If you missed this past Sunday’s message, I closed off the series on Revealing the Jesus of the Centre by considering the means in which we take all of these great, beautiful, inspiring truths we’ve been learning about who Jesus is and have them move from a bunch of facts we hold in our heads toward something that we hold in our hearts that changes us, transforms us, does something to us toward inhabiting these same traits of Jesus ourselves.
This past Sunday we looked at an aspect of the character and nature of Jesus that the Church has, as a whole, really seemed to have passed over throughout history: Jesus’ non-violence. This is not entirely true – there are pockets of movements over the past few hundred years that would challenge this assertion, but it does seem that overall, the Church has failed to emphasize the non-violent nature of Jesus.
Okay, fine, He is, sort of, but not in the way you think. (Plus, I was looking for a clickbait-ey title to get you to read this and guess what? It worked!) So this past Sunday in the 5th part of our series about Revealing the Jesus of the Centre we asked that question and concluded that Jesus is on the side of the “least of these” AS WELL as those who are self-aware enough to realize their need for Jesus to save them.
Sometimes (all the times?!) my sermons can go a little too long on Sundays… and listen: I’m really, really sorry about that. I’d love to blame it on being a new pastor but anyone who’s heard me speak over the years knows I have this tendency to be long-winded (…and weepy. But I digress). I need to work on this because ain’t no one got time–nor attention span–to stay focused for that long. So here’s what I was thinking – I’m going to try to slim my Sunday sermons by taking what I don’t share there and just moving it over to the newsletter instead. That way as you meditate on the message throughout the week (Because I KNOW that everyone in our community does this… right?!) you can add a few more things to consider as well. And yeah, I should have thought of this months ago.
You might not know this about me but my guilty pleasure is old school Garth Brooks tunes. Specifically late ’80s to mid-’90s Garth. Everything from Thunder Rolls to Ain’t Goin’ Down. My buddies and I have put to memory almost every word of every song from his debut album (1989) ’til, roughly, Sevens (1997). I jumped the Garth train right before he moved into his alter-ego Chris Gaines (though if I’m being completely honest, even that album had a few bangers).
So last week, 4 of us Grassrooters attended Unite ’24 – a biennial (i.e. happens once every 2 years vs. “biannual” which is twice a year… but I digress) conference put on by Jesus Collective. This year’s theme was: “The Prophetic Church: 4 Ways a Church Renewed by Jesus can Surprise the World” and it was, by all accounts, a great few days of learning and connecting with other Jesus Collective partners.
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