Denver Community Church

January 19, 2020: Freedom, Sight, and Favor – Michael Hidalgo

Jesus is the face of God – a living, breathing picture of what God’s character, love, and justice look like embody as a human. Jesus came as a “bringer of Justice.” There is perhaps no better illustration of this than how Jesus begins his ministry. In Luke 4:16-30. Jesus returned to his hometown and went to the synagogue. He is given a scroll to read and finds Isaiah 61:1-2. He reads the passage, makes a startling claim, and then rebukes those in the synagogue. Needless to say, it doesn’t go over well and those present try to kill Jesus. 

This passage is filled with wisdom, and many scholars suggest that this is a programmatic text because it sets the course for the events that follow as recorded in the book of Luke. Jesus’ ministry is characterized by his single most popular theme: The Kingdom of God. Here, Jesus is giving a picture of what that Kingdom ought to look like: Healing, Liberation, and Mercy. We would be wise to notice the number of times Jesus healed the sick and showed mercy to the poor and sided with the outcast before he ever forgave sins. This should be a clue for us about what the gospel (good news) is really all about.

January 12, 2020: Watch This – Allen Hilton

God created the man and woman, the first family, as a picture of the first human society that had a just social shape. This family initially lived in shalom (or holistic peace) in every aspect of their lives: spiritually with the Creator, relationally with one another as equals, and physically with creatures and the land. Then everything fell apart. God’s intention was that His people would embody on earth a living, breathing picture of what Just and Righteous community looks like (Gen. 18:17-19).

 

The story of the Hebrew people in the Old Testament is a long and tumultuous narrative of God forming a people to become a “kingdom of Priests” (intermediaries) for God to all of Creation. In many ways, this is our story as well. God’s purpose is that even today, our lives, our communities, our jobs, families, everything would be a blessing to the world and that all of our calling would be lead us toward the restoration of all things!

January 5, 2020: It's Always This AND That – Michael Hidalgo

“Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is ONE.” The “Shema” as it is called by the Hebrews is one of the first and most foundational things said about God. Rooted in scripture, this is a central daily prayer for observant Jews. It declares that not only is God not many (there is only one GOD) but also the overlooked truth that all reality proceeds from God. This is the concept of monism, namely, the idea that there is one single unified field of reality and that there are no fundamental divisions in nature - unless of course we create them.

Many Christian thinkers overlook this key reality because it stands against the idea of dualism – the belief that there is a fundamental separation between matter (physical reality) and Spirit (spiritual reality). But, is this the pattern we witness in bible and the Christian Tradition? We will look at the creation narrative, and how when monism is taken seriously we discover both the goodness of creation and the brokenness of creation ripple into every aspect of our world (physical, relational, emotional, spiritual, etc…) and everything is effected and connected. Everything. This truth should change how we think about why God has created us, the world and his purposes for peace and the restoration of everything.

December 24, 2019: Christmas Eve Gathering – Wonder

December 22, 2019: Mothers & Dragons - Michael Hidalgo

If there was ever a central metaphor for the presence of God it is light. Light, shines in the darkness, said John. This is a part of all three birth stories of Jesus. Three, did you say? Yep. And the third one involves a dragon! And as bizarre as that story sounds, it gets weirder. It is not the first time a story was told of a god being born involving a dragon.

But the way that John tells it in Revelation light gives birth to light, and the dragon in the story is in fact Rome. Jesus, is the son born of light, exposing the deeds of darkness. And it is this same Jesus that calls his people the light of the world. If this is the case, then we are his presence right here, right now.

December 15, 2019: I've Heard This Before – Amanda Lum

Matthew spends the first part of his gospel pointing out the many ways Jesus’ birth was the fulfillment of prophecies contained in the Hebrew Scriptures. But were these predictions of the person of Jesus? Were the prophets correct down the detail in writing about Jesus, who was to come? Possibly.

However, Matthew was writing to his own people, and it is likely this is his testimony his community’s way of seeing Jesus in relationship to the ancient scriptures of their Jewish tradition. It expresses their conviction that he not only stood in continuity with them, but was the culmination of them. For Matthew, Jesus is Emmanuel, both as a figure of history and as the risen Christ. This is New Testament testimony, not Old Testament prediction. In this sense, Jesus fulfills God’s promise and Israel’s yearning for Emmanuel, for the abiding presence of God with us.

December 8, 2019: How Did This Happen? - Kent Dobson

The announcement to Mary and Joseph was something that had been talked about before. What was shocking was not the announcement itself, or even Mary being pregnant as a virgin. What was most shocking was the fact that they went along with it. Joseph was to be a good son and do what his father and father’s father did before him. Carry on the family trade, and more importantly, the family line. He risked all of this by taking Mary as his wife. 

How is it that the risk of Mary and Joseph, their going against the established norms and expectations and both of them defying the set boundaries of morality that religion held in place – how is it that we have missed this scandal when celebrating Christmas? If we give ourselves over to this story and immerse ourselves fully in the craziness of it all, we just may have a keener understanding of Jesus and why he pushed boundaries himself.

December 1, 2019: A Tale of Two Kingdoms – Michael Hidalgo

A Jewish person could not have heard the story of the first Christmas without hearing echoes of Egypt. Egypt was not only a memory of slavery for the Jewish people. Egypt represented empire, all that was antithetical to the Kingdom of God. Except this time, it was the Roman Empire. An Empire that promised peace – as all Empires do – believing they are right and good.

However, we are introduced through the birth of this King to another kingdom. One that also claims to bring peace, but not by might, but by justice. And making things right, making them as they should be, does not come without cost.

November 24, 2019: Loved & Capable of Loving - Amanda Lum

“Keep yourself from idols.” What a curious way to end a letter like this. Unless we recognize the idea of what idols represented. Idols and idolatry was about more than bowing down before statues of a the gods. It was about the human propensity to place anything in the created order above the one who created it. When we do this, we give away our power to the created order.

 

This, according to NT Wright, was what the idea of “sin” meant. It was humanity’s missing the mark by handing over to lifeless things the power and authority that was ours in the first place. This is what has led to slavery for us and for all of the created order. In this, we fail in our most basic calling – the invitation to co-create with God and be his presence in this word. To keep away from idols then, is negative way of stating the invitation that has been ours from the beginning: to accept and live out our deepest calling.

November 17, 2019: Breath, Water and Blood – Michael Hidalgo

It wasn’t just water and it wasn’t just blood. It was both. And the Spirit. It was actually all three. What in the world does all of this mean? Well, that’s the thing. No one is 100% sure (though no one is that honest). The best we can do is examine how John speaks about water and blood and the Spirit in his Gospel and his letters. And it is there we find some connections.

Most specifically – the moment that Jesus died. He was pierced and blood and water flowed. This speaks of his real, authentic humanity, and the life that came (and still comes) through that death. A life given by the Spirit. This is what we know to be true – is that life does in fact come from death – and we are invited to trust that.