Word of Life Church Podcast

<p>Beautiful Things</p><p>Benson Boone</p><p><br></p><p>For a while there, it was rough</p><p>But lately, I've been doin' better</p><p>Than the last four cold Decembers I recall</p><p>And I see my family every month</p><p>I found a girl my parents love</p><p>She'll come and stay the night</p><p>And I think I might have it all</p><p><br></p><p>And I thank God every day</p><p>For the girl He sent my way</p><p>But I know the things He gives me</p><p>He can take away</p><p><br></p><p>And I hold you every night</p><p>And that's a feelin' I wanna get used to</p><p>But there's no man as terrified</p><p>As the man who stands to lose you</p><p><br></p><p>Oh, I hope I don't lose you</p><p><br></p><p>Please stay</p><p>I want you, I need you, oh, God</p><p>Don't take</p><p>These beautiful things that I've got</p><p><br></p><p>Please stay</p><p>I want you, I need you, oh, God</p><p>Don't take</p><p>These beautiful things that I've got</p><p><br></p><p>Please don't take</p><p><br></p><p>I found my mind, I'm feelin' sane</p><p>It's been a while, but I'm findin' my faith</p><p>If everything's good and it's great</p><p>Why do I sit and wait 'til it's gone?</p><p><br></p><p>Oh, I'll tell ya, I know I've got enough</p><p>I've got peace, and I've got love</p><p>But I'm up at night thinkin'</p><p>I just might lose it all</p><p><br></p><p>Please stay</p><p>I want you, I need you, oh, God</p><p>Don't take</p><p>These beautiful things that I've got</p><p><br></p><p>Please stay</p><p>I want you, I need you, oh, God</p><p>I need</p><p>These beautiful things that I've got</p>

<p>Imago Interlude by nobigdyl.</p><p><br></p><p>Christian music or music that Christians use</p><p>To get they fix just another hit of the clicks and views</p><p>Officially I don't play by your silly rules</p><p>We independent cuz that's how I felt the Spirit move</p><p>Looked for Yeshua I didn't see him on the tube</p><p>I couldn't find him on the web or in triple letter news</p><p>I saw him on the corner begging for some drugs and food</p><p>I couldn't stop cuz I'm a little late for Sunday school</p><p><br></p><p>Christian music or music that Christians use</p><p>I read epistles and take a sip of the liquor too</p><p>And everyone you listen to I saw they did it too</p><p>I saw a lot of dying happenin' in livin' rooms</p><p>Is that a preacher or a wolf that's covered in the wool</p><p>Is that a fetus or human covered in the womb</p><p>We disagreeing or are we just politicians tools</p><p>Can't pledge allegiance to a system feeding off of fools</p><p><br></p><p>Christian music or music that Christians use</p><p>I looked for Jesus and I didn't see him on the news</p><p>Saw him in Palestine the power lines were out of juice</p><p>He was a 9-year-old her body had been battered bruised</p><p>Saw him in Zion too a missile through a tattered roof</p><p>A father clinging to his child pleading out to you</p><p>Saw him in Kyiv and Moscow</p><p>The bleeding won't stop now</p><p>The cop and the black body he shot down</p><p><br></p><p>Christian music or music that Christians use</p><p>Looked for Messiah I couldn't find him in interviews</p><p>Sittin' in silence I felt an ancient pull</p><p>He said to be Samaritan to every single Jew</p><p>Right then he showed me rockets over top of Tel Aviv</p><p>Colonizers shippin' people across the seven seas</p><p>Televangelist devisin' petty schemes</p><p>You don't know Jesus till you see him in your enemy</p><p><br></p><p>I hate the people that we became</p><p>I love the people we became</p>

<p>Shelter from the Storm</p><p>Bob Dylan</p><p><br></p><p>’Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood</p><p>When blackness was a virtue, the road was full of mud</p><p>I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form</p><p>“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm”</p><p><br></p><p>And if I pass this way again, you can rest assured</p><p>I'll always do my best for her, on that I give my word</p><p>In a world of steel-eyed death, and men who are fighting to be warm</p><p>“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm”</p><p><br></p><p>Not a word was spoke between us, there was little risk involved</p><p>Everything up to that point had been left unresolved</p><p>Try imagining a place where it’s always safe and warm</p><p>“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm”</p><p><br></p><p>I was burned out from exhaustion, buried in the hail</p><p>Poisoned in the bushes an’ blown out on the trail</p><p>Hunted like a crocodile, ravaged in the corn</p><p>“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm”</p><p><br></p><p>Suddenly I turned around and she was standin’ there</p><p>With silver bracelets on her wrists and flowers in her hair</p><p>She walked up to me so gracefully and took my crown of thorns</p><p>“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm”</p><p><br></p><p>Now there’s a wall between us, somethin’ there’s been lost</p><p>I took too much for granted, I got my signals crossed</p><p>Just to think that it all began on an uneventful morn</p><p>“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm”</p><p><br></p><p>Well, the deputy walks on hard nails and the preacher rides a mount</p><p>But nothing really matters much, it’s doom alone that counts</p><p>And the one-eyed undertaker, he blows a futile horn</p><p>“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm”</p><p><br></p><p>I've heard newborn babies wailin’ like a mournin’ dove</p><p>And old men with broken teeth stranded without love</p><p>Do I understand your question, man, is it hopeless and forlorn?</p><p>“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm”</p><p><br></p><p>In a little hilltop village, they gambled for my clothes</p><p>I bargained for salvation an’ she gave me a lethal dose</p><p>I offered up my innocence and got repaid with scorn</p><p>“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm”</p><p><br></p><p>Well, I’m livin’ in a foreign country but I’m bound to cross the line</p><p>Beauty walks a razor’s edge, someday I'll make it mine</p><p>If I could only turn back the clock to when God and her were born</p><p>“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm”</p>

<p>I woke up this morning with the blues all around my head</p><p>I woke up this morning with the blues all around my head</p><p>I felt like someone in my family was dead</p><p><br></p><p>I jumped up like a rabbit and fell down to my knees</p><p>I jumped up like a rabbit and fell down to my knees</p><p>I called all around me,</p><p>Have mercy on me, please</p><p><br></p><p>Then over by the window, a voice came low and hollow</p><p>Over by the window a voice came low and hollow</p><p>It s poke into my pain, into my yearning sorrow</p><p>Spoke into my pain</p><p><br></p><p>Who was it? I cried</p><p>What wild ghost has come in agitation?</p><p>Who is it? I cried</p><p>What wild ghost has come in agitation?</p><p>It's half past midnight</p><p>Oh, why you disturb me so late?</p><p><br></p><p>Then I saw a movement around my narrow bed</p><p>I saw a movement around my narrow bed</p><p>A ghost in giant sneakers, laughing stars around his head</p><p><br></p><p>Who sat on a narrow bed, this flaming boy</p><p>Who sat on a narrow bed, this flaming boy</p><p>Said, "We've all had too much sorrow</p><p>Now is the time for joy"</p><p><br></p><p>All across the world they shout out their angry words</p><p>All across the world they shout out their angry words</p><p>About the end of love</p><p><br></p><p>Yet the stars stand above the earth</p><p>Bright, triumphant metaphors of love</p><p>Bright, triumphant metaphors of love</p><p>That blind us all who care to stand and look beyond</p><p>That dare to stand and look beyond, above</p><p><br></p><p>And I jumped up like a rabbit and fell down to my knees</p><p>I jumped up like a rabbit and fell down to my knees</p><p>I called all around me</p><p>Have mercy on me, please</p>

<p>Good Old Days</p><p>The Revivalists</p><p><br></p><p>Changes come, I watch them grow</p><p>In your eyes, an ancient glow</p><p>I caught a glimpse, a dangerous smile</p><p>Oh, my God, she's a wild child</p><p><br></p><p>I've been dreaming, I've been pushing through</p><p>I'm not the star of the story</p><p>I've been hurting, I've been missing you</p><p>I'm that special kind of lonely</p><p><br></p><p>These are the good old days, they're ahead and behind</p><p>These are the good old days, I have to keep that in mind</p><p>These are the good old days, they're ahead and behind</p><p>These are the good old days...</p><p><br></p><p>I came of age, tempting fate</p><p>Growing up, had to wait</p><p>In my dreams, I miss someone</p><p>Love is blind, deaf, and dumb</p><p><br></p><p>I've been dreaming, I've been pushing through</p><p>I'm not the star of the story</p><p>And I've been hurting, I've been missing you</p><p>I'm that special kind of lonely</p><p><br></p><p>These are the good old days, they're ahead and behind</p><p><br></p><p>Passing through, passing out</p><p>Dancing in the kitchen while the neighbors shout</p><p>Feeling up, getting down</p><p>Gotta show love while we're still around</p><p>So don't stop, just let it out</p><p>Don't quit, don't let me down</p><p>Don't stop, just let it out</p><p>Don't quit, don't let me down</p><p><br></p><p>'Cause I've been dreaming, I've been paying dues</p><p>I'm not one for the glory</p><p>And I've been falling, won't be landing soon</p><p>It's not the end of the story</p><p><br></p><p>These are the good old days, they're ahead and behind...</p>

<p>Crazy Train</p><p>Ozzy Osbourne</p><p><br></p><p>Crazy, but that’s how it goes</p><p>Millions of people living as foes</p><p>Maybe, it’s not too late</p><p>To learn how to love, and forget how to hate</p><p><br></p><p>Mental wounds not healing</p><p>Life’s a bitter shame</p><p>I’m goin’ off the rails on a crazy train</p><p>I’m goin’ off the rails on a crazy train</p><p><br></p><p>Heirs of a cold war,</p><p>that’s what we’ve become</p><p>Inheriting troubles,</p><p>I’m mentally numb</p><p>Crazy, I just cannot bear</p><p>I’m living with something that just isn’t fair</p><p><br></p><p>Mental wounds not healing</p><p>Who and what’s to blame</p><p>I’m goin’ off the rails on a crazy train</p><p>I’m goin’ off the rails on a crazy train</p>

<p>The present tends to seem more distressing to us than the past, for the simple reason that we are not obliged to live in the past. Nevertheless the distress of our present age is real and therein lies the temptation to despair. We see senseless wars and war crimes; we see Machiavellian politics and political corruption; we see growing inequality and flagrant injustice; in the words of the psalmist, the arrogant prosper and the wicked have no pain. And so we are tempted to despair. But we do not have to despair.</p>

<p>Jesus is the teacher who in the parable of the Good Samaritan calls us to show mercy. </p><p><br></p><p>Jesus is the Good Samaritan who comes to us and saves us after we're are left for dead. </p><p><br></p><p>Jesus is the one beaten by robbers who we are to be a neighbor to by showing mercy. </p><p><br></p><p>Jesus is the innocent one crucified with the robbers, so that he can save them too.</p><p><br></p>

<p>We are all familiar with this theological problem: If God is all-loving, all-knowing, all-powerful, why is there is so much evil and suffering in the world? Theodicy is the attempt to reconcile these realities and thus justify God. But is a Christian theodicy possible?</p>

<p>When James and John in their hostility suggested a drone strike on a Samaritan village because Elijah did something like that, Jesus rebuked them for their wrong spirit. From this story we learn that you can find things in the Bible that you cannot find in the spirit of Jesus.</p>

<p>Jesus is creating a new humanity by breathing the breath of life upon the Church, just as God in the beginning breathed the breath of life upon a pile of dirt to create the first humanity. This breath of life is the Holy Spirit. Our part in all this is to develop a posture of openness and receptivity to God the Holy Spirit. We want to be the kind of people who welcome the Holy Spirit on a regular basis. As Christians we remain open to receive the Holy Spirit primarily for two things: transformation and empowerment.</p>

<p>In a world where fear, division, and isolation often feel like the norm—what if love became our home? What if, at the center of the universe, there isn’t just chaos or power… but a holy relationship?</p><p><br></p><p>On Trinity Sunday, we explore the image of God revealed through Jesus—one God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. A God who invites us out of the house of fear and into the house of love where’s a seat at the table for everyone. </p>

<p>In 1971, commenting on the Charismatic Renewal, the German Catholic theologian Karl Rahner said, "The devout Christian of the future will either be a 'mystic,' one who has 'experienced' something, or he will cease to be anything at all." Christian mysticism is simply the experience of God, and the Holy Spirit is the experience of God.</p>

<p>The Ascension is not about the absence of Christ, but about the ascendancy of Christ. The ascension of Jesus to the right hand of God in the heavens is the ascendancy, the rise, the elevation, the promotion, the exaltation of Jesus to the position of all authority in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, the ascension of Christ does not lead to the absence of Christ, but to his cosmic presence everywhere.</p>

<p>The third appearance of the risen Christ to the disciples in John's Gospel is when Jesus restores Peter after his thrice denial around a charcoal fire in the courtyard of Caiaphas. The story of Jesus and seven disciples having breakfast around a charcoal fire on the shore of the sea of Galilee is one of the most tender and beautiful stories in all the Bible.</p>

<p>Emmaus is about seven miles from Jerusalem and a world away from what was. Once we recognize the risen Christ present in Scripture and Sacrament we have entered a new world.</p>

<p><br></p><p>"The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing: we know this in countless ways. It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason. That is what faith is: God perceived by the heart, not by reason." –Blaise Pascal</p><p><br></p><p>"We must take our subtle spiritual intuitions seriously and view them as the quintessence that underlies the ordinary world. The rejection of the sacred is the fundamental reason for our existential discontent." –Nick Cave</p>

<p>Christianity cannot fit within the empirical limitations imposed by the Enlightenment. If we reduce the Christian faith to rational explanation, practical advice, and political agendas we end up with a paper-thin, watered-down, cheap knock-off of Christianity that no longer has the capacity to astonish.</p>

<p>Thomas, one of the original 12 disciples, has been given the nickname "Doubting Thomas" which is unfortunate because it isn't true. Thomas believed in Jesus. He never doubted. He believed in Jesus' resurrection. He just needed a little more information than the other disciples. Thomas has much to teach us about believing in Jesus.</p>

<p>While it's still dark...things are not what they seem.</p><p>While it's still dark...angels are at work.</p><p>While it's still dark...evil is being overthrown.</p><p>While it's still dark...Christ is risen!</p>

<p>With his Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday—lowly and riding on a donkey—Jesus set in motion events that would forever redefine greatness. But can we perceive this greatness? Those who cling to a model of greatness exemplified by warhorse-riding conquerors like Alexander the Great and Caesar Augustus are a theological anachronism—instead of living in an AD reality they're still stuck in a BC world. </p>

<p>This week's gospel reading takes us to the home of Lazarus, where the sweet fragrance of Mary’s worship contrasts the stench of death from the chapter before. Jesus, deeply moved, enters the dead places —not just in Bethany, but in our lives too. He is the Resurrection and the Life, the one who calls us out of darkness and into eternal life. </p>

<p>The father’s house in the first century Jewish world was a picture of security, provision, stability and love. It is the central point of all the activity in the story Jesus is telling in Luke 15. The youngest son leaves and returns to the father’s house and the party that is thrown, the one the older son refuses to join, is held at the father’s house. In this story Jesus reveals the heart of God our Father and we have the opportunity to ask ourselves, “Who do I identify with? The younger son or the older son?” </p>

<p>In the midst of cancel culture, political polarization, and waging war comes a timely parable from Jesus. Our instinct to act in frustration and impatience, especially toward people, is challenged by Jesus’ call for patience and trust in Luke 13. True wisdom is rooted in patience—trusting the slow, often unpleasant process of growth and redemption rather than hastily discarding what appears fruitless. Ultimately, we are called not to carry axes in judgment, but to follow Christ in carrying the cross, becoming agents of grace who, like the Gardener, offer time, care, and hope for transformation. </p>

<p>Following the Transfiguration Jesus enters the second half of his ministry—which is essentially a slow, steady March On Jerusalem. Jesus leaves Galilee and begins a weeks-long journey toward the holy city, toward Jerusalem, toward the cross, toward the kingdom of God arriving through his death, burial and resurrection. This final march on Jerusalem is what we remember during Lent.</p>

<p>As we enter the season of Lent, the Lectionary appropriately takes us to the temptation of Christ. Before Jesus ever preached a sermon or worked a miracle, he faced off with the devil in the wilderness. And perhaps no one has explored the the temptation of Christ in a more profound way than Fyodor Dostoevsky did in his famous parable of "The Grand Inquisitor."</p>

<p>Jesus is the kingdom of God in person. And Jesus is the one who now fills all things everywhere with himself. What happened to Jesus on Mount Tabor when he was transfigured in appearance from an ordinary Galilean Jew into his true appearance as the glorious Son of God, is what will happen in the eschaton to all of God’s creation.</p>

<p>In his Sermon on the Plain Jesus tells us that God is our Father, and that our Father is merciful; and because we are children of God, we should be merciful just as our Father is merciful. Jesus calls us to mercy, not merely because mercy is a superior ethic or because mercy tends toward peace, as true as that is; rather, Jesus calls us to be merciful because that is what God is like!</p>

<p>There is no easy alliance between the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God, and all attempts to create an easy alliance between these two kingdoms are misguided and doomed to failure. The kingdom of the world is founded on greed and war—Mammon and Mars. The kingdom of God is founded on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, these two kingdoms are organized around irreconcilable values. The kingdom of the world values economic power and military might, while the kingdom of God values co-suffering love and divine mercy.</p>

<p>When Simon Peter first got a glimpse of who Jesus really is, his initial reaction was one of fear. The transcendent and holy otherness of Jesus simply overwhelmed Simon Peter. But the Lord’s response to Peter’s fearful reaction can be understood as something like this: Don't be afraid of me, follow me. If you follow me, I will make you into a new person—the person you were always meant to be.</p>

<p>It’s astonishing how angry some people will get if you try to take away their religion of revenge. They’re terribly upset by the idea that God might give divine favor to those they deem unworthy of it—to those who do not belong to their kind of people. The very idea that God might have mercy on all is condemned as blasphemy. This is exactly what Jesus encountered when he preached in his hometown of Nazareth.</p>

<p>Jesus is the fulfillment of Scripture, and all Scripture is fulfilled in Christ.</p><p><br></p><p>This may sound like a simple statement, but it’s actually an essential foundation for good theology.</p><p>Scripture is not fulfilled by “biblical principles applied to your life.”</p><p>Scripture is not fulfilled by geopolitical events speculated as “end time signs.”</p><p>Scripture is not fulfilled by the modern nation of Israel or any other nation.</p><p>All Scripture is fulfilled in the Word of God made flesh who is Jesus Christ.</p>

<p>Most of Jesus’ miracles involve dire circumstances—disease, death, danger, demons, and so on. But in Jesus’ very first miracle there is none of that—no deadly storm, no one is dying, there are no demons; it’s merely a wedding feast that is running low on wine. Some would dismiss this as “first world problems.” But Jesus doesn't do that, and we're surprised by a gratuitous miracle. There's an element of whimsy in the miracle story of Cana of Galilee that makes it particularly endearing.</p>

<p>Why was Jesus baptized for repentance by John the Baptist? (Yes, Jesus is willing to participate with us in our repentance. But there is something deeper.) Jesus is not so much being baptized by the waters, as he is baptizing the waters. Jesus is sacramentally consecrating the waters so they become mighty waters—the mighty waters of salvation.</p>

<p>To actually celebrate the Twelfth Day of Christmas may seem strange and overly religious to some, but in a secular age determined to rush past the holy, it’s an act of sacred resistance. And the final day of Christmas is a good time to meditate on the Logos in adolescence.</p>

<p>"Hope builds a bridge across the abyss into which reason cannot look. It can hear an undertone to which reason is deaf. To the hopeful, the world appears in a different light. Hope gives the world a special radiance; it brightens the world."</p><p>–Byung-Chul Han, The Spirit of Hope</p>

<p>Shepherds, though now romanticized in Nativity scenes, were at the bottom of society. These were not landowners but hired hands who watched over the sheep by night; sleeping, if they did, on the cold hard ground. That these simple shepherds and not the high and mighty were the first to know the greatest news of all was entirely in keeping with Mary’s prophetic song:</p><p><br></p><p>He has shown the strength of his arm,</p><p>He has scattered the proud in their conceit.</p><p>He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,</p><p>And has lifted up the lowly.</p>

<p>In our contemporary context we need a Christianity formed by the Magnificat. In the American superpower we are typically inclined toward ideologies of success and anthems of strength. But the grace of God does not run uphill toward the pinnacles of success and strength, it rolls downhill toward the low places of humility and trust.</p>

<p>Mary as the Mother of God is both a holy and unique mystery, and an enduring archetype.</p>

<p>John the Baptist drinks no wine, because he’s not the one who brings the party, he only prepares the way. The party begins when Jesus turns the water to wine at the wedding feast of Cana. John is Advent; Jesus is Christmas.</p>

<p>Jesus of Nazareth being interrogated and ultimately condemned by Pontius Pilate is one of the most dramatic moments in the gospel story, and one of the most strangely fascinating moments in human history. Jesus on trial before the Roman governor of Judea establishes a historical context for the crucifixion. Indeed, it creeps into the Creed: “He suffered under Pontius Pilate.” If we enter into the theological depths of this historical moment, we discover that though on the surface Jesus is on trial before a Roman governor, in reality the world was on trial before the King of Kings.</p>

<p>In his Olivet Discourse Jesus predicted that the Temple would be destroyed, saying “all will be thrown down.” This came to pass a generation later when the Roman legions destroyed Jerusalem. But if Jesus’ words are words that “will not pass away,” what do these words say to us today, these words that—“all will be thrown down”?</p>

<p>Psalm 130 invites us to wait for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning. Our souls wait for the Lord because there are no quick and easy paths on the road to spiritual formation. Waiting is inevitable. Waiting is baked into this ancient Christian faith we have received. Instead of a hurried dash through a department story, the Christian life is more like a slow walk down a wooded trail. The Christian life is a slow walk interrupted by moments of grandeur. Most of our days are spent waiting patiently on God. But we don't wait alone. God the Holy Spirit gives us faith, hope, and love to empower us in our waiting.</p>

<p>Let nothing disturb you</p><p>Let nothing frighten you</p><p>All things are passing away</p><p>God never changes</p><p>Patience obtains all things</p><p>Whoever has God lacks nothing</p><p>God alone suffices</p><p>–Teresa of Ávila</p>

<p>In Mark's Gospel bar-Timaeus (son of Timaeus) is the only person Jesus healed who is given a name. The blind beggar bar-Timaeus is also the first person in Mark's Gospel to identify Jesus as the Son of David. So who is Timaeus and why does it matter?</p>

<p>The problem that James and John and the rest of disciples had, was that they thought Jesus could be contained in their own ambitions and agendas; that Jesus could be contained in the systems and political structures of the world they already knew. But they were wrong. They were wrong because Jesus is the uncontainable Christ.</p>

<p>The faith of Abraham is a pilgrim faith that confesses the kingdoms of this world are all transitory and passing away, and that the only eternal kingdom is the kingdom of the heavens, where Jesus Christ reigns at the right hand of God.</p>

<p>Philip the Evangelist rode in a chariot with the Ethiopian Eunuch on the Gaza Road two thousand years ago. Brian Zahnd road on a train with Yu in Paris on the day Derrida died. The two stories are not entirely different.</p>

<p>No matter what cripples us, no matter what issues we have, no matter how many dark spirits afflict us, Jesus is the one who recalls us to life.</p>

<p>In The Chronicles of Narnia, Puddleglum tells the underworld witch, "I'm on Aslan's side even if there is no Aslan. I'm going to live like a Narnian even if there isn't any Narnia." In this story C.S. Lewis is doing more than telling a children's fantasy, he is portraying what it means to "walk by faith."</p>