Category Archives: Uncategorized

Sharing Love Practices

Preparing to enter MosqueEpiphany
Celebration of God
Manifested in the World
February 6, 2015

 Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 9:16-23

For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I might by any means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.  — 1 Corinthians 9:19-23

 The word translated as “win” in our scripture today is the Greek kerdaínō – properly, to profit (gain), an ancient mercantile term for exchanging (trading) one good for another; (figuratively) to exchange (trade out) what is mediocre (“good”) for the better, i.e. “trading up” (cf. Js 4:13).*

We are each called as followers of Christ to help others gain a relationship with God or gain a better relationship with God like we gain through our discipleship to Jesus Christ. When we build on that firm foundation we are freed to accept others exactly where they are and freed from judging their progress toward their relationship with God. It is a paradox but it is true that when I have entered into deep discussions with people who hold other beliefs than I do within Christianity or are of other faiths all together, I have been made a better Christian. I have had to go back to that firm foundation and re-member what it means in my life as a disciple and to discern what is really important. I do share in the blessing of such discourse. Our individual relationships with God are indeed personal and unique. Our collective relationship with God is interdependent and diverse.

Last summer I toured Turkey and on several occasions entered sacred buildings used by other faiths. My living out my love of God and my love of my neighbor dictated that I follow their traditions of covering my head and removing my shoes. I became a better Christian by following my faith’s love practices and perhaps in so doing helped those of other faiths grow through their love traditions toward that closer relationship with God.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for freeing me from the job of judging and allowing me to grow in the job I have been assigned of loving. Amen.

*http://biblehub.com/greek/2770.htm

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Dealing with Doubt

Dealing with DoubtEpiphany
Celebration of God
Manifested in the World
February 5, 2015

 Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 9:16-23

If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe betide me if I do not proclaim the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.  — 1 Corinthians 9:16-23

I do not like to shop. Stores quickly overload my senses with too many choices and thus too many comparisons. Thus I was surprised one Christmas when one of my nephew’s opened his gift from me. His eyes lit brightly and he said, “How did you know I wanted one of these. I didn’t know I wanted one!” It was some kind of radio that had to be built from the parts and tools that were provided. It was a gift I finally selected out of pure frustration because he meant a lot to me and I did not want to disappoint him.

 

Paul writes sometimes with the assumption that we, the readers, know what is going on in his head when we don’t. Our scripture today is a shining example of that. What I think he is trying to say is sort of like what my nephew said to me. Although Paul does not address God in this scripture, he is telling us about his relationship with God to whom Paul said, “How did you know to select me to share the good news of Christ to the gentiles, when I didn’t know that was the very thing I wanted to do.”

 

I think the message here may be that we should listen when that still small voice speaks calling us to service and not let the doubt that creeps in rob us of the joy of doing what we didn’t know we wanted to do. God may actually know what God is doing.

 

Prayer: Lord, help me be still and know that you are God. In those times when I am most doubting myself but projecting that doubt on you, grant me the courage to see doubt for what it really is and move past it. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Character of God

Fear of GodEpiphany
Celebration of God
Manifested in the World
February 4, 2015

 Scripture Reading: Psalm 147:1-11, 20

Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
   make melody to our God on the lyre.
He covers the heavens with clouds,
   prepares rain for the earth,
   makes grass grow on the hills.
He gives to the animals their food,
   and to the young ravens when they cry.
His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
   nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
   in those who hope in his steadfast love.  — Psalm 147:7-11

At least a lifetime investment of observation, study, and communion with God is required to ascertain just bits and pieces of the character of God. Our scripture today gives us some glimpses. For one God likes music both vocal and instrumental. The Lord cares for the earth and feeds animals even baby ravens when they cry. Now it does not say God dislikes big, strong horses or track meets but apparently they are not among God’s favorite activities at least according to the Psalmists.

And then there is that pesky word “fear” describing God’s character. God wants us to fear God. Now we can talk about awe and reverence being other words for fear in regard to God and they are, but we might benefit from exploring the nature of fear in our everyday lives and see how it might help us understand the character of God. When I am afraid my entire attention is focused on the source of my fear. God wants our full attention. When I am afraid, I also am trying to figure out the best way to deal with my fear. It is the Jonah moment, when we all just wish we can run away and hide, but what I most often find is that facing my fear is the only way to live through the reality of what I fear. When we run away we are settling for a lesser god. The ever present, creator, and almighty God is exactly what we need in our lives.

Prayer: Almighty God, through glimpses of your being, I experience myself more fully as the self you created for a reason. Abide with me as I grow into the person you created me to be. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Purpose

Eagle's WingsEpiphany
Celebration of God
Manifested in the World
February 3, 2015

 Scripture Reading: Isaiah 40:21-31

He gives power to the faint,
   and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
   and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
   they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
   they shall walk and not faint.  — Isaiah 40:29-31

God created each and every one of us with purpose. In many instances, I have not understood my purpose in life situations until I viewed them from the wisdom of hindsight. At some point, I let go and decided to live in faith that I did not necessarily have to understand what each of my purpose moments were. In all honesty, some of each of our most mundane actions may have been the most important thing we ever accomplished.

Several years ago I received a telephone call from a person I once supervised. I had lost track of her over time, and was pleased when I heard her voice on the phone. She was one of the best administrative assistant I had ever had. I could hear the anxiety in her voice as she began to speak when she explained that she had called to apologize to me for the way she had treated me when I had never been anything but good to her. I truly did not know what she was talking about. She was reserved, but she had never been anything but polite and respectful to me. I told her exactly that and I told her how much I appreciated her hard work and attention to detail. I could almost feel through the telephone line the weight lifted from her very being. I do not know what precipitated the call, I do know that she needed the affirmation I was able to provide. It was a purpose moment.

God is calling us to satisfy our purposes. They give meaning to our lives. When we are fulfilling our purposes, we experience great joy and fulfillment. It doesn’t matter how tired or frustrated we get, when fulfilling our purposes we are able to  mount up with wings like eagles, … run and not be weary, …walk and not faint, because God hardwired us to know God’s joy and because God is with us in every flap of our wings.

Prayer: Gracious God, we thank you for purpose and for sustaining us through joy and love. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

God’s Perspective

Information OverloadEpiphany
Celebration of God
Manifested in the World
February 2, 2015

 Scripture Reading: Isaiah 40:21-31

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
   Has it not been told you from the beginning?
   Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
   and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
   and spreads them like a tent to live in;
who brings princes to naught,
   and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.  — Isaiah 40:21-23

Isaiah is challenging God’s people to have perspective. The people he was addressing were seeing the trees and not the forest. Problems grow insurmountable when they are all that we can see. Isaiah gives us a glimpse of God’s view. This is truth for today just as it was truth those many centuries ago.

The peoples of the earth seem to me to be running scared. Part of this is cause by the contagion of fear that happens when bits and pieces of news travel like electricity from one group to another. Our reaction in the United States to the recent Ebola case diagnosed on our shores was part wise learning from previous error as most medical facilities reviewed their protocols for dealing with contagious diseases, but it was part hysteria. Living in a world of instant information and a growing need for instant gratification contributes to both unjustifiable overreaction and the sense of not being able to do anything about everything so we do nothing at all.

The good news is that God created all beings to adapt to new environments. Just as the printing press changed the transmission of information some 700 years ago and the world changed because the masses gained greater access to knowledge, so too will we adapt to all that is changing about us. The thing we need to hold on to is that God is the one sure constant in our lives and that is all that really matters.

Prayer: Lord, give us glimpses of your perspective when we are blinded by the issues that beset us. Help us grow in spirit and in truth so that we might be sources of strength too. Amen.

Welcoming the Different and the Difficult

Stigma of mental illnessEpiphany
Celebration of God
Manifested in the World
February 1, 2015

 Scripture Reading: Mark 1:21-28

Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit, throwing him into convulsions and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’ At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.  — Mark 1:23-28

We do not provide adequately for the mentally ill in our communities. Strides have been made in recent years to improve both the medications and therapies available to treat mental illness but the availability of such service is often rationed and limited in scope. Faith communities have a role in advocating on behalf of populations who cannot advocate for themselves and that includes encouraging the expansion of services for the mentally ill, but that is just the beginning.

Jesus treated the mentally ill just like he did everyone else. He met them where they were and welcomed them into his presence. Do we welcome the mentally ill into our churches and treat them as we would treat any visitor? Yes, Jesus did heal both the mentally and the physically ill, and yes, we might help people find the health care they need, but more than anything else the mentally ill need to experience life without being shunned. There is no better place for that to happen than in church. It is amazing what transformation can occur in people’s lives when they are treated like the children of God they are.

In Mark 5:1-20 we read about the healing of Legion, a man who apparently had multiple personalities. Jesus healed Legion who then begged to go with Jesus, but Jesus’ response was to encourage Legion to stay in his own community and be Jesus’ follower there. Legion did and told his story to the extent that people were amazed.

Prayer: Lord, teach us how to love the other who is different and sometimes difficult, but whose potential as a child of God is as great as any. Enable us to be enablers of that potential. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Living our Faith

Living Our FaithEpiphany
Celebration of God
Manifested in the World
January 31, 2015

 Scripture Reading: Mark 1:21-28

They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.  — Mark 1:21-22

 My first supervisor when I began my career as a social worker gave me some sage advice. She said, and I quote, “Marilynn, when you express your opinion about anything you sound like you are quoting from the Bible. In the future I want you to start your comments with the phrase, ‘In my opinion.’ Or something like that.” I actually worked really hard at incorporating such a phrase but apparently I can even say “In my opinion” with enough authority that it negates my saying it.

It is important that we not totally turn off our listeners by being overbearing or just being wrong at the top of our voices. I hear a lot of that on the news talk shows and in interviews with some of our national and religious leaders. I, however, was struck as I read our scripture for today by the statement for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Were the scribes so caught up in their theological discourses that they had lost sight of setting the tone for the life of faith?

I keep coming back to this same idea that we are so caught up in declaring what are right beliefs that we have lost momentum in living our faith. Jesus taught by word and by deed how the people of God are to live.

Prayer: Lord strengthen my faith and the way I live it and, as always, guard my tongue, O Lord, guard my tongue so that the words of my mouth are pleasing to you. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Empathy

Preach the gospelEpiphany
Celebration of God
Manifested in the World
January 30, 2015

 Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling-block to the weak. For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed. But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall. — 1 Corinthians 8:9-13

 We do not have to deal with the question of whether food offered to idols was in some way wrong. We do have to face the fact that the way we live says probably more about how others interpret Christ through us than all the words we may utter. Our actions or more often our lack of actions do speak louder than words.

I enjoy the special segments on the evening news that attempt to introduce some of life’s positive moments. Some person goes out of their way to help a stranger. Those stories tell us that there is still good in the world. Truth is such actions should be so common place that they are considered news at all.

Our scripture today is taking this idea one step further. We are called to not temp others in areas of their weaknesses. Paul essentially said that the meat offered to idols is just meat and it was OK to eat it, unless our eating it impacted someone negatively for whom the meat still held some connection to the idol. What about serving wine for dinner to guests who include a recovering alcoholic? What about saying to someone trying to control their weight, “O, you can have one of these cookies, I took the calories out?’

Prayer: Lord, give me the strength to enter into the weakness of others with empathy and accompany them in their quest to overcome whatever is separating them from you. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Follow the Leader

In synch with GodEpiphany
Celebration of God
Manifested in the World
January 26, 2015

 Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 18:15-20

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet. This is what you requested of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: ‘If I hear the voice of the Lord my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die.’ Then the Lord replied to me: ‘They are right in what they have said. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. — Deuteronomy 18:15-18

 Our scripture today are words shared by Moses as he instructs the Israelites on God’s response to their petition. Moses stipulates that the prophet to come must be like Moses himself. What were the characteristics of Moses?

  •  Moses was well acquainted with more than one culture before he was called by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. He knew the Israelites through his birth parents, the Egyptians through his adopted parent, and the Midianites through his wife and her family.
  • Moses was not afraid to approach the unknown.
  • Moses worked well with a team of people. He could lead when he needed to lead, could support when that was called for, and could delegate after receiving some sage advice from his father-in-law.
  • Moses cared deeply about the people over whom he was given leadership.
  • Most importantly, Moses worked at staying in synch with God.

These are just a few characteristics but it is a nice list to consider as we are called to serve in any capacity. Of course, many see Christ as the prophet about which Moses was talking, and we are encouraged to emulate him especially.

Prayer: Lord you have sent many great leaders and prophets into the world to help us find our way to a closer relationship with you and to the furtherance of your Kingdom. Give us the courage to follow their examples. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Follow the Leader

MosesEpiphany
Celebration of God
Manifested in the World
January 26, 2015

 Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 18:15-20

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet. This is what you requested of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: ‘If I hear the voice of the Lord my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die.’ Then the Lord replied to me: ‘They are right in what they have said. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. — Deuteronomy 18:15-18

 Our scripture today are words shared by Moses as he instructs the Israelites on God’s response to their petition. Moses stipulates that the prophet to come must be like Moses himself. What were the characteristics of Moses?

  •  Moses was well acquainted with more than one culture before he was called by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. He knew the Israelites through his birth parents, the Egyptians through his adopted parent, and the Midianites through his wife and her family.
  • Moses was not afraid to approach the unknown.
  • Moses worked well with a team of people. He could lead when he needed to lead, could support when that was called for, and could delegate after receiving some sage advice from his father-in-law.
  • Moses cared deeply about the people over whom he was given leadership.
  • Most importantly, Moses worked at staying in synch with God.

These are just a few characteristics but it is a nice list to consider as we are called to serve in any capacity. Of course, many see Christ as the prophet about which Moses was talking, and we are encouraged to emulate him especially.

Prayer: Lord you have sent many great leaders and prophets into the world to help us find our way to a closer relationship with you and to the furtherance of your Kingdom. Give us the courage to follow their examples. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.