Skillman Church Of Christ's Podcast

Over the past year and a half, we have had 5 babies born into our congregation. This Sunday, we blessed our children and their families, promising to help raise these kids, teaching them the way of Jesus, and helping the families - even if that means running to Walmart at 3 in the morning to pick up a lost binky. 

What do we do when we take communion?  In the book of Mark, Jesus speaks of his disciples taking the bread and cup and that it represents the his body and blood. What does this truly mean?  While on earth, with love and sacrifice Jesus took on the sins of the world.  As disciples of Jesus, we as the body of Christ can do the same to “take on” the sins of the world through our collective voice and resources. We can challenge unjust systems, stand up to hate, confront materials.  Communion is the reminder each week that because of Jesus, and through Jesus we can articulate another narrative.

In this special bonus podcast episode, John Mark sits down with neurologist Dr. Alan Martin to talk about what "the Christ" means to him and how this message could change the world.  

In the New Testament writers referred to Jesus as the “Christ.” This comes from the Greek word christós, meaning “the anointed one.”  Early Christians believed that Jesus represented the prophesied messiah or christos that would redeem and bring salvation to the world.  Paul refers to the work and role of “the Christ” as a mystery that is being revealed overtime. The “Christ” has been around since the beginning of time working to restore God’s creation.  Jesus was the living incarnation of ‘the Christ.” 

When Jesus is referred to as “Lord” in the New Testament, it is in direct response to the common propaganda of that day propping the Roman Emperor as “Lord of All” When the early Christians said, “Jesus is Lord” they were essentially articulating that Christians have a greater allegiance than Caesar.  Ultimately, they were citizens of God’s kingdom and were called to uphold the laws, principles, and values of this system.  In today’s world, politics and faith have often been mixed.   Some equate Christianity with the Republican Party and others to the Democratic Party. It can be boldly said that many are more loyal to the mantras and creeds of their political parties than the teachings and principles of Jesus.  In the New Testament, we read about a new type of Kingdom that transcends borders and advocates love.

We begin a series this week on the life and identify of Jesus. Who is Jesus? No person has ever changed the landscape of the world more than Jesus. To fully understand his teachings, it is important to begin with the understanding that Jesus lived in a certain time and place.  Jesus was a poor Jew living as a minority amidst the Roman empire.  Jesus became a Rabbi and invited disciples to follow him.  Discipleship was an invitation to become like the Rabbi.  To do, say, live, and walk as the Rabbi did, said, lived, and walked.  The identity of his disciples reveal that Jesus believed not just the best, the brightest, and the most talented could follow him but EVERYBODY… including the average, mundane, outcasts, and marginalized. 

The book of Lamentations expresses the pain, doubt, and hurt that the people of Israel, God’s people, feel in the midst of exile. The people are crying out in lament to God, asking for God to come back to them even though they have turned their backs on God. And the book ends open-ended. It ends without resolution. But, the story does continue. God’s people expectantly wait for someone to come from God who will give them a new identity. Someone who will offer them light in the midst of a dark time in their history. And Jesus does come—the light of the world—to give them hope, even in the midst of their difficulties. Now, Jesus asks us to join him as the light upon a hill and the lamp for the whole house. May we offer light even in our pain to those around us. May we become like Jesus, and shed light into the darkness.

As we continue to learn from various books of the Bible about How to Be Sad, we read the Psalms of Disorientation seeking to learn and practice the confidence these Psalmists had in our trustworthy God. We desire to express our longings and difficulties to God. And we seek to share that this God is not only trustworthy, but good beyond our wildest understandings. This God is willing to sacrifice and die for us. We worship a good God, even in difficult moments and painful times.

The book of Job teaches us an important lesson about difficult moments in our lives. Whenever we experience difficulty, we tend to search for a reason why we are hurting. This is a natural reaction. However, Job teaches us, through a dramatic encounter between God, Satan, and Job, that when we encounter suffering, we can also trust that God is in control of all around us in the world. God is the one who sustains all of creation, even when there is pain and hurt around us.

This week, we will look to the book of Ecclesiastes to find out what we can do or think when life doesn't go according to our plan. Ecclesiastes teaches us some important things about who we are in life compared to who God is. As followers of Jesus and creations of God, we ultimately trust in God even when life takes an unexpected turn. 

Around the change of each calendar year, we tend to remember, reflect, and to imagine new beginnings. This year, rather than simply making resolutions, we want to pay attention to the work of God in our lives, particularly what God is convicting us of as followers of Jesus. What are the ways that we can determine to look more and more like Jesus? How can we, as Jesus did, “set our faces” toward the destination of resembling the life and teachings of Jesus? This morning, we will consider how God is convicting us to action and share those convictions with one another as a church.

John Mark invites us to participate in the heart of the Christmas story: love. God loved us enough to come to be with us, and Jesus teaches us to love one another just as God loves us. 

The Advent season reminds us to live with joy--not based on what we have or what we want, but on the gift that God has given to us in Jesus. We live with Joy because it is the engine of our lives. It is what helps us to live as godly men and women. We live with Joy because we know that our happiness and our lives our not based on outside circumstances, but rather on who God is in Christ.

The night that Jesus was born and the subsequent nights were a busy and perhaps hectic set of nights. In the different Gospel accounts, we see not only Mary and Joseph present, but likely different animals, shepherds, and magi from the East. We hear about people who come to see this child in the Temple at his dedication (Anna and Simeon). We know that King Herod wanted to get rid of this potential rival to his throne, and that he ends up killing all the children who might be a threat to him. Jesus entered the world, and peace may not have been the adjective we used to describe his birth and early childhood. Yet, Jesus brings the peace of God to the world. Jesus shows us that God is good and faithful. And Jesus invites us to announce that peace to the world around us, even in the midst of tumult, darkness, and violence. May we prepare the way for the peace of Christ to enter our world fully and finally.

This week, we begin a season called “Advent.” This is a Christian season of anticipation of the coming of Jesus. We both look back and remember the coming of Jesus in the Incarnation as well as wait expectantly for the coming of Jesus in the future to redeem the world and to restore things to God’s goodness. However, Advent isn’t only about remembering and waiting. It is also about hope. The kind of hope that pushes us to action: the action of love. Because we have hope in Jesus, we can share that love and cry out to people in need (people like us) that, “Help is on the way!”

John Mark concludes our series on the book of Ruth by reading from chapter 4. Ruth and Boaz leave Israel with quite the story leading to the eventual reign of David as king. We see that God is able to work through Ruth (the Moabite!) to bring about good. God is a God of all!

In Ruth 3, we encounter a story of Ruth and Boaz at the threshing floor. Ruth and Naomi are in need and have no security for their future, like so many in our world today. They have suffered and lost, and they seek assurance from Boaz that they will be redeemed and taken care of, even in unknown circumstances in the future. Boaz, upon realizing their need through Ruth’s actions and her request for covering, goes into action that very day. Likewise, we worship a God who has taken the action, a God who even takes our place and who works on our behalf to provide our redemption and our future. 

In Ruth chapter 2, Boaz enters the story. Ruth is a nobody.  She is a foreigner with no husband, no job, no education.  She is Ruth "the Moabite" and in a position of complete powerlessness.  As Ruth goes to fields to glean for food, Boaz sees her, notices her, and exhibits an exuberant and radical kind of compassion and kindness towards her. We see in this unexpected encounter, an opportunity for God’s love to be shared, and an opportunity for our ideas about family and home to be expanded.

The book of Ruth opens with a story of a family who is searching for a place to belong. Their situation in life changes drastically, and they seek to find a true home. As followers of Jesus, we believe that our true home is found in Jesus because of his life, death, and resurrection. In our world, may we be willing to offer the home of Jesus to those who feel alone, isolated, and homesick. May we look for all of God’s children to bring them home. 

John Mark leads our communion meditation this week as we focus on worshipping and giving, and ultimately, becoming one with Christ as the table signifies.