How many times I have heard the statement “I don’t know how to pray.” Maybe we are afraid of speaking aloud, maybe we fear making grammatical errors, or we are afraid that the content of our prayer may seem trivial to another person or to God. You may have another reason to believe you can not pray. There is nothing to fear as God is a loving God.
First of all what is prayer? It’s talking to God. From the book “Hearts on Fire,” Carlo Maria Martini says that when a person explores his or her deepest desires or questions-and talks about them with someone else who is on a similar journey- each person in the conversation receives new understanding, new insight. A good reason to pray.?
We may be concerned about what to say to God. What would you like to tell your mother, father or your best friend ? These are the exact same things God wants to hear about. God wants to hear about your joys, your hurts, what you want to do with your life, mistakes you have made, things you would like to change in your life, your deepest needs and desires.
There are prayers of praise, prayers of thanksgiving, prayers of intercession (praying for others), prayers asking for forgiveness, prayers asking for protection, and prayers that search for a closer relationship with your God. In Matthew 6 we are given some guidelines for praying. Prayer always pleases God if we pray with sincerity, thinking of what we are saying. God loves a prayer that does nothing but give praise to God. Have you ever tried to stay on track and utter a prayer that has just one theme, as being a prayer of praise or of thanksgiving?
In Matthew we are told to go into our closet and pray. In other words find a quiet secluded place. It may be in your home, as you walk, in the car, or even in church. The emphasis needs to be on God. So get comfortable, look forward to talking to your best friend, and share with him. If there are times when you can not think of the right words, it’s all right, just spend some quiet minutes - God knows. Then don’t be surprised when you feel “strangely warmed.” Pray as often as you can, as often as you would want to talk to that best friend, as often as you feel drawn to Christ’s calling. And you might be surprised to know that God sends a lot of the answers that you have been trying to find, and along with the answers a wonderful sense of peace and joy, and a connection with God and with those around you.
Marilyn Holleron
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Devotional 11-16-07
Dear Beloved One,
I see your loneliness and fears, your guilt and frustrations. I see your endless search for love and fulfillment. All this must be in order for you to come to the end of your own understanding. Then you can hear My voice. Listen carefully amid the noise of the world and you will hear. "I love you." I shed my blood for you to make you clean. Give yourself completely to me. I created you to be completely as you are, and you are lovely in My eyes. Do not criticize yourself or become depressed for not being perfect in your own eyes. This leads only to frustration. I want you to trust Me-one day, one step at a time.
Dwell in My power and My love and be free. Be yourself. Don't allow other people to control you. I will guide you if you let Me. Be aware of My presence in everything. I'll give you patience, love, joy, and peace. Look to Me for answers, for I am your Shepherd and I will lead you. Follow Me. Listen and I will tell you My will. Let My love flow from you and spill over to all you touch. Be not concerned with yourself. You are My responsibility. You are Mine. Let Me have the job of making you like Christ. Do not struggle, but relax in My love. I know what is best for you. My will is perfect. My love is sufficient. I will supply all your needs. Look only to Me.
I love you,
Your Heavenly Father
In the book God Is Closer Than You Think by John Ortberg, at the end of chapter 7, he states "No one else can sing your song." That really made me stop and think. Each of our relationships with God is unique. He doesn't expect us to be like anyone else. He made each of us different from anyone else-not better, not worse just different. He gave each of us special talents to use for Him, but also flaws to learn from and keep us humble! With His help we will be able to take that divine journey, we will find the pathway that no one else can walk and sing the song that no one else can sing.
Margaret Williams
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Devotional 11-9-07
On a Wednesday night after the Sanctuary Choir finishes its rehearsal most of the choir members will go home with the melody of the next Sunday's anthem ringing in their heads. Having a tune ringing in your head doesn't happen only to people who sing in a choir. How often have you found yourself humming a song or a television jingle. Following the Musical Arts Guild recent performance it took me nearly two weeks to get "Doo Wop" out of my mind!
Television jingles are among the most easily remembered tunes. If you watch NBC or MSNBC I know you have heard, "Wherever you are, there we are." Which leads me to a small business-size card I found in my bible the other day. I don't recall how it came to me but as I read it I thought "wherever I am, at home, at work, in the grocery store, God is with me." I want to share with you what the card said:
The light of God surrounds me,
The love of God enfolds me,
The power of God protects me,
The presence of God watches over me.
Wherever I am, God is.
Could there be any greater promises to carry with us? The light, love, power and presence of God always with us to surround, enfold, protect and watch over us. Is there any greater blessing?
John 8:12, Romans 8:39, Romans 15:13, 1 Thess. 2:19
Jean Dean
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Devotional 11-2-07
Through nothing of my own doing, I have inherited something of great value; something so precious I cannot put a price on it. I am heir to Dora. By worldly standards, she didn’t leave much. As a matter of fact, she lived long enough that everything she owned was “spent down.” The only material things I have to remember her are an apple butter kettle, a clay pot, and an assortment of Bibles. Dora was rich in the things that mattered, and I am legatee to her vast fortune of love and grace.
Dora was born in a rural farm county in central West Virginia. She lived her entire life in the county of her birth and is buried at the cemetery beside the old church building up the hollow. Dora married and had one child, my father. She was a bible scholar with a disciplined lifestyle that included daily bible study. As she worked in the kitchen, she sang the old hymns. Rock of Ages, Bringing in the Sheaves, Standing on the Promises, Blessed Assurance.
At her church on Sundays, the preacher would call on someone in the congregation for the morning prayer. Often, when I was visiting, he would call on Grandma. I was astonished at her beautiful public prayers—without notes and even without any advance notice. She did not get nervous about the thought of public prayer. For her, it was just carrying on a conversation; a conversation with someone she knew very well.
Dora’s life will not be memorialized in biographies. There will be no buildings or monuments bearing her name. No, her legacy is more lasting than any of that. She quietly and humbly lived the gospel; loving God and neighbor.
Paul said in his letter to the church at Ephesus, “In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.”
Because of Paul and because of Dora and many other saints like them, we can live our lives for the praise of God’s glory! What better legacy! Thank you, Grandma!
Jeff Taylor
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Devotional 10-19-07
What is worship? What is the difference between worship and entertainment? What defines worship of God? If God commands us to worship, what does that mean?
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he that made us, and we are his;
We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him, bless his name.
For the Lord is good;
His steadfast love endures forever,
And his faithfulness to all generations. (Psalm 100)
Do you ever wonder if certain kinds of music qualify as worship? Do you ever think that location is important – that we must worship in our sanctuary? Have you ever thought that particular sermons, spoken eloquently and with grace, were “better” worship than other, less spectacular sermons? What about prayer? Are there qualifications that make one prayer more “worshipful” than another?
I think worship might have three characteristics:
- It should be pleasing to God. What makes worship pleasing to God? Does he care if the person singing can carry a tune? Does He deduct “worship points” if the preacher forgets an illustration or if the scripture reader mispronounces a name? Does God have a preference for one type of music over another? No. What pleases God is that we bring Him the gifts that He has given to us, whatever those gifts might be. What pleases God, I believe, is that we love Him through our worship, with all of our hearts, souls and minds. Worship is not what happens in front of us; worship is what happens within us.
- It should move all of us closer to God. I believe that one of the reasons that God commands us to worship is so that we will enter into relationship with Him. It is to create in us an awareness that God is God, and that we belong to Him. I believe that because we are ALL God’s children, that we have a responsibility to bring others closer to God through worship. That’s one of the reasons for community. That’s one of the reasons we have worship leaders. We bring each other to worship.
- It should become a demonstration of what the Kingdom of God is like. God in our midst, His people offering him worship and their gifts to Him and to each other – true communion. Through worship, God communicates with us.
If the goal is to love God and to love each other, and if the goal is to help to move each other closer to God, then when we truly worship God, we accept certain responsibilities.
- When the music is “not to our taste” or the volume is too high or too low; when the style is too classic or too modern, we realize that none of that defines worship. We come to the realization that the music might move someone else closer to God, so we not only tolerate what we do not like, but we embrace it. We love the other person SO MUCH that we will even sing their music for them, because it means that God is brought closer. We have the responsibility to show a generosity of spirit which values the person standing next to us, or across the room from us, more than our own tastes in music (or preaching or praying or liturgy). We love our neighbor.
- We realize that if the pews, the carpet, the candles, the organ, the piano, the pulpit, the lectern, the screens, the microphones, the stained glass and the hymnals were all taken away, that worship would continue. Worship can happen anywhere that God and His children come together. With that reality in mind, we accept that we cannot love the “trappings” of worship more than we love each other or God. Our actions toward each other and toward God must be an expression of that priority.
- Because worship is a reflection of the kingdom of God, then all of God’s children are part of our community. How we look, how we speak, our ages, our gender, our salary, our clothes, our health or our abilities cannot exclude us from the command from God to worship Him. It is our responsibilities, as members of God’s community, to be welcoming.
So what is the difference between entertainment and worship? Entertainment takes place in front of you; worship is born inside of you. Worship is of the heart. Music, proclamation, location and prayer may inspire it, but they do not define it. Do not come to church looking for God; bring Him with you.
Matt Redman
When the music fades
All is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that's of worth
That will bless your heart
I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart
Kim Matthews
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Devotional 10-12-07
Sunday, October 14, our church family will have the joy and privilege of celebrating Children’s Sabbath. This is one of only two Sundays each year we are invited – and given permission – to abandon the solemn “stuff” of adulthood and embrace the wonder-full worship experience of a service planned, prepared and offered by our precious children and youth.
How long has it been since we allowed ourselves to look at Jesus through the eyes of a child, to express our love for God with the tender heart of a trusting little one, to imagine what it would be like to meet our Lord face to face and talk with Him?
The students in our Sunday School Classes, from Kindergarten through High School responded to just such an imaginary meeting. As you read their varied – some serious, some humorous – questions and comments, imagine the incredible freedom of being able to sit with Him and discuss the longings of your heart as well.
“When the religious leaders saw the outrageous things [Jesus] was doing, and heard all the children running and shouting through the Temple, “Hosanna to David’s Son!” they were up in arms and took him to task. “Do you hear what these children are saying?”
Jesus said, “Yes, I hear them. And haven’t you read in God’s Word, ‘From the mouths of children and babies I’ll furnish a place of praise’?” (Matthew 21:15-16) The Message
If you had the opportunity to go back to your childhood, would you? The choice is yours – the possibility to do just that belongs to you Sunday morning – all you need to do is enter the Sanctuary with joy in your heart and a longing to be renewed as we celebrate and worship together as children of God.
Dear Father,
We are so grateful for the privilege of being a part of this wonderful family at Johnson Memorial – Your family. Thank You for the gifts of worship our children and youth are offering. Keep us mindful of how precious they are to You, and to us. And let us experience the love, peace and acceptance found if we would allow ourselves to become as authentic as our children, asking only to spend time with You. Amen.
Youth Sunday School class
Led by Linda Summers
How long has it been since we allowed ourselves to look at Jesus through the eyes of a child, to express our love for God with the tender heart of a trusting little one, to imagine what it would be like to meet our Lord face to face and talk with Him?
The students in our Sunday School Classes, from Kindergarten through High School responded to just such an imaginary meeting. As you read their varied – some serious, some humorous – questions and comments, imagine the incredible freedom of being able to sit with Him and discuss the longings of your heart as well.
- Do you love Scooby Doo?
- What is your favorite food?
- How do you tell time?
- When we received our Bibles, we were happy and excited!
- My favorite Bible stories are Noah’s Ark, Ruth and Naomi, and Samuel
- How does it feel to be living forever? Can I live forever?
- Why do people sin?
- Are there animals in Heaven?
- Are you happy when we sing?
- What color are your eyes?
- What did you do at church?
- Since you’re Spirit, can you give me strong muscles?
- Did you ever throw rocks when you were a kid?
- Where’s Waldo?
- Did you have a pet? What was its name?
- What do you do for fun?
- Thank you for – Everything!
- What’s your favorite color and why?
- What’s it like there? Is it different for each person?
- Do you like day or night better?
- Will you karaoke with me?
- Should we worry about what separates us from each other?
- Did you ever have a fist fight?
- Why is faith so hard?
- Sometimes I say things that aren’t very nice.
- Sometimes I don’t want to do the things I know I’m supposed to do.
If you had the opportunity to go back to your childhood, would you? The choice is yours – the possibility to do just that belongs to you Sunday morning – all you need to do is enter the Sanctuary with joy in your heart and a longing to be renewed as we celebrate and worship together as children of God.
Dear Father,
We are so grateful for the privilege of being a part of this wonderful family at Johnson Memorial – Your family. Thank You for the gifts of worship our children and youth are offering. Keep us mindful of how precious they are to You, and to us. And let us experience the love, peace and acceptance found if we would allow ourselves to become as authentic as our children, asking only to spend time with You. Amen.
Youth Sunday School class
Led by Linda Summers
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Devotional 10-5-07
And as they were eating, he took bread, and blessed and broke it and gave it to them, and said, "Take; this is my body.
And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
--Mark 14:22-24
This is an invitation across the nation the chance for folks to meetThere'll be swinging, swaying, music playing and dancing in the street
--Dancin' In The Streets, words and music by Marvin Gaye, Wm. "Mickey" Stevenson, Ivy Jo Hunter
This Sunday is World Communion Sunday. Every-other-year, members of Johnson Memorial UMC join our neighbors from other downtown Huntington churches and have a joint Communion service in the middle of 5th Avenue. The choirs combine, pastors from all the churches participate, and the congregations mingle. There is almost a party atmosphere, and I think that's a good thing. We Christians come together to celebrate our sameness and forget our differences. I often see old friends at this service. There's a lot of greeting and hugging.
Kevin Witt of the UMC General Board of Discipleship wrote: "When we share in this meal, we proclaim that we are followers of Jesus. We declare our willingness to join him in spreading love throughout the world, even if it means that we may suffer for it sometimes. We are one with Jesus and his mission. If, then, Jesus unites us, then naturally we must be one with one another. We are all fed from the same loaf and drink from the same cup of God’s love. This love unites us with God and with each other."
I'll see you Sunday, dancin' in the streets.
Anita Gardner Farrell
And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
--Mark 14:22-24
This is an invitation across the nation the chance for folks to meetThere'll be swinging, swaying, music playing and dancing in the street
--Dancin' In The Streets, words and music by Marvin Gaye, Wm. "Mickey" Stevenson, Ivy Jo Hunter
This Sunday is World Communion Sunday. Every-other-year, members of Johnson Memorial UMC join our neighbors from other downtown Huntington churches and have a joint Communion service in the middle of 5th Avenue. The choirs combine, pastors from all the churches participate, and the congregations mingle. There is almost a party atmosphere, and I think that's a good thing. We Christians come together to celebrate our sameness and forget our differences. I often see old friends at this service. There's a lot of greeting and hugging.
Kevin Witt of the UMC General Board of Discipleship wrote: "When we share in this meal, we proclaim that we are followers of Jesus. We declare our willingness to join him in spreading love throughout the world, even if it means that we may suffer for it sometimes. We are one with Jesus and his mission. If, then, Jesus unites us, then naturally we must be one with one another. We are all fed from the same loaf and drink from the same cup of God’s love. This love unites us with God and with each other."
I'll see you Sunday, dancin' in the streets.
Anita Gardner Farrell
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Devotional 9-28-07
Please read Galatians 1:11-24
In this section of Paul’s letter, he is discussing his call by God and how it transformed his life. Through a revelation by Jesus Christ, he recognized that he had been set apart and called by God through grace to share the news with others.
I am struck by verses 22 through 24:
I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; they only heard it said, “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God because of me.
Look at verse 24 again. “And they glorified God because of me.”
They did not know him, yet because of the radical transformation his life had taken, they praised God because of him. Do others praise God because of you? Has your life been radically change by the recognition of God’s grace in your life and by the power of the Holy Spirit?
We praise God when we notice radical transformations, when we see a life completely turned around by coming to Christ. We celebrate Paul’s conversion. Or the story of John Newton, a slave trader who became convicted of his sin and joined forces with William Wilberforce to abolish the slave trade. His is the story of the hymn, Amazing Grace. We always seem to praise God when someone else—an ex-convict, a reformed alcoholic, a lost son—recognizes their wretched humanness, does an about-face, and dedicates her or his life to Kingdom living. What about you?
I’ll ask the question again. Do others praise God because of you?
If not, then perhaps there is a transformation yet to take place in your life.
What is keeping you from experiencing the nearer presence of God? Are you holding on to the traditions of your ancestors instead of letting go and soaring by the power of the Holy Spirit to where God is leading you today? Are you absorbed in self instead of reaching out to others in love? Do you ask for God’s blessing on what you do, or do you trust in God and obey his will? God set you apart and called Paul, you, and even me, by name since before we were born, by his grace, so that others might know him because of us. I pray that others may know him because of you, and even me.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace. And then, others will praise God because of you!
Anonymous
In this section of Paul’s letter, he is discussing his call by God and how it transformed his life. Through a revelation by Jesus Christ, he recognized that he had been set apart and called by God through grace to share the news with others.
I am struck by verses 22 through 24:
I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; they only heard it said, “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God because of me.
Look at verse 24 again. “And they glorified God because of me.”
They did not know him, yet because of the radical transformation his life had taken, they praised God because of him. Do others praise God because of you? Has your life been radically change by the recognition of God’s grace in your life and by the power of the Holy Spirit?
We praise God when we notice radical transformations, when we see a life completely turned around by coming to Christ. We celebrate Paul’s conversion. Or the story of John Newton, a slave trader who became convicted of his sin and joined forces with William Wilberforce to abolish the slave trade. His is the story of the hymn, Amazing Grace. We always seem to praise God when someone else—an ex-convict, a reformed alcoholic, a lost son—recognizes their wretched humanness, does an about-face, and dedicates her or his life to Kingdom living. What about you?
I’ll ask the question again. Do others praise God because of you?
If not, then perhaps there is a transformation yet to take place in your life.
What is keeping you from experiencing the nearer presence of God? Are you holding on to the traditions of your ancestors instead of letting go and soaring by the power of the Holy Spirit to where God is leading you today? Are you absorbed in self instead of reaching out to others in love? Do you ask for God’s blessing on what you do, or do you trust in God and obey his will? God set you apart and called Paul, you, and even me, by name since before we were born, by his grace, so that others might know him because of us. I pray that others may know him because of you, and even me.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace. And then, others will praise God because of you!
Anonymous
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Devotional 9-17-07
As a child, leaving home to enter first grade, I remember being scared to leave home that first morning! But, when I arrived I found that my teacher, Mrs. Geiger, was a very small and wonderful woman who put us all at ease.
Our first morning, she asked us to sit at our assigned desks and clasp our hands together. We were to think of one hand as ours, the other as God's clasping ours -- and to say the Lord's Prayer together. It was just what we needed to comfort our fears -- and we did this the first thing each morning. Throughout my life, this became a habit, and even now when the minister says, "Let us pray," my hands automatically clasp in my lap. What a wonderful gift she gave all of her many apprehensive little ones through the years -- and through each of our entire lives.
Our childhood is the most important part of what we grow up to be, and I am so thankful for all of JM's teachers, in schools and church, who introduce our precious littles ones to God.
Quinn Van Nostran
Our first morning, she asked us to sit at our assigned desks and clasp our hands together. We were to think of one hand as ours, the other as God's clasping ours -- and to say the Lord's Prayer together. It was just what we needed to comfort our fears -- and we did this the first thing each morning. Throughout my life, this became a habit, and even now when the minister says, "Let us pray," my hands automatically clasp in my lap. What a wonderful gift she gave all of her many apprehensive little ones through the years -- and through each of our entire lives.
Our childhood is the most important part of what we grow up to be, and I am so thankful for all of JM's teachers, in schools and church, who introduce our precious littles ones to God.
Quinn Van Nostran
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Devotional 9/14/07
Lectionary Readings: Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28; Psalm 14; Luke 15:1-10; and I Timothy 1:12-17 (All scripture quotations are from The Message).
The lectionary readings this week offer a vision of life for the “lost” and of life or the “found.” The tone goes from grim darkness to celebratory light.
Jeremiah tells us of “foolish people who don’t know God, stupid children who have no understanding but are skilled in doing evil, not knowing how to do good.”
The Psalmist speaks of those who say, “God is gone.”
“God sticks his head out of heaven,
He looks around.
He’s looking for someone not stupid –
He comes up empty. A string of zeros. Useless, unshepherded
Sheep, taking turns pretending to be Shepherd.
The ninety and nine follow their fellow.
Don’t they know anything, all these impostors?
Don’t they know they can’t get away with this-
Treating people like a fast-food meal
over which they’re too busy to pray?
Night is coming for them, and nightmares,
for God takes the side of victims.
Do you think you can mess with the dreams of the poor?
You can’t, for God makes their dreams come true.”
Luke’s passage offers the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. When the “lost” are found, the “finders” invite their neighbors to join in a joyous celebration. Jesus tells us of the great joy in heaven “over one rescued life…the kind of party God’s angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God.”
The reading from I Timothy gives us a glimpse of Paul’s “dark side.” In this letter he states, “I’m so grateful to Christ Jesus for making me adequate to do this work. He went out on a limb, you know, in trusting me with this ministry. The only credentials I brought to it were invective and witch hunts and arrogance. But I was treated mercifully because I didn’t know what I was doing – didn’t know Who I was doing it against! Grace mixed with faith and love poured over me and into me. And all because of Jesus. Here’s a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.”
All these passages offer insights into the incredible importance of relationship with God, made possible through faith in Jesus Christ. When we turn away from Him, we make the world our friend, our confidante, our conscience. We work hard to fit in, to measure up, to be right, to achieve success and power. And too often all that working, measuring, being, achieving, is done at the expense of someone else – our spouse, our children, our friends, our community – and our eyes are blinded, our ears deafened, our hearts numbed, to the needs of those around us.
It’s extraordinary to know that Jesus looks for us, even when we don’t have a clue we’re lost! And when He finds us, we realize our lives have only been lived in black and white and shades of gray. He gives us Himself – not soft pastel colors, all warm and fuzzy, but vibrantly alive, with sharp-edged honesty, in magnificent color.
How could we have been so blind to the beauty/desolation all around us? How could we have been so deaf to the music/misery of the masses? How could we have been so numb to the abundance/poverty which continues to thrive in this land?
Shane Claiborne writes in The Irresistible Revolution, “Christianity can be built around isolating ourselves from evildoers and sinners, creating a community of religious piety and moral purity. That’s the Christianity I grew up with. Christianity can also be built around joining with the broken sinners and evildoers of our world crying out to God, groaning for grace. That’s the Christianity I’ve fallen in love with…Community [relationship] is what we are created for. We are made in the image of a God who is community, a plurality of oneness…The biblical story is the story of community, from beginning to end. Jesus lived and modeled community with his little band of disciples…and the early church is the story of a people who were together and were of one heart and mind, sharing all in common…But that doesn’t mean community is easy. For everything in this world tries to pull us away from community, pushes us to choose ourselves over others, to choose independence over interdependence, to choose great things over small things, to choose going fast alone over going far together. The simple way is not the easy way. No one ever promised us that community or Christian discipleship would be easy…My life was pretty easy before I met Jesus…This love is not sentimental but heart-wrenching, the most difficult and the most beautiful thing in the world.”
Jesus gives us the opportunity of walking with Him throughout life – He offers us relationship with the Divine. All we need to do is allow ourselves to be found - He promises to do the rest.
Loving God,
Give us the courage to be “found.” Open us to receive the love of Christ. Allow us to experience His heart – the joys and the sorrows. May our relationship with You empower us to live in community. To love fearlessly, to follow faithfully, to serve humbly, as we share the hope and Gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen
Thanks to Jeff Taylor for our Holy Spirit Prayer.
Give us the breath to sing your praises and the faith to soar with you.
Give us power to discern what you call us to be and to do.
Come Holy Spirit, come! Amen.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Devotional 9-7-07
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: "Come, go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words." So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him. Then the word of the LORD came to me: Can I not do with you, O house of Israel , just as this potter has done? says the LORD. Just like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel . Jeremiah 18: 1-6 (NRSV)In this section of the lectionary from Jeremiah, it reminds us that we are all shaped by the Lord’s hand. By allowing God to mold us like clay, we as individuals and as a nation are better suited for the work the Lord has intended. Even when our first attempts seem like failures, God can use the effort for good by helping us to re-shape it.
As people of God, we need to remember that even though we have made different choices, or see the world from different angles, we are all still molded by the same hand. This hand guides us all toward the same goal even though at times it may appear that life is moving us in different directions. Through faith we can be assured we are moving in the direction that has been set for each of us to do the work of the Lord.
This weekend, is also Grandparents’ Day. This day has three main purposes. To honor grandparents, to give grandparents an opportunity to show love for their children’s children, and to help children become aware of the strength, information and guidance older people can offer.
It is amazing how God guides us along life's journey by placing choices in our path. Many times choosing the right path is very difficult. These choices can be made easier through the wisdom and love of our grandparents.
As grandchildren, we listen to the stories of their lives. Then, as we begin to make decisions on our own, there is a basis of values and memories that help us to make the correct choices toward the path God desires for each of us.
Dear God, we thank you for our grandparents. Bless them and keep them in your loving care. Allow them the ability to share their wisdom with others, and give all grandchildren the ability to accept that wisdom. Lord, May we all continue to be molded by Your masterful hands so that we may do Your work, Amen.
Hulse Budd
Special Note: One of the long time recipients of the email devotionals from Johnson Memorial UMC lost her battle with cancer this week and passed away. Please keep Sharon Ryan-Coil, her family and friends in your prayers. Sharon lived in Arizona; she continues to live in heaven.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Devotional 8/29/07
Have you heard the story of the two children, one is an optimist the other a pessimist, each given a “room to play in”? The story unfolds and then ends with, “I know there’s a pony under here somewhere.” If you don’t know it, stop me sometime and I’ll give you the 25-cents version. How about, “the glass is half full (or maybe half empty)? Then there is “every cloud has a silver lining”. Have we grown so old and so cynical that we have let our world take us to a place where we are no longer able to discover good, to discover God?
During our beach vacation this summer Josh asked for pair of goggles. Goggles??? You mean the boogie board, the raft, the skim board, the shovel, pail, toys, etc that we brought aren’t enough to play with? Well, ok, it’s vacation - goggles it is. I had no idea the wide open (under) world I was about to unleash. Josh spent everyday about chest deep in the ocean bobbing under the water and staying for as long as his breath would let him. When asked about his adventure, he spouted back some of the things he had seen; shells, the underside of a wave, legs and the bottom of the ocean. The goggles cost $5.00; what Josh discovered was priceless.
As we go through our lives, let us see the world through God-gles -- given to us by our heavenly father so that we may discover all that is good in His world. (JRM is 11 today -- Happy Birthday, Bean, I love you)
Steve Matthews
Friday, August 24, 2007
Devotional 8-24-07
The following two devotions are quoted from the book Disciplines 2007. They have submitted to the Devotional Ministry by Jim Ray, a member of our church. The "Prayer to be Reminded" at the end was an anonymous contribution.
Scipture Reading: Luke 13:10-17
Coming to Worship
It is amazing how many of Jesus' healings and confrontations take place in a synagogue -- and on the Sabbath to boot. The sanctuary of a special time and place, a God place, a God time, is as important to us today as it was to Jesus' first-century contemporaries. Things should simply be different in church. We may dispute how things are to differ, but we all understand that things should be different in this sacred place.
In Luke 13 a woman appears before Jesus with a crippling spirit. Why has she come? How might her pain be understood against the backdrop of the sacred? Nothing dictates that the woman comes for healing. She has simply come to worship. Jesus, however, considers her infirmity and the truth of Sabbath to be at odds. So he calls her to him, and the joy of sacred rest and renewal becomes her physical and spiritual reality.
Unfortunately the story ends in conflict. Jesus' view of sacred time and space clashes with that of the elders. Have the rules changed? No. It wil not do for us to make new rules about the sacred. This time, this day, this sacntuary is still God's. It continues to be a place of mystery, hope, and wholeness. New rules are no better than the old if they seek to circumscribe what is beyond our comprehension.
Prayer: Lord God, when I gather with the faithful for worship and praise, let my heart be open to the freeing power of your spirit. Amen.
Coming to Freedom
I find this story's language intereseting: "A spirit that had crippled her....Set free from her ailment....Set free from this bondage." We would say the woman was healed. Jesus says she has escaped a prison.
Do you ever feel like the walls are closing in around you? I do. It may be a growing awareness of my own personal limitations or a deadline looming on the horizon. Friends share with me a sense of being trapped in marriages without love. Some are confined to wheelchairs with legs that refuse to support their weight. The language of bondage or spiritual and physical imprisonment gives me a different take on life. "I am still here behind thes bars. Who will set me free?"
For eighteen years this "daughter of Abraham" (slave to no one) has been bound by a crippling spirit. The evil is not part of who she is to be. A spiritual pariah fights to define her identity. For eighteen years she keeps coming to synagogue because there is a counter claim being made in the sacredness of sabbath joy.
The battle has gone on long enough. The daughter of Abraham that she has always been needs to be set free. "Stand up straight, sister. Embrace your true self. Slough off the evil accretion of your past. God sees the real you behind those bars, and it is that sparkling spirit called to life this day."
Suggestion for Meditation:
Behind the bars of broken hearts,
of banishment and pain
lives a spirit crying out for freedom from the shame.
"Long enough!" is Jesus' cry,
"Stand up straight with spirit spry.
This is the day the Lord hath made;
let love be known and bondage fade."
Submitted by Jim Ray
Prayer to be Reminded
Oh, Heavenly Father, we forget. Remind us. Remind us, as we stand in your sacred sanctuary, that you love us. We look around the huge space, set apart, and we see light passing through beautiful stained glass, we see a magnificent organ, whose music can fill the air, we smell the melted candle wax from the altar, and we wonder why you even notice that we exist. We forget, Father. Remind us. Remind us that you sent you son to show us how to live, to show us how to love, and most of all, to show us how much we ARE loved. We forget, Father. Remind us. Remind us that we are a Holy People, set apart, made sacred, made acceptable to you, through your own action, as you once and for all removed the weight of sin from our lives, freeing us from its crippling grasp. We forget, Father. Remind us. Remind us that you given us freedom, and that because of your love, we are able to go out into the world, as reminders to others of your freeing grace. We forget, Father. Remind us. Remind us that the man on the street corner, the child playing in the mud, the unwed mother, the angry boss, the careless neighbor, and the mourning widow are Holy People, set apart, made sacred by your love of them. We forget, God. We forget, Father, and we need to be reminded. Amen.
Anonymous
Scipture Reading: Luke 13:10-17
Coming to Worship
It is amazing how many of Jesus' healings and confrontations take place in a synagogue -- and on the Sabbath to boot. The sanctuary of a special time and place, a God place, a God time, is as important to us today as it was to Jesus' first-century contemporaries. Things should simply be different in church. We may dispute how things are to differ, but we all understand that things should be different in this sacred place.
In Luke 13 a woman appears before Jesus with a crippling spirit. Why has she come? How might her pain be understood against the backdrop of the sacred? Nothing dictates that the woman comes for healing. She has simply come to worship. Jesus, however, considers her infirmity and the truth of Sabbath to be at odds. So he calls her to him, and the joy of sacred rest and renewal becomes her physical and spiritual reality.
Unfortunately the story ends in conflict. Jesus' view of sacred time and space clashes with that of the elders. Have the rules changed? No. It wil not do for us to make new rules about the sacred. This time, this day, this sacntuary is still God's. It continues to be a place of mystery, hope, and wholeness. New rules are no better than the old if they seek to circumscribe what is beyond our comprehension.
Prayer: Lord God, when I gather with the faithful for worship and praise, let my heart be open to the freeing power of your spirit. Amen.
Coming to Freedom
I find this story's language intereseting: "A spirit that had crippled her....Set free from her ailment....Set free from this bondage." We would say the woman was healed. Jesus says she has escaped a prison.
Do you ever feel like the walls are closing in around you? I do. It may be a growing awareness of my own personal limitations or a deadline looming on the horizon. Friends share with me a sense of being trapped in marriages without love. Some are confined to wheelchairs with legs that refuse to support their weight. The language of bondage or spiritual and physical imprisonment gives me a different take on life. "I am still here behind thes bars. Who will set me free?"
For eighteen years this "daughter of Abraham" (slave to no one) has been bound by a crippling spirit. The evil is not part of who she is to be. A spiritual pariah fights to define her identity. For eighteen years she keeps coming to synagogue because there is a counter claim being made in the sacredness of sabbath joy.
The battle has gone on long enough. The daughter of Abraham that she has always been needs to be set free. "Stand up straight, sister. Embrace your true self. Slough off the evil accretion of your past. God sees the real you behind those bars, and it is that sparkling spirit called to life this day."
Suggestion for Meditation:
Behind the bars of broken hearts,
of banishment and pain
lives a spirit crying out for freedom from the shame.
"Long enough!" is Jesus' cry,
"Stand up straight with spirit spry.
This is the day the Lord hath made;
let love be known and bondage fade."
Submitted by Jim Ray
Prayer to be Reminded
Oh, Heavenly Father, we forget. Remind us. Remind us, as we stand in your sacred sanctuary, that you love us. We look around the huge space, set apart, and we see light passing through beautiful stained glass, we see a magnificent organ, whose music can fill the air, we smell the melted candle wax from the altar, and we wonder why you even notice that we exist. We forget, Father. Remind us. Remind us that you sent you son to show us how to live, to show us how to love, and most of all, to show us how much we ARE loved. We forget, Father. Remind us. Remind us that we are a Holy People, set apart, made sacred, made acceptable to you, through your own action, as you once and for all removed the weight of sin from our lives, freeing us from its crippling grasp. We forget, Father. Remind us. Remind us that you given us freedom, and that because of your love, we are able to go out into the world, as reminders to others of your freeing grace. We forget, Father. Remind us. Remind us that the man on the street corner, the child playing in the mud, the unwed mother, the angry boss, the careless neighbor, and the mourning widow are Holy People, set apart, made sacred by your love of them. We forget, God. We forget, Father, and we need to be reminded. Amen.
Anonymous
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Devotional 8-17-07
Lectionary Readings: Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19; Hebrews11:29 - 12:2
The Lectionary Readings all address the theme that God is restoring us, His people, to do the right thing and bring His message into the world. His message is in the world, but we often times let ourselves forget the message and take the wrong path.
I have a friend who talks about, 'and they're Christians'. She talks about people who talk about their church, going to church, belonging to a church, quote the Bible; a 'Christian'. Yet, these 'Christians' lie, cheat, gossip, put themselves first, always me, ignore someone in need, look down on someone, yet they're 'Christians'.
Being a Christian, isn't it wonderful we can ask for forgiveness and turn ourselves around and be restored? To me, that doesn't mean we can act anyway we want, then go to God and ask forgiveness. No, I see it as when we happen to do wrong, we can ask forgiveness and restore our knowledge of how God wants us to treat His people.
The question, "What would Jesus do?", is a good one to keep in mind.
Make it a good day, and let's wear our faith in helping God restore us and bear good fruit. Amen
Kay Lewis
The Lectionary Readings all address the theme that God is restoring us, His people, to do the right thing and bring His message into the world. His message is in the world, but we often times let ourselves forget the message and take the wrong path.
I have a friend who talks about, 'and they're Christians'. She talks about people who talk about their church, going to church, belonging to a church, quote the Bible; a 'Christian'. Yet, these 'Christians' lie, cheat, gossip, put themselves first, always me, ignore someone in need, look down on someone, yet they're 'Christians'.
Being a Christian, isn't it wonderful we can ask for forgiveness and turn ourselves around and be restored? To me, that doesn't mean we can act anyway we want, then go to God and ask forgiveness. No, I see it as when we happen to do wrong, we can ask forgiveness and restore our knowledge of how God wants us to treat His people.
The question, "What would Jesus do?", is a good one to keep in mind.
Make it a good day, and let's wear our faith in helping God restore us and bear good fruit. Amen
Kay Lewis
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Devotional 8-10-07
Isaiah's vision about what would happen to Judah and Jerusalem really is a case against his children. God tells Judah and Jerusalem to learn to do good, seek justice, punish those who hurt others, help the orphans, stand up for the right of widows (Isaiah 1:17). Also still good advice for us today, wouldn’t you say? A few more questions.: Do you think the world today follows this advice? Do you think the United States follows this advice? Do you follow God’s advice? Do you like what is going on in this country, or are you complacent, not wanting to be involved, just happy with our own little part of the world? Isaiah says in (verse 18) “The Lord says: “Come let us talk about these things. Though your sins are like scarlet, they can be as white as snow. Though your sins are deep red, they can be white like wool.” We do not often think of inaction as a sin. I wonder what God thinks?
In the 19th verse the Lord says: “If you become willing and obey me, you will eat good crops from the land.” Do you believe the Lord still talks to us? What do you think he would say to you, to the United States , to the world today? Most of us in the United States do not have to worry about food, but we still say “Give us this day our daily bread,” when we say the Lords prayer.
I have always thought that God has a plan for my life, I’m not sure I always listen to him when he speaks to me, and I am sure there are many in this world that do not ask. It is so easy to just live our life day by day without thinking about what God wants. Even if we do go to Sunday school and church we are not often taken out of our comfort zone. We may go to Common Ground on Thursday nights, which can take us out of that zone, but for the rest of the week are we aware of the needs of those less fortunate then us?
Do you think that God just wants us to worship him on Sunday morning, maybe read our Bibles occasionally during the week, but forget about the 137 or so street people who have come through our doors on a Thursday night How about the other hungry people in the world? I’m grateful to the members of our church who do work on the homes destroyed by hurricane Katrina, for the youth who go on mission trips, for those who help support these endeavors with money when they are physically unable to do the work.
My dad died in 1976 and in 1978 Gene Hoak was instrumental in the E. T. Jones Bible Class publishing a booklet of several of dad’s poems.. Among them the following:
THE VOLUME YOUR BEING WRITES
What volumes do your words of mouth – your deeds’
Reveal. How well they show just what you are
Because you make your own the best of creeds
To whch the hearts of men have clung thus far.
I read it from your eyes, your lips – your mein,
As much as from the things you do or say.
Your tiniest, fleeting smile’s a pictured scene
O kindly acts you’ve done along life’s way.
Yet does your retrospection find them not;
And well enough, for all unconscious acts
Blend with one’s being: are moreover, wrought
Into the texture of eternal facts
And these eternal facts show forth the you
Of yesterday – today – tomorrow, too.
Percy Peek
Yesterday is gone as is today. But what will you do with tomorrow?
Gloria Peek
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Devotional 8-3-07
Psalm 107:1-9, 42-43 The Message
Oh, thank GOD-he's so good! His love never runs out.
All of you set free by GOD, tell the world!
Tell how he freed you from oppression,
Then rounded you up from all over the place,
from the four winds, from the seven seas.
Some of you wandered for years in the desert,
looking but not finding a good place to live,
Half-starved and parched with thirst,
staggering and stumbling, on the brink of exhaustion.
Then, in your desperate condition, you called out to GOD.
He got you out in the nick of time;
He put your feet on a wonderful road
that took you straight to a good place to live.
So thank GOD for his marvelous love,
for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.
He poured great draughts of water down parched throats;
the starved and hungry got plenty to eat.
Good people see this and are glad;
bad people are speechless, stopped in their tracks.
If you are really wise, you'll think this over-
it's time you appreciated God's deep love.
How many times have we heard the phrase, "God is good"? How many times have we stopped to think about just how good God is? Certainly those who were delivered from bondage in Egypt, as the passage above refers to, knew how good God was. Without God's goodness and grace, there would have been no escape. There would have been no thirst-quenching streams in the desert and no manna to satisfy their hunger. They would have had no chance of making the trip to the land that God promised them. God was so good that He got them out just in the nick of time! How good was that? God is good! All the time!
Life can be hard sometimes. Wow, is that an understatement. Money problems get us down. Strained relationships make us hard to live with. We suffer from broken hearts and lost jobs. Aches and pains start to follow us around as we get older, and sometimes very serious illness catches us by surprise too soon in life. There are so many desert crossings to make, and we seemingly find ourselves out in the scorching sun all by ourselves. But, we know better than that if we are wise.
How big is the problem you are faced with right now? How hot is the sand on your feet? How parched is your throat? Are you to the point of staggering and stumbling, on the brink of exhaustion? Call out to God! God will get you out in the nick of time! Easier said than done? Not to those who know God's love. If you have never felt God's unending love, do the wise thing, and think it over. God is rounding you up. Remember, it's not how long you have known God's love. The idea is to know it, and believe before it's too late.
God is good! Go tell the world!
Mace Sturm
Oh, thank GOD-he's so good! His love never runs out.
All of you set free by GOD, tell the world!
Tell how he freed you from oppression,
Then rounded you up from all over the place,
from the four winds, from the seven seas.
Some of you wandered for years in the desert,
looking but not finding a good place to live,
Half-starved and parched with thirst,
staggering and stumbling, on the brink of exhaustion.
Then, in your desperate condition, you called out to GOD.
He got you out in the nick of time;
He put your feet on a wonderful road
that took you straight to a good place to live.
So thank GOD for his marvelous love,
for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.
He poured great draughts of water down parched throats;
the starved and hungry got plenty to eat.
Good people see this and are glad;
bad people are speechless, stopped in their tracks.
If you are really wise, you'll think this over-
it's time you appreciated God's deep love.
How many times have we heard the phrase, "God is good"? How many times have we stopped to think about just how good God is? Certainly those who were delivered from bondage in Egypt, as the passage above refers to, knew how good God was. Without God's goodness and grace, there would have been no escape. There would have been no thirst-quenching streams in the desert and no manna to satisfy their hunger. They would have had no chance of making the trip to the land that God promised them. God was so good that He got them out just in the nick of time! How good was that? God is good! All the time!
Life can be hard sometimes. Wow, is that an understatement. Money problems get us down. Strained relationships make us hard to live with. We suffer from broken hearts and lost jobs. Aches and pains start to follow us around as we get older, and sometimes very serious illness catches us by surprise too soon in life. There are so many desert crossings to make, and we seemingly find ourselves out in the scorching sun all by ourselves. But, we know better than that if we are wise.
How big is the problem you are faced with right now? How hot is the sand on your feet? How parched is your throat? Are you to the point of staggering and stumbling, on the brink of exhaustion? Call out to God! God will get you out in the nick of time! Easier said than done? Not to those who know God's love. If you have never felt God's unending love, do the wise thing, and think it over. God is rounding you up. Remember, it's not how long you have known God's love. The idea is to know it, and believe before it's too late.
God is good! Go tell the world!
Mace Sturm
Friday, July 27, 2007
Devotional 7-27-07
Our family loves the ocean, and so every year we make our annual trek to the beach - for rest, renewal and fellowship. We always look forward to beach week, and one of the main reasons is the motion of the waves and its consistency. I think all of us in this family agree, that the constant movement of the waves is so soothing and so relaxing. It just renews our spirits.
In Luke 11:9-10, Jesus says, "Ask and it will be given to you; search and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened." When we take stock of our life, the one constant throughout our entire life is God. Friends, family and loved ones move in and out of our lives, due to circumstances beyond our control, but God is always there. We may ignore, forget, take for granted or refuse to see or feel God's presence and love, but God is consistently still there. Jesus reminds us in this scripture passage that all we have to do is ask - search - knock - just open our eyes, ears, mind or heart, and there God is - always - consistently - no matter what.
God, God's love, God's presence, God's care. Consistently there. We just have to reach out. Seek God, feel God, praise God and pray to God for when we do, we are like a sweet aroma, so pleasing to God. As Fanny Crosby so aptly reminds us in her beloved hymn:
Thank you God for being the one constant in our lives. You are always there - just waiting for us to ask - search - knock. You alone fill us and bless us. We are your children and we love you the best that we can. Amen.
Rev. Suzanne Ellis
In Luke 11:9-10, Jesus says, "Ask and it will be given to you; search and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened." When we take stock of our life, the one constant throughout our entire life is God. Friends, family and loved ones move in and out of our lives, due to circumstances beyond our control, but God is always there. We may ignore, forget, take for granted or refuse to see or feel God's presence and love, but God is consistently still there. Jesus reminds us in this scripture passage that all we have to do is ask - search - knock - just open our eyes, ears, mind or heart, and there God is - always - consistently - no matter what.
God, God's love, God's presence, God's care. Consistently there. We just have to reach out. Seek God, feel God, praise God and pray to God for when we do, we are like a sweet aroma, so pleasing to God. As Fanny Crosby so aptly reminds us in her beloved hymn:
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord
let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father through Jesus the Son,
and give Him the glory, great things He hath done!
Thank you God for being the one constant in our lives. You are always there - just waiting for us to ask - search - knock. You alone fill us and bless us. We are your children and we love you the best that we can. Amen.
Rev. Suzanne Ellis
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Devotional 7-20-07
Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. --Deuteronomy 32:2
Not only was the Teacher wise, but also he imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. --Ecclesiates 12:9
In late May, I was distressed that I couldn't attend the funeral of a friend. It was the same morning as the last day of class for my 3-year-old preschool class. I called two substitutes who help us regularly, but neither could come, and I didn't want to leave "my" kids with a stranger on the last day of school. I consoled myself with the thought that John Paul Childers would certainly understand putting one's students first.
John Paul was one of the true saints of our church. He taught the College Class way-back-when, and all of us who were his students felt the warmth and commitment of one who put us first. It's not unusual for college students to drop-out of church for a few years, but John Paul kept us coming Sunday after Sunday. I recall one Sunday he showed up and announced he'd returned from vacation a day early because he didn't want to miss being with us. My friend Jean Simmons tells that several years later he came to teach the Sunday following his own son's tragic death in an automobile accident. I will always remember him hugging me the Sunday morning after the Marshall plane crash and saying, "Tears are for the living."
When I think back on those days, I can't recall many specific lessons, but I do remember that J.P. made us feel valued and loved and special. Many of John Paul's students are still active members of churches today. Hopefully we have made him proud.
Well done, good and faithful servant! .....Come and share your master's happiness!' --Matthew 25:21 Rest in peace.
Anita Gardner Farrell
Not only was the Teacher wise, but also he imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. --Ecclesiates 12:9
In late May, I was distressed that I couldn't attend the funeral of a friend. It was the same morning as the last day of class for my 3-year-old preschool class. I called two substitutes who help us regularly, but neither could come, and I didn't want to leave "my" kids with a stranger on the last day of school. I consoled myself with the thought that John Paul Childers would certainly understand putting one's students first.
John Paul was one of the true saints of our church. He taught the College Class way-back-when, and all of us who were his students felt the warmth and commitment of one who put us first. It's not unusual for college students to drop-out of church for a few years, but John Paul kept us coming Sunday after Sunday. I recall one Sunday he showed up and announced he'd returned from vacation a day early because he didn't want to miss being with us. My friend Jean Simmons tells that several years later he came to teach the Sunday following his own son's tragic death in an automobile accident. I will always remember him hugging me the Sunday morning after the Marshall plane crash and saying, "Tears are for the living."
When I think back on those days, I can't recall many specific lessons, but I do remember that J.P. made us feel valued and loved and special. Many of John Paul's students are still active members of churches today. Hopefully we have made him proud.
Well done, good and faithful servant! .....Come and share your master's happiness!' --Matthew 25:21 Rest in peace.
Anita Gardner Farrell
Friday, July 13, 2007
Devotional 7-12-07
Lectionary Readings: Amos 7:7-17; Psalm 82; Colossians 1:1-14; and Luke 10: 25-37.
The lectionary readings this week share a few examples of what it means to be a follower of Christ. The Psalmist urges us to “rescue the weak and needy”. God showed Amos a “plumb line” that would be used to measure the behavior of Israel. In Colossians, Paul recognizes the leadership of Epaphras (founder of the church at Colossae), who led the congregation to “bear fruit” after hearing and believing in the Good News. And in Luke, the story of the Good Samaritan—is almost too well known to retell.
I struggle on a daily basis with the conflict between desiring control and relinquishing control of my life to God. I guess I don’t mind helping others as long as I can choose the time and the place and all the “particulars”. I can contribute from a safe distance with my checkbook and feel that I’ve “done my part”. However, most of Jesus’ examples of servanthood: washing feet, caring for the injured, curing the diseased, etc. demand that we offer ourselves in a more personal nature: with our hearts and hands. The following is an inspirational song about servants from THE FAITH WE SING:
by Richard Gillard
Brother, sister, let me serve you, Let me be as Christ to you;
Pray that I may have the grace to Let you be my servant, too.
We are pilgrims on a journey; we’re together on this road.
We are here to help each other Walk the mile and bear the load.
I will hold the Christ-light for you in the night-time of your fear;
I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear.
I will weep when you are weeping; when you laugh, I’ll laugh with you.
I will share your joy and sorrow till we’ve seen this journey through.
When we sing to God in heaven, we shall find such harmony,
Born of all we’ve known together of Christ’s love and agony.
If we consider our history, we have had many shining examples of servanthood in the persons of Biblical figures, religious leaders, ministers, teachers, missionaries, family, friends and coworkers. What servant-like actions have we observed that we can model in our own lives? You can rely on the probability that all the best role models provided examples of person-to-person assistance—“up close and personal”. What endeavors, challenges or opportunities for service is God calling us to take on? It may be that a check is all that is required, but it also may be that we need to invest some actual muscle or sweat. Whatever is required, God promises to guide each step. The way has been prepared by those who have showed us their examples. Each of us has unique gifts and talents—What will be our response to God’s call?
Dear Father and Mother who provides all the loving examples for us to follow: Help us to do your will so that we may all be “caught being like Jesus” in our daily walk. Help us to hear Your voice above the din of the world’s noise so that our path may be clear. Thank you for our role models and the gifts of servanthood that they have shared with us. As Jesus taught us, AMEN.
Chyrl Budd
Friday, July 6, 2007
July 6, 2007 Devotional
Psalm 30
A psalm. A song. For the dedication of the temple. Of David.
1 I will exalt you, O LORD,
for you lifted me out of the depths
and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
2 O LORD my God, I called to you for help
and you healed me.
3 O LORD, you brought me up from the grave;
you spared me from going down into the pit.
4 Sing to the LORD, you saints of his;
praise his holy name.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may remain for a night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning.
6 When I felt secure, I said,
"I will never be shaken."
7 O LORD, when you favored me,
you made my mountain stand firm;
but when you hid your face,
I was dismayed.
8 To you, O LORD, I called;
to the Lord I cried for mercy:
9 "What gain is there in my destruction,
in my going down into the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
10 Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me;
O LORD, be my help."
11 You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.
As I read this passage I could not help but to think of the people in Mississippi that our Mission Team had just served a few weeks ago. Here were persons that had been thrust into despair nearly two years ago when a devil of a hurricane (Katrina) turned their lives upside down. Some had lost everything, some had their homes damaged, others had fled, to what they thought was safety, but only to be followed by this same storm. And when returning home heard gun shots just down the street from their house. They were not in despair nor were they wailing from the destruction. For their GOD had lifted them out of the depths. How strong the faith of Miss Edna, Mr. Robinson, Mr. Hinchman, Diane and Vicki. As I refect upon this passage and on the people in Mississippi I know that know matter what falls on me GOD is there to lift me up. GOD will be merciful to me, "for his favor lasts a lifetime" and I will sing to the Lord my GOD and give him thanks forever.
Side note, Since March of this year GOD has called nearly 8000 persons to serve the people of Mississippi . Praise be to GOD!!!
Fred Herr
A psalm. A song. For the dedication of the temple. Of David.
1 I will exalt you, O LORD,
for you lifted me out of the depths
and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
2 O LORD my God, I called to you for help
and you healed me.
3 O LORD, you brought me up from the grave;
you spared me from going down into the pit.
4 Sing to the LORD, you saints of his;
praise his holy name.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may remain for a night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning.
6 When I felt secure, I said,
"I will never be shaken."
7 O LORD, when you favored me,
you made my mountain stand firm;
but when you hid your face,
I was dismayed.
8 To you, O LORD, I called;
to the Lord I cried for mercy:
9 "What gain is there in my destruction,
in my going down into the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
10 Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me;
O LORD, be my help."
11 You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.
As I read this passage I could not help but to think of the people in Mississippi that our Mission Team had just served a few weeks ago. Here were persons that had been thrust into despair nearly two years ago when a devil of a hurricane (Katrina) turned their lives upside down. Some had lost everything, some had their homes damaged, others had fled, to what they thought was safety, but only to be followed by this same storm. And when returning home heard gun shots just down the street from their house. They were not in despair nor were they wailing from the destruction. For their GOD had lifted them out of the depths. How strong the faith of Miss Edna, Mr. Robinson, Mr. Hinchman, Diane and Vicki. As I refect upon this passage and on the people in Mississippi I know that know matter what falls on me GOD is there to lift me up. GOD will be merciful to me, "for his favor lasts a lifetime" and I will sing to the Lord my GOD and give him thanks forever.
Side note, Since March of this year GOD has called nearly 8000 persons to serve the people of Mississippi . Praise be to GOD!!!
Fred Herr
Thursday, June 28, 2007
June 29, 2007 Devotional
“Life comes at you fast”, is a slogan used by a national insurance company to advertise their services for helping consumers prepare for life…”whenever it happens”. Humorous as these ads are, they do depict a reality that sometimes things just happen. However, when inevitable delays or unforeseen events upset our universe, it is important to remember that life does not revolve around you–it revolves around the Son!
It is easy to feel anxious and look within our own abilities to create more desirable outcomes, especially when something does not meet our expectations. But it is in these trying times that we can experience God’s work in our lives on a more personal level by waiting and listening. Yes, waiting and listening is difficult. We may want to hear what God has to say, but we don't take time to listen. As a result, we forget that God is not a puzzle to be solved. Rather, He's a friend to be known and enjoyed. And He’s telling us, "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10, KJV). For it is in stillness that we come face to face with the living Lord who knows and loves us beyond our imagination.
David knew about waiting. Samuel anointed the young David as king of Israel, but he did not automatically become king. As a military leader, few people experienced as much success as ; David. Yet David slew a bear and a lion long before he encountered Goliath. Was David fearful or anxious? Maybe, but God was working in David during his shepherd days, giving him experiences that would build his courage and prepare him for what was to come. As such, his faith grew as he prayed and saw the Lord’s presence during these memorable experiences.
And so it is with us today. True, often we want too much, too soon. It is common for us to become fearful or angry when tragedy strikes, and at times, immediately seek an internal means to conquer or escape the situation. But the Lord works in us over time, helping us to develop and hone certain skills, in the end making us effective and successful. Have you waited to hear what He has to say during times of trouble? Pray and be still. In doing so, you will discover that waiting on God's timing always rewards you with His very best.
Mike Little
Friday, June 22, 2007
June 22, 2007 Devotional
The Courage to Depend upon God
I Kings 19:1-15a
Elijah had exhausted himself serving the Lord. Read chapter 18 of I Kings, and you will find Elijah being incredibly strong in his work as a prophet. He had confronted the 450 prophets of the Canaanite God Baal on Mount Carmel and challenged them to ‘dueling altars.’ They had prepared their altar, but instead of lighting it, had called upon Baal to light it. Nothing happened. Then Elijah had water poured over the Lord’s altar, and prayed for the Lord to ignite it. The altar was completely consumed by fire. Then he had proclaimed to Ahab the King that the drought that had lasted for over three years was going to be broken by rain, and it was. But being the conduit of God’s power and work in that way is exhausting.
Thus it was that shortly thereafter he fled from Israel and went to the mountain of God. It was there that God found him in the cave and spoke to him in the still, small voice after the earthquake, wind, and fire. And as God spoke in that voice, Elijah was strengthened and challenged to return to Israel and to return to the work to which God had called him.
It is a real temptation, friends, to fill our lives with activity, even church activities, that keeps us busy from sun up to sun down, day after day. And yet, without the time for God’s still, small voice to be heard we cannot sustain our efforts. I don’t think any of us have called down fire from heaven or have commanded rain from the clouds lately, but we find all kinds of things to fill our time, and those things are all incredibly important.
But, if we don’t stop and spend time alone with God we won’t hear the still, small voice that gives us strength for whatever lies ahead. Take time each day to listen to God.
…take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord!
Amen.
Joe Shreve
I Kings 19:1-15a
Elijah had exhausted himself serving the Lord. Read chapter 18 of I Kings, and you will find Elijah being incredibly strong in his work as a prophet. He had confronted the 450 prophets of the Canaanite God Baal on Mount Carmel and challenged them to ‘dueling altars.’ They had prepared their altar, but instead of lighting it, had called upon Baal to light it. Nothing happened. Then Elijah had water poured over the Lord’s altar, and prayed for the Lord to ignite it. The altar was completely consumed by fire. Then he had proclaimed to Ahab the King that the drought that had lasted for over three years was going to be broken by rain, and it was. But being the conduit of God’s power and work in that way is exhausting.
Thus it was that shortly thereafter he fled from Israel and went to the mountain of God. It was there that God found him in the cave and spoke to him in the still, small voice after the earthquake, wind, and fire. And as God spoke in that voice, Elijah was strengthened and challenged to return to Israel and to return to the work to which God had called him.
It is a real temptation, friends, to fill our lives with activity, even church activities, that keeps us busy from sun up to sun down, day after day. And yet, without the time for God’s still, small voice to be heard we cannot sustain our efforts. I don’t think any of us have called down fire from heaven or have commanded rain from the clouds lately, but we find all kinds of things to fill our time, and those things are all incredibly important.
But, if we don’t stop and spend time alone with God we won’t hear the still, small voice that gives us strength for whatever lies ahead. Take time each day to listen to God.
…take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord!
Amen.
Joe Shreve
Thursday, June 14, 2007
June 15, 2007 Devotional
Our Fathers Love
A parents love...the overwhelming joy you feel as you hold your child for the first time, the trepidation you feel as you realize all the potential that it is your responsibility to shape. The proud swelling of your heart as you watch your child grow and develop. The gut wrenching fear that clutches your heart when your child is in danger...or maybe just a little late getting home. The heart ache of occasionally watching your child stumble and fall. What we wouldn't do to keep our children safe, to spare them pain. Their pain is harder to bear than our own. We would gladly give our lives to spare theirs. A parents love...all encompassing, unconditional love that frees children to explore their world, and gives them the confidence to spread their wings and eventually fly on their own.
Gods love, like a parents love, but multiplied many times, gives us the freedom to make our own choices. How painful it must be for him to watch us stumble and fall, to watch us make poor choices, to have us cut ourselves off from him. How much joy it must bring when we allow his love to be the "wind beneath our wings." Just as we would give our lives for our children God loved us enough to send his son, a perfect son that he loved, of whom he was "well pleased." He sent him to give his life for us, to be tortured for us, to die a horrible death for us. Amazing love, amazing grace...a heavenly fathers love.
Margaret Williams
Thursday, June 7, 2007
June 8, 2007 Devotional
"It sticks out like a sore thumb!" So goes the old saying to which I had never given much thought until very recently. I mean, why a sore thumb and why would it stick out?
On the way to our vacation destination in South Carolina we spent two nights at the home of our friends in Charlotte. They are just like family to us and it's very much, "mi casa, su casa".
Saturday morning and I'm in the kitchen looking for a sharp knife to slice this large Panera Bread bagel. I found the sharp knife and sliced the bagel.......and a good portion of my left thumb. OUCH!
I'll spare you the gory details of stemming the flow and not going to the Emergency Room as our friends suggested, but for several days it was definitely "thumb(s) up" for me and the thumb did indeed stick out. That's when I found out how important is the thumb. Try doing simple things like buttoning a shirt or tying a shoelace without using your thumb.
I hope you are still with me because I feel there is a message here. Since we are the body of Christ what happens if one of us cannot be used? For one reason or another there are times when we feel spiritually useless in our prayer life and we may be tempted to stop praying but then we are reminded to "pray without ceasing". (1 Thess. 5:17 KJV)
At times we may be discouraged in our Christian witness to others but then there is the charge to "run with patience the race that is set before us" (Hebrews 12:1 KJV)
Each and every one of us has a charge to uphold, a part to play, so "let us not be weary in well doing" (Gal. 6:9 KJV). Just like my little sore thumb the part each of us plays in the Christian life will be missed if we don't continue by God's grace to do whatever He has chosen for us to do.
Thanks to Jeff Taylor for the following:
Dear God, by the Power of Your Holy Spirit, create us anew.
Give us the breath to sing your praises and the faith to soar with you.
Give us power to discern what you call us to be and to do.
Come Holy Spirit, come!
Amen
Jean Dean
On the way to our vacation destination in South Carolina we spent two nights at the home of our friends in Charlotte. They are just like family to us and it's very much, "mi casa, su casa".
Saturday morning and I'm in the kitchen looking for a sharp knife to slice this large Panera Bread bagel. I found the sharp knife and sliced the bagel.......and a good portion of my left thumb. OUCH!
I'll spare you the gory details of stemming the flow and not going to the Emergency Room as our friends suggested, but for several days it was definitely "thumb(s) up" for me and the thumb did indeed stick out. That's when I found out how important is the thumb. Try doing simple things like buttoning a shirt or tying a shoelace without using your thumb.
I hope you are still with me because I feel there is a message here. Since we are the body of Christ what happens if one of us cannot be used? For one reason or another there are times when we feel spiritually useless in our prayer life and we may be tempted to stop praying but then we are reminded to "pray without ceasing". (1 Thess. 5:17 KJV)
At times we may be discouraged in our Christian witness to others but then there is the charge to "run with patience the race that is set before us" (Hebrews 12:1 KJV)
Each and every one of us has a charge to uphold, a part to play, so "let us not be weary in well doing" (Gal. 6:9 KJV). Just like my little sore thumb the part each of us plays in the Christian life will be missed if we don't continue by God's grace to do whatever He has chosen for us to do.
Thanks to Jeff Taylor for the following:
Dear God, by the Power of Your Holy Spirit, create us anew.
Give us the breath to sing your praises and the faith to soar with you.
Give us power to discern what you call us to be and to do.
Come Holy Spirit, come!
Amen
Jean Dean
Thursday, May 31, 2007
June 1, 2007 Devotional
Quoted below are portions of this week’s lectionary readings:
*Psalm 8
**John 16:12-15
***Romans 5:1-5
When I look a your heavens,
The work of your fingers
The moon and the stars
That you have established
What are human beings
That you are mindful of them?
Mortals that you care for them?*
So many times in life
We feel small.
Inconsequential.
We carry the burden of our sins
Of our problems
And feel like an ant
Heavy laden
Sometimes lost
Other times alone
Why would God care about children --
Children such as we are?
Yet you have made us
A little lower than God
And crowned us with glory and honor.*
Sometimes, dear Father
Our problems are like lead
Tied around our necks
Weighing us down.
Our grief and our sorrow
Seem unrelieved
Our worries insurmountable
Our questions unanswerable.
And the son said
Words which still comfort us,
“When the Spirit of truth comes,
He will guide you into all truth;
For he will not speak on his own,
But will speak whatever he hears,
And he will declare to you the things
That are to come."**
We find grace, for you offer us hope
You offer us wisdom
You have given us your presence,
Your spirit has been breathed upon us,
Into us,
And we are borne on wings
Until we can see only your love
Feel only your support
And our flesh tingles
As the air from your sigh
Rushes by us.
Therefore, since we are justified by faith,
We have peace with God
Through our Lord Jesus Christ
Through whom we have obtained access
To this grace in which we stand
And we boast in our hope of sharing
The glory of God.***
Our prayers, our dreams,
Our groaning and our pains
Are relieved
Because we know that you hear them.
You lift them on the wind
As you carry us into your arms,
And we find peace.
Peace beyond understanding
But never beyond reach.
And hope does not disappoint us,
Because God’s love have been poured
Into our hearts
Through the Holy Spirit
That has been given to us.***
O Lord,
Our Lord,
How majestic in your name
In all the earth!*
Kim Matthews
*Psalm 8
**John 16:12-15
***Romans 5:1-5
When I look a your heavens,
The work of your fingers
The moon and the stars
That you have established
What are human beings
That you are mindful of them?
Mortals that you care for them?*
So many times in life
We feel small.
Inconsequential.
We carry the burden of our sins
Of our problems
And feel like an ant
Heavy laden
Sometimes lost
Other times alone
Why would God care about children --
Children such as we are?
Yet you have made us
A little lower than God
And crowned us with glory and honor.*
Sometimes, dear Father
Our problems are like lead
Tied around our necks
Weighing us down.
Our grief and our sorrow
Seem unrelieved
Our worries insurmountable
Our questions unanswerable.
And the son said
Words which still comfort us,
“When the Spirit of truth comes,
He will guide you into all truth;
For he will not speak on his own,
But will speak whatever he hears,
And he will declare to you the things
That are to come."**
We find grace, for you offer us hope
You offer us wisdom
You have given us your presence,
Your spirit has been breathed upon us,
Into us,
And we are borne on wings
Until we can see only your love
Feel only your support
And our flesh tingles
As the air from your sigh
Rushes by us.
Therefore, since we are justified by faith,
We have peace with God
Through our Lord Jesus Christ
Through whom we have obtained access
To this grace in which we stand
And we boast in our hope of sharing
The glory of God.***
Our prayers, our dreams,
Our groaning and our pains
Are relieved
Because we know that you hear them.
You lift them on the wind
As you carry us into your arms,
And we find peace.
Peace beyond understanding
But never beyond reach.
And hope does not disappoint us,
Because God’s love have been poured
Into our hearts
Through the Holy Spirit
That has been given to us.***
O Lord,
Our Lord,
How majestic in your name
In all the earth!*
Kim Matthews
Friday, May 25, 2007
Under construction
A note about this blog:
It is currently under construction, so walk carefully. I may have left some loose nails or broken boards lying around. I'll be back soon, and will clean up my mess.
Leave comments if you like -- give me suggestions.
It is currently under construction, so walk carefully. I may have left some loose nails or broken boards lying around. I'll be back soon, and will clean up my mess.
Leave comments if you like -- give me suggestions.
May 25 Devotion
Please read Acts 2: 1-21 and Psalm 104: 24-34, 35b
There is power in words. You need only to look at the first book in the Bible to see the power of words. God created the universe with words. He spoke, and there was light. He spoke, and there was a sky to separate the heavens from the water, and so on. John begins his gospel by saying “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Pentecost was the day that the Jews celebrated the gift of the Word—the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. That is why they were together that day. The day was in commemoration of the day of the gift of God’s Word given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. So it was a time of celebration of this incredible gift of God’s Word and being set apart as God’s people. And yet on this festival day some were huddled together in a room, frightened and discouraged, staying under the radar.
Then, suddenly, God sent His Holy Spirit to give words and power—Good News and the power to live up to what Jesus said and did.
Pentecost reminds us that God is still creating. In the words of the psalmist, God “sends forth His spirit and we are created, and He renews the face of the earth.” At Pentecost, the Apostles were gifted to share God’s message in ways that all could understand. At Pentecost, God’s word became accessible by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Alleluia! Come, Spirit Come.
Where is the power of your church? What happened on Pentecost was a miracle, and it still is a miracle when people actually see and hear and understand the works of God by people who are empowered by the Holy Spirit. Listen to the words of the first verse of “Spirit of God,” number 2117 in The Faith We Sing.
Dear God, by the Power of Your Holy Spirit, create us anew. Give us the breath to sing your praises and the faith to soar with you. Give us power to discern what you call us to be and to do. Come Holy Spirit, come! Amen.
Jeff Taylor
There is power in words. You need only to look at the first book in the Bible to see the power of words. God created the universe with words. He spoke, and there was light. He spoke, and there was a sky to separate the heavens from the water, and so on. John begins his gospel by saying “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Pentecost was the day that the Jews celebrated the gift of the Word—the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. That is why they were together that day. The day was in commemoration of the day of the gift of God’s Word given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. So it was a time of celebration of this incredible gift of God’s Word and being set apart as God’s people. And yet on this festival day some were huddled together in a room, frightened and discouraged, staying under the radar.
Then, suddenly, God sent His Holy Spirit to give words and power—Good News and the power to live up to what Jesus said and did.
Pentecost reminds us that God is still creating. In the words of the psalmist, God “sends forth His spirit and we are created, and He renews the face of the earth.” At Pentecost, the Apostles were gifted to share God’s message in ways that all could understand. At Pentecost, God’s word became accessible by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Alleluia! Come, Spirit Come.
Where is the power of your church? What happened on Pentecost was a miracle, and it still is a miracle when people actually see and hear and understand the works of God by people who are empowered by the Holy Spirit. Listen to the words of the first verse of “Spirit of God,” number 2117 in The Faith We Sing.
Spirit of God, bright Wind
Breath that bids life begin
Blow as you always do
Create us anew.
Give us the breath to sing
Lifted on soaring wing
Held in your hands,
Borne on your wings
Alleluia, Come Spirit come.
Alleluia, Come Spirit come.
Dear God, by the Power of Your Holy Spirit, create us anew. Give us the breath to sing your praises and the faith to soar with you. Give us power to discern what you call us to be and to do. Come Holy Spirit, come! Amen.
Jeff Taylor
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