it’s no wonder that the people were so intrigued by this new way of life that Jesus was offering that they wanted him to usher it in completely.

As we reflect on the different orbits that followers of Jesus fall into, some insight from an unusual source might be helpful.

Today we’re reading a short text that you don’t hear about much in the church.

Today we’re looking at the near orbit. Notice how these women followed Jesus, giving up their families and their normal lives to follow along with him from village to village. Note how they spent their money to support the whole group of disciples.

Martha and her sister Mary and their brother Lazarus were dear friends of Jesus. But they didn’t spend a lot of time with him. Only occasionally did they get to connect. That connection was mostly when Jesus came to their little village of Bethany and stayed with them.

Yesterday we heard what many people said was an unusual message. Instead of pressuring for more regular church attendance, the message was about how God honors peoples’s spiritual journeys even when it leads them away from Sunday attendance.

As we’ve been thinking about arguing with God this week, the intro to a long poem came to mind. It’s from a friend of City Church who has had plenty of these challenging conversations with God.

Arguing with God is a common theme in the scriptures. Often, it’s the most mature spiritual leaders who do the most arguing. We’ve been looking at Moses this week, but other examples abound. Today, let’s look at Habakkuk, the great prophet.

At the edge of the Promised Land, Moses and God get into a tussle. There have been all sorts of ups and downs in their relationship, not to mention all the drama between the people in general and God. It hasn’t been easy.

There’s lots of arguing between God and the people in Chapter 33 of Exodus. It starts when God, frustrated by the people’s fickleness and unwillingness to stay connected relationally, has what might be called an emotional outburst. Essentially God says, “I’m done with you!”

The temptations to side with the have’s versus the have nots and perhaps enjoy some scraps from their table are real. How does love of God and others move us?

Since we’ve been considering kairos all week, this seemed like an appropriate way to head into our weekend.

One of the best things about Jesus is that he shows us how to do the spiritual journey in healthy, life-giving ways. In our passage for today, note how Jesus himself kept watch for what God was up to.

There may be two sides of the coin of paying attention that are worth thinking about here. The first is that it’s how we become aware of God working in our lives. The second is that it becomes a form of worship.

What the author of Ephesians is trying to do here is to encourage us to pay attention to our lives. Our lives are not made up just of 24 hour days. Our lives are made up of meaningful moments which last far longer than any stop watch could ever capture.

That’s the passage that Brenna Rubio read to start the service at the beach yesterday. Then she had us do a simple exercise in embodiment. She invited us to take a few deep breaths, breathing in to the word ‘peace’ and breathing out to the word ‘blessing.’

Sharon Irving’s spoken word is a powerful prayer of peace and an experience of intimacy with God.

In the story of the woman caught in adultery the men caught in hypocrisy, Jesus handles the Old Testament prescription of violence with a radical new twist.

Today we want to think more on these sorts of questions. If this awkward book that makes us question and think actually contains the Word of God, can we trust that God will help us find truth as we listen to it?

On Sunday we had some lively interaction around this passage where God commands Moses to kill off a bunch of people. What a doozy.