What is the image of Jesus?

Jesus the Jew

Jesus the Christ

Jesus the Conformist

Jesus, the same yesterday, today and forever. What is the image of Jesus? How has Jesus been seen differently at different times in our history, both as a Christian people and in your own personal history?

How do the passages from Hebrews speak to the image of Jesus today?

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
13:1 Let mutual love continue.

13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

13:3 Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.

13:4 Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers.

13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you."

13:6 So we can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?"

13:7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.

13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

13:15 Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.

13:16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Walter Morton for Journey Across the Line

What does it mean to find one's voice?

The Prophet Jeremiah
by Andrew Mabanji
"The word is a fire in my heart...I could not keep it in."
Jeremiah 20:9 

In this Sunday’s lectionary lesson, we look at the call of Jeremiah as prophet to his people. Jeremiah had something to say, but it was not always popular, in fact it hardly ever was. Jeremiah suffered injury and was imprisoned by his own because of his pronouncements about impending captivity by the Babylonians.

God’s call to Jeremiah: (from Wikipedia, for more from this article,click here.
“God appointed Jeremiah to confront Judah and Jerusalem for the worship of idols and other violations of the covenant described in Deuteronomy. According to Jeremiah, the LORD declared that the covenant was broken and that God would bring upon Israel and Judah the curses of the covenant. Jeremiah’s job was to explain the reason for the impending disaster (destruction by the Babylonian army and captivity), “And when your people say, 'Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?' you shall say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours…In return for his adherence to God’s disciplines and speaking God’s words, Jeremiah was attacked by his own brothers, beaten and put into the stocks by a priest and false prophet, imprisoned by the king, threatened with death, thrown into a cistern by Judah’s officials, and opposed by a false prophet.Yet God was faithful to rescue Jeremiah from his enemies. For example, when his prophecies regarding the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem were fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar’s army in 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar ordered that Jeremiah be freed from prison and treated well.”


Jeremiah 1:4-10

1:4 Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,

1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

1:6 Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy."

1:7 But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a boy'; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you,

1:8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD."

1:9 Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth.

1:10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."


How do we find our own voice in this day and age?

Walter Morton for Journey Across the Line

The Present Times...

Cityscape of Manhattan

How do we discern our present times?  
And having once discerned these times, how as individuals can we contribute to the needs of the day? 

In the picture of the cityscape, how is our present time different than when Jesus walked the earth?  What makes it the same? How does each view speak to our call to participate in the world?

In the Lectionary lesson for today, August 15, we look at passages from the book of Luke 12:49-56. Here Jesus speaks of fire and division coming to the people of Israel. What could he be referring to when he speaks of recognizing"the times."

Luke 12:49-56
12:49 "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

12:50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!

12:51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!

12:52 From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three;

12:53 they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

12:54 He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, 'It is going to rain'; and so it happens.

12:55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be scorching heat'; and it happens.

12:56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?


Walter Morton for Journey Across the Line

What is the essence of our faith action?

 What happens when God burns away what we have always thought was important to us?  How do we allow God to purge from us that which no longer speaks the love of God to others in our world?
Today we look at verses from the book of Isaiah and see how well they speak to our situation today.



Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
1:1 The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.


1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!


1:11 What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.


1:12 When you come to appear before me, who asked this from your hand? Trample my courts no more;


1:13 bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation-- I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.


1:14 Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them.


1:15 When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.


1:16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil,


1:17 learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.


1:18 Come now, let us argue it out, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.


1:19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;


1:20 but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.