Help support the vision of Woodland Hills Community Church!

Help support the vision of Woodland Hills Community Church!
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Saturday, April 5

Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 140; Daniel 3:19-30; John 14:18-24; 1 Peter 2:13-17; Psalm 34

One of my favorite bumper stickers picks up on a favorite theme found in some portions of the Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures. The bumper sticker, however, takes the well known theme and gives it a new twist. The bumper sticker reads: “An Eye for an Eye Makes the Whole World Blind”. The words attributed to Jesus in today’s Gospel reading make much of the same point. When Judas asks Jesus why he is about to make himself plain to some but not others, Jesus responds with these words: “Because a loveless world is a sightless world.” He goes on to add: “If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love him – we’ll move right into the neighborhood” (John 14:22-23 – The Message). As a post-modernist, those words have proven very important to me in my faith journey. Let me tell you why I say that. You see when I was growing up I was taught by modernists that the neighborhood you moved into was determined largely by the beliefs in your head. People who believed in theological things like a literal interpretation of Scripture and a bodily resurrection and who held social positions opposed to homosexuality and abortion lived in one neighborhood. Let’s call this neighborhood A. Others who believed in an allegorical interpretation of Scripture and resurrection as metaphor and who were strong supporters of civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons and advocates for reproductive freedom lived in another neighborhood. Let’s call this neighborhood B. Many folks feel comfortable living their entire lives in one of these camps – being self-congratulatory for having moved into the right neighborhood. What fascinated me as I watched folks from both neighborhoods over the years was that I met just as many hard-hearted, arrogant fundamentalists from Camp A as I met from Camp B. These encounters with folks from both camps took me back to Jesus’ words that reminded me of what really determined the composition of the neighborhood. It wasn’t beliefs – it was love: the love most powerfully embodied in Jesus Christ. Today, I would invite you to consider what neighborhood you have spiritually moved into. Are you living in a neighborhood determined simply by beliefs, or do you live in one based upon the love revealed in and through Jesus? Til next time…

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