Ronnie McBrayer

King of Kings

"Acts 1, traditionally read on Ascension Sunday, is not about Jesus floating away into the ether. This is a story about power; a story about a different kind of power, a power opposite of today’s brand of pseudo-Christianity driven by ambition (which is the same violence that fueled the Crusades). The moment one uses force, coercion, strong-arm tactics, or manipulation in the name of Jesus, that is the precise moment one denies Jesus...Jesus rises to heaven so his people will be empowered - not be put into power. His intent is to heal the world, not take it over. To help, not harm; to restore, not simply rule; to harmonize, not to hate; to bind together, not tear apart; to set people free - mind, body, and spirit - not to limit, intimidate, enslave or prop up the empires of this world, held together by the rubber bands and paper clips of greed, violence, and the exploitation of the weak by the strong." - RM

Teach Your Children Well

Fusing the cautionary tale of Jesus from Matthew 18 with the prophetic words of the late Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, Ronnie speaks of "teaching our children well." This talk sounds an alarm on the dangers of hate, how it is passed along to younger generations, and how we all have a role - a duty - to resist it.

Get Together

In a talk spanning from Thomas Cahill's summary of ancient Ireland to what William Miller playfully calls, "Refrigerator Rights," Ronnie speaks from Acts 2:42-47 on the importance of genuine community: "Even if you have just one, two or three others - a precious few, whose hearts are bound together with yours on the journey - it becomes enough to get you through the hardest of times. It will be enough social glue for the center to hold. It will  attach skin and bones to the abstract. It will bring the presence of God to bear in the world...and it just might save you...your town...your country. It might save civilization itself." 
 
 

Walking Blues

Two of Jesus' disciples took to walking the road to Emmaus (Luke 24) with the blues. Their journey ended with the unexpected. Ronnie says, "This is one of the more remarkable post-resurrection accounts in the New Testament. There are so many opinions, interpretations, applications, observations, and themes here. It is like the proverbial blind men reaching out to describe an elephant. we can only take in parts of it." But the part Ronnie centers on in this dark is how Jesus met these travelers right where they were - in doubt, confusion, and grief. He embraced them - joined them - not demanding that they come to him.

Ring of Fire

Speaking from 1 Peter 1:3-9, Ronnie talks about the role of struggle and suffering in our lives: "There is no gold without the fire. There is no remaking or remolding without the hammer and the anvil...There are no short cuts; no quick fixes; no easy exits. The only challenge is making it today - not tomorrow or next week; the only task is what is - not what could be, might be, or should of been; and the only way out is through - not getting around it, not getting over it - but going into it, and out the other side. Faith - and whatever it is about us that will be eternal - is made and built this way." 

The Dream of the Rood, Easter 2023

“The Dream of the Rood” is an ancient Christian poem, written in Old Anglo-Saxon English. It is a story-telling, meaning-making, Jesus-explaining tale that was shared by word of mouth in a time when Anglo-Saxons, largely could not read - and they certainly didn’t have a runic translation of the Bible. We don’t know who wrote this poem. It’s likely we will never know. But if you are an English-speaker, this poem is one of the earliest known tellings of the gospel in our language. Reflect upon this ancient story in union with Colossians 2 and 3. Happy Easter!

Sympathy for the Devil? Or at Least for Judas.

From the Palm Sunday Reading of Matthew 26, and based on a song by the legendary Woody Guthrie, Ronnie takes an off-center look at Judas Iscariot. He says, "All the disciples believed that Jesus going to Jerusalem at Passover was for the purpose of pulling some messianic rabbit out of his hat. Now, the kingdom would come, as Jesus, like Clark Kent, would explode from a phone booth, revealing his super-human powers. But it didn’t happen. Jesus failed. Jesus lost. Jesus was overcome. And strangely, the words they mocked Jesus with as he hung on the cross became true: 'He saved others…but could not save himself.' Judas cannot live with himself. When they laid Jesus in that grave, Judas  chose to crawl into the grave with Jesus - unable to see or understand what would happen just hours later, on Easter morning."

Dust and Bones

"Can these bones live again?" That is the question put to the Prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 37 as he looked over a valley of skeletal remains. Ezekiel cannot answer, because there is nothing he can do. He can only entrust God with all future possibilities. If there will be life in the afterword of disaster, it will be because of what God knows and what God does. Ronnie says of this encounter, "When we accept what is otherwise unacceptable, because we have no power over it, that becomes the space where the power of God can work. For when something is truly dead - and we know it - and we are no longer attempting to do the work of resurrection by our own strength - then whatever it is, might be remade, it might be reborn, by that higher power outside of ourselves."

Simplify. Simplify. Part 8

Speaking from Psalm 19 and the Hebrew Proverbs, Ronnie brings his "Simplify" series to a conclusion, inviting us all to simplify our speech: "It’s perennial wisdom. When it comes to talking, less is more. If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all previous doubt. Nowhere is simplification more applicable, no where can it be more readily applied than when it comes to our speech, our words. Spoken, written, hurled as darts with the intention of causing pain, blasted over emails, trolling in the comments section, in the heat of battle saying things you can never pull back: Hear the voice of Wisdom: A truly wise person uses few words…keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble.” 

Simplify. Simplify. Part 7

In this seventh of eight talks entitled, "Simplify, Simplify," Ronnie says, "Let’s talk about boundaries today. Let’s talk about disentangling our entanglements. Let’s talk about defending ourselves against being pulled into things we have no business being pulled into. Let’s talk about setting healthy limits that will reduce the probability of us being hurt, harmed, poisoned or generally stressed out - by toxic people, participation, programs, powers, and passions. Let’s talk about guarding our hearts, as the wisdom of the Proverbs informs us in our Scripture reading. Let’s simplify."