Podcast

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord and join us here today
We take this world to be a certain way
Matters seem settled or maybe just set
Death and taxes and all that
People don’t change, never will
Life is hard and then you die.

And then you came
And you lived among us
And taught us about your path
Your ways
Your kingdom
And you loved people
And you healed people
And you set people free
We killed you for this Lord
But then you overcame death

And then you came to us
Each of us
And now that overcoming is ours as well
We can change
We can become great lovers
Of all the people
We can help ease the suffering of others
We can be a part of the healing of this world
We can be a part of setting people free

Life is no longer fixed
No longer dreary or a drudgery
Even in the midst of suffering or pain
We now live our lives enveloped in your overcoming
And we are overcoming too
Unbelievable
Remarkable
Amazing
Astonishing
Thank you Lord for this life
This life
Hallelujah
Amen

Today’s Talk: chuck smith, jr.

John 20:1-20

INTRO: Every Easter, until COVID, my dad would host a Sunrise Service

(First at the Pacific Amphitheater and later the Verizon Amphitheater)

And most every year he would tell the same story; this one about Mary Magdalene

• you might expect people to say, “Oh no, not this story again,”
  ~ but instead it was, “Oh! This is one of my favorite sermons”
  ~ about forty years ago, a Sunrise Service was held at San Clemente High School
  I went because I heard Eddie Piorek was going to speak
  He also told the story of Mary Magdalene
• I’m don’t intend to recover or carry on a tradition today
  ~ but last week—Palm Sunday—we read the story about another Mary,
  the one who poured perfume on Jesus’ feet
  ~ it felt right to spend a moment with the Mary in today’s story,
  who lost Jesus and then found found him

John, in fact, highlights three Marys who appear in connection with Jesus’ death
Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, who prepared Jesus for his burial (Jn. 12:7)
Mary Magdalene, who stood by the cross and later came to the tomb,
And Mary the mother of Jesus

• but we discover something odd regarding Jesus’ mother
  ~ although there were three Marys near the cross, John names only two of them
  “standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene” (Jn. 19:25)
  he does not mention Mary’s (the Lord’s mother) name
  ~ early in John’s Gospel, John tells the story of Jesus’ first miracle — at a wedding
  again there John doesn’t use her name, but says,
  “and the mother of Jesus was there” (Jn. 2:2)
• it’s not as if this were of great importance,
  ~ but John never mentions his own name either,
  even when talking about himself in the third person
  ~ here is how he refers to himself when Jesus spoke to him from the cross,
  “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby . . .” (Jn. 19:26)
• tradition tells us that later on Mary and John were very close
  ~ that they even traveled and ministered together
  ~ is it possible that they agreed that knowing John was writing the story of Jesus,
  neither one of them wanted attention drawn to themselves?
  so John did not identify either himself or Mary by name?
  If that were so, it’d be a great example for celebrity pastors and church leaders today

Anyway, three Marys are highlighted, and each one had given attention to Jesus’ body

• one of them touched his heart by washing his feet
• one of the touched his heart by desperately searching for his corpse
• and, of course, one of them had swaddled his infant body and placed him in a manger
  ~ three Marys, and at the end,
  Jesus was watching out for each of them, and caring for them

Had the events reported in the Bible not taken place in sexist cultures,

We would have more stories of heroic women

• most of those we meet in scripture are strong, brave, wise, resourceful, and devout
  ~ there’s a character type in the Bible, in which an intelligent and astute wife,
  is married to a dense and clueless husband
  ~ the scenes with Manoah and his wife, Abigail and Naval, Ahab and Jezebel
  are comical—at least that’s how I read them
• so, along comes Mary — and right away, she’s special
  ~ though the other gospels tell us that several women came to the tomb together
  John singles out Mary to give us a look inside her heart
  ~ she believed she owed Jesus a huge debt of love
  she owed him her life,
  which was haunted by several demons until she encountered the Lord
• I want us to hold this in our minds and imaginations while re-living this story

From a literary point of view, John expertly takes us to the tomb in the garden

Through the eyes of the characters, we see everything

• Mary saw the stone had been moved from the entrance
  John stooped to look into the tomb
  When Peter rushed into the tomb, he saw the burial cloths
  Mary eventually looked into the tomb—and saw angels
• and so on it goes

Subtle attention is given to the postures and positions of people and objects

• both John and Mary, “stooping” to look inside the tomb
  The placement and disposition of the linen cloths lying there
  We Mary where she “stood” weeping, and then saw Jesus standing there facing her
  The angels, however we’re sitting in the tomb
• all of this visualization carries us there, that early morning

Action is also highlighted

• it begins with Mary coming to the tomb
  The stone over the door had been moved
  She ran and found Peter and John,
  And they went, and they ran
  So the action goes, all the way to the moment Mary was clinging to Jesus
  (at least, trying to cling to him)
  Jesus told her she could not hang onto him, because he had to ascend to his Father

The importance of all this information—all the details and embellishments—

• is the way the richness of these descriptions work on our imaginations
  ~ we’re able to be there, to see what they see and feel what they felt
  ~ at first, they didn’t know what to think
  and neither do we — at least, not at first, and not all the time
  we venture through periods of unanswered questions,
  and serious deep, dark doubts
• allowing ourselves to feel the Scriptures is one way of getting them into our hearts
  ~ and getting them into our hearts is as important and maybe even more so
  than getting them into our heads
  ~ desire and determination, passion and motivation, love and empathy
  live in the tissues of our hearts

I speak only for myself when I say rational “proofs” of Jesus’ resurrection leave me cold

• if we’re honest, we must admit they work only for people who already believe
• living this many centuries since his resurrection took place,
  ~ it is not something that needs to be proven as much as believed
  now it’s about putting our faith in God and his Son
  now it’s learning to trust him, when there’s no rational reason why we should
  ~ the reasons we have for trusting God reasons are personal more than rational

I’ve heard preachers make statements like,
“We do not judge the Bible by science; we judge science by the Bible!”

• I would agree with the first half of that statement
  ~ we do not judge the Bible by science,
  we judge our interpretations of the Bible by science
  (although science is not infallible)
• the Scriptures are inspired, our interpretations are not
  ~ in fact, we have to have some flexibility in holding onto our interpretations
  ~ but let’s get back to Mary

Mary headed to the tomb before sunrise

Obviously, she was eager to get to the task at hand

• now this whole first half of the chapter is about the body of Jesus,
  ~ but the word, body, occurs only one time in the chapter (only five times in John)
  ~ Mary can’t bring herself to think of Jesus as a lifeless body—a corpse
  she consistently refers to him as “the Lord” or “my Lord”
• the instant she saw the stone was no longer blocking the entrance
  she turned and ran
  ~ she didn’t know why she was running, but assumed grave robbers had been there
  ~ breathless, she tells Peter and John,
  “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him”
  she cannot identify those who committed the terrible crime
  she can only say, “they”—everyone is a suspect
  Of course, she could not have
  guessed that the Heavenly Father had awakened and raised his Son

After Peter and John left the garden, Mary stayed there, crying

Where would she go?

• ever since she met him, her whole life was Jesus
  ~ even tending to his body would have given her existence a meaning
  as long as our crises, our emergencies require action,
  as long as there are things that must be done—or can be done—
  we hold off crying
  ~ but when the dust settles, when there are no more distractions,
  when we’re forced to give up hope, that is when we cry

Bible teachers have offered explanations for why Mary didn’t recognize Jesus at first

• and that, even though John says she turned and looked at him
  ~ but not recognizing Jesus is a recurring theme in the post-resurrection stories
  Luke give us two clear examples
  for instance, with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus
  and there it seems Jesus had a little fun with them
• Jesus knew Mary would not recognize him at first
  ~ and the way I read this, is he started to have a little fun with her too,
• feigning ignorance, as he did with the two disciples
• so he asked her,
• “Woman, why are you weeping?”
•     ~ but it’s as though, when he sees how devastated she is,
• when he hears the anguish in her strained voice,
• he drops the charade, and simply says her name
• CONCLUSION: Everything about this encounter reveals Mary’s desperate love for
• Jesus
• And why did she have this great depth of love for him?
• Because he was good to her
• Because he was good!
• Because he showed her kindness
• Because she knew she mattered to him
• Why did the other Mary pour perfume on Jesus’ feet?
• Why did this Mary cling to him—or at least try to cling to him?
• Perhaps these were the only ways they knew to express their love
• And Jesus accepted and received their love 
• This is why I’ve wanted to demonstrate how John tries to pull us into the story
• He wants us to have an experience of the love of Jesus
• And to love him in return
• God gets so much more from us when he has our love,
• than when we are merely doing our duty
• So, go, enjoy the remainder of this Easter Day
• And for heaven’s sake, HAVE AN EXPERIENCE!

Podcast

Welcome and prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come, Lord, and join us here today

We are full of gratitude that 

You sought us

Found us

Brought us close 

Made us new

And loved us like Your children

We have been so fortunate to live our days with You

To know Your presence

Your loving care

To hear Your voice

Even when quiet and gentle

And this love You have poured into us,

Is the love we want to pour into others

And it makes our hearts glad

Though sometimes—often times—

Life, people (ourselves included),

Are messy

Needy 

Wounded or broken

and life is hard

Loving is hard

Despite our best intentions

Our best efforts

Our determined sacrifices

And things fall apart

Come, Lord, and bind up the disappointed 

Tend their wounds

Chase away their self-doubt

Their self-loathing

And any inclination to condemn themselves

Remind us that You are sovereign

You are making all things new

All people whole

That a dreary, ugly episode for us

Can nevertheless be transformed

That more is happening than we know

That loving others is still our calling

Even when things don’t work out as we hoped

Grant us the grace to continue to love

Just as You have loved us

Morning talk: chuck smith, jr.

“Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive oil made from [an exquisite plant], and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of the disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?’ He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone, so she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.’” John 12:1-8

INTRO: I know this is Palm Sunday and I read the wrong story

However, this is like an introduction to this big occasion, because 

  Jesus came to stay in the home of his friends the day before his grand entrance

   – by the time he reached Bethany, his ministry was winding down

    ~ when we read to the end of this chapter, 

         We come to the end of Jesus’ service to the crowds (in John’s Gospel)

    ~ they will hear nothing more from him, personally

  – in fact, this important detail of limited opportunity is highlighted in this chapter

I wonder how long Mary had been wanting to bless Jesus in this way

  – she not have been sure she’d ever have the opportunity

    ~ but here he was, right there in her home

         if she chickened out now, would she have a second chance?

    ~ turns out, she wouldn’t! it was now or never

  – later on, Jesus will talk about missed opportunities — vv. 35-36 & 46

    ~ when he said, “While you have the light,” that space of time was narrow

Mary must have felt some measure of excitement

  – we bring gifts to people because we love them

     ~ we want to bring joy to their hearts

     ~ but we also worry— What if they don’t like my gift

  – did Mary nervously try to slip into the room without being noticed?

     ~ did she fumble with the stopper in the small clay jar?

or feel embarrassment in front of the disciples?

The times we visited orphans in Russia,

A few of the children gave us gifts

  – something small and worn out that they had held onto for a long time,

     ~ because they had nothing else

had the trinket had been anything of much value,

  the older, bigger orphans would have already taken it from them

    ~ the child bringing the gift would approach one of us with a big smile,

holding tightly to the little treasure in their hands

One boy, maybe seven years old—

    (it was difficult to guess their ages, 

because on their slender diets they did not develop normally)

    ~ with bright eyes, handed me an old fountain pen —out of ink

maybe thrown away or handed to him by another visitor,

  because it was worthless — but not to him

     ~ he had hidden it and hung onto to until then, when he gave it to me

I’ve kept it

The first time I was in Russia, at one of the most impoverished orphanages,

  – a small girl took my hand as we walked from a river back to their dormitory

     ~ and she didn’t let go of my hand until dinner, 

then she grabbed it again until it was time for her to turn in

     ~ ever since then, she has held onto my heart

she wrote a poem and gave it to me just before we drove away

  I’ve held onto that too — in fact, I have it right here . . .

     written in Russian and translated by one of our interpreters

If you sometimes skim through biblical passage, don’t overlook this line:

“The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”

  – I’m certain that John is suggesting something, like a hidden meaning

  – entering a person’s home, we often notice the fragrance of it

     ~ in some cases, the aroma was prepared for our visit

     ~ others times the residents scented their home for their own enjoyment

whenever we went to my grandmother’s home,

  it always smelled like chocolate chip cookies

Some people bring a pleasant fragrance into every encounter,

  – but it has nothing to do with our olfactory sense other than by analogy 

“thanks be to God,” St. Paul wrote, “who . . . through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing” (2 Cor. 2:15-16)

How was it, that Mary’s devotion to Jesus became a problem for someone else?

  – nevertheless, this happens all the time

      ~ a Judas who never felt an overwhelming attraction to Jesus,

who has no idea what it means to be in love with Jesus,

who joins the followers of the Lord, not for the Lord but their own benefit,

     ~ sees another follower offer themselves completely to God,

worship him without restraint,

give him the most lavish offering of praise and worship,

    with their entire spirit, mind and body,

and scoff, or criticize, or find fault with them

  – King David’s wife saw him worshipping God 

as the Ark of the Covenant was carried into the city,

“leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart” (2 Sam. 6:16)

     ~ so he arrived home to her bitter insults and insinuations,

but in his own defense, he said, “It was before the LORD”

     ~ he justified his complete abandon 

as an extravagant expression of his adoration of God

the Lord was his audience — she was just a spectator

These harsh critics are skillful in the way they can conceal their contempt

beneath a veneer of piety and sensible decorum

“Why didn’t she sell that expensive perfume and give the proceeds to the poor?”

  – that kind of logic can infect the minds of others,

who may be truly caring followers of Jesus

      ~ John is the only writer who pins this this complaint on Judas

Matthew implicates all the disciples 

  and Mark said there were “others” who shared those sentiments

     ~ and of course — it sounded good — benevolent — generous

“Leave her alone!” Jesus said — he was immediately her hero, her protector

“Back off Judas! You have enough of your own problems,

and you cannot blame them on her.

If you really care about the poor, you always have them around you,

but you do not always have me.”

  – there it is again — that limitation —

the time will run out, the opportunity will pass

     ~ the day will end and then night will descend

NOW we can celebrate Palm Sunday 

“The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming for the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!’ And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

‘Fear not, daughter of Zion;

behold, your king is coming,

  sitting on a donkey’s colt!’” (Jn. 12:12-15)

Wait! Was that it? John gives the most condensed account of this event

  – Matthew tells us how the entire city of Jerusalem was stirred up,

and even some time later children were still singing in the temple,

“Hosanna to the Son of David”

     ~ Mark is more subdued, but not as much as John

However it is Luke who tells us, that if the crowd had been silent,

“the very stones would cry out”

     ~ perhaps John felt his readers were already aware of those other accounts

We have sometimes heard

  – that the crowd who welcomed Jesus with praises on Palm Sunday

     ~ were shouting “Crucify him” on Good Friday

but according to what John says in verse 12, 

  the crowd on Palm Sunday were out-of-towners

the locals had to ask “Who is this?” (Matthew 21:10)     

     ~ it was the locals—and especially the religious leaders protecting their interests,

who clamored for Jesus’ execution

  – John does add something else no other Gospel reported

“Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus” (Jn. 12:20-22)

     ~ at the beginning of this Gospel, one of the first disciples to follow Jesus was Andrew

he went and found his brother Peter and brought him to Jesus

     ~ another first disciple was Philip,

who went and found Nathanael and brought him to Jesus

     ~ the first two disciples were already bringing others to Jesus

now, at the end of Jesus’ ministry, they’re still bringing people to Jesus

  only this time there is a radical difference: these men are not Jewish

  – neither were the Samaritans Jewish,

     ~ but they shared a distant identity with Israel and belief in their same God

     ~ the Greeks were from a different part of the world and a very different culture

it looks like a new stage in the spread of the Lord’s work

  so it seems odd to me, but John says nothing more about them

What happens next: Jesus just starts talking

And it’s as if he is saying whatever pops into his mind

  – he announces that his hour has finally arrived,

     ~ but he isn’t specific regarding what that means

he uses a figure of speech, that at least WE can understand refers to his death

  then he says those who follow him must walk the same path

     ~ before that can settle in, Jesus reveals something very personal

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me fro this hour? But for this purpose have I come to this hour” (v. 27) 

  – I feel the tension in his voice, 

torn between his mission and his natural inclination to avoid suffering and death

     ~ he didn’t judge himself for having these feelings

     ~ he faced them, acknowledged them, and transcended them

For the third time in John’s Gospel, Jesus talks about being “lifted up from the earth”

  – Jesus was not going to be doing the lifting

     ~ this was going to happen to him

     ~ he was going to be doing something else — a drawing

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (v. 22)

  – in this chapter we’ve seen how people were drawn to Jesus

      ~ Mary, drawn by love

      ~ people drawn to her home drawn by the miracle of Lazarus raised from death

      ~ the crowd as he descended the Mount of Olives, 

drawn by all the wonderful works they had seen

      ~ and then the Greeks, who were drawn to him by who-knows-what or why

  – but when he’s lifted up, all people everywhere are drawn to him.

There’s another meaning to being “lifted up,” 

  – which means exalted, honored, raised to prominence or positive recognition

        ~ humans lifted Jesus up on a cross—his Father lifted up to glory

CONCLUSION: Before we lay down our palm branches,

Quiet our kids, collect our things, and leave the parade down the Mount of Olives

  – there is something Jesus said I want to take with me

“If anyone serves me, they must follow me; and where I am, my servant will be also” (c. 26)

When I pray, I frequently ask Jesus to be with me

His presence holds me together, when everything else is falling apart

But the verse reminds me, that when I’m praying, “O Lord, be with me,”

Jesus is telling me, “Follow Me, and you will be with Me”

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Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord and join us here today.
Gather us together.

When justice fades along with our hopes
Gather us together

When mercy seems distant and foreign and lost and forgotten
Gather us together

When kindness and respect Gentleness and civility
Retreat and feel like old worn memories
Gather us together

When arrogance and pride overwhelm us
And schemes of disregard win the day
Gather us together

When love is focused on things and money
And people are used and misused and torn
Gather us together

Gather us together, Lord
Where you are
Where we can hear your voice
Where our hearts can be healed
Where you make things whole again

Gather us together, Lord, and restore our hope
Reignite our love Rekindle our imaginations
Repair our relationships
Gather us together Lord and give us a song to sing
Fill us with praise for all you do
In our lives day after day
Bring us to worship
In word and deed
Body and soul
Hearts full to overflowing
Amen

Morning Talk: Scotty Smith

Approaching 2025, I found myself struggling with hope for the new year
– I think of myself as an optimist
• for instance, Divorce equals two Christmases and two birthdays
– but today’s world looks grim
• vicious election cycle, out of control inflation, wars, many tragedies, etc.
• I have been searching for hope

Reading through the Scriptures, I came across Paul’s letter to the Romans
– he wrote to a start-up church that he had never visited
• it was a church divided–not unlike our nation and even churches in our nation today
• what caught my attention, was his message to them about a future glory

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans Romans 8:18-26

Paul acknowledges our present suffering, our frustration, and bondage to decay
– these are related to our material situations and circumstances
• that is always where hopelessness is rooted
◦ and there is no denying them
◦ consider the person writing this letter; he experienced a great deal of real suffering
◦ that fact adds power to his words
• our hope lies in liberation from these material concerns
– Paul writes about a hope that is unique to believers
• our salvation in Jesus sets us apart
• he points out, that even though we already have the fruit of the Spirit,
◦ inwardly, we groan as we wait for the fulfillment of God’s work

Really? Even with love, patience, kindness, we still groan inwardly?

Paul explains, “Who hopes for what they already have?”
– when children see their wrapped gifts under the Christmas tree, they have hope
• hope for the special surprise that is hidden from them
• but as soon as the gift is opened, the hope is gone — it is fulfilled
– to me, the fruit of the Spirit is like a sneak peek of heaven
• the fulfillment of our hope
• if life were without challenges or suffering, if it were all ease and fun,
◦ there would be no need or purpose for hope
◦ in fact, that kind of life sounds a lot like heaven

Hope is built into our Christian character

C. S. Lewis described hope as a “theological virtue” that is “not a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian life is meant to do.”
Verse 26 has become one of the most comforting promises for me
– there are times I certainly do not know what I “ought to pray for”
• this verse is like giving a hug to someone who is grieving when words cannot bring comfort
◦ it reminds me of the “Footprints In the Sand Poem”
(There are several different versions of this, but the one that speaks to me is when walking with Jesus along a shore, I look back and see two sets of footprints, but in some places there’s only one set. I turn and complain to Jesus, “Why weren’t You there for me?!” His reply, “Those were the times when I carried you.”)
Henry Alford, “. . . the Spirit also helps our weakness; not helps us to bear our weakness, as if the weakness were the burden, which the Spirt lifts for us and with us, but helps our weakness, us who are weak, to bear the burden.”
• the Spirit bolsters our hope
◦ I believe the next section of scripture can have a similar effect

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered” Romans 8:28-36

Paul faced those very threats he lists
– but he knew was it was to receive from God through Jesus “all things”
William Barclay, “That, to Paul . . . life was an eager anticipation of a liberation, a renovation, and a re-creation wrought by the glory and the power of God.”
• I see this hope also as a fuel for Paul in his ministry of spreading the good news

Story time

When my daughters, Addison and Adrianna, were very small we enjoyed a day at Disneyland. I borrowed a friend’s car to make the trip to Anaheim, but before leaving his house he warned me, “The gas gage doesn’t work, so you might want to fuel up before you get on the Freeway.” Being excited to get to the park right away, I skipped his advice. We went on every ride we could fit into the time available to us, so we did not get back on the road until midnight.

Anaheim boasts being home to “the happiest place on earth,” but Southern Californians know there is a dark side to the city where gangs roam and thugs threaten the safety and lives of others. We were driving through one of those dark areas when we ran out of gas. Fortunately, I could see a gas station down the road. I left the girls in the car with their mom, and walked to the gas station, then headed back with a can of gas in my hand.

I came to an intersection where I had to cross to the other side of the street. I could see two guys on the opposite corner, waiting for the “walk” sign to cross to my side. We would cross paths in the middle of the street. I kept my eyes on them as they came toward me, expecting them to look up. Both were wearing hoodies that covered their faces, kept their heads down, and had their hands in their pockets. I was beginning to feel like this was a weird situation. Now I was looking at them closely, and as they passed by me they began to pull their hands out of their pockets, and they were both wearing latex gloves and in their hands was something metallic–like maybe a metal club or bat. Immediately, I turned and ran. Then they began running after me.

I stayed in the street, running against traffic hoping that one of the drivers would stop and help me. No one did. The two men were also swerving between cars, trying to close the distance between us. I ran faster when there was a lull in the traffic until I was dodging cars once again. When I looked back, they had given up the chase and were running in the opposite direction.

Returning to the car, I quickly refueled, and we were back on the road safe and sound. As soon as my heart slowed enough for me to think semi-clearly, I asked God, “What was that about?” It was one of those times when God was not quiet. What he said to me was, “I’m not finished with you yet.” All I could say was, “Okay.”

Running out of fuel can be dangerous

– running out of hope can also be dangerous
– our sense of hope can be challenged by tragic events, disappointments, loss, confusion, and so on
• by the time Paul wrote the Romans, he was no stranger to suffering and persecution
◦ the very things that can cause our level of hope fuel to run low
◦ but Paul saw his suffering as an opportunity to bring glory to God

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord Romans 8:37-39 (through HIM who loved US)

Oswald Chambers, “These things can and do come in between the devotional exercises of the soul and God, and separate individual life from God; but none of them is able to wedge in between the love of God and the soul of the saint.”

This raises the question, “Why do we suffer if God loves us?”

Is it to glorify God?
To create a contrast between the blessings of heaven and hardness of life on earth now?
To test our faith?

Tribulation is difficult, and I always want to understand the “why” of my suffering
– turning to the Bible’s Wisdom Literature (Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes) I learn:
From Proverbs: God is just. He rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked
From Ecclesiastes: Good is not always rewarded and evil is not always punishment. Everything is meaningless
From Job: The most blameless man gets the worst treatment imaginable
• naturally, Job demands answers from God
◦ God presented him with many of the wonders of his creation and all the operations he oversees
• Job’s response is truly inspired:

“I know that you can do all things;
    no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’
    Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
    things too wonderful for me to know.
“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
    I will question you,
    and you shall answer me.’
My ears had heard of you
    but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself
    and repent in dust and ashes” Job 42:2-6

We won’t always understand what is going on
– some things are “too wonderful for us” (above our pay grade)
• I did not understand why God told me he was not finished with me yet
◦ and it didn’t matter
◦ like Job, the encounter with God was enough to satisfy my soul

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus Philippians 4:7

Conclusion: How are you going to walk in hope in 2025?

How are you going to refuel your hope?
Through sharing the good news with others, like Paul?
Is there something you need to surrender?
Will you bask in eager expectation of heaven, the fulfillment of all hope and joy?

When I look back on my life from here,
I can see where God was present–during my trials and tribulations
So that’s my plan for this year;
to be more aware of God’s presence,
and to pay more attention to the glimmer of heaven sprinkled throughout each day

I will leave you with this Benediction, again from Romans:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,
so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord, join us here today.
Sometimes we get it all wrong
Sometimes we ask the wrong questions
Focus on the wrong things.
Sometimes we are confronted by a situation
A problem
A disaster
And we ask ourselves
If we are clever enough
Or strong enough
Or rich enough
To handle it, manage it,
beat it back
Or make it go away.
Or maybe we try to ride the wave of circumstance hoping,
hoping everything will be okay,
at least for us.

Acting like this is a solo project
And we are on our own
The beginners and finishers
The ones in control
Like we are some kind of super hero
Or just folk lost and forgotten,
alone.

And this is our mistake
And we ask your forgiveness
For in truth we know you are with us.
We feel it in the cool breeze
We feel it in the warmth of the sun
We see it in the warmth of a smile
You are with us in all the ambiguity of life
In all of its complexity
In all of its brokenness

And Lord, we are with you
Willing
Remembering just who you are
And who you have been to us
Knowing you are steady in ways we can never be
Trustworthy in ways we can never be
Concerned and considered and loving in ways we can never be

And we are with you
Partners by your invitation
Made family by your invitation
No longer slaves but friends
Working together for the things your hold dear

Come close today Lord
Hold us dear
Fill us with your concerns
And fill us with your joy
And send us out
Together
To do as you ask
Full of expectation
Full of your peace
Knowing all shall be well
Because You are You
Amen

Morning Talk: Steve Gumaer

Steve and his wife Oddny founded The Novi Community, an non-profit organization devoted to the care of children in war-torn parts of the world. With the help of a clinical psychologist whose passion and mission has been to help children process the traumatic experience of living in a war zone. Without the loving support, close attention, and interaction with care givers who understand their needs, children are left to deal with the cruelty and chaos on their own. Novi provides much needed training to teachers, therapists, and parents to meet these needs. The majority of the training they provide is hands-on, showing care givers how to make use of play, games, personal interactions, and other projects to regulate the hearts, minds, and bodies of these young souls.

The first big question we ask in life is, “Who am I?”
– at first, our sense of identity is derived from our parents
• later on, it is society that is telling us who we are
◦ besides these influences, we are also affected by how we fit in at school and are treated by other kids
• having some idea of who we are, we try to settle into our place in the world
– then life throws us a curve and we get a shock
• perhaps a divorce, or the death of someone we hold dear, or the loss of a job
◦ then we realize we’re not who we thought we were
• at this point, we begin our adult search, “Who am I now?”
◦ we peel back the layers of a self defined by others
◦ we want to get down to the essence of our true self

When I began this adult quest for a sense of self, I read books
– at first I read the Bible
• I assumed that if I did what it said, I would become my true self
◦ I was dutiful in my reading and compliance to scripture,
◦ but I discovered that it’s not that simple
– I read other books as well
• high on my list were books on psychology
◦ from them I learned:
The true self is often hidden by what happened to you as a child
• I realized that was what had kept me from finding the answer to who I am
◦ my early trauma did not result from living in a war zone, but from my childhood home

[It turns out that following Jesus requires us to lose our self in order to find our self (Mt. 16:24-25). We need to see that our “perceived self,” defined as it is by the world (parents, culture, and other influences) is not our true self, which we find in following Jesus. Paul makes a similar contrast between the old self and the new self (Eph. 4:20-24).]

Early in our marriage, my wife Oddny and I found ourselves in Thailand
– we were visiting refugee camps, providing desperately needed supplies to survivors of the ethnic in Myanmar
• during one of our visits, we met Rose, who was a well-known figure in the camps
◦ she had a reputation for the many ways she had assisted others
◦ she launched a program to assist children who were being overlooked in the refugee camps, because they came without parents or older siblings, and had no one to look after their welfare
• Rose had created a “library” for the women refugees
◦ the library consisted of stories the women shared with each other in small groups
◦ Rose’s compassionate leadership allowed them to feel safe enough to tell their stories of being violated by Myanmar soldiers
– in spite of all that she had suffered personally,
• we witnessed within Rose a power, an inexhaustible energy to do good for others
• as I observed Rose, it seemed to me that she had more of Jesus in her than I

A research crew came to Myanmar

They were there to document the plight of the ethnic peoples who were being driven from their villages, and either killed or enslaved
– the crew visited one burned out village, where at first they found no survivors
• but a soft cry led them to one little girl
◦ either her parents hid her and their own bodies were among the dead around the village
◦ or she was separated from them when others fled for their lives
• the crew brought the little girl to Rose
◦ fortunately, the little girl had heard of Rose, and trusted her
◦ Rose became her foster parent
– Rose needed financial support to care for the child
• when asked how much money she would need annually,
◦ she sat down and began calculating what it would cost for food, clothing, and education
◦ she determined the amount necessary to meet the girl’s needs would be $30.00

This, and other experiences like it, sent me back to the Bible

In all my previous study of the Scriptures, what had I missed?
– what I found was a beautiful thread that began in the first five books and ran all the way through to the end
• again and again, God emphasized his concern for the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor
◦ and again and again, he revealed to his people that it was their job to care for the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor
– when Jesus was asked what one must do to “inherit eternal life,”
• he affirmed the two greatest commandments:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind,
and love your neighbor as yourself
• when asked, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus told the parable of the “Good Samaritan”
◦ the parable illustrates what Jesus taught elsewhere,
◦ and the message is anti-racism, showing love to the enemy, caring for the stranger
But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth (1 Jn. 3:17-18)

Today’s news is filled with sights and sounds of the devastation and atrocities of wars around the world
– the suffering and heartache of it is so distressing that we can’t handle it and turn away
• that’s okay to turn away, but it doesn’t mean that we do nothing
• we return to the greatest commandments for instructions as to how we must respond

When Rose took that little girl in and become a mother to her,
– she wasn’t just being a “good Christian”
• she wasn’t just obeying a commandment
• she was love in action
– Rose did not have to advertise her ministry
• people simply knew that they could come to her
• the great commandment is not about doing our duty
◦ it’s about pulling back a curtain and revealing love
◦ to reveal love, is to reveal God to others, for “God is love”

Who am I?
– when we discover the truth, it becomes a whole new source of life and energy in us

Why is The Novi Community in Ukraine?

Why are we in other war zones?
My wife, Oddny, was in Iraq during the United States conflict with Isis
– one night she and her team had to take shelter from a wave of missle strikes
• in the morning they exited from their shelter to a mass of human bodies
◦ out of the rubble, a father came to her with his twelve year old daughter
◦ one arm was bound because it had been severely damaged by shrapnel
• Oddny told the father, “We have to get her to the medic right away”
◦ but he waved her off and speaking English he said,
“Her arm is not her biggest problem. No, her biggest problem is that she is not talking, she is not eating, she is not sleeping, she is not responding to anyone or anything.”
◦ his next words will ring in our ears forever
“It is nice to heal her body, but who will heal her heart?”
– that question has become our challenge
• how can we heal the hearts of children that have been broken by war?

With that goal in mind, we found a clinical psychologist whose research and work has been helping children traumatized by war
– he has been going into Ukraine with us, training teachers, therapists, parents, and other care givers
• they are learning how to work with children to help the process the enormous challenge of living through the nightmare of warfare

Conclusion: The Novi Community is about healing a child’s heart
If their hearts are not healed properly, they’ll be incapacitated to ever live a normal life,
or they’ll be reactive and neurologically dysregulated, unable to control their actions,
or they will be forced to adopt other ways of coping, which may include crime and violence
We have learned from the research of qualified specialists,
that the most reliable to predict a child’s potential healing is
“One adult that the child can trust”
So we go
to war zones
to be with the children there, and walk with them through the nightmare
The person who goes out to love, becomes the embodiment of love
And that is what we strive to be
But the work before us is massive, and we can’t do it alone

We are told that humans are social creatures, that we belong in communities
And it is true; we are all connected
Reflexion–your spiritual community here in Orange County–is a part of The Novi Community
We are one
We are grateful for your love, prayers, and support
You are alongside us and assisting us to have boots on the ground,
providing resources that are helping and healing a generation
Thank you

Sunday, November 17 The Novi Community will host an art exhibit, featuring hand drawn portraits made by children living in several of war-torn cities of Ukraine. Their work will be on display at the
La Ventura Event Center
2316 South El Camino Real
San Clemente, California
The doors will open at 4:00 pm and will run for four hours. There is no admission fee.

Children living in warzones are deprived of basic needs such as safety, education, and nutrition that are required for positive development. They are also exposed to violence, loss, displacement, and all the disturbances created by war. These factors often lead to severe emotional trauma, mental development, social disorders, and skills necessary to thrive throughout their lives and into adulthood.

In the chaos of violence, where young lives are fractured and isolated, Novi reconnects, heals, and uplifts. Supported by care and compassion, these children don’t just survive—they learn, grow, and rediscover joy. Novi equips them to form and maintain friendships and build their futures. We provide specialized training and tools to volunteers, social workers, teachers, therapists, and others who work with children in these high-stress environments. All Novi interventions are based on regional needs and are initiated through local professionals and caregivers. We cooperate with community organizations and institutions, obligating ourselves to the highest ethical standards.

Helping Hands is a play-oriented group activity that helps young children develop emotional awareness and healthy ways to cope with their feelings. Children begin by drawing a life-sized self-portrait and then are led to identify strong emotions, where they are felt on their bodies, and what helps them to cope with these feelings. These impressions are expressed artistically in their drawings. The intervention is adaptable for special needs and can be used in multiple sessions, with a focus on regulation, triggers, coping, and processing. In brief, we are working to preserve the normal childhood life experiences. This activity is just one part of a program that includes play, games, and lots of fun.

We invite you to visit the exhibit and witness the effectiveness of Helping Hands in the lives of the children whose artwork will be on display.

For more information on The Novi Community, please visit novi.ngo

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Welcome and Prayer: Nancy Lopez

Good morning, RefleXion Community. The Lord is with you!

A few times this week I was in conversation with others—and, honestly, with myself—about the condition of our hearts.  Since Chuck is teaching from Jeremiah, it’s easy to focus on the verse that says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”  Even if we believe that in Jesus we’ve been given a new heart, we’re distraught that we still have the old one.  And sometimes then we remain in shame, or fear.  Or we might try to cover it up with an acceptable image.

We know the greatest commandment is, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”  Jesus invites us to bring our whole life and follow him.  So, what does our whole life look like?  Would we go to a doctor and not bring our wounds?  Would we not come to talk about our schedule and plan without bringing an agenda?  Why would we think that we can’t bring our full, sick hearts to the One who created them?  We are not yet fully formed.  We are not yet healed.  And He has the light and love and grace we need.

Here’s the invitation we read in Hebrews,  “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.  There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”  This is the way to healing, not to withhold our sickness, but to bring it in to his presence.  Are we ashamed, fearful, or do we just think we don’t need healing?  In all ways we try to deal with our sin without God, we can call it an attempt at sin management. We bring our whole heart, our whole body, our whole mind to God.  We open to His gracious presence.  Remember how Paul prayed about his weakness, and the Lord said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”?

Let’s not obsess about getting it right.  Trust God; trust Grace.  May we enjoy his presence this morning.

Let me pray for us:

Gracious God, we desire to be made whole.  We hear your good invitation to come in confidence to your throne of mercy and grace.  Thank you for your presence with us always; we are making space for listening and leaning into what you have for us. This world is in chaos; may our participation in it bring hope and peace.  Prepare us to be the people who come in your name, for your glory, for your kingdom, Lord Jesus. Amen

Guest Speaker: Ed Piorek

IT’S ALL ABOUT LOVE

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul
and with all your mind and with all your strength…and love your neighbor as yourself

LOVING GOD
“The first and most fundamental contribution of the Contemplative Tradition is that it constantly fans the
flames of our ‘First Love’ (Rev. 2:4). Its message is this: ‘Love God with all your heart…love God with all
your heart…love God with all your heart. Without heart-love you have nothing.” Richard Foster)

Love is the purest motivation for solitude, silence and simple prayer.
Love desires intimacy above all other things. (Psalm 27:4)

One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.

Psalm 116:1, Jesus’ Prayer.

GOD LOVING US

Contemplation positions us to experience the First Love of God the Father (1 John 4:18)
Love may have felt stirrings in our hearts.

“Trinity inhabits the soul by divinely illuminating its intellect with the wisdom of the Son,
delighting its will in the Holy Spirit, and by absorbing it powerfully and mightily in the delightful
embrace of the Father’s sweetness.” (St John of the Cross)

Love surrounds us even in the silence.

We need to see silence as a living presence of itself…not just an absence, but by that
very fact, a presence.” (Richard Rohr)

LOVING OTHERS

All life is meant to be at the same time profoundly contemplative and rich in active work.” (Merton)

Loving with the Father’s Heart of compassion.
Loving others as human beings created in the image of God.

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Welcome and Prayer: Nancy Lopez

Welcome RefleXion Community!           The Lord is with you!

Last week, when Chuck finished the Meditations on Mark, he offered that the ending, though seemingly truncated, was meant for us to extend by our lives.  I’m reading a book right now, by Parker J. Palmer entitled “On the Brink of Everything.”  His friend had described watching her toddler discover life, and in wonder said that the child was on the brink of everything.  And so are we!  It reminds me of the phrase Jim sometimes uses: “standing on the edge of eternity.” 

It is mysterious and a wonder to be in the meeting place of the unfolding of ourselves and the revealing of each day as it comes to us.  Perhaps the best that we can do is to stay awake and in awareness and to present ourselves as whole and willingly as we are able. 

Or are we striving each day to live the perfect life, and what does that look like anyway?  We believe that Jesus led the perfect life, don’t we?  Well, did He have trouble, temptations, and trials?  Did He have enemies?  Was there chaos and confusion around Him?  You bet. 

I quote Christianity.com here:

“It was fitting that God . . . should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering” (Hebrews 2:10).

Wasn’t Jesus perfect when he was born in the manger? And didn’t he live a sinless life? Wasn’t his death the death of an innocent man? Yes. He was morally perfect. That is one kind of perfection or completion.

But there is another kind of perfection or completion that comes only by experience. Jesus entered fully into the sufferings of this world and emerged victorious over them. He was completed in his experience on the earth by the things he suffered. That is why he may be called the “author” of our salvation.”

A friend of mine says that when her children were little and she read them the fairy tales—you know, the ones that end with “and they lived happily ever after,” she always said, “and they lived happily ever after, with an occasional argument.”  We are on the brink of everything:  things happy and things very hard.

I’m going to try to remind myself of that every morning this week; I’ll let you know how it goes.

Let’s pray:  Dear Lord, save us from the temptation to be made perfect through anything but Your work.  Open our eyes to wonder and to the mysterious indwelling of Your Holy Spirit and to our own souls.  May this day reveal Your Presence to us and Your work for us.  May we awaken to it, and step in to it, for the sake of the Name of Jesus and His Kingdom come.  Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

Intro: We’re going to spend time this morning with a unique person

Elijah was one of the most gifted prophets in scripture
– in fact, he became the representative of all the prophets,
• right up to and including John the Baptist, who came
in the spirit and power of Elijah (Lk. 1:17)
• Elijah will teach us a lesson on hearing the voice of God

Before we get into his story – two points I find interesting

First, if we look close at our story in 1 Kings 19, we’ll find obvious connections between Moses and Elijah (Ex. 34-35)
– Elijah journeys into the same wilderness that Moses had led Israel
• it will take Elijah awhile to reach his destination–forty days (Moses was there with Israel forty years)
◦ Elijah’s destination was Mount Horeb–the same mountain Moses climbed
◦ on Mount Horeb, Moses experienced God as close as any human could
• God told Moses he would pass before him and he did (Ex. 33:19 & 34:6)
◦ using the same Hebrew word, God passed by Elijah (v. 11)
◦ there is, however, a big difference between their encounters with God! (we’ll come to that)
– the other point of interest, is how the storyteller uses “behold”
• five times, we are invited to look at what is happening
◦ in one place we read that, Elijah looked, and behold
• in other words, we’re suddenly looking through Elijah’s eyes
◦ “behold” alerts us to what deserves our attention

Why do we find Elijah taking an arduous journey?

You probably know this story – if not, you need to hear it
• the queen of Israel was a real Jezebel–in fact, she was the original Jezebel
she had a gift for writing nasty letters
• in a letter to Elijah, she swore, “By this time tomorrow, you’ll be dead”
• Elijah read it and “ran for his life” – south, through Judah
down to Beersheba, which was a small town that bordered the wilderness
it was the last outpost of civilization
• Day one: Elijah walked maybe twenty miles into the desert
towards evening he came to small tree and sat down in its shade
• before falling asleep, he prayed,
“I’ve had enough. I can’t do this any more.
O Lord, kill me – better I die by your hand than Jezebel’s.
I tried, but I can’t succeed any more than anyone before me.”
• like much of our prayer, this was not a complete prayer
it was only half a prayer–he just poured out his thoughts
he was venting, saying the words,
but he didn’t expect God to answer
• at some point in the night or next morning, “Behold”
someone was waking him up – an “angel” touched him and told him, “Get up and eat”
• Elijah looked, and behold . . . cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water
he ate, drank, and fell asleep again
• sometime later, the angel returned – he did and said the same thing
only this time he gave Elijah an explanation for the meal, for the journey is too great for you
• Elijah was back on his feet–and he walked for over a month,
day and night, until he reached Mount Horeb, “the mount of God,” according to the storyteller
that has an ominous ring to it
• Elijah settled into a cave – we’re not told how long he was there before the “visitation”
• while there, “behold, the word of the LORD came to him”
“word of the LORD” has a special significance in scripture
it refers to the way God communicated with his prophets
it’s not like a sermon, reading a letter, or listening to news
the word of Yahweh was a divine power – it came with energy
Jeremiah described it as a fire burning in his heart and bones,
and a hammer that breaks rocks to pieces
in this instance, the word of the LORD came with a question
• “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Elijah replied, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life to take it away” (v. 10)
• I don’t know, but to me that sounds rehearsed
it sound like all the thoughts that kept tumbling around inside Elijah’s head
anyway, it doesn’t answer God’s question
an answer to God’s question would have been something like:
“I’m running away–hiding out”
“I’m giving up–handing in my resignation, I failed–I quit”
Or, “I’ve come here looking for answers”
• God’s short response:
“Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD”
And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper 1 Kings 19:11-13
• I said before that there’s a big difference in Moses’ and Elijah’s encounter with God
this is it – God did speak to Moses in thunder and fire
the writer of Hebrews tells us, For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. . . . Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” (Heb. 12:18-21)
Elijah did not hear the word of the LORD in the windstorm, earthquake, or raging fire
but if not in the cataclysms, then what?
• what shall we call what Elijah heard?
The King James Version: a still small voice
The New American Standard Bible: the sound of a gentle blowing
The English Standard Version: the sound of a low whisper and in the margin, a sound of thin silence
• when Elijah heard that quiet voice, he covered face with his cloak
then he stepped out in front of cave, And behold there came a voice to him
God repeated his same question – Why would he do this?
• I can only guess, it is because God didn’t accept Elijah’s first answer
Elijah, however, could not come up with a new answer
his brain was stuck in all the same repetitive thoughts
nothing is new, nothing has changed, nothing creative occurred to him
• So God tells him, “Get back on your bike and let’s try it again”
• in this story, what has God done for Elijah?
God fed him, gave him some physical exercise, had him rest for awhile,
and then God gave Elijah new assignments and sent him back to his work

The design of this story is made so obvious that even children can see it

We want to hear from God, have him answer our questions, reveal his will
– we want it to be so real to us, that there’s no room to doubt it’s him speaking to us
• but he chooses to speak so quietly and mysteriously,
◦ that we cannot be certain whether or not we heard him
• the lesson this story teaches us, is that like God’s prophet,
◦ we have to learn how to listen so that we hear
– if we’re waiting for something loud, or big, or audible, we may never hear God
• we have to learn to listen to the sound of thin silence
In the beginning of Revelation, Jesus dictates seven letters to seven churches, and each letter says,
Whoever has an ear, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches
• it isn’t enough to read or listen to these letters read,
• people need to be attentive and hear the message in the letters
– sounds enter our ears constantly: animal and human voices
• sounds in nature and sounds of machinery
◦ but if they’re not calling my name, I don’t pay attention
◦ we can listen, but not hear (having ears do you not hear? Mk. 8:18)
• so the key to hearing God’s quiet voice is to pay attention
– when our orange tree is in bloom, I sometimes stand near it
• I want to inhale its fragrance – this releases pleasurable neurochemicals in my brain
• listening for God is like savoring – you slow down
◦ you look and let your eyes receive colors, shapes, and shades
◦ you breathe and smell the aromas of the moment
◦ you swallow and feel how your soft palate and esophagus know how to process your food

This last week I was reading in the Psalms and one morning spent time with this one verse:
I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me (Ps. 131:2)
My meditation: “Every believer needs to learn how to do this! We need to be able to calm and quiet our souls in God. ‘Self-regulation’ is the ability to settle ourselves down when we’re upset, afraid, anxious, sad, and so on. In this psalm the poet self-regulates his emotions by visualizing God holding him as a small child is held in its mother’s arms. Those people who have the most unrest in their souls are the ones who trigger agitation in the souls of others, who incite fear and start fights. Because of all that God is to us, we can learn to regulate our own emotions in him and his loving care, and thereby become the calm and soothing voice to others”

Listening means focusing our awareness
– when we get good at this, all we have to do is ask:
“Am I in awareness right now?” and we’ll know instantly
– try this: without moving, be aware of your right hand
• how it is positioned – whatever it feels
• do this for a full minute
• now shift awareness to your left hand and do the same thing
• do you see that you’re able to focus your awareness wherever you want
– to hear God and receive his peace, know where to focus your awareness
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? . . . And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: the neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these (Mt. 6:26-30)
• focus your attention on things that are above on whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, (etc.), then listen to one of those things with all your senses
Brennan Manning, “Being fully present in the now is perhaps the premier skill of the spiritual life.”

I hesitate to tell you this, but it’s important: Have some kind of Bible reading practice
I won’t say that you need to read through the entire Bible
If it helps, stay in your favorite parts and continue to reread them
Discipline yourself to read with awareness, and hold onto what God says to you
Do not simply listen to the Scriptures in your mind, but hear them in your heart and soul

Conclusion: We can choose to make aware listening a habit

It is so seldom that we listen in this way, that when we do,
we almost always receive an insight from God

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Welcome and Prayer: Nancy Lopez

Welcome to the RefleXion Community!  The Lord is with you.

Take a deep breath.  Chuck and Jim almost always use this phrase to lead us in to our quiet time, whether it be here on Sunday mornings or in preparation for Lectio Divina.  Meditation teachers use the breath not only to prepare us, but as an anchor to bring us back to center if our mind wanders during meditation.  I’m familiar with using breath work in these ways.  And, just recently, I have realized that a deep breath or two will bring me back to Presence, to the present, in my daily walking-around life. 

I am often focused on the future: “What’s next?  How can I resolve that?  What’s the plan?”  I have an habitual “future orientation.” Some of us are more “past oriented,” ruminating on “What happened?  Why did I do that?  What if I had made another choice?  That was an awful experience, etc.”  Those types of thoughts keep us in the past.  Our minds can be habituated in either direction, as our pattern of thinking.  The breath has been very effective at bringing me back to being present—to the person in front of me, to God with me, to information being presented.

I’ve been noticing that when I’m stuck in my future orientation mode, it’s accompanied by a sense of urgency, and I have come to realize that that’s because there’s not enough oxygen there—in the future.  My breath is shallow, which creates a sense of urgency, of hurry. It feels to me like inhale, inhale, inhale just to keep going.  I mentioned this to a friend who gets stuck in a past orientation.  She said that to her living there was exale, exale, like a long sigh.  I don’t know if anybody here can relate, but I thought I’d share my experience.  In any situation I can use a few deep breaths to foster Presence.  So, when I catch myself not paying attention and my mind is wandering, I come back to a full breath of inhale and exhale, and that puts me in Presence; that’s where the oxygen is.

The book of Job talks about the breath of life:

“In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.  The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”

Our opening prayer today comes from Psalm 150.  Please join with me:

Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens!  Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!  Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!  Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!  Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!  Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

Intro: We’ve come to the last chapter in Mark’s gospel

And to the enigma at the end of the book
– that’s because the story ends at Mark 16, verse 8
• you say, “Chuck! My Bible still has more verses”
◦ “Yes, I know, but read the fine print”
• the most ancient manuscripts that we have in our possession end at verse 8
◦ scholars tell us the quality of the Greek writing changes at verse 9
◦ the evidence supports the abrupt ending
– this has become a fascination for me – so, it has been a frequent meditation
My meditation: “Verse 8 is a fitting end to a story well told. Rather than satisfy our curiosity regarding what happened next, we are left in suspense. Verses 9-20 are clumsy in comparison to the rest of Mark. I imagine an ancient scribe coming to the last line and feeling like the bridge is out. Frustrated, he says, ‘No, no, no—this won’t do at all. Mark cannot come to an end with a cliffhanger.’ So at some point in history, someone or some committee added an epilogue that they felt provided a satisfying resolve to the end the story.
These editors had inspired material at hand to cut-and-paste, so it wasn’t like they were making stuff up. From John’s gospel, they borrowed the story of Mary Magdalene’s encounter with Jesus near the tomb. From Luke’s gospel, they took the story of two disciples on the road to Emmaus and the setting for Jesus appearing to the eleven disciples over a meal. Matthew recorded the story of Jesus’ command to go into all the world with the gospel that the editors borrowed to fill out verses 9-20 here as an epilogue. The stories were true, they were just taken from the other sources.
However, this attempt to provide additional details was not nearly as creative or effective as Mark’s writing. One indicator of a foreign hand is the fact that this ending is very ‘preachy’—a characteristic that Mark avoided. There is a message in the final verses, but it is blatant and has none of the subtlety Mark has been careful to maintain. Some people who are not good storytellers or writers use an authoritarian style in which they tell people what they should feel and how they should respond. They do this to compensate for a lack of skill.
There is no other resurrection story in which Jesus rebuked his disciples for their ‘unbelief.’ Instead, in his post-resurrection encounters, Jesus approached them in gentleness and love. His first words to the frightened disciples was, ‘Peace be with you’ (Jn. 20:21). He willingly offered Thomas his hands to examine to verify that he really was Jesus. He lovingly restored Peter to discipleship and ministry. He ate a fish with his disciples to alleviate their fears that they were seeing a ghost. But the editors of Mark have Jesus scolding the disciples for their hardness of heart. If we go back into the substance of Mark’s gospel, we see that Jesus knew they would be shocked by his death and have difficulty believing in his resurrection. Jesus soothed, instructed, promised, and reconciled with his disciples, but there was no rebuke.
I think the editors were adding a rebuke of their own. Perhaps they felt it was necessary in order to frighten readers who came to the end of the story and did not believe Jesus had risen from the dead. The editors were warning those readers that their hearts were hardened. This is too often the very message that has been used to abuse faithful believes. The implicit message of authoritarian preachers, parents, youth leaders, and other Christians with ‘control issues’ is, ‘Jesus won’t love you if you don’t believe in his resurrection and eat your vegetables.’ But that is not what we hear from Mark or from the Lord himself. Jesus tells us that his ‘yoke is easy, and [his] burden is light’ (Mt. 11:30).
These extra verses were not necessary. Any reader who came to this apparent ellipsis—i.e., ‘dot, dot, dot’—would know this could not possibly be the end of Jesus. Anyway, I think the person-to-person reports of Jesus’ resurrection probably had a more dynamic effect than the bogus addition. Besides, Mark’s story was first told to communities of faith that would not have existed had Jesus not risen. They did not need convincing.”
• I have had a couple more thoughts about the way Mark ends:
◦ first, I think I know why Mark leaves off where he does (we’ll come to that)
◦ second, he’s already given us the ending–parable in chapter 12
Remember his story about the owner of a vineyard, who sent his son to collect the produce they owed him. But the tenants killed the son. Then Jesus asks, “What will the owner of the vineyard do?” That is the question at the end of Mark. What will God do next? Jesus answered this question, “He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others” (Mk. 12:9). Fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection, God poured out his Spirit on the first Christian community, and within about forty years the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. God turned his vineyard over to his new church.

Now let’s return to the verses we can trust as original
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” Mark 16:1-3

My meditation: “The Sabbath ended Saturday evening, so when the markets reopened the women were able to buy the supplies they would need to anoint Jesus’ body. However, they would have to wait until daylight to go to the tomb safely. Carrying spices and oil, there was good reason to wait until they could see clearly and fulfill their mission efficiently. That they went ‘very early’ indicates their eagerness to prepare his body for burial, even though he was already placed in a tomb that was securely sealed.
(I love the coincidence of words, in English, that the women went to the tomb after ‘the sun had risen’ and arrived at the tomb after the Son had risen.)
‘Anointing him’—that is, his dead body—was a kind and loving act that the family and closest friends would provide. They came regardless of what they had witnessed at the cross. What did they think of him now? That he was not the Christ after all? That he had failed his mission? That their hope in him would be buried in his tomb? If they had such thoughts, what they knew to be fact was all that he had done for them and others, that he was a good man, and that someone needed to perform this service to his body.
A number of obstacles stood in their way. One was their concern over the ‘very large’ stone that blocked the entrance. Another was the soldiers stationed there to guard the tomb. But something that would have never entered their minds was that the corpse would not be where it had been placed.
Though they were not able to not care for Jesus’ body as they had planned, we can recall that this service had already been provided to him. While Jesus was at dinner in Bethany, a woman poured perfumed oil over his head. Jesus explained the meaning of her actions, saying, ‘She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial’ (Mk. 14:8).”

And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. Mark 16:4-6
My meditation: “‘And looking up they saw that the stone had been rolled back . . . .’ Mark devoted a great deal of thought and creative storytelling to highlight the theme of looking and seeing as a necessary development in discipleship. In the heart—the very center of the book—he tells a story about the disciples looking but not seeing. To ‘look’ is to notice and perhaps observe, but to ‘see’ is to perceive. So Jesus asked his disciples, ‘Having eyes do you not see?’ (Mk. 8:18) In a normal day I look at countless things, but what do I see? Do I pay enough attention to whatever it is God wants me to see? I have been at this many years; has my spiritual vision improving at all?
The women had been worried about the large stone, but when they looked up it had already been rolled out of the way. We are pestered by some worries that could be resolved instantly just by looking up.
The women bravely entered the tomb, but what they saw (and what they did not see) alarmed them. The body was missing and a young man was calmly sitting inside. Mark says they were ‘alarmed’—I imagine their emotions were in free fall, plunging from grief to sudden panic.
‘Do not be alarmed,’ the young man told them. But why should they not be alarmed? Because Jesus had announced he would rise from the dead? Because they did not have time to panic because there was too much to do? Because overnight the world had changed and they were now living in the new reality? Perhaps that was it. From now on there would be no need for alarm. ‘And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age’—Jesus’ last words to the disciples in Matthew’s gospel.
The young man (the other gospels tell us he was an angel) spoke from his vantage point and perspective, not theirs. He said, ‘You seek Jesus of Nazareth,’ but they were not looking for Jesus. They were looking for his corpse.
The angel invited the women to come closer and ‘See the place where they laid him.’ The women—and the readers too—are given a visual experience to help absorb what has happened. It was an experience of emptiness. The past-tense indicates the slab that once held the body of Jesus was no longer occupied.”

“But go tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” Mark 16:7
My meditation: “The angel gave the women simple instructions as to what they were to do next. They were to go and tell Jesus’ disciples that he would meet them in Galilee. This was actually a reminder of what Jesus had told them the night before his crucifixion (Mk. 14:28). It was a prearranged meeting.
When instructing the women to inform the disciples, the angel made an odd specification, ‘and Peter.’ What?! Was Peter no longer a disciple? Had Peter wandered off alone? Had he separated himself from the others? Did he feel that he had disqualified himself and was not worthy to be associated with the true followers of Jesus? There is no way we can know. However, the angel did refer to him by his new name, the name that Jesus gave him.
I know people who would insist on cutting Peter from the team. They do not know what Jesus knows. That once Peter was ‘sifted like wheat,’ he would be a changed man, capable of strengthening his brothers (Lk. 22:31-32). Sometimes I am grieved and troubled by the absence of mercy among Christians and in many churches. Is it okay for me to harbor bad feelings toward these merciless believers? Only if I want to be like them. But Jesus tells me that God ‘”is kind to the ungrateful and the evil, and therefor, ‘Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful”’ (Lk. 6:36). Mercy must win!”

And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized the, and the said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Mark 16:8

My mediation: “The angel’s instructions were first of all to ‘go.’ Jesus’ first words to his disciples and others were, ‘Come, follow me’; his last word of instruction was ‘Go.’ ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,’ he told his disciples at the end of Matthew’s gospel, ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations . . . .’ (Mt. 28:18-19).
My meditation: “The women came to the tomb courageously. If soldiers were posted there, they would deal with them. If the stone was in place, they were already thinking about how it could be moved. They were preparing themselves for any potential problem. Nothing would stand in their way. But what they had not prepared themselves for, was an empty tomb and a heavenly angel. So they fled from the tomb. Mission aborted. Of all the instructions the angel gave them, the only one they obeyed was ‘Go.’ They were more than willing to do that post haste.
I look back at all the times Jesus performed a miracle or confided something with his disciples and told people, ‘Tell no one’—and more than once he said this with a stern voice. Now, at last, people are told to ‘go tell,’ but these women ‘said nothing to anyone’—not even Peter. Eventually they got around to the disciples. Mark does not criticize them. He most likely learned their story from them. And he concludes his book with their story.

Conclusion: Now I will explain why this is the perfect ending

For Mark, there is no final chapter, no end to the story of Jesus
Whether the disciples went to Galilee or not, he leaves up in the air
But if the disciples were to go to Galilee, they would see Jesus
Mark’s message to us is, “Look for Jesus where he can be found, and you will see him”
Jesus can be found, for instance, in the story Mark has told us about him

If we still ask, “But how does the story end?”
Mark’s answer is, “That is up to you”
He slides the scroll across the table, hands us his pen, and tells us,
“Here, you write the end of this story.
How the story ends for you depends on what you do with it.”

Dear Chuck,

Thank you for the support your community gave to Novi last month. It helped us push forward with Novi Life Kit orders and continue with distribution along the front lines of the conflict. Right now the Life Kits are being sent to summer camp locations along the front line and are being used as a tool to train children to self regulate and have fun even though their world is a battlefield. 

As of last week, we’ve also trained more than 600 adults (since January) to use the kits and a few other tools developed by our psychologist mentors we use to help children in war zones self-regulate and find their way through the conflicts trauma free.  Our work is affecting the lives of tens of thousands of children now. We’ve only been working in Ukraine since last June so it feels miraculous to us that we are making such a large impact. This knowledge is a deal changer for the children and their parents who can’t figure out how to get their children’s emotional life back on track.

I’m attaching a few photos from Novi’s last trip to the front line. My wife was on this team as you can see. The top photo is of Jon playing through the activities of the Novi Life Kit with kids living within five miles of the front line. Artillery hits this village every night and explosions were heard throughout the day while our team showed children creative and fun ways to be in a calm, instead of shut down and fearful, state. It was beautiful to see children respond so positively and even more inspiring to watch as the adults realized that they could have their beautiful children back at the dinner table with a giggle instead of a depressed and sad demeanor. Many parents told us their greatest concern was that they’ve permanently lost their children emotional health to the war and when they saw things change, begged us for more training. This was in Donetsk and Kherson and was organized by churches that remain at the center of these humble communities.

Please thank the generous souls at Reflexion for being part of this. I am grateful and empowered by your practical actions of love.

Best Regards,
Steve
Steven Gumaer | The Novi Community
www.novi.ngo