Pastor Brian's Blog

Dear Friends in Christ, The night he was arrested, the day before he was crucified, Jesus prayed: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Like many people, I tend to evaluate my day according to my standards.  Did I get what I wanted?  Has everything met my expectations?  For Christians, that type of perspective misses the mark.  Instead, Jesus shows us to measure our life in terms of God’s expectations.  How can we know what God expects?  One way of doing theological reflection is called “telling God’s story.” 1   To do this, one must become familiar enough with the story of ancient Israel, Jesus, and the church to interpret oneself and the world in view of that narrative.  For example, when we tell the story of the Lord’s Supper through the liturgy, we are not simply communicating an event from the past bu...

After Easter, I will lead a series for Trinity Church based on Part Three of Handel's Messiah .   Part Three focuses on the eternal reign of the risen Christ.  It is less well-known than the first two parts.     Many people assume the oratorio ends with the Hallelujah chorus.  After all, what is left after the Messiah’s miraculous birth and his defeat of sin, evil, and death?  Although Christ is victorious, the end of history has only just begun.  Christ’s resurrection has initiated the divine kingdom, but until it is fulfilled, we still must struggle against sin, resist the evil of violence and hatred, and overcome injustices of all sorts.  Part Three of Messiah focuses on Christ’s eternal reign.  It begins with an affirmation of Christ’s resurrection.  It celebrates the transformation of sharing in Christ’s death and resurrection, and then it anticipates the hope of eternal life.  The oratorio concludes with a hymn o...

Dear Friends in Christ,   I was captivated by the story of Noah’s ark as a teenager.  I have always loved animals, and I treasured the idea that God made a way to save the animals as well as the humans.  I was disturbed by the widespread death caused by the flood.  I wondered how a forgiving God could drown all those people. As a teenager, I reasoned that the story in Genesis 6-10 was not describing historical facts (something that actually happened), but religious truths (something about the nature of God, the human condition, and the fate of the world).  For me, the story has become an affirmation that God the Creator loves the whole creation and despises violence within the world.  The ark is an image of unconditional grace and universal salvation; the rainbow a sign of God’s promise to preserve life.  What is your favorite Bible story?  What does it tell you about God or the human condition? One way of...