Worship

From time to time, we may need to cancel in-person worship in person due to weather or illness, and we post our services online. This is where you can find those services.

Worship 3-12-2023

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Welcome to Grace Community Church!

Due to the storm we are holding our worship service asynchronously and online this morning.

Opening Hymn

Call to Worship and Invocation

Hymn

Tithes and Offerings

You can give to Grace Community Church through Givelify or by mailing a check to:

Grace Community Church
P.O. Box 193
North Fork, CA 93643

Scripture: Genesis 12:1-4a and John 3:1-17

Exodus 17:1-7
From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?”

But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

The LORD said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.

He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

John 4:5-42
So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!”

The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.” Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” They left the city and were on their way to him.

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”

Church at Prayer

Sermon

Closing Hymn

Worship 3-5-2023

1 Comment

Welcome to Grace Community Church!

Due to the winter storm we are holding our worship service asynchronously and online this morning.

Opening Hymn

Call to Worship

Invocation

Hymn

Tithes and Offerings

You can give to Grace Community Church through Givelify or by mailing a check to:

Grace Community Church
P.O. Box 193
North Fork, CA 93643

Scripture: Genesis 12:1-4a and John 3:1-17

Genesis 12:1-4a
Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him.

John 3:1-17

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.”

Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”

Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”

Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”

Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Church at Prayer

Sermon

Closing Hymn

Worship 2-26-2023

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Welcome to Grace Community Church!

Due to the winter storm we are holding our worship service asynchronously and online this morning.

Opening Hymn

Welcome, Call to Worship, and Invocation

Hymn

Tithes and Offerings

You can give to Grace Community Church through Givelify or by mailing a check to:

Grace Community Church
P.O. Box 193
North Fork, CA 93643

Scripture: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.'”

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.

Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'” Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'”

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'” Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

Church at Prayer

Sermon

Closing Hymn

Worship 1-15-2023

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Welcome to Grace Community Church!

Due to the winter storm we are holding our worship service asynchronously and online this morning.

Opening Hymn

Call to Worship and Invocation

Hymn

Tithes and Offerings

You can give to Grace Community Church through Givelify or by mailing a check to:

Grace Community Church
P.O. Box 193
North Fork, CA 93643

Scripture: Luke 5:1-11

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’ When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

Church at Prayer

Sermon

Closing Hymn

Worship 12-11-2022

1 Comment

Welcome to Grace Community Church!

Due to the winter storm we are holding our worship service asynchronously and online this morning.

Welcome and Announcements

Opening Hymn

Call to Worship and Invocation

Call to Worship

One: Our souls magnify the Lord.
Our spirits rejoice in God our Savior!
All: We come today with eager hope, awaiting God’s new revelation.
One: The mighty One has done great things!
God’s mercy covers generations.
All: We come today with ready peace, trusting with anticipation.
One: The One who lifted up the lowly
And filled the hungry, dwells with us.
All: We come today with fervent joy, we worship with great expectation.

 (Inspired by Luke 1:46b-55, The Magnificat)

INVOCATION
God of Mary, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Rahab—
God of us all, your children here and your children afar—
We enter this moment of worship with eager anticipation.
We know that even before a child would come to lead the way,
You were leading our way. From the valleys of the shadows of death to the tables in the presence of enemies, you have never left us nor forsaken us. You rod and your staff have guided us. Guide us now, O God.
Make your presence known as we worship you in spirit and in truth. Amen

Lighting the Advent Candle

We have been celebrating the saints in our lives all throughout advent. This week you are invited to write the name of a saint of joy in your life as you light a candle.

This week the saint of joy that we are focusing on is Mr. Rogers.

Hymn

Tithes and Offerings

You can give to Grace Community Church through Givelify or by mailing a check to:

Grace Community Church
P.O. Box 193
North Fork, CA 93643

Scripture: Isaiah 35:1-10 and Luke 1:46b-55

Pastoral Prayer

Sermon

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Closing Hymn

May 16, 2021 | Worship

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With our routines and world upended by the Shelter in Place Order that affects all of California, we are looking for ways to stay connected during a mandate to physically stay apart from one another. This is a continuation of our time together, even though we’re in different spaces.

Welcome and Announcements

Pastor Kim’s email | Grace Weekly eNews Sign-Up | Sequoia Association Annual Meeting

Opening Hymn • Lead Me, Guide Me

Gathering Prayer

Lay Leader: Mary Jo Renner

Readings from Holy Scripture • Acts 1:15-17, 21-26

Lay Leader: Mary Jo Renner

Readings from Holy Scripture • 1 John 5:9-13 

Lay Leader: Mary Jo Renner

Readings from Holy Scripture • John 17:6-19

Lay Leader: Mary Jo Renner

Special Music • Little Things • Mary Jo Renner

Tithes and Offerings

Checks can be mailed to:
Grace Community Church
C/O Rene Horton
P.O. Box 368
Auberry, CA 93602

Hymn • Sweet Hour of Prayer

The Message • Kim Williams, Lay Minister

Closing Hymn • Sent Forth by God’s Blessing

Liturgy adapted from Worship Ways.

May 9, 2021 | Worship

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With our routines and world upended by the Shelter in Place Order that affects all of California, we are looking for ways to stay connected during a mandate to physically stay apart from one another. This is a continuation of our time together, even though we’re in different spaces.

Welcome and Announcements

Pastor Kim’s email | Grace Weekly eNews Sign-Up

Opening Hymn • Blessed Assurance

Gathering Prayer

Lay Leader: Rene Horton

Readings from Holy Scripture • Acts 10:44-48

Lay Leader: Rene Horton

Readings from Holy Scripture • 1 John 5:1-6

Lay Leader: Rene Horton

Readings from Holy Scripture • John 15:9-17

Lay Leader: Rene Horton

Tithes and Offerings

Checks can be mailed to:
Grace Community Church
C/O Rene Horton
P.O. Box 368
Auberry, CA 93602

Church at Prayer

Hymn • What a Friend We Have in Jesus

The Message • Rev. Dr. Norman Broadbent, Guest Preacher

Benediction

Closing Hymn • Sent Forth by God’s Blessing

Liturgy adapted from Worship Ways.

May 2, 2021 | Worship

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With our routines and world upended by the Shelter in Place Order that affects all of California, we are looking for ways to stay connected during a mandate to physically stay apart from one another. This is a continuation of our time together, even though we’re in different spaces.

Welcome and Announcements

Pastor Kim’s email | Grace Weekly eNews Sign-Up

Opening Hymn • Gather Us In

Gathering Prayer

Lay Leader: Judy Ahrens

Readings from Holy Scripture • Acts 8:26-40

Lay Leader: Judy Ahrens

Readings from Holy Scripture • 1 John 4:7-21

Lay Leader: Judy Ahrens

Readings from Holy Scripture • John 15:1-8

Lay Leader: Judy Ahrens

Tithes and Offerings

Checks can be mailed to:
Grace Community Church
C/O Rene Horton
P.O. Box 368
Auberry, CA 93602

Church at Prayer

Hymn • Called as Partners in Christ’s Service

The Message • Kim Williams, Authorized Lay Minister

Closing Hymn • Sent Forth by God’s Blessing

Liturgy adapted from Worship Ways.

April 25, 2021 | Worship

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With our routines and world upended by the Shelter in Place Order that affects all of California, we are looking for ways to stay connected during a mandate to physically stay apart from one another. This is a continuation of our time together, even though we’re in different spaces.

Welcome and Announcements

Pastor Kim’s email | Grace Weekly eNews Sign-Up

Opening Hymn • All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name

Gathering Prayer

Lay Leader: Barb Colliander

Readings from Holy Scripture • Acts 4:5-12 

Lay Leader: Barb Colliander

Readings from Holy Scripture • 1 John 3:16-24

Lay Leader: Barb Colliander

Readings from Holy Scripture • John 10:11-18

Lay Leader: Barb Colliander

A Meditation on Psalm 23

Tithes and Offerings

Checks can be mailed to:
Grace Community Church
C/O Rene Horton
P.O. Box 368
Auberry, CA 93602

A Time for Families

Church at Prayer

Hymn • Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us

The Message • Kim Williams, Authorized Lay Minister

Sermon Transcript

This week I watched the film “Sita Sings the Blues” for a class I’m taking on the “interreligious dimensions of Hinduism.” The film is made with flash animation for a western audience, weaving together the ancient narrative of the Ramayana with cheeky commentary and a side story of a modern break up. Sita, the heroine, is portrayed in a style that can only be described as Betty Boop-esque, and she sings musical numbers by Annette Hanshaw, a jazz sings from the 1920s and 30s. The film had a lot of controversy surrounding it—many Hindu groups were offended by the portrayal, and copyright issues popped up around the use of Hanshaw’s music, which was in the public domain but the use of synchronizing the images with music, among other issues cropped up. And while the film was fun—it really is an engaging piece—I was left unsettled from the beginning as the title credits came on and it read “Starring Annette Hanshaw.” It actually bugged me. I asked myself it would have been as awkward if it had read “featuring the music of Annette Hanshaw” or something along those lines, and I realized that I was uncomfortable with the “starring” role of a woman who has been dead since the 1980s and could have no say in whether or not she was the star of this film.

Also this week, in response to the “Guilty” verdict of the Derek Chauvin trial in the murder of George Floyd, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was criticized for saying, “Thank you, George Floyd, for sacrificing your life for justice.” While the point she was making was to say that what had happened as a result of his murder would ultimately lead to some kind of justice in the court room—because so often this is not the case when it comes to police violence—the wording was deeply unsettling. There is a huge difference between martyrs and murders.

The thing that is missing in both of these illustrations is consent.

The reading this morning from John is a familiar one—the Good Shepherd. And while there is a lot to pull out from the sheep/shepherd narrative, I kept finding myself reading one line over and over again as I prepared for this morning: “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, I have power to take it up again.”

The point that Christ gave his life is an inescapable cultural understanding that even those who are not active or practicing Christians are not immune to. To talk of self-sacrificing love and to expect that people will give more of themselves than they have is as American as apple pie. A 40 hour work week with the assumption that emails and calls will be answered over the weekend—how many of us have lived that life? Was it voluntary? Were you stoked to be taking a work call while at the lake with your family? How often have you swallowed your own identity to not ruffle the feathers of someone else? Did you wake up in the morning and say to yourself “I’m going to dim my shine so that my light doesn’t bother anyone” and then happily keep yourself to yourself indefinitely? It’s built into the way we interact that we carry some sort of sacrificial burden, but did we tell ourselves we wanted to carry that burden or was it assumed that we would, so we do?

Part of the widespread, under-the-skin, knowing without really knowing you know it part of being a religion that historically has used colonization as a primary method for growth is that the story is there under the surface, but there are parts of it that don’t receive the emphasis that they should because they don’t always fit nicely with our branding. We’ve turned the crucifixion of Christ into such a trope that it can readily be ascribed to anyone who has had a tragic end that resulted in societal change, however we’re forgetting a major key component. Consent.

When I was in high school, driving around in my first car- a gold 1980 Honda Accord, I would laugh about the line in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar “I really didn’t come here of my own accord” sung by Judas, and I would change it to “I really really came here in my own accord” because I thought I was so clever. But all of those times “my own accord” came up in scripture was never impressed upon me so that I would appreciate what it means when someone says that they did or did not do something “of their own accord.” We also weren’t having the same conversations then that we do now revolving around “No means no” and consent. There wasn’t a lot for me to play connect the dots with. This could be the case for why we tend to ascribe martyrdom to murder. There is a song called “Three strong links” written by Jim Manley, who you will recognize if you have ever sung the song “Spirit, Spirit of gentleness” on Pentecost, and this song goes “Three strong links in a freedom chain, free string links in a freedom chain, three strong links in a freedom chain, a Jew and a Hindu and a Black man slain.” And while the song makes a valid point about those who are pursuing justice through nonviolence being killed in their pursuit—Namely Jesus, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr.—the most important difference in the deaths of these three visionaries for justice is one of consent.

One could argue that King and Gandhi knew the risks of their activism, but then we can let that snowball roll a lot further downhill and say that George Floyd knew the risks of being Back in public and so his death was therefore accordingly sacrificial. See how dangerous that line of thinking becomes?

Jesus knowingly and willingly did these three years of ministry and then went to the cross. It was part of the plan. He is commanded by “the Father,” but he does it of his own free will. And because he says in this passage in John that he has the power to “take up his life again” we can see how intricately his and God’s will are intertwined. If we recall the scene at Gethsemane where Jesus prayed just before the betrayal by Judas, Jesus has a moment where he asks God, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me;” and we can see that Jesus wrestles with what must happen, but after much prayer, he comes back and says, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” And he reaffirms his consent, this is to happen of his own accord. Another important point for us to remember, since often times consent is given at first and then it is taken away, but because of the initial “yes” a “no” is often overruled. But Jesus came back around and again confirmed that he was on board with what was to happen.

As we read these familiar passages and revisit bible stories we’ve known forever, it is important that we not overlook the details. In this case, we could find ourselves so caught up in the comforting and edifying story of Jesus as the good shepherd caring for us no matter what conundrum we find ourselves in—and we’re really good and creative about finding new conundrums for Christ to carry us through and out of—that we might forget how powerful it is that he wasn’t just put into the family business of shepherding and given no other options. He chose this as his line of work, and he chose it and affirmed that choice again and again. We are not loved by Christ out of obligation or filial piety, even though God put him up to it in the first place. He isn’t given attribution of a starring role in the Christian Scriptures without having ever had anything to do with them. He chose to fulfill this role, to sacrifice himself, and to rise again for all of our sakes, and he made sure everyone knew it was of his own accord. In the same way, we come to Jesus of our own accord. Theological ethicist Maria Cimperman says, “While never loving us less, God enters only upon our consent, honoring our free choice, our free will.” This is a key component that may be missing from our underlying understanding of Christ’s sacrificial relationship to us as we work to decolonize the way we view what Jesus did for us. Because so much of Christian history is the bloody imposition of religious values on unwilling indigenous peoples from all over the globe, we have to do the work of separating what it truly means to give of oneself freely to Christ just as he gave of himself to us.

All of that is to say that as we encounter examples in pop culture, politics, or in our personal lives of areas where consent truly couldn’t have been given of one’s own accord, we must challenge and push back against them. Not villainize the person who perpetuates them, mind you. I know there are too many people who would gleefully stomp all over Nancy Pelosi and that’s not what I’m advocating, but I do encourage us to critically challenge when we see things arise that the person with a sacrifice attributed to them could not have agreed to. We have a blueprint for what real consent looks like in the affirmation and reaffirmation of Jesus’s own accord, and as followers of Christ who are working towards a better world for all, we must make space so that others can give their consent again and again, and we should work to deconstruct the ways of thinking that allow us posthumously or after-the-fact attribute consent.

May Christ, our good shepherd, continue to show us what it means to say yes when we mean it, to accept no when someone else means it, and may we continue to challenge injustice when we see it—of our own accord. Amen.

Closing Hymn • Sent Forth by God’s Blessing

Liturgy adapted from Worship Ways.

April 18, 2021 | Worship

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With our routines and world upended by the Shelter in Place Order that affects all of California, we are looking for ways to stay connected during a mandate to physically stay apart from one another. This is a continuation of our time together, even though we’re in different spaces.

Welcome and Announcements

Pastor Kim’s email | Grace Weekly eNews Sign-Up

Opening Hymn • All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name

Gathering Prayer

Lay Leader: Mary Beth Harrison

Readings from Holy Scripture • 1 John 1:1-2:2

Lay Leader: Mary Beth Harrison

Readings from Holy Scripture • Psalm 4

Lay Leader: Mary Beth Harrison

Readings from Holy Scripture • Acts 3:12-21

Lay Leader: Mary Beth Harrison

Readings from Holy Scripture • Luke 24:36-48

Lay Leader: Mary Beth Harrison

Tithes and Offerings

Checks can be mailed to:
Grace Community Church
C/O Rene Horton
P.O. Box 368
Auberry, CA 93602

Church at Prayer

Hymn • He Lives

The Message • Kim Williams, Authorized Lay Minister

Sermon Transcript

Last Sunday, a mother answered her phone and spoke to her son for the last time. Daunte Wright was pulled over, and he called his mom because he knew he needed the insurance information. After the officer used her gun rather than her taser, Wright suffered a fatal gunshot wound.

Bodycam footage was also released this week of the events leading up to the death of Adam Toledo, a 13 year old shooting suspect. My mama heart breaks, I have a 13 year old son. You all know Cary as the goober who won’t leave his video games and art except for snack and hugs, but even if he were to be a suspect in a crime, I am pretty confident that my son would not have deadly force used on him. And while I breathe a staggered breath of relief at that, my heart and my brain cannot reconcile that painful difference in the reality I have as a mom with what mamas of black sons have to worry about. Is that uncomfortable to hear? It’s definitely uncomfortable to say.

All of this is taking place at the same time as the trial for Derek Chauvin is going on, will there be justice for George Floyd, and can there ever really be justice when a life has been taken? At the time of this recording, the jury is still deliberating. This may have changed by Sunday morning. What will not have changed over the next 48 hours is the fact that we are dealing with—or not dealing with—a systemic injustice that must be addressed and dismantled.

And yeah, okay, I know it’s like, but Kim, what does this have to do with the readings for today? But ultimately, all of this is wrapped up in creating a world that is just. Equitable, inclusive, and life-giving-and-affirming for all. To find wisdom to help us on our way to a world like that, we just need to take a closer look at our reading from Acts this morning.

In the text we read from Acts, we are transported to the immediate aftermath of a miracle, and a crowd has gathered. Realizing that he has an audience, Peter takes advantage and begins preaching to those who had gathered in wonderment and awe at what they had seen. And imagine it, every day they had passed by this same man—a man who from birth had been unable to walk was begging near the temple—he was such a fixture of the entrance to the temple that he had probably begun to blend into the scenery. Some folks probably even planned their route to bring them up to the door of the temple at a certain angle to avoid making eye contact with him so they could go pray without any uncomfortable interruptions. When I worked downtown, I’ll readily admit I was guilty of doing this on days when I couldn’t look a panhandler in the eye without it destroying the thin veneer of the lie of more humanity that I was clinging to in order to get through the work day. I understand, temple-goers. I don’t like it, but I’ve had plenty of days of willfully not seeing the sacred in a stranger because it would throw off my whole…thing.

 On this afternoon at the temple entry, however, Peter and John stopped. Peter wanted the man to look at him, and the man did, expectantly hoping that they would give him something—some cash, food, or the direct eye contact that confers recognized humanity. Peter says straight off that he doesn’t have any money, but he will give what he has.” He then commanded the man, in the name of Christ, to walk. He helped the man up, and he was able to walk, dance, jump, do tiktok dances, what have you. Of course, the crowd gathered around. This man whom they had all seen begging every day for as long as they could remember was suddenly standing rather than being carried. That’s big, right?

There is always some danger in interacting with these miracle healing stories of taking it to a grossly ableist place. I think that the same danger can be said in the performing of the healings. Maybe Peter recognized this, and instead of making this healing about the transformation in the body of the man who had been begging, Peter turned his attention to the people who were gawking at what had taken place.

“Why is this shocking to you? You all just had Jesus Christ in your midst, you know what is possible because he was basically doing this all the time—And MORE, but you turned on him.” I mean, it’s a clunky paraphrase, but it gets the point across. To push the point even further, Peter says, “you killed the Author of Life.” Ouch.

Peter doesn’t leave this to sting for too long, though. Just like any good call out, there has to be a call-in for real transformation. He follows up with “You acted in ignorance, but that’s how God fulfilled what was foretold. All of this happened, and Jesus suffered. But now you know better. It’s time to repent.”

Repent gets a bad rap. It’s been twisted around over the years and is used as a word that would control and exert power rather than what true repentance is: freeing. It’s letting go of what is no longer serving you and/or the community. Or letting go of what is serving you but not serving the community, which is more often the case.

Maya Angelou said, “””Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” And I feel like this fits in really nicely with what Peter is telling the crowd gathered, all gawking and surprised as they are.

However, within Peter’s critique, the unasked question lingers for me: What have we allowed to happen to have made this person an outsider in the first place? How was he stuck at the gate, but never invited in? What kept him from full inclusion?

I don’t think the miracle that Peter performed through Christ isn’t the focal point of this story. The miracle itself is left out of the lectionary. See, this isn’t a story that is teaching anything about bodies with disabilities or using it as a vehicle to move the point along—it’s also pointing out that the onus is on the community to offer full inclusion beforehand. Peter doesn’t want to talk about the healing. Peter wants the folks assembled to stop and think for a moment about what they’ve done. How they were not just complicit in the death of Jesus, but also, hello, this interaction points out that we have someone who has been sitting outside for YEARS and only now is he getting your attention? Know better. Do Better.

Many of us have had an experience some time in our lives of being othered. It’s painful. What would it have meant to be brought into the fold-unconditionally accepted and loved and lifted up, instead of being told that you were so dorky that you were making the rest of the girls in 6th grade look bad. That’s right, Kelly. I haven’t forgotten.

Peter’s words and this text from Acts is an invitation. It offers us a chance to get it right. When we act out of ignorance, we can repent—we can know better and change! Peter offers to the people who are gob smacked at this miracle—and unsurprising miracle if you’ve been following along with all the latest Jerusalem gossip for the last few years—he offers this opportunity to make it right by turning to God, by following Jesus. Peter even calls this “knowing better/doing better” a season of refreshment. Refreshment!

Here in America, we need a season of refreshment. This is possible, but it will require repentance, and not the finger waggling “sinner don’t sin” kind, but the kind that happens through the gnarly, uncomfortable, dirt-under-the-fingernails work of digging up old ways of thinking and being that no longer serve us, and sifting through very intentionally. Sitting with the things that make us mad immediately and asking what God is trying to reveal to us through our red-cheeked, and sometimes shame-laced anger. The word in Greek that we get repent from in this text is metanoia: a transformative change of heart. Transformative repentance can’t exist while we’re still walking past the beggar at the gate, or indulging in the internet trauma porn of the person on the ground with a police officer’s knee on his neck while remaining silent. Repentance invites us to come a little closer to God by doing what we must—what we will have to do if we are to both survive as a nation and live into our commitment as followers of Christ—to first make sure that we allow Peter’s advice and Maya Angelou’s words to do better to sink in and penetrate through our skin and muscle right into our bones and transform us. May our repentance, our metanoia, transform us and in turn, may we transform what must be changed to bring about a truly just world for all. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Closing Hymn • Sent Forth by God’s Blessing

Liturgy adapted from Worship Ways.