Devotional 9/14/07

Alone or connected to the divine?

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.

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.

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.

Devotional 8/29/07

The Age of Discovery

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

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

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

Devotional 8-10-07

What Does God Want

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

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