing up. The reality is the church evolves. As the church encounters new struggles and wrestles with new questions, they have to change and adapt to the new terrain where they find themselves. One of the places in scripture where this is most on display is in Acts 15.

The church functioned with a set of assumed rules and practices till assumptions were disrupted by a new culture and people. How does the church determine what practices are binding on all the church and which ones are cultural? Does the church have to look the same in one place as it does in another? At what point at the practices solidified as God ordained doctrine or does the church continue to adapt to new situations in an ever changing world?

When we look at Acts 15, we see a Jewish church that is wrestling with how to open its doors to the Gentile world. Peter had preached to Cornelius and baptized his household (Gentiles) when they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 10) and Barnabas and Paul took their ministry to the Gentiles in Acts 13. The church has to react to this change and decide if the assumed practices of their Judaism would then apply to those who were not born Jews. The struggle we see throughout a lot of the New Testament dialogue is whether or not the traditions and interpretations of practices would apply in the new time, place, and people. There were some who demanded that the traditions and practices were God given and therefore binding on anyone who wanted to join. Others saw this as an obstacle to Gentiles coming to know the Gospel and wanted to find an easier path for them.

How did the church make decisions about their future? They didn’t have a blueprint to look at or a rule book for how to navigate these decisions. One clue comes in Acts 15:28-29, in the letter to the Gentile believers, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.”

What is interesting to me about this list is that it ends up not being a binding list forever in the church. How many of you, who I assume are Gentiles, like your steak with any kind of “pink” in it? At some point we became less concerned about this edict against blood. Why? I’ve also never checked about whether or not my food was a sacrifice to an idol or strangled. I don’t want to get too far from the point though. We even have an example of the church moving from some of these requirements from the Council to the Gentiles. In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul says that we know that there is only one God and therefore “food sacrificed to idols” is fine to eat because those gods don’t even exist. The teaching he then gives is about what is best for building up the church. If eating meat is going to cause someone else to stumble because they don’t have the “same knowledge as you” then don’t eat the meat because it’ll cause them to stumble. Wouldn’t it be easier for Paul to just say, “The council told Gentiles not to eat meat sacrificed to idols, so we’re not going to do that at all”?

The part of the letter to the Gentiles I want to focus on for this Sunday is when they say, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…” As the church navigates this time of transition I want us to learn from this time of the early church where they had to seek God’s guidance through the Holy Spirit about what direction they should take. There seems to be two parts to this. They listened to the Spirit and they listened to one another. While it is important to be proactive in making plans, what does it look like to seek the Spirit’s guidance in the process?  

What struggle do you have with the idea of listening to the Spirit for guidance?

How do you see that happening in community?

What does discernment look like in your mind (individually and communally)?

Scriptures to consider:

Romans 12:2

1 Corinthians 2

Philippians 1:9-11

Times of Transition - Light My Path

We are in a time of transition. Times of transition bring about lament, uncertainty, and disorientation. Transition also brings a new sense of purpose, a rekindled relationship with God, and new creativity once we find rest in the hope we have. Our church is entering a time of transition but everything I am writing is a good reminder for the transitions of life. You might feel burdened by the transition of age, a job transition, health, or the changes in our culture that have left many people feeling disoriented. The Bible, as a whole, addresses the stark reality of transition and the very real human emotions that come with it.

The story of Israel can be summed up like this, “Will the people trust God in their transition?” He calls them out of slavery into a promised land. Before they receive the blessing, they enter into the wilderness to learn dependency on God. When they enter the promise land, they forget their dependency on God, become comfortable with what they have, and choose their own way of doing things. This runs directly against the warnings found in Deuteronomy 6 where Moses warns that when they live in a land with big cities and lots of food, “be careful that you do not forget the Lord” (6:12).

In our society, Christians have felt a certain level of comfort for a long time and sometimes assuming that we are in the promised land. Peter reminds the church in his first letter that we are “exiles” and “foreigners” in this world (1 Peter 1:1, 2:11). The language Peter uses here connects us to the time when Israel was removed from their land because they forgot the warnings of Deuteronomy 6. They were carried off as exiles to be foreigners in another land. We are reminded that the imagery of God returning to reclaim and renew his good creation is one of a “New Jerusalem” coming down (Revelation 21:2). We have not arrived yet, so we live in a constant state of transition. When we become too comfortable, where we are we no longer depend on God, we fight to keep our place in the world and hold on to our comforts. The narrative presented in the Garden, when Adam and Eve reach for the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, is that they were reaching for the right to determine what was good and what was evil. They were reaching for their right to be God and be in control.

Times of transition always forces us to answer the question, “Will we depend on God, or will we depend on ourselves?” This is the question asked in the Garden, in the wilderness, in the promise land, and in exile. This is the question Jesus answers clearly for us when he relinquishes his control and says, “not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). The example of Jesus contrasts the regular response of Israel throughout their history. They complain in the wilderness and long to be slaves because they knew where their food would come from (Exodus 16:3), continually reject God as their true King (1 Samuel 8:7), and had a pattern of doing whatever they wanted as they saw fit (Judges 21:25 – a major theme of the book). Jesus continually relinquishes his control and stays present to God’s leading. Throughout John’s Gospel account, Jesus repeats that he only does what the Father tells him (5:19, 8:28, and 14:31).

The life of Jesus is the example of what faithfully following God looks like. He is the New Adam, the one who is truly human, the firstborn, the Adam who did it right (1 Cor 15:45). A walk with Christ is one of being comfortable with the darkness of the unknown and being able to pray, “Lord, give me enough faith to take the next step.”

  • What areas of your life are difficult to relinquish control and trust that God is going to lead you through it?

  • What images of God do you find helpful during times of transition? Father? Mother? All-knowing God? King of Kings? What other biblical images do you relate to?

  • Pray for our church, the leadership, and God’s guidance through this transition.

The Least of These - Serving in our Community

The Gospel of Luke addresses the issue of the poor more directly than any of the other gospel accounts. Throughout the gospel, Jesus challenges the divide between the rich and the poor as he calls the church to live into a different reality from this world, a Kingdom reality. The difficult teachings throughout Luke’s gospel account make us squirm and uncomfortable as they call the church to address the societal divides of poverty and the marginalization that comes with it. When we think of “the rich” we think of those who are richer than we are and fail to recognize and accept the challenge of Jesus’s teachings for ourselves.

Luke’s Gospel begins with Mary’s song where she proclaims that the Messiah she is carrying will “Fill the hungry with good things but send the rich away empty.” The birth of Jesus is then proclaimed to the least of Israel, shepherds (2:8). John the Baptizer proclaims the Messiah’s arrival and calls the people to fruitful living where “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same” (3:11). He then corrects the extortionary practices of tax collectors and soldiers. When Jesus begins his ministry he reads from the book of Isaiah proclaiming, “good news to the poor…freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (4:18-19). After announcing that this scripture is now fulfilled in their hearing, he then pointed to a time when Israel was in need, but God sent Elijah to the needy outside of Israel (Sidon and Syria) to bring them healing. It is at this point that they tried to throw him off a cliff.

Jesus often brings teachings that make people uncomfortable. He challenged his listeners to a point where they wanted to throw him off a cliff. Being with “the least of these” can go too far when we get truly challenged with who these people are in our lives. We’re often willing to send money or provide service from a distance but who are “the least of these” in our lives who push us beyond our comforts in building relationships with them? It is when we learn to be with people where they are, in whatever situation they are in, that we will begin to know God and see the inbreaking of the Kingdom in whole new ways.

Luke’s Gospel has a number of unique stories that are not found in the other gospel accounts that highlight teachings on money and the wealth divide. Encounters with people like Zacchaeus (19:1-10), parables like the rich man and Lazarus (16:19-31), and the parable of the banquets and places of honor (14:7-14), and other examples throughout Luke’s work paint a picture of a new kind of economy in God’s kingdom. Luke then presents the beginnings of the church in Acts with people sharing their possessions and having everything in common (Acts 2:42-47) and continues examples of taking care of the “least of these” within the church throughout Acts. The practice of being with the least of these begins in the close circle of the church where we reevaluate life together in the presence of God.

The church practices the inbreaking of the Kingdom in how bridges are built between diverse people and then moves into the other circles of life to be the gospel for others. Ministry to people in need is always a good thing and helps them in their moment of need. We’re called to move beyond our ministry to and find ways to be with people. This with-ness is relational and transformative. It is a relationship where one is open to receive as well as give. This with-ness closes gaps between people groups and creates space for the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God.

  • When given an opportunity to help serve food to those in need, how can you practice being with the people you serve? 

  • As you continue to go back and serve in those spaces, how can you build on relationship in a way that meets needs beyond hunger?

  • When you serve those in need, how can you enter that space with a hand open to receive from them?

The Least of These - Being With Christ

The separating of the sheep and goats is a commonly known scene where Jesus comes back and gives judgment to the world. In the simplest understanding of this, those who were good go to the good place and those who were bad go to the bad place. The discussion then shifts to what actually constitutes a person as “good” or “bad”? When compared to the worst person I can think of in history, I am a pretty decent person. A word of caution must be offered here. When we read Matthew 25:31-46 as a recipe for salvation, we enter into a pagan notion that we earn or lose our salvation based on our own merit. We also run the risk of oversimplifying “righteousness” as what we do in these few actions to the poor. A good conversation partner, on this front, would be Jesus’s teachings in the Sermon on the Mount.

The parable found in Matthew 25:31-46 is a good reminder though that when we only pay attention to our “sins of omission” (adultery, dishonesty, bad temper, lying, etc.) we can miss our “sins of commission.” This parable reminds us of our call to engage in bringing about the reality of God’s good creation wherever we go. I’ve heard people debate over who the “least of these” are, as if to say someone in need, “Get out of my way poser! I’m going to someone worse off than you!” What I would like to focus on this week is the attitude and goal we have toward the “least of these.”

David Fitch tells a great story of a church in Toronto that illustrates well how the church needs to be present to the “least of these.” The basic summary of the story is that when the homeless people they were serving were asked how they could provide their ministry better, those who were homeless responded that they wanted to bring something to the table, help set up, and serve the church as well. This runs against how most ministries are set up where the church enters a space and ministers to people.

In the early church, followers of Christ took the call of this passage to recognize Christ in the marginalized, oppressed, and downtrodden around them. When we encounter Christ in the face of the hungry do we give them bread and send them on their way or do we long to be closer to Christ and invite them in? What does it look like for us to be closer to the presence of Christ when we are with the “least of these”?

When we recognize that we are serving Christ himself we shift our mindset from seeing people as a ministry and begin to see them as fellow Sisters and Brothers in God’s Family. We open ourselves to being present to Christ in each person we meet. What can we learn about Christ we make ourselves available to being in his presence in the least of these?

  • What do you need to receive from Christ found in those who are oppressed and in the margins of our society?

  • Who are the marginalized and oppressed you struggle to see Christ in the most? Spend time in prayer asking God to give you eyes to see and a heart to love.

  • What do we miss in Christ when we see people as “a drain on society” or see them as suspicious because of their citizen status?

Proclaiming the Gospel - Presence before Proclamation

Our focus this year is being attentive to God’s presence in the world around us and to join in what he is doing. It is imperative that we develop the spiritual muscles to slow down, listen, and discern what God is doing around us as we live life. It is first in being present to the world around us that we are then able to give proclamation to what the Gospel speaks into each situation. The gospel is proclaimed contextually as we are attentive to what the world needs to hear. That’s not to say that we alter the gospel but that we understand the fullness of the gospel in a way that we can begin in different places to walk people toward Jesus.

As we wrap up this three part series on the practice of proclaiming the gospel, I want us to focus on the posture one should take when proclaiming the gospel. In his book on the Seven Practices, David Fitch points to the instructions Jesus gives to the seventy two in Luke 10:1-16, “He tells them to first go into the villages and be present with people. Go to be among them in their homes. Go without power, as lambs among wolves. Go needy, without money ("Carry no purse:" [v. 41). The disciples go as guests. Don't move from house to house. Instead be present, submit, eat what is offered, be a guest, put yourself at the mercy of the order and relationships in this place. In other words, be present. Only after these many instructions on being present does Jesus then instruct his disciples to proclaim the gospel” (p53).

Be present among the people of the world as people who do not use power over others. Take no position where you might have influence over others through your finances but take a place of submission. As guests, be at the mercy of others and the way they have structured their world. It is only at this point that we then have the right to proclaim the gospel in people’s lives. This takes relationships. It takes time. It can be messy and make us uncomfortable. But it is the way Jesus proclaimed the gospel to the everyday people of the world.

  • Why is it important to earn the right to speak the gospel into someone’s life?

  • How can you enter into this world humbly as a guest, submitting to God’s presence?

  • What hinders you most from being present as a guest in this world?

  • How does being a guest in this world allow us to create space for the Kingdom to break in?

Proclaiming the Gospel - He is Risen!

“He is risen!”

This is the good news we celebrate this coming Easter Sunday!

This is the single most important event in history. Why is the Resurrection so important? The Resurrection is the reversal of Genesis 3. The Resurrection is Jesus’s conquering of death. Not just his death but death itself for all humanity. In 1 Corinthians 15, the longest passage on the resurrection, Paul says that “all will be made alive” because the resurrection comes through Jesus Christ who is the firstfruits of the resurrection (15:20-26). Because of Christ’s resurrection, we can proclaim, “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (15:54-57).

When we focus on Jesus’s death for our sins as central to the gospel, we miss the bigger picture of what God is doing in the world through the resurrection. Jesus’s death and resurrection is not about saving a disembodied soul to go exist in a non-physical spiritual world. His death and resurrection is about reclaiming the good creation back to God and ushering in the new reality of God’s Kingdom here and now. When we focus only on the death of Jesus as the salvation of our souls when we die, we shift the focus of the Christian life to obtaining that goal at the end. The hope of the resurrection is that God’s Kingdom has been established here and now and Christ has cleansed us to receive the Holy Spirit as our marker as Kingdom people.

It is by grace that we enter God’s Kingdom. We then live into this new reality as people who have answered the call to follow Jesus as King. As people of the Kingdom of God, we live into this new reality in every aspect of our lives no matter where we live, who is in charge, or what the culture does. When we see the wars, crashes, and tensions in the world, we remember the basic message of the gospel, “He is risen!” Jesus Christ is King yesterday, today, and forever and there is nothing in this world that can shake that reality.

It is our mission as a church to proclaim this good news. After Mary shared the good news with the other disciples, Jesus appeared to them and offered peace to them. In John 20:21, Jesus commissions his followers, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” He then breathed this new life of the Kingdom on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v22).

As people who are called to “Proclaim the Gospel,” we need to know the heart of God and what he desires for his creation. When we see the creation not living into the reality of God’s good creation, we proclaim what the resurrection will bring to these broken realities. Romans 8 says that the whole creation is groaning in anticipation for redemption (8:22-23). The good news is not just for our souls, but for our bodies and the creation as a whole. When we allow the resurrection to shape our imagination, we will find our voice to proclaim the gospel that the world so desperately needs to hear.

Practices to consider:

  • Read the newspaper and identify brokenness you see in the world. Take that to God in prayer and ask that the reality of the resurrection will be revealed to you. What position should a follower of Christ take to bring the reality of God’s good creation?

  • Hold an Easter egg and imagine the tomb opening on Easter morning and New Life rising. How would you explain this New Life to a child?

  • Reflect on the experiences of your life and the world you see around you. What are a few things you would change to make the world perfect? Spend time in prayer asking God for imagination and action to make this perfection a reality.

Proclaiming the Gospel - What is the Gospel Message?

“Proclaim the Gospel!”

What comes to mind when you read this?

Do you imagine someone on the street corner with a megaphone? A preacher in the pulpit? A big tent revival? Do you see a one-on-one conversation where a friend takes the time to share the gospel with their friend who is lost?

I’ve often heard people share that they do not have the gift of evangelism, with the assumption that “proclaiming the gospel” is something left for those who are the professionals or are gifted in some form or another. We each have the responsibility to proclaim the gospel, but we must first ask what the “gospel” is that we are proclaiming?

“God loves you” is part of the gospel but is it the full gospel?

“God wants to save you from your sins” is part of the gospel but is it the full gospel?

“God wants to be with you for all eternity” is part of the gospel but is it the full gospel?

What is the gospel? How you understand the answer to this question is of upmost importance. It shapes how you read the Bible, how you interact with the church, and how you engage the world around you.

The Gospel is the Good News proclaimed that Jesus Christ is Lord and has returned to sit on his throne. God’s everlasting Kingdom breaking in to the here and now is the Good News proclaimed in Jesus’s ministry. This is the message Jesus sends the twelve out with in Luke 9, the message of John the Baptizer in Matthew 3, and the authority in which Jesus sends out the disciples in the great commission in Matthew 28. There are several other references to look to but my main point is that the Gospel writers were telling the story, in different ways, of how God has returned his presence back to his people through Jesus Christ.

When you read through the Gospels, pay attention to the stories Jesus tells and the way he treats people. The message of the Gospel is that this world is going to be turned upside down when Christ takes his place on his throne. How does he take his place on the throne? Through the cross.

Have you ever wondered why the gospel accounts are so long if they are only about Jesus dying so that we don’t to? If Jesus was merely a sacrifice for our sins, couldn’t he have died when Herod killed all the baby boys in Bethlehem? The Gospels are painting a picture of the kind of King we follow so we know what kind of citizens we are to be of his Kingdom.

Revelation 21:5 shows Jesus standing up on his throne, declaring that he is making all things new. The surrounding imagery is that there will be no more pain, suffering, sorrow, or death. All these things will be destroyed in the reclaiming of the creation God made good. There is much more to say about all of this but I wanted to prime the pump.

What does it mean to “proclaim the gospel” to the broken world around us?

What does it mean to proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord in a world of political tension?

What does it mean to proclaim that Christ is making all things new in a world of disaster?

What does it mean to proclaim the death of death in a world of suffering?