grace

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Rupture and Reconciliation: Walking the Way of Love

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It is also a story of a clash of two different world views or mindsets, imaginations of how this world should operate. One mindset is the one of the brothers, who are afraid. It is a mindset of punishment, revenge, vengeance, an eye for an eye justice. They know they did wrong, they know they should be punished for it, and are afraid of what that punishment is going to look like. That is their view of how things are probably going to go.

The other mindset is the one that Joseph has, which is the imagination of forgiveness, of mercy, of grace, of reconciliation. I think the brothers’ mindset is probably where most of the world is. A lot of the time, most of us feel that same way, too.

Listen to or read Bingham’s entire sermon by clicking “Read More.”

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Knitting a Shawl of God's Love

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Jesus says follow this way, the way of mercy. "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me." Follow Jesus on the way of mercy, on the way of grace, on the way of love because that is the world view of God. That is the ordering of the world in which a little child can be taken and put in the middle as an exemplar, as Jesus did in our Gospel just a few weeks ago.

Listen to or read Bingham’s entire sermon by clicking “Read More.”

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On Camels, Needles, and God’s Grace

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What a Gospel we just heard! The story of the camel, the rich man, and the eye of the needle. It's a tough one, and we might find ourselves asking, is Jesus talking to me? Is Jesus really asking me to sell everything I have and give it all to those who are living in poverty? We might find ourselves thinking, that's too much, Jesus. I can't do that. It's not realistic. I have too many responsibilities. Just no. And we find ourselves trying to turn our ears down a little bit and wait for something a little more palatable to come out of Jesus's mouth. If we do that, we're going to miss out on some really important things that Jesus wants us to explore. So why don’t we take a little time today and try to unpack this Gospel passage together.

Click “Read More” to read or listen to Bingham’s entire sermon for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost.

Sin

Sin. We don’t like to talk about it very much. And I get that. I don’t like to talk about it very much. It makes me uncomfortable. Sometimes feelings of guilt and shame might start rising within us as we think about what it is we have done wrong. We might get defensive. It just seems easier to avoid even thinking about our sin than dealing with it. Additionally, we have a history of misnaming sin, of calling things sin that aren’t, and not calling things sin that are. And sometimes in that misnaming we have weaponized sin language to use it against people, abusively, hurtfully. Dare I say, sinfully. So it is easier not to talk about it.

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