Brewing Theology With Teer

God’s dreams seem beyond us because they are.This is the work of God that we get to be a small (very small) part of. The beginning of the dream Isaiah saw was revealed to Joseph. The scandal of the incarnation is that in Christ, God is prepared the rearrange the ordering of creation - beginning not with power and political might but rather through a child born in a manger, and eventually on the cross and in an empty tomb. While scientists can debate the purpose and function of dreams in our lives, God’s dreams have a specific purpose. In Joseph’s dream, we relinquished control and on the cross and in the empty tomb God’s plan for the redemption and salvation of all people was revealed. All of creation will be made new.As the shadows of Advent begin to give way to the Light revealed at Christmas, we recall the beginning of the Kingdom of God in a child and in doing so we await the full realization of a dream bigger than we can imagine but not so big that any of us will be left out.We can dream on because behol

On Christmas, we will recall how Jesus entered into the darkness of this world, the darkness created by sin, as the great Light. Yet, we allow the bright lights of Christmas to overtake the darkness of Advent begins with. Standing in the Light of the Christ child in the manger is more comfortable than waiting in the shadow of what is to come because in waiting we relinquish control of the agenda. In our waiting during Advent we are acknowledging the limitedness with which we can predict and control G-d’s acts of grace.

Our circumstances may give us pause, distracting us from the larger story we are a part of, but the Psalmist is reminding us that our response to G-d’s mighty acts is a posture of worship - praise and thanksgiving - aka a posture of gratitude. Gratitude because today, regardless of the affairs in your life, the moment your feet hit the ground and you took a deep breath of a new day it was the divine breath of life that fills your lungs. While chaos may be swirling around us and the melodies we find ourselves singing sound anything but grateful, the sound of praise and gratitude, worship, is our default because G-d is in the business of creating order out of the chaos of this world. We are grateful for what G-d has done because what G-d has done and what G-d continues to do is bigger than anything we can imagine or do on our own.

The Thessalonians, one of the earliest Christian communities, like many Christians today, earnestly expected Jesus’ return within the lifespan of the first generation of Christians. Their hope for the new age to come was giving way, challenged by the realities of life. The grind of everyday life had shifted the Thessalonians' posture of anticipation and gratitude to impatience. Community members were dying from old age and persecution. Hardship seemed to have fallen on those who believed Jesus had and would continue to free them from the bondage of this world. Rejoicing, prayer, and gratitude shifted to doubt, laziness, and a lack of focus on the cross.Jesus promised a blessing upon the poor and weak, and those who mourn, but the harshness of the rough road of life had overshadowed the promised hope to come. As the shadow grew larger, the mundane of this life took priority over the promised hope to come. Redemption, fulfillment, and blessing were forgotten as the community traded gratitude for impatience.

Jeremiah 32:1-3, 6-15Luke 16:19-31Everything necessary for salvation - the saving of us and all of humanity - is found in this book. On face value, the stories are complicated, grotesque, beautiful, and full of hope. 
We do not have to twist the words in this book to fit the agenda of the Church or our politics. Jesus’ teachings, while confusing at times, clearly outline what the garden in Revelation will look like and how we get there - the Great Commission given to the Church by Christ, is clear. 

Words like Grace make little sense outside of communities unified in the Lordship of Christ.Our need for the unmerited love of G-d is the thread that holds us together and we cannot be a community of faith without Christ and His Grace as the center.We can excel at doing good things for people in need but without the Grace of G-d, we are people trying to be good, knowing (or unknowing) that the good we do cannot repay the Sin humanity has committed against God.Much to our chagrin, this gift of a unified Grace-filled community may seem like the last thing we could want or need and yet, this unmerited gift is a forecast of the Kingdom Christ inaugurated through his own ministry.The Good News is this - amid division and disagreement we are still the recipients of G-d’s Grace. There is no theological disagreement or division of the Church on socio-economic status, race, political affiliation, or sexual orientation that change the blessing we have received by the Grace of God.

The journey we find ourselves on is about us having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ (a frightening thought) but at the same time, we are part of a community formed by the Potter for the task of being the Potter’s hands and feet in the midst of what the Potter has created.Jesus was the ultimate vessel created by the Potter. Taking the form of the first human created out of clay by the Potter, Jesus, from the manger in Bethlehem all the way to the cross was shaped and moved by the Potter. Jesus did this by remaining open to the will of G-d. In worship, in community, through spiritual disciplines, and in his generosity, Jesus remains the unbroken vessel that we now follow. The Good News is that while we individually may be broken vessels and at times our community may fall short of what the Potter has formed us to be, the Potter is not done with us. The Psalmist writes that G-d is distant and still intimately close with every aspect of our lives. We were created and we exist today to marvel in the Pott

We are assured that things will be put right in the presence of Christ, regardless of how people like me interpret the Law. Regardless of what religious professional debate endlessly, regardless of what a finalized doctrinal statement says, Jesus, G-d, will have the final say over our application of G-d’s Word.The indignation of the synagogue leader revealed that he found his justification by following the rules. There is nothing wrong with being a rule follower (this coming from a self-confessed chronic follower of rules). But in Jesus, G-d revealed that we do not have to seek out our justification through the rules. We do not have to seek our righteousness by doing the correct action on a particular day while on a different day not performing the action we had previously done.We, all of us, find our justification, our “enoughness” in the eyes of G-d not through our own actions, and not in our own ability to not work on the Sabbath and keep it holy. We find our

Whatever may come the way of the church, we know that the faithfulness we exhibit is grounded in the faithfulness of Christ. Without relying on the faithfulness of Christ, to the point of death, the church then and today has little to stand on.Simply put… because G-d is faithful, we are assured that we may live more faithful lives. We do not have to live in fear of weariness or hardship.We do not have to live in fear of what if’s.We do not have to live as though we are doing this on our own.Each of the people listed by the author of this letter, referencing stories from the Hebrew Bible were not exactly the perfect people or events we think G-d would use.Moses, before leading Israel to freedom through the Red Sea, killed a man.The battle of Jericho gave a new home to Israel but another group of people was displaced.Rahab may not have been a prostitute.David, the great king of Israel, had a man sent to the front lines and killed so that David could then take the man’s wife as his own.Throughout the Psalms, man

The DIY faith Paul is writing to correct calls us away from quick-fix solutions, and towards grace and mercy, telling us the work of Christ was and continues to be insufficient. Paul was calling the ancient church away from revolutionized human teachings - three-quick and easy steps and back to a life of extravagance.Extravagant grace.Extravagant compassion.Extravagant mercy.Simply put… the foundation of our faith is not something we do or accomplish. The foundation of our faith is someone, someone who accomplished that which we could never do for ourselves.Christianity is not DIY.Christianity is discipleship, meaning in following Christ we acknowledge and hold onto Christ’s reconciling work that we, us and them, are unable to accomplish for ourselves.

In Christ, we discover that the poverty we enter into at death - you cannot take it with you - and the sad comprehension of the cruel reversal turns into Good News. Just as Jesus fully revealed God’s good purposes for creation in his earthy life, so too is it for us who have clothed ourselves in Christ at the time of our death. There is nothing left to do, no barns to take down or to build up, and instead, through the grace of Jesus Christ, we are invited to lean into God’s good purposes revealed to us by Christ. Now we await the day when the fullness of God’s new creation, made possible through the faithfulness of Christ, is finally revealed

July 28, 2019Luke 11:1-13Simply put… Bon Jovi is right, we are a community living on a prayer. A prayer mind you, that lacks $15 seminary words and is not longwinded. The prayer Jesus taught to his disciples is sufficient witness to G-d, made truthful by worshipers, through the One who taught is to be prayed. Jesus offers us, through this prayer and all prayer to G-d, sufficient grace and compassion to ensure our needs, our daily bread is made available. The response we receive from G-d to the need we present may not match the desires we have. The daily bread or the healing we request from G-d may not mirror what we desire and this is where the difficult work of seeking G-d’s will through prayerful dialogue with our Creator begins. This is when we begin to lean into the Lord, bending even further towards G-d so that we can catch a glimpse, we pray, of what G-d’s will is for our lives and for the new creation inaugurated by Christ’s death and resurrection.As we pray and make the words of Christ not only our pr

Scripture tells us Jesus is the capital “W” word of God, the fullness of God’s image that is otherwise invisible to creation. Jesus is the full revelation of God when we otherwise rely on those who caught a glimpse of the infinite wonder of God.

Go and care for the person in the ditch.Go and care for the person, the group of people you despise.Go and care for the person wearing the MAGA hat.Go and care for the person wearing the Black Lives Matter shirtGo and care for the person who has wronged you.Help every single person that comes across your path without first wondering if they are “just going to buy booze” with the fist-full of money you are going to give them.Go and care for every single person who you believe has gotten what they deserved without reservation and instead with extravagance.

To make Paul’s words through this entire letter plain - Simply put… it is foolish to think we can fool G-d with self-righteous works of the Law to achieve salvation. Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection are sufficient for all people.It is foolish to think circumcision - works of the Law - is a sufficient alternative to the Gospel. When we buy into the idea that there is something necessary for salvation apart from the grace and mercy of G-d in Christ we are like the ancient church in Galatia foolishly (Paul’s words, not mine) turning toward a different gospel (1:6). It is foolish to fail to see the universal scope of G-d’s grace that brought the ones outside the original covenant into the presence of Christ’s grace and mercy. Paul’s Galatian opponents believed Gentile converts needed to first be grafted into the original covenant established by G-d with Israel. Paul wrote that we, all us, everyone full stop, are children of G-d through faith. Clothing ourselves in Christ removes the title “Jew or Greek.” Pau

It was Jesus that freed the man removed and restrained by his community, not the disciples.It was Jesus that freed the man by removing the restraints place on him by his community, not some do-gooder neighbor that finally felt guilty about the man’s situation. So thanks be to G-d that we are not Jesus because how often do we ignore the bondage of those removed and restrained from the community. How often to we fail to act when we see a person laying by the side of the road and choose to pass by on the other side rather than bandaging that person’s wounds?Jesus, extended freedom and mercy to the unnamed man and Jesus extends freedom and mercy, through his bride, the Church Universal, whenever we respond to the movement of the Holy Spirit and go where we are sent by the Most High Son. When we respond to the movement of the Holy Spirit and go, engaging in acts of justice and mercy, we are instruments of Christ’s grace and mercy. We are instruments being used by Christ but we are not Jesus.

We will pray that as you come to know the love of G-d in Christ that you will welcome the Holy Spirit’s movement for yourself. Know Milana, that the Holy Spirit is not oppressive, forcing itself upon you, but rather the Holy Spirit, just like Christ, is life-giving. The late Phyllis Tickle wrote that we today are living in the age of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is moving us within the Church and those outside the church, in a moment of Holy Revitalization so that Christ’s Lordship may be known throughout creation. The confirmands and Milana are joining us, the body of Christ, in proclaiming Jesus to be Lord and everything to be… Milana, you are becoming part of the Body that seeks to end suffering and oppression around the world not by our own hands but rather by the movement of the Holy Spirit and the work of Christ. This means the Holy Spirit may not act like an anesthesiologist numbing you or us to the suffering of the world. To the contrary, the Spirit of G-d may just place the suffering of the world fron

The world will know Christ's love by not the unity we advertise, but by the unity we find in Christ's love for one another. Our unity - beyond Mount Olivet the United Methodist Church but also including them - shows to the world Christ's love through the way we love one another.The Good News is through Christ's faithfulnesses to us, Christ's prayer for us does not change because of our lack of unity or faith. Our lack of unity - our willingness to cutoff and push aside part of the body - does not reduce what happened in Bethlehem, in the Jordan, on Calvary's Hill, in the empty tomb, or in Christ's ascension.

"The Holy Spirit’s proper work never goes anywhere without Christ, and the Spirit does nothing apart from resurrecting Christ in dead sinners. The Spirit does not moonlight in any other job but to drive everything in all creation to Christ."We are a community of disciples and no one is expect to grow, learn, or minister alone. Jesus promises us the Holy Spirit will, is, working in and through us. The Holy Spirit is working for you, in you, revealing Jesus in our midst and continuing to reveal the teachings of Jesus. As we figure all of this out, the churchy-phase for that is "discerning G-d's will," we do not have to feel naked, afraid, or alone. The point of all this is not merely survival but instead we are invited to thrive because the Holy Spirit has been sent, is present among us. The Holy Spirit is revealing Christ's presence and teachings to us. And that friends, the assurance and sending of G-d's Advocate, is grace in its fullest. Grace upon Grace.