Rev Chris Roth

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15 We are given a monumental task this morning. We are describing the God of the universe. Imagine an ant trying to understand who you are and what you do. The understanding between the ant and the human being is actually closer than that between us and God. Sometimes we don’t take the time to realize how much God is beyond us. Imagine how unbelievably amazing a being we are talking about. This being is beyond time. He doesn’t just live forever, he is outside of time. He created time. He is beyond the physical universe. He doesn’t have a physical nature. This being created the universe. When we start looking at how massive the universe is, we get a little glimmer of the power of the being we are talking about. This being is beyond our understanding. This being is beyond our words. Anything we say about God is like a crudely drawn picture. When my sons draw a picture of our family, I come out somewhat recognizable, but I don’t thin...

Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-21; John 14:8-17-27 It seems like a major role of the Holy Spirit has to do with bridging gaps and breaking down barriers. Sometimes the Holy Spirit is working at building unity within ourselves. We sometimes live with an internal incongruity. A part of us is broken and disconnected from another part of us. It might be a childhood trauma that we have hidden and never dealt with. Or maybe it is an incongruity between what we say we believe and what we actually do. The Holy Spirit works to build integrity in our life. But this work doesn’t stop with us (as if the rest of the world didn’t exist). The Holy Spirit also moves us towards our greatest purpose, which is to love and serve God, and to enjoy Him forever. The Holy Spirit works to bridge the gap between us and God by drawing us towards Christ. We could say the Spirit exists as the love between you and God. When you are minding your own business and your heart starts to burn within you and...

John 17:20-26 (NRSVA) 20 ‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 ‘Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’ There was once a ship ca...

John 14:23-29 Next Thursday is the feast of the Ascension. Our Gospel reading today is preparing us for that event. The Ascension is when Jesus enters into the reality of heaven. I believe that is like entering into another dimension of reality. It is like a 2 dimensional person becoming 3 dimensional. As he enters that new dimension, it seems to us that he is leaving. But, from Jesus’ perspective he is even more present with us because to be in the dimension of heaven frees him from certain earthly limitations. To remain on the earthly plain is to be present in one place at a time. When Jesus enters the heavenly he is freed from that limitation. … So, I don’t think that Ascension is about Jesus leaving us. He told us in Matthew 28:20,  “…And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age”.  But, the Ascension makes it look like leaves because he is no longer present as he had been. The Ascension has this apparent contradiction to it. As Jesus says in John 14...