Engaging with the reading of Matthew 5:38-48, Tim Reardon tackled the topic of peace. The Christian peace tradition was Tim’s draw to the Mennonite denomination during the build-up to the second Iraq war.
This is peace not relegated to our hearts while taking up arms against enemies, nor as an ideal or demand or a work or a law, nor peace a feeling — but peace as a way of being. This peace cannot be grasped or owned, but something sought after, and which by God’s grace seeks after us. It is inhabited with and for others. For Tim, this became a non-negotiable in his faith walk.

On Easter morning, reflecting on Isaiah 65:17-25 and John 20:1-18, Sam Bills spoke to us about the resurrection story. Early in the morning, Mary approaches the tomb where Jesus had been laid with ointments to tend to the body. She suspects foul play when she sees the stone blocking the entrance has been moved aside — and runs back for reinforcements. Peter and John hurry back to the tomb with her.
John sees the burial wrappings on the ground — Peter enters the tomb. Peter sees the cloth that had covered Jesus’ face set to the side. John joins him. Yet they do not understand.
But they remember Jesus’ words about the temple of his body being raised — and put together with the situation in the tomb, they believe. This is a quick transition from seeing to believing. But having believed, they return home. Have they grasped what is happening?

On April 14, Palm Sunday, Tim Reardon spoke about the Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, Luke 19:28-44, and his words from the cross in Luke 23:32-46. The celebration of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is tinged by coming of the cross, and the willingness of those who had celebrated to now condemn him.
Emmanuel, God with us. God surrounds us, has tabernacled among us, has become flesh, and has taken up space with us in Jesus so that our bodies might be formed into God’s body. We are forgiven, released. God has come to bring peace and justness. God has come not to condemn the world but to draw the world into an embrace of new life.

On March 17, our Poet of the King, Tim Reardon, revisited the Exodus through Exodus 13:2-10 and Luke 9:51-56. Our interaction with Sarah Augustine and learning about the Doctrine of Discovery have offered a rereading of these passages. We in Pasadena meet in land originally inhabited by the Tongva people. And so what does it mean to be an Exodus people?

On March 10th, we heard from Matt Palombo, with recordings from Guled Omar. Matt Palombo has been working in Minneapolis on mass incarceration and the war on terror. He is a philosophy professor at Minneapolis College, where there is a large Muslim Somali refugee population. Many of his students are part of this Somali community. The scripture reading for the morning was Psalm 27. The psalmist is in a place of fear, surrounded by hate and violence. The reading was chosen by Guled Omar, who relates to this surrounding — serving a 35-year sentence for terrorist-related charges in Ft. Levensworth, Kansas. Guled was taped reading the psalm on a phone call, which was played for us to begin the sermon.

On March 3rd, Transfiguration Sunday, Tim Reardon spoke of the transfiguation of Jesus as a transition point in Jesus’ ministry. Previously, Jesus had been moving about Galilee speaking about a kingdom, now he tells his disciples he must go to Jerusalem to proclaim this kingdom, and there he will suffer, be rejected by the leaders of his people, and then be killed, rising on the third day.
We often read this metaphorically. What burdens am I carrying that somehow I can call my cross? Yet, Jesus’s cross is not metaphorical. At this point in the narrative, Jesus calls them to literally join him. What would you say? What is it to pick up your cross?