Lakewood United Methodist Church

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, 'And who is my neighbor?' We are starting a new worship series this Sunday we are calling "Hello, Neighbor!" In our Scripture passage this week to start out, we encounter Jesus' answer to a challenging question that I still think has significance for us today: "Who is my neighbor?" When Jesus answered the question about how to get into the Kingdom of Heaven he said simply, "Love God and Love your neighbor." So this whole thing is really about love, but the question of "who is my neighbor" for 1st century Jews like the lawyer in Luke also had legal and even theological significance. Who your neighbor was as a Jew had to do with who had the same responsibilities you had. It's analogous to asking "Who is my fellow citizen?"  Jesus' answer was profound in his telling of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. And it puts a new spin on the Great Commandment for us. I look forward...

This Sunday we are going to explore Paul's call for us to go all in and "finish doing it." But this week I wanted to speak up as your pastor since Church is in the news lately, particularly about a part of the life of Church in general that I care deeply about: the sacrament of Holy Communion.  The US Conference of Catholic Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church recently proceeded with publishing a report on the Eucharist (fancy word for Communion in Greek--it means Thanksgiving) that provides "teaching" to US priests. Controversially it makes a plain case to deny communion to public officials who refuse to publicly condemn abortion or work to outlaw it. It's largely being seen politically since abortion is such a controversial topic. It could potentially lead the current President, Joseph R. Biden into the awkward scenario where he, as a Roman Catholic, will not be able to receive communion. Why does this matter to us? What I find most interesting about us Me...

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” --Mark 4:35-41 I wonder really how the disciples felt, being tossed about in a storm in their boat with the real possibility that they might die, being told in an infuriating fashion by Jesus afterwards something to the effect of, "Dude, relax. You're interrupting my nap." Let's remember that the disciples were fisherman and Jesus was not. The disciples ...