Devotional 1-16-09

Please read Psalm 139: 1-6 and 13-18

“For thou didst form my inward parts;
Thou didst knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

God knits, just like Mom.

The 139th Psalm is one of my very favorites. It is comforting to know that the great and powerful Creator of the universe knows me, even me. No matter where I go, even in the darkest places, God is there with me.

But what I really like about the 139th Psalm of the motherly image of a God who knits.

When Mom wasn’t cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, tending after her children, attending school or church functions, or busy with the many other household tasks, she was knitting. Knitting was her idle pastime. She knitted in the car, in waiting rooms, and knitted while she watched television. If she had a few moments between tasks, she’d knit a few rows.

Mom’s love for her four children is like God’s love described by the Psalmist; no matter how secretive we thought we were, Mom knew what we were up to. There was no fooling her; the good news is that Mom and God love us anyway.

Recently, I was re-organizing my closet and I found that after a half year on Weight Watchers, I can again wear my favorite sweater knit by Mom. It is a heavy argyle pattern with suede patches on the elbows. It is a tangible indication of the motherly love with which it was knit. And inside the collar is sewn her label, “Taylor-Made.” It is comfortable.

Speaking of comfort, I am not uncomfortable with the image of God as Father; but I think we miss something if we limit our understanding of God. Bring Many Names, a hymn written by Brian Wren, which is in our United Methodist hymnal supplement, The Faith We Sing, addresses this. Check out the second verse:

“Strong mother God, working night and day,
planning all the wonders of creation,
setting each equation, genius at play,
Hail and Hosanna, strong mother God.”

I am thankful for a knitting God and a knitting Mom, both of whom comfort their loved ones.

Jeff Taylor

Devotional 1-9-09

Be My Voice

Psalm 29

I depend on you, God’s many angels.
I count on you, His heavenly creations,
To praise his name,
When my lips fall silent,
When I stand here, a creature of dust,
Made silent in amazement at his glory.
Fill the heavens with His praises,
Glorify his name with your sweet songs,
For there are times when my throat closes,
And my tongue falls silent.
There are times when his majesty is too great
For my feeble songs and my useless words.

His voice is never silent.
It echoes across the waters
Lifting waves in its wake.
His voice is powerful,
Thunderous,
Mighty and glorious.
His voice is majesty.

The bass of his voice makes mighty trees tremble.
Even the most towering,
Even the ones which seem to reach all the way to heaven.
The tenor strains lift me to my feet,
And give me wings to skip like a child.

His voice has the heat and flash of fire,
It shakes the wilderness,
It thunders across empty land,
Land not seen by anyone.
His voice even reaches to the wilderness of my heart,
His breath warms my coldness.

His mighty voice,
His powerful exhalation,
Stirs the leaves of the trees
Whips them around as if a mighty storm were passing.
His exhaled breath,
Strips away the leaves,
Strips away my pretenses.
Leaves us all bare,
Until all that we have left
Is to glorify his name.

Our mighty God sits high in heaven,
Enthroned as a king
A reassurance for all of eternity.
He gives me strength.
He gives us strength.
He creates in us a mighty and powerful ability
To do His work in the world.
He rules from heaven,
And he gives us the wonderful blessing of peace.

Praise His name and His mighty works,
Be my voice, all you angels,
For when I stand here speechless.

Kim Matthews

Devotional 11-28-08

We sing of Thanksgiving
Inspired by Psalm 65

We open our thoughts.
Our minds, our hearts, our spirits
in praise of you, our God.

We open our sins to you, our God,
when they threaten to overwhealm us,
when we are drowning, unable to catch our breath
in the suffocation of them.
You free us.
You forgive us.
And we are alive again.
All praise and thanksgiving
We lift to you.

We open our hearts to you, our God.
You draw us close in your unconditional,
Unbreakable
Unfathonable
Love for us.
You transform our lives to joy,
and we celebrate our time
spent in your presence,
in your house,
in your Holy Kingdom.

We open our minds to understand you, our God.
We see you at work in your world
We try to grasp what you do
as you deliver us from evil.
You bring us alive in hope.
Hope.
Hope that is larger than we could ever grasp.
And yet you tempt us
Encourage us
Convince us
To believe.

We open our eyes, and we see you, our God.
We see your mountains, which you shaped with your power.
We hear the silence of the sea, the roaring of the water,
The voices of your children.
The morning whispers your name.
The evening echoes your breath.
The trees lift their hands to your in gratitude for the rain
The rivers dance to your bidding.
And we are fed.

We open our lives to you, our God,
and offer them in thanksgiving.
You shape the earth
And bring it to life
You shape our lives
as we live them here on earth.
Time itself is witness to your royalty,
The land is overwhelmd by your bounty.
Creation itself is joy.

We lift our voices in praise of you, our God
And we join in the hymn of the world.
We sing counterpoint to the praise of your creatures,
crossing your land
We clap in syncopation to the heads of grain
moving in the wind.
We join in creation's praise
as it shouts and sings together for joy.

All praise and glory is yours, our God,
and we come to you
raising our voices in thanksgiving,
for our song has no end.

Kim Matthews

Devotional 10-24-08

Trees Planted by Streams of Water

Please read Psalm 1 and Matthew 22: 34-39

I can appreciate the image used to distinguish the righteous from the wicked, whose path leads to death. The righteous are like trees planted by streams of water. They are healthy, prosperous, and fruitful. Obviously, the streams of water represent God. Notice that the trees didn’t just end up by the stream; no, they were purposefully planted there, just as we are created intentionally to be in relationship with God.

If I could look at a graph of my spirituality, I would see peaks and valleys. Using the image of the tree, I can imagine that there are times when my roots are soaking in the water. I can look back at the most fruitful, healthiest, happiest times in my life and see clearly that those were times of intimacy with God—streams of living water. However, there have been times when I have experienced spiritual drought and feel like I could wither away. I can imagine that the roots are moving in the wrong direction, seeking nourishment from something else. On the surface, everything is fine; the tree is standing, and the stream certainly hasn’t moved. Underneath, something’s not right. Eventually, the tree will dry up and die.

The good news is that when we are planted near the stream, our roots go deep and become entwined with other trees whose strength and nourishment come from the same stream. We hold each other up, just as the community of the righteous—the body of Christ—support each other in times of trial.

Through nothing of my own doing, and I suppose you would call it God’s prevenient grace, I am a descendent of the righteous. My ancestors were planted by streams of water—Gnat’s Run in Ritchie County and Laurel Lick in Lewis County. They lived out the two great commandments, loving God and loving neighbor as self. A friend recently told me that his family didn’t suffer during the depression because they were already poor; they didn’t lose anything and they already had their support systems for taking care of each other. It echoed something my Grandpa Mitchell told me 35 years ago about raising his family of nine children including my mother in the thirties and forties: “We didn’t have much, but we sure had a helluva time.”

The example set for me by the psalmist and my grandparents is to stay connected to God and community. Jesus said it another way: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Dear God, thank you for streams of living water that never run dry and for the community of the righteousness. Fill us with water from the well that never runs dry so that we can bear fruit in our love for You and for our neighbors. Amen.

Jeff Taylor

Devotional 10-17-08

Harmony
Psalms 133

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers (and sisters) dwell in unity.”
RSV

As I write this devotional thought in October 2008, we are in the midst of the presidential campaign. In the tradition of being transparent, I must disclose that it is my intention to vote for Barack Obama. I share this fact to give you permission to disregard the rest of this devotional or to move on to the next devotional. I cannot get away from my naiveté, idealism, unrealistic, or deluded state that we as Christians should be able to live together in harmony. For me it is a central teaching of Jesus and one that he was willing to die for.

The political campaign and rhetoric make me sick. I find that it is very divisive and plays upon our fears. Our political process plays to the lowest common denominator. By and large the speeches and the advertisement play to our fear. Obama is a Muslim because his middle name is Hussein. Obama is an Arab because his middle name is Hussein. Obama can’t be trusted. All these misstatements were taken as the truth. It got so bad that at one point during the campaign McCain had to defend Obama as being a “decent” man.

I realize that politics is based on competition. I know that our culture and capitalism are based on competition. It is not a bad thing, but I worry about whether we use competition or if it uses us. I know that there were intense feelings when Obama beat out Clinton for the democratic presidential nomination. Yet I found it interesting to hear the speeches she and her husband gave at the convention and to observe them campaigning for Obama.

We are not going to have unity in our churches, states, or communities until we begin to understand and see the greater good. There is time when a stance I call the “mature adult stance” is appropriate. It is what I see in the Clintons out campaigning for Obama. I know that they have to wish that Hillary instead of Barack were the candidate. For the Clintons putting aside the personal disappointment and campaigning for Barack is an act of intimacy.

That is what makes Jesus so special. It is what makes him a role model for our culture. Instead of moving toward Jesus we appear to be moving away from him. Instead of reaching out to others who are different, we are putting more emphasis on being the same. As an articulate black man Barack Obama does not fit the image that many have projected on him. Jesus also had expectations projected onto him such as “Messiah”, “King” and “Lord”. As Christians we are called not be co-opted by our competitive society but rather hear the message of love and respond to others by seeing what they could be rather than what they are. I would like to see a presidential campaign or a public debate, which is focusing on an intense issue using that paradigm.

Rev. David Johnson

Devotional 4-11-08

Read Psalm 23 and John 10: 1-10

The Gatekeepers

In the gospel passage, Jesus uses a pastoral image to describe his leadership style. His audience was not unfamiliar with this imagery because they knew from Psalm 23 that “the Lord is my shepherd.”

Think about what it means to lead like a shepherd.

I imagine that a shepherd cares for the flock; tends them, feeds them, makes sure that all their needs are cared for. He uses his rod and staff to keep them together. If one of the sheep veers away, he can bring them back. The shepherd saves the sheep from danger. It was comforting to the psalmist and it is comforting to me to know that in the darkest of times, God cares for us. God cares.

But it is not all up to the shepherd; we have a responsibility, too. Jesus also talks about the gate. The shepherd enters by the gate, and the sheep know who he is by the sound of his voice. How does he get in the gate? The gatekeeper opens the door for him.

Who are the gatekeepers in your church? Who opens the door for Jesus, so that Jesus can come in by the gate and care for the flock? Do people hear Jesus in your church, and recognize him?

What are the ways you can be the gatekeeper, to open the door for Jesus?

Being the gatekeeper is an awesome responsibility. You can be the one who opens the door for Jesus. On the other hand, you can be the one who keeps him out.

Dear God: Help us to be graceful gatekeepers, who always open the door for Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Jeff Taylor

Devotional 10-19-07

The Heart of Worship

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.

Heart of Worship
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

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

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

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

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.

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