The Way: Choosing the Road Less Traveled

Now, want to be careful here, I don't want to romanticize danger, I know how reckless some of you can be. The road less traveled isn't always dramatic, it doesn't always make headlines, sometimes it's far quieter, no less costly. Sometimes it just looks like having that honest conversation that you've been putting off for far too long. Sometimes it looks like saying yes to a calling that seems too big or too demanding or will take your precious time. Sometimes the road less traveled is just staying, staying in a difficult relationship, staying in a job that doesn't feel great, staying in a place that's stretching you beyond what you can imagine. [00:53:35] (49 seconds)  #CourageInQuietChoices

Chapel by the sea, you are not too small to matter to the kingdom of God. You're not too beachy, we're not too casual, we're not too seasonal, we're not too anything. We are exactly who we are to be because God placed us here at this spot in this moment for purposes that exceed our wildest imagination. Can you believe that? Can you believe that? Okay. [01:01:47] (35 seconds)  #SmallChurchBigPurpose

The transformation that we long for almost always waits for us on the other side of that thing that we've been avoiding or putting off or scared to tackle. So what does this mean for us as a church, as a faith community? And I want to ask you something quite pointedly. As a church, what do you think people out there expect of us? What do you think people expect of us? To be a charming little chapel on Clearwater Beach? Or maybe to be a warm and welcoming community? To be a lovely place to worship while on vacation, to be a faithful congregation doing good things in the community. [00:59:53] (49 seconds)  #TransformationBeyondFear

He didn't negotiate. Remember what he said? It was basically, you tell that fox. You tell that rodent named Herod that I must be on my way. And like the poet, Jesus took the road less traveled. And I wanna suggest this isn't just Jesus story, it's the story of every person ever standing at a fort filling the pool of the safer path. But the threat did not define the direction that Jesus took, did it? The obstacle did not determine the outcome. Fear did not have the final say. [00:52:46] (49 seconds)  #CourageOverThreat

We see him at times along the way, he's scattering, sort of dropping his son's ashes at different stone formations or different beautiful places along the way, and Tom Avery is cracked open to grace and to love, then I would suggest that following Jesus has the same effect on us if we truly allow ourselves to be changed. You see the way around, the safe way, the the detour, the carefully managed risk, the life kept carefully within our experience of what we know, it's not a way of doing this thing called faith. [00:59:11] (43 seconds)  #GraceThatTransforms

Gracious and ever present God, we come to you this morning as pilgrims, weary sometimes, hopeful always, and grateful for the road that has brought each of us to this place, to this moment, to one another. Remind us even in our comfort that we are not here merely to be blessed, but to become a blessing to this beach, to this city, to this broken and beautiful world. And Lord, the world is broken. We live in a time of wars and rumors of war, and just as your son warned us we would. [00:32:36] (50 seconds)  #BecomeABlessing

We pray for the peacemakers everywhere, negotiators, nurses, aid workers, advocates, sustain them and protect them. And we pray for the leaders of every nation that wisdom would outweigh pride and that the long road of diplomacy would be chosen over the quick and catastrophic path of escalation. And closer to home, we lift up those in our own congregation, those carrying burdens no one else can fully see, those navigating illness, those sitting with grief, those who came through that door this morning running on empty. Meet them here, o God, we pray. Meet us here. [00:34:14] (52 seconds)  #PrayersForPeacemakers

See, in this passage, we're seeing that that Jesus wants more for Jerusalem than what Jerusalem is willing to live into. God wants more for us oftentimes than what we're willing to live into. And so the grief that Jesus expresses here, the lament, it's not about Jerusalem's failure, but the tragic human condition to choose the small, the safe, the predictable way. [00:57:09] (30 seconds)  #CalledBeyondComfort