Inspiring the Future, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski.

Inspiring the Future, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski. Series: All In A Spacious Christianity, First Presbyterian Church of Bend, Oregon. Scripture: Mark 2:3-5,7,11,12.

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At First Presbyterian, you will meet people at many different places theologically and spiritually. And we love it that way. We want to be a place where our diversity brings us together and where conversation takes us all deeper in our understanding of God.

We call this kind of faith “Spacious Christianity.” We don’t ask anyone to sign creeds or statements of belief. The life of faith is about a way of being in the world and a faith that shows itself in love.

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Keywords:

god, jesus, love, ducks, faith, man, wilbur, healing, church, paralyzed, tear, children, world, roof, story, heard, waddled, spacious, today, peace, presbyterian, church, online worship, bend, oregon

Featuring:

Rev. Dr. Steven Koski, Rev. Kally Elliott, Tyler McQuilkin, Becca Ellis, Brave of Heart, Guests

Transcript

0:33

Thanks for joining us. We had First Presbyterian practice what we call a spacious Christianity where we remind each other of our essential goodness because it's so easy to forget that in this world we're all are welcome and diversity is celebrated where doubts and questions are a gift that lead us into deeper conversations where vulnerability is a strength and your tears are wholly where we encourage each other to live the spacious and radical love of Jesus so that all might have a chance to flourish in this world. It is our hope that here you will find space to breathe a faith to believe in a God who believes in you welcome as we enter into prayer now I invite you to pause to be still To breathe slowly to recenter your scattered senses upon the presence of God. I offer this prayer. Ours is a tired world. Oh God. We are weary of suffering. We are weary of all the anguish. Ours is a tired world oh god weary for hope. Our hearts break at the news coming from Gaza and Israel. We hear biblical scripture echoing in our ears, the ancient story repeating itself. A voice is heard and Rama, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more. Oh God, we've seen the images coming from Gaza and Israel. We've heard the cries of the children. comfort those who cry those who are terrified. give courage to mothers who gather to calm their babies. Strengthen leaders who stand steady to find a way to peace. For those who need to flee may they do so and may they find a safe haven for those who are hungry. May they find open hands offering bread for today for all the limping the weary the wounded for those who despair both near and far may they find our hands and our feet today to be those of the Prince of Peace for it as we who get to be his very body of peace and hurting world today oh god though explosions shatter and gunfire rattles May we move toward the suffering and may our hands reach our hands hold and our hands grasp for peace We pray all of this trusting that You are the prince of peace that you will and you do bring hope and peace Amen. I was at a writer's retreat and learn that to overcome writer's block and propel a story forward. Writers ask what if? You know what if the main character is told they have six months to live? What if they don't follow the same old scripts or follow the same old rules? What if the main character too As His love over fear, courage or comfort, how would the story change? What if those two words can change everything? There were two brothers who asked what if? So, imagine you're standing among the sand dunes on a really cold day in December in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903. Imagine your present a witness a pivotal moment in which humankind released itself from the shackles of what was assumed to be impossible. Wilbur and Orville Wright looked at each other, and asked an absolutely absurd question. What if we could fly? So imagine you there witnessing that day when Wilbur and Orville Wright took flight? It only lasted 12 seconds. But there it was the first flight of a man powered aircraft, they invented something totally new previously assumed to be impossible. For 12 seconds, they were lifted into the sky, and counted among the birds. You know, what I love about their biography is that they didn't see themselves as inventors or, or geniuses the way history would record them. I mean, they were bicycle mechanics, working in their shop. And one brother said to the other, Wilbur, what if? And that one question led them to be the ones who defied gravity. I mean, gravity holding them to the earth, but also the gravity of conventional thinking that it couldn't be done. And that's probably the strongest force of all. It can't be done. It's never been done before. It's impossible. It's foolish. They defied the gravitational force. Of all those who failed before them. The gravitational forces of doubt and unbelief, the critical voices all around them laughing at their foolishness. Those two brothers looked at each other and asked, What if? And that one question changed everything. And today, we don't think twice about strapping ourselves into a piece of metal to travel across the world. This is our stewardship season. When we ask you to invest in the mission of First Presbyterian for 2024. What if? What if we weren't grounded by scarcity think but dare to trust in God's abundance? What if we didn't focus on our limitations? But dare to imagine what is possible? What if we were all in living the spacious and radical love of Jesus? What if we were all in practicing an uncommon generosity? What might be possible Laurelhurst Presbyterian Church and Portland closed its doors a couple years ago. And some people asked what if? What if we gave the building and the land back to the Native American community that lives in that area? As an act of reparation for the past wrongs, as an act of healing and reconciliation and the presbytery of the Cascades. Our presbytery voted just a couple of weeks ago, to do that very thing to give the church and the land back to a cooperative of indigenous communities. The Church will become a community center for the native people in that area. And tiny homes will be built on the land for Indigenous women and their children experiencing homelessness. A new story, a larger story, a story previously thought impossible, became possible. Because some people asked What if what if we were all in living the spacious and radical love of Jesus, that all might flourish. The story for the Native community in that area will be changed. But I believe it also makes space for a new story for the church. And you know, that's what stewardship is all about. Stewardship is about being stewards, caretakers of God's dreams. God's purposes of healing this broken world of our hearts, with love. We invest our resources, we invest our Our lives so that new stories can be told. I want to share a story from the Gospel of Mark, about some friends who were all in. Jesus was in town preaching, teaching, healing, and a huge crowd gathered. Jesus retreated to a small house, the the house became so packed with people that, that the doorways were blocked and, and people surrounded the house trying to hear, and trying the best they could to get close to Jesus, longing to be healed. And the story says, a paralyzed man was being carried by four friends. Who are these four friends? Who are these four friends wanting to bring this man to Jesus. Now a paralyzed man in that culture would have been a social outcast, forced to live on the outskirts of town. And the theology of the day was that, that if you were sick, if you had a skin disease, like leprosy, you had mental health issues, or you were paralyzed, it was believed to be the result of your own sinfulness. And that God was punishing you. And you were kept at arm's length, and forced to live on the margins. I mean, how many in our society today are kept at arm's length. So who are these four friends, willing to go to the margins and risk their own respectability to bring this man to Jesus? Father, Greg Boyle says God doesn't call us to the margins to make a difference. God calls us to the margins, so that we will be different. What risks are you willing to take? For the sake of others? So the four men, four friends carrying the paralyzed man, they couldn't get close to Jesus because the crowd was just too big. Now what didn't know and would have blamed them if they would have just given up, walked away, disappointed disheartened. One more reason to believe that you know, things will never change. But that's not what happened. These four friends looked at each other, and asked an outrageous question. What if? What if we dug a hole in the roof and lowered him to Jesus? The story says, since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd. They made an opening in the roof above Jesus, by digging through it, and then lowered the mat. The man was lying on. What I mean talk about being all in, they tore the roof open, and lowered their friend Jesus. What roofs are we willing to tear open, to bring people closer to hope, to healing to love? What if it's our own hearts that need to be opened in new ways? And Jesus responded in the most curious way. The story says, When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, Son, your sins are forgiven, Get up, take your mat, and go home. When Jesus saw their faith, when Jesus saw the faith of these four friends, that's the first thing he saw. He saw their faith. He didn't see broken tiles. He didn't see annoying intruders breaking all the social and religious customs. Jesus saw their faith. I mean, what roofs are we willing to tear open where might be set of us? Jesus saw our faith, you know, as we look to the future? In what ways will those, maybe those who have given up on the church who see the church as just not relevant to their lives? And what ways might they see our faith? How will the hungry and the homeless see our faith? And how will the lost and the lonely see our faith? How will those struggling with mental health issues see our faith? How will the immigrant refugee see our faith? How will children and our grandchildren see our faith? How will young people see our faith? What have we tore open some roofs? The story says when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, Son, Son, your sins are forgiven. Remember, the theology of the day believed the man's paralysis This was the result of his own sinfulness. Jesus says to the man deemed unworthy and forced to live on the outskirts of town, son. It's actually the same word Jesus heard in the waters of the Jordan River. You are My beloved Son. That one word, that one word son, means he's no longer cursed. He's blessed. He's no longer unworthy. He's beloved, he's no longer an outsider. He is welcomed. He belongs. How many people today long to know that they are loved, worthy, welcomed, valued. Like those four friends, are we willing to risk everything, tear open some roofs, be all in helping people receive the healing and the love that they long for. Jesus said, Son, your sins are forgiven. The religious leaders looked at each other said he can't do that. He can't just forgive. There are rules to follow. There are rituals. No one can forgive sins, but God alone. And I imagine them also saying and who's gonna pay for the roof. Jesus rips open the roof of a rigid, restrictive theology and introduces a spacious theology. Jesus shocks everyone showing there are no rules. There are no rituals that have to be performed. To know God's healing. To know God's forgiveness, to know God's unconditional love. The love you're seeking is already yours. You no longer need to be paralyzed by fear and shame. What if we tore open the roofs of judgment tore open the roots of fear and people understood at their depths that they are loved unconditionally, that they are loved beyond their imagining. Jesus tells the man to get up. Take as Matt go home. Perhaps the real healing is that this man is restored to relationship. He is restored to community he is restored to his true self as a beloved child of God. And it all started with four friends who loves so fiercely that they refuse to let anything get in the way. And they asked what if? What if we just tear open the roof? The story changes when we dare to ask what if? And it says in the Gospel of Mark that everyone was amazed and they praise God saying we have never seen anything like this what if what if we were so all in in our commitment to living the spacious and radical love of Jesus that people saw our faith and they said we have never seen anything like this maybe so hi I told the story 17 years ago, on my very first Sunday as the pastor of this church, it's the story of a maple leaf town of ducks called duckbill. It was Sunday. And all the ducks waddled out of their homes. They wandered down the street to first duck his church. They waddled into the church down the aisle. They wattled to their pew, and they squatted and the duck preacher, open the duck Bible and said ducks, ducks I have good news. The good news is you can fly no land animal can trap you no offense can continue. Nothing can hold you back you can fly. And all the ducks was so excited. Their hearts were pounding they flap their little wings and they cracked a man a man and the service ended. And all the ducks waddled home. Friends things are far too serious in this world. To be grounded in fear. What if? What if we soared high on the Wings of Hope following being all in following the way of Jesus, which is the way of love go into love and peace of Christ? Loving so fiercely that you're willing to tear open some roofs bringing peace to others? May it be so thanks for joining us today. We really hope that you found space to breathe a faith you can believe in a God who believes in you visit us at bend@p.org. There you can get more information on who we are and what we're about. You can learn about how we're trying to make a difference in this world and how you can partner with us and support us financially. Or you can make a prayer request. Until next time. May God bless you and may you be the blessing someone else needs