Denver Community Church

May 8, 2011: Take Nothing – Michael Hidalgo

When Jesus tells his disciples to take nothing with them except a walking stick his instruction seems to move beyond just his disciples and begins to tell us something too. Besides their clothing and staff what did they have? Mark tells us they had authority over the Kingdom of Darkness. So often we feel inadequate with what we have. But we cannot forget that we have been sent out by Jesus too … we have something that proves to us that we need nothing.

May 1, 2011: Immune to the Gospel – Michael Hidalgo

Jesus is at home and the people there do not wish to listen to him. Really? Jesus? That kid who grew up with our kids? What does he have to tell us? It is amazing what can happen to the person, the thing that is always around. We begin to forget, ignore, or take it for granted. Have we thought about the way we have responded to religion in America? It is all over the place, yet it has only made us more indifferent. 

April 24, 2011: The Continuing Resurrection – Michael Hidalgo

On the morning after Sabbath, early, in the dark, two women went to the tomb. It was empty. Jesus was alive, risen, having defeated sin and death. While this event happened in one moment it was the beginning of something new. Jesus was the first to raise from the dead. While the resurrection began with Jesus – it did not stop with him.

Since the time of Jesus the resurrection has continued; it is ongoing. While death has come to all humanity through Jesus life has come, and we can have that life now. We can experience the resurrection in our lives, and when we do it becomes an event that happens over and over again. It happens in us – death becoming life – and it happens through us. 

April 17, 2011: God Has Left the Building – Jon Gettings

We will set up Holy Week, hearing the words of Jesus, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" from Psalm 22. We will ask the question what do we do when God seems to have left the building?

April 10, 2011: Waves of Sorrow – Dave Neuhausel

There are some stirring words in Psalm 55. "If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were rising against me, I could hide. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God, as we walked about among the worshipers." 

Whoah. That is pain. 

The Psalter gazes upon what was beautiful and sees the ashes. He almost seems impotent to do anything about it – the only thing he can do is ache. Because that is what he is doing. That is what we do with betrayal, disappointment, and broken hearts. And while it seems crazy, maybe this is the place we find God – a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief … a God who carries this with him.

April 3, 2011: Doubt as Trust – Michael Hidalgo

There are a lot of interesting statements in the Psalms. Loosely translated into today’s language that questions would sound like, “Hey God, where are you?" "Will you come through, because it sure does not look like you are?!" "God, are you deaf?" “God are you there?” These questions seem as close to blasphemy as we can get in the Bible, but through the inspiration of God they made it there. 

While we might call this doubt, the ancients would call it faith. If it is deep and true doubt, then why talk to God if he really is not there to help? These questions of exasperation and desperation are directed toward God – for in the mind of the Psalter, where else would I go?

Perhaps this is actually a statement of deep and abiding faith – maybe this is why God never seems angry with us when we are unsure of what is going on.

March 27, 2011: Smashing Their Teeth – Michael Hidalgo

Have you ever been hurt by another person? Have you ever wanted to see harm come to them? Have you wanted to, in the end, be the one who is right while your enemies stand vanquished? If you said “Yes” to any of these things you are not alone. There are times in these Psalms where it seems that anger and rage are written down and directed toward God.

So what do we do with that? It seems that when we get angry at someone and want to punch them in the face, see them hurt, see them pay – that we run and say to ourselves, “This is not good!” But the Psalter seems to be in the place of saying, “God this is where I am.” The first step toward moving past anger is to sit in the anger. And the safest place to sit in the anger is  before God and with God – because he can handle it.

March 20, 2011: Plastic Smiles – Michael Hidalgo

There are a lot of things that we are bad at in this world. One of them is sorrow. We just do not seem to do well with. We live in a culture of denial. A culture that believes if we can turn the noise up loud enough, then the cries of our hearts will no longer exist. Make no mistake, the cries are still there, they just cannot be heard. 

This is a dramatic departure from the Psalms. Most of which are laments. A crying out to God in despair, heartache, sorry … a Psalm that says, “God I believe in you, but this sucks, so please be the God I believe you are.” The lament carries with it a firm embrace of who God is, and an embrace of our broken world. 

March 13, 2011: The Centrality of Grief – Judy Bruce

February 20, 2011: Over the Underworld – Michael Hidalgo

The sea was more than an unfriendly place in the ancient world, as it was believed to be the gate to the underworld. It was dark, mysterious, and downright terrifying. To be in a boat, during a storm would have been more terrifying as the likelihood of you getting thrown into the sea seemed almost certain. 

As terrified as the disciples were, Jesus, it seems was sound asleep. The disciples begin to plead for help, and he speaks, the sea stops. What kind of man is this that the underworld responds to his orders? In one word he silences the sea, then he speaks to them about their faith. Why do they still lack it? Is Jesus speaking of faith in him, faith in themselves, or faith in th world in which they lived? Maybe it was all three.