NoDa Church

He is risen! This proclamation and statement of faith is the center of the Gospel that we as Christians proclaim. Because of our over focus on the death of Jesus to save us from our sins, we have sometimes become people who wait around waiting for the day to come when we can leave this place. The resurrection of Jesus Christ ushers in the New Creation and the Kingdom of God lived out here and now by his followers as we wait for it to be made fully known when Christ returns. "His is Risen!" becomes the proclamation of the gospel in every moment of our lives as we see the world's brokenness and breathe new life into it.

What is the Gospel? How you answer that determines how you read and understand the Bible, how you live your life, and how you engage people and the world around you. We need to reclaim the fullness of the Gospel and live into the reality we are to proclaim.

In a loud world where speaking takes more value than listening, the church is called to be a non-anxious presence to create space for listening and reconciliation. The world makes changes through force, through cancel culture, boycotts, and the like. These kinds of movements have potential to change policy but rarely change hearts. The church has a responsibility to step into the tension and bring about a transformative reconciliation the brings people closer together. Paul calls this the ministry of the church as Christ's ambassadors and God's co workers (2 Corinthians 5).

How would life be different if we invited God's presence to be made especially known in the spaces we enter and inhabit? Would it change the way we see people? Would it change the way we act? Eyes were opened to Jesus's identity in the breaking of bread in Luke 24. May the eyes of every person we meet be opened to who Christ is in our lives when we sanctify the spaces around us. At some point this week before entering a community space, pray this prayer: Lord, make me aware of what you are doing in the lives of the people I encounter in this space. Make me attentive to the needs of each person I meet as though I am attentive to Jesus himself. Help me to leave that person more at peace, filled with joy, and/or more in touch with the love of God. Lord, come quickly and make your presence known. Amen. At the end of your day, answer these questions: -  Where did I feel the Holy Spirit tugging at me to act? -  Was I hesitant? Why? -  How would that situation have gone differently if I had slowed down to be attentive to God’s presence? -  Pray that you’ll be more aware and attentive tomorrow.

Read John 6:1-15 as a Eucharistic passage where Jesus takes bread, gives thanks, and then distributes it for the nourishment of the multitudes. Consider the elements of the table: bread and wine. God gives us grain and grapes. We make the bread and the wine and offer it back to God. The mystery of the Lord's Supper is that God then sanctifies the gift we have given and gives it back to us as the body and blood of Christ. Our simple gift is transformed into the nourishment of the church and transformation of the world.  What small gift do you have to give, that when offered to God can nourish the multitudes? 

When we gather together in the presence of Christ, the church becomes one in Christ. The imagery is an assembly of God’s Temple where God’s presence is known in Christ. When we receive the bread and cup, we participate in Christ and are continually transformed into his dwelling place. In keeping with the church being the new Temple where God dwells, I imagine the Lord’s Table as the Holy of Holies where we receive God’s presence to make us his Temple on the move. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 1 Corinthians 10:14-17, Ephesians 2:13-22 Questions for reflection: How would the Lord’s Supper be different if you focused on communal transformation rather than your individual transformation? How would Sundays be different if we believed Christ was hosting our gathering? What makes you resistant to the belief that Christ is present at the Table?

Seven Practices for a Church on Mission The Practice of the Lord’s Table The Practice of Reconciliation The Practice of Proclaiming the Gospel  The Practice of Fivefold Gifting  The Practice of Being with the Least of These  The Practice of Being with Children  The Practice of Kingdom Prayer

The church carries the presence of God into the world as guests where they show up as servants. When we try to impose our way of life on others we are cultivating an environment where we feel more comfortable and lives are not transformed. The cross calls us to live in the power of love in a way that subverts the love of power. When we love power we are missing the way of the cross. 

Jesus used table fellowship to bring people close and put the presence of God on display for their transformation. The problem with Jesus is that he went to all of the wrong people to share God's presence. These "tax collectors and sinners" landed Jesus with the label "drunk and glutton" (Mt 11:19) and also set the context for the three parables we will focus on this Sunday in Luke 15.  Questions to reflect on as you prepare for Sunday: Make a list of the people you spend the most amount of time with. How many on that list do not have a relationship with Jesus? What is your biggest fear in investing your time and energy into having real relationships with people who do not share your values and worldview? Spend some time in prayer asking God to reveal to you who you struggle to have a relationship with and ask that he place you in situations where you have to explore Jesus’s depth of love and compassion for those people. Devotional Blog

I once heard it said that churches do not have a mission but God's mission has a church. What does it look like for the church to live out God's mission? Different churches have taken various approaches to mission over the years. As the world changes, our approach to mission changes. We've been talking about one of the central themes in scripture being God's desire to be present to and in his creation. "Faithful Presence" is how we will approach mission as a church in a culture that have moved away from Christianity. This Sunday we will look at the rhythms of life that move us into the presence of Christ to then carry his presence into the world and be attentive to God's presence and activity in the world around us. This is not a "program" approach to mission but a way of life. As you prepare for Sunday, spend some time reflecting on these questions below. I'd love to hear some of your responses! Questions for reflection: How would your time of worship on Sunday be different if you knew that God was present? How would your view of people change, in the church and in the culture around us, if you could see God perfectly loving people where they were? What group of people would make you uncomfortable with Jesus if you saw him having dinner with them and treating them as equals?

In the great awakening and development of rational thinking through the enlightenment in the western world, one of the ramifications of this philosophical shift is that we largely dismissed God into the heavens where he would never interact with his creation. This understanding of God has shaped a lot of how we understand him and how we read the Bible. While I'm oversimplifying an entire philosophical system which has brought about incredible advancements in so many areas of life (which I highly appreciate), the focus of this podcast is to reorient us to one of the central themes of the Bible. God created us to be in his presence and in his desire for us, he never gave up on finding a way to redeem us back to his presence. This presence is promised to us in the Holy Spirit by Jesus in John 14. This presence is what Moses advocates for in Exodus 33. This presence is what is celebrated in Revelation 21. There are hundreds of other passages to go to. God made his presence especially known in Jesus Christ who made a way for us through his death and resurrection. Because of Jesus, we are invited to live in the reality of the divine community of love found in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This week in our Advent series, we are with John the Baptizer in prison questioning Jesus's ministry and what kind of Kingdom he is here to establish. Jesus paints a picture of the fruit his ministry is producing and sends that back as his response to John. Sometimes the Messiah doesn't act like we would like him to act. He was accused to being a glutton and a drunk and ridiculed for the undesirable people he hung out with. How well does the church model the ministry that Jesus lived? We're called to be a hospital for the sick but that means we have to get close to the sick in order to bring healing. My prayer is that this Advent will be a time of reflection on the kinds of people we need to be open to who need healing.

John the Baptizer takes position in a symbolic location to prepare the way for the return of the king. Israel crossed the Jordan before and must do it again to usher in the Kingdom of God. Repentance is key for preparation of the coming king. What are we to repent of? In this season of Advent, develop a habit of repentance by reviewing your day and examining where you've withheld the love of Christ from others. This regular practice of repentance kills pride and helps to create space for transformation in your life. Lord, come quickly.

Advent is a time of waiting. We are largely impatient people as a society and do not like to wait. This first Sunday of Advent we will look at how waiting for the return of Christ helps us focus on watching for his return. We can easily be distracted by all of the bad things going on around us but those who are at peace in the presence of God will develop eyes to see what he is doing in the world. This type of watching helps us see where God is at work rather than being distracted by the ongoing life around us. Below is a list of parables where Jesus talks about the active waiting we engage in and how it helps us being watchful people. For further reading in Matthew on waiting: ·  The Parable of the Weeds (13.24–35) ·  The Beginning of the Birth Pangs (24.1–14) ·  The Coming of the Son of Man (24.29–35) ·  The Wise and Wicked Slaves (24.45–51) ·  The Wise and Foolish Girls (25.1–13) ·  Gethsemane (26.36–46)

This is part two of "Desiring God's Presence" to prepare us for the season of Advent. Here is a brief overview of last week with some reflection questions.  “What will distinguish me and your people from all other peoples on the earth?” Moses asks of God. The presence of God sets his people apart as distinct from the world. This is a major theme in the Bible that needs the volume turned up a bit so we can hear the melody more clearly. As we talked about last week in Exodus 33, God says he is a God of his word and will give the promised land to Israel. He will even send an angel to clear the way for them. Moses meets with God, as he would with a friend, and demands that God’s presence must go with his people if they are to be distinct from others in the world. God relents and agrees to be present with the people. There are a few takeaways from this passage I want to highlight before jumping into this week’s focus: Moses’s concern was that God’s presence would be with the people, who were “stiff necked” complainers who had little desire for Yahweh God. When looking with concern on the people around you who couldn’t care less about your faith or the God you serve, how often have you cried out to God for his presence to be with them? Moses has a deep relationship with God and feels comfortable being frank with him. Where does this kind of relationship begin? Our world needs more people who are willing to have the kind of relationship with God that impacts everyone around them. Will you develop the habit this next year of spending time with God each day? Spend some time reading and reflecting on Acts 1-2. Here are some questions to help you focus: 1:4-5 – They are told to wait for the Holy Spirit. When in your life have you tended to act on your own behalf rather than waiting on the Spirit? When have you felt lost as to what you should do, and this prompted you to spend time in waiting for the Spirit? What does it mean to wait for the Holy Spirit? 1:12-14 – When they arrived back in Jerusalem to wait, what did they occupy themselves with? Who all were present for this time of constant prayer? 2:1-4 – Who received the Holy Spirit? We often assume it was the 12 but others were with them praying continually in 1:12-14. The context points to the women also receiving the Holy Spirit. If this feels like a stretch, Peter quotes the prophet Joel (2:17-21) about the Spirit being poured out “on all people” where “sons and daughters will prophesy” and “even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit…and they will prophesy.” 2:38-39 – Baptism washes away sins in the same way that the sacrifice at the Temple creates a clean space for God’s Presence to inhabit. Through this Baptismal washing, the Holy Spirit has a place to dwell inside of us. Who is this promise for? 2:42-47 – Luke paints a picture of what the new community of believers looks like in response to becoming the restored creation, the New Temple where the Spirit dwells. What can you do today to be present to God’s presence in your life in a way that draws you into deeper community with fellow believers?

There's an interesting moment in the story of the Exodus. God is so frustrated with the way the people are acting that he tells Moses that he is going to send him on with the people and they will have an angel with them to drive the people out of the promise land but that he will not go with them because he might kill them all. Moses then questions God and says that he has to go with them. The back and forth is interesting but the question Moses asks is the question we need to all ask, "What will distinguish us from all the other people of the earth?" The answer is the presence of God. Being present to God's presence in your life is the first step toward transformation. 

I grew up in a tradition where true discipleship was focused on right teaching, right belief, and right practice of the Christian tradition. When we read the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, true discipleship is more focused on how your life is transformed through relationship with Jesus where his teachings are put into practice and lived out in community as salt and light for the world. Receiving Jesus's words and having a right understanding of them does not matter if they are not lived out in your day to day life. 

This section of Jesus's sermon has a lot of great one liners we like to repeat. Sometimes these get misappropriated and weaponized in ways that are dangerous. Before the sermon begins, Matthew says the followers of Jesus stepped out of the crowd and Jesus began to teach them. These are the people who answer the call to follow Jesus and the people to whom Jesus says, "hear these words and put them into practice." If we want to be wise, we need to concern ourselves with our own transformation first and foremost. How are you doing with your journey of discipleship? Are you a passive observer of Christianity or have you chosen to walk away from everything else to follow Jesus? The journey with Christ is one we walk together, encouraging one another along the way. The journey with Christ forms a community committed to transformation together. As one church secretary used to tell me years ago, "Check yourself, before you wreck yourself, Russell!" 

Jesus challenges the very core of who we are by addressing our love. We often do not love what we think we love. When areas of our life are threatened, we begin to see where our heart is pointed. What are the things that you cannot be detached from? It might be easy to make a list of things you can do without but what happens if these things are taken away from you? Does it illicit anger, fear, anxiety, etc.? Jesus transitions from fasting to treasure and worry. The connection between the practice of fasting and sorting out our love of stuff and our worries is a solid connection. A regular practice of fasting helps us relinquish our control of our lives, detach from our stuff, and let our hearts find rest in the one thing that matters. Jesus calls us to "seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness." When we do this, our heart will be sorted out and worry will drift away.

There are deep motivations behind everything we do. Examining our motivations reveals to us the end that we seek in what we are doing. In this section on the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls us to check our motivations for why we engage in the spiritually formative practices of giving, prayer, and fasting. If we're seeking recognition from others, we will have our reward. Seek first and foremost the heart of God and these tools will be forgotten in the same way an artist doesn't think about a paintbrush beyond the result the brush brings. Let transformation into Christ's likeness guide all you do. Practice: The Lord’s prayer becomes a model for how we should pray and is a useful guide to lead us into deeper prayer: ‘Our Father in heaven, Holy is your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Begin with recognizing God’s holiness and his agenda for bringing his kingdom to this world. This keeps us in check as people who continually long to be gods over our dominion and have our will done. Give us today our daily bread. We ask God to give us our daily bread as a recognition that we are incapable of providing for ourselves. This keeps us in check when we move beyond our basic needs and seek to control what is due us because of how hard we have worked. This proves to be a good lens through which we will examine 6:19-34 where Jesus challenges the focus and longings of our hearts. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Forgiveness is something that is much easier to receive than it is to give. Being honest in prayer about the level of forgiveness we have received from God opens us to the forgiveness we need to offer others. Allowing this guide to take you deeper, the Spirit will develop a heart of compassion within you where you evaluate the alleged wrongdoings of others with the heart of God and have compassion for them which spurs forgiveness. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ The prayer ends with a recognition that life is filled with temptation. I prefer the translation, “let us not fall into temptation,” because I am uncomfortable with the notion that God is tempting us, which is sometimes assumed from this verse. Asking God to deliver us from the evil one is recognition of our inability to do this on our own. True deliverance comes with submission to God’s work in your life. When you try to deliver yourself from evil, you are still trying to be god of your own life. The Lord’s Prayer is a good guide for listening to the Spirit nudge you into areas of your life where you still need to submit to God. Pray the prayer slowly and allow time for meditation on each section. Allow the Spirit to examine your life and lead you into transformation.