Sermon 03.03.2024: Lent 3 - Kindness as Power, Possibility, and Peace

Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow • March 3, 2024

We will look at how true peace requires radical kindness (not just being nice), being able to see humanity and dignity in even our deepest of enemies. We acknowledge these relationships' deaths and believe that new life can be experienced. In conflicted times today, it is even more difficult to choose this path, but these are the times when we may need to most . . . and if we can't trust that the church can express new life, what are we doing?



Download Sunday Bulletin

Scripture


Romans 12:14-18


"Blessed Are the Peacemakers"

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.


Matthew 5:1-11


When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.



Sermon


Please watch the video above!


Two hands holding up a very colorful earth. There is a dark sky and several stars in the background. The text says

Art by Rachel Wolf

A rainbow stained glass image with the text 'putting the world together' on it
By Rev. Marci Glass July 20, 2025
In Revelation chapter 6, the seals on the scrolls start to be opened, unleashing the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse on the earth, and an earthquake happens, and the stars fall from the sky. The world is coming undone. This week, in chapter 7, we’ll consider what it takes to put the world back together after it comes undo
A rainbow stained glass image with the text
By Rev. Marci Glass July 13, 2025
In today's passage, Jesus is getting caught up on his correspondence, writing letters to the churches in Asia Minor, giving them both praise and correction. What do we think Jesus would say to Christians in the United States today, if he wrote us a letter?
Rainbow stained glass that reads
By Rev. Marci Glass July 6, 2025
As we continue reading the Book of Revelation as a book of resistance, we encounter a story of a woman who gives birth in space, while a dragon waits to eat the baby. Hopefully, none of our own birth stories are that dramatic. But there are days, and sometimes years, when life comes at you in ways other than you predi
A rainbow stained glass image with the text 'un-scrolling doom' on it
By Rev. Victor Floyd June 29, 2025
"Why dost thou doom scrolleth even now?"(Victor 3:16) On this Queer Pride Sunday, we worship the One who shows us how to live with integrity and profound joy. That which is against God shall not stand! As the world unravels, celebration reveals our power to resist.
A rainbow stained glass window that reads 'unveiling the empire'
By Rev. Joann Lee June 22, 2025
The book of Revelation includes scary beasts with horns and special marks with numbers revealing who they are. But rather than foretelling future events, what if they were unveiling current rulers and empires who preyed on their people? Let us slay the beasts of oppression and injustice as we resist the empire and embr
Colorful stained glass image with the text 'revelation as resistance' on it.
By Rev. Marci Glass June 15, 2025
This week we will begin a sermon series on the Book of Revelation. It is often used by Christians to predict future events, but it wasn't written for that purpose. The Book of Revelation was written to call people to resist the Roman Empire. It carries on the tradition of 'apocalypse' which is Greek for 'revelation'. In apocalyptic literature, God reveals, or makes clear, how to respond to the world in which we find ourselves. But it is written in a way that obscures the message from the people who it critiques.
Holy Spirit Coming by He Qi - 3 colorful people with flames praying
By Rev. Marci Glass June 8, 2025
The story of Pentecost is a story of adoption. God takes strangers and makes them family. And while adoption is good news for those of us who experience it, that good news doesn't make it easy. God brings strangers together and makes them family, but God doesn't make us all the same. We are adopted into God's family with all of our differences and our disagreements. How can we celebrate the differences between us, rather than using them as wedges to divide us?
Priscilla - by Silvia Dimitrova (2003) - a woman in adorned gown holding a dove with 3 men around
By Rev. Marci Glass June 1, 2025
This week's story from the Book of Acts speaks of the importance of hospitality when life is difficult and dangerous. Where does God call the church to be when people are facing exile, persecution, and danger?
A group of diverse people surrounding a table, a recreation of the Last Supper with disabled folks
By Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow May 25, 2025
Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow's sermon for May 25, 2025
Lot and family leaving Sodom, Woodcut from the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493
By Rev. Victor Floyd May 18, 2025
A queer preacher takes on a notorious “clobber passage” and its history of pain and death. The sin of Sodom has nothing to do with same-sex marriage or trans children—and everything to do with willfully ignoring God's command to welcome strangers and practice hospitality. Let them know we are Christians by our love.
More Posts