Missionary Renegade: The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. The United United Methodist Church of the Resurrection from Leawood, Kansas, United States for Saturday, 28 May 2016 - "A diverse community living out God’s grace"

Sunday, May 29, 2016

The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. The United United Methodist Church of the Resurrection from Leawood, Kansas, United States for Saturday, 28 May 2016 - "A diverse community living out God’s grace"

The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. The United United Methodist Church of the Resurrection from Leawood, Kansas, United States for Saturday, 28 May 2016 - "A diverse community living out God’s grace"
Daily Scripture: Galatians 5:1 What the Messiah has freed us for is freedom! Therefore, stand firm, and don’t let yourselves be tied up again to a yoke of slavery. 2 Mark my words — I, Sha’ul, tell you that if you undergo b’rit-milah the Messiah will be of no advantage to you at all! 3 Again, I warn you: any man who undergoes b’rit-milah is obligated to observe the entire Torah! 4 You who are trying to be declared righteous by God through legalism have severed yourselves from the Messiah! You have fallen away from God’s grace! 5 For it is by the power of the Spirit, who works in us because we trust and are faithful, that we confidently expect our hope of attaining righteousness to be fulfilled. 6 When we are united with the Messiah Yeshua, neither being circumcised nor being uncircumcised matters; what matters is trusting faithfulness expressing itself through love.

Romans 14:1 Now as for a person whose trust is weak, welcome him — but not to get into arguments over opinions. 2 One person has the trust that will allow him to eat anything, while another whose trust is weak eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats anything must not look down on the one who abstains; and the abstainer must not pass judgment on the one who eats anything, because God has accepted him — 4 who are you to pass judgment on someone else’s servant? It is before his own master that he will stand or fall; and the fact is that he will stand, because the Lord is able to make him stand.

5 One person considers some days more holy than others, while someone else regards them as being all alike. What is important is for each to be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes a day as special does so to honor the Lord. Also he who eats anything, eats to honor the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; likewise the abstainer abstains to honor the Lord, and he too gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives only in relation to himself, and none of us dies only in relation to himself; 8 for if we live, we live in relation to the Lord; and if we die, we die in relation to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord — 9 indeed, it was for this very reason that the Messiah died and came back to life, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 You then, why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For all of us will stand before God’s judgment seat; 11 since it is written in the Tanakh,

“As I live, says Adonai, every knee will bend before me,

and every tongue will publicly acknowledge God.”[Romans 14:11 Isaiah 45:23]

12 So then, every one of us will have to give an account of himself to God.

Reflection Questions:

Differences of opinion persisted among the early Christians. (In 1 Corinthians 10:25-27, even Paul altered some of the Jerusalem Council’s guidelines about avoiding food offered to idols.) The great apostle passionately urged Galatian and Roman Christians not to give up their personal freedom in Christ. But he also urged believers to welcome all who had faith in Jesus, even when they differed on other points. If they fixated on the lesser details of their faith (as the Pharisees had), he said they were in danger of missing Jesus' central Kingdom ideal: living a life of love.

Paul reminded the Roman Christians that since each person is unique, each person's spiritual journey is, too. We need support and accountability to grow spiritually, but comparing others to ourselves and judging them is destructive to them and us (cf. Matthew 7:1-5 for Jesus' teaching). Do you ever struggle to accept believers in Jesus who come from an ethnic, cultural or denominational background different from yours? How can you best help others on their personal journey of "knowing, loving, and serving God and others," without comparing or judging it by your journey? Who has helped you in that way?

Today’s Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank you that I get to belong to you, to stretch my soul in the spacious atmosphere of your grace. Thank you for the widely varied family of which that makes me a part. Amen.
Family Activity:
At church, we meet many different people with different thoughts and opinions, yet we are all there to worship God! How does your family approach going to church? Are you excited, happy and joyful? Do you complain about the weather or the walk from the parking lot? Do you struggle to get dressed and out the door on time? Is your home filled with words of encouragement, or hollered, hurried words? To help remind you that you are going to God’s house for worship, consider playing praise music as you prepare. Maybe you could pray for a receptive heart and positive spirit the afternoon or evening before you go. Read a Bible story to help center your mind on God. Nothing works perfectly in family life, but choose one idea to try this next week and enjoy a more fulfilling experience in God’s house!
-------Insights from Michelle Kirby

Michelle Kirby is the Program Director for Learning Events such as the Journey 101 courses and Destination Resurrection at The Church of the Resurrection.
I love to travel and have had the opportunity to go to some really interesting places teaching about the Christian faith on various mission trips including India, Liberia, Cuba, and Honduras among others. The places I’ve been aren’t necessarily on everyone’s bucket lists—but they’ve been experiences I’ve enjoyed immensely.
Some of the things I most appreciate about these trips are meeting new people, being introduced to new cultures and learning new things. I will admit that there have been a handful of times when I’ve encountered situations which have pushed me out of my comfort zone. I love what author James Michener once said about traveling: “If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.”
As I’ve traveled and been exposed to new places and ideas, my mind has been opened to new or expanded understandings of things I thought I had already understood. By the same token, I hope that these trips have helped to serve those I’ve encountered with the opportunity to learn from me as well.
It’s been interesting to observe how our Christian faith is practiced and Scripture interpreted within various cultures. This has challenged me to consider how we come to understand one another’s decisions, and how I personally apply and interpret Scripture.
On one trip, I met a winsome young man who was a nationally recognized artist before becoming a pastor. Though we are the same denomination, in that particular culture, they understand Scripture to say him being an artist is in conflict with him being a pastor. In addition, they consider anything in the artistic world that doesn’t have a Christian theme “worldly.” We in the U.S. wouldn’t apply Scripture in this way or have the same understanding.
While this probably isn’t the most pressing situation in our denomination, these are the types of things that we encounter in our church world-wide. When we’re in those moments we have to have some type of response.
Our mission team and a group of their pastors discussed this, and it was very challenging. So how should we have appropriately responded to them when they were presenting their case? Do we try and correct their logic? Do we say nothing and risk this person not using his incredible God-given gift? We could tell he felt torn. He is an artist. At the same time, his supervisors were persuading him that it was a directive from Scripture to no longer paint.
How do we come to accept and understand one another about such things? One of the keys for us is that we’ve kept dialogue open and forged a relationship. We listen to one another and pray for one another. I think that is the key to understanding.
As the Apostle Paul reminds us in today’s passage from Romans, it isn’t up to me to judge their decisions or to treat them with contempt because they think differently. Though it pains me as an art lover to think of my friend not painting, I know he made the choice to do what he’s doing—and he’s a wonderful pastor.
We face challenging times in our denomination, in the world-wide church and in our societies. In the words of James, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” We need to truly love one another and keep in mind, again from Paul’s letter, “…each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.” It’s up to each of us to treat one another with love and act responsibly on what God is asking and expecting of us. We live within our cultures and understandings, but ultimately it is God we have to please.