Denver Community Church

September 6, 2015: You're a Dog – Scott Oppliger

Israel’s expectations were that the Messiah was for Israel. Gentiles were a risk. They were going to be saved through Israel (maybe), but they were also the easiest way for Israel to be pulled away from their destiny. Everyone familiar with the Jewish story would be familiar with the queen named Jezebel from the region of Tyre and Sidon. There were few people who would’ve been seen as sub-human more easily than someone who met all of these criteria: gentile, woman, syrophonecian (from Tyre and Sidon). But like many of our prejudices, though these feelings make us feel superior to others, they also aren’t exactly the kinds of dark thoughts you like being associated with at dinner parties.

Naming the truth about our darkest assumptions is the first step towards reasserting another’s humanity and our own. The good teacher, the loving teacher, raises our darkness to the surface so it may be bathed in light.

September 6, 2015: You're a Dog – Landon Lynch

Israel’s expectations were that the Messiah was for Israel. Gentiles were a risk. They were going to be saved through Israel (maybe), but they were also the easiest way for Israel to be pulled away from their destiny. Everyone familiar with the Jewish story would be familiar with the queen named Jezebel from the region of Tyre and Sidon. There were few people who would’ve been seen as sub-human more easily than someone who met all of these criteria: gentile, woman, syrophonecian (from Tyre and Sidon). But like many of our prejudices, though these feelings make us feel superior to others, they also aren’t exactly the kinds of dark thoughts you like being associated with at dinner parties.

Naming the truth about our darkest assumptions is the first step towards reasserting another’s humanity and our own. The good teacher, the loving teacher, raises our darkness to the surface so it may be bathed in light.

August 30, 2015: Just Say the Word – Michael Hidalgo

The Roman Centurion comes to Jesus with the same word as the leper in the previous interaction, “Lord…” Beginning with his genealogy, Matthew works to point out that there is not only a King in our midst, but a different kind of king, inaugurating a different kind of kingdom. Furthermore, a different kind of kingdom will be inhabited by a different kind of subject. Subjects merited by deeds will find themselves unable to create space within for this new kingdom. Faith will be the new currency, and absolutely anyone can exercise it. 

Both the leper and the centurion, people who were clearly excluded from the current system both for their defilement and ethno-political affiliations, are held up here as exemplars of faith. They throw everything on one thing—the willingness of God to bring about his kingdom. They forgo their own abilities and their own merit or lack thereof and find that Jesus is indeed willing. 

August 30, 2015: Just Say the Word – Dave Neuhausel

The Roman Centurion comes to Jesus with the same word as the leper in the previous interaction, “Lord…” Beginning with his genealogy, Matthew works to point out that there is not only a King in our midst, but a different kind of king, inaugurating a different kind of kingdom. Furthermore, a different kind of kingdom will be inhabited by a different kind of subject. Subjects merited by deeds will find themselves unable to create space within for this new kingdom. Faith will be the new currency, and absolutely anyone can exercise it. 

Both the leper and the centurion, people who were clearly excluded from the current system both for their defilement and ethno-political affiliations, are held up here as exemplars of faith. They throw everything on one thing—the willingness of God to bring about his kingdom. They forgo their own abilities and their own merit or lack thereof and find that Jesus is indeed willing. 

August 23, 2015: Willing and Able – Landon Lynch

Jesus has just finished delivering his Sermon on the Mount, essentially claiming that the way people have seen the world, God and themselves is backwards and upside down. The Sermon has been called the “Real State of the Universe/Reality” address. Consider the progression. He begins with the Beatitudes (who is actually blessed), and then walks through almost every conceivable hot button topic that could prick someone’s soul. 

From self-righteousness, to violence, to sexuality and marriage, to commitments and revenge, to worry and possessions and judgments, Jesus has just finished unearthing the hidden reality that many in his day would probably walk around feeling, but unable to name. For those who heard Jesus there was likely a sense that the world doesn’t look the same as it did an hour ago and a feeling of “anything could happen” now. 

In the midst of this new world map he has just created for everyone he walks into town and is confronted with one from the outside, one who could be stoned for approaching a rabbi this way depending on who was watching, one who he just claimed is blessed who asks him in a statement “If you’re willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus says a new reality is present, but will he live in it, even at his own expense? Other accounts say that Jesus then (because he was unclean) spent the night outside the town in lonely places.

August 23, 2015: I Think You Can – Michael Hidalgo

Jesus has just finished delivering his Sermon on the Mount, essentially claiming that the way people have seen the world, God and themselves is backwards and upside down. The Sermon has been called the “Real State of the Universe/Reality” address. Consider the progression. He begins with the Beatitudes (who is actually blessed), and then walks through almost every conceivable hot button topic that could prick someone’s soul. 

From self-righteousness, to violence, to sexuality and marriage, to commitments and revenge, to worry and possessions and judgments, Jesus has just finished unearthing the hidden reality that many in his day would probably walk around feeling, but unable to name. For those who heard Jesus there was likely a sense that the world doesn’t look the same as it did an hour ago and a feeling of “anything could happen” now. 

In the midst of this new world map he has just created for everyone he walks into town and is confronted with one from the outside, one who could be stoned for approaching a rabbi this way depending on who was watching, one who he just claimed is blessed who asks him in a statement “If you’re willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus says a new reality is present, but will he live in it, even at his own expense? Other accounts say that Jesus then (because he was unclean) spent the night outside the town in lonely places.

August 16, 2015: The Truth Will Set You Free – Michael Hidalgo

Many in Jesus’ day did not think they needed liberation from anything. They had the fast track to God, the privilege of wealth and the convenience of power. And therein lies the problem, how do you tell those who believe they are free they are actually enslaved? One thing is for sure, when that message is spoken, the privileged rarely give up their positions of power without a fight. 

We are far more like the Pharisees, Sadducees, the Romans and even the Tax Collectors, than we would like to admit. We “have it all” – and that is the very thing that enslaves us. So what would it look like for us to wake up to the ways our privilege has, in fact, enslaved us?

August 16, 2015: Baptism Testimonies

August 9, 2015: A Wee Little Man – Landon Lynch

The famous children’s song betrays the scandal behind the story of Zacchaeus. He was not just a “wee little man …” He was a corrupt businessman working on behalf of the Roman Empire. He exploited the poor, and furthered the oppression of Rome. And then Jesus, a “friend of sinners” and a “companion to the poor” wants to hang with him?

Imagine what the poor may have thought. We are quick to point out how Jesus hung out with the “down-and-outers”, but what do we make of Jesus who hangs out with the “up-and-outers”. Too often the “other” are those who are different from us. But what if we are, in fact, the other? What if we have become so blind to who we are we are unable to see that Jesus crossed lines to hang out with people like us too – not just those who are not like us?

August 9, 2015: A Wee Little Man – Amanda Pennington

The famous children’s song betrays the scandal behind the story of Zacchaeus. He was not just a “wee little man …” He was a corrupt businessman working on behalf of the Roman Empire. He exploited the poor, and furthered the oppression of Rome. And then Jesus, a “friend of sinners” and a “companion to the poor” wants to hang with him?

Imagine what the poor may have thought. We are quick to point out how Jesus hung out with the “down-and-outers”, but what do we make of Jesus who hangs out with the “up-and-outers”. Too often the “other” are those who are different from us. But what if we are, in fact, the other? What if we have become so blind to who we are we are unable to see that Jesus crossed lines to hang out with people like us too – not just those who are not like us?