Look to Abraham

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
A Blessing for All Nations

Isaiah 51:1-6

The Message

Committed to Seeking God

 ^1-3 "Listen to me, all you who are serious about right living and committed to seeking God.
Ponder the rock from which you were cut,
   the quarry from which you were dug.
Yes, ponder Abraham, your father,
   and Sarah, who bore you.
Think of it! One solitary man when I called him,
   but once I blessed him, he multiplied.
Likewise I, God, will comfort Zion,
   comfort all her mounds of ruins.
I'll transform her dead ground into Eden,
   her moonscape into the garden of God,
A place filled with exuberance and laughter,
   thankful voices and melodic songs. ^4-6"Pay attention, my people.
   Listen to me, nations.
Revelation flows from me.
   My decisions light up the world.
My deliverance arrives on the run,
   my salvation right on time.
   I'll bring justice to the peoples.
Even faraway islands will look to me
   and take hope in my saving power.
Look up at the skies,
   ponder the earth under your feet.
The skies will fade out like smoke,
   the earth will wear out like work pants,
   and the people will die off like flies.
But my salvation will last forever,
   my setting-things-right will never be obsolete.

For Reflection
"Ponder the rock from which you were cut."  Listen to God.  Climb onto the wagon of His revelation to you.  Set things right,  Hope for justice and He will lead you into it.

Pray
earnestly looking for the Holy Spirit who abides in you.  Pray for the courage to follow the God whispers. Pray for faith in the outcomes of God's kingdom.

The Lord Heard Our Voice

FAITH IN ACTION:
LIVING AS FAITHFUL PEOPLE
God's Covenant
A Blessing for All Nations

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

The Message

 ^1-5 Once you enter the land that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance and take it over and settle down, you are to take some of all the firstfruits of what you grow in the land that God, your God, is giving you, put them in a basket and go to the place God, your God, sets apart for you to worship him. At that time, go to the priest who is there and say, "I announce to God, your God, today that I have entered the land that God promised our ancestors that he'd give to us." The priest will take the basket from you and place it on the Altar of God, your God. And there in the Presence of God, your God, you will recite:

    ^5-10 A wandering Aramean was my father,
      he went down to Egypt and sojourned there,
      he and just a handful of his brothers at first, but soon
      they became a great nation, mighty and many.
      The Egyptians abused and battered us,
      in a cruel and savage slavery.
      We cried out to God, the God-of-Our-Fathers:
      He listened to our voice, he saw
      our destitution, our trouble, our cruel plight.
      And God took us out of Egypt
      with his strong hand and long arm, terrible and great,
      with signs and miracle-wonders.
      And he brought us to this place,
      gave us this land flowing with milk and honey.
      So here I am. I've brought the firstfruits
      of what I've grown on this ground you gave me, O God. ^10-11 Then place it in the Presence of God, your God. Prostrate yourselves in the Presence of God, your God. And rejoice! Celebrate all the good things that God, your God, has given you and your family; you and the Levite and the foreigner who lives with you.

For Reflection
Scripture gives us a history of God's faithfulness and of His people's faithful response.  God said go and His people went!  As a result of a relationship of trust in their God and faith in His intent, God's people stepped into a smokey future in full confidence that God would provide a safe passage and a bountiful life.  Reciting the litany of their faithful journey, God's people remembered and celebrated their relationship to God.  How do you remember and celebrate God's faithful presence in your life?

Pray
celebrating all the good things that God has given you.  Recite the signs and miracle-wonders of Gods presence in your life.  Offer to God the first fruits of He has given to you.

Give Your Worries to God

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Facing Life Without Worry

1 Peter 5:6-11

The Message

 ^6-7So be content with who you are, and don't put on airs. God's strong hand is on you; he'll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.

He Gets the Last Word

 ^8-11Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You're not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It's the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won't last forever. It won't be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.

 

 

For Reflection
Live a care free life, but, with your guard up.  Be alert for fear to rise and corrupt your confidence in God.  Suffering is a human condition.  Suffering is eased by the hand of God which is always laid on your shoulder.  Let the Lord carry your burden.  Live care free.

Pray
Lay your concerns at the foot of God's throne.  Confess your fears.  Pray for God to remove your fear.  Pray that you feel Christ's presence walking beside you. 

The Spirit as Our Resource

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Facing Life Without Worry

Matthew 10:16-20

The Message

 ¹⁶"Stay alert. This is hazardous work I'm assigning you. You're going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don't call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.
 ^17-20"Don't be naive. Some people will impugn your motives, others will smear your reputation—just because you believe in me. Don't be upset when they haul you before the civil authorities. Without knowing it, they've done you—and me—a favor, given you a platform for preaching the kingdom news! And don't worry about what you'll say or how you'll say it. The right words will be there; the Spirit of your Father will supply the words.

For Reflection
Accepting Christianity is easy.  Practicing Christianity is not.  Putting your faith into action may lead you to walk against the wind; at times a howling wind.

Reflecting the love of Christ will result in the same misunderstanding and threat that Jesus faced when confronting the Pharisees.  While the institutional Pharisee has not appeared since the destruction of Jerusalem, the essence of the Pharisee lives on in corruption, self-righteousness, self-defense and fear motivated treachery.  The Pharisees knew the rules, indeed, wrote them.  They attempted to follow the rules and coerce others into earning blessings by following the rules.  However, in living a rule-centered existence, they neglected to adhere to the intent of the law.

Christians are free to choose to follow the intent of God's law.  Christians follow a God-centered compass where the rules are few and love and justice are paramount.

As a Christian you do not travel this path alone.  The Holy Spirit lives inside you, guiding and comforting you -- whispering courses of thought and deed.  Can you walk confidently and fearlessly into the smoke, cloaked in God's armor?

Pray
Sit in silence.  Ask God to reveal Himself in you.  Wait,  Open your mind and listen.  God will answer in His time.  Pray for confidence.  Pray for courage.

Do Not Be Afraid

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Facing Life Without Worry

Matthew 10:24-31

The Message

 ^24-25"A student doesn't get a better desk than her teacher. A laborer doesn't make more money than his boss. Be content—pleased, even—when you, my students, my harvest hands, get the same treatment I get. If they call me, the Master, 'Dungface,' what can the workers expect?
 ^26-27"Don't be intimidated. Eventually everything is going to be out in the open, and everyone will know how things really are. So don't hesitate to go public now.
 ²⁸"Don't be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There's nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands.

Forget About Yourself

 ^29-31"What's the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don't be intimidated by all this bully talk. You're worth more than a million canaries.

For Reflection

Fear, Satan's strongest weapon! 

As I write today, the sex abuse scandal at Pennsylvania State University is still unfolding.  Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach has been accused of sexually abusing eight boys over a 15-year period through a charity he founded for at-risk youth.  Joe Paterno, one of the most renown college football coaches and the president of the university have been fired.  The school’s Athletic Director Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, vice president for finance and business, have also been charged with perjury and failing to notify authorities about the abuse.

Acting out of fear of the consequences, those that covered up the sexual perversion of one of the coaches and emeritus faculty member now suffer humiliation, and criminal charges.  They knew and said and did little to end coach Sandusky's exploitation.  In doing so they enabled  long term systematic sexual abuse of young at-risk boys, institutionalized and cloaked by Pennsylvania State University.

They responded to what was at stake -- millions of dollars in revenue from alumni, supporters of the football program and the revenue from the business of football.  At colleges and universities all over our nation out of control athletic programs have traded our sanctuaries of learning for enormously rich athletic programs.

Out of fear, we turn a blind eye to amoral, immoral, unethical and illegal behavior.  For the greater good of the university they trampled the greater good of saving hundreds of young boys from sexploitation.  Rather than being an example of strength of moral conviction they became, out of fear, an example of the most un-Godly behavior.  Of all places where justice and love should have been commonplace, greed and self-worship reigned.

 ^26-27"Don't be intimidated. Eventually everything is going to be out in the open, and everyone will know how things really are. So don't hesitate to go public now."

Pray
prayers for forgiveness. Pray for the reconciliation of this tragedy.  Pray that  people of influence choose to act boldly against fear and wear a cloak of righteousness. Pray that you will not be corrupted by the tyranny of fear.

Guard Against Worry

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Facing Life Without Worry

Luke 21:29-36

The Message

 ^29-33He told them a story. "Look at a fig tree. Any tree for that matter. When the leaves begin to show, one look tells you that summer is right around the corner. The same here—when you see these things happen, you know God's kingdom is about here. Don't brush this off: I'm not just saying this for some future generation, but for this one, too—these things will happen. Sky and earth will wear out; my words won't wear out.
 ^34-36"But be on your guard. Don't let the sharp edge of your expectation get dulled by parties and drinking and shopping. Otherwise, that Day is going to take you by complete surprise, spring on you suddenly like a trap, for it's going to come on everyone, everywhere, at once. So, whatever you do, don't go to sleep at the switch. Pray constantly that you will have the strength and wits to make it through everything that's coming and end up on your feet before the Son of Man.

For Reflection
The advance of science as a preferred thought process has improved the human condition.  God has provided a systematic way for us to discover more and more of his mystery.  However, the presumption for evidence has displaced the value of observing God's hand in action.  We have little written since Biblical times on a vernacular systematic method for observing God in action.  We have in many cases poo pooed the mystery of God because we can find little empirical evidence.

Jesus pointed to nature, the fig tree using one of the strongest methods of proof in his time --argument from sign.  The world is a sign of His mystery to be revealed to us in His Good Time.  Look for God's hand in your life and in the lives of others.  Look for God as life unfolds be fore you.  Embrace the mystery that is God.  All that needs to be revealed will appear clearly through the smoke of living.

Pray
to embrace the mystery that is God.  Pray to open your minds to alternative ways of looking for God in common places in your life.  Pray that you will see God in the life that unfolds around you.

Do Not Fret

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Facing Life Without Worry

Psalm 37:1-8

The Message

A David Psalm

 ^1-2 Don't bother your head with braggarts or wish you could succeed like the wicked.
   In no time they'll shrivel like grass clippings
      and wilt like cut flowers in the sun.

 ^3-4 Get insurance with God and do a good deed,
      settle down and stick to your last.
   Keep company with God,
      get in on the best.

 ^5-6 Open up before God, keep nothing back;
      he'll do whatever needs to be done:
   He'll validate your life in the clear light of day
      and stamp you with approval at high noon.

 ⁷ Quiet down before God,
      be prayerful before him.
   Don't bother with those who climb the ladder,
      who elbow their way to the top.

 ^8-9 Bridle your anger, trash your wrath,
      cool your pipes—it only makes things worse.
   Before long the crooks will be bankrupt;
      God-investors will soon own the store.

For Reflection
How much confidence do you have in your faith? Are you truly confident that God has your best interest as His first interest?

If so, why, then, do you fret?  The psalmist says God will do what ever needs to be done.  He will validate you and stamp you with his seal of approval.  Believe this deeply. Even though God's path may seem difficult, He will guide you.  Be quiet, Cool your pipes.  Pray and listen to Him.

Pray
that you will grow in confidence in the Lord's promise.  Pray, holding nothing back.  Pray quietly and listen for the Spirit to speak.

God's Assurance for Prayer

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Praying as God's People

Jeremiah 29:10-14

The Message

^10-11This is God's Word on the subject: "As soon as Babylon's seventy years are up and not a day before, I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. ¹²"When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. ^13-14"When you come looking for me, you'll find me. "Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed." God's Decree. "I'll turn things around for you. I'll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you"—God's Decree—"bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.

For Reflection
According to most psychologists, when one forgives another the forgiveness enables the forgiver to move on beyond the wrongful deed.  Perhaps it is true also with God.  With so many people to forgive and so much to forgive them for, God's forgiving may be as much for His own comfort as for ours.

God suffers from the wrongful acts we commit.  His forgiveness is just not all about us.

Isn't that how forgiveness works?  Reconciliation is a two way street.  Think about how reconciliation operated in your life.

Pray
prayers for forgiveness. Pray that we will not be come so self-centered that we take God's forgiveness for granted.

A Prayer of Thanksgiving

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Praying as God's People

Isaiah 12

The Message

My Strength and Song

 ¹ And you will say in that day,
   "I thank you, God.
You were angry
   but your anger wasn't forever.
You withdrew your anger
   and moved in and comforted me. ²"Yes, indeed—God is my salvation.
   I trust, I won't be afraid.
God—yes God!—is my strength and song,
   best of all, my salvation!"
 ^3-4Joyfully you'll pull up buckets of water
   from the wells of salvation.
And as you do it, you'll say,
   "Give thanks to God.
Call out his name.
   Ask him anything!
Shout to the nations, tell them what he's done,
   spread the news of his great reputation!
 ^5-6"Sing praise-songs to God. He's done it all!
   Let the whole earth know what he's done!
Raise the roof! Sing your hearts out, O Zion!
   The Greatest lives among you: The Holy of Israel."

For Reflection
Think about how you feel when your deeds go thankless.   How do you think God feels?  Expressing thanksgiving is an indication that you are not taking God for granted.  Thanking reinforces the strength of your faith.

Pray
deeply in gratitude for God's grace and blessings in your life.

A Prayer for Healing

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Praying  as God's People

1 Kings 17:17-23

The Message

 ¹⁷ Later on the woman's son became sick. The sickness took a turn for the worse—and then he stopped breathing.
 ¹⁸ The woman said to Elijah, "Why did you ever show up here in the first place—a holy man barging in, exposing my sins, and killing my son?"
 ^19-20 Elijah said, "Hand me your son."
    He then took him from her bosom, carried him up to the loft where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he prayed, "O God, my God, why have you brought this terrible thing on this widow who has opened her home to me? Why have you killed her son?"
 ^21-23 Three times he stretched himself out full-length on the boy, praying with all his might, "God, my God, put breath back into this boy's body!" God listened to Elijah's prayer and put breath back into his body—he was alive! Elijah picked the boy up, carried him downstairs from the loft, and gave him to his mother. "Here's your son," said Elijah, "alive!"

For Reflection


The preacher laid his hand of the forehead of the believer.  He invoked, " let the hand of Jesus touch and heal you from your disability."

As if struck by an invisible force, the man fell backward into the waiting arms of the preachers assistants.

"Get up and walk," said the preacher.

The believer arose and walked gratefully from the stage.




Truth or sham?

This miraculous recovery from death is hard to believe in this modern age of a "scientific" or rational explanation for everything. However, many people in Christian congregations all over the world proclaim the power of prayer that evoked the healing mystery that cured them.
  Elijah did not raise the boy from death.  God did.  He did it because Elijah's determined confidence and faith were strong. 


As the children of God, we are made in his image.  We have the capacity to learn and to act on that learning.
Each hour God reveals new knowledge of the human condition and new skills to solve human illnesses. Maybe, in time, God will reveal to us the mystery of the healing touch.   Until the time when His powers are revealed in us, let us pray, Thy will be done.

Pray
deeply for the healing power of God.  Pray for the comfort only God can provide to the sick and those that suffer with them.  Pray that you will listen and accept God's answer.  Pray for the understanding that death is not the end, but rather a transition to the next life. 

A Prayer for Blessing

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Praying as God's People

2 Samuel 7:18-29

The Message

 ^18-21 King David went in, took his place before God, and prayed: "Who am I, my Master God, and what is my family, that you have brought me to this place in life? But that's nothing compared to what's coming, for you've also spoken of my family far into the future, given me a glimpse into tomorrow, my Master God! What can I possibly say in the face of all this? You know me, Master God, just as I am. You've done all this not because of who I am but because of who you are—out of your very heart!—but you've let me in on it.
 ^22-24 "This is what makes you so great, Master God! There is none like you, no God but you, nothing to compare with what we've heard with our own ears. And who is like your people, like Israel, a nation unique in the earth, whom God set out to redeem for himself (and became most famous for it), performing great and fearsome acts, throwing out nations and their gods left and right as you saved your people from Egypt? You established for yourself a people—your very own Israel!—your people permanently. And you, God, became their God.
 ^25-27 "So now, great God, this word that you have spoken to me and my family, guarantee it permanently! Do exactly what you've promised! Then your reputation will flourish always as people exclaim, 'The God-of-the-Angel-Armies is God over Israel!' And the house of your servant David will remain sure and solid in your watchful presence. For you, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel's God, told me plainly, 'I will build you a house.' That's how I was able to find the courage to pray this prayer to you.
 ^28-29 "And now, Master God, being the God you are, speaking sure words as you do, and having just said this wonderful thing to me, please, just one more thing: Bless my family; keep your eye on them always. You've already as much as said that you would, Master God! Oh, may your blessing be on my family permanently

For Reflection
Here David asks for God's continuing approval and encouragement permanently for his family.  It is a testament to David's assurance in the fulfillment of God's promise to him.  When we ask for God's blessing we also ask for approval and encouragement.  In a way, I suppose, His blessing passes on His authority and should not be lightly asked or taken.  With God's blessing comes the responsibility to be obedient to His will.  Asking for blessings is an acknowledgment of God's power and grace.  God bless us one and all.

Pray
that your obedience will honor God's blessings.  Pray that you are good stewards of God's gifts. Ask for blessings frequently and listen for God's response.

Pray for Deliverance

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Praying as God's People

Genesis 32:6-12

The Message

 ⁶ The messengers came back to Jacob and said, "We talked to your brother Esau and he's on his way to meet you. But he has four hundred men with him."
 ^7-8 Jacob was scared. Very scared. Panicked, he divided his people, sheep, cattle, and camels into two camps. He thought, "If Esau comes on the first camp and attacks it, the other camp has a chance to get away."
 ^9-12 And then Jacob prayed, "God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, God who told me, 'Go back to your parents' homeland and I'll treat you well.' I don't deserve all the love and loyalty you've shown me. When I left here and crossed the Jordan I only had the clothes on my back, and now look at me—two camps! Save me, please, from the violence of my brother, my angry brother! I'm afraid he'll come and attack us all, me, the mothers and the children. You yourself said, 'I will treat you well; I'll make your descendants like the sands of the sea, far too many to count.'"

For Reflection
Each of us have demons to face.  Some are internal and some are external threats.  Jacob in a prayer to be delivered from the impending threat (whether real of imagined) reminds God of his promise and entreats Him to honor it.  Jacob had the confidence in the covenant between him and God that God would answer his prayer.

Pray
prayers to be delivered from what ever troubles you.  Pray that others in pain will be comforted.  Pray for the confidence in God's promise to deliver you out of the circumstances that frighten and threaten you.

Loving Your Husband and Children

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Loving as God's People

Titus 2:1-5

The Message

A God-Filled Life

 ^1-6Your job is to speak out on the things that make for solid doctrine. Guide older men into lives of temperance, dignity, and wisdom, into healthy faith, love, and endurance. Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives. We don't want anyone looking down on God's Message because of their behavior. Also, guide the young men to live disciplined lives.

For Reflection
During my residency in grad school, my wife and I began to develop new ways of living alone.  When I returned, we discovered that each of us had developed new rules about our relationship.  She discovered that she liked to do some of the things that I used to do.  I discovered the same about me. We began the sometimes difficult negotiation of a new marriage relationship. 

People change.  What does not change, however, is the need to support and accommodate change.

We are much older now, but change is still a factor.  We are not who we were.  Neither are who we will become.

A wife's role in a marriage is not static.  Neither is a husband's.  As we change our roles change.  The only rule is that we act toward each other in love.  A marriage is not a competition, but rather a partnership bound in mutual respect and support.  It requires the sacrifice of self and embracing the oneness of the union even when dissolution is a rational alternative.

Interestingly, an effective marriage relationship is similar to an effective relationship with God.  It, too, requires the sacrifice of self for the union of God and humankind.  A God filled life makes human living much more satisfying.

Pray
for those who's relationship is rocky.  Pray that they will open themselves to God's guidance and comforting support.  Pray that you will be able to accommodate the changes in your life,  Pray that you will listen to the God whispers and have the courage to act on them.

Loving Your Wife

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Loving as God's People

Ephesians 5:25-33

The Message

 ^25-28Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ's love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They're really doing themselves a favor—since they're already "one" in marriage.
 ^29-33No one abuses his own body, does he? No, he feeds and pampers it. That's how Christ treats us, the church, since we are part of his body. And this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer two, they become "one flesh." This is a huge mystery, and I don't pretend to understand it all. What is clearest to me is the way Christ treats the church. And this provides a good picture of how each husband is to treat his wife, loving himself in loving her, and how each wife is to honor her husband.

For Reflection
"...a love marked by giving, not getting."   In Biblical times many marriages were arranged.  They were more a political arrangement than a romantic union.  Today, in our modern world, (especially in the US) few marriages are formally arranged.  We do, however, find marriages of convenience.

However two persons came to be married, if married by declaring in an oath to each other which recognizes a God sanctioned union, they are bound in a sacred relationship, they are of one flesh in marriage.  Is this just a convenient metaphor to help people understand their their relationship to one another and to God?  Or is it "a huge mystery?"

My wife and I have been married nearly fifty years.  My brother-in-law would say it is a huge mystery!  What God brings to pass is both a mystery in process and in intent.  Christ treats his church in love.  He welcomes it back time and time again in spite of mistake after mistake.  It seems that there is nothing his people can do that will result in God withdrawing His love.

So it should be in marriage.  A husband should love his wife to the extent that there is nothing she could do that would displace his love for her.

But, this is not a perfect world and we are not perfect. Love never dies, but does not always conquer all.  God's love abides even when marriages fail.  He does not take sides.  He welcome each and offers a new start.

Pray
for those who's love has brought them together in a binding relationship.  Pray that they will devote to each other the love that is marked by giving.  Pray for those who's relationships are troubled.  Pray that they will find comfort in the knowledge of God's love for them.  Pray that they will feel the healing arms of God enveloping and shielding them.

Loving the Alien

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Loving as God's People

Leviticus 19:33-37

The Message

 ^33-34 "When a foreigner lives with you in your land, don't take advantage of him. Treat the foreigner the same as a native. Love him like one of your own. Remember that you were once foreigners in Egypt. I am God, your God.
 ^35-36 "Don't cheat when measuring length, weight, or quantity. Use honest scales and weights and measures. I am God, your God. I brought you out of Egypt.
 ³⁷ "Keep all my decrees and all my laws. Yes, do them. I am God."

For Reflection
Who is the foreigner in your land?  Those that have little experience in your personal culture could be considered a foreigner.  Remember those high school days.  Anyone who was different was coerced into conformity.  Guess what?  The coercion into conformity didn't stop in high school.  It just got a little more subtle.  Think about it.  In what subtle ways do you express the need for others to conform to your point of view; your method of doing things; your values, attitudes and behavior expectations?


Pray
that you will recognize the impulse to judge others based upon cultural differences.  Pray that you will learn to love those who appear to be different from you.  Pray for those who are having difficulty fitting in.

Loving Your Neighbor

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Loving as God's People

Leviticus 19:13-18

The Message 

 ¹³ "Don't exploit your friend or rob him.
   "Don't hold back the wages of a hired hand overnight.
 ¹⁴ "Don't curse the deaf; don't put a stumbling block in front of the blind; fear your God. I am God.
 ¹⁵ "Don't pervert justice. Don't show favoritism to either the poor or the great. Judge on the basis of what is right.
 ¹⁶ "Don't spread gossip and rumors.
   "Don't just stand by when your neighbor's life is in danger. I am God.
 ¹⁷ "Don't secretly hate your neighbor. If you have something against him, get it out into the open; otherwise you are an accomplice in his guilt.
 ¹⁸ "Don't seek revenge or carry a grudge against any of your people.
   "Love your neighbor as yourself. I am God.

For Reflection
So many don'ts.  It is easy to tell others what not to do.  The problem is you never get a perfect don't list.  So the only do is "love your neighbor as yourself."  This requires that you actually love your self,  As God loves Himself, He loves all.

Pray
that you find the best qualities in your self.  Pray that you continue to grow in faith and grace by adding more good qualities.  Pray that you will find the best in others and treat them as you would have them treat you.

The Greatest Commandment

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Loving as God's People

Matthew 22:34-40

The Message

The Most Important Command

 ^34-36When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: "Teacher, which command in God's Law is the most important?" ^37-40Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."

For Reflection
Except for its great mysteries, Christianity is not hard to intellectualize.  But, knowing is one thing practicing is another.  The practice of Christianity requires intellectual understanding, and an emotional alignment in response to what is known.  Even that is insufficient to be effective.  Prayer is the third element.  Head, heart and voice.

Pray
Pray deeply and earnestly.  Pray for increased knowledge of your faith.  Pray for the freedom to express love.  Pray that you find yourself worthy of God's and your own love.  Pray that your life expresses the love of God and humankind.

Forgiveness Begets Love

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Forgiving as God's People

Luke 7:40-47

The Message (MSG)

 ⁴⁰Jesus said to him, "Simon, I have something to tell you."
   "Oh? Tell me."
 ^41-42"Two men were in debt to a banker. One owed five hundred silver pieces, the other fifty. Neither of them could pay up, and so the banker canceled both debts. Which of the two would be more grateful?"
 ^43-47Simon answered, "I suppose the one who was forgiven the most."
   "That's right," said Jesus. Then turning to the woman, but speaking to Simon, he said, "Do you see this woman? I came to your home; you provided no water for my feet, but she rained tears on my feet and dried them with her hair. You gave me no greeting, but from the time I arrived she hasn't quit kissing my feet. You provided nothing for freshening up, but she has soothed my feet with perfume. Impressive, isn't it? She was forgiven many, many sins, and so she is very, very grateful. If the forgiveness is minimal, the gratitude is minimal."

For Reflection
Forgiveness is much like canceling a debt.  One who is forgiven is no longer obliged to repay the debt.  The forgiver is in no position to expect further indebtedness.

The woman in this story was not obligated to show her gratitude, but in response to being forgiven she gave thanks deeply and personally.  She responded with extravagant love; freely given, not out of obligation.Simon had been forgiven many times. 

But living so close to Jesus, Simon took Christ's forgiveness for granted.    Simon, in contrast, showed no such gratitude.

How grateful are you for the forgiving grace of God?  How do you show it?

Pray
that when life is easy and you are surrounded by the forgiving grace of God, you pray deeply in  thanksgiving and praise.  Pray not from obligation but from gratitude.  Let your life be a living prayer of gratitude.

Forgive as You Are Forgiven

 Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Forgiving as God's People

Matthew 18:21-35

The Message

A Story About Forgiveness

 ²¹At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, "Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?" ²²Jesus replied, "Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.
 ^23-25"The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn't pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market.
 ^26-27"The poor wretch threw himself at the king's feet and begged, 'Give me a chance and I'll pay it all back.' Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt.
 ²⁸"The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, 'Pay up. Now!'
 ^29-31"The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, 'Give me a chance and I'll pay it all back.' But he wouldn't do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king.
 ^32-35"The king summoned the man and said, 'You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn't you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?' The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt. And that's exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn't forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy."

For Reflection
God forgives unconditionally.  Shouldn't we?

Pray
Thank God for your capacity to forgive.  Pray that you will listen to the Spirit that resides in you.  Pray that you will have the courage to forgive others as God has forgiven you.

The Prayer of Faith

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Forgiving as God's People

James 5:3-18

The Message

Destroying Your Life from Within

 ^1-3 And a final word to you arrogant rich: Take some lessons in lament. You'll need buckets for the tears when the crash comes upon you. Your money is corrupt and your fine clothes stink. Your greedy luxuries are a cancer in your gut, destroying your life from within. You thought you were piling up wealth. What you've piled up is judgment. ^4-6All the workers you've exploited and cheated cry out for judgment. The groans of the workers you used and abused are a roar in the ears of the Master Avenger. You've looted the earth and lived it up. But all you'll have to show for it is a fatter than usual corpse. In fact, what you've done is condemn and murder perfectly good persons, who stand there and take it.
 ^7-8Meanwhile, friends, wait patiently for the Master's Arrival. You see farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work. Be patient like that. Stay steady and strong. The Master could arrive at any time.
 ⁹Friends, don't complain about each other. A far greater complaint could be lodged against you, you know. The Judge is standing just around the corner.
 ^10-11Take the old prophets as your mentors. They put up with anything, went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honoring God. What a gift life is to those who stay the course! You've heard, of course, of Job's staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end. That's because God cares, cares right down to the last detail.
 ¹²And since you know that he cares, let your language show it. Don't add words like "I swear to God" to your own words. Don't show your impatience by concocting oaths to hurry up God. Just say yes or no. Just say what is true. That way, your language can't be used against you.

Prayer to Be Reckoned With

 ^13-15Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you've sinned, you'll be forgiven—healed inside and out. ^16-18Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't—not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again.

For Reflection
I don't know that I would want to be a fatter than usual corpse!   You know, it really is all about you.  As many times we have succumbed to the temptation of criticizing others and trying to regulate behavior we consider to be immoral, amoral or just plane evil, it really comes down to fighting the devil within you.  Fighting the temptation to sin and some times losing a battle or two.

Thank God for grace.  Confessing short comings and backsliding action and asking forgiveness from the one true God is an act of authentic repentance.  God will hear you and you will be forgiven.  It is this forgiveness that enables faithful obedient living.

Pray
Confess your misdeeds, your transgressions, to God.  Ask and accept His forgiveness. Pray that you will listen as God whispers His gentle guidance.

Rejoicing in God's Forgiveness

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Living as God's People

Psalm 32:1-5

The Message

A David Psalm

 ¹ Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be— you get a fresh start,
      your slate's wiped clean.

 ² Count yourself lucky—
      God holds nothing against you
      and you're holding nothing back from him.

 ³ When I kept it all inside,
      my bones turned to powder,
      my words became daylong groans.

 ⁴ The pressure never let up;
      all the juices of my life dried up.

 ⁵ Then I let it all out;
      I said, "I'll make a clean breast of my failures to God."   Suddenly the pressure was gone—
      my guilt dissolved,
      my sin disappeared.

For Reflection
According to most psychologists, when one forgives another the forgiveness enables the forgiver to move on beyond the wrongful deed.  Perhaps it is true also with God.  With so many people to forgive and so much to forgive them for, God's forgiving may be as much for His own comfort as for ours. 

God suffers from the wrongfull acts we comitt.  His forgiveness is just not all about us.

Isn't that how forgiveness works.  Reconciliation is a two way street.  Think about how reconcilation operated in your life.

Pray
prayers for forgivness.  Pray that we will not be come so self-centered that we take God's forgiveness for granted.