May 2025

Jesus asks, “Do You Want To Get Well?  Excerpts from my Red Rock News Religion Column May 23, 2025 Rev. Dona Johnson |May 25, 2025 Jesus has an amazing way of asking good open-ended questions. And asking good questions is key to active listening and getting beneath the surface of things. Researchers believe Jesus asked over 300 questions in the New Testament. The questions he asked people engaged them, forced them to have to think about life and made them more likely to own their own conclusions.       A great example of Jesus’ ability to ask provocative questions is in John 5, when he meets a man who had been paralyzed most of his life—for 38 years. Jesus saw the man lying by the pool, and every time the waters were stirred, other men at the pool would run and tumble over him to reach the waters first. When Jesus discovered the man had been lying there helpless for so long, it raised up within Jesus a penetrating question, a question that got to the heart of the matter. He asked the man, “Do you want to get well?” And that same powerful question speaks into our lives today. Do you and I want to get well?       What is wellness? Well, there is physical, emotional and spiritual wellness. Our wellness has a direct impact on our relationships with God, those around us and our overall quality of life. We play a crucial role in staying well. In other words we have a responsibility in maintaining wellness. If we are not feeling well, we see a doctor. If we have experienced some sort of emotional crisis, addiction or a relational impasse, we may seek a counselor, or a support group such AA or grief support. If we are having a spiritual crisis, we may seek soul care from a priest, pastor or spiritual director. And there is no shame associated with getting third party intervention. None what so ever. God sprinkles our world with physicians, therapist and spiritual directors to help us out of what often seems like an impossible situation.  Sometimes, we need someone to peel back the layers of excuses, fear and self-preservation by asking us the really hard questions that often wake us up. In fact, seeking help is a very healthy response. And for those of us who are experiencing a period of wellness, we can be God’s encouragers, not naggers to those who may be stuck and afraid to get help. We can be God’s prayers warriors calling on the power of the God to bring healing to those who are suffering. For sometimes we are so ill, we cannot help ourselves, we need the help of the Holy Spirit to intercede for us, and we need the help of others to assist us. And yet, on the flip side we can be overfocused on wellness—where we are overly obsessed or compulsive with it to the point that it controls our lives.     After Jesus asked the disabled man if he wanted to get well, and after the man gave a few excuses for why he laid there in despair for 38 years, Jesus said with exacting firmness, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured. He picked up his mat and walked (Jn 5:8). As William Barclay writes, “It was as if Jesus said to him, “Man, bend your will to it and you and I will do this thing together.”     There is a life-giving message here for all of us. God wants to heal us, and he also wants us to take an active part in it—to have an intense desire for it. Barclay continues, “There are so many things in this world that try to defeat us, but when we make the slightest effort, hopeless as it may seem, the power of Christ gets an opportunity to conquer what for so long conquered us.”     Where might you be stuck today? Does Jesus’ question, “Do you want to get well?” resonate with you in any way. If so, what does it mean in your life today? What do you see when you re-image your life and who you are? You and I are so worthy of wellness. May God fill your soul with true healing, not healing from the waters of some magical pool of water but from Christ himself, the source of wholeness and peace. Amen.Prayer: May Christ in his resurrection power bring his healing presence to our minds, our bodies and our souls. Rev. Dona Johnson |May 25, 2025

The Goodness Of God Will  Always Prevail  Excerpts from my Red Rock News Religion Column May 16, 2025 Rev. Dona Johnson |May 18, 2025 The Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum’s exit faces north for a good reason. As visitors complete the somber and soul-searching journey through the museum, the tunnel-like prism walls open up to a panoramic view of Israel. As one stands on the balcony to catch their breath from all the harsh reality of evil, one looks out at the sunlit Jerusalem forests and urbanized hills beyond. The architects wanted to reinforce that no matter how dark and horrific evil can be in this life, and it can be horrendously dark, new life and the goodness of God will always prevail.        In Revelation 21, the Spirit gives John an image of a new future with a Christian conviction that at the end of time, God promises a new heaven and a new earth, and a new holy city, a new Jerusalem will come down from heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. The end we meet will not be an event, but a Person. In the new Jerusalem, unlike Moses who never got to see God’s face, only his backside, God’s people will finally get to see him fact to face.        In this new creation, there will be no more tears, death, mourning, crying and pain. In the end, the light which is Christ himself will absorb the darkness of human suffering. For many of us have experienced more than our share of tears in this life. For those who have cried themselves asleep, tears aroused by death and deep sighs of grief for the abuse of animals and the natural world, tears stirred up by painful persecution, discrimination, poverty, disease, betrayal and abandonment, all of this suffering will pass away to make room for something new to be born. Then God will fill this vacuum with things that make a glorious new creation. All that now robs life from being fulfilled, from being a vibrant joyful life will be replaced with something beyond our imagination.       God will dwell, make his tabernacle with his people forever. This is what formed the dreams and laments of the early prophets. We hear this longing from the Prophet Isaiah, who heard God say, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing.” Paul also declares, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17). Over and over again, we hear throughout Scripture Christ’s promise to restore what is broken, and redeem the relationship between God and humanity. This is the powerful mystery of faith found only in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yes, God can take any man or woman and re-create him or her, and will someday create a new universe.       With God’s banishment of death, the last enemy as Paul declares, all God’s people will experience eternal life. And that is what every Christian sees waiting for them on the horizon. Although death is still a reality for us and all creation, a painful and sad reality, we no longer have to fear death. For in death we will not die, but move from life to life. Each and every day, God’s love prevails for “all” people, raising up people who are spiritually dead, into the promise of eternal life with him. Shabbat Shalom. Rev. Dona Johnson |May 18, 2025

From The Wilderness Of Sinai To TheEmpty Tomb, God’s Love Calls To Us Excerpts from my Red Rock News Religion Column May 9, 2025 Rev. Dona Johnson |May 11, 2025 One of the most iconic images given to Jesus is the image of the good shepherd. And it is central to our understanding of God’s character. As sheep, Christians belong to him, they can distinguish his voice among other voices and thus, not blindly but intentionally follow him. But for many of us, we have never seen a real shepherd, let alone a fold of sheep. That image is as foreign to most of us as being with a real cowboy in Wyoming or with some Inuit fisherman in Alaska.       At the end of Gospel of John 10:22-31, Jesus was walking in the colonnade of Solomon’s Temple, when a few Jews crowded around him determined to get an answer. They asked him, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? Tell us plainly are you or are you not the Messiah?” Although he had not made his position clear to them. He had appeared to the Samaritan woman (Jn 4:26) and she believed him, and he had also disclosed himself to the man born blind man (Jn 9:35). Maybe Jesus’ teachings were so clear, had they come to him with the right attitude they would have believed just as his Jewish disciples had believed. Herein lies the point of his message. Many people still today have heard about Jesus but they have yet to hear his voice. Many Christians who were raised in the church, may remember teachings about Jesus, but have strayed away from the fold and have been seduced by the flimsy promises of false shepherds.  Many today mix new age thinking with tried-and true Christian teachings. Many have wandered away because they were hurt and disillusioned by the church. But in all those situations God will never stop loving us and calling us back to his fold.       Jesus continues his conversation with the Jews who doubt his supremacy, “You do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal live, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.”       Christ’s sheep know his voice, and they follow the sound, the inflection and subtle nuances of their Shepherd’s voice. Oh that’s not to say its always easy, because it isn’t. Sometimes we hear God’s voice clearly and distinctly speaking to us. While at other times his voice is like whisper and we can barely sort it out. Though, one thing is for certain, one has to stay in close proximity to Jesus to hear his voice.      In Palestine, shepherds might overnight in a cave with their flocks mingled together. In the morning, each shepherd will call for his sheep, they hear the distinctions of his voice and automatically sort themselves out. Sheep were not killed for food but were kept alive for their wool. Therefore, the shepherd had his sheep for many years. He gave each one a name. Every now and then a sheep would stray away from the fold or feared crossing a stream and the shepherd would carry the lamb wrapped around his shoulders back to the safety of the fold.      This you can stake your life on: God knows each of us by name. He knows our address. He knows what each one of us needs, and he knows the hardships we suffer through.      Jesus, the Good Shepherd continues to call and search for us—sometimes we stray off course, sometimes we lose our way. But Jesus’ love and compassion for his sheep is a love like no other. To those to whom Jesus gives the gift of eternal life, they will never be forsaken. The promise of eternal life will never be revoked. Oh the ways of this world may chip away at our faith, may discourage us at times and cause us to doubt and even wander off. But the love and grace of God keeps speaking from the wilderness of Sinai to the empty tomb, Jesus keeps calling us back to his eternal love. Rev. Dona Johnson |May 11, 2025

Genuine Love Involves  Responsibility And Sacrifice Excerpts from my Red Rock News Religion Column May 2, 2025 Rev. Dona Johnson |May 4, 2025 Only two weeks ago, many of us participated in Easter worship and celebrated the risen Christ with family and friends. For many Christians, Easter stirs up feelings of hope and love. But now weeks later, we are back in the world, back on the job, spring break is over and we are left with all the stress and responsibilities of life. For some, the impact of Jesus’ resurrection is wearing off, but our longing to be loved still remains.       In Jesus’ third post-resurrection appearance, he appears to his disciples while they are fishing on Lake Tiberius (John 21:1-19). He calls out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. He said, “Throw your nets on the other side and you will find some.” Suddenly their nets are filled with a miraculous catch fish. The miracle gave John all the clue he needed to recognize the man on the shore. He said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” Jesus invited them to have breakfast. After they had finished eating, Jesus pulled Peter aside and asked him, “Do you love me more than these?” In other words, do you love me more these fish? Do you love me more than a successful fishing career? Are you prepared to give them all up to love and give yourself to my people? Jesus asked Peter not once but three times the same question, “Do you love me?” One must remember, Peter had once promised Jesus that he would never desert him (Matt.26:33). Though it was Peter who denied he knew Jesus three times. Peter’s love for Jesus was suspect. But Jesus looks into Peter’s heart, and sees the real Peter. He forgives Peter. He reinstates Peter to give him a future. After Peter affirms his love for Jesus. Then Jesus challenges his love with a task. “If you love me,” Jesus said, “then feed and care for, be a shepherd to the lambs of my flock.” Love brought Peter a task and it brought him a cross.        Genuine love includes words that affirm love followed by actions of love. To say you love someone is a very weighty declaration because it requires a great deal of responsibility to live out those words. Authenticated love, love that is tried and found true involves responsibility and sacrifice—the sacrifice of pride, the sacrifice of our self-centeredness and our attachments to other things and a surrender of our wills.      Millions of people grabble with love; feeling loved, receiving love and giving love. There are so many people who feel unloved today. For whatever reason they don’t feel loveable or worthy of love so they resist giving themselves to others. You can’t give what you don’t have. Many people are able to love God only so much and are willing to sacrifice only so far because they fear intimacy. They fear being hurt. When we love deeply there is always the risk of being hurt. Love gets messy sometimes. But greater yet, there is always the possibility of forgiveness. When we fear intimacy with God, we compensate by intellectualizing God, knowing God as information rather than experiencing God’s love in their hearts.      David Benner, a depth psychologist and author of “Surrender to Love” writes, “Millions of people fear intimate relationships with God and other people because they have experienced rejection and abandonment by a parent, friend of lover. Love is dangerous because it invites us to surrender. . . The saddest thing of all is when our crippling fear and anxiety stops us from encountering “Perfect Love”—the one thing that has the potential to heal us from our fears.”        One question that surfaces from Jesus’ encounter with Peter is this: how deeply do you and I love God? As God invited Peter to love him deeply, the amazing grace of God gives us the faith and courage to be shepherded and loved back into the fold of his eternal love. Rev. Dona Johnson |May 4, 2025