Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast

and have no compassion on the child she has borne?

Though she may forget, I will not forget you!

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

your walls are ever before me.

Isaiah 49:14-16

Wait…God engraved the name of a city on the palms of His hands? Like a tattoo? Some commentaries say this metaphor could be that. This Hebrew word is only used here in this passage. The word means to carve and inscribe, like on a stone tablet. Hmmm. Yes, this is a metaphor, but a powerful one.

The prophet Isaiah speaks of Zion—an often-used synonym for the city Jerusalem—as having been forgotten by God. But God has another plan.

When you think of cities in the Bible, what images come to mind?  

We may first think of the Tower of Babel in the book of Genesis, where we see humanity seeking their own glory. Tim Mackie and his team at the Bible Project have been doing remarkable work on the image of city in the Scriptures.  I highly encourage you to check out their teaching here:  https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/the-city/

What the prophet Isaiah will show us over the next several weeks, is that God looks to restore cities, and will one day bring the Shalom—the abundant peace and well-being of God—to a new heaven and new earth, marked by a “garden-city” in which God Himself will dwell.  

This is not mere Bible study—it is a call for us as followers of Jesus to be “With and For” the city in which we dwell.

I live in Sacramento—the City of Trees, the Farm-to-Fork Capital, the Capital of California, the River City—a city by many names. How can we be a part of God’s plan to restore this city?

May we look, and listen, for the ways that God is moving and speaking to us as His people, called to be restorers of the cities. Because God cares for the city.

God has a tattoo to prove it.…metaphorically.

Grace and peace,

David

Does teaching bring…freedom?

Ask any school aged child or teenager, and you’ll rarely get any of them to say that their schooling feels like freedom.  [Of course, ask any child in a different culture for whom school has been kept from them, and you’ll get a different answer!]  

But what if some teaching is better than others?

Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  John 8:31

In previous notes/posts, we’ve talked about how integral Jesus’ teaching is to being a learner of Jesus.  Jesus taught primarily about the kingdom of God, because he wanted to correct false assumptions about the character of God, and wanted to proclaim a message of good news about what God was doing, and will do, in the world.  Through many illustrations, he talked about what the kingdom is like, what God is like, and the unexpected nature of the kingdom and its availability to those considered to be on the outside.  

Here, we see Jesus telling us plainly that holding to his teaching is a marker of discipleship.  And, the truth of his teaching will free us from the things that enslave us.  

Of course the crowd that first heard these words argued with Jesus.  They focused on the last word—free—and argued that they weren’t slaves.  We might have the same reaction.  We have a hard time identifying the things that hold us captive.  We say we can quit [coffee, gossiping about others, social media, Netflix shows, fill in the blank] anytime, until someone actually challenges us to do that.  

I did a little digging into the first part of Jesus’ words here.  When he says “teaching” the word used is logos.   When he says “hold to” the word is meno, which means to remain, dwell, or abide.  

Jesus says something similar a few chapters later when he says:

“Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”  John 14:23

The word “home” comes from the same root as meno, to dwell or abide. 

It seems that Jesus is saying that if and when we dwell in his words, his teaching, his message, that in turn the Father and Son will dwell in us.  And, the idea that truly living in the words and teachings of Jesus sets us free from things that enslave us is a profound one.  

May we give ourselves to the teaching of Jesus, and find the truth that brings freedom.

‭‭

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

‭‭John‬ ‭13‬:‭34‬-‭35‬

I remember the first person who really taught me about the truth of this idea. He was an international student from the Middle East. He grew up in a different culture, a different religious tradition—and he told me about our college ministry community: “The first time I saw this group of people, there was something different about them. You could tell you all loved one another.”

I wonder if we really believe how real these words of Jesus are.

Jesus says something remarkable here.

How can we tell if someone is a follower of His?

That they are learning from Jesus about how to live their lives?

By loving others.  And specifically, a love first for others that are following Jesus, that then spills out to neighbor, co-worker, classmate, teammate, and friend.  

The context of Jesus’ words here is Jesus speaking to his eleven closest followers—Judas has left the Passover meal to betray him.  Some commentaries point out that Jesus—knowing that the cross would take him away from his followers, leaving his friends with so many doubts and questions—that Jesus was telling his disciples to stick together, to stay close to one another by loving each other in the hardest of times.  

The implications for this are fascinating to me.  Jesus is saying that other people will be able to really see the love for one another in a community, and know this comes from their adherence to Jesus.  

Of course this raises all kinds of questions.  What does this love look like?  

Is it a feeling?  An action?  An acceptance of others no matter what?  

Consider this definition:

Christ’s love is no timid meekness, no sentimental mildness, inoffensive and ineffectual, helpless in face of the world’s evil. It is a strong determination to seek others’ highest good in all circumstances, at any cost. On that simple but demanding principle hang all moral obligation and divine law. To love is enough.—Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible

But what about the “loving first” those that call themselves followers of Jesus?

Another resource says this specifically about John as the gospel writer and author of several letters:

…love for one’s fellow Christians does not exclude, but instead leads on to, a wider love (cf. 2 Pt 1:7). John insists that God loved the whole world (Jn 3:16; 1 Jn 2:2; 4:14). Moreover, if love fails within the Christian fellowship, it certainly will not flourish beyond it but evaporate in mere words (1 Jn 3:18). Tyndale Bible Dictionary

There is something vital about love flourishing within a community that calls itself Christian.  When it exists in healthy ways, people notice.  

When we talk about a path of discipleship to Jesus, we must understand that most people will connect first with us—as individuals and then a group—and when they do, what will they see?

May they see the love of Jesus poured into us, and out through us, to seek the highest good in all circumstances, at any cost.

What would…Lucifer do? (If you Google WWLD, this is what you’ll find first)

But there are some other ones that came up:

What would…[Ted] Lasso do? (Actually a great question that others have written about already).

What would…Lincoln do?

But that isn’t what I wanted to write about. None of those…

Instead:

What

Would

LOVE

Do?

I was talking with a good friend recently—who is trying to discern some things in his life. He said he has been asking a question that has been very helpful: “What would love do in this situation?”

I asked him later where he got this from, and he said he had been reading Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation by Ruth Haley Barton. She says it like this:

“The second foundational building block of the discernment process is the belief that love is our primary calling. This, too, may seem like a strange place to begin, accustomed as we are to thinking our way into decisions through intellectual exercises such as listing pros and cons. We may think our decisions are about the details of where we live, who we marry, what job we take, but for the Christian person, the choices we make are always about love and which choice enables us to keep following God into love. There may be other factors to consider, but the deepest question for us as Christian people is, What does love call for in this situation? What would love do?”

—Ruth Haley Barton (Chapter 7, “Discernment” from Sacred Rhythms).

I found this to be such a profound thought.

When we root the definition of love in the person of Jesus, we have so many layers to our answers. Love would set people free, speak the truth, heal, and battle evil. Love would sacrifice for others. And, in the words of the apostle Paul, “Love keeps no record of wrongs.” (I Corinthians 13–the whole definition of love is worth reading and meditating on). These definitions keep us from falling into the love that limit it to a feeling. Love moves toward people without being consumed by their agendas. Love is to “will the good of others.” (Dallas Willard).

Perhaps you are in a place where this question might help shed light on the situation. You’re facing a decision, a change, navigating a conflict, facing a challenge you’ve never faced before.

What would LOVE do?

I was twenty-two years old. My closest friend had the two of us on a “big adventure every summer” kick…Every summer, the two of us would come up with a big adventure and invite others along. We got into whitewater rafting. In the past three summers we had rafted a river in Washington State (but it had to be the one with the most Class V rapids), one in Colorado (again, had to be the one with an eight-foot drop towards the end), and one in West Virginia (the Upper Gauley, widely regarded as one of the top rivers in the world for whitewater rafting…and if I remember correctly, the river that day was on the border of being unrunnable due to the water levels.  We all fell out, some of us multiple times).

We got through our whitewater rafting phase and decided that we’d try mountain climbing. The obvious first choice was the tallest peak in our home state of Washington, Mount Rainier. It is 14,411 feet tall.

For those that haven’t had the pleasure, this is what the climb is like. (It was over 20 years ago, so details may be exaggerated to enhance my image). You start at a place called Paradise, at 6,000 feet. You hike all day, and reach a place called Camp Muir, at about 10,000 feet. You eat a freeze dried dinner, and they tell you to climb into bed around 7 or 8pm, and try to fall asleep as soon as you can.  Because they wake you up at 2am.

[Photo credit: http://www.sovereignsportsman.com/wounded-soldiers-take-on-mt-rainier/%5D

You strap on your headlamp, put the crampons on your boots, get your iceaxe in your hand, and you start climbing. They reason they do this is so that when you get to several of the ice bridges, they are still solid, and the snow isn’t slick from any melting.

Anyway, our group was one of the last groups to leave the camp. But our guide, emboldened by the fact that our group might be one of the first ones to make the summit that summer, pushed us pretty fast. Only about 50% of people who attempt to summit Mt. Rainier do so in a season. Anyway, we were passing other groups along the way. As we got higher, more and more people were being left behind. Not by themselves, but usually in pairs. They were told that we would get them on the way back down.

Our guide was pushing us so fast that by the time we were close to the summit, we were the first group. We sat down to rest on what I remember felt like a steep slope to get some water and a snack. I thought I was going to pass out. The altitude had started to do things to me. I was exhausted, and I had this depressed feeling like I didn’t want to go on. I just wanted to sleep, and began to hope that someone would carry me back down the mountain to safety.

My guide was coming to check on each of us, and I remember him asking something like, “How you doing?” I started to mumble something like, “I don’t think I can do this. Why don’t you…” He didn’t let me finish. He grabbed my helmet in his hands, looked me square in the eyes and said with a determination: “You are forty-five minutes from the summit. You are so close. You can do this.” Maybe it was the tangible number of minutes that caught my attention. When you don’t know where you’re going, one of the hardest things is wondering when you’re going to get there. Maybe it was his confidence that I was going to make it, we were going to make it. Whatever it was, when it was time to get up and go, I got up, and went. And we made it. We reached the summit, I remember looking out at the sun that had come up, and we descended into the crater. And I fell asleep. It was some time before other groups made it up, and I got a nap on the top of a 14,000 foot peak.

It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. Physically draining, emotionally and mentally draining.

I am grateful to that guide.

I’ve talked to the team that I work with at the church I serve that we need to see ourselves as guides. [Grateful to Donald Miller and his Storybrand series for bringing this to our attention] Life is a journey, and we want to equip people for the journey. Our desire, our mission, is to help people become life long followers of Jesus. And, we want to bless our community in His Name. That means we have to be trained, we have to keep learning the routes, know the dangers, and be able to come alongside people when they want to quit and tell them they can make it.

And, we need to do that for each other. There are going to be times for all of us when we wonder if it is worth it. When we’re exhausted. When people question the way we guide.

The more I think about it, the more I think the church might need to see itself as a mountaineering club. All of us are climbers, and yet all of us are guides. Some of us have been climbing longer than others, so we help those that are just starting to climb. At the same time, there have been those that, regardless of how long they’ve been on the mountain, have seen some routes in life that they have navigated. Cancer, divorce, miscarriage, losing a job, losing a loved one to an accident.  Some, unfortunately, have climbed several of those routes.

Maybe someone reading this right now is where I was on that mountain decades ago.  Saying, “I don’t think I can make it.”  If you are, I earnestly pray that God shows up as a guide—gently holding your head in His hands, looking into your eyes, and saying…”You’re going to make it.  I am with you, and I’m not leaving you.”  And that God surrounds you with fellow climbers and guides who speak that hope into you again and again.

You thought this would be about Jesus throwing and turning over tables, didn’t you?

Bet you didn’t think someone had used Jesus to advertise disc golf, did you? (I sure didn’t)

He taught them many things by parables…Mark 4:2

At the church I serve, we hope to be a community that is making disciples—life-long learners and followers of Jesus.  We began a series, called “Disciple Like Jesus,” to more deeply look at exactly how Jesus made disciples.  After inviting people to follow, Jesus spent a significant amount of time teaching.  His primary way of teaching was through parables.  This word, from the Greek verb “to throw beside,” speaks of the way Jesus would take something from the natural world and “throw it alongside” his teaching about what the kingdom of God was like.  In fact, we see Jesus introduce many of his parables like this:  “This is what the kingdom of God is like…”. Then, we see him introduce a character, whether it be a farmer, a woman, a landowner, or a king.  And what that character did—planting, kneading dough, etc.— would have been easy for the crowds to understand.  However, in these parables, Jesus had the character often do something unexpected!  The surprise of the parable was often what captivated the crowds, inviting them to discuss, ask questions, and reflect more deeply.  The parable was to invite everyone into the story and ask, “What does this mean?”

If we are to make disciples like Jesus, then teaching like Jesus, and teaching about Jesus will certainly be integral to what we do.   May we invite people into the story of Jesus, and discover that the marvelous kingdom of God is revealed in his teaching!

May we throw like Jesus.

For the past 18 months, I’ve been writing short pieces for our church email newsletter. These were simply thoughts and questions on the texts and themes we were talking about when we gather on Sundays. It did not occur to me to post these on my blog, which has sat dormant for some time now. Obviously, I am not a “blogger.” Today, I compiled those brief pieces of writing into documents that cover 2022 and 2023. If any of these titles sound interesting to you, click on them, and you’ll see how the themes progress through the weeks and months we were covering these things. [ I didn’t include the writings of my associates, as those are theirs.] You can find them in our church website archive at fremontpres.org.

One thing that struck me as I read through these: I mention several of my “mentors-at-a-distance,” who have now passed away. I grieve the passing of Earl Palmer, long-time pastor of University Presbyterian Church in Seattle (the first preacher I ever heard in a church), and Tim Keller, founding pastor of Redeemer Church in New York. Keller’s work on the book of Jonah especially shaped our series here. I am incredibly indebted to them and their shaping of my thinking and preaching.

I plan on resuming weekly notes in August of this year. Our upcoming themes will be on how Jesus taught and commissioned his followers, how the prophet Isaiah reveals God’s heart “With and For the City,” and then, how Jesus speaks about what a generous life looks like.

I hope you enjoy reading!

Grace and peace, David