2016 LENTEN DEVOTIONAL FROM THE RECONCILIATION MINISTRY NETWORK
--------------------- A Season of Becoming is a spiritual resource written by 47 different individuals from across the Reconciling Network. In the season of Lent, we are invited into a period of self-reflection, preparation, and spiritual growth as we engage in the holy work of becoming. The Spirit moves through this season to free us from that which binds our growth as we are drawn more deeply into the truth of who we are, into the possibilities of who we can become, and of the justice we are called to seek together. Reconciling Ministries Network hopes this daily devotional will offer you spiritual nourishment and restoration as we prepare our hearts for General Conference this May where the global denomination will meet to make choices about who we are going to be as a church for the next four years. Each author has reflected on scripture based on the lectionary for year C. We encourage all readers to enjoy the poems, prayers, and stories of our authors alongside the Holy Wisdom of scripture according to the referenced passage for the day. May God bless your journey this Lenten season and may Christ be your guide as you open your heart, mind, and soul to the Spirit’s work in you.
---------------------
Introduction
• Ash Wednesday, February 10
• Thursday, February 11
• Friday, February 12
• Saturday, February 13
• Sunday, February 14
• Monday, February 15
• Tuesday, February 16
• Wednesday, February 17
• Thursday, February 18
• Friday, February 19
• Saturday, February 20
• Sunday, February 21
• Monday, February 22
• Tuesday, February 23
• Wednesday, February 24
• Thursday, February 25
• Friday, February 26
• Saturday, February 27
• Sunday, February 28
• Monday, February 29
• Tuesday, March 1
• Wednesday, March 2
• Thursday, March 3
• Friday, March 4
• Saturday, March 5
• Sunday, March 6
• Monday, March 7
• Tuesday, March 8
• Wednesday, March 9
• Thursday, March 10
• Friday, March 11
• Saturday, March 12
• Sunday, March 13
• Monday, March 14
• Tuesday, March 15
• Wednesday, March 16
• Thursday, March 17
• Friday, March 18
• Saturday, March 19
• Passion Sunday, March 20
• Monday of Holy Week, March 21
• Tuesday of Holy Week, March 22
• Wednesday of Holy Week, March 23
• Maundy Thursday, March 24
• Good Friday, March 25
• Holy Saturday, March 26
• Easter, March 27
---------------------
Text: Psalm 51:1 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David, 2 when Natan the prophet came to him after his affair with Bat-Sheva:
3 (1) God, in your grace, have mercy on me;
in your great compassion, blot out my crimes.
4 (2) Wash me completely from my guilt,
and cleanse me from my sin.
5 (3) For I know my crimes,
my sin confronts me all the time.
6 (4) Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil from your perspective;
so that you are right in accusing me
and justified in passing sentence.
7 (5) True, I was born guilty,
was a sinner from the moment my mother conceived me.
8 (6) Still, you want truth in the inner person;
so make me know wisdom in my inmost heart.
9 (7) Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
10 (8) Let me hear the sound of joy and gladness,
so that the bones you crushed can rejoice.
11 (9) Turn away your face from my sins,
and blot out all my crimes.
12 (10) Create in me a clean heart, God;
renew in me a resolute spirit.
13 (11) Don’t thrust me away from your presence,
don’t take your Ruach Kodesh away from me.
14 (12) Restore my joy in your salvation,
and let a willing spirit uphold me.
15 (13) Then I will teach the wicked your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
16 (14) Rescue me from the guilt of shedding blood,
God, God of my salvation!
Then my tongue will sing
about your righteousness —
17 (15) Adonai, open my lips;
then my mouth will praise you.
3 (1) God, in your grace, have mercy on me;
in your great compassion, blot out my crimes.
4 (2) Wash me completely from my guilt,
and cleanse me from my sin.
5 (3) For I know my crimes,
my sin confronts me all the time.
6 (4) Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil from your perspective;
so that you are right in accusing me
and justified in passing sentence.
7 (5) True, I was born guilty,
was a sinner from the moment my mother conceived me.
8 (6) Still, you want truth in the inner person;
so make me know wisdom in my inmost heart.
9 (7) Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
10 (8) Let me hear the sound of joy and gladness,
so that the bones you crushed can rejoice.
11 (9) Turn away your face from my sins,
and blot out all my crimes.
12 (10) Create in me a clean heart, God;
renew in me a resolute spirit.
13 (11) Don’t thrust me away from your presence,
don’t take your Ruach Kodesh away from me.
14 (12) Restore my joy in your salvation,
and let a willing spirit uphold me.
15 (13) Then I will teach the wicked your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
16 (14) Rescue me from the guilt of shedding blood,
God, God of my salvation!
Then my tongue will sing
about your righteousness —
17 (15) Adonai, open my lips;
then my mouth will praise you.
Ash Wednesday.
A mark of the cross on my forehead: a sign that I am broken, that I need mercy. How countercultural! Our society is all about blame, rancor, and judgment. But on Ash Wednesday we aren’t asked to stand at the altar and cast stones at anybody else. Each desperate, broken person humbly asks for mercy. Which is the one prayer that is answered before it is even uttered. Pope Francis declared 2016 as the Year of Mercy. Every year, every minute is all mercy in the heart of God. Ash Wednesday reminds me of that silly game where a sticky note is stuck on your forehead with a famous person’s name. You hear clues from other players and try to guess who you are. The ashes are a note: God’s lovely mercy defines you. You aren’t a consumer, a laborer, a genius or a failure. You are God’s precious child with an eternal destiny. You are branded with God’s mercy. If you give up something for Lent, give up your stony belief you have to prove yourself, you have to be good enough – and give up merciless, judgmental, fearful, anxious thoughts about others. Embrace mercy. Trust God’s tender kindness. Be merciful this Lent. Marked by ashes of brokenness and mercy, you see the other, not as strange or to be feared. You see mercy all over her. You find the way to be the mercy of God to him. I like it that, after the service is over and I’m downtown, or at the store, someone stares quizzically. Oops, I forgot! – but the mark lingers. The mercy sticks, and maybe, hopefully, someone notices something different about me. After all, he’s broken too. She needs the mercy. There’s as much mercy as the earth has dust. It’s all around. Ash Wednesday
Rev. James C. Howell James is senior pastor of Myers Park UMC in Charlotte, NC, adjunct professor of preaching at Duke Divinity School, author of 16 books, husband, and father of three.
---------------------
Text: Acts 7:30 “After forty more years, an angel appeared to him in the desert near Mount Sinai in the flames of a burning thorn bush. 31 When Moshe saw this, he was amazed at the sight; and as he approached to get a better look, there came the voice of Adonai, 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov.’ But Moshe trembled with fear and didn’t dare to look. 33 Adonai said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, because the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have clearly seen how My people are being oppressed in Egypt, I have heard their cry, and I have come down to rescue them, and now I will send you to Egypt.’[Acts 7:34 Exodus 3:1–2]
Moses’ encounter with God was groundbreaking. Everything changed. And nothing changed. When Moses met God in the wilderness, God shattered the notion God was confined to certain places. Until then, God’s people believed the temples in which the priests of the day ministered barefoot were holy ground. God is with us always. All is holy ground. Jesus’ incarnation was groundbreaking. Everything changed. And nothing changed. As Frederick Buechener writes, “[The] incarnation means that all ground is holy ground because God not only made it but walked on it, ate and slept and worked and died on it.” God is with us always. All is holy ground. Last summer, I had the privilege of joining the Reverend Benjamin David Hutchison and Monty Hutchison, in holy matrimony. Because they were forbidden from declaring their covenantal love to one another in the presence of the Holy One at the altar of Cassopolis UMC, the ceremony took place in the heat of the July sun on the concrete steps of the Cass County Courthouse. A throng of Jesus followers bore witness to this sacred event. God was surely with us. It, too, was holy ground. Imagine how transformed the world will be when each of us acts as if we are standing in God’s presence on holy ground. Always. Living rooms in which we share our deepest truths and longings with families, keyboards on which we tell our stories, courtrooms from which groundbreaking decisions flow, even the ground in which Flint water lines are laid. All is holy ground. God, Gently nudge me - repeatedly, when necessary - to remember I am standing in Your presence on holy ground. Always. Remove the sandals that adorn my fears and serve as barriers to receiving and extending Your abundant grace to all uniquely and perfectly created-by-You beings. Without exception.
Moses’ encounter with God was groundbreaking. Everything changed. And nothing changed. When Moses met God in the wilderness, God shattered the notion God was confined to certain places. Until then, God’s people believed the temples in which the priests of the day ministered barefoot were holy ground. God is with us always. All is holy ground. Jesus’ incarnation was groundbreaking. Everything changed. And nothing changed. As Frederick Buechener writes, “[The] incarnation means that all ground is holy ground because God not only made it but walked on it, ate and slept and worked and died on it.” God is with us always. All is holy ground. Last summer, I had the privilege of joining the Reverend Benjamin David Hutchison and Monty Hutchison, in holy matrimony. Because they were forbidden from declaring their covenantal love to one another in the presence of the Holy One at the altar of Cassopolis UMC, the ceremony took place in the heat of the July sun on the concrete steps of the Cass County Courthouse. A throng of Jesus followers bore witness to this sacred event. God was surely with us. It, too, was holy ground. Imagine how transformed the world will be when each of us acts as if we are standing in God’s presence on holy ground. Always. Living rooms in which we share our deepest truths and longings with families, keyboards on which we tell our stories, courtrooms from which groundbreaking decisions flow, even the ground in which Flint water lines are laid. All is holy ground. God, Gently nudge me - repeatedly, when necessary - to remember I am standing in Your presence on holy ground. Always. Remove the sandals that adorn my fears and serve as barriers to receiving and extending Your abundant grace to all uniquely and perfectly created-by-You beings. Without exception.
---------------------
Thursday, February 11
Ginny Mikita
Ginny is an active member of Courtland-Oakfield UMC and a certified candidate for ordination in The UMC. A 1991 graduate of Notre Dame Law School, she and her husband, Bob Kruse, have their own law practice and represent the voiceless - neglected/abused and refugee children, animals and incapacitated adults. They have two children, 19 year old Spencer and 15 year old Greta, and a black lab/beagle mix named Kadie.
---------------------
Text: Acts 7:35 “This Moshe, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ is the very one whom God sent as both ruler and ransomer by means of the angel that appeared to him in the thorn bush. 36 This man led them out, performing miracles and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moshe who said to the people of Isra’el, ‘God will raise up a prophet like me from among your brothers’[Acts 7:37 Deuteronomy 18:15] 38 This is the man who was in the assembly in the wilderness, accompanied by the angel that had spoken to him at Mount Sinai and by our fathers, the man who was given living words to pass on to us.
39 “But our fathers did not want to obey him. On the contrary, they rejected him and in their hearts turned to Egypt, 40 saying to Aharon, ‘Make us some gods to lead us; because this Moshe, who led us out of Egypt — we don’t know what has become of him.’[Acts 7:40 Exodus 32:1, 23] 41 That was when they made an idol in the shape of a calf and offered a sacrifice to it and held a celebration in honor of what they had made with their own hands. 42 So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the stars[Acts 7:42 Jeremiah 19:13] — as has been written in the book of the prophets,
‘People of Isra’el, it was not to me
that you offered slaughtered animals
and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness!
I first came to seminary as a lay person on sabbatical … an algebra teacher among future pastors. For me, it was a season of becoming – it would lead to a call to ministry and a return as an MDiv student. Seminary orientation brought a friendly ice-breaker: write down a Bible character that we would hope to emulate and tell why. Many different women and men were chosen. The musings were thoughtful. However, no one chose Stephen… It seems Stephen was full of grace, had an irresistible wisdom and Spirit. He brought many people into the new church. He was a transformational wonder! Isn’t this what we aspire to be? But no one chooses to be Stephen. In today’s scripture, false witness had been hurled at Stephen. Rather than stay safe, he responds by reminding the council that Moses himself was rejected - a golden calf would be their idol. Then Stephen insinuated his accusers’ guilt and the council raged. Yet, as the persecution of Stephen intensified, the Spirit was always evident. As faithful lesbian, gay, bi, and queer United Methodists, many of us ordained, we offer our ministry. The Spirit is evident in our joy and hope in God, in the grace and peace in our communities. Yet we have suffered a terrible false witness – “incompatible with Christian teaching.” We know if we tell the truth, we will be punished. It is hard. We don’t choose to be Stephen. We would rather enjoy popularity among the people who love Jesus than be persecuted by those who worship the golden calf. Lent is an invitation to focus on God even during the persecution. Let us be like Stephen and bask in the Holy Spirit–our Advocate, the Spirit of truth, and one who will remind us of all that Jesus taught. (John 14)
39 “But our fathers did not want to obey him. On the contrary, they rejected him and in their hearts turned to Egypt, 40 saying to Aharon, ‘Make us some gods to lead us; because this Moshe, who led us out of Egypt — we don’t know what has become of him.’[Acts 7:40 Exodus 32:1, 23] 41 That was when they made an idol in the shape of a calf and offered a sacrifice to it and held a celebration in honor of what they had made with their own hands. 42 So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the stars[Acts 7:42 Jeremiah 19:13] — as has been written in the book of the prophets,
‘People of Isra’el, it was not to me
that you offered slaughtered animals
and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness!
I first came to seminary as a lay person on sabbatical … an algebra teacher among future pastors. For me, it was a season of becoming – it would lead to a call to ministry and a return as an MDiv student. Seminary orientation brought a friendly ice-breaker: write down a Bible character that we would hope to emulate and tell why. Many different women and men were chosen. The musings were thoughtful. However, no one chose Stephen… It seems Stephen was full of grace, had an irresistible wisdom and Spirit. He brought many people into the new church. He was a transformational wonder! Isn’t this what we aspire to be? But no one chooses to be Stephen. In today’s scripture, false witness had been hurled at Stephen. Rather than stay safe, he responds by reminding the council that Moses himself was rejected - a golden calf would be their idol. Then Stephen insinuated his accusers’ guilt and the council raged. Yet, as the persecution of Stephen intensified, the Spirit was always evident. As faithful lesbian, gay, bi, and queer United Methodists, many of us ordained, we offer our ministry. The Spirit is evident in our joy and hope in God, in the grace and peace in our communities. Yet we have suffered a terrible false witness – “incompatible with Christian teaching.” We know if we tell the truth, we will be punished. It is hard. We don’t choose to be Stephen. We would rather enjoy popularity among the people who love Jesus than be persecuted by those who worship the golden calf. Lent is an invitation to focus on God even during the persecution. Let us be like Stephen and bask in the Holy Spirit–our Advocate, the Spirit of truth, and one who will remind us of all that Jesus taught. (John 14)
---------------------
Friday, February 12
Sue Laurie, MDiv Sue is married to Julie Bruno and they are most grateful for their shared journey – both their faith journey and National Park vacations.
---------------------
Text: Ecclesiastes 3:1 For everything there is a season,
a right time for every intention under heaven —
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to discard,
7 a time to tear and a time to sew,
a time to keep silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Many of us are familiar with this scriptural prose from Pete Seeger’s 1950s song “Turn! Turn! Turn!” Becoming an international hit in 1965 when it was covered by the band The Byrds, only the line, “Turn, turn, turn” and the closing line, “a time of peace, I swear it’s not too late” were written by Seeger himself. The rest are lifted from lines often ascribed to King Solomon. Seeger employed them in a time of war as a way of calling for peace. The text waxes philosophically that there is a time for everything. Some translations use “every matter,” while others use “every purpose.” Too often these verses are used to support a theology that if something has come to pass, or failed to come to pass, it is because it is or is not on God’s schedule. Still others contend that it supports the view that God has a purpose for all that occurs “under heaven.” I do not believe that. Jesus shows us that God has no purpose for injustice nor oppression, for inhospitality nor exploitation or violence. God does, however, have time for each of these matters and calls each of us to do the work of turning; turning from exclusion to inclusion, from oppression to freedom, from discrimination to equality, from greed to generosity, from injustice to justice, from discriminating against God’s LGBTQ children in The United Methodist Church and the world. It is Time! Like many of you, I’ve been involved in RMN for decades. I recently came across a poem by Marge Piercy I found hopeful. For those of you who find yourself described herein, I am grateful. “I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart, Who like water buffalo, with massive patience, Who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward, Who do what has to be done, again and again.”
a right time for every intention under heaven —
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to discard,
7 a time to tear and a time to sew,
a time to keep silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Many of us are familiar with this scriptural prose from Pete Seeger’s 1950s song “Turn! Turn! Turn!” Becoming an international hit in 1965 when it was covered by the band The Byrds, only the line, “Turn, turn, turn” and the closing line, “a time of peace, I swear it’s not too late” were written by Seeger himself. The rest are lifted from lines often ascribed to King Solomon. Seeger employed them in a time of war as a way of calling for peace. The text waxes philosophically that there is a time for everything. Some translations use “every matter,” while others use “every purpose.” Too often these verses are used to support a theology that if something has come to pass, or failed to come to pass, it is because it is or is not on God’s schedule. Still others contend that it supports the view that God has a purpose for all that occurs “under heaven.” I do not believe that. Jesus shows us that God has no purpose for injustice nor oppression, for inhospitality nor exploitation or violence. God does, however, have time for each of these matters and calls each of us to do the work of turning; turning from exclusion to inclusion, from oppression to freedom, from discrimination to equality, from greed to generosity, from injustice to justice, from discriminating against God’s LGBTQ children in The United Methodist Church and the world. It is Time! Like many of you, I’ve been involved in RMN for decades. I recently came across a poem by Marge Piercy I found hopeful. For those of you who find yourself described herein, I am grateful. “I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart, Who like water buffalo, with massive patience, Who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward, Who do what has to be done, again and again.”
---------------------
Saturday, February 13
Bonnie Beckonchrist
Bonnie, a retired pastor, has not retired from life nor her commitment to RMN.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 91:1 You who live in the shelter of ‘Elyon,
who spend your nights in the shadow of Shaddai,
2 who say to Adonai, “My refuge! My fortress!
My God, in whom I trust!” —
9 For you have made Adonai, the Most High,
who is my refuge, your dwelling-place.
10 No disaster will happen to you,
no calamity will come near your tent;
11 for he will order his angels to care for you
and guard you wherever you go.
12 They will carry you in their hands,
so that you won’t trip on a stone.
13 You will tread down lions and snakes,
young lions and serpents you will trample underfoot.
14 “Because he loves me, I will rescue him;
because he knows my name, I will protect him.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him.
I will be with him when he is in trouble.
I will extricate him and bring him honor.
16 I will satisfy him with long life
and show him my salvation.”
As I child, one of my favorite games was hide-and-go-seek because it required creativity, agility and speed. When we played near my godmother’s home there were several good hiding places and plenty of room to run when trying to avoid being apprehended by the chasers. I recall that although I was hiding, I was never alone and I never felt alone. Knowing others were around was my refuge. Knowing someone was always looking for me and would eventually find me were sources of comfort. As we consider this in a spiritual context, it is the game we play with God when we try to pretend to be something that we are not and when we appear or pretend to be on cloud nine, when somewhere near Hades is where most of our mail is delivered. God knows when we are hiding, yet God protects our lives and the plans God has for us. God knows where we are at all times and God pursues us with love and grace. When it seems no one is looking for you and no one sees you for who you really are, it may help to remember the game is not over until everyone is either found or makes it to home base. So, during this Lenten Season, you may choose to remain hidden or you may express courage to come out and race for safety. Regardless, the game is not over until everyone is either found or makes it to home base. It seems those early evening games of hide-and-go-seek have helped me to appreciate the love and life that God provides. No matter how good my hiding place may be, it is nowhere near as safe as the shelter of the Almighty, which trumps the mulberry bushes behind my godmother’s house.
who spend your nights in the shadow of Shaddai,
2 who say to Adonai, “My refuge! My fortress!
My God, in whom I trust!” —
9 For you have made Adonai, the Most High,
who is my refuge, your dwelling-place.
10 No disaster will happen to you,
no calamity will come near your tent;
11 for he will order his angels to care for you
and guard you wherever you go.
12 They will carry you in their hands,
so that you won’t trip on a stone.
13 You will tread down lions and snakes,
young lions and serpents you will trample underfoot.
14 “Because he loves me, I will rescue him;
because he knows my name, I will protect him.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him.
I will be with him when he is in trouble.
I will extricate him and bring him honor.
16 I will satisfy him with long life
and show him my salvation.”
As I child, one of my favorite games was hide-and-go-seek because it required creativity, agility and speed. When we played near my godmother’s home there were several good hiding places and plenty of room to run when trying to avoid being apprehended by the chasers. I recall that although I was hiding, I was never alone and I never felt alone. Knowing others were around was my refuge. Knowing someone was always looking for me and would eventually find me were sources of comfort. As we consider this in a spiritual context, it is the game we play with God when we try to pretend to be something that we are not and when we appear or pretend to be on cloud nine, when somewhere near Hades is where most of our mail is delivered. God knows when we are hiding, yet God protects our lives and the plans God has for us. God knows where we are at all times and God pursues us with love and grace. When it seems no one is looking for you and no one sees you for who you really are, it may help to remember the game is not over until everyone is either found or makes it to home base. So, during this Lenten Season, you may choose to remain hidden or you may express courage to come out and race for safety. Regardless, the game is not over until everyone is either found or makes it to home base. It seems those early evening games of hide-and-go-seek have helped me to appreciate the love and life that God provides. No matter how good my hiding place may be, it is nowhere near as safe as the shelter of the Almighty, which trumps the mulberry bushes behind my godmother’s house.
---------------------
Sunday, February 14
Rev. Cedrick Bridgeforth
Cedrick is Black Methodists for Church Renewal Board Chairperson and Lead Pastor of Santa Ana United Methodist Church in the California-Pacific Annual Conference.
---------------------
Text: 1 John 2:1 My children, I am writing you these things so that you won’t sin. But if anyone does sin, we have Yeshua the Messiah, the Tzaddik, who pleads our cause with the Father. 2 Also, he is the kapparah for our sins — and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.
3 The way we can be sure we know him is if we are obeying his commands. 4 Anyone who says, “I know him,” but isn’t obeying his commands is a liar — the truth is not in him. 5 But if someone keeps doing what he says, then truly love for God has been brought to its goal in him. This is how we are sure that we are united with him. 6 A person who claims to be continuing in union with him ought to conduct his life the way he did.
7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command. On the contrary, it is an old command, which you have had from the beginning; the old command is the message which you have heard before. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command, and its reality is seen both in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Anyone who claims to be in this light while hating his brother is still in the dark. 10 The person who keeps loving his brother remains in the light, and there is nothing in him that could make him trip. 11 But the person who hates his brother is in the dark — yes, he is walking in the dark, and he doesn’t know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
12 You children, I am writing you
because your sins have been forgiven for his sake.
13 You fathers, I am writing you
because you have known him who has existed from the beginning.
You young people, I am writing you
because you have overcome the Evil One.
14 You children, I have written you
because you have known the Father.
You fathers, I have written you
because you have known him who has existed from the beginning.
You young people, I have written you
because you are strong —
the Word of God remains in you,
and you have overcome the Evil One.
15 Do not love the world or the things of the world. If someone loves the world, then love for the Father is not in him; 16 because all the things of the world — the desires of the old nature, the desires of the eyes, and the pretensions of life — are not from the Father but from the world.
What does it mean to walk just as Jesus Christ walked? To advocate with and on behalf of those who cannot/will not/do not yet know the way to advocate for themselves To know the way of humility and grace To face oneself and to face God Again and again To know and be known by God To be God’s chosen ones Without qualification or exclusion because God has willed it to be To not sin and reach perfection Moving beyond the platitudes to Just love—simply loving and loving justly To try and to fail and to try Again and again To resist fear Racism, “bootstrap pulling” ethics, greed, the atrophy of our humanity, the inclination toward indifference To love as Jesus loved What does it mean? Sharing company with the child of God who is a tax collector, and the child of God who is a thief, and the child of God with a bleeding issue, The child of God with HIV, the child of God whose religion is held prisoner by shame, trepidation, culture, privilege Unable to perceive what God truly requires And see oneself in them And see that God has loved them To love as Jesus loved the people seeking refuge (as he himself was once) And the people who are without home (as he himself was once) And the people who are despised and misjudged (as he himself was once) To see people—not defining them by their condition To love those acting as enemies of good enough to hold them accountable And to chastise a friend who tells a xeno-/islamo-/homo-/trans-phobic joke Or who is asleep—unable/unwilling to see power and principalities at war To love countering the culture even to the point of death And live
3 The way we can be sure we know him is if we are obeying his commands. 4 Anyone who says, “I know him,” but isn’t obeying his commands is a liar — the truth is not in him. 5 But if someone keeps doing what he says, then truly love for God has been brought to its goal in him. This is how we are sure that we are united with him. 6 A person who claims to be continuing in union with him ought to conduct his life the way he did.
7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command. On the contrary, it is an old command, which you have had from the beginning; the old command is the message which you have heard before. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command, and its reality is seen both in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Anyone who claims to be in this light while hating his brother is still in the dark. 10 The person who keeps loving his brother remains in the light, and there is nothing in him that could make him trip. 11 But the person who hates his brother is in the dark — yes, he is walking in the dark, and he doesn’t know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
12 You children, I am writing you
because your sins have been forgiven for his sake.
13 You fathers, I am writing you
because you have known him who has existed from the beginning.
You young people, I am writing you
because you have overcome the Evil One.
14 You children, I have written you
because you have known the Father.
You fathers, I have written you
because you have known him who has existed from the beginning.
You young people, I have written you
because you are strong —
the Word of God remains in you,
and you have overcome the Evil One.
15 Do not love the world or the things of the world. If someone loves the world, then love for the Father is not in him; 16 because all the things of the world — the desires of the old nature, the desires of the eyes, and the pretensions of life — are not from the Father but from the world.
What does it mean to walk just as Jesus Christ walked? To advocate with and on behalf of those who cannot/will not/do not yet know the way to advocate for themselves To know the way of humility and grace To face oneself and to face God Again and again To know and be known by God To be God’s chosen ones Without qualification or exclusion because God has willed it to be To not sin and reach perfection Moving beyond the platitudes to Just love—simply loving and loving justly To try and to fail and to try Again and again To resist fear Racism, “bootstrap pulling” ethics, greed, the atrophy of our humanity, the inclination toward indifference To love as Jesus loved What does it mean? Sharing company with the child of God who is a tax collector, and the child of God who is a thief, and the child of God with a bleeding issue, The child of God with HIV, the child of God whose religion is held prisoner by shame, trepidation, culture, privilege Unable to perceive what God truly requires And see oneself in them And see that God has loved them To love as Jesus loved the people seeking refuge (as he himself was once) And the people who are without home (as he himself was once) And the people who are despised and misjudged (as he himself was once) To see people—not defining them by their condition To love those acting as enemies of good enough to hold them accountable And to chastise a friend who tells a xeno-/islamo-/homo-/trans-phobic joke Or who is asleep—unable/unwilling to see power and principalities at war To love countering the culture even to the point of death And live
---------------------
Monday, February 15
Elyse Ambrose
Elyse is a Ph.D. student in Christian Social Ethics at the Drew Theological School, and a candidate for ordained ministry as a deacon in The United Methodist Church.
---------------------
Text: 2 Peter 2:4 For God did not spare the angels who sinned; on the contrary, he put them in gloomy dungeons lower than Sh’ol to be held for judgment. 5 And he did not spare the ancient world; on the contrary, he preserved Noach, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, and brought the Flood upon a world of ungodly people. 6 And he condemned the cities of S’dom and ‘Amora, reducing them to ashes and ruin, as a warning to those in the future who would live ungodly lives; 7 but he rescued Lot, a righteous man who was distressed by the debauchery of those unprincipled people; 8 for the wicked deeds which that righteous man saw and heard, as he lived among them, tormented his righteous heart day after day. 9 So the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and how to hold the wicked until the Day of Judgment while continuing to punish them, 10 especially those who follow their old natures in lust for filth and who despise authority.
Presumptuous and self-willed, these false teachers do not tremble at insulting angelic beings; 11 whereas angels, though stronger and more powerful, do not bring before the Lord an insulting charge against them. 12 But these people, acting without thinking, like animals without reason, born to be captured and destroyed, insult things about which they have no knowledge. When they are destroyed, their destruction will be total — 13 they will be paid back harm as wages for the harm they are doing.
Their idea of pleasure is carousing in broad daylight; they are spots and defects reveling in their deceptions as they share meals with you — 14 for they have eyes always on the lookout for a woman who will commit adultery, eyes that never stop sinning; and they have a heart that has exercised itself in greed; so that they seduce unstable people. What a cursed brood!
15 These people have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Bil‘am Ben-B‘or, who loved the wages of doing harm 16 but was rebuked for his sin — a dumb beast of burden spoke out with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s insanity! 17 Waterless springs they are, mists driven by a gust of wind; for them has been reserved the blackest darkness. 18 Mouthing grandiosities of nothingness, they play on the desires of the old nature, in order to seduce with debaucheries people who have just begun to escape from those whose way of life is wrong.
19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for a person is slave to whatever has defeated him. 20 Indeed, if they have once escaped the pollutions of the world through knowing our Lord and Deliverer, Yeshua the Messiah, and then have again become entangled and defeated by them, their latter condition has become worse than their former. 21 It would have been better for them not to have known the Way of righteousness than, fully knowing, to turn from the holy command delivered to them.
When I first read today’s passage, my thoughts were “Wow, that’s not uplifting at all.” After some digging, the history of the passage provided historical insight which allowed for connection to the queer struggle in The UMC today. Written as a rebuke towards those who rejected the Second Coming of Christ, this Lenten passage is a forewarning of the ways history has not shown favor to those who hold such disbelief. This issue was of extreme importance to early communities whose hope was built around Christ’s literal return. While most United Methodists today don’t talk often about the return of Christ in such urgency, there is much talk about the sacred worth of one another, and that includes all members. If we are to believe that Christ lives in each of us, then we experience the coming of Christ each day. To deny that presence in queer members is to deny the coming of Christ in our world that is made available for everyone. When I joined The United Methodist Church I was asked the question, “Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?” I think that question needs to be asked for General Conference 2016. To resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves, meaning humbly examining the denial of Christ’s full presence, love, and affirmation of queer persons. Let us pray for our delegates-that the love of Christ which comes again and again will fill their hearts, and true healing will take place in the church.
Presumptuous and self-willed, these false teachers do not tremble at insulting angelic beings; 11 whereas angels, though stronger and more powerful, do not bring before the Lord an insulting charge against them. 12 But these people, acting without thinking, like animals without reason, born to be captured and destroyed, insult things about which they have no knowledge. When they are destroyed, their destruction will be total — 13 they will be paid back harm as wages for the harm they are doing.
Their idea of pleasure is carousing in broad daylight; they are spots and defects reveling in their deceptions as they share meals with you — 14 for they have eyes always on the lookout for a woman who will commit adultery, eyes that never stop sinning; and they have a heart that has exercised itself in greed; so that they seduce unstable people. What a cursed brood!
15 These people have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Bil‘am Ben-B‘or, who loved the wages of doing harm 16 but was rebuked for his sin — a dumb beast of burden spoke out with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s insanity! 17 Waterless springs they are, mists driven by a gust of wind; for them has been reserved the blackest darkness. 18 Mouthing grandiosities of nothingness, they play on the desires of the old nature, in order to seduce with debaucheries people who have just begun to escape from those whose way of life is wrong.
19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for a person is slave to whatever has defeated him. 20 Indeed, if they have once escaped the pollutions of the world through knowing our Lord and Deliverer, Yeshua the Messiah, and then have again become entangled and defeated by them, their latter condition has become worse than their former. 21 It would have been better for them not to have known the Way of righteousness than, fully knowing, to turn from the holy command delivered to them.
When I first read today’s passage, my thoughts were “Wow, that’s not uplifting at all.” After some digging, the history of the passage provided historical insight which allowed for connection to the queer struggle in The UMC today. Written as a rebuke towards those who rejected the Second Coming of Christ, this Lenten passage is a forewarning of the ways history has not shown favor to those who hold such disbelief. This issue was of extreme importance to early communities whose hope was built around Christ’s literal return. While most United Methodists today don’t talk often about the return of Christ in such urgency, there is much talk about the sacred worth of one another, and that includes all members. If we are to believe that Christ lives in each of us, then we experience the coming of Christ each day. To deny that presence in queer members is to deny the coming of Christ in our world that is made available for everyone. When I joined The United Methodist Church I was asked the question, “Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?” I think that question needs to be asked for General Conference 2016. To resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves, meaning humbly examining the denial of Christ’s full presence, love, and affirmation of queer persons. Let us pray for our delegates-that the love of Christ which comes again and again will fill their hearts, and true healing will take place in the church.
---------------------
Tuesday, February 16
Nicole King
Nicole attends Grace UMC, has a passion for the arts and racial justice, and is pursuing her Masters degree in Social Justice and Theology.
---------------------
Text: Luke 21:34 “But keep watch on yourselves, or your hearts will become dulled by carousing, drunkenness and the worries of everyday living, and that Day will be sprung upon you suddenly like a trap!
As a kid, I had chronic inflammation of my lower intestine. Flare-ups, as random as they were frequent, would cause searing pain to suddenly spread through the lower half of my body, effectively crippling me. In those times, it was extremely difficult to remember what it felt like to be without pain. However, over time I found a way out of despair when my body was weakened - I concentrated on locating the source of the pain. After an intense moment of focus, I would imagine the epicenter of the pain simply going away - disappearing as rapidly as it had descended. After I did this, I always felt better. As musical artist Audrey Assad reflected: “There is a reason we call it ‘the weary world’ in the old Christmas hymn. Fighting injustice and evil is utterly exhausting—but it is the worthiest fight in this life. Do not give up. You are strengthened and sustained by a power that is not your own, and it is the power that created each soul for whose liberation and salvation you fight.” Luckily, it is not by own power that we fight this fight, and it is not by ourselves. It is not only easy to feel burdened by the weight of the world, it is expected. To be restored, we must locate the epicenter of the pain and weariness in our lives, and release it from our spirit, by laying our burdens at the feet of the one who strengthens us. Give thanks for a God who will bear our crosses, so we can bear the crosses of others.
---------------------
Wednesday, February 17 Erica West
Erica is a college student at the College of William & Mary and she urges you all to consider this question: “If theology can be used to oppress us, why can’t theology be made to liberate, dignify, and renew us?” Quote from Episcopal Priest, Broderick Greer, during his keynote at the Gay Christian Network Conference 13
---------------------
Text: Phillipians 3:2 beware of the dogs, those evildoers, the Mutilated! 3 For it is we who are the Circumcised, we who worship by the Spirit of God and make our boast in the Messiah Yeshua! We do not put confidence in human qualifications, 4 even though I certainly have grounds for putting confidence in such things. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for putting confidence in human qualifications, I have better grounds:
5 a. b’rit-milah on the eighth day,
b. by birth belonging to the people of Isra’el,
c. from the tribe of Binyamin,
d. a Hebrew-speaker, with Hebrew-speaking parents,
e. in regard to the Torah, a Parush,
6 f. in regard to zeal, a persecutor of the Messianic Community,
g. in regard to the righteousness demanded by legalism, blameless.
7 But the things that used to be advantages for me, I have, because of the Messiah, come to consider a disadvantage. 8 Not only that, but I consider everything a disadvantage in comparison with the supreme value of knowing the Messiah Yeshua as my Lord. It was because of him that I gave up everything and regard it all as garbage, in order to gain the Messiah 9 and be found in union with him, not having any righteousness of my own based on legalism, but having that righteousness which comes through the Messiah’s faithfulness, the righteousness from God based on trust. 10 Yes, I gave it all up in order to know him, that is, to know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings as I am being conformed to his death, 11 so that somehow I might arrive at being resurrected from the dead. 12 It is not that I have already obtained it or already reached the goal — no, I keep pursuing it in the hope of taking hold of that for which the Messiah Yeshua took hold of me
Years of professional dedication and networking led to a job offer from a Fortune 500 company. I took the job with little hesitation. Looking back, I admit that position was a point of personal pride. I felt it made me special or more significant somehow. Perhaps it was something of an idol. Though the work was generally fulfilling, over time something in me started to die. The decision to resign was difficult. Explaining the decision to my peers was nearly impossible. “This is a great job. How can you quit? You’re not getting an MBA? Are they going to pay you to go to school? But you’re a single dad...how will you provide for your son? How will you pay your bills? What will you do when you graduate? Aren’t you afraid?” There were dozens of great questions and I had very few answers. None of the answers I had seemed sufficient. I could only say that I felt a deep sense of calling, and it was time to let go. I would soon begin my seminary journey. One question from my colleagues still haunts me: “aren’t you afraid?” In truth, I was terrified. Sometimes I still am. Yet, in my bones I know that my value is no longer derived by the measure of the world around me. I felt there was something more important than holding onto my sense of power. I gained something profound when I let go of the job that once made me feel special. At some point, in pursuit of Christ, we will invariable have to let go of something we treasure, call it a loss, all because we believe in something worth so much more.
---------------------
Thursday, February 18 Rev. Jasper Peters
Jasper is a graduate of the Iliff School of Theology, and is a Provisional Elder in the Rocky Mountain Annual Conference. 14
---------------------
Text: Psalm 27: (0) By David:
(1) Adonai is my light and salvation;
whom do I need to fear?
Adonai is the stronghold of my life;
of whom should I be afraid?
Psalm 27: (0) By David:
(1) Adonai is my light and salvation;
whom do I need to fear?
Adonai is the stronghold of my life;
of whom should I be afraid?
2 When evildoers assailed me
to devour my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
they stumbled and fell.
3 If an army encamps against me,
my heart will not fear;
if war breaks out against me,
even then I will keep trusting.
4 Just one thing have I asked of Adonai;
only this will I seek:
to live in the house of Adonai
all the days of my life,
to see the beauty of Adonai
and visit in his temple.
5 For he will conceal me in his shelter
on the day of trouble,
he will hide me in the folds of his tent,
he will set me high on a rock.
6 Then my head will be lifted up
above my surrounding foes,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing, sing praises to Adonai.
7 Listen, Adonai, to my voice when I cry;
show favor to me; and answer me.
8 “My heart said of you, ‘Seek my face.’”
Your face, Adonai, I will seek.
9 Do not hide your face from me,
don’t turn your servant away in anger.
You are my help; don’t abandon me;
don’t leave me, God my savior.
10 Even though my father and mother have left me,
Adonai will care for me.
11 Teach me your way, Adonai;
lead me on a level path
because of my enemies —
12 don’t give me up to the whims of my foes;
for false witnesses have risen against me,
also those who are breathing violence.
13 If I hadn’t believed that I would see
Adonai’s goodness in the land of the living, . . .
14 Put your hope in Adonai, be strong,
and let your heart take courage!
Yes, put your hope in Adonai!
Have you ever felt rejected? I’m not talking about minor rejection, from a club or a date. I’m talking about gut-level rejection that leaves you feeling broken and mired in grief. That’s what David is describing in this song. He says that he has been rejected in perhaps the most painful way possible on earth: “My father and mother walked out and left me.” Whether he speaks literally or figuratively, that is a crushing statement. Thank God that’s not the end of the story… “But God took me in.” God is the source of healing when we are broken and wounded at the depths of our being. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ embody this truth. David reminds us of that well of living water when he says there is only one thing that he cannot live without: “I’m asking God for one thing, only one thing: to live with him in his house my whole life long.” David is giving us both words of reassurance and a challenge. We are reassured to know that God is there for us in our most painful moments of rejection, ready to lift us up, dust us off, kiss us better. But David also reminds us that every human being needs that place of refuge in God’s house. Who are we to stand in the way of that sanctuary? How can we help people to know that in the house of God, which we call home, they would be welcome? Holy and loving God, thank you for welcoming us home with You. Strengthen our spines and open our hearts as we try to offer Your peace to others… especially those who are different from us. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
---------------------
Friday, February 19 Rev. Clare Watson Chance Clare is privileged to serve as the senior pastor of Avondale United Methodist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, a Reconciling Church. 15
---------------------
Text: Matthew 23:37 “Yerushalayim! Yerushalayim! You kill the prophets! You stone those who are sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children, just as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you refused! 38 Look! God is abandoning your house to you, leaving it desolate.[Matthew 23:38 Jeremiah 22:5] 39 For I tell you, from now on, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of Adonai.’”[Matthew 23:39 Psalm 118:26]
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets And stones those who are sent to it!” Church, Church, the community of the faithful that falls short of God’s holiness Striking out at those who disagree And casting verbal stones at those whose love we do not understand. “How often have I desired to gather your children together As a hen gathers her brood under her wings, And you were not willing!” How I long to hold you, Church! How I long to gather my children together! You are my flock – my chicks, my lambs, And I want to hold you and care for you; I want you to love one another and to hold each one’s dignity In a world filled with hurt, Where different views are trivial When differences obscure and destroy The preciousness of human life! “See, your house is left to you, desolate.” See, your lack of love leaves you divided and devastated. “For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’” I am with you, but you cannot see me When you are filled with hateful speech And determination to defend your own view And destroy the other. I am with you, but you cannot see me Until you turn toward me and call my name And bless my love-filled life; I am the One who comes in the name of the Lord
---------------------
Saturday, February 2016
Mary Elizabeth Moore
Mary Elizabeth is Dean and Professor of Theology and Education, Boston University School of Theology, and a deacon in the California-Pacific Annual Conference. The One who reveals to you the beauty of each life, Created and loved by God! God, have mercy! Christ, have mercy! God, transform us into a community of love Gathered under your wings As precious chicks – as children of God! 17
---------------------
Text: Luke 9:28-38
Luke’s narrative of what the CEB translation calls “Jesus Transformed” is a familiar story. In fact, we have coined a phrase that refers to such an experience: a mountaintop experience. Music has been the medium through which I have experienced this sort of transformational moment. And I think that my face did shine. It felt that way. A thin place…in the midst of Mendelsohn’s Elijah or Rutter’s Gloria. When it happened to Jesus, it wasn’t just his personal experience. Peter, James, and John saw it too. And they heard a message about Jesus that affirmed his identity and clarified his authority. As we seek God’s restorative and transforming presence in our General Conference, it seems very significant to me that Peter, James, and John are described as “sleepy” yet they have this mountaintop experience that clarifies Jesus’s identity. Can a sleepy church hear God’s voice clearly? Can General Conference be a thin place? The events of Luke’s full narrative involve two sons. In the first, God claims Jesus. “This is my Son, my chosen one. Listen to him!” God’s powerful affirmation rings out. Secondly a father comes with a son who is possessed by a spirit. This father also fully claims his son and seeks his restoration to health. Jesus doesn’t shun him or criticize him, but simply heals him. Both sons are empowered and transformed by the claim. Let us pray that the 2016 General Conference will indeed be a mountaintop experience or a thin place. May all delegates clearly hear God’s message that all persons are worthy of claiming! If the sleepy disciples could hear God’s message, perhaps a sleepy church can also! Let us pray that we are restored to one body, shining with the transforming presence of God.
---------------------
Sunday, February 21
Dr. Margaret Ann Crain
Margaret Ann is professor emeritus of Christian education at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and deeply committed to advocating for the order of deacons and its focus on ministries of compassion and justice.
---------------------
As a kid, I had chronic inflammation of my lower intestine. Flare-ups, as random as they were frequent, would cause searing pain to suddenly spread through the lower half of my body, effectively crippling me. In those times, it was extremely difficult to remember what it felt like to be without pain. However, over time I found a way out of despair when my body was weakened - I concentrated on locating the source of the pain. After an intense moment of focus, I would imagine the epicenter of the pain simply going away - disappearing as rapidly as it had descended. After I did this, I always felt better. As musical artist Audrey Assad reflected: “There is a reason we call it ‘the weary world’ in the old Christmas hymn. Fighting injustice and evil is utterly exhausting—but it is the worthiest fight in this life. Do not give up. You are strengthened and sustained by a power that is not your own, and it is the power that created each soul for whose liberation and salvation you fight.” Luckily, it is not by own power that we fight this fight, and it is not by ourselves. It is not only easy to feel burdened by the weight of the world, it is expected. To be restored, we must locate the epicenter of the pain and weariness in our lives, and release it from our spirit, by laying our burdens at the feet of the one who strengthens us. Give thanks for a God who will bear our crosses, so we can bear the crosses of others.
---------------------
Wednesday, February 17 Erica West
Erica is a college student at the College of William & Mary and she urges you all to consider this question: “If theology can be used to oppress us, why can’t theology be made to liberate, dignify, and renew us?” Quote from Episcopal Priest, Broderick Greer, during his keynote at the Gay Christian Network Conference 13
---------------------
Text: Phillipians 3:2 beware of the dogs, those evildoers, the Mutilated! 3 For it is we who are the Circumcised, we who worship by the Spirit of God and make our boast in the Messiah Yeshua! We do not put confidence in human qualifications, 4 even though I certainly have grounds for putting confidence in such things. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for putting confidence in human qualifications, I have better grounds:
5 a. b’rit-milah on the eighth day,
b. by birth belonging to the people of Isra’el,
c. from the tribe of Binyamin,
d. a Hebrew-speaker, with Hebrew-speaking parents,
e. in regard to the Torah, a Parush,
6 f. in regard to zeal, a persecutor of the Messianic Community,
g. in regard to the righteousness demanded by legalism, blameless.
7 But the things that used to be advantages for me, I have, because of the Messiah, come to consider a disadvantage. 8 Not only that, but I consider everything a disadvantage in comparison with the supreme value of knowing the Messiah Yeshua as my Lord. It was because of him that I gave up everything and regard it all as garbage, in order to gain the Messiah 9 and be found in union with him, not having any righteousness of my own based on legalism, but having that righteousness which comes through the Messiah’s faithfulness, the righteousness from God based on trust. 10 Yes, I gave it all up in order to know him, that is, to know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings as I am being conformed to his death, 11 so that somehow I might arrive at being resurrected from the dead. 12 It is not that I have already obtained it or already reached the goal — no, I keep pursuing it in the hope of taking hold of that for which the Messiah Yeshua took hold of me
Years of professional dedication and networking led to a job offer from a Fortune 500 company. I took the job with little hesitation. Looking back, I admit that position was a point of personal pride. I felt it made me special or more significant somehow. Perhaps it was something of an idol. Though the work was generally fulfilling, over time something in me started to die. The decision to resign was difficult. Explaining the decision to my peers was nearly impossible. “This is a great job. How can you quit? You’re not getting an MBA? Are they going to pay you to go to school? But you’re a single dad...how will you provide for your son? How will you pay your bills? What will you do when you graduate? Aren’t you afraid?” There were dozens of great questions and I had very few answers. None of the answers I had seemed sufficient. I could only say that I felt a deep sense of calling, and it was time to let go. I would soon begin my seminary journey. One question from my colleagues still haunts me: “aren’t you afraid?” In truth, I was terrified. Sometimes I still am. Yet, in my bones I know that my value is no longer derived by the measure of the world around me. I felt there was something more important than holding onto my sense of power. I gained something profound when I let go of the job that once made me feel special. At some point, in pursuit of Christ, we will invariable have to let go of something we treasure, call it a loss, all because we believe in something worth so much more.
---------------------
Thursday, February 18 Rev. Jasper Peters
Jasper is a graduate of the Iliff School of Theology, and is a Provisional Elder in the Rocky Mountain Annual Conference. 14
---------------------
Text: Psalm 27: (0) By David:
(1) Adonai is my light and salvation;
whom do I need to fear?
Adonai is the stronghold of my life;
of whom should I be afraid?
Psalm 27: (0) By David:
(1) Adonai is my light and salvation;
whom do I need to fear?
Adonai is the stronghold of my life;
of whom should I be afraid?
2 When evildoers assailed me
to devour my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
they stumbled and fell.
3 If an army encamps against me,
my heart will not fear;
if war breaks out against me,
even then I will keep trusting.
4 Just one thing have I asked of Adonai;
only this will I seek:
to live in the house of Adonai
all the days of my life,
to see the beauty of Adonai
and visit in his temple.
5 For he will conceal me in his shelter
on the day of trouble,
he will hide me in the folds of his tent,
he will set me high on a rock.
6 Then my head will be lifted up
above my surrounding foes,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing, sing praises to Adonai.
7 Listen, Adonai, to my voice when I cry;
show favor to me; and answer me.
8 “My heart said of you, ‘Seek my face.’”
Your face, Adonai, I will seek.
9 Do not hide your face from me,
don’t turn your servant away in anger.
You are my help; don’t abandon me;
don’t leave me, God my savior.
10 Even though my father and mother have left me,
Adonai will care for me.
11 Teach me your way, Adonai;
lead me on a level path
because of my enemies —
12 don’t give me up to the whims of my foes;
for false witnesses have risen against me,
also those who are breathing violence.
13 If I hadn’t believed that I would see
Adonai’s goodness in the land of the living, . . .
14 Put your hope in Adonai, be strong,
and let your heart take courage!
Yes, put your hope in Adonai!
Have you ever felt rejected? I’m not talking about minor rejection, from a club or a date. I’m talking about gut-level rejection that leaves you feeling broken and mired in grief. That’s what David is describing in this song. He says that he has been rejected in perhaps the most painful way possible on earth: “My father and mother walked out and left me.” Whether he speaks literally or figuratively, that is a crushing statement. Thank God that’s not the end of the story… “But God took me in.” God is the source of healing when we are broken and wounded at the depths of our being. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ embody this truth. David reminds us of that well of living water when he says there is only one thing that he cannot live without: “I’m asking God for one thing, only one thing: to live with him in his house my whole life long.” David is giving us both words of reassurance and a challenge. We are reassured to know that God is there for us in our most painful moments of rejection, ready to lift us up, dust us off, kiss us better. But David also reminds us that every human being needs that place of refuge in God’s house. Who are we to stand in the way of that sanctuary? How can we help people to know that in the house of God, which we call home, they would be welcome? Holy and loving God, thank you for welcoming us home with You. Strengthen our spines and open our hearts as we try to offer Your peace to others… especially those who are different from us. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
---------------------
Friday, February 19 Rev. Clare Watson Chance Clare is privileged to serve as the senior pastor of Avondale United Methodist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, a Reconciling Church. 15
---------------------
Text: Matthew 23:37 “Yerushalayim! Yerushalayim! You kill the prophets! You stone those who are sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children, just as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you refused! 38 Look! God is abandoning your house to you, leaving it desolate.[Matthew 23:38 Jeremiah 22:5] 39 For I tell you, from now on, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of Adonai.’”[Matthew 23:39 Psalm 118:26]
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets And stones those who are sent to it!” Church, Church, the community of the faithful that falls short of God’s holiness Striking out at those who disagree And casting verbal stones at those whose love we do not understand. “How often have I desired to gather your children together As a hen gathers her brood under her wings, And you were not willing!” How I long to hold you, Church! How I long to gather my children together! You are my flock – my chicks, my lambs, And I want to hold you and care for you; I want you to love one another and to hold each one’s dignity In a world filled with hurt, Where different views are trivial When differences obscure and destroy The preciousness of human life! “See, your house is left to you, desolate.” See, your lack of love leaves you divided and devastated. “For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’” I am with you, but you cannot see me When you are filled with hateful speech And determination to defend your own view And destroy the other. I am with you, but you cannot see me Until you turn toward me and call my name And bless my love-filled life; I am the One who comes in the name of the Lord
---------------------
Saturday, February 2016
Mary Elizabeth Moore
Mary Elizabeth is Dean and Professor of Theology and Education, Boston University School of Theology, and a deacon in the California-Pacific Annual Conference. The One who reveals to you the beauty of each life, Created and loved by God! God, have mercy! Christ, have mercy! God, transform us into a community of love Gathered under your wings As precious chicks – as children of God! 17
---------------------
Text: Luke 9:28-38
Luke’s narrative of what the CEB translation calls “Jesus Transformed” is a familiar story. In fact, we have coined a phrase that refers to such an experience: a mountaintop experience. Music has been the medium through which I have experienced this sort of transformational moment. And I think that my face did shine. It felt that way. A thin place…in the midst of Mendelsohn’s Elijah or Rutter’s Gloria. When it happened to Jesus, it wasn’t just his personal experience. Peter, James, and John saw it too. And they heard a message about Jesus that affirmed his identity and clarified his authority. As we seek God’s restorative and transforming presence in our General Conference, it seems very significant to me that Peter, James, and John are described as “sleepy” yet they have this mountaintop experience that clarifies Jesus’s identity. Can a sleepy church hear God’s voice clearly? Can General Conference be a thin place? The events of Luke’s full narrative involve two sons. In the first, God claims Jesus. “This is my Son, my chosen one. Listen to him!” God’s powerful affirmation rings out. Secondly a father comes with a son who is possessed by a spirit. This father also fully claims his son and seeks his restoration to health. Jesus doesn’t shun him or criticize him, but simply heals him. Both sons are empowered and transformed by the claim. Let us pray that the 2016 General Conference will indeed be a mountaintop experience or a thin place. May all delegates clearly hear God’s message that all persons are worthy of claiming! If the sleepy disciples could hear God’s message, perhaps a sleepy church can also! Let us pray that we are restored to one body, shining with the transforming presence of God.
---------------------
Sunday, February 21
Dr. Margaret Ann Crain
Margaret Ann is professor emeritus of Christian education at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and deeply committed to advocating for the order of deacons and its focus on ministries of compassion and justice.
---------------------
Text: Romans 4:1 Then what should we say Avraham, our forefather, obtained by his own efforts? 2 For if Avraham came to be considered righteous by God because of legalistic observances, then he has something to boast about. But this is not how it is before God! 3 For what does the Tanakh say? “Avraham put his trust in God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness.”[Romans 4:3 Genesis 15:6] 4 Now the account of someone who is working is credited not on the ground of grace but on the ground of what is owed him. 5 However, in the case of one who is not working but rather is trusting in him who makes ungodly people righteous, his trust is credited to him as righteousness.
6 In the same way, the blessing which David pronounces is on those whom God credits with righteousness apart from legalistic observances:
7 “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered over;
8 Blessed is the man whose sin Adonai
will not reckon against his account.”[Romans 4:8 Psalm 32:1–2]
9 Now is this blessing for the circumcised only? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say that Avraham’s trust was credited to his account as righteousness; 10 but what state was he in when it was so credited — circumcision or uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision! 11 In fact, he received circumcision as a sign, as a seal of the righteousness he had been credited with on the ground of the trust he had while he was still uncircumcised. This happened so that he could be the father of every uncircumcised person who trusts and thus has righteousness credited to him, 12 and at the same time be the father of every circumcised person who not only has had a b’rit-milah, but also follows in the footsteps of the trust which Avraham avinu had when he was still uncircumcised.
Foreskin. There. I said it. A little desensitization may be in order. There’s no avoiding that this text addresses the anatomical part that many males are inclined to cover. However, Romans 4 has less to do with a body part as it does with who is part of the Body. Paul addresses a question that’s older than Moses’ toes, and yet painfully timeless: When it comes to Church, who’s in and who’s out? Who may fully participate in the Body, and who are pronounced ecclesiastical nobodies? Early on, this distinction was made by classifying people in terms of ‘circumcised’ and ‘uncircumcised’ (which depreciated women to another sub-category). It was a way of differentiating between Jews (the circumcised, bearers of the Covenant) and Gentiles (uncircumcised, those outside the Covenant). Circumcision was essentially a way that occupied-Israel refused to assimilate into the predominate culture. The circumcised couldn’t just ‘blend in.’ The rite was meant to forge an identity. But practices intended to set us apart from others can become the thing we believe sets us above others. Soon, we treat them as ‘other.’ Paul knew, since running into Jesus, the time-honored barriers that made people ‘other’ (outside the Covenant) were now crucified, dead and buried. He also knew it was time to take a fresh look at scripture. Paul goes way back to Abraham, the patriarch with whom God established the Covenant with Israel. Yes, Abraham was circumcised. Yes, God “reckoned” Abraham as “righteousness.” But not in that order! Abraham was circumcised in Genesis 17, but was already pronounced “righteous” in Genesis 15 -- because that’s the hour he first “believed.” That’s all it took for an “ungodly” one to be “reckoned” as “righteousnesss.” Abraham trusted he was in right relationship with God -- just because God said so. What would the Church look like if participation was based solely on this level of trust? The church would no longer be the gathering place for folks who want to surround themselves with people who are just like them. Sunday services would lose its appalling designation as the most segregated place in America. And LGBTQ faithful would find room at the table – and in the pulpit. Paul argued for the community’s full inclusion of outsiders branded as “ungodly” while insisting this is consistent with what God has been doing all along. God’s very nature is to expand the circle — not to circle the wagons.
---------------------
Monday, February 22 Rev. Bill Frisbie
Bill is a retired United Methodist minister in the Rio Texas Conference. He received his Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Texas and Masters of Divinity from Perkins School of Theology (SMU).
---------------------
Text: Psalm 105:1 Give thanks to Adonai! Call on his name!
Make his deeds known among the peoples.
2 Sing to him, sing praises to him,
talk about all his wonders.
3 Glory in his holy name;
let those seeking Adonai have joyful hearts.
4 Seek Adonai and his strength;
always seek his presence.
5 Remember the wonders he has done,
his signs and his spoken rulings.
6 You descendants of Avraham his servant,
you offspring of Ya‘akov, his chosen ones,
7 he is Adonai our God!
His rulings are everywhere on earth.
8 He remembers his covenant forever,
the word he commanded to a thousand generations,
9 the covenant he made with Avraham,
the oath he swore to Yitz’chak,
10 and established as a law for Ya‘akov,
for Isra’el as an everlasting covenant:
11 “To you I will give the land of Kena‘an
as your allotted heritage.”
12 When they were but few in number,
and not only few, but aliens there too,
13 wandering from nation to nation,
from this kingdom to that people,
14 he allowed no one to oppress them.
Yes, for their sakes he rebuked even kings:
15 “Don’t touch my anointed ones
or do my prophets harm!”
16 He called down famine on the land,
broke off all their food supply,
17 but sent a man ahead of them —
Yosef, who was sold as a slave.
18 They shackled his feet with chains,
and they bound him in irons;
19 until the time when his word proved true,
God’s utterance kept testing him.
20 The king sent and had him released,
the ruler of peoples set him free;
21 he made him lord of his household,
in charge of all he owned,
22 correcting his officers as he saw fit
and teaching his counselors wisdom.
23 Then Isra’el too came into Egypt,
Ya‘akov lived as an alien in the land of Ham.
24 There God made his people very fruitful,
made them too numerous for their foes,
25 whose hearts he turned to hate his people,
and treat his servants unfairly.
26 He sent his servant Moshe
and Aharon, whom he had chosen.
27 They worked his signs among them,
his wonders in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness, and the land grew dark;
they did not defy his word.
29 He turned their water into blood
and caused their fish to die.
30 Their land swarmed with frogs,
even in the royal chambers.
31 He spoke, and there came swarms of insects
and lice throughout their land.
32 He gave them hail instead of rain,
with fiery [lightning] throughout their land.
33 He struck their vines and fig trees,
shattering trees all over their country.
34 He spoke, and locusts came,
also grasshoppers without number;
35 they ate up everything green in their land,
devoured the fruit of their ground.
36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,
the firstfruits of all their strength.
37 Then he led his people out,
laden with silver and gold;
among his tribes not one stumbled.
38 Egypt was happy to have them leave,
because fear of [Isra’el] had seized them.
39 He spread out a cloud to screen them off
and fire to give them light at night.
40 When they asked, he brought them quails
and satisfied them with food from heaven.
41 He split a rock, and water gushed out,
flowing as a river over the dry ground,
42 for he remembered his holy promise
to his servant Avraham.
43 He led out his people with joy,
his chosen ones with singing.
44 Then he gave them the lands of the nations,
and they possessed what peoples had toiled to produce,
45 in order to obey his laws
and follow his teachings.
Halleluyah!
To be clear being queer in the church today is not like wandering lost in the wilderness we know where we are the unshakable trust in Loving-Kindness in Mercy in Justice in Wisdom does not have us doubt the covenant is unbreakable even though others persecute, prosecute, and condemn shutting doors creating a remnant in time and space but the anointing has happened the wonderful works have been done a new creation has been born here, today in this queer body I know who I AM
I AM the one created very good
I AM the one seeking mercy and justice
I AM the one promised a rainbow
I AM the one given a nation
I AM one
---------------------
Tuesday, February 23
Rev. Terri Stewart
Terri is the Director of the Youth Chaplaincy Coalition and the online canoness at BeguineAgain.com. those that seek to divide destroying unity and conquering diversity living in fear of their boxes breaking down and doors being truly opened will be rebuked: Do not harm my people. Love one another. As you love Me.
---------------------
Text: Luke 13:22 Yeshua continued traveling through town after town and village after village, teaching and making his way toward Yerushalayim. 23 Someone asked him, “Are only a few people being saved?” 24 He answered, “Struggle to get in through the narrow door, because — I’m telling you! — many will be demanding to get in and won’t be able to, 25 once the owner of the house has gotten up and shut the door. You will stand outside, knocking at the door and saying, ‘Lord! Open up for us!’ But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from!’ 26 Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you! you taught in our streets!’ 27 and he will tell you, ‘I don’t know where you’re from. Get away from me, all you workers of wickedness!’ 28 You will cry and grind your teeth when you see Avraham, Yitz’chak, Ya‘akov and all the prophets inside the Kingdom of God, but yourselves thrown outside. 29 Moreover, people will come from the east, the west, the north and the south to sit at table in the Kingdom of God. 30 And notice that some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last.”
31 Just at that moment, some P’rushim came up and said to Yeshua, “Get out and go away from here, because Herod wants to kill you!”
LGBTQ folks are door experts. We have memorized the illuminated outlines from inside closet doors, both waiting and fearing the day that door opens. We know the sound of slamming doors from our estranged homes, intolerant businesses, and discriminating places of employment. We know the pain of endlessly knocking our bloodied knuckles on barricaded doors to fight for our own affordable healthcare, safety in our communities, and basic needs in order to live. These verses from Luke might remind us of those experiences. For they have been used from far too many from pulpits and pews to reshape our LGBTQ identities into the “straight and narrow” way of salvation. They have been used to shape our churches into heteronormative and cis-privileged distortions of God’s kin-dom coming into being. These narrow doors of the church have directly harmed so many of my queer siblings of faith that I believe it is time that they are taken off their hinges. However, as Jesus was making his way to Jerusalem he too encountered many kinds of doors: some that were open wide to welcome him into homes and communities, and others that slammed shut as he passed by. While Jesus surprisingly advocates for a narrow door here in Luke, we see that his message is not directed to the outcast, the oppressed, or the marginalized. Instead, Jesus calls out to the Roman regime to strip itself of its bravado and hierarchy in order to fit through the narrow way to salvation where the oppressed already have arrived. In God’s kin-dom, all that is needed is our authentic selves, not the means of power we have wielded over each other. In God’s kin-dom, we no longer have to hide behind closet doors, because we are invited to bring our entire selves to the journey towards wholeness. In God’s kin-dom, the narrow door is a call upon the church to leave behind all that gets in the way of being the presence of God’s radical love transforming the world.
---------------------
Wednesday, February 24 Rev. Britt Cox
Britt serves as Associate Pastor at First United Church of Oak Park. ---------------------
Text: Revelation 2:8 “To the angel of the Messianic Community in Smyrna, write: ‘Here is the message from the First and the Last, who died and came alive again: 9 “I know how you are suffering and how poor you are (though in fact you are rich!), and I know the insults of those who call themselves Jews but aren’t — on the contrary, they are a synagogue of the Adversary. 10 Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look, the Adversary is going to have some of you thrown in prison, in order to put you to the test; and you will face an ordeal for ten days. Remain faithful, even to the point of death; and I will give you life as your crown. 11 Those who have ears, let them hear what the Spirit is saying to the Messianic communities. He who wins the victory will not be hurt at all by the second death.”
As I considered today’s reading, two words tied me down and would not relent. Affliction. Poverty. I couldn’t escape their significance and I began to question how many of the people reading this have really drank deep from those wells. How many know what it is like to be hated, to be torn, to have nowhere to turn and no one to turn too. I question this, not because I hope it is so, but because those concepts are so integral to the life of those who are transgender. And because until you experience them, you will never understand exactly how much transgender people need the Church. I am reminded of Jesus’ words to the mother of James and John as she vied for her sons to have more prestige. “Are you able to drink of the cup I drink of?” And I wonder again, is the Church ready for that? Can they come down into our affliction? Can they learn what it is to be hated? Can they earn their poverty with their grace? And what would it look like for them to do so? Do they know what would happen if some of us who have not known the loving touch of family in years were suddenly embraced as children? Are they ready for the reality of our brokenness, these who worship a broken god? And how much longer must we wait, how many more do we have to lose before we are worth it? Dear and beloved Church, I am already a part of you and yet still I stand outside and knock. But maybe I am unfair, maybe you cannot let us in, not until you understand. So I ask you to consider for yourself: “What do I know of Affliction? Poverty?” Lord guide me in Your humility. Open my heart to the suffering of those who are beside me, and let this revelation of humanity birth compassion and not complacency. Amen
---------------------
Thursday, February 25 Alaina Kailyn
Alaina is a theologian, author, mother, and transgender woman.
Text: Revelation 3:1 “To the angel of the Messianic Community in Sardis, write: ‘Here is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars: “I know what you are doing — you have a reputation for being alive, but in fact you are dead! 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains, before it dies too! For I have found what you are doing incomplete in the sight of my God. 3 So remember what you received and heard, and obey it, and turn from your sin! For if you don’t wake up, I will come like a thief; and you don’t know at what moment I will come upon you. 4 Nevertheless, you do have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes; and they will walk with me, clothed in white, because they are worthy. 5 He who wins the victory will, like them, be dressed in white clothing; and I will not blot his name out of the Book of Life; in fact, I will acknowledge him individually before my Father and before his angels. 6 Those who have ears, let them hear what the Spirit is saying to the Messianic communities.”’
7 “To the angel of the Messianic Community in Philadelphia, write: ‘Here is the message of HaKadosh, the True One, the one who has the key of David, who, if he opens something, no one else can shut it, and if he closes something, no one else can open it.[Revelation 3:7 Isaiah 22:22] 8 “I know what you are doing. Look, I have put in front of you an open door, and no one can shut it. I know that you have but little power, yet you have obeyed my message and have not disowned me. 9 Here, I will give you some from the synagogue of the Adversary, those who call themselves Jews but aren’t — on the contrary, they are lying — see, I will cause them to come and prostrate themselves at your feet, and they will know that I have loved you. 10 Because you did obey my message about persevering, I will keep you from the time of trial coming upon the whole world to put the people living on earth to the test. 11 I am coming soon; hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown. 12 I will make him who wins the victory a pillar in the Temple of my God, and he will never leave it. Also I will write on him the name of my God and the name of my God’s city, the new Yerushalayim coming down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name. 13 Those who have ears, let them hear what the Spirit is saying to the Messianic communities.”’
14 “To the angel of the Messianic Community in Laodicea, write: ‘Here is the message from the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the Ruler of God’s creation: 15 “I know what you are doing: you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth!
Through the spirits and the stars I ask you to listen deep: God’s wisdom is alive within. May we open, accept and welcome LGBTQ+ people as they inspire us all to wake up. May we strengthen what remains true about each other and ourselves. May we hold tight to the idea of letting go of our narrow identities and begin to let die the exclusion of the past. May we walk in completeness, continuing on together, united in the image of God. May we strengthen what remains to be true and holy. May our ears be blessed with truth and eyes with wide knowing. Amen
---------------------
Friday, February 26 Skye Aslaksen
Skye lives in Tuscon, Arizona and is blessed to be a Methodist.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 63:1 (0) A psalm of David, when he was in the desert of Y’hudah:
2 (1) O God, you are my God;
I will seek you eagerly.
My heart thirsts for you,
my body longs for you
in a land parched and exhausted,
where no water can be found.
3 (2) I used to contemplate you in the sanctuary,
seeing your power and glory;
4 (3) for your grace is better than life.
My lips will worship you.
5 (4) Yes, I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
6 (5) I am as satisfied as with rich food;
my mouth praises you with joy on my lips
7 (6) when I remember you on my bed
and meditate on you in the night watches.
8 (7) For you have been my help;
in the shadow of your wings I rejoice;
What burdens or joys are behind those earbuds and empty stares? As I seek to be mindful of my fellow Metro riders, how many are “thirsting” as the psalmist says? The woman with downcast eyes may simply have had a hard day at the office or she may have received a life-altering diagnosis at the doctor’s office. The couple exchanging a quick goodbye as one gets off the train may be longing to get pregnant or approved for an adoption. Trust and praise come easily when times are good, but when the days are more challenging? How many of us can say: “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.” (Psalm 63:3) This is recognition of God’s love from deep in the pit, or perhaps on the other side, not a simple, sweet praise song. Time in the wilderness gets tiresome, but it can be a source of creativity and rearranging expectations. The Reconciling movement looks toward General Conference and thirsts for the Holy Spirit to usher in more inclusion of LGBTQ persons in the life of the church. Yet in the days we find ourselves, how are we staying focused on God and God’s faithfulness? Lent is a particular time for self-examination, but in our Methodist tradition of social holiness, we must similarly reflect on the world around us. We are called not just to change ourselves as individuals, or even just “the church,” but we are called to change the world! Using language from a resolution passed by the Baltimore-Washington Conference, a UM in West Virginia recently testified at a city council hearing in support of including sexual orientation and gender identity in an ordinance on nondiscrimination in housing and employment. Regardless of what happens at GC, we can all be more active in the public arena, and find our own ways to proclaim that God’s “steadfast love is better than life!”
---------------------
Saturday, February 27 T.C. Morrow
T.C. is Director of Finance & Operations at the National Religious Campaign Against Torture in Washington, DC.
---------------------
(1) When Adonai restored Tziyon’s fortunes,
we thought we were dreaming.
2 Our mouths were full of laughter,
and our tongues shouted for joy.
Among the nations it was said,
“Adonai has done great things for them!”
3 Adonai did do great things with us;
and we are overjoyed.
4 Return our people from exile, Adonai,
as streams fill vadis in the Negev.
5 Those who sow in tears
will reap with cries of joy.
6 He who goes out weeping
as he carries his sack of seed
will come home with cries of joy
as he carries his sheaves of grain. & Isaiah 43:16 Here is what Adonai says,
who made a way in the sea,
a path through the raging waves;
17 who led out chariot and horse,
the army in its strength —
they lay down, never to rise again,
snuffed out and quenched like a wick:
18 “Stop dwelling on past events
and brooding over times gone by;
19 I am doing something new;
it’s springing up — can’t you see it?
I am making a road in the desert,
rivers in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals will honor me,
the jackals and the ostriches;
because I put water in the desert,
rivers in the wasteland,
for my chosen people to drink,
21 the people I formed for myself,
so that they would proclaim my praise.
During seminary, my roommate and I began a practice we would later christen “doorway theology.” Time after time, one would appear in the other’s doorway. “Do you have a minute? I need…” We met in our questions and
longings. Together, we talked human suffering and divine power. Structural racism, feminism, and white privilege.
Queer theology and our latest disastrous/delightful dates. Incarnation and sacramentality. Movements of liberation, and histories of oppression. Reparations and deportations. Truths and testimonies, demanding witness.
That which breaks us open. That which matters most.
We could have moved to the comfort of a couch, but there was something ineffably holy about holding these encounters in doorways, in thresholds. Thresholds are thin spaces, thick with feeling, where we encounter G-d
and each other more readily, more honestly, more fully.
Psalm 126 and Isaiah 43:16-21 might be read as threshold texts. The psalm was sung by people crying out: praising, pleading, grieving, giving thanks. The context was exile, estrangement. Restoration sown in tears, but reaped with shouts of joy. In Isaiah, the prophet’s proclamation promises the impossible: a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. The context was captivity, wilderness. Yet liberation is springing forth. The impossible becoming
perceivable.
We do not all know, really, exile and occupation. But perhaps we all know how loss, grief, isolation, shame, and despair can hold us captive, utterly convinced that nothing joyful, just, holy, or good can possibly be/come, again.
15th c theologian Nicholas of Cusa nicknamed God posse ipsum, possibility itself. Posse ipsum invites us to persist. Persist in love that responds, restores, revives. Love that bears with. Love that moves us to laughter and tears. Love that gravitates toward thin spaces, thick with feeling, where we encounter G-d and each other more readily, more honestly, more fully.
---------------------
Sunday, March 13
Rev. Anna Blaedel
Anna is a campus minister, PHD student in theology, and queer UM discontent, whose spiritual practices include the sacrament of brunch, sharing silence with strangers and beloveds, waking up before dawn, walking in the woods, and riding the subway.
---------------------
Text: Hebrews 10:19 So, brothers, we have confidence to use the way into the Holiest Place opened by the blood of Yeshua. 20 He inaugurated it for us as a new and living way through the parokhet, by means of his flesh. 21 We also have a great cohen over God’s household. 22 Therefore, let us approach the Holiest Place with a sincere heart, in the full assurance that comes from trusting — with our hearts sprinkled clean from a bad conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.[Hebrews 10:22 Ezekiel 36:25] 23 Let us continue holding fast to the hope we acknowledge, without wavering; for the One who made the promise is trustworthy. 24 And let us keep paying attention to one another, in order to spur each other on to love and good deeds, 25 not neglecting our own congregational meetings, as some have made a practice of doing, but, rather, encouraging each other.
And let us do this all the more as you see the Day approaching.
When I was much younger, there were times when I was pretty annoying. I would pester my brother until he turned to me in anger and took a swing at me. Never hard enough to hurt anything except my feelings, but a resolute “get out of my way” gesture. This is what I think of when I hear the word “provoke.” It is a strong word describing actions meant to cause a negative reaction more damaging than my brother’s. One dictionary defines
“provoke” as “to deliberately make someone annoyed or angry.”
The scripture passage for today uses the word “provoke” in a very unconventional way. It links the word with the very positive Christian virtues of love and good deeds. The author of Hebrews turns the meaning and intent of the word “provoke” a full 180 degrees, to remind those who follow Jesus that by our deliberate actions, we must
encourage others to be life-giving, affirming and uplifting.
What must we do to provoke that kind of loving, peaceful living? That is asking much of us. In the face of violence, hatred, and evil we must become even more resolute to live our lives faithfully. In spite of words and actions that exclude others in the name of the Church, we must not cease to witness to the Gospel message of Jesus’ invitation to all persons to full participation in the body of Christ.
One more definition to ponder. The word “provoke” is derived from the Latin for “to call forth.” This means that because of the way we live, we call forth from others certain values or virtues. In other words, a life well-lived inspires others. May our lives call forth from others an all-inclusive love for everyone in the name and spirit of
Jesus Christ.
---------------------
Monday, March 14
Bishop Robert T. Hoshibata
Bishop Bob, consecrated in 2004, serves as the resident bishop of the Phoenix Area.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 20:(0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
2 (1) May Adonai answer you in times of distress,
may the name of the God of Ya‘akov protect you.
3 (2) May he send you help from the sanctuary
and give you support from Tziyon.
4 (3) May he be reminded by all your grain offerings
and accept the fat of your burnt offerings. (Selah)
5 (4) May he grant you your heart’s desire
and bring all your plans to success.
6 (5) Then we will shout for joy at your victory
and fly our flags in the name of our God.
May Adonai fulfill all your requests.
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.
8 (7) Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we praise the name of Adonai our God.
9 (8) They will crumple and fall,
but we will arise and stand erect.
10 (9) Give victory, Adonai!
Let the King answer us the day we call.
Do you see the dialogue between the two halves of Psalm 20?
The first: a blessing, filled with aspiration, so that the listener might find protection in God.
The second: a hefty vote of confidence in God’s grace, a declaration of God’s infinite power.
The first: may God send you help. The second: God is greater than chariots and horses.
Do you see the conversation?
It is one that I—as both a person of faith and an activist—find myself having again and again.
The first is a voice of blessing; the second, trust. They are perhaps the most important voices to keep in balance in the high-tightrope walk that is being an agent of social change.
Let’s go in reverse: what does it mean for an activist to trust? It means to allow our faith to do what secular activists have a very difficult time articulating. It means to say that God has won. Love has won. There is nothing that any power can do to become greater than God—no empire to be built, no weapon to be invented, no war to be fought. Love wins, and the powers of this world today are just as helpless as the Roman empire scrambling to explain a resurrected Jesus. The infinite worth of all of God’s children is secured, and that simply cannot be
stripped, shot, or beaten out of us.
But then again, there is also the first part of Psalm 20, the blessing. If we are so confident in what God is capable of (á la v. 6-9), why do we need to bless anyone? Why do we need to pray that God send down help, when we already know that God has taken care of things in unimaginable ways? Isn’t that like asking the sky to turn blue when the sun rises? Why waste our breath?
What the Psalm teaches us is that we still have a role in this world. Faith in God does not mean sitting back and letting “God handle it.” Rather, we have the incredible ability to bless people and to bless the earth. When things are going wrong, God looks to be people of faith and ask, “Over there! Could you run there and be a blessing there?”
My friends, let us go out in the world and bless—lest we fall apathetic in a world crying for action. And let us also trust in God, so that we never think that we are doing this work alone. Amen.
---------------------
Tuesday, March 15
Rev. Tyler Sitt
Tyler Sit is pastor of New City Church, APlaceToStart.church
---------------------
Text: Luke 18:31 Then, taking the Twelve, Yeshua said to them, “We are now going up to Yerushalayim, where everything written through the prophets about the Son of Man will come true. 32 For he will be handed over to the Goyim and be ridiculed, insulted and spat upon. 33 Then, after they have beaten him, they will kill him. But on the third day he will rise.” 34 However, they understood none of this; its meaning had been hidden from them, and they had no idea what he was talking about.
When I was eight, I told my older cousin that I was going to study law at Hillman College.
Her reply was priceless: “Boy. Hillman ain’t no real college! It was based on several historically black colleges and universities, such as Spellman and Howard. Hillman ain’t real!”
As I walked away, all I could get myself to think was, “How dare she lie on Hillman! She must’ve applied and got rejected!”
No matter if you are eight or thirty-eight, few of us readily accept the possibility that the world we bought into may not be the world as it truly exists.
As I consider this passage in Luke, I am baffled by the fact that the disciples understood ‘nothing’ and ‘did not grasp’ anything Jesus said about being arrested, beaten, mocked, and killed.
What was it about Jesus sharing the plain details concerning his upcoming illegal trial, struggle with police forces, and lynching that caused the disciples to collectively declare they understood nothing our Brother was trying to tell them?
How many church elders “do not understand” the Black Lives Matter Movement because their pension plans are tethered to monolithic denominations beholden to the dominating interests of the ruling white majority?
How many seminarians “do not grasp” the sacramentality of trans flesh because that is not what will move them along the ordination process?
How many of us are willing to admit that our inability to understand the hard truths of God may not be rooted in our “fidelity to the Scriptures” but, rather, in a shared unwillingness to sacrifice the false peace offered by the rulers of this present age?
How long will it take us to understand that A Different World need not be a wrong world?
---------------------
Wednesday, March 16
James Howard Hill, Jr.
James enjoys eating California Sushi Rolls (without cucumbers), researching African-American Religio-Political Thought, and lobbying his local politicians to fix broken gas pumps that stop every 15 cents.
---------------------
Text: Hebrews 2:1 Therefore, we must pay much more careful heed to the things we have heard, so that we will not drift away. 2 For if the word God spoke through angels became binding, so that every violation and act of disobedience received its just deserts in full measure, 3 then how will we escape if we ignore such a great deliverance? This deliverance, which was first declared by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him; 4 while God also bore witness to it with various signs, wonders and miracles, and with gifts of the Ruach HaKodesh which he distributed as he chose.
5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the ‘olam haba — which is what we are talking about. 6 And there is a place where someone has given this solemn testimony:
“What is mere man, that you concern yourself with him?
or the son of man, that you watch over him with such care?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels,
you crowned him with glory and honor,
8 you put everything in subjection under his feet.”[Hebrews 2:8 Psalm 8:5–7(4–6)]
In subjecting everything to him, he left nothing unsubjected to him. However, at present, we don’t see everything subjected to him — at least, not yet. 9 But we do see Yeshua — who indeed was made for a little while lower than the angels — now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by God’s grace he might taste death for all humanity.
The Book of Hebrews reminds us that God is most present not in the realm of angelic perfection and beauty but in the messy human struggle for “the coming world.” (Heb 2:5)
The angelic realm is pure, harmonious, full of glory. Occasionally we catch a glimpse of the angelic world where there is no racism, no anti-semitism, no sexism, no heterosexism, no classism, none of the oppressions we
wrestle with here.
But God did not send Jesus to be born into the angelic world.
Jesus did not come for the sake of the angels but for us. (Heb 2:16) It is not the angels God has entrusted with the future to come. God has subjected the coming world to humanity, to us, imperfect and broken as we are. (Heb 2:8)
When we get tired because progress seems so slow, maybe Hebrews can help us remember that in the midst of our very human struggle for justice, inclusion, and love is where the Presence of God is thickest. This struggle is
where we come closest to the atoning work of Christ ... not in the realm of the angels but in our human struggle against the stubborn oppressions within and around us.
As General Conference approaches and we wish it would be a time of angelic harmony, peace and understanding, Hebrews reminds us that Jesus, the pioneer of our faith, became perfect through suffering. (Heb 2:10) The
perfected world and church we long for comes only through struggle.
Later in Hebrews the writer encourages us “to not grow weary or lose heart” by remembering that “we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” who have persevered. (Heb 12:1-3) So when the struggle feels frustrating, hopeless, even demeaning, we know we are where God is moving most profoundly.
LGBTI United Methodists and allies in the midst of the struggle, may Hebrews help us remember we are part of a great cloud of witnesses who will encourage generations to come.
---------------------
Thursday, March 17
Rev. Dean Snyder
Dean is a retired pastor who lives on the eastern shore of Maryland.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 31:9 (8) You did not hand me over to the enemy;
you set my feet where I can move freely.
10 (9) Show me favor, Adonai, for I am in trouble.
My eyes grow dim with anger,
my soul and body as well.
11 (10) For my life is worn out with sorrow
and my years with sighing;
my strength gives out under my guilt,
and my bones are wasting away.
12 (11) I am scorned by all my adversaries,
and even more by my neighbors;
even to acquaintances
I am an object of fear —
when they see me in the street,
they turn away from me.
13 (12) Like a dead man, I have passed from their minds;
I have become like a broken pot.
14 (13) All I hear is whispering,
terror is all around me;
they plot together against me,
scheming to take my life.
15 (14) But I, I trust in you, Adonai;
I say, “You are my God.”
16 (15) My times are in your hand;
rescue me from my enemies’ power,
from those who persecute me.
Have you ever been that person others run or hide from? You know whom I’m talking about….depressed, scary, sad or even worse, someone so chipper that your nerves work overtime to keep up with all the excitement. I think there are times when we are on both sides of this conundrum. And at present, I resonate with the Psalmist who speaks of being depressed.
I have a predilection for being a bit cynical or brooding, so when advent and lent come around, I’m in my element.
The problem with staying in this emotional place for much more than 40 days can lead to the place the Psalmist is lamenting, and I can’t help but feel like I’ve been stuck here for way longer than 40 days.
But here’s the thing – even when I’m in this place, I know I’m not alone. I may feel alone and sometimes even believe I’m alone. I am never alone. Never. You are never alone. Never. In the deepest, intense, darkest nights of the soul, we are never alone….
Mark Miller composed a haunting anthem a few years ago entitled, “I Believe.” The lyrics are from these words found etched on a wall in Germany after the Holocaust:
I believe in the sun, even when it’s not shining.
I believe in love, even when I don’t feel it.
I believe in God, even when [God] is silent.
May these words and the words of the Psalmist give you hope of never being alone amidst the depressed moments of life:
But me? I trust you, Lord! I affirm, “You are my God.” My future is in your hands. Don’t hand me over to my enemies, to all who are out to get me! Shine your face on your servant; save me by your faithful love! (Psalm 39:14-16)
---------------------
Friday, March 18
Kim Chapman
Kim Chapman is a musician and worship designer. She is a lover of life, art, architecture, music, nature, John Wesley and Jesus. She lives in Northern Illinois with her books, drums, and assorted Mac gadgets.
---------------------
Text: Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, let not my will but yours be done.” 43 There appeared to him an angel from heaven giving him strength, 44 and in great anguish he prayed more intensely, so that his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” Luke 22:42
According to Luke, these are the words Jesus prayed on the Mount of Olives just moments before his betrayal.
Puzzling, aren’t they? Was Jesus afraid? Apparently so, as Luke continues:
“In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.” (Vs. 43-44).
So, Jesus was scared of the impending trial and its likely outcome - punishment by death. I know that fear to a lesser degree. But I’m human and Jesus is the Messiah. Superheroes aren’t supposed to be fearful, are they? How
can we explain this paradox? Some scholars are convinced that Luke’s statement in vs. 43-44 is not authentic; that’s why it is placed in parentheses in most bible translations.
Others suggest that the term “anguish” should not be understood as “fearful.” New Testament scholar Sharon Ringe, for instance, explains “anguish” from the realm of athletics: Jesus was “sweating” from mentally preparing for what was coming.*
But the fact that Jesus asked for “the removal of the cup” suggests that he was fearful indeed. And that’s OK - inspiring actually! It makes Christianity more relate- able. It encourages us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus’ ministry of peace and justice.
As we follow our conscience and take a stand, it’s natural to experience confrontation and even fear. If we do, we’re in good company with Jesus.
Our fear does not express weakness. There is nothing shameful about expressing our fear in prayer; God gets it.
And finally, it’s OK to boldly ask God to save us.**
Jesus did, and though his request wasn’t granted, he received the courage needed for the greatest Act of Love in history. Be encouraged, stand up for justice even when facing threats. It’s not easy, but Jesus shows the path from fear to earnest prayer to the guts it takes to change this world.
---------------------
Saturday, March 19
Rev. Frank Schaefer
Frank is serving as pastor at University UMC in Isla Vista, California and is featured in the recent documentary, “An Act of Love.”
*Sharon H. Ringe: Luke, Westminster John Knox Press; 1st edition (November 1, 1995) p. 266
**Luke, Volume 2: A Feasting on the Gospels: Feasting on the Word Commentary, edited by Cynthia A. Jarvis, E. Elizabeth Johnson, Westminster John Knox Press (November 19, 2014), p. 292
---------------------
Luke 22:14 When the time came, Yeshua and the emissaries reclined at the table, 15 and he said to them, “I have really wanted so much to celebrate this Seder with you before I die! 16 For I tell you, it is certain that I will not celebrate it again until it is given its full meaning in the Kingdom of God.”
17 Then, taking a cup of wine, he made the b’rakhah and said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on, I will not drink the ‘fruit of the vine’ until the Kingdom of God comes.” 19 Also, taking a piece of matzah, he made the b’rakhah, broke it, gave it to them and said, “This is my body, which is being given for you; do this in memory of me.” 20 He did the same with the cup after the meal, saying, “This cup is the New Covenant, ratified by my blood, which is being poured out for you.
21 “But look! The person who is betraying me is here at the table with me! 22 The Son of Man is going to his death according to God’s plan, but woe to that man by whom he is being betrayed!” 23 They began asking each other which of them could be about to do such a thing.
24 An argument arose among them as to which of them should be considered the greatest. 25 But Yeshua said to them, “The kings of the Goyim lord it over them; and those in authority over them are given the title, ‘Benefactor.’ 26 But not so with you! On the contrary, let the greater among you become like the younger, and one who rules like one who serves. 27 For who is greater? The one reclining at the table? or the one who serves? It’s the one reclining at the table, isn’t it? But I myself am among you like one who serves.
28 “You are the ones who have stayed with me throughout my trials. 29 Just as my Father gave me the right to rule, so I give you an appointment, 30 namely, to eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom and to sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Isra’el.
31 “Shim‘on, Shim‘on, listen! The Adversary demanded to have you people for himself, to sift you like wheat! 32 But I prayed for you, Shim‘on, that your trust might not fail. And you, once you have turned back in repentance, strengthen your brothers!” 33 Shim‘on said to him, “Lord, I am prepared to go with you both to prison and to death!” 34 Yeshua replied, “I tell you, Kefa, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know me.”
35 He said to them, “When I sent you out without wallet, pack or shoes, were you ever short of anything?” “Not a thing,” they answered. 36 “But now,” he said, if you have a wallet or a pack, take it; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your robe to buy one. 37 For I tell you this: the passage from the Tanakh that says, ‘He was counted with transgressors,’[Luke 22:37 Isaiah 53:12] has to be fulfilled in me; since what is happening to me has a purpose.” 38 They said, “Look, Lord, there are two swords right here!” “Enough!” he replied.
39 On leaving, Yeshua went as usual to the Mount of Olives; and the talmidim followed him. 40 When he arrived, he said to them, “Pray that you won’t be put to the test.” 41 He went about a stone’s throw away from them, kneeled down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, let not my will but yours be done.” 43 There appeared to him an angel from heaven giving him strength, 44 and in great anguish he prayed more intensely, so that his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground. 45 On rising from prayer and coming to the talmidim, he found them sleeping because of their grief. 46 He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you won’t be put to the test!”
47 While he was still speaking, a crowd of people arrived, with the man called Y’hudah (one of the Twelve!) leading them. He came up to Yeshua to kiss him, 48 but Yeshua said to him, “Y’hudah, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” 49 When his followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we use our swords?” 50 One of them struck at the slave of the cohen hagadol and cut off his right ear. 51 But Yeshua answered, “Just let me do this,” and, touching the man’s ear, he healed him.
52 Then Yeshua said to the head cohanim, the officers of the Temple guard and the elders who had come to seize him, “So you came out just as you would to the leader of a rebellion, with swords and clubs? 53 Every day I was there with you in the Temple court, yet you didn’t arrest me. But this is your hour — the hour when darkness rules.”
54 Having seized him, they led him away and brought him into the house of the cohen hagadol. Kefa followed at a distance; 55 but when they had lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Kefa joined them. 56 One of the servant girls saw him sitting in the light of the fire, stared at him and said, “This man also was with him.” 57 But he denied it: “Lady, I don’t even know him.” 58 A little later, someone else saw him and said, “You’re one of them too”; but Kefa said, “Man, I am not!” 59 About an hour later, another man asserted emphatically, “There can be no doubt that this fellow was with him, because he too is from the Galil!” 60 But Kefa said, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” And instantly, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Kefa; and Kefa remembered what the Lord had said, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And he went outside and cried bitterly.
63 Meanwhile, the men who were holding Yeshua made fun of him. They beat him, 64 blindfolded him, and kept asking him, “Now, ‘prophesy’! Who hit you that time?” 65 And they said many other insulting things to him.
66 At daybreak, the people’s council of elders, including both head cohanim and Torah-teachers, met and led him off to their Sanhedrin, 67 where they said, “If you are the Mashiach, tell us.” He answered, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me; 68 and if I ask you, you won’t answer. 69 But from now on, the Son of Man will be sitting at the right hand of HaG’vurah,”[Luke 22:69 Psalm 110:1] 70 They all said, “Does this mean, then, that you are the Son of God?” And he answered them, “You say I am.” 71 They said, “Why do we need additional testimony? We have heard it ourselves from his own mouth!”
23 With that, the whole Sanhedrin got up and brought Yeshua before Pilate, 2 where they started accusing him. “We found this man subverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the Emperor and claiming that he himself is the Messiah — a king!” 3 Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” And he answered him, “The words are yours.” 4 Pilate said to the head cohanim and the crowds, “I find no ground for a charge against this man.” 5 But they persisted. “He is inciting the people with his teaching throughout all Y’hudah — he started in the Galil, and now he’s here!” 6 On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was from the Galil; 7 and when he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who at that time happened to be in Yerushalayim too.
8 Herod was delighted to see Yeshua, because he had heard about him and for a long time had been wanting to meet him; indeed, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. 9 He questioned him at great length, but Yeshua made no reply. 10 However, the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers stood there, vehemently pressing their case against him. 11 Herod and his soldiers treated Yeshua with contempt and made fun of him. Then, dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. 12 That day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; previously they had been enemies.
13 Pilate summoned the head cohanim, the leaders and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought this man before me on a charge of subverting the people. I examined him in your presence and did not find the man guilty of the crime you are accusing him of. 15 And neither did Herod, because he sent him back to us. Clearly, he has not done anything that merits the death penalty. 16 Therefore, what I will do is have him flogged and release him.” 17 [Luke 23:17 Some manuscripts have verse 17: For he was required to release one man to them at the festival.] 18 But with one voice they shouted, “Away with this man! Give us Bar-Abba!” 19 (He was a man who had been thrown in prison for causing a riot in the city and for murder.) 20 Pilate appealed to them again, because he wanted to release Yeshua. 21 But they yelled, “Put him to death on the stake! Put him to death on the stake!” 22 A third time he asked them, “But what has this man done wrong? I haven’t found any reason to put him to death. So I’m going to have him flogged and set free.” 23 But they went on yelling insistently, demanding that he be executed on the stake; and their shouting prevailed. 24 Pilate decided to grant their demand; 25 he released the man who had been thrown in prison for insurrection and murder, the one they had asked for; and Yeshua he surrendered to their will.
26 As the Roman soldiers led Yeshua away, they grabbed hold of a man from Cyrene named Shim‘on, who was on his way in from the country. They put the execution-stake on his back and made him carry it behind Yeshua. 27 Large numbers of people followed, including women crying and wailing over him. 28 Yeshua turned to them and said, “Daughters of Yerushalayim, don’t cry for me; cry for yourselves and your children! 29 For the time is coming when people will say, ‘The childless women are the lucky ones — those whose wombs have never borne a child, whose breasts have never nursed a baby! 30 Then
They will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’
and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’[Luke 23:30 Hosea 10:8]
31 For if they do these things when the wood is green, what is going to happen when it’s dry?”
32 Two other men, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him. 33 When they came to the place called The Skull, they nailed him to a stake; and they nailed the criminals to stakes, one on the right and one on the left. 34 Yeshua said, “Father, forgive them; they don’t understand what they are doing.”
They divided up his clothes by throwing dice.[Luke 23:34 Psalm 22:19(18)] 35 The people stood watching, and the rulers sneered at him.[Luke 23:35 Psalm 22:8(7)] “He saved others,” they said, “so if he really is the Messiah, the one chosen by God, let him save himself!” 36 The soldiers too ridiculed him; they came up, offered him vinegar[Luke 23:36 Psalm 69:22(21)] 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 And there was a notice over him which read,
THIS IS
THE KING OF THE JEWS
39 One of the criminals hanging there hurled insults at him. “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other one spoke up and rebuked the first, saying, “Have you no fear of God? You’re getting the same punishment as he is. 41 Ours is only fair; we’re getting what we deserve for what we did. But this man did nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Yeshua, remember me when you come as King.” 43 Yeshua said to him, “Yes! I promise that you will be with me today in Gan-‘Eden.”
44 It was now about noon, and darkness covered the whole Land until three o’clock in the afternoon; 45 the sun did not shine. Also the parokhet in the Temple was split down the middle. 46 Crying out with a loud voice, Yeshua said, “Father! Into your hands I commit my spirit.”[Luke 23:46 Psalm 31:6(5)] With these words he gave up his spirit.
47 When the Roman officer saw what had happened, he began to praise God and said, “Surely this man was innocent!” 48 And when all the crowds that had gathered to watch the spectacle saw the things that had occurred, they returned home beating their breasts. 49 All his friends, including the women who had accompanied him from the Galil, had been standing at a distance; they saw it all.
50 There was a man named Yosef, a member of the Sanhedrin. He was a good man, a tzaddik; 51 and he had not been in agreement with either the Sanhedrin’s motivation or their action. He came from the town of Ramatayim, a town of the Judeans; and he looked forward to the Kingdom of God. 52 This man approached Pilate and asked for Yeshua’s body. 53 He took it down, wrapped it in a linen sheet, and placed it in a tomb cut into the rock, that had never been used.
54 It was Preparation Day, and a Shabbat was about to begin. 55 The women who had come with Yeshua from the Galil followed; they saw the tomb and how his body was placed in it. 56 Then they went back home to prepare spices and ointments.
On Shabbat the women rested, in obedience to the commandment;
A mother of a transgender child responds to her judgmental neighbor:
this sadness I feel is for you sad one you are so lost yet want to save me this anger I feel is for you angry one your screams suffocate your silent stillness this loss I feel is for you lost one your call still beckons yet I embrace mine this confusion I feel is for you confused one you believe the illusion that we are not equals this concern I feel is for you concerned one you try to separate us yet our source is the same this calm I feel in spite of you crazed one you search frantically and only find your own fear this love I feel is for you God’s beloved you hate those like me who accept their journey
---------------------
Passion Sunday, March 20
Lorena Corey
Lorena is a mother, activist, founder of “Pinwheels,” a singer, and a voice coach.
---------------------
Text: Isaiah 42:1 “Here is my servant, whom I support,
my chosen one, in whom I take pleasure.
I have put my Spirit on him;
he will bring justice to the Goyim.
2 He will not cry or shout;
no one will hear his voice in the streets.
3 He will not snap off a broken reed
or snuff out a smoldering wick.
He will bring forth justice according to truth;
4 he will not weaken or be crushed
until he has established justice on the earth,
and the coastlands wait for his Torah.”
5 Thus says God, Adonai,
who created the heavens and spread them out,
who stretched out the earth and all that grows from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk on it:
6 “I, Adonai, called you righteously,
I took hold of you by the hand,
I shaped you and made you a covenant for the people,
to be a light for the Goyim,
7 so that you can open blind eyes,
free the prisoners from confinement,
those living in darkness from the dungeon.
8 I am Adonai; that is my name.
I yield my glory to no one else,
nor my praise to any idol.
9 See how the former predictions come true;
and now new things do I declare —
before they sprout I tell you about them.”
Reading this first “servant song” of Isaiah, we relate his message to our own individual lives and to our movement to transform the world by living out the Gospel’s teachings of grace, love, justice and inclusion for all of God’s people within The UMC and our world.
In his prophetic role, Isaiah faithfully and forcefully proclaimed God’s truth confronting the people and their leaders with God’s commands and promises. As the voice of God, Isaiah begins by introducing my servant, whom I uphold, have chosen, endowed with the Spirit, in whom I delight and the one who will bring justice to the nations.
As Easter approaches, we see Isaiah’s prophecy fulfilled in God’s Servant-Messiah, Jesus, in whom we are freely justified by grace. As individuals and a movement, we follow Christ and are God’s servant. We are upheld and chosen by God, endowed with the Spirit, and the Creator does delight in each of us having been fearfully and wonderfully made. We too, in faithfulness are called to bring justice.
During this General Conference we will boldly proclaim; be a forceful witness to; and faithfully work to bring forth the entire LYNC Vision. Isaiah reminds the servant to persist with unfailing endurance, even under oppression, until the mission of justice is complete.
Isaiah says the islands put their hope in his law and as Christians during Easter we celebrate our hope in the risen, Servant-Messiah, Jesus. In 2012 we put our hope in Biblical Obedience and in 2016 we place hope in General Conference. The prophet says God makes the servant a light for the Gentiles to open eyes that are closed and to free the captives.
I pray we are a light leading others to Christ and closed eyes are opened this General Conference bringing forth justice and inclusion.
---------------------
Holy Monday, March 21
Giselle Lawn
Giselle is a member of the Reconciling Congregation, St Mark UMC in Atlanta, and a transgender woman, who serves on the RMN board and is a member of the UMATI leadership team.
---------------------
Text: Isaiah 49:1 Coastlands, listen to me;
listen, you peoples far away:
Adonai called me from the womb;
before I was born, he had spoken my name.
2 He has made my mouth like a sharp sword
while hiding me in the shadow of his hand;
he has made me like a sharpened arrow
while concealing me in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant,
Isra’el, through whom I will show my glory.”
4 But I said, “I have toiled in vain,
spent my strength for nothing, futility.”
Yet my cause is with Adonai,
my reward is with my God.
5 So now Adonai says —
he formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Ya‘akov back to him,
to have Isra’el gathered to him,
so that I will be honored in the sight of Adonai,
my God having become my strength —
6 he has said, “It is not enough
that you are merely my servant
to raise up the tribes of Ya‘akov
and restore the offspring of Isra’el.
I will also make you a light to the nations,
so my salvation can spread to the ends of the earth.”
7 Here is what Adonai,
the Redeemer of Isra’el,
his Holy One, says to the one despised,
whom the nations detest, to the servant of tyrants:
“When kings see you, they will stand up;
princes too will prostrate themselves,
because of Adonai, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Isra’el, who has chosen you.”
I am an extrovert by day, so I am always inviting people into conversation. Since most people, particularly in the South, have been trained in the reciprocity of dialogue, when I make an inquiry, the same one is made in return.
It doesn’t take long, however, to realize that in many instances, the other party is only asking questions to determine in which category I should be placed. He has already summed up parts of me based on my physical
appearance. Now he is listening for more information that will help him affix a label. I don’t take it personally. Lots of people do it. It’s a by-product of the social climate in the world in which we live.
The majority of people today are only concerned with labels. Black. Woman. Fat. Ugly. Gay. Poor. Angry. Lesbian. Illiterate. Homeless. Unemployed. Prisoner. Transgender. Aggressive. Lazy. Thug.
Conversations are no longer used to capture a glimpse of another person’s heart. It’s all about labels which is unfortunate because the only thing labels do is define how we mistreat our neighbors. The more we dislike the label of another person, the more harsh our behavior toward our siblings. That seems to be the way of this world.
But, it doesn’t have to be.
Labeling people doesn’t have to be a bad thing. God is a Labeler. God calls us many names: Strong. Honorable. Important. Light. Savior.
Then, let us strive to follow God’s example in our daily interactions with each other, that we may treat one another graciously, mercifully, lovingly. After all, the one label that sums up the whole of each person created as a member of the Human family is “Good.”
---------------------
Holy Tuesday, March 22
Rev. Dr. Denise Donnell
Denise is the Senior Faith Organizer for the Human Rights Campaign in Little Rock, Arkansas where she is working as an ally to the LGBT community, advocating for the total liberation of all God’s children that we may all live the abundant life to which we have been called.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 70: (0) For the leader. By David. As a reminder:
2 (1) God, rescue me!
Adonai, hurry and help me!
3 (2) May those who seek my life
be disgraced and humiliated.
May those who take pleasure in doing me harm
be turned back and put to confusion.
4 (3) May those who jeer, “Aha! Aha!”
withdraw because of their shame.
5 (4) But may all those who seek you
be glad and take joy in you.
May those who love your salvation say always,
“God is great and glorious!”
6 (5) But I am poor and needy;
God, hurry for me.
You are my helper and rescuer;
Adonai, don’t delay!
“The State of Texas has refused to listen to God’s children”
These words may seem like they came from the mouth of a preacher or evangelist down here in the South. In fact, they came from Licho Escamilla, a person who was executed on October 14, 2015. My heart gently wept as I read those words for the first time. It was just weeks before his pending execution that I spoke with a United Methodist minister who knew Licho’s family and shared the agony and pain the family was experiencing and
anticipating.
During this Lenten season, we will soon read the story of Jesus’ crucifixion. For some, Good Friday can be the toughest day as we imagine the pain and torture Jesus endured. Jesus’ words on the Cross remind me of these
words in Psalm 70, profusely begging for God’s mercy. And yet there’s a stark difference, for David he begged for mercy for himself, while Jesus begged for mercy for those next to him on crosses.
Make no mistake, we may not be in the business of crucifying Jesus in modern times, but we are still crucifying folks who resemble the other two persons on the crosses. I remember last year when I was speaking with an attorney from ACLU after he spoke of the progress being made in abolishing the death penalty. His last words
inspire me still, “When we abolish the death penalty, it will be because Methodists led the way.”
May we be followers of Jesus who seek justice and work towards collective liberation and life for all!
---------------------
Holy Wednesday, March 23
Jason Redick
Jason works for Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and has many other interests to fight for justice in and outside The United Methodist Church.
---------------------
Text: John 13:1 It was just before the festival of Pesach, and Yeshua knew that the time had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. Having loved his own people in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 They were at supper, and the Adversary had already put the desire to betray him into the heart of Y’hudah Ben-Shim‘on from K’riot. 3 Yeshua was aware that the Father had put everything in his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God. 4 So he rose from the table, removed his outer garments and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 Then he poured some water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the talmidim and wipe them off with the towel wrapped around him.
6 He came to Shim‘on Kefa, who said to him, “Lord! You are washing my feet?” 7 Yeshua answered him, “You don’t understand yet what I am doing, but in time you will understand.” 8 “No!” said Kefa, “You will never wash my feet!” Yeshua answered him, “If I don’t wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 “Lord,” Shim‘on Kefa replied, “not only my feet, but my hands and head too!” 10 Yeshua said to him, “A man who has had a bath doesn’t need to wash, except his feet — his body is already clean. And you people are clean, but not all of you.” 11 (He knew who was betraying him; this is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”)
12 After he had washed their feet, taken back his clothes and returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me ‘Rabbi’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because I am. 14 Now if I, the Lord and Rabbi, have washed your feet, you also should wash each other’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, so that you may do as I have done to you. 16 Yes, indeed! I tell you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is an emissary greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
31 After Y’hudah had left, Yeshua said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If the Son has glorified God, God will himself glorify the Son, and will do so without delay. 33 Little children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and, as I said to the Judeans, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ now I say it to you as well.
34 “I am giving you a new command: that you keep on loving each other. In the same way that I have loved you, you are also to keep on loving each other. 35 Everyone will know that you are my talmidim by the fact that you have love for each other.”
“If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”
When I was in seminary, I attended a Maundy Thursday foot washing service in the chapel on campus. As part of the service, professors were washing the feet of their students. I was directed to the station where an older
African-American professor who commanded tremendous respect, had been a faith leader since the civil rights movement and was a person that I held in very high esteem was washing feet. He shouldn’t be washing my
feet, I should be washing his feet, I thought to myself as I approached the basin. Nonetheless, he bent down and began to pour warm water over my feet, wiped them down and dried them off with a towel in his lap. I
felt ashamed seeing him stooped before me with all of the uncomfortable dynamics of race, age, gender and orientation embodied in him offering the same ritual that Jesus offered to his disciples. I felt a strange mix of confusion, vulnerability, humility and gratitude as I walked back to my pew and reflected on the meaning of this very personal and intimate experience.
Foot washing to me is a reminder of the sacrifices that have been made on our behalf by those who have come before us. So many people, including this professor, have sacrificed much and worked hard to bring about a world that is better for me and for all who have felt marginalized in some way. Jesus invites us on this Maundy Thursday to receive the gift of God’s unconditional love and to live out that love in service to others.
---------------------
Maundy, Thursday, March 24
Rev. Josh Noblitt
Josh Noblitt is Minister of Social Justice and Evangelism at Saint Mark UMC in Atlanta.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 22:(0) For the leader. Set to “Sunrise.” A psalm of David:
2 (1) My God! My God!
Why have you abandoned me?
Why so far from helping me,
so far from my anguished cries?
3 (2) My God, by day I call to you,
but you don’t answer;
likewise at night,
but I get no relief.
4 (3) Nevertheless, you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Isra’el.
5 (4) In you our ancestors put their trust;
they trusted, and you rescued them.
6 (5) They cried to you and escaped;
they trusted in you and were not disappointed.
7 (6) But I am a worm, not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
8 (7) All who see me jeer at me;
they sneer and shake their heads:
9 (8) “He committed himself to Adonai,
so let him rescue him!
Let him set him free
if he takes such delight in him!”
10 (9) But you are the one who took me from the womb,
you made me trust when I was on my mother’s breasts.
11 (10) Since my birth I’ve been thrown on you;
you are my God from my mother’s womb.
12 (11) Don’t stay far from me, for trouble is near;
and there is no one to help.
13 (12) Many bulls surround me,
wild bulls of Bashan close in on me.
14 (13) They open their mouths wide against me,
like ravening, roaring lions.
15 (14) I am poured out like water;
all my bones are out of joint;
my heart has become like wax —
it melts inside me;
16 (15) my mouth is as dry as a fragment of a pot,
my tongue sticks to my palate;
you lay me down in the dust of death.
17 (16) Dogs are all around me,
a pack of villains closes in on me
like a lion [at] my hands and feet.[Psalm 22:17 Or: “They pierced my hands and feet.” See Introduction, Section VIII, paragraph 6, and Section XIV, footnote 70.]
18 (17) I can count every one of my bones,
while they gaze at me and gloat.
19 (18) They divide my garments among themselves;
for my clothing they throw dice.
20 (19) But you, Adonai, don’t stay far away!
My strength, come quickly to help me!
21 (20) Rescue me from the sword,
my life from the power of the dogs.
22 (21) Save me from the lion’s mouth!
You have answered me from the wild bulls’ horns.
23 (22) I will proclaim your name to my kinsmen;
right there in the assembly I will praise you:
24 (23) “You who fear Adonai, praise him!
All descendants of Ya‘akov, glorify him!
All descendants of Isra’el, stand in awe of him!
25 (24) For he has not despised or abhorred
the poverty of the poor;
he did not hide his face from him
but listened to his cry.”
26 (25) Because of you
I give praise in the great assembly;
I will fulfill my vows
in the sight of those who fear him.
27 (26) The poor will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek Adonai will praise him;
Your hearts will enjoy life forever.
28 (27) All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to Adonai;
all the clans of the nations
will worship in your presence.
29 (28) For the kingdom belongs to Adonai,
and he rules the nations.
30 (29) All who prosper on the earth
will eat and worship;
all who go down to the dust
will kneel before him,
including him who can’t keep himself alive,
31 (30) A descendant will serve him;
the next generation will be told of Adonai.
32 (31) They will come and proclaim
his righteousness
to a people yet unborn,
that he is the one who did it.
Forsaken... I know this feeling.
Most LGBTQ people do.
The church causes us to feel this way when discriminatory provisions are enforced at the expense of our humanity. When our district superintendents and bishops tell us to wait, or throw in our face, “That’s what The Discipline says,” we are put to the cross of institutionalism.
For those of us LGBTQ United Methodists, at least the few of us who are left, we do indeed feel forsaken by our church.
But Good Friday will give way to Easter; death to life; exclusion to abundant welcome. The morning will come when all God’s children will shake the forsaken feeling and know through every ounce of our being that The UMC
is our church too.
LGBTQ persons will bring the light of resurrection.
----------------------
Good Friday, March 25
Rev. Sara Thompson Tweedy
Sara is on staff at Memorial UMC in White Plains, NY, serves in extension ministry, and is the Chair of Methodists in New Direction (MIND), an LGBTQ advocacy organization in the New York Annual Conference.
She is married to Kristin Marcell and is the mother of Max and Rowan.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 31:1 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
2 (1) In you, Adonai, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
in your justice, save me!
3 (2) Turn your ear toward me,
come quickly to my rescue,
be for me a rock of strength,
a fortress to keep me safe.
4 (3) Since you are my rock and fortress,
lead me and guide me for your name’s sake.
15 (14) But I, I trust in you, Adonai;
I say, “You are my God.”
16 (15) My times are in your hand;
rescue me from my enemies’ power,
from those who persecute me.
Dear God of Inclusion, God of Love, God of Justice and God of all, We pray that you listen to the cries of our hearts, Oh Lord. We cry out for justice in our communities and
acceptance in our homes and churches.
We pray that you change the judgmental hearts of your people. Grant those who are hurting the strength to carry on. Allow your love to mend and heal the precious hearts that have been broken, torn and abused.
Allow your sweet peace to rest among the lives in turmoil caused by a lack of acceptance and understanding.
Transform your churches, Dear God, and let them not be buildings of condemnation but sanctuaries of love and of acceptance of your children.
Bless the hearts of those who are yearning to belong in your Kingdom. Teach us all to love without discrimination and without judgment. Let our lights shine brightly in the dark places. Teach us to live and exist in unity as you have created us.
Guide us to speak up for the voiceless and to stand up for those who are facing injustices. As we push towards inclusion and justice we pray that your love breaks down every barrier that pushes back against us. We pray these things with pure hearts of love and gratitude for the blessings, inclusion and justice that is to come. Amen.
---------------------
Holy Saturday, March 26
Rhys Caraway
Rhys is a queer black man of faith.
---------------------
Text: Luke 24:1 but the next day, while it was still very early, they took the spices they had prepared, went to the tomb, 2 and found the stone rolled away from the tomb! 3 On entering, they discovered that the body of the Lord Yeshua was gone! 4 They were standing there, not knowing what to think about it, when suddenly two men in dazzlingly bright clothing stood next to them. 5 Terror-stricken, they bowed down with their faces to the ground. The two men said to them, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has been raised. Remember how he told you while he was still in the Galil, 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be executed on a stake as a criminal, but on the third day be raised again’?” 8 Then they remembered his words; 9 and, returning from the tomb, they told everything to the Eleven and to all the rest. 10 The women who told the emissaries these things were Miryam of Magdala, Yochanah, Miryam the mother of Ya‘akov, and the others in their circle.
11 But the emissaries didn’t believe them; in fact, they thought that what they said was utter nonsense! 12 However, Kefa got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping down, he saw only the burial cloths and went home wondering what had happened.
The first to learn Christ had risen was a class of people that weren’t allowed in the Temple and were deemed “unclean” every month. They were an unordainble group, treated as second class by their religious community:
they were women.
An angel shows up to this sexual/gender minority group and tells them the great news, but when they go and share this wonderful news with the men they are written off. Like other groups in The UMC, like Richard Allen,
like the people of MARCHA, like LGBT Methodists in 1972, like the people of NFAAUM. These groups know how the Marys feel to receive good news from the Savior, that they too are loved and whole and included in this important Christian narrative, only to be shut down when they share this great news as the first preachers.
Like so many people in the church, the women in this text are not believed, they are not heard; they are shrugged off and ignored. They are affirmed in their “sacred worth” but not treated as fully whole and trustworthy. Not until Peter (a member of the dominant group) goes to verify their tale, do others start to believe. Little has changed in our faith.
For years LGBT Methodists told our stories, but it wasn’t until those with racial, gender, cis, and heterosexual privilege started saying, “Perhaps these gays are being used by God” that others started to give credence to our voices.
The promise of Easter is that Christ is with us all and that in being with us he includes us in the narrative. He sees us as loveable, as sacred, as trustworthy. He knows our stories are not “idle tales” but part of his story. And no matter how much we are written off, may we keep proclaiming the gospel we know to be true: We are loved!
No one can separate us from the God who is Justice, who is A Full Embrace, whose message of liberation cannot be put to death. He is risen!
---------------------
Easter Sunday, March 27
Jarell Wilson
Jarell is a senior at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary seeking ordination as an Elder in The UMC.
---------------------
Reconciling Ministries Network extends its deep gratitude to all who contributed to A Season of Becoming.
The richness of this resource is entirely rooted in the diversity of voices represented here – a small glimpse of the gifts of God incarnated across race, age, sexual orientation, gender identity and religious vocations.
If you feel compelled to express your gratitude for this resource, please consider making a donation to Reconciling Ministries Network in honor of one of the contributors at rmnetwork.org/give.
If you’d like to share this resource with others, digital copies are available for download at rmnetwork.org/lent.
2016
---------------------
6 In the same way, the blessing which David pronounces is on those whom God credits with righteousness apart from legalistic observances:
7 “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered over;
8 Blessed is the man whose sin Adonai
will not reckon against his account.”[Romans 4:8 Psalm 32:1–2]
9 Now is this blessing for the circumcised only? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say that Avraham’s trust was credited to his account as righteousness; 10 but what state was he in when it was so credited — circumcision or uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision! 11 In fact, he received circumcision as a sign, as a seal of the righteousness he had been credited with on the ground of the trust he had while he was still uncircumcised. This happened so that he could be the father of every uncircumcised person who trusts and thus has righteousness credited to him, 12 and at the same time be the father of every circumcised person who not only has had a b’rit-milah, but also follows in the footsteps of the trust which Avraham avinu had when he was still uncircumcised.
Foreskin. There. I said it. A little desensitization may be in order. There’s no avoiding that this text addresses the anatomical part that many males are inclined to cover. However, Romans 4 has less to do with a body part as it does with who is part of the Body. Paul addresses a question that’s older than Moses’ toes, and yet painfully timeless: When it comes to Church, who’s in and who’s out? Who may fully participate in the Body, and who are pronounced ecclesiastical nobodies? Early on, this distinction was made by classifying people in terms of ‘circumcised’ and ‘uncircumcised’ (which depreciated women to another sub-category). It was a way of differentiating between Jews (the circumcised, bearers of the Covenant) and Gentiles (uncircumcised, those outside the Covenant). Circumcision was essentially a way that occupied-Israel refused to assimilate into the predominate culture. The circumcised couldn’t just ‘blend in.’ The rite was meant to forge an identity. But practices intended to set us apart from others can become the thing we believe sets us above others. Soon, we treat them as ‘other.’ Paul knew, since running into Jesus, the time-honored barriers that made people ‘other’ (outside the Covenant) were now crucified, dead and buried. He also knew it was time to take a fresh look at scripture. Paul goes way back to Abraham, the patriarch with whom God established the Covenant with Israel. Yes, Abraham was circumcised. Yes, God “reckoned” Abraham as “righteousness.” But not in that order! Abraham was circumcised in Genesis 17, but was already pronounced “righteous” in Genesis 15 -- because that’s the hour he first “believed.” That’s all it took for an “ungodly” one to be “reckoned” as “righteousnesss.” Abraham trusted he was in right relationship with God -- just because God said so. What would the Church look like if participation was based solely on this level of trust? The church would no longer be the gathering place for folks who want to surround themselves with people who are just like them. Sunday services would lose its appalling designation as the most segregated place in America. And LGBTQ faithful would find room at the table – and in the pulpit. Paul argued for the community’s full inclusion of outsiders branded as “ungodly” while insisting this is consistent with what God has been doing all along. God’s very nature is to expand the circle — not to circle the wagons.
---------------------
Monday, February 22 Rev. Bill Frisbie
Bill is a retired United Methodist minister in the Rio Texas Conference. He received his Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Texas and Masters of Divinity from Perkins School of Theology (SMU).
---------------------
Text: Psalm 105:1 Give thanks to Adonai! Call on his name!
Make his deeds known among the peoples.
2 Sing to him, sing praises to him,
talk about all his wonders.
3 Glory in his holy name;
let those seeking Adonai have joyful hearts.
4 Seek Adonai and his strength;
always seek his presence.
5 Remember the wonders he has done,
his signs and his spoken rulings.
6 You descendants of Avraham his servant,
you offspring of Ya‘akov, his chosen ones,
7 he is Adonai our God!
His rulings are everywhere on earth.
8 He remembers his covenant forever,
the word he commanded to a thousand generations,
9 the covenant he made with Avraham,
the oath he swore to Yitz’chak,
10 and established as a law for Ya‘akov,
for Isra’el as an everlasting covenant:
11 “To you I will give the land of Kena‘an
as your allotted heritage.”
12 When they were but few in number,
and not only few, but aliens there too,
13 wandering from nation to nation,
from this kingdom to that people,
14 he allowed no one to oppress them.
Yes, for their sakes he rebuked even kings:
15 “Don’t touch my anointed ones
or do my prophets harm!”
16 He called down famine on the land,
broke off all their food supply,
17 but sent a man ahead of them —
Yosef, who was sold as a slave.
18 They shackled his feet with chains,
and they bound him in irons;
19 until the time when his word proved true,
God’s utterance kept testing him.
20 The king sent and had him released,
the ruler of peoples set him free;
21 he made him lord of his household,
in charge of all he owned,
22 correcting his officers as he saw fit
and teaching his counselors wisdom.
23 Then Isra’el too came into Egypt,
Ya‘akov lived as an alien in the land of Ham.
24 There God made his people very fruitful,
made them too numerous for their foes,
25 whose hearts he turned to hate his people,
and treat his servants unfairly.
26 He sent his servant Moshe
and Aharon, whom he had chosen.
27 They worked his signs among them,
his wonders in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness, and the land grew dark;
they did not defy his word.
29 He turned their water into blood
and caused their fish to die.
30 Their land swarmed with frogs,
even in the royal chambers.
31 He spoke, and there came swarms of insects
and lice throughout their land.
32 He gave them hail instead of rain,
with fiery [lightning] throughout their land.
33 He struck their vines and fig trees,
shattering trees all over their country.
34 He spoke, and locusts came,
also grasshoppers without number;
35 they ate up everything green in their land,
devoured the fruit of their ground.
36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,
the firstfruits of all their strength.
37 Then he led his people out,
laden with silver and gold;
among his tribes not one stumbled.
38 Egypt was happy to have them leave,
because fear of [Isra’el] had seized them.
39 He spread out a cloud to screen them off
and fire to give them light at night.
40 When they asked, he brought them quails
and satisfied them with food from heaven.
41 He split a rock, and water gushed out,
flowing as a river over the dry ground,
42 for he remembered his holy promise
to his servant Avraham.
43 He led out his people with joy,
his chosen ones with singing.
44 Then he gave them the lands of the nations,
and they possessed what peoples had toiled to produce,
45 in order to obey his laws
and follow his teachings.
Halleluyah!
To be clear being queer in the church today is not like wandering lost in the wilderness we know where we are the unshakable trust in Loving-Kindness in Mercy in Justice in Wisdom does not have us doubt the covenant is unbreakable even though others persecute, prosecute, and condemn shutting doors creating a remnant in time and space but the anointing has happened the wonderful works have been done a new creation has been born here, today in this queer body I know who I AM
I AM the one created very good
I AM the one seeking mercy and justice
I AM the one promised a rainbow
I AM the one given a nation
I AM one
---------------------
Tuesday, February 23
Rev. Terri Stewart
Terri is the Director of the Youth Chaplaincy Coalition and the online canoness at BeguineAgain.com. those that seek to divide destroying unity and conquering diversity living in fear of their boxes breaking down and doors being truly opened will be rebuked: Do not harm my people. Love one another. As you love Me.
---------------------
Text: Luke 13:22 Yeshua continued traveling through town after town and village after village, teaching and making his way toward Yerushalayim. 23 Someone asked him, “Are only a few people being saved?” 24 He answered, “Struggle to get in through the narrow door, because — I’m telling you! — many will be demanding to get in and won’t be able to, 25 once the owner of the house has gotten up and shut the door. You will stand outside, knocking at the door and saying, ‘Lord! Open up for us!’ But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from!’ 26 Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you! you taught in our streets!’ 27 and he will tell you, ‘I don’t know where you’re from. Get away from me, all you workers of wickedness!’ 28 You will cry and grind your teeth when you see Avraham, Yitz’chak, Ya‘akov and all the prophets inside the Kingdom of God, but yourselves thrown outside. 29 Moreover, people will come from the east, the west, the north and the south to sit at table in the Kingdom of God. 30 And notice that some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last.”
31 Just at that moment, some P’rushim came up and said to Yeshua, “Get out and go away from here, because Herod wants to kill you!”
LGBTQ folks are door experts. We have memorized the illuminated outlines from inside closet doors, both waiting and fearing the day that door opens. We know the sound of slamming doors from our estranged homes, intolerant businesses, and discriminating places of employment. We know the pain of endlessly knocking our bloodied knuckles on barricaded doors to fight for our own affordable healthcare, safety in our communities, and basic needs in order to live. These verses from Luke might remind us of those experiences. For they have been used from far too many from pulpits and pews to reshape our LGBTQ identities into the “straight and narrow” way of salvation. They have been used to shape our churches into heteronormative and cis-privileged distortions of God’s kin-dom coming into being. These narrow doors of the church have directly harmed so many of my queer siblings of faith that I believe it is time that they are taken off their hinges. However, as Jesus was making his way to Jerusalem he too encountered many kinds of doors: some that were open wide to welcome him into homes and communities, and others that slammed shut as he passed by. While Jesus surprisingly advocates for a narrow door here in Luke, we see that his message is not directed to the outcast, the oppressed, or the marginalized. Instead, Jesus calls out to the Roman regime to strip itself of its bravado and hierarchy in order to fit through the narrow way to salvation where the oppressed already have arrived. In God’s kin-dom, all that is needed is our authentic selves, not the means of power we have wielded over each other. In God’s kin-dom, we no longer have to hide behind closet doors, because we are invited to bring our entire selves to the journey towards wholeness. In God’s kin-dom, the narrow door is a call upon the church to leave behind all that gets in the way of being the presence of God’s radical love transforming the world.
---------------------
Wednesday, February 24 Rev. Britt Cox
Britt serves as Associate Pastor at First United Church of Oak Park. ---------------------
Text: Revelation 2:8 “To the angel of the Messianic Community in Smyrna, write: ‘Here is the message from the First and the Last, who died and came alive again: 9 “I know how you are suffering and how poor you are (though in fact you are rich!), and I know the insults of those who call themselves Jews but aren’t — on the contrary, they are a synagogue of the Adversary. 10 Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look, the Adversary is going to have some of you thrown in prison, in order to put you to the test; and you will face an ordeal for ten days. Remain faithful, even to the point of death; and I will give you life as your crown. 11 Those who have ears, let them hear what the Spirit is saying to the Messianic communities. He who wins the victory will not be hurt at all by the second death.”
As I considered today’s reading, two words tied me down and would not relent. Affliction. Poverty. I couldn’t escape their significance and I began to question how many of the people reading this have really drank deep from those wells. How many know what it is like to be hated, to be torn, to have nowhere to turn and no one to turn too. I question this, not because I hope it is so, but because those concepts are so integral to the life of those who are transgender. And because until you experience them, you will never understand exactly how much transgender people need the Church. I am reminded of Jesus’ words to the mother of James and John as she vied for her sons to have more prestige. “Are you able to drink of the cup I drink of?” And I wonder again, is the Church ready for that? Can they come down into our affliction? Can they learn what it is to be hated? Can they earn their poverty with their grace? And what would it look like for them to do so? Do they know what would happen if some of us who have not known the loving touch of family in years were suddenly embraced as children? Are they ready for the reality of our brokenness, these who worship a broken god? And how much longer must we wait, how many more do we have to lose before we are worth it? Dear and beloved Church, I am already a part of you and yet still I stand outside and knock. But maybe I am unfair, maybe you cannot let us in, not until you understand. So I ask you to consider for yourself: “What do I know of Affliction? Poverty?” Lord guide me in Your humility. Open my heart to the suffering of those who are beside me, and let this revelation of humanity birth compassion and not complacency. Amen
---------------------
Thursday, February 25 Alaina Kailyn
Alaina is a theologian, author, mother, and transgender woman.
Text: Revelation 3:1 “To the angel of the Messianic Community in Sardis, write: ‘Here is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars: “I know what you are doing — you have a reputation for being alive, but in fact you are dead! 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains, before it dies too! For I have found what you are doing incomplete in the sight of my God. 3 So remember what you received and heard, and obey it, and turn from your sin! For if you don’t wake up, I will come like a thief; and you don’t know at what moment I will come upon you. 4 Nevertheless, you do have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes; and they will walk with me, clothed in white, because they are worthy. 5 He who wins the victory will, like them, be dressed in white clothing; and I will not blot his name out of the Book of Life; in fact, I will acknowledge him individually before my Father and before his angels. 6 Those who have ears, let them hear what the Spirit is saying to the Messianic communities.”’
7 “To the angel of the Messianic Community in Philadelphia, write: ‘Here is the message of HaKadosh, the True One, the one who has the key of David, who, if he opens something, no one else can shut it, and if he closes something, no one else can open it.[Revelation 3:7 Isaiah 22:22] 8 “I know what you are doing. Look, I have put in front of you an open door, and no one can shut it. I know that you have but little power, yet you have obeyed my message and have not disowned me. 9 Here, I will give you some from the synagogue of the Adversary, those who call themselves Jews but aren’t — on the contrary, they are lying — see, I will cause them to come and prostrate themselves at your feet, and they will know that I have loved you. 10 Because you did obey my message about persevering, I will keep you from the time of trial coming upon the whole world to put the people living on earth to the test. 11 I am coming soon; hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown. 12 I will make him who wins the victory a pillar in the Temple of my God, and he will never leave it. Also I will write on him the name of my God and the name of my God’s city, the new Yerushalayim coming down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name. 13 Those who have ears, let them hear what the Spirit is saying to the Messianic communities.”’
14 “To the angel of the Messianic Community in Laodicea, write: ‘Here is the message from the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the Ruler of God’s creation: 15 “I know what you are doing: you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth!
Through the spirits and the stars I ask you to listen deep: God’s wisdom is alive within. May we open, accept and welcome LGBTQ+ people as they inspire us all to wake up. May we strengthen what remains true about each other and ourselves. May we hold tight to the idea of letting go of our narrow identities and begin to let die the exclusion of the past. May we walk in completeness, continuing on together, united in the image of God. May we strengthen what remains to be true and holy. May our ears be blessed with truth and eyes with wide knowing. Amen
---------------------
Friday, February 26 Skye Aslaksen
Skye lives in Tuscon, Arizona and is blessed to be a Methodist.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 63:1 (0) A psalm of David, when he was in the desert of Y’hudah:
2 (1) O God, you are my God;
I will seek you eagerly.
My heart thirsts for you,
my body longs for you
in a land parched and exhausted,
where no water can be found.
3 (2) I used to contemplate you in the sanctuary,
seeing your power and glory;
4 (3) for your grace is better than life.
My lips will worship you.
5 (4) Yes, I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
6 (5) I am as satisfied as with rich food;
my mouth praises you with joy on my lips
7 (6) when I remember you on my bed
and meditate on you in the night watches.
8 (7) For you have been my help;
in the shadow of your wings I rejoice;
What burdens or joys are behind those earbuds and empty stares? As I seek to be mindful of my fellow Metro riders, how many are “thirsting” as the psalmist says? The woman with downcast eyes may simply have had a hard day at the office or she may have received a life-altering diagnosis at the doctor’s office. The couple exchanging a quick goodbye as one gets off the train may be longing to get pregnant or approved for an adoption. Trust and praise come easily when times are good, but when the days are more challenging? How many of us can say: “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.” (Psalm 63:3) This is recognition of God’s love from deep in the pit, or perhaps on the other side, not a simple, sweet praise song. Time in the wilderness gets tiresome, but it can be a source of creativity and rearranging expectations. The Reconciling movement looks toward General Conference and thirsts for the Holy Spirit to usher in more inclusion of LGBTQ persons in the life of the church. Yet in the days we find ourselves, how are we staying focused on God and God’s faithfulness? Lent is a particular time for self-examination, but in our Methodist tradition of social holiness, we must similarly reflect on the world around us. We are called not just to change ourselves as individuals, or even just “the church,” but we are called to change the world! Using language from a resolution passed by the Baltimore-Washington Conference, a UM in West Virginia recently testified at a city council hearing in support of including sexual orientation and gender identity in an ordinance on nondiscrimination in housing and employment. Regardless of what happens at GC, we can all be more active in the public arena, and find our own ways to proclaim that God’s “steadfast love is better than life!”
---------------------
Saturday, February 27 T.C. Morrow
T.C. is Director of Finance & Operations at the National Religious Campaign Against Torture in Washington, DC.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 63:1 (0) A psalm of David, when he was in the desert of Y’hudah:
2 (1) O God, you are my God;
I will seek you eagerly.
My heart thirsts for you,
my body longs for you
in a land parched and exhausted,
where no water can be found.
3 (2) I used to contemplate you in the sanctuary,
seeing your power and glory;
4 (3) for your grace is better than life.
My lips will worship you.
5 (4) Yes, I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
6 (5) I am as satisfied as with rich food;
my mouth praises you with joy on my lips
7 (6) when I remember you on my bed
and meditate on you in the night watches.
8 (7) For you have been my help;
in the shadow of your wings I rejoice;
I used to rise early for morning prayer when I was in seminary at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University. At 6:30 AM, a few of us would gather in the small Rustin Teaching Chapel to sing the morning prayer liturgy together. It was a discipline; a discipline that ushered me into a presence that “satisfied as with a rich feast.” The morning prayer liturgies were repetitive—this was part of its glory. Each sung psalm, each recurring prayer, the acclamation of light, and the same hymns became like old dear friends. In a culture of immediacy, instant messaging, and information superhighways these old words, these worn-out psalms, these metered hymn-tunes from the 18th century, and a simple lit candle became accompaniment to life itself. Through them, morning by morning, the poetics and melody of one sung psalm in particular played like a cantus firmus in the chaos of my mental living room; it still functions for me as a velvety cushion into which I fall, exhausted, in need—my soul thirsting, my flesh fainting for God alone. Psalm 63. I can hear it right now as I write it and that is such a gift. It starts with the antiphon, “In the shadow of your wings, I sing for joy….” and then, one voice rising above all others, “O God you are my God, and I long for you from early morning; my soul thirsts for you for you have always been my help...” This psalm unabashedly narrates the soul’s honest and raw desire for God and for the deep and abiding joy that comes from God alone. It is nearly embarrassing when said or sung or contemplated in a world where we are invited to speed up not slow down, where we are shamed if we cannot “pick ourselves up by our bootstraps,” and where thirsting or fainting for God is cause for therapeutic alarm rather than spiritual communion. And yet, the deepest and most affective moments, for me, have arisen at moments when my exhaustion with the world and my countless attempts at self- sufficiency have ended in a plea for help. This psalm, and the spirituality it confesses, is the antidote, the oasis, the cure for my soul that is like a “dry and weary land.” Why not just come out and say it? I am a sad person without the love and joy of my God and this psalm reminds me, once again, of God’s readiness to be in relationship and my deep need for one. In the shadow of your wings, I sing for you. Indeed. May it be so.
---------------------
Sunday, February 28 Matt Berryman
Matt serves as Executive Director at Reconciling Ministries Network and is a former pastor in The United Methodist Church.
---------------------
2 (1) O God, you are my God;
I will seek you eagerly.
My heart thirsts for you,
my body longs for you
in a land parched and exhausted,
where no water can be found.
3 (2) I used to contemplate you in the sanctuary,
seeing your power and glory;
4 (3) for your grace is better than life.
My lips will worship you.
5 (4) Yes, I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
6 (5) I am as satisfied as with rich food;
my mouth praises you with joy on my lips
7 (6) when I remember you on my bed
and meditate on you in the night watches.
8 (7) For you have been my help;
in the shadow of your wings I rejoice;
I used to rise early for morning prayer when I was in seminary at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University. At 6:30 AM, a few of us would gather in the small Rustin Teaching Chapel to sing the morning prayer liturgy together. It was a discipline; a discipline that ushered me into a presence that “satisfied as with a rich feast.” The morning prayer liturgies were repetitive—this was part of its glory. Each sung psalm, each recurring prayer, the acclamation of light, and the same hymns became like old dear friends. In a culture of immediacy, instant messaging, and information superhighways these old words, these worn-out psalms, these metered hymn-tunes from the 18th century, and a simple lit candle became accompaniment to life itself. Through them, morning by morning, the poetics and melody of one sung psalm in particular played like a cantus firmus in the chaos of my mental living room; it still functions for me as a velvety cushion into which I fall, exhausted, in need—my soul thirsting, my flesh fainting for God alone. Psalm 63. I can hear it right now as I write it and that is such a gift. It starts with the antiphon, “In the shadow of your wings, I sing for joy….” and then, one voice rising above all others, “O God you are my God, and I long for you from early morning; my soul thirsts for you for you have always been my help...” This psalm unabashedly narrates the soul’s honest and raw desire for God and for the deep and abiding joy that comes from God alone. It is nearly embarrassing when said or sung or contemplated in a world where we are invited to speed up not slow down, where we are shamed if we cannot “pick ourselves up by our bootstraps,” and where thirsting or fainting for God is cause for therapeutic alarm rather than spiritual communion. And yet, the deepest and most affective moments, for me, have arisen at moments when my exhaustion with the world and my countless attempts at self- sufficiency have ended in a plea for help. This psalm, and the spirituality it confesses, is the antidote, the oasis, the cure for my soul that is like a “dry and weary land.” Why not just come out and say it? I am a sad person without the love and joy of my God and this psalm reminds me, once again, of God’s readiness to be in relationship and my deep need for one. In the shadow of your wings, I sing for you. Indeed. May it be so.
---------------------
Sunday, February 28 Matt Berryman
Matt serves as Executive Director at Reconciling Ministries Network and is a former pastor in The United Methodist Church.
---------------------
Text: Romans 2:1 Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, passing judgment; for when you judge someone else, you are passing judgment against yourself; since you who are judging do the same things he does. 2 We know that God’s judgment lands impartially on those who do such things; 3 do you think that you, a mere man passing judgment on others who do such things, yet doing them yourself, will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or perhaps you despise the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience; because you don’t realize that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to turn from your sins. 5 But by your stubbornness, by your unrepentant heart, you are storing up anger for yourself on the Day of Anger, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed; 6 for he will pay back each one according to his deeds.[Romans 2:6 Psalm 62:13(12), Proverbs 24:12] 7 To those who seek glory, honor and immortality by perseverance in doing good, he will pay back eternal life. 8 But to those who are self-seeking, who disobey the truth and obey evil, he will pay back wrath and anger.
9 Yes, he will pay back misery and anguish to every human being who does evil, to the Jew first, then to the Gentile; 10 but glory and honor and shalom to everyone who keeps doing what is good, to the Jew first, then to the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.
Many people choose to give up a vice for Lent: coffee, sweets, Facebook, etc. The idea, as I have always understood it, is that the effort to give up these things helps us to focus on all that Jesus gave up for his forty day journey into the desert, and his preparation for the ultimate sacrifice. I have practiced Lent this way, but it doesn’t really work for me. My focus always tended to be on how many days were left until I could eat chocolate again, and so I gave up giving things up for a few years. Then, I took up the practice again, but this time, with a few differences. I decided to give up behaviors that prevented me from walking God’s path and replace them with positive behaviors, and, though I would start this practice at Lent, I would try to carry it with me throughout the rest of the year. Last year, I essayed to give up judging others, particularly focusing on all those little judgments, like “who wore it best” or “who accomplished the most at work” or “who is more generous of their time and talents?” It was incredibly freeing. In addition to letting go of my judgment of others, I also let go of my own judgment of myself by comparison with others. Of course, as with so many resolutions, I got further from my goal throughout the year, so this Lent, when I read this passage from Romans, I was recalled to last year’s Lenten intention. If we leave judgment to the omniscient Creator, we will be unencumbered by jealousy or fear of failure, and we are completely free to walk the wondrous path God has set for us.
---------------------
Monday, February 29 Ruthanne Swanson
Ruthanne was raised in a UCC congregational church, but was drawn to Broadway UMC in Chicago, IL by their radical justice work, and now calls them part of her chosen family.
---------------------
9 Yes, he will pay back misery and anguish to every human being who does evil, to the Jew first, then to the Gentile; 10 but glory and honor and shalom to everyone who keeps doing what is good, to the Jew first, then to the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.
Many people choose to give up a vice for Lent: coffee, sweets, Facebook, etc. The idea, as I have always understood it, is that the effort to give up these things helps us to focus on all that Jesus gave up for his forty day journey into the desert, and his preparation for the ultimate sacrifice. I have practiced Lent this way, but it doesn’t really work for me. My focus always tended to be on how many days were left until I could eat chocolate again, and so I gave up giving things up for a few years. Then, I took up the practice again, but this time, with a few differences. I decided to give up behaviors that prevented me from walking God’s path and replace them with positive behaviors, and, though I would start this practice at Lent, I would try to carry it with me throughout the rest of the year. Last year, I essayed to give up judging others, particularly focusing on all those little judgments, like “who wore it best” or “who accomplished the most at work” or “who is more generous of their time and talents?” It was incredibly freeing. In addition to letting go of my judgment of others, I also let go of my own judgment of myself by comparison with others. Of course, as with so many resolutions, I got further from my goal throughout the year, so this Lent, when I read this passage from Romans, I was recalled to last year’s Lenten intention. If we leave judgment to the omniscient Creator, we will be unencumbered by jealousy or fear of failure, and we are completely free to walk the wondrous path God has set for us.
---------------------
Monday, February 29 Ruthanne Swanson
Ruthanne was raised in a UCC congregational church, but was drawn to Broadway UMC in Chicago, IL by their radical justice work, and now calls them part of her chosen family.
---------------------
Text: Romans 2:12 All who have sinned outside the framework of Torah will die outside the framework of Torah; and all who have sinned within the framework of Torah will be judged by Torah. 13 For it is not merely the hearers of Torah whom God considers righteous; rather, it is the doers of what Torah says who will be made righteous in God’s sight. 14 For whenever Gentiles, who have no Torah, do naturally what the Torah requires, then these, even though they don’t have Torah, for themselves are Torah! 15 For their lives show that the conduct the Torah dictates is written in their hearts.[Romans 2:15 Jeremiah 31:32(33)] Their consciences also bear witness to this, for their conflicting thoughts sometimes accuse them and sometimes defend them 16 on a day when God passes judgment on people’s inmost secrets. (According to the Good News as I proclaim it, he does this through the Messiah Yeshua.)
It’s an extraordinarily radical statement for the apostle Paul to make: “ When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves.” For Paul’s first-century Jewish audience, knowledge and observance of the law determined who was in and out with God. To claim that outsiders could “do instinctively what the law requires” threatened the entire religious order, no less than suggesting that some people of other faiths might embody Jesus better than many Christians. In United Methodism and all of the Wesleyan tradition, we believe in the religion of the heart. We believe that the purpose of every moral boundary that we set for ourselves is to cultivate love of God and neighbor in our hearts. We don’t think that God makes rules for the purpose of imposing authority and creating exclusive communities. The implication of this belief in the ultimate importance of shaping the heart to be holy is that we measure our holiness not according to a legalistic adherence to rules but according to the virtues that our spiritual disciplines cultivate. We do not expect the Bible to give us an exhaustive set of rules for every possible life scenario. What we find in scripture is a way of life to emulate through living out the spiritual metaphors of taking up our crosses and putting on the resurrected life of Jesus. What does it mean to be crucified and resurrected with Jesus in every aspect of my life? What do I need to let go so that I can embrace the love that wants me to be its vessel? I’m not looking to follow rules flawlessly; I’m looking for love to become my instinct and my law.
---------------------
Tuesday, March 1
Morgan
Guyton Morgan is a UMC campus minister in New Orleans who blogs at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/mercynotsacrifice.
---------------------
It’s an extraordinarily radical statement for the apostle Paul to make: “ When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves.” For Paul’s first-century Jewish audience, knowledge and observance of the law determined who was in and out with God. To claim that outsiders could “do instinctively what the law requires” threatened the entire religious order, no less than suggesting that some people of other faiths might embody Jesus better than many Christians. In United Methodism and all of the Wesleyan tradition, we believe in the religion of the heart. We believe that the purpose of every moral boundary that we set for ourselves is to cultivate love of God and neighbor in our hearts. We don’t think that God makes rules for the purpose of imposing authority and creating exclusive communities. The implication of this belief in the ultimate importance of shaping the heart to be holy is that we measure our holiness not according to a legalistic adherence to rules but according to the virtues that our spiritual disciplines cultivate. We do not expect the Bible to give us an exhaustive set of rules for every possible life scenario. What we find in scripture is a way of life to emulate through living out the spiritual metaphors of taking up our crosses and putting on the resurrected life of Jesus. What does it mean to be crucified and resurrected with Jesus in every aspect of my life? What do I need to let go so that I can embrace the love that wants me to be its vessel? I’m not looking to follow rules flawlessly; I’m looking for love to become my instinct and my law.
---------------------
Tuesday, March 1
Morgan
Guyton Morgan is a UMC campus minister in New Orleans who blogs at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/mercynotsacrifice.
---------------------
Text: Luke 13:18 So he went on to say, “What is the Kingdom of God like? With what will we compare it? 19 It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in his own garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds flying about nested in its branches.”
20 Again he said, “With what will I compare the Kingdom of God? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with a bushel of flour, then waited until the whole batch of dough rose.”
“What is the kingdom of God like… to what shall we compare the kingdom of God?” Those are the questions before us in today’s Gospel reading. The answer is that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed … like yeast mixed with flour. I was skiing with my six-year-old nephew one afternoon. His mother had been with him in the morning. One of the children had seen his mom with him, and then me with him, so she asked him if I was his “other mom.” He said, “no, she’s my aunt.” Then the two of them resumed their skiing after their matter-of-fact conversation. How I hope they will always naturally see the possibility of a family having many different forms. How I pray the seeds of inclusion sown into their innocent hearts will shape the world. A pastor, struggling with the full inclusion of LGBTQ people in the church, was visiting the church I serve. A young woman he had known and loved as a teenager approached him and asked if he remembered her. He did and was joyful in being reunited with her. She proudly introduced him to her new wife. The newlyweds enthusiastically shared with him about how being in a church where they are more than welcomed, are also fully affirmed and included, enables them to live in and live out their faith. Before he left, he said to me with heart-felt conviction, “keep providing a safe place where spiritual growth can happen.” The yeast of relationship, opening the door of a heart. The kingdom of God is found in the seeds of inclusion … in the yeast of relationships. When we live in that kingdom, lives are saved, the world is changed.
---------------------
Wednesday, March 2 Rev. Jeanine Alexander
Jeanine is lead pastor at Minnetonka UMC in Minnesota.
--------------------
Text: 2 Corinthians 4:16 This is why we do not lose courage. Though our outer self is heading for decay, our inner self is being renewed daily.
Sometimes we just get it wrong. We cover up the true church with laws that segregate and cast out those of us deemed unworthy. Our church continually sins with harmful words, like “abomination” and “incompatible” that teach our children to hurt each other and even take their own lives in despair. What we should know is that no one has to pass a test to receive God’s love. That’s it, sweet child…everlasting love is there waiting for you to just open your heart and accept the gift! It’s time for our church to shed the tired old skin of exclusion. It’s time to let go of unhealthy regulations that separate us from each other and from God. Any law written by humanity to keep people out has an expiration date. But the covenant of love written on our hearts by God renews us eternally!
---------------------
Thursday, March 3 Joy L. Butler
Joy, @ReconcilingMom, is a stay-at-home parent in Texas living out her Christian family values by supporting the full inclusion of LGBTQ people in church and society.
---------------------
20 Again he said, “With what will I compare the Kingdom of God? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with a bushel of flour, then waited until the whole batch of dough rose.”
“What is the kingdom of God like… to what shall we compare the kingdom of God?” Those are the questions before us in today’s Gospel reading. The answer is that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed … like yeast mixed with flour. I was skiing with my six-year-old nephew one afternoon. His mother had been with him in the morning. One of the children had seen his mom with him, and then me with him, so she asked him if I was his “other mom.” He said, “no, she’s my aunt.” Then the two of them resumed their skiing after their matter-of-fact conversation. How I hope they will always naturally see the possibility of a family having many different forms. How I pray the seeds of inclusion sown into their innocent hearts will shape the world. A pastor, struggling with the full inclusion of LGBTQ people in the church, was visiting the church I serve. A young woman he had known and loved as a teenager approached him and asked if he remembered her. He did and was joyful in being reunited with her. She proudly introduced him to her new wife. The newlyweds enthusiastically shared with him about how being in a church where they are more than welcomed, are also fully affirmed and included, enables them to live in and live out their faith. Before he left, he said to me with heart-felt conviction, “keep providing a safe place where spiritual growth can happen.” The yeast of relationship, opening the door of a heart. The kingdom of God is found in the seeds of inclusion … in the yeast of relationships. When we live in that kingdom, lives are saved, the world is changed.
---------------------
Wednesday, March 2 Rev. Jeanine Alexander
Jeanine is lead pastor at Minnetonka UMC in Minnesota.
--------------------
Text: 2 Corinthians 4:16 This is why we do not lose courage. Though our outer self is heading for decay, our inner self is being renewed daily.
Sometimes we just get it wrong. We cover up the true church with laws that segregate and cast out those of us deemed unworthy. Our church continually sins with harmful words, like “abomination” and “incompatible” that teach our children to hurt each other and even take their own lives in despair. What we should know is that no one has to pass a test to receive God’s love. That’s it, sweet child…everlasting love is there waiting for you to just open your heart and accept the gift! It’s time for our church to shed the tired old skin of exclusion. It’s time to let go of unhealthy regulations that separate us from each other and from God. Any law written by humanity to keep people out has an expiration date. But the covenant of love written on our hearts by God renews us eternally!
---------------------
Thursday, March 3 Joy L. Butler
Joy, @ReconcilingMom, is a stay-at-home parent in Texas living out her Christian family values by supporting the full inclusion of LGBTQ people in church and society.
---------------------
Text: 2 Corinthians 5:6 So we are always confident — we know that so long as we are at home in the body, we are away from our home with the Lord; 7 for we live by trust, not by what we see. 8 We are confident, then, and would much prefer to leave our home in the body and come to our home with the Lord.
Western European languages have inherited sentence styles and thinking that regularly position two concepts as oppositional. Thus, language is the transmitter that reinforces these often times oppressive scenarios. As you engage your next conversation with another, think about how many times your language positions two concept in opposition to each other- one is deemed good and the other, bad; how many times do we insist on an either-or articulation of a scenario?
These dichotomies that are built-in to the way that we think about the world are inherently unwelcoming to queer persons who are unsettled by the binary. In my own Traditional Indigenous Maskoke culture, the queer individual is known as envrkepv-huerv, meaning “one who stands in the middle.” Envrkepv-huerv are unique and of great value to maintaining the balance in our communities- primarily because envrkepv-huerv can see beyond the constricting dichotomy that inherently creates an unhealthy imbalance.
St. Paul says that “as long as we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord.” I would encourage us to step away from the androcentric, the human centered picture, and view this passage in a larger ecological
9 Therefore, whether at home or away from home, we try our utmost to please him; 10 for we must all appear before the Messiah’s court of judgment, where everyone will receive the good or bad consequences of what he did while he was in the body.
11 So it is with the fear of the Lord before us that we try to persuade people. Moreover, God knows us as we really are; and I hope that in your consciences you too know us as we really are. 12 We are not recommending ourselves to you again but giving you a reason to be proud of us, so that you will be able to answer those who boast about a person’s appearance rather than his inner qualities. 13 If we are insane, it is for God’s sake; and if we are sane, it is for your sake. 14 For the Messiah’s love has hold of us, because we are convinced that one man died on behalf of all mankind (which implies that all mankind was already dead), 15 and that he died on behalf of all in order that those who live should not live any longer for themselves but for the one who on their behalf died and was raised.
As he often does, St. Paul, in this message to the Corinthians, postures several dichotomies i.e. faith vs. sight, in the body vs. away from the body, out of our mind vs. in our right mind.Western European languages have inherited sentence styles and thinking that regularly position two concepts as oppositional. Thus, language is the transmitter that reinforces these often times oppressive scenarios. As you engage your next conversation with another, think about how many times your language positions two concept in opposition to each other- one is deemed good and the other, bad; how many times do we insist on an either-or articulation of a scenario?
These dichotomies that are built-in to the way that we think about the world are inherently unwelcoming to queer persons who are unsettled by the binary. In my own Traditional Indigenous Maskoke culture, the queer individual is known as envrkepv-huerv, meaning “one who stands in the middle.” Envrkepv-huerv are unique and of great value to maintaining the balance in our communities- primarily because envrkepv-huerv can see beyond the constricting dichotomy that inherently creates an unhealthy imbalance.
St. Paul says that “as long as we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord.” I would encourage us to step away from the androcentric, the human centered picture, and view this passage in a larger ecological
framework. Our body is merely one organism that is inextricably connected to a web of many organisms created by God and hosted by the Earth Mother. We often forget that as human organisms, we too are a part of the
balance of an ecosystem. Thus, it is only when we are at home with all of God’s creation, that we can experience God’s entirety.
If you are a part of or show support for the LGTBQ community, you’ve undoubtedly at one time or another been made to feel that you are “out of your mind.” Moreover, if you have remained a part of The UMC in the midst of
violence directed toward LGBTQ persons, I would say you are certainly “out of your mind.” Nonetheless, committed to justice we remain, Paul’s message encourages us to know that our work is “for God.”
---------------------
balance of an ecosystem. Thus, it is only when we are at home with all of God’s creation, that we can experience God’s entirety.
If you are a part of or show support for the LGTBQ community, you’ve undoubtedly at one time or another been made to feel that you are “out of your mind.” Moreover, if you have remained a part of The UMC in the midst of
violence directed toward LGBTQ persons, I would say you are certainly “out of your mind.” Nonetheless, committed to justice we remain, Paul’s message encourages us to know that our work is “for God.”
---------------------
Friday, March 4
Marcus Briggs-Cloud
Marcus, an Indigenous Maskoke person from the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference and Tvlvhasse Etvlwv, is a scholar, musician, and activist.
---------------------
Marcus Briggs-Cloud
Marcus, an Indigenous Maskoke person from the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference and Tvlvhasse Etvlwv, is a scholar, musician, and activist.
---------------------
Text: Luke 15:1 The tax-collectors and sinners kept gathering around to hear Yeshua, 2 and the P’rushim and Torah-teachers kept grumbling. “This fellow,” they said, “welcomes sinners — he even eats with them!” 3 So he told them this parable: 4 “If one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, doesn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? 5 When he does find it, he joyfully hoists it onto his shoulders; 6 and when he gets home, he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Come, celebrate with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ 7 I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who turns to God from his sins than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.
8 “Another example: what woman, if she has ten drachmas and loses one of these valuable coins, won’t light a lamp, sweep the house and search all over until she finds it? 9 And when she does find it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Come, celebrate with me, because I have found the drachma I lost.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy among God’s angels when one sinner repents.”
If I try hard enough, I can manipulate scripture to fit my specific needs. I can write myself into the stories of our faith from any angle or time, and preach a sermon that is well received in my congregation. I can frame my own theology and experience to present myself as the lost sheep, one of many within the flock, or the shepherd who is searching. Such eisegetical manipulation is done by many of us when we read scripture.
However, the reality is that I often get away with this manipulation because of who I am in relation to others. I am a privileged, white, heterosexual male who can manipulate parts of scripture and place myself in the midst of
its stories even when I have little to offer, often passing it off as a true proclamation of the Word.
This Lent I am committing to read scripture with my privilege as my hermeneutical lens. As privileged Christians, we need to realize how often we co-opt the message of Jesus for ourselves, leaving little room for the Other to be found in Christ’s story. It is easy for privileged persons to preach sermons or teach bible studies while placing ourselves, or allowing others to place themselves, in the story as the shepherd or the lost sheep. To seek new growth outside of our comfort zone, we must try to envision ourselves as simply a part of the flock, waiting for Christ to bring back into the body those beloved people we have driven away.
How do we read scripture in a way that clearly allows for the Other to be center of the story? How do we learn to be comfortable with the reality that Jesus is not always talking to us, looking for us, or inviting us to the table?
How can we co-create spaces of reconciliation by learning to wait and be silent, as the forgotten and exploited Others take center stage in the Gospel story?
---------------------
Saturday, March 5
Rev. Mitchell Boone
Mitchell is the pastor of White Rock United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas. He is leading his congregation to reimagine its identity through creative uses of space within the church.
---------------------
Text: 2 Corinthians 5:16 So from now on, we do not look at anyone from a worldly viewpoint. Even if we once regarded the Messiah from a worldly viewpoint, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is united with the Messiah, he is a new creation — the old has passed; look, what has come is fresh and new! 18 And it is all from God, who through the Messiah has reconciled us to himself and has given us the work of that reconciliation, 19 which is that God in the Messiah was reconciling mankind to himself, not counting their sins against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore we are ambassadors of the Messiah; in effect, God is making his appeal through us. What we do is appeal on behalf of the Messiah, “Be reconciled to God! 21 God made this sinless man be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union with him we might fully share in God’s righteousness.”
I never felt more clearly called than when I entered youth ministry in 1992. For ten years, God blessed us with dedicated, passionate leadership, and our ministry grew to one of the largest in the state. After attending Perkins School of Youth Ministry, I was asked to teach and then chair the event. It was there I first realized there were
others “like me,” passionately serving God, living at best with discretion, at worst in denial of who God created us to be.
It was there, too, that I became aware of the Reconciling movement when a colleague shared “Finishing the Journey,” a study by Northaven UMC. One contributor was Arkansas Bishop Richard Wilke, who co-authored Disciple Bible Study. Bishop Wilke wrote: “I am amazed at my lifelong ignorance of homosexuality… I did not understand (or worry about) my energetic, popular youth leaders who did not date…” Wow. My Bishop was talking about me. It was one of the most liberating moments of my life.
In his letter, Paul calls the church in Corinth to “regard no one from a worldly point of view,” but isn’t that exactly what we do when we allow fear and bias to exclude anyone from living as full members of the body of Christ?
How many, like I, have abandoned our ministry or church because we cannot believe that God would demand a life of secrecy or denial?
I’m proud of my United Methodist heritage and I’m a better person for having been raised in a church that preaches mercy, justice and grace. But, like so many, I have felt marginalized by my church. This season of Lent, it’s my prayer that l live as “Christ’s Ambassador” and open my heart and mind to the marginalized around me.
Perhaps then our church’s doors will follow.
---------------------
Sunday, March 6
Dwight Curry
Dwight, who served in youth ministry from 1992 through 2004 at FUMC, Fort Smith, AR and at Perkins School of Youth Ministry in Dallas, TX, now owns a hospitality business and has remained active in his local church as a volunteer.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 53:(0) For the leader. On machalat. A maskil of David:
2 (1) A brutish fool tells himself,
“There isn’t any God.”
Such people are depraved, all their deeds are vile,
not one of them does what is good.
3 (2) God looks out from heaven
upon the human race
to see if even one is wise,
if even one seeks God.
4 (3) Every one of them is unclean,
altogether corrupt;
not one of them does what is good,
not a single one.
5 (4) Won’t these evildoers ever learn?
They devour my people
as if they were eating bread,
and they never call on God!
6 (5) They will be gripped with terror,
even though now they are not afraid;
for God will scatter the bones
of him who is besieging you.
You are putting them to shame,
because God has rejected them.
7 (6) If only salvation for Isra’el
would come out of Tziyon!
When God restores his people’s fortunes,
what joy for Ya‘akov! what gladness for Isra’el!
During times of great heartache and opposition it is easy to say “There is no God.” For it is often easier to turn away, back down and play dumb to one’s surroundings than it is to stand up for what we believe to be true. This was true in the case of King David’s time and is certainly true in today’s world.
During the next few months the call for LGBTQ justice will be reiterated leading up to and during our United Methodist General Conference.
During these times, keeping our faith and keeping our hearts open to all, including those whose hearts are not open, will be hard, but luckily we have God! So, as we grow closer to General Conference, let us not be devoured or turned away, but let us be dauntless.
So Lord, as we go through our day to day life and in the months leading up to General Conference, give us the strength and love to say you are ever present. Even when it would be much easier to turn away or to proclaim
that you are gone. Give us the strength to rejoice in your name and to be glad in your presence. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
---------------------
Monday, March 7
Oakley Neel
Oakley is a 16 year old Bishop Kelley High School sophomore in Tulsa, Oklahoma where they enjoy theatre, art, and working with those with special needs at their church. One day they hope to be a pastor and missionary in The United Methodist church.
---------------------
Text: Leviticus 25:1 Adonai spoke to Moshe on Mount Sinai; he said, 2 “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘When you enter the land I am giving you, the land itself is to observe a Shabbat rest for Adonai. 3 Six years you will sow your field; six years you will prune your grapevines and gather their produce. 4 But in the seventh year is to be a Shabbat of complete rest for the land, a Shabbat for Adonai; you will neither sow your field nor prune your grapevines. 5 You are not to harvest what grows by itself from the seeds left by your previous harvest, and you are not to gather the grapes of your untended vine; it is to be a year of complete rest for the land. 6 But what the land produces during the year of Shabbat will be food for all of you — you, your servant, your maid, your employee, anyone living near you, 7 your livestock and the wild animals on your land; everything the land produces may be used for food.
8 “‘You are to count seven Shabbats of years, seven times seven years, that is, forty-nine years. 9 Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, on Yom-Kippur, you are to sound a blast on the shofar; you are to sound the shofar all through your land; 10 and you are to consecrate the fiftieth year, proclaiming freedom throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It will be a yovel for you; you will return everyone to the land he owns, and everyone is to return to his family. 11 That fiftieth year will be a yovel for you; in that year you are not to sow, harvest what grows by itself or gather the grapes of untended vines; 12 because it is a yovel. It will be holy for you; whatever the fields produce will be food for all of you. 13 In this year of yovel, every one of you is to return to the land he owns.
(LY: ii) 14 “‘If you sell anything to your neighbor or buy anything from him, neither of you is to exploit the other. 15 Rather, you are to take into account the number of years after the yovel when you buy land from your neighbor, and he is to sell to you according to the number of years crops will be raised. 16 If the number of years remaining is large, you will raise the price; if few years remain, you will lower it; because what he is really selling you is the number of crops to be produced. 17 Thus you are not to take advantage of each other, but you are to fear your God; for I am Adonai your God.
18 “‘Rather, you are to keep my regulations and rulings and act accordingly. If you do, you will live securely in the land. (RY: ii, LY: iii) 19 The land will yield its produce, you will eat until you have enough, and you will live there securely.
Lent is a time for rituals. Sometimes rituals grow tedious and add to the demands of our lives. But Leviticus prescribes rituals for renewal for all of creation in the laws of the Sabbath and the year of Jubilee.
In his book Sabbath as Resistance, Walter Brueggemann locates the Sabbath in the context of Egypt’s coercive labor practices of anxious production. The economic situation of Egypt was such that laborers who produced
wealth never held it in their hands, yet the wealthy urged greater production on the backs of poor workers and slaves. God’s commandment of the Sabbath released the Israelites from this captivity. The Sabbath required rest
from work, and therefore limited the amount of production and labor the Israelites could do. The Sabbath halted the corrupt system of production that harmed God’s people.
In her piece, “An Equal Measure of Grace,” Rev. Layton Williams discusses the unfair standards queer clergy place on themselves as a result of heterosexism in the church. Queer clergy must work extra hard not to appear as
inept or sinful as conservatives make them out to be, just as black people must work harder than white people to gain credibility in a racist world, and just as women must work twice as hard as men for the same job for which they’ll wind up receiving less pay. Such constraints produce a disproportionate amount of anxiety and exhaustion for the marginalized.
But God orders a reversal of such a world order. God’s Sabbath liberates all of creation together with a time when all can resist the structures of this world that overwork us, exploit us, and try to keep us from seeing any of the fruit we’ve produced. God’s Sabbath orders us to find the time in our lives when we can rest and resist. God’s
Sabbath is a ritual of renewal.
---------------------
Tuesday, March 8
Ezliabeth Evans
Elizabeth hails from Wichita, KS and is an MDiv and MTS student at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary seeking ordination in The United Methodist Church.
---------------------
Text: Luke 9:10 On their return, the emissaries detailed to Yeshua what they had done. Then, taking them with him, he withdrew by himself to a town called Beit-Tzaidah. 11 But the crowds found out and followed him. Welcoming them, he went on to speak to them about the Kingdom of God and to heal those who needed to be healed.
12 The day began to draw to a close. The Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away, so that they can go and get lodging and food in the towns and farms around here, because where we are is a remote place.” 13 But he said to them, “Give them something to eat, yourselves!” They said, “We have no more than five loaves of bread and two fish — unless we ourselves are supposed to go and buy food for all these people!” 14 (For there were about five thousand men.) He said to his talmidim, “Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 They did what he told them and had them all sit down. 16 Then he took the five loaves and the two fish and, looking up toward heaven, made a b’rakhah, broke the loaves and began giving them to the talmidim to distribute to the crowd. 17 Everyone ate as much as he wanted; and they took up what was left over, twelve baskets full of broken pieces.
The stories of our faith traditions get lost in a maze of mummy gauze and distortions by romantic whitewashing to the point it’s difficult, if not impossible, to grasp the depth and breadth of such an experience as Jesus feeding well over 5000 people in the desert.
How astounding to witness thousands of folks fed from a tiny bit of two little dried up fish and five biscuits.
Jesus was trying to get away with the disciples to discuss a few things but had spent much of yet another day healing the sick. Late in the day when the “deacons” and “elders” said why don’t you “send the crowd away” to get lodging and food elsewhere, Jesus said, “You feed them.” This was already an unbelievable administrative nightmare, you know they weren’t all getting along like a Sunday School class of kids in 1955. Yet tried and true leadership skills came into play as thousands were gathered into smaller groups and invited to have a seat.
Jesus, taking a meager snack, blessed it, broke it and then broke it some more and gave it to his disciples who distributed the food to everyone and there were still twelve baskets of food left over.
This story of God’s mercy and love is also one of the greatest images of the living church today; folks, hurting and hungry, gathered to find Jesus, being healed and fed. The world we live in now is still looking for healing and wholeness. Miracles happen when we, the church, find our voice of compassion and love.
Should we, in our bickering and complaining about “not having enough,” just send the world away to be filled elsewhere? We have enough. We have what the world needs. We have Jesus. We have God’s grace and mercy. We have enough to tell the administrators of Our Church that we don’t have to exclude anyone or hold back on God’s love because, there is enough. There is enough love, there is enough food, there is enough healing for everyone.
And there will be leftovers.
---------------------
Wednesday, March 9
Grace Cox-Johnson
Grace lives and works in Kansas City, MO, creating and teaching fiber art for worship settings throughout the greater church.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 126: A Harvest of Joy
A Song of Ascents.
1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,[Psalm 126:1 Or brought back those who returned to Zion]
we were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us,
and we rejoiced.
4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the watercourses in the Negeb.
5 May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.
6 Those who go out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
carrying their sheaves.
Above my desk hangs a handmade sign: Appalachian in Exile. I made it a few years back for a witness to the Environmental Protection Agency’s allowances for the mountaintop removal method of coal extraction.
You see, I come from mountains and valleys, hills and hollers. But for the past 16 years, I’ve lived outside of Appalachia. Some might say by my own choice. I’d point to a lack of economic opportunity and less than friendly
environments for queer people (although this is changing).
The words of the psalmist give hope: “Those who go forth weeping, bearing the see for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.” When the faithful were exiled to Babylon, their hope was in a day of great return. Do you know how many faithful have been exiled from The United Methodist Church?
When I survey my friend and acquaintances (a very unscientific survey, but a survey nonetheless), I find at least 150 names of those who have been exiled from the Church. Some transferred to a denomination who affirmed their calling as queer people of God; others simply left Church altogether. There are days when I pray that The United Methodist Church can have one huge welcome back party. Oh, how I hope that “those who sow in tears, reap with shouts of joy!”
But I know it’s never that easy. As an Appalachian in Exile, I know how difficult it will be when the time comes for me to return home. The land, the people, and the ethos are different than what my time in exile has shown me.
My friends and family have been shaped by the systems of oppression at play in Appalachia in ways that I have not. And for some, we have traded one oppressor for another.
The same holds true for LGBTQ persons in The United Methodist Church. Some of us have found safety in exile. Some of us have found safety in the systems that oppress us. And others have found vocation as living
witnesses to the powers and principalities of a Church that continues to seek exclusion to maintain false unity.
It may not be easy for us to return home – to the places and structures we hold dear – but with God’s grace, we continue the work so we can bring the harvest home, a harvest filled with eventual joy and hope and love.
---------------------
Thursday, March 10
Chett Pritchett
Chett is the executive director of the Methodist Federation for Social Action and lives in Washington, DC.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 126:(0) A song of ascents:
(1) When Adonai restored Tziyon’s fortunes,
we thought we were dreaming.
2 Our mouths were full of laughter,
and our tongues shouted for joy.
Among the nations it was said,
“Adonai has done great things for them!”
3 Adonai did do great things with us;
and we are overjoyed.
4 Return our people from exile, Adonai,
as streams fill vadis in the Negev.
5 Those who sow in tears
will reap with cries of joy.
6 He who goes out weeping
as he carries his sack of seed
will come home with cries of joy
as he carries his sheaves of grain.
“Restore our fortunes, O Lord...”
In God’s vision, this does not mean the rich; this is even often beyond the middle class. This plea is for low-income people and for anyone facing economic exploitation.
“Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like in the watercourses in the Negeb. May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.”
With God’s help, may we make it so.
---------------------
Friday, March 11
Daniel Crusius
Daniel is a United Methodist and loves to sing!
---------------------
Text: John 11:45 At this, many of the Judeans who had come to visit Miryam, and had seen what Yeshua had done, trusted in him.
46 But some of them went off to the P’rushim and told them what he had done. 47 So the head cohanim and the P’rushim called a meeting of the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we going to do? — for this man is performing many miracles. 48 If we let him keep going on this way, everyone will trust in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both the Temple and the nation.” 49 But one of them, Kayafa, who was cohen gadol that year, said to them, “You people don’t know anything! 50 You don’t see that it’s better for you if one man dies on behalf of the people, so that the whole nation won’t be destroyed.” 51 Now he didn’t speak this way on his own initiative; rather, since he was cohen gadol that year, he was prophesying that Yeshua was about to die on behalf of the nation, 52 and not for the nation alone, but so that he might gather into one the scattered children of God.
53 From that day on, they made plans to have him put to death. 54 Therefore Yeshua no longer walked around openly among the Judeans but went away from there into the region near the desert, to a town called Efrayim, and stayed there with his talmidim.
55 The Judean festival of Pesach was near, and many people went up from the country to Yerushalayim to perform the purification ceremony prior to Pesach. 56 They were looking for Yeshua, and as they stood in the Temple courts they said to each other, “What do you think? that he simply won’t come to the festival?” 57 Moreover, the head cohanim and the P’rushim had given orders that anyone knowing Yeshua’s whereabouts should inform them, so that they could have him arrested.
In fear, we already give up our temple and nation.
We become an obscured version of ourselves concerned only with self-preservation, urging others towards doing the same – towards sacrificing one another’s liberation for the sake of preserving our temple and our nation.
What is this temple and nation in the hands of fear anyway?
They become bent on preserving themselves, self-focused, centers of scarcity that tempt us to uplift our own agendas instead of building with one another and seeing the ways that our communities, and our struggles, are
interconnected.
I remember Jennifer Laude, who lived at this intersection. Brutally murdered because she was trans. Brutally silenced because unequal, colonial US-Philippines relationships urge injustice upon the poor and Brown, tearing
apart our bodies and earth, for the sake of exploitative economic and military agreements.
Colonialism is not frozen in history or socio-political relationships. Colonialism lives on in colonized bodies and minds. But as many generations have lived under colonization, there have been generations rising up and resisting, reclaiming our bodies and minds.
How wonderful if we could join together generations worldwide, this Movement for liberation of all people?
What stops us?
When we live into faith versus fear, we resist the colonial culture of divide and conquer – we can stand strong having faith that when we build alliances and make connections that our own liberation will not be overlooked.
We can live knowing that connecting our struggles will manifest in our collective liberation. Then we can be our Whole selves, never having to choose between our ethnic-racial identity, sexual identity, gender identity, or any other identity that we carry unapologetically.
We can resist the colonial, Empire goal of making us single-issue people, of making us incomplete. We can be the restored, transformed, Whole Creation that God created us to be.
---------------------
Saturday, March 12
Rev. Jeanelle Nicolas Ablola
Jeanelle serves as Lead Pastor at Pine UMC – the first API Reconciling Congregation in the US – is co-chair of the Cal-Nev Philippine Solidarity Task Force, member of the Network on Religion and Justice for API LGBTQ people (NRJ), member of the Cal-Nev Annual Conference’s Advocacy & Justice Committee and Methodist Federation for Social Action California-Nevada Chapter (MFSA) awarded her with the 2014 Bishop Leontine T.C. Kelly Peace and Justice Award.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 126:(0) A song of ascents:8 “Another example: what woman, if she has ten drachmas and loses one of these valuable coins, won’t light a lamp, sweep the house and search all over until she finds it? 9 And when she does find it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Come, celebrate with me, because I have found the drachma I lost.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy among God’s angels when one sinner repents.”
If I try hard enough, I can manipulate scripture to fit my specific needs. I can write myself into the stories of our faith from any angle or time, and preach a sermon that is well received in my congregation. I can frame my own theology and experience to present myself as the lost sheep, one of many within the flock, or the shepherd who is searching. Such eisegetical manipulation is done by many of us when we read scripture.
However, the reality is that I often get away with this manipulation because of who I am in relation to others. I am a privileged, white, heterosexual male who can manipulate parts of scripture and place myself in the midst of
its stories even when I have little to offer, often passing it off as a true proclamation of the Word.
This Lent I am committing to read scripture with my privilege as my hermeneutical lens. As privileged Christians, we need to realize how often we co-opt the message of Jesus for ourselves, leaving little room for the Other to be found in Christ’s story. It is easy for privileged persons to preach sermons or teach bible studies while placing ourselves, or allowing others to place themselves, in the story as the shepherd or the lost sheep. To seek new growth outside of our comfort zone, we must try to envision ourselves as simply a part of the flock, waiting for Christ to bring back into the body those beloved people we have driven away.
How do we read scripture in a way that clearly allows for the Other to be center of the story? How do we learn to be comfortable with the reality that Jesus is not always talking to us, looking for us, or inviting us to the table?
How can we co-create spaces of reconciliation by learning to wait and be silent, as the forgotten and exploited Others take center stage in the Gospel story?
---------------------
Saturday, March 5
Rev. Mitchell Boone
Mitchell is the pastor of White Rock United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas. He is leading his congregation to reimagine its identity through creative uses of space within the church.
---------------------
Text: 2 Corinthians 5:16 So from now on, we do not look at anyone from a worldly viewpoint. Even if we once regarded the Messiah from a worldly viewpoint, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is united with the Messiah, he is a new creation — the old has passed; look, what has come is fresh and new! 18 And it is all from God, who through the Messiah has reconciled us to himself and has given us the work of that reconciliation, 19 which is that God in the Messiah was reconciling mankind to himself, not counting their sins against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore we are ambassadors of the Messiah; in effect, God is making his appeal through us. What we do is appeal on behalf of the Messiah, “Be reconciled to God! 21 God made this sinless man be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union with him we might fully share in God’s righteousness.”
I never felt more clearly called than when I entered youth ministry in 1992. For ten years, God blessed us with dedicated, passionate leadership, and our ministry grew to one of the largest in the state. After attending Perkins School of Youth Ministry, I was asked to teach and then chair the event. It was there I first realized there were
others “like me,” passionately serving God, living at best with discretion, at worst in denial of who God created us to be.
It was there, too, that I became aware of the Reconciling movement when a colleague shared “Finishing the Journey,” a study by Northaven UMC. One contributor was Arkansas Bishop Richard Wilke, who co-authored Disciple Bible Study. Bishop Wilke wrote: “I am amazed at my lifelong ignorance of homosexuality… I did not understand (or worry about) my energetic, popular youth leaders who did not date…” Wow. My Bishop was talking about me. It was one of the most liberating moments of my life.
In his letter, Paul calls the church in Corinth to “regard no one from a worldly point of view,” but isn’t that exactly what we do when we allow fear and bias to exclude anyone from living as full members of the body of Christ?
How many, like I, have abandoned our ministry or church because we cannot believe that God would demand a life of secrecy or denial?
I’m proud of my United Methodist heritage and I’m a better person for having been raised in a church that preaches mercy, justice and grace. But, like so many, I have felt marginalized by my church. This season of Lent, it’s my prayer that l live as “Christ’s Ambassador” and open my heart and mind to the marginalized around me.
Perhaps then our church’s doors will follow.
---------------------
Sunday, March 6
Dwight Curry
Dwight, who served in youth ministry from 1992 through 2004 at FUMC, Fort Smith, AR and at Perkins School of Youth Ministry in Dallas, TX, now owns a hospitality business and has remained active in his local church as a volunteer.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 53:(0) For the leader. On machalat. A maskil of David:
2 (1) A brutish fool tells himself,
“There isn’t any God.”
Such people are depraved, all their deeds are vile,
not one of them does what is good.
3 (2) God looks out from heaven
upon the human race
to see if even one is wise,
if even one seeks God.
4 (3) Every one of them is unclean,
altogether corrupt;
not one of them does what is good,
not a single one.
5 (4) Won’t these evildoers ever learn?
They devour my people
as if they were eating bread,
and they never call on God!
6 (5) They will be gripped with terror,
even though now they are not afraid;
for God will scatter the bones
of him who is besieging you.
You are putting them to shame,
because God has rejected them.
7 (6) If only salvation for Isra’el
would come out of Tziyon!
When God restores his people’s fortunes,
what joy for Ya‘akov! what gladness for Isra’el!
During times of great heartache and opposition it is easy to say “There is no God.” For it is often easier to turn away, back down and play dumb to one’s surroundings than it is to stand up for what we believe to be true. This was true in the case of King David’s time and is certainly true in today’s world.
During the next few months the call for LGBTQ justice will be reiterated leading up to and during our United Methodist General Conference.
During these times, keeping our faith and keeping our hearts open to all, including those whose hearts are not open, will be hard, but luckily we have God! So, as we grow closer to General Conference, let us not be devoured or turned away, but let us be dauntless.
- Let us take shelter in our God.
- Let us surround ourselves in God’s love.
- Let us always remember that God created each of us exactly as we are.
So Lord, as we go through our day to day life and in the months leading up to General Conference, give us the strength and love to say you are ever present. Even when it would be much easier to turn away or to proclaim
that you are gone. Give us the strength to rejoice in your name and to be glad in your presence. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
---------------------
Monday, March 7
Oakley Neel
Oakley is a 16 year old Bishop Kelley High School sophomore in Tulsa, Oklahoma where they enjoy theatre, art, and working with those with special needs at their church. One day they hope to be a pastor and missionary in The United Methodist church.
---------------------
Text: Leviticus 25:1 Adonai spoke to Moshe on Mount Sinai; he said, 2 “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘When you enter the land I am giving you, the land itself is to observe a Shabbat rest for Adonai. 3 Six years you will sow your field; six years you will prune your grapevines and gather their produce. 4 But in the seventh year is to be a Shabbat of complete rest for the land, a Shabbat for Adonai; you will neither sow your field nor prune your grapevines. 5 You are not to harvest what grows by itself from the seeds left by your previous harvest, and you are not to gather the grapes of your untended vine; it is to be a year of complete rest for the land. 6 But what the land produces during the year of Shabbat will be food for all of you — you, your servant, your maid, your employee, anyone living near you, 7 your livestock and the wild animals on your land; everything the land produces may be used for food.
8 “‘You are to count seven Shabbats of years, seven times seven years, that is, forty-nine years. 9 Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, on Yom-Kippur, you are to sound a blast on the shofar; you are to sound the shofar all through your land; 10 and you are to consecrate the fiftieth year, proclaiming freedom throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It will be a yovel for you; you will return everyone to the land he owns, and everyone is to return to his family. 11 That fiftieth year will be a yovel for you; in that year you are not to sow, harvest what grows by itself or gather the grapes of untended vines; 12 because it is a yovel. It will be holy for you; whatever the fields produce will be food for all of you. 13 In this year of yovel, every one of you is to return to the land he owns.
(LY: ii) 14 “‘If you sell anything to your neighbor or buy anything from him, neither of you is to exploit the other. 15 Rather, you are to take into account the number of years after the yovel when you buy land from your neighbor, and he is to sell to you according to the number of years crops will be raised. 16 If the number of years remaining is large, you will raise the price; if few years remain, you will lower it; because what he is really selling you is the number of crops to be produced. 17 Thus you are not to take advantage of each other, but you are to fear your God; for I am Adonai your God.
18 “‘Rather, you are to keep my regulations and rulings and act accordingly. If you do, you will live securely in the land. (RY: ii, LY: iii) 19 The land will yield its produce, you will eat until you have enough, and you will live there securely.
Lent is a time for rituals. Sometimes rituals grow tedious and add to the demands of our lives. But Leviticus prescribes rituals for renewal for all of creation in the laws of the Sabbath and the year of Jubilee.
In his book Sabbath as Resistance, Walter Brueggemann locates the Sabbath in the context of Egypt’s coercive labor practices of anxious production. The economic situation of Egypt was such that laborers who produced
wealth never held it in their hands, yet the wealthy urged greater production on the backs of poor workers and slaves. God’s commandment of the Sabbath released the Israelites from this captivity. The Sabbath required rest
from work, and therefore limited the amount of production and labor the Israelites could do. The Sabbath halted the corrupt system of production that harmed God’s people.
In her piece, “An Equal Measure of Grace,” Rev. Layton Williams discusses the unfair standards queer clergy place on themselves as a result of heterosexism in the church. Queer clergy must work extra hard not to appear as
inept or sinful as conservatives make them out to be, just as black people must work harder than white people to gain credibility in a racist world, and just as women must work twice as hard as men for the same job for which they’ll wind up receiving less pay. Such constraints produce a disproportionate amount of anxiety and exhaustion for the marginalized.
But God orders a reversal of such a world order. God’s Sabbath liberates all of creation together with a time when all can resist the structures of this world that overwork us, exploit us, and try to keep us from seeing any of the fruit we’ve produced. God’s Sabbath orders us to find the time in our lives when we can rest and resist. God’s
Sabbath is a ritual of renewal.
---------------------
Tuesday, March 8
Ezliabeth Evans
Elizabeth hails from Wichita, KS and is an MDiv and MTS student at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary seeking ordination in The United Methodist Church.
---------------------
Text: Luke 9:10 On their return, the emissaries detailed to Yeshua what they had done. Then, taking them with him, he withdrew by himself to a town called Beit-Tzaidah. 11 But the crowds found out and followed him. Welcoming them, he went on to speak to them about the Kingdom of God and to heal those who needed to be healed.
12 The day began to draw to a close. The Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away, so that they can go and get lodging and food in the towns and farms around here, because where we are is a remote place.” 13 But he said to them, “Give them something to eat, yourselves!” They said, “We have no more than five loaves of bread and two fish — unless we ourselves are supposed to go and buy food for all these people!” 14 (For there were about five thousand men.) He said to his talmidim, “Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 They did what he told them and had them all sit down. 16 Then he took the five loaves and the two fish and, looking up toward heaven, made a b’rakhah, broke the loaves and began giving them to the talmidim to distribute to the crowd. 17 Everyone ate as much as he wanted; and they took up what was left over, twelve baskets full of broken pieces.
The stories of our faith traditions get lost in a maze of mummy gauze and distortions by romantic whitewashing to the point it’s difficult, if not impossible, to grasp the depth and breadth of such an experience as Jesus feeding well over 5000 people in the desert.
How astounding to witness thousands of folks fed from a tiny bit of two little dried up fish and five biscuits.
Jesus was trying to get away with the disciples to discuss a few things but had spent much of yet another day healing the sick. Late in the day when the “deacons” and “elders” said why don’t you “send the crowd away” to get lodging and food elsewhere, Jesus said, “You feed them.” This was already an unbelievable administrative nightmare, you know they weren’t all getting along like a Sunday School class of kids in 1955. Yet tried and true leadership skills came into play as thousands were gathered into smaller groups and invited to have a seat.
Jesus, taking a meager snack, blessed it, broke it and then broke it some more and gave it to his disciples who distributed the food to everyone and there were still twelve baskets of food left over.
This story of God’s mercy and love is also one of the greatest images of the living church today; folks, hurting and hungry, gathered to find Jesus, being healed and fed. The world we live in now is still looking for healing and wholeness. Miracles happen when we, the church, find our voice of compassion and love.
Should we, in our bickering and complaining about “not having enough,” just send the world away to be filled elsewhere? We have enough. We have what the world needs. We have Jesus. We have God’s grace and mercy. We have enough to tell the administrators of Our Church that we don’t have to exclude anyone or hold back on God’s love because, there is enough. There is enough love, there is enough food, there is enough healing for everyone.
And there will be leftovers.
---------------------
Wednesday, March 9
Grace Cox-Johnson
Grace lives and works in Kansas City, MO, creating and teaching fiber art for worship settings throughout the greater church.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 126: A Harvest of Joy
A Song of Ascents.
1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,[Psalm 126:1 Or brought back those who returned to Zion]
we were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us,
and we rejoiced.
4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the watercourses in the Negeb.
5 May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.
6 Those who go out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
carrying their sheaves.
Above my desk hangs a handmade sign: Appalachian in Exile. I made it a few years back for a witness to the Environmental Protection Agency’s allowances for the mountaintop removal method of coal extraction.
You see, I come from mountains and valleys, hills and hollers. But for the past 16 years, I’ve lived outside of Appalachia. Some might say by my own choice. I’d point to a lack of economic opportunity and less than friendly
environments for queer people (although this is changing).
The words of the psalmist give hope: “Those who go forth weeping, bearing the see for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.” When the faithful were exiled to Babylon, their hope was in a day of great return. Do you know how many faithful have been exiled from The United Methodist Church?
When I survey my friend and acquaintances (a very unscientific survey, but a survey nonetheless), I find at least 150 names of those who have been exiled from the Church. Some transferred to a denomination who affirmed their calling as queer people of God; others simply left Church altogether. There are days when I pray that The United Methodist Church can have one huge welcome back party. Oh, how I hope that “those who sow in tears, reap with shouts of joy!”
But I know it’s never that easy. As an Appalachian in Exile, I know how difficult it will be when the time comes for me to return home. The land, the people, and the ethos are different than what my time in exile has shown me.
My friends and family have been shaped by the systems of oppression at play in Appalachia in ways that I have not. And for some, we have traded one oppressor for another.
The same holds true for LGBTQ persons in The United Methodist Church. Some of us have found safety in exile. Some of us have found safety in the systems that oppress us. And others have found vocation as living
witnesses to the powers and principalities of a Church that continues to seek exclusion to maintain false unity.
It may not be easy for us to return home – to the places and structures we hold dear – but with God’s grace, we continue the work so we can bring the harvest home, a harvest filled with eventual joy and hope and love.
---------------------
Thursday, March 10
Chett Pritchett
Chett is the executive director of the Methodist Federation for Social Action and lives in Washington, DC.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 126:(0) A song of ascents:
(1) When Adonai restored Tziyon’s fortunes,
we thought we were dreaming.
2 Our mouths were full of laughter,
and our tongues shouted for joy.
Among the nations it was said,
“Adonai has done great things for them!”
3 Adonai did do great things with us;
and we are overjoyed.
4 Return our people from exile, Adonai,
as streams fill vadis in the Negev.
5 Those who sow in tears
will reap with cries of joy.
6 He who goes out weeping
as he carries his sack of seed
will come home with cries of joy
as he carries his sheaves of grain.
- What do you dream about that our political reach prevents us from doing or supporting?
- Do you dream of a day that undocumented immigrants will have full healthcare and protection under the law?
- Do you dream that transgender prisoners will receive the care they need and are free from violence and harassment?
- Do you dream of a day that foreign aid is increased to end global poverty, disease, and the water crisis?
- Do you dream of a day when it is safe to be black?
- Do you dream of a day that our Palestinian brothers and sisters and siblings are equal to our beloved sisters, brothers, and siblings in Israel?
“Restore our fortunes, O Lord...”
In God’s vision, this does not mean the rich; this is even often beyond the middle class. This plea is for low-income people and for anyone facing economic exploitation.
“Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like in the watercourses in the Negeb. May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.”
With God’s help, may we make it so.
---------------------
Friday, March 11
Daniel Crusius
Daniel is a United Methodist and loves to sing!
---------------------
Text: John 11:45 At this, many of the Judeans who had come to visit Miryam, and had seen what Yeshua had done, trusted in him.
46 But some of them went off to the P’rushim and told them what he had done. 47 So the head cohanim and the P’rushim called a meeting of the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we going to do? — for this man is performing many miracles. 48 If we let him keep going on this way, everyone will trust in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both the Temple and the nation.” 49 But one of them, Kayafa, who was cohen gadol that year, said to them, “You people don’t know anything! 50 You don’t see that it’s better for you if one man dies on behalf of the people, so that the whole nation won’t be destroyed.” 51 Now he didn’t speak this way on his own initiative; rather, since he was cohen gadol that year, he was prophesying that Yeshua was about to die on behalf of the nation, 52 and not for the nation alone, but so that he might gather into one the scattered children of God.
53 From that day on, they made plans to have him put to death. 54 Therefore Yeshua no longer walked around openly among the Judeans but went away from there into the region near the desert, to a town called Efrayim, and stayed there with his talmidim.
55 The Judean festival of Pesach was near, and many people went up from the country to Yerushalayim to perform the purification ceremony prior to Pesach. 56 They were looking for Yeshua, and as they stood in the Temple courts they said to each other, “What do you think? that he simply won’t come to the festival?” 57 Moreover, the head cohanim and the P’rushim had given orders that anyone knowing Yeshua’s whereabouts should inform them, so that they could have him arrested.
In fear, we already give up our temple and nation.
We become an obscured version of ourselves concerned only with self-preservation, urging others towards doing the same – towards sacrificing one another’s liberation for the sake of preserving our temple and our nation.
What is this temple and nation in the hands of fear anyway?
They become bent on preserving themselves, self-focused, centers of scarcity that tempt us to uplift our own agendas instead of building with one another and seeing the ways that our communities, and our struggles, are
interconnected.
I remember Jennifer Laude, who lived at this intersection. Brutally murdered because she was trans. Brutally silenced because unequal, colonial US-Philippines relationships urge injustice upon the poor and Brown, tearing
apart our bodies and earth, for the sake of exploitative economic and military agreements.
Colonialism is not frozen in history or socio-political relationships. Colonialism lives on in colonized bodies and minds. But as many generations have lived under colonization, there have been generations rising up and resisting, reclaiming our bodies and minds.
How wonderful if we could join together generations worldwide, this Movement for liberation of all people?
What stops us?
When we live into faith versus fear, we resist the colonial culture of divide and conquer – we can stand strong having faith that when we build alliances and make connections that our own liberation will not be overlooked.
We can live knowing that connecting our struggles will manifest in our collective liberation. Then we can be our Whole selves, never having to choose between our ethnic-racial identity, sexual identity, gender identity, or any other identity that we carry unapologetically.
We can resist the colonial, Empire goal of making us single-issue people, of making us incomplete. We can be the restored, transformed, Whole Creation that God created us to be.
---------------------
Saturday, March 12
Rev. Jeanelle Nicolas Ablola
Jeanelle serves as Lead Pastor at Pine UMC – the first API Reconciling Congregation in the US – is co-chair of the Cal-Nev Philippine Solidarity Task Force, member of the Network on Religion and Justice for API LGBTQ people (NRJ), member of the Cal-Nev Annual Conference’s Advocacy & Justice Committee and Methodist Federation for Social Action California-Nevada Chapter (MFSA) awarded her with the 2014 Bishop Leontine T.C. Kelly Peace and Justice Award.
---------------------
(1) When Adonai restored Tziyon’s fortunes,
we thought we were dreaming.
2 Our mouths were full of laughter,
and our tongues shouted for joy.
Among the nations it was said,
“Adonai has done great things for them!”
3 Adonai did do great things with us;
and we are overjoyed.
4 Return our people from exile, Adonai,
as streams fill vadis in the Negev.
5 Those who sow in tears
will reap with cries of joy.
6 He who goes out weeping
as he carries his sack of seed
will come home with cries of joy
as he carries his sheaves of grain. & Isaiah 43:16 Here is what Adonai says,
who made a way in the sea,
a path through the raging waves;
17 who led out chariot and horse,
the army in its strength —
they lay down, never to rise again,
snuffed out and quenched like a wick:
18 “Stop dwelling on past events
and brooding over times gone by;
19 I am doing something new;
it’s springing up — can’t you see it?
I am making a road in the desert,
rivers in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals will honor me,
the jackals and the ostriches;
because I put water in the desert,
rivers in the wasteland,
for my chosen people to drink,
21 the people I formed for myself,
so that they would proclaim my praise.
During seminary, my roommate and I began a practice we would later christen “doorway theology.” Time after time, one would appear in the other’s doorway. “Do you have a minute? I need…” We met in our questions and
longings. Together, we talked human suffering and divine power. Structural racism, feminism, and white privilege.
Queer theology and our latest disastrous/delightful dates. Incarnation and sacramentality. Movements of liberation, and histories of oppression. Reparations and deportations. Truths and testimonies, demanding witness.
That which breaks us open. That which matters most.
We could have moved to the comfort of a couch, but there was something ineffably holy about holding these encounters in doorways, in thresholds. Thresholds are thin spaces, thick with feeling, where we encounter G-d
and each other more readily, more honestly, more fully.
Psalm 126 and Isaiah 43:16-21 might be read as threshold texts. The psalm was sung by people crying out: praising, pleading, grieving, giving thanks. The context was exile, estrangement. Restoration sown in tears, but reaped with shouts of joy. In Isaiah, the prophet’s proclamation promises the impossible: a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. The context was captivity, wilderness. Yet liberation is springing forth. The impossible becoming
perceivable.
We do not all know, really, exile and occupation. But perhaps we all know how loss, grief, isolation, shame, and despair can hold us captive, utterly convinced that nothing joyful, just, holy, or good can possibly be/come, again.
15th c theologian Nicholas of Cusa nicknamed God posse ipsum, possibility itself. Posse ipsum invites us to persist. Persist in love that responds, restores, revives. Love that bears with. Love that moves us to laughter and tears. Love that gravitates toward thin spaces, thick with feeling, where we encounter G-d and each other more readily, more honestly, more fully.
---------------------
Sunday, March 13
Rev. Anna Blaedel
Anna is a campus minister, PHD student in theology, and queer UM discontent, whose spiritual practices include the sacrament of brunch, sharing silence with strangers and beloveds, waking up before dawn, walking in the woods, and riding the subway.
---------------------
Text: Hebrews 10:19 So, brothers, we have confidence to use the way into the Holiest Place opened by the blood of Yeshua. 20 He inaugurated it for us as a new and living way through the parokhet, by means of his flesh. 21 We also have a great cohen over God’s household. 22 Therefore, let us approach the Holiest Place with a sincere heart, in the full assurance that comes from trusting — with our hearts sprinkled clean from a bad conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.[Hebrews 10:22 Ezekiel 36:25] 23 Let us continue holding fast to the hope we acknowledge, without wavering; for the One who made the promise is trustworthy. 24 And let us keep paying attention to one another, in order to spur each other on to love and good deeds, 25 not neglecting our own congregational meetings, as some have made a practice of doing, but, rather, encouraging each other.
And let us do this all the more as you see the Day approaching.
When I was much younger, there were times when I was pretty annoying. I would pester my brother until he turned to me in anger and took a swing at me. Never hard enough to hurt anything except my feelings, but a resolute “get out of my way” gesture. This is what I think of when I hear the word “provoke.” It is a strong word describing actions meant to cause a negative reaction more damaging than my brother’s. One dictionary defines
“provoke” as “to deliberately make someone annoyed or angry.”
The scripture passage for today uses the word “provoke” in a very unconventional way. It links the word with the very positive Christian virtues of love and good deeds. The author of Hebrews turns the meaning and intent of the word “provoke” a full 180 degrees, to remind those who follow Jesus that by our deliberate actions, we must
encourage others to be life-giving, affirming and uplifting.
What must we do to provoke that kind of loving, peaceful living? That is asking much of us. In the face of violence, hatred, and evil we must become even more resolute to live our lives faithfully. In spite of words and actions that exclude others in the name of the Church, we must not cease to witness to the Gospel message of Jesus’ invitation to all persons to full participation in the body of Christ.
One more definition to ponder. The word “provoke” is derived from the Latin for “to call forth.” This means that because of the way we live, we call forth from others certain values or virtues. In other words, a life well-lived inspires others. May our lives call forth from others an all-inclusive love for everyone in the name and spirit of
Jesus Christ.
---------------------
Monday, March 14
Bishop Robert T. Hoshibata
Bishop Bob, consecrated in 2004, serves as the resident bishop of the Phoenix Area.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 20:(0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
2 (1) May Adonai answer you in times of distress,
may the name of the God of Ya‘akov protect you.
3 (2) May he send you help from the sanctuary
and give you support from Tziyon.
4 (3) May he be reminded by all your grain offerings
and accept the fat of your burnt offerings. (Selah)
5 (4) May he grant you your heart’s desire
and bring all your plans to success.
6 (5) Then we will shout for joy at your victory
and fly our flags in the name of our God.
May Adonai fulfill all your requests.
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.
8 (7) Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we praise the name of Adonai our God.
9 (8) They will crumple and fall,
but we will arise and stand erect.
10 (9) Give victory, Adonai!
Let the King answer us the day we call.
Do you see the dialogue between the two halves of Psalm 20?
The first: a blessing, filled with aspiration, so that the listener might find protection in God.
The second: a hefty vote of confidence in God’s grace, a declaration of God’s infinite power.
The first: may God send you help. The second: God is greater than chariots and horses.
Do you see the conversation?
It is one that I—as both a person of faith and an activist—find myself having again and again.
The first is a voice of blessing; the second, trust. They are perhaps the most important voices to keep in balance in the high-tightrope walk that is being an agent of social change.
Let’s go in reverse: what does it mean for an activist to trust? It means to allow our faith to do what secular activists have a very difficult time articulating. It means to say that God has won. Love has won. There is nothing that any power can do to become greater than God—no empire to be built, no weapon to be invented, no war to be fought. Love wins, and the powers of this world today are just as helpless as the Roman empire scrambling to explain a resurrected Jesus. The infinite worth of all of God’s children is secured, and that simply cannot be
stripped, shot, or beaten out of us.
But then again, there is also the first part of Psalm 20, the blessing. If we are so confident in what God is capable of (á la v. 6-9), why do we need to bless anyone? Why do we need to pray that God send down help, when we already know that God has taken care of things in unimaginable ways? Isn’t that like asking the sky to turn blue when the sun rises? Why waste our breath?
What the Psalm teaches us is that we still have a role in this world. Faith in God does not mean sitting back and letting “God handle it.” Rather, we have the incredible ability to bless people and to bless the earth. When things are going wrong, God looks to be people of faith and ask, “Over there! Could you run there and be a blessing there?”
My friends, let us go out in the world and bless—lest we fall apathetic in a world crying for action. And let us also trust in God, so that we never think that we are doing this work alone. Amen.
---------------------
Tuesday, March 15
Rev. Tyler Sitt
Tyler Sit is pastor of New City Church, APlaceToStart.church
---------------------
Text: Luke 18:31 Then, taking the Twelve, Yeshua said to them, “We are now going up to Yerushalayim, where everything written through the prophets about the Son of Man will come true. 32 For he will be handed over to the Goyim and be ridiculed, insulted and spat upon. 33 Then, after they have beaten him, they will kill him. But on the third day he will rise.” 34 However, they understood none of this; its meaning had been hidden from them, and they had no idea what he was talking about.
When I was eight, I told my older cousin that I was going to study law at Hillman College.
Her reply was priceless: “Boy. Hillman ain’t no real college! It was based on several historically black colleges and universities, such as Spellman and Howard. Hillman ain’t real!”
As I walked away, all I could get myself to think was, “How dare she lie on Hillman! She must’ve applied and got rejected!”
No matter if you are eight or thirty-eight, few of us readily accept the possibility that the world we bought into may not be the world as it truly exists.
As I consider this passage in Luke, I am baffled by the fact that the disciples understood ‘nothing’ and ‘did not grasp’ anything Jesus said about being arrested, beaten, mocked, and killed.
What was it about Jesus sharing the plain details concerning his upcoming illegal trial, struggle with police forces, and lynching that caused the disciples to collectively declare they understood nothing our Brother was trying to tell them?
How many church elders “do not understand” the Black Lives Matter Movement because their pension plans are tethered to monolithic denominations beholden to the dominating interests of the ruling white majority?
How many seminarians “do not grasp” the sacramentality of trans flesh because that is not what will move them along the ordination process?
How many of us are willing to admit that our inability to understand the hard truths of God may not be rooted in our “fidelity to the Scriptures” but, rather, in a shared unwillingness to sacrifice the false peace offered by the rulers of this present age?
How long will it take us to understand that A Different World need not be a wrong world?
---------------------
Wednesday, March 16
James Howard Hill, Jr.
James enjoys eating California Sushi Rolls (without cucumbers), researching African-American Religio-Political Thought, and lobbying his local politicians to fix broken gas pumps that stop every 15 cents.
---------------------
Text: Hebrews 2:1 Therefore, we must pay much more careful heed to the things we have heard, so that we will not drift away. 2 For if the word God spoke through angels became binding, so that every violation and act of disobedience received its just deserts in full measure, 3 then how will we escape if we ignore such a great deliverance? This deliverance, which was first declared by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him; 4 while God also bore witness to it with various signs, wonders and miracles, and with gifts of the Ruach HaKodesh which he distributed as he chose.
5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the ‘olam haba — which is what we are talking about. 6 And there is a place where someone has given this solemn testimony:
“What is mere man, that you concern yourself with him?
or the son of man, that you watch over him with such care?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels,
you crowned him with glory and honor,
8 you put everything in subjection under his feet.”[Hebrews 2:8 Psalm 8:5–7(4–6)]
In subjecting everything to him, he left nothing unsubjected to him. However, at present, we don’t see everything subjected to him — at least, not yet. 9 But we do see Yeshua — who indeed was made for a little while lower than the angels — now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by God’s grace he might taste death for all humanity.
The Book of Hebrews reminds us that God is most present not in the realm of angelic perfection and beauty but in the messy human struggle for “the coming world.” (Heb 2:5)
The angelic realm is pure, harmonious, full of glory. Occasionally we catch a glimpse of the angelic world where there is no racism, no anti-semitism, no sexism, no heterosexism, no classism, none of the oppressions we
wrestle with here.
But God did not send Jesus to be born into the angelic world.
Jesus did not come for the sake of the angels but for us. (Heb 2:16) It is not the angels God has entrusted with the future to come. God has subjected the coming world to humanity, to us, imperfect and broken as we are. (Heb 2:8)
When we get tired because progress seems so slow, maybe Hebrews can help us remember that in the midst of our very human struggle for justice, inclusion, and love is where the Presence of God is thickest. This struggle is
where we come closest to the atoning work of Christ ... not in the realm of the angels but in our human struggle against the stubborn oppressions within and around us.
As General Conference approaches and we wish it would be a time of angelic harmony, peace and understanding, Hebrews reminds us that Jesus, the pioneer of our faith, became perfect through suffering. (Heb 2:10) The
perfected world and church we long for comes only through struggle.
Later in Hebrews the writer encourages us “to not grow weary or lose heart” by remembering that “we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” who have persevered. (Heb 12:1-3) So when the struggle feels frustrating, hopeless, even demeaning, we know we are where God is moving most profoundly.
LGBTI United Methodists and allies in the midst of the struggle, may Hebrews help us remember we are part of a great cloud of witnesses who will encourage generations to come.
---------------------
Thursday, March 17
Rev. Dean Snyder
Dean is a retired pastor who lives on the eastern shore of Maryland.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 31:9 (8) You did not hand me over to the enemy;
you set my feet where I can move freely.
10 (9) Show me favor, Adonai, for I am in trouble.
My eyes grow dim with anger,
my soul and body as well.
11 (10) For my life is worn out with sorrow
and my years with sighing;
my strength gives out under my guilt,
and my bones are wasting away.
12 (11) I am scorned by all my adversaries,
and even more by my neighbors;
even to acquaintances
I am an object of fear —
when they see me in the street,
they turn away from me.
13 (12) Like a dead man, I have passed from their minds;
I have become like a broken pot.
14 (13) All I hear is whispering,
terror is all around me;
they plot together against me,
scheming to take my life.
15 (14) But I, I trust in you, Adonai;
I say, “You are my God.”
16 (15) My times are in your hand;
rescue me from my enemies’ power,
from those who persecute me.
Have you ever been that person others run or hide from? You know whom I’m talking about….depressed, scary, sad or even worse, someone so chipper that your nerves work overtime to keep up with all the excitement. I think there are times when we are on both sides of this conundrum. And at present, I resonate with the Psalmist who speaks of being depressed.
I have a predilection for being a bit cynical or brooding, so when advent and lent come around, I’m in my element.
The problem with staying in this emotional place for much more than 40 days can lead to the place the Psalmist is lamenting, and I can’t help but feel like I’ve been stuck here for way longer than 40 days.
But here’s the thing – even when I’m in this place, I know I’m not alone. I may feel alone and sometimes even believe I’m alone. I am never alone. Never. You are never alone. Never. In the deepest, intense, darkest nights of the soul, we are never alone….
Mark Miller composed a haunting anthem a few years ago entitled, “I Believe.” The lyrics are from these words found etched on a wall in Germany after the Holocaust:
I believe in the sun, even when it’s not shining.
I believe in love, even when I don’t feel it.
I believe in God, even when [God] is silent.
May these words and the words of the Psalmist give you hope of never being alone amidst the depressed moments of life:
But me? I trust you, Lord! I affirm, “You are my God.” My future is in your hands. Don’t hand me over to my enemies, to all who are out to get me! Shine your face on your servant; save me by your faithful love! (Psalm 39:14-16)
---------------------
Friday, March 18
Kim Chapman
Kim Chapman is a musician and worship designer. She is a lover of life, art, architecture, music, nature, John Wesley and Jesus. She lives in Northern Illinois with her books, drums, and assorted Mac gadgets.
---------------------
Text: Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, let not my will but yours be done.” 43 There appeared to him an angel from heaven giving him strength, 44 and in great anguish he prayed more intensely, so that his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” Luke 22:42
According to Luke, these are the words Jesus prayed on the Mount of Olives just moments before his betrayal.
Puzzling, aren’t they? Was Jesus afraid? Apparently so, as Luke continues:
“In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.” (Vs. 43-44).
So, Jesus was scared of the impending trial and its likely outcome - punishment by death. I know that fear to a lesser degree. But I’m human and Jesus is the Messiah. Superheroes aren’t supposed to be fearful, are they? How
can we explain this paradox? Some scholars are convinced that Luke’s statement in vs. 43-44 is not authentic; that’s why it is placed in parentheses in most bible translations.
Others suggest that the term “anguish” should not be understood as “fearful.” New Testament scholar Sharon Ringe, for instance, explains “anguish” from the realm of athletics: Jesus was “sweating” from mentally preparing for what was coming.*
But the fact that Jesus asked for “the removal of the cup” suggests that he was fearful indeed. And that’s OK - inspiring actually! It makes Christianity more relate- able. It encourages us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus’ ministry of peace and justice.
As we follow our conscience and take a stand, it’s natural to experience confrontation and even fear. If we do, we’re in good company with Jesus.
Our fear does not express weakness. There is nothing shameful about expressing our fear in prayer; God gets it.
And finally, it’s OK to boldly ask God to save us.**
Jesus did, and though his request wasn’t granted, he received the courage needed for the greatest Act of Love in history. Be encouraged, stand up for justice even when facing threats. It’s not easy, but Jesus shows the path from fear to earnest prayer to the guts it takes to change this world.
---------------------
Saturday, March 19
Rev. Frank Schaefer
Frank is serving as pastor at University UMC in Isla Vista, California and is featured in the recent documentary, “An Act of Love.”
*Sharon H. Ringe: Luke, Westminster John Knox Press; 1st edition (November 1, 1995) p. 266
**Luke, Volume 2: A Feasting on the Gospels: Feasting on the Word Commentary, edited by Cynthia A. Jarvis, E. Elizabeth Johnson, Westminster John Knox Press (November 19, 2014), p. 292
---------------------
Luke 22:14 When the time came, Yeshua and the emissaries reclined at the table, 15 and he said to them, “I have really wanted so much to celebrate this Seder with you before I die! 16 For I tell you, it is certain that I will not celebrate it again until it is given its full meaning in the Kingdom of God.”
17 Then, taking a cup of wine, he made the b’rakhah and said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on, I will not drink the ‘fruit of the vine’ until the Kingdom of God comes.” 19 Also, taking a piece of matzah, he made the b’rakhah, broke it, gave it to them and said, “This is my body, which is being given for you; do this in memory of me.” 20 He did the same with the cup after the meal, saying, “This cup is the New Covenant, ratified by my blood, which is being poured out for you.
21 “But look! The person who is betraying me is here at the table with me! 22 The Son of Man is going to his death according to God’s plan, but woe to that man by whom he is being betrayed!” 23 They began asking each other which of them could be about to do such a thing.
24 An argument arose among them as to which of them should be considered the greatest. 25 But Yeshua said to them, “The kings of the Goyim lord it over them; and those in authority over them are given the title, ‘Benefactor.’ 26 But not so with you! On the contrary, let the greater among you become like the younger, and one who rules like one who serves. 27 For who is greater? The one reclining at the table? or the one who serves? It’s the one reclining at the table, isn’t it? But I myself am among you like one who serves.
28 “You are the ones who have stayed with me throughout my trials. 29 Just as my Father gave me the right to rule, so I give you an appointment, 30 namely, to eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom and to sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Isra’el.
31 “Shim‘on, Shim‘on, listen! The Adversary demanded to have you people for himself, to sift you like wheat! 32 But I prayed for you, Shim‘on, that your trust might not fail. And you, once you have turned back in repentance, strengthen your brothers!” 33 Shim‘on said to him, “Lord, I am prepared to go with you both to prison and to death!” 34 Yeshua replied, “I tell you, Kefa, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know me.”
35 He said to them, “When I sent you out without wallet, pack or shoes, were you ever short of anything?” “Not a thing,” they answered. 36 “But now,” he said, if you have a wallet or a pack, take it; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your robe to buy one. 37 For I tell you this: the passage from the Tanakh that says, ‘He was counted with transgressors,’[Luke 22:37 Isaiah 53:12] has to be fulfilled in me; since what is happening to me has a purpose.” 38 They said, “Look, Lord, there are two swords right here!” “Enough!” he replied.
39 On leaving, Yeshua went as usual to the Mount of Olives; and the talmidim followed him. 40 When he arrived, he said to them, “Pray that you won’t be put to the test.” 41 He went about a stone’s throw away from them, kneeled down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, let not my will but yours be done.” 43 There appeared to him an angel from heaven giving him strength, 44 and in great anguish he prayed more intensely, so that his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground. 45 On rising from prayer and coming to the talmidim, he found them sleeping because of their grief. 46 He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you won’t be put to the test!”
47 While he was still speaking, a crowd of people arrived, with the man called Y’hudah (one of the Twelve!) leading them. He came up to Yeshua to kiss him, 48 but Yeshua said to him, “Y’hudah, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” 49 When his followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we use our swords?” 50 One of them struck at the slave of the cohen hagadol and cut off his right ear. 51 But Yeshua answered, “Just let me do this,” and, touching the man’s ear, he healed him.
52 Then Yeshua said to the head cohanim, the officers of the Temple guard and the elders who had come to seize him, “So you came out just as you would to the leader of a rebellion, with swords and clubs? 53 Every day I was there with you in the Temple court, yet you didn’t arrest me. But this is your hour — the hour when darkness rules.”
54 Having seized him, they led him away and brought him into the house of the cohen hagadol. Kefa followed at a distance; 55 but when they had lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Kefa joined them. 56 One of the servant girls saw him sitting in the light of the fire, stared at him and said, “This man also was with him.” 57 But he denied it: “Lady, I don’t even know him.” 58 A little later, someone else saw him and said, “You’re one of them too”; but Kefa said, “Man, I am not!” 59 About an hour later, another man asserted emphatically, “There can be no doubt that this fellow was with him, because he too is from the Galil!” 60 But Kefa said, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” And instantly, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Kefa; and Kefa remembered what the Lord had said, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And he went outside and cried bitterly.
63 Meanwhile, the men who were holding Yeshua made fun of him. They beat him, 64 blindfolded him, and kept asking him, “Now, ‘prophesy’! Who hit you that time?” 65 And they said many other insulting things to him.
66 At daybreak, the people’s council of elders, including both head cohanim and Torah-teachers, met and led him off to their Sanhedrin, 67 where they said, “If you are the Mashiach, tell us.” He answered, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me; 68 and if I ask you, you won’t answer. 69 But from now on, the Son of Man will be sitting at the right hand of HaG’vurah,”[Luke 22:69 Psalm 110:1] 70 They all said, “Does this mean, then, that you are the Son of God?” And he answered them, “You say I am.” 71 They said, “Why do we need additional testimony? We have heard it ourselves from his own mouth!”
23 With that, the whole Sanhedrin got up and brought Yeshua before Pilate, 2 where they started accusing him. “We found this man subverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the Emperor and claiming that he himself is the Messiah — a king!” 3 Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” And he answered him, “The words are yours.” 4 Pilate said to the head cohanim and the crowds, “I find no ground for a charge against this man.” 5 But they persisted. “He is inciting the people with his teaching throughout all Y’hudah — he started in the Galil, and now he’s here!” 6 On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was from the Galil; 7 and when he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who at that time happened to be in Yerushalayim too.
8 Herod was delighted to see Yeshua, because he had heard about him and for a long time had been wanting to meet him; indeed, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. 9 He questioned him at great length, but Yeshua made no reply. 10 However, the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers stood there, vehemently pressing their case against him. 11 Herod and his soldiers treated Yeshua with contempt and made fun of him. Then, dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. 12 That day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; previously they had been enemies.
13 Pilate summoned the head cohanim, the leaders and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought this man before me on a charge of subverting the people. I examined him in your presence and did not find the man guilty of the crime you are accusing him of. 15 And neither did Herod, because he sent him back to us. Clearly, he has not done anything that merits the death penalty. 16 Therefore, what I will do is have him flogged and release him.” 17 [Luke 23:17 Some manuscripts have verse 17: For he was required to release one man to them at the festival.] 18 But with one voice they shouted, “Away with this man! Give us Bar-Abba!” 19 (He was a man who had been thrown in prison for causing a riot in the city and for murder.) 20 Pilate appealed to them again, because he wanted to release Yeshua. 21 But they yelled, “Put him to death on the stake! Put him to death on the stake!” 22 A third time he asked them, “But what has this man done wrong? I haven’t found any reason to put him to death. So I’m going to have him flogged and set free.” 23 But they went on yelling insistently, demanding that he be executed on the stake; and their shouting prevailed. 24 Pilate decided to grant their demand; 25 he released the man who had been thrown in prison for insurrection and murder, the one they had asked for; and Yeshua he surrendered to their will.
26 As the Roman soldiers led Yeshua away, they grabbed hold of a man from Cyrene named Shim‘on, who was on his way in from the country. They put the execution-stake on his back and made him carry it behind Yeshua. 27 Large numbers of people followed, including women crying and wailing over him. 28 Yeshua turned to them and said, “Daughters of Yerushalayim, don’t cry for me; cry for yourselves and your children! 29 For the time is coming when people will say, ‘The childless women are the lucky ones — those whose wombs have never borne a child, whose breasts have never nursed a baby! 30 Then
They will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’
and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’[Luke 23:30 Hosea 10:8]
31 For if they do these things when the wood is green, what is going to happen when it’s dry?”
32 Two other men, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him. 33 When they came to the place called The Skull, they nailed him to a stake; and they nailed the criminals to stakes, one on the right and one on the left. 34 Yeshua said, “Father, forgive them; they don’t understand what they are doing.”
They divided up his clothes by throwing dice.[Luke 23:34 Psalm 22:19(18)] 35 The people stood watching, and the rulers sneered at him.[Luke 23:35 Psalm 22:8(7)] “He saved others,” they said, “so if he really is the Messiah, the one chosen by God, let him save himself!” 36 The soldiers too ridiculed him; they came up, offered him vinegar[Luke 23:36 Psalm 69:22(21)] 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 And there was a notice over him which read,
THIS IS
THE KING OF THE JEWS
39 One of the criminals hanging there hurled insults at him. “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other one spoke up and rebuked the first, saying, “Have you no fear of God? You’re getting the same punishment as he is. 41 Ours is only fair; we’re getting what we deserve for what we did. But this man did nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Yeshua, remember me when you come as King.” 43 Yeshua said to him, “Yes! I promise that you will be with me today in Gan-‘Eden.”
44 It was now about noon, and darkness covered the whole Land until three o’clock in the afternoon; 45 the sun did not shine. Also the parokhet in the Temple was split down the middle. 46 Crying out with a loud voice, Yeshua said, “Father! Into your hands I commit my spirit.”[Luke 23:46 Psalm 31:6(5)] With these words he gave up his spirit.
47 When the Roman officer saw what had happened, he began to praise God and said, “Surely this man was innocent!” 48 And when all the crowds that had gathered to watch the spectacle saw the things that had occurred, they returned home beating their breasts. 49 All his friends, including the women who had accompanied him from the Galil, had been standing at a distance; they saw it all.
50 There was a man named Yosef, a member of the Sanhedrin. He was a good man, a tzaddik; 51 and he had not been in agreement with either the Sanhedrin’s motivation or their action. He came from the town of Ramatayim, a town of the Judeans; and he looked forward to the Kingdom of God. 52 This man approached Pilate and asked for Yeshua’s body. 53 He took it down, wrapped it in a linen sheet, and placed it in a tomb cut into the rock, that had never been used.
54 It was Preparation Day, and a Shabbat was about to begin. 55 The women who had come with Yeshua from the Galil followed; they saw the tomb and how his body was placed in it. 56 Then they went back home to prepare spices and ointments.
On Shabbat the women rested, in obedience to the commandment;
A mother of a transgender child responds to her judgmental neighbor:
this sadness I feel is for you sad one you are so lost yet want to save me this anger I feel is for you angry one your screams suffocate your silent stillness this loss I feel is for you lost one your call still beckons yet I embrace mine this confusion I feel is for you confused one you believe the illusion that we are not equals this concern I feel is for you concerned one you try to separate us yet our source is the same this calm I feel in spite of you crazed one you search frantically and only find your own fear this love I feel is for you God’s beloved you hate those like me who accept their journey
---------------------
Passion Sunday, March 20
Lorena Corey
Lorena is a mother, activist, founder of “Pinwheels,” a singer, and a voice coach.
---------------------
Text: Isaiah 42:1 “Here is my servant, whom I support,
my chosen one, in whom I take pleasure.
I have put my Spirit on him;
he will bring justice to the Goyim.
2 He will not cry or shout;
no one will hear his voice in the streets.
3 He will not snap off a broken reed
or snuff out a smoldering wick.
He will bring forth justice according to truth;
4 he will not weaken or be crushed
until he has established justice on the earth,
and the coastlands wait for his Torah.”
5 Thus says God, Adonai,
who created the heavens and spread them out,
who stretched out the earth and all that grows from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk on it:
6 “I, Adonai, called you righteously,
I took hold of you by the hand,
I shaped you and made you a covenant for the people,
to be a light for the Goyim,
7 so that you can open blind eyes,
free the prisoners from confinement,
those living in darkness from the dungeon.
8 I am Adonai; that is my name.
I yield my glory to no one else,
nor my praise to any idol.
9 See how the former predictions come true;
and now new things do I declare —
before they sprout I tell you about them.”
Reading this first “servant song” of Isaiah, we relate his message to our own individual lives and to our movement to transform the world by living out the Gospel’s teachings of grace, love, justice and inclusion for all of God’s people within The UMC and our world.
In his prophetic role, Isaiah faithfully and forcefully proclaimed God’s truth confronting the people and their leaders with God’s commands and promises. As the voice of God, Isaiah begins by introducing my servant, whom I uphold, have chosen, endowed with the Spirit, in whom I delight and the one who will bring justice to the nations.
As Easter approaches, we see Isaiah’s prophecy fulfilled in God’s Servant-Messiah, Jesus, in whom we are freely justified by grace. As individuals and a movement, we follow Christ and are God’s servant. We are upheld and chosen by God, endowed with the Spirit, and the Creator does delight in each of us having been fearfully and wonderfully made. We too, in faithfulness are called to bring justice.
During this General Conference we will boldly proclaim; be a forceful witness to; and faithfully work to bring forth the entire LYNC Vision. Isaiah reminds the servant to persist with unfailing endurance, even under oppression, until the mission of justice is complete.
Isaiah says the islands put their hope in his law and as Christians during Easter we celebrate our hope in the risen, Servant-Messiah, Jesus. In 2012 we put our hope in Biblical Obedience and in 2016 we place hope in General Conference. The prophet says God makes the servant a light for the Gentiles to open eyes that are closed and to free the captives.
I pray we are a light leading others to Christ and closed eyes are opened this General Conference bringing forth justice and inclusion.
---------------------
Holy Monday, March 21
Giselle Lawn
Giselle is a member of the Reconciling Congregation, St Mark UMC in Atlanta, and a transgender woman, who serves on the RMN board and is a member of the UMATI leadership team.
---------------------
Text: Isaiah 49:1 Coastlands, listen to me;
listen, you peoples far away:
Adonai called me from the womb;
before I was born, he had spoken my name.
2 He has made my mouth like a sharp sword
while hiding me in the shadow of his hand;
he has made me like a sharpened arrow
while concealing me in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant,
Isra’el, through whom I will show my glory.”
4 But I said, “I have toiled in vain,
spent my strength for nothing, futility.”
Yet my cause is with Adonai,
my reward is with my God.
5 So now Adonai says —
he formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Ya‘akov back to him,
to have Isra’el gathered to him,
so that I will be honored in the sight of Adonai,
my God having become my strength —
6 he has said, “It is not enough
that you are merely my servant
to raise up the tribes of Ya‘akov
and restore the offspring of Isra’el.
I will also make you a light to the nations,
so my salvation can spread to the ends of the earth.”
7 Here is what Adonai,
the Redeemer of Isra’el,
his Holy One, says to the one despised,
whom the nations detest, to the servant of tyrants:
“When kings see you, they will stand up;
princes too will prostrate themselves,
because of Adonai, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Isra’el, who has chosen you.”
I am an extrovert by day, so I am always inviting people into conversation. Since most people, particularly in the South, have been trained in the reciprocity of dialogue, when I make an inquiry, the same one is made in return.
It doesn’t take long, however, to realize that in many instances, the other party is only asking questions to determine in which category I should be placed. He has already summed up parts of me based on my physical
appearance. Now he is listening for more information that will help him affix a label. I don’t take it personally. Lots of people do it. It’s a by-product of the social climate in the world in which we live.
The majority of people today are only concerned with labels. Black. Woman. Fat. Ugly. Gay. Poor. Angry. Lesbian. Illiterate. Homeless. Unemployed. Prisoner. Transgender. Aggressive. Lazy. Thug.
Conversations are no longer used to capture a glimpse of another person’s heart. It’s all about labels which is unfortunate because the only thing labels do is define how we mistreat our neighbors. The more we dislike the label of another person, the more harsh our behavior toward our siblings. That seems to be the way of this world.
But, it doesn’t have to be.
Labeling people doesn’t have to be a bad thing. God is a Labeler. God calls us many names: Strong. Honorable. Important. Light. Savior.
Then, let us strive to follow God’s example in our daily interactions with each other, that we may treat one another graciously, mercifully, lovingly. After all, the one label that sums up the whole of each person created as a member of the Human family is “Good.”
---------------------
Holy Tuesday, March 22
Rev. Dr. Denise Donnell
Denise is the Senior Faith Organizer for the Human Rights Campaign in Little Rock, Arkansas where she is working as an ally to the LGBT community, advocating for the total liberation of all God’s children that we may all live the abundant life to which we have been called.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 70: (0) For the leader. By David. As a reminder:
2 (1) God, rescue me!
Adonai, hurry and help me!
3 (2) May those who seek my life
be disgraced and humiliated.
May those who take pleasure in doing me harm
be turned back and put to confusion.
4 (3) May those who jeer, “Aha! Aha!”
withdraw because of their shame.
5 (4) But may all those who seek you
be glad and take joy in you.
May those who love your salvation say always,
“God is great and glorious!”
6 (5) But I am poor and needy;
God, hurry for me.
You are my helper and rescuer;
Adonai, don’t delay!
“The State of Texas has refused to listen to God’s children”
These words may seem like they came from the mouth of a preacher or evangelist down here in the South. In fact, they came from Licho Escamilla, a person who was executed on October 14, 2015. My heart gently wept as I read those words for the first time. It was just weeks before his pending execution that I spoke with a United Methodist minister who knew Licho’s family and shared the agony and pain the family was experiencing and
anticipating.
During this Lenten season, we will soon read the story of Jesus’ crucifixion. For some, Good Friday can be the toughest day as we imagine the pain and torture Jesus endured. Jesus’ words on the Cross remind me of these
words in Psalm 70, profusely begging for God’s mercy. And yet there’s a stark difference, for David he begged for mercy for himself, while Jesus begged for mercy for those next to him on crosses.
Make no mistake, we may not be in the business of crucifying Jesus in modern times, but we are still crucifying folks who resemble the other two persons on the crosses. I remember last year when I was speaking with an attorney from ACLU after he spoke of the progress being made in abolishing the death penalty. His last words
inspire me still, “When we abolish the death penalty, it will be because Methodists led the way.”
May we be followers of Jesus who seek justice and work towards collective liberation and life for all!
---------------------
Holy Wednesday, March 23
Jason Redick
Jason works for Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and has many other interests to fight for justice in and outside The United Methodist Church.
---------------------
Text: John 13:1 It was just before the festival of Pesach, and Yeshua knew that the time had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. Having loved his own people in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 They were at supper, and the Adversary had already put the desire to betray him into the heart of Y’hudah Ben-Shim‘on from K’riot. 3 Yeshua was aware that the Father had put everything in his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God. 4 So he rose from the table, removed his outer garments and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 Then he poured some water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the talmidim and wipe them off with the towel wrapped around him.
6 He came to Shim‘on Kefa, who said to him, “Lord! You are washing my feet?” 7 Yeshua answered him, “You don’t understand yet what I am doing, but in time you will understand.” 8 “No!” said Kefa, “You will never wash my feet!” Yeshua answered him, “If I don’t wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 “Lord,” Shim‘on Kefa replied, “not only my feet, but my hands and head too!” 10 Yeshua said to him, “A man who has had a bath doesn’t need to wash, except his feet — his body is already clean. And you people are clean, but not all of you.” 11 (He knew who was betraying him; this is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”)
12 After he had washed their feet, taken back his clothes and returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me ‘Rabbi’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because I am. 14 Now if I, the Lord and Rabbi, have washed your feet, you also should wash each other’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, so that you may do as I have done to you. 16 Yes, indeed! I tell you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is an emissary greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
31 After Y’hudah had left, Yeshua said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If the Son has glorified God, God will himself glorify the Son, and will do so without delay. 33 Little children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and, as I said to the Judeans, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ now I say it to you as well.
34 “I am giving you a new command: that you keep on loving each other. In the same way that I have loved you, you are also to keep on loving each other. 35 Everyone will know that you are my talmidim by the fact that you have love for each other.”
“If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”
When I was in seminary, I attended a Maundy Thursday foot washing service in the chapel on campus. As part of the service, professors were washing the feet of their students. I was directed to the station where an older
African-American professor who commanded tremendous respect, had been a faith leader since the civil rights movement and was a person that I held in very high esteem was washing feet. He shouldn’t be washing my
feet, I should be washing his feet, I thought to myself as I approached the basin. Nonetheless, he bent down and began to pour warm water over my feet, wiped them down and dried them off with a towel in his lap. I
felt ashamed seeing him stooped before me with all of the uncomfortable dynamics of race, age, gender and orientation embodied in him offering the same ritual that Jesus offered to his disciples. I felt a strange mix of confusion, vulnerability, humility and gratitude as I walked back to my pew and reflected on the meaning of this very personal and intimate experience.
Foot washing to me is a reminder of the sacrifices that have been made on our behalf by those who have come before us. So many people, including this professor, have sacrificed much and worked hard to bring about a world that is better for me and for all who have felt marginalized in some way. Jesus invites us on this Maundy Thursday to receive the gift of God’s unconditional love and to live out that love in service to others.
---------------------
Maundy, Thursday, March 24
Rev. Josh Noblitt
Josh Noblitt is Minister of Social Justice and Evangelism at Saint Mark UMC in Atlanta.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 22:(0) For the leader. Set to “Sunrise.” A psalm of David:
2 (1) My God! My God!
Why have you abandoned me?
Why so far from helping me,
so far from my anguished cries?
3 (2) My God, by day I call to you,
but you don’t answer;
likewise at night,
but I get no relief.
4 (3) Nevertheless, you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Isra’el.
5 (4) In you our ancestors put their trust;
they trusted, and you rescued them.
6 (5) They cried to you and escaped;
they trusted in you and were not disappointed.
7 (6) But I am a worm, not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
8 (7) All who see me jeer at me;
they sneer and shake their heads:
9 (8) “He committed himself to Adonai,
so let him rescue him!
Let him set him free
if he takes such delight in him!”
10 (9) But you are the one who took me from the womb,
you made me trust when I was on my mother’s breasts.
11 (10) Since my birth I’ve been thrown on you;
you are my God from my mother’s womb.
12 (11) Don’t stay far from me, for trouble is near;
and there is no one to help.
13 (12) Many bulls surround me,
wild bulls of Bashan close in on me.
14 (13) They open their mouths wide against me,
like ravening, roaring lions.
15 (14) I am poured out like water;
all my bones are out of joint;
my heart has become like wax —
it melts inside me;
16 (15) my mouth is as dry as a fragment of a pot,
my tongue sticks to my palate;
you lay me down in the dust of death.
17 (16) Dogs are all around me,
a pack of villains closes in on me
like a lion [at] my hands and feet.[Psalm 22:17 Or: “They pierced my hands and feet.” See Introduction, Section VIII, paragraph 6, and Section XIV, footnote 70.]
18 (17) I can count every one of my bones,
while they gaze at me and gloat.
19 (18) They divide my garments among themselves;
for my clothing they throw dice.
20 (19) But you, Adonai, don’t stay far away!
My strength, come quickly to help me!
21 (20) Rescue me from the sword,
my life from the power of the dogs.
22 (21) Save me from the lion’s mouth!
You have answered me from the wild bulls’ horns.
23 (22) I will proclaim your name to my kinsmen;
right there in the assembly I will praise you:
24 (23) “You who fear Adonai, praise him!
All descendants of Ya‘akov, glorify him!
All descendants of Isra’el, stand in awe of him!
25 (24) For he has not despised or abhorred
the poverty of the poor;
he did not hide his face from him
but listened to his cry.”
26 (25) Because of you
I give praise in the great assembly;
I will fulfill my vows
in the sight of those who fear him.
27 (26) The poor will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek Adonai will praise him;
Your hearts will enjoy life forever.
28 (27) All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to Adonai;
all the clans of the nations
will worship in your presence.
29 (28) For the kingdom belongs to Adonai,
and he rules the nations.
30 (29) All who prosper on the earth
will eat and worship;
all who go down to the dust
will kneel before him,
including him who can’t keep himself alive,
31 (30) A descendant will serve him;
the next generation will be told of Adonai.
32 (31) They will come and proclaim
his righteousness
to a people yet unborn,
that he is the one who did it.
Forsaken... I know this feeling.
Most LGBTQ people do.
The church causes us to feel this way when discriminatory provisions are enforced at the expense of our humanity. When our district superintendents and bishops tell us to wait, or throw in our face, “That’s what The Discipline says,” we are put to the cross of institutionalism.
For those of us LGBTQ United Methodists, at least the few of us who are left, we do indeed feel forsaken by our church.
But Good Friday will give way to Easter; death to life; exclusion to abundant welcome. The morning will come when all God’s children will shake the forsaken feeling and know through every ounce of our being that The UMC
is our church too.
LGBTQ persons will bring the light of resurrection.
----------------------
Good Friday, March 25
Rev. Sara Thompson Tweedy
Sara is on staff at Memorial UMC in White Plains, NY, serves in extension ministry, and is the Chair of Methodists in New Direction (MIND), an LGBTQ advocacy organization in the New York Annual Conference.
She is married to Kristin Marcell and is the mother of Max and Rowan.
---------------------
Text: Psalm 31:1 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
2 (1) In you, Adonai, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
in your justice, save me!
3 (2) Turn your ear toward me,
come quickly to my rescue,
be for me a rock of strength,
a fortress to keep me safe.
4 (3) Since you are my rock and fortress,
lead me and guide me for your name’s sake.
15 (14) But I, I trust in you, Adonai;
I say, “You are my God.”
16 (15) My times are in your hand;
rescue me from my enemies’ power,
from those who persecute me.
Dear God of Inclusion, God of Love, God of Justice and God of all, We pray that you listen to the cries of our hearts, Oh Lord. We cry out for justice in our communities and
acceptance in our homes and churches.
We pray that you change the judgmental hearts of your people. Grant those who are hurting the strength to carry on. Allow your love to mend and heal the precious hearts that have been broken, torn and abused.
Allow your sweet peace to rest among the lives in turmoil caused by a lack of acceptance and understanding.
Transform your churches, Dear God, and let them not be buildings of condemnation but sanctuaries of love and of acceptance of your children.
Bless the hearts of those who are yearning to belong in your Kingdom. Teach us all to love without discrimination and without judgment. Let our lights shine brightly in the dark places. Teach us to live and exist in unity as you have created us.
Guide us to speak up for the voiceless and to stand up for those who are facing injustices. As we push towards inclusion and justice we pray that your love breaks down every barrier that pushes back against us. We pray these things with pure hearts of love and gratitude for the blessings, inclusion and justice that is to come. Amen.
---------------------
Holy Saturday, March 26
Rhys Caraway
Rhys is a queer black man of faith.
---------------------
Text: Luke 24:1 but the next day, while it was still very early, they took the spices they had prepared, went to the tomb, 2 and found the stone rolled away from the tomb! 3 On entering, they discovered that the body of the Lord Yeshua was gone! 4 They were standing there, not knowing what to think about it, when suddenly two men in dazzlingly bright clothing stood next to them. 5 Terror-stricken, they bowed down with their faces to the ground. The two men said to them, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has been raised. Remember how he told you while he was still in the Galil, 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be executed on a stake as a criminal, but on the third day be raised again’?” 8 Then they remembered his words; 9 and, returning from the tomb, they told everything to the Eleven and to all the rest. 10 The women who told the emissaries these things were Miryam of Magdala, Yochanah, Miryam the mother of Ya‘akov, and the others in their circle.
11 But the emissaries didn’t believe them; in fact, they thought that what they said was utter nonsense! 12 However, Kefa got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping down, he saw only the burial cloths and went home wondering what had happened.
The first to learn Christ had risen was a class of people that weren’t allowed in the Temple and were deemed “unclean” every month. They were an unordainble group, treated as second class by their religious community:
they were women.
An angel shows up to this sexual/gender minority group and tells them the great news, but when they go and share this wonderful news with the men they are written off. Like other groups in The UMC, like Richard Allen,
like the people of MARCHA, like LGBT Methodists in 1972, like the people of NFAAUM. These groups know how the Marys feel to receive good news from the Savior, that they too are loved and whole and included in this important Christian narrative, only to be shut down when they share this great news as the first preachers.
Like so many people in the church, the women in this text are not believed, they are not heard; they are shrugged off and ignored. They are affirmed in their “sacred worth” but not treated as fully whole and trustworthy. Not until Peter (a member of the dominant group) goes to verify their tale, do others start to believe. Little has changed in our faith.
For years LGBT Methodists told our stories, but it wasn’t until those with racial, gender, cis, and heterosexual privilege started saying, “Perhaps these gays are being used by God” that others started to give credence to our voices.
The promise of Easter is that Christ is with us all and that in being with us he includes us in the narrative. He sees us as loveable, as sacred, as trustworthy. He knows our stories are not “idle tales” but part of his story. And no matter how much we are written off, may we keep proclaiming the gospel we know to be true: We are loved!
No one can separate us from the God who is Justice, who is A Full Embrace, whose message of liberation cannot be put to death. He is risen!
---------------------
Easter Sunday, March 27
Jarell Wilson
Jarell is a senior at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary seeking ordination as an Elder in The UMC.
---------------------
Reconciling Ministries Network extends its deep gratitude to all who contributed to A Season of Becoming.
The richness of this resource is entirely rooted in the diversity of voices represented here – a small glimpse of the gifts of God incarnated across race, age, sexual orientation, gender identity and religious vocations.
If you feel compelled to express your gratitude for this resource, please consider making a donation to Reconciling Ministries Network in honor of one of the contributors at rmnetwork.org/give.
If you’d like to share this resource with others, digital copies are available for download at rmnetwork.org/lent.
2016
---------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment