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At Denver Community Church, we explore and participate in the life of Jesus, so that we can be a healing presence in our world. Download the latest teachings here.
Episodes
Sunday Aug 23, 2015
Sunday Aug 23, 2015
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.
Sunday Aug 23, 2015
Sunday Aug 23, 2015
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.
Sunday Aug 16, 2015
Sunday Aug 16, 2015
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?
Sunday Aug 16, 2015
Sunday Aug 09, 2015
Sunday Aug 09, 2015
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?
Sunday Aug 09, 2015
Sunday Aug 09, 2015
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?
Sunday Aug 02, 2015
Sunday Aug 02, 2015
Sunday Jul 26, 2015
Sunday Jul 26, 2015