AS WE WALK THROUGH ADVENT

WE FOCUS ON THE LORD – and God’s plan. Throughout Advent we will see the most vital part of God’s plan come to life, with all the promise of hope it brings. Psalm 25 shows us how we can really focus ourselves on knowing God at a deeper level than we may have experienced before. “4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. 5 Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.” We wait for God all day long, not as if we were waiting for a bus, but as if we are in the presence of God already, and we wait to see how God will guide our thoughts and actions, learning what it means to walk with God every day, all day long. This is another way of practicing the presence of God. When we hold ourselves open to hear what God is say to us, we are walking with God. In Ephesians 5 Paul talks about how it was made real for him:
“be filled with the Holy Spirit, 19 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. 20 And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  In these two plus verses he sums up the love of God, who is made real to us in the trinity, and ways to celebrate that love in the way we live.

From the 12th century comes this familiar Advent hymn, with a less familiar verse.
O come, The Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel.

O loving God, who is there by our side, inside of us, guiding our thinking and our steps, we humbly ask for your eyes to help us see your intent for us. Take us on a journey of growing wisdom and enlightenment this Advent season. Help us prepare to receive Jesus in a new way, and expand our understanding of what you call us to do in your plan.   Amen.      PEACE

EAGERLY WAITING

FOR THE RETURN OF JESUS – as we begin the experience of advent. Each year as we approach the great festival of Christmas, we again contemplate all the events that led to the great joy that came to the children of earth. In Luke 21, Jesus talks about the prediction of the destruction of the temple, with wars and many deaths. Then he speaks of something very different:  25 “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves.  26 People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  27 Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory.  28 Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Once again, after destruction of the temple for the unfaithfulness of Israel, God holds out hope of redemption, a new way to walk with God.

Centuries before, God spoke words of hope for the people of Israel, after they were enslaved and taken to Babylon in exile, for their unfaithfulness. Through Jeremiah, Gods says:   14 “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.   15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.   16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

We are given an opportunity to examine our relationship with God, and our intent to be faithful. Are we working at it at all? Are we working on it alone, or are we walking each day with God at our side? What will God see of our faithfulness and love? God gives us the hope of the future, of our redemption from a life without God. At the beginning of a new church year, we are given hope for the future, to grow in our faith and love, and walk humbly with our God, to examine our life and chart a new course of living in love.    Loving God, who holds out hope, again and again to those who look for redemption. We look toward what we may experience this Advent, as you guide us through the season, looking toward the birth that will bring more hope to all. Help us re-examine our lives, and walk more often with you.   Amen.      PEACE

WE ARE CREATED WORTHY

BY THE GRACE IN WHICH WE WERE CREATED – by the unconditional love inherent in that grace. We do not become worthy by our own work or by doing a prescribed list of things set down by the church. By our very creation as children of God, we are worthy of receiving God’s unconditional love. If we sin, and start to put things between us and God, we only have to ask for forgiveness, and we are forgiven. Even in a state of sin, God still loves us. Through loving influence, God urges us back toward a full loving relationship with our creator God. There is no one else who will love all there is about us. Others will criticize first one thing and then other ways we have about us. Only God loves us unconditionally. This is only the beginning however. This gift from God is available to us – and all we have to do is say thank you, and then live in it, not by ourselves, but along with God, in a living relationship that can be a constant reminder and facilitator of the glorious work we are called to do.

In choosing the path we take, we need to be careful who we follow – God or those who say they speak for God, but only make rules for others to follow for their own purposes. Centuries ago there were people doing this. In Matthew 23 Jesus talked about those who proclaim the Law of Moses: “But their lives are not good examples for you to follow. They tell you to do things, but they don’t do those things themselves. 4 They make strict rules that are hard for people to obey. They try to force others to obey all their rules. But they themselves will not try to follow any of those rules.” Today we have many who, for their own purposes, set up rules to follow, and yet have no living relationship with God. It has been happening since the Law of Moses was given to the people. They took the Commandments of God, and went on making rules from those and interjected their own ideas. So that in the time where Jesus is saying this, there were so many rules and restrictions for those who were considered faithful, that no one could keep them all. They took all the time there was in a day and then some. We are called to move beyond a set of rules into a relationship with the Holy Spirit, and use the Bible as a pattern to learn from and grow beyond it into a life only God can help us imagine.    Loving God, who longs for us to walk each day of our lives together, we are grateful for the grace we are offered. We accept the love you supply us, and ask guidance to share it for the benefit of all your children, no matter who we meet. Help us reject all who would try to make us feel unworthy, for it is not the right of anyone but you, O God. We put our trust in knowing you consider all your children worthy of your love, and it gives us strength to follow where you will lead us.   Amen.      PEACE

 

HOW MAJESTIC IS GOD

WHO HAS CREATED ALL WE HAVE – and all of us as well. HAPPY THANKSGIVING ! Psalm 8 helps put in perspective the balance between Divine Majesty and Human Dignity. A Psalm of David.

1 O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established;
4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals[a] that you care for them?
5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet,
7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Our loving God, we are grateful beyond words for all creation and our relationship with you, every minute of every day. Guide us as we walk each day, doing what we need to do to love you and everyone around us, no matter where we go.   Amen.      PEACE

WHY BE GRATEFUL

TO GOD FOR OUR BLESSINGS? Those who love God are naturally inspired to express gratitude. It is a product of what happens when we become more aware of God and creation. Psalm 8 attempts to describe this phenomenon. “O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens. 2 You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you.” When we allow ourselves to be open to the wonders of the universe, we can’t stop expressing awe at the glory of God’s creation.

Researchers have shown that expressing gratitude actually has a biological effect on the parasympathic part of the nervous system resulting in both slowing and smoothing out the rhythm of the heart. Only God could conceive of this. Karen Krakower Kaplan says – “Gratitude is noticing the extraordinary in the ordinary. And then taking the nanosecond to feel it.” We can feel gratitude for creation and everything in it, as well as people in our lives. This Thanksgiving is a perfect opportunity to say thank you to someone who has done something you appreciate. We might say “thank you” for listening, for doing a job we can’t bring ourselves to do, or accomplishing something we perhaps thought just couldn’t be done. There are so many reasons to not just count our blessing, but to go further by extending a thank you to someone as an act of love.   Loving God, who has given us so much to express our gratitude for, help us see those around us who should have a thank you for what they contribute to the life of others around them. Guide us to be become more aware of what others do, and thank them on a regular basis with not only words, but in other ways of expressing our love for what they do, and are as loving people.   Amen.      PEACE

“Effects of Gratitude on the Body:
Researchers have found that when we think about someone or something we really appreciate and experience the feeling that goes with the thought, the parasympathetic — calming-branch of the autonomic nervous system — is triggered. This pattern when repeated bestows a protective effect on the heart. The electromagnetic heart patterns of volunteers tested become more coherent and ordered when they activate feelings of appreciation. There is evidence that when we practice bringing attention to what we appreciate in our lives, more positive emotions emerge, leading to beneficial alterations in heart rate variability. Neurobiologically, gratitude is nested within the social emotions, along with awe, wonder, “elevation” and pride. It can be both practiced and experienced. ~Submitted by: Dr. William B. Stewart to DailyGood.org”

COMMUNICATION WITH GOD

AND OTHERS IN OUR LIVES – is vital to a healthy and growing relationship with God and those we love. Since love is energy, when we stop it from flowing there are negative consequences. I am reading a book that portrays people who are so afraid of being hurt that they don’t tell each other what they are thinking and feeling. Since everyone in this story is behaving in this way, they take what others say and do in the wrong way and with suspicion of evil intent. Some of the things they do are in an attempt to do loving acts, but no one sees them that way or if they do, they are so locked into their way of living, they are unable to respond with genuine feeling. They are first and foremost attacking first out of self interest. And because they live this way, they are always disappointing one another. Because this is set in a small town, it is all the more damaging with the whole group and there is no one to break the cycle. Even though this is fiction, I know this really happens. I have lived near places where I could observe this going on. These insular communities do not trust outsiders, and different behavior is suspect. It exists in pockets in a lot of our communities and sadly in many churches, and occurs far more than we might wish it would.

Verse 2 of Ephesians 5 lays out the foundation of why we live a life of love, no matter the risks.  “2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.”  When the love we give to others comes from God, that is when we are thankful for all God has done and will do, we are able to live a powerful life of love. God will give us the courage to give love away, without expecting something in return. That kind of love others will know to be different. They may not be able to say that it is or understand why it is different. But because it is from God, others will want to pass it on. When we look at the state the world is in, we can see the result of what happens when love is blocked or withheld, on a large scale. Is that the kind of world we want to live in? We can each do our part to turn the situation around. Each small act of love builds on others, and soon there may be places where parts of a shield against evil start forming. A shield of love does not separate people like walls do, but it tends to enfold all who love. There are other properties of love that make it more powerful than evil and hate. It has the love and power of God behind it. When we can see our small acts of love as coming from God, and being part of a giant matrix God is building, we can more easily see how what we do is not insignificant, but helps builds something that can and will change the world. But we have to be willing to do our part.   Loving God, we are grateful for the great force of love you created through grace, and the sacrifice of your son Jesus. Help us to learn an attitude of loving all whom we meet, so your love in the world may grow. Help us practice generosity in everything we do, not withholding love anywhere. May we become part of your loving people, who have a transformed nature of love. May that love be a pleasing aroma for you.   Amen.      PEACE

DEVOTION TO GOD

WITHOUT A LIVING RELATIONSHIP – does not please God, and may even be dangerous and life-threatening. Our God loves all God’s children, and it does not require our suffering to prove it. To believe otherwise completely ignores and negates God’s grace. Over many centuries, the faulty idea has developed of beating the physical body to show obedience to God. Many religious orders have practiced this as part of their lives of sacrifice. The Missionaries of Charity, of which Mother Theresa was a part, lived lives of extreme deprivation in order to live like the poor they serve. They ate food too inferior to sell, and punished their bodies by flagellation, using multiple strands of knotted rope. They were taught to accept all they were told to do, as an act of obedience, but to an organization not God. The following is the testimony of Mary Johnson in her book An Unquenchable Thirst. She was a member of the order for twenty years, and describes Mother Theresa as “a remarkably dedicated, self-sacrificing person, but not one of the wisest women I’ve known. Both empowered and shackled by religious faith, Mother Teresa was generous and unreasonable, cheerful and never content, one of the world’s most recognized women and one of its loneliest and most secretive.” She seems to have taken the idea of the suffering of the poor to an extreme. Even though the order received huge donations, the money seems not to have been spent in alleviating the suffering of the dying, who came to her for merciful treatment, according to an article, referenced below, by Valerie Tarico, a psychologist and writer in Seattle, Washington and the founder of Wisdom Commons. She is the author of “Trusting Doubt: A Former Evangelical Looks at Old Beliefs in a New Light.”

Mother Teresa’s beliefs are indicative of a whole strain of Christianity that believes we can figure out what God wants us to do, but not ask for God’s input into our thinking and living. Romans 12 helps us understand this in a different light: “So then, my friends, because of God’s great mercy to us I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer. 2 Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God—what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.” The underlined portion is the real focus of this passage. This is not work we do. It is work God does within us. No amount of self-punishment will get us closer to God instead of simply asking God to accomplish this within us. God is the controlling partner in the relationship. God will guide and sustain us through any suffering God deems helpful. There will be great joy when we understand what God wants us to do. Suffering is the outcome of sin and selfishness, separation from God, not something God demands of us. The very reason to walk with God is to experience the love and peace God offers. True worship is a loving heart, focused on God, not the world.     Loving God, we are grateful for the relationship we are offered. Work within us to transform our lives through grace and love, so we may live out the call we hear from you.   Amen.      PEACE

http://www.alternet.org/belief/mother-theresas-masochism-does-religion-demand-suffering-keep-people-passive

WHEN WE CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY

WE OPEN THE DOOR TO GOD – for joy is a blessing and good things will continue. There is so much that is positive and joy filled in the world, that when we focus on the happy things, we are empowered to face the negative. We can be inspired to be happy by the words from Psalm 118: “Give thanks to the Lord, for God is good! God’s faithful love endures forever. … 5 In my distress I prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered me and set me free. 6 The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear. … 22 The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. 23 This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see. 24 This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.” When we live each day with God, there is much we can find to be happy about, and to see hope. Note the mention of the stone that Jesus later quoted, when he was referring to his part in God’s plan. Seeing Jesus’s role in God’s plan mentioned in the Psalms so long before it happened, is a reason for joy and hope.

When we are committed to loving, we are aware and feel the pain of those who suffer needlessly. But God has also brought great joy into the world, to give us a way to balance our lives. There are those who consider suffering to be a great act of obedience. Sister Theresa considered the suffering of the poor to be a message to the world. I think God calls us to alleviate suffering whenever possible. It is also important when we love to choose to be merciful and share joy. Why else would Jesus have given us so many statements about happiness. We hear in Matthew 5: 6 “Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires; God will satisfy them fully! 7 “Happy are those who are merciful to others; God will be merciful to them! 8 “Happy are the pure in heart; they will see God!” God guides our paths, and to choose deliberate needless suffering without mercy is not reflective of listening to God. We are given joy for a reason, and even when do not understand all of God’s plan, to reject joy is not loving God. Joy or happiness makes life bearable for those who are in despair, and when we share the happiness from God, we give the gift of hope. Joy offers comfort and gives strength. It is the light at the end of the tunnel. Since we do have the assurance of unconditional love from God’s grace and eternal salvation, why should be anything but happy?    Loving God who brings us joy through our tears, help us show joy filled love to others, especially those who suffer. Guide us to live in joy, to offer hope to those around us, who do not know you. Direct us in spreading joy and happiness, so others will want to know your love.    Amen.       PEACE

LOOKING AT HOW TO LOVE

FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES – gives us more ways to respond with love. We have been focusing on acts of love, as something that we do through God, and for others. From the perspective of physics, love is an energy that can be transmitted to others, and activated across distances. It is the scientific reason behind what we are able to do in love. It is all part of the way the universe works, and is evidence of the marvelous design behind creation. There is mystery in how it all works, since we don’t know why everything works in God’s realm. God has added the mystery so we will need to add the element of faith, as we trust God to accomplish what we are called to do. Yesterday, we heard about how Alison Miller’s sense of the place she was in on a train was changed by God’s energy coming into her heart and mind, and dispelling her fears while she realized she actually could listen to this young man in need. The sense of being wrapped in protective light gave her the assurance that she could do what she knew she should, because God was there with her in the light.

Whenever we are called by God to do something, God is giving us what we need to accomplish it. If and when we submit or surrender to God, we will receive the energy needed to do it. It will be powered by actual energy that exists here on earth. We never know where or who it will come from, until we commit ourselves to God. This is the sad part about all who think they are doing something for God. We may think we are doing good, but until we feel something that we cannot account for any other way has been added to our effort, we have not put ourselves at God’s disposal without reservation. This is NOT MAGIC, but it is the mystery of the way God works in our world. We don’t need to understand how it happens, but only know that it does, and in faith proceed to do God’s work. Believing that God will bring energy to the situation gives us hope and assurance for the outcome being what God has designed. Even in prayer, we are asking God to move love, i.e. energy from us to some other person or situation. That energy has power, and again gives us the hope of our prayers having a changing affect on the intended destination. As we become more involved and committed, we will know many ways God uses to add energy to the tools we will use for God’s work.   Loving God, we are grateful for the many ways you use the resources of creation, like energy to empower the work you have us do. Help us open to the ways you show us this energy and dispel the fear we might feel, that might block our action for you. Guide our action in the hope you give us.   Amen.      PEACE

RESPONDING TO GOD

RESPONDING TO GOD
WITH LOVE IS NOT EASY – but it can be done when we work with God to do it. God calls us to respond in love, but we are not meant to respond in our own strength. When we faithfully keep looking to God for what it takes to do the job, we will be given what we need to complete the job, or do our part in the completion. But we may get overwhelmed with all there is in the world that needs fixing, especially if we are not in touch with God and what God needs us to do in particular. Until we open ourselves to hearing where God is leading us, we will be full of fear and paralyzed by overwhelming need. Or we can choose to be open to being led by God, and do something we never knew we could accomplish. Alison Miller, who writes a blog at tinybuddha.com, tells a story of how she was led by God to listen to someone in great distress. After first reacting in fear, she then felt God calling her to listen to this person in need. “I imagined my heart as a beacon of light overflowing kindness, humility, and tenderness. Next, I envisioned light wrapping our seats, creating a safe cocoon for healing. I chose to let him share freely and I shared ideas and advice only if it felt right.” After a long conversation on the train that day, the young man felt transformed, and ready to begin his life again, on a new path. “You’re the first person who has ever really listened to me. I feel like I matter again.”

As we begin each day, we may be continuing in something God has already called us to do, or we might be called to something God has been planning for us. We might even be asked to do something simple like pray for someone in need. If a person comes into our head, just pray for God’s love to be felt by them, and for whatever else God wants for them. We pray for God’s will to be done, not ours. The story of a longer term concern and project of love came to my attention through a friend. A church near her has some members who have had great concern for all the movement of humans from their homelands because of war and brutality. They decided to sponsor one family. This will not make a huge difference in the refugee problem, but it is on a scale that they can accomplish, and it will be the world of difference to one family who will again have a home, and in an atmosphere of peace, with love and support. Their pastor Rev David Shaw, wrote in his blog: “our faith is made manifest in our response to one family. It is a faith born out of the belief that we are called to act rather than merely speak. We are called to love rather than speak of love.” “O my God, I love you above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because you are all good and worthy of all my love. I love my neighbor as myself for the love of you. I forgive all who have injured me and I ask pardon of all whom I have injured.” Amen. PEACE

Today’s prayer from the website “Acts of Love” http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=102

https://revdavidshaw.wordpress.com/2015/11/18/tomorrow-theyll-be-here/