11/12/2017
Matthew 25:31-46
Chris Breslin
“When we allow ourselves to be disarmed, we become both vulnerable and strong. The only weapons then at our disposal are those of the Spirit. We choose the way of Jesus laying aside all the earthly resources that give us power- in order to be present to those we love.” –Chris Heuertz
When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs you do, you can relax a little and use more normal ways of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision apparent by shock — to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost blind you draw large and startling figures.” –Flannery O’Connor
“God had been for Israel. God had, in addition, worked for Israel in sustaining Israel against imperious enemies and impossible odds. And God had worked with Israel through a covenant relationship that spanned many centuries. In some ways God already had a being with relationship with Israel- represented by the temple in general and the ark of the covenant in particular. But the incarnation of Jesus expressed the being of God with us in a way that, while it had always been true for God, was not, before that moment, equally apparent to us. The incarnation marks the moment when God’s mode of presence moves definitively from being for to being with.” -Sam Wells
“I’ve come to the understanding now that you don’t go to the margins to make a difference. You go to the margins so that folks at the margins make you different.” –Fr. Greg Boyle
Look, the world
is always ending
somewhere.
Somewhere
the sun has come
crashing down.
Somewhere
it has gone
completely dark.
Somewhere
it has ended
with the gun,
the knife,
the fist.
Somewhere
it has ended
with the slammed door,
the shattered hope.
Somewhere
it has ended
with the utter quiet
that follows the news
from the phone,
the television,
the hospital room.
Somewhere
it has ended
with a tenderness
that will break
your heart.
But, listen,
this blessing means
to be anything
but morose.
It has not come
to cause despair.
It is simply here
because there is nothing
a blessing
is better suited for
than an ending,
nothing that cries out more
for a blessing
than when a world
is falling apart.
This blessing
will not fix you,
will not mend you,
will not give you
false comfort;
it will not talk to you
about one door opening
when another one closes.
It will simply
sit itself beside you
among the shards
and gently turn your face
toward the direction
from which the light
will come,
gathering itself
about you
as the world begins
again.
—Jan Richardson, Blessing When the World Is Ending
Working/Being Powerpoint Slide
Scripture:
Songs for Today’s Worship Gathering:
Hands and Feet by Gungor/Arndt
How Firm a Foundation by Rippon/Funk
Come, People of the Risen King by Townend/Getty
Those Who Trust by Chaffer
God with Us by Jordan/Ingram
Steadfast by McCracken/Jordan/Silverberg
Doxology
Go further (Being with the Least of These):
Tattoos on the Heart: the Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle
God of the Oppressed by James Cone
Living Gently in a Violent World: The Prophetic Witness of Weakness by Stanley Hauerwas & Jean Vanier
Friendship at the Margins: Discovering Mutuality in Service and Mission by Chris Heuertz & Christine Pohl
Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition by Christine Pohl
Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman
Living Without Enemies: Being Present in the Midst of Violence by Samuel Wells & Marcia Owen
A Nazareth Manifesto: Being with God by Samuel Wells
Series Resources:
Faithful Presence: How to Embrace the Presence of Jesus and Shape our Communities for Mission (Free Online Lecture Course from Tampa Underground)
The Year of Small Things: Radical Faith for the Rest of Us by Sarah Arthur & Erin Wasinger
Practices of Love: Spiritual Disciplines for the Life of the World by Kyle David Bennett
Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, & Enuma Okoro
Faithful Presence: Seven Disciplines That Shape the Church for Mission by David Fitch
Celebration of Discipline: the Path to Spiritual Growth by Richard Foster
Long Days of Small Things: Motherhood as a Spiritual Discipline by Catherine McNeil
Practicing the Way of Jesus: Life Together in the Kingdom of Love by Mark Scandrette
For the Life of the World: Sacraments & Orthodoxy by Alexander Schmemann
Faithful Families: Creating Sacred Moments at Home by Traci Smith
Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life by Tish Harrison Warren
