The Second Sunday After Epiphany 2023

There is a sense in which we cannot ever really know Jesus apart from a willingness and commitment, however imperfect, to follow him.  This is because Jesus is not an idea to be debated.  Jesus is a person, alive and among us, who wants to be known, who loves us and wants to be in relationship.  And like all relationships, our friendship with Jesus takes time, and effort, and attention.  This week we begin our church-wide book study and sermon series on Diana Butler Bass’ Freeing Jesus.  Bass invites us to consider what it might mean for us to “free” Jesus from all the institutional and religious stuff we place upon Jesus, so that we might experience him in relationship, fully and freely, for who he is.  When we do, we encounter one who is our friend, and whose friendship defines our relationship with God and with one another.