The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States
"Born to fully reveal God’s glory, truth and grace" for Saturday, 31 December 2016
John 1:9 This was the true light,
which gives light to everyone entering the world.
10 He was in the world — the world came to be through him —
yet the world did not know him.
11 He came to his own homeland,
yet his own people did not receive him.
12 But to as many as did receive him, to those who put their trust in his person and power, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 not because of bloodline, physical impulse or human intention, but because of God.
14 The Word became a human being and lived with us,
and we saw his Sh’khinah,
the Sh’khinah of the Father’s only Son,
full of grace and truth.
15 Yochanan witnessed concerning him when he cried out, “This is the man I was talking about when I said, ‘The one coming after me has come to rank ahead of me, because he existed before me.’”
16 We have all received from his fullness,
yes, grace upon grace.
17 For the Torah was given through Moshe;
grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah.
18 No one has ever seen God; but the only and unique Son, who is identical with God and is at the Father’s side — he has made him known.
-------
The gods the Greeks and Romans worshipped carried out their purposes far from the day-to-day concerns of human beings. If one of them visited earth, people had best try to placate him or her or get out of the way. But “the Word,” John said, was entirely different. He brought light for all people, and gave all who believed in him the right to become children of God. He capped it off with the astonishing assertion that “the Word became flesh and made his home among us.” Neither Greeks nor Jews believed even God could bridge a gap that wide. But by becoming flesh, “the Word” showed us what God is really like. The light wasn’t just about God—the light was God in person, in our midst.
• John, taking his cue from Jesus (John 3:3-8), said the life Jesus brought is so new it’s like being born anew as a child of God. When did your spiritual journey start? In what ways has walking with Jesus given you a whole new life? John’s prologue included a tragic note: “the light came to his own people, and his own people didn’t welcome him.” What blocked people’s ability to recognize their Creator? How can you avoid that kind of blockage? How does the person of Jesus shape your understanding of God? What difference does what you believe about God make in day-to-day life?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, on this last day of 2016, I thank you for being with me through the year. And I’m so grateful for your assurance that your life-giving presence goes with me into every day of 2017. Amen.
Family Activity: Mary and Joseph were full of joy at the birth of Jesus. Then the angel joyfully told the shepherds that Jesus had been born and the shepherds joyfully told others! How can you joyfully tell others about the birthday of Jesus? First, create a list of people with whom you want to share the good news of Jesus. Consider neighbors, community workers, store clerks, family, and friends. Next, discuss fun and creative ways you could share the exciting news of Jesus’ birth and his love. You might bake treats, design cards, create a simple craft or write a simple note. Deliver your items to people. Let each person know you are praying for him or her during this Christmas season and throughout the year. Share the joy of Jesus with everyone!
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What did you get for Christmas?
At our Christmas Eve services, Pastor Hamilton mentioned that many of us, living in a highly prosperous area like Johnson County, spend lots of energy choosing gifts for people we care about who don't need anything. Often we're on the receiving end of that, too. Have you ever received an object you have no place for, or a gift card you struggled to find a way to use? I have--and I'm more toward the average portion of the income scale.
Today's passage points to three gifts that you and I received on the very first Christmas, gifts we really need. Yet sometimes, like a gift card, these gifts sit on the shelves of our life unused.
1) "Those who did welcome him, those who believed in his name, he authorized to become God’s children, born not from blood nor from human desire or passion, but born from God."
That's gift 1--you're fully authorized to become a child of God. I'm confident most of you who read the Insights have already redeemed that gift. But, just in case, please notice--the gift is to become a child of God, which is different and deeper than being a church member. It's a gift that affects your life seven days a week, not just one. It's a gift that shapes all the parts of your life--your driving, finances, relationships and even recreational activities are all included in being a child of God. You don't get two hours off from being a child of God just because a sports team or a politician you don't like is on TV!
2) Which is where gift 2 comes in: "From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace."
You don't get two hours (or days, weeks or years) off from being a child of God--but we all seem to take them anyway, sometimes. Yet those times off never lead God to cancel our status as God's children. (Only our own choice can ever do that.) When we realize that we've been off, and turn back toward God, Jesus taught us that God is always, always there, with arms outstretched and a giant smile that says, "Welcome home--you're still my child."
3) Because that's gift 3: "No one has ever seen God. God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, has made God known." I find it fascinating to listen to good people talk about the many different ways that they imagine God. To some extent, we have to imagine--"no one has ever seen God."
But we all have a record--four unique accounts, in fact, giving us a depth and richness of perception--of people who saw Jesus. We can wonder about and imagine lots of details--but not the big stuff. There's no room for imagining Jesus being petty and jealous, or yelling at a hapless store clerk who'd messed up an order, or telling some sad, guilt-ridden person that there was no room in his kingdom for "trash" like them. Those parts of the picture are crystal-clear.
And as Jesus would later say (cf. John 14:9), "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." All those good, big picture things you know about Jesus, you know about God. Which means if you read something, even in the Bible (and they're there), that makes you feel afraid, makes you feel like hiding from God, you know one of two things: either that Bible writer didn't fully understand what God is like, or you're not clearly understanding what the writer wrote. Jesus made God known, more fully than any other revelation.
I hope you have opened, or will open, those three gifts from the first Christmas, and carry them with you every day of 2017 and beyond. Jesus gave you the gift of knowing what God is like, that God is good and loving, merciful and trustworthy. Jesus gave you the gift of knowing that you cannot wander too far away from God to lose his mercy and love. Jesus gave you the authority to become God's child--and knowing what God is like, why wouldn't you want to be?
I want to be sure I've opened my three "first Christmas" gifts, and said "thank you" for them, before the stroke of midnight on this New Year's Eve. I hope you'll join me.
DARRELL HOLTZ
Darrell Holtz serves as Program Director for Adult Curriculum and Writing at Church of the Resurrection. He has two adult children, and two smart, handsome grandsons.
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Prayer Requests – cor.org/prayer
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John 1:9 This was the true light,
which gives light to everyone entering the world.
10 He was in the world — the world came to be through him —
yet the world did not know him.
11 He came to his own homeland,
yet his own people did not receive him.
12 But to as many as did receive him, to those who put their trust in his person and power, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 not because of bloodline, physical impulse or human intention, but because of God.
14 The Word became a human being and lived with us,
and we saw his Sh’khinah,
the Sh’khinah of the Father’s only Son,
full of grace and truth.
15 Yochanan witnessed concerning him when he cried out, “This is the man I was talking about when I said, ‘The one coming after me has come to rank ahead of me, because he existed before me.’”
16 We have all received from his fullness,
yes, grace upon grace.
17 For the Torah was given through Moshe;
grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah.
18 No one has ever seen God; but the only and unique Son, who is identical with God and is at the Father’s side — he has made him known.
-------
The gods the Greeks and Romans worshipped carried out their purposes far from the day-to-day concerns of human beings. If one of them visited earth, people had best try to placate him or her or get out of the way. But “the Word,” John said, was entirely different. He brought light for all people, and gave all who believed in him the right to become children of God. He capped it off with the astonishing assertion that “the Word became flesh and made his home among us.” Neither Greeks nor Jews believed even God could bridge a gap that wide. But by becoming flesh, “the Word” showed us what God is really like. The light wasn’t just about God—the light was God in person, in our midst.
• John, taking his cue from Jesus (John 3:3-8), said the life Jesus brought is so new it’s like being born anew as a child of God. When did your spiritual journey start? In what ways has walking with Jesus given you a whole new life? John’s prologue included a tragic note: “the light came to his own people, and his own people didn’t welcome him.” What blocked people’s ability to recognize their Creator? How can you avoid that kind of blockage? How does the person of Jesus shape your understanding of God? What difference does what you believe about God make in day-to-day life?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, on this last day of 2016, I thank you for being with me through the year. And I’m so grateful for your assurance that your life-giving presence goes with me into every day of 2017. Amen.
Family Activity: Mary and Joseph were full of joy at the birth of Jesus. Then the angel joyfully told the shepherds that Jesus had been born and the shepherds joyfully told others! How can you joyfully tell others about the birthday of Jesus? First, create a list of people with whom you want to share the good news of Jesus. Consider neighbors, community workers, store clerks, family, and friends. Next, discuss fun and creative ways you could share the exciting news of Jesus’ birth and his love. You might bake treats, design cards, create a simple craft or write a simple note. Deliver your items to people. Let each person know you are praying for him or her during this Christmas season and throughout the year. Share the joy of Jesus with everyone!
-------
What did you get for Christmas?
At our Christmas Eve services, Pastor Hamilton mentioned that many of us, living in a highly prosperous area like Johnson County, spend lots of energy choosing gifts for people we care about who don't need anything. Often we're on the receiving end of that, too. Have you ever received an object you have no place for, or a gift card you struggled to find a way to use? I have--and I'm more toward the average portion of the income scale.
Today's passage points to three gifts that you and I received on the very first Christmas, gifts we really need. Yet sometimes, like a gift card, these gifts sit on the shelves of our life unused.
1) "Those who did welcome him, those who believed in his name, he authorized to become God’s children, born not from blood nor from human desire or passion, but born from God."
That's gift 1--you're fully authorized to become a child of God. I'm confident most of you who read the Insights have already redeemed that gift. But, just in case, please notice--the gift is to become a child of God, which is different and deeper than being a church member. It's a gift that affects your life seven days a week, not just one. It's a gift that shapes all the parts of your life--your driving, finances, relationships and even recreational activities are all included in being a child of God. You don't get two hours off from being a child of God just because a sports team or a politician you don't like is on TV!
2) Which is where gift 2 comes in: "From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace."
You don't get two hours (or days, weeks or years) off from being a child of God--but we all seem to take them anyway, sometimes. Yet those times off never lead God to cancel our status as God's children. (Only our own choice can ever do that.) When we realize that we've been off, and turn back toward God, Jesus taught us that God is always, always there, with arms outstretched and a giant smile that says, "Welcome home--you're still my child."
3) Because that's gift 3: "No one has ever seen God. God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, has made God known." I find it fascinating to listen to good people talk about the many different ways that they imagine God. To some extent, we have to imagine--"no one has ever seen God."
But we all have a record--four unique accounts, in fact, giving us a depth and richness of perception--of people who saw Jesus. We can wonder about and imagine lots of details--but not the big stuff. There's no room for imagining Jesus being petty and jealous, or yelling at a hapless store clerk who'd messed up an order, or telling some sad, guilt-ridden person that there was no room in his kingdom for "trash" like them. Those parts of the picture are crystal-clear.
And as Jesus would later say (cf. John 14:9), "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." All those good, big picture things you know about Jesus, you know about God. Which means if you read something, even in the Bible (and they're there), that makes you feel afraid, makes you feel like hiding from God, you know one of two things: either that Bible writer didn't fully understand what God is like, or you're not clearly understanding what the writer wrote. Jesus made God known, more fully than any other revelation.
I hope you have opened, or will open, those three gifts from the first Christmas, and carry them with you every day of 2017 and beyond. Jesus gave you the gift of knowing what God is like, that God is good and loving, merciful and trustworthy. Jesus gave you the gift of knowing that you cannot wander too far away from God to lose his mercy and love. Jesus gave you the authority to become God's child--and knowing what God is like, why wouldn't you want to be?
I want to be sure I've opened my three "first Christmas" gifts, and said "thank you" for them, before the stroke of midnight on this New Year's Eve. I hope you'll join me.
DARRELL HOLTZDarrell Holtz serves as Program Director for Adult Curriculum and Writing at Church of the Resurrection. He has two adult children, and two smart, handsome grandsons.
-------
Prayer Requests – cor.org/prayer
-------
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The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120
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