Views from The Ridge 02.07.2024
Sunset Ridge is a church that desires to follow Jesus, reach people, and radiate God’s love and hope to all.
This Week
Saturday, February 10 Second Saturday
9am Yoga
10:30am Bilingual Storytime with Miss Jonna & Valentine’s craft with Miss Suzan
Sunday, February 11
9:15am Life Groups, children’s Roots gathering, teen gathering (see website for more info)
10:30am Worship in the Sanctuary (Think Again - Matthew 5:17-30)
No chapel worship or evening gatherings. Happy Super Bowl Sunday!
Wednesday, February 14 Ash Wednesday Service
Upcoming…
Sunday, February 18 Outdoor Worship
Monday, February 19 Office Closed
Good, Better, Best
-Riley Stirman, Preaching Minister at Sunset Ridge Church
In fourth grade, we had a school assembly one day where a motivational speaker came. I remember absolutely nothing about it except for one line that he repeated multiple times throughout his presentation.
"Good, better, best, never let it rest until your good is better and your better is best."
Sort of baffling, right?
Later in class, our teacher asked us if we understood what he meant by that. Most of us answered that we really didn't. So our teacher instructed us "Reach your hand up as high as you can go." Obediently, twenty-something tiny hands reached straight up into the sky as high as they could. "Now reach higher," our teacher said. Puzzled, we did what we could. Some stood up on their tiptoes, others contorted their bodies to stretch their hand even higher, some jumped up in the air, and at least one rebel climbed up on a chair.
The point, apparently, was that often when we think we're doing our best, we still have room left to grow. Even when we were told to stretch up as high as we could go, there was still room left for us to rise. And our goal was to become the people whose best effort was actually our best effort.
I think there's some of this at play in the Sermon on the Mount, too. Remember that the opening of Matthew 5 begins by saying that Jesus retreated away from the crowds and climbed a mountain. But his disciples followed him up the mountain.
New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine sees this as significant for us. "We know from Matthew 10 that there are (at least) twelve disciples, but to this point, we've only seen him call four: Peter and Andrew, James and John. Since Matthew does not name the disciples who join Jesus on the mountain, any of us can find ourselves among those sitting close and listening."
It almost seems as if the Sermon on the Mount is asking us which group we find ourselves in. Are we the aimless crowds who may or may not hear the words of Jesus? Or are we the disciples who have left our homes and our families, committed to following Jesus, and have even climbed a mountain to hear what he has to teach about life?
And to make matters even more challenging, he turns to these out-of-breath amateur mountaineers and tells them that they are salt and they cannot allow themselves to lose their saltiness. They are light and they cannot allow themselves to be hidden or obscured. In short, Jesus says, your salt could always be saltier, and your light could always shine brighter.
Now when we hear this, I don't want us to conjure up an image of discipleship that mirrors the scene in my fourth grade classroom. It's easy to hear this as a straining, effortful challenge to illuminate ourselves, to make ourselves people who stand out. But we need to remember it is not our effort to be distinct that makes us distinct. What sets us apart from the world is the blessing of God spoken over us that we have had ears to hear. What separates us from the world around us is the power of the living God that is at work within us, transforming us into people who more closely resemble citizens of his heavenly kingdom.
To make our salt saltier and our light lighter, we are left with figuring out how to live most fully the life that God has called us to. I close with some profound wisdom from the 20th century mystic Thomas Kelly:
"I find God never guides us into an intolerable scramble of panting feverishness. . . . Life from the Center is a life of unhurried peace and power. It is simple. It is serene. It is amazing. It is triumphant. It is radiant. It takes no time, but it occupies all our time. And it makes our life programs new and overcoming. We need not get frantic. He is at the helm. And when our little day is done we lie down quietly in peace, for all is well."
You have to admit. If you were that person, people would take notice. May we become what we already are: salt and light.
An Interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer
By Chelsea Stirman
Our Father God, who exists all around us, above and below,
Your name is sacred to your creation.
We pray that your beautiful plans and designs
come to be; quickly.
We pray that we work with you, not rushing ahead or making our own paths.
Here and now, and everywhere, always.
Please provide for us exactly what we need,
and give us grace when we so desperately need it–
As we hope to extend that same grace to one another.
Hold us close in your perfect contentment,
and remind us that we belong to you, not the evil that pervades.
In all things, may we become more fully your people
and bring back to you this day as holy sacrifice.
It all belongs to you, anyway.
In Christ’s name, amen
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