Denver Community Church

March 21, 2021: God, Where Are You? - Michael Hidalgo

“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” With these words, we learn Jesus has lost everything, even God. In his cry, he experiences the absence of God. For Jesus, and those in his culture, God was seen at the foundation, the bedrock of all things. To lose God then means to lose everything. We are confronted with this troubling truth not on the fringes of our faith, but smack in the midst of the most central event. That doubt, crying out - even an atheism from experience - is a part of our Christian Tradition. 

If we are called to participate in the death of Christ, then we are invited into this reality as well. But we resist, for to do so would be to give up our explanations, our security and how we make sense of our world. “It is the incoming of that which cannot be contained in our various mythologies, that which ruptures them all and calls them into question” (Insurrection, p 23). And it is in this place, in these moments that we find ourselves with Christ. We discover all that we held to tell us who God is … are not God. In losing them, we find the Divine. Perhaps this is what Meister Eckhart meant when he wrote: “God rid me of God.”

March 7, 2021: Mothers and Sons – Amanda Lum

Hanging on the cross, Jesus said to his mother, “Here is your son,” and he was not referring to himself. This is not the first time Jesus messes with the accepted idea of family. In another story, his mother and brothers think he’s not making wise decisions and they call for him, only for him to say, “Who are my mother and brothers?” It’s a new way of relating to others in his Kingdom; not the way culture has understood it. Everyone, Jesus insists, is family and to be treated as such. This is what the “disciple who Jesus loved” understood, for it is reported that this disciple took the mother of Jesus to live in his home.

 

It is presumed “this disciple” (you know, the one whom Jesus loved) is John. That’s one way of understanding it. But what if by not naming this disciple throughout the Gospel, John is giving a subtle nudge for us to find ourselves in the story. What if John is asking us to see ourselves as the “disciple whom Jesus loved?” What if we are standing at the cross? What if we pay witness to the shame Jesus bears as he hangs there, suffering, the object of scorn? If this is the case, then this is our mother, and we are the child. Because in the kingdom, we are family.  

February 28, 2021: Two Tickets to Paradise – Michael Hidalgo

Paradise. A loan word from the Persian picture of an enclosed park or garden. This picture, of course, calls to mind something familiar: The Garden of Eden. The word Luke uses is the same word used in the Septuagint referring to Eden. And what was Eden? It spoke of radical union with God, the other and one’s self. But that’s not the end of the story of Eden. The story unravels and speaks of disintegration, splitting, conflict and banishment. What was once a place for humans to grow and flourish and employ their calling is now a distant memory. And should one want to find their way back, the entrance is guarded by an angel with a flaming sword.

This story is echoed in other places and other wisdom traditions. It speaks of the universal longing to enjoy the union with God and with all things. The sort of union manifested in Paradise. This is the picture John offers in Revelation when he refers to the “paradise of God” (Revelation 2.7). And this is the same word-picture Jesus offers the rebel dying with him on the cross. Which is an interesting moment. For it is there, being crucified with Christ, that the rebel understands who Jesus is. And there, dying next to a rebel, Jesus says, “You will be with me …” And what does Jesus invite his followers to? To be crucified. Perhaps, this rebel, is in many ways the first disciple. And in picking up his cross, in losing his life, he finds it in Jesus - in Paradise.

February 21, 2021: Forgive Them –Michael Hidalgo

When Jesus pronounces forgiveness to those who have crucified him, he is, at the same time, accusing them of something. For if there is no wrongdoing, there is no need for forgiveness. Said another way; when forgiveness is granted, it proclaims the presence of wrongdoing. This is what we witness in Jesus’ words - he is crucified as a rebel, guilty of sedition. In our time, as we remember his death we hear these words as a statement toward, not only those doing the accusing and the crucifying, but also a display of God’s mercy to all humanity. However, if we consider the first readers of Luke’s gospel, what did they hear?

It’s possible they read this and understood themselves forgiven for the Imperial System they were caught up within; a system of domination, the Global Military Superpower called Rome. It was this system that killed Jesus; and he prays forgiveness over them as he is dying. Some may rightly question: “Is this anyway to bring justice to bear?” This question may arise as it feels like those who have been forgiven get a pass for their part and the system can continue. But this sort of thinking believes forgiveness and justice do not go together. We cannot forget “every act of forgiveness enthrones justice.” For it has the power to make things right - it names the wrong, it pursues reconciliation (where possible) and works toward restoration, while at the same time dispensing with the need for revenge. This is the power of these words: it exposes the evil and commits to undoing it.

February 14, 2021: An Anchor for the Soul

Trial, difficulty, pain, and disappointment will visit us; it is not “if” only “when” this happens. These troubled seasons are revealing in many ways, for they expose what is within our heads and hearts. They reveal to us what our anchor is in the midst of troubled waters. Because we all have an anchor - it may not always be conscious, but we do. So, the question is not whether we will have an anchor, rather what will our anchor be? This is an important question as research shows that those who have hope as an anchor fair better in difficult seasons.

For some the anchor may be anxiety, for others the anchor may be unforgiveness - when we recognize any anchors such as these, ones that do harm to others or us, we must cut the rope holding us to anchor. This gives us an opportunity to bring intention to our lives and choose hope as our anchor. Only then are we able to learn how this can serve us in difficult seasons. How even in the midst of the unspeakable times, we can still practice hope.

February 7, 2021: Provoking the Good and Beautiful – Scott Oppliger

Hope requires not only a vision and a way forward, but the resolve to stay the course. As individuals this is often called “willpower.” The writer of Hebrews points toward the same thing for the Church, writing, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess … And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (10:23,24). This is what hope needs to not just survive, but thrive in the heart of a congregation. Which means, we need each other.

Because sometimes, if left to our individual selves, hope seems too great a burden to bear. However, many hands make light work, as the saying goes and it is the same with holding onto hope. This is the importance of community, it allows for a “communal willpower” - that together we can hold on to the hope we profess, and we can do this by provoking (the literal translation of the Greek) one another toward the good and the beautiful. 

January 31, 2021:What is Hope Anyway? – Michael Hidalgo

It is one thing to have a vision in mind, but moving toward the vision is what’s even more important. This calls for collective wisdom, communal discernment and unity amidst real diversity. This is far easier to talk about then to do. Our churches today reflect the divisions and splits that exist in our prevailing culture. Sadly, though this is the current state of things, this should never be the case within the Church for we are the presence of Christ in flesh and bone. As the Apostle Paul asks, “Is Christ Divided?” Of course, the intended answer is, “No, Christ is not divided.” Which means we ought not to be either.

Often the division comes about not because of the vision, but on how we will move toward the vision. It is the process of moving, growing and changing that brings about the great upheavals within the hearts of even the most fervent people. So how do we discern a way forward together? We see an example from the early Church in Acts. The vision was to bring Jew and Gentile together, but what brought division was how that was to happen. Their wisdom and discernment is manifest in their willingness to listen, to pray, to hear from the Spirit and, perhaps most importantly, leave room for change in the days ahead. This is why they say, “It seems good to the Spirit and to us …” Together then, they bring the heart of unity into a way of moving forward.

January 24, 2021: Living with Hope in the Past Tense – Jonathan Merritt

This week we find two travelers on the road to Emmaus, whose hope has run out after seeing Jesus put to death just days before. What does God say to those whose hope is in the past tense?

January 17, 2021: As Real As It Gets – Michael Hidalgo

The first occurrence of hope described as a virtue is within the Judeo-Christian Tradition. The Apostle Paul even places it alongside the virtues of faith and love. This is why within the Christian Tradition hope is a familiar word. But what exactly is hope? According to most definitions, hope is an expectation that things will go well, or a desire for certain things to play out in a particular way. This is not hope, but wishful thinking. And wishful thinking believes that the power for things to turn out in our favor or for difficult circumstances to pass by lies elsewhere. But hope invites us to see that we have something to say and a role to play in making things better.

Hope, it turns out, is a discipline, and like all disciplines, it is something we practice. Hope is a resolve of our spirit, and a way of moving in the world. As we journey alongside one another, we work together toward a common vision. We then discern together ways we can move toward that vision, and encourage one another to never give up. This is hope: believing that we can work together to see our longings and vision for this world - for the common good - realized

January 10, 2021: What Is Emerging From The Chaos of This Moment? – Michael Hidalgo

On Wednesday, January 6, 2021 events unfolded in our nation that will long be remembered around the world. So how do we, as the people of God allow hope to make use of us rather than us making use of it in the midst of a fractured and hurting nation? Where do we go from here? Join us Sunday, January 10 as we consider these questions and more, as we continue exploring what is means to be prisoners of hope.