“When hospitality is viewed as entertainment, the house is never ready.” – Christine Pohl, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as Christian Tradition

Scripture: Genesis 18:1-10a (Common English Bible)
The Lord appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre while he sat at the entrance of his tent in the day’s heat. He looked up and suddenly saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them, he ran from his tent entrance to greet them and bowed deeply. He said, “Sirs, if you would be so kind, don’t just pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought so you may wash your feet and refresh yourselves under the tree. Let me offer you a little bread so you will feel stronger, and after that you may leave your servant and go on your way—since you have visited your servant.”
They responded, “Fine. Do just as you have said.”
So Abraham hurried to Sarah at his tent and said, “Hurry! Knead three seahs of the finest flour and make some baked goods!” Abraham ran to the cattle, took a healthy young calf, and gave it to a young servant, who prepared it quickly. Then Abraham took butter, milk, and the calf that had been prepared, put the food in front of them, and stood under the tree near them as they ate.
They said to him, “Where’s your wife Sarah?”
And he said, “Right here in the tent.”
Then one of the men said, “I will definitely return to you about this time next year. Then your wife Sarah will have a son!”

​Reflection: The last several weeks in worship, we've been focusing on the Core Values of OPCC and the characteristics of Vision as we seek to see through God's eyes.  The last several weeks in our world have also been very hard as we consider the violence and terrorism that has been so stunning on our human family.  The feelings of hopelessness abound as it seems impossible to turn on the news without yet another tragic story of violence.  

In these situations, and in this time, we know we can turn to scripture; scripture is full of situations that remind us to hope, even the ones that don't expressly talk about hope.  This Sunday we will focus on this passage from Genesis that reminds us of the Hope in Hospitality because hospitality is much more than simply getting your house ready for a party.
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We hope you will join us - the table is simply not complete when we are missing some of our family in faith!

“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.” 
― A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-14, 25-27 (The Voice)
Now let me turn to some issues about spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters. There’s much you need to learn.
Now there are many kinds of grace gifts, but they are all from the same Spirit. There are many different ways to serve, but they’re all directed by the same Lord. There are many amazing working gifts in the church, but it is the same God who energizes them all in all who have the gifts.
Each believer has received a gift that manifests the Spirit’s power and presence. That gift is given for the good of the whole community. The Spirit gives one person a word of wisdom, but to the next person the same Spirit gives a word of knowledge. Another will receive the gift of faith by the same Spirit, and still another gifts of healing—all from the one Spirit. One person is enabled by the Spirit to perform miracles, another to prophesy, while another is enabled to distinguish those prophetic spirits. The next one speaks in various kinds of unknown languages, while another is able to interpret those languages. One Spirit works all these things in each of them individually as He sees fit.
Just as a body is one whole made up of many different parts, and all the different parts comprise the one body, so it is with the Anointed One. We were all ceremonially washed through baptism together into one body by one Spirit. No matter our heritage—Jew or Greek, insider or outsider--no matter our status—oppressed or free—we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
Here’s what I mean: the body is not made of one large part but of many different parts. That way there should be no division in the body; instead, all the parts mutually depend on and care for one another. If one part is suffering, then all the members suffer alongside it. If one member is honored, then all the members celebrate alongside it. You are the body of the Anointed, the Liberating King; each and every one of you is a vital member.

Reflection: 
​Focusing only on what unites us can be a difficult task.  It seems far easier to recognize how we are different.  Even the simplest  ways of identification, I can easily recognize that my husband has dark hair and I have light hair.  I have blue eyes and my nephew has brown eyes.  

We are pretty lucky.  My husband and I both have families that are pretty close, and do a lot together.  We live nearby; even our extended families are only a few hours away.  When we get together for a reunion or a holiday celebration I may know that there are different skin colors and different eye colors, but I also know that we are from the one family.  Often, our gatherings are more fun when we aren't worried about how we are different ages and might consider different activities as to how we would like to spend our time.  Our meals are easier when we focus on what everyone can agree upon rather than discussing why I don't eat meat, only fish, and why my husband would like to only eat meat, forever.

These seem like trivial examples, and to a certain extent they are.  However, when we focus on the family time and what is best for the family to have an enjoyable evening or weekend together, rather than on what each individual person needs to do in order to enjoy their time, then it seems as if it all naturally falls into place and we have the best time.

The church in Corinth struggled, like most churches even today, about their gifts.  What about me?  I bring this gift to the church.  And what about her, she brings this other gift, which one is better?  Nowadays when people ask me about the church that I serve I often get questions about what makes us different from the church they attend, or something similar.  Perhaps we still have much to learn, like the church in Corinth, about focusing on what unites us, focusing on the Body of Christ.

We hope you will join us tomorrow - it's supposed to rain a lot in Kansas City, so this is a great reason to come worship together, hear some AMAZING music from the Kansas City Men's Ensemble who will be singing, and simply be together.  ALL are welcome to join us, no matter how different you think you might be, we choose to focus on what unites us in the Body of Christ, and you (yes YOU!) are welcome here!

​Scripture: Genesis 32:22-31 (CEB)
Jacob got up during the night, took his two wives, his two women servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the Jabbok River’s shallow water. He took them and everything that belonged to him, and he helped them cross the river. But Jacob stayed apart by himself, and a man wrestled with him until dawn broke. When the man saw that he couldn’t defeat Jacob, he grabbed Jacob’s thigh and tore a muscle in Jacob’s thigh as he wrestled with him. The man said, “Let me go because the dawn is breaking.”

But Jacob said, “I won’t let you go until you bless me.”
He said to Jacob, “What’s your name?” and he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name won’t be Jacob any longer, but Israel, because you struggled with God and with men and won.”

Jacob also asked and said, “Tell me your name.”
But he said, “Why do you ask for my name?” and he blessed Jacob there. Jacob named the place Peniel, “because I’ve seen God face-to-face, and my life has been saved.” The sun rose as Jacob passed Penuel, limping because of his thigh.

Reflection:
I don't know about you, but I feel like I've been wrestling all week! After the tragic events at Pulse Night Club in Orlando, I wrestle with how to respond. Media would like us to respond in a certain way and politicians would like us to respond in another way, and I'm confident that God would have us respond in still yet another way.

We meet Jacob when he is about to reunite with his brother Esau, in which he is nervous about this meeting because of their history. But God has told Jacob he is to go back to his homeland and he cannot do that without meeting up with his brother, from whom he stole the familial blessing. What does God want him to do? What does society tell him will happen? I wonder what his family is saying?

As Jacob wrestles with a difficult situation, he wrestles with both God and humanity, and as the text reminds us, he prevails and "comes out on top." But Jacob doesn't just "come out on top" receiving a medal or a prize. Jacob wins because he receives a Divine blessing, a blessing in which he will be able to bless others with his blessings from God.

When we as a faith community continue to "wrestle" with what it means to "see through God's eyes" and what it means for us to live into God's vision for us we can wrestle with confidence. As we wrestle with how to respond, how to live as God's love in this world, we can do so knowing that God will bless us in our wrestling so that we can continue to bless our community and world around us.

We hope you will join us on Sunday morning at 8:30am or 10:30am to explore this further!

​Laura

"The single most important theological message of this text is that Jesus the Christ is not only for "insiders" but for "outsiders" as well. On one level, we can easily affirm that truth. And yet, practicing it may not come as easily as believing it." – Dennis Bratcher

Scripture: The apostles and the brothers and sisters throughout Judea heard that even the Gentiles had welcomed God’s word. When Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him.  They accused him, “You went into the home of the uncircumcised and ate with them!”
Step-by-step, Peter explained what had happened. “I was in the city of Joppa praying when I had a visionary experience. In my vision, I saw something like a large linen sheet being lowered from heaven by its four corners. It came all the way down to me. As I stared at it, wondering what it was, I saw four-legged animals—including wild beasts—as well as reptiles and wild birds. I heard a voice say, ‘Get up, Peter! Kill and eat!’ I responded, ‘Absolutely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ The voice from heaven spoke a second time, ‘Never consider unclean what God has made pure.’ This happened three times, then everything was pulled back into heaven. At that moment three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying. The Spirit told me to go with them even though they were Gentiles. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered that man’s house. He reported to us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is known as Peter. He will tell you how you and your entire household can be saved.’ When I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as the Spirit fell on us in the beginning. I remembered the Lord’s words: ‘John will baptize with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, then who am I? Could I stand in God’s way?”
Once the apostles and other believers heard this, they calmed down. They praised God and concluded, “So then God has enabled Gentiles to change their hearts and lives so that they might have new life.”
 - Acts 11:1-18 (Common English Bible)

Meditation: As we continue our Lenten series, The Compassionate Table, we continue to focus on the ways that we can see even more clearly the ministry of Jesus Christ specifically at the table.  

In this particular passage, we are actually receiving a summary of chapter 10, of what happened in Caesarea with a man name Cornelius, and his family and friends.  (I highly recommend that you read chapter 10 in addition to what you will hear on Sunday!)  More specifically Peter is summarizing what happened, because the believers in Jerusalem were quite skeptical and critical of Peter's actions.  You see Peter traveled down to Caesarea and (gasp!) ate with people who were not Jewish!

Now I added that little note (gasp!) because it does sound crazy to us now - why couldn't Peter eat with other believers, regardless of how they came to know Christ?  Well, there were very strict laws against this, and Peter's dining with Gentiles prompted quite a few questions to the church in Jerusalem.  Who should be included within the circle of the people of God?  Are the traditional boundary markers will to be observed?  If traditional prevents Jews and Gentiles from associating with each other, what happens when the old social distinctions no longer exist?  How are they to relate to each other within a newly configured people of God?

What about us?  What social distinctions keep us separated from one another?  What social distinctions, if they were to change would dramatically change the way we associate with one another?  What social distinctions might change in order to foster the in-breaking of God's kingdom here on earth?  I have a few ideas, but I'd love to hear yours and continue this conversation.  Won't you join us on Sunday?

Tradition is like the crest of a wave always pushing beyond itself. Faithfulness to a tradition is not gained through treading water in repetition of some aspect of the past, but through swimming with the crest into fresh interpretations of God’s gracious presence with us.
                                  - Marjorie Suchocki

 
READING:
This is what God says, the God who builds a road right through the ocean, who carves a path through pounding waves, The God who summons horses and chariots and armies— they lie down and then can’t get up; they’re snuffed out like so many candles: “Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
                                - Isaiah 43.16-19b (The Message)

 
REFLECTION:
This passage from Isaiah should be heard and heeded – big time! - by the church in our day. In an era when our faith is in serious decline, we still tend toward “Business as usual,” clinging obstinately to rituals, traditions, and the way we have always done things, without regard to how our message comes across in contemporary culture.

To this tendency God says through Isaiah: “…don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.” In light of this passage I must conclude that we have neither reason nor justification for clinging to the past, because God has gone on ahead, ready to do new things, and enticing us toward an open and exciting future. Perhaps we can’t see it yet, but God can; so we need not fear, because God can be trusted.

So our mandate is simple and straightforward; out with the old and in with the new. It’s time for a wholesale recreation of this community we call church. Or is it? If we examine the passage from Isaiah as a whole, we find the situation a bit more complicated. The God who advises us to stop going over old history, takes care to remind us of all that has been done for us up until now. This God builds a road through the ocean, carves a path through pounding waves, and snuffs out armies like so many candles. If these saving acts sound familiar, it’s because they refer to the events of the Exodus; the parting of the Red Sea and the decimation of Pharaoh’s army.

So perhaps the past is not completely irrelevant; it seems to have some relationship with the new thing God wants to do. Perhaps Suchocki says it best. Tradition is like the crest of a wave, building on the strength of a past blessed by God’s presence, yet always pushing beyond itself toward the new things God is doing.

This dynamic relationship between past and future, old and new, traditional and contemporary applies as well to our re-visioning process here at Overland Park Christian, which we will celebrate on Sunday. We are not called to annihilate the old to make room for the new. Rather, we are called to build on the strength of our past, allowing it to undergird new ways of expression, new ways of reaching out to others in a world that is constantly changing.

When we look at the results of our visioning process on Sunday, we will see that they contain nothing wholly new; no radical departure from values that have guided us in the best of our past: a commitment to service in our larger community, to an open and welcoming invitation into our faith community, and to the affirmation of all God’s children, regardless of their stripe or color.

So what’s new? We are recommitting ourselves to these values, examining their boundaries to see if we have applied them broadly and effectively enough, and striving to offer them in a manner that will be inviting to a wider range of folks in our community. In short, we have committed to be intentional about letting God mold us into a church for this day, and for the days to come. I don’t know about you, but I for one find this exciting!