Terrible and Beautiful, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski

Terrible and Beautiful, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski. Series: Finding Hope in Hard Places A Spacious Christianity, First Presbyterian Church of Bend, Oregon. Scripture: Luke 4.1-2.

Feeling stuck? Wondering if there’s more to life? Join us this Sunday as we explore Lent – a journey of renewal, letting go, and rediscovering your true self. Whether online or in-person, come as you are and let’s dive into a message of hope and transformation.

Join us each Sunday, 10AM at bendfp.org, or 11AM KTVZ-CW Channel 612/12 in Bend.  Subscribe/Follow, and click the bell for alerts.

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.

Thank you for your support of the mission of the First Presbyterian Church of Bend. Visit https://bendfp.org/giving/ for more information.

Keywords:

Lent, reflection, renewal, Easter, spiritual work, resurrection, wilderness, Holy Spirit, addiction, pacifiers, inner spring cleaning, silence, technology, purpose, freedom., presbyterian, church, online worship, bend, oregon

Featuring:

Rev. Dr. Steven Koski, Becca Ellis, Brave of Heart, Guests

Transcript

Unknown: 0:20

Music.

Whitney Higdon: 0:37

Welcome to worship at First Presbyterian we at first, Presbyterian practice a spacious Christianity, which means, no matter where you are in your faith journey, you belong, and there is space for you at the table, there is space for your doubts and questions. We believe doubts and questions are a gift that invite us into deeper conversations and a more authentic faith. We believe diversity is a strength. Every story is sacred and everybody matters. We do our best to live the spacious and radical love of Jesus so that all might have a chance to flourish in this world. We are so glad to connect with you in this way. We would also love to worship with you in person if you're ever in the neighborhood on Sunday mornings at 830 or 10am and never hesitate to reach out to us to learn more about us or how we might support You. I hope you enjoy this worship service. Welcome you.

Steven: 3:26

still. You. Life is heartbreaking. The challenge is to face life's heartbreaks without becoming broken. The challenge is to face the hard things in life without hardening our hearts. Here's a blessing and a prayer from Kate bowler for keeping our hearts soft when everything is broken. Blessed are you who see it all now, the beautiful, terrible truth that our world, our lives, seem irreparably broken and you can't unsee it, the intractable problems, the person who wonders if any of this is worth it, all, the loneliness and despair and fear, Blessed are you who glimpse reality and don't turn away? This kind of scene comes at a steep cost, and it's a cost that you may not have paid intentionally, but here you are seeing things clearly. Blessed are you who have worked hard to keep your heart soft? You who live with courage, fixing what is within your reach, praying about what is not, and loving Still, despite difference, despite despair, despite all the reasons to shut it down. May you experience deeper capacity and glimpses of hope as you continue to see the world as it is, terrible, beautiful, fragile, amen, This weekend begins the journey of Lent, a season of reflection and renewal, preparing us to experience the joy of Easter. When you wake up on April 20, Easter morning, how will you be different? Will your relationship with God be stronger? Will you have more peace? Will you have a greater capacity to love others, a renewed sense of purpose. Will you have found the courage to show up in the world, standing up for what is right and just and good, and what are your plans over the next 40 days during the season of Lent, to prepare for that. What needs to die so that on Easter you experience the resurrection of something new. What's the spiritual work that you need to do? So that God can do? What God does? I know some of you might be wondering, well, what the heck is lent anyway? It's not something you find in your belly button or the dryer. That's that's Lent. Lent is something else you actually won't find lent in the Bible. So I thought I'd begin the season of Lent, helping us understand why we need a season of Lent. The earliest followers of Jesus actually expected Jesus to return imminently, and when he didn't, they stopped expecting much from God or themselves. Barbara brown Taylor said they they hung a cross on the wall, and little by little, Christians became devoted to their own comfort, instead of their cause. They began to rely on themselves instead of God. They decided there was there was no contradiction between being comfortable and being Christian. And before long, you couldn't pick them out from the population at large, they no longer distinguish themselves for for their bold love of one another, their their bold love for the marginalized and excluded. They were no longer getting arrested for championing the poor. They blended in. Jesus had told them, You are light for all the world. But their light dimmed. They settled for small lives. They decided to be nice instead of holy and Barbara brown Taylor says God moaned out loud, and someone suggested it's time to call Christians back to their senses, and the Bible offered some clues about how to do that. I mean, Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness learning to learning to trust God. Elijah spent 40 days in the wilderness before hearing the still small voice of God. Moses spent 40 days listening to God give the law. And then there's the story of Jesus, who spent 40 days in the wilderness being tempted to rely on himself instead of God. So there must be something to this, this 40 days thing. So in the fifth century, the church created the season of Lent as kind of a pilgrimage of the soul. Now the word Lent means spring to to spring forth. Now we have a tendency to clean our house in the spring from the dust and the clutter that accumulates over the winter. We open the windows and let the fresh air in the church recognized the need for a spiritual cleansing, and suggested 40 days to cleanse the system, to face those things that really no longer serve us, to face those things that that dim the light within us so Lent is the season to tell the truth about our lives. Now. The hope of the season is to get some clarity about about who we really are, what life is, is really about, and and where we might be settling for. Less than what God intends for us. The season of Lent begins with a story from Luke's Gospel, where Jesus spends 40 days in the wilderness tempted by the devil. Now in the time of Jesus, the devil actually wasn't the embodiment of evil. The devil was a literary device who played the role of the deceiver. Now we all have our demons that we wrestle with. You know, those demons that tempt us to betray our better selves? I want to focus on how the story begins. It's kind of strange. It says Jesus full of the Holy Spirit. I mean, he had just been baptized, returned from the River Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for 40 days he was tested by the devil. Now it's kind of troubling to think that the spirit would lead Jesus into the wilderness. I mean, we often think of God's Spirit as gentle, calming, reassuring, you know, the Comforter, yet sometimes the spirit discomforts, shakes things up, rearranges, the spiritual furniture, confronts us with those things that we would rather not face. I mean, left to myself. I actually prefer to stay in my comfort zones. I like to deceive myself, to see myself into thinking, Yeah, I'm in control. I'd really prefer not to be led into the wilderness to face those hard truths. Could it possibly be the spirit, the nudge of the spirit, that wants to push us out of our comfort zones. Could it be that it's the spirit that nudges us into the wilderness of admitting, you know, we really can't do life on our own, and we need help. Could it possibly be the spirit that encourages us to be, to be honest, to be honest about those habits and behaviors that really don't serve our best selves. Might the spirit be that restless feeling we try to ignore, trying to tell us that that we're settling for lives that are not big enough for our souls. Barbara brown Taylor says the wilderness. The wilderness is that place where we're forced to face life without our usual pacifiers. You know, the pacifiers that we that we use to numb our discomfort, to numb our pain. I'm convinced that 99% of us, if not 100% of us, are are addicted to something, maybe painkillers, alcohol, or maybe it's food shopping. Maybe it's being right busyness, the need to be in control Facebook or our smartphones. Maybe it's blaming others or the need to take care of others. The simplest definition of an addiction is anything that we use to fill the empty place inside of us that belongs to God alone, that hollowness we sometimes feel is not necessarily a sign of something gone wrong. It's the holy of holies inside of us, the uncluttered throne room reserved for God's grace. Nothing on earth can fill it. But that doesn't stop us from trying. Whenever we feel we're starting to feel too empty inside, scared, uncomfortable, we stick our pacifiers into our mouths and suck for all that we're worth. But pacifiers do not save us or nourish us, but at least they plug the hole for a time, to allow the Spirit to lead us into the wilderness, is to be willing to set aside our usual pacifiers to get some clarity about who we really are, what our. Lives are really about, you know, I know people who are choosing to shut off all apps on their smartphones for Lent and only use their phones for essential calls. Can you imagine? Do you remember when red lights, red stop lights, actually would give you a moment to sit and to think and to breathe, not anymore, not with your cell phone right there in your lap begging you to check social media. Imagine if you dared to sit in silence for 20 minutes every day, during Lent without noise, without distractions. Silence is God's first language. You might be surprised what you hear. Now, I know people who are choosing to give up watching television or give up chocolate or eating while they're standing up. You know, of course, none of these things would impress people who spend their whole lives trying to figure out where their next meal is going to come from. But in a culture of plenty and excess, I'm actually really impressed with anyone who decides to try to make it without anesthesia, to give up whatever technology, whatever habits, whatever substances they use to keep themselves from feeling what they've been trying to avoid feeling. Now, I've said previously and repeatedly that we're living in a time when it's absolutely vital to stay tethered to our very best self, the very best in us. This means the kind of inner spring cleaning that will cleanse us from all that is false, and cleanse us from all of those things that that don't serve us, that don't serve our true self. If you are willing to let the Spirit lead you into the wilderness during this season of Lent, I encourage you to try two things. Choose to give up one thing for Lent, choose to give up that one thing that is sucking the life out of you so that you might be filled with God, with life, with love, with joy again, and only You know what that one thing is. And secondly, choose to take something on for Lent. Take something on that will be, that will be life. Giving something on that might, might reawaken your heart and your soul and and your sense of purpose in life. We have 40 days in front of us to find out what life is like without our usual pacifiers, and maybe even learn what led us to use them in the first place 40 days, to lose our appetite for those things that Don't really serve us and can't save us, and here's the thing, we can count on, the spirit that leads us into the wilderness will also lead us out again, renewed, restored, raised to new life. It won't be easy, it might even be kind of terrible, but we just might wake up on Easter morning with a sense of freedom and Joy we didn't think possible. May it be so you Friends as we begin the journey of Lent together, what is the spiritual work that you need to do to allow God to do? What God does? I really encourage you to give up, to give up or to fast from from one thing, one thing that sucks the life out of you, the one thing that you know doesn't serve your best self. And I also encourage you to choose or take on or add one thing that just might reawaken a sense of joy and purpose. Please send me an email. Let me know what you choose. Let me know how I can best pray for you during this season of Lent. Skosky at bend fp.org, go into peace and the love of Christ, and May the love that you bring into this world bring peace to others, may it be so.

Whitney Higdon: 28:44

Thank you so much for joining us, and we hope you enjoyed this worship service. If you would like to make a donation helping make these podcasts possible or support them many ways. First, Presbyterian seeks to serve our community. You can make a financial gift online at bend fp.org, every week we hear from someone thanking us for the gift of these broadcasts, and what a difference they make. Your support makes that possible. Our church is committed to reach beyond our walls, bringing hope where there is despair and love where it is needed the most. Your generous support helps us to be generous in love. Go to our website, bend fp.org, and click on the link. Give online. Your support is really appreciated and makes a difference in people's lives. Thanks again. I hope to see you next week. You