Denver Community Church

December 24, 2010: Christmas Eve – Michael Hidalgo

December 12, 2010: God Is Here – Michael Hidalgo

King Ahaz, King of Israel, was in a tight spot. Jerusalem was under siege, and he needed help. Isaiah gives him assurance that God is with him … a child will be born. His name is Immanu El (lit. “With You is God”). We have come to speak of Jesus being Emmanuel – “God with Us.” One might think that Ahaz would take refuge in this sign, this miracle, but he does not. Instead he turns toward Tiglath-Pileser and worships him. 

This story that is often referred to in the infancy narratives during the Christmas season paint an interesting picture. For just as Isaiah points toward a child being born as a sign of God being with us, so it is that Jesus was born as a sign of God being with us. Yet, so often we are like Ahaz. We are the ones who – even though God is in our midst – place our hope and trust in something else. 

December 5, 2010: Stars, the Zodiac, and Astrologers – Michael Hidalgo

“In the beginning God created the heavens …” let’s just stop right there. He created the heavens. Which means the stars, planets, orbital paths, comets, and all sorts of heavenly bodies. But we rarely talk about them. But it has not always been this way. From the foundation of the world, God created these heavenly bodies to act as signs. Signs for what? Well, as signs that point to him … which in one biblical story it seems more than obvious.

The Magi follow a star to Bethlehem. Why did they know this was a star of a king? Was there a history with this particular star? Some believe it is the planet Jupiter that “rose in the east” … if this is the case, then it makes sense. For Jupiter was the god who gave kings their throne. If a star rose and came to rest in Bethlehem and it was the star of the god who gave kings their throne … then this would have been the star of the King of the Jews.

November 28, 2010: The Gospel of Striking and Crushing – Dave Neuhausel

It all begins in the garden - it’s in this scene in the first few chapters of the bible that the reality of all humanity is established.  This seemingly insignificant verse is our first hint that this creator/God is in fact committed to our thriving as much as he is justice in the garden.  Scholars have often called this passage the “proto-evangel” or “first gospel” because it points to the primary work of what Jesus’ life and ministry would one day be all about, namely, goodnews!  There is a sense that from the moment sin entered the world, so did God’s commitment to redeem humanity from their poor choices.  God is so committed to our life over our death that he will even use our journey, our experience and even our sin and failings to transform us.  If that is not good news I don’t know what is…

November 21, 2010: Stretch Out Your Hand and Live – Michael Hidalgo

Jesus goes to the synagogue on Sabbath, and publicly raises a question about life. He pointedly asks all who were assembled there, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" His question reflects how easily we allow our culture – religious or otherwise – our rules, and our ideas to stand in the way of people experiencing the restoration and renewal that God can bring about. 

Those present do not respond directly to Jesus – they, Mark tells us, are hardhearted. This does not mean “coldhearted” – rather it is an idiom referring to the fact that some lack the ability to understand and grasp the heart of God. The people place a religious framework as first and foremost in their minds and hearts. 

Which raises then a significant question for us: How much do we attempt to place our particular brand of religious framework over God – and according to our framework determine what is good or bad?

November 14, 2010: You Are (Not) What You Do – Michael Hidalgo

Jesus’ disciples are hungry – so they are picking kernels of grain and eating them (Deut 23). Presumably they are doing this on the edge of the field which was to be left for the poor. Jesus, in response to the religious, speaks of another time when David was hungry and he took bread from the tabernacle. The discussion of their plucking the grain would never had happened however, had it not been Sabbath. But it was, and one was not to harvest anything on Sabbath (Exodus 34).  

Sabbath was given to a group of slaves who never had rest. Sabbath was the time that God called holy. It was a space, a place that we were called to inhabit. Yet the religious still managed to make it a legalistic practice. In the end, the people ended up taking this gift from God and allowed it to control them, rather than seeing it as something that was given to them freely.

November 7, 2010: Eating and Drinking – Jon Gettings

October 31, 2010: This Isn't About You – Jeff Johnsen

The religious are upset that Jesus is hanging out with sinners. Has anything really changed? By Jesus reclining at the table he is doing more than sipping on some wine. He is identifying with these people and their way of life. And these people were the worst kind of people in the minds of the religious. 

Jesus’ response? “They are the ones who need me.” There is a bit of a sting here, because Jesus implies that those who are raising the questions don’t need him. In essence he is telling them, “You have your rules, rituals, and all the religious stuff … you don’t need me.” Irony at its finest. 

October 24, 2010: The Forgiving Blasphemer – Michael Hidalgo

The Jewish Sages taught, “No one gets up from his sick-bed unless all his sins are forgiven” (b. Ned 41a). In their thinking, if a person was not whole physically then surely he was not whole spiritually. This kind of person was then cut out from the social fabric of the day due to the assumption of his sin. The doors of participation to life in the community were effectively shut in his face and he was left outside.

Here, Jesus extends to this man who was paralyzed on the mat the renewal that he so longed for … the renewal that would open the doors back up to him that had been shut. Yet, even then the religious people do not buy it. This man is still an outcast, and Jesus is a blasphemer. More than thinking Jesus a blasphemer – the religious it seemed missed the point. Jesus had come to establish a new community where the condition of one’s heart was what counted – not the appearance of their body, sick or otherwise. 

October 17, 2010: Raze the Roof – Michael Hidalgo

What are willing to do for something that we really believe in? Does our faith have chutzpah? Do we have the courage to go as far as the friends of this man who was paralyzed? It is their faith that enable this man to walk, not the faith of the man. 

Perhaps it is that these guys knew what was at stake, and they knew exactly who Jesus was. They would do anything to get to him. They knew who Jesus was and their faith drove them to the furthest possible extreme – ripping a roof apart to reach him.