The Reverend Tracy

10/08/2025

✝️ Sunday Sermon

“My Brother from Another Savior”
A Reflection by The Reverend Tracy

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💡 Opening Reflection

“You don’t have to agree with someone’s path to recognize their humanity.
If your theology makes you hate someone God made — it’s not from Jesus.”

That’s it. That’s the sermon in one sentence.

We live in a world where religious differences often become excuses for division, suspicion, or even violence. But when I read the Gospels, I don’t see Jesus turning away from those who didn’t share His faith — I see Him drawing near.

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📖 What the Bible Says

1. John 4:7–26 — Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well. Jews and Samaritans had deep religious rifts, but He offers her living water, not condemnation.

2. Matthew 8:5–13 — Jesus heals the servant of a Roman centurion. This man served an occupying empire, worshiped differently, and yet Jesus marveled at his faith.

3. Micah 4:5 — “All the nations may walk in the name of their gods; we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.” Scripture itself acknowledges cultural diversity in worship.

Not once does the Bible command violence toward those of other religions. Over and over, it calls us to love our neighbor — no conditions attached.

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🪞 The Challenge for Us Today

Loving our neighbor means loving the Muslim next door, the Jewish coworker, the Buddhist friend — and yes, the atheist who challenges our beliefs.

It doesn’t mean agreeing with everything they believe.
It means seeing them as equally made in the image of God.

If we’re honest, rejecting someone because they don’t share our faith is often less about holiness and more about fear. But Scripture tells us: Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

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📚 Theological Voices

Miroslav Volf — Teaches that all Abrahamic faiths may be worshiping the same God through different cultural lenses, and calls for reconciliation over rivalry.

Karen Armstrong — Writes that compassion is the common thread running through every major religion, and that living compassion is truer than debating doctrine.

Desmond Tutu — Reminded us that “God’s family has no outsiders.”

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🧠 Scientific & Psychological Backing

Modern psychology affirms what Jesus modeled:

Contact theory — Building relationships across religious boundaries reduces prejudice and increases empathy.

Compassion research — Acts of kindness toward “out-groups” lower stress, boost emotional well-being, and deepen personal resilience.

The science agrees: loving those different from us isn’t just good theology — it’s good for the human heart.

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🕊️ Final Word

We don’t have to erase our differences to embrace our shared humanity.

We can honor the way Jesus engaged with those outside His faith tradition — with compassion, respect, and humility.

So let’s return to the anchor truth:

✨ “You don’t have to agree with someone’s path to recognize their humanity. If your theology makes you hate someone God made — it’s not from Jesus.” ✨

Amen.

03/08/2025

03/08/2025

🕊️ Sunday Sermon Post: "We Rejoice in Our Humblings" 🕊️
By Reverend Tracy

There’s a cultural discomfort we carry around being “humbled.” It’s often treated like shame — like something to run from, something to deny or dress up with pride. But what if we’ve misunderstood what it means to be humbled?

In Jesus’ own words:

📖 “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 14:11)

It’s not a threat. It’s a mirror.
Jesus wasn’t about social games or power posturing — He saw through all of it. And He called us, gently and clearly, to a path of deep self-honesty.

True humility isn’t humiliation — it’s integration.
It’s a returning to truth, even the parts that make us uncomfortable. And this is where modern psychology — particularly shadow work — echoes Jesus in a powerful way.

Carl Jung, who coined the term “shadow,” said:

🗣️ “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

Shadow work is the process of owning the parts of ourselves we’ve rejected — our rage, our envy, our grief, our insecurity — not to indulge them, but to heal and integrate them. It doesn’t contradict the Gospel. It mirrors it.

Because Jesus didn’t come to congratulate our curated images —
He came to liberate our whole selves.

🕊️ Theologian Henri Nouwen once said:

🗣️ “We are not the healers, we are not the reconcilers, we are not the givers of life. We are sinful, broken, vulnerable people who need as much care as anyone we care for.”

To walk the path of Christ is to welcome the moments that humble us — not because they’re easy, but because they lead us home to the truth.
To the truth that we’re not perfect.
To the truth that we don’t need to be.
To the truth that God does some of God’s best work through broken soil.

If you’ve been humbled lately —
By loss.
By confrontation.
By your own mistakes.
By realizing you were wrong…

…don’t rush past it.
There’s holy ground there.

🌿 We rejoice in our humblings — not because they’re painless, but because they’re purifying.
We rejoice, because they remind us:
We are not God.
And we were never meant to be.

28/07/2025

"All across the country we showed that when our families stick together, we are powerful," one organizer said.

27/07/2025

“Christ-like Isn’t a Selfie”

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There’s a phrase I’ve been using lately — not because it’s theological, but because it gets the point across:
“Self-identifying Christian.”

I say it when someone insists they’re Christian…
while showing no signs of being Christ-like.

It’s not a doctrinal critique. It’s a spiritual side-eye.
Because “Christian” was never meant to be a label you gave yourself.
It was a title others gave when they saw Jesus in you.

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📖 “They were first called Christians in Antioch.” — Acts 11:26

They didn’t start a club.
They didn’t post a status update.
They lived in such a way that outsiders looked in and said:
“That one reminds me of Christ.”

So here's the question for every one of us — myself included:
Would anyone say that about us without being prompted?

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🪞The Selfie Gospel

There’s a strange irony playing out in the Church today:

Some of the loudest self-proclaimed Christians insist the world honor their identity as “Christian”…
while mocking the very people Jesus prioritized.

They quote scripture to justify exclusion,
while ignoring the Jesus who touched lepers, dined with sinners, and defended the marginalized.

And the most jarring part?

They demand respect for their chosen identity
while sneering at LGBTQ+ people for naming theirs.

That’s not Christianity.
That’s branding.
That’s power trying to pass as piety.

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✨ What Scripture Actually Says

The Bible doesn’t reward the proud.
It uplifts the humble.
It honors those who make love their loudest witness.

📖 Romans 12:16 — “Live in harmony with one another… Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.”
📖 Micah 6:8 — “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly.”
📖 John 13:35 — “By this everyone will know you are my disciples: if you love one another.”

And let’s not forget:

Funny how the people most likely to scream “identity politics”
forget that the Bible literally says identity in Christ
dissolves every social hierarchy we cling to.

Jew or Greek.
Slave or free.
Male and female.
You are one. (Galatians 3:28)

If that makes some folks uncomfortable,
maybe it’s because their faith was built on power, not Jesus.

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📚 Faithful Theologians Speak Love, Too

There’s a growing cloud of witnesses reminding us that following Christ means expanding the table — not shrinking it.

Rev. Dr. David Gushee, in Changing Our Mind, calls Christians to revisit scripture with compassion at the center, especially regarding LGBTQ+ inclusion.

Matthew Vines, in God and the Gay Christian, unpacks common misreadings and shows that love between q***r people is not condemned by the Gospel.

Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney, a womanist scholar, teaches us that if we’re not uplifting the marginalized in how we read and teach scripture — we’re not reading it through Christ’s eyes.

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🙏 So What Makes Someone a Christian?

It’s not about being seen in church.
It’s about someone seeing Jesus in you.

It’s not about what you declare.
It’s about how you live.

It’s feeding the hungry.
It’s choosing mercy.
It’s listening more than speaking.

It’s laying down power — not clinging to it in Jesus’ name.

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🕊️ Final Word

Funny how the people most likely to scream “identity politics” forget that the Bible literally says identity in Christ dissolves every social hierarchy we cling to.

Jew or Greek.
Slave or free.
Male and female.
You are one.

You can say you’re a Christian all day long.
But the world isn’t listening for what you say — it’s watching who you love.

If the people around you wouldn’t describe you as Christ-like,
then the question isn’t just:
“Am I still a Christian?”

It’s:

✨ “Am I still following Christ?” ✨

Amen 🙏