February 2025

Listening for Sunday’s Promise, We Live In A World Not Of  Our Own Making Red Rock News Feb 21, 2025 Rev. Dona Johnson |February 16, 2025       After God had provided a harmonious and beautiful paradise, a perfect habitat with unlimited resources, a place where there was no greed or fierce competition, a place where predators and prey laid next to each other in peace, the first couple God created began to take for granted what God had so graciously provided them (Gen 3). God had been more than generous and gave Adam and Eve the entire garden to dwell and thrive in with the exception one tree – one tree. Everything was humming along until a serpent entered the garden. The serpent raised enough doubt in the mind of Eve that it lured not only her but her husband away from God. At that precise moment, she made the choice to take from the tree what God had strictly forbidden. So in essence it was human choice that brought death in all its forms into the world.       How many of us have given into our thoughts and doubts? Henry Cloud, a well-known Christian psychologist states, “Thoughts come and go. Your mind is like a nest where birds, our thoughts come and go but don’t have to roost. We can control (choose) whether we stay with them and turn them into belief.” So, people, much like Eve allow negative thoughts to lure them away from God, lure them away from His Church and lure them away from each other.       God gave the first couple the free will to choose. Without the free will to choose obedience is not obedience. It is forced and coerced. Without the free will to love, then love is also forced, superficial and not genuine. For anyone who has tried to make someone love them knows very well it is almost impossible and eventually leads to resentment and heartache.       Now if you think this is one of many creation stories written long ago in a far-off place called Eden, you’re wrong! The author of Genesis 3 wants us to know what happened in Eden is still happening today generation after generation. God gives human beings a choice to make. As Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann writes, Genesis 3 is a summons, God’s is calling his creatures to live in his world under his terms.       He sets the boundaries. But the human predicament has always been we want to live in God’s world on our terms. We want to determine our own destiny. But what many of us get wrong is that human creatures were put in the garden (world) not to own it, but to manage it, tend it, cultivate it and shepherd it so it can reach its fulfillment, reach its full potential and redemption in the consummation of Jesus Christ.       God gave the first human couple everything imaginable. The moment Eve bit into the forbidden fruit greed, envy, shame, guilt and selfishness entered the human heart and all of creation. At the very heart of our sin and human condition lie our choices: We choose who we belong to, who we worship and who we serve. We choose how to live – either in intimacy with our Creator or in isolation and alienation. God gives every human creature that choice. Out of divine love for his creation, a love that is eternally authentic, trustworthy, and constant, God gives every human being the freedom to choose. The destiny of the human creature writes Brueggemann is to live in God’s world, and not a world of his or her own making. “The human creation is to live with God’s other creatures, some of which are dangerous, but all of which are ruled and cared for.”      Genesis 3 is not so much about evil then it is about our choices. God calls us to discern the reality of who we are, our true purpose in this life and to seek an answer to the question, why am I here? It is a divine call to take a serious look at how we relate to God and how we relate to each other. God also calls us to take a deeper look at the quality of our relationships and to make the right choices in “all” of life. All of which has its source in the Garden of Life. Every human being, every creature is a gift. A gift we are called to tend, mend and shepherd until all of us with God’s help reach our full potential and our God-give destiny.      As we look out at the world around us, at times it seems overwhelmingly hopeless. However God’s powerful resolve to have his way with his creation is always present. Through his Son, Jesus Christ God overcomes and forgives the alienation we continue to create. He redeems us daily through his inexhaustible grace! Rev. Dona Johnson |February 16, 2025

Listening for Sunday’s Promise, The Third Conversion Red Rock News Feb 14, 2025 Rev. Dona Johnson |February 2, 2025 In our culture today, money is the No. 1 false god, and there are many people who worship at the feet of this god. In Sunday’s Super Bowl it is estimated that Americans will legally place bets on the game totaling $1.39bn. The money spent on pornography in the U.S. has reached pandemic proportions with a booming revenue estimated at $15bn. The Federal Reserve reports that household debt reached an all-time high at $1.79 trillion in 2024. These are only a few examples of a symptom to an underlying disease – greed. And this greed is fueled by our culture’s lust for power (influence), money and sex, which produces a fierce competition and selfishnessness.       Martin Luther, both a priest and reformer in the mid-1500s understood what money can do to a person’s soul. He claimed there was not one conversion a Christian undergoes, but three a person needs to go through: “The conversion of the head, the heart and the purse.” Luther understood that the gospel converts a person in all three areas. Most of us can understand why Luther would mention the importance of a conversion of the heart and mind, but why did he add the purse? Luther added the third conversion (the purse) because he understood that money holds a huge priority in our lives. Although our culture has made money a taboo and private subject, a sign of power and status, it is no less a spiritual concern of great importance. Money competes for our souls and it provides only a temporary relief, a false and superficial sense of security. In our current economy, a majority of us can purchase our way out of just about any situation or crisis.       Richard Foster said on Luther’s statement, “In seeking to work our way through a Christian Spirituality of money it is important for us to begin by seeing money in the context of the “principalities and powers” that Paul speaks about so vigorously (Eph. 6:12, Col. 1:16). Money is one of these powers.” Foster continues, “When Jesus uses the Aramaic term mammon to refer to wealth, he is giving it a personal and spiritual character. When he declares, ‘You cannot serve God and mammon,’ he is personifying mammon as a rival god.” In saying this, Jesus is making it unmistakably clear that money is not some impersonal medium of exchange. No, mammon is a power that seeks to dominate us (Matt. 6:19-24).      For Christians, how we live out our faith and how we view the world either through the lens of generosity or scarcity (stinginess) is truly a spiritual battle, an inner battle that plays out in the hearts of many of us. Luther had it right. We can be devoted to all sorts of faith practices, we can have all the biblical knowledge our minds desire to grasp, but if we are not generous with our wealth (money), material possessions and our God-given skills and talents for building God’s kingdom on earth and using them to express love to those in our human family, then in many respects we live shallow and divided in our loyalties. True conversion that moves from the head to the heart has nowhere else to go but to one’s purse, wallet and or bank account. And yet for many of us that is the last thing we want to let go of – money.      As Christians, no matter how much we possess, a little or a lot, if we hold on loosely to the things of this world and hold tightly to Jesus Christ then and only then can we defeat sin, death and the demonic forces of this world. Luther said about faith: “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.” In what ways do you live daringly with confidence enough to freely stake your wealth and possessions on God’s mission and promsies? How deeply do we trust God will continue to generously provide for our needs as we loosen your grip on all the treasure we keep storing up on earth? Good guestion.      Let us never forget the amazing love God has for his people. He continues to bless us with grace upon grace. As some of us still struggle to be generous, Jesus still continues to abundantly love us, and without hesitation keeps providing for his people. God’s generosity is eternal! Amen. Rev. Dona Johnson |February 2, 2025

God Multiplies Our Efforts To Make The Impossible Possible  Submitted to Red Rock News for Jan 31th’s edition Rev. Dona Johnson |February 2, 2025 One of the most beautiful sights in the Holy Land is to stand on the gently sloping hills and look out at the Sea of Galilee. You suddenly realize that you are walking on the same ground Jesus walked. You realize you are looking at the same body of water that Jesus often sailed on to take refuge from the crowds or to preach from a boat to those standing on the shore.       In the Gospel of Luke chapter 5:1-11, Jesus is standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret (Sea of Galilee) This is a turning point in Jesus’ ministry. New Testament scholar William Barclay writes about this passage, “There is coming a time when the doors of the synagogue will be shut to Jesus. And so his church will be the lakeside, the open road and often his pulpit is a boat.” What is utterly amazing is how Jesus when wedged in between the pressing crowd and the water’s edge, takes to a boat and tells Peter to put out a little from the shore so he could effectively project his voice to preach the crowd. Christians often get so anchored, emotionally attached and fixated on their buildings, that the church becomes more of a safe hiding place from the rest of the world, than a base camp for mission? The gospel instructs exactly the opposite, we are to go out into the world, the unknown with very little equipment, and preach without a pulpit, teach with no materials and take only our witness, the message of God’s love to others (Luke 10). John Wesley did just that. In the mid 1700s, Wesley, a Methodist preacher left the church and headed for the fields to preach. It became known as field preaching. He left the church pulpit to preach in the open air to people of poverty and people who had been shun by the church. Therefore, the church is called to also be on the open road!       Jesus asked Peter to put his boat out into deeper water and let down his nets. Peter immediately tells Jesus that he and his fishing buddies had been at it all night without catching one fish, a bit surprising when these men were professional fishermen. Peter obeys Jesus and lets down his nets. Suddenly out of nowhere, all sorts of fish start flapping and flying into the nets. The fish were so plentiful that their weight almost rips apart the nets. Watching the miracle, Peter seeing his unworthiness in the presence of Jesus’ divine goodness and power, in shock drops to his knees and confesses he is a sinner. Peter’s companions James, John and the sons of Zebedee are in the other boat watching this all unfold. Jesus comforts Peter and then him to discipleship with these words, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” So, Peter, James, John and the others got out of their boats, left their fishing careers – everything and they followed Jesus.      This amazing story demonstrates a few points. First, the power of God is a great multiplier of all our human efforts. God’s power to transcend our human limitations, our miscalculations and our discouragements make what we deem impossible possible. There are times in our Christian lives where we try and try, we pray and pray and nothing seems to shake loose. But then miraculously God comes alongside us, opens a door and we see clearly a path forward. Secondly, fishing for people, sharing the saving grace of Jesus Christ with others is no easy task. Still today, many Christians are afraid to speak and witness to others.      Luke reminds us that God calls us to push our faith out into deep waters. Yes, following Jesus is not easy, it will cost you something, but the gain is far greater than what you give up. Like Peter, God calls us to take the first step and he will without a doubt multiply our efforts. If we wait for our circumstances to be perfect, if we spend all our time over preparing, we will never begin. Amen. Rev. Dona Johnson |February 2, 2025