Tuesday, June 25, 2019

The Power of Hospitality


Romans 12:13-21 (The Message) 
Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality. 

Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody. 

Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.” 

Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good. 


Have you ever wondered what Hospitality looks like?
          What if I added the word radical to it ---
what does radical hospitality look like?

We find radical hospitality modeled throughout the Biblical story

Abraham modeled a radical hospitality, when he welcomed the strangers into the shade of a tree, washed their feet, and offered them the finest of foods (Genesis 18:1-8).

Lydia, too, modeled this when she housed Paul and Silas (Acts 16:11-15, 40).

The author of Hebrews writes:
“Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:1-2).

Hospitality is not just having someone over for a nice meal.
Hospitality is not just inviting someone in for a visit.

And really, when you think about it --- there’s no such thing as “radical” hospitality
We like to add all kinds of adjectives to our hospitality practices as if to suggest that ours is better than others.

At its heart, hospitality is, simply, radical.
There is no other kind of hospitality.
You either are or you aren’t hospitable --- and if you are, it is pretty radical

If we welcome some and exclude others we shouldn't pretend we are hospitable.

Last Monday was the 4th Anniversary of the shooting at Mother Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Four days after nine people were murdered at the end of a bible study, on Sunday June 21st, Mother Emanuel A.M.E. church flung open its doors so that the community could gather for worship --- can you even, imagine what it would have been like to walk through those doors that Sunday?
          Are you ready for that kind of hospitality?
          Are you prepared for that kind of showing of mercy?

          Are you willing to be received with that kind of welcome?

Phillip Gulley is an Indiana Quaker pastor who has written a number of provocative books.  In Front Porch Tales, Gulley share that he believes that one of the reasons for the decline of community in our country is the demise of the front porch as a feature of American homes. 

How many of us ever sit on our front porch (if we even have one)?
Instead we have shifted to back porches and decks and do everything we can to shield ourselves from our neighbors. 

Gulley writes:
Perhaps more things were resolved on America’s front porches than in any other place, and yet so few are used today.  . . .  Community is a beautiful thing.  It heals us and makes us better than we would otherwise be. I live in the city now.  My front porch is a concrete slab.  (But) community isn’t so much a locale as it is a state of mind.  You find it whenever folks ask how you’re doing because they care, and not because they’re getting paid to inquire.

Hospitality is all about building community --- something we struggle to do in our world today.

Too often the church acts as if it is selective in who is welcome --- and who is not.

We sometimes act as if building a welcome station, or an information hub in our welcome center, and encouraging each other to wear nametags is enough.

We frame our conversations around who is in --- and who is out --- of God’s redeeming grace without even realizing it.

And it is not just us, the church that does this; our society at large is built on FEAR of the other, and we want to build bigger walls and put security at every public space in an attempt to calm this irrational fear.
          And fear prevents hospitality

As I have pondered over this topic the last few weeks the key to hospitality is simple, yet elusive.

Simple, because we all give at least lip service to the idea.
Elusive, because we struggle with living it out.

The key to hospitality (and really to Christian discipleship) is understanding that God loves us UNCONDITIONALLY.
          God loves YOU unconditionally --- exactly as you are

Everything starts there.

The author of 1st John makes this abundantly clear when he proclaimed:
“We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

Hospitality begins in the very heart of Jesus as he extends to each one of us his unconditional love.

Paul Tillich, the great theologian of the 20th Century, writes that one of the first steps to a relationship with God is that we must “accept that we are accepted.”

Before we can reach out to others with the hospitality of Jesus --- before we can share his love and grace and acceptance --- before any of that we must not only receive God’s unconditional love --- but truly believe it we have it.

That is the first step in becoming a follower of Jesus.

Tillich goes on to ask the question that makes it personal for each of us.
“Do we know what it means to be struck by grace? We cannot transform our lives, unless we allow them to be transformed by that stroke of grace.”

Bishop Schnase continues this thought when he writes: 
God’s love for us is not something we have to strive for, earn, work on, or fear.  It is freely given.  That is key; that we are loved, first, finally and forever by God, a love so deep and profound and significant that God offers His Son to signify and solidify this love forever, so that we get it. 

We have to start there!
          I know how hard it is --- but hear me GOD LOVES YOU UNCONDITIONALLY

If we don’t feel that love, we will always fall back into fear.
          And there is NO hospitality when we live in a state of fear

But Jesus love for us is so powerful it enables us to move beyond our fears and to live in hospitality

So let me share four practical ways that we can demonstrate hospitality.

Welcome everyone you meet.

I mean this literally and figuratively.

Extend a kind word to everyone you meet, but also, share your time, energy and life with others—especially those who may need you more than you need them.

Jesus welcomed strangers and outcasts
In the same way that Zacchaeus was a "son of Abraham" and worthy of Jesus' time, the people that you interact with are loved by God and worthy of your time too.

I love the suggestion that Glennon Doyle offers --- she offered this advice at a women’s retreat but the advice is good for all of us.  She said:
If you are standing with other woman in a circle and there is a woman standing alone in your circle’s vicinity --- the thing to do is notice her, smile at her, mover over a bit and say, Hi, come join us!”  Even if she decides not to join your circle --- even if she looks at you like you’re crazy --- inviting her is still the thing to do.  Widen your circles.  All the time.

She continues:
Also: horseshoes are better than circles.  Leave space.  Always leave space.  Horseshoes of friends is greater than circles of friends.  Life can be lonely.  Stand in horseshoes

Engage people.

Engage others with the mindset of being Jesus, not just inviting them to a function at church.

But I will tell you right now, this type of engagement requires a personal connection, not just a "connection" via text or social media — I'm talking about face-to-face interaction.

I have a favorite phrase that I like to remind the staff of every now and again --- and it goes like this: An announcement is not an invitation

An invitation is always personal and filled with hospitality

Make meals a priority.

The table is always central in the most important moments in Jesus’ ministry. 
Invite a person to a meal.
Pay for the meal if possible
Pray for this new friend specifically and serve him or her.

Use mealtimes to build relationships and talk about things that really matter.

Pay attention.

We all interact with people at work, at church, at school and in our communities.

But how many times do these interactions go unnoticed or undeveloped.

Take some time out of your day to stop, look around and show kindness to others.
Your uplifting word or kind action may change someone's life forever.

If you do these things --- simple --- but oh so hard --- you will be living Jesus message of hospitality.

Karoline Lewis, from Luther Seminary challenges us when she wrote:
A theology of hospitality requires a reassessment of everything -- practices, language, and symbols; rituals, confessions, and flags; sacraments, rulings, and where we falsely assume power is located. But it’s worth it. Because to experience the kind of hospitality that Jesus has in mind is to experience the love of our God -- so deep, so wide, so huge; the love of our God which shows mercy no matter what; the love of our God which became flesh so that the doors of the divine heart might be flung open to all.

I said in the email this week that we have only one chance to make a good first impression. 

That is true every day, every week, when someone new comes into our community.

If you are visiting with us this morning, I pray that we have made you feel welcomed and accepted here.  And I hope that I get a chance to personally meet you today.

I had a young man, at another church, who always wore a silly looking hat --- it was just him --- and I can’t tell you how many people complained to me about his hat (and believe me, without even intending too --- many shared their distain with him).  There were women in the same service who were wearing hats, I NEVER heard anyone complain about them.
          How welcome do you think he felt?
I also know of a young pastor with three small children whose wife wanted to sing in the choir but could not sit with the choir
There was not Sunday School during the worship time so the children would have to be in the service
She went to the choir director and asked if she could sit in the pews and come up and sing with the choir and then return to the pew with her children.  The choir director never said yes, or no --- but made it clear that was not a welcome idea.

I am thankful that we have young children who sit in our choir pews on Sunday morning.  Are they disruptive sometimes? ---- sure --- but which is more important, that they are here or that they make a little noise.

I prefer noisy children over prim and proper adults --- it is good to know that there is life out there.

Hospitality is filled with grace.

We must be careful not to consciously or unconsciously build walls that separate us from each other.  Walls that preclude us from being hospitable to each other

In two weeks Mary Dicken will be joining our staff as a pastor.

How will we welcome her?
          What kind of first impression will we make?

Let me offer some suggestions

Pray for Mary and the transition
Be here on July 7th
Yes, I know it is summer . . .
Send her a card or note welcoming her
Include it in your card or note, or bring to the office a gift card to your favorite local place
Offer to meet her for coffee or a meal (and pay for it)
Help us provide food in the house and meals for her first few days
WEAR YOUR NAMETAG and introduce yourself repeatedly

I am sure there are many other things that I am forgetting, but if you will take these on it will be a great start and we will make a wonderful first impression.

Hospitality is powerful
          Powerful when it is offered
          Maybe even more powerful when it is withheld

May we be a people who share (who live) the hospitality of Jesus.

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

The Power of the Holy Spirit


John 14:16-17   (CEB)
I will ask the Father, and he will send another Companion, who will be with you forever. This Companion is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world can’t receive because it neither sees him nor recognizes him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be with you.

Ephesians 1:13-14   (CEB)
You too heard the word of truth in Christ, which is the good news of your salvation. You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit because you believed in Christ. The Holy Spirit is the down payment on our inheritance, which is applied toward our redemption as God’s own people, resulting in the honor of God’s glory.

This has been an interesting week.

This morning I took Nancy to the airport as she flies to North Carolina to help get her mom’s house closed up

For the past three days I have been attending the Annual Conference of the Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church.

The Annual Conference is the body that sets the policy and the tone for United Methodists throughout Indiana. 

One of the most important things that we do is affirm candidates for ministry as well as commission and ordain new pastors. 
But we do much more than that. 
We celebrate those who are retiring from active ministry --- and we saw 70 elders, deacons, local and supply pastors retiring this year. 

We also remember those who have died in the past year --- and much like we do here on All Saints Sunday --- the names of 56 deceased clergy and spouses were read and honored for their lives and legacies.

Certainly one of the highlights of the conference was the powerful and challenging message of our Bishop -- Julius Trimble --- when he preached his Episcopal address. 
His sermon evoked memories of Dr Martin Luther King, as he reminded us:
”There’s nothing you can do—or anyone else can do—to change your sacred worth in Jesus Christ. That has always been settled!”

But, unfortunately, what became the main event this year was the election of Clergy and Lay delegates who will represent Indiana at the 2020 General Conference. 

It took up a huge amount of time and energy --- but is important. 

The clergy delegation that was elected was 100% persons who disagreed with the Traditional Plan that was adopted in St Louis earlier this year --- including Pastor Matt.

The theme of this year's conference was From Water to Witness and it was a reminder of the gift that God has giving us. 
And we were reminded that nobody voted you into the church.

Just a little while earlier we welcomed Margret Louise into the family of God.
          How did that happen?
          How did she get to join the family of God?
          Did she do something to earn it?

Of course not!
          It is a gift from God
          It is the action of the Holy Spirit working in our lives seeking to change us

Last week Matt reminded us of the chaos and challenge that was that first Pentecost for the fledgling community of followers of Jesus.

Jesus was dead --- his followers, we are told, had experienced his resurrection in some powerful ways.

Yet something was missing --- they did not have the zeal --- they did not have the passion to risk their lives to change the world.

What happened?
          Pentecost happened
                    The Holy Spirit came

I am not sure why they seemed so surprised.

In one of the most powerful parts of the New Testament John shares what we have come to call Jesus farewell discourse.

Jesus is trying to prepare his followers so that when he is murdered by the Roman authorities they are not caught off guard.  And he makes a profound promise to them.

(John 14:1-4,18-19,25-27 NRSV)  "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. {2} In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? {3} And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. {4} And you know the way to the place where I am going."(18)  "I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. {19} In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. (25)  "I have said these things to you while I am still with you. {26} But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. {27} Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

But on that day of Pentecost everything changed

They moved from the waters of baptism to witnessing ---
to telling/living the story of Jesus
         
It is because of those who were transformed on that day of Pentecost that we are here

We may not agree on every biblical or theological interpretation --- actually I am pretty certain that there are things that we don't agree on (and I am speaking to each one of you individually).
          But that is OK

For me one of the most important realizations is to accept the fact that we are all hypocrites --- we just each pick different things to be hypocritical about.

Robert Farrar Capon reminded us:
          “God’s grace in Jesus Christ isn’t cheap. It’s not even expensive. It’s free.”

It is the Spirit of God, the ruacḥ ha-kodesh, that brings us together.

It is God's spirit that reminds us that we are beloved children of God --- despite ourselves.

The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to move us from the waters of baptism to sharing the grace that we have been blessed with.

But we need to be careful --- listen again to Robert Farrar Capon
“The Gospel of grace must not be turned into a bait-and-switch offer. It is not one of those airline supersavers in which you read of a $59.00 fare to Orlando only to find, when you try to buy a ticket, that the six seats per flight at that price are all taken and that the trip will now cost you $199.95. Jesus must not be read as having baited us with grace only to clobber us in the end with law. For as the death and resurrection of Jesus were accomplished once and for all, so the grace that reigns by those mysteries reigns eternally - even in the thick of judgment.”

“God’s grace in Jesus Christ isn’t cheap. It’s not even expensive. It’s free.”

The spirit comes to you
          comes to me
                   NOT because we are worthy
But precisely because we are not worthy

We must be very careful not to believe that God's grace is sufficient for us --- but isn't sufficient for someone else.

Catherine LaCugna (1952–1997) ended her giant theological tome God for Us with this one simple sentence:
The very nature of God, therefore, is to seek out the deepest possible communion and friendship with every last creature on this earth.

That’s God’s job description.
The Holy Spirit is how God does that.

That’s what it’s all about.

Let me ask you a simple question and leave you with something to ponder.
What would happen in your life—right now—if you fully accepted what God has created -- is creating in you?

What if you truly welcomed the Holy Spirit --- the ruacḥ ha-kodesh --- into your life?

Suddenly, this following Jesus is much safer.

You have nothing to be afraid of.
God is for you.
God is not expecting you to do the heavy lifting --- because God has already done it for you. 
And God is actually leaping toward you!

God is on your side, honestly more than you are on your own.

E Stanley Jones, that great Methodist Missionary of days gone by was originally trained to be a lawyer.

After he became a Christian he as was asked to preach a sermon and he said that he wanted to preach the greatest defense of God ever given.

He worked hard preparing this defense of God
And the day came he got up to preach --- and it bombed
As he was concluding the sermon --- he knew he had bombed and in that instant God spoke to him

God said --- why do you need to defend me? 
What I need you to do is witness for me.

Recognizing that his sermon was a disaster --- E Stanley Jones stopped and just shared how much God loved him --- even him
And he became --- certainly in the Methodist Church one of the greatest witnesses for God

We don't need to defend God
          We don't even need to prove God to someone

All we need to do is let the Holy Spirit shine through our lives and let our lives be a witness for Jesus.

Let me close with this prayer, this poem from Mechthild of Magdeburg (1207–c. 1282/1294)
Effortlessly,
Love flows from God into [humans]
Like a bird
Who rivers the air
Without moving her wings.
. . . Thus we move in [God’s] world
One in body and soul, . . .
Though outwardly separate in form.
As the Source strikes the note,
Humanity sings—
The Holy Spirit is our harpist,
And all strings
Which are touched in Love
Must sound.

Sunday, June 02, 2019

A Misunderstood Jew


2 Chronicles 36:22-23

In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of King Cyrus of Persia so that he sent a herald throughout all his kingdom and also declared in a written edict: “Thus says King Cyrus of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him! Let him go up.”



Somewhere along the way I stopped being in love with "Christianity" and fell in love with Jesus.

I am not sure exactly when it happened --- but what I do know is that it was something that people began to notice in me.

And I too began to notice changes
          One of the big changes was how I approached the Biblical text

When I say "Christianity", I am putting that word in quotes, and I mean the institution that has grown, morphed, and became the dominate power structure starting in the beginning of the 4th century of the common era --- due primarily to Emperor Constantine and the Edict of Milan in 313ce which decriminalized Christianity and transformed it into the dominate religion of the Roman Empire.

I am not "against" Christianity --- please don't hear that. 
But as I opened up my heart to Jesus, I began to see that “Christianity” and Jesus were not synonymous.

As I began to "fall in love with Jesus" I noticed that I made some, not so subtle changes in how I talked and approached the Bible.

·         One of the first changes I made was I stopped calling the scripture tradition of our Jewish brothers and sisters -- The Old Testament
          Instead, I began to refer to it as the Hebrew Bible

          Why?
Old is pejorative
          It implies that it is no longer important
It implies is outdated and has been replaced by something new
It suggests that it should be relegated to the antique bin or maybe even the dust bin

          But the Hebrew Scriptures are anything but unimportant

The Hebrew Bible is the Bible of Jesus
          Remember when the author of Timothy writes:
All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness
When the author of Timothy writes that he is not referring to the Gospels or the letters of Paul (they didn't exist as authoritative yet) instead he was referring to the Hebrew Bible -- the Bible of Jesus

For Jew's the Hebrew Bible is complete --- there is no need for a New Testament --- the Tanakh (as the Hebrew Bible is called) and all the interpretations which are also considered inspired already offer revelations of the divine.

That was a huge lesson for me to learn --- but also transformational as I learned a deeper appreciation for Jesus

·         Second, I began to wrestle with the value of context within scripture in a whole new way and understood that even the text as written was interpretive

Context takes many forms
          Culture
          What is happening around the story
          Why that particular story was remembered (and others forgotten)

But even the word "Christian" is loaded
          Jesus never gave that name to his followers
                   He said that they were followers of "the Way"

The word "Christian" is used only three times in the Bible, and never by the "Christians" referring to themselves by that name. 
In each instance, the word is used by outsiders in trying to define this sect of Judaism

Jesus was not a Christian!
          Jesus was a Jew

I am convinced that if we want to truly fall in love with Jesus (the Jesus of first century Palestine) --- not some construct of Jesus created over the last 2000 years --- If we really want to fall in love with Jesus --- we must understand him in the context of who he really was.
          A first-century Jew living in the Middle East

The challenge according to Amy-Jill Levine is that:
Today Jesus' words are too familiar, too domesticated, too stripped of their initial edginess and urgency. Only when heard through first-century Jewish ears can their original edginess and urgency be recovered.  Consequently, to understand the man from Nazareth, it is necessary to understand Judaism.  More, it is necessary to see Jesus as firmly within Judaism rather than standing apart from it, and it is essential that the picture of Judaism not be distorted through he filter of centuries of Christian stereotypes; a distorted picture of Judaism inevitably leads to a distorted picture of Jesus.

I have become convinced that she is right

In order to fully understand Jesus --- we must understand his Jewishness

So how do we re-capture this Jewish Jesus?
          How do we get to know --- and hopefully fall in love with Jesus?

We need to understand that Jesus of Nazareth
·         dressed like a Jew
·         prayed like a Jew
·         taught other Jews on how best to live according to the Jewish law given by God to Moses
·         he argued like a Jew with other Jews
·         and he died like thousands of other Jews on a Roman cross

But maybe most importantly we need to understand that:
The kingdom of heaven is not, for the Jewish Jesus of Nazareth, a piece of real estate for the single saved soul; it is a communal vision of what could be and what should be.  It is a vision of a time when all debts are forgiven, when we stop judging others, when we not only wear our traditions on our sleeve, but also hold them in our hearts and minds and enact them with all our strength.  It is the good news that the Torah can be discussed and debated, when the Sabbath is truly honored and kept holy, when love of enemies replaces the tendency of striking back.  The vision is Jewish, and it is worth keeping as frontlets before our eyes and teaching to our children. (Amy-Jill Levine)

As a conclusion to her book, The Misunderstood Jew, Amy-Jill Levine offers an alphabet of suggestions that can help us avoid the major pitfalls that seem too often to preclude church and synagogue from traveling together safely and smoothly.

Let me share a few

·         Don't stereotype
          believing that all Jews do such and such

·         Don't romanticize that Jews were ugly, misogynic, intolerant or hateful and that the Christians were not.  Both sets of scripture struggle with their respective contexts and the culture that was prevalent, when they were written.

·         Stop believing that Jesus was speaking AGAINST Judaism
          Jesus is speaking TO Jews within Judaism

·         Understand that Judaism is more than just the Hebrew Bible
Rabbinic teaching
Mishnah
Midrash

·         Recognize that history is messy business, and religious competition makes ir even messier

·         Don't assume that Christians and Jews use words in the same way
The "Bible" of the Church is not the "Bible" of the synagogue

"The Messiah" proclaimed by Christianity is not the messiah proclaimed by Judaism

Sabbath for Christians is Sunday -- for Jews it is Friday evening until Saturday evening

·         Beware of the heresy of Marcionism
It is the belief that the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New Testament
It often is expressed by claiming the God of the Old Testament is a "God of Wrath" and the God of the New Testament is a "God of love (or grace)"

·         We need to learn more about our own religious history before we attempt to have success understanding someone else's

·         We should find opportunities to read and study scripture in interfaith settings

·         We should become aware of anti-Judaism that is often found in liturgy, sermons, and hymns

·         Learn Greek and Hebrew and read the text in its original language
We should also read other material from the period
          The Dead Sea Scrolls
          The Apocrypha and Psuedopigrapha
          Josephus and Philo
          Early rabbinic literature

·         Be wary of what you find on the internet

·         Practice Holy Envy (I see a sermon on this coming up)

·         Finally, Amy-Jill says that when her children were little, "I used to bring them to my classes and sit them in front of my divinity students, and I’d say, “When you preach or teach, I want you to picture this little kid in the front pew. Don’t say anything that will hurt this child, and don’t say anything that will cause a member of your congregation to hurt this child.”

Some pretty good advice --- and she still had a dozen more suggestions.  But these are all a great place for us to start.

Is anybody curious as to why I chose this selection from 2nd Chronicles?

How does the Old Testament end?
          The last book in the Old Testament is Malachi and it ends with these verses

Look, I am sending Elijah the prophet to you,
        before the great and terrifying day of the Lord arrives.
Turn the hearts of the parents to the children
    and the hearts of the children to their parents.
            Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.

But the Hebrew Scriptures ends not with Malachi but rather --- 2nd Chronicles

The last chapter introduces the edict of King Cyrus of Persia
          Do you remember anything unusual about King Cyrus?
                   Isaiah calls him "messiah"
Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,
    whose right hand I have grasped
to subdue nations before him
    and strip kings of their robes,
to open doors before him—
    and the gates shall not be closed

The Hebrew Bible ends with Cyrus proclaiming:
“Thus says King Cyrus of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him! Let him go up.”

In other words, the Hebrew Bible ends with a goal for Israel to return --- to go up to Jerusalem

Amy-Jill Levine explains:
The Tanakh thus ends not with a promise to be fulfilled by something new but with an injunction to return to one's home, to one's roots.

Christianity and Judaism have a great deal to learn from each other.

May we never believe that Christianity super-succeeded Judaism, but understand that we have chosen a different path to the same goal --- relationship with God.

If you want to fall in love with Jesus --- and I assume that is why you are here --- then you need to understand him in the context in which he lived: A Jewish rabbi living in the first century in Judea.