GOD NEEDS US TOGETHER

GOD NEEDS US TOGETHER
TO BE ACTIVELY ENGAGED – in the transformation of our world. There was a time when Christians and the institutional church believed human progress was inevitable. It was also an unspoken conclusion that since this was going to happen anyway, God’s people weren’t really needed to do much about it since God would make it happen. It is just one of many times when we have gotten everything wrong and lost the vision of God’s plan, letting go of our calling to be an active part in what God is doing in the world. Dr. Martin Luther King helped to remind us, “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle and the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”

Scripture speaks in many ways about God’s plans, from the very creation of the universe, to the plans God speaks about through Jeremiah, and the description in Proverbs 16,   9 “The human mind plans the way, but the Lord directs the steps.” God has a vision of what God is working out through history and the lives of we who love the Lord. We as individuals with the freedom to choose to love and serve God are invited to be a part of what progress God makes in the world. It will not be easy or without pain. We have a promise from God. In the words of Jesus, John 14 begins, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.”  Then in verse 15, Jesus shows us the relationship with the Trinity: 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father and God will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees God nor knows God. You know God because God abides with you and God will be in you.”  This is the structure of our relationship, and our place in the working out of God’s plan. We are called to a part of God’s plan, comforted and guided on each step. Through all the suffering and even uncertainty, we will have an advocate with us. We are not alone in anything. Is it any wonder how those like Dr. Martin Luther King and others who have done the work of God have succeeded, when God was at their side through it all. On this eve of All Saints’ Day, let us give thanks for all those who have gone before us, following God’s plan with guidance and trust.  O God of vision, we are grateful to be invited as a part of the plan for the kingdom. Thank you for the Holy Spirit, our advocate, guide and comforter, who is always there to show us the way to succeed in what you need us to do. Make our path straight and the vision vivid of what we should do, so we may show our love.  Amen.      PEACE

SUPPORT ONE ANOTHER

SUPPORT ONE ANOTHER
IN THE WORK – of love and grace, as imitators of the Lord. Even when we have a close relationship with our God, the work of love is not always easy. We don’t need to expect it will always be like that. Sometimes it is so rewarding and joyful that we may forget we have had to be very dedicated in ignoring the world around us and walking with God in order that a particular thing may happen. Knowing how hard it can be and knowing just how vital it is to love others for God’s sake, we need to encourage each other whenever we see an opportunity. It was important enough to Paul, that he specifically told the people in the church at Thessalonica to do just that.  “10 Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever.  11 So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.”  I recently heard of someone who passed over, who had lived his life in grace and love and showed that to others. It is not the first time that I realized I counted him among those I think of in gratitude because they are doing this every day they live. Then God gave me an amazing experience. I have a friend who is gifted in channeling. I started telling her about this man and before I could tell her how gentle and loving he was, she was telling me he was in our midst. He had died suddenly and was having a hard time, feeling that his life hadn’t counted for much. Then I found myself expressing what I knew of the impact he had had on others during his life. As a Christian, this mattered to him.

We so rarely think to tell others of the profound impact they may have on us and how they may influence how we live. I know this man was an encouragement to me because I knew he and others were in the world and living quiet but loving lives of grace from God. So I ended up telling him what friends had said in the comments with his obituary and on his Facebook page. My friend channeled his tears of gratitude. I have learned from this, that we need to be more open in giving others more encouragement, especially to those we know who are living out the love and grace from God. In the Third Letter of John, an early church leader writes this in gratitude to someone named Gaius, for his way of loving others.   5 “Dear friend, you are being faithful to God when you care for the traveling teachers who pass through, even though they are strangers to you. 6 They have told the church here of your loving friendship. Please continue providing for such teachers in a manner that pleases God.”   Loving and generous God, we are grateful for the ways in which you support us in living a life of love, for you and others around us. Help us express love and gratitude to those who are also living out your love, encouraging them and giving them a measure of strength to continue in this path. Help us all understand how much it matters that we do this for you and those who love you.  In Christ’s name, who showed us how, we pray this.  Amen.    PEACE

LIVING IN A DIFFERENT WORLD

LIVING IN A DIFFERENT WORLD –
WHERE DIFFERENT RULES FROM GOD – has more effect than the world’s laws. We hear in Romans 8, about a different way of looking at the world, and our living in it.   ”There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.”

We have been given this indescribable gift from God, and THEN we were also created with the freedom to choose. This means we can choose to see life through this lens of a world God has created, and seeing it this way – we can then actually live as if it were true. Do we believe we can do that?  Most of us, even if we call ourselves Christian allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the realities of the world around us and forget we have been given a new reality – if we choose to accept it. With the work of God’s grace within us, our belief of what can be our reality can change. God is waiting for us to ask for the help we will need to actually achieve this new perspective. God will make it so if we allow for it and ask for it to become so. This is NOT a mind game. When we choose to live in the new reality God offers, it can become our reality too. It doesn’t mean the “real world” will disappear. However, it will become less influential and have less power over us. This is a part of what can happen when we say yes to God and open ourselves to letting God show us a different, better way to live.  Loving and transforming God, we are willing to consider the difference your love and Spirit can make in the world. Show us how to begin walking that new path toward a world you are making new every day. Give us a vision of what that world could look like, and show us how to get involved in helping it happen.  Amen.     PEACE

Photo by Elizabeth Lewis Rennig

GOD’S WORK

GOD’S WORK
AND OUR WORK – are related and yet very different. The extent to which we understand this difference will greatly impact how happy and successful we are. God’s work is not anything we can do, even when we think we can do it. There are many parts of life we are not able to control because they are the work of God. It is an exercise in frustration to keep attempting these activities. If we rely on our relationship with God and use prayer to ask for our needs and direction, then we may be a part of great deeds. When we have the sense that something good has been accomplished, it is because God’s grace was working in us. 1 Peter 4 helps us see this.  “Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!”

The late Eugene Peterson, a pastor, professor, writer and Bible translator, author of “The Message” had this to share in his book noted below.   “I will not try to run my own life or the lives of others; that is God’s business, I will not pretend to invent the meaning of the universe; I will accept what God has shown its meaning to be; I will not strut about demanding that I be treated as the center of my family or my neighborhood or my work, but seek to discover where I fit and do what I am good at. The soul, clamoring for attention and arrogantly parading its importance, is calmed and quieted so that it can be itself, truly.” – A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society by Eugene Peterson   The work of God within us does things for us we don’t even know we need. It is folly to pretend we know enough to live without God’s guidance and gracious love.  All loving and gracious God, we are humbled by what we don’t know. Show us the way we need to live to do what we are gifted to do. Help us spread love to those you show, who are waiting for that love. Lead us in the direction you need us to walk.  Amen.     PEACE

NOTHING, NO NOTHING

NOTHING, NO NOTHING
CAN EVER SEPARATE US – from the love of God. Well yes, there is one thing – we can. The Bible translation “The Voice” gives us the promise this way –  37 In everything we have won more than a victory because of Christ who loves us. 38 I am sure that nothing can separate us from God’s love—not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future, 39 and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!  Throughout Romans 8, as we have seen in the past several days, Paul does not sugar coat the proposition of living in God and walking on the path God gives us. Then he finishes the chapter in the same way. He states it blatantly. There is no excuse we could ever come up with to come between us and God’s love for us – except us !!!

Our choices are the biggest obstacle we face. Because of the way we make choices, we can create a mountain too high to scale or a gully too big to cross. With our head down to avoid the dangers out there, we can go so far from the path God shows us that we lose sight of the life we could be living, where love and joy are a part of everything. Instead, we can begin to only see the difficult and ugly sides of life. We may forget that there are other choices we can make. Some of us may never have heard that there is another kind of life. When the storms of life are all around, it may become hard to see through the gloom to the brightness of God’s unconditional love for us. No matter what we have been through in the past, there is always the light that Christ has shown the world and continues to shine down on us. Christ is at God’s right hand, speaking forgiving words of love, without blame. If we choose to accept it, we can walk into the light of Christ’s love and receive forgiveness already paid for, at the price of his death on a cross, and then the unending love for us. So what about the life I have lived in the past? God’s love for us overcomes ANYTHING we have lived out and it will not matter. There is no roadblock we can think of to prevent us from the love God has for each of us. There is no excuse we can conceive of that will keep us from that great and powerful love. God says COME.   O God, we are grateful for the immense love you have given us. From the beginning, you have always loved us and it is humbling to us. Teach us how to accept it and sweep away the resistance and fear we have. Help us learn to walk with confidence in the strength we gain through this unconditional love. May we grow in the ability to love others through your grace.  Amen.       PEACE

ALWAYS PRAYING

ALWAYS PRAYING
EVEN WHEN WE HAVE NO WORDS – is a gift of the Holy Spirit. The world through countless centuries has given us the idea that we need words to pray. And not only words but if we have just the right words to say to God, all will be made right. This idea could not be further from the truth. In fact, if we consider what this idea of the right words is saying, we would be praying to a God who has no love for us unless we come up with the right words. This is NOT a God of love and mercy and there is no need to think of this coming between us and God. Instead, we have a creator who has conceived us from great love, a redeemer who has transformed any sinful nature, and a Holy Spirit who knows our joys and sorrows from the inside. Romans 8 helps us understand and acknowledge something we instinctively know in our hearts, when we allow ourselves.  26  “The Spirit comes to help us in our weakness. For we don’t know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit expresses our plea with groanings too deep for words.  27 And God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what the Spirit is saying because the intercessions for God’s holy people are made according to the mind of God.”  

Even in our deepest despair God is within us and knows what we are going through. Words are not necessary to express it all to our God because of the very fact that the Spirit abides in us and is suffering with us whatever we are suffering. When we allow ourselves to know this secret, it breaks down our walls of resistance to letting God work in us and helps us overcome all the problems we are struggling with. We are not facing anything alone because the Holy Spirit is in us and by our side, ready to help us figure out the solutions. The words will come to us so that we can begin to understand what we are going through. The words make things clearer for us. However, they are not needed for God to know what is in our hearts and minds. God already knows us. The pretense of showing God that we know the right words to pray is both silly and unnecessary.   Loving God, who is within our hearts, help us know what that means. Help us understand that we are loved by you, even when we are not doing or thinking what we should. Help us turn from those other paths and find our true selves within ourselves. Show us the light on the path to follow where you want us to walk. We pray, resting in the one who lived that path before us.   Amen.      PEACE

THERE ARE DREAMS AND HOPES

THERE ARE DREAMS AND HOPES
FOR THE TIME – when creation will be made new, and all that God has envisioned will be here. A sweet dream indeed, that is hard for many of us to believe, in light of the conditions in the world today. We know there is too much suffering, more than we would choose, and for many who do not deserve it. So it sometimes makes it hard to have hope for a better world, where there is at least less suffering. No one likes suffering, and it is hard to see others suffer, especially if they have done nothing wrong. It is even hard to go through suffering and realize we have actually learned something and grown from the experience. We are living in an imperfect world, where the brokenness seems to cause suffering. God is not immune to what we suffer and promises to go with us through it all. God is there in the midst of it all, whether we are aware of that or not. From this passage in Romans 8, we can understand some of how this suffering might happen and the hope that follows.

18 “We have sufferings now, but these are nothing compared to the great glory that will be given to us. 19 Everything that God made is waiting with excitement for the time when God will show the world who God’s children are. The whole world wants very much for that to happen. 20 Everything God made was allowed to become like something that cannot fulfill its purpose. That was not its choice, but God made it happen with this hope in view: 21 That the creation would be made free from ruin, that everything God made would have the same freedom and glory that belong to God’s children.” In the midst of all the suffering, God still is with us and is urging us on through the suffering with the promise that in the end, all creation will become what it was created to be. Creation itself is poised to be even greater than it is now because God has a plan in mind. When this comes to be, everything that is less than it should be will be revealed in all its glory, as God has intended it from the beginning.  Creator God, who has made everything with love, help us see this vision of what will be. Give us a new view of what your love and glory will bring to the world, transforming all suffering into glorious versions of creation. Show us how to use the gifts you have given to us to support the work you are doing, that we may be a part of this work of renewal, into glory.  Amen.     PEACE

CHOSEN OF GOD

CHOSEN OF GOD
AND THE CHOICE WE MAKE – is the turning point for us all. God has already chosen us as children by creating us. As children given free will, we can also choose the path we will walk. The number of choices we have available to us makes our heads spin, and yet once we choose God, it is the best choice we could make. God created us and we are not completely whole until we also choose God. We already have all the love God makes available to us. However, until we choose God, we will not be able to see and feel that love fully and completely. We have gifts from God available to us and yet we may not know we have them or we may not be able to make full use of them. Until we actually plug ourselves into God, as we might plug an appliance or tool in an electrical outlet, we will not be able to access fully the life God has provided for us. We can know joy, but until we accept the invitation to follow the life of the Spirit, as inspired by Jesus in Romans 8, we will wander, and be slaves to lives unworthy of the life we were created to live. 14 “The true children of God are those who let God’s Spirit lead them.15 The Spirit that we received is not a spirit that makes us slaves again and causes us to fear. The Spirit that we have makes us God’s chosen children. And with that Spirit, we cry out, “ Abba.” 16 And the Spirit speaks to our spirits and makes us sure that we are God’s children. 17 If we are God’s children, we will get the blessings God has for God’s people.  God will give us all that God has given Christ.” 

God is our spiritual home. It is like coming to a place, where we will always be welcomed and never turned away for any reason. We will be given the exact food we need and at just the right moment. It will be delicious and we will know loving hands prepared it just for us. This food will be nourishing and satisfying, giving us all that we need to do whatever we face. We will wear clothing that imbues us with safety and love, giving us comfort and preparing us for rest to come. Then will come refreshing rest and an understanding ear. We will face no condemnation for anything we have done but will be received with open arms, forgiving us of all. When the morning comes, we will be set on the path we need to follow, so that we arrive at the place where we need to be, and be accompanied along the way, by love and grace. We will do what we need to do during the day, in a place full of blessings, as we are directed, and given loving options and ways to use our gifts, making our accomplishments sweeter and the results will be objects of love and beauty. When we have faithfully completed our day, we will again return home, with the blessings that go with us, and more that awaits us there. Finally, we will know others who are walking this same path, and we will encourage them as they encourage us. The ugliness of the world will still be around us, but we will have all these blessings from God to help us deal with it.  Loving God, we are grateful for the love you provide us – love that goes before us, and is behind us, is to the left and right, and is inside us; love that helps us love others, and gives us strength when we need it; love that helps us forgive, and let go of our anger; love that moves us to do what we have never done before and what we need to do every day. Help us share this awesome love with all we encounter and all we don’t know so we may be a vital part of your transforming of the world.    Amen.       PEACE

TAKING A NEW PATH

TAKING A NEW PATH
HELPS US SEE – a different world, through new eyes. Praying for new direction guided by the Holy Spirit will actually change how we look at things and what we actually see when we do look. How can this happen and will it feel weird? This is not a decision we are playing around with. If we are able to make a mature decision that we need to leave our old and unproductive life behind, then whether it is weird or not will not be a concern. When we take this step into a new way of living, we have to turn our backs on the ways we used to react to the world. God will teach us new ways of responding. The world presents us with an environment that is focused on the physical, something that God has created to be temporary for us. Our physical bodies are a convenient way of being here on earth. They are not a permanent part of us. So then, it makes no sense to focus on the physical as most important. Our spiritual self is what God has created in us to be eternal and is therefore much more important and central to who we really are.

Romans 8 rather bluntly gives us a clearer perspective on what is most important. “ If you live your life animated by the Spirit—namely, God’s indwelling presence—then your focus is on the work of the Spirit. 6 A mind focused on the flesh is doomed to death, but a mind focused on the Spirit will find full life and complete peace. 7 You see, a mind focused on the flesh is declaring war against God; it defies the authority of God’s law and is incapable of following God’s path. 8 So it is clear that God takes no pleasure in those who live oriented to the flesh. 9 You do not live in the flesh. You live in the Spirit … the Spirit of God lives inside of you.” When we pray to God and invite God to direct us in living a Spirit-rich life, it will begin to happen. Pay attention to how it will affect our thinking and being. The power of the Spirit unleashed within us is exciting, like no drugs and alcohol could ever be, and things will begin to change. If we are not living a more exciting life, having opened to God’s Holy Spirit living within us, then we are putting on the brakes. This is from fear of what may happen and it is not necessary. God is also gentle and loving with us in the way we will be taught how to live this different life. We will not be dropped into the deep end of the pool and left to flounder. 11 “If the Spirit of the One who resurrected Jesus from the dead lives inside of you, then you can be sure that God who raised Him will cast the light of life into your mortal bodies through the life-giving power of the Spirit residing in you.”    That light shines in the darkness and overcomes it and our fears along with it. We are able to do this when we hold onto the fact that God loves us unconditionally and will do what we need to support us when we ask.   Holy and loving God, we are ready to be surprised by a new life lived out with the Holy Spirit. Help our fear and give us new eyes, to see the way you see others and your creation. Give us new directions for the path you are giving us. Help us see this exciting new world.  Amen.     PEACE

LOVING GOD

LOVING GOD
MEANS PUTTING GOD FIRST – each day. Loving God with our whole hearts, body, mind and spirit is a matter of intention. Jesus provided this direction for us.  “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’  38 This is the first and greatest commandment.”  Putting God first means thinking of God first. How are we to actually do this in practice? Here are some suggested ways of how this might become an integral part of our lives. Begin our day by thinking of God first. Then consider the coming day and how we might meet the challenges or goals in different ways, seeking insight from God and praying for guidance as we begin. Many of us are inclined to proceed in routine tasks and only pray for help, when and only when we run into trouble. However, when we pray before we engage in all the activities of our day, we are guided around mistakes and still learn to do each job in a better and more effective way. Developing this routine as a habit will strengthen our ties to God, and show our love and honor for God in our lives. First thing in the morning, before we are pulled into life, is the best time to begin to develop this habit. “Be still and know that I am God,”  from Psalm 46 may inherently suggest it.

As Madeleine L’Engle, the author of Walking on Water says, “We live by revelation, as Christians…” and goes further to caution us, “we must be careful never to get set into rigid molds.” In other words, as we live each day, we need to keep up the connection to God, living with God, not with the patterns we think God wants us to have. Once we start second-guessing what God would have us do, we have lost contact and are off the road we are to travel. Various things can push us off that road, fear or distraction, evil influences or lack of focus. It takes only simple prayer to get us back on the road and into communication again. “We fail in the work of grace and love when there is too much of us and not enough of God.” ― Suzanne Woods Fisher, The Search  It is important to keep reminding ourselves that the work of grace and love is not first what we do. It is what we let God do in us. Only then are we empowered by God to pass on the love and grace we are given each day, just like the manna God gave. Transforming God, we are grateful for your constant and unconditional love for each of us. Help us develop the lines of communication you already have in place, to guide us in our living. Show us how we may best love you and live our lives for you, with honor and embodied devotion.  Amen.      PEACE