The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States for Saturday, 30 July 2016 - "Love, 'the perfect bond'”
Daily Scripture: Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with feelings of compassion and with kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with one another; if anyone has a complaint against someone else, forgive him. Indeed, just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive.
14 Above all these, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together perfectly;
Ephesians 2:19 So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers. On the contrary, you are fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s family. 20 You have been built on the foundation of the emissaries and the prophets, with the cornerstone being Yeshua the Messiah himself. 21 In union with him the whole building is held together, and it is growing into a holy temple in union with the Lord. 22 Yes, in union with him, you yourselves are being built together into a spiritual dwelling-place for God!
Reflection Questions:Both Colossians and Ephesians said that God calls us to be people who live in community with others. This doesn’t come about because of contracts or policies, though a certain number of those will be necessary. Rather it grows organically as we commit ourselves to living “as God’s household.” “Love, which is the perfect bond of unity” becomes the force that binds us together, and builds us “into a place where God lives through the Spirit.”- About year 100 of the Christian Era, Pliny, a Roman official, wrote to Emperor Trajan about the people called “Christians.” His letter called Christianity a crime, and asked how best to stamp it out. Pliny and Trajan, like most Roman officials, saw Christians as a threat to the empire. We have to wonder why any ruler would see people who lived the way these verses describe as a threat. What parts of this passage are most true of your life as a Christ-follower? What aspects of Christian character described here would have the biggest positive impact on the way(s) you relate to your neighbors?
Lord Jesus, sometimes I think love is weak, unrealistic, sentimental. Keep showing me its true power, its amazing tensile strength that bonds people together. Amen.
Family Activity:
Consider growing the fruit of the Spirit in your lives the lives this summer! Read Galatians 5:22-23[
Galatians 5:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things.
]. Focus on praying about and producing each fruit. For example, you might want to focus on love by studying verses on love in Scripture and finding Bible stories about God’s love. Share God’s love with one another and your neighbors near and far with your word and actions. Remember—growing any fruit of the Sprit doesn’t have to be practiced in big, fancy ways. When we are open to God growing us through the Holy Spirit, everyday acts will help produce delicious fruit! Pray daily, asking God to grow His garden of fruit in your heart and lives!Insights from Yvonne Gentile
Yvonne Gentile serves on The Church of the Resurrection staff as the Director of Connections. Yvonne directs the team that helps people get connected into the life of the church through service, studies, group life, and other ways of involvement.
We’ve lived in our house for over 20 years now. My husband and I can almost complete the neighbor grid that was in last weekend’s bulletin. The residents in nearly all of the houses around us have changed over time as people have moved in and out of the neighborhood. In the early years of living there, we didn’t know our neighbors as well, and being a good neighbor felt like it was more about following the Home Owners Association rules than a relationship. But that’s changed, and it changed because we’ve gotten to know our neighbors.
My husband Frank does this neighboring thing naturally. He just loves meeting people and finding ways to bless them. Last week he bought bubbles and large bouncy balls for Rosalie and Thomas, the 5- and 3-year olds who live next door to the right of us. He gave a book on gemstones to Maxwell, the 10-year old who lives to the left of us and was expressing an interest in rocks and minerals. He helped Jim, the neighbor across the street, get into house when he was locked out, and worked alongside Mike, who lives behind us, to cut and clear tree limbs brought down by storms earlier this summer.
Neighboring doesn’t come that naturally to me. I stop and talk to our neighbors when I see them, but I don’t spend as much time outside as Frank does, and I’m more of an introvert. Recently I’ve starting walking through my neighborhood each morning, and I’ve been saying hello and exchanging pleasantries with others I see along the way. I’m paying attention, and the faces I see on my walks are becoming familiar. I look for certain people – the couple who at first seemed reticent, but now greet me first, the gentleman who’s always setting the sprinkler up in his back yard who looks for me and smiles and waves hello as I round the bend on the path behind his house, the woman who wears sparkly sunglasses on her morning runs, and the couple who walk their beautiful (and very friendly) black dog together every morning.
It seems to me that the characteristics outlined in today’s passages are not only behaviors we practice, but attitudes as well. When I look at people through a lens of kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, I feel those things, too. When I am open to engaging other people with a smile and casual conversation, the world seems a more beautiful and loving place. Maybe that’s how Christians were meant to change the world – one simple interaction at a time, as others see and experience God’s love through us.
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120
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