First Love Church

Luke 24:13-35

This scene is set on the same day as the women’s discovery of the empty tomb from last week. We learn that two disciples are walking, leaving Jerusalem to make the seven-mile jaunt to Emmaus. Why are they leaving Jerusalem? Do they fear for their lives now that Jesus has been executed? We don’t really know. All Luke tells us is that they are grieved about their recent experience. They are talking to one another, hoping to make sense of the nonsensical, when Jesus himself walks alongside them and joins them on their journey.


For the writer of Luke, however, Jesus is most Jesus at a table, at an ordinary meal infused with significance because of the people gathered around the food. One of the most characteristic activities of Jesus’ ministry in Luke is eating. He is accused early in the Gospel of being a glutton and a drunkard (7:34); worse, he eats with all the wrong people! So, it’s instructive that it’s not his teaching that open their eyes. It’s not his presence. It’s his sharing of bread with his friends. It’s his blessing of food. In this sharing of bread at an ordinary table, we catch a glimpse of Jesus’ transformative kingdom.

In Luke, eating is a radical act because it breaks down cultural boundaries. In Luke, the resurrected Jesus shares that bread once again with his followers. And in feeding them, Jesus opens their eyes, helping them see that Jesus was with them the whole time.

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving

In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake

The Easter Season provides opportunities for the church to reflect on the biblical witness concerning the rumors of the resurrection.

It is still the first day of the week, according to the written record. So much happened from sunrise to evening on that day to turn the world over and over again, worshipers today can linger in the original testimony. For some, it is still news that the entire witness to the resurrection began on the testimony of women. 

First, a mourning Mary discovers an empty tomb and reports this news to Peter and the other, unnamed, disciple whom Jesus loved; and a new scene emerges. The disciples race to the tomb, entering the space to find the linen that wrapped the body of Jesus, but, as Mary said: no body. What it is the beloved disciple believes, the writer confirms, is believed without seeing the body, without knowledge of the Scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead, and without the testimony of others who have indeed seen Jesus. Before this week’s passage, the writer turns back to Mary—the third report and first sighting. It is this testimony of something a woman said, that prepares us for this week’s witness to the resurrection.

Disciples have gathered. Here, the record does not specify how many, as in other places (6:66-67; 20:24), but Thomas is not present. The unconfirmed rumors of the resurrection started by Mary has brought neither understanding nor obedience. Perplexity and amazement, cynicism and unbelief. The disciples are clueless concerning the meaning of Jesus’ death, disappointed by this presumed dashing of their hopes, and astounded by reports of the empty tomb (not much has changed).

The disciples are fearful. Good news does not erase fear. Good news, incredible news, can ignite hope, but even hope does not eliminate genuine fear. So, there they were in a familiar place desperate with unfamiliar fear. An empty tomb isn’t enough to confirm all that Jesus promised is true. What does the resurrection mean? It means God still shows up. The writer continues to rehearse elements of the storied witness to God as testimony to Jesus.

So Jesus shows up. (Now you want to talk about fear ...) Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”  No doubt it was Jesus. They recognized the scars. They see the stripes on his back and the hole in his side. And in recognition, John says they rejoiced. God is (still) with us! And Jesus, like God breathing life into the first human, breathed on the disciples. The prospect of insight comes with the intrusion of Jesus—for the Spirit of God proceeds from him, opens the eyes of the disciples. 

What they saw is all Thomas desires. Too often the focus here is on Thomas’ doubt. But Thomas was not present when Jesus showed up on the other side of a locked door to greet fearful followers with peace and the instruction to forgive. Thomas’ request is merely for what the other’s experienced. The wonder of this moment is Jesus’ willingness to meet Thomas exactly where Thomas names he needs meeting. Thomas names what Jesus knew his disciples needed. The doors are shut. Jesus appears, nail scars and all. His offering of peace is followed by a demonstration of forgiveness—no condemnation for Thomas’ request—a simple invitation. The disciples rejoiced, but Thomas’ response is praise. There is a difference.

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving

In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake

Matthew 5:13-20

Jesus calls us to be salt, to serve in the way we were designed to serve. But what if we do not? What if we lose our saltiness? What if we hide the light under a basket? The call of the Sermon of the Mount is high and costly and risky. The darkening of the light, the loss of the salt’s saltiness is not without consequence.

Jesus makes clear that he is not overthrowing the law and the prophets. He stands in the streams of righteous hope and transformative justice that both have reflected God for generations of faithful Israelites. To abolish the law and the prophets is to declare that God’s voice has changed or, worse, that God’s voice was not to be trusted in the first place.

If we proclaim the Sermon on the Mount as a wholesale innovation rather than an outgrowth of ancient traditions of faith, we may find ourselves participating in abolishment of the law and the prophets. Jesus wants to make clear that his teachings are not erasing a letter or even a stroke of the letter of the law. For Matthew’s Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount does not replace the law and the prophets but echoes them.

The promises God made, the actions God takes, the commands God voices are bound up together. And so, Jesus continues to explain in verse 19 that a rank of sorts in the kingdom of heaven depends on whether we live and teach the commandments or whether we reject and teach others to reject the commandments.

Again, this is not a call to mere moralism but a call to a life of trust in God. If we trust God’s promises, if we stand grateful for God’s actions, then we will bend our lives toward the life-giving ways God has called us to follow. Breaking a commandment is not just breaking a rule; it is denying the promises and actions of God. Teaching others to do the same is not just leading them astray but de-forming their very being as children of a God who promises and liberates and teaches us how to live towards abundant life.

The stakes are high, Matthew’s Jesus reiterates, as we close our passage. Verse 20 uplifts the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees and asks those hoping to “enter the kingdom of heaven” to exceed it. 

God authored those commandments, not as a barrier around obedience or as a limit to our faithfulness, but as a starting point for righteousness, an opening into a life attuned to God’s grace-filled will.

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving

In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake

Jesus calls us to be Salt and Light a narrative and a command.

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving

In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake

Our friend and guest minister Jonathan Martin.

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving

In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake

Jonathan Martin is our guest minister 

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving

In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake

Acts 10:9-38

This account challenges our thinking the same way today as it did when the church was young. Peter has a divine encounter and obeys what He acknowledges is God's direction. And subsequently Cornelius and the large congregation in his home hear the good news and are filled with the Holy Spirit.

There is a challenge today that asks us to hear the message and open wide our gates.  The message is even better than we dared imagine and it is for everyone! 

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving

In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake

Acts 10:9-38

There is power in this account of the Apostle Peters vision and subsequent obedience, power to challenge our ways of thinking.
The gospel the good news is so much better than we dared imagine, and it's for everyone.
 

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving

In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake

Romans 15:4-13
2nd Sunday of Advent

From the beginning of the letter Paul has argues that the Gospel is for both Jews and Greeks (Romans 1:14-17). So we have here a climax both to Paul’s argument and to his way of arguing. Paul makes it clear in Romans 15:4 that the past (“whatever was written in former days”) was meant for this very present time (“written for our instruction”), in order to give hope.

Paul’s answer, and his prayer for the fledgling community, is harmony and hope. As Paul explains, the past—both Christ’s work and scripture—gives shape to and encouragement for the community’s present harmony, which orients all in hope towards God’s future.

Paul is urging the Roman Christians to find the unity that belongs to them in the Gospel: he urges, but ultimately he knows that whatever unity, hope, or peace that exists in the community depends on God’s work and graciousness, as indeed the community’s existence itself is grounded in the grace of God given in Jesus—the fulfillment of God’s promises.

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving

In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake

Creating your world through prayer.  Joseph uses 2 new testament stories to remind us about the power of prayer.  

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving

In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake

Thomas Drake offers a sermon 

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving

In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake

Luke 17:11-19

Jesus heals the ten lepers- one- the Samaritan- returns to give thanks.   When we recognize the work of God in our lives and in the world the response should be return and give thanks.  The practice of gratitude allows us to be mindful and to practice kingdom influence and rule in our lives.

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving

In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake

Luke 16
In response to the scandal of His table practices and the anger of the religious establishment,  Jesus continues to offer alternate narratives on what God is like and what is blessed.  

Lazarus lives everyday in poverty and need, the unnamed rich man lives in luxury. 
Eventually both the rich man and Lazarus die, as all do, regardless of social position (Luke 16:22). Our social status and poverty/wealth do not accompany us. Lazarus likely died because of his poverty and the dis-ease that poverty causes. Many health problems are associated with poverty, and the poor are disproportionately subjected to diverse forms of violence. In fact, the violence to which the poor are subjected interferes with the ability to improve their lives. But death is not speechless here. The angels transport the poor man away to be with Abraham, but the rich man ends up in hot Hades (the underworld) where Lazarus with Abraham commune in plain view (16:22-24).

The (formerly rich) man shouts to Abraham with a familiarity and sense of subordination. Referring to him as ‘Father Abraham,’ he asks that Abraham demonstrate mercy by sending Lazarus to cool his tongue by dipping his finger in water and placing it in his mouth to alleviate his agony (Luke 16:25). In death as in life, the man treats Lazarus as if he is a slave/subordinate whose purpose is to serve him. If Abraham is father, the man is child (16:26). Abraham reminds him that in life he received good things, and Lazarus received evil things, but now the reversed is true (see also 1:46-55). Lazarus is comforted; the man is in agony. Poor people are not evil, but poverty and disease are evils that can be alleviated. “Blessed are the poor” (6:20). God does not create poverty; human beings do. What humans create, humans can fix, if they so desire.

An insurmountable chasm separates the once rich man from those who would help him (Luke 16:27). If he cannot be helped maybe, he begs, Father Abraham can send “him” to warn his five brothers so they do not also end up in Hades (16:28). The rich man still appears not to know Lazarus’ name. Abraham responds that his five brothers have access to the same prophetic oracles and Mosaic teachings that he had: perform justice for orphans and widows, love strangers by providing food and clothing; do justice and love kindness (Deuteronomy 10:19; Micah 6:8). Just as he did not heed the Scriptures, neither will his brothers even if someone returns from the dead to warn them (16:29-30). We have the teachings of the resurrected Jesus, and yet we too fail to love our neighbors, in very tangible, just, and merciful ways; we build fences, gates and walls and then justify them (6:7-36; 10:36-37).

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving

In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake

Luke 16
In response to the scandal of His table practices and the anger of the religious establishment,  Jesus continues to offer alternate narratives on what God is like and what is blessed.  

Lazarus lives everyday in poverty and need, the unnamed rich man lives in luxury. 
Eventually both the rich man and Lazarus die, as all do, regardless of social position (Luke 16:22). Our social status and poverty/wealth do not accompany us. Lazarus likely died because of his poverty and the dis-ease that poverty causes. Many health problems are associated with poverty, and the poor are disproportionately subjected to diverse forms of violence. In fact, the violence to which the poor are subjected interferes with the ability to improve their lives. But death is not speechless here. The angels transport the poor man away to be with Abraham, but the rich man ends up in hot Hades (the underworld) where Lazarus with Abraham commune in plain view (16:22-24).

The (formerly rich) man shouts to Abraham with a familiarity and sense of subordination. Referring to him as ‘Father Abraham,’ he asks that Abraham demonstrate mercy by sending Lazarus to cool his tongue by dipping his finger in water and placing it in his mouth to alleviate his agony (Luke 16:25). In death as in life, the man treats Lazarus as if he is a slave/subordinate whose purpose is to serve him. If Abraham is father, the man is child (16:26). Abraham reminds him that in life he received good things, and Lazarus received evil things, but now the reversed is true (see also 1:46-55). Lazarus is comforted; the man is in agony. Poor people are not evil, but poverty and disease are evils that can be alleviated. “Blessed are the poor” (6:20). God does not create poverty; human beings do. What humans create, humans can fix, if they so desire.

An insurmountable chasm separates the once rich man from those who would help him (Luke 16:27). If he cannot be helped maybe, he begs, Father Abraham can send “him” to warn his five brothers so they do not also end up in Hades (16:28). The rich man still appears not to know Lazarus’ name. Abraham responds that his five brothers have access to the same prophetic oracles and Mosaic teachings that he had: perform justice for orphans and widows, love strangers by providing food and clothing; do justice and love kindness (Deuteronomy 10:19; Micah 6:8). Just as he did not heed the Scriptures, neither will his brothers even if someone returns from the dead to warn them (16:29-30). We have the teachings of the resurrected Jesus, and yet we too fail to love our neighbors, in very tangible, just, and merciful ways; we build fences, gates and walls and then justify them (6:7-36; 10:36-37).

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving

In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake

1 Timothy 6:6-19          2 Corinthians 9:6-13

2 Corinthians 9:13 says this, “Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the Gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing.”

The pairing of confession with generosity is the culmination of two chapters of reflection on generosity in giving and sharing. It is useful to quote from 2 Corinthians 9 at greater length to illustrate this:

The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. As it is written,

“He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;
    his righteousness endures forever.”

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us (2 Corinthians 9:6-11).

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving

In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake

Luke 15:11-32

The table practices of Jesus were scandalous and getting Him into further trouble with the Pharisees.  This parable is part of the set of three, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, that offer a new perspective on the God that Jesus knows.  This portion of the parable tells the story of the prodigal son - but more importantly invites us to become like the Father in welcoming both the prodigal and the elder brother.   



“I am the prodigal son every time I search for unconditional love where it cannot be found.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving

In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake

Luke 15:11-32

The table practices of Jesus were scandalous and getting Him into further trouble with the Pharisees.  This parable is part of the set of three, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, that offer a new perspective on the God that Jesus knows.  This portion of the parable tells the story of the prodigal son - but more importantly invites us to become like the Father in welcoming both the prodigal and the elder brother.   



“I am the prodigal son every time I search for unconditional love where it cannot be found.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving

In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake

Luke 15:1-10

Jesus tell us what God is like.  God is like a Shepard, God is like a woman.  These parables tell us things about our Father that we had gotten wrong.  Sheep wander but we are reminded that coins do not lose themselves.  A Father who looks for us even when those who were supposed to care for us, value us and protect us failed.  In our places of brokenness, lostness, that we ourselves did not earn or deserve, Jesus tells us God will come and look for us, and find us. 

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving

In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake

Luke 14:25-33
Follow Me- into a life where family means more than those who look just like you.

Carrying the cross is a daily struggle and the commitment must be renewed every day when confronted with the temptation to lay it down (Luke 9:23-25). Perhaps what Jesus means by hating family is to refuse to live by narrow, exclusive ideas of family when it comes to meeting human needs and contributing to the wholeness of all human beings.

It is the Lucan Jesus that tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, expanding the boundaries of neighbor love that crosses religious affiliation, ethnicity, race, and other socially constructed categories (Luke 10:25-37). The one who loves mercy more than life (i.e., the risk-taker for justice) is the one who will extend mercy to the stranger/neighbor in need.

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving

In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake

Luke 14:1,1-14

Jesus is invited to dinner at a Pharisees house, there he sees trouble.  People clamoring for the good seats, seats of honor, and Jesus offers us another way.

Luke’s Gospel begins with this theme of lifting up the marginalized and oppressed. When Elizabeth, a childless married woman, conceives, she declares that God took away her social shame and exalted her (Luke 1:24-25). Mary, a young unmarried virgin, conceives with Holy Spirit, but like other women the baby will grow in her womb for nine months, making her, we imagine, the object of her social derision (1:26-38). But Mary’s song tells the story of status reversal—God looks favorably on the humility of God’s enslaved girl; future (if not the present—people can count) generations will call her blessed (1:46-55). As the Most High who dwells in the Highest heaven, God exalts the poor, lowly, and marginalized, as does Jesus as the son and prophet of the Most High (1:32, 35, 76; 2:14). If the Most High God and his son visits, communes with, and uplifts the lowliest in society, surely the Pharisees and Jesus’ disciples should do the same.

Jesus also advises the dinner host, a leader of the Pharisees, that his guest list should not be limited to those within and above his social class; he should invite the marginalized, the dis-eased and physically challenged, and/or those who are socially and economically humbled. He should include people who cannot return the favor of hosting a feast to which he would be invited. This teaching is reinforced with a second parable (Luke 14:15-24). Obviously, Jesus is not viewed in the same light as the poor and marginalized people he mentions; he is one of the guests. This is likely because despite Jesus’ material poverty, his authoritative teaching and powerful healing resulted in notoriety among the crowds and a number of dinner invitations; he had authority and privilege others lacked. If the host responds affirmatively to Jesus’ wisdom and admonition, he will be blessed in the future, namely at the resurrection of the just (14:14; see also 1: 6, 17, 25).

This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving

In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake