May 09, 2021 |
Sing a New Song
| The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane![The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane](https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/uploads/images/melanie-slane_755_small.jpg)
Sing a New Song
"God's love is not only like a father's love. God is also like a mother's love. Like the love of a sister, or a friend, or a neighbor. Or that old lady at church who plays peek-a-boo from the second pew. And yet, God's love is even more than this. God's love is like the gentle breeze on your skin on a hot August day. God’s love is an intricate snowflake on jet black hair. God's love is a cold drink of water for someone who has traveled many, many miles through desert lands in search of safety and sanctuary. God’s love surpasses our human understanding. And if we want our children to understand this, we must expand our language for God. We must open the gate of welcome to them and explore all that God has been, is now, and will be forever. For all of her children. How in the world can we expect to love one another as God loves us if half of us don't even see ourselves as made in the image of God?"
May 02, 2021 |
Founded in Love
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul![The Rev. Philip DeVaul](https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/uploads/images/philip-devaul_215_small.jpg)
Founded in Love
"[W]e heard today that God is love and that those who love know God. And then when we love one another, we abide in God. Which is to say, we make our home in God and then God abides in us. Which is, of course, to say that God is making God's home in us and when we hear that this is true, then there is nothing else that can compare with this reality. God is love. This is a radical idea. A radical belief that God is love. It is not reasonable. It's not moderate, it's not something that you can stay calm, cool, and collected while receiving and trying to understand. It is inherently radical and changes your whole reality when you say God is love."
Apr 25, 2021 |
Experience Sheep
| The Rev. Joyce Keeshin![The Rev. Joyce Keeshin](https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/uploads/images/joyce-keeshin_250_small.jpg)
Experience Sheep
"We recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd, not only because we recognize the tone but also the content. There is a consistency of message and the message is one of love. Love God. Love your neighbor. Love yourself. Love one another as I have loved you. The message is of love.
Think of the loving relationships in your lives. The voices you immediately recognized resonate with. Think of this constancy of that current of love that runs through them. Sometimes it's expressed out loud. Sometimes simply known to be, an undercurrent even in difficult or conflicted times. We serve as shepherds and guides for each other. And we are shepherded too."
Think of the loving relationships in your lives. The voices you immediately recognized resonate with. Think of this constancy of that current of love that runs through them. Sometimes it's expressed out loud. Sometimes simply known to be, an undercurrent even in difficult or conflicted times. We serve as shepherds and guides for each other. And we are shepherded too."
Apr 18, 2021 |
Death is not the end
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul![The Rev. Philip DeVaul](https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/uploads/images/philip-devaul_215_small.jpg)
Death is not the end
I’ve gotta be honest, I find this sometimes to be very dangerous territory. Because I get nervous about us looking towards the afterlife, in which I believe, looking towards that afterlife as a way to ignore what's happening here. That we have the capacity, when we go, “Well, that's okay, 'cause I know where I'm going when I die.” That we can use that the same way we could use drinking or drugs or something else to numb ourselves to the realities of here and now. To turn a blind eye from the darkness that we face here from day to day. “I know it's scary and hard here, but I've got a divine destiny and God's great Kingdom, so I'm okay” is not okay. And when we see people grieving the deep darkness of death, when we try to remind them of the life to come, sometimes that's helpful. Quite often it is a way to short circuit someone's grief and natural processing of the hard realities of the life that we live
Apr 11, 2021 |
The Mutuality of Love
| The Rev. Gary Lubin![The Rev. Gary Lubin](https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/uploads/images/dsc08258-edit-edit_242_small.jpg)
The Mutuality of Love
Here we are, in this time and place. We have our own fears and our own unique challenges in becoming our own brand of beloved community. To listen to the mutuality of love. To be of one heart and soul and mind, so that there is not one needy person among us. To live together in diverse community. To achieve racial reconciliation and justice and economic equity. Recent current events demonstrate once again that we've got a long way to go on that count.
Apr 04, 2021 |
Don't Cling to Me
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul![The Rev. Philip DeVaul](https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/uploads/images/philip-devaul_215_small.jpg)
Don't Cling to Me
Jesus is sending the Holy Spirit out to breathe the breath of God and inspire the whole world to live into the love for which every one of us is made. And as God blows that breath out, the Holy Spirit of the world, he is blowing all of us out. Out of this space. Out of our comfort zones. Out of that space of clinging and into a recognition of where God is in the world today. It will not look the way it did a year ago. It will not look the way it did a week ago. But God is at work. Hear your name. Recognize the love for which you are made. It is a love that cannot be killed. It is a love that animates all things with grace, mercy and justice. We are bound together in this resurrection. Not so that we can just cling to the things that we love. But so that we can pursue them. Follow them into this world and name God's blessing and participate in the work God would have us do.
Apr 02, 2021 |
What About Us?
| The Rev. Joyce Keeshin![The Rev. Joyce Keeshin](https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/uploads/images/joyce-keeshin_250_small.jpg)
What About Us?
This is a solemn night. Jesus told us it would come to this. Jesus forewarned us of the suffering he would endure. How he would be lifted up. We heard the words. But witnessing a loved one being killed is heartrending, heartbreaking and leaves us with unanswerable questions. What could we have done?
Apr 01, 2021 |
No Need to Rush
| The Rev. Gary Lubin![The Rev. Gary Lubin](https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/uploads/images/dsc08258-edit-edit_242_small.jpg)
No Need to Rush
You know, sometimes it's difficult to accept God's love on God's terms. But when asked to dance, why not? I mean just say yes and let Jesus take the lead. And as our lead Jesus teaches us, “You also ought to wash one another’s feet, for I have set you an example”. This is an invitation. An invitation to beloved community through servanthood. Jesus invites us, well, actually, Jesus commands us to love one another as he loves us. And maybe by kicking up some dust along the way. By proactively loving the other in another.
Mar 28, 2021 |
We Do This Every Year
| The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane![The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane](https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/uploads/images/melanie-slane_755_small.jpg)
We Do This Every Year
We do this every year so that we can bury our sin beneath the soil with him. Every year we engage in the act of planting the garden, because without getting our hands dirty, nothing will grow. The week before us is for dying. Dying to self and dying to sin. Burying our part in the plot. Knowing this is not the end but the beginning. Trusting that something will grow from the muddied muck and mire of life.
Mar 14, 2021 |
Reassuring Rituals
| The Rev. Joyce Keeshin![The Rev. Joyce Keeshin](https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/uploads/images/joyce-keeshin_250_small.jpg)
Reassuring Rituals
That which reflects our sinfulness becomes a sign of God's grace and God's love. If there's any question about the message here, Jesus follows with what has become one of them that's known Bible verses all. For God so love the world that he gave his only son so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life. In reading this verse this time I found myself caught in the awareness that this refers to much more than Jesus is death on a cross but to the entirety of Jesus life; his birth, his ministry, his teachings and healings, his way of being in the world, and yes, his willingness to suffer and die that we might have eternal life. All of Jesus was given for us. Jesus did not come to condemn but to save. The Son of Man being lifted up is not a sign of only suffering but also of salvation. What we fear is of this world. Where we place our faith, what we can believe in, trust in, is God.
Mar 07, 2021 |
When God Gets Angry
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul![The Rev. Philip DeVaul](https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/uploads/images/philip-devaul_215_small.jpg)
When God Gets Angry
God gets angry when there are people who are actively trying to keep others from experiencing their own belonging to God. God gets angry at injustice. God gets angry at people in power who are using their power to exploit others and to build themselves up at others expense. This is where the anger of God comes from. God doesn't get angry because you screwed up or said a cuss word or didn't show up to church on Sunday or didn't say the right thing or believe in exactly the right thing all the time. God gets angry when you get in the way of people's connection to God. God gets angry when we set up systems that abuse and marginalize people and make them not be able to experience the fullness of their belonging on this earth. This earth which belongs to God,
Feb 28, 2021 |
Argument of Identity
| The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane![The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane](https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/uploads/images/melanie-slane_755_small.jpg)
Argument of Identity
We find ourselves now in the midst of lent with a difficult question before us. Is it possible For Jesus to be ashamed of me? No. No, I do not believe it is possible for Jesus to be ashamed of you because shame is about identity and Jesus knows who and whose you are and for what you were made. And in case we don't tell you enough around here, you belong to God and you were made for love. Period.
Feb 21, 2021 |
United, Growing, Inspired, Sent
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul![The Rev. Philip DeVaul](https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/uploads/images/philip-devaul_215_small.jpg)
United, Growing, Inspired, Sent
It's been an amazing and an incredibly difficult time for the leaders of this church; for the staff, for the clergy, and for all those in lay ministry; to seek ways to understand how we can fully keep you connected. Because here's what I have realized during this time; when I say, why does this church even matter to me, what I realize is what I want to know and what I think most of you want to know in this difficult time about your church is, how do we stay connected to one another and how do we continue to make a difference in this world. How are we connected? And how do we make a difference? Because in our bones we know that we want to make a difference in this world. And we are hardwired for connection as people. It is built into us, interdependence, belonging to one another. We are not rocks and islands and all by ourselves. We may be individuals, but we are individuals who are built for belonging and connection.
Feb 14, 2021 |
Unexpected Moments of Grace
| The Rev. Joyce Keeshin![The Rev. Joyce Keeshin](https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/uploads/images/joyce-keeshin_250_small.jpg)
Unexpected Moments of Grace
So much of this timing is beyond our control and what we can control frequently has demanded patience and perseverance. It’s going on a year now. The timing of this pandemic has been a stretch, a real stretch, that continues. But this pandemic time, this more fallow time for many, has also revealed unexpected moments of grace.
Feb 07, 2021 |
A Present Mystery
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul![The Rev. Philip DeVaul](https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/uploads/images/philip-devaul_215_small.jpg)
A Present Mystery
Mark tells the story of a Jesus who shows up preaching repentance and driving demons out of people and healing them of their illness. And that's what he does for the entirety of the gospel. Preaches repentance, drives out demons, and heals the sick. Jesus’ focus in Mark is not on making us smarter. It is on making us aware of the brilliant and beautiful and mysterious and powerful presence of God in the world. There is an immediacy to Jesus in Mark's gospel. There is a desire for Jesus to get going, get moving.
Jan 31, 2021 |
Amazement Into Action
| The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane![The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane](https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/uploads/images/melanie-slane_755_small.jpg)
Amazement Into Action
In our gospel lesson from Mark today, we see Jesus heal a man with an unclean spirit in the synagogue on the Sabbath. And the letter tells us that all who were present were amazed at what they had seen. While amazement is a natural response, it is not the only response that Christ is looking for from us. Jesus does not want you simply to be amazed, he wants you to act. He does not want us only to say, “Wow! Look how he loved.” He wants us to share that love with others. He does not want us simply to see the blessings that we have received. He wants for us to share them with those who need a blessing today. I do not stand here and utter fancy words in order to amaze you or fill your head with knowledge. I ask you rather to open your minds, warm your hearts, and bend your wills so that you can go and heal someone.
Jan 24, 2021 |
What Is This Good News?
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul![The Rev. Philip DeVaul](https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/uploads/images/philip-devaul_215_small.jpg)
What Is This Good News?
The reality is we don't necessarily stop to think about what this news is that is so good that it's worth repenting; turning around and seeing and recognizing God in the world. I believe all of our readings today clue us into the good, the best, news that there is. It is very, very simple but it is utterly life changing. God is here with you. God is here with you right now, wherever you are, whatever you are experiencing.
Jan 17, 2021 |
The Need for Truth-Telling
| The Rev. Joyce Keeshin![The Rev. Joyce Keeshin](https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/uploads/images/joyce-keeshin_250_small.jpg)
The Need for Truth-Telling
.As we listen, we need to be able to hear the truth and speak the truth, even when it is uncomfortable. We are each made up of what has come before in our lives; our heritages and upbringings and relationships, our experiences and exposures, our learning and understanding. We are beautiful unique expressions of life and love, and yet we are also one. United as beloved children of God. As I reflect on our shared experiences of these multiple crises we're in, the need for truth telling has never been greater.
Jan 10, 2021 |
Wake Up! Choose Love
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul![The Rev. Philip DeVaul](https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/uploads/images/philip-devaul_215_small.jpg)
Wake Up! Choose Love
John’s message isn't ‘feel bad’. John’s messages isn’t ‘beat yourself up’. John's message isn't one about shaming people, even when he uses harsh language. The harsh language is meant to wake them up. Wake them up to the reality that they are not choosing love. We have seen what we are capable of as a people when we do not choose love. We're seeing it right now and John the Baptist’s word to us today is to repent.