Posts

Posted on

Fire in the Desert – Isaiah 63:11-14 & Exodus 13:20-22

We’ve been exploring the Holy Spirit as person of the Trinity and member of the three-in-one Godhead. But where do we see this in the Old Testament, or was it purely an innovation of the early church?

But in the story of the Exodus, we do get a look at what the prophet Isaiah calls “the Holy Spirit.” The people of Israel have just come out of bondage, which should be a good thing, but it also means that they are leaving the world they knew and entering the unknown. This is something we all relate to, as we are constantly in transition from one thing to another, whether jobs or relationships or just phases of life. Like the Israelites, we need the Holy Spirit to go before us and lead us into that unknown.

In the narrative, the people of Israel have gone through the experience of Passover and are fleeing Egypt. But God did not lead them on the shortest path – this is often the case with God. He very often leads us in directions that seem entirely illogical and difficult. But that leading is part of the relationship – if it were just a simple if-then statement, we wouldn’t need the Holy Spirit, but just a piece of paper with a decision tree.

And so the Holy Spirit led them in the form of a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. The Spirit provided direction, shade and light even as it led God’s people into an unknown land.

Hundreds of years later, the prophet Isaiah (possibly the third one using that name) used this as an example, likely following the exile of many of the people into Mesopotamia. The Israelites would be asking questions about where God is and what He is doing in the midst of all the turmoil. And so Isaiah points them back to the work of the Holy Spirit in the past, as a promise of what He will do in their context – and in ours.

And so we see what the Spirit offers. He offers personal guidance and protection in real-time. This guidance is step by step and unconventional – we don’t get the entire story all at once, just the next right thing that we are called to do and be. We are incapable of seeing the full picture, spread across space and time and billions of souls. But the Holy Spirit sees and leads us in a way we can trust.

And finally, the Holy Spirit is an unfailing and ongoing presence that provides us not only with guidance but enlightenment, protection and peace.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood, WA, June 21, 2026

Images by Gemini.

Posted on

A Spirit-filled Mosaic – Exodus 3:1-12

We state that we believe in the Trinity, but in practice we often neglect the Holy Spirit, demoting a full person of the Godhead to the status of an impersonal force. Even our language is inadequate to this task, calling this active, personal deity “it.”

But the Holy Spirit is the real presence of God at work. We see this in the story of Pentecost, when the church erupted out of a scared group of blue collar men and women. This is the same presence we can experience today. Anne Lamott writes:

It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.

We are here to ask and learn, as communities and as individuals, are here to learn what it means to be Spirit-filled, and how to be open to the work of the Holy Spirit. This search is of a piece with the deconstruction many of us are going through, taking apart the human structures that make up church in the wake of failure, betrayal and hurt that many of us have experienced. We are seeking to strip away the accretion of man-made structures that have not up and to come as we are to God as He is, in the person of the Holy Spirit.

Today’s scripture is the “origin story” of Moses, whet he fist encountered the living God. The people of Israel have moved into Egypt, a relationship that started well but over the years had degraded into slavery and infanticide. We see this people group described in two ways in the story – the Israelites, when describing them as the people of the covenant God made with Israel, or the Hebrews, when describing them as the ethnic community being oppressed by Egypt.

Moses was one of these Hebrews, who escaped the campaign of infanticide and was adopted by the daughter of Pharaoh, raised in the royal court Egypt. As the original “third culture kid” Moses is caught between two worlds, which boils over when he kills an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, only to find himself rejected by those people as well. And so he flees into the wilderness, marries into a community of itinerant herdsmen and lives as a refugee for many years.

And that is where God meets him, and where his origin story begins.

God calls to him, repeating his name in a pattern we see throughout scripture, calling from a fire that burns but does not consume. He calls to him to put off his sandals because he stands on Holy ground.

This combination of protection and awe, of safe and holy, is key to understanding the nature of God. The fire burns but does not consume, the ground is holy but we are called to stand upon it.

This is how the Holy Spirit approaches all of us, and the safety God provides to each person means that that each person is accepted in their diversity and identity, and the community of faith is made up of an infinite combination of holy, safe relationships between believers and the Holy Spirit.

We see this play out directly centuries later at Pentecost, when fire again burns but does not consume, and deity again calls frightened refugees into His service, again empowering men and women to spread His message. This was promised by the prophet Joel:

I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

As we as a church move forward, whatever changes come, this should be our focus and our goal. We are called to be a place that is safe and holy, a place where people between identities, like Moses can come and find their new identity in God.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood, WA, June 7, 2026

Images by CHATGPT.

Posted on

Unlearn What You Have Learned – Genesis 2:15-18

One of the main things we need to unlearn from our western culture is the “radical individualism” – spirituality is not meant to be an individual sport. We are meant to live and love God in relationship with Him and with each other.

This starts from the beginning, when God refers to Himself in the plural – this may be the royal we, it may be a declaration to the angelic court, or it may even be an early preview of the Trinity. Either way, it’s an immediate indication of the vital nature of relationship at the core of our being, at the core of the Imago Dei.

We are also built to be in relationship in regards to our relationship with creation. It is within the context of Adam’s role as caretaker of creation that God identifies his need for a helper and partner. In fact, Adam being alone is the first thing God identifies in His creation as “not good,” before even the Fall.

So, together, Man and Woman shared the Stewardship of creation, shared the relationship with God – “walking in the Garden in the cool of the day.”

This communality is core to who we are, though many aspects of western culture push against that. Much of this is driven by positive concepts like the rights and dignity of the individual, but if we lose the communal and relational aspects of our life and faith.

And so we seek to value those things that draw us together, even things that may seem frivolous or even secular. From extended greeting time to potlucks to fun group activities, the things that draw us together in the faith are important and God-honoring.

May we experience God’s love more fully as a part of this community.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, April 19, 2026

Posted on

Walk, Don’t Run – John 20:1-18

This morning we gather at the tomb not as passive observers but active participants along with the disciples John, Peter and Mary. We are invited to linger in the story, to engage with the sorrow, the uncertainty and the joy.

This passage opens with a race between Peter and John, aka “The Disciple Jesus Loved” (which John wants you to be sure to know that he won). He does, though, wait for Peter to go in in deference to his elder. The two responses here illustrate different faithful responses to the risen Christ. John sees and believes, while Peter enters into the tomb to investigate and examine the evidence. John represents the eager willingness to believe, while Peter shows judicious, even forensic examination. They believed, but the scripture tells us that they did not yet fully understand before they left the scene.

The story of Peter and John, though, is bookended by the experience of Mary Magdalene, who has been a consistent presence through the Crucifixion and into all the stories of the empty tomb. She was there before the disciples had their race, and she stayed after they left. She sits in her sorrow and loss, remaining at the scene to grapple with her grief and uncertainty. Mary’s story goes beyond belief, whether eager and willing or careful and forensic. She does not merely believe, but she loves and lives in relationship with Jesus, and so feels the loss deeply. And it is in the midst of this lament that Jesus enters in.

And when he does, He engages on a heart level, speaking her name, Mariam, in Aramaic rather than the Greek that is used elsewhere in the story, in her “heart language.” And Mary responds in kind, crying out “Rabboni,” again in Aramaic and depicting a close relationship with a teacher and mentor.

And he tells her that everything has changed – in Luke, he asks, “why do you search for the living among the dead?” Don’t cling to the old life, but embrace the new. Don’t live in Friday, because Sunday has come

Easter is not an invitation to run faster, but to linger in our uncertainty and sorrow, to encounter the truth and love of a relationship with our glorious, risen savior. It is a chance to understand what dead things we are clinging to that fracture our relationships. It is an invitation not to examine faith but to embrace life.

And it is an invitation to tell others, just as Jesus instructs Mary to do. She takes the title of the first apostle, not because she was fast, not because she was authoritative, but because she missed Jesus and sat before the tomb and cried. Let us take her as our example of resurrection faith.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, April 5, 2026

Posted on

Paradigms – John 9

This story is a tale of paradigms – opposing and shifting understandings of how the world works.

It starts out immediately with the disciples assuming a paradigm and begging that question. “Who sinned?” The Old Testament tells us God punishes the wicked, which had turned into the idea that any negative situation was itself a punishment, maybe even for sins committed before birth!

But Jesus rejects that paradigm – no one sinned to make this man blind. Some English translations imply that God instead made the man blind in order to display the works of God, but the Greek does not necessarily suggest that level of cause and effect. The works of God, rather, are what Jesus is there to do regardless. Specifically, the bringing of light into darkness, both in the form of this man, and also in the broader spiritual sense.

Thus ends part one, but the story continues. The people around the blind man are confused, unclear even if it was the same person. In an effort to sort things out, they bring the man to the Pharisees, who have their own paradigm. It’s the Sabbath, and work, including healing, is forbidden on the Sabbath – therefore this healing is sinful and cannot be a miracle from God, which means it probably didn’t happen at all.

So the Pharisees push back and make the man tell his story again. He does, and every time he tells the story, his understanding of Jesus increases. He goes from being just a guy with some mud to being a prophet, which the Pharisees do not like.

So they bring in his parents, presumably with the goal of showing that he was never blind. But his parents are terrified of being ostracized from the community and so stay clammed up, pointing them back to their son.

So their son tells his story yet again, and zeros on on both what he knows and what he does not – “I was blind, but now I see.” This does not fit into the increasingly frustrated Pharisees paradigm, and so – after a bit of mutual rudeness – they toss him out.

Jesus then seeks him out, and the man’s understanding increases once again, accepting Jesus as Messiah and Lord. Jesus draws the line between the man’s former physical blindness and spiritual blindness, and the healing Jesus brought to both, and offers to the rest of the world. But on the flip side, he also points out that he will do the reverse, and those who think they see properly will be unable to see the work of God.

The Pharisees, correctly, guess he’s talking about them, and object. In their paradigm, they are chosen by God, so how can they possiblybe blind? But Jesus points out that their very paradigm condemns them, because their behavior does not match their teaching.

That’s where this story wraps up. What can we learn from it? We here have (or seek to have) a Christian paradigm, centered on the work of Christ. And like the formerly blind man, we will run into people who do not share our paradigm and who reject it outright. Like the blind man, we should stick to our story. This is uncomfortable in our post-postmodern environment, which dislikes the idea that spiritual things can be objectively true. But like the blind man, we should center our story on what Jesus has done for us. We know from our own various experiences that Jesus is loving and compassionate. This starts with His sacrifice on the cross and extends into our daily lives following him.

Jesus’ final words to his disciples on earth echo this – go and make disciples. Tell your story, just as the blind man did.

When do this, we can count on Jesus to encourage us and comfort us as we do this, and to use even the small things that we do in service of the Great Commission to further the work He is doing in people’s hearts over time.

— Sermon Notes, Robin Swearinga, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, March 15, 2026

Posted on

Love Meets Us in the Wilderness – John 3:1-17

This story comes in the early part of Jesus’ ministry as chronicled by John. He has turned water into wine, called disciples, cleared the temple courts and just started building a name for himself. That name was enough to connect him with Nicodemus, a leader among the Pharisees, who primarily interacted as Jesus’ antagonists.

Unlike most, though, Nicodemus came at night – this may be partly because he didn’t want his interest getting around, but it also creates a strong contrast with the other Pharisees who came during the day with the goal to draw a crowd and debunk or humiliate Jesus.

So you have this very learned, powerful person submitting himself to learn from this itinerant, newly arrived, lower class rabbi. But Nicodemus didn’t just take what he was told, and pushes back on the notion of rebirth. Possibly drawing from Jewish arguments against Grecian cults of rebirth, he tries to dismantle this metaphor of being “born again” – but Jesus pushes forward, because it’s not just a metaphor but a spiritual reality centered on his very person.

Nicodemus is a spiritual leader of Israel, but he is not equipped to grapple with spiritual realities – he’s trained on rules and sub-rules and interpretations of rules, but this is heaven breaking in on the earth, this man in front of him a rent in the fabric of reality, ushering in a new way of relating to the creator, one that extends to the entire world, not just the people of Israel.

And this is not just a far off moment, “somewhere in outer space” but rather a reality we have access to right now. The salvation that Jesus brings is a real, immediate thing, and he offers it to us freely. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

This salvation is there for us to ask for, and Jesus longs to hear you ask for it. The Father sent him to save us and open us to the work of the Holy Spirit. The fullness of the Trinity welcomes us into that eternal relationship. We are ourselves invited to serve as that rent in reality, points in space and time where heaven bleeds through in the form of love and truth and grace.

We never get a clear answer on what happens to Nicodemus in the wake of this conversation, but later in John we see Nicodemus defending Jesus from his fellow Pharisees, and then after the Crucifixion bringing spices to honor and embalm this man who one night opened the mysteries of heaven to him, who spoke to him of the undefeatable love of God.

Let us live out that love ourselves, accepting the love and grace Christ offers, and then living out that love and grace we have received.

— Sermon Notes, Nancy de Jong, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, March 1, 2026

Image: Nicodemus Visiting Jesus, 1899, Henry Ossawa Tanner

Posted on

The Transfiguration – Matthew 17:1-9

What comes up must come down. The Transfiguration is the ultimate mountaintop moment – whatever it is that brings us to the height of emotion, whether spiritual highs or Super Bowl championships, eventually fades away. The Transfiguration was a moment like that, but also calls forward to a mountaintop moment that will never fade.

Jesus brought Peter, James and John with him, fulfilling the instructions in Deuteronomy around bringing witnesses. That explains the disciples, but why Moses and Elijah?

Both had their own literal mountaintop experiences – Moses receiving the Law, Elijah defeating the priests of Baal. Both of those lofty experiences were followed immediately by times of trial and despair. Moses descended to find his people worshipping an idol, while Elijah ended up on the run from Jezabel and falls into a deep depression. This happens in all our lives, as the memories of the high points fade, and sometimes we turn to harmful things in an attempt to recapture those feelings.

Similarly, the disciples were heading for their own disappointment and despair in Jerusalem when Jesus is crucified. Peter, who is gung how on the mountaintop, ready to build shelters for each glowing person there, seeking to capture and control the experience – soon he will deny even knowing Jesus.

But the temporary nature of these experiences here on Earth is not a reason to avoid them. Jesus brought Peter, James and John for a reason, and their experience of awe and worship was valid and valuable.

So, too, were the words of God, spoken from the cloud – “Listen to Him.” The words and instructions of Jesus are pearls of great price. God wants us to listen to them – and to do so in the context of the Law and the Prophets, as represented by Moses and Elijah. It’s a reminder not to become fixated on individual verses or statements in the Bible, but to understand the call of God in the broader context of the live story told all throughout scripture.

Then Jesus demonstrates that love directly – he places his hand on the terrified disciples and consoles them – “Get up – do not be afraid.”

And that’s what he’s telling each of us in our own lives. If we will just follow the three instructions given on the mountain here, we will be in good shape. Listen to Jesus – Don’t be afraid – Get up.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, February 15, 2026

Image: “Iesu transfigurato (Mark 9:4f)” by Salvador Dali

Posted on

Psalms of Lament – Psalm 31

Psalm 31 answers the question “what do we do when we are filled with shame and despair?”

Lament is not a popular topic. The scriptures are full of it, but our culture, our Christian culture in particular, is not. We seek to “skip ahead” to the glory of the cross, over the pain, grief & humility of the cross.

Before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he took time to grieve that death – “Jesus wept.” Lament is medicine for the soul and a check against injustice.

One of the key themes of the psalm is shame and disgrace. Benjamin Rush wrote, “Ignominy is universally acknowledged to be a worse punishment than death,” and this is what David is facing in and through this psalm. His response is “Into your hands I commit my spirit,” the same words Jesus quoted as He faced the ultimate shame and despair on the cross.

In verse 15, God’s hands come into play again – David’s “times” are in His hands, the ordained moments of his very life.

The cornerstone of this relationship is the love of God, in Hebrew “hesed” – a covenantal, relational love that God lavishes on us and that He seeks from us in return.

And this is the answer to the question posed by the Psalm – when faced by shame and despair, our answer is to love God and to accept His love in return.

— Sermon Notes, Diana Cleveland, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, February 1, 2026

Image by Gemini.

Posted on

Ascent Through Time – Psalm 126

The Psalms of Ascent provide a deliberate pilgrimage framework, designed to accompany believers on their spiritual and physical journeys, originally the Israelites as they ascended to the temple. This group of Psalms is compact, intentional and deeply communal, emphasizing the shared experience of a people rooted in their history and sacred places. By focusing on the collective memory of the faithful, these psalms transform individual travel into a shared act of devotion, reinforcing the idea that the path toward God is one best traveled together.

At their core, these psalms are woven together by the overarching themes of trust, unity, and hope. This is expressed through various “micro-themes” that address the practicalities of faith, such as seeking God’s protection in Psalm 121 and finding communal joy in worship in Psalm 122. Ultimately, the collection moves the heart toward a state of humility and dependence, culminating in a celebration of unity and the assurance of God’s divine presence and blessing.

Psalm 126 provides an ascent through time, across the varied journey of life with its ups and downs. It starts with the past, when “we were like those who dreamed.” What are the “great things” the Lord has done for you in the past? As you remember God’s faithfulness in the past, what dreams are still stirring in you? In what ways can you share the story of God’s goodness with others, just as the nations recognized it in Israel?

Then it moves to the present, a time of struggle and “sowing in tears”. This is true for many of us. In what areas are you experiencing sorrow while trying to remain faithful? Where are you asking for streams in a dry place. Are you currently in a season of “weeping” while trying to plant seeds for the future? How can you find joy in the present, even while waiting for full restoration?

It is important to grapple with these honest human emotions, to not just slap a happy face over or sadness. All facets of human emotion are real and legitimate and a part of who we are created to be.

But we do look forward to Songs of Joy. What harvest (“sheaves of grain”) are you trusting God to bring, even if they aren’t visible yet? How does the image of “songs of joy” inspire you to persevere in your faith and service? How can you show hope and joy in the present, confident that God will renew all things?

All of this human experience, both the joyful and the painful, is a part of who we were made to be. God is there in all phases of our ascent through time – and we as a body should be there for each other through all phases well, as we journey together towards the throne of God.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, January 18, 2026

Image by Gemini

Posted on

Sing a New Song – Psalm 98

What is your bouy? When you are in times of panic and disorientation and despair, what do you look to?

Psalm 98 is one of six “enthronement Psalms” that declares the kingship of Yahweh, His sovereignty and His eternal reign.

There are key characteristics across all of the Enthronement Psalms. The Lord’s Divine Kingship is obviously one of them, but so is the Universal Scope of the messages. Many Psalms are specific to Israel, but these songs call all people – indeed, all of creation – to the worship of God.

On that note, Creation’s Joy is another key theme here that runs across all six Psalms. And that joy springs in part from God’s Righteous Judgment – “He will judge the world with righteousness and equity.”

Finally, the Psalms all reference singing a “new song” to the creator – a call to creativity, a warning against getting stuck in stale tradition, and perhaps also a call forward to the New Thing that God was working towards, the culmination of the universal scope and righteous judgement promised here.

For ourselves, what are the new songs we should sing in the new year? What is God putting on our lips? What are the old songs we should leave behind?

Sometimes, when we look in front of us it looks like other people are in charge, controlling things. But when we root ourselves in creation we see that our earthly divisions and challenges are as nothing when we put them in front of the King and creator who calls us to sing the new song he puts in our hearts.

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, January 4, 2026

Images from the Burnet Psalter and Gemini.