Devotional 4-27-18

Fear Factor

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment."
1 John 4:18 NIV

It seems all too often l find myself with a heavy heart and a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as I contemplate the latest news. I lament “man’s inhumanity to man” and ask God why. Recently, the answer came. Fear. Fear of people who look different than we do, who have different beliefs, different customs, a different lifestyle. Fear that something will be taken away from us, be it something as small as a possession or as big as 'our way of life.'

Isn't that what happened to Jesus? Jesus was upsetting the status quo. He was shaking things up. The leaders of the Jews in Israel were afraid of him, afraid of losing the power they had, afraid of losing their 'way of life', so Jesus had to go!

We all know what happened next. Love triumphed! Love always triumphs. Let us all reach out in love and banish fear from this earth!

Margaret Williams

Devotional 4-20-18

Two excerpts from the parable of the Prodigal Son, Luke 15: 11-32:

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. --Luke 15: 20

But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him. --Luke:15: 28

I find it fascinating how we can always find something new in a Bible passage we've read/heard many times. Rev. Barry Steiner Ball recently wrote a series of devotions applying the story of the Prodigal Son to our current opioid crisis. In one, he conjectured about the mother, who is not mentioned in the story which begins, "There was a man who had two sons..." How had I, a mother of four sons, never thought about that mother, whose son turned his back on his family and walked out the door?

Something else hit me as I read the story again. The father went out to/sought out both sons. When the younger son returned home, beaten down and repentant, his father ran to welcome him back into the fold. When the older son was sulking, the father left the party to find him, make sure he understood his thinking, and ensure him that he was still a valued member of the family.

The father made the effort to connect with both sons. God does the same. God makes the effort to connect with us.

In Methodism, we learn about Prevenient Grace. John Wesley understood grace as God's active presence in our lives. The presence is not dependent on human actions or human response. It is a gift--a gift that is always available, but that can be refused.

God's grace stirs up within us a desire to know God and empowers us to respond to God's invitation to be in relationship with God.

God takes the initiative in relating to humanity. We do not have to beg and plead for God's love and grace. God actively seeks us. (From the Our Wesleyan Heritage section on The  People of the United Methodist Church web page).

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for loving us before we even know you, and for pursuing us to bring us into your Kingdom. Help us, knock us on the head if necessary, to respond to your call. Amen.

Anita Gardner Farrell

Devotional 4-13-18

Chasing Rainbows

Many years ago my late husband, Keith, and I invited friends to join us at a reception celebrating our wedding. The day had been dull and dreary but as we neared the event the clouds parted and a beautiful rainbow appeared in the sky. We both smiled and declared it to be an omen of many happy years ahead. Indeed it was and our years together were blessed with happiness.

I have on my kitchen counter a Page-A-Day calendar with a new quote for each day. Today's quote reads, "Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud today", written by poet Maya Angelou.

What a challenge! Can I meet that challenge today? Can I turn someone's cloud into a rainbow today?  Can you?

Revelation 4:3 and 10:1
Jean Dean

Devotional 4-7-18

Please read Psalm 147:12-20

My husband, Steve, is a Cyclist. With a capital C. And it amazes me. He rides miles and miles and miles on a road bike that has tires about an inch wide. A few years ago, he rode with a group of men from Huntington to Washington D.C. to raise money for homeless veterans in our town.  There are seven mountains between Elkins and Petersburg. Imagine for a moment the amount of balance it requires to control a two-wheeled pedal-powered bicycle with one-inch wide tires moving down a mountain at 40 miles an hour in traffic. He was continually making hundreds of decisions regarding speed, direction, weight distribution, application of brakes and choice of gears.

Balance.

I was reading this morning about free will – the truth that God has given us the ability to make choices, and that those choices have consequences. A consequence can be as small as a hurt feeling that is quickly forgotten to as large as a life changed forever to as monumental as the world turned upside-down. We have free will.

And yet, Psalm 147:15-18 says this: “He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.  He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes.   He hurls down hail like crumbs—who can stand before his cold?  He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.”

God created the world. The sun rises and sets, the rain falls, the snow flies. It is so foundational that we probably don’t even think about it. AND God has given us dominion in the world. Dominion. God-given responsibility. Our choices in the stewardship of what is around us have consequences.

Balance.

The sun rises and sets, the rain falls, the snow flies, but what we do has consequences. Even in something as foundational as creation. We must remember, like the bicyclist speeding down the hill, we are have been given the responsibility for the precious balance that keeps everything in working order.

Imagine for a moment if my husband had decided that his decisions and actions on the bicycle had no impact on his descent down the mountain. Disaster. 

And so it is with us.

Prayer: Creating God, guide our steps, open our eyes to the world around us and to the consequences of our obedience to you. In your son’s name, Amen.

Kim Matthews