Sermons

First Christian Church

“Agents of Accord”

Matthew 18:15-20

If we were to use one word to describe our text, we could say it's about conflict and how to find resolution. It begins with the suggestion that you confront the offender in private and if they don't listen you find a couple trusted individuals and try again. If that fails, you bring it to the entire congregation and if that fails you consider the offender a sinner unworthy of any more attempts at working things out.

We live in a time of heightened conflict exemplified by the everyday behavior of those in government. It sets a tone for the nation's as a whole and though many are not responding in a like manner and are finding alternative ways to behave, unfortunately there are a considerable numbers of people who are embracing conflict as a lifestyle. It's becoming an acceptable practice seen as culturally inevitable.

Most sane people have what you might call a socially acceptable screening process. This process is something learned from parents, friends, teachers as we are conditioned by those around us. The process allows us to evaluate what we say before we say it determining if our words may have undesirable consequences. In this time of relative social insanity the socially acceptable screening process has gone out the window.

One result is that conflict often comes with words and actions that do damage to relationships with no particular interest in reconciliation. The damage is done and we all suffer the consequences. It's all exasperated when people behave like sheep following the leader without any critical concern.

If you want an example of this human like sheep behavior just sit out on the Listening Bench for a half hour and watch what happens. If there is a line of cars and the first car runs the stop sign the next car will follow suit. They may not run the stop sign at the same speed but they will go through it without coming to a full stop. That, in itself, may not be too surprising, but what does catch your attention is that every other car in line will do the same thing.

It brings to mind that incredibly insightful three-word sentence in the book “Siddhartha” by Herman Hesse: “People are children.” People will do whatever mom and dad did, the authority figures, even if it was dysfunctional and hurtful because it's what was normal. I became an alcoholic just like my dad.

Our text today is offering alternative behaviors that require the social screening process to take effect and gives specific guidelines within the church to follow. First, confront in private, then with a couple trusted friends, and finally tell the whole community. If all this fails then consider the offender an outsider and move on.

This church has, somehow, managed to avoid any significant degree of conflict. In the six years we've been here conflict has simply not been something the church has had to deal with and I can't entirely explain that because the potential is always present in every congregation. People have opposing views, goals, needs and interests that give conflict the fuel it needs to ignite, but that hasn't happened here.

One reason conflict never gains a foothold is what happens at the Concern and God Sightings time. It is not unusual for ninety percent of our congregation to share Concerns and God sightings in any given worship service. I've never seen that in any of my previous congregations. I have, however, seen an ample amount of conflict in other churches.

Right at the core of Concerns and God sightings exists some of the most heartfelt moments in worship. Sometimes people are on the verge of tears or are actually crying as a concern is shared. Other times we can all be touched by a God sighting and reminded that where two or more are gathered in his name Christ is present.

In such moments as this we are bound together in the body of Christ. This is something that happens only for people who are willing to drop their defenses to experience being cared for by something greater than ourselves. Something we can't see with our eyes but sense it with our hearts and confirm it collectively in faith.

In our present culture the notion of the individual against the world has reached epidemic proportions. One way you see it portrayed in the media is in the superhero movies which are attended by great numbers of people. The notion of one against overwhelming odds resonates with people and its important to know that it has not always been this way.

Father Rohr talks about the communion of the saints that was added to the Apostles Creed centuries after the creation of the creed. He says, it is almost as if it took us that long to understand its importance. He further states that the body of Christ consists of both sadness and joys that are shared and our salvation is found by staying connected to it. He continues:

Since the Enlightenment, however, we have been trained to believe that we each can “do it my way,” like Frank Sinatra's song. Instead of participation in everybody else's great parade. As I often say, if we do not mythologize our pain, all we can do is pathologize it. We Westerns have lost the ability to frame the significance of our own little lives.

I suspect that those who grew up with the richness of the myths and sacred stories of Ulysses and Athena.... have found meaning and consolation for their pain more readily than many of us do today.

They know they were not alone on the journey, while we no longer believe or live as if we are an inherent part of a much bigger story. We believe ourselves separate from the cosmic dance that created Greek comedy and tragedy.... Helping people to see that they are cooperating members of a performance that is already showing – and will keep showing....

He goes on to say that this solidarity in the body of Christ is our salvation, and he describes Paul's notion of “en Christo” as a reference to participating within the body. I have to confess that usually when I talk about being, “in Christ,” I'm thinking about it in terms of the individual or individual enlightenment – not as being part of a larger, more expansive spiritual body. Therefore, my definition of “en Christo” has limitations.

I told you about our wonderful trip to Tacoma and seeing the movie “The Odyssey” which is based upon Homer's great epic poem about the king of Ithaca's long, perilous journey home following the Trojan war. The thing about “The Odyssey” is it doesn't follow the format of a superhero movie because it is a journey that begins with 12 ships and around six hundred men.

Until the very end of the journey Odysseus (Oh-dis-see-us) (the king) confronts a giant cyclops, giant man eating people, a witch that turns his men into pigs and then back again into men, and, of course, the Sirens who are beautiful bird-women that sing an irresistible song to make sailors crash their ships upon the rocks. Almost the entire journey is made with his men and they overcome these perilous situations together.

It is a story for our age that can remind us we don't exist as separate beings facing one challenge after another. We faithful participate within the body of Christ and our salvation comes by remaining connected to it. We do that in an important way during the Concerns and God sightings time, and during potluck Sunday, and when we gathered in the gazebo at the Becker's, and during worship and at its end. In these ways and others, we stay within the body of Christ which is our salvation.

Rev. Mitch Becker

September 6, 2026

Port Angeles

First Christian Church

“Turning Aside”

Exodus 3:1-15

There are few passages in the Bible more familiar than this one, but a closer look may yield some surprises. When considering the passage as a whole the primary parts are an appearance of God to Moses out of a burning bush and God's promise to deliver his people out of bondage in Egypt.

Karen and I enjoy a fire in our fire pit on the porch usually every Saturday morning depending upon whether its raining or the wind is blowing too hard. I learned how to build a fire by watching my father build them and one thing a fire requires is a lot of fuel. I start with an ample number of mailings and other paper that needs to be destroyed because it contains either personal or financial information and I add newspaper to it.

Next comes kindling which I don't skimp on and then gradually add larger pieces of wood and the wood keeps coming. It all amounts to a great deal of fuel but the burning bush that serves as the venue for the divine visit does not consume fuel: “The bush was blazing but it didn't burn up.” (Exodus 3:2b; The Message Bible) The theophany tells us that God is not from around here but is an expression of what Father Rohr described last week as the “transcendent dimension.”

In all of this Moses wasn't seeking God. He was just out pasturing the sheep, and he comes upon the mountain where the theophany takes place. This Call from God comes out of nowhere which is typical for such divine encounters. God often appears when we least expect him too and though for most of us the initial response would be fear at first Moses responds appropriately though soon thereafter, he hides his face because he is afraid.

In our present culture we're experiencing an under-emphasis of empathy, but our text clearly shows God's great empathy and compassion for his people enslaved in Egypt as it describes God saying: “I know their sufferings.” That empathy turns to compassion as God promises to liberate them and beyond that to deliver them into a land of milk and honey!

Moses has a hard time seeing himself step into the role of a prophet who can lead the people to the Promised Land. God doesn't assure Moses by identifying any special skills he might have but sees his faithfulness and assures Moses that will be enough since God tells him, “I will be with you.”

Moses wants a name to lend him credibility as a prophet with the people and God tells him, “I am who I am.” This may bring to mind the cartoon character “Popeye” who would say, “I am what I am.” Or yet, another similar phrase is, “It is what it is.” These three phrases have to do with being non-judgmental. Reality, another word for God, exists outside of any type of understanding or label we want to apply to it.

When I walk Oreo past the high school we typically turn around at the house that has all the animal sculptures in the yard. Sometimes the lady that owns the house is out front (I think Roger has talked about her before) and we have a conversation usually centered around Oreo. She's a dog lover with three of her own and last week she told me about Wendell one of her dogs that happened to be in the yard at the time.

She said she named him Wendell after her deceased husband. She said that by naming him Wendell, it gave her something she could continue to yell at in her husband's absence. She was joking, of course, yet there was a hint of seriousness in it as if the practice served some need she still possessed.

Later, after thinking about it it occurred to me the way people hold on to the familiar. For example, there are people who marry alcoholics because their father was an alcoholic. This is because children use their parents as a baseline for what a normal relationship looks like even if it was dysfunctional and painful. What happens is the brain confuses familiarity with safety and love.

One of the doors that opens the way to spiritual advancement is when someone is willing to break free of the familiar to experience something wholly other and even threatening. This is exactly what Moses does at the blazing bush as the text reads: “I will turn aside and see this great sight...” What is meant by “turn aside” is he's going to step away from his usual path and daily routine to investigate this strange sighting.

It's that willingness to “step aside” that really makes all the difference in the spiritual life. If you're not willing to break free of routines and the familiar then your not going to get very far in terms of spiritual growth.

In the following story Rachel was in her mid-forties and newly divorced having a hard time living on her own since she'd been married her entire adult life. Due to her loneliness she began to reach out to her family in a way she never had before and this led to a call one day to her sister. Her sister lived on the coast of Maine in a lighthouse with her husband. Well, they didn't live in the lighthouse they lived in the keeper's house next door. The keeper's house was fair sized with a guest room in it and her sister invited Rachel to come and stay with them for a while and she decided to make the trip.

The guest room was surprisingly spacious with a new bed and mattress in it. She anticipated a comfortable nights sleep and after visiting for a bit it was time for bed. After getting her bed clothes on and reading for a while she laid down and as everyone else had gone to bed a silence fell over the home. That's when she first noticed the sound. It was a constant humming accompanied by an occasional click/clacking coming from the lighthouse.

During the evening while they talked, she couldn't hear it. But now that it was silent the humming and click/clacking came through loud and clear and though the sound wasn't excessive it was irritating enough to keep her awake. In the morning her sister asked her how she slept and she had to be honest and told her, “Not very well. I could hear the lighthouse all night.” Her sister replied, “Oh, you're hearing the mechanism that makes the light go around. We never hear that anymore unless it stops.”

This story demonstrates the characteristics of the familiar and the way we become so accustomed to things that we don't even notice anymore – unless they stop.

Moses turns aside to see this strange sight before him. He breaks free of the routine of tending the sheep to experience something out of this world and possibly even dangerous. Because of it he's commissioned to go to a foreign land and confront the oppressive leader and against all odds lead God's people to freedom. Reaching the Promised Land involved a journey through mostly wasteland of more than two hundred miles.

All of this because he was willing to turn aside in the same way Rachel was by going to stay with her sister. Rachel didn't sleep well that night but being willing to do something different was good practice. It's the sort of thing those interested in spiritual growth must do because it prepares us for transformation.

God wants to change something deep inside of us and we call it by many manes: soul, spirit, inner self, True and False self, the Greeks called it the psyche, in the Hindu tradition its atman (ought-man). The name isn't really important but the thing the name points to is and if God is going to have his way in our lives we're going to have to learn to break free of the familiar.

We open the door to transformation by turning aside.

Rev. Mitch Becker

August 30, 2026

Port Angeles

First Christian Church

“Deep Roots”

Ecclesiastes 7:1-6

“In 2004, Hurricane Charley tore through Punta (Punt-uh) Gorda (Gore-duh), Florida, leveling thousands of trees in a matter of hours. Landscapers and arborists who surveyed the damage afterward noticed something striking: the trees that fell were almost always the ones that had been artificially irrigated their entire lives. Because water had always been brought to the surface for them, their roots had stayed shallow, spreading just beneath the topsoil.

But scattered among the wreckage stood old oaks that had been left to find water on their own. Their roots had driven twenty, thirty, even forty feet into the earth, chasing moisture through dry seasons and hard soil. When the winds hit 180 mph, those trees bent dramatically – neighbors said they looked like they'd surely snap – but they held. The deep roots held.

There is a pastoral word in that image for every congregation. The comfortable seasons of our lives – when resources are plentiful and circumstances are easy – can quietly train our roots to stay shallow. We come to church, we pray occasionally, we feel fine. And then the hurricane comes. Job loss. A diagnosis. A prodigal child. A marriage crisis. And we discover how deep our roots actually go.

Jesus is not interested in producing comfortable, surface-level believers. He is after people whose roots have pushed through rocky soil all the way down to living water. Those are the ones who bend but do not break.”

Perhaps you feel that describes you and your journey? There are many passages and stories in the Bible that encourage us to face hardship with the promise that endurance will result in spiritual development, and you've already heard the one I've chosen, but hearing it in contemporary language may be helpful:

A good reputation is better than a fat bank account. Your death date tells more than your birth date. You learn more at a funeral than at a feast – After all, that's where we'll end up. We might discover something from it. Crying is better than laughing. It blotches the face but scours the heart. Sages invest themselves in hurt and grieving. Fools waste their lives in fun and games. You'll get more from the rebuke of a sage than from the song and dance of fools. The giggles of fools are like the crackling of twigs under the cooking pot. And like smoke. (Ecclesiastes 7:1-6; The Message Bible)

Since were already exploring wisdom literature lets continue with another book that may be the hardest book in the Bible to read.

It's difficult because it's about a man who suffers unfathomable hardship and loss and the advice he receives from his friends is often empty leaving him in even greater despair. This goes on for thirty-seven chapters until finally God makes an appearance, but even that leaves him in a state of bewilderment because its more of a confrontation than the comfort and assurance he's looking for. It sounds like this:

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: Who is this that darkness counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements – surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:1-7)

It continues on like this for three chapters until finally Job responds by saying: “I know that thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of thine can be thwarted.” And now begins a dialogue with the Creator of the universe when God replies: “Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?” And Job says: “Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things to wonderful for me, which I did not know.” God says: “Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.”

Next comes the culmination of the book and the whole point to this long, drawn out time of suffering and confrontation when Job says: “I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee; therefore, I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:1-6) Job's suffering coupled with God's confrontation has finally brought him to a place of repentance and humility where he once learned of God through teaching but now has a mystical encounter and actually sees the real thing.

My hunch is this has always been a difficult book for the faithful to get through because it is this continuous journey through a darkness that refuses to reveal itself. Father Rohr would say it is a narrative about “descent” like traveling down into a deep cave without a light confronting various potential hazards on the way. A difficult and scary journey of descent but absolutely necessary for spiritual growth to occur in our lives.

Now, be transported into the twenty-first century and we have the same story of hardship and despair but with far greater obstacles to overcome. Father Rohr describes it best:

We have been able to manufacture a kind of “ascent” unlike that of our ancestors. Reason, medicine, technology, and speed have allowed us to avoid the ordinary “path of the fall.” Now we are unpracticed and afraid of all kinds of suffering – big and small.

Father Rohr's word that jumps out at me is the word “unpracticed.” It may seem odd to think of suffering and hardship as something we need to practice but that seems to be the jest of it. One example is in flying. Some of us really need to get on a plane at least once every year if you want to be reasonably comfortable when you fly. If you wait longer than a year its as if your doing it again for the first time.

That means the experience seems unnecessarily difficult because you've forgotten how to do it well. The alarm on your phone isn't loud enough to wake you. Your flights so early there's no where to get a coffee. The check-in with TSA is frustrating because there are a million people in line. The bathroom is not available because its being cleaned. In the worst case scenario you've misplaced your passport. But if you practice flying by going on a trip at least once a year these things don't seem so bad. They're all part of the ebb and flow of flying.

Karen and I are going to Hawaii for a cruise around the islands in October and its been more than two years since I've been on a plane, so I'm a bit out of practice. However, the last time I flew was from Costa Rica and I did that by myself which was the first time I ever flew internationally on my own as Karen stayed another week in Costa Rica. So, maybe that will compensate for the extended time I've been on the ground.

If you've practiced or not it's always difficult for some of us to board a plane and fly to a given destination. It can be an experience of uprootedness but its the kind of experience that eventually leads to deeper roots being planted. In the following Father Rohr is going to explain how those deeper roots take hold and he uses the Book of Job to do it:

If no meaning can be given to human suffering, if our wounds are not capable of becoming sacred wounds, the human project is certainly doomed to a blaming war of all against all. The future like the past, will be full of scapegoats and victims. This is no peripheral question the book of Job pursues.

Without the response from God in the whirlwind – what we might call today the sacred or transcendent dimension – life will surely be “nasty, brutish, and short” for most people in the twenty-first century. There will be no place to go to make our wounds sacred, but they will still be wounds, sore and bleeding. If there is no voice from the whirlwind, no calming eyes in the heart of the tempest, humanity can only “sit on the dung heap picking its sores.” But in Job and in Jesus, we have heard a story that is always true, a story that makes our wounds sacred.

Rev. Mitch Becker

August 23, 2026

Port Angeles

First Christian Church

“Dog Days of Summer”

Matthew 15:21-28

Jesus has left Israel and ventured into Syria specifically to Tyre (Tire) and Sidon (Sigh-dun) where he meets a one-woman welcoming committee. She's a Canaanite which historically are the people the Jews emerged from but culturally they're ethnic and religious rivals. She tells Jesus that her daughter is possessed by a demon which was a common occurrence for Jesus as he healed many possessed people.

What is of interest is she refers to Jesus as “Lord, Son of David.” That title identifies him as the Messiah of Israel and the rightful king of the kingdom. We might expect this type of recognition from another Jew but to come from a Gentile indicates the influence of the Holy Spirit.

There is no reason to think that Jesus doesn't hear her request, so we may be surprised it was met with a deafening silence. This type of response was not uncommon for women in ancient times who were often ignored by men. Sadly, this behavior continues into modern times as explained in the following commentary by Mitzi Smith:

Anyone with a pressing need knows how horrible it feels to have a dire or significant request for help or information met with dead silence. Women's words are too often met with silence or are interrupted or disrespected, by men and sometimes by other women. Those times in my life when I asked for information or help and received nothing but silence, I would have preferred a curt: “Hell, no.”

This may explain her persistence that's apparent because the disciples say, “Send her away, for she is crying after us.” Then comes one of the most shocking comments ever recorded in the gospels when Jesus says out loud that he was only sent for the Jews! Once again, the Canaanite woman calls Jesus, “Lord” and repeats her original request which is a similar plea and then Jesus doubles-down with yet another shocking comment: “It's not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.”

In antiquity Greeks and other Gentiles were known to feed their dogs under the table. This was not the case in Jewish culture, so the Canaanite woman may be referring to a common practice that she's aware of where the dogs and children could be fed at the same time. Still, Jesus' response is harsh any way we look at it.

After she relates this common practice, and with recognition of her persistence, Jesus gives in and her daughter is healed in that instant! It all ends with Jesus saying, “O woman, great is your faith!” That statement ending with an exclamation point. It is the woman's faith that heals her daughter.

Coming to work the morning I wrote this sermon I witnessed something upsetting. On the Morris Creek corner someone in a very large pickup truck was standing along side it and immediately behind it was another pickup truck with a women standing beside it. In between the two trucks was a good sized deer on the ground, sitting up watching cars go by. It was apparent the deer couldn't move obviously having been struck by the pickup truck.

It was a troubling scene which I had a hard time putting out of my mind and I had to wonder what would happen to the poor deer immobilized on the side of the highway. The association that's easy to make with our text is it was situations not unlike this that Jesus frequently walked into bringing healing, relief, and the miraculous presence of God. Without question, Jesus could walk up to that deer and through the power and grace of God make it stand again.

Such miraculous healing is difficult for us to believe and especially in a time of scientific fact and the miraculous achievements of technology which we often take for granted. Yet, throughout the recorded history of the Bible miraculous healing by the power and grace of God is a reoccurring phenomenon. Jesus takes it to the next level as it becomes one of the defining activities of his ministry. He even raises people from the dead!

But it takes faith to embrace what is happening and that is exactly what Jesus emphasizes at the end of the parable. He doesn't point to is own ability to heal, rather he says, in contemporary language: “Oh, woman, your faith is something else. What you want is what you get!”

One way to define faith is to see it as the ability to stay in touch with God's love. To put that in a more succinct way is to say that faith means both empathy and presence. Empathy comes from keeping an open heart to the world around you, and presence means to be in direct contact with that world. To be immersed in faith means to be practicing both empathy and presence.

When I saw that poor doe looking all around her frightened and without the ability to get up and move I felt her pain. I felt her pain as if it was I out there on the highway and I wanted to help her but there was nothing to do. So I prayed that she would find help and that God would direct the people who were involved. Then I did the one thing that I could do in the moment and that was to reach over and pet Oreo.

Oreo was in the front passenger seat and though I often pet her going into work on this morning I just kept doing it. I couldn't help the doe, but I could show Oreo I loved her because she was right there beside me.

It was the empathy I felt for the doe along with the ability to be present to her situation that led to reaching out with love to Oreo. Faith involves both empathy and presence and both of those things are learned behaviors. Jesus set the standard for us two thousand years ago but it still has to be learned through prayer and practice.

Not too long ago Elon Musk said: “The fundamental weakness of Western Civilization is empathy.” Elon Musk is an influential person because he's rich and is a towering example of what is arguably a core value in our culture – the value of success. For such a influential person to make a statement of that nature is a problem.

It's a problem because by extension if Elon Musk drove by that crippled doe along side the highway for all intents and purposes he wouldn't see it. Oh, he might see it with his eyes but his heart would remain closed and cold. It would not cause him to reach out to the dog beside him because there probably wouldn't be a dog to reach out to.

As Christians this is not a problem for us because we're people that practice empathy and the Lord has shown us what that means. We also practice presence and the class that's meeting every other Thursday is taking that to the next level. Empathy and presence equal faith because they both help to keep us in touch with the love of God.

Now, let me say in all honesty, that I think most people would feel badly for that doe on the side of the highway. Elon Musk is influential but all of us have suffered and have felt like that doe at times. To see that kind of a situation automatically triggers empathy along with remembrances of similar dire situations.

What makes the difference is do we embrace the feelings and reach out to the dog beside us, or the family member who needs a thoughtful touch, or the friend feeling down and disappointed? Or do we simply ignore the pain in our heart and refocus on the relentless neediness of the ego?

If we embrace the pain within and allow it to direct our thoughts and actions, then we're following in the footsteps of our Lord. This is how he has shown us to live and each of us has to decide everyday what we're going to do. Are we going to be faithful or are we going to retreat into the illusions of the False self. Some things depend on us.

Rev. Mitch Becker

August 16, 2026

Port Angeles

First Christian Church

“Why Are We Here?”

1 Kings 19:9-18

Last Sunday we began with Esau in pursuit of Jacob, and today it's Queen Jezebel in pursuit of Elijah. It is with great fear of the queens wrath Elijah finds himself walking the ancient path already tread by Moses. The path takes him to Mount Horeb (Hore-rub) and God tells him to ascend the mountain in the same way Moses did some five centuries before him.

But unlike Moses who encounters God face to face Elijah finds a cave to hide in. It is here that God asks him the question: “Why are you here, Elijah?” Elijah, in defensive posture tells God that he's there because he's been confronting the people about their disobedience and consequently they're out to kill him.

God tells Elijah to come out of the cave and here the Lord passes by and following this are three cataclysmic natural events. The first amounts to hurricane force winds. Then comes an earthquake soon followed by wildfire but the Lord is not in any of these events. Finally, comes the “still small voice” and it repeats the same question God already posed to him: “Why are you here, Elijah?” Elijah repeats his previous explanation that he has confronted the people's disobedience and now they're after him.

It seems what's happening is the Lord is using the frightening natural events to bring Elijah out of his fear of the queen's wrath to respond in an appropriate way to God's directives, and it works! God gives him a new assignment to anoint Haz'ael (Has-i-el), Jehu (Jeh-you), and the prophet Elisha (Eh-lee-shaw) to take his place. It turns out after anointing Elisha it is he that anoints the two kings. Though Elijah only partially follows through with God's directives he does wake up enough to anoint his successor.

The Lord has a number of ways in which to wake us and sometimes we respond and other times we don't. One common way is by helping us to correct poor practices. I used to practice putting my glasses on the arm of the recliner. This proved to be a poor practice particularly when done upon first waking up in the morning.

The other morning, I placed them on the recliners arm and upon sitting down used the arm, as one should, to support myself. I had positioned my hand directly over the glasses resulting in a popped-out lens and bent barrels that attach the arms to the lens frame. What made this particularly frustrating is it was the second time I did it only this time it left the glasses considerably worse off.

I had to go into the Costco Optical Department, again, and ask the nice man behind the counter if he would fix them. Of course, it was the same man as before and he didn't shame me and seemed happy to do the work. Never-the-less, it was embarrassing because I'd made the same mistake twice in a row.

I no longer place my glasses on the arm of the recliner even though it is less convenient than putting them on the table to the right of the recliner. I am determined to not repeat the mistake and certainly don't want to visit Costco Optical Department, though I'm sure the man behind the counter would be gracious. Whereas, I have a hard time being gracious with myself.

God can use such experiences to guide us into right behavior. Consistent prayer, frequent Bible study, and acts of compassion help to keep the door open to behaviors that are nurturing for our minds and spirits. Rather than giving into anger or shame or guilt we are enabled to rise above it all and move forward in what amounts to loving acts toward ourselves.

The Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh (Tick-Not-Hann) put it this way: “Look into yourself and recognize the suffering in yourself. If you recognize, embrace, and transform your suffering and difficulties, then you are loving yourself.” As a recovering alcoholic it took me years to learn to love myself on a consistent basis. As a practicing addict I could love myself for short periods of time, but I'd always fall back into the practice of unhealthy behaviors.

Finally, I learned to stop beating myself up every time I slipped back into addiction. Through prayer, study, ceaseless acts of compassion, and making friends with healthier

people I was eventually able to emerge from addiction and begin to build a life grounded in God and characterized by love of self. Many people think that recovery is simply stopping the substance abuse, but the other half of the equation is building a healthy lifestyle and that takes a lot of work, courage, and faithful action.

The repeated question God poses to Elijah is: “Why are you here.” Elijah responds by explaining his confrontation with the people about their repeated violations of the covenant and their subsequent hostility toward him. Specifically, he's hiding from the wrath of the queen. God attempts to snap him out of his obsessive fear with a sequence of cataclysmic events which seem to have an effect.

But it's the “still small voice” that finally does the trick and even though Elijah simply repeats the previous explanation what follows are God's directives which amount to a brand-new mission for him to achieve. He's successful, in part, because he does anoint his successor, but the successor is the one that goes forward to anoint the two kings.

If we as a congregation, ask ourselves why we're here the response may come in a variety of ways. In part, we're here to support one another with the love of Christ. That in itself is a big job and requires much prayer and faithful caring for one another. In the elders meeting last week, we talked about each and every member of the present congregation exploring ways we might be of assistance and making decisions about reaching out to those on the periphery of the church.

The following story may help us to understand why we're here and how to move forward in our God given mission:

In 1914, Ernest Shackleton led an expedition to cross Antarctica. The mission failed catastrophically when his ship, the Endurance, became trapped in pack ice and was eventually crushed, leaving twenty-eight men stranded on the frozen sea with no radio contact and no rescue coming. What followed was one of the most extraordinary feats of sustained endurance in human history.

For nearly two years, Shackleton kept his crew alive – not primarily through superior survival skills, though those mattered. Historians and psychologists who have studied the expedition point to something less tangible. Shackleton relentlessly protected the emotional and psychological morale of the crew. He held routines. He insisted on meals together. He distributed warm clothes to others before himself. He maintained a posture of calm confidence in the outcome even when he privately had no certainty of rescue.

Every single man survived. When asked later how he had kept faith in the mission alive for twenty-two months without visible hope, Shackleton simply said that he had decided the ending before it happened, and that he lived backward from that decision.

For the Christian, we have something Shackleton did not. We do not have to manufacture confidence in the outcome – we have been given it. The resurrection is the ending already decided. We are not people that hope things might turn out well. We are people who already know how the story ends. And we live backward from Easter into every invisible, frozen, faithless-feeling day.

As we look ahead to the future of our church, we don't know exactly what the resurrection will look like. What we know is resurrection awaits us and in each day that passes that vision is enough to sustain us.

Rev. Mitch Becker

August 9, 2026

Port Angeles

First Christian Church

“My Friend Charlie”

Genesis 32:22-31

We're picking up where we left off a few weeks ago with Jacob fleeing his brother Esau. Jacob sends his family across the shallow water of the river Jabbok (Jab-bock) and is left alone where he encounters a man who wants to wrestle with him. They wrestle all night but the man doesn't succeed in overcoming Jacob. Then, with what could be discerned as a cheap shot the man puts Jacob's thigh out of joint.

After a long night's struggle the man asks Jacob to let him go and this is the first time we suspect “the man” is God because Jacob demands a blessing. God responds in the form of a name change from Jacob to Israel because he's striven with both God and man and prevailed! After Jacob asks God to identify himself the response amounts to a blessing which is not described in any detail.

The text ends with an important phrase which comes as Jacob limps past the holy place he's just encountered God that translates to: “The sun rose upon him,” indicating Jacob has passed through another liminal encounter to emerge yet again successful. Following is an excerpt from a commentary written by Rachel Wrenn:

“While liminality overwhelms Jacob's night, it is difficult to pinpoint a time in Jacob's life that is not marked by the touch of the liminal. Esau is born first, but Jacob emerges from the womb linked to his brother's body. A man by birth, he lives in the women's tent and cooks, eschewing traditional gender roles. He is the second-born child, but he acquires both his brothers birthright and his brother's blessing. He dreams of a conduit between heaven and earth, and stands beside the Maker of the Universe. He rises to success but in a foreign land. Even his marriages bear the mark of liminality, with one wife beloved and barren, the other unloved but powerful in birth.”

Liminality and liminal experiences are common to all of us. Margaret is in a liminal time of her life in transition between her home in Port Angeles to her new home in Sequim. I've experienced several extended liminal times between calls to ministry in different churches.

During the experience of liminality we're often waiting and hoping for the blessing of newness in the form of new health or a new church to pastor or a new home. Sometimes we're waiting for spiritual renewal with a release from the confines of the ego. Such release can result in the kind of mental and emotional freedom only possible by transcending this world.

Liminal experiences are often accompanied by a time of waiting hopefully for a blessing which may be either major or minor. I've needed a new spring bar for my watch. Following are trip to Saint Michael's Medical Center in Silverdale I stopped in at Charlie's Watch Repair in the Kitsap Mall.

He had opened early and I presented my broken watch to him asking him to fix it. He began to search through several different containers each full of spring bars eventually coming upon the one that fit my watch. Within the next minute it was fixed effectively ending my liminal experience of existence without a watch. The blessing was two-fold because the watch was repaired and I asked Charlie what I owed him and he said, “That's okay, don't worry about it.”

The blessing of having a repaired watch was amplified by an act of grace and though minor in the scheme of things I was touched by it. Sometimes it's the little things that seem to matter most and this act of grace came at a very opportune time. Because our visit to Saint Michael's Medical Center turned out to be a terrible disappointment.

After missing a late evening phone call with no voicemail left and passing through two checkpoints at the hospital and while sitting in the waiting area in view of the doors into the the surgery prep room; a very nice woman came over and asked us if Dr. Jain was Karen's surgeon. Karen replied, “Yes, she is.” “Well, I'm sorry but Dr. Jain is sick.” At that moment it was apparent that the liminal experience of waiting for surgery was indefinitely continued.

Due to this catastrophic failure in communication the surprise act of grace given by Charlie reminded me there was another side to existence and even greater acts of grace are possible. It opened the door to whatever goodness and grace might be in store for us down the road. The following Bible story illustrates Peter's liminal experience on the water with Jesus:

As soon as the meal was finished, he insisted that the disciples get in the boat and go on ahead to the other side while he dismissed the people. With the crowd dispersed, he climbed the mountain so he could be by himself and pray. He stayed there alone, late into the night.

Meanwhile, the boat was far out to sea when the wind came up against them and they were battered by the waves. At about four o'clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them walking on the water. They were scared out of their wits. “A ghost!” they said, crying out in terror. But Jesus was quick to comfort them, “Courage, it's me. Don't be afraid.”

Peter, suddenly bold, said, “Master, if it's really you, call me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come ahead.” But when he looked down at the waves churning beneath his feet, he lost his nerve and started to sink. He cried, “Master, save me!” Jesus didn't hesitate. He reached down and grabbed his hand. Then he said, “Faint-heart, what got into you.” (Matthew 14:22-31; The Message Bible)

In the revised standard version Jesus says, “O man of little faith, why did you doubt.” Out on the water Peter is caught up in a liminal experience between the churning waves and the safety of his Master's arms. Peter becomes afraid and that's exactly why this story is in the Bible. We often become afraid in the midst of a liminal experience because we don't know what's coming next.

We don't like not knowing but that's the whole point of faith, isn't it. To be assured God's grace is on the way in the midst of doubt, concern, and even fear. Author and spiritual guide Marianne Williamson puts it this way: “Know that the light is always on the way.” And that's one-half of the equation. The other half is having enough faith to be willing to put ourselves “out on the churning waters,” so to speak.

This becomes especially difficult as we age because the tendency is to become more cautious since aging makes us feel vulnerable. When we were young we recovered relatively quickly to certain hardships, illness, and injury. As we age the churning waters take on a threatening appearance that wasn't there before, so our hesitation to walk on the waters is understandable.

Never-the-less faith depends that we take the risks, though they may be scaled down a bit we still need to get out there where Jesus is. Trying to stay comfortable may feel okay for a while but in the long-term it prohibits spiritual growth and over time your faith can diminish to become more of a head-trip than an actual living experience.

This story about Jacob wrestling with “the man” is a wonderful illustration of faith in action. We're all wrestling with God when we're living out our faith. When the nice lady came over and asked Karen if Dr. Jain was her surgeon I knew immediately what was coming but I didn't feel angry. I was a little hopeful that someone else might do the surgery, but that soon passed.

What I actually did was smiled a bit thinking, “Yep, sometimes the system fails us.” But then came my friend Charlie who reminded me of the possibility of God's grace that becomes available for those willing to walk on the water.

Rev. Mitch Becker

Port Angeles

August 2, 2026 

First Christian Church

“Inseparable”

Romans 8:26-39

When we look at Scripture, we generally think of it in terms of individual salvation. This is because our culture trains us to think primarily in terms of individual concerns, gain and identity. Yet not only is the vast majority of Paul's writings directed toward community, but the vast majority of the Bible is written in such a manner.

Whenever we approach Scripture, and hopefully that's often, we need to remind ourselves that these ancient peoples operated with an entirely different worldview than we do. In our present culture individualism becomes even more pronounced with men who are trained from an early age to equate manhood with an ability to stand alone and succeed without help.

The Apostle offers a note of hope even for us two millennia later and that comes in the form of the Spirit which intercedes for us. If we're humble enough to invite the Spirit into our lives through prayer our consciousness can be increased accordingly. The Spirit moves us out of self-focus by freeing us to become more aware of the world around us. The end result for some is to become: “...proud owners of everything that can't be bought.” (Matthew 5:5b; The Message Bible)

Living at a time of considerable cultural distress and transition we may easily become discouraged and even fearful of the future. For the faithful Paul brings an important word of encouragement that we would do well to allow to reside deep within our souls. The message is God is in charge and bringing all things into right relationship with him.

The two most prominent ways he supports this is by telling the faithful community: “that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.” As I said in my sermon last Sunday we are fulfilling our God given mission, therefore we can trust that all is working for good since we indeed love the Lord.

And the text closes with another word of support when he writes: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?....No, in all these things we are more than conquers through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Karen has been harvesting weeds that are growing wild in front of our house. Some of them are taller then the both of us and include thistles and other leafy things I can't identify. The other night I walked down to where she was to observe her work. After a few minutes she said she'd like to quit and asked me if I would cut twenty more weeds. At first, I refused with the excuse I was in my pajama bottoms, but on second thought I decided to lend assistance.

I went into the house and changed into my work pants and got started on the weeds. After cutting and loading them into the wheelbarrow I continued by grabbing hold of an immense plant with the clippers and pulled up hard. To my chagrin the clippers lost their hold and the handle flew up and caught me in the lip accompanied with a sharp pain that told me some damage had occurred. Later, looking at it in the mirror I discovered I'd cut both my inner and outer lip.

At the moment of impact and before any degree of pain had occurred my conscious focus became fixed upon that area of my face. The pain that soon followed revealed the extent of the injury and at first I felt angry soon to be followed by depression. Soon after depression followed an attempt to blame something or someone for what had happened.

I thought of blaming Karen for asking me to harvest weeds and I thought of the weeds themselves being so enormous and difficult to cut and I even wanted to blame the clippers for not being sharp enough! At this point you might recognize what is happening is I'm quickly going through the stages of grief which can be attributed to a sudden loss of health.

It begins with shock as the clipper handle impacts my lip soon followed by anger. Next comes the attempts at blaming which is an aspect of the bargaining stage followed by depression and finally a letting go of all of it to accept the reality of what has happened. We go through the stages of grief not only due to major losses but also because of minor ones.

A problem that can arise during the grief process whether due to a minor or major loss is it's so intensive that we often lose touch with God. That's why it's important to keep moving through the process so we can reconnect at the acceptance stage. When that happens grief becomes an ally and a powerful tool that assists in spiritual growth. When we get stuck in one stage or another it has the opposite effect. Unfortunately, a lot of people get stuck sometimes in addiction, or denial, of fearfulness. Whatever the case we've got to keep moving forward!

The community in Rome Paul is writing too undoubtedly had to deal with grief because its such a common human experience. But they were also dealing with a host of troubling issues including maybe first and foremost ethnic division. The Gentiles were looking down on the Jews and visa versa. They were caught up in arguments about dietary laws and living in the capital of the Roman Empire they were fearful of the authorities.

They were coping with all of this and more and Paul's counsel to them differs with each individual issue, but our text gives us a pervasive remedy which amounts to never fear God loves you and is ultimately in charge. It's important to be reminded that God's in charge especially if you're dealing with the authorities; or that God loves you when people are being haughty with each other as the Jews and Gentiles were doing.

Paul supports his theological thesis reassuring them in this way (using contemporary language:) “That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good” and “I'm absolutely convinced that nothing – nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable – absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.”

The following comes from a commentary on the website “Scripture Savvy” written by Jamie Wilson:

Paul's list of opposites in this verse serves as a vivid contrast to emphasize the strength of God's love. For instance, by mentioning “death” and “life,” he signifies that no matter what state we find ourselves in, God's love is always present....The phrase “the present nor the future” points to time itself, conveying that no situation we currently face or will face can alter our relationship with God.

God's ability to love is not limited by how we perceive our circumstances. This verse challenges us to recognize that the adversaries and transitions in our life do not determine God's love; however, they can help strengthen our faith. Paul encourages us to seek a deeper understanding of God's love, allowing it to inspire, motivate, and guide us through challenges. This sense of assurance empowers us to confront our fears and difficulties with a strong heart and unshakable faith.

Rev. Mitch Becker

July 26, 2026

Port Angeles