You gotta have faith....

This week at Crossings we read the stories of how Jesus healed several different people. What we noticed and discussed was that in each occasion, Jesus called the people to faith. He asked them to trust him, to believe him. They did and were healed.

What does that look like for us today? What does trusting a God we can't see, and often can not hear look like? What does healing look like?

We didn't have answers but we thought about the words Jesus shared with his disciples before he died. Two things he emphasized. First, that the holy spirit would come and second, that they were to love each other. From this we took that healing happens in relationship - with God and with each other. And that Faith and trust are about opening ourselves to that relationship.

God tells Job to "get a pair"

At biblestudy we have gotten to Luke chapter 11. You may wonder how this led us to God telling Job to "get a pair," I will explain. We ended spending a lot of time talking about the following verses:

30 As Jonah was a sign for those people who lived in Nineveh, the Son of Man will be a sign for the people of this time. ³¹ On the Judgment Day the Queen of the South will stand up with the people who live now. She will show they are guilty, because she came from far away to listen to Solomon's wise teaching. And I tell you that someone greater than Solomon is here.

This led us to read the old testament to figure out what Jesus meant by this. The stories of Jonah and the Queen of Sheeba are very different, but at their heart they are both about gentiles recognizing the God of Israel as God. So, here, Jesus prophesies that he will finally break down the barriers and all gentiles will be able to see and recognize God.

He continues after this to berate the pharisees and the teachers of the law, which got us going on just how good he is at ripping on people. I mean, it was brutal. He basically held them personally responsible for all the deaths of all the prophets in the old testement.

Again refering to the old testament, we read many sections where God is rather blunt with people for being disobientiant or for questioning his authority.

We ended up reading from the book of Job where God rips Job a new one for questioning him. Chapter 38 starts like this:

¹Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
²"Who is this that darkens counsel
By words without knowledge?
³"Now gird up your loins like a man,
And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!
⁴"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

It is refreshing to see God's infinite grace and yet not a pushover.

calming the storm

At Crossings this week, we read the story where Jesus and his disciples are crossing the sea of Galilee. Jesus falls asleep and a big storm comes and threatens to destroy the boat. The disciples are terrified so they wake Jesus up. Jesus stands up and tells the storm to calm down, and it does.

Ali gave a great message about storms and how life is full of them. She reminded us that all along, Jesus was with the disciples through the storm. God is with us and close to us during the storms of our lives and when we surrender to that presence, the storm can go on how ever wild it is, but we are filled with calm. God is in control and we have nothing to fear.

Letting go is the hard part, particularly when we have a hard time trusting God, believing in him... that he is there at all. But even if we can't surrender, can't believe, can't let go of our fears, God is there anyways. That's grace.

as we learn to accept it, it becomes all the more beautiful.

The Kingdom of Heaven...

is like a mustard seed that starts small and grows on its own.

This is the verse we read at Crossings this week. It really touched home for me as I am 4 1/2 months pregnant which has given me a number of insights into faith.

At first, I was agnostic about being pregnant. A little stick told me that it was true but I didn't feel any different and had a nagging sense that it wouldn't really "stick."

Weeks passed and I had an ultrasound. Seeing a little body that moved and beating heart pierced me. But still I couldn't feel it. I wasn't changing that much and so emotionally, it didn't seem real. I was agnostic.

I realized that sometimes, even when God presents us huge blaring signs that he exists and is out there. We find ways to dismiss them. But yet, this small thing is planted in our hearts and grows. And as it grows it takes hold of us. It changes us.

And as I am now starting to believe in and connect to this baby that I can't see growing inside me, so in faith we find small ways to connect to and believe in God and to trust in Him.

Feeding of th 5,000

At biblestudy we are continuing to work through the book of Luke. This week we read chapter 9 which had a number of great stories including the feeding of the 5,000 and the transfiguration of Jesus.

One thing that we really discussed about this chapter was how it was a time of teaching for the disciples. If you notice the words carefully, when Jesus feeds the 5,000, he actually doesn't do the work. He tells the disciples to "feed them." He blesses the bread and then the disciples go out and give it to the people.

In this story, the disciples go from passive observers of Jesus's ministry to active participants who share in the work. What would you do, if Jesus turned to you and asked you to feed 5,000 people with a few loaves of bread?

Peter 2.0

The first chapters of Acts following the Pentecost focus on Peter as he assumes his role as the "rock" upon which the church begins to grow. Throughout the past year, we've read about Peter in the Gospel who was ordinary, thick-skulled, a little impulsive and poor with follow-through. But something happens to Peter.

In Acts we find him eloquent, bold and full of integrity. What happened to Peter?

Pentecost.

The pouring of the Holy Spirit out on Peter filled him with boldness and truth and made him unafraid and able to lead the newly founded church.

At Crossings, we reflected on how much we can learn from the fact that Jesus chose Peter dispite all of his flaws and that when the time came for Peter to carry out God's work, the Spirit was with him and gave him the courage and wisdom to do so. As we also, open ourselves to God and his work and will for us, we too can be changed and transformed to do more than we had ever thought possible

Pour out your spirit in this place

This past Sunday was Pentecost, the day of the coming of the Holy Spirit. What the heck does that mean? As we review our Easter stories, we see a group of disciples who encounter a risen Jesus but are afraid, confused and not sure what to do next. As Jesus promised, following his ascent into heaven, the Spirit came.

They were gathered in a room and a rushing wind blew through it and tongues of fire rested on each of their heads and they were empowered to speak many languages. And more over, they were emboldened to share the news of the Gospel with the whole world.

At Crossings, we remembered the Spirit is still among us today. Taking various forms. Sometimes through flashy means of visions or tongues. And others through still means of discernment and a boldness to do God's will even when it's hard. Our prayer was that the Spirit come and guide us and strengthen us to carry out the work that God has set before us.