So encourage each other. Lift each other up. Take the grace you’ve been blessed with, that we’ve all been blessed with, and spread it around so that the world doesn’t get even more bogged down in despair and fear being driven by the cruel in power. Encourage each other by not giving into the lies and the fear…

I wonder how many opportunities how many opportunities for connection we’ve missed out on in our respective lives for not heeding the call of God—a call to someplace we didn’t expect, or weren’t very excited about; a meeting with someone who landed a little out of comfort zone…

Rev. Amy answers pre-submitted religious, theological, and philosophical (to the best of her ability) questions from the congregation.

As a Christian community trying our best in this broken world to do the good and sacred work we are called to do, as a faith community the most secular state in the country, and also the state which has the third oldest median age in the country (behind only Maine and New Hampshire), we have to think of new ways to tend the sheep. We have to think of new and sustainable ways to continue and honor the work and the love of the incredible volunteers and disciples of our past and present…

…may we continue to dream. May we continue to dream of a world beyond incarceration, beyond borders. May we continue to dream of a world without war and without hatred. May we continue to dream of ways to make that world a reality, may we continue to dream of a world in which everyone can feel that forgiveness and assurance and love regardless of their past, present, or future. And may we be open to Christ’s call…

They did not waver because they paid attention—to Jesus’ prophesy about his resurrection; to every step of his ministry; to his arrest and passion and death to the bitter end; and they knew and they believed that good was still possible, that life was still possible, or else, how could one go on after everything they had witnessed?

Before the preview of a world in which death is defeated, Jesus would have to show his faithful what they were up against. He would have to show his followers that it’s not so easy, and they would have to continue to the work Jesus called them to do long after he was resurrected and ascended. And this is the work we’re still called to do today.

“If [the time] seems to tarry, wait for it; / it will surely come, it will not delay.” God warmly assures Habakkuk. And yet, here we are, thousands of year later, celebrating, but waiting, once again…

…for whatever reason, Mary knew. Mary understood what Jesus had been telling his disciples all along. Maybe she was a better listener. Maybe she was more intuitive. Maybe she was just a little smarter than your average disciple. But how and why she knew doesn’t matter. What matters is that Mary was facing reality. She was preparing for what was to come…

When the prodigal son has hit rock bottom and realizes he needs to return home, it doesn’t say he went home. It says “he set off and went to his father.” Because his father was home. He knew his father would love and accept and embrace him no matter what. His father had set an example for him, of the kind of love and compassion one should aspire to. And though he felt himself unworthy, he went to his father, knowing that was home…

A person, like a plant, a tree, like any living thing, when neglected, will not flourish. The landowner in this parable doesn’t understand or seem to care what this living thing needs to thrive. He hasn’t given it the resources or the care it needs to produce its own life-giving sustenance. And so he sees a useless thing to be destroyed, rather than a living thing in need of love…

What is so threatening about empathy? What is so threatening about attempting to feel what other people are feeling? What is so threatening about putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes? What is so threatening about loving our neighbor as ourselves? Because that’s what empathy is. And it claim that it’s a bad thing for society, to claim that it’s a sin in the context of our Christian faith, is utter blasphemy, Church. There is no other word for it.

So much gets lost to the temptations of convenience and material comforts. So much gets lost to the temptations of the ease of sinking into a couch and pressing a button. We lose connection. We lose out on new experiences. We lose the understanding of the effort and the toil that we are supposed to understand in the baking of our bread… and with that, we lose the utter joy and relief in tasting the result of our labor. We lose the warm feeling when someone tells you how delicious your bread was. And when we hunker down at home to watch movies alone, we lose out on that feeling of hearing another person laugh with you, of hearing those teary sniffles from the person in back of you, reminding you it’s okay to cry, and there’s that feeling of solidarity…

There is, I think, a blessing in what people call the “curse” of Adam and Eve, a blessing in the supposed punishment for humanity’s recklessness; but thanks to our own human ingenuity and perceived need for convenience and immediate availability, our unnatural drive to have everything at our fingertips when we want it, the blessing of this alleged curse has been lost…

It's being with each other that works our empathy muscle—that helps us to understand someone else’s pain or point of view. And empathy helps us practice mercy. “Be merciful, just as God is merciful.” We are called to imitate God…

Blessed are you who are poor, because you understand what it means to want, and the importance of all people receiving the comfort they deserve. Blessed are you who are hungry now, because you understand the importance of every belly on this earth being full. Blessed are you who weep now, for you understand what true joy is when you receive it in the form of love from your friends. Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you, revile you, because you know what it means to be a part of a sacred community, one in which all are unconditionally loved and accepted…

“Do not be afraid” shows up at these times of high drama, at times when it would seem there would, indeed, be much to fear. And you know, in everyday life, it can be infuriating to be told “Don’t be scared,” or “Don’t worry, it’s not a big deal,” when things do feel scary, and when things do feel like a big deal. But I don’t think this is what God or Isaiah or Jesus means when they say “Don’t be afraid.” I don’t think they’re, to use some kind of therapy-speak buzzwords, “invalidating our feelings” by saying this. What they are saying, I believe is, “Don’t let your fear consume you. Don’t let your fear stop you from doing what is right.”

…I think the most telling thing about this is— the last straw was, apparently, having their own scripture being quoted to them. They were being shown with no ambiguity, this is what our faith tells us, and this is what you’re mad about. They were being shown their blatant and blasphemous hypocrisy…

We can have a world free of debt, free of slavery, free of all forms of oppression. That day can be today. Jesus is saying, “Here I am, and if you want to be free, follow me. If you want to work for this kind of world, come with me, because I’ve been sent to bring this world to fruition. I’ve been sent to show you what’s possible if you truly want it.”

This is the time to really think about each of your God-given gifts, and what we can bring to our small corner of the world, what we can do to quell all that tension and fear and anxiety in this community. This is the time to think about how we can come together to…really show that we are a beacon of hope, of light in dark times…

What we have here, in this community of Christ, is priceless. The love we have for one another, bound by our faith in something greater than us, in an ultimate and unconditional love, cannot be bought. It cannot be sold. It cannot be destroyed…