Sunday, January 8 – “The Source of Jesus’ Powers”

View this recorded version of Sunday Worship from January 8, 2023.

Bible Verses

Isaiah 42: 1-9 and Matthew 3: 13-17

Reflection: The Source of Jesus’ Powers

Excerpts from the reflection by Rev. Dr. Fred Grewe:

“What is it that really makes a Christian, Christian? I mean, how do we know what a Christian is? A lot of people proclaim, well, we’re real Christians and you’re not, or whatever, some such language.

So what is it that really makes a Christian, Christian? And I would suggest or present for your thinking, that for me, at any rate, what makes a Christian Christian is someone that lives the way Jesus lives; that somebody that did what Jesus did.

I mean we’ve commercialized it into that silly pumper sticker ‘What would Jesus do?’ but I think, by and large, that’s a pretty good idea. How would Jesus respond in this situation? What would Jesus be like?

And so the word Christian actually means ‘little Christs’ or someone that behaves or looks like Jesus. And so I suggest that it’s more how we behave, what we do, how we engage with life, how do we engage with the relationships in our life–that makes us a Christian.

—

…the experiential knowledge, not just the head knowledge, of knowing I am accepted and loved by the Creator, so freed Jesus, and liberated him, that he could go and do the things that he did.

—

..the point of all this is that we live in harmony with God, that we taste of the acceptance and the love of this divine energy, this being, this Creator, and that it liberate us from the inside out so that we can continue and be about the good works that we’re about. But we do it with kindness and ease and grace.

—

If you know you’re loved and you know you’re accepted by the Divine One, notify your face. Ahhhh. And not stress out so much. We’re gonna do it; we’re gonna do it together; we’re gonna make mistakes; we’re gonna get up; we’re gonna be kind; we’re gonna remind each other: ‘Oh you silly thing, we’re already loved, we’re already accepted.’ Let’s go do this. And so let’s have grace as we follow Jesus together on the path of radical love.”