Washington Street UMC Sermon Podcast Washington Street UMC

Churches are not meant to be country clubs, which often maintain exclusive membership policies. The apostle reminds us that, as members in the household of God, we are a new creation. With our new body, we have new eyes. With new eyes, we learn to see others not from a human point of view, but from the perspective of the one Christ, who redeems and gifts us all new life.

The church has a lot of old, stuffy rules that often get in the way of important ministry matters. Jesus was not immune to others telling him how he could and couldn't live faithfully before God. As members of the body of Christ, we should ask ourselves, how committed are we to the work to which we have been called?

God could do all the work by himself, but there is a divine plan to use you and me -- so all can have access to God's love.

The disciples had returned to Jerusalem following the ascension, where they worshipped God and prayed. The arrival of the Spirit drives them out, reminding us all that the Spirit does not gift us to remain in social halls of homogeneous comfort, but moves us into the streets to engage and welcome an expansive body that represents all of God's beloved humanity.

The disciples longed to sit in Jesus' presence. They mourned his crucifixion, and locked themselves in the upper room. When Jesus returned, they wanted nothing more than abide in his presence. But Jesus doesn't call us to stay in his presence, Jesus departs, promising the gift of a leading spirit, so that we might go forth to all the world.

This is the invitation of Jesus himself, that we might know we are loved, and that we might abide in Jesus’ love by keeping Jesus’ commands, commands that require us to love one another as Jesus loved us (that is, laying one’s life down for another). And then, in summary, we are told that we are given these commands, so that, once again, we might love one another.