Sermons

First Christian Church

“Slow and Surely”

1 Peter 2:2-10

Eastertide ends on Pentecost Sunday, May 24, which puts us a little beyond mid Easter season. By this time the magnificence of the resurrection of Christ has dissipated because we've been immersed in our lives of meeting daily requirements. This makes our text for today especially important since its an attempt to resurrect resurrection.

This portion of Peter's first letter is chock-full of metaphors of which some of them convey the magnificence of the resurrected life. This includes metaphors having to do with iconic structures or places, precious stones or newborn babies! The tone for these inspirational metaphors was actually set in the previous chapter with the following words:

What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him! This Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead we've been given a brand new life and have everything to live for....” (1 Peter 1:3; The Message Bible)

Maybe the metaphor of a newborn baby best captures what it means to “have been given a brand new life” with all the promise and possibilities that entails. But this new life also requires us to follow certain pathways that lead to the unfolding of it. Some things depend on us if we're to do what is necessary to ensure the “living waters” continue to flow up and out of us! This often means to turn away from fears and anxiety to trust in the presence of God both within us and on the outside.

It brings to mind something I used to face playing on the North Shore Golf Course in Tacoma. We lived in an apartment just off the sixteenth hole and watching people play through often inspired me to get out and play the course.

On the fifteenth hole there was a large body of water you had to hit over from the tee. I often found it a bit intimidating. What made it difficult was starting from the tee. This meant you had no momentum since you weren't hitting from midway of the fairway.

I would overcompensate trying to hit the ball too hard and invariably end up in the water. When really, all I had to do was hit the ball solid and it would travel the distance every time. My overcompensating was a result of being anxious about not clearing the distance. But when I would be quiet and calm myself through prayer and taking slow, deep breaths prior to hitting all would be well.

And so it is in these brand-new resurrected lives we've been given. Whenever we become fearful or anxious when trying to accomplish tasks or repair relationships or achieve some ego desire we invariably overcompensate. This often complicates matters or we simply fail all together. But if instead we turn and lean into our resurrected lives trusting in God's power we're much more likely to hit the ball squarely, so to speak.

One way to talk about what I'm doing at the fifteenth hole is I'm intentionally slowing down so God can do his thing through me. The philosopher Bayo Akomolafe (Bay-o A-com-moe-la-fay) expands on this by suggesting slowing down when we're confronted by a crisis:

To “slow down'”...seems like the wrong think to do when there's fire on the mountain. But here's the point: in “hurrying up” all the time, we often lose sight of the abundance of resources that might help us meet today's most challenging crises. We rush through the same patterns we are used to. Of course, there isn't a single way to respond to a crisis; there is no universally correct way. However the call to slow down works to bring us face to face with the invisible, the hidden, the unremarked, the yet-to-be-resolved....It is about staying in the places that are haunted.

Facing a body of water to hit a golf ball across isn't a crisis situation nor is it a “haunted place” but there are such places in our lives that we want to rush through rather than slow down and wait for God. That takes practice until eventually we learn that slowing down is the best path to follow. It's really what it means to be loving as Barbara Holmes explains in the following excerpt:

In order to love, you have to slow down. There is no such thing as “drive-by loving.” You have to give attention to the object, to the person, of your love. There has to be reciprocity and mutuality. It is giving ourselves over, letting go so something else can do the loving through us, because we're not capable of it.

Admitting we're not capable of loving is an expression of humility because humility is knowing our rightful place in the world. Humility is to be aware of our limitations and to accept them. It is to not pretend or a more positive way to say it is to be our True self. Sometimes it takes a crisis to get us to let go to the point we can drop down into our True self and the following story illustrates the process.

Some time ago Karen and I took a vacation on a Carnival Cruise to Ensenada. The cruise itself turned out to be one big party with a festive atmosphere and ample drinking of alcoholic beverages. It wasn't really our type of cruise but we made the best of it. There are still a lot of enjoyable experiences on any cruise including good food, great massages and entertaining shows.

My crisis came in the middle of the first night trying to sleep in a claustrophobic inside cabin. I awoke feeling uncomfortable and needing some air but we were entirely enclosed in a very small cabin. I had no idea what to do other than I needed some breathing room and as my anxiety increased so did the frequency of my breath accompanied with shallow breathing.

This is how you arrive at a full-fledged panic attack because as your breathing becomes increasingly rapid and shallow you change the oxygen/carbon dioxide ratio in your blood. This actually results in a mild sensation of suffocation which feeds the panic leaving you caught in a downward vortex.

The best way to stop the downward spiral is to slow down and take deep breaths while centering in God at the same time. And that's exactly what I did by reciting the psalms and taking slow, deep breaths. Because I've practiced quiet, centering prayer for so long I soon dropped down into that sacred, spacious place within myself and all of a sudden had more room than I ever needed.

In a heartbeat I went from panic attack to the peace of God and it wasn't long before I was fast asleep again. An added benefit was the religious experience stayed with me for the remainder of the cruise helping me to enjoy most everything else that happened. I let go of the panic so something else could love me, and the letting go was involuntarily. It happened by the grace of God.

The tendency at the onset of a panic attack is to take flight! You want to get through it as quickly as possible, but if you stay in the “haunted place” trusting in God the possibility of a genuine escape can emerge. I stayed in the haunted place by reciting the psalms and consciously slowing my breathing until God provided the escape.

The scriptures encourage us to stay in the haunted place until God arrives specifically in this passage from the Letter of James:

Consider it sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. (James 1:2-5; The Message Bible)

Rev. Mitch Becker

May 3, 2026

Port Angeles

First Christian Church

“Guarding Gates”

John 10:1-10

The Gospel of John is sometimes called The Maverick Gospel. The word “maverick” actually comes from the raising and herding of cattle because a maverick cow was one that was unbranded. It was different from the others – off on its own. The Gospel of John is also different and off on its own in relation to the other gospels.

One way this characteristic stands out is that the kingdom of God is mentioned only once in this gospel (John 3:3-5). Whereas, in the Gospel of Luke it's mentioned thirty-two times! The kingdom of God is a central theme in all the gospels other than John.

Something else that stands out is a focus on right seeing and right interpretation. Jesus warns against following those who have come before him which he identifies as strangers, thieves and robbers. This amounts to a negative characterization of false teachers, corrupt religious leaders, and anyone claiming to be Messiah or offering a path of salvation other than his.

These characterizations can be seen as rather harsh as Jesus is drawing a distinct line of demarcation between him and any would-be substitute. To understand this, we need to look at the historical situation of the early church. At the writing of this gospel the early church had been around for a while. It's been two or three decades since the writing of Luke and Matthew whereas John was written around 90 AD.

Also, it's important to remember that the converts to the early church were predominately Jewish. When reading the Gospel of John, the last gospel written, it can be helpful to imagine a Jewish synagogue situated right across the street from John's church. As they near the end of the first century John may be experiencing a desire for some of the converts to want to return to the synagogue.

This line of demarcation drawn to distinguish between Judaism and the new fledgling religion of Christianity emerges repeatedly throughout the gospel. For example, the phrase “the Jews” appears around seventy times in this gospel and its not difficult to sense a negative connotation associated with that particular phrase.

You're probably not aware of it but today is known as Good Shepherd Sunday, hence our text. Yet, it really isn't about Jesus as the Good Shepherd. If you look at it closely the more important word used to describe Jesus is the “gate.” It's easy to think of a gate as restricting the movements of the sheep, which it does, but it also provides protection from the strangers, thieves and robbers mentioned earlier.

Finally, the “gate” also has a more expansive connotation revealed in the closing words of the text: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

If you want to know what Jesus taught his disciples all you have to read is chapters three through five in the Gospel of Matthew called the Sermon on the Mount. If that's all you ever studied in the Bible that would lend enough guidance to lead a Christian life. It begins with the Beatitudes which are all about humility, mercy and peacemaking and right at the heart of the Sermon is this teaching:

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

This often gets misinterpreted seeing it as earning your way into heaven but that's not really what it's about. A proper interpretation becomes possible when you consider the context of the teaching. The context is the Lilies of the Field parable instructing us to not worry about getting material needs met, because a focus on the kingdom of God will result in getting whatever you need to survive. It's really a description of the abundant life that Jesus acknowledges at the end of our text for today.

The gate is meant to keep out the thieves and robbers but here the Lord is giving us an even better way to keep them out. That is by leading a life led by Spirit so that there is nothing for them to steal in the first place. This is the pathway that leads to the abundant life and its enormously difficult for us to follow in these modern times. Because the culture in a seemingly infinite number of ways is constantly encouraging us to be materialistic. What else would a capitalistic culture do?

The problems begin, however, not with our culture but far in the past at the beginning of the fourth century. At that time the Emperor Constantine made Christianity the religion of the empire. This resulted in a lot less persecution, but it also aligned the church with worldly economics and authoritarian politics. Carmen Butcher and Brian McLaren can tell us more:

What do you do with Christianity when it becomes enmeshed with authoritarian power and corrupted by violence.... It's not hard to imagine a world that seems to be falling apart with political division and corruption, economic instability, and different ethnic groups clashing for power and resenting one another. It's not hard to imagine a world where religious leaders make deals with political leaders and visa versa, for mutual benefit. It's not just our world; it was the world Benedict of Nursia (Nurse-see-ah) lived in.

Benedict saw what the Christian religion was becoming, and he recalled Jesus' life of simplicity, love, and nonviolence. And something deep within him called him to do something new. Benedict believed that it was possible to live by the path of Jesus, rather than by the standards and norms of the crazy system that was operating around him.

Next Brian imagines what Benedict was thinking:

I'm going to leave the city and my privilege. I'm going to go out and establish an alternative community, a little island of sanity in a world that seems to be going nuts. I'm going to try to create a place where we seek to live by the law of love in the kingdom, kin-dom, or sacred ecosystem, of God. We will care for the sick and the dying. We will welcome the stranger and create an order of life that has dignity. We will preserve learning, writing down ancient wisdom. Every day, all day, we will enter into deep listening with God and with one another to keep Jesus' wisdom alive.

What you just heard wasn't, of course, Saint Benedict it is the imagination of Brian McLaren, but it probably hits pretty close to the mark. The only monastic experience I've ever had was with the Benedictine monastery at Mount Angel, Oregon. I've visited it many times, especially during Advent, walked the stations of the cross more than once, and even stayed on retreat overnight one time.

During that stay the monks invited me to sup with them which amounted to a bowl of soup while one monk read from a book. Other than that, the supper happened in sheer silence. After supper they invited me to sing the psalms with them during worship which I did. Obviously, there was an evangelical edge to what they were doing seeing me as a possible candidate for monk hood.

The contemplative side of me does find the monastic life appealing and I suspect they sensed that in me. One of the highlights of the visit was when we were in the hallway that led to the sanctuary preparing to enter for worship. It was raining outside and the monks came in one by one with their black cowls on. I remember one of them throwing back the hood of the cowl with great enthusiasm excited about singing the psalms during worship.

I felt the freedom he was experiencing as a monk devoted to silence and the gospel. He was enjoying his stay on this “little island of sanity” outside of the world that seems to have gone nuts. Jesus as the gate is trying to protect his flock from the insanity of an ego centered world and each of us has to decide, on a daily basis, if this protection is desirable or not.

Rev. Mitch Becker

April 26, 2026

Port Angeles 

First Christian Church

“Risky Conversations”

Luke 24:13-35

This is one of my favorite stories in the Bible which I love to preach. I like it because it's all about relationships that begins with a conversation between two disciples and Jesus and ends with an intimate setting in the breaking of bread together. It also happens while they're in motion on their way to a specific destination making it a traveling story.

This involved story can be interpreted in many ways but lets begin by focusing on risky conversations. The conversation with the Lord begins innocently enough with Jesus asking what they're talking about but it soon delves into political and religious matters. The disciples acknowledge Jesus was a prophet who had accomplished great things. In this indirect manner they're suggesting that the crucifixion was an affront to both God and the people.

In the first century such talk could get you crucified and just a couple years ago in our culture such conversations could result in stirring up trouble and hard feelings. Now-a-days confronting the powers-that-be, not entirely unlike the first century, can result in persecution, arrest and incarceration of some sort! These disciples are venturing into dangerous waters as does anyone these days that speaks out against injustice. This risky conversation continues with what amounts to a condemnation of the religious and political leadership with the words: “...delivered him up to be condemned to death....”

Much of the time when this text is explored the risky nature of the conversation is overlooked. But in these troubling times it's important to take note of what's happening and allow it to lend us guidance and courage to speak out against injustices being committed against God's children. Especially if those being persecuted are the marginalized in society.

This brings us to an interesting aspect of this story that doesn't come to light unless you delve into the Greek. Cleopas asks Jesus: “Are you the only stranger to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days.” But “stranger” doesn't quite capture the Greek. In the Greek the word for stranger is “paroikeis” (pah-roy-KAYSS) and embedded in that word is “paroikos” (par-oy-kos) meaning migrant or resident foreigner.

Cleopas is identifying Jesus as an outsider or a migrant from somewhere else. This helps him to understand why Jesus doesn't know what happened in Jerusalem. From here we can imagine where this story would have taken us if the disciples had refused to keep company with this outsider.

What we might expect Jesus to do after the disciples describe recent events in Jerusalem is to somehow acknowledge the challenge, they presented and the trauma that resulted. After all, being condemned to death and then crucified only to be raised up again would involve some powerful feelings including physical agony, psychological shame and a sense of being totally abandoned. Jesus acknowledges this abandonment when he says from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”

That would be the psychological downside of it, but then he was raised up again! Being brought back to life must have been an experience of overwhelming joy gaining victory over both sin and death. This was all demonstrated in the manner he greeted the disciples not with anger or resentment in the way they abandoned him but with compassion expressed in his first words: “Peace be with you.”

Yet, in his response to Cleopas and the other disciple he mentions nothing of this but instead re-frames the whole story within the larger ancient story of Israel. He says: “'Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?' And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”

This could be considered denial in not wanting to relive the trauma and in so doing neglecting the joy of being released from death. But perhaps what Jesus is doing exceeds normal human capacities and he's thinking of what's best for these two disciples walking the road with him. Because in re-framing the story within the larger story of ancient Israel he's helping them to find their place in the big picture.

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I bring up the topic of denial because it's such a common human experience. I've been wrestling with some degree of denial over the loss of John. Problems include loss of sleep along with bouts of anger and depression. None of this has been severe but it is noticeable at times. John was my friend and his passing also puts me in touch with my own mortality.

It provokes wounding buried deep within my psyche related to my experience with the reality of death after I was diagnosed with cancer sixteen years ago. The cancer was entirely removed but it left a psychological scar. John's passing is bringing the pain up into my conscious awareness which I resist it because it hurts. We all do this because it's a natural instinct to avoid pain. But the process needs to be encouraged because the wounds can't heal completely until they're consciously acknowledged.

I do this through journal work, prayer, talking to my therapist, talking with Karen, sermon writing and in preparation for John's Celebration of Life. The Celebration of Life itself is a way of providing the processing of grief for the entire community. Celebration of Life services are meant to honor the deceased but they're also designed to help friends and family move on by fully acknowledging the loved ones passing.

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As the text informs us they're about seven miles from Emmaus when the journey begins and finally we're informed that they're getting close to their destination. As they near Jesus acts as if he's going to keep walking, so the disciples plead with him to stay since it's getting dark. He decides to do so and sits down at the table with them.

Now the Emmaus table differs considerably from the descriptions in the gospels of gatherings at the Lord's Table. There is no cup and Jesus says nothing in regard to the words of institution. Instead, he simply blesses and breaks the bread which is much like what Jewish families do at the beginning of a meal with bread that commemorates the receiving of manna in the wilderness. This amounts to a moment of intimacy because Jesus is not standing apart from the others. In ancient Mediterranean fashion they're reclining at the table which would create a physical closeness uncomfortable in modern times.

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This wonderful story that we've been blessed with serves to remind us that our relationship with the resurrected Christ involves long walks. Some of us, like Jerrie, have been walking the road with Jesus for many decades, while for others the walk is just beginning. But the Road to Emmaus is always there to encourage and lend guidance when we run into difficulties or just need a quick review of what it looks like to walk beside Jesus.

It can empower us to enter into the risky conversations to challenge injustices. Especially injustices begin committed against the marginalized or those who are viewed as insignificance relative to mainstream society. The marginalized are those who Jesus spent most of his ministry with including the despised Samaritans, the physically impaired and mentally ill, the poor and even the hated tax collectors.

The Road to Emmaus shows us we can re-frame trauma but not at the expense of denying the processing of pain to achieve health and wholeness. Finally, in our walk with Christ we can expect quiet, intimate dinners. Times of rest and renewal within a holy spaciousness as he sometimes invited his disciples to do as he told them: “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place, and rest for a while.” (Mark 6:31a)

Rev. Mitch Becker

April 19, 2026

Port Angeles 

First Christian Church

“All or Nothing”

Acts 10:34-43

This is not a typical text for Resurrection Sunday but that's okay because it contains the entire gospel. Peter tells us that Jesus was anointed and chosen by God. He receives the Holy Spirit which empowers him to go about the countryside doing good and healing and bringing freedom to the oppressed. He is put to death dying on a tree but God raises him on the third day and he appears to a chosen few. The icing on the cake is that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins!

Something else that's special about this depiction of the gospel story is in the context of the Book of Acts the evolution of the church is revealed. The church begins as a movement replete with miracles and visions and is really an adventure for the disciples because they have no idea what's around the next corner.

In the opening words of the text Peter says: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to God.” Peter's comments come directly from a vision he was given. The vision amounted to a sheet that came down from heaven, and it was filled with all types of “animals and reptiles and birds of the air” and the Lord tells him to kill and eat them. (Acts 10:9-16)

Peter interprets this vision not as instruction to change dietary laws but that Gentiles, who eat all these things, should not be considered unclean but clean. That's what Peter means by “God shows no partiality.” Peter may harbor his own prejudices – God does not. Our God is a loving, accepting God who welcomes all people in the same way Jesus did in his ministry even embracing the despised Samaritans.

We being the followers of Jesus need to always keep at the forefront of our minds this loving, accepting nature of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit do our best to emulate it. Whenever our actions reject the foreigner or the stranger or whenever we put our people over any other people we're acting outside of our God who accepts everyone who fears God and does what's right.

In this most holy of days of the church year, the Resurrection of our Lord, let us be reminded that this act of salvation was for everyone. Let us keep in mind the ministry of Jesus who brought to the broken and oppressed the very presence of a loving God. He is not only our Lord; he is the Lord of all.

We have two cats named Symphony and Sebastian. Symphony was raised in a litter with several brothers and sisters in a warm home. She has always had adult human beings caring for her, feeding her, and showing her affection. Sebastian, on the other hand, had a rough start abandoned out on the Dungeness Spit. He's a rescue that harbors trust issues which Symphony has never known.

Where Symphony is happy to curl up beside you and express varying degrees of contentment Sebastian is content to go to the chicken shed at dinner time and remain there until morning. In the chicken shed he feels safe and secure and best of all he doesn't have to wrestle with his trust issues. The way he looks at the world is a result of having to fend for himself among the various dangers he encountered leaving him shy on trust. His guard is always up even with us.

Animals are not as complicated as we are which makes them a good study. Though they don't posses our capacity for complex language, nor our cognitive abilities nor our level of self-awareness they do experience a range of emotions and display social behaviors. Behaviors like an ability to cooperate and sometimes show empathy. Though Sebastian is being loved and accepted by Karen and I because his guard is always up attempting to embrace him can be a challenge.

With this in mind we can consider our behavior with God. Though Peter makes it clear that God shows no partiality we too have been wounded by others. The wounds may smart and we keep our guard up so as not to be hurt again. The problem originates not with our God who embraces us with a love that transcends human understanding – the problem originates from our side because our defensiveness prevents God's Spirit from reaching us.

A defensive posture often has to do with issues around forgiveness When we fail to forgive those who have wounded us the resulting pain gets trapped and can turn into a chronic bitterness and anger that can lead to mental and physical health problems. This brings us to the icing on the cake in our text today. Remember, it ended like this: “To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

We're enabled to drop our guard and allow God's Spirit to heal and bring forgiveness by trusting in Jesus. Jesus is the Way but he's also the means. In being forgiven we're enabled to forgive but self-forgiveness must come first. That requires a willingness to be vulnerable. To let go of control and allow Jesus to get into the driver's seat, so to speak.

In contemporary language it sounds like this:

Then Jesus made it clear to his disciples that it was now necessary for him to go to Jerusalem. Submit to an ordeal of suffering at the hands of the religious leaders, be killed, and then on the third day be raised up alive. Peter took him by the hand, protesting, “Impossible, Master, That can never be!” But Jesus didn't swerve, “Peter, get out of my way. Satan, get lost. You have no idea how God works.”

Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of a deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?” (Matthew 16:21-26; The Message Bible)

In this past Holy Week, many of us witnessed Jesus' final days on earth. It began on Palm Sunday when he enters Jerusalem not to get everyone excited but to begin to bring his ministry to a close. On Maundy Thursday we gathered at the Lord's Table with the disciples to keep Jesus company in his hour of great need. On Good Friday our prayers brought our souls in alignment with the suffering he had to endure. Today, Resurrection Sunday, we celebrate the new life that comes from the willingness to suffer with him.

One way to talk about this new life is to acknowledge the True self within us that results from the inner transformation we allow to take place. This can only happen when we drop our guard and trust in The Way Jesus has given us and by embracing the suffering that happens God can crucify our ego one day at a time. As the ego dies the True self comes forward. The Apostle describes it like this:

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18b)

Jesus did all of this not only for his followers but to show The Way to new life for all of humanity. Resurrection Sunday happened for the sake of all of God's children because God loves everyone. May the Holy Spirit open our hearts and minds to the healing love of God. Amen.

Rev. Mitch Becker

April 5, 2026

Port Angeles

Easter Sunday

First Christian Church

Matthew 21:1-11

“Chills and Thrills!

Do you remember Junior High School? That was one of the most difficult periods of transition in my entire life. At the early stages of elementary school you could still be referred to as a “baby” and even in the latter stages we were considered dependent upon the adults caring for us. We had one classroom and one specific adult looking after us. My sixth grade teacher's name was Mr. Daubenfeld's a name we had much fun with. We sometimes referred to him as “bob-bob-a-lob-en-fells” because it was fun to say (but not to his face).

Junior High School was an entirely different world. Now you had multiple classes to attend and several different teachers. Each class taught different subjects which you had to keep separate in your notebook and you were exposed to all sorts of different people and I won't even get into the growing interest in the opposite gender. Some of these new people were not adjusting well and expressed their anxiety by being mean.

The worst of them we called “greasers” and I remember one greaser who kicked Eric Hobart in the groin with his Beatle boots which were boots that had a sharp point at the toe. We didn't see Eric again for a few days after that episode. Something else that occurred on a pretty frequent basis were fights that took place out by the bike racks. These were exciting events that drew large crowds who would circle around the two kids to lend verbal support for their favored opponent.

But what I remember best is the way the excitement would immediately end at the conclusion of the fight and everyone would turn around in silence and walk away. It was such a profound transition and I think what was happening is everyone felt bad about egging the fight on because often someone was left bleeding and in pain. The golden rule had been roundly ignored and I think most everyone felt guilty about it. I know I did.

You see, that's the thing about excitement. It doesn't last very long and sometimes it happens for all the wrong reasons. That's not the case this morning as we participate, two-thousand years removed in Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. But getting everyone all riled up is not God's intent for Palm Sunday. There is a far-reaching, more important purpose to it all because this is the beginning of the end.

Everyone's all pumped up about the Messiah coming to town because potential freedom is revealing itself in the flesh. But like the fight at the bike racks the excitement will soon pass and the dark days of fret and gloom are right around the next corner.

Jesus knows this because he's been telling his people all about it, but the crowds are oblivious to God's plan. In their ignorance and bliss they cheer the Messiah on just tickled to death that freedom is finally at their doorstep. And there's something else that's kind of odd about this text. Maybe you noticed it. Jesus says:

Go to the village opposite you, and immediately you will find an ass tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. And a bit further on: ...Behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of an ass. And yet again: they brought the ass and a colt, and put their garments on them, and he sat thereon.

Another name for an ass is a donkey, and a colt is a young male donkey. Now picture Jesus riding on a donkey and the foal of a donkey which would be a much smaller, younger donkey at the same time! What an awkward image and probably not even possible. Yet the gospel writer is being very intentional about describing this no less than three times in succession. So, what's going on here?

This particular gospel writer, Matthew, is always concerned about demonstrating that Jesus is the direct fulfillment of the Hebrew scriptures. In other words, he wants to make sure that this Messiah is a direct consequence of the prophecies found in the Old Testament. He is so focused on achieving this that he's willing to create even nonsensical images to display it.

What Matthew is using to establish scriptural authority is a passage from Genesis that was a key passage that foretold of the Messiah's coming and it sounded like this:

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Binding his foal to the vine and his ass's colt to the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes.... (Genesis 49:10-11)

That's a description of the Messiah of which “the obedience of the peoples” will be awarded and note he has both a donkey and a younger male donkey with him. Matthew's audience would know that Jesus riding on both of the animals was a representation of this particular passage out of Genesis. It would be a direct link to the ancient Hebrew scriptures and that's what mattered most.

As people of faith, we accept that this is the Messiah riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday not only because the scriptures confirm it but because we feel it in our hearts. We confirm it because of what we know of the scriptures and also because we know intuitively that this is God coming to free us from the bondage of sin, and there's an enormous price God will pay to achieve our freedom.

In the book the men are studying for Lent “Why Did Jesus Have To Die” by Adam Hamilton he talks about this heavy price in terms of his own family. He describes how deeply he loves his children and grandchildren and how he would do anything for them even give up his own life if necessary. He then asks us to imagine what it was like for God the Father to give up his own son for our salvation.

That represents a love that transcends any understanding of love we might have. As Jesus rides into Jerusalem the dark days ahead must be heavily on his mind because he's fully aware of the Father's intent for him and therefore what he must do. In the Garden of Gethsemane the full realization of what his sacrifice means enters his consciousness. Jesus is fearful and deeply distressed and considers turning back but by the grace of God he manages to recommit himself to the task ahead.

We are invited on this Palm Sunday to not only celebrate his entrance into the Holy City and the beginning of the completion of his ministry but to also follow him....Beginning in the Upper Room...and into the garden...and the chamber of the Sanhedrin....and the confrontation with Pilate...and to bear a cross to Golgotha that he will be nailed to. On each step of this journey, we will hesitate and with increasing reluctance move forward to the ultimate end.

This is the journey of the faithful and is what Jesus is referencing when he says: “For the gate is narrow and the way hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:14) The narrowness and hardship presented by a life of faith is clearly depicted in each of these scenarios beginning with the Upper Room (Maundy Thursday) and ending at the cross. It all becomes possible when you trust in God's grace and open your heart and mind to the transformation Jesus wants to instill within us.

I began this sermon with the importance of scripture and the following words from Father Rohr reaffirm what I tried to describe and further he speaks of the indispensable need for transformation if we're to follow in Jesus' example:

Just as the Bible takes us through many stages of consciousness and salvation history, it takes us individually a long time to move beyond our need to be dualistic, judgmental, accusatory, fearful, blaming, egocentric, and earning-oriented. The text in travail mirrors and charts our own human travail and illustrates all these stages from within the Bible. It offers both the mature and immature responses to almost everything – and we have to learn how to recognize the difference.

Rev. Mitch Becker

March 29, 2026

Port Angeles

First Christian Church

“Anchors Away”

Ezekiel 37:1-14

To begin with we must establish the theological setting for this well-known story found in Ezekiel. The Babylonians have stripped Judah of their theological anchors which includes their land since this story comes to Ezekiel who is also in exile in Babylon. They no longer have a temple where they can worship the Lord, and the Davidic monarchy ended during the exile.

If these losses were not enough even their traditional theologies based upon covenants made with David and Moses are failing. These are a people deeply immersed in a theological crisis which requires them to re-imagine and rework their relationship with God. Ezekiel is making his contribution to this important theological restructuring with this story about dry bones.

With relative ease we can draw analogies between our church and the valley of dry bones. Because were a congregation made up of primarily older people we experience losses through illness and death more frequently than a younger congregation. A recent case in point is the loss of John Musser who was a trustee of the church responsible, along with David, for the HVAC systems, hot water heaters, and the building overall.

In the five and a half years I've been here John responded to every single call for help I issued. He was also the key facilitator for the Narcotics Anonymous groups that now meet every single evening during the week and sometimes during the day. John amounts to a major loss for the church as well as the loss of a friend. John was the only person who has visited with me in my office on a regular basis for the duration of my ministry here. This has left me with feelings of loss and depression though not in a chronic sense because the feelings come and go.

In the text the prophet says that the Lord places him in the midst of a valley of dry bones where God walks with him through the valley. God asks him if he thinks the bones can live again and the prophet is maybe a bit incredulous and says, “Well, you know.” Then God addresses the bones themselves and connects bone to bone and puts flesh on them, but they're missing something kind of crucial which is the breath of life.

Then something curious happens because though God is the source of the breath of life as he is in the Creation story in Genesis (Genesis 2:7); it is the prophet who must first speak to them about the breath of life:

“He said to me, 'Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man, God, the Master, says, Come from the four winds. Come, breath. Breathe on these slain bodies. Breathe Life!'”

Yet even this isn't enough to restore hope, but this is a God of infinite resources and God instructs Ezekiel to tell them that he'll bring them out of exile and return them to their homeland. They're also assured that they'll receive God's Spirit and here the Hebrew word used “ruach” (rew-aach) can be interpreted as either wind, breath or Spirit.

This week there was an article on the front page of the newspaper about a new business venture in our area. It's called Citizen Air and what they're trying to establish is what they refer to as, “Tailored Private Aviation Solutions.” For example, a four-seated small plane will fly you to a destination of your choice (as far as Corvallis, OR in some cases) from the airfield here in Port Angeles.

Since we've lived here I've seen other attempts at making personalized flights to the “mainland” available the most recent being Dash Air Shuttle and before we arrived there was Kenmore Air Express. Citizens Air is yet another attempt and they'll offer something different. They're proposing $50 per month memberships. You'll tell them when you want to fly and they'll text you when there's an open seat. It takes about 20 minutes to reach Boeing Field (maybe a bit longer in David's little plane) and from there you could grab an Uber or take a bus into Seattle.

The reason I'm talking about Citizen Air is because it's kind of fun to explore but it also tells us something about where we live. We live where people go to vacation...to get away from things. It's sort of like being in exile. We're separated from the “mainland” by water and distance. This becomes especially noticeable if you have to be life flighted to Seattle or undergo some type of specialized treatment or surgery.

You may have already had that experience, and my hunch would be after wanting the doctors to do a good job probably your deepest, most sincere desire, was to return home. Because that's what people in exile hope and dream about. Now put yourself in the shoes of the ancient Judeans in exile in Babylon. Not only were they separated from their homeland but they were also separated from their God. That defines “wilderness” in the most profound of ways.

Yet exile can also be a rich spiritual experience one example being my three years at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA.. Seminary amounted to making a personal choice about going into exile. Berkeley is separated by more than 500 miles from Albany, OR and having never lived more than 20 miles from home seminary felt like a risky adventure.

But there is no other period in my life as spiritually rewarding as seminary. The classes were interesting, and I had numerous friends all with Callings from God, and the Bay Area was really fun to explore. My longing to return home soon was eclipsed by the enjoyment of discovery, friendship and an ever-deepening spiritual experience. Exile comes with its own rewards, but you have to stay in close relationship to God.

For me that has always meant a consistent practice of quiet, centering prayer. For the Judeans it meant a complete reimagining and reworking of their own theology of which our text is a prime example. For you it means finding your own way to stay in touch because exile is on its way for all of us. It's not a once in a lifetime event but something that visits and revisits throughout our lives. It behooves us to be prepared. Because we don't know how or when the anchors will be stripped away again.

What we do know, as exemplified in our text today, is that God will reestablish the theological anchors at some point for those who are faithful. We can facilitate the process through devoted prayer, study and ceaseless acts of compassion but it's always ultimately determined by God's grace.

We're not in control. We are Called to surrender or to put it into a Lenten context: “Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. 'Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how.'” (Matthew 16:24; The Message Bible) And Father Rohr now expounds on Jesus' words:

I believe that we rather totally missed Jesus' major point when we made a religion out of him instead of realizing he was giving us a message of simple humanity, vulnerability, and nonviolence that was necessary for the reform of all religions – and for the survival of humanity....Jesus is a person and, at the same time, a process. Jesus is the Son of God, but at the same time he is “the Way.” Jesus is the goal, but he's also the means, and the means is always the way of the cross....

The way of the cross looks like failure. In fact, we could say Christianity is about how to win by losing, how to let go creatively, how the only real ascent is descent. We need to be more concerned with following Jesus, which he told us to do numerous times, and less with worshiping Jesus – which he never once told us to do.

Rev. Mitch Becker

March 22, 2026

Port Angeles

First Christian Church

“Gratitude As Defiance”

Ephesians 5:8-14

This is a inspirational text calling these new Christians to wake up from their spiritual slumber and allow the light of Christ to shine through them! The two-sided nature of the text is best discerned with the two core verses. The first commends them to find out what pleases the Lord, and the verse that immediately follows warns them to avoid the “works of darkness.”

This seems a good text for the fourth Sunday in Lent because Lent is about moving into the darkness in order to eventually emerge into the light of Christ. We, of course, resist this movement into darkness but the text even goes beyond this to boldly instruct the faithful to expose the darkness!

That means to actively work to uncover whatever proves as a source of darkness. Later on in the chapter the only specific source mentioned is drunkenness, so one way to expose the darkness would be to do whatever counters it. The examples given for exposing are as follows: trying to understand God's will, relating to others within Christian community with melody and music, and giving thanks for everything!

Discerning God's will can be done in a variety of ways but perhaps the most common way is with prayer. The lectionary gives me three choices every week to determine which text to preach. There's a selection from the Old Testament, the Gospels and from one of the Epistles. This week I chose an Epistle and that was achieved by remaining quiet in prayer for merely a few minutes.

It then occurred to me that it was the Lenten season and the Ephesians text was about light and darkness. God's will was allowed to breakthrough into my consciousness by simply being quiet for a few minutes. It's not a complicated process but in a culture that promotes hurrying up to meet one deadline after another quiet prayer is a counter-culture activity. It's really prophetic in nature.

In terms of making melody and music with each other we do that every Sunday thanks to the Margaret's faithfulness at the piano and our enjoyment in doing so. I remember during COVID we could only sing a single verse of each hymn which diminished the energy of the worship service; and we can be thankful to God we don't have to do that anymore. 

Speaking of thankfulness to the Lord in my estimation this is the most important aspect of revealing darkness with knowing God's will a close second. There is no way a sincerely thankful heart can harbor spiritual darkness. Thankfulness illuminates our inner being filling it with light!

Sometime ago Karen and I got the privilege of being able to hear author and theologian Diana Butler Bass at Pacific Lutheran University in Parkland, Washington. Though she didn't talk about gratitude at the lecture she does in the following meditation as she describes how she coped with a particularly difficult situation:

I did the only thing I could think of doing – simply saying, “thanks” as I went through the day. I woke up with a brief prayer: “Thank you that I am alive.” I got coffee and breakfast: “Thank you for this food, this day.” I looked out the window: “Thank you for the sunshine.” I went into my office: “Thank you for words, for work.”...

Even when it comes to thankfulness, sometimes you have to take what you can get. I took nothing for granted....Over the weeks, with my hapless prayers, I discovered something quite unexpected: gratitude, like interest, compounds. This simple form of giving thanks made me pay attention and start looking for particular reasons to be grateful. There would always be grounds for ingratitude. Always. Seeking out the small things for which I could give thanks, however, changed my field of spiritual and emotional vision. I learned not to focus on what was lacking....

Gratitude is not a form of passive acceptance or complicity. Rather, it is the capacity to stare doubt, loss, chaos, and despair right in the eye and say, “I am still here.”

In practicing an attitude of gratitude she's developing a worldview of abundance as opposed to a worldview of scarcity. That's why she says, “I learned not to focus on what was lacking...”

Karen has been in correspondence with a prisoner for years now. This began back in Lancaster, CA where she would visit him at times but after we moved their relationship has been confined to letters. In his letters there is always one particular topic that he's focused on and that is getting out of jail. He is in prison on a life sentence for murder.

His central concern in all of his letters is always about gaining his freedom from the California penal system and that's perfectly understandable. But what if Marcus shifted his focus from the pursuit of freedom to an attitude of gratitude for all God has gifted him with.

What if he learned to thank God each morning for existence itself. Could he be thankful for the coffee he drinks in the cafeteria in the morning, or the clean laundry that comes back from the laundry department, or of Karen's ever faithful correspondence, or the hour of television in the common area, or of the Starling whistling and clicking in the exercise area, or an act of kindness shown by a fellow inmate.

Thankfulness doesn't take away our problems and we can still be a real pain. We may feel angry and that can quickly morph into resentment. But as Ms. Bass says gratitude is a kind of defiance. It doesn't give into negative emotions but rather “tunnels under them” defining our lives with new character and a determination to not acquiesce to despair.

Even if Marcus began to faithfully and persistently practice gratitude he would still be locked up in prison. But now even prison might become a place of abundance and the stage would be set for him to discover a new kind of freedom that comes from within.

This is what The Message Bible is getting at with the interpretation of the third beatitude when it says: “You're blessed when you're content with just who you are – no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.” (Matthew 5:5; The Message Bible)

No one knows if the parole board will ever grant Marcus his freedom but there is a spiritual freedom available to him that comes from within. This is not only true for Marcus but for all people, everywhere: For the people in Iran being bombarded by the most powerful nation of earth, for the homeless man with the sign asking for a handout, for the patient at OMC, for you and for me.

Rev. Mitch Becker

March 15, 2026

Port Angeles