Pastor’s Corner – June 25, 2023

Matthew 10:24-39

These days the humidity and the temperature outside feels suffocating. I hope everyone stays inside safe and cool. The words of Christ feel threatening this coming Sunday. I feel the sweat running down my body, “I did not come to bring peace but sword.” Jesus turns the world as we know it upside down, “those who do not pick up the cross and follow me, is not worthy of me.” Whatever happened to the gentle shepherd who leads us to green pasture and to still water to feed us and make us whole? “There will be no secrets, anything that was hidden will be exposed! “If you want to feel safe, I suggest you stay home and skip this Sunday!

The passion of Jesus comes from a prophetic tradition that is apocalyptic. What this means is deconstruction of everything we know to be true and to see reality for what it is. When the world values profit over human lives, power and might to determine our future, Jesus in the end directs our attention to the disposition of the human heart that creates our predicament in our world. The church is an agent of God’s Spirit, messenger to our world. Come let us sharpen our sword, the gospel Jesus gave us to deconstruct our world. Let us pick up the cross and follow Jesus. No one is safe, “those who find their lives will lose it, and those who lose their lives for the sake of the gospel will find it.” Amen.

Pastor Dae