Lent 2017: Day Fourteen
Week Two: Disturbances
Reflection for the Week: Ask disturbing questions and consider unexpected ways we share the Gospel story.
The letter of First John is a love letter. No it is not a “Dear John” letter, or a romantic letter of undying passion from a love-struck suitor. The word “love” is used here more than in any other New Testament writing. Love is mentioned some 35 times in this letter which only has five chapters and is only four pages long. In addition, the author repeatedly refers to the recipients as “beloved.” When you read it, you hear a clear sense of urgency. The author is writing in a time when the community feared the end was coming. Chapter 2:18 declares, “Children, it is the last hour!” Isn’t it interesting what becomes the focus when one feels time is running short? Love.
I can’t remember where I heard it, but I have long remembered the phrase, “No one on their death bed ever said, ‘I wish I’d spent more time at the office.’” No, everyone wants more time with the people they love. As a pastor, what I hear in the last days of a person’s life are the precious stories of love and family, not career and accomplishment. If you have experienced the loss of a loved one, you may have noticed just how close that loss brings you to those who share in it.
Why is it we keep waiting until we are near the end of life to begin living life as we should? What more basic need is there in any life than to know love? Not to be in love, but to be loved and to love in turn. It is in that moment when we allow ourselves to risk the vulnerability required for genuine love that we are able to receive what we need. In that vulnerable moment of grief surrounding a memorial for a loved one, I have often encouraged families to speak words of love to each other while the window of tenderness is open. In our tendency to protect ourselves, it is a window all too soon closed.
For Christians, love is the answer. Not selfish human desires to be loved, but God’s self-giving desire to love. It is the answer to more than personal joy in life. It is the answer to poverty, war, abuse, even pollution. When you love something you take care of it. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Hate can’t drive out hate, only love can do that.”
Today the window can be opened again in the reading of this scripture if, you will open your heart to it. “Dear friends, let us love one another.”
Prayer: Loving God, May I find enough strength to love as you have loved me. Amen.
Rev. John Farley
Dean of Cabinet
California-Pacific Conference
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The Lord is Your Keeper
To the People of the Western Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church, and to the ends of the earth, Fulfilling our charge to “To guard, transmit, teach, and proclaim … the apostolic faith as it is expressed in Scripture and tradition, and … to interpret that faith evangelically and prophetically” (BOD, 2016, ¶ 414.3), the bishops in the Western Jurisdiction will offer messages of faith each week of Lent, with the prayer that God will strengthen the Church for its mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
The Lord is your keeper…..The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.[Psalm 121]
The Psalmist speaks as one who has journeyed with the Lord. There is no doubt in his mind or spirit that God is faithfully with him. He can see God, feel God’s sustaining grace, rest peacefully in the Lord who keeps watch over him when he is awake and when he sleeps, protecting him from the struggles that come by day and by night. He is confident that God is always with him.
Recently I met a modern-day Psalmist; a woman who said, “Let us pray to God to shield us so that those who seek to harm us will not be able to see us.” She is an immigrant, sojourning in a foreign land seeking to sustain herself and her family. Thinking of immigrants in the US who have for many generations lived in the shadows of society, I was saddened at first by the woman’s prayer because I assumed that she was speaking of going deeper into those dark and perilous places of shadow. But as I listened more carefully to her words and thought of the immigrants I have come to know, I suddenly realized that she was not speaking about going further underground in a society that has pushed her to dark places. She was speaking of God who does indeed protect and shield the sojourner.
I do not know of anyone who suffers more than the immigrant or the refugee. Today 65 million persons, men, women and children, are displaced in the world. The common experience of refugees is that they will spend over 20 years in refugee camps before finding a place to call home again. Too many of these refugees are children. Over 11 million undocumented immigrants are living in the US without protection from abuse and oppression.
I have met many refugees and undocumented immigrants and am always amazed by their faith. They believe that God is their help. There seems to be something about being completely vulnerable that allows one to see that even mountains of despair and anguish bear witness to the Creator. They know of what the Psalmist speaks when he says, “I lift up my eyes to the hills– from where will my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”
As I have sought to walk alongside undocumented immigrants and refugees and listened to their stories, I have heard horrendous stories of pain, suffering and loss. But even in their pain, suffering and loss these brothers and sisters of ours will say, “God is always with us.” Their witness has blessed me and all who stop and listen.
In this Lenten season, may our prayer for one another be the confession of the Psalmist, of the refugee and the immigrant, “The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.”
Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño
California-Nevada Conference
The United Methodist Church
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Cal-Pac Paper for Saturday, 11 March 2017 of The California-Pacific Conference of The United Methodist Church in Pasadena, California, United States "Cal-Pac's News and in the News..."
El Centro First UMC Becomes JFON Site
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Compton Crossroads UMC Hosts Expungement Clinic
Crossroads UMC Hosts Expungement Clinic by Sentinel News Service
Many people attended the Expungement Clinic held Feb. 25 at Crossroads United Methodist Church.
Crossroads United Methodist Church led the way for a community collaboration and partnership that helped nealy100 people start clearing up their criminal records.
The Compton Church hosted the Fresh Start Expungement Clinic on Feb. 25, its second in the past two years, and has made the event a core part of its outreach.
“This type of community engagement is necessary and it is important that the faith community lead the way,” said the Rev. Adrienne Zackery, pastor of Crossroads UMC. “Our vision is to help transform the lives of thousands of formerly incarcerated person in need of a second chance.”
Zackery said the partnership with the city of Compton and the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles was critical because the organizations trained volunteer attorneys to assist with the record expungements. She also applauded the collaborative work that involved other ministries like Charles Gibson Ministries and the more than 40 attorneys and students who came from UC Irvine School of Law.
The day started with a hot breakfast and quickly moved into the business of clearing up Criminal Record Petitions and Prop 47 and Prop 64 applications. Also, live scan opportunities were available onsite for people who did not pre-register.
Organizers say another expungement clinic is being planned for June 2017.
Crossroads United Methodist Church is located at 2354 North Wilmington Avenue in Compton. To learn more, call (310) 639-3136.
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Echo Park UMC Joins UMW #boxemup Campaign
Echo Park United Methodist Church with Belinda Garcia and 3 others.
The UMW of Echo Park UMC take a stand against human trafficking. @UMWomen #UMWBoxEmUp
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Museum of Social Justice presents Con Safos: Reflections of Life in the Barrio
CON SAFOS: REFLECTIONS OF LIFE IN THE BARRIO (FEBRUARY 6, 2017- AUGUST , 2017)
Museum of Social Justice presents a
NEW EXHIBITION
Con Safos: Reflections of Life in the Barrio
February 6, 2017- August , 2017
Photo by Oscar Castillo
Con Safos Magazine was a leading Chicano literary journal that emerged in the late 1960’s to the 1970’s in the East Los Angeles Barrio. Con Safos Magazine offered a Chicano first voice to address and document “El Movimiento.”
This exhibition chronicles the Chicano social and cultural activism through visual and literary art reflecting life in East Los Angeles, including oral testimonies, personal poems and satirical musings, painting, photography, photo collages, comics, documentaries, social activism and other cultural forms of expression.
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Religious leaders stand for refugees
Photo by Alexa Malishchak, Nashville Community Defense
SueAnn Shiah, a member of City Church of East Nashville, receives ashes on her forehead during a prayer vigil in front of the Nashville Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Ash Wednesday, March 1, in Nashville, Tenn. The vigil was organized by the Nashville Community Defense.
Religious leaders stand for refugeesBy Kathy L. Gilbert
United Methodists are among religious leaders calling for welcoming and restoring hope to the 66 million displaced people in the world and opposing any revised travel ban from the Trump Administration.
In a national press conference on March 3, religious leaders unveiled a grassroots, ecumenical initiative from the National Council of Churches and Church World Service.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said the new executive order will have the same effect as the earlier one while avoiding court challenges, said the Rev. John McCullough, a United Methodist who serves as president and CEO of Church World Service.
The declaration among other things requests a meeting with the president, calls on Congress to rescind the three executive orders related to immigration and calls on congregations to devote one Sunday in the next three months to honor refugees and immigrants.
Clergy and laypeople from several denominations who are members of the Nashville Community Defense held a prayer vigil in front of the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency March1. Photo by Alexa Malishchak, Nashville Community Defense
The United Methodist Church will devote Sunday, June 4, which is Pentecost Sunday, to pray for refugee families and take a special offering to help with the ongoing work of welcoming and resettling refugees, said United Methodist Bishop Minerva Carcaño, California-Nevada Conference, and a member of the steering committee issuing the statement.
All three of the executive orders related to immigrant directly counter tenants to welcome the stranger and treat the sojourner as our neighbors, said Jim Winkler, a United Methodist who serves as president of the National Council of Churches.
“In plain language, it is unchristian and Mr. Trump should know so,” Winkler said. “He grew up in a Presbyterian church; he was married in a Reformed Church of America, churches that are a part of the National Council of Churches and Church World Service.”
Even though courts halted Trump’s ban on accepting refugees from seven mostly Muslim countries, it has already stopped many refugees in the process of coming to the U.S. Trump’s original order barred citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries as well as all refugees from entering the United States. The revised version is expected to lower that to six countries, removing Iraq from the list.
“When Trump issued that order it left refugees in mid-air,” Carcaño said.
“Refugees were on their way (to the U.S.), having left home and family and all of their possessions. These are the most vulnerable people on this globe at this moment,” she said.
During the Obama administration the United States accepted 110,000 refugees; Trump has proposed dropping that to 50,000.
Many believe the U.S. receives the most refugees, but Carcaño said that is far from true.
Small countries with the deepest economic struggles accept most of the refugees, she added. Jordan received 2.7 million; Turkey, 2.5 million; Pakistan, 1.6 million, and Lebanon, 1.5 million. Iran, Ethiopa and Kenya accept hundreds of thousands more refugees than the United States.
From the inscription on the Statue of Liberty to the Scriptures preached in pulpits, accepting all people from all places is part of the heritage of the U.S., McCullough said.
“We also feel very strongly that it is consistent with faith that binds us together,” McCullough said.
Carcaño said the order “takes a wrecking ball to the Statue of Liberty.”
United Methodists in Nashville, Tennessee, held a vigil on Ash Wednesday at the local office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the wake of Trump’s executive orders targeting immigrant and Muslim communities.
“In times like this, Ash Wednesday is best observed as a time of communal lament,” said the Rev. Carlos Uroza, a United Methodist pastor in the Nashville area. “Today we not only mourn our collective sin of not loving our neighbor, but also —as one body — we have come here to stand and show our Christian commitment to walking along with our beloved immigrant community.”
The United Methodist Church is a global church, McCullough pointed out. General Conference, the denomination’s top lawmaking body, is not American, and that globally diversity is reflected in many congregations, he said.
“Diversity is a value we hold as United Methodists,” McCullough said.
Trump proposed a merit system for accepting refugees in his address to Congress on Feb. 28.
That proposal is cause for concern, said the Rev. Keary Kincannon, pastor of Rising Hope Mission Church, a United Methodist congregation in Alexandria, Virginia.
“I agree we want people to be citizens that really get engaged in our society, but what about those fleeing violence, what about those in such dire poverty who want their families to survive and have a good life? The merit system is going to leave them out,” he said.
Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia invited Kincannon to Trump’s address. Kincannon was outspoken about the rights of immigrants after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents rounded up several men who had who left a homeless shelter at his church.
Kincannon said it was an honor and a great opportunity to be in the U.S. House of Representatives as the president spoke. However, he said, he was struck by a sense of how privileged everyone in the room was and how out of touch they were with the community his church serves.
“I just had a sense I was in a bubble, in a bubble that are making decisions that are going to affect us all. But what kind of relationship did they have with the people in my community?” he said. “That brought some sadness to me.”
This is a unique moment not only for churches but also for the country, McCullough said.
“I think, in this moment, a lot of attention centers on a very small number of people, comparably, that are eligible to be resettled in the U.S. and what should not be lost is the magnitude of the crisis of displaced persons around the world.”
McCullough said the vetting system used for resettling refugee in the U.S. is highly developed, highly technical and well thought out.
“I dare say it is the best in the world. As people of faith and Americans, we need to have confidence in this system,” he said.
Carcaño, said United Methodists need to be aware of what is happening with “our displaced brothers and sisters.”
“My hope is United Methodists will become aware because I believe United Methodists would want to respond from the kindness of their hearts and the generosity of our United Methodist spirit.”
Gilbert is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free Daily or Weekly Digests.
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Open My Eyes for Sunday, 12 March 2017 The United Methodist Church Prays in Nashville, Tennessee, United States
SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017
A prayer by Bishop Karen Oliveto of the Mountain Sky Episcopal Area, leading the United Methodist Church in “Praying Our Way Forward” for the week of March 12-18, 2017.
1. Open my eyes that I may see
Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;
Place in my hands the wonderful key
That shall unclasp and set me free.
2. Silently now I wait for thee,
Ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my eyes; illumine me,
Spirit divine!(Clara H. Scott, 1895)
Gracious God, in these days of division and disagreement, open our eyes to one another. Help us see the way you work in the lives of those around us. Help us see your creative touch in the faces of your children. Help us hear your Truth in the voices of others.
As we pray together, we ask that your Holy Spirit enfold the members of the Commission on a Way Forward. As they gather, may they always remember that they are standing on Holy Ground. Inspire them. Guide them. Lead them. Embolden them.
You are a surprising God. May our hearts be open to the future you desire for us.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Copyright © 2017 The Upper Room, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
The Upper Room Strategic Initiatives
PO Box 340007
Nashville, Tennessee 37203, United States
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Lent 2017: Day Eleven
Week Two: Disturbances
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Lent 2017: Day Eleven
Week Two: Disturbances
Reflection for the Week: Ask disturbing questions and consider unexpected ways we share the Gospel story.
Whenever I lead Bible Study, I ask people, “What are words you would use to describe the Bible? The word “guidebook” most always comes up. But, how is it a guidebook? The Bible certainly contains more than a collection of dos and don’ts. It does not offer you a daily schedule, 365 days a year, for how you should live your life, at least not overtly. So then, if it is a guide, how so?
In the Old Testament, one of the most frequent words defining God is righteousness. The word is used to describe a God in “right relationship” to God’s creation and God’s people. Story after story guides us to an understanding of what a right relationship with God looks like. In the New Testament, Jesus speaks of the relationship between the Father and the Son. He speaks of the relationship all can have with the Father through the Son.
The Bible is a guidebook, but not one sending us on our own journey. It is a guidebook to show us the way into a right relationship with God. If we get that right, you don’t need to be told how to act toward others. As the Prophet Jeremiah says, the way God wants us to act will be “written on our hearts.”
Prayer: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Amen.
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Finish your application to Claremont School of Theology Today & Check out Reminders from the Office of Admissions of The Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, California, United States for Saturday, 11 March 2017
Whenever I lead Bible Study, I ask people, “What are words you would use to describe the Bible? The word “guidebook” most always comes up. But, how is it a guidebook? The Bible certainly contains more than a collection of dos and don’ts. It does not offer you a daily schedule, 365 days a year, for how you should live your life, at least not overtly. So then, if it is a guide, how so?
In the Old Testament, one of the most frequent words defining God is righteousness. The word is used to describe a God in “right relationship” to God’s creation and God’s people. Story after story guides us to an understanding of what a right relationship with God looks like. In the New Testament, Jesus speaks of the relationship between the Father and the Son. He speaks of the relationship all can have with the Father through the Son.
The Bible is a guidebook, but not one sending us on our own journey. It is a guidebook to show us the way into a right relationship with God. If we get that right, you don’t need to be told how to act toward others. As the Prophet Jeremiah says, the way God wants us to act will be “written on our hearts.”
Prayer: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Amen.
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Finish your application to Claremont School of Theology Today & Check out Reminders from the Office of Admissions of The Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, California, United States for Saturday, 11 March 2017
March 2017 Admission Reminders:
Register to attend a Free Virtual Grad School Fair
March
29
The Virtual Fair will allow you to have your admissions questions answered by representatives from multiple graduate institutions during this live event. Register at CareerEco.com/Events/Seminary to attend the Seminary & Theological Grad School Virtual Fair on March 29, 2017. Claremont School of Theology will be chatting from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm (PST).
Register to attend a Free Virtual Grad School Fair
March
29
The Virtual Fair will allow you to have your admissions questions answered by representatives from multiple graduate institutions during this live event. Register at CareerEco.com/Events/Seminary to attend the Seminary & Theological Grad School Virtual Fair on March 29, 2017. Claremont School of Theology will be chatting from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm (PST).
Visit our On-Campus Info Session
March
30
The Office of Admission holds Information Sessions every month on Thursdays from 4:00pm to 5:00pm on CST’s campus in Claremont. These informational sessions give you the opportunity to check out the campus, learn about our academic programs, and review admission and financial aid requirements. RSVP here.
March
30
The Office of Admission holds Information Sessions every month on Thursdays from 4:00pm to 5:00pm on CST’s campus in Claremont. These informational sessions give you the opportunity to check out the campus, learn about our academic programs, and review admission and financial aid requirements. RSVP here.
Finish your Fall 2017 Semester Application Now
Apply
Today
Apply for The Fall 2017 Semester today in order to be considered for scholarships and grant aid awards. 100% of incoming M.A. and M.DIV students receive some form of institutional aid. So submit your application and all required materials to secure your spot. Learn more about CST degree programs here, start your application online and email the Office of Admissions for more information at admission@cst.edu.
Claremont School of Theology
1325 North College Avenue
Claremont, California 91711, United States
Main Number: (909) 447-2500
Copyright © 2017 Claremont School of Theology, All rights reserved.-------
Inspiring the world as passionate followers of Jesus Christ so all may experience God's life-giving love...
Copyright © 2017 The California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
The California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church
110 South Euclid Avenue
Apply
Today
Apply for The Fall 2017 Semester today in order to be considered for scholarships and grant aid awards. 100% of incoming M.A. and M.DIV students receive some form of institutional aid. So submit your application and all required materials to secure your spot. Learn more about CST degree programs here, start your application online and email the Office of Admissions for more information at admission@cst.edu.
Claremont School of Theology
1325 North College Avenue
Claremont, California 91711, United States
Main Number: (909) 447-2500
Copyright © 2017 Claremont School of Theology, All rights reserved.-------
Inspiring the world as passionate followers of Jesus Christ so all may experience God's life-giving love...Copyright © 2017 The California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
The California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church
110 South Euclid Avenue
Pasadena, California 91101, United States
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