Denver Community Church

May 5, 2024: The Beginning of a New Beginning - Michael Hidalgo

Lead Pastor Michael Hidalgo reads a heartfelt letter to the people of Denver Community Church, announcing his transition off of staff over the next 13 months. To view more information about our 13-month succession planning process, click here.

April 28 2024: A Meal for Everyone - Paula Williams

Meals were far more than simple “get-togethers” in Jesus’ day. They meant connection, identification and even went as far as meaning approval of the other. It is at a meal with some religious folks that Jesus tells a stunning parable about the inclusiveness of God’s heart. And what other story to tell at a meal than a story about a meal?

Jesus’ story tells a story about a king hosting a banquet and those who end up at the table are not those who everyone expected at the table. More than that, those who are supposed to be at the table are no longer welcome at the table.

This story reflects Jesus’ ministry while he was on earth. Always eating and spending time with the wrong people as a way of showing people that all are welcome at God’s table. This is not how we typically think. We often think about who is allowed at God’s table and we leave that decision up to our standards and regulations. Perhaps we need to ask – how big is God’s table?

April 21 2024: Is This Seat Taken? - Michael Hidalgo

In this teaching, we discuss our insatiable desire for more in contrast with Jesus’ exhortation to pursue less.  There is a subtle image Luke deals here about this man who is suffering, whose particular illness was associated with craving and desire. When he is healed, Jesus then speaks about the craving for status and prestige that exists among those left at the table: the pursuit of this sort of thing will only end in humiliation. Jesus says that instead one should seek the low places, the humble places, and at the same time have a high view of others who are often relegated to the low places by those in places of status. This is where the values of the Kingdom begin to show. It is upside down compared to the values of the prevailing culture about working our way to the top.

NOTE: The audio during the first 30 seconds is distorted due to a capture issue on our end. At just after 30 seconds, you will receive clearer audio. 

April 14 2024: A Lament for Everyone - Hannah Thom

The Pharisees, often seen as opponents of Jesus give him a warning about a mutual enemy, Herod Anitpas. He apparently wants Jesus dead. Jesus’ reply is not one of flattery, referring to him as a fox. In rabbinic literature, the fox was a contrast to the mighty lion, connected to deception and preying on the “chicks” to which Jesus refers. Jesus stands firm declaring what he is called to do, come what may. 

His resolve then gives way to sorrow as he cries out, “ … how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 35 Look, your house is left to you desolate.” This cry echoes the words found on the lips of Hecuba in the work of Euripides penned some 500 years before. A cry of lament upon seeing the city of Troy destroyed. This points toward the prophetic word Jesus speaks, his understanding that Jerusalem, like Troy will be destroyed. And Jesus’ response? Sorrow for all of those who call Jerusalem home. 

In our current cultural moment, “speaking truth to power” often comes with an edge. This in contrast with the heart we see in Jesus – one that is broken and heavy for others. Maybe this is the picture we need to grapple with asking ourselves if we have sorrow for others in the manner and the way Jesus did. 

March 31 2024: The Wounds Are Still There - Michael Hidalgo (Easter Sunday)

When we first encounter the wounds of Jesus, it is horrific. He is crucified. Nails are hammered through his flesh, tearing fibers as they are forced through his hands and feet. This, of course, to hold him in place as he hangs on the cross spiraling toward death. After he breathes his last, a soldier approaches him and thrusts a spear into his side, from that wound blood and water flow. These wounds are what lead to his death. 

Three days later, Jesus is raised from the dead, still bearing these wounds. But now, somehow, these wounds that lead to his death and the wounds that bring us life. “By his wounds we are healed …” says the prophet, Isaiah. It’s no wonder then that Jesus points to these wounds, inviting Thomas to touch them, and when he does touch them, they lead to his belief. This teaches us that Resurrection does not deny death. It embraces it. It takes it seriously. It does not say, “Everything will be fine.” Resurrection says, “Everything will be transformed.” 

The Cursed and Disgraced - Maggie Knight

Jesus is paraded through the streets to Golgatha. Once there, he is nailed to the execution stake where passersby hurl insults at him and mock him. Crucifixion was not just the most horrific forms of execution ever created, it was designed to be humiliating as well; this is why crucifixions were such public affairs. For those who wanted Jesus dead all along, they now had the chance to watch this man - who seemingly attempted to upset the prevailing order – die. But for some reason that was not enough. So they mocked him, laughing in the midst of his suffering.

But in the midst of it all, the writer is whispering to us that it is precisely because he is king, because he will rebuild the temple, because he refused to save himself that he is saving others – these are the very reasons he stayed on that damned cross. This, proclaims the crucified Christ, is what the love of God looks like.  In this teaching, we will seek to understand at a deepening level why Jesus stayed on that cross.

March 17 2024: The Coronated King - Hannah Thom

Mark tells of the abuse Jesus suffered at the hands of soldiers after being flogged and dragged into the Praetorium. While the scene makes the reader wince at the sheer brutality of it all, there is also something else just below the surface: the way Mark frames the story of what happens to Jesus from the purple robe, to the crown and the homage is a description of what would happen when Caesar was coronated emperor of Rome.

At one level this is subversive commentary: what the soldiers were doing was, in some way, hailing Jesus as the king he is. But he is also asking a question of the reader, “Is this the king you want?” Not one who comes with great pomp and circumstance, but one who comes in brokenness, humility, into the pain and the violence of our world. The question he asks demands a response. So the only question left is, “What will that response be?”

March 10 2024: What is Truth? - Michael Hidalgo

In a cultural moment where all that we had long placed our trust in seems to be eroding, we ask the question Pilate asked, “What is truth?” John details a conversation between Pilate and Jesus amidst the swirling accusations against Jesus. To get away from the crowd Pilate summons Jesus inside the palace and asks him questions in a seeming attempt to understand what is going on. Jesus makes it plain, he has come to “testify to the truth.” To which Pilate responds, “What is truth?”

His question has lingered on the lips of humanity since. Today we talk about “your truth” and “my truth.” Truth, it seems, has become whatever one believes it to be – which puts individuals at the center. But maybe there is a truth that’s bigger than all of us. That which cannot be argued against or wished away because it is the ultimate reality. And what is that reality? That’s the question we will wrestle with.

 

Resources:

John 18.28-40 (NIV)

Trump and a Post-Truth World (Ken Wilber, Shambhala Publications, 2017)

Oxford English Dictionary

March 3, 2024: I Have No Idea What You are Talking About - Michael Hidalgo

So many of us believe we have done something God could never forgive. We’ve gone too far. We’ve done too much. We’ve made too many mistakes. But if it is not true of Jesus it is not true of God. What we learn from the life of Peter is no one is beyond the forgiveness of God.

Jesus tells his disciples they will all fall away, but Peter insists he is wrong! Jesus responds to him with a prediction. “You will deny me three times tonight.” Peter again insists Jesus is wrong. But, as it turns out, Peter is the one who is wrong. Forget about the fact that Peter just turned his back on his friend at the moment of his sentencing. Forget about the fact that Peter was a coward. Those things are true … but Peter, as a disciple was supposed to long to be noticed as disciple of his rabbi. Instead, when noticed, he rejects it.

And what does Jesus do? He looks right at him when it happens (according to Luke). Then he is marched to his death. But the he comes back from the dead and speaks again to Peter. “Do you love me, Peter?” Jesus asks three times. Peter, replies three times, “Of course!!” Why three times? Because that was the number of times Peter previously denied Jesus. But that’s not the end of the story, is it?

February 25, 2024: No Jury Needed - Michael Hidalgo

In Matthew 26, Jesus is tried before the Sanhedrin and before the Temple authorities. This is more than a passing detail; if the racket they were running was to remain, they had to get rid of this rebel named Jesus. This is what Mark tells us the people at the house of Caiaphas wanted to do: he tells the reader that there was nothing in this trial having to do with justice – only ensuring the death of Jesus. 

During this so-called trial, witnesses attempt to discredit Jesus and find a reason to get rid of him. In the end, it seems that Jesus seals his own fate by speaking what the Sanhedrin found to be “blasphemy.” The irony of course is that it was the Sanhedrin that blasphemed by speaking against Jesus – the Son of God.

So often in the Christian Camp, there are many who are “put on trial” for their actions, beliefs, and attitudes. Many will quickly pounce on anyone who says something they disagree with as though they are the ones who are in charge of how God can and will work.