Traveling Light Relay

Patience in an Age of I Want It Yesterday

James 5:7-12, NRSV

Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the judge is standing at the doors! — James 5:9

• losing patience is like disappointment in God
• Hebrews 12: if we wait on Him, we will receive great things
• 3 pictures of being patient
  • Farmer (James 5:7)
    • submitting to God’s schedule
    • trusting God in the mist of pressure
    • grieving rather than grumbling
    • being patient is refusal of self-pity to our lives; once you have self-pity, you are capable to do anything (destructive)
  • Prophets (James 5:10)
    • being patient as the worldview
  • endurance of Job (James 5:11)
• your impatience with God is directly related to your impatience with people
• 2 ways to cultivate patience; focus on
  • the Gospel – story of grace and patience
  • God’s majesty

Tags: city church sf, rev fred

The Meal Jesus Gave Us

1 Cor 11:18-34, NRSV

Reflections

Charis (grace) always demands eucharistia (gratitude). Grace and gratitude belong together. Gratitude follows grace as thunder follows lightning. — Karl Barth

• Don’t mess with my food (Ice dirtier than toilet water)
• Jesus’ Meal gave us:
  • community
    • yet we can still somehow use the meal to divide us, not having it as community, as described in the scripture
  • memory or remembrance
    • it is not just to recall, it is to re-apply, to take it in
  • hope
    • that would lead to transformation

Tags: city church sf, rev fred

Growing into Your Baptism

Galatians 3:23-29, NRSV

Reflections

Baptism does not primarily express our turning from the old life to the new, but rather presents to us the new life toward which we must continually turn. Baptism thus points to God’s generous cleansing and renewing grace poured out upon us, and repentance and faith reflect our grateful response to that grace in faith and allegiance… Baptism does not so much express our faith as it calls us to faith. Yet without a life of growing faith, we will experience none of the blessings that are promised to us in baptism. Faith is our opening of our hands to receive the gifts God gives to us in baptism. If our hands are not open, the gifts may still be offered, but we will not receive them. — James V. Brownson The Promise of Baptism

• Growing into Your Baptism, into Messiah’s clothes
• Baptism – common word, but different people have different definition/idea
  • ritual
  • declaration of one’s faith
  • incorporating into a family
  • receiving new identity
  • transformation
• Fully Grown Life
  • Brings you to the family where there is forgiveness
  • Brings you to the family where you matter
  • Brings you to the family where you have a future , where God’s people is

Tags: city church sf, rev scot

Entertaining Angels

Hebrews 13:1-6, NRSV

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. — Heb 13:2

• the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding – different views of hospitality
• Hospitality in Bible
  • attitude of heart that seeks to turn strangers into guests, then hopefully into friends, then maybe even brothers/sisters
  • strangers as in people not like us
• Power of Hospitality
  • God shows up in mysterious way
  • Power of Grace flows thru you when you are making room for others
  • Things we can do personally
    • invite people into your space
    • invite people to your spiritual home, e.g. church
    • eat together
    • host a small group
    • be “promiscuous”, not with our body, but with our money
  • Corporate Hospitality in City Church
    • CityHope
    • be usher
    • contribute in deacon fund

Tags: city church sf, rev fred

Sermon Series: Living Out the Resurrection
Live by the Spirit

Galatians 5:16-26, NRSV

Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another. — Gal 5:26

• Live by the Spirit, or, Led by the Spirit of God
• a cosmic conflict – between flesh and spirit
  • two worldviews
  • two identities
• pursue the relational wholeness
• Apostle Paul’s challenge to us:
  • never throw in the towel
  • recognize the possibilities of having another identity (two different motivations)
    • root in the identity of flesh (either pride or despair)
    • root in the identity of spirit
  • 3 words to the strategy to this challenge (to root in identity of Spirit)
    • fight!
    • relax! (cut yourself some slack)
    • serve (one another)

Tags: city church sf, rev fred

Sermon Series: Living Out the Resurrection
Gifted for Ministry

Ephesians 4:7-16, NRSV

Reflections

Our imitation of God in this life … must be an imitation of God incarnate: our model is the Jesus, not only of Calvary, but of the workshop, the roads, the crowds, the clamorous demands and surly oppositions, the lack of all peace and privacy, the interruptions. For this, so strangely unlike anything we can attribute to the Divine life in itself, apparently not only like, but is, the Divine life operating under human conditions. — C.S. Lewis The Four Loves

• Leaving a legacy
  • activism as a way to leave a legacy
  • things are not supposed to be the way it is supposed to be
• to be a Christian is like to be part of global healing to restore things they are supposed to be
  • it would be a “truncated” Christian life if we stop right at believing the resurrection
• Ascension – reminds us to go to the world
  • 3 things about ascension
    • Giver of Gifts
    • Reason of Gifts
    • Community of Gifts
  • brokenness of the world
    • because we hide from God, we hide from ourselves, then we start to hide from others, then we start to think the whole world is against us
  • one body, unity, interdependent in community
  • “truth in love”; truth alone, too hard; love alone, too soft

Tags: city church sf, rev fred

Sermon Series: Living Out the Resurrection
Rest

Hebrews 4, NRSV

Reflections

Busyness is the enemy of spirituality. It is essentially laziness. It is doing the easy thing instead of the hard thing. It is filling our time with our own actions instead of paying attention to God’s actions. It is taking charge. — Eugene H. Peterson The Contemplative Pastor

• it is easier to say “I believe” than “I am at rest”
• quantity vs quality of rest
• what is Rest?
  1. we are all restless
  2. real rest comes from the completion of work
  3. intention to acknowledge/recognize God’s command, His creation
  4. “stop hiding, stop striving”
• Rest is
  • rooted in creation
  • found in God
• Sabbath as a spritual issue, rather than tactical issue

Tags: city church sf, rev mike

Sermon Series: Living Out the Resurrection
Meditation

Psalm 1, NRSV

• Meditation
  • empty out your mind
  • fill your mind with scripture, thinking of all the implications
• 5 P’s
  1. Place of meditation
     • between reading scriptures and prayers (obviously I don’t meditate enough to lead to prayers)
     • meditating is like preaching to yourself
  2. Promise
     • that you will be happy
     • but it’s deeper, as in “blessed”, with foundation, rooted, stability
  3. Preparation of meditation
     • who do you listen to
     • who do you belong to
  4. Practice
     • read scriptures
     • keep journal
     • I.D.A.
       • Informative
       • Directive
       • Affective
  5. Puzzle
     • (enjoy it like a puzzle?)
     • (puzzle like a mystery?)

Tags: city church sf, rev fred

Sermon Series: Living Out the Resurrection
Improvising the Word

Psalm 119:9-16, 32-37, TNIV

Reflections

Treat the word improvisation with care. What appears to be brilliant improvisation by musicians is often the result of a lot of hard work. It boils down to this: people who improvise are really calling upon their knowledge of the instrument and their music. The secret is hard work and a desire to move beyond playing other people’s music and playing your own. — Bill Graham

• Improvising the Word (Bill Graham’s quote)
• Internalize the word (like repeat and repeat?)
• Intimate
1. to be “in love” with the word
2. does it always require heart break?

Tags: city church sf, rev chuck

Lenten Sermon Series: Consider…
Consider Discipleship

Luke 14:25-27, NRSV

Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. — Luke 14:26

• more serious than considering sin, guilt, suffering
• it is considering dying, carrying the cross, it is
1. required
2. costly
3. emotional (to love Him)
4. defining you/your journey; it does not come and go quickly (not quick death)
• the hate in this context is comparatively, not in hostility
• not bandwagon followers
• “under arrest”
• no longer their own
• no longer in control of their lives
• with the shadow of the cross (i.e. carrying the cross)
• no need to think “how I repay the price of sin”
• Related to “defining you/your journey”, comedian Letterman: how I perform on the show defines how I feel for the next 24hr until the next show

Tags: city church sf, rev fred