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Dear Friends,

As we come to Matthew 5:17-20 this week, my questions and reflections are all about freedom, happiness, and growth.

Historically, freedom has always been a big thing for us in the U.S.A. (I’ll try to not quote “Braveheart.”) Freedom continues to be a big thing for us today. It may be fair to say that, in our culture, freedom is one of our most treasured and closely guarded values. We live in one of the most “free” countries and times in the history of the world. How is that working for us? Consider for a moment:

• What is freedom?
• What is the goal of freedom?
• What did freedom promise to achieve for us?
• What are we set free from?
• What are we set free to?

We automatically assume that freedom leads to (personal) growth and that personal growth leads to happiness. But, as we look at our world, what have we learned about how those things interact and relate to each other?Read More

Dear Friends,

How should a Christian relate to the world around them?

As our country and the communities we live in continue to radically change with regard to values and morality, as the church of Jesus Christ is increasingly criticized, how will we relate to the world around us? To reference the old classic recruitment poster, “Your world needs you.” This world, our world, your world needs you and us all to be priests: to be salt and light.

I can understand why so few pastors continue with preaching on the Sermon on the Mount once they’ve covered The Beatitudes. Now that he’s spoken so profoundly about the heart, character, and attitude that he seeks to form in his followers, Jesus begins to give some real concrete application. Jesus, as they say here in the South, now “gits to meddlin’”! The remainder of the Sermon on the Mount has a kind of  “Where the rubber meets the road” dynamic to it as Jesus tells us what the beautiful and profound Beatitudes actually mean, require, and look like when they are lived out. As he continues, we really see that Jesus is not just talking in the abstract, he’s a revolutionary! His revolution, the revolution of living in the Kingdom of God, is beautiful. It is love personified in priestly living.

In Matthew 5: 13-16, Jesus says to follow him means to be “salt” and “light” in the world. He uses two profound metaphors. It’s going to be important for us to make sure we understand clearly what Jesus means by these metaphors. Read More

Dear Friends,

Do you have $4 and an internet connection?  If you do, I urge to you watch (or watch again) the film, “Of Gods and Men.” It’s based on the true story of some French monks who served God in Algeria. It is profound, moving, and beautiful. I think it’s close to “Essential Christian Living.” NB – It’s not a children’s movie. You can rent it for $4 on Amazon.com. I assume you can rent it other places too.

This Sunday, and next week in our Daily Worship Devotions, we complete the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount (the Beatitudes). As we saw last week, Jesus, who has been extremely pithy and precise in the first 7 Beatitudes, slows down and camps out on the theme of peacemaking, persecution, and suffering in the last two beatitudes.  The last two Beatitudes are both twice as long as the earlier 7. Have you ever wondered why? They are also the most repetitive of the 9 Beatitudes. Have you ever wondered why?

Here at Church of the Redeemer we have talked regularly of the epidemic of loneliness in North America and in the West in general. Loneliness has been identified as a major health epidemic and the #1 silent killer behind many other problems, like heart disease, depression, etc. I’ve thought about that again this week with the news of the tragic suicide of Kate Spade, a 55 year old widely successful fashion icon. People today are so lonely and, as dramatic as it sounds, loneliness kills. It’s one of the central reasons that suicide rates for young people in the United States, especially middle-class and wealthy children and youth, are at an all-time high. Read More