Brewing Theology With Teer Hardy

Today is a celebration of the Gospel Good News that Sin and Death do not hold the last word. The very thing Mary went to the tomb toconfront and mourn is no more because of Christ. Easter is not just the celebration of the tomb being empty. In the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we see how the darkness of this world has been and will be overcome and ultimately annihilated by God.Mary arrived in the garden at night expecting to weep and mourn the rising of the sun yet revealed the victory of the Son, living, breathing, with no need for his burial clothes. Jesus’ physical presence and emptiness of the tomb echoed what he said to Mary’s sister, Martha, at the graveside of their brother Lazarus, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives bybelieving in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

April 10, 2022Palm SundayLuke 19:28-40In our procession of fools, we miss that there is so much more to this story.In each stop between the Mount of Olives (Palm Sunday) and The Skull (the cross), Jesus is gathering all of humanity into him. The best and the worst we have to offer. No prayer or ritual must first be spoken or performed on our part.If last Sunday, Mary’s anointing of Jesus with perfume was the prelude to Holy Week, then Palm Sunday is Act One of a larger story. A story that we have all been gathered into. Fleming said it best, “the testimony of the four evangelists (gospel writers Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), the testimony of the Christian church, is that in this event, in this godforsaken death, the cosmic scale has been conclusively tipped in the opposite direction, so that sin and evil and death are not the last word and never will be again.”There is so much more to this story. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

April 3, 2022Luke 12:1-8I want to be Mary, we should all want to be Mary, but none of us are., all the time.Yes, sometimes we are Mary but other times we are either Martha busying ourselves with work, or we are Judas, wanting to attach Jesus to our political agendas. Nevertheless, Christ gathers all to himself when he goes to the cross.Adoration, gratitude, and worship while in the next breath being made righteous, still being a recipient of the grace of God when we reject or betray the gift afforded to each of us.And still, Jesus is gathering us in. Jesus is gathering you in.Grace is and always has been extended to the faithful and unfaithful – to Martha, Mary, and Judas, to you and me. Inclusive of all people, Christ is gathering us into the transforming light of his grace. A light so bright that the darkness of this cross cannot drown it out. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

March 27, 2022Lent 4Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32Both sons forgot who they were, first and foremost, who they were before the world applied its labels and new identification.The father in this parable must have been looking for him, Junior, to see his son returning. On top of the family home, he watched, looked, waited, and then ran; in the same way, God continues to seek us out, gathering us in, calling us child, calling us beloved.This is the same Father who at his Son’s baptism shouted, “You are my Son, the Beloved,”[7] and at the Transfiguration said, “This is my son, the beloved.”[8]Howard ThurmanTheologian Howard Thurman wrote, “you don’t need to leave home to forget”[9] who you are.Junior and Senior forgot, but the one who sought them both would not let them forget.The world will call you many things. Your sin will call you many things. But the One who insists on embracing you and throwing a banquet in your honor will not allow you to forget and is calling you beloved, a child of God, even when we forget. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

March 20, 2022Luke 13:1-9Lent 3, Year CThe hope we need in a world broken by sin is that our fruitfulness comes by the laboring of the divine gardener, the One who is devoted to the flourishing, the fruitfulness of all creation, despite what our sin says about us.By gathering all of creation up in his mercy and grace, Jesus is cultivating us toward fruitfulness, answering the question pastors love to debate with one another in large arenas and dank church basements – “how has God has dealt with our sin?”The starting point for us is to repent, turning away from the bright lights of sin and toward the faithfulness of the gardener. The One who promises never to forsake or abandon. The One who has covered us in the manure of his divine grace so that we are made clean by his righteousness.Grace and mercy.Mercy and grace.https://www.facebook.com/realteerhardyhttps://www.twitter.com/teerhardyhttps://www.instagram.com/teerhardy Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

March 13, 2022Luke 13:31-35Transformation through the faithfulness of the One who did not turn his back on us after lamenting that we had turned our backs on him.And the good news is that as you have been gathered and sent, you are not sent out covered in the dirt the world has smeared on you by puppets who would like to think they can leave a lasting impact on your life.In Jesus gathering us up, we are made clean.The cause of Jesus’ lament, our sin, does not hold the final word. Jesus has invited us to stop the puppet show and to step into his grace under his wing of love, protection, and transformation. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

Luke 4:1-13Lent 1, Year CThe Gospel good news is that there are no ifs. There are no buts. No fine print.We have begun our journey through Lent in the wilderness because Lent is a time of being in the desert, being in the wilderness. We live in the wilderness. We live in a world where the temptation to assume Christ's throne as our own is always present. We opt for the most reasonable decision, planned entirely, leaving nothing to chance, and in doing so, push God entirely out of the picture. God, relegated to the private, while we wander the wilderness seeking ways to ascend when the truth is that God has already descended to us.Jesus Christ has descended to us, bring the divine gift of grace: unmerited, nothing you can do about it, no if/then's attached love, forgiveness, and mercy.Many people view Lent as a season to get better through piety. So often, our Lenten practices are laden with the same temptations presented to Jesus in the wilderness – if you do this, then you will ascend, you will achieve, you will be blessed. And if you don't, then you are less than, not worthy of ascension or achieving. The good news for us, during Lent and year-round, is that the One tempted in the wilderness is also the crucified One, sacrificing himself in your place, and the one who rose on the third day. The One in whom new life is made available, without prereq, no if/then's, for those who cannot resist the temptation. He gathers us up in his grace. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

Luke 9:27-36Listen to him.Though we are shaped by social, cultural, and economic pressures that tell us we must ascend, if we listen, if we set aside our own noise, we hear words of grace. A word that tells us God will not be confined to the mountain-top, theology, or Law. A word that tells us God is present with us now, in this sanctuary, in our homes, in the places we feel most alone.God has come down, dwelling among us in flesh and blood, a holy and living tabernacle, and is not set apart from us. God is seeking us, giving us something different from G-law-spel – a law-filled list of you must X, Y, and Z to receive grace. Jesus is speaking to the church today.Listen to him.Set aside the Law and follow, for the Law of Moses and the words of the prophets have been fulfilled. God has come to us. God continues to come to us. Because God is continually seeking us out, the love of God, the amazing grace of our Lord and Savior is always yours. It never ends. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

February 20, 2022Luke 6:27-38Blessed are the poor.Blessed are the hungry.Blessed are those who weep.Blessed are you when you are hated.Woe to the rich.Woe to the full.Woe to those who laugh or mock.Woe to those who are falsely propped up.Blessed are you, the one overlooked by the world.Woe to you who cannot see beyond your pride and self-interest.Blessed are you, the one deemed a loser by the standards of the world.And woe to you who insist on those standards being kept.In this flip, Jesus declares a new way of living and being. Jesus is not offering a list of character qualities for us to aspire toward. No, Jesus’ opening words in the Sermon on the Plain create a new list of contrasts between the kingdom of Caesar and the Kingdom of God with the implications of Jesus’ flip detailed in our scripture reading.Love your enemies. No thanks. I can barely love my neighbors.Bless those who curse you. I would rather pass. They can have their blessing when they stop their cursing.Pray for those who abuse you. Maybe next week, Jesus.Do to others as you would have them do to you. How about doing to others as they have done to me.These tongue-in-cheek responses better match the game we all have been playing since birth. This is a game where getting even, settling the score, are preferred norms. Instead of being merciful just as God is merciful, we trick, deceive, and get even. And if we do not do those actions, someone will surely, do it to us. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

February 13, 20221 Corinthians 15:12-20“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ… the last enemy to be destroyed is death.” The resurrection of Jesus Christ and the resurrection assured to us is an affirmation of the whole life of Jesus. The resurrection of Christ offers us hope when we cannot see the fruits of our labors today. An affirmation of the significance of every human life.An affirmation of our hope placed in the news that our sins are forgiven, a place at Jesus’ table is prepared for us, and that the anxieties of this life caused by pain and death do not hold the final word. Paul is making an argument. He is not relying on testimony from the tomb, that will come later from the gospel writers. For Paul, not having seen the empty tomb himself, Paul did Jesus on the Damascus Road must be empty, and because of the FACT that Jesus is resurrected. And because Jesus is risen, we too can live with the hope given in the FACT that the same resurrection is assured to all of creation through the grace that goes before us. The grace that overcomes rumors to the contrary. The grace that forgives.The rumors, according to Paul, are false. Christ is risen, and so shall we. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

February 6, 20221 Corinthians 15:1-11The Gospel Good News of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s vindication over the power of sin and death in this life. It is Good News.It is Good News because what happened on the cross and because Jesus Christ is risen, all of your failures to adequately answer the question “What Would Jesus Do?” are forgiven. Once-for-all forgiveness for you.The tomb remains empty so that you will remember that all of your sins – the ones they will not let you forget and the ones you cannot forgive yourself for – are forgotten. Buried with Jesus Christ in his death were all of your sins. And in the light of the Good News of his resurrection, his perfect righteousness is now yours. The best news.Good News.This Good News is the news that is proclaimed week after week, the best kind of broken record because it does not matter if you are an orthodox stick in the mud or an unorthodox heretic. It does not matter if you cling to the resurrection news or find it impossible to believe because you are not who they say you are, what you do, or what you believe. Because of the Good News encountered by the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus – Jesus Christ, resurrected – witnessed by the Church for over 2000 years, you are who Jesus is – a beloved child of God. You are what he has done. You are perfect – made perfect by his righteousness and unwavering love. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

January 16, 20221 Corinthians 12:1-12The lordship of Christ is not a declaration the church can make on its own or a declaration the church can sustain over generations without the help of God. And this is where we find the gospel good news – regardless of what gifts the Spirit has given you, regardless of whether you think you are worthy of such a gift, and regardless of the priority others might place on those gifts God is going to use you to further God’s kingdom. Buckle-up because God promises to use the gifts God has given to individual members of Christ’s body to build up the entire body, and in building up the whole body, the Kingdom of God is advanced, revealed a bit more as we await Christ’s promise to return, and the Kingdom of God is fully revealed. Christ has leveled the field. He is Lord, and there is no hierarchy. No one higher than the other because the lordship of Jesus Christ, a gift to all of creation, refocuses the attention of the church away from division and conflict, pointing us toward the salvific work that began in the manger, was revealed in a star, and was realized when Mary and Mary found the tomb to be empty. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

January 9, 2022 - Baptism of the LordLuke 3: 15-17, 21-22Patterns are changing whether we want them to or not. We observe the patterns of life in the church differently. But because Jesus is lord and because what happened in the Jordan cannot be undone just like what happened at your baptism cannot be undone even though the patterns of our lives may change the call to discipleship and the pattern of following Christ’s example does not. We may gather online or at home for worship, we may have small gatherings in sanctuaries, and what we do today might shift in the weeks to come and our call to follow is the same. This is why the patterns of the church; the liturgy of our shared life is so important. These things give us an unmovable guidepost by which we can keep moving onward toward what John Wesley called Christian perfection, perfecting our lives in Christ because by Christ’s actions we have been right before God. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

Micah 5:2-5aLuke 1:39-45, (46-55)While the Good News of Christ’s embodied life fills me with joy, it is even better news for the people of a nowhere village than those living in an empire like, well, us. For people who live in the empire, with all the privileges of Pax Romana, those same privileges can blur our vision and prevent us from seeing that Christ would not be born and Virginia Hospital Center. Mary’s Magnificat was not sung in the Temple or National Cathedral. No, her song of praise and servanthood was sung in the backwoods as she and her cousin lived under the boot of the empire. We often say that God does not take sides, but God has done just that in Bethlehem and through Mary. In flesh and blood, God has taken the side of those on the margins.With those pulling a double-shift only to be barely able to put food on the table.With those working in the fields, feeding the empire while not being able to come out of the shadows.Mary’s boy with a birth certificate stamped in a one-donkey town takes the tidings of comfort and joy we sing of and amplifies them to those who are overlooked, forgotten, and ignored.God is revealed in the places, and in the people we least expect. We might expect God to be announced in grand or ornate spaces, and God is revealed in these spaces, but, as the prophet Micah said, and Mary and Elizabeth reveal the embodied presence of God, God in flesh and bone, will take place in a town of little consequence and through a person that many might overlook. This is what makes the Good News of the Gospel good news for all creation: God did not enter human history through power and influence as we describe those terms. Mary’s song of faithfulness, along with the words of the prophet, invites us to look for the hospitality, love, and redemption of God in the people and places we least expect. Off the map places.People overlooked. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

December 5, 2021Luke 1:68-79The peace Zechariah prophesied has no meaning apart from the will and purpose of God. Let me repeat it; the peace Zechariah prophesied has no meaning apart from the will and purpose of God. The church cannot make sense of peace and pursue justice in the name of peace, apart from the peace of God embodied in flesh and blood and laid in a manger. The peace of God was proclaimed and prophesied by Zechariah and Elizabeth, "an old couple, an old, hopeless, powerless, futureless couple. The peace of God was embodied by a helpless child, dependent on his poor parents, not born into a politically influential family. Jesus was born into a world where the sword achieved the peace of an empire. Peace by the pointy end of a sword, gun, or any instrument of violence exemplifies how well we do not understand the very thing we all want for ourselves generations to come. Humanity was and continues to be unable to save itself or secure its own peace, so much so that God broke into human history in a manger in Bethlehem, "among the poor, lonely, old and impotent" and saved us from ourselves.The prophetic hymn of Zechariah and his son’s voice crying from the wilderness calls into question whether we know what we are talking about when we use words like justice and peace. The word “peace” appears 329 in the Christian Bible; 91 times in our New Testament. Each New Testament reference to peace points toward the salvific word of God in Jesus Christ – explicitly or implicitly by pointing to humanity’s inability to secure peace on our own. God did not enter human history through the door of Caesar or influential politicians, and this is where we find the Good News of Zechariah's hymn, Advent, and the gospel. Peace is something God makes, something God has done. Peace, is a gift to all creation to be sure, and something God promises is coming again. And in the church, we live as a viable alternative to peace through any means apart from God. That we might be saved from the consequences of our attempts to take matters into our own hands, creating justice and peace through means that lead us to anywhere but the peaceful life we desire. Through the tender mercy of God, giving light to all who are in darkness, and guiding our feet on the path of peace. Christ is coming. Amen. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

Jeremiah 33:14-16The good ole days and even the status quo may be OK or even great for us, but for many, the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God, Christ's return cannot come quickly enough. What we may long for could be a return to pain and suffering for others. So, what are we to do? What is to be done? This is the rub; there is nothing for us to do. The prophet Jeremiah did not leave a checklist. I checked the gospels, and Jesus did not leave five easy steps to the second coming. All we can do is look forward, not backward, waiting, anticipating, and trusting the coming reality embodied in the promise of Chris's return, proclaiming the reign of Christ.We are living between two Advents. Christ has come; Christ will come. The tension can be unbearable, and this is the life the Church lives. Between the two Advents, we find ourselves between the good ole days and what has been promised by God.The good ole days and status quo are not good news, but because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, we can be proclaimers and a community that embodies the reign of Christ, the Righteous Branch, here and now. A community of people committed to waiting, anticipating, and trusting, all the while knowing that we may look odd or seem out of place in doing so. But our oddness points away from ourselves, and toward the new normal the Christ promises is coming. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

Mark 13November 14, 2021Mount Olivet United Methodist ChurchDismantling this world is frightening. But in Mark 13 Jesus describes a dismantling to realize God’s justice and love for all of creation. God’s redemption and transformation of this broken world is good news for all; the comfort and privilege for which we work and to which we cling instantly pale in the light of God’s justice and love.Fleming put it best, "No suffering can be properly understood until the Lord comes – but he will come. God is accomplishing his purposes in spite of all appearances to the contrary. Nothing can lie beyond the power of God to redeem and transform. We believe this because we have been seized by the unique authority of the voice of Jesus Christ."Knowing God will get the last word, our acts of mercy and justice, along with our communal acts of faithfulness, become signs of the God Kingdom – Queendom, Kin-dom – that is yet to come. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

October 31, 2021John 8:31-36While we may live free to do as we please because of geography, our condition as sinners does not change. There is no amount of flag-draped apparel, apple pie, or fireworks that can undo this condition. In following Jesus, we have been sent from the consequences of our sin. All of them. That is what we mean when we declare our sins to be forgiven. That very declaration of forgiveness is our declaration of freedom, a declaration of dependence, not independence, upon one in who we find freedom. Freedom has little to do with our ability to deserve or earn it, and instead, freedom extended to all of creation, regardless of geography or birthright. Freedom in Jesus Christ is more than forgiveness. Freedom in Jesus Christ is liberation from what we have turned toward at the expense of our relationship with our creation. And this freedom was not bought with military might or thoughtful diplomacy. It is freely offered to us through the righteousness of the One whose righteousness we clothe ourselves in when we are baptized. The freedom transforms us from the inside out when we listen to Jesus and place our whole trust in his grace. In the church, we call this new life. It is what Bartimaeus pleaded for, what the rich young man could not imagine, and what the saints of the past have placed their trust in.The truth revealed in and through Jesus Christ and the subsequent freedom from sin that is ours, we can, like the saints before us, walk in his way of love in the world that others might know that freedom is theirs. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

October 24, 2021Mark 10:46-52Generous living as a disciple of Jesus Christ is to be like Bartimaeus, like the saints of the past, to give our whole selves over to being formed, shaped by the one who calls out, over the noise of the world that rebukes us, telling us we are insignificant and not enough, not worthy of someone else's time. Our time, our generosity, our love joins us with Christ. This is what it means in our communion liturgy when we pray that we may be for the world the body of Christ redeemed by his blood in transforming this world, as we work together to ensure all are loved, cared for, and heard. In giving our whole selves to Jesus, we can do what the rich young man could not do and live as James and John could not imagine, but what Bartimaeus the blind beggar did without hesitation. Namely, allowing the establishing and maintaining of wealth and status and prestige to take a backseat to follow the extravagant grace of God in Jesus Christ.Faith in Christ is not simply the conviction that Jesus is our divine errand boy or healer, but instead that Jesus wants us to follow. All of us. Every part of us. Because Bartimaeus followed, his story stands as a rebuke to the world and an invitation to us who may not be as energetic or even as faithful in our following of Jesus. But in following, like Bartimaeus, like James and John, the extravagant generosity of God in Jesus Christ belongs to you, to me, to all of creation. And in that generosity, we are free to live a new life in Jesus Christ, throwing off the garments of this life. A life of sharing our time, our money, our love, sharing our whole selves. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

Mark 10:17-31October 10, 2021Eternal life, salvation, and the kingdom of God are not things to be bought or earned. The rich young man did not expect Jesus to tell him to sell everything. The rich young man wanted to talk about social morality, practical ethics, or have Jesus say to him after bragging about his righteousness that he was good to go, nothing else to be done. Go young rich man, and enjoy your eternal life.The rich young man "lacked one thing.”[iii] This one thing was beyond conventional morality or practical ethics. This man needed to repent and turn away from the one thing preventing him from being all-in with God. The man's conversion was the other of the day, not an impromptu yard sale. This is where we appear in the story.The man’s question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”[iv] was faulty from the beginning. You see, eternal life, salvation, and the kingdom of God are not things we receive by doing. There is nothing to be done because to inherit something, as the young man incorrectly stated, is to receive something. The thing you receive is yours, end of the story. The only people who inherit eternal life, or are saved, are those who realize salvation, for all people, is an impossible miracle. Salvation is an act of God, and the ultimate inheritance and a gift we do not deserve, could never buy, and did not see coming. A gift paid for at a great price. Once realized, this gift transforms our hearts, becoming the thing we cherish most so that we do not have any other gods, idols before the Lord.This good news transforms the entire way we live and view the world in such a generous way that we do not ask questions like, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”[v]What percentage do I give?How much do I have to give?Do I really have to give at all?The generous giving we, you, do is not an obligation required to earn favor with God. We give generously, all that we can because Christ has already given everything away for us. A religious person, like the rich young man, may ask, “well, how much is the right amount?” but those who have experienced the amazing grace of God in Jesus Christ know generous giving is not about percentages or tax write-offs. This is not a money issue. It is a Gospel issue.Life as a disciple of Jesus Christ is about having your attitude about money, along with everything else, shaped by the good news that Christ has already accomplished all that was required for you to inherit eternal life. Nothing competes for your love of God and neighbor more than money. Nothing works against us growing in faith, following Jesus, maturing as disciples, and surrendering all that we have to God more than money, the pursuit of wealth, and the management of a lifestyle. Jesus did not want the rich young man’s money, and God does not want yours. Like the young rich man, God wants your heart, and Jesus has already paid a lot for it. In giving ourselves over to God, our whole selves, we care less about percentages and numbers, knowing that what we generously give pales in comparison to what has already been given for us. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

Mark 9:38-50September 26, 2021The methods we follow, proclaim, and serve in Jesus' name may work for us, but the truth is that we do not get to put a trademark on Jesus, and we do not get to copyright the amazing grace we proclaim week after week.Jesus was not interested in squabbling over team affiliation or franchising rights. Instead, Jesus redirected the disciples' attention to something more important than claiming credit for the redeeming work he would accomplish through his life, death, and resurrection. Namely serving the least, lost, and lonely. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

September 19, 2021Mark 9:30-37The disciples' missteps are our missteps. Their feet in the mouth moments of embarrassment are our moments. Their confusing, disorienting, and abrupt mistakes and misreading of Jesus based on their experiences of the world mirror the confusion, disorientation, and abruptness we feel when Jesus calls us away from the ways of this world and invites us, after seeking us first, to seek him, to follow, just as the first disciples did, just as disciples have for centuries. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

Mark 8:27-38As those who seek Christ, we have been freed, along with all of creation, from the burden of perfection knowing Christ has done for us which we have never been able to do. Peter could not see it and still, he was the rock upon which Christ built the church. God continues to work through those who follow Christ today, proclaiming his Lordship over all creation. God continues to work through you and through me, freeing us to follow. No more. No less. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

Psalm 125Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace, extending peace that surpasses all understanding to the righteous – the people who follow God’s law, loving God and neighbor perfectly – but also to those of us who depend upon grace being extended to us. Through his life, death, and resurrection not only did Jesus display what peace looked like among the nations and neighbors but by taking our unrighteousness upon himself on the cross we have been made righteous. The righteousness of God in Jesus Christ became our righteousness not because of anything we have done or ever could do, not because of our ability to secure peace for ourselves or others, rather because of Christ’s insistence that Pax Romana, peace by the sword, would not continue to hold a grip over creation. In the Kingdom of God peace is not the result of the sword or a world at war with itself or human accomplishment. The peace of Christ, extended far and wide, extended indiscriminately, is the result of Christ’s faithfulness. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

August 8, 2021Mount Olivet United Methodist Church, Arlington, Virginia2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33We are all like Absalom if Absalom had narrowly avoided that tree and was restored to the Father who loves him. And that is because another King’s Son rode on a royal donkey to a tree. In his body on the tree, on the cross, he suffers the curse that belongs to every David and Absalom, every Goliath, every apostle, every saint, and every sinner. The curse that belongs to you and me. So, it’s not just that our sins have been forgiven. It’s bigger than forgiveness. The sword departs every one of our houses at the cross. No more does Nathan say, it will never let up because of what you did.Sin has consequences, yes, but they are borne by another for you.Grace is the opposite of karma. It is offensive sure, but it is also amazing.Grace tells us that the way the world is, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth is not what God had intended. Grace defies the logic we have accumulated from the way the world appears to be ordered. Grace interrupts the just consequences of our unjust actions. We would be in big trouble, every one of us, if karma got the last word. But Grace tells us that in the Kingdom of God we will never reap what we sow and that is the best news we could ever hear because for my part I know what I’ve sown. The Grace of God in Jesus Christ says that we do not have lean on our own religiosity Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

2 Samuel 7:1-14aJuly 18, 2021David was able to control God just as much as I can prevent the movement of God with a well-placed Bible on a table. No matter how hard David tried, no matter how hard we try we are unable to domesticate, to control, to keep at bay the movement and presence of God. This section of 2 Samuel is titled “God’s Covenant with David” with God being the center of the story and not the actions of David no matter how well-intended or pious David’s actions were. Introduced in this oracle to Nathan was the unconditional grace of God to Israel, the bedrock of hope, securing the hope of David and his people even when they turned away from God. God would raise up a house out of David’s name. David’s son will raise a temple, a house for the Lord, and ultimately the messianic hopes of all creation would bear David's name. Jesus would be born into David's line, bearing his name, establishing the house of God as the cornerstone, built upon the witness of the prophets and the apostles. This is the kingdom, the Kingdom of God, we saw inaugurated in Bethlehem. It was the kingdom, the Kingdom of God, that could not be broken by the pains of the cross and the separation of death.And it is the kingdom, the Kingdom of God, Christ promises will be fully realized, by all of creation. All of creation repenting, turning back towards God and away from the security promised to us by power and lifestyle. God’s Kingdom cannot be contained, manipulated, or used to legitimize anything other than the reign of God in Jesus Christ. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19Israel's story in 1 and 2 Samuel is one of change. The cycle of the story in 1 and 2 Samuel from Israel's defeat and loss of the Ark to the Philistines defeat and Israel's reclaiming of the Ark does not bring to reader, it did not bring Israel back to the original starting point. The story may have pushed Israel into a new physical location with a new King legitimized buy by the move but God, who had been with them - delivering them from captivity, bringing them all the way to the City of David - that God was steady, unwavering, and faithful. Change was inevitable for the people of God then and is inevitable for the people of God today. We may change how we gather, where we gather, and then change it all again, but what we give witness to and proclaim does not change - Christ resurrected and reigning. We may dance and sing, we may play the organ, riff on a guitar, or bang on a cowbell and God remains God. God remains with us by the love of God our Creator, the grace of Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Back to Uzzah for a second. I know that it sounds like Uzzah was trying to help and he was. There are many thoughts on why he was struck down – he was too close to God’s holiness, or it was an issue of purity, meaning he was not ritually clean for the procession to Jerusalem, he was not ritually prepared to come before the presence of God. For us, we believe that God’s power and presence was nurtured in the ark of Mary’s womb, God in Jesus Christ who suffered for us rather than striking us down. As we move closer to exiting this pandemic the power of Jesus Christ is with us in our songs, prayers, and yes, even in our dancing – of celebration and even lament. With us in the same way Christ was with the saints before us and will be with the saints that are yet to come. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

June 6, 2021Mark 3:20-35Throughout his ministry, beginning in Capernaum, continuing to the cross when he told a disciple and his mother, “Here is your mother. Woman here is your son,” Jesus created a new family, and frankly, it looked and continues to look different than many expect. Those that were once out are now in.Those unable to be healed are now whole.Those relegated to the outskirts of the community are welcomed home with open arms, with a banquet fit only for a prodigal returning home. This new family includes all of the people who look, think, and act like us, and all of the people who do not look, think or act like us. This new family includes every person excluded for whatever reason, especially those excluded because fear and bigotry were embraced more than the grace extended to us from God in Christ. This new family includes every person excluded by the church, where judgment is embraced more than love.This is a family, we are a family-centered on the One who has promised us, assured us by his amazing grace, that all of creation will be made whole. A family held in the love of our Creator. A family empowered by wholly the Holy Spirit to engage in our own Capernaum campaign so that as we embrace one another exiting a year of separation everyone will know the love of their Creator, they would feel the amazing grace of Christ, and be filled themselves with the power of the Holy Spirit. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

Pentecost 2021Acts 2:1-21On that Pentecost we were all there. All of us. All of you. And that is how the church was formed and sent - all people, engulfed by God’s amazing grace, not because of their merit rather because of the faithfulness of the One the church proclaimed then and proclaims today.At Pentecost, using every language known so that there would be no mistake, no mistranslation, no nuance missed, or nonverbal misconstrued the Holy Spirit descended so that those present, those in the past returned to dust, and us today might trust, we might believe, so that we will have faith grounded in the hard to believe, impossible and yet all too real promise made by God in Jesus Christ - the perfection demanded in the Law, obedience, and perfection, has been given to you, has been given to everyone, not by what we can do but rather by what has been done. What has been done, accomplished - resurrected and ascended - by Christ.At Pentecost the Holy Spirit was once again set loose on creation, setting the church in motion, filling Peter with words to proclaim, setting us loose and filling us with the cosmic-breaking power of God not so that we would retreat back to the Upper Room. No, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit we, like Peter, point to the One who was present when that “wind from God swept across the face of the waters” and there was light. Proclaiming the Good News of Christ the church then and today proclaims - so much so that we may be confused for being drunk at nine o’clock in the morning - that we have been redeemed, we have been saved, regardless of time, location, or merit. The God who created and sustains has redeemed creation and continues to fill us, sending us out to proclaim it again and again. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

Mount Olivet United Methodist ChurchLuke 24:36b-48The disciples had witnessed first hand the work Jesus had been engaged in and the Gospels tell us early on that they believed. They believe after having received physical confirmation. The disciples believed enough to give up their lives and follow Jesus, an itinerant rabbi, for three years, and at every turn along the way physical signs were being performed to confirm who Jesus was to the disciples and the world. Every day, for three years, the disciples were alongside Jesus, witnessing Jesus’ ministry and hearing Jesus’ teachings all of which pointed to and revealed his glory - the glory confirmed on Easter.So now, on the day of the resurrection, the disciples needed another physical reminder of who Jesus is. Just as the Emmaus journey encountered ended with the sharing of a meal, here we have Christ revealing the fullness of the resurrection with a meal. With his real-physical presence.In eating a piece of broiled fish and in the breaking and sharing of bread Jesus offered the disciples then and us today exactly what they and we need. And it is nothing new and it is the greatest of news. The physical presence of our Lord has been the norm since the beginning of his ministry. As the disciples were 2000 years ago, we are witness to the physical signs of Christ’s presence, recipients of faith by grace not so we can hold on to it for ourselves. No, instead we proclaim a new reality, the good news in the light of the empty tomb - that the resurrected life begins and is sustained not by anything we have done or will do. We are sustained through this very community, through being the body present to somebody - through word and sacrament, in the physical presence of Jesus Christ.Christ is with us now, tomorrow, and always. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

The cross is ultimately where the Palm Sunday procession leads. While the might and power of Pilate’s procession would lead to the seat of power, Jesus, the donkey riding Savior, would ultimately end up being put to death. Jesus, riding a borrowed colt, is making clear that he is not the Messianic king the crowds expected. There would be no violent overthrow of the Roman Empire. His disciples still, even after this parade did not get it, so much so that Peter would bring a sword with him to Gethsemane. Jesus, entering Jerusalem on a borrowed burro opposite Pilate and the might of Rome is the modern-day equivalent of borrowing a 1976 Ford Fiesta and entering DC opposite a Presidential motorcade entering the city from Joint Base Andrews. And yea, throughout the Gospels and affirmed by Saint Paul, this is exactly how God will upend the principalities and powers that stand opposite the Kingdom of God. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

Regardless of where we have been worshiping over the past year, we, the church, Christ’s called and gathered body, are resurrection people. We do not believe that sin and death and the hopelessness of the valley of dry bones hold the last word. This has been difficult to remember of the past year, because, frankly, death and dry bones have been part of our everyday life. Even if you have somehow managed to avoid the virus over the past year you have still had your life turned upside down. You might be working from home. Maybe you lost your job. Maybe you've been separated from family – physically because of the virus and socially as well because of disagreement over the need for masks, distancing, and new protocols. Maybe you're coming off a shift where you were wearing one of those astronaut-like suits only to see people at the grocery store ignoring the practices that would keep them from needing your care. This past year has proved to us, whether we wanted it to or not, that no matter how hard we try, no matter how much we want it to be different, sin and death, and the valley of dry bones, are ever around us. Week after week and day after day, the church being the same broken record that it has been since God called Christ out of a borrowed grave on the third day has proclaimed hope and promise. It didn't have to be like this, sin and death did not have to have a grip on creation. And church, we say it will not be like this. There is hope. We have been assured through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, promised that sin and death do not hold the last word. There is hope. Every time we proclaim Christ resurrected we are telling the world that what we see before us will not last and that the same God who can fill the driest of bones with breath, with life, can call a dead man from his eternal slumber, and raise a crucified Son will do the same to for us. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

As the United Methodist Church’s communion liturgy states, suggesting Peter was right, “It is a good and joyful thing always and everywhere to give to give thanks,” to give praise to God. That is to give praise to God in Christ.What we see here in this theophany, is that Christ is the Maker of heaven and earth, the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, and that same one has promised that his yoke is light, and his burden is easy. His yoke is light, and his burden is easy because, as we see today, he is the end of the law and the prophets. Therefore, we can show up like Pastor Jeff said last week by being present and doing X, Y, and Z without the burden of expectations or performance. The one God tells us to listen to today promises “Behold, I make all things new!” And that includes you. He has and he is and he will do it. The good news is not that we must ascend up to God by our own good deeds or spiritual striving; the good news of the Gospel is that the one who met Moses in a burning bush and spoke through Elijah has come down to us in Jesus Christ and will come again to….Howard Thurman wrote of the glad surprise, describing it, “as if a man stumbling in the darkness, having lost his way, finds the spot at which he falls is the foot of a stairway that leads from darkness into light.” This is precisely what Peter did. He worshiped. The goal of discipleship is to be transformed, ourselves transfigured, not by our own hands rather through the one who to whom the law and all of the prophets pointed to. If not, what is the point of going up the mountain with Jesus? We can try to contain the hope of the Good News revealed to us on the mountain but the Good News for us, revealed by the faithfulness of Peter, is that as Jesus’ humanity was transfigured so too will our humanity be called into perfect union with God, and not because of what we do when we come down from the mountain. Rather, because of the one who invites us to ascend, to worship, and to be transformed, and there is no containing that news. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

Jesus Christ is the Hope of the world. Every day we place hope in one another to get through the day, live as a community, and care for one another, and yet, Jesus tells us, and we see in his ministry that to follow him means our hope rests in him and nowhere else. This may sound lofty or church of me to say, but when we proclaim Jesus Christ to be Lord, placing our whole trust in his grace, we are saying that the ways of the world, those who ask for our allegiance and fidelity must take a backseat because have been called by the One in who God chooses to redeem the world. Jesus Christ is the Hope of the world. In and through him God reconciled the world. When we choose the ways of this world over the ways of God the faithfulness of Christ stands. The Hope of Christ remains. When our love for one another, when our love for God fails the love of Christ stands. In Christ the Kingdom of God was at hand, inaugurated by his life, death, and resurrection. The invitation given to his first disciples is an invitation to us to be part of the kingdom-building work that began on the banks of the Jordan River and Sea of Galilee.Jesus gave a simple instruction, “Follow me.”[4] Two words, without much explanation and yet those words have set the course for the church, for generation upon generation of Christians to do one of two things: get it right or get it wrong.When we get it right, when we drop our nets, reorienting our lives to follow Jesus miraculous things occur. The hungry are fed. The lost are found. Healing begins as divisions are cast aside. Our focus moves towards God and away from others who ask us to follow them. Jesus gave a simple instruction, but when the church gets that instruction wrong, the results are anything but miraculous or a sign that the Kingdom of God is at hand. What we get wrong is thinking that the Kingdom of God has anything to do with our actions. The church has proven this time and time again, that we cannot follow the simplest instruction- to follow.To follow Jesus as he fed the hungry on the side of a hill.To follow Jesus as he stood beside a woman at a well.To follow Jesus as he healed the sick and invited the marginalized into his Kingdom as honored guests.To follow Jesus’ call to put our weapons down.To follow Jesus is to follow the Hope of the world, not storm the castle, secure our own rights, or make anything great. To follow Jesus is to live in the Kingdom of God that is present now and work alongside other disciples as we await the fulfillment of Christ's kingdom. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

Baptism of the Lord - Acts 19:1-17, Year BIn the waters of our baptism, God has clothed us in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and given us a full pardon. The baptism offered by John was not able to do this and if we think today that the person doing the sprinkling, pouring, or dunking has any control over what is happening in this holy moment we are wholly mistaken.Professor James Torrance put it best: “But it is not the water, not the church, not the minister, not my faith, not my dying and rising, which forgives and heals. It is Christ who has done this for us and in us by the Spirit. So, we are baptized ‘in the name of Christ’ - not our own name - and we are baptized into a life of union with Christ, of dying and rising with Christ, in a life of communion.”In your baptism, you have been raised into a new Hope, and that Hope is new life in the life and death of Jesus Christ. “Remember Your Baptism and Be Thankful.” Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

Mark 13:24-37We find ourselves in a time of already and not yet. The Kingdom of God is here, inaugurated in the Christmas manger we look toward, and not yet fully realized as we await Christ's return. As Advent people, we are doorkeepers and people of the watch. Waiting seems more intense this year, as we wait in the pandemic, waiting for a vaccine, waiting for the day when masks a necessary accessory, waiting for life to get back to normal. The Advent waiting is of a different sort. We are stuck in a time when we can either wait for the promised redemptive work of God in Christ or a miraculous, self-achieving salvation through our own actions. 2020 has reminded us of what many in the rest of the world already knew and lived with every day... that the world is not as God would have it, that just as often God seems absent as present, that “Why do bad things happen…?” are still questions with no answers. We’re all like those in Mark’s parable. We are waiting based solely on the knowledge of the Master’s past actions not knowing if or when he will return. Until we have sat with the ambiguity and darkness of the world fully, we have not seriously considered the cost or scope of our redemption.We wait for the return of Christ. We wait for the knock on the door, the hand reaching out, and the movement of the cosmos. In the season of Advent, we find ourselves in a position of being right where we hope to be but not yet entirely there as we await the promised return of Christ. The coming of Emmanuel. www.teerhardy.com/blog Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

November 15, 2020Ephesians 4:1-16The unity we see is already present.The peace we long for is here.The absence of division and fraction is here.It is just like Jesus says it is, like a treasure hidden in a field, buried in your backyard. Just because you do not realize it’s there. Just because you refuse to believe it’s there. Just because you won’t risk looking like a fool and go digging up your yard it t doesn’t mean it’s not there. It does not mean it’s not real and true. It doesn’t mean you are not already sitting on a fortune and could be living out of those riches.This realization can be a “monumental, historic, scary, and angst-filled” moment. The release of agency is not something we have been trained or formed to do outside of the church. And frankly, with the focus more on division as of late, the Church has allowed this “monumental, historic, scary, and angst-filled” shift to fall by the wayside, allowing us to become dismissive of the history, traditions, and rituals that have set the church apart from the political mess swirling around us.Unity within the body of Christ begins and ends in the lordship of the One who has called us to not only be a place where the divine and human intersect in the amazing grace of Christ, but we have been called to also be recipients of that grace. Held together by Grace. Held together by the peace of Christ.Unity is something we must realize and live into but rather to live by faith is to trust that it’s something God is doing, by Word and Sacrament, by the Holy Spirit. The bad news is, the lack of unity in our nation, the lack of unity in the Church is too great for us to repair it. The good news is, it’s too great for us to repair it...but the Living God is able to... Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

Do you have swagger and confidence? What if I told you that swagger and confidence were traits of followers of Jesus? But... that swagger doesn't come from where you think it does.Philippians 3:4b-12 Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

We now live in the realest world, already transformed by Christ. Church, at its best, is just renewing our minds once a week to realize what Christ has already accomplished in spite of, and for, us.The transformation we seek and the transformation we experience does not come as the result of our greatness or ability to transform ourselves. To not be conformed to this world and instead being transformed means we rely on the greatness and the ability of God. We are transformed, the world around us is formed by what has happened in Christ and by what is happening here today in worship. What we do tomorrow, through the rest of the week is a direct result of the collision that has happened here in worship. A collision between the world as we know it – broken and in need of rescue – and the real world, established in the truth and power of Christ’s ultimate reign. This is the world when Christ reigns over all of creation, when the sick are healed, division mended, and enemies forgive one another. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

July 26, 2020Romans 8:26-39“Who will condemn us?Who is against us?Who can separate us from the love of Christ?”Paul continues, “If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?” Jesus told his followers that the extravagance of God’s love, manifested in the Kingdom of God, is like that of a tiny mustard seed. It can appear small or insignificant, but when the mustard seed grows, the seed becomes a tree. “It is the greatest of shrubs” with room for the birds of the air to come and nest.The truth is, it is cheap theology to look a the happenings of the world and to assume that God is in some way asleep at the wheel or worse punishing creation. To do so ignores not only what Saint Paul wrote to the church in Rome but also the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul’s rhetorical questions leave the gate open and open the possibility for us to grossly misinterpret, running amuck with the Amazing Grace, the Amazing love of God in Christ that has and continues to be freely given to all people, all of creation.Pastor Brian Zahnd continued, “God has a disposition towards sinners and it’s the spirit of Jesus. This is the beautiful gospel… God is like Jesus. God has always been like Jesus. There has never been a time when God was not like Jesus; we haven’t always known this, but now we do. God is like Jesus! God is not a sadistic monster who abhors sinners and dangles them over a fiery pit.”[5]“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”The beautiful gospel of Jesus Christ, the Good News for those who gather to worship and those who have not been in quite some time, if ever, is that the love of God in Christ is ours. There is nothing we can do to earn this love and better yet, there is nothing we or anyone or anything can do to separate us from this amazing love. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

Romans 8:1-11Paul’s point is that sin - manifested by “peril…famine...sword...” - has been defeated by the cross of Christ. To live according to the Spirit is to live with the free confidence and joy that all that stands against God has already been defeated. By the Grace of God, we are free to set aside the agenda of life in the flesh - life consumed by us verse them, inequality and injustice, hatred and fear - and instead, being filled with the Spirit of Christ live life in a realm ruled by God. A world where Jesus is indeed Lord and the ways of the flesh fall by the wayside.Life in the Spirit moves us from condemnation and guilt to a life that is not our own. This is the life we put on as we emerge from the waters of our baptism. A life we cannot earn for ourselves, rather a life of freedom received by Grace. A life that makes is possible for us to set aside rebellion and to be swept up in the Spirit of Christ.A life free from what separates us.A life that frees us to just get along.A life free from condemnation and guilt. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

Matthew 10:40-42Compassion and mercy are the model given to us by Jesus for loving and welcoming every person who comes to us in His name. The difficult task is that it will take more than a little bit of grace to open the doors of the church that have been closed to so many people - the LGBTQ+ community, single or divorced adults, those who haven’t opened a Bible in decades or ever. Then there are the doors of the church that have been used to segregate Christ’s body simply because the color of someone’s skin does not match ours. The task before us is monumental, and frankly long overdue in being addressed. But the Good News in Jesus words are not only for the ones being welcomed or ushered to the balcony. The Good News also is for the church where people are sent to the balcony to make us more comfortable, the church where a hand of welcome is not extended to someone whose hand looks different from our own, and the church where we may not participate in such actions but we certainly are not doing anything to address the actions of the larger body. The Good News is for them and for us is that we are not the Queen’s guard. We are not the gatekeepers of Christ’s body and we certainly are not the gatekeepers of the Kingdom of God! Praise be to God that we are not!Our work is monumental and yet it is simple: to offer welcome. To extend a hand of invitation to experience the same amazing grace that changed our lives when we ourselves were once lost and hoping to the be found. The work ahead of us is to offer an embrace when an embrace is invited, and to give a cool cup of water in the sweltering humidity of a Virginia summer. God will take care of the rest, even when a button pushing pastor shows up on Sunday morning wearing too short running shorts. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

The message of Pentecost is that everything has been done. Done for everyone.The Holy Spirit at Pentecost, using every language known so that there would be no mistake, no mistranslation, no nuance missed, or nonverbal misconstrued came so that those present and us today might trust, we might believe, so that we will have faith grounded in the hard to believe, impossible and yet all too real promise made by God in Jesus Christ - the perfection demanded in the Law, obedience, and perfection, has been given to you, has been given to everyone, not by what we can do but rather by what has been done.The outpouring of the power of God will touch everyone and there is nothing we can do to stop this. Try as we might to sell Jesus flavored Law - be a good person and do your best to do good things - doing our best to hide our tells behind masks of unwritten or rewritten church law, the Holy Spirit at Pentecost tells us something else.New life for everything and everyone is present in Jesus Christ. The one who while ascended and seated at the right hand of God promises to never abandon or forsake. The burden on us is not to control others or even the Holy Spirit as we share this news. Our task is not greatness. Our task, given by Jesus, reiterated at Pentecost so that all can hear and believes is to do just that: believe. To trust in, to have faith that the One who overcame the power of sin and death can and will do the same for you and through you. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

When I was a kid, like many of my friends, I was the proud owner of a rock tumbler. A rock tumbler allowed us to take a variety of rocks we found in the neighborhood and polish them to the point that the rocks were like gems. As a kid all we needed were a few rocks from the neighbor’s driveway, some polishing grit, and a little bit of patience. This recipe for success allowed us to (at least in our minds) print money. We would load up our rock tumblers and let them run for a few days and after we washed away the polishing grit, we believed we had diamonds and rubies in our hands.If our parents had only seen the potential in our childhood get rich quick scheme, maybe they could have retired early and today I would be the founder and CEO of Polished Rocks Inc., you’re one stop shop for fine polished driveway stones.There are few passages in the New Testament that pull us in with rich metaphorical language like our reading today. God’s grace and our election through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ grab our attention, revealing that not only are we freed from the bonds of sin and Death through Christ’s Easter victory but now we are included, because of Christ’s faithfulness, in the household of God. Those who have felt as though they were not welcomed or told they were not accepted before God now breathe a sigh of relief and then step forward and into a new home, a new grounding, with Christ as the cornerstone of the new Temple. The grounding we rely on for our faith is found in the sureness of Christ as our cornerstone. All other stones in this new structure will be shaped and set by the Cornerstone, the ultimate reference point determining the position of the entire structure. God chose Jesus Christ as our Cornerstone, a living stone – a living hope for all of creation and the living Word of God.Christ, the living Cornerstone would be rejected, the Psalmist and the prophet Isaiah foretold of these events. The Psalmist wrote, “The stone rejected by the builders is now the main foundation stone!”[1] Throughout his ministry Jesus was despised by the religious elite of the day and then Jesus was ultimately rejected on Good Friday as the crowds in Jerusalem – the home of the Temple, the place where it was believed God resided – shouted “Crucify!”Yet, rejection was not enough and Jesus Christ, then and today is the Living Cornerstone of the Church. The Living Cornerstone is not only drawing us closer to God, Christ is building us, refining us into a spiritual temple. We are brought into new life in Christ as we are joined with other imperfect stones into “God’s household.”[2]We all have had too much time on and temptation on our hands over the past nine weeks to consider a new hobby to make our COVID time a “success.” Many of us are achievers and see time at home as an opportunity to organize, clean, rearrange, or remodel. Some have taken up sewing to help make masks for those of us who either do not own a sewing machine or possess the skill set necessary for the task. We have challenged ourselves to read more or learn to play a musical instrument – to the band, don’t worry, I’ve been practicing.Even before COVID turned our world upside down, stillness was not applauded, and busyness was considered a sign of determination and grit. The same is true in the church. We fill our calendar with programming in hopes that we, all by ourselves, can build up Christ’s body for the transformation of the world. We do and we go, believing that if we just go and do enough rather than residing in stillness, our faith will grow, we will become closer to God and more sanctified in the process.One of the things I learned using a rock tumbler is that it did not matter what I did after I put the rocks and polishing grit into the tumbler. When I plugged the black power cable into the outlet and switched the machine on, I had to rely and trust that the tumbler would do what the box said it would do, trusting that the little work I did was enough for the outcome I desired.Our Living Hope, the Living Word of God, Jesus Christ is building us up. Jesus Christ has built you up and will continue building. The Cornerstone that was rejected is now placing each of us, building His Church so that we can bear His amazing Light into the dark corners of our community and world. It can feel as though we have to go, go, go, and do, do, do and because of where many of us live, just a stone throw from the Nation’s Capital this has been our normal for as long as we can remember. It can feel like we have to go, and we have to do, but the honing, shaping, and building is not our work to do. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ made nobodies into a royal priesthood, taking those who had and continue to be cast aside or told they need to go and do before God will respond, making them and us, everyone into living stones.We have been out of the physical church building for nine weeks, a building with a physical cornerstone and our hub for ministry in our corner of

The culmination of the Emmaus story is found in the disciples being able to see the Risen Lord in the breaking of bread, but they are unable to see the Risen Lord without Jesus’ Bible study to end all Bible studies – explaining how the entire Old Testament is actually about him. For us, as followers of Christ, we believe God’s Plan A has always been Jesus and the revelation of the coming Messiah, now present in our Risen Lord, is everywhere in the Old Testament. Jesus as Lord is the Big Picture we miss when we, like the disciples on their way to Emmaus, hone in on a detail of the story and when that detail does not suffice we, as a failing art critic would attempt to do, make sense of the story of the person of Jesus that fails to show the bigger picture – that through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ Sin and Death no longer hold their boot to the throat of what God created and Jesus reigns over.While we may be hunkered down, like a teenager grounded and unable to leave the house, and wondering what we are supposed to do or where God is this Emmaus story, the entire story – not just the disciples' failure to see Jesus, the breaking of bread, or their rush back to Jerusalem – shows us that not only is Jesus at work but that he’s been at work since the beginning.Before Moses, way back when the Word was God and the Word was with God, God has been present, and God is present with us now. God is reigning now.While we may be grounded at home and feel as though our grounding is shifting, Christ remains the same. Christ - the One the scriptures were pointing to, the one who overcame the power of Sind and Death, and the one who continues to reign as Lord over all of creation – is our grounding, our sure foundation.Our Risen Lord is among us. He is present when we pray when we study when we break bread, but more importantly, he has always been present, he has always been Lord. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

If we leave the story at “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven” we miss the abruptness with which Lent draws to a close, the closing is not drawn out, and the quickness with which Holy Week moves. Jesus entered the Holy City and before a week goes by, he will have been crucified. He will be dead. In less than a week the man who entered the city peacefully, with no show military force, will tell his disciples to put away their swords as he was taken from a garden, arrested and then killed. The quickness with which we move into Holy Week, beginning with this procession, is a shock we experience year after year. Rev. Fleming Rutledge describes the movement as beginning with “triumph” and ending in “catastrophe.” The “turmoil” Jesus caused as he entered the Holy City stirred up such alarm among the religious and political leaders that the only thing left to do to this peaceful prophet was to kill him. And in a moment of brief clarity the religious leadership of Jerusalem and the political leadership of Rome, two groups who did not always see eye-to-eye, found a common enemy they could focus their attention on. We cannot, as Fleming puts it, pass “from Palm Sunday to Easter without Good Friday.” Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

No amount of cancelations or changes in plans can cancel or change this condition we all face. But in Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, the One who came down from on high and took on our earthly existence we are the recipients of the promise that Death does not get the last word. The day is coming when God is going to shout, “Come out!” and all of the death will be unbound, their grave clothes will no longer be necessary. The words of resurrection spoken to Lazarus are words of resurrection spoken to us. God spoke to the prophet Ezekiel say that the dry bones shall live again. Where life and hope seem gone, in dust and ash, and in the grave God is going to shout, “Come out!” Over the past few weeks we have been reflecting on who we are as followers of Christ. As Saint Paul put it, we ‘adopt the same mind that was in Christ.” Who are we? We are resurrection people. We are people who do not believe Death holds the final word. A week after week we proclaim, boldly, Christ resurrected. As Lent begins to draw to a close and we approach Holy Week, anticipating the grand celebration of Easter, hold onto this promise - the promise that the shadow of the cross, the shadow of Death does not get the last word. We can hold onto this promise no just because of Christ’s triumph over Death on Easter but also because resurrection, new life, eternal life where death was thought to have found victory is who Jesus is. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

Skipping over Jesus’ bit of being born anothen, preferring the safer-waters of John 3:16, we miss that we have been born anothen. We have been born again. We have been born from above, born anew.Jesus’ resurrection sealed this for all us. Everyone. Even those of us who prefer John 3:16 over John 3:3 or 3:5.This Lenten season we are considering what it means, as Saint Paul put it, to “adopt the mind of Christ.”[3] To adopt the mind of Christ is to acknowledge that regardless if you have ever come forward during an altar call, regardless if you have your born again date circled on the calendar, regardless if you attend a “born again, Bible-believing” church or the happy middle ground of mainline Protestantism, you have already been accepted by God. The faithfulness of Christ to the will of God is what gives us life. This is something we could never do on our own.So while you may have a date you can remember - confirmation as a teenager, an altar call way back when, or just a few years ago - the anniversary date on your calendar is a signifier of your recognition of something accomplished for you, whether you knew you needed it done or not, whether you wanted it done or not. Hold onto those dates and keep them circled but don’t forget that the sorrow of Good Friday does not last indefinitely. We are Easter people and when the stone was rolled away and Mary found Jesus, she mistook the New Adam for the gardener, the caretaker on the first day of God’s new creation.What Jesus accomplished for us remains the if/then of being born again - if you are born again, born from above, born anew, then you will see the Kingdom of God. What Jesus accomplished for us is true today, now and will always be true.For all of us. Everyone.This is not just Good News. This is Great News! Some might call it Awesome News!This Awesome News we celebrate today, gathering around the baptismal font, we are reminded that each of us has been born anothen, through water and the Spirit, as we celebrate the baptism of Eliza Charlotte.Being born anothen gives each of us new sight - to be able to see Jesus in the darkness of night, to see Jesus while the shadow-side of creation looms, to see him not as the gardener but rather the new Adam, the first of God’s new creation.Seeing Jesus and trusting that his faithfulness is enough frees us to see all of creation with new eyes. The darkness does not seem so dark because the light of Christ - because of his faithfulness and love of God - shines on each of us, exposing our born anothen-ness to the world but more importantly, to those of us who doubt our enoughness. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

God is willing to risk our disobedience in hopes that we will freely turn towards God and proclaim that we are followers of Jesus Christ, that we have adopted the attitude of Christ.” Not followers up to a certain point.Not followers with prerequisites - God must first prove something in hopes that we might repent and follow Christ. Throughout our Lenten journey we will turn towards Christ, turning away from the temptation of sin, and consider the question “Who am I?”It can often feel as though we are people, who when presented with the discomfort of temptation will lean into the comforts of this world, through our own devices and means. But our Lenten journey is an invitation to lean into the faithfulness of Christ. Our faithfulness to our Lenten fasts will wane. We will be tempted to break our fast or to test God’s faithfulness as a way to ignore the suffering around us or to accept the trappings of this life. This journey we find ourselves on, a journey that will ultimately lead us to the cross, is an invitation to lean into the faithfulness of Christ when our own faithfulness wanes. The Good News is that the proclamation that echoed as Jesus exited his baptismal waters and began his journey in the wilderness - “This is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well- pleased” - is the same proclamation made by God to you at your baptism. Because by water and the Spirit, you are in Christ. His belovedness is yours. So, back to the silly question I was asked by that interviewer, “Who am I?” I am a sinner. When push comes to shove I have fallen and will fall again to the temptation of sin. But more importantly, it’s not up to me or my ability to hold a fast during Lent or overcome my own sin. Regardless of what I have or have not given up for Lent, regardless of how well I hold that fast, I am God’s beloved, in whom, for Christ’s sake, God is well pleased. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe

Every time we hear Jesus’ invitation to his table and we share bread and wine, taking seriously his invitation to all people - the poor and the rich, the meek and the powerful, the hungry and those with plenty - we are experiencing the grace and promise of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus’ table is a table of blessing, a common table where the excluded are welcomed and blessed. What we do here this morning, breaking bread, sharing the cup, extends outward to all of the other places we do not want it to happen, where we are told it cannot happen. The grace extended to us by G-d, at this table is a call to extend grace at the tables of our own making - coffee shops and barbershops, playgrounds and lunchrooms. Get full access to Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy at teerhardy.substack.com/subscribe