Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost audio

To sentimentalize something is to cling to how we feel about something or someone instead of holding to the truth. The greatest challenge is accepting that WE are the problem. We may try to point to a particular person or group or church or belief system and how they need correcting - but the truth is none of us are perfect and we all need correcting. That is why Jesus left heaven, get born in a stable, dealt with all our garbage, suffered, died and got resurrected. He didn't do it for "them" - He did it us in the extreme plural. Sin and grace, lostness and foundness, darkness and light, pain and joy - we divide the world up by these things - but the truth is - where these things come together, that's where the Gospel happens.