By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
January 26, 2025
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Luke 4:14–21 (ESV)
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. 16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Over the past few years I have taught about the holy rhythm of Jesus. His lifestyle, or his discipline. I do not necessarily see this as being some amazing observation on my part, but it has made a great impact on my spiritual life, and I see it in our mission statement here at Willow Creek.
Our mission, or the type of people we strive to be as a community is to be a people Loving God, Embracing the Holy Spirit and Living the love of Christ with others.
I want us to re-examine that mission in light of the lifestyle of Jesus. Last year our Yearly Meeting encouraged the churches to take time to reflect on who they are and what they are called to be. We did not participate in that exercise too much as an entire meeting. I did not see the need at the time because everything they did during those exercises are the things we did when we devised our mission statement. But is this still who we are? Is this still what we want to be known for?
In our passage today we see Jesus’s rhythm of life. “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee.” We did not read what Luke is speaking about in that first statement but Jesus had just returned from the wilderness where he had been tempted by Satan for forty days. He was out in the wilderness fasting, and spending time in prayer.
These are powerful spiritual disciplines. Powerful, but often we miss applied. In many of our contemporary spiritual writings there is a huge push for a life of prayer. I was really excited about this because I am a contemplative person. I find the life of prayer as being the central or most important aspect of our spiritual life. I have read many books on the life of prayer. One of those books dealt with the boiler room movement. This movement was considered a neo-monastic movement. They would find a room in a building that they could rent and they would have people just meet to pray 24 hours a day. And as they prayed they would have another person with them that would be available to talk with whoever might come into the room.
I love the idea of this. To cover our community in prayer every moment of every day is something powerful. Just knowing that someone is praying for you can allow yourself to relax just a bit, to let go of what ever it is that we are worrying about, and rest in the assurance that God is with us. I read that book right before I came here to Willow Creek, and when I read that book I knew that it was important. I still remember the first meeting for business John Harkness and I attended, it was not our traditional meeting for business because we met at Kay and Charles’s house for some reason, but John and I both said before we do anything, before we make major changes, before we start any new ministry we as a church need to pray.
That first year we encouraged someone to come to the Meetinghouse to pray for at least and hour each day. We asked for volunteers to pick as day, and for nearly a year someone was praying everyday here in this room. I loved that. I loved meeting with Mark Fawcet every nearly every Monday to pray. I loved hearing the testimonies that others shared after they sat in prayer. And out of that time of prayer, we found our way forward as a church. For three month we would come to our meeting for business and discuss who we are, what our mission as a church was, and who we wanted to be known as. We discussed it, and we would return to pray.
Out of that we wrote our mission. We became united as a community and we penned our statement that is found on our sign, and printed in our bulletins. Willow Creek Friends Church: Loving God, Embracing the Holy Spirit, Living the love of Christ with others.
Prayer is important. It is powerful. Not because we can command God to do our bidding as we profess and proclaim in prayer. No, prayer is powerful because we are in conversation with God, we express our deepest sorrow, our concerns, our hopes and we then silently wait and listen for that sill small voice. We may or may not hear it. We may or may not notice anything, but when we pray God has a way to communicate with us. The more we pray, the more we sit in silence at his feet, the more we quiet our hearts and release our anxieties to our Lord, somehow it changes us. We receive direction, inspiration, peace and understanding. And we can move forward.
Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness in prayer. We often focus on the temptation, or the fasting. But the reality was that Jesus was praying. That is powerful.
Jesus was out in the wilderness, out in that isolated place in prayer. He was in such an intense prayer, that the thought of food left his mind. Prayer was the substance he needed. We focus on the temptation, the fasting, we often overlook the prayer. But what we definately overlook is why he was praying.
Jesus had spent thirty years living within a community. He grew up in Nazareth, spent his time playing with the other children, learning the scriptures along side everyone else, his brothers, cousins, and friends. He had listened to his relatives read from the scrolls. He had listened to the rabbis teach about the law, the prophets, the hope of their Messiah. He had lived just like us. At the age of thirteen, went to the temple with his parents, and he became a man. He entered the temple courts with a sacrifice for himself because he was seen by his community as an adult, no longer under the care of his father.
Something changed within him that day. He listened to the teachers that hung out on the temple grounds. He listened, and asked questions. And they asked him questions and he answered them. Everyone was amazed at what he was saying because he was so young. He was so engaged that his family left the city and for three days they looked for him, only to find him talking at the temple. And his mother, spoke out to him. We sometimes forget just how odd that was. Mary was not supposed to speak in that areas yet she did. And Jesus listened to his mother, even though he was of age to speak for himself.
Jesus went home with his parents, and for the next seventeen years he worked along side his family in their business. They were carpenters or stone masons. The word used is one that points to construction. For approximately seventeen years Jesus worked as a builder. We often think of him in our cultural context. At the age of thirty we are just beginning to get our career started, Jesus had been working for seventeen years. He was an established master craftsman. He was likely training his younger relatives in the trade, and then he was compelled to go to the Jordan river to see his cousin.
Everything changed. He had a good life, he had a career, a name, a place within the community. But when he came out of the water beside his cousin, his life took on a different role.
Change is one of the things in life we cannot avoid. Like death and taxes. How do we handle change? Jesus shows us in his life. When he came out of the waters of the Jordan the spirit descended upon him like a dove and a voice came from heaven. Jesus knew things were changing. He could no longer be then man of Nazareth, he was no longer a builder, because he had a purpose that he needed to pursue. What does he do? Does he jump up from the water and immediately start healing people? No. He goes out to an isolated place to pray. We know that things are changing, we can feel it all around us, we can sense it. Maybe not a voice from heaven but it is here. We should pray.
For forty days Jesus prayed, he prepared himself for the task set before him. Then he returns in the power of the Spirit to Galilee. And he taught in their synagogues. This is important and I think we often miss it. Today we pray, we have ministries of prayer where we make proclamations to God and expect him to fall in line with our will. We pray and demand that God will listen to us as we call on his power to bring his kingdom and set us up in power over the earth. We pray. But are we praying for his will or our own? Jesus went out to pray, and then he did not come back casting out demons or healing the lame, he did not show signs of the spirit’s power, he came teaching in the synagogues.
We miss this, because we do not live in the same culture that Jesus lived. The synagogue was more than what we know as church. Yes it was a place of worship, but it was also a center of education, and culture. It was the place where everyone in the community would gather to discuss important things about life, faith, and just about everything. The synagogue was the center of their social and cultural life. They would go to the synagogue to pray as their day of work started, they would leave the young boys to learn their lessons, and they would return to pick them up and go home to eat together. Every day someone would be at the synagogue teaching, praying, listening. We do not have one central place like that in our culture today. But what we are missing is that Jesus went to the synagogue, he went to their synagogues he went out to meet with them.
He went out to talk with the men as they were preparing to go out to work that day. For me when I read this I am transported back to my childhood, when I would jump in the pickup with my grandpa and drive into the local coop to check on the price of wheat as he drank coffee with the guys. That is what Jesus is doing. He was lead by the Spirit to go to the local coop as the work day started, and he would talk with them.
“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogues on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.” This is part of that holy rhythm of life that Jesus shows us. He made it his custom to go to the synagogue to worship on the Sabbath. He withdrew to isolated places to pray. And he ministers to the needs within the community.
We need prayer, and we need worship. This is the loving God and embracing the Holy Spirit portion of our mission statement. We need worship, not because God needs us to sing his praises. We need worship because in worship we realize that we are part of something more. We are not isolated and alone but we have a community of people standing with us, praying with us, and recognizing that we all need divine intervention. We need worship, and we need to make it our custom to worship.
This is something that my family taught me well. We were not legalistic in our worship, but we were disciplined. My dad would not, and still does not work on Sunday. He does this because it is so easy to get caught up in the worries and the stress of this world, and we need a break. The life on a farm is not easy. There is always something that needs to be done, and usually it is urgent. You could work twelve hours a day, seven days a week and still not have everything done. God knows this, so he made the Sabbath for us. He gave us a rhythm of life where you work hard and take a break, so that you remember who you truly are, and why you are here.
Jesus made it his custom to go to the synagogue to worship. We do not live in a culture that is mindful of this anymore. Our stores need to be open on Sunday, because that is sometimes the only day that people can do their shopping. Do no judge those that work too harshly, especially if you are standing in front of them, because you are the one that is requiring them to be there. Instead we need to encourage them to take time during their week to remember who they are. Encourage them to pray, worship, and relax. But do not judge, because we all have responsibilities and sometimes we do not have control over our schedules.
Jesus worshiped, and he withdrew to isolated place to pray. The last aspect of his holy rhythm is that he ministered to the needs of his community. We do not see that aspect within today’s passage but he does speak about it.
“The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.'”
This is ministry.
Good news to the poor. Have you ever really thought about this? What is good news to the poor? In our culture, in our economy we have an understanding about the poor that skew our understanding of what scripture intends. It skews it but it does not completely hinder us. Who are the poor? In Jesus’s culture the poor are those that work for others. They do not have their own land or their own business. They live day by day hoping to earn enough for their daily bread. We have a skewed understanding of the poor, because we do not like to be included under that moniker. We like to believe that we are self sufficient, we have pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps and can survive on our own. But have we thought about what that means? We cannot pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, because our complete weight is in our boots and if we were to lift ourselves up we would immediately fall down.
The poor are those that live under the authority of others. They must do what their boss tells them or they will be out of a job, and unable to eat. This is why we should not judge, because we are poor too. Each of us answer to someone or something. We might own a business but we have customers and clients we must answer too. We might work for someone else, and we must provide service according to their needs. We are all poor because we are just one bad month away from total ruin.
Jesus came to proclaim good news to the poor. What does this mean? It means we are more than cogs in a machine. We have a name and purpose. We are image bearers of the Most High. The good news is that we can live in that image and honor that image we bear. We are not animals but human beings, with passions, dreams, goals, and futures. You can be, and are more than the work you do.
Jesus was sent to proclaim liberty to the captives. Liberty is something we love in this nation. We have a statue that proclaims it in the New York Harbor. But do we know biblical liberty? The word means release or pardon. It means mercy. People are being held for various reasons, they are bound by debt, bound by poor choices, or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Jesus came to proclaim mercy, or pardon to people that are bound.
We might now like this idea. Captives are captive for a reason. They put themselves in that situation. And they must pay for what they did. That might be true. But they are poor just like us. We do not know the whole story. We do not know what was going on in their lives to bring them to that captivity, and we do not even know if it was of their own free will. We need mercy, because they too are image bearers.
Liberty for the captives and recovering of sight to the blind. This can be seen in a couple of different ways. There is the literal healing of the blind which Jesus does do. But we can also look at this in a figurative manner too. Sight and blindness can be metaphors for wisdom and understanding. I would venture to say that in this passage the metaphorical understanding should be considered because this is the only disability mentioned in this passage. We are to be instruments of understanding. People illuminating areas that were once dwelling in the shadows. Encouraging people to look at things from a different perspective, so that maybe they might see more clearly.
And then Jesus came to set at liberty those who are oppressed. This is why i think in this case the blind is metaphor. We have poor, captives, blind, and oppressed. The oppressed are those that are being persecuted. They are systematically placed at a disadvantage and have no way to alleviate their situation. Jesus told the disciples that the poor will always be among us. This means that yes there will always be poor people, but it also means that there will always be the ruling class and those that are ruled over. The rich and the poor. Those that have the wealth and power will use their wealth and power to ensure they remain wealthy and powerful. Leaving those that do not have wealth and power oppressed, weak, and vulnerable. Jesus came to give mercy, pardon, and hope to the oppressed.
By now you probably are annoyed with this woke sermon. And that is alright with me. But I want you to think about it. Consider it. Jesus made it his custom to worship on the Sabbath in the synagogue. He withdrew often to pray in isolated places, and he did these things. He proclaims good news to the poor, he was sent to speak mercy to the captives, to enlighten those that do not have understanding and to heal those with physical ailments. And to set at liberty those who have been purposefully put in a disadvantaged situation. That is ministry. That is his holy rhythm and the life that those that are called by his name should take on.
I want us to re-evaluate our own lives. We come here to this place, this community of Friends who say that we are a people loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit, and living the love of Christ with others. This is what we say that we are, but are we? Are we are people that remember who we are in the eyes of God in worship? Are we people that will withdraw to pray? Are we ministering or living the lifestyle Jesus came to proclaim? Are we who we say that we are? Are we mindful and merciful? Are we willing to listen and see things from a different perspective? Are we willing to stand up for those that are unable to stand on their own?
Jesus rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. Every eye in his hometown synagogue was fixed on him. They stared, they glared, they looked at him in awe. And he gave one sentence in commentary. “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
These are things Jesus came for. This is what Jesus lived and died for. And this is what he rose again to give power over. The world is against it. Even those from Jesus’s home town rejected it. This will never work, who are you to say this they claimed. But this was the words of the prophet, and the words of Christ. It is the year of the Lord’s favor, this does not mean we will get what we want because that is of the world, but it means this is what we should strive for. This is our mission and our purpose. To make sure everyone we meet throughout this week knows that they are loved by God, and show them through our words and actions. Are we willing?
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 10, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 3:13–22 (ESV) 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 03, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 2:2–10 (ESV) 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
January 12, 2025
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Luke 3:15–17, 21–22 (ESV)
15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, 16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
Today we are moving away from the season of Christmas and into the third period of the church calendar, epiphany. Advent was the season of expectation or holy anxiety. Christmas is also a season of holy anxiety but an anxiety of hopefulness. Epiphany is a season of revelation.
“As the people were in expectation.” It was not long ago when I discussed this passage. I spoke briefly about the holy anxiety and longing within the words. The word used in the original language has two senses the first is to await anxiously. This is often the sense I tend to fixate on. The second sense is to expect or to regard something as probable or likely.
During the season of advent we tend to focus on the first sense. We have this longing for something or someone. There is a tension building within us as we wait. This tension can have two forms one of fear and one of hope.
I find it interesting that there is often a duality in our longings. We want one thing, we long for it, we hope for it, it is something we want so badly we can hardly sit still. And as we wait there is also a fear. What will happen if what I long for actually happens. How will this change things? Will I be up for the challenge? This is what our emotions are for. They are signs that point us to something deeper.
We need these emotions they should guide us, but they should not control us. We know the expectation that these people are feeling. There are students that have tried out for a sports team and they eagerly wait to see the final roster, or a student that has auditioned for a part in the school play. You worked hard, you put your heart and soul into your try out or audition. Will I be good enough? What will I do if I actually got in? We get this feeling when we apply to Universities, or put our neck out for a promotion at work, we are hopeful for the opportunity, yet we are also terrified.
The people were out in the wilderness listening to John speak on the banks of the Jordan river, and they were longing, they were in expectation. They were in a state of anxiety but they were also prepared for what would come. They were expecting something to likely happen, they just did not know exactly how it would manifest itself.
In scriptures this word is not uncommon, but where it is used most often in the works of Luke, both in the gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles. And when Luke uses this word he uses it with both senses in thought. As we read through we can sense the movement. We feel it. We get the emotions, and we also have that almost intellectual longing, where we know this is supposed to happen and we are just eagerly waiting for it to actually occur. Then we move once again to the emotional side of things. There are waves, peaks and valleys, rises and falls. We want it and we don’t.
But want are we expecting?
“And all were questioning in their hearts.”
This term of questioning also has a few senses. The first is to actually discuss. The second is to debate internally, and the third is to think and ponder. The root of this word is where we get the term dialog from, and what we see here is an internal dialog.
The people out in that wilderness have spent their entire life longing for their Messiah. They have many ideas as to what that might look like. One view is a radical leader that would ignite a fire of nationalistic pride. They want to be their own nation, under their own king, living according to their own law. Or they wanted freedom to worship and a purely restored faith. They longed for God to once again reveal himself to them and lead them as in the days of Moses. They wanted a king, a priest and a prophet.
Their teachers have lists of scripture that they have gleaned from the various texts of Law and prophets that point to the return of the king, the anointed one from the house of David. They believe and long for that day of independence and freedom to live as Israel. But how will they get to that place? How will God move them in that direction. This word we translate as expectation when used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament and other religious writings largely point to God’s actions. They hope for God to do something miraculous, and but it is mostly found in the pages of that translation that we often regard as the inter-testamental or The Apocrypha books. These books are not usually found in our Bibles for a number of reasons, mainly because they were not found in the Hebrew manuscripts, but they were in the Greek translation of the Old Testament.
I mention this not because I am advocating for their use, but I want us to see where this longing comes from. These books were not found in the Hebrew scriptures, but were in the Greek translations. The Greek translations were for those people of Israel that lived outside the holy land. They were still living in exile throughout the empire, and these writings were sent to the people in exile to inform them of the hope that had returned to their homeland. They talk of how God preserved the oil in the lamps through the struggle against the Hellenistic battles, and they speak of grace and mercy that can be found when we seek God’s holy wisdom.
Luke is writing to those people who had known those Greek writings of the Old Testament, and he is wanting them to remember what was shown in those stories and how that was a mere shadow of the reality to come. The people were in expectation, and they were having an internal dialog concerning John.
I want us to really consider what that implies about the people at that time. They wanted to God to work. They wanted God to act within their lives. They wanted God to move among them. They were looking for him, longing for him. They were doing everything they could to make the world in which they lived open to God. This is why those Apocrypha books are important, they speak of the work that happened during that time of history between the testaments. Israel returned from their exile in Babylon and Persia. They remained under the rule of Persia until Persia were conquered by Alexander the Great as he marched toward the east. When Alexander died they fought a battle against those Hellenistic rulers, because that leader decided to sacrifice a pig on the alter of God in the Temple. This abomination desecrated the temple, made it unclean in the eyes of God.
The temple was rededicated, but there were still struggles within Israel. What had led to such a thing? This is why there was internal debates. This is why there were different factions within the people of God. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, and the Zealots. Each of these groups and others were attempting to make sense of how to live their faith in the changing world. Should they embrace the Hellenistic worldview, should they focus on proper rituals within the temple, should they live a life of righteousness? Should they use force to drive out the opposition? We think we are in the middle of a culture war today, and we are but the things we are facing have similarities to what they faced in the first century.
They were all in expectation and all were questioning in their hearts. How should we live? What should we believe? Is he the chosen one or should we keep looking? They were studying, they were looking, they were seeking and longing. Their feelings are similar to ours, maybe we could learn something from them.
They questioned in their hearts, and John answered them. This implies that someone did some external questioning also. What do we find in that answer?
“I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
Consider the debates among the people. Some wanted to get the rituals correct in the temple, believing that in the ritualized life they would find favor in the eyes of God. Some wanted the people to live the law, that every law within scripture should be followed and that would give us favor in God’s eyes. Some wanted to fight, and others withdraw from society at large. But what is John telling us. “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming.”
As a Quaker pastor, I read this section a bit differently than pastors or people that come from other Christian faith traditions. We do not practice the ritualized expression of water baptism. Some might say that we do not believe in baptism. They are not necessarily wrong, we do not put an emphasis in rituals. We believe that a ritual is empty without the reality of faith, and if we have the faith the ritual is not needed because the reality is already present. When I read the words of John, I see confirmation of my faith.
He said that he baptized with water, but there is a mightier one coming that makes the ritual he is performing worthless. Because John is not worthy to untie his shoes. There were people that wanted Israel to focus on the ritual. The Sadducees were focused on the rituals. They controlled the temple, and once the temple was destroyed they no longer had a place to perform these rituals, their faith died. This leaves the Pharisees. They also put a great deal of stock in ritual but their ritual was a bit different. They ritualized life. Proper diet, proper clothing, proper prayers, proper work, everything in their life was dedicated to adhering to the letter of the law. John was not considered a Pharisee, but much of his lifestyle resembled theirs. He lived a righteous life. Yet he said I am not worthy to untie the sandals of the one to come. “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
They had expectations, they had internal and external debates and dialog concerning John, and he answers them. He tells them if you are putting your stock in what I am doing, you need to look elsewhere.
The ritual is empty if you are not living the life. The life is empty if you do not have true faith. Faith is empty if it is place in the wrong place, and the place is empty if it is not the one who is the truth.
John continues by saying, “His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” As someone that grew up on a farm if understand this intimately.
Those that plant a crop are after one thing, the grain. It is the grain that has the value. You can have the most beautiful stand of wheat in the field, it can be tall, it can have wonderful color, it can be picture perfect. If it does not have grain it is a failure. We could debate this to some degree because there is value for other portions of the plant. Some people grow wheat to feed cattle, in that case the value is not the grain but the leaves and the stock. But in those cases you are not growing wheat for the value, wheat is only one of the resources you use to get to the thing that is valuable, which in that case the livestock. The point remains, what is of value? The livestock and the grain. Everything we do should be invested in that.
Farmers and researchers have spent countless years selecting and breeding wheat to get the most grain as possible. They have selected varieties that will grow and produce in specific areas. The grain grown in Kansas is similar but not exactly the same as the grain grown in Texas, or in Canada. We grow what is best for this area, and we breed it in a way to maximize the yield in that area. They have even bred a variety of wheat specifically for use in space. You might not fully understand why, but each of these varieties have the same goal, to put as much energy as possible for the most important part, the grain. If the plant is too tall, it wastes energy on foliage that detracts from the part that holds true value, the grain.
The farmer in John’s story has the winnowing fork in his hand, he is clearing the threshing floor. The idea here is that all the sheaves of wheat are brought into the threshing floor, and the draft animals are walking around trampling the wheat to remove the grain from the stocks. Then the laborers take the fork and the toss the stocks up into the air, and they allow the wind and gravity to separate the things of value from that which lacks value. They do this multiple times, they remove the empty stocks and make a pile. They keep tossing what remains into the air and the chaff, which does not have weight gets caught in the wind and it eventually will blow away and fall in a different pile, until all that remains is the grain. The farmer then gathers the stuff of value into his barn, and the piles of trash are disposed of in the only way available to them at that time, they burn it.
John is not telling us we need the rituals, he is telling us we need the stuff of value. Everything that is done in our lives that do not contribute to the things of value are worthless trash to be burned. Which should lead us to ask what is of value to God? And what can we participate in to ensure the production of that valuable resource?
I want us to really consider this as we move into the season of Epiphany, the season of revelation. Luke concludes this section by saying, “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’”
What does God value? Luke tells us. God values Jesus. His beloved son. But this is more than just a relationship between a father and a son, or in this case the relationship within the triune God. It is the relationship between who and what the son represents. Jesus is God with us, Emmanuel. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He is redemption, and through him all of creation is reconciled to God. This does not only mean we get a ticket to enter heaven, it means that all of creation is redeemed, the process of restoration has begun. What was lost is found. What was hopeless has hope. What was dead has renewed life. Eden is being restored, and humanity can once again walk with God.
That is of value. God created humanity, male and female, in his image. We bear that image in this world that he created. This is poetry. It is a literary message of the purpose of our existence. The story of Eden is more than a story of creation it is a story of relationship and worship. God created the world and all that was in it including our first parents. And then he created Eden and placed them in it. Eden was the temple created by God and according to the poetry of the ancients humanity was the representation of God to all that came to the temple to praise their creator. When we fell in the garden we marred that image. And all of creation groans. We became distracted from God turned away, and instead of reflecting the light we cast shadows. We were created to reflect hope, to give life, to praise the beauty of our creator. Instead we exploit, we oppress, we go to war and destroy. We have become instruments of wrath, greed, jealousy, hate. We seek pleasure and wealth, power and domination. We were created to bring all of creation to God, and to be fruitful and multiply. Instead we drive creation into death and destruction.
Jesus came to show us true humanity, and a true life with God. He made it his custom to worship, he withdrew often to pray, and he ministered to the needs within the community. Jesus shows us the life and lifestyle God wanted to have with humanity. And that is what has value to God, that is what pleases God. It is not the ritual but the person. It is not obedience to a law, but the implementation of God’s wisdom as we interact with others. It is not heaven but earth.
Jesus prayed, “Our Father in Heaven, holy is your name, your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” He taught us to pray, and in that prayers he shows us what God values. A kingdom is people, it is each of us together, gathered in His name. And for this to happen we need strength and energy so we ask that he provides for us, through our jobs and work. And then to bring people into that kingdom we need grace and mercy in our lives, and we must extend that mercy to others.
The people were in expectation and all were questioning. They were seeking, and thinking deeply about who and what God wanted. And John said, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
We are here not for ourselves, but for each other. We are not great in ourselves, not one of us. I am only a pastor because of God and each of you. The richest man in the world is only rich because we value what they offer and gave them the money for mutual profit. The president is only president because we voted not because they are the chosen one of God. It is we, us. A collective of humanity and God that has value, everything else is chaff and trash fit only to burn.
As we go out this week I want us to consider what is truly valuable. And examine our lives to see how our actions are contributing to or detracting from that value. And let us all draw closer to Christ, the Beloved Son through whom all creation is reconciled with God and is pleasing in his eyes.
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
January 5, 2025
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John 1:1–18 (ESV)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
Light and darkness. These are philosophical ideas we do not dwell on often. There are times where we look at the world and we get fixated on darkness. The past few years it almost seems like we as a culture have spent more time thinking about the darkness than is healthy.
I am just as guilty as the next person. It is easy to look at what is wrong, I can tell you just how many times I have been offended or feel as if I was not treated properly. There is a complete genre of internet meme focused on that concept. We can look out and easily see the wrong. But do we take the time to look for light?
The news does not help. The algorithm of facebook and twitter seem to constantly redirect our attention to the aspects of our culture that we find detestable. If we were to simply look at our various news feeds without any context we would easily begin to think that the world today is worse than it has ever been. This is not the reality of the situation. Things could improve do not get me wrong. Life is not easy by any means, but If we were to take a step back life today is better in many ways than it was even a few years ago.
We can get fixated on darkness. We can look at gas prices and we get nervous. I get nervous. We look at pictures from ten years ago and we long for the days when prices were that low. When I started college gas was still below a dollar a gallon. Now its over three. We fixate on that. We claim that the price of gas has doubled or tripled, we are right in that statement. But there is more to this. The average fuel economy of a vehicle in 1978 was seventeen miles per gallon of gas. In the year 2002 it was nearly twenty miles per gallon. In 2020, this increased to twenty-five and just two years ago it is over twenty-six. These figures include all vehicle types, and many vehicles have a fuel economy over thirty miles per gallon.
Why do I bring this up? Gas prices have doubled, and in the same amount of time the fuel economy has also doubled. We see the darkness more readily than we see the bright side, the reality as much as we do not want to hear it is there is virtually no real change. The dollar amount we pay at the pump increase but the amount of fuel we purchase has decreased.
We do not like to hear things like this. I like everyone else wanted to be enraged by fuel prices. It is one of my largest expenses, and it always has been. I want to pay less not more. But in the time I have lived in Kansas City I have owned three different vehicles. Each of those vehicles have had better mileage than the one previous. I once filled up ever other day, now I fill up maybe once a week. And I have purposefully looked for vehicles that would be more economical because that is one of my largest expenses.
Light and darkness.
I mentioned that these are philosophical concepts. These concepts are found in various schools of thought, it is found in Hebrew scriptures, as well as the universities of the Greek culture. And they speak of wisdom and ignorance.
Today’s passage begins, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
I encourage you to contemplate that passage for a moment. What does it mean? We might let our minds wonder through the various apologetic concepts that use this passage to bring people to question or affirm their faith but let that pass over you. I want you to think about what it means to you.
In the beginning was the Word. This term here is logos in Greek. I like this word, in part because it is the name of my favorite software on my computer, Logos Bible study software. It is a word that points to wisdom, but there is more to this word. It can also mean to gather, or to count. It can be used to give a reckoning, or testimony. And it can mean the grounds of which we can make a judgment. Every aspect of this word points us to something. Logos is the place we start and it is the pathway toward wisdom.
In the beginning was the Word, John the apostle, tells us. In the beginning was the gathering, the counting, the reckoning and testimony. I have sat reflecting on this one verse many times as I have explored my faith. There is beauty in these words, there is passion and love. When I consider it, my mind begins to trace images of snowflakes falling and gathering on the ground. I am then transported back to the greatest part of the school year when my family would gather around the radio listening with anticipation for my school to be named as one of those that would have a snow day. This would mean that we could go outside to build a snowman, build a snow fort and have a snow ball fight. The snow day was a day of joy for a child. I want you to remember that joy. Remember the falling snow gathering into drifts. Remember the laughter we once emitted as we packed and rolled balls of snow to make oddly shaped masterpieces.
That is logos. But it is just the beginning. It is that counting, the gathering. Its the building and the bringing together of chaotic disorder and molding it into something beautiful.
John wrote these words as poetry, yet the meter of the poem is seen in the cosmos. As a child I wanted to be an astronaut and I still am amazed at the pictures that we receive from the various telescopes around the world, and in space. Some of the images that NASA has released from the James Webb Space Telescope are breath taking in their beauty, and when I look at those images it is the words of John that ring in my ears. As I watch computer animations of the birth of a star it is the words of scripture that play in the background. To me, I do not fixate on timelines or formulas seeking to prove or disprove faith, what I see and hear in my mind is, “In the beginning…”
“All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” I want us again to go back to the snow day at school. The joy that we had as a child as we gathered the snow together to build the greatest snowman our neighborhood had ever seen. When I was a kid we had acres of yard to gather from. I remember one winter my brother and I rolled a ball of snow so large we could no longer push it. And we kept trying, I do not know why we wanted it so large, because eventually we would have had to try to put on the second layer. But we kept pushing and gathering. I want us to remember that joy and creativity. That is the joy of creation, and I imagine that is how God felt as he began to make all things.
He gathered, and he made. He rolled balls of cosmic dust into stars and planets throughout his theological yard. In the beginning God had the joy of a child on a snow day.
“In him was life.”
Life in Greek spoke about vitality. Something with life was not a thing, but a collection of activity. This is fascinating if we stop to think about it for a moment. Life is not a thing, but it is activity, it is movement, growth, and work. Life is a collection of activity building upon itself. Moving out and expanding. And in the Greek understanding of the world anything with movement had life.
“And the life was the light of men.”
Light, we are back to that philosophical term. In Greek this term means to shine or illuminate. And the use of the word in this passage, takes on a form that means the source of illumination.
“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made,. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.”
The snow is falling, we go out and gather it into balls, there is joy and laughter, as we create. There is movement and activity, vitality, life. And that life, that movement illuminates, it shines as a beacon back to the source. Where all things begin.
Today, as an adult a snow day has different meaning. What was once a source of joy now is a source of concern. What once was a day of celebration becomes a day of worry and fear. Have you noticed this in your life? There was once vitality, now the movement slows. Things are not as they used to be.
Joy has turned into mourning. And despair replaces hope. We have turned our backs on the light, and our gaze is fixated on the shadows.
Wisdom and ignorance, light and dark, life and death. All of these theological and philosophical ideas are vibrating around us and are we able to hear the wave though the void? Logos is the gathering, that points to the source. And it continues to move and cycle all around us.
John says, “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”
Light is an important concept. Illumination, heat, energy is all included in light. When we think of light we, like those in ancient days think of the sun, that star that allows life to exist on earth. We often look at the ancient superstitions of our ancestors as folly because they were unable to understand what we understand today. Yet they did understand more then we give them credit for. They knew the importance of the sun and they were afraid during a solar eclipse because what force could remove that power for an instant? They would study the movements of the stars and the moon and through them they were able to make calculations and determine how to proceed in their life. We look at these superstitions and at times we laugh, but there is something we are missing when we do that. They are studying. They are seeking knowledge and wisdom. They are using what they learned even though it might come from a superstition and they are applying that knowledge to their life and work.
We marvel at the pyramids, we wonder at Stone Hinge. We wonder how they constructed these thing in their primitive cultures but these things were tools and instruments of gathering knowledge to apply to the wisdom of life. They measure the movement of the sun, they calculate the the movement of the stars. And through that knowledge they knew when to plant the crops and through other factors what other actions to take. It is illumination, knowledge.
They gathered knowledge, but there are times when we use and manipulate knowledge. Why was it important to know when a solar ellipse was going to occur? Because if you held that knowledge you could use it for your advantage. You know when the sun will darken, you tell the people that you will darken the sun at a specific time, and it happens now you are seen as the one that holds the power even over the sun. Those that had the wisdom used the ignorance of everyone else against them for their own benefit. This is sin, distraction. It is pulling our attention away from the source and putting it somewhere else.
Which takes me back to gas prices. We are all upset about the price. We all wish they would go down. We blame certain political entities and place our faith in others. This is just one aspect where wisdom and ignorance can be seen. I mention it because I get caught in that cycle of panic and realization just as much as everyone else. When the price goes up I get nervous because it affects me, darkness creeps in. But within that darkness is a lack of knowledge, ignorance. I had to look up the statistics I mentioned before. I took the time while preparing to give this message to find out how much gas prices have risen and how much fuel economy has increased. And as I obtained that knowledge something happened within me. The tension griping at my economic chest decreased just a bit. I began to recognize that when I look at the bigger picture things have not gotten quite as bad as I thought. That is what knowledge can do for us.
But where are we getting the knowledge and how are we applying it? This takes us back to John. John told us that the true light, which gives light to everyone was coming into the world. That true source of vitality, and energy. True knowledge was coming. He was in the world, the world that he made, yet the world did not know him.
We lost track at some point, our attention was distracted. We in our collective past once knew the true light, but we had turned away. It sounds like a story we know. A story that seems to be in our very genetic code. We know right and wrong, yet we turn away from what is right and choose the thing that is wrong. Light and darkness. We choose what is safe, what is beneficial, what will give us power in the moment. We like the kings of old use the knowledge we have to tell the world that the sun will darken and we take the credit so that we can reap the rewards. But we leave out the part where the moon will move away just as quickly as it came.
We have lost track of the true source, the true vitality of who we are and why we are here. He came into the world and we did not know him. We did not know him. We did not even know we were looking for him and yet he came.
He came to show us what true life is. He took on our complete humanity. He lived a complete life just as we have. He experienced gestation, was an infant, toddler, child, teenager, adult. He worked a job, and entered midlife in his culture. We think of him as young, but thirty was fairly old given the average life expectancy in the first century. He changed careers. He faced struggle, betrayal, injustice. Yet through it all he made it his custom to worship with his community in the synagogues, he withdrew often to the isolated places to pray, and he ministered to those in need.
He came into the the world, and the world was made through him. He took on our humanity, he became one of us. He showed and empowers us to live the life God created us to live. The life of true vitality. The one that is truly enlightened from the source. Yet we turn and live in the shadows, the world did not know him. He came to his own people, the people he chose to bear the light to all nations. And his own people did not receive him.
We all get distracted. We can all live in the darkness of our own ignorance. But what do we do with the light, with the wisdom as it comes in. Do we use it to exploit those around us or do we use it to gather together and shine in the darkness?
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
As we move about in our community this week, as we interact with those around us, as we play in the snow. I want us to reflect on the poetry of John. I want us to consider that gathering of the word and the wisdom within that gathering. I want us to remember the joy of creation as we remember the snow days of our youth and the vitality and life that is found within that joy. And I want us to remember and embrace the hope that comes when we reflect on the source of that life. He gave us the right to become children of God. He gave us the right to enjoy a snow day, to participate in creation, and join with him in true life. A life of loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit and Living the love of Christ with others. Let us know that with kind of life. Life with God and with each other. A life with hope. Life with light that overcomes the darkness.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 12, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 05, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili John 20:1–18 (ESV) 1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the…
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