Daily Scripture
Leviticus 19:(RY: vi, LY: iv) 33 “‘If a foreigner stays with you in your land, do not do him wrong. 34 Rather, treat the foreigner staying with you like the native-born among you — you are to love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt; I am Adonai your God.
Matthew 25:35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you made me your guest,
Prayer Tip:In my time living in the Northeast neighborhood of Kansas City, I learned an incredible amount about politics. In the conversations I had with others, I noticed that many of my homeless friends worried less about appearing self-important and more about being frank. My ignorance had led me to believe that when you are living on the streets you don’t have time to become educated about the challenges our country faces. Instead, I found that so many of my homeless friends read the newspaper more regularly than I did. They felt the effects of changes in city ordinances that I never even knew existed. They spent time thinking about practical solutions for their local community, not in abstract debates. Sure, some people might have found their solutions simplistic or idealistic, but they had vision and hope. There was a common-sense, no-nonsense way that they spoke about basic human rights that was rooted in justice and love.
Those dealing with homelessness aren’t the only ones who are relatively “voiceless” in the big debates. There are many more. As Christians, how can we be people who get to know the voices of the “voiceless” and who seek to let these voices shape our politics?
This week, my prayer challenge is for you to reflect on Psalm 34:18[Psalm 34:
18 (17) [The righteous] cried out, and Adonai heard,
and he saved them from all their troubles.
]. If you’re so inclined, click here to open a page on which you can color the verse. As you color, think of, and pray for those voices that you might not have allowed yourself to hear in the past. Pray for the “voiceless.” Ask God how giving voice to their voices might make the world look more like the Kingdom of God.[Katherine Ebling-Frazier, Pastor of Prayer]---------------------
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January 17, 2016 The Issues that Divide: Building Bridges, Tearing Down Walls
“Immigrants, Refugees and the Bible”
Scripture: “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”[Leviticus 19:33-34]
[Then the Son of Man said to the righteous], “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”[Matthew 25:35]
God’s people: immigrants on God’s earth
MONDAY 1.18.16 Leviticus 25:23, 1 Peter 2:9-11
Borders and laws in Bible times were very different from today. We cannot expect to find specific policies or laws in Scripture to deal with our often divisive refugee and immigration issues. We do, however, find Biblical principles that point to the spirit and attitude in which God calls us to examine these issues. Today’s readings, from very different time periods and situations, both said God sees all of us not as “owners” but as immigrants on God’s land.
• Leviticus 25 underscored one of Israel’s basic beliefs: God was the true owner of all of the land, of all the earth (cf. Psalm 24:1). So, strikingly, the law told all Israelites that they were
“immigrants and foreign guests” on God’s land. In what ways can seeing yourself as an immigrant on God’s land, a steward using someone else’s property, shape your inward and outward responses to all your fellow “immigrants”?
• 1 Peter 2:11 used the Greek words paroikos (“immigrants”) and parepidēmos (strangers). Both words referred to temporary residents of some place, people whose home was elsewhere. What is the “holy nation” (verse 9) of which Peter said God’s followers are truly
citizens? In what ways and to what extent do you think of God’s eternal kingdom as your true home, one that makes you a temporary resident of this earth?
Prayer: Lord God, some days I really love living right here. Some days I’m so homesick for your eternal kingdom, my true homeland. Keep drawing my heart homeward to you. Amen.
The responsibility of the powerful
TUESDAY 1.19.16 Proverbs 31:8-9
Proverbs 31 recorded the words of “King Lemuel” (who is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible). In verse 1 he said his mother taught him these words. In verses 4-5, he said it was important for kings to avoid drunkenness because otherwise they might “forget the law and violate the rights of the needy.” The two verses in today’s reading summarized the Bible’s wisdom about one key responsibility of anyone in a position of power and influence.
• The late David A. Hubbard, former president of Fuller Theological Seminary, commented on Proverbs 31:8-9: “The perspective on the role of the monarch is remarkable. Not a word about amassing military might, negotiating shrewdly with foreign emissaries, or garnering
economic advantage through trade agreements. The whole passage focuses royal responsibility on the need to ‘judge righteously’ and ‘plead’ ardently for ‘the cause of the poor and needy.’ Equity, not aggrandizement is the first duty of leadership.”* Are you more
inclined to see the kind of leadership this passage describes as “wise” or “weak”? How can its values shape the way you carry out any of your leadership roles in your family, church, workplace or community?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, the Kingdom you proclaimed, and over which you reign, was also not about might or wealth. Keep implanting your values in my heart, that I may represent you well in my world. Amen.
* David A. Hubbard, The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 15: Proverbs (Waco, TX: Word Publishing Company, 1989), p. 489.
What God expects
WEDNESDAY 1.20.16 Psalm 82:1-4
In this psalm, the entire heavenly council heard a basic principle of God’s rule (also spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 25:35): to ensure justice and rescue for “the lowly and the needy.” Some Israelite writing drew from images common in the nations around them, like the image of a heavenly council of the gods. Israelites, however, saw the one true God as presiding, with angels or heavenly spirits as the other participants (cf. also Job 1:6).
• Psalm 82 represented a whole strand of Israelite worship. For example, Psalm 146:9 sang the praises of “The Lord: who protects immigrants, who helps orphans and widows.” But God usually acts through people, through us, to accomplish the divine purposes. In what ways, big or small, can you be a partner with God in carrying out God’s wishes on earth?
• One key part of our heritage as Methodists came from John Wesley’s stress on holding together the “evangelical gospel” (the good news of salvation as God’s gift, received by faith) with the “social gospel” (the good news that God actively seeks justice and help,
particularly for the weak and powerless). When in your life have you needed spiritual salvation? When (if ever) have you felt powerless, and needed justice or help?
Prayer: Lord God, it’s wonderful that, with a whole universe to run, you care about each person, particularly when we are hurting or helpless. Use me as one of your instruments to bring justice to your world. Amen.
Remember when you were the oppressed
THURSDAY 1.21.16 Exodus 22:21, 23:6-9
The Israelite law didn’t deal just with the behaviors of fairness to the poor and helpless, including immigrants. It also directed the people toward a basic motivation for being fair. Even when they lived in the Promised Land, they should remember that they had not always been in that relatively powerful position. The fact that they had been oppressed immigrants in Egypt was always to encourage empathy in how they treated others.
• Do an inventory of your personal history. Have you always felt relatively safe, well off, and comfortable with your place in the world? What have been the hardest, most vulnerable times financially, emotionally or physically) you have lived through? How does your life experience affect the ways you think about others who are facing hardships?
• Even with the dangers we hear about in the news, the United States is quite clearly the most powerful nation on earth. But many of the country’s first settlers were people fleeing persecution or oppression. In the late 1800s, poet Emma Lazarus, herself a descendant of Sephardic Jewish immigrants, expressed the meaning of the Statue of Liberty, writing:
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”* What value might it have for us, like Israel, to remember our origins as we choose ways to use our strength in dealing with other nations, and with people fleeing poverty or persecution?
Prayer: O God, I find it challenging that you didn’t tell Israel, “Once you get strong, forget all about the bad times.” Grow in me a capacity for empathy, as I remember the common humanity all your children share. Amen.
* To read the entire text of Lazarus’ powerful poem, click here.
“The great, mighty, and awesome God… doesn’t play favorites”
FRIDAY 1.22.16 Leviticus 19:33-34, Deuteronomy 10:14-19
God does not dispense fairness to human beings in a cold, emotionless way. Both of these passages called on Israelites to treat the outsiders and the weak among them with justice
because they loved them. And Deuteronomy 10:15, 18 grounded that call in the conviction that God loved those people. (Remember: in the Bible, love is more than a warm and fuzzy feeling. It is a choice to act for the good of the person or people loved.)
• Leviticus 19 contained the verse Jesus called one of the “great commandments: “You must love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18; cf. Mark 12:28-31). Verse 34 echoed that
with specific reference to non-Israelites living in the land. What has helped you learn that loving others does not mean hating yourself, that in fact it is impossible over the long haul to love anyone else better than you love and care for yourself?
• Deuteronomy 10:17 nearly bursts with praise: “The Lord your God is the God of all gods and Lord of all lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God who doesn’t play favorites.” Most of the pagan “gods” that Canaanites, Greeks and Romans worshipped did play favorites. Do you find it cause for exuberant praise that the God of Scripture doesn’t play favorites? Why or why not?
Prayer: Lord God, I’d like to think that I’m better than, well, almost anyone else, that I deserve to be your favorite. But once in a while, I take an honest look in the mirror—and then I’m so
thankful you don’t play favorites, that you love me “warts and all.” Amen.
God’s people, “looking for a better country”
SATURDAY 1.23.16 Hebrews 11:13-16
Hebrews pointed out that Abraham didn’t see himself as a citizen of Ur, nor of Palestine. He was “looking forward to a city… whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:8-11). As his spiritual descendants (cf. Galatians 3:29), all of us, too, are “immigrants on earth,” looking for a heavenly homeland. Scripture repeatedly called us to be the best possible citizens of the earthly places where we live (cf. Matthew 22:15-21, Romans 13:1-3, 1 Peter 2:12-15). But at
the same time, belonging to God’s kingdom means that our ultimate allegiance is not to any earthly country or ruler, but to God’s kingdom and its principles.
• If we actually make the (often invisible) Kingdom of God our central allegiance, at times we may look a little strange. Many people want our loyalty to our company, our party or our earthly country to be the central force driving our lives. The same was true in Abraham’s day, and when Hebrews was written in an emperor-worshipping Empire. That may be why the writer included the reassuring words: “God isn’t ashamed to be called their God.” How
much of a struggle is it for you to commit to living as a “stranger and immigrant” in this world, with your choices (including political ones) ultimately driven by “otherworldly” values? God isn’t ashamed to be called your God. How high a value do you place on that?
Prayer: Lord God, thank you for the awe-inspiring promise that you have prepared “a city” for your people. Guide me as I keep learning what it means to give you and your kingdom my ultimate allegiance. Amen.
Family Activity: Jesus shared God’s love with others, particularly those who were lonely, ill or in need, in many ways. How does your family work together to share God’s love with those who are “outsiders?” Choose a way to serve others together. Ask an older child or youth to research some volunteer opportunities in your area. He or she could explore the church web site (www.cor.org/missions) for ministries in which your family can participate. Brainstorm about less-structured ways you can serve others with God’s love, such as helping others in your neighborhood or at school. At a family gathering, ask the child or youth to present these opportunities to the rest of the family. Ask God’s guidance as you discuss the possibilities.
Choose one or two ways your family can share God’s love with others.
Prayer Requests
Prayers for Peace & Comfort for:
•Donna Ramel and family following the death of her grandson, Calvin James Long, 12/2
•Gina Martinez and family following the death of family member, Gustavo Martinez, 12/23
•Don and Revelyn Alpaugh and family following the death of their son, Lance Alpaugh, 12/30
• Lina Wilson and family following the death of her sister, Rebecca Lynn "Becky" Hartman, 1/4
•Dawn Walters and family following the death of her mother, Virginia Burgman, 1/5
• Julie Knittle and family following the death of her father, James R. Bocell, 1/5
•Bill Billings and family following the death of his mother, Pauline Billings, 1/5
• Lou Travalent and family following the death of his mother, Agnes Travalent, 1/5
•Rich Bono and family following the death of his mother, Sara Kateryn Bono, 1/7
•Tom Taylor and family following the death of family member, Rex Burden,1/8
• Jenn Jessup and family following the death of her mother, Marilyn Grauer, 1/9
•Deb Prather and family following the death of her father, Ronald Dixon, 1/10
•Rod Lambie and family following the death of his father, Rod Lambie, 1/12
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The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120
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