In this message on the First Sunday of Lent, Pastor Eric invites us to consider how our world's tendency to categorize the world into binaries leads us to miss out on so much of the glory of God and creation. It also makes it difficult for us to honor the fullness of others and ourselves.Using the "Parable of the Good Samaritan" and the story of "would-be followers of Jesus," we explore the tensions we all feel between our good intentions and actually acting on them; between our proclivity to see some as neighbors and others as strangers. Through these two scriptures from the Gospel of Luke, we explore how Jesus calls us to meet God in the messy middle of these extremes. Which direction is God calling us to move in? How is God calling us to take risks and step out in faith more boldly as we move beyond the binary of "stranger OR neighbor" to seeing strangers AS neighbors?
