2025-06-29 REMOTE SERVICE

David Brooks, book author and political and cultural commentator, reflects on how the educated elite—including figures like himself—helped build a meritocratic system that ultimately rigged society in their favor, destroying equality, moral clarity, and institutional trust along the way. The elite privatized morality, replacing shared values with individual feelings of right and wrong, leading to a loss of meaning and community. Yet, there’s hope in rupture and repair: cultural renewal happens when small groups live in a better, more communal way that others feel drawn to follow. This renewal, he suggests, requires a return to our spiritual roots—recovering a sense of sacred moral order, such as the belief that every person is made in the image of God, as a foundation for dignity, justice, and shared purpose.

Christians and our communities often carry positive associations, such as love, grace, and forgiveness, as witness in the life of Jesus. But being around faith-filled people or identifying as Christian doesn't guarantee that we're being shaped by Christ. True discipleship demands a deeper, honest heart check. Though grace is freely given, it carries a nagging urgency—there's a limit to how long we can drift before missing what God wants to do in us. Real love and grace comes with friction, correction, and wake-up calls that move us toward living out the greatest commandment: to love and honor God and others with our lives, not just our labels.

Scripture:

Matt 25: 1-13

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

25 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’

12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

2025-06-15 Remote Service

In this installment of his series on resilience, John Eldredge expands on the primary purpose for taking a pause with God: to heal and strengthen our union with Him. Just as the Holy Trinity of the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are in perfect union with one another, God invites us to partake in union with Him. The core of Christian faith is in relationship with Jesus, and in our increasingly chaotic world, it becomes all the more necessary to experience intimacy with a God who knows and loves us completely.

John 17: 20-23

Jesus Prays For All Believers

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Many expected the Messiah to come as an all-conquering king, yet Jesus came eating and drinking. Throughout the gospel, he was always going to, at, or coming from, a meal, and would even eat together with sinners and tax collectors. This highlights a critical part of Jesus's ministry, that of fellowship, or “koinonia” in Greek. By spending time with people, he allowed them to feel a sense of attachment and belonging, which is a far more powerful and genuine motivator than threat or force. Similarly, we should also embrace fellowship, and through "koinonia" bring light to the darkness in people's lives.

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Scripture:

Luke 5: 27-33

Jesus Calls Levi and Eats With Sinners

27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Jesus Questioned About Fasting 33 They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

Luke 7:33-35

33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ 35 But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”

Many of us view being Christian as serious business, in which we have to work hard in order to improve our relationship with God. However, joy and laughter are just as important as repentance and hard work, without which any relationship will become a tough burden. In fact, when Jesus was with the disciples, he not only disciplined them, but also joked and played with them, which allowed him to truly bond with them. God operates with us in the same way, and if we just look out for His cues, we will be able to form a much deeper and richer relationship.

Scripture:

Matt 14: 13-21

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”

16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.

18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

The Bible begins in a garden but ends in a city—a recurring theme that highlights how cities, and the people within them, matter deeply to God. The City of God, in contrast to cities that have strayed from the Creator’s design, offers eternal presence, rest, and welcome. There is a future hope where suffering, distance, and division are no more. But that hope isn’t reserved only for the afterlife; it is a present reality that shapes how we live, endure, and love today—because God’s presence dwells within us and among our cities. When we place our hope in Christ, we are reassured by His Spirit, spurred to victory through merciful rest, and welcomed by the radical grace that defines the City of God, where His promises endure and persist as our lasting hope.

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Scripture:

Revelation 21:9-22:5 (NRSVUE)

9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And in the spirit[a] he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It has the glory of God and a radiance like a very rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names that are the names[b] of the twelve tribes of the Israelites: 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15 The angel[c] who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 The city has four equal sides, its length the same as its width, and he measured the city with his rod, twelve thousand stadia; its length and width and height are equal. 17 He also measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits by human measurement, which the angel was using. 18 The wall is built of jasper, while the city is pure gold, clear as glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city are adorned with every jewel; the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each of the gates is a single pearl, and the street of the city is pure gold, transparent as glass.

22 I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

22 Then the angel[d] showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life[e] with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; 4 they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Where crops grow, weeds are inevitable and impossible to eliminate entirely. Likewise, spiritual weeds—all the burdens and ambiguities that cause harm or drain our time and energy—are part of the reality of kingdom work. Just as we manage physical weeds by observing what bears fruit, we can limit spiritual resistance and toxicity in our lives by discerning the relationships and influences that shape us.The path of faith includes difficulties, hurts, and uncertainties, but the good news is that it ultimately doesn't matter how many weeds there are or how much we manage to uproot. God invites us to grow not in success, but in faithfulness—and to do so as a community that tackles the weeds together.

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Scripture:

Matt 13: 24-30

Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

In today's world we feel the constant pressure to be productive, so much so that we keep ourselves busy, and do things in a rush. Yet, by doing so, we end up with shallow thinking, superficial judgments, and ultimately transactional relationships. After all, how can we get to know someone, if we pass them in a hurry? Jesus teaches us that we should instead practice presence, and properly spend time with others, as he did with the disciples, and as he offers to do with us even after his death and resurrection. Only in this way can we truly cultivate meaningful relationships.