Pastor’s Corner – April 13, 2025
Christ’s Humility/Philippians 2:5-11
“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus”
As I write this piece Wednesday late afternoon, the Dow market soared 10%, 3,000 points at the news of a tariff freeze for 90 days. What a ride from a plummeting nosedive this morning. All this because of a single man, who wielded so much power single handedly. All this begs the question: how is this even possible? Where are the checks and balances of power? It’s very disturbing to see nations humiliated that somehow, they are now “begging on their knees” to negotiate new trade deals with Trump. When you have this bullying tactic and arbitrarily dismissing trade deals that were in place before, we must ask the question why should any nation still trust us with new deals? The trust is broken. Our nation’s friends are reassessing their relationship with us, distancing themselves to ensure their interest or even survival in some cases, and making sure our government actions don’t affect them as much. I’m no economic expert but the arrogance and humiliation of others on the global playground to get one’s way is not helpful in building peace and understanding in our world.
On this coming Palm Sunday, the crowd shouted “hosanna, hosanna!” which means save us! We stand at the threshold of Passion week. Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey. He has no military power or billion dollars to his name. He is the opposite of narcissism; with its sense of grandiosity and lack of empathy. In letters of Philippians, Paul writes about Jesus’ humility, how he emptied himself for the life of others to demonstrate God’s love and admonishes us to have the same mind of Christ. This means placing ourselves in other’s shoes for greater understanding and empathy. The kin-dom of God Jesus preached, the message of Good News is simple, that we are all God’s children deserving of respect and love, regardless of legal status, race, gender, social economic status etc. and political affiliations. Is it possible, as we enter the passion week of Jesus, to enter more deeply and reflect our shared human suffering and desire for redemption and what it means to authentically engage with one another for the common good and peace in our world?
Pastor Dae