Jesus the King of the World for 18 years wandered this earth. As our teacher he stands before us with one truth. Love each other. In so doing you love and honor God.
Matthew 25:40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,* you did it to me.’
It is Monday, January 11, 2021. Last week we watched the riots. We saw people breaking into the US Capital and gleefully waving their Trump and Confederate flags as they stormed this house of the people.
This nation is divided. Be they conservatives, or liberals. People who believe in social justice or white supremacy. Or, individuals who align themselves to the left or the right. We are a nation divided!
One can pontificate as the media does. They fill countless hours as they work to brainwash their followers into believing one story or another. Where is the truth? It lies someplace dormant in the minds of all. To find it we must explore the reaches of the left and the depths of the right. We must understand and contemplate how white supremacy and religious intolerance drives people to hatred.
Christians speak of their Savior Jesus Christ and we read the red words in the Bible. Jesus was the ultimate socialist he believed in a world that cared for each other. He spoke of how we must tolerate, accept, and embrace our enemies. He reminded us of the golden rule – love thy neighbor as you wish to be loved.
Instead, men and women seek to be superior to others. Tribalism and intolerance greed contempt and animosity.
https://andreae.com/Bible/CENTER_OF_THE_BIBLE.pps
The Sunday after Christmas and one wonders if people are here thinking of family, food, fun. Or, if they are reflecting on the wonder of words Jesus spoke, the majesty of his message and the wholeness of the teaching of love, peace, mercy, and friendship.
Instead, one is drawn to reflect on reality. A world divided along religious, racial and cultural lines. Be it right from left, liberal from conservative or male from female.
I was once told to never ask the WHY question. Yet, it is this one question we each must consider when we think of the divisions surrounding us.
A new year is around the corner. The ability to change is inherent in all of us. the challenge is to put friendship and love first. Then we can think of bounty and the goodness of this earth.
First, we must put our mind to preserving the majesty of what the creator enabled.
Reviewing Facebook comments I worry for some who have lost sight of the center. We as a country or maybe we as a globe appear to be splintering into two oppositional groupings.
With this in mind, we should look back in history. 
At 5 PM June 16th, 1858 Abraham Lincoln spoke in the Springfield Illinois Hall of Representatives. He spoke of the issue of slavery yet if we reflect on the bigger issue he was also speaking to those who still insist on racial, religious or any other difference as reason for segregation.
If we delve back in time we find in Luke 11:17, Matthew 12:25 and Mark 3:25 writings of how Jesus spoke of a simple reality. Every Kingdom or house divided against itself will be laid waste, become a desert, fall upon itself or will not stand.
Brother will kill brother
Reverend, You Say the Virgin Birth Is ‘a Bizarre Claim’? https://nyti.ms/2UOW6iT
This particular interview, at this time in the christian year, is an appropriate discussion as we remember the teaching and value Jesus brought to this world.
I have often wondered about the birth and death of Christ. These are the two parts of the life of Jesus Christ which I continue to struggle with.
It is easy to accept the need to create such a noble beginning and end to his life. Easier still when we think of our society and how people are. We must remember they then and still now struggle to learn and embrace complex thought. The mythology helped so many find their way to the true teaching of Jesus.
Surprises. Oh how surprises impact one and each of us. Who is Mary to Jesus? Does this event demonstrate how our bodies can go into a stasis, dead to most – alive in truth.
Gracious in a spacious place -there the truth can be found.
How is it that Mary and Jesus are ever so personally and ever so intimately entangled. Who is this person named Mary?
The Teacher. A teacher who touched billions over thousands of years. One who came, learned and shared. Here to led us into the wilderness. Here to bring us out into the light.
We still have not fully embraced the gift of love he shared with us. We have not recognized the truth is in the love he asked each of us to have for one another.
Jesus, the one among a handful who has finally and ultimately shared the truth these few tried so hard to share with us.
The others who shared with other parts of the ancient world tried to help us understand the mysteries of life, the value of meditation and the glory of God. The one God who created all, sees all, knows all.
The life of a small town, 2000 plus the 1500 students attending the University 9 months of the year, sets a scene for a conversation.
A conversation about community and who we are.
Do those that knew us then, know us now?
The issue of going back is hard.
There is clearly a difference between those that have roots and those like me without.
Who, save family, do I still know from then?
Who knows me, where?
The story of Jesus Mark 6:1-6 as he emerges and his mission becomes clear this passage reminds us.
When he went home he was ridiculed by many,
People who had known him then did not appreciating who he had become.
The story teaches us that we simply need to stand up and go forth.
As he did we simply must continue forward.
The power of Jesus, therefore what each of us must do, is exemplified in the next section mark 6-7-12.
He simply instructs his disciples out to go out into the world and share in the glory of God.
Do we fit in a box because others think so?
Or, do we like Jesus simply continue in the direction?
We all belong, yet where is it we belong?
Who is God calling us to be?
Is it who we know we are?
No, it is who we are here to be.
Who is God calling each of us to be?
Who is God calling me to be?
It is the discernment I struggle with.
Who Am I
Listening to Brian our minister speak of today’s reading, he speaks of the challenge of the storm, we today, are surrounded by a storm set alight by division, fear and the confusion of what next.
Brian speaks of the love within. That love that rests inside each of us. He spoke if how we are turning away from religion.
This led me to ponder the demise of the gentle spirit Jesus tried to instill and restore in each of us. This thought often takes my heart to remembering how Jesus condensed the ten commandments down to two.
“The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
We have lost sight of this need to respect each other. We are torn apart by our differences. We are intolerant and believe we know better. We are divided as to our fiscal and social responsibilities.
The Lords and Masters who stand over us, insight dissension, foster racial attitudes, lie, and corrupt. Comedians, newscasters, authors and pundits make fun of the situation we are in.
Yet the sting of reality persists.
My adaptations of the translation used, to keep you on track to accompany a lot of cut and paste. Not for anyone’s adulation. It is my work available for me to see and refer to.
Jesus’ Red Words
Extracted from the NIV
Time passes and we must be reminded to think back to how it was
Last night, 11 September 2009, I watched hours of material on 9/11.
I saw the planes as the flaming arrow of the False Prophet.
I saw the two towers as the symbol of the moral decay of the False Profit.
Both clashed in a period of 102 minutes we will long remember.
The terrorist is acknowledged and the false prophet stands accused.
Yet the False Profit continues to bring harm to many and shame to those of us who seek to know God and the work Jesus’ expects of us.
When will the False Prophet “Profit” finally be recognized as the work of the devil?
