We don’t need to know the path. We just need to walk it.

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
August 30, 2026
Proper 17, A
Romans 12:9-21
Psalm 26:1-8
Matthew 16:21-28

“There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.” That’s what Morpheus said to Neo the 1999 sci-fi film, “The Matrix.” In the movie, humans were struggling to be freed from machine overlords, and humanity was waiting on a savior, The One. Morpheus was looking for this savior, and he was firmly convinced that Neo was the one. At one point, after Neo did some truly amazing things, Morpheus again said how he believed Neo was The One. Neo again protested, and Morpheus said to him, “Sooner or later, you’re going to realize just as I did, there’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.” You may not know exactly where this is leading, Morpheus was saying, but you can walk the path you are meant to walk, regardless.

As I read today’s Gospel, I have a lot of questions, particularly around Jesus telling his disciples that some of them would not taste death before they saw the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Was he talking about when Jesus would return in the clouds with great majesty, bringing in this new paradise on earth? If so, he was wrong, because that hasn’t happened in 2000 years, much less in the disciples’ lifetimes.

Did Jesus mean they would see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom because they were going to see him riding into Jerusalem on a donkey to much fanfare and praise, because they did see that. A week after he rode into Jerusalem, of course, he was executed as an enemy of the state, so maybe Jesus meant that they would see him come into his kingdom, but that his kingdom was not some great seat of governmental power that they thought it was. I kinda like that, but it also feels like a stretch. 

So, maybe Jesus meant they would see his resurrection, that rising from the grave with everlasting life was Jesus coming in his kingdom. Many of Jesus’ disciples did see him after being resurrected, and that’s certainly amazing and wonderful and far greater than riding a donkey into a city, but Jesus said the Son of Man would “come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he [would] repay everyone for what has been done.”

That just straight up ain’t happened yet. So maybe he did mean his resurrection when he said they would see him coming into his kingdom and the whole coming with his angels in the glory of his Father thing was something else? I don’t know. Like I said, I’ve got a lot of questions on this one. I’m not sure what I believe about Jesus coming with his angels in the glory of his Father and his disciples not tasting death before they see him coming in his kingdom. 

I could try to come up with an exact answer that suits me, and fits all the pieces together, and defines everything exactly. I’ve seen it done, but those answers, fitting everything together perfectly, tend to leave me cold. They kinda sorta make sense-ish of what Jesus said, if you don’t ask too many questions, but they tend to feel like an unskilled writer tying up loose ends in a script. You end up with something that’s definitely, almost a movie but the kind that you’d wait till it was out of theaters to watch and then just decide to skip entirely. 

The other reason I don’t tend to come up with an exact answer that suits me, and fits all the pieces together, and defines everything exactly is that I don’t really need to. “There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.”

In the midst of all my questions, I don’t really know the right answers, but I choose to believe in Jesus’ resurrection, nonetheless. I believe Jesus was showing us that life does not end in death, but that life is transformed in death into something else, that we will all continue living together after our deaths. I find that beautiful. It gives me hope.

Morpheus - "The Matrix", 1999

Even not knowing how it all works, believing in Jesus’ resurrection gives me a path to walk, a path of hope, peace, and trust. I may not know exactly where the path will lead or how it all goes, but “there’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.” Knowing the path can lead to that really bad b-movie thing I was talking about earlier. Walking the path, well, that’s pretty much what Paul was writing about in Romans 12:9-21. 

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

That’s some of the highlights. Paul shows a path of hope and peace, a path of trust. Now, full disclosure, Paul seems to have thought that the end was coming very quickly, that Jesus would return any minute. So, you could see Paul’s advice as being, “Eh, since it ain’t gonna be too long, you can put up with some suffering for now.” That may be what he was thinking, but my question there is, if Paul had thought that Jesus wasn’t coming with his angels in the glory of his Father for at least 2000 years, would he have given the same advice. I think so, because as much as he thought Jesus was returning any minute, his hope was in Jesus’ resurrection, in life after death. So, Paul taught a path of hope, and peace, and trust. Paul walked that path, and he taught the churches to walk that path as well. 

Hope. Peace. Trust.

That is a decidedly different path than Peter was on when he rebuked Jesus. Peter thought he knew the path he wanted to take. He thought he knew the path he wanted Jesus to take, a path of power and glory. So, when Jesus said that he was going to be arrested, beaten, killed, and on the third day raised, Peter rebuked Jesus for being on what he thought was the wrong path. Power, glory, destruction of enemies, that’s the path Peter thought Jesus should have been on.

Now, they hadn’t been walking the path of power, glory, or destruction. Peter had been with Jesus for years, watching Jesus walk the path of hope, and peace, and trust, and yet, somehow Peter still thought the path they were on was power, glory, and destruction.  

“You are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things,” Jesus told Peter. Peter assumed he knew the end, power and glory, and so he was ignoring the actual path they were walking. That continues to happen quite a lot in the church. Sometimes followers of Jesus know how things should be, and they are so determined for things to be that way, that they leave the path of hope, peace, and trust in order to force their way in the world. 

They form groups based on political beliefs to try to force things to be the way they think Jesus wants them to be. They try to pass laws to force others to conform to their morals or beliefs. They want Jesus’ kingdom here on earth, and they try to make it happen, but the path they end up walking is the path of power, glory, and destruction. 

That wasn’t the way of Jesus, it wasn’t the way of Paul, and even Peter abandoned that way of power and glory after Jesus’ resurrection. They all walked in the path of hope, peace, and trust. That’s the way of the church. 

I want to walk that path, except of course in the times when I don’t because I want to walk the path of power, glory, and destruction, because I want my way and I know how things should be, and I’m angry, or I’m frustrated, or whatever else it is. Jesus tells us to take up our cross as we follow him, and we put onto that cross what that cross represented for Rome: power, glory, and destruction. We put on to that cross our desires to force our way in the world and crucify those with Christ so that we can then walk with Christ in the path of hope, peace, and trust.

We don’t know exactly where that’s going to lead in this life. We seek to bring healing and love as we walk the path of Jesus. We crucify our desires for power, glory, and destruction, forcing the world to be how we want, and we don’t know when or how the path will end. We do know we can’t force Jesus’ kingdom on the world. We can’t force Jesus’ kingdom to come. It isn’t ours to bring about. So, when will Jesus’ kingdom fully come? Where exactly will walking the path of Jesus lead? We don’t know, but we don’t need to know. We don’t need to know the path. We just need to walk it.

Jesus the Unstoppable, Unkillable, Ultimate Weapon of Doom?

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
May 17, 2026
7 Easter, A
1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
Psalm 66:7-18
John 14:15-21

So, in the Legend of Zelda video games, when you finally get to fight the big, bad, boss guy, Gannon, you get to fight him twice. You defeat him the first time, and then he immediately comes back from the dead, bigger and badder, and you get to defeat him all over again. It’s fun, some lovely extra play time, and I’m pretty sure that’s what Jesus’ disciples thought was going to happen when Jesus was resurrected, that he had come back bigger and badder, and ready to destroy the Roman Empire.

When Jesus told the disciples they would be baptized by the Holy Spirit, in Acts 1:1-8, they asked if he would be destroying the Romans and establishing his kingdom over Israel. That’s exactly what they thought he was going to do prior to his death, and after his resurrection, it seems like they thought he was even more powerful and would then take care of it, but his answer was still “no”. Jesus wasn’t going to kill a bunch of people to force his way in the world.  

Instead, he told his disciples to continue his mission of healing and reconciliation in the world. 

Unlike for the evil bad guy in the Legend of Zelda games, the point of Jesus’ resurrection was not that he would return as an unstoppable, unkillable, ultimate weapon of doom for his enemies. The point of Jesus’ resurrection was to show us that not only did God share in a death like ours, but that we will then share with him in a resurrection like his. 

Life continues on after death. Healing and reconciliation continue on after death. Our unity with God and one another continues on after death, and even during death.

Even in death, God is with us. We often feel God is with us when life is going well. Some of us feel God’s presence in beautiful worship. Some feel the Spirit moving in times of great joy or purpose. Some know God is with us when we experience blessing in our lives. 

Jesus’ suffering on the cross, his death, and resurrection assure us that God is with us even in our suffering. Peter says as much in the reading we heard today, 1 Peter 5:6-7. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” God is with us and for us even in the dark times, so Peter tells his readers to give their anxieties and fears over to God. That’s the kinda stuff the bigger and badder resurrected Jesus is going to take on. 

He already took on our sin, and that killed him, but it couldn’t keep him down. Jesus proved more powerful than our sin, so what does he ask to take on now? All the stuff that causes us to sin. Give all that stuff over to Jesus, and let him fight it out for you, and know that you are not alone.  

“Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour,” Peter wrote. “Resist him, steadfast in your faith, [cast all your anxieties on Jesus], for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.”

Folks in Peter’s time were going through what he called “a fiery ordeal,” and Peter told them to rejoice since they were sharing in Christ’s sufferings. Ok, truthfully, rejoicing that we are suffering seems a bit much to me, but accepting the suffering and finding joy that Jesus joins us in that, that makes sense to me. When we suffer, Jesus is with us and has suffered with us. That means too that Jesus is with us and we will join with him in healing, joy, a resurrection like his. 

Now, the fiery ordeal that Peter was addressing seems to be that other folks weren’t too keen on that church being followers of Jesus. It seems like the church Peter was writing to was deeply disliked and even persecuted for their faith. ‘Remember guys,’ Peter was saying, ‘remember that folks did the same thing to Jesus when they didn’t like what he had to say, and they even killed him for it. So, Jesus is with you in your suffering.’

Notice that he didn’t tell them to take on an “us against the world” kind of stance. Cast your anxieties on God, Peter said. Give them over to God so that God can deal with your fears, rather than you living with them all alone. Don’t take on the world, thinking that unstoppable, unkillable, ultimate weapon of doom, Jesus, is going to fight against and kill all the bad people for you. Give all your anxieties to God, realizing that suffering indeed happens. 

There are Christians today who do seem to feel that unstoppable, unkillable, ultimate weapon of doom, Jesus is going to kill all of the people they think are bad, and they talk like Jesus’ disciples did in Acts 1, when they asked Jesus if he was going to kill the Romans and establish his kingdom in Israel. “Not gonna happen, guys.” That was Jesus’ answer to his disciples back then, and that is Jesus’ answer to the ultra-nationalist Christians nowadays who think they should be able to force their faith and way of life on others.

Forcing one’s faith and way of life on others may seem faithful to those who do it, but it isn’t loving, and it isn’t focused on eternal life. Those folks may think they are focused on eternal life, but really, they’re focused on avoiding punishment when they die. That’s not eternal life.

Jesus told his disciples what eternal life is, that we may know God and Jesus Christ whom God sent. That goes beyond faith, beyond belief. Knowing God goes beyond proclaiming certain doctrine as true. Knowing God comes not just through faith, but through love, as John tells us in 1 John 4:7, “Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” 

Eternal life is knowing God, and those who love, know God. So, those who love have eternal life. Do you love? Then fear not, for you have eternal life. Do you love? Then fear not. Cast all your anxieties upon God because God cares for you. Do you love? Then give to God all of the worries and fears that cause you to sin, and ask the unstoppable, unkillable, ultimate weapon of doom, Jesus to fight those worries and anxieties for you. That is the battle Jesus wages in his resurrection, not against our physical enemies, but against our spiritual enemies. Jesus’ battle is against the fears, the hates, and the hurts that lead us to harm. 

So fear not, and trust that Jesus is with us in our pain and in our suffering. Jesus shares with us in our suffering, and we share with him in his resurrection. Trusting in Jesus, then cast all your anxieties on the unstoppable, unkillable, ultimate weapon of doom, Jesus, who loves and cares for us. Then, love others as he has loved us, for God is love. To love is to know God, and to know God is eternal life.

The Peace We Make & the Meals We Share

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
April 19, 2026
3 Easter
1 Peter 1:17-23
Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17
Luke 24:13-35

Cleopas and his companion didn’t recognize Jesus until they ate dinner together. Prior to that, they had walked together. They had talked about Jesus together. They had talked about the scriptures together. At no point during all of that time, however, did those two disciples recognize Jesus. Then, when they sat down and had a meal together, suddenly they realized Jesus was sitting with them. When they shared a meal together, they realized Jesus had been with them the whole day.

Something about having meals together is pretty important. When God freed the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt, it began with a meal. Countless times, Jesus had meals with people. He ate with wretched and sinful folk, showing them during those meals a better way to live, helping to heal them as he did. Jesus’ last gathering with his disciples before his arrest was over the Passover meal, and he told them to remember him through the meals they shared.  

Author and Ph.D., Diana Butler Bass wrote a piece called “Maybe the Meal Is the Point,” and in that piece, she wrote that after Jesus’ resurrection: 

They never return to the cross. Jesus never took them back to the site of the execution. He never gathered his followers at Calvary, never pointed to the bloodstained hill. He never [gave glory to] the events of Friday. He never mentioned Friday. Yes, wounds remain, but how he got them isn’t stated. Instead, almost all the post-resurrection appearances — which are joyful and celebratory and conversational —take place at the upper room table or at other tables and meals.

https://dianabutlerbass.substack.com/p/welcome-to-the-table

Dr. Bass went on to say that maybe the meal was the point. Many see it as simply the lead up to Good Friday, seeing Jesus last Passover meal with his disciples as simply a last meal before the important part on the cross.

What if we got that order of importance wrong? Dr. Bass asks. She sees that Passover meal that Jesus has with his disciples on Thursday as “the opening meal of the new age, in a community of mutual service, reciprocity, equality, abundance, generosity, and unending thanksgiving.”

https://dianabutlerbass.substack.com/p/welcome-to-the-table

A meal is how Jesus described life in God’s kingdom. That goes for life now and life after death. God’s kingdom is seen as people sharing meals together. A great feast. A simple meal. Joining together to break bread with one another is life in God’s kingdom. So, that’s the meal Jesus had with his disciples on Thursday night before his crucifixion, and Dr. Bass sees that meal as one which declares God’s kingdom as a new kingdom living in this world, different from all the kingdoms of empire.

Now, by empire, I mean any great kingdom or institution which exerts power and dominance over others.

For the early Church, the biggest of these was the Roman Empire, and though the church was living the kingdom of God, the church didn’t try to destroy the Roman Empire. Instead, the church lived among it and beyond it. Even though the empire was going to be oppressive and control people’s lives, the church was going to be liberating, freeing people to love and serve one another. The church freed people not to live according to the rules of empire.

In the rules of empire, there are a few people are at the top, most of the people are at the bottom, and the power and authority of those at the top is inflicted upon those at the bottom. 

The church didn’t operate this way. Jesus had meals with people, and he didn’t care who sat with who. Jesus ate with people he wasn’t supposed to, according to the rules of empire, the rules of society which like to group the good people and the bad people, the worthy and the unworthy, the sinners and the righteous. Jesus didn’t go for that. He just ate with folks. He shared meals of God’s kingdom, all of God’s kingdom with all of God’s people. 

That’s how we’re called to be, living in the kingdom of God. For us in the church today, in the United States, we have a church that is meant to be separate from empire. The United States is not an empire like Rome was, but as a nation, it does follow many of the ways of power and dominance that mark empire. 

Empire says conquer your enemies. Bless those who curse you is not exactly the way of this nation. 

Empires says maintain your power over others, and use force to stay ahead if need be. Blessed are the meek; blessed are the peacemakers; and give to the one who asks of you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you; those things aren’t exactly the way of this nation.

The way of Jesus is different from the way of empire. That hasn’t stopped many Christians, however, from trying to tie the church to the nation and letting the way of empire be the way of church for them. Power, authority, control: these are the ways of empire that some in the church try to use as extensions of the nation. 

Forcing others to follow your beliefs wasn’t the way of Jesus. The way of Jesus was sharing a joyful Passover meal with his friends on Thursday. The way of empire came on Friday, forcing the will of the powerful and killing Jesus for doing his religion wrong. 

There are many times that parts of the church have fallen to the way of empire, choosing power, authority, and control over the ways of Jesus. There’s the obvious time when the church became the official religion of the Roman Empire, obviously choosing power, authority, and control. There are times when preachers start declaring power over other people, declaring who gets to go to Heaven and who will go to Hell. Pastors and preachers who tell us who will be damned are choosing the way of empire, rather than the way of Jesus. Jesus said not to ask who will go to heaven and who will go to the abyss. Rather, Jesus said to sit down and have meals together with people.

I was shown a video last week of a person who was upset that the Pope had gone to a mosque in Algiers and had paused for silent meditation while there. The Pope said to the head of the Mosque, “I thank you for these reflections and for these important words during this visit, from a place that represents the space that belongs to God, a divine and sacred space, where many people come to pray and to seek the presence of the Most High in their lives.” He expressed ‘hope that peace, justice, reconciliation and forgiveness would grow among peoples.’

http://vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-04/pope-leo-apostolic-journey-algeria-grand-mosque-algiers-dialogue.html

That’s what this person had a problem with. The Pope visited a Mosque, said a silent prayer, gave thanks for that house of worship, and gave hope for peace, justice, reconciliation, and forgiveness. The person who had a problem with the Pope’s visit noted that there had been killing of Christians by Muslims in the past and indicated that because of that, the Pope shouldn’t have been there seeking peace and honoring them.

Well, this person was giving great examples of the way of empire. Don’t forgive your enemies; keep seeing them as enemy decades and even centuries later. Stay away from them, unless you aim to conquer them. That may be the way of empire, but it sure as shootin’ ain’t the way of Jesus. Love your enemies. Bless those who persecute you. Try having a meal together and seek peace, for blessed are the peacemakers. 

We aren’t people of empire. We’re people of resurrection. We’re people of peace. We’re people of meals together, meals of love and hope, meals of justice and peace, meals of reconciliation and forgiveness. That’s how Jesus appears to us in the kingdom of God, in the love we have for one another, in the peace we make, in the meals we share.

We Aren't Meant to Dwell in the Grave - New Life & Being Home

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
April 5, 2026
Easter
Colossians 3:1-4
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
Matthew 28:1-10

Yesterday, I was reflecting on Good Friday, on the crucifixion of Jesus, and while I often feel rather somber or a little sad when thinking on Jesus’ death, I instead felt a sense of gratitude for Jesus’ crucifixion. Gratitude and peace, rather than the emotional turmoil of cry night. Now, if you haven’t heard me mention cry night before, that’s the night at various youth camps, or even adult camps, where the leaders get all the youth to cry about all the bad things they’ve done and how they were the ones who killed Jesus. 

Ok, the idea of taking our sin seriously is a good one, and leading people to repentance for their sin, helping people see the damage they have done, also good. Emotionally manipulating tired teenagers to ensure a tearful response to Jesus’ crucifixion and death, however, may not be the best approach in the world. Also, while tears, sorrow, and guilt are totally appropriate responses to Jesus’ crucifixion and death, they are not the only appropriate responses. 

Yesterday, on Holy Saturday, thinking of Jesus in the tomb, I felt a profound sense of gratitude. Jesus died to join with us in death. God experienced death to join with us in death. So, I felt gratitude, rather than guilt. When my dad died, he was not alone in death. God was with him in death because in Jesus, God died a human death so that even in death, we are joined with God.

So today, on Easter Sunday, as we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, returning to life from the dead, I find that I can trust Easter because of Good Friday and Holy Saturday. I can trust in Jesus’ resurrection because Jesus joined with us in death. I can trust in new life after death because Jesus walks with us in death.

At the same time, with resurrection life, we don’t really dwell on the death. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb, and the angel who was there told them, to go take a look at see that Jesus wasn’t there, but after that, they weren’t supposed to hang around the tomb, turning it into a shrine, and praising God there. No, they were told to go away from the place of death, meet Jesus, and live new life. 

“Jesus died for our sins.” “Jesus died for our sins.” “Jesus died for our sins.” We hear that over and over, and yes, that is true, but what’s really important is Jesus lived. Jesus came back from the grave to keep on living. So, we are not meant to dwell in the grave. We are meant to live. Beyond the grave, past the grave, after all the many deaths in our lives, Jesus’ resurrection tells us to mourn death for a time and then to leave the tomb behind and move forward into new life.

Now, what will that new life look like? Well, resurrection after our physical deaths, new life in God’s eternal kingdom, end of time type resurrection, we’re talking joy, bliss, huge banquet, surrounded and enveloped in love, tears no longer will fall type of new life. 

Regarding our lives, here on earth, we suffer various deaths throughout our lives, and the new life of resurrection happens for those deaths too, and that’s going to look different for all of us, each time that new life happens, but there are some things that seem to mark the new life of resurrection.

When Mary Magdalene and the other Mary left the tomb, they were filled with joy at the news Jesus had given them. New life of resurrection is marked with joy. That doesn’t mean that the two Marys, happy for the rest of their lives. Even after they saw Jesus, they had times of sorrow in their lives. The new life of resurrection is still life. There will be times of happiness, times of sorrow. 

In fact, former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, said, “God doesn’t want us to be happy.” See, of God wants us to be happy, then we deserve happiness, and happiness becomes an end in itself. Rather than happiness as a result of relationships, or achievement, or growth, we desire happiness just because we want to feel happy. 

That sounds like addiction. Archbishop Williams noted the problem of expecting happiness from anything and everything in our lives. Relationships are supposed to make us happy. A concert or a game is supposed to make us happy. Then if it doesn’t, we end up resenting it. After 10 years of marriage, does that person make you happy? Well, one, it’s not their job to make you happy, so really asking, “Does this person make me happy?” is the wrong question. A better question would be, after 10 years of marriage, do you feel at home? That’s joy, and joy rumbles along underneath in our lives, even with challenges and trials on the surface. 

So, a resurrection life is a life marked with joy, and a life marked with joy is a life marked with hope, with love. A life of joy is a life which accepts sorrow not as the end or the final way we will feel, and a life of joy does not expect happiness to be the way we will feel all the time. A life of joy finds fulfillment in relationships, feeling at home. A life of joy is a life of hope and love, feeling at home during times of happiness and sadness.

Another mark of the new life of resurrection is that there are barriers that are no longer present in the new life. In the new life of resurrection, the two Marys were the first apostles. The first two people Jesus appeared to and sent to tell about his resurrection were Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, as Matthew calls her. In the new life of resurrection, women were leaders in the church, until men decided they didn’t want that, relegated women to lesser roles and determined since Jesus was a man, only men could lead the church. They were looking to the old life of power struggle and one group trying to be more holy and more blessed than the other.

In the new life of resurrection, we are all blessed by God because we are all made in God’s image, and we have all been united to God through every part of our lives through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Truth is, we know from scripture that we already were all blessed by God, we already were all made in God’s image, and we already were all united to God. We just wouldn’t believe it. In the new life of resurrection, Jesus invites us to accept our blessedness, to accept the image of God in which we are made, and to accept our unity with God and one another.

Finally, in the new life of resurrection, there is unexpected blessing. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went from the tomb in joy because the angel had told them that Jesus had been raised from the dead, and suddenly, unexpectedly, Jesus met them, showed them that he truly had been raised, told them not to be afraid, and placed on them the mantle of apostles to the apostles. Unexpected blessing.

That meant letting go of the past, letting go of their former life and embracing this new life of apostle to the apostles. That meant a death for them, a death of their old life in embracing their new life. 

For us, whenever a loved one dies, whenever the path we thought our life would take dies, whenever the assumed future that we think we will have dies, we are encouraged to let go of the past, to let go of our former life, learn to embrace our new life. 

A young man I know is headed down a dark path of addiction and stealing, and it may already be too late for him to avoid jail. His parents have had to call the police as he keeps stealing from them and despite all their good efforts, he just keeps at it. For them, the death is letting go of the thought that they can help their son get off this path when he simply won’t choose to get off. For them, the death is accepting that their son may end up spending time in jail and may end up spiraling even further after that. For them, this means letting go of whatever future they thought they would have with their son and accepting the future that will come because of their son’s actions. 

What will new life look like? They don’t know, and they are mourning. They are looking to the future with hope of some kind of resurrection, with no expectation of what that will be, and right now they are mourning. 

We get to mourn. We get to return to the tomb, just as the Marys did, but we don’t stay in the tomb. We don't stay with cry night. We move forward into the life of resurrection that is coming. It may take longer than three days, and it won’t be happy all the time, but new life after death can be joyful. New life of resurrection is a life with joy rumbling beneath the surface. New life of resurrection is a life in which we look around after a time and realize, “I’m home.” New life of resurrection is life in which some of who we were and the ways we knew were right may not be anymore, and the new life of resurrection is life in which we find unexpected blessing. 

Unexpected blessing like God choosing to die with us so that we are not alone even in death. Unexpected blessing like Jesus being resurrected so we can look to the future with hope and joy. Letting go of the past, releasing our fear of death, we can embrace the new life of resurrection and find that we are home.

Let It Go, For We Are People of Resurrection

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
March 15, 2026
4 Lent
1 Samuel 16:1-13
Psalm 23

John 9:1-41

Dang it, but I really don’t like when things go the way I don’t want them to go. I get that it’s not my world and I’m not in charge of everything, but if things in my life would go the way I want them to, and if things in other people’s lives would go the way I want them to, and if things in the world would go the way I want them to, I would be so much more pleased. Life would be perfect, right, if only God would listen to me and respond exactly as I want God to?

That would kind of make me God’s master which is a little bit problematic. Ok, that’s completely problematic. If I’m in charge of the way God runs the world, then I’ve really taken God’s place so I’m essentially God over everyone else, and yeah, that’s hugely problematic, because I don’t think anyone really wants me as God over them. I certainly don’t want anyone else to be God over me, and I also really don’t want to be God at all. I mean, I definitely want things to go the way I want them to go, but I really don’t want to be in charge of everything. 

We human-type people tend not to be particularly good at playing God. Dictators, tyrants, warlords, they all try to force the world to go how they want it to, and they usually end up killing a bunch of people and bringing a lot of misery into world. Captains of industry, and ultra-wealthy business leaders are others who tend to try to make far too much of the world bend to their will, and while there’s a lot of money to be made, there’s usually a lot of people suffering because of the vast wealth made by a few.

Addicts are another group of people that tend to try to force the world go as they want it to go, and it tends to work pretty terribly for them too. Then, since the world is so terribly disobedient to the addict’s desires, they drink or use drugs at the world. “You won’t do what I want, world? Well I’ll show you!”

Like I said, we human-type people tend not to be particularly good as playing God. Saul, the first king of Israel, tried playing God, and unsurprisingly, it worked out pretty badly for him. Saul was in a war against the Philistines, and when he and the people of Israel saw how huge the Philistine army was, they were terrified. 

God had told Saul that he was with him and not to worry about threats from others, but when Saul saw the people of Israel retreating in fear, he decided to make a sacrifice to God, rather than waiting for Samuel to do it. That wasn’t good. Saul wasn’t the one who was supposed to make sacrifices. Samuel was. So, this meant that Saul was trusting in the sacrifice, rather than trusting in God. Saul was putting himself in God’s place, trying to force things to go how he wanted them to go, rather than letting go of things he couldn’t control. He couldn’t control when Samuel arrived, so a faithful response would have been to offer prayers to God, placing the outcome in God’s hands, rather than trying to force God to give them victory through sacrifice. 

Saul was trying to control God, therefore trying to put himself in God’s place, so after a few more incidences like that, God rejected Saul as king. 

Then, it was Samuel’s time to be tempted to play God. Samuel was grieving over the rejection of Saul as king, grieving over the many ways Saul had failed as king. God grieved for a time as well, sorry that he had made Saul king over Israel. Before long, though, God was ready to move on. God wanted Samuel to go anoint the new king of Israel, and Samuel was still grieving. “How long will you grieve over Saul?” God asked. “I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil, and set out” to anoint the one I will show you to be the new king over Israel.

In other words, God was saying to Samuel, ‘Let it go, man. I’ve got other plans. New life will spring up from this death. Don’t fight it. Go with it into an unknown future, trusting that I am with you in this.’

It is a bit much to say Samuel was trying to play God in his grief over Saul, and at the same time, God did need to remind him to let the past go and move forward into an uncertain future. Saul was mourning for an imagined future with Saul as king. Whatever he thought that future was, it was suddenly gone. 

I’m guessing most of us have mourned the loss of many imagined futures throughout our lives. We lose a job, and the future we thought we had is suddenly gone. A family member or friend dies, and a future of life with them is gone. We get attacked or beaten, and the future we thought we had is now darkened with fear and trauma. Our nation goes to war, and any number of possible futures are all thrown into chaos. 

Any time those things happen, we’re going to mourn the loss of those possible and imagined futures. Of course we do, and I figure God mourns with us, loving us as God does. Our challenge is not to stay there, grieving the loss of the future we thought we might have. When we stay forever in that place of grief and will not let go of that imagined future, we are in that place like Samuel where we’re not exactly playing God, but we kinda are because we refuse to let go of what we have lost, longing for something that cannot be. “If only this had happened or that had happened. If only God had done what I wish he had done, things would have gone differently.” That’s when we do get into the, “I could have done this better,” territory, and we are kind of longing to take God’s place. 

So, God says to us what God said to Samuel, “Let it go. I’ve got other plans now. We are people of resurrection, so new life will spring up from this death. You don’t need to fight it. Go with me into an unknown future, trusting that I am with you.’

Another way that we want to play God is when we sorrow at the loss of a longed for past. “In my day, we didn’t do things like…” whatever old people complain about, and yes, I am sometimes one of the old people who complains about how things are nowadays. Sometimes we lament that we just don’t this new generation, or that people aren’t doing things right. Kids are too noisy. Kids are too quiet. They should go outside and play more. What are all these kids doing running around outside, don’t they have parents? The schools aren’t right. The music isn’t right. People didn’t used to do things like that, or at least they’d be decent enough to be ashamed about it. 

Jesus healed a blind man, and that seems like it’s obviously a good thing, right? Unless you were some of the religious folks back in the day when Jesus healed that blind man, and then you had complaints. Jesus shouldn’t have healed you, they said. For one thing, this is the wrong day to heal people, and for another thing, we’ve never heard of anything like this before. That’s startlingly close to, “In my day, we didn’t heal people on Saturday. We’d rest and let ‘em suffer it out till Sunday, like good God-fearing people. And another thing, any decent person would know you can’t have your sight restored if you’re born blind. I just don’t understand you kids these days. You must be a really terrible person for Jesus to have restored your sight.”

The religious leaders wanted the past that they knew and understood to continue on, unchanged. God seemed nice and orderly in that past. The rules made sense, and they were on the right side of those rules. Now with this new stuff that this carpenter’s kid was doing, performing miracles like they hadn’t seen before and even healing on the Sabbath, their comfortable past was turned upside down. 

We’ve continued with challenges like this in the church, and very often when some seemingly new thing is happening in the church, groups of folks don’t like it, and there’s a split as one group stays with the ways things were and one group goes with this seemingly new thing God is doing. In the Episcopal Church, we’ve had changes such as the new prayer book: it’s 47 years old, almost half a century, but there are some folks who still won’t use it because it’s the new prayer book.

We’ve had changes about things like allowing for a person to get married again after that person has been divorced; it’s only been 53 years since that change was made. A year after that change, we began ordaining women as bishops, priests, and deacons, and more recently, we have allowed homosexual people fully to participate in the life of the church.

Each of these changes has turned the church upside down for some and been a moment of Jesus healing the blind man for others. Each of these changes has left people mourning an imagined future in which things hadn’t changed, and each of these changes has left people mourning the loss of a longed-for past. 

Through these and a thousand other changes throughout the life of the church, we have always sought to remain faithful to Jesus, and through people’s upset and struggle, longing for the past or mourning the loss of an imagined future, Jesus has been with us saying, “Let it go. I’ve got other plans now. We are people of resurrection, and new life will spring up from this death. So you don’t need to fight it. Go with me into an unknown future, trusting that I am with you.”

For each of us personally as well, our futures often die, and our pasts cease to be. As much as we may want it at the time, none of us are God to force our way onto the world, and so God tells us, “Let it go. Mourn for a time, but let it go. We are people of resurrection, and I have other plans now. New life will spring up from this death, so stop fighting it. Go with me into an unknown future, trusting that I am with you.”

The Possibility and Reality of the Goodness within Us

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
July 13, 2025
Proper 10, C
Deuteronomy 30:9-14
Psalm 25:1-9
Luke 10:25-37

Yeah, I got this. I don’t need any self-reflection, no need to evaluate my life, my actions. I know the commandments of God. I know Jesus’ ways. Since I know them, I must be following them, right? I was baptized; I claimed my discipleship years ago, whenever that was, so I’m good. I’m perfectly fine in my faith and my walk with God.

That’s a rather haughty approach to one’s faith and way of life. I did this at one point, I still know what I did, so I should be great. That’s like the star pitcher of a baseball team saying, “I used to practice a lot. I still know all the principles of a good curve ball and slider. No preparation needed for this game. I’m good.”

That seems to be the attitude of the man who asked Jesus about inheriting eternal life. “Yeah, I know the commandments. ‘Love God. Love my neighbor.’ I’m pretty nice to the folks living around me. Kinda bare minimum effort. I should be good, right?” 

It seems like maybe he wanted to squeak by and be in God’s good graces, without actually having to care all that much about others. Follow the rules, and I’ll be fine. I’ll follow the rules and make God happy, or at least not angry with me, so I can stay in God’s good graces, inherit eternal life.

That’s kinda missing the point, isn’t it. Follow God’s commandments just enough to keep God off your back, and call that eternal life? Keep God happy or at least not angry, and call that eternal life?

The priest and the Levite in Jesus’ story were doing just that. They had important work to do, important temple work to do, important religious work to do, to make God happy. I’m being a little unfaith with the whole “make God happy” thing, but when we feel like our religious duty is what makes God happy…These guys were working to make God pleased not only with themselves but with all of Israel, so they had important work to do. 

Because of that important work, they ignored this beaten and possibly dead man. Again, partially because they had to stay ritually clean in order to do their work, so if this guy was bleeding, they couldn’t touch him because then they couldn’t go to the Temple to do their work. So, what were they to do? 

They had to make God happy, or at least not angry, so they had to ignore this guy and go do the important Temple work…darn it, I guess they were missing the point again. 

That’s not Jesus’ way.

To think that we’re doing important work for God’s service while ignoring people who are hurting.

Then, you’ve got this Samaritan, who actually takes care of this guy, and Jesus said, ‘Well, that’s the one who’s your neighbor, so love him.’ Now, that’s a tall order because the Samaritans were among the most hated people amongst the Israelites. The Gentiles, the non-Israelites, they weren’t really any good, but meh, who cares. The Samaritans, though, it’s like the worst rival in a football game, except instead of just the players duking it out on the field, the fans attack and maybe not kill, but at least beat half to death. 

So, the fact that Jesus said that a Samaritan was the one who was a neighbor to the beaten man, he was talking about the worst of the worst, the lowest of the low. He wasn’t doing any of the good religious stuff to keep God happy. He just took care of the guy who got beaten up, and it turns out that’s the neighbor that the man Jesus was talking to was told to love as himself. 

I saw the new Superman movie, loved it, and like with so many Superman stories, the reason I loved it isn’t just because he’s an awesome superhero with heat vision, and X-Ray vision, and ice breath, and super strength, and he can fly…and he has a cool cape. I love all of that too, but what I really love about Superman is he gives us a glimpse into the best version of ourselves. Superman gives us a glimpse into what we could be, and I don’t mean the strength and the flying, although the cape would still be nice.

What I mean is, Superman has an almost irrepressible belief in the goodness and worth of people. He knows we often don’t show our goodness, but he believes it’s there. Then, Superman takes his optimism about humanity, and he takes all of his power, and he chooses to serve and love humanity. Rather than rule over us as a god, which he totally could, Superman chooses to serve and love humanity, and in that love and service, he inspires others to the same. He shows us our best nature and inspires us to live that same love and service for each other. 

That sounds a lot like Jesus. He could have ruled over us as the God he is, and instead he chose to love and serve people as he walked among us. Jesus showed us the best of our natures. Jesus taught us the best of ourselves. Jesus is the possibility and the reality of the goodness dwelling within each one of us. Jesus inspires us to live into that same love and service of others, which is what he was teaching this lawyer with the story he told of the Samaritan, the hated one who chose love and service.

https://youtu.be/GUAj9O0gxsQ

Go and be like that hated one, rather than some religious person, being religious to make God happy. Living into the possibility and the reality of goodness dwelling within each one of us, that is what makes God happy. Living into the goodness, the possibility and the reality of that goodness is also what God’s eternal life looks like.

What did we hear in Deuteronomy? The Word is very near to you, in your hearts, in your selves. That eternal life of God is within us, and we can live that eternal life when we live like that Samaritan did, that hated one. 

“What must I do?” The man asked. Well, keep the commandments, except that this guy saw them as rules to be followed, a list to be checked off. That’s not what the commandments are. They aren’t a checklist to make sure we keep God happy or at least not angry with us.

The commandments are a guide for us that we can live into the possibility and reality of the goodness within us. 

Now, I gave that Superman analogy, that Superman shows us the possibility of the goodness within us. It’s a little unfair because Superman is basically invulnerable, so it’s got to be a little bit easier to keep your cool when someone is being a jerk and punches you in the face, because it doesn’t hurt at all, and it breaks the others guy’s hand, so instant vengeance. 

We don’t have that invulnerability, but we do have resurrection. We do have Jesus telling us over and over again, “Do not be afraid.” Trust in God, for “the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.” The Word and eternal life is not just waiting for us after this life. The Word of God and eternal life are here in this life.

“Go and do likewise,” Jesus said to the lawyer. Experience eternal life now. Join with God. Seek God’s help always. Everyday, live into the possibility. Live into the reality of the goodness within. 

"That's All" - Locking Jesus Out (and letting him back in)

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston

May 25, 2025
6 Easter, C
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
Psalm 67
John 14:23-29

So, I’m gonna talk today a little bit about demons, which is always tons of fun, and it may seem kinda weird because there weren’t any demons in our Gospel reading today. It was really all about Jesus making his home with us, and I’m gonna get to that, but thinking about Jesus making his home with us make me also think about other things that make their homes with us.

Anger can make its home with us. Violence can make its home with us. Fear and resentment can make their homes with us. We have all sorts of things that can make their homes with us, and that got me thinking about what Jesus said in Luke 11:24-26.

When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ On its return, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and dwell there. And the final plight of that man is worse than the first.

A demon leaves someone, comes back, finds the place looking swell and figures it’ll invite some friends and really have a party in there.

Ok, so let me clarify what I mean about demons making their homes in us. I’m not talking about full on Exorcist kind of demon possession. I think Jesus was, and what he said also works with lesser demony-type things. I’m talking about some of our desires or emotions, ways of life which really harm us, and we just can’t quit. Get what I’m saying? I don’t want everyone leaving here saying, “The priest said I’ve got demons in me.”

When Jesus talked about demons making their homes with us, again, think about us choosing ways of life that harm us. Let’s say you wake up in the morning, you’re in a foul mood for whatever reason, and you choose just to stay in a foul mood, if you even think about it at all. So, now you’re grouchy, and you’re angry, and you’re taking it out on everyone around you. Let’s call that grouchy anger a demon. You keep nursing it; you keep feeding it, and eventually it just becomes part of who you are. Sure, you’re occasionally happy sometimes, but basically, you’re just a pissed off, bitter, angry person. I’d call that something like a demon that has taken up residence. 

At some point, you decide to kick the demon out. “I’m tired of being grouchy and angry all the time,” you say. So you decide to put on a cheery disposition. You smile, you have some optimistic thoughts, and for a couple of days, you’re feeling better. Then one bad thing happens, and now not only are you pissed off and grouchy because of the bad thing that happened, but you’re also pissed off and grouchy because being cheerful didn’t work. In fact, it made everything worse because you’re just as pissed off and grouchy as you were before, but you were also hoodwinked by all that damn smiling optimism. 

That sounds like what Jesus was talking about, with the demon leaving, then coming back with a bunch of his buddies to make things even worse than before. We hear people talking about fighting our inner demons. That’s what I mean, and boy howdy, we can have a lot of those. I’ve mentioned anger, grouchiness, violence. What about addiction to drugs, alcohol, sex? What about thinking the world is against you, what my dad called, “having a chip on your shoulder”? God, I hated it when he said that. He was right. I did have a chip on my shoulder, and it was based in fear and insecurity. Again, we’ve all got our inner demons that we struggle with.

Jesus said in our Gospel lesson today, “Those who love me will keep my word, and I will come and make my home with them.” “Those who love me will keep my word, and I will come and make my home with them.” That sounds a whole lot better than angry, lusty, fearful, spiteful demons making their home in me. “Keep my word,” Jesus said, “and I will come and make my home with [you].”

Here's where the altar call happens, right? Come up here, proclaim that you want to keep Jesus’ word, and all will be well from here on out, right? Nah, see keeping Jesus’ word is not a one-time deal. Jesus said he’d make his home with us. That’s an everyday kinda deal. We’re following in Jesus’ ways as best we can, not perfectly, but we’re trying, and Jesus is with us, staying in our house, in our selves. Then we see something we want to do that we know Jesus is going to say “no” to, so we ask Jesus if he’d like to just take a walk for a little while, stretch his legs, and when he gets around the block, we lock him out. 

Now, when we do that, and we all do that, Jesus ain’t gonna force his way back in. The demons will. They don’t knock. They just force their way in and say, “Piss off, this is my house now” Jesus doesn’t do that. Jesus knocks and says, “What’s going on? You wanna let me back in.” 

Well, we’ve kicked Jesus out, we’ve followed ways that we know are harmful for us, so at this point, the house is already a wreck. Even without any major terrible demons coming in, it’s pretty messy. We’re not sure we wanna let Jesus in. We’re kind of ashamed. At the same time, things have been kinda fun. We’re not sure we wanna give things back over to Jesus just yet. Tell you what, Jesus, let me have my way for a while, and you come one back whenever I want you here. Thanks so much.

I’m not saying Jesus won’t come back when we treat him like that. Rumor has it he will, but when we kick him out and lock him out, we do tend to let in a lot of demons. We do tend to hurt ourselves. We do tend to hurt others.  

So, the suggestion Jesus has instead is that we keep his word, we keep his ways, we seek his guidance and follow his teachings, and he will come and make his home with us. In God’s kingdom, Jesus has many dwelling places, and we are those dwelling places. 

Jesus is resurrection and life, and Jesus offers to dwell within us. Jesus is love and peace, and Jesus offers to dwell within us. Jesus is way, and truth, and life, and Jesus offers to dwell within us.

Way, truth, life, love, peace, resurrection: those all sound pretty good, a far cry from the various demons we often invite in. So, rather than give an altar call and ask people to come here and commit to keeping Jesus’ word and ways, let me offer this. Make the altar call every morning. Every day we decide to trust Jesus enough to follow his ways. Every day we chose Jesus’ way, truth, and life. Every day we choose Jesus’ love, peace, and resurrection. 

Every day we do well; every day we mess up; and every day we return again to that altar call and invite Jesus in, committing to keep his word as best we are able. Some days we’ll be more able than others, and Jesus will reward our efforts by making his home with us. 

Some days, we may kick Jesus out, and even then, Jesus will be outside, ready to come back in when we’re ready to unlock the doors and welcome him back in. So, “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” Jesus says, “and do not let them be afraid.” “Peace I leave with you; my peace own I give to you.” For, “those who love me,” Jesus says, “will keep my word, and I will come and make my home with them.”

"That's All" - Locking Jesus Out (and letting him back in)

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
May 25, 2025
6 Easter, C
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
Psalm 67
John 14:23-29

So, I’m gonna talk today a little bit about demons, which is always tons of fun, and it may seem kinda weird because there weren’t any demons in our Gospel reading today. It was really all about Jesus making his home with us, and I’m gonna get to that, but thinking about Jesus making his home with us make me also think about other things that make their homes with us.

Anger can make its home with us. Violence can make its home with us. Fear and resentment can make their homes with us. We have all sorts of things that can make their homes with us, and that got me thinking about what Jesus said in Luke 11:24-26.

When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ On its return, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and dwell there. And the final plight of that man is worse than the first.

A demon leaves someone, comes back, finds the place looking swell and figures it’ll invite some friends and really have a party in there.

Ok, so let me clarify what I mean about demons making their homes in us. I’m not talking about full on Exorcist kind of demon possession. I think Jesus was, and what he said also works with lesser demony-type things. I’m talking about some of our desires or emotions, ways of life which really harm us, and we just can’t quit. Get what I’m saying? I don’t want everyone leaving here saying, “The priest said I’ve got demons in me.”

When Jesus talked about demons making their homes with us, again, think about us choosing ways of life that harm us. Let’s say you wake up in the morning, you’re in a foul mood for whatever reason, and you choose just to stay in a foul mood, if you even think about it at all. So, now you’re grouchy, and you’re angry, and you’re taking it out on everyone around you. Let’s call that grouchy anger a demon. You keep nursing it; you keep feeding it, and eventually it just becomes part of who you are. Sure, you’re occasionally happy sometimes, but basically, you’re just a pissed off, bitter, angry person. I’d call that something like a demon that has taken up residence. 

At some point, you decide to kick the demon out. “I’m tired of being grouchy and angry all the time,” you say. So you decide to put on a cheery disposition. You smile, you have some optimistic thoughts, and for a couple of days, you’re feeling better. Then one bad thing happens, and now not only are you pissed off and grouchy because of the bad thing that happened, but you’re also pissed off and grouchy because being cheerful didn’t work. In fact, it made everything worse because you’re just as pissed off and grouchy as you were before, but you were also hoodwinked by all that damn smiling optimism. 

That sounds like what Jesus was talking about, with the demon leaving, then coming back with a bunch of his buddies to make things even worse than before. We hear people talking about fighting our inner demons. That’s what I mean, and boy howdy, we can have a lot of those. I’ve mentioned anger, grouchiness, violence. What about addiction to drugs, alcohol, sex? What about thinking the world is against you, what my dad called, “having a chip on your shoulder”? God, I hated it when he said that. He was right. I did have a chip on my shoulder, and it was based in fear and insecurity. Again, we’ve all got our inner demons that we struggle with.

Jesus said in our Gospel lesson today, “Those who love me will keep my word, and I will come and make my home with them.” “Those who love me will keep my word, and I will come and make my home with them.” That sounds a whole lot better than angry, lusty, fearful, spiteful demons making their home in me. “Keep my word,” Jesus said, “and I will come and make my home with [you].”

Here's where the altar call happens, right? Come up here, proclaim that you want to keep Jesus’ word, and all will be well from here on out, right? Nah, see keeping Jesus’ word is not a one-time deal. Jesus said he’d make his home with us. That’s an everyday kinda deal. We’re following in Jesus’ ways as best we can, not perfectly, but we’re trying, and Jesus is with us, staying in our house, in our selves. Then we see something we want to do that we know Jesus is going to say “no” to, so we ask Jesus if he’d like to just take a walk for a little while, stretch his legs, and when he gets around the block, we lock him out. 

Now, when we do that, and we all do that, Jesus ain’t gonna force his way back in. The demons will. They don’t knock. They just force their way in and say, “Piss off, this is my house now” Jesus doesn’t do that. Jesus knocks and says, “What’s going on? You wanna let me back in.” 

Well, we’ve kicked Jesus out, we’ve followed ways that we know are harmful for us, so at this point, the house is already a wreck. Even without any major terrible demons coming in, it’s pretty messy. We’re not sure we wanna let Jesus in. We’re kind of ashamed. At the same time, things have been kinda fun. We’re not sure we wanna give things back over to Jesus just yet. Tell you what, Jesus, let me have my way for a while, and you come one back whenever I want you here. Thanks so much.

I’m not saying Jesus won’t come back when we treat him like that. Rumor has it he will, but when we kick him out and lock him out, we do tend to let in a lot of demons. We do tend to hurt ourselves. We do tend to hurt others.  

So, the suggestion Jesus has instead is that we keep his word, we keep his ways, we seek his guidance and follow his teachings, and he will come and make his home with us. In God’s kingdom, Jesus has many dwelling places, and we are those dwelling places. 

Jesus is resurrection and life, and Jesus offers to dwell within us. Jesus is love and peace, and Jesus offers to dwell within us. Jesus is way, and truth, and life, and Jesus offers to dwell within us.

Way, truth, life, love, peace, resurrection: those all sound pretty good, a far cry from the various demons we often invite in. So, rather than give an altar call and ask people to come here and commit to keeping Jesus’ word and ways, let me offer this. Make the altar call every morning. Every day we decide to trust Jesus enough to follow his ways. Every day we chose Jesus’ way, truth, and life. Every day we choose Jesus’ love, peace, and resurrection. 

Every day we do well; every day we mess up; and every day we return again to that altar call and invite Jesus in, committing to keep his word as best we are able. Some days we’ll be more able than others, and Jesus will reward our efforts by making his home with us. 

Some days, we may kick Jesus out, and even then, Jesus will be outside, ready to come back in when we’re ready to unlock the doors and welcome him back in. So, “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” Jesus says, “and do not let them be afraid.” “Peace I leave with you; my peace own I give to you.” For, “those who love me,” Jesus says, “will keep my word, and I will come and make my home with them.”

New Heavens & A New Earth: Some Beautiful Nonsense

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
April 20, 2025
Easter Sunday, C
Isaiah 65:17-25
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
Luke 24:1-12

“I am about to create new heavens and a new earth,” God said in Isaiah 65. “Be glad and rejoice forever.” Jesus was raised from the dead, and we saw something of this new heavens and new earth. Life that is not ended in death. Death that has lost its terror because death has become a gateway from life to life. Such is the new heavens and the new earth that God promises and gives us a glimpse of on Easter, with Jesus’ resurrection.

To some, it may sound like nonsense. Sometimes even to me it sounds like nonsense, except that God creating something new is the story throughout scripture, a story of hope. New heavens and a new earth sounds like hope, hope rooted in God’s creative love for us and for all that God has made. “Behold,” Jesus says in Revelation 21:5, “Behold, I am making all things new.” 

So, the new heavens and the new earth are what God has in mind for humanity, which sounds amazing. The idea of a new heavens and a new earth is captivating for humanity, so much so that we have countless sci-fi films about living on other planets and what the mysteries of the galaxies may hold. We’ve been to the moon, sent a probe out beyond our solar system, and we’ve had robots land on Mars so we can explore the mysteries of our neighboring planet. 

Now, we even have talk of people colonizing Mars. There are ideas of setting up bases where people can live, and there are even ideas of eventually terraforming the planet to make it habitable for people. Those are the dreams of some of humanity, that our new heavens and new earth will be the red planet. Ok, on the one hand, that sounds really, really cool: making a whole new planet where people can live and getting to travel there on a spaceship. That’s like all of the coolest sci-fi movies. 

On the other hand, however, colonizing Mars as a new planet for humanity to live on, sounds like nonsense to me, not because it’s not possible. I’m sure it’s possible to colonize a dead planet and make it habitable for humans. I mean, we live in Houston where we have about one and three-quarters seasons throughout the year, so I figure we can make just about any place habitable. 

The idea of making Mars a new earth for humanity sounds like nonsense to me because we’re already wrecking the earth we’ve got. The idea that after the Earth is wrecked, humanity will have another place to go, a new paradise for humanity that we’ve created on Mars, nonsense. That truly does sound like science fiction. Colonizing Mars is nonsense because of the almost certain reality that the only people who would get to go to this new earth, this new paradise, are the extremely rich and those with skills necessary for them to survive. 

That’s how things tend to work on this earth already. The extremely wealthy have more than they need for many lifetimes, while in the same economy, others work hard, remain in poverty, and become homeless. So, humanity’s idea of a new heaven and new earth is probably gonna follow the same pattern.

God making a new heaven and a new earth, however, means God is making something truly different. Some rabbis understood this new heaven and new earth to mean that God was bringing about a new social and world order: new rulers in the heavens, new rulers on earth, rulers who would follow in the ways of justice, mercy, and love. 

We seem to have had a taste of that in the early church, a new order with new leaders. The first apostles in the church, the first people Jesus appeared to after his resurrection, were women. “Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them” were the first apostles in the church, and they went to the male disciples of Jesus and told them that Jesus had been raised from the dead. A new way, with women as the first apostles and the men becoming apostles too, although, when the men heard what the Mary and apostles had to say, their “words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” 

Now, that part sounds less like new heavens and a new earth and more just like the status quo, but things were different for a while. There were early churches that were led by women, and in the earliest days of the church, we did see people living together in harmony, caring for one another, not seeing the privileged as blessed and the poor as burdens. For a while, there was something new in the church. It didn’t last, but it was a taste, a taste of things to come. 

Jesus rose from the grave as a promise to us all that life does not end in death, but there is new life after death. There is something new, something beautiful, something truly to hope for, and not just for the rich and powerful among humanity. God’s new heavens and new earth are something truly new, truly different, where justice, mercy, and love truly are the ways we live. That new heavens and new earth of justice, mercy, and love, that is the resurrection life that Jesus promised us when he was raised from the tomb. 

God became human as Jesus of Nazareth. He preached justice, mercy, and love. He healed people and lived justice, mercy, and love. Because of that humanity decided we needed to kill him, and as we did, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them.” When God became human, we killed him, and God said, “I forgive you,” and I am going to show you the beginning of a new heavens and a new earth.

I realize that like colonizing Mars, that may sound like nonsense, because it’s hard to wrap our minds around, but a friend of mine named Carrie wrote, “even if you will never be able to wrap your mind around the Resurrection, Easter is the promise that impossibly good things can happen after (and even in the midst of) terribly bad things. Terribly bad things are happening…right now, everywhere. We do nonsensical things like dye chicken eggs that somehow are associated with a rabbit. None of these things make sense, but neither does Easter. The world is completely upside down right now. [We] could use the promise of some nonsense that maybe, every valley will be exalted and every mountain and hill made low,” that there will be new heavens and a new earth, a new life that will never end, a life of justice, mercy, and love. 

“Nope,” Jesus said. Rather than bring death, Jesus transformed death into life.

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
October 20, 2024
Proper 24, B
Isaiah 53:4-12
Psalm 91:9-16
Mark 10:35-45

So, there’s an election coming up in a few weeks, and yes, I am encouraging you all to vote, and no, I’m not encouraging anyone to vote in any particular way. I’m bringing up the election because it is once again rather contentious, hotly contested, and there’s this feeling in the air of, “Holy Dear Lord Almighty Sweet Baby Jesus, if the right side doesn’t win, then the Kingdom of God will be destroyed, and Jesus will never return.”
 
That is, of course, not the case. Neither side winning is going to bring about the destruction of the Kingdom of God. The election may be important, but it ain’t that important. Not even the gates of Hell can prevail against the Kingdom of God, and the president and congress of the United States, as much power as they may wield, aren’t powerful enough to destroy or bring about God’s kingdom.
 
Our hope is not in whoever becomes president. As Jesus pointed out to his disciples in our Gospel lesson today, our hope is not in any human power or position. Our hope is in Jesus, in the unity with God and one another which Jesus has forged. The Word of God which spoke creation into existence became human, fully uniting humanity and divinity. God and humans are one, and nothing, not even a bad president can separate that unity.  
 
So, despite the terrible angst and seemingly large stakes of the upcoming election, our hope is in Jesus’ victory. His is the victory and power not of human governments, not of domination, or enforcing his will. Jesus’ victory is the power of service, surrender, and resurrection, transforming death into life.
 
That resurrection power of service and surrender is the power we live out when we live the life of the kingdom of God which Jesus taught us to live. In today’s Gospel reading, once again, Jesus taught us to wield resurrection power not through the might of ruling over others, but through loving and serving one another as we were created to do.  
 
When James and John sought great power from Jesus, he assured them that such power of ruling over others is not what makes us great in the kingdom of God. They wanted to sit one on his right hand and one on his left, and they weren’t thinking of life after this up in heaven. That idea was kind of a concept in Jesus’ day, but not the dogma we have now. The thought of, “Let me serve with you after I’ve died,” was almost certainly not in their brains.

No, James and John wanted earthly power to rule with Jesus as his co-world-dominating vice-presidents. They wanted power and might over other human beings, and that is simply not the way of the kingdom of God.
 
“You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you;” Jesus taught, “but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant.” That sounds a lot like Eden, being one another’s companions and helpers.  
That teaching that those who wish to be great must be servants in God’s kingdom is pretty darn similar to the teaching we heard last week with the man who had great wealth. Remember, he wanted to make sure that he had the best of everything in this world and this life, and also to make sure that he had the best of everything in the life to come. “Sure, Jesus, I care about others and hear you teaching that I can use my vast wealth to serve others and to make sure they have enough as well, but I really love my stuff more than I do other people.” He wanted an “all about me” salvation, making sure that he was going to be ok, and not thinking too much about the well-being of anyone else. That’s not salvation; it’s just selfishness.
 
Remember the man in the parable Jesus told who used his great wealth to make sure everyone who worked for him, had a living wage. He even went searching for more folks to work for him, even if only for an hour, to make sure that they had a living wage too. That’s greatness in God’s kingdom, using wealth as a servant, not as one to be served.
 
Greatness in God’s kingdom comes from using what God has given us for the benefit of others, not for ourselves to get even more, and greatness in God’s kingdom does not come by forcing the world to be how we want it to be. Even when we’re right, it’s not our world to force our will upon. Even if we’re right, forcing our will on others is being a tyrant, and Jesus expressly taught against being a tyrant. The world is not any of ours to rule, not even by proxy, electing the folks we think are the right ones to be in office. God’s kingdom and our hope do not come from us or through elected proxies on our behalf. No, our hope and God’s kingdom come from Jesus, from the unity with God that he gave and through the resurrection life that he continually gives.
 
Even so, a lot of us are going to be mightily disappointed the day after the election. Some will be angry. Some may be legitimately afraid because of who gets elected, and some will be afraid probably not so legitimately. Fear, anger, and angst are very human and understandable reactions to the changes and chances of this life. Reacting out of our fear, anger, and angst, are also understandable, and, those fearful and angry reactions go against the kingdom of God. Those fearful and angry reactions come from feelings of powerlessness, wanting power over a world that is not in our control.
 
That is the power that James and John wanted, and Jesus told them, “No.” That power is not the way of God’s kingdom.
 
Jesus teaches us instead to accept our powerlessness, just like he did before Pontius

Pilate. “I have the power to kill you or to save your life,” Pilate said. “Nope,” Jesus said. “I could command hosts of angels to save me and destroy you all, but I’m not going to do that.” Jesus could have brought death to thousands and saved his own life.  Instead, Jesus accepted the seeming power that Pilate held over him, and because of that, rather than just bring more death, Jesus transformed death into life.
 
So, what are we to do then with our fear, and anger, and feelings of powerlessness? Once again, we follow Jesus’ example and teaching. We give our fear and anger over to God. We ask God for the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We act out of the fruit of the Spirit, rather than the burning fire of our anger and fear. Let by the fruit of the Spirit, we can call and write our political leaders to let them know of our fear and anger. They probably won’t care, but we can.
 
We can let go our fear and anger, accept our powerlessness, and choose to love and serve one another because that is who and how we were made to be. Loving and serving one another is how we live the eternal life of God. Loving and serving one another is how we live the life of God’s kingdom.
 
Our hope is in Jesus, and our hope is in the resurrection life of service and surrender, loving one another, even loving our enemies, so that all things, even death itself, are transformed into life.