Open Table United Methodist Church

Pastor Sarah's message on Luke 6: 17-25

If there is one scripture to baffle generations of people, it's this one. What's the point of the description in Proverbs of the "ideal" woman? Or have we gotten it all wrong?

This week we revisit Mark 7, where Jesus continues to make holy what is seen as unclean, or "other". Jesus creates wholeness, and redemption, for those who are on the outside of communities. For those who are oppressed.

Scripture this Sunday Mark 7:24-37

The frenzy of this world is easy to get caught up in. But Jesus invites us to the table, to rest and be rejuvenated. When we feel like we can no longer exist in this world as it is, as our lives have become, Jesus is there with sustenance for us.

Throughout the gospels we see Jesus consistently extend an invitation to the people around him to sit, eat, and rest. Jesus is always reminding us that in this world of scarcity, life with Christ is a life of abundance. Abundant to us, and abundant to the world.

When Jesus begins his ministry and goes back to his hometown, he isn't given the highest of welcomes. We are reminded that we serve a God that came in an unexpected form, and that each one of us has a call and is invited to shake off the dust, and live it out.

The story of "The Courageous Woman" from Mark 5:21-43 tells of a woman who is healed by Jesus. But more than that, she goes from being unseen, to being seen. To being part of the fold that once rejected her. And in every story, this is what we see Jesus doing.

Hear from Hollis Bruton, Bryan Keith, Maddy Smith-Driver, and Josh Yawn about their journey with church and faith. They were so, so good!

We are often experiencing the storms of what it is to be alive in this moment, and the shaking and turbulence can create anxiety and fear in us. But our connection to God brings peace, and it right-sizes the storms for us so that we don't become overwhelmed. And God promises to be, and is, with us through every moment.

Jason's final sermon at Open Table: Jesus calls us to radical freedom, to liberate the oppressed, to create spaces of inclusion for the excluded, and to boldly fight against the powers of hierarchy.

*refer to title

As we remember the ascension- we remember Jesus' call to love and to be a witness of God's goodness. May we bear one another's burdens, be patient with one another, and invite others to be a part of God's ever-increasing movement of freedom and love.