Jan 11th: We are Born Spiritual, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski.
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Rev. Dr. Steven Koski
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We are Born Spiritual with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski. Series: Rediscovering Jesus A Spacious Christianity, First Presbyterian Church of Bend, Oregon. Scripture: Matthew 3:13–17.
You’re invited this Sunday (online or in person) to explore a hopeful message about grit grounded in grace. Come hear why you “came from love, are made by love, and are here to love,” and how that changes the way we face a messy world. All questions, doubts, and curiosities welcome.
Transcript:
Steven: There’s a true story that came from the New England Journal of Medicine of parents who had a four year old daughter who gave birth to a baby boy. When they brought the baby home from the hospital. This his little sister insisted on spending time alone with her baby brother. The parents thought it odd, but decided it would be okay, as long as they stood outside the bedroom and listened in on the baby monitor. They heard the daughter move closer to the crib. They couldn’t believe their ears when they heard her say to her baby brother, tell me about God, I’m beginning to forget we come from love. We are made by love. We are here to love. One day, we will return to the source of all love, but we forget. In fact, trauma experts tell us that the fear and trauma that we experience in life has a way of making us forget who we are, and now more than ever, we need to be reminded maybe the one thing that might make the biggest difference in the new year is to remember who we are and whose we are. Father Greg Boyle works to help rehabilitate violent gang members in Los Angeles, and Father Boyle said, I’ve met many people who’ve hurt others, who’ve done evil things, but I have never met an evil person. I meet people every day who have never been introduced to their own goodness, who’ve never been told that there’s there’s something of God within them. He said, My job is not to give them dignity and worth, but awaken them to the dignity and worth that is already theirs. They just don’t realize it. Yet, it’s a new year. What if we taped to our bathroom mirror and read every single morning the following message, I came from love. I am made by love. I am here to love. We forget, or maybe we were never told in the first place. We need to be reminded. Neuroscientists have proven that if you consistently contemplate a God of unconditional love, and you remind yourself that you are a reflection of that love, it actually awakens, activates, strengthens the part of your brain connected to empathy, in other words, a simple daily spiritual practice of remembering that you came from love. You’re made by love. You’re here to love that literally awakens a part of your brain that helps you become a more empathetic person. You become more loving. I mean, how cool is that? It’s almost as if a God of love designed our brains to work this way. And I can’t think of anything more urgent in the world right now than to focus our energies in becoming more loving. It’s popular to choose a word for the year as a spiritual practice, and you carry that word with you. The word I’ve chosen for 2024 I invite you to consider is grit. You know, I don’t want my faith and spirituality to be removed from the painful realities and suffering in this world. I want to find the courage to show up in the nitty gritty realities of life. Grit is defined as the passion and perseverance to keep pursuing what is possible, especially when it seems impossible. Grit is the stamina to show up. Keep showing up when you want to hide. Grit is holding fast to hope when the circumstances suggest it’s hopeless, and fighting to change those circumstances. Grit is the spiritual quality I hope for all of us in 2024 but where do we find grit? Now here’s the spiritual paradox. Grit isn’t achieved through our willpower. It isn’t achieved by clenching our teeth and trying harder. Grit is actually grounded in grace. At a comparative religions conference, scholars were debating about what is unique about Christianity. Some suggested incarnation, God becoming flesh. Others suggested death on the cross. Others resurrection. Scholars pointed to examples in other religions of each of these. These CS Lewis walked in the room late and asked what all the fuss was about. And they said, We’re debating what’s unique about Christianity. That’s easy, said Lewis, it’s grace. Christianity uniquely claims God’s love is ever present and unconditional comes free of charge, no strings attached. Lewis said, what makes Christian faith unique, not better, but unique, is that it doesn’t begin with what is demanded of us. It doesn’t begin with what is required of us. It always begins first in what is offered to us, the gift of this amazing, unconditional love revealed in Jesus that we call grace, a love that is present closer to us than our own breath. You know, there is no doubt we need an extra dose of grit these days, but grit is grounded in grace. Grit arrives unexpectedly When we awaken to the love that is already ours. Grit arrives unexpectedly when we get a glimpse of our own goodness. You know, I’m reminded this weekend of the grit of Martin Luther King, Jr, who devoted his life reminding us of the dignity and worth that resides in every human being, regardless of the color of their skin. Howard Thurman was a great theologian and a civil rights leader who who marched with Dr King. Thurman was asked by a reporter, where he where do you find the grit to fight injustice? Where do you find the grit to look evil in the eye and to face hate and cruelty and violence every day? And Thurman said, Well, every day, my mama told me to remember my baptism, to remember I came from love. I was made by love, and that I was loved with a love no one could take away from me, a love stronger than evil, a love stronger than hate. And I guess Thurman said, I guess I believe my mama. So even when the world seems against me, I know deep in my bones that God is for me and I have nothing to fear. The world is changed by those with that kind of grit, a grit grounded in grace. You know, Scripture says, Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with goodness. You know, grit arrives unexpectedly when we get a glimpse of that goodness deep within us that is stronger than evil. We traditionally begin the new year remembering the baptism of Jesus. Jesus was 30 years old when he was baptized. We know little about Jesus from infancy and until he is about 30, and the ministry of Jesus begins the day he walks out of Nazareth away from his father’s carpentry shop, he walks a few miles into the countryside to hear a preacher by the name of John, who is a distant relative. Now John the Baptist preaching is fiery and compelling, like the legendary prophets, Amos and Micah. And John’s message is strong, repent, which literally means, turn, change direction, devote yourself wholly to God, begin a new life. Walk into the river and be baptized. Let the water wash the old away. Emerge a new person, a person who knows who and whose you are. You know, I’m curious how the story of the baptism of Jesus got in the Bible. There were no disciples yet to see and remember it, and I wonder if it’s there, because it was a defining moment for Jesus, a transformative moment. And Jesus himself later told the disciples about it, and then the story was passed along until Mark Matthew Luke wrote it down. Here’s how Matthew describes it. Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan River to. Baptized by John.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he came up out of the water, and at that moment, heaven was opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him, and a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved child, whom I love. With him I am well pleased. Now. This was the day Jesus changed. This was the day Jesus decided to live intentionally and passionately for God. This is the day Jesus was reminded who and whose he was, the day he began to live with grit, because he became grounded in grace, and that changed everything. Everything to come would flow from this moment when Jesus was knee deep in the River Jordan, you know, in my imagination, I can see Jesus eating with the disciples, sharing some wine, and one of the disciples asked Jesus, when did the journey start for you? You know, how do you get up in the morning? How do you how do you face these these crowds where there’s so much pain and suffering? How do you deal with the religious leaders always plotting against you? Jesus? How do you stay so calm and on purpose when we don’t even know where our next meal is going to come from? Jesus? Where do you get your strength and resilience, and where do you get your grit to keep on this path of love, knowing it may cost you your life? And I can imagine Jesus. I can imagine Jesus taking a deep breath and saying something like this. So I can’t really explain it, but I found myself walking into the Jordan River and asking John to baptize me. And he did. He pushed me under, pulled me back up. I stood there a little embarrassed, feeling foolish, soaking wet, water running down my face, when unexpectedly, the tears came, it was as if the sky opened and my entire being was was filled with God’s presence. I heard this voice addressing me, I don’t know if it was coming from outside or or somewhere deep within. And the voice said, You are my child, my beloved, marked by my love. My heart delights in you. And then I imagine Jesus turned to the disciples, looked them in the eyes, and said, Listen, listen, listen, and you too can hear that same voice. Whispering in your soul, reminding you that you are loved, reminding you that you are here to love. Well, that’s where it all began for Jesus, the day he remembered the day he remembered who he was and whose he was and what his life was meant for the day he was immersed in grace and found the grit he needed to love with passion and purpose, Knowing he had nothing to fear, not even death itself. Friends, as we embark on a new year, and no doubt there will be difficult days ahead, there is so much work to be done to repair and to restore and heal this broken world where there’s so much pain, so much suffering, where will we find the grit we need? You know, I remember when my son was little, he loved to climb up on things, and I wanted to support his adventurous spirit, so I let him climb but I would hold his hand, and he was little, so I knew he would always remember. He wouldn’t always remember to hold my hand and he let go, and even when he let go of my hand 100 times, I would never let. Go of him. This is how it is with God. You know, there will be some who will try to convince you that you have to believe certain things. You know, follow certain rules, do all of the right things, behave in certain ways to be worthy of God’s love, but all we’re asked to do is remember, remember the love we seek is already ours, and when we let go of this love, when we turn away from this love, or those times when we feel somehow beyond this love, this love never, never in this life or in the life to come. Never lets go of us. So friends, in case you’ve forgotten, let me remind you, you came from love. You are made by love. You are here to love. May you find the grit you need to love as fiercely as you are, fiercely loved. May it be, so.
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