The Victimization Story: Us In Spite of Them

The Victimization Story: Us In Spite of Them

February 9, 2025
Psalm 137:1-9, Matthew 5:1-12

Series based on The Seventh Story, by Brian McLaren & Gareth Higgins

Alongside Babylon’s streams, there we sat down, crying because we remembered Zion.  We hung our lyres up in the trees there because that’s where our captors asked us to sing; our tormentors requested songs of joy: “Sing us a song about Zion!” they said.  But how could we possibly sing the Lord’s song on foreign soil?

 Psalm 137:1-4

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The Victimization Story revolves around suffering and oppression, shaping an identity rooted in past harm.  In the first century, many Jews saw themselves as victims of Roman oppression, a sentiment deeply tied to their history of exile and subjugation. Psalm 137 vividly expresses this experience:

 "By the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars, we hung our harps" (Psalm 137:1-2).

This psalm reflects the pain of the Babylonian exile, where the Jewish people were torn from their homeland, mocked by their captors, and forced to sing songs of Zion in a foreign land. Their suffering was real, their grief legitimate, and their longing for justice palpable. These experiences of oppression carried forward into the Roman occupation, where heavy taxes, exploitation, and loss of autonomy deepened their sense of victimhood.

Despite their legitimate suffering, Jesus challenges the Victimization Story as the defining narrative of their identity. He declares, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Jesus acknowledges the reality of oppression but offers a vision of hope.  He calls His followers to see beyond their suffering to the transformative power of God’s kingdom. His resurrection stands as the ultimate rejection of victimhood, transforming suffering into victory and calling His followers to live in the hope of God’s justice and restoration.

In today’s world, the Victimization Story persists both personally and in our larger society. On a personal level, individuals often cling to past hurts, defining themselves by wounds and grievances. Socially, groups may highlight injustices, sometimes justifiably, while also perpetuating cycles of resentment and division rather than seeking healing. 

Jesus does not dismiss the reality of suffering and victimization, but he invites us to move beyond this story so that it does not become our core identity. He calls us to acknowledge pain and injustice while refusing to let them define us. Instead, He offers a path of forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation. This does not negate the legitimacy of suffering but transforms it into a story of hope that inspires others.  Jesus’ story is not one that avoids suffering and death, but rather one that invites us to transcend death through resurrection.

•  Are there areas where you are holding onto past hurts that prevent healing?

• How can you share your story of suffering in a way that brings hope and healing to others?

• How might Jesus’ resurrection inspire you to live beyond victimhood?

Stay in Love with God

Stay in Love with God
August 4, 2024
Psalm 105:3-6, Colossians 2:6-7

Give praise to God’s holy name!
    Let the hearts rejoice of all those seeking the Lord!
Pursue the Lord and his strength;
    seek his face always!
Remember the wondrous works he has done,
    all his marvelous works, and the justice he declared

Psalm 105:3-5 (CEB)

So live in Christ Jesus the Lord in the same way as you received him. Be rooted and built up in him, be
established in faith, and overflow with thanksgiving just as you were taught.

Colossians 2:6-7 (CEB)

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The third simple Rule from John Wesley is to “attend upon the ordinances of God.”  In short, this means to attend to regular spiritual practices like prayer, fasting, Bible Study, participation in worship, etc.  These are the practices that helps us nurture our ongoing
relationship with God.

In modern times, we don’t think as much about “ordinances,” so it is often reframed as “Stay in love with God.”  In other words, do whatever you need to stay in love with God.  Consider any loving relationship you have; a marriage, another family relationship, a friendship, etc.  Every relationship takes work.  You have to spend time together.  You have to communicate with each other.  You have to have a genuine interest in one another’s lives.  You even have to serve one another, which sometimes requires sacrifice. 

Spiritual practices or disciplines are the ways we do all of these things with God.  They are like a trellis that supports our relationship with God and helps us grow more deeply in love with our creator.  Without these regular spiritual practices, it is nearly impossible to live out the first two rules, to do no harm and to do good.  Why?  Because it is our love for God and God’s love flowing through us that produces the fruit of good works. 

Here are a few questions to consider as you think about your own trellis, or “rule of life.”

1. What rhythms / practices is God inviting you to establish or strengthen at this time in your life?

2. Tinker with arranging your calendar to  accommodate your chosen practices. Rearrange where necessary. Experiment. Revisit and revise it.  A rule of life is to support growth in holiness of heart and life.

3. What do you feel are the challenges you might face as you seek to live into these new rhythms?

4. Consider the arrangements that will need to be made. How will you need to adjust your schedule in order to consistently choose this rule of life?  What conversations or arrangements do you need to make with those with whom you live and work?

5. How do you need prayer from another as you move forward?

“IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS there is nothing we can do to transform ourselves into persons who love and serve as Jesus did except make ourselves available for God to do that work of transforming grace in our lives”  (Robert Mulholland, Invitation To A Journey).

The Gift of Mystery

The Gift of Mystery

Simple Gifts - Part 4

Sunday, December 24, 2023
Psalm 8, Luke 2:8-20

When I look up at your skies,
    at what your fingers made—
    the moon and the stars
    that you set firmly in place—
         what are human beings
            that you think about them;
        what are human beings
            that you pay attention to them?

 Psalm 8:3-4 (CEB)

Nearby shepherds were living in the fields, guarding their sheep at night.  The Lord’s angel stood before them, the Lord’s glory shone around them, and they were terrified.

The angel said, “Don’t be afraid! Look! I bring good news to you—wonderful, joyous news for all people.  Your savior is born today in David’s city. He is Christ the Lord.  This is a sign for you: you will find a newborn baby wrapped snugly and lying in a manger.”

 Luke 2:8-12 (CEB)

Listen to this Week’s Sermon here:

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David, a lowly shepherd in the field watching his flocks by night, looks up at the skies and marvels and the wonder of creation, and even more at the great mystery that the God who placed moon and stars in the sky would care about and pay attention to someone like him.  One day this shepherd boy would be king of Israel and would unite the Kingdom in a way that no one has seen before or since.  But whether as a king or a shepherd boy, the mystery remains… Who is this God that would pay attention to a lowly human like me?

Nearly 1,000 years later, shepherds sat out upon those same fields, in the city of David, watching their flocks by night and looking up at the sky.  But instead of the moon and stars, they saw the radiance of an angel of the Lord who brought good news for all people, even seemingly insignificant people like them.

It’s easy to get caught up in the mysteries of obscure Bible passages we don’t understand or theology that doesn’t quite make sense.  Biblical scholars and theologians argue over whether Mary was actually a virgin, or just a young maiden as the original languages imply, and whether or not it really matters.  For centuries, Christians struggled to figure out the mysteries of the incarnation, wondering just how much of Jesus was actually God and how much was human?  Historically it was settled in the creeds, but Jesus himself never seemed particularly concerned with his disciples believing in his virgin birth or in explaining how his oneness with the Father actually worked.  The mysteries of Advent and Christmas were simply not mysteries Jesus and his followers ever considered.  The earliest gospel account in Mark doesn’t even have a birth narrative and the “Christmas Story” in Matthew is more about connecting Jesus with Moses than about recording historical and biographical events.

The nature of Jesus as the son of God is expanded in Luke and John, but still, the greater mystery remains.  It is the same mystery David wondered and the mystery the shepherds encountered first-hand when greeted by this heavenly messenger.  Who are we that God is mindful of us, that God pays attention to us, that God cares about us, and even more, that God has Good News for us, and for all people?  

Let us not be distracted by the historical details of Christmas, but let us marvel in the mystery that is God’s hope, love, joy and peace for us, and for all.