Who knows what Euodia and Syntyche were fighting about? It doesn’t matter to Paul, and it shouldn’t matter to us— what matters to Paul is that they get it together so that the innocents who have found a home in this Philippian-Christian community won’t find themselves without a faith community…

So when Paul uses his running metaphor, this metaphor of this race, and says, “…forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead…” he’s telling his friends, don’t get bogged down thinking and stressing about your past… learn from it, and move forward… learn from it and find a way to be at peace…

Grace is what allows us to be good Christians, or as good Christians as we can possibly be, in a world that makes being a good Christian nearly impossible…

But to accomplish those great things, they have to figure out what’s really necessary, what really matters in this world. Paul wants to make it clear that it’s not him—it’s working and acting and loving as one, for the community…

The Holy Spirit requires us to be flexible, requires us to understand those of different backgrounds, faiths, and ideologies. It shocks and surprises us with different levels of understanding, with new ways of thinking about others; it overtakes us, allowing us to see people and the world in new ways… that is, if we let it…

A little anticlimactic, isn’t it? After witnessing yet another miraculous event, the apostles simply go back and pray. But I wonder if this is maybe an example of the apostles finally maturing, finally realizing that they need to really think about the things they’ve seen and been through, that they really need to process everything—the trauma, the grief, the joy, all happening in such a short amount of time. Going back and praying discerning together is exactly what needed to happen before they would begin their brand new ministry…

[Julian of Norwich] could not confine God or Jesus to any one gender, to any one type of being. We are endlessly born in Jesus, in this love and this sweet protection, but we are never born out of Jesus. Despite this, he represents true motherhood…

…the increased comfortability with isolation has pushed us so far from the vibrant communities full of people who once looked out for one another, who once greeted a lost stranger with offers to help instead of greeting them with a gun.

…the word companion comes from the latin cum panis, which means “with bread” or “bread sharer.” In our passage for today, the apostles are doing four things together—they are praying, they’re teaching and discussing, they’re doing good deeds for people in need, and they’re breaking bread together…

We can move on to a time of wrestling with the lack of logic and the leaps of faith we must take in order to find and feel that magic again; and in turn, think about what the hope and promise of resurrection means for us in our modern world. We can, while accepting that we may never fully understand the resurrection, make it magical and awe-inspiring once again…

How often must we put our faith in things we cannot see? How often must we have that relentless, persistent faith and hope that sucks all our energy, that defies all rationality?

In the words of Kierkegaard, “…admirers make the same demands that are made in the theater: to sit safe and calm. Admires are only too willing to serve Christ as long as proper caution is exercised, lest one personally come into contact with danger. They refuse to accept that Christ’s life is a demand.” They refuse to accept that Christ’s life is a demand…

…I can’t help but wonder here, if Jesus is not only feeling sorrow and grief for his friends, but also feeling sorrow and dread for his own future, for the pain and sorrow that awaits him. He sees the tomb, identical to the one he will be in in just a short time. He sees his friends weeping for Lazarus, as they will soon be weeping for him. He smells the stench of death and grief all around him, and he is so full of emotion for his loved ones and so full of fear for himself…

This is the story of man whose disability wasn’t his blindness— his disability was other people’s blindness— their inability to see his humanity…

There’s freedom in being satisfied with having enough. There’s freedom in no longer being tied to worldly power or possessions. Photine is so moved by her conversation with Jesus that she forgets her thirst altogether, she leaves her water jar to go spread the news about Jesus and the type of world he’s trying to bring—a just world for all, an earth as it is in heaven…

That is what Jesus was doing—he was burning it all down, and people were not ready…

God gave the man two orders: till and keep this garden, and don’t eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. So the damage of eating of the fruit has been done; so would it be so much to ask to get back to these basics of caring for and honoring this earth?

“God is not interested in our theology but only in our silence.” This, to me, is not saying that God wants us to sit down and shut up— it’s saying that we need to create that intentional space to see the light in the darkness, when we quiet the world around us for a time and really think about what our faith calls us to do, that’s when we can feel the Holy Spirit…

Maybe just take a minute away from the crush of the modern world as we talked about last week, and stop and think about the negative feelings you’ve felt recently, why you’ve felt them and what you can do to turn them into something positive and productive. And then be truthful with yourself and with your God…

…we need to spread our scandalous spicy message of equality and hope through intention, through actions— through our radical hospitality and by welcoming all into this sacred space, as we did once again last night. We need to shine our light upon all people—so that the disheartened and oppressed may be uplifted by our actions and our good works…