Word Of Life Church Podcast

What happens when the carriers of hope and healing become the cause of harm and hurt? The wounds cut deeper, the pain becomes unbearable, and the harassed and helpless feel like sheep without a shepherd. Despite the failure of the church at times, there remains a good shepherd who walks with us through every valley. Jesus is the healer of every disease and every affliction including the afflictions suffered because of his church.

Ultimate HealingThe healing of Lazarus brought the dead back to life. Much like the other events of healing in the ministry of Jesus, this miracle demonstrated God’s glory, majesty, and magnificence. People saw Jesus' authority as he raised the dead and many believed in him. This miracle was a sign for those present at the tomb of Lazarus and a sign for us. The raising of Lazarus is a sign that our ultimate healing will take place in the resurrection at the end of the age.

Jesus carried our sins in his own body on the cross so that he might take away our sins, our brokenness, our sickness. This is the good news buried in the sorrow of Lent. He was wounded so that we could be healed, both body and soul, healed both on the outside and the inside, and so we bring sick people to Jesus with our prayers whether their brokenness is in their bodies, minds, or emotions.

We tend to make a hard theological distinction between sin and sickness, between iniquity and illness, between guilt and death; but Jesus doesn’t seem to make that kind of hard distinction. In his great compassion Jesus looks upon all of us as soul-sick sinners broken by a terrible fall, and he comes to help us, to heal us, to forgive us, and to restore us. The salvation we find in Jesus Christ is holistic.

You have heard it said, God helps those who help themselves. But I say unto you, God helps the helpless and leaves the rest to help themselves. We are saved when we call upon the name of the Lord—and we call upon the Lord when we know we can't save ourselves. When we go into the ashes and wait in the place of loss, we admit that we need God.

Scripture references are NRSV.Transfiguration Sunday, February 27, 2022Mystics on the MountainsOne of the most remarkable aspects of the Transfiguration is the appearance of Moses and Elijah—Moses who lived twelve centuries before Christ and Elijah who lived nine centuries before Christ. Moses and Elijah were mystics who had had their own encounters with God on a holy mountain. They were Mystics on the Mountains.

During the season of Epiphany leading up to Lent, the Gospel readings in the lectionary are focused on the early ministry of Jesus—that is, from his baptism to his transfiguration. What we find in the first half of the Gospels is the healing and teaching ministry of Jesus as he travels throughout Galilee. This sermon will look at the core of Jesus’ kingdom message—The Politics of Heaven.

When Jesus began his public ministry in Galilee around the age of thirty, the thing that drew the crowds and spread his fame was that he was a healer. John the Baptist was famous as a preacher and baptizer, but Jesus was first of all famous as a healer and miracle worker. From curing Peter’s mother-in-law of her fever in Capernaum at the beginning of his ministry to resorting Malchus’ severed ear in the Garden of Gethsemane at the end of his ministry, Jesus was a healer. When we look at the ministry of Jesus we can say…Hence Comes the Healer.

"Every one of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false self. This is the man that I want myself to be but who cannot exist, because God does not know anything about him. And to be unknown by God is altogether too much privacy. My false and private self is the one who wants to exist outside the reach of God’s will and God’s love—outside of reality and outside of life. And such a self cannot help but be an illusion. … The secret of my [true] identity is hidden in the love and mercy of God."—Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

Jesus was rejected in his hometown. What are we to think of the people of Nazareth? Were they just more dull-witted or hard-hearted than the people of Capernaum? No. They had simply stumbled at the offence of familiarity. And today in Western society, we're all from Jesus hometown.

My life has become so intertwined with the story of the Wedding Feast at Cana that it has become the primary way that I tell my born again again story. Every time I read about how Jesus turned the water to wine, I feel a deep personal connection with the story. It’s become my story—or at least some of my story. And when the Gospel stories become our stories, this is when Scripture is doing its most profound work in our lives. I love the whole Bible, but I have a particular love for the story of Jesus’ first miracle. My love for this story is such that whenever I just hear the word Cana, it makes me happy. When I hear the baffled steward say, “But you have kept the best wine until now!”, I think, “That’s my story too!” The story of how in midlife Jesus turned the water to wine and I discovered the vintage I’d been looking for all my life.

The spiritual genius of the lectionary is on display when the water and flame poem of Isaiah 43 in the Old Testament is connected with Luke’s account of Jesus’ baptism in the New Testament. By making this connection, we are shown that God’s promise to be with us as we pass through rivers and waters, through fire and flame, is fulfilled, as all the promises of God are, in Jesus. For Christ Jesus is the one who joins us in the waters of baptism and the one who purifies us in the baptism of fire.

The star of Bethlehem is not to be found in a re-creation of ancient astronomy. The star of Bethlehem is the "more sure word of prophecy" that rises in our hearts in response to the proclamation of the gospel.

Christ is not just born in the beautiful places of our lives, as if we live in the idyllic bubble of a snow globe. Christ is also born in the war-torn places of our lives, littered with rubber bullets and teargas canisters. Jesus was not born into a fairytale but into the world as it is.

Our secular age doesn’t make much room for a world filled with blessings. Our age is one that wants to reduce everything down to cold sterile mechanisms, where everything is predictable, provable, and explainable. We are given the choice to live in a world of blessings or curses. What kind of world do you want to live in? God who blesses all humanity has made a way for us to live in a world full of blessings because Jesus rescued us from the curse. If we want to live in a world full of blessings then we have to do our part and impart blessings to others including those who curse us. When we bless those who curse us, we neutralize cursing. When we curse those who curse us, we normalize cursing. Choose to bless.

I have climbed highest mountainsI have run through the fieldsOnly to be with youOnly to be with youI have runI have crawledI have scaled these city wallsThese city wallsOnly to be with youBut I still haven't found what I'm looking forBut I still haven't found what I'm looking forI have kissed honey lipsFelt the healing in her fingertipsIt burned like fireThis burning desireI have spoke with the tongue of angelsI have held the hand of a devilIt was warm in the nightI was cold as a stoneBut I still haven't found what I'm looking forBut I still haven't found what I'm looking forI believe in the kingdom comeThen all the colors will bleed into oneBleed into oneBut yes I'm still runningYou broke the bondsAnd you loosed the chainsCarried the crossOf my shameOh my shameYou know I believe itBut I still haven't found what I'm looking forBut I still haven't found what I'm looking forBut I still haven't found what I'm looking forBut I still haven't found what I'm looking for

Think about it, there must be higher loveDown in the heart or hidden in the stars aboveWithout it, life is wasted timeLook inside your heart, I'll look inside mineThings look so bad everywhereIn this whole world, what is fair?We walk blind and we try to seeFalling behind in what could beBring me a higher loveBring me a higher loveBring me a higher loveWhere's that higher love I keep thinking of?Worlds are turning and we're just hanging onFacing our fear and standing out there aloneA yearning, and it's real to meThere must be someone who's feeling for meThings look so bad everywhereIn this whole world, what is fair?We walk blind and we try to seeFalling behind in what could beBring me a higher loveBring me a higher love Bring me a higher loveWhere's that higher love I keep thinking of?Bring me a higher loveBring me a higher love Bring be a higher loveI could rise above on a higher loveI will wait for itI'm not too late for itUntil then, I'll sing my songTo cheer the night along (bring it)I could light the nigh

Welcome to your lifeThere's no turning backEven while we sleepWe will find youActing on your best behaviorTurn your back on mother natureEverybody wants to rule the worldIt's my own designIt's my own remorseHelp me to decideHelp me make theMost of freedom and of pleasureNothing ever lasts foreverEverybody wants to rule the worldThere's a room where the light won't find youHolding hands while the walls come tumbling downWhen they do, I'll be right behind youSo glad we've almost made itSo sad they had to fade itEverybody wants to rule the worldI can't stand this indecisionMarried with a lack of visionEverybody wants to rule the worldSay that you'll never, never, never, never need itOne headline, why believe it?Everybody wants to rule the worldAll for freedom and for pleasureNothing ever lasts foreverEverybody wants to rule the world

The sixth century BC was a very difficult time for the Jewish people. Their holy city and their holy temple had been destroyed, and most of the survivors had been deported into forced exile in Babylon. The difficult challenge they faced was how to survive as exiles in Babylon and maintain their monotheistic faithfulness to Yahweh. How do you integrate into Babylonian society so that you can have a life but at the same time retain your Jewish identity? How do you live in a pagan world without becoming a pagan yourself? This is what the book of Daniel is about.