Good News and Healing

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Ministry

Called to Discipleship

Matthew 4:23-25 The Message

23-25 From there he went all over Galilee. He used synagogues for meeting places and taught people the truth of God. God’s kingdom was his theme—that beginning right now they were under God’s government, a good government! He also healed people of their diseases and of the bad effects of their bad lives. Word got around the entire Roman province of Syria. People brought anybody with an ailment, whether mental, emotional, or physical. Jesus healed them, one and all. More and more people came, the momentum gathering. Besides those from Galilee, crowds came from the “Ten Towns” across the lake, others up from Jerusalem and Judea, still others from across the Jordan

For Reflection

Jesus mainstreamed his ministry.  His mission was to help people understand the power of accepting God's will. His work included signs (healing) and such activity drew people toward his love and tenderness. These were the marks of his call to salvation and to escape the perceptions which separated them from reliance on God.

Pray
Pray to deepen your relationship to God.  Pray so that you might experience God's love fully and rest in obedience to God's will.


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Tempted in the Wilderness

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Ministry

Called to Discipleship

Matthew 4:1-11 The Message

The Test

4 1-3 Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: “Since you are God’s Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread.”
4 Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God’s mouth.”
5-6 For the second test the Devil took him to the Holy City. He sat him on top of the Temple and said, “Since you are God’s Son, jump.” The Devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91: “He has placed you in the care of angels. They will catch you so that you won’t so much as stub your toe on a stone.”
7 Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: “Don’t you dare test the Lord your God.”
8-9 For the third test, the Devil took him to the peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth’s kingdoms, how glorious they all were. Then he said, “They’re yours—lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they’re yours.”
10 Jesus’ refusal was curt: “Beat it, Satan!” He backed his rebuke with a third quotation from Deuteronomy: “Worship the Lord your God, and only him. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.”
11 The Test was over. The Devil left. And in his place, angels! Angels came and took care of Jesus’ needs.

For Reflection

We are all tested.  Each of us is vulnerable to the seductions of everyday life. Each day we muster the courage to reject the temptation to deny God and God's promise.  Each day we are tempted to act as our egos dictate.  Each day we have to balance the demands of our humanity with our spiritual needs.  Life is messy.

Pray

Pray so that you will be more able to develop your spiritual desires so that they displace your desires for self-fulfillment.

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God Speaks to Disciples

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Ministry

Called to Discipleship

Luke 9:28-36 The Message (MSG)

Jesus in His Glory

28-31 About eight days after saying this, he climbed the mountain to pray, taking Peter, John, and James along. While he was in prayer, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became blinding white. At once two men were there talking with him. They turned out to be Moses and Elijah—and what a glorious appearance they made! They talked over his exodus, the one Jesus was about to complete in Jerusalem.
32-33 Meanwhile, Peter and those with him were slumped over in sleep. When they came to, rubbing their eyes, they saw Jesus in his glory and the two men standing with him. When Moses and Elijah had left, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, this is a great moment! Let’s build three memorials: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He blurted this out without thinking.
34-35 While he was babbling on like this, a light-radiant cloud enveloped them. As they found themselves buried in the cloud, they became deeply aware of God. Then there was a voice out of the cloud: “This is my Son, the Chosen! Listen to him.”
36 When the sound of the voice died away, they saw Jesus there alone. They were speechless. And they continued speechless, said not one thing to anyone during those days of what they had seen.

For Reflection

The story Jesus' transfiguration appears in three Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The vision of Jesus, Moses, and Elijah reveals more than the divinity of Christ.  It also seems to indicate the post-mortem existence, of Moses, the law-bringer and Elijah the prophet. Could it be that they like Christ pre-existed their Earthly lives and continue to exist eternally? This image reveals continuity in the evolution of spiritual restitution that is possible in worshiping God and following Jesus.  

Pray

Pray so that you will be able to achieve progress toward Grace.  Pray so that you will understand what is necessary to approach an equivalence in form to Christ.  Pray, "As Christ walked so may I."

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Sustained. By God

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Ministry

Called to Discipleship

Deuteronomy 8:1-11 Amplified Bible

God’s Gracious Dealings

8 “Every commandment that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, so that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore [to give] to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember [always] all the ways which the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart (mind), whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 He humbled you and allowed you to be hungry and fed you with manna, [a substance] which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, so that He might make you understand [by personal experience] that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your feet swell these forty years. 5 Therefore, know in your heart (be fully cognizant) that the Lord your God disciplines and instructs you just as a man disciplines and instructs his son. 6 Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk [that is, to live each and every day] in His ways and fear [and worship] Him [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect]. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; 9 a land where you will eat bread without shortage, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.
11 “Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by failing to keep His commandments and His judgments (precepts) and His statutes which I am commanding you today.

For Reflection

The Israelites are reminded of what God has done for them.  Not because they need to worship the God of their deliverance, but because they need to remember the level of God's commitment to their well being.


We also need to remember God's promise of permanent protection. And just as the Jews lost their sense of God's presence in time of troubles, we need to remember that our fears are not the dominant element in securing our survival. Despite our suffering, God will lead us to peace.

Pray

Pray so that you will find peace in the midst of troubling times and remember God's promise.

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Sustained by God

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Ministry

Called to Discipleship

Deuteronomy 8:6-16 The Message

6-9 So it’s paramount that you keep the commandments of God, your God, walk down the roads he shows you and reverently respect him. God is about to bring you into a good land, a land with brooks and rivers, springs and lakes, streams out of the hills and through the valleys. It’s a land of wheat and barley, of vines and figs and pomegranates, of olives, oil, and honey. It’s land where you’ll never go hungry—always food on the table and a roof over your head. It’s a land where you’ll get iron out of rocks and mine copper from the hills.
10 After a meal, satisfied, bless God, your God, for the good land he has given you.
11-16 Make sure you don’t forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today. Make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up—make sure you don’t become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God,

For Reflection

Children at play, those who walk along a beach, Young people who cluster to share visions of today and hopes for tomorrow, joyful people, those who travel to far off lands; all are called to ministry. Some accept God's call. Many are not aware of God's work through them. Some are so absorbed by making their way through the matrix of their lives that they are not aware of God's call.


But the living water cleanses all. The bright light of saving grace inhabits all. All are called to minister to the needs of others and to care for the Creation.  Like Peter, all will at sometime forget God and all are invited to repent and respond to the light of the Holy Spirit. All are called to rest.

Pray

Pray so that you can strengthen your reserve to act on the call of God to be kind, just, and forgiving. Pray so that you remember God and practice grace.

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The Blind Receive Sight and Salvation

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

Calling to Salvation

Luke 18:35-43 The Message
35-37 He came to the outskirts of Jericho. A blind man was sitting beside the road asking for handouts. When he heard the rustle of the crowd, he asked what was going on. They told him, “Jesus the Nazarene is going by.”
38 He yelled, “Jesus! Son of David! Mercy, have mercy on me!”
39 Those ahead of Jesus told the man to shut up, but he only yelled all the louder, “Son of David! Mercy, have mercy on me!”
40 Jesus stopped and ordered him to be brought over. When he had come near, Jesus asked, “What do you want from me?”
41 He said, “Master, I want to see again.”
42-43 Jesus said, “Go ahead—see again! Your faith has saved and healed you!” The healing was instant: He looked up, seeing—and then followed Jesus, glorifying God. Everyone in the street joined in, shouting praise to God.

For Reflection

This story is not about physical healing only.  As with most of the Bible, much of this story's  truth is hidden in its commonplace life events.  Spiritual blindness always leads deceptively to a perverted view of reality.  What is real can only be seen and understood from a new perspective, a new paradigm for "seeing." Understanding which is based only upon a secular idea of what is real will result only in an empty, impotent life; void of righteousness.

Pray

Pray so that you will be more spiritually aware. Pray so that you will be able to see beyond the temporal into the eternal truths of living.

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Entering the Kingdom of God

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

Calling to Salvation

Luke 18:18-30 The Message

The Rich Official

18 One day one of the local officials asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to deserve eternal life?”
19-20 Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good—only God. You know the commandments, don’t you? No illicit sex, no killing, no stealing, no lying, honor your father and mother.”
21 He said, “I’ve kept them all for as long as I can remember.”
22 When Jesus heard that, he said, “Then there’s only one thing left to do: Sell everything you own and give it away to the poor. You will have riches in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
23 This was the last thing the official expected to hear. He was very rich and became terribly sad. He was holding on tight to a lot of things and not about to let them go.
24-25 Seeing his reaction, Jesus said, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who have it all to enter God’s kingdom? I’d say it’s easier to thread a camel through a needle’s eye than get a rich person into God’s kingdom.”
26 “Then who has any chance at all?” the others asked.
27 “No chance at all,” Jesus said, “if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it.”
28 Peter tried to regain some initiative: “We left everything we owned and followed you, didn’t we?”
29-30 “Yes,” said Jesus, “and you won’t regret it. No one who has sacrificed home, spouse, brothers and sisters, parents, children—whatever—will lose out. It will all come back multiplied many times over in your lifetime. And then the bonus of eternal life!”

For Reflection

How far does one have to go to enter the Kingdom and practice righteousness?  To fully participate in the Kingdom of God one has to "go all in and double down." One must act as though one's former life is dead and begin as newborn; learning again how to crawl, walk, and run.  One has to unlearn all the ineffective ways of living and even though it may be counter-intuitive to many others, risk it all on Christ's way.

Pray

Pray about all things so that you will be more willing and able to live as Christ had.

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Let the Children Come to Me

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

Calling to Salvation

Luke 18:15-17 The Message

15-17 People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off. Jesus called them back. “Let these children alone. Don’t get between them and me. These children are the kingdom’s pride and joy. Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.”

For Reflection

Children seem to accept the mysteries of life.  Furthermore, children are barely able to be consciously aware of self let alone have a lofty self-concept.  They are bound to their mothers with trust. This child's instinct to trust is humankind's virtue and the key to salvation.

Pray

Pray so that you will be more able to trust God as a child trusts it's mother.

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He Healed Them All

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

Calling to Salvation

Luke 4:38-44 The Message

He Healed Them All

38-39 He left the meeting place and went to Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was running a high fever and they asked him to do something for her. He stood over her, told the fever to leave—and it left. Before they knew it, she was up getting dinner for them.
40-41 When the sun went down, everyone who had anyone sick with some ailment or other brought them to him. One by one he placed his hands on them and healed them. Demons left in droves, screaming, “Son of God! You’re the Son of God!” But he shut them up, refusing to let them speak because they knew too much, knew him to be the Messiah.
42-44 He left the next day for open country. But the crowds went looking and, when they found him, clung to him so he couldn’t go on. He told them, “Don’t you realize that there are yet other villages where I have to tell the Message of God’s kingdom, that this is the work God sent me to do?” Meanwhile he continued preaching in the meeting places of Galilee.

For Reflection

No rule, no law, no ethical or moral code can ever account for unforeseen circumstances and be administered fairly. Furthermore, regulations and requirements can be applied maliciously. Not only is the comfort of our lives interrupted by laws and enforcers, but discomfort may also arise from our physical frailties.

Christ healed people with physical and mental illnesses. He did not discriminate among the deserving and undeserving.  Christ healed all who called upon his name.  Both sinner and saint will find salvation and redemption in Christ. 

Pray

Pray to thank God for the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  Pray so that you will strengthen your resolve to be more like Jesus and provide a conduit to healing for all people with whom you interact.

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Laws of Confession and Restitution

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

Calling to Salvation

Exodus 22:1-4 The Message

22 1-3 “If someone steals an ox or a lamb and slaughters or sells it, the thief must pay five cattle in place of the ox and four sheep in place of the lamb. If the thief is caught while breaking in and is hit hard and dies, there is no bloodguilt. But if it happens after daybreak, there is bloodguilt.
3-4 “A thief must make full restitution for what is stolen. The thief who is unable to pay is to be sold for his thieving. If caught red-handed with the stolen goods, and the ox or donkey or lamb is still alive, the thief pays double.

Numbers 5:5-10 The Message

5-10 God spoke to Moses: “Tell the People of Israel, When a man or woman commits any sin, the person has broken trust with God, is guilty, and must confess the sin. Full compensation plus twenty percent must be made to whoever was wronged. If the wronged person has no close relative who can receive the compensation, the compensation belongs to God and must be given to the priest, along with the ram by which atonement is made. All the sacred offerings that the People of Israel bring to a priest belong to the priest. Each person’s sacred offerings are his own, but what one gives to the priest stays with the priest.”

For Reflection

Thou shalt not kill another human being nor shall you steal. The admonition is clear. But, is it as clear in practice as it is in rolling off the tongue?

Following the letter of the Mosaic law was difficult in practice. To be sure killing and stealing are clearly wrong but does the circumstance change how the punishment is dealt or the law is interpreted?  In these passages, judgment is made on both the punishment and justification of violating the law.

No human can predict the full consequences of rules. There always seems to be a situation in which one finds extenuating circumstances that create a need to change, codify the intent, and parse the laws to determine and administer appropriate punishments The law, then and now, always requires interpretation. Ultimately, obeying the law seems to end in an "if this then" dilemma.

Committing a violation to other people is also a transgression against God. Without repentance, restitution to the harmed individual is insufficient.

Pray

Pray about the conflicting rules that guide your life.  Pray, and listen to the Holy Spirit comfort you and show you God's mercy as you decide between two undesirable choices. Pray and know that God will always love you and treat you with compassionate restoration.

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Plea for Understanding and Recognition

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

Calling the Lost

Luke 15:25-32 The Message

25-27 “All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day’s work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard music and dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, ‘Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast—barbecued beef!—because he has him home safe and sound.’
28-30 “The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’
31-32 “His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’”

For Reflection

Who among us does not want to be recognized and understood?  Is that not the first step to reconciliation? As the father comforted the son, so God comforts us when we feel that we have been ignored or unappreciated.  God entreats us to join in the joy of finding a place of calm and peace.

Pray

Pray so that you will find joy in each other's walk with Christ. Pray so that all will see the rest and peace you have in your relationship with the Creator.

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Finding the Lost Sheep and Coin

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

Calling the Lost

Luke 15:1-10 The Message (

The Story of the Lost Sheep

15 1-3 By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Their grumbling triggered this story.
4-7 “Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me! I’ve found my lost sheep!’ Count on it—there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.

The Story of the Lost Coin

8-10 “Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it, you can be sure she’ll call her friends and neighbors: ‘Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!’ Count on it—that’s the kind of party God’s angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God.”

For Reflection

I can't imagine that these people gathered around Jesus to hear his promise of life after death.  No, I think what generated such interest was a promise of becoming a transcendent being, escape from the terrible social, economic and spiritual deprivation they were experiencing.  Salvation from their human circumstance in the here and now was the draw.  Christ did not offer a magical elixir or self-help empowerment.  Christ offered them, as he offers today, God-help, a Holy Spirit relationship that restores all of humanity to a right relationship with the Creator and  Creation.

Pray

Pray and gain the wisdom that only a right relationship with God can bring.

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Calling Sinners to Repentance

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

Calling the Lost

Luke 3:12-13; 5:27-32 The Message

12 Taxmen also came to be baptized and said, “Teacher, what should we do?”

13 He told them, “No more extortion—collect only what is required by law.”

27-28 After this he went out and saw a man named Levi at his work collecting taxes. Jesus said, “Come along with me.” And he did—walked away from everything and went with him.

29-30 Levi gave a large dinner at his home for Jesus. Everybody was there, tax men and other disreputable characters as guests at the dinner. The Pharisees and their religion scholars came to his disciples greatly offended. “What is he doing eating and drinking with crooks and ‘sinners’?”

31-32 Jesus heard about it and spoke up, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders—an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.”

For Reflection

Taxmen did not sin because they were tax collectors. Their sin was the selfishness, greed, and lack of love for each other that separated them from God and resulted in injustices. In a real sense, the idolatry of worshiping wealth was their sin.

Pray

Pray so that you will be able to see each person as a child of God. Pray so that your first interest is the welfare of others.

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God's Compassion for Straying People

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

Calling the Lost

Hosea 11:1-9 The Message (MSG)

Israel Played at Religion with Toy Gods

11 1-9 “When Israel was only a child, I loved him.
    I called out, ‘My son!’—called him out of Egypt.
But when others called him,
    he ran off and left me.
He worshiped the popular sex gods,
    he played at religion with toy gods.
Still, I stuck with him. I led Ephraim.
    I rescued him from human bondage,
But he never acknowledged my help,
    never admitted that I was the one pulling his wagon,
That I lifted him, like a baby, to my cheek,
    that I bent down to feed him.
Now he wants to go back to Egypt or go over to Assyria—
    anything but return to me!
That’s why his cities are unsafe—the murder rate skyrockets
    and every plan to improve things falls to pieces.
My people are hell-bent on leaving me.
    They pray to god Baal for help.
    He doesn’t lift a finger to help them.
But how can I give up on you, Ephraim?
    How can I turn you loose, Israel?
How can I leave you to be ruined like Admah,
    devastated like luckless Zeboim?
I can’t bear to even think such thoughts.
    My insides churn in protest.
And so I’m not going to act on my anger.
    I’m not going to destroy Ephraim.
And why? Because I am God and not a human.
    I’m The Holy One and I’m here—in your very midst.

For Reflection

So there you have it. God does not think or act in human terms. How many times have we asked God to be vengeful on our enemies when we know full well that we are to love our enemies? How many times have we asked God to lift the burden of our human condition rather than raising a finger to collaborate in God's plan for salvation and reconciliation?

When your insides churn with anger, direct your action to create God-centered, mercy-filled solutions to that which has angered you.

Pray

Pray, so that you will see creation with God's eyes. Pray, so that desiring vengeance is never a desirable option.

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Transformed by Christ into a New Life

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

Calling the Lost

Ephesians 2:1-10 The Message

He Tore Down the Wall

2 1-6 It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.
7-10 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

For Reflection

In those days Ephesians lived as many of us do as though evil spirits inhabit the air with demons whispering seeds of self-deception and doubt of God's promise of protection and comfort. If some human-derived solution to a pressing problem works we take the credit. When the solution's unintended consequences erupt, we blame each other. Have we ever seriously tried working with God's universe? Or are we forever bound by our self-determination to work at odds with Creation?

Pray

Pray so that you will be more in tune with Creation.  Pray so that you work toward justice and grace.  Pray so that you become a God collaborator.

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Faithful Witness through Suffering

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

A Costly Call

2 Corinthians 6:1-10 The Message

Staying at Our Post

6 1-10 Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don’t squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us. God reminds us,
I heard your call in the nick of time;
The day you needed me, I was there to help.
Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped. Don’t put it off; don’t frustrate God’s work by showing up late, throwing a question mark over everything we’re doing. Our work as God’s servants gets validated—or not—in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly . . . in hard times, tough times, bad times; when we’re beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating; with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love; when we’re telling the truth, and when God’s showing his power; when we’re doing our best setting things right; when we’re praised, and when we’re blamed; slandered, and honored; true to our word, though distrusted; ignored by the world, but recognized by God; terrifically alive, though rumored to be dead; beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die; immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, having it all.

For Reflection

It is our human condition to suffer.  But our suffering is neither good or bad. Nor is suffering punishment for evil deeds or is a lack of apparent suffering a reward.  

Ask yourself, "When have you made the most progress, learned the most?" You probably will note that you learned the most from your failures than your successes. So it is with your spiritual growth.  One does not suffer because of God caught one doing ill-conceived deeds. While suffering may be painful, many of us have understood that living through pain and suffering has resulted in strengthing our resolve.

Some choose to accept that suffering makes them a victim and rarely escape further suffering for the same cause. But we who love the Lord see through our troubles and understand that God wills only the goodness that results. Others as well will see as you embrace your troubles that the suffering enriches your life rather than impairs your life.  Refusing to succumb to life's challenges, even as you have emerged in tears, can fill you with the joy of living.

Pray

Pray so that you will be more able to understand the wisdom of your suffering.

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Suffering and Knowing Jesus Christ

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

A Costly Call

Philippians 3:7-16 The Message

7-9 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness.
10-11 I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.

For Reflection

We spend most of our lives establishing a safe and secure existence for our selves and our families. We are so tied to the work of survival that we are not open to the spiritual life that awaits us. 

Paul is aware of the transformation of his life that allowed him to transcend the everyday pressures of survival. He, like many of us, felt unsatisfied with the corporal life.  In following Christ, Paul found a pathway out of his enslavement to human desires, and into the freedom to expand his former life in ways that provided joy and fulfillment.

Pray

Through prayer, open your soul so that the Holy Spirit will be enabled to lead your transformation into Grace. Pray so that you may find resurrection from the dead ends of your former life.

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The Father HonorsThose Who Follow

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

A Costly Call

John 12:20-26 The Message

A Grain of Wheat Must Die

20-21 There were some Greeks in town who had come up to worship at the Feast. They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee: “Sir, we want to see Jesus. Can you help us?”
22-23 Philip went and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip together told Jesus. Jesus answered, “Time’s up. The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
24-25 “Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal.
26 “If any of you wants to serve me, then follow me. Then you’ll be where I am, ready to serve at a moment’s notice. The Father will honor and reward anyone who serves me.

For Reflection

Having heard of the Messiah, the Greek-speaking pagans came seeking the ordinary language of religion.  What they heard, however, was a metaphor of eternal life in the natural cycle of a grain of wheat. They were told to let go of their former spiritual lives in reckless abandonment.

The love you will find in following Christ will endure, and you will become more Christ-like. Your growth into grace is your reward.

Pray

Pray so that you will approach your life as Jesus has taught us.  Pray so that you will persist in your journey into grace.

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A Costly Call

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

A Costly Call

Matthew 10:34-39 The Message 

34-37 “Don’t think I’ve come to make life cozy. I’ve come to cut—make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law—cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. If you prefer a father or mother over me, you don’t deserve me. If you prefer a son or daughter over me, you don’t deserve me.
38-39 “If you don’t go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don’t deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.

For Reflection

Just as Christ had to die so that God could show us the cost of our commitment to change. We also must die to our former lives to accept the promise of grace. Christ begged for God to save him from pain and death.  We can not expect that our faith journeys will be free of suffering.  It is in the passage through our suffering that we grow in grace. 

Pray

Pray so that you will look to Jesus to find yourself. Embrace your human condition as a tradesman may accept the cuts, bruises, and pain of learning his trade and learn from them.

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Answering the Lord's Call to Discipleship

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

A Costly Call

Mark 4:10-20 The Message

10-12 When they were off by themselves, those who were close to him, along with the Twelve, asked about the stories. He told them, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom—you know how it works. But to those who can’t see it yet, everything comes in stories, creating readiness, nudging them toward receptive insight. These are people—
Whose eyes are open but don’t see a thing,
Whose ears are open but don’t understand a word,
Who avoid making an about-face and getting forgiven.”
13 He continued, “Do you see how this story works? All my stories work this way.
14-15 “The farmer plants the Word. Some people are like the seed that falls on the hardened soil of the road. No sooner do they hear the Word than Satan snatches away what has been planted in them.
16-17 “And some are like the seed that lands in the gravel. When they first hear the Word, they respond with great enthusiasm. But there is such shallow soil of character that when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.
18-19 “The seed cast in the weeds represents the ones who hear the kingdom news but are overwhelmed with worries about all the things they have to do and all the things they want to get. The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it.
20 “But the seed planted in the good earth represents those who hear the Word, embrace it, and produce a harvest beyond their wildest dreams.”

For Reflection

Ok, I get it.  Some respond and begin a journey to discipleship.  God reveals the secrets of our souls only to those who want them. God's never forces the wisdom of Creation's mysteries upon us.

What of those who do not see, understand or avoid? Are those who do not respond to God's call rejected by God? 

Some of us prefer just about anything but change.  Those who fail t0 accept a new path fear that which they see as inconsistent with a personal world view and out of fear label the jump into faith non-rational. God protects them too. They have not yet developed trust in the unseen to risk failure.  In short, they have not suffered enough to reject their current path.  But, God's goodness includes us all; those who see and those who are blinded by the exigencies of life.

Pray

Pray so that when you fall you will be able to re-frame your experience as an opportunity to learn and to see the wisdom in your failure.

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The Great Dinner for All Peoples

Discipleship and Mission

Call to Discipleship

Called to Humility and Hospitality

Luke 14:15-24 The Message

The Story of the Dinner Party
15 That triggered a response from one of the guests: “How fortunate the one who gets to eat dinner in God’s kingdom!”
16-17 Jesus followed up. “Yes. For there was once a man who threw a great dinner party and invited many. When it was time for dinner, he sent out his servant to the invited guests, saying, ‘Come on in; the food’s on the table.’
18 “Then they all began to beg off, one after another making excuses. The first said, ‘I bought a piece of property and need to look it over. Send my regrets.’
19 “Another said, ‘I just bought five teams of oxen, and I really need to check them out. Send my regrets.’
20 “And yet another said, ‘I just got married and need to get home to my wife.’
21 “The servant went back and told the master what had happened. He was outraged and told the servant, ‘Quickly, get out into the city streets and alleys. Collect all who look like they need a square meal, all the misfits and homeless and wretched you can lay your hands on, and bring them here.’
22 “The servant reported back, ‘Master, I did what you commanded—and there’s still room.’
23-24 “The master said, ‘Then go to the country roads. Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full! Let me tell you, not one of those originally invited is going to get so much as a bite at my dinner party.’”

For Reflection

Not all will accept the invitation to salvation.  Those that put their selfish needs before their need to be in sync with their creator will not be able to respond to the spiritual longing in their soul that will free them from human folly. Will attending to a piece of property,  working a new tractor, or answering a pressing obligation provide the substantial and robust relief from the never-ending pressure of daily life?  

I think not.  The weeds will always need attention. The tractor will break. Each obligation, once staisfied, will be replaced by another.

Responding to God's call to everlasting reliance on God is the only thing that will satisfy one's soul permanently and relieve the stress of being human.

Pray

Pray so that you will remain an honored guest at God's table. Pray so that you will be able to invite, welcome, and accept others who choose to eat elsewhere to sup the cup of salvation with you. 

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