Day Four
Week One: Actionable Aspirations
Reflection for the Week: God’s goodness is the source that propels leaders into courageous action.
My parents were quite progressive in their day. They were all about positive parenting and creativity. I remember being told we didn’t use coloring books at our house because Mom didn’t want us “limited by the lines.” We probably just couldn’t afford coloring books.
I have no memory of ever being spanked either. In our family if you did something wrong we had a “talk.” Getting smacked is quicker, I think. But, I will say Sue and I incorporated the same positive parenting styles with our boys. We used “time outs” and “logical consequences.” We believed that is how you raise healthy, loving children. Funny thing is, my mother got the switch as a child, and there was no more loving person on the face of the earth. Mom’s parents were also two of the most tender-hearted, faithful, loving people you could meet and she loved them unequivocally.
In my child development training in graduate school, I remember reading a study that compared the mental health and productivity of children raised in homes where there was corporeal punishment and those where there was none. They found no difference in the children as adults -- no difference that is, if one other factor was present: “genuine love.
"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” This statement of Christ reminds us that we can only create out of our lives what has been created in our lives. We love as we have been loved. What greater joy is there than knowing you are loved by one you love? This is the key message of the gospel of John -- the gift of God’s love in our lives. The call is to live in this truth so that we will live out this truth.
Prayer: Lord, may your love live in me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Inspiring the world as passionate followers of Jesus Christ so all may experience God's life-giving love...Copyright © 2017 The California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
The California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church
110 South Euclid Avenue
Pasadena, California 91101, United States
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Day Three: Cal-Pac's Daily Lenten Devotionals for Friday, 3 March 2017 of The California-Pacific Conference in Pasadena, California, United States "I was born into a Methodist household..."
Day Three
Week One: Actionable Aspirations
Reflection for the Week: God’s goodness is the source that propels leaders into courageous action.
I was born into a Methodist household. We were Methodists until 1968 when the Evangelical United Brethren Church and the Methodist Church united. Now, we are United Methodists. My father was a pastor, my uncle is a pastor, my cousin was a pastor, my brother is a pastor, my sister-in-law was a pastor, her sister is a pastor, and so is her sister’s husband! I have no idea what it feels like to be on the outside of the church looking in. For one Thanksgiving dinner, as a family, we decided we would make it a rule for the entire meal that we could talk about anything but church. Dead silence.
That does not mean I didn’t go through my rebellious stage about religion and the church. As a teenager in the 1960s and ‘70s, I rejected the word “amen” at the end of the hymn as a word that claimed an ending, a “final” word that meant the song was over. The romantic idealist in me believed no song is ever over! So, instead of “amen,” I would sing, “flower.” (Hey, it was the 60s.)
Back then, I would have had a lot of trouble with the Colossian phrase, “Christ in you.” I was bothered at weddings when the pastor would say, “Put Christ first in your marriage. Let him live between the two of you.” When I got married, I didn’t want anyone between me and Sue! That is, until I claimed a new understanding – a new definition born of a more mature and examined faith.
I know now, that to have “Christ in you” is to have other-centered, self-sacrificing love in you. It is to have unlimited compassion in you. It is to have ready forgiveness in you. These are exactly the things I want between Sue and me in our marriage. These are the things I want at the center of every relationship. This is where the “hope of glory” lies. Glory means “the divine presence.” Surely, when the love of God, as known in the person of Christ, begins to live in us, the presence of God is made known to those who witness it. And that gives hope. We all need hope. And, we can bring that hope to others if we let this mystery of faith live in us.
Prayer: Hope of the world, live in me today. Amen.
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Day Three: Cal-Pac's Daily Lenten Devotionals for Friday, 3 March 2017 of The California-Pacific Conference in Pasadena, California, United States "I was born into a Methodist household..."
Day Three
Week One: Actionable Aspirations
Reflection for the Week: God’s goodness is the source that propels leaders into courageous action.
I was born into a Methodist household. We were Methodists until 1968 when the Evangelical United Brethren Church and the Methodist Church united. Now, we are United Methodists. My father was a pastor, my uncle is a pastor, my cousin was a pastor, my brother is a pastor, my sister-in-law was a pastor, her sister is a pastor, and so is her sister’s husband! I have no idea what it feels like to be on the outside of the church looking in. For one Thanksgiving dinner, as a family, we decided we would make it a rule for the entire meal that we could talk about anything but church. Dead silence.
That does not mean I didn’t go through my rebellious stage about religion and the church. As a teenager in the 1960s and ‘70s, I rejected the word “amen” at the end of the hymn as a word that claimed an ending, a “final” word that meant the song was over. The romantic idealist in me believed no song is ever over! So, instead of “amen,” I would sing, “flower.” (Hey, it was the 60s.)
Back then, I would have had a lot of trouble with the Colossian phrase, “Christ in you.” I was bothered at weddings when the pastor would say, “Put Christ first in your marriage. Let him live between the two of you.” When I got married, I didn’t want anyone between me and Sue! That is, until I claimed a new understanding – a new definition born of a more mature and examined faith.
I know now, that to have “Christ in you” is to have other-centered, self-sacrificing love in you. It is to have unlimited compassion in you. It is to have ready forgiveness in you. These are exactly the things I want between Sue and me in our marriage. These are the things I want at the center of every relationship. This is where the “hope of glory” lies. Glory means “the divine presence.” Surely, when the love of God, as known in the person of Christ, begins to live in us, the presence of God is made known to those who witness it. And that gives hope. We all need hope. And, we can bring that hope to others if we let this mystery of faith live in us.
Prayer: Hope of the world, live in me today. Amen.
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Inspiring the world as passionate followers of Jesus Christ so all may experience God's life-giving love...Copyright © 2017 The California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
The California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church
110 South Euclid Avenue
Pasadena, California 91101, United States
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