“I like Texas, but I don’t have to like Texas – you like yourselves enough.” — Comedian Dustin Nickerson 

Much like the people of Texas, it was easy for the Jews to imagine the Messiah coming for them. Read Jeremiah 29:10-14 – a passage we know so well – and realize it was written for the Jews. “I will find you and bring you back.” The Jews knew God was sending them salvation. But the passage continues, 15-19, and the story turns. Another group of people will be pursued with the sword. Crushed. Becoming a horror, like a rotten fig that can not be eaten.

How must it have felt to be these people, who the New Testament calls the Samaritans?

So how amazing that when Jesus declares himself Messiah for the first time, in John, it is to the woman at the well. A Samaritan. (And a Woman). The judgement. The punishment. The past is overcome by the great love of God. Whether we like ourselves enough or not, we are loved enough to be saved.

Sunday Preview: Looking up — Psalm 130:5-6 (and Jeremiah 29)

This Sunday we continue our series Looking Up. I borrowed Pixar’s Up Balloon for the image, because as we look to God we are filled Love. This love is carrying us beyond… we may not arrive how we expected. But it will be transformative – for us and those we encounter!

Join us for the journey in this new year! Our worship service begins at 10:30.