Christ calls

Good morning friends,
I was truly blessed to be part of an installation service for my friend Cindy Rasmussen as Rector of St. Mark's and St. John's Episcopal Church on Culver Rd on Wednesday evening. It was a great celebration of Christian unity and urban ministry. The Episcopal bishop was there with his ornate robes and shepherds staff. He celebrated communion with Cindy, their Deacon Mike Finn, myself and a Catholic nun, Sr. Marlene Vigna assisting with the serving. A Presbyterian lay woman preached the sermon and shared some powerful experiences of transformation in the city through Christ's love. It was an awesome reminder of why we are in ministry.

Jesus' words to the disciples he sends out in ministry echo some similar themes. He laments for some cities nearby, because, even though he ministered powerfully in them they didn't repent. He also rejoices with his disciples about the way God's power is at work in them. Like us, they were ordinary people, but they made themselves available in trust to God. So the question comes to us: are we going to see God's love and shut our ears or will we be agents of grace-filled transformation through Christ?

God bless,
Sam

Luke 10:13-20

¹³“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ¹⁴But at the judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. ¹⁵And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades. ¹⁶“Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

¹⁷The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” ¹⁸He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. ¹⁹See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. ²⁰Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”