The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Sunday, 07 February 2016 – "Prayer Tip: Christianity and Guns" Daily Scripture Psalm 20:7: 7 (6) Now I know that Adonai gives victory to his anointed one — he will answer him from his holy heaven with mighty victories by his right hand. Isaiah 2:3-5: 3 Many peoples will go and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Adonai, to the house of the God of Ya‘akov! He will teach us about his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For out of Tziyon will go forth Torah, the word of Adonai from Yerushalayim. 4 He will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples. Then they will hammer their swords into plow-blades and their spears into pruning-knives; nations will not raise swords at each other, and they will no longer learn war. 5 Descendants of Ya‘akov, come! Let’s live in the light of Adonai!Matthew 26:51-52: Suddenly, one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” Prayer Tip: I think no matter where you fall on the spectrum of the issue of gun control, we can all agree that it’s not guns that kill people, it’s the anger and violence that those using the weapons harbor inside that cause the ultimate harm. There are many verses in the Bible that relate to conflict and anger management. We can use some of these verses to guide our prayers for peace and prayers for the issues that lead to violence in our families, communities, nation, and world. We can also use them to focus our prayers for peace in our own lives, that we will handle conflict in ways that don’t lead to hurt feelings, broken relationships, or violence of any kind. The following are a few of the verses that I find particularly helpful. Hate stirs up conflict, but love covers all offenses.Proverbs 10:12] Insightful people restrain their anger; their glory is to ignore an offense.[Proverbs 19:11] What is the source of conflict among you? What is the source of your disputes? Don’t they come from your cravings that are at war in your own lives? You long for something you don’t have, so you commit murder. You are jealous for something you can’t get, so you struggle and fight. You don’t have because you don’t ask. [James 4:1-2] Put aside all bitterness, losing your temper, anger, shouting, and slander, along with every other evil.[Ephesians 4:31] In the same way, the Spirit comes to help our weakness. We don’t know what we should pray, but the Spirit himself pleads our case with unexpressed groans. The one who searches hearts knows how the Spirit thinks, because he pleads for the saints, consistent with God’s will.[Romans 8:26-27] Don’t be defeated by evil, but defeat evil with good.[Romans 12:21] Holy God, thank you for loving us and giving us a chance to love others in your name. Forgive us for the times we let pride, jealousy, anger, and bitterness get in the way of loving others. Search our hearts; help us to find those areas where we struggle most to love others and show us how to overcome the evil inside us with good. Guide us in forgiving those who hurt us so that we may love them better. Show us how to live so that through us others may see you and so that we might have a positive impact on our families, friends, co-workers, and all we come into contact with, so that your love might ripple out into our communities, nation, and the world. Amen.[Angela LaVallie, Funeral and Prayer Ministries] --------------------- February 7, 2016 The Issues that Divide: Building Bridges, Tearing Down Walls “Christianity and Guns” Scripture: Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.Psalm 20:7 “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways,so that we may walk in his paths… He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord.Isaiah 2:3-5 Suddenly, one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” Matthew 26:51-52 Human violence breaks God’s heart MONDAY 2.8.16 Genesis 6:5-6, 9-12 To be clear from the start—the term “gun” isn’t in the Bible (guns had not been invented yet). So we won’t find specific Biblical rules about gun ownership or usage. But, as with other topics in this series, Biblical principles can help us think through this issue ethically. The primeval history in Genesis is a starting point. That story said human violence against other humans was present nearly from the start, and that violence broke God’s heart. • Pastor D. Stuart Briscoe wrote, “The word “grieved” [or “heartbroken” in the Common English Bible] is related rather pointedly to the words for “sorrow” and “toil” (Gen. 3:16–17) which were to be the unhappy lot of Adam and Eve after their transgression. In a very real sense God was not exempt from the pain and anguish which sin had introduced into His creation.”1 Do you tend to see God as indifferent to what happens in our world, or do you sense that God grieves as much or more as we do in the face of violence and evil? • When we read books like Exodus or Joshua, we find they contain disturbing passages that seem to show God commanding Israel to commit extremely violent acts. Yet in this passage the primeval history used the words “evil,” “corrupt” and “violence” practically as synonyms. Which attitude toward violence do you believe accords most closely with the teachings of Jesus, who was God in the flesh? (For a more in-depth study, see Adam Hamilton, Making Sense of the Bible, chapter 22.) Prayer: Lord God, the world has changed a lot since your children first told and then wrote down the story of Genesis 6. But your heart hasn’t changed. Help me, whatever I think about specific issues, never to glorify or rejoice in violence that causes you grief. Amen. 1 D. Stuart Briscoe, The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 1: Genesis. Waco, TX: Word Publishing Company, 1987, p. 79. Using weapons “recreationally” TUESDAY 2.9.16 1 Samuel 20:35-40 Many gun owners only use their weapons for pastimes such as target shooting or hunting. People in Bible times generally had much less leisure time, and with no supermarkets, hunting played a more crucial role in feeding a family. But this story showed King Saul’s son, Jonathan, using an apparently routine and regular time of archery target practice as a code to warn his friend David of danger. • Just prior to this story, 1 Samuel 20 showed King Saul hurling a spear at his own son Jonathan for trying to plead David’s case. Clearly the King would have liked Jonathan to shoot his arrow at David, not into a field that may have held a target (cf. 1 Samuel 20:20). In what ways does this story show that weapons are neither good nor evil in themselves, but simply tools that may serve good or evil purposes? • The friendship between Jonathan and David, who’d been anointed to be Israel’s next king instead of Jonathan, is an extraordinary story about how humility and submission to God can overcome even situations we might expect to create conflict and hatred. (Jonathan later promised David that he would happily serve as David’s second-in-command—cf. 1 Samuel 23:17.) What are some of the most loyal friendships that have enriched and warmed your life? Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me always to use any tools at my disposal for your good purposes. Let me seek to protect and affirm life, as Jonathan did in his friendship with David. Amen. Trust in God—with spears in hand WEDNESDAY 2.10.16 Nehemiah 4:6-21 After Persia allowed the Israelites to return from exile in Babylon, first Ezra the priest and then Nehemiah led them in the work of recovery. One key task was to rebuild Jerusalem’s city wall. But hostile neighboring people threatened to kill the workers. Nehemiah, intensely practical, urged the people to trust in God (verse 20), but also armed them and made plans for them to defend the workers if they were attacked. • In a world with no airplanes or heavy mechanized equipment, a stout city wall was a vital part of making a city safe for its inhabitants. That was why Nehemiah saw the work as crucial—and why people who didn’t wish the Jews well were angry about it. Both law and ethics have seen self-defense as morally different from attacking others. In what ways did Nehemiah’s actions support that ethical judgment? • Pastor Mark Roberts observed, “Nehemiah responds to his opponents with a combination of prayer and preparation for battle…. If Nehemiah sincerely trusted God, why did he prepare the people for battle? Is it possible that he did not believe what he said to the people: ‘Our God will fight for us’ (v. 20)?... These two elements need not be contradictory …. I must recognize my own tendency to prepare exhaustively while praying minimally. When I face conflict, prayer sometimes fails to take top priority on my ‘to do’ list.”1 To what extent are you able to combine, and prioritize, prayer with human preparation in facing life’s challenges? Prayer: Lord God, you worked through both Nehemiah’s devotion to you and his intense practicality. Please grow both of those qualities in my life, too. Amen. 1 Mark Roberts, The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 11: Ezra / Nehemiah / Esther. Waco, TX: Word Publishing, 1993, page 199. Ultimate safety comes from God, not weapons THURSDAY 2.11.16 Psalm 20:4-8; 44:1-7 Psalm 20 was an example of a “royal” psalm—a hymn or prayer that connected Israel’s earthly king with God, the heavenly ruler over all. Psalm 44 reflected on Israel’s history. Both of these sacred poems showed that even when Israel knew they had played an armed role in defeating their enemies, their ultimate trust needed to focus on God, not on human weapons. • The psalmist made a distinction between trusting “in chariots [and] horses” and trusting in “the Lord’s name.” Given that the nation of Israel engaged in armed conflicts multiple times in their history, what did the psalmist’s distinction mean? If you have today’s equivalent of chariots and horses, why would you need to trust in God? • Psalm 44 summed up Israel’s history this way in verse 3: “Not by their own swords did they take possession of the land—their own arms didn’t save them. No, it was your strong hand, your arm, and the light of your face.” Did that kind of summary devalue the courage of the soldiers who fought in the battles, or the sacrifice of those who died? When have you had a sense that God was at work through human instruments? Prayer: O Lord, help me be ready for whatever may come my way. And help me to live in the psalmist’s spirit: “I won’t trust in my bow; my sword won’t save me because it’s you who saved [me].” Amen. Jesus’ way did not depend on armed conflict FRIDAY 2.12.16 Luke 22:36-51, John 18:33-36 Before his arrest, Jesus told his disciples to prepare for hardships. As he went to the cross they, too, faced danger, physical and spiritual. Scholar N. T. Wright said he was “speaking in pictures” when he said they should buy swords. The disciples took him literally, but he never seemed to ask them to use weapons. When Peter tried to defend Jesus with a sword, the Lord told him to put it away. (In Matthew’s version of the story, Jesus added the warning, “All those who use the sword will die by the sword”—Matthew 26:52). He explained to Pilate that his Kingdom wasn’t earthly, and that was why his disciples weren’t fighting. • Scholar William Barclay explained the passage about buying swords this way: “What Luke 22:33-38] means is this—Jesus was saying, ‘All the time so far you have had me with you. In a very short time you are going to be cast upon your own resources. What are you going to do about it? In a very short time… you will have to fight for your very existence.’ This was not an incitement to armed force. It was simply a vivid eastern way of telling the disciples that their very lives were at stake.”1 In other words, protecting your spiritual life is even more important than protecting your physical life. Do you believe that? In what ways can you protect your spiritual life? Prayer: Lord Jesus, your Kingdom is not of this world—yet, for now, I have to live here. Guide me and give me wisdom to know how to live as one of your disciples in a world that too often rejects you. Amen. 1 William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Luke (Revised Edition). Louisville, KY: Westminster John Know Press, page 270. Spiritual weapons for spiritual battles SATURDAY 2.13.16 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, Ephesians 6:10-17 The apostle Paul lived and traveled in a violent Empire (which finally beheaded him), and in which bandits were often a danger along the roads. Acts recorded no information about what physical precautions he did or did not take to remain safe as he traveled. His letters do show that he believed the crucial battle in life is spiritual. That battle’s goal, he said, was to use spiritual weapons to capture hearts and minds. What we need for that battle, he said, was not physical weapons, but what he called “the armor of God.” • Any time there is a well-publicized violent crime or an act of domestic or international terrorism we read reports of a surge in gun sales. Often we speak of reactions like that as “dealing with the real world.” But Ephesians said prayer and faith connect us to the real “real world,” where eternal issues are at stake. How can your prayers and faith connect you more fully with God? How can you raise your gaze beyond “this-worldly” fears and temporary “security” to focus more of your energy on the “real reality” of God’s world, and the eternal security God offers you? Prayer: Lord Jesus, this broken, violent world did the very worst it could do to you—yet you emerged alive and victorious. Without being foolish or needlessly seeking danger, help me to realize that my ultimate security lies with you and your eternal kingdom. Amen. Family Activity: Practicing our faith in the world was very important to Jesus and to Methodist founder, John Wesley. To help people remember to live out their faith, Wesley taught three rules: “Do no harm,” “Do good” and “Stay in love with God.” Choose a piece of colored poster board. Draw two lines on the poster board, dividing it into three sections. Write one of Wesley’s rules at the top of each section. As a family, talk about ways you can follow each of these rules. Write down or draw pictures of your ideas in each appropriate column. As an alternative, consider finding pictures in magazines and create collages for each rule. Pray and ask God to help you follow these rules and to share God’s love with the world. Prayer Requests Prayers for Peace & Comfort for: •Kathy Weatherholt and family following the death of her father, William "Bill" Davis, 1/27 •Ed Schulteis, Jr. and family following the death of his sister, Carolyn Weiss, 1/27 • Marvin Beasley and family following the death of his uncle, Gerald William Brown, 1/28 •Geri Lawhon and family following the death of her mother, Geraldine Beall, 1/29 •Gary Miller and family following the death of his sister, Cheryl Miller DeVere, 1/29 •Sandy Lahr and family following the death of her sister, Linda Anderson, 1/30 •Andrew and Sarah Fairchild and family following the death of their son, Oliver, 1/31 • Mary Murray and family on the death of her father, Richard Slawinski, 1/31 •Scott Livengood and Mark Livengood and family following the death of their father, Dallas Livengood, 2/1 ---------------------  Download the GPS App   The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection 13720 Roe Avenue Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States 913.897.0120---------------------The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Saturday, 06 February 2016 - "Healing for all eternity" |
Daily Scripture: Ezekiel 47:9 When this happens, swarms of all kinds of living creatures will be able to live in it wherever the streams flow; so that there will be a vast number of fish; for this water is flowing there, so that, wherever the river goes, everything will be restored and able to live.10 Then fishermen will stand on its shores spreading their nets all the way from ‘Ein-Gedi to ‘Ein-‘Eglayim. There will be as many kinds of fish there as in the Great Sea, [the Mediterranean,] a great variety. 11 However, its mud flats and marshes will not become fresh but will remain salty. 12 On both riverbanks will grow all kinds of trees for food; their leaves will not dry up, nor will their fruit fail. There will be a different kind of fruit each month, because the water flows from the sanctuary, so that this fruit will be edible, and the leaves will have healing properties.”
Revelation 22:1 Next the angel showed me the river of the water of life, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 Between the main street and the river was the Tree of Life producing twelve kinds of fruit, a different kind every month; and the leaves of the tree were for healing the nations —Reflection QuestionsThe Bible promised, in many different ways, life with God in eternity beyond this life. The prophet Ezekiel, living in Babylon during the time of Israel’s exile, shared a vision of a world flowing with water (unlike the arid parts of the Middle East), and filled with trees that bore healing leaves. Revelation picked up the image, and connected it to the “tree of life” that Genesis 2:9 said was in God’s original paradise, now restored. Revelation’s image promised that in eternity God will heal and make right all that has gone wrong.
- In 1 Corinthians 15:50-57, the apostle Paul offered a ringing statement of faith. He said that “flesh and blood” (meaning not simply “physical existence,” but all of the brokenness that haunts our lives—see, e.g., Romans 8:7-8) cannot inherit God’s kingdom. Then he stated his confidence that our mortal, dying bodies will be clothed “in what can’t die.” That’s the kind of ultimate healing Ezekiel and Revelation promised. Do you trust that promise? In what ways does it help you deal with the pain and suffering of this life?
Lord Jesus, I want to be there when you make all things new, when you heal all the hurts and harms of this life. Thank you for promising me that eternal healing. Amen.
Family Activity
People living in poverty often don’t have enough food. The Bible holds many passages about helping those in need, including those who are hungry. If your family has plenty of food and would like to help fight hunger in Kansas City, choose one or two ways from these options and be a Hunger Stopper! You might donate cereal, peanut butter, soup, or canned fruit and veggies to the Souper Bowl Food Drive at church through February 7. Maybe you would like to collect coins and bills and contribute to the cash offering for food. You can help sort or deliver food on selected dates. If you have kids in KiDSCOR, you can bring lots of macaroni and cheese! Find more ideas at www.cor.org/hunger. However your family chooses to help, be sure and pray for those who are hungry.
Brent Messick is Resurrection’s Managing Executive Director of Operations.These Scripture verses describe visions of the restoration of the Garden of Eden with rivers flowing with the water of life and trees of life producing abundant fruit for food and healing. I was particularly struck by the end of Revelation 22:2 which says, “The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”
The healing of the nations. Hmmm.
There is so much beauty and goodness in the world. A brilliant sunset, a newborn baby, Springtime flowers, and people helping other people are just a few examples. But sometimes the beauty and goodness seem to be overshadowed by all of the divisiveness and ugliness in the world. Currently, we hear a lot about terrorism, war, violence, drugs, hunger, oppression, pollution, etc. The list goes on and on. It seems that our world can use some healing.
Is there a remedy for healing on such a grand scale? I believe there is. As I was reading the verses in Revelation, I believe that John was also describing Jesus. Jesus is the water of life. Jesus is the food of life. Jesus is the healer.
Just imagine if the people of the world followed Jesus’ two simple commands to love God and to love our neighbor. There would be no divisiveness nor ugliness in the world. Maybe that is a little naïve, but I have to believe the world would be a better place to live. This is something that each one of us can do, starting today.
The healing of the nations. Jesus Christ.
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Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
The healing of the nations. Hmmm.
There is so much beauty and goodness in the world. A brilliant sunset, a newborn baby, Springtime flowers, and people helping other people are just a few examples. But sometimes the beauty and goodness seem to be overshadowed by all of the divisiveness and ugliness in the world. Currently, we hear a lot about terrorism, war, violence, drugs, hunger, oppression, pollution, etc. The list goes on and on. It seems that our world can use some healing.
Is there a remedy for healing on such a grand scale? I believe there is. As I was reading the verses in Revelation, I believe that John was also describing Jesus. Jesus is the water of life. Jesus is the food of life. Jesus is the healer.
Just imagine if the people of the world followed Jesus’ two simple commands to love God and to love our neighbor. There would be no divisiveness nor ugliness in the world. Maybe that is a little naïve, but I have to believe the world would be a better place to live. This is something that each one of us can do, starting today.
The healing of the nations. Jesus Christ.
---------------------
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, Kansas
913.897.0120
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The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Friday, 05 February 2016 - "Christians faced death with confidence"
Daily Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:6 For as for me, I am already being poured out on the altar; yes, the time for my departure has arrived. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.8 All that awaits me now is the crown of righteousness which the Lord, “the Righteous Judge,” will award to me on that Day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for him to appear.
Reflection Questions
Paul knew his life’s end was near, not due to illness but because the Roman emperor (probably Nero) thought executing him might deter others from becoming Christians. The way Paul faced his death showed that Christians can approach the end of earthly life with faith, courage and serenity. One cause (among many) for ever-rising health care costs is fear-filled efforts to postpone death at all costs, even if only for a few days or weeks.
O Jesus, you walked into the darkest, deepest place we face—into death itself—and then emerged, alive and victorious. Keep me on course to finish this earthly life in faith and triumph, as Paul did. Amen.
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Insights from Ginger Rothhaas
Daily Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:6 For as for me, I am already being poured out on the altar; yes, the time for my departure has arrived. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.8 All that awaits me now is the crown of righteousness which the Lord, “the Righteous Judge,” will award to me on that Day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for him to appear.
Reflection Questions
Paul knew his life’s end was near, not due to illness but because the Roman emperor (probably Nero) thought executing him might deter others from becoming Christians. The way Paul faced his death showed that Christians can approach the end of earthly life with faith, courage and serenity. One cause (among many) for ever-rising health care costs is fear-filled efforts to postpone death at all costs, even if only for a few days or weeks.
- Writing to Christians in the city of Philippi from a prison cell, Paul summed up his attitude: “Living serves Christ and dying is even better” (Philippians1:21). Hebrews 2:15 said by dying and rising again, Jesus “set free those who were held in slavery their entire lives by their fear of death.” That was clearly true for Paul. Has Jesus’ presence in your life set you free from the fear of death? In what ways is it liberating to surmount that fear?
- You may believe you have only a limited time left in this life to serve God, or you may look forward to many decades of faithful service. Is the present course of your life such that whenever it ends, you will be able to say, “I have fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith”? If not, what “mid-course corrections” do you want to make so that Paul’s words can also become your personal statement of faith?
O Jesus, you walked into the darkest, deepest place we face—into death itself—and then emerged, alive and victorious. Keep me on course to finish this earthly life in faith and triumph, as Paul did. Amen.
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Insights from Ginger Rothhaas
Ginger Rothhaas is a seminary student at Saint Paul School of Theology and is serving in Congregational Care at The Church of the Resurrection.Last month, at the funeral of an amazing woman named Marilyn, I had the honor of reading these words from Paul’s letter to Timothy: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
I walked closely with Marilyn through a rough three months. She was diagnosed with cancer in November and by January she was gone. But in those three months, she taught me a new meaning of Paul’s words as I watched her fight the good fight, finish the race, and never waver in faith.
Marilyn’s fight was bigger than three months with cancer. Her fight was living into her faith during a lifetime of tragedy, loss, betrayal, and suffering.
Her fight wasn’t during the last three months, it was during her 69 years. She fought to hang on to her faith through devastating events and painful losses. Her good fight was modeling faith to everyone who watched her rise above the ashes.
The good fight for Paul may have been his fight to spread the story of Jesus. Maybe it was the fight to live as Jesus lived in love: to trust fully, to overcome fear, to love God and others. The same thing we are called to do.
I think that the race Paul refers to isn’t a competitive one. It’s more like a path with a destination, but we can pace it as we wish. Everything we experience can move us toward God or away from God.
When I heard Marilyn tell me her story over the many conversations we were able to have, I realized her whole life had been one big race toward God.
All of the bad stuff she had experienced brought her closer to God. Some of her tragedies triggered a sprint to God and some caused her to barely crawl towards God. But I could sense in Marilyn a conscious connection to God that was real and constant. She had finished the race toward God. She found God.
But I was asking God why she had to die this early and why so painfully? This woman had been through so much suffering in her life and yet managed to have faith, despite leaving the Earth long before she wanted to. She deserved a free pass—she had grandkids to play with, she could teach so many how to live in faith….so why? I shared with her that I was struggling with the why question, and she reminded me of Paul’s words, one of her favorite scriptures: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
I was with her the day she died. She was sleeping deeply, but while I was praying over her, I felt a stirring feeling as I held her arms. Then I felt that she was floating above us. Then I could feel that she was with God in a bright light of pure love. It was real.
Marilyn inspires us, as Paul taught us, to fight the good fight to choose love, to race toward God, and to hang on to faith in things we cannot see or understand. It is real.
*I asked Marilyn if I could share her stories throughout my ministry. She said, “Yes, of course. Remember, Ginger, my career was teaching.” Thank you, Marilyn, for continuing to teach us!
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Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
I walked closely with Marilyn through a rough three months. She was diagnosed with cancer in November and by January she was gone. But in those three months, she taught me a new meaning of Paul’s words as I watched her fight the good fight, finish the race, and never waver in faith.
Marilyn’s fight was bigger than three months with cancer. Her fight was living into her faith during a lifetime of tragedy, loss, betrayal, and suffering.
Her fight wasn’t during the last three months, it was during her 69 years. She fought to hang on to her faith through devastating events and painful losses. Her good fight was modeling faith to everyone who watched her rise above the ashes.
The good fight for Paul may have been his fight to spread the story of Jesus. Maybe it was the fight to live as Jesus lived in love: to trust fully, to overcome fear, to love God and others. The same thing we are called to do.
I think that the race Paul refers to isn’t a competitive one. It’s more like a path with a destination, but we can pace it as we wish. Everything we experience can move us toward God or away from God.
When I heard Marilyn tell me her story over the many conversations we were able to have, I realized her whole life had been one big race toward God.
All of the bad stuff she had experienced brought her closer to God. Some of her tragedies triggered a sprint to God and some caused her to barely crawl towards God. But I could sense in Marilyn a conscious connection to God that was real and constant. She had finished the race toward God. She found God.
But I was asking God why she had to die this early and why so painfully? This woman had been through so much suffering in her life and yet managed to have faith, despite leaving the Earth long before she wanted to. She deserved a free pass—she had grandkids to play with, she could teach so many how to live in faith….so why? I shared with her that I was struggling with the why question, and she reminded me of Paul’s words, one of her favorite scriptures: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
I was with her the day she died. She was sleeping deeply, but while I was praying over her, I felt a stirring feeling as I held her arms. Then I felt that she was floating above us. Then I could feel that she was with God in a bright light of pure love. It was real.
Marilyn inspires us, as Paul taught us, to fight the good fight to choose love, to race toward God, and to hang on to faith in things we cannot see or understand. It is real.
*I asked Marilyn if I could share her stories throughout my ministry. She said, “Yes, of course. Remember, Ginger, my career was teaching.” Thank you, Marilyn, for continuing to teach us!
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Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
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The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Thursday, 04 February 16 - "God continues gifting people to heal"
Daily Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:7 Moreover, to each person is given the particular manifestation of the Spirit that will be for the common good. 8 To one, through the Spirit, is given a word of wisdom; to another, a word of knowledge, in accordance with the same Spirit; 9 to another, faith, by the same Spirit; and to another, gifts of healing, by the one Spirit; 10 to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, the ability to judge between spirits; to another, the ability to speak in different kinds of tongues; and to yet another, the ability to interpret tongues. 11 One and the same Spirit is at work in all these things, distributing to each person as he chooses.
28 And God has placed in the Messianic Community first, emissaries; second, prophets; third, teachers; then those who work miracles; then those with gifts of healing; those with ability to help; those skilled in administration; and those who speak in various tongues.Reflection Questions
Because of how most of the healing stories in the Bible worked, we sometimes think God only heals in “miraculous” ways. But Jesus or Peter didn’t have the option of saying to a person who couldn’t walk, “Let’s get some X-rays. That will help show if surgery might help you.” Among the spiritual gifts, Paul listed both “gifts of healing” and “miracles.” That may suggest that God often gives people medical skills, and works to heal through those “ordinary” skills.
O Lord, thank you for the particular mix of gifts and talent you’ve given me. Help me to use them to bless others in your spirit of self-giving love. Amen.
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Insight from Evan Palmer
Daily Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:7 Moreover, to each person is given the particular manifestation of the Spirit that will be for the common good. 8 To one, through the Spirit, is given a word of wisdom; to another, a word of knowledge, in accordance with the same Spirit; 9 to another, faith, by the same Spirit; and to another, gifts of healing, by the one Spirit; 10 to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, the ability to judge between spirits; to another, the ability to speak in different kinds of tongues; and to yet another, the ability to interpret tongues. 11 One and the same Spirit is at work in all these things, distributing to each person as he chooses.
28 And God has placed in the Messianic Community first, emissaries; second, prophets; third, teachers; then those who work miracles; then those with gifts of healing; those with ability to help; those skilled in administration; and those who speak in various tongues.Reflection Questions
Because of how most of the healing stories in the Bible worked, we sometimes think God only heals in “miraculous” ways. But Jesus or Peter didn’t have the option of saying to a person who couldn’t walk, “Let’s get some X-rays. That will help show if surgery might help you.” Among the spiritual gifts, Paul listed both “gifts of healing” and “miracles.” That may suggest that God often gives people medical skills, and works to heal through those “ordinary” skills.
- Have you ever had the privilege of having a truly gifted doctor, nurse or other health professional care for you? Have you ever needed care, and felt as though the person providing it treated it as “just a job”? What was the difference in those experiences? Do you believe God is at work through the skills of passionately gifted medical caregivers and researchers?
- Right after listing some of God’s spiritual gifts, Paul told the Corinthians that even the best of gifts lose much of their impact if not exercised in love (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:3). Whether you work in a healthcare profession, or just need healthcare services from time to time, reflect on the importance of love and human connection along with scientific, technical skills in showing the way to greater health and well-being.
O Lord, thank you for the particular mix of gifts and talent you’ve given me. Help me to use them to bless others in your spirit of self-giving love. Amen.
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Insight from Evan Palmer
Evan Palmer has been a member of Resurrection since 2002. Evan graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree inInternational Relations and worships at Resurrection’s Downtown campus.“A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other” (1 Corinthians 12:7 NLT). Or, as the New Oxford translation reads, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” This verse from Paul changes the way we approach our strengths and talents. Instead of boasting in our “goodness” or, taking pride in our strengths, we are challenged to use our gifts to empower, strengthen, and bless those around us. How humbling to think we are asked to use what the Lord has given us to serve others—to think of others before ourselves.
Regardless of what gifts you have, you are called to use them to help people. I am thankful for the beautiful gifts of science and medicine and those called to administer them. I am grateful for those who practice medicine with compassion and mercy and service at the forefront of their work rather than selfish gain or motives. I think this is an amazing, practical example of how we should each be utilizing our spiritual gifts. Instead of using our gifts to serve ourselves, we are asked to use them to help one another.
I am thankful for the gifts the Lord has given my friends and family. I have been immeasurably blessed and cared for through them. I have friends that make me laugh and help me see the joy in life. My mom is the most compassionate, selfless woman I know. My dad offers consistent advice that has helped guide the course of my life. I have felt served and loved through those closest to me and motivated to lift others up in the same way. I pray that you and I are convicted and inspired by Paul’s words in this passage. We have been given gifts in order to help other people for the common good. How are you using your gifts to bless those around you?
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Regardless of what gifts you have, you are called to use them to help people. I am thankful for the beautiful gifts of science and medicine and those called to administer them. I am grateful for those who practice medicine with compassion and mercy and service at the forefront of their work rather than selfish gain or motives. I think this is an amazing, practical example of how we should each be utilizing our spiritual gifts. Instead of using our gifts to serve ourselves, we are asked to use them to help one another.
I am thankful for the gifts the Lord has given my friends and family. I have been immeasurably blessed and cared for through them. I have friends that make me laugh and help me see the joy in life. My mom is the most compassionate, selfless woman I know. My dad offers consistent advice that has helped guide the course of my life. I have felt served and loved through those closest to me and motivated to lift others up in the same way. I pray that you and I are convicted and inspired by Paul’s words in this passage. We have been given gifts in order to help other people for the common good. How are you using your gifts to bless those around you?
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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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The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Wednesday, 03 February 2016 - "Jesus’ followers continued his healing work"
Daily Scripture: Acts 3:1 One afternoon at three o’clock, the hour of minchah prayers, as Kefa and Yochanan were going up to the Temple, 2 a man crippled since birth was being carried in. Every day people used to put him at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, so that he could beg from those going into the Temple court. 3 When he saw Kefa and Yochanan about to enter, he asked them for some money. 4 But they stared straight at him; and Kefa said, “Look at us!” 5 The crippled man fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Kefa said, “I don’t have silver, and I don’t have gold, but what I do have I give to you: in the name of the Messiah, Yeshua of Natzeret, walk!” 7 And taking hold of him by his right hand, Kefa pulled him up. Instantly his feet and ankles became strong; 8 so that he sprang up, stood a moment, and began walking. Then he entered the Temple court with them, walking and leaping and praising God! 9 Everyone saw him walking and praising God. 10 They recognized him as the same man who had formerly sat begging at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, and they were utterly amazed and confounded at what had happened to him.
Daily Scripture: Acts 3:1 One afternoon at three o’clock, the hour of minchah prayers, as Kefa and Yochanan were going up to the Temple, 2 a man crippled since birth was being carried in. Every day people used to put him at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, so that he could beg from those going into the Temple court. 3 When he saw Kefa and Yochanan about to enter, he asked them for some money. 4 But they stared straight at him; and Kefa said, “Look at us!” 5 The crippled man fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Kefa said, “I don’t have silver, and I don’t have gold, but what I do have I give to you: in the name of the Messiah, Yeshua of Natzeret, walk!” 7 And taking hold of him by his right hand, Kefa pulled him up. Instantly his feet and ankles became strong; 8 so that he sprang up, stood a moment, and began walking. Then he entered the Temple court with them, walking and leaping and praising God! 9 Everyone saw him walking and praising God. 10 They recognized him as the same man who had formerly sat begging at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, and they were utterly amazed and confounded at what had happened to him.
Acts 5:12 Meanwhile, through the emissaries many signs and miracles continued to be done among the people. United in mind and purpose, the believers met in Shlomo’s Colonnade;13 and no one else dared to join them. Nevertheless, the people continued to regard them highly; 14 and throngs of believers were added to the Lord, both men and women. 15 They went so far as to bring the sick into the streets and lay them on mattresses and stretchers, so that at least Kefa’s shadow might fall on them as he passed by.
Reflection Questions
Jesus commissioned his followers to carry on his work (cf. John 20:21). Sometimes we’re inclined to think of that as only including Jesus' preaching. Acts reported, in vivid stories, that the Holy Spirit also gave the apostles power to keep offering Jesus' healing to anyone they met who needed it. And, like Jesus, they found that many people found these healings offensive rather than cause for praise (cf. Acts 4:5-10).
Lord Jesus, wherever your followers went, people’s lives got better. I want to follow you as they did, open to let your power flow through me to better the lives of others. Amen.
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Insights from Rev. Steven Blair
Jesus commissioned his followers to carry on his work (cf. John 20:21). Sometimes we’re inclined to think of that as only including Jesus' preaching. Acts reported, in vivid stories, that the Holy Spirit also gave the apostles power to keep offering Jesus' healing to anyone they met who needed it. And, like Jesus, they found that many people found these healings offensive rather than cause for praise (cf. Acts 4:5-10).
- The story happened in conditions very different from today, but it is interesting that Peter set the gift of healing in contrast with a monetary gift. Later a man named Simon tried to buy the apostles’ power, and they sternly rebuked him (cf. Acts 8:9-22). In what ways are today’s assumptions about the connection between money and health care helpful to human well-being? In what ways, if any, do you believe they are damaging?
- If people today thought being in someone’s shadow would heal them, we’d probably see that as “superstitious.” How many of today’s avenues of healing were unavailable to the apostles and the people around them? To what extent do you believe God worked through available mechanisms, then and now? Do you believe the same power who healed through the apostles later led Christians to establish hospitals, medical schools and other ways of delivering health care?
Lord Jesus, wherever your followers went, people’s lives got better. I want to follow you as they did, open to let your power flow through me to better the lives of others. Amen.
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Insights from Rev. Steven Blair
Rev. Steven Blair is the Congregational Care Pastor of Live Forward and Live Well Emotional Wellness Ministry. www.cor.org/liveforwardEver wonder why the New Testament is filled with so many sick people?
In Warren Carter’s book Matthew and the Margins, Carter explains that the conditions of the Roman Empire made people sick. Some cities like Antioch had a higher population density than modern day Calcutta. Ineffective sanitation among the poor (who made up 80-95% of Roman Empire) led to widespread disease. Sickness developed multiple sources including poor nutrition and an inability to take a “day off” because most people could only live hand to mouth. Clean(er) drinking water was piped to the wealthy areas of the city while the poorer areas received something much less.
Understanding this context, we can see an added dimension to Jesus’ healings. Jesus feeds the 5000, because Rome left them hungry. Jesus cured the diseases caused by Rome ignoring the needs of the poor. The disciples were left with the mission of following Jesus as their King and spreading God’s Kingdom which often happened through healing.
Simply put:God cares about healing. The Kingdom of God makes a person healthy while The Kingdom of Rome makes a person sick.
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The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
In Warren Carter’s book Matthew and the Margins, Carter explains that the conditions of the Roman Empire made people sick. Some cities like Antioch had a higher population density than modern day Calcutta. Ineffective sanitation among the poor (who made up 80-95% of Roman Empire) led to widespread disease. Sickness developed multiple sources including poor nutrition and an inability to take a “day off” because most people could only live hand to mouth. Clean(er) drinking water was piped to the wealthy areas of the city while the poorer areas received something much less.
Understanding this context, we can see an added dimension to Jesus’ healings. Jesus feeds the 5000, because Rome left them hungry. Jesus cured the diseases caused by Rome ignoring the needs of the poor. The disciples were left with the mission of following Jesus as their King and spreading God’s Kingdom which often happened through healing.
Simply put:God cares about healing. The Kingdom of God makes a person healthy while The Kingdom of Rome makes a person sick.
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Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120
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Daily Guide-Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Tuesday, 02 February 2016 - "Jesus overcame obstacles to healing:
Daily Scripture: Mark 3:1 Yeshua went again into a synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Looking for a reason to accuse him of something, people watched him carefully to see if he would heal him onShabbat. 3 He said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Come up where we can see you!” 4 Then to them he said, “What is permitted on Shabbat? Doing good or doing evil? Saving life or killing?” But they said nothing. 5 Then, looking them over and feeling both anger with them and sympathy for them at the stoniness of their hearts, he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” As he held it out, it became restored. 6 The P’rushim went out and immediately began plotting with some members of Herod’s party how to do away with him.
5:21 Yeshua crossed in the boat to the other side of the lake, and a great crowd gathered around him.22 There came to him a synagogue official, Ya’ir by name, who fell at his feet 23 and pleaded desperately with him, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Please! Come and lay your hands on her, so that she will get well and live!”
24 He went with him; and a large crowd followed, pressing all around him. 25 Among them was a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years 26 and had suffered a great deal under many physicians. She had spent her life savings; yet instead of improving, she had grown worse. 27 She had heard about Yeshua, so she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his robe; 28 for she said, “If I touch even his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Instantly the hemorrhaging stopped, and she felt in her body that she had been healed from the disease. 30 At the same time, Yeshua, aware that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 His talmidim responded, “You see the people pressing in on you; and still you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 But he kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 The woman, frightened and trembling, because she knew what had happened to her, came and fell down in front of him and told him the whole truth. 34 “Daughter,” he said to her, “your trust has healed you. Go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
Reflection Questions
The story in Mark 5 should wipe out any idea that high health care costs started recently. Mark says the woman “had suffered a lot under the care of many doctors, and had spent everything she had without getting any better.” But poverty wasn’t the only barrier to receiving healing in Jesus' day. Rigid Sabbath laws forbade action to make people well on the holy day, a rule that angered Jesus. He rose above those barriers to offer healing to all who needed it.
Lord Jesus, you cared about all sick people, like the synagogue ruler’s daughter. But you showed special care for those who felt hopelessly shut out from the caring of others. Teach me how to have a heart like yours. Amen.
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Insights from Brandon Gregory
Daily Scripture: Mark 3:1 Yeshua went again into a synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Looking for a reason to accuse him of something, people watched him carefully to see if he would heal him onShabbat. 3 He said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Come up where we can see you!” 4 Then to them he said, “What is permitted on Shabbat? Doing good or doing evil? Saving life or killing?” But they said nothing. 5 Then, looking them over and feeling both anger with them and sympathy for them at the stoniness of their hearts, he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” As he held it out, it became restored. 6 The P’rushim went out and immediately began plotting with some members of Herod’s party how to do away with him.
5:21 Yeshua crossed in the boat to the other side of the lake, and a great crowd gathered around him.22 There came to him a synagogue official, Ya’ir by name, who fell at his feet 23 and pleaded desperately with him, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Please! Come and lay your hands on her, so that she will get well and live!”
24 He went with him; and a large crowd followed, pressing all around him. 25 Among them was a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years 26 and had suffered a great deal under many physicians. She had spent her life savings; yet instead of improving, she had grown worse. 27 She had heard about Yeshua, so she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his robe; 28 for she said, “If I touch even his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Instantly the hemorrhaging stopped, and she felt in her body that she had been healed from the disease. 30 At the same time, Yeshua, aware that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 His talmidim responded, “You see the people pressing in on you; and still you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 But he kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 The woman, frightened and trembling, because she knew what had happened to her, came and fell down in front of him and told him the whole truth. 34 “Daughter,” he said to her, “your trust has healed you. Go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
Reflection Questions
The story in Mark 5 should wipe out any idea that high health care costs started recently. Mark says the woman “had suffered a lot under the care of many doctors, and had spent everything she had without getting any better.” But poverty wasn’t the only barrier to receiving healing in Jesus' day. Rigid Sabbath laws forbade action to make people well on the holy day, a rule that angered Jesus. He rose above those barriers to offer healing to all who needed it.
- Many people saw ailments like the woman’s as judgments from God (see John 9:2). What a burden of shame she must have carried, along with her physical issues. How do you see yourself? Are there things in your life you’d rather keep hidden? Was Jesus being unkind when he called the healed woman forward—or was he freeing her from shame as well as from her physical disorder?
- Rigidly pious people, ready to criticize Jesus for healing a man’s withered hand, made the Savior angry. Couldn’t Jesus have just told the man to meet him in secret the next day? It seems, in this and other stories (e.g. Luke 14:1-6, John 5:1-18) that Jesus went out of his way to show that he valued people’s well-being more highly than strictly following rules. Do you believe that principle applies in any way to today’s debates about health care?
Lord Jesus, you cared about all sick people, like the synagogue ruler’s daughter. But you showed special care for those who felt hopelessly shut out from the caring of others. Teach me how to have a heart like yours. Amen.
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Insights from Brandon Gregory
Brandon Gregory is a volunteer for the worship and missions teams at Church of the Resurrection. He helps lead worship at the Vibe, West, and Downtown services, and is involved with the Malawi missions team at home.How are pharisees like airlines?
Many airlines have a peculiar performance metric. You often see airlines talk about how many on-time departures they have. Well, in most cases, an on-time departure is just when they close the door of airplane, not when they take off. If you’ve ever been stuck on an airplane that won’t leave the gate, you’ve been a victim of this off-base performance metric. In some cases, passengers are kept on the plane for over an hour before the plane takes off, unable to do anything or get off the plane. This is, ironically, the exact opposite of a good customer experience–the thing the metric tries to measure.
The pharisees are guilty of the on-time departure fallacy throughout most of the scriptures. They had focused on holiness so intently that they had excluded goodness, as we see in the first passage today. They had completely missed the point of goodness and godliness.
This is not a unique problem. We’re all guilty of this at some points in our life. In fact, it often hits a little closer to home than we would like.
Healthcare is a political issue, so there are a lot of morals and values surrounding both sides of the issue. Conservatives can get so caught up in the drawbacks that they miss the point of taking care of the vulnerable on a larger-than-personal scale. Liberals can get so caught up in their crusade for healthcare that they don’t care what those policies cost or who they hurt. Both sides are equally capable of missing the point of helping people–all people.
It’s a very heated issue, and we all have very good reasons to stand where we do on the issue. The important thing is to not get so caught up in the issue that we miss the point of goodness and godliness. Just as Jesus did, we need to be relentless in helping people, even when it draws scorn from those who cling to stubborn values that would prevent it.
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The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Many airlines have a peculiar performance metric. You often see airlines talk about how many on-time departures they have. Well, in most cases, an on-time departure is just when they close the door of airplane, not when they take off. If you’ve ever been stuck on an airplane that won’t leave the gate, you’ve been a victim of this off-base performance metric. In some cases, passengers are kept on the plane for over an hour before the plane takes off, unable to do anything or get off the plane. This is, ironically, the exact opposite of a good customer experience–the thing the metric tries to measure.
The pharisees are guilty of the on-time departure fallacy throughout most of the scriptures. They had focused on holiness so intently that they had excluded goodness, as we see in the first passage today. They had completely missed the point of goodness and godliness.
This is not a unique problem. We’re all guilty of this at some points in our life. In fact, it often hits a little closer to home than we would like.
Healthcare is a political issue, so there are a lot of morals and values surrounding both sides of the issue. Conservatives can get so caught up in the drawbacks that they miss the point of taking care of the vulnerable on a larger-than-personal scale. Liberals can get so caught up in their crusade for healthcare that they don’t care what those policies cost or who they hurt. Both sides are equally capable of missing the point of helping people–all people.
It’s a very heated issue, and we all have very good reasons to stand where we do on the issue. The important thing is to not get so caught up in the issue that we miss the point of goodness and godliness. Just as Jesus did, we need to be relentless in helping people, even when it draws scorn from those who cling to stubborn values that would prevent it.
---------------------
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120
--------------------
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The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Monday, 01 February 2016 - "Jesus—healing for all"
Daily Scripture: Luke 6:17 Then he came down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his talmidimwas there with great numbers of people from all Y’hudah, Yerushalayim and the coast around Tzor and Tzidon; they had come to hear him and be healed of their diseases.18 Those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being healed; 19 and the whole crowd was trying to touch him, because power kept going out from him, healing everyone.
9:6 They set out and went through village after village, healing and announcing the Good News everywhere.
Reflection Questions
As with some other topics in this series, we can’t expect the Bible to tell us exactly what policies or programs might best meet healthcare needs. The Bible writers couldn’t have used words like “hospital,” “surgery” or “mental health” (much less “insurance”) because the ideas behind them didn’t yet exist. But the gospels DID show that Jesus placed a high priority on healing (physical, emotional and spiritual), giving much time and energy to providing it for as many people as possible.
Lord Jesus, Luke said you were healing people everywhere. I’m aware of places in my life that need healing, and I lay them before you in faith today. Amen.
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Insights from Donna Karlen
Daily Scripture: Luke 6:17 Then he came down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his talmidimwas there with great numbers of people from all Y’hudah, Yerushalayim and the coast around Tzor and Tzidon; they had come to hear him and be healed of their diseases.18 Those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being healed; 19 and the whole crowd was trying to touch him, because power kept going out from him, healing everyone.
9:6 They set out and went through village after village, healing and announcing the Good News everywhere.
Reflection Questions
As with some other topics in this series, we can’t expect the Bible to tell us exactly what policies or programs might best meet healthcare needs. The Bible writers couldn’t have used words like “hospital,” “surgery” or “mental health” (much less “insurance”) because the ideas behind them didn’t yet exist. But the gospels DID show that Jesus placed a high priority on healing (physical, emotional and spiritual), giving much time and energy to providing it for as many people as possible.
- In the story about a paralyzed man whose friends lowered him through the roof (cf. Mark 2:1-12), Jesus made it clear he didn’t see physical healing as separate from each person’s whole being. He often coupled forgiveness with physical healing. In what ways did Jesus' practice of healing anticipate many of our modern learnings about the connections between our minds and our bodies?
- In one of Jesus' best-known parables, he pictured a Samaritan acting personally and financially to care for the health of a man badly beaten by robbers on the road to Jericho (cf. Luke 10:30-37). In what ways did Jesus’ choice of that image for being a good neighbor point to the importance he attached to caring (in whatever ways we believe can be most effective) for the physical needs of all hurting people?
Lord Jesus, Luke said you were healing people everywhere. I’m aware of places in my life that need healing, and I lay them before you in faith today. Amen.
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Insights from Donna Karlen
Donna Karlen serves in Communications at The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection.As the daughter and granddaughter of three educators, my favorite role Jesus serves in our lives is ‘teacher.’ However, a very close second is ‘healer.’ (I dearly love the story about the woman who touched Jesus’ cloak – but that’s tomorrow’s scripture passage.)
Frequently when Jesus healed someone he said, “Your faith has made you well.” Does this mean someone who isn’t healed doesn’t have strong enough faith?
My oldest brother died from AIDS. I prayed often during his terrible illness for God’s healing presence. But I knew there was no cure for the disease, and I didn’t expect him to live – did that mean I didn’t have enough faith? Should I have prayed for him to be cured, believed he would be and therefore behaved as though he would be? If he was going to be cured I would have lots of time to spend with him, right? I didn’t need to sit by his bed, hold his hand, share memories oh so precious, cry with him.
There was no miracle cure, but there was healing: of our relationship and of my brother when he was freed from pain on the day he died and joined healer Jesus.
In the Bible’s New Testament stories, Jesus healed all who came to him; being healed = being cured. And so there’s a part of me who wishes Jesus was still walking around here on earth and we could but touch him and be healed/cured of all our afflictions. But then we wouldn’t have the greatest healing of all: the forgiveness of our sin through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Because we do have this amazing grace, we can all be healed.
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The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Frequently when Jesus healed someone he said, “Your faith has made you well.” Does this mean someone who isn’t healed doesn’t have strong enough faith?
My oldest brother died from AIDS. I prayed often during his terrible illness for God’s healing presence. But I knew there was no cure for the disease, and I didn’t expect him to live – did that mean I didn’t have enough faith? Should I have prayed for him to be cured, believed he would be and therefore behaved as though he would be? If he was going to be cured I would have lots of time to spend with him, right? I didn’t need to sit by his bed, hold his hand, share memories oh so precious, cry with him.
There was no miracle cure, but there was healing: of our relationship and of my brother when he was freed from pain on the day he died and joined healer Jesus.
In the Bible’s New Testament stories, Jesus healed all who came to him; being healed = being cured. And so there’s a part of me who wishes Jesus was still walking around here on earth and we could but touch him and be healed/cured of all our afflictions. But then we wouldn’t have the greatest healing of all: the forgiveness of our sin through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Because we do have this amazing grace, we can all be healed.
---------------------
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120
---------------------
---------------------
The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for
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The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Wednesday, 13 February 2016 - “Quick to listen, slow to speak”
Daily Scripture: James 1:19 Therefore, my dear brothers, let every person be quick to listen but slow to speak, slow to get angry; 20 for a person’s anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness!
3:7 For people have tamed and continue to tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures; 8 but the tongue no one can tame — it is an unstable and evil thing, full of death-dealing poison! 9 With it we bless Adonai, the Father; and with it we curse people, who were made in the image of God.[James 3:9 Genesis 1:26–27] 10 Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing! Brothers, it isn’t right for things to be this way.
Reflection Questions
The apostle James, Jesus' brother, found a painful irony in one way people use words. “With [our tongue] we both bless the Lord and Father and curse human beings made in God’s likeness. Blessing and cursing come from the same mouth,” he wrote. Reflecting on this passage in his bookSeeing Gray in a World of Black and White, Pastor Hamilton asked, “Does the Lord give us an exemption from practicing the Scriptures when it comes to our political leaders?”1
Lord God, remind me that people who disagree with me politically ultimately came, like me, from your creative heart. Help me to move toward seeing them as you see them. Amen.
1 Hamilton, Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White (Abingdon Press, 2008, p. 22)
2 Hamilton, Seeing Gray, pp. 22-23
Daily Scripture: James 1:19 Therefore, my dear brothers, let every person be quick to listen but slow to speak, slow to get angry; 20 for a person’s anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness!
3:7 For people have tamed and continue to tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures; 8 but the tongue no one can tame — it is an unstable and evil thing, full of death-dealing poison! 9 With it we bless Adonai, the Father; and with it we curse people, who were made in the image of God.[James 3:9 Genesis 1:26–27] 10 Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing! Brothers, it isn’t right for things to be this way.
Reflection Questions
The apostle James, Jesus' brother, found a painful irony in one way people use words. “With [our tongue] we both bless the Lord and Father and curse human beings made in God’s likeness. Blessing and cursing come from the same mouth,” he wrote. Reflecting on this passage in his bookSeeing Gray in a World of Black and White, Pastor Hamilton asked, “Does the Lord give us an exemption from practicing the Scriptures when it comes to our political leaders?”1
- Sociologists note that in war soldiers start using dehumanizing nicknames for people on the other side. It seems to become easier to kill others if we stop thinking of them as human, like us. In what ways have you seen similar patterns in political “combat,” when the “bullets” are words? Have you ever become friends with a person, then found that you hold different political opinions, and realized that the degrading labels you’ve used for “those people” may not be true, at least in the case of your friend?
- In Seeing Gray, Pastor Hamilton wrote, “Part of the polarization…in our country today is a result of pastors and church leaders who have abandoned the teachings of Jesus and the apostles regarding the way we speak of those with whom we disagree. Part of the healing of our nation must come from the church modeling for our society how we are to love those with whom we disagree.”2 Do you, like James, find it sad to bless God and then curse people God loves and for whom Jesus died? How could you change your own speech to contribute to “the healing of our nation”?
Lord God, remind me that people who disagree with me politically ultimately came, like me, from your creative heart. Help me to move toward seeing them as you see them. Amen.
1 Hamilton, Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White (Abingdon Press, 2008, p. 22)
2 Hamilton, Seeing Gray, pp. 22-23
---------------------
Wendy Connelly, wife to Mark and mom to Lorelei & Gryffin, is Community Outreach Director at the Leawood campus, a graduate student at Saint Paul School of Theology, Faith Walk columnist for the Kansas City Star, and co-leads the “Live and Let Think” dialogues at Resurrection Downtown.James 1:19 tells us to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. And St. Francis, in his famous prayer, asks for the disposition of heart that seeks not so much to be understood, as to understand. As campaign season ratchets up, this advice seems all-too-timely.
I co-teach a course about dialogue called “Live & Let Think,” which gives a nod to Wesley’s line, “Where is our religion, if we cannot think and let think?” Over each six-week course, I have the delight of facilitating rich dialogue among diverse people over the most divisive topics of the Christian faith, including:
–What do we do with the violence in scripture, and what’s at stake for how we understand the Bible’s authority?
–If God is all-good, all-powerful and all-knowing, why do the innocent suffer?
–What do people think about faith as it relates to (science… assisted suicide… homosexuality… nationalism… politics—fill in the blank)?
You can imagine these conversations could go downhill, very quickly! Instead, when people are taught the skills necessary to be “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger”–and they’re held accountable to the values that beget healthy dialogue–they build bridges. Bridges over expansive, troubled waters. These healthy dialogue skills are something we might all work on improving, rooted in Live & Let Think’s four C.O.R.E. values:
First, get curious. Curiosity isn’t a threat to our beliefs; rather, it’s a pathway to deeper Truth. Embrace it.
Second, stay open. Open to new ideas and frontiers. Open in posture to one another.
Third, practice respect. Because the quickest way to kill rapport and dialogue is to diminish others.
Fourth, engage. Be willing to disagree. Not in an obnoxious way. Not with an ax to grind. But air your questions, your doubts, your disagreements, with integrity.
I challenge you to live out these values, and then, to break bread and let think. We have so much to learn from one another!
I co-teach a course about dialogue called “Live & Let Think,” which gives a nod to Wesley’s line, “Where is our religion, if we cannot think and let think?” Over each six-week course, I have the delight of facilitating rich dialogue among diverse people over the most divisive topics of the Christian faith, including:
–What do we do with the violence in scripture, and what’s at stake for how we understand the Bible’s authority?
–If God is all-good, all-powerful and all-knowing, why do the innocent suffer?
–What do people think about faith as it relates to (science… assisted suicide… homosexuality… nationalism… politics—fill in the blank)?
You can imagine these conversations could go downhill, very quickly! Instead, when people are taught the skills necessary to be “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger”–and they’re held accountable to the values that beget healthy dialogue–they build bridges. Bridges over expansive, troubled waters. These healthy dialogue skills are something we might all work on improving, rooted in Live & Let Think’s four C.O.R.E. values:
First, get curious. Curiosity isn’t a threat to our beliefs; rather, it’s a pathway to deeper Truth. Embrace it.
Second, stay open. Open to new ideas and frontiers. Open in posture to one another.
Third, practice respect. Because the quickest way to kill rapport and dialogue is to diminish others.
Fourth, engage. Be willing to disagree. Not in an obnoxious way. Not with an ax to grind. But air your questions, your doubts, your disagreements, with integrity.
I challenge you to live out these values, and then, to break bread and let think. We have so much to learn from one another!
---------------------
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120
---------------------
The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Friday, 22 January 2016 - “The great, mighty, and awesome God…doesn’t play favorites”
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.
Deuteronomy 10:14 See, the sky, the heaven beyond the sky, the earth and everything on it all belong toAdonai your God. 15 Only Adonai took enough pleasure in your ancestors to love them and choose their descendants after them — yourselves — above all peoples, as he still does today. 16 Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart; and don’t be stiffnecked any longer! 17 For Adonai your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty and awesome God, who has no favorites and accepts no bribes. 18 He secures justice for the orphan and the widow; he loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. 19 Therefore you are to love the foreigner, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
Reflection Questions:
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 Deuteronomy10:15, 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.)
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.
---------------------
Insights from Ginger Rothhaas
Ginger Rothhaas is a seminary student at Saint Paul School of Theology and is serving in Congregational Care at The Church of the Resurrection.In scriptures from Deuteronomy and Leviticus, the Hebrew word we translate as sojourner, alien, or stranger (depending on your Bible version) is the single word guwr that in Hebrew means, “to dwell for a time, to abide, temporarily stay.”
Aren’t we all dwelling here on earth for a time, on a temporary stay?
In Thomas Merton’s book New Seeds of Contemplation, there is a chapter titled “We Are One Man.” This title says it all, but read with me the words of Merton from this chapter (maybe a couple of times, and it helps to read it out loud):
“The more I become identified with God, the more will I be identified with all the others who are identified with Him. His Love will live in all of us. His Spirit will be our One Life, the Life of all of us and the Life of God. And we shall love one another and God with the same Love with which He loves us and Himself. This love is God Himself.
Christ prayed that all men might become One as he was One with His Father, in the Unity of the Holy Spirit. Therefore when you and I become what we are really meant to be, we will discover not only that we love one another perfectly but that we are both living in Christ and Christ in us, and we are all One Christ. We will see that it is He Who loves in us.”
I had to read it a few times too! But I have come to love these words the more I read them.
“His Love will live in all of us.” That’s you and me and every single human on the planet, filled with God’s love.
These words of Merton’s especially give me hope: “when you and I become what we are really meant to be, we will discover not only that we love one another perfectly, but that we are both living in Christ and Christ in us.”
To me, Merton is saying, when we each find our Divine Purpose and calling, when we become what we were made to be, we will stop judging, blaming, and closing our hearts. We will be fully living into our own potential and we will want that for every other person too.
It is when we are fully accepting God’s unconditional love and serving God wholeheartedly that we can show unconditional love to others.
Are you becoming what you are really meant to be? I’m working on it too.
Soon, we will realize we can love one another perfectly as we live in Christ and Christ in us.
---------------------
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120
---------------------
Daily Guide-Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church for Saturday, 09 January 2016 - "Christmas was just the beginning"
Daily Scripture: John 1:19 Here is Yochanan’s testimony: when the Judeans sent cohanim and L’vi’im from Yerushalayim to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 he was very straightforward and stated clearly, “I am not the Messiah.” 21 “Then who are you?” they asked him. “Are you Eliyahu?” “No, I am not,” he said. “Are you ‘the prophet,’ the one we’re expecting?” “No,” he replied. 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? — so that we can give an answer to the people who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?” 23 He answered in the words of Yesha‘yahu the prophet, “I am
The voice of someone crying out:
‘In the desert make the way of Adonai straight!’”[John 1:23 Isaiah 40:3]
24 Some of those who had been sent were P’rushim. 25 They asked him, “If you are neither the Messiah nor Eliyahu nor ‘the prophet,’ then why are you immersing people?” 26 To them Yochanan replied, “I am immersing people in water, but among you is standing someone whom you don’t know. 27 He is the one coming after me — I’m not good enough even to untie his sandal!” 28 All this took place in Beit-Anyah, east of the Yarden, where Yochanan was immersing.
29 The next day, Yochanan saw Yeshua coming toward him and said, “Look! God’s lamb! The one who is taking away the sin of the world! 30 This is the man I was talking about when I said, ‘After me is coming someone who has come to rank above me, because he existed before me.’ 31 I myself did not know who he was, but the reason I came immersing with water was so that he might be made known to Isra’el.” 32 Then Yochanan gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove, and remaining on him.33 I myself did not know who he was, but the one who sent me to immerse in water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining, this is the one who immerses in the Ruach HaKodesh.’ 34 And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
Reflection Questions:At Christmas we celebrate God coming into our world as a tiny infant, that “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14). It was a wonderful story, but just the beginning of a much larger story. Jesus grew to adulthood, and in today’s reading he began his public ministry. John the Baptist was his herald, declaring, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (verse 29).
Lord Jesus, thank you not just for the story of your birth, but for the whole story of your life, death and resurrection. Thank you for giving me the privilege of being part of your ongoing mission and story, bringing restoration to our broken world. Amen.
Family Activity:
Create a family faith timeline. Connect several sheets of paper together horizontally. Draw a horizontal line down the middle of the paper. Ask the oldest person in the family to place his/her date of birth at the left and today’s date at the right. Ask each family member to use a colored marker to identify his/her birthday, then to represent his/her faith milestones on the line. Using these milestones, practice telling your faith story to one another. As you listen to each other’s stories, be encouraging and supportive. Share your story outside your family, too! Thank God for His faithfulness throughout your life. If you and your family are new to faith, begin a timeline and continue adding to it as you grow in God!---------------------
Insights from Michelle Kirby
Michelle Kirby is the Program Director for Learning Events such as the Journey 101 courses and Destination Resurrection at The Church of the Resurrection.What an interesting scene we encounter as we read today’s Scripture passage. The gospel writer John does a wonderful job of setting the stage, and we (the audience) use our imaginations to fill in the colors and background of this picture.
There are many things happening here. We can picture it in our minds, people moving in and out of the river as John stands waist deep baptizing them. All the while, he’s being interrogated by Priests and Pharisees demanding to know who he is and what he’s doing. A somewhat chaotic place to be.
Then it says the next day, Jesus enters the scene and a vivid picture emerges. The Holy Spirit comes down from heaven and remains on Jesus. What an image! There’s so much going on in this passage and so many things to think about—but the picture that really captures me is the one of the Holy Spirit resting on Jesus.
When the Holy Spirit is at work in our midst, it’s a beautiful thing—and He continues to do it. I most recently experienced this while on a trip to Cuba right before Thanksgiving. I went there with a team of people to teach about the Alpha Course. We quickly fell in love with the warm, hospitable and caring people of Cuba, but one particular scene brilliantly stands out to me.
We had been there for several days and visited several churches and missions. Each place we went we were so warmly received. We were asked in each of the places to share a message and worship with them. We had been scheduled to go to one particular mission located in a very remote area—and were having difficulty getting there, due to our over-filled schedules.
The pastor from that particular mission by the third day had become very discouraged that we weren’t going to make it, yet again, to his little church. He and his 30 members had been preparing for our visit for weeks and had been waiting for us each day we had been in Cuba. We assured him that we would get to his place that evening, but that proved to be more challenging than we anticipated.
On our way to this very remote area, it was well past 10 p.m. and it felt as if we were in the middle of nowhere. It was very, very dark, with no street lights, no house lights, no lights anywhere. Our road had turned into more of a path as our bus-driver tried to navigate the bus through a marshy field. He finally had to stop and back out of the field we were trying to cross to prevent us from getting stuck.
When our bus got back onto solid ground, still over a mile from our destination, the pastor asked for the bus door to be opened. He immediately ran into the darkness, leaving us to wonder what was happening. We deliberated among our group what we should do. Was he coming back, was he too upset and going to stay at the church? We didn’t know. We discussed this for around 45 minutes when someone noticed a group of around 30 emerging from the darkness. The pastor had run the last mile to gather his church members and bring them to us. This group of people, led by their beaming pastor, had walked through the mud, in the darkness, over a mile—most with bare feet, one woman 8 months pregnant—to spend time worshiping with us. It was humbling, a scene none of us will ever forget.
Out in the middle of nowhere, in the midst of the darkness with only the light of an iPhone, we were able to do what we all had wanted—have church together, worship God together. A pastor from our group shared a brief message, we sang songs together and prayed for one another. And right there, we experienced the Holy Spirit resting in our midst.
---------------------
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120
---------------------
Daily Guide-Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church for Sunday, 10 January 2016 "Prayer
Tip: Practicing Politics, Keeping Faith"
Daily Scripture:
Matthew 7:12 “Always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that sums up the teaching of the Torah and the Prophets.
Ephesians 4:29 Let no harmful language come from your mouth, only good words that are helpful in meeting the need, words that will benefit those who hear them. 30 Don’t cause grief to God’s Ruach HaKodesh, for he has stamped you as his property until the day of final redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, violent assertiveness and slander, along with all spitefulness. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted; and forgive each other, just as in the Messiah God has also forgiven you.
James 1:19 Therefore, my dear brothers, let every person be quick to listen but slow to speak, slow to get angry; 20 for a person’s anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness!
---------------------
The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Friday, 22 January 2016 - “The great, mighty, and awesome God…doesn’t play favorites”
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.
Deuteronomy 10:14 See, the sky, the heaven beyond the sky, the earth and everything on it all belong toAdonai your God. 15 Only Adonai took enough pleasure in your ancestors to love them and choose their descendants after them — yourselves — above all peoples, as he still does today. 16 Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart; and don’t be stiffnecked any longer! 17 For Adonai your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty and awesome God, who has no favorites and accepts no bribes. 18 He secures justice for the orphan and the widow; he loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. 19 Therefore you are to love the foreigner, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
Reflection Questions:
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 Deuteronomy10:15, 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?
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.
---------------------
Insights from Ginger Rothhaas
Ginger Rothhaas is a seminary student at Saint Paul School of Theology and is serving in Congregational Care at The Church of the Resurrection.In scriptures from Deuteronomy and Leviticus, the Hebrew word we translate as sojourner, alien, or stranger (depending on your Bible version) is the single word guwr that in Hebrew means, “to dwell for a time, to abide, temporarily stay.”
Aren’t we all dwelling here on earth for a time, on a temporary stay?
In Thomas Merton’s book New Seeds of Contemplation, there is a chapter titled “We Are One Man.” This title says it all, but read with me the words of Merton from this chapter (maybe a couple of times, and it helps to read it out loud):
“The more I become identified with God, the more will I be identified with all the others who are identified with Him. His Love will live in all of us. His Spirit will be our One Life, the Life of all of us and the Life of God. And we shall love one another and God with the same Love with which He loves us and Himself. This love is God Himself.
Christ prayed that all men might become One as he was One with His Father, in the Unity of the Holy Spirit. Therefore when you and I become what we are really meant to be, we will discover not only that we love one another perfectly but that we are both living in Christ and Christ in us, and we are all One Christ. We will see that it is He Who loves in us.”
I had to read it a few times too! But I have come to love these words the more I read them.
“His Love will live in all of us.” That’s you and me and every single human on the planet, filled with God’s love.
These words of Merton’s especially give me hope: “when you and I become what we are really meant to be, we will discover not only that we love one another perfectly, but that we are both living in Christ and Christ in us.”
To me, Merton is saying, when we each find our Divine Purpose and calling, when we become what we were made to be, we will stop judging, blaming, and closing our hearts. We will be fully living into our own potential and we will want that for every other person too.
It is when we are fully accepting God’s unconditional love and serving God wholeheartedly that we can show unconditional love to others.
Are you becoming what you are really meant to be? I’m working on it too.
Soon, we will realize we can love one another perfectly as we live in Christ and Christ in us.
---------------------
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120
---------------------
Daily Guide-Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church for Saturday, 09 January 2016 - "Christmas was just the beginning"
Daily Scripture: John 1:19 Here is Yochanan’s testimony: when the Judeans sent cohanim and L’vi’im from Yerushalayim to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 he was very straightforward and stated clearly, “I am not the Messiah.” 21 “Then who are you?” they asked him. “Are you Eliyahu?” “No, I am not,” he said. “Are you ‘the prophet,’ the one we’re expecting?” “No,” he replied. 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? — so that we can give an answer to the people who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?” 23 He answered in the words of Yesha‘yahu the prophet, “I am
The voice of someone crying out:
‘In the desert make the way of Adonai straight!’”[John 1:23 Isaiah 40:3]
24 Some of those who had been sent were P’rushim. 25 They asked him, “If you are neither the Messiah nor Eliyahu nor ‘the prophet,’ then why are you immersing people?” 26 To them Yochanan replied, “I am immersing people in water, but among you is standing someone whom you don’t know. 27 He is the one coming after me — I’m not good enough even to untie his sandal!” 28 All this took place in Beit-Anyah, east of the Yarden, where Yochanan was immersing.
29 The next day, Yochanan saw Yeshua coming toward him and said, “Look! God’s lamb! The one who is taking away the sin of the world! 30 This is the man I was talking about when I said, ‘After me is coming someone who has come to rank above me, because he existed before me.’ 31 I myself did not know who he was, but the reason I came immersing with water was so that he might be made known to Isra’el.” 32 Then Yochanan gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove, and remaining on him.33 I myself did not know who he was, but the one who sent me to immerse in water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining, this is the one who immerses in the Ruach HaKodesh.’ 34 And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
Reflection Questions:At Christmas we celebrate God coming into our world as a tiny infant, that “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14). It was a wonderful story, but just the beginning of a much larger story. Jesus grew to adulthood, and in today’s reading he began his public ministry. John the Baptist was his herald, declaring, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (verse 29).
- “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” was an image from Israel’s sacrifices for sin, but with one crucial difference. Although Hebrews 10:4 later said bluntly, “It’s impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins,” Jesus’ sacrifice could, did, and does actually give the opportunity to be set right with God. Have you claimed Jesus' gift of freedom from guilt and destructive ways of life?
Lord Jesus, thank you not just for the story of your birth, but for the whole story of your life, death and resurrection. Thank you for giving me the privilege of being part of your ongoing mission and story, bringing restoration to our broken world. Amen.
Family Activity:
Create a family faith timeline. Connect several sheets of paper together horizontally. Draw a horizontal line down the middle of the paper. Ask the oldest person in the family to place his/her date of birth at the left and today’s date at the right. Ask each family member to use a colored marker to identify his/her birthday, then to represent his/her faith milestones on the line. Using these milestones, practice telling your faith story to one another. As you listen to each other’s stories, be encouraging and supportive. Share your story outside your family, too! Thank God for His faithfulness throughout your life. If you and your family are new to faith, begin a timeline and continue adding to it as you grow in God!---------------------
Insights from Michelle Kirby
Michelle Kirby is the Program Director for Learning Events such as the Journey 101 courses and Destination Resurrection at The Church of the Resurrection.What an interesting scene we encounter as we read today’s Scripture passage. The gospel writer John does a wonderful job of setting the stage, and we (the audience) use our imaginations to fill in the colors and background of this picture.
There are many things happening here. We can picture it in our minds, people moving in and out of the river as John stands waist deep baptizing them. All the while, he’s being interrogated by Priests and Pharisees demanding to know who he is and what he’s doing. A somewhat chaotic place to be.
Then it says the next day, Jesus enters the scene and a vivid picture emerges. The Holy Spirit comes down from heaven and remains on Jesus. What an image! There’s so much going on in this passage and so many things to think about—but the picture that really captures me is the one of the Holy Spirit resting on Jesus.
When the Holy Spirit is at work in our midst, it’s a beautiful thing—and He continues to do it. I most recently experienced this while on a trip to Cuba right before Thanksgiving. I went there with a team of people to teach about the Alpha Course. We quickly fell in love with the warm, hospitable and caring people of Cuba, but one particular scene brilliantly stands out to me.
We had been there for several days and visited several churches and missions. Each place we went we were so warmly received. We were asked in each of the places to share a message and worship with them. We had been scheduled to go to one particular mission located in a very remote area—and were having difficulty getting there, due to our over-filled schedules.
The pastor from that particular mission by the third day had become very discouraged that we weren’t going to make it, yet again, to his little church. He and his 30 members had been preparing for our visit for weeks and had been waiting for us each day we had been in Cuba. We assured him that we would get to his place that evening, but that proved to be more challenging than we anticipated.
On our way to this very remote area, it was well past 10 p.m. and it felt as if we were in the middle of nowhere. It was very, very dark, with no street lights, no house lights, no lights anywhere. Our road had turned into more of a path as our bus-driver tried to navigate the bus through a marshy field. He finally had to stop and back out of the field we were trying to cross to prevent us from getting stuck.
When our bus got back onto solid ground, still over a mile from our destination, the pastor asked for the bus door to be opened. He immediately ran into the darkness, leaving us to wonder what was happening. We deliberated among our group what we should do. Was he coming back, was he too upset and going to stay at the church? We didn’t know. We discussed this for around 45 minutes when someone noticed a group of around 30 emerging from the darkness. The pastor had run the last mile to gather his church members and bring them to us. This group of people, led by their beaming pastor, had walked through the mud, in the darkness, over a mile—most with bare feet, one woman 8 months pregnant—to spend time worshiping with us. It was humbling, a scene none of us will ever forget.
Out in the middle of nowhere, in the midst of the darkness with only the light of an iPhone, we were able to do what we all had wanted—have church together, worship God together. A pastor from our group shared a brief message, we sang songs together and prayed for one another. And right there, we experienced the Holy Spirit resting in our midst.
---------------------
Download the GPS AppThe United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120
---------------------
Daily Guide-Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church for Sunday, 10 January 2016 "Prayer
Tip: Practicing Politics, Keeping Faith"
Daily Scripture:Matthew 7:12 “Always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that sums up the teaching of the Torah and the Prophets.
Ephesians 4:29 Let no harmful language come from your mouth, only good words that are helpful in meeting the need, words that will benefit those who hear them. 30 Don’t cause grief to God’s Ruach HaKodesh, for he has stamped you as his property until the day of final redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, violent assertiveness and slander, along with all spitefulness. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted; and forgive each other, just as in the Messiah God has also forgiven you.
James 1:19 Therefore, my dear brothers, let every person be quick to listen but slow to speak, slow to get angry; 20 for a person’s anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness!
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Prayer Tip: In this sermon series we will be taking a look at the social and political issues that divide us. How does our faith affect the way we think about and engage in these issues? As we approach the sermon series, it seems helpful to reflect on these things prayerfully. First, what are the hot-button topics that make your blood boil? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Second, which people is it most difficult for you to engage in politically charged conversations with? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Third, how might the following scripture effect the way we approach one another in discussions about these issues? Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that our fathers were told, ‘Love your neighbor[Matthew 5:43 Leviticus 19:18] — and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 45 Then you will become children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun shine on good and bad people alike, and he sends rain to the righteous and the unrighteous alike.46 What reward do you get if you love only those who love you? Why, even tax-collectors do that! 47 And if you are friendly only to your friends, are you doing anything out of the ordinary? Even the Goyim do that! 48 Therefore, be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.Finally, pray that God might make us peace-makers in a polarized world. “Prayer for Peace” from the General Board of Missions of the UMC: Gentle Spirit, Breathe in us the wind of truth, wisdom and righteousness. May your Presence inspire us to create labyrinths of peace. Compassionate One, Make our hearts burn with love, honoring all peoples and creation. Bless all nations, every family and community while we seek to work for justice and unity. Prince of Peace, Lead us to ways of healing and reconciliation we pray with those who suffer and struggle. Bless us with your reconciling love that knows no boundaries as we seek to live in community, justice and peace. So be it.(from Rev. Elizabeth S. Tapia, Global Ministries)[Katherine Ebling-Frazier, Pastor of Prayer] --------------------- |
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