Filled with the Fullness of God

The Spirit Comes
Woven together in Love

The Greatest Gift of Love

Ephesians 3:14-21  The Message

^14-19 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

^20-21 God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!

For Reflection 

In what ways do you live in the fullness of God?

Pray

prayers of praise.  Sing songs of joy.  Pray for peace and act for justice.

Love and Steadfastness

The Spirit Comes
Woven together in Love

The Greatest Gift of Love

2 Thessalonians 3:1-5  The Message

3 ^1-3 One more thing, friends: Pray for us. Pray that the Master’s Word will simply take off and race through the country to a groundswell of response, just as it did among you. And pray that we’ll be rescued from these scoundrels who are trying to do us in. I’m finding that not all “believers” are believers. But the Master never lets us down. He’ll stick by you and protect you from evil.

^4-5 Because of the Master, we have great confidence in you. We know you’re doing everything we told you and will continue doing it. May the Master take you by the hand and lead you along the path of God’s love and Christ’s endurance.

 

For Reflection 

Some times we just need to know that what we believe and what we are doing is recognized as authentic Christianity.  Paul is providing such feedback to the Thessalonians.  But, what is more powerful is your own recognition that because of what you believe and how you act out your beliefs brings comfort to those in distress, peace to those in turmoil and forgiveness to the unforgivable.  Have confidence in your faith.  Live in the world of agape.

Pray

for those whose lives are filled with distressing times.  Pray for peace for those in turmoil.  Pray prayers of intersession and forgive the unforgiving and the unforgivable.  Pray for the abiding love of God to surround you.

Guided By the Spirit

The Spirit Comes
Woven together in Love

The Greatest Gift of Love

Galatians 5:19-26  The Message

^19-21 It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom.
^22-23 But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
^23-24 Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.
^25-26 Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

 

For Reflection 

Say "Good by" to self-centeredness.  Say "Hello" to God-centeredness.  God doesn't punish the self-centered, they punish themselves.  Their punishment is a direct result of their self-centered word and deed.  God doesn't wave a magic wand and "poof" we are rewarded for good behavior.  Our salvation is a result of our God-centered word and deed.

So, live a creative God-centered life and reject a destructive self-centered life.  Live the life God has given you; a life like no other, a life that fits you comfortably, a life full of grace.

Pray

prayers of thanksgiving for the life God has given to you.  Pray that you will use your unique gifts for the glory of God.  Pray that you will live a creative life and lead others to grace.

Abounding in Steadfast Love

The Spirit Comes
Woven together in Love

The Greatest Gift Is Love

Jonah 3:10-4:11 The Message (MSG)¹⁰ God saw what they had done, that they had turned away from their evil lives. He did change his mind about them. What he said he would do to them he didn’t do.

4 ^1-2 Jonah was furious. He lost his temper. He yelled at God, “God! I knew it—when I was back home, I knew this was going to happen! That’s why I ran off to Tarshish! I knew you were sheer grace and mercy, not easily angered, rich in love, and ready at the drop of a hat to turn your plans of punishment into a program of forgiveness!

³ “So, God, if you won’t kill them, kill me! I’m better off dead!”
⁴ God said, “What do you have to be angry about?”
⁵ But Jonah just left. He went out of the city to the east and sat down in a sulk. He put together a makeshift shelter of leafy branches and sat there in the shade to see what would happen to the city.
⁶ God arranged for a broad-leafed tree to spring up. It grew over Jonah to cool him off and get him out of his angry sulk. Jonah was pleased and enjoyed the shade. Life was looking up.
^7-8 But then God sent a worm. By dawn of the next day, the worm had bored into the shade tree and it withered away. The sun came up and God sent a hot, blistering wind from the east. The sun beat down on Jonah’s head and he started to faint. He prayed to die: “I’m better off dead!”
⁹ Then God said to Jonah, “What right do you have to get angry about this shade tree?”
Jonah said, “Plenty of right. It’s made me angry enough to die!”
^10-11 God said, “What’s this? How is it that you can change your feelings from pleasure to anger overnight about a mere shade tree that you did nothing to get? You neither planted nor watered it. It grew up one night and died the next night. So, why can’t I likewise change what I feel about Nineveh from anger to pleasure, this big city of more than 120,000 childlike people who don’t yet know right from wrong, to say nothing of all the innocent animals?”

 

For Reflection 

How many times have you wanted retribution for a wrong?  During tragic times like the seemingly unjustified shooting of a young black man by a police officer or the horror of a senseless terrorist attack many will cry for justice.  What they really want is retribution.  An eye for an eye.  Some want it so badly that it clouds their judgment and they take matters violently into their own hands and feel perfectly justified in doing so.

But, is that what God wants?  Jonah and God struggle with the difference between retribution and justice.  God turns the common need for vengeance upside down.  Vengeance and retribution seem to be born of anger.  Forgiveness and reconciliation are born of love, a deep desire for rehabilitation and a return to God.

Pray

for those who strike out in anger.  Pray for those who hate.  Pray for those who want vengeance. Pray for those who offer the grace of God through overtures of forgiveness and peace.

Love and the Knowledge of God

The Spirit Comes
Woven together in Love

The Greatest Gift Is Love

Hosea 6:1-7  The Message

6 ^1-3 “Come on, let’s go back to God.
    He hurt us, but he’ll heal us.
He hit us hard,
    but he’ll put us right again.
In a couple of days we’ll feel better.
    By the third day he’ll have made us brand-new,
Alive and on our feet,
    fit to face him.
We’re ready to study God,
    eager for God-knowledge.
As sure as dawn breaks,
    so sure is his daily arrival.
He comes as rain comes,
    as spring rain refreshing the ground.”

^4-7 “What am I to do with you, Ephraim?
    What do I make of you, Judah?
Your declarations of love last no longer
    than morning mist and predawn dew.
That’s why I use prophets to shake you to attention,
    why my words cut you to the quick:
To wake you up to my judgment
    blazing like light.
I’m after love that lasts, not more religion.
    I want you to know God, not go to more prayer meetings.
You broke the covenant—just like Adam!
    You broke faith with me—ungrateful wretches!

 

For Reflection 

Just like kids testing the limits of our parents, we test our limits with God.  We come back to God time an time again, taking for granted God's grace.  We think if we just go to church, or just sing hymns, or just participate in the community of the faithful, or just do good deeds, or just... Well you fill it in.

Preforming demonstrations just to please God is not what God wants.  God is not a God that can be bought through sacrifice and kind acts.  God wants invited into your life as an abiding presence.  A Holy Spirit that is a trusted confidant and adviser.  God wants your righteous acts to be a result of your love for him and for all human kind.  God wants a love that is always flowing from God's fountain into the world through you.

Pray

that you will be motivated to love because God loves you.  Pray for the steadfast abiding presence of the Holy Spirit to guide you and build you up.  Pray that you will act in love.

Excel in Your Gifts

The Spirit Comes
Woven together in Love

Gift of Languages

1 Corinthians 4:6-13  The Message

⁶ All I’m doing right now, friends, is showing how these things pertain to Apollos and me so that you will learn restraint and not rush into making judgments without knowing all the facts. It’s important to look at things from God’s point of view. I would rather not see you inflating or deflating reputations based on mere hearsay.
^7-8 For who do you know that really knows you, knows your heart? And even if they did, is there anything they would discover in you that you could take credit for? Isn’t everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God? So what’s the point of all this comparing and competing? You already have all you need. You already have more access to God than you can handle. Without bringing either Apollos or me into it, you’re sitting on top of the world—at least God’s world—and we’re right there, sitting alongside you!
^9-13 It seems to me that God has put us who bear his Message on stage in a theater in which no one wants to buy a ticket. We’re something everyone stands around and stares at, like an accident in the street. We’re the Messiah’s misfits. You might be sure of yourselves, but we live in the midst of frailties and uncertainties. You might be well-thought-of by others, but we’re mostly kicked around. Much of the time we don’t have enough to eat, we wear patched and threadbare clothes, we get doors slammed in our faces, and we pick up odd jobs anywhere we can to eke out a living. When they call us names, we say, “God bless you.” When they spread rumors about us, we put in a good word for them. We’re treated like garbage, potato peelings from the culture’s kitchen. And it’s not getting any better.

 

For Reflection

What an image, "...on stage in a theater in which no one wants to buy a ticket."  I have felt that way sometimes.  Haven't  you?  Haven't we all been called to be misfits in our contemporary society?   When society ignores the poor we lament and advocate for compassion.  When society favors the rich and powerful we lament and advocate for justice.  When society uses false justification for retribution and hate we lament and advocate for peace and reconciliation.   Where society seeks order we lament and accept that life is messy.  We are indeed misfits.

Pray
prayers of praise and thanksgiving for the living God.  Pray for those who are misfits because the Holy Spirit guides their lives.  Pray for those who stand in contrast to  those who teach false prophesy.   Pray for those who advocate for and practice forgiveness, compassion, peace and  distributive justice

They Shall Prophesy

The Spirit Comes
Woven together in Love

Gift of Languages

Acts 2:14-21  The Message

^14-21 That’s when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: “Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight. These people aren’t drunk as some of you suspect. They haven’t had time to get drunk—it’s only nine o’clock in the morning. This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen:

“In the Last Days,” God says,
“I will pour out my Spirit
    on every kind of people:
Your sons will prophesy,
    also your daughters;
Your young men will see visions,
    your old men dream dreams.
When the time comes,
    I’ll pour out my Spirit
On those who serve me, men and women both,
    and they’ll prophesy.
I’ll set wonders in the sky above
    and signs on the earth below,
Blood and fire and billowing smoke,
    the sun turning black and the moon blood-red,
Before the Day of the Lord arrives,
    the Day tremendous and marvelous;
And whoever calls out for help
    to me, God, will be saved.”

 

For Reflection 

Prophecy is out of favor these days.  Maybe it is because the term "prophecy" brings to mind the Old Testament gloom and doom prophets or perhaps it is because it is seen as future telling and of little credibility.

What ever it is we should get over it!  Where are the contemporary prophets?  Who and how many are speaking out for God and speaking consistently about God's love, mercy, righteousness, holiness, sovereignty and justice.  Who is speaking about God's plan for history?  Who are the church's visionaries?  How often are these visionaries studied and explained?

The world has trivialized God.  People, once faithful, are leaving the church. Many have lost their faith. The world has made the absolute trivial.  Who will rise to make relevant what the world has sought to make absolute and ultimate.  

We need to become obsessed with the establishment of God's kingdom in economics, politics, education, race, the arts; drama, painting and writing, We need to look passed the self-delusion of contemporary society and see clearly with God's eyes, speaking with many voices proclaiming the gospel message of love, compassion, justice, and peace.

Pray

for those who have the courage to prophesy.  Pray for the courage to be obsessed with the realization of God's kingdom.  Pray that you will have the courage to prophesy as a witness to the Holy Spirit in your life.

We Hear in Our Own Languages

The Spirit Comes
Woven together in Love

Gift of Languages

Acts 2:8-13T  he Message

^5-11 There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn’t for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, “Aren’t these all Galileans? How come we’re hearing them talk in our various mother tongues?

Parthians, Medes, and Elamites;
Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia,
    Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
    Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene;
Immigrants from Rome, both Jews and proselytes;
Even Cretans and Arabs!

“They’re speaking our languages, describing God’s mighty works!”

¹² Their heads were spinning; they couldn’t make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: “What’s going on here?”
¹³ Others joked, “They’re drunk on cheap wine.”

 

For Reflection 

Indeed, what does this mean?  Two possibilities come to mind,  First, involves perception.  One gets from reading, listening, smelling, tasting and touching only what one brings to the task.  That is, what one understands from any experience is the result of the wealth of Information one brings to it.  (If all one sees are nails one brings a hammer.  If one sees nails and screws one brings a hammer and screwdriver.  Therefore, it would be wise to experience as many things as possible regarding your faith.  The more words you learn, the more experiences you have, the better you will become at understand your faith as it is understood and practiced.

Secondly each heard their own tongue proclaiming the gospel.  It doesn't matter what language you speak, God understands them all, God speaks them all. God is the God of the universe who is seeking to help you know and love God and his design for your life.

Pray

Pray in your own language, in your own words.  Pray about everything.  It doesn't matter how you pray.  It matters that you pray.  Prayer changes you and you change the world, one loving act at a time.

All Languages, One Loud Voice

The Spirit Comes
Woven together in Love

Gift of Languages

Revelation 7:9-12  The Message

^9-12 I looked again. I saw a huge crowd, too huge to count. Everyone was there—all nations and tribes, all races and languages. And they were standing, dressed in white robes and waving palm branches, standing before the Throne and the Lamb and heartily singing:

Salvation to our God on his Throne!
Salvation to the Lamb!

All who were standing around the Throne—Angels, Elders, Animals—fell on their faces before the Throne and worshiped God, singing:

Oh, Yes!
The blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving,
The honor and power and strength,
To our God forever and ever and ever!
Oh, Yes!

For Reflection 

What a wonderful image of what the future portends, life in the Kingdom of God!  Hallelujah!   Yes!

But what is this kingdom. Is it a geographic region? a political unit?  A communal society?  Who will lead? Who will follow?  What are the laws?  Who will keep order?

These and other questions are from this world.  These are questions humans ask.  The seer in Revelation is painting a picture of a community where each person maintains his or her identity.  It is not a picture of a geographic place.  It is not a political system.  It is not a communal society where all is owned by all.  It is not a society of strong leaders weak followers.  It is a state in which love for God and each other is paramount, where each controls his or her actions by the test of God's love.  It is a community of love that wipes out selfishness and self absorption. It is a dream of sanctuary that drives us into righteousness.  It is the holy aspiration.  It is God's dream for human kind.

Pray

for the coming of God's kingdom in your life.  Pray that you will experience the joy and peace derived in living a righteous life in the hollow of God's hand.

Made to Hear God's Voice

The Spirit Comes
Woven together in Love

The Gift of Languages

Deuteronomy 4:32-40  The Message

^32-33 Ask questions. Find out what has been going on all these years before you were born. From the day God created man and woman on this Earth, and from the horizon in the east to the horizon in the west—as far back as you can imagine and as far away as you can imagine—has as great a thing as this ever happened? Has anyone ever heard of such a thing? Has a people ever heard, as you did, a god speaking out of the middle of the fire and lived to tell the story?
³⁴ Or has a god ever tried to select for himself a nation from within a nation using trials, miracles, and war, putting his strong hand in, reaching his long arm out, a spectacle awesome and staggering, the way God, your God, did it for you in Egypt while you stood right there and watched?
^35-38 You were shown all this so that you would know that God is, well, God. He’s the only God there is. He’s it. He made it possible for you to hear his voice out of Heaven to discipline you. Down on Earth, he showed you the big fire and again you heard his words, this time out of the fire. He loved your ancestors and chose to work with their children. He personally and powerfully brought you out of Egypt in order to displace bigger and stronger and older nations with you, bringing you out and turning their land over to you as an inheritance. And now it’s happening. This very day.
^39-40 Know this well, then. Take it to heart right now: God is in Heaven above; God is on Earth below. He’s the only God there is. Obediently live by his rules and commands which I’m giving you today so that you’ll live well and your children after you—oh, you’ll live a long time in the land that God, your God, is giving you.

 

For Reflection 

Perhaps one of the oldest and toughest philosophical questions is "Who are we and why are we here?"  Monotheism is a human explanation of this question.  There is one God and this God created the universe and all that lies within, including human kind.  We, God's children, are intended to be stewards of this universe.

However, God is a mystery.  God is a mystery that we seek to unravel and discover that with every thread removed we find greater mystery. God is a mystery we can scarcely understand, but in order to live a righteous life, must accept.  The idea that God exists and that we are part of God's creation is the basis for a powerfully potent life.  It is a life of love and justice in a chaotic world.

God's gift of language both extends our ability to know God and limits our knowledge.  There are no words to express God so we are bound up by our humanity, limited to human ways of knowing.  Therefore, our knowledge of God is temporal and imprecise.  This means we must view our definitions of God as provisional, subject to change as we mature in God's care. 

God exists far beyond our perception.  God does not exist because we perceive it so.  We perceive God because God exists.

Pray

that you will never doubt the existence of God.  Pray for those who reject God.  Pray that they will find God pushing them into a righteous life.  Pray that you heed the call of God and be obedient to God's will for you.

One in Christ Jesus

The Spirit Comes
Woven together in Love

The Spirit Creates One Body

Galatians 3:23-29  The Message

^23-24 Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for.
^25-27 But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ’s life, the fulfillment of God’s original promise.

^28-29 In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ’s family, then you are Abraham’s famous “descendant,” heirs according to the covenant promises.

For Reflection 

You have lived your life following Mosaic Law.  You are faithful and abiding in God.  And then, Jesus happened.  Your view of yourself in relationship to God has been challenged. Do you respond by a determined entrenchment in the law, or do you find a way to incorporate this new and strange interpretation of your faith in God?

Many find themselves at this same corner of past and future.  The challenge is to grow into the maturity of faith where love trumps rules, a maturity of grace.  One finds himself or herself facing a mysterious complexity of living in the common culture but not of that culture.  We find ourselves threatened by the lack of absolutes.  Life becomes messy.

It is then when we realize the value of the Gospel.  It is then when we confidently find purpose in the life exemplified by Christ.  It is then when we find hope in the unity of believers.  It is then when we begin to grow into Grace.

Pray

that all will find a path to grace.  Pray for those who question their faith will find their way to the fulfillment of the promise of the Gospel.  Pray often so that you will stay focused on the Kingdom of God.

One Spirit, One Mind

The Spirit Comes
Woven together in Love

The Spirit Creates One Body

Philippians 1:21-30  The Message

^18-21 So how am I to respond? I’ve decided that I really don’t care about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on!
And I’m going to keep that celebration going because I know how it’s going to turn out. Through your faithful prayers and the generous response of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, everything he wants to do in and through me will be done. I can hardly wait to continue on my course. I don’t expect to be embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn’t shut me up; they gave me a pulpit! Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose.
^22-26 As long as I’m alive in this body, there is good work for me to do. If I had to choose right now, I hardly know which I’d choose. Hard choice! The desire to break camp here and be with Christ is powerful. Some days I can think of nothing better. But most days, because of what you are going through, I am sure that it’s better for me to stick it out here. So I plan to be around awhile, companion to you as your growth and joy in this life of trusting God continues. You can start looking forward to a great reunion when I come visit you again. We’ll be praising Christ, enjoying each other.
^27-30 Meanwhile, live in such a way that you are a credit to the Message of Christ. Let nothing in your conduct hang on whether I come or not. Your conduct must be the same whether I show up to see things for myself or hear of it from a distance. Stand united, singular in vision, contending for people’s trust in the Message, the good news, not flinching or dodging in the slightest before the opposition. Your courage and unity will show them what they’re up against: defeat for them, victory for you—and both because of God. There’s far more to this life than trusting in Christ. There’s also suffering for him. And the suffering is as much a gift as the trusting. You’re involved in the same kind of struggle you saw me go through, on which you are now getting an updated report in this letter.

 For Reflection 

Paul understands the deviations in style of the Christian message is of little consequence.  Paul applauds all who speak of Christ because they contribute to God's plan for the Kingdom.  Is this an early recognition of an often used truism that all publicity, good or bad, is good?  I suppose the dialog that is created regarding differences in theological and practical Christianity is healthy; mostly because it raises the level of the awareness of Christ and His meaning for the world.

The USA Today reports (05/13/15) that many are leaving institutional and traditional Christian denominations.  Some who have left the faith have no particular faith at all.  What accounts for this exodus?  What about our common culture is more seductive than becoming a child of God?
What can Christians do that will reverse this trend? 

Perhaps Paul had it right when he suggested that Christians should continue to live in such a way that one is a credit the the Message of Christ.  Perhaps we Christians should live the Way boldly, loudly and with celebration.  We should not flinch or dodge.  Rather our lives should become a joyful celebration of the values of living in a community of faithful. Our joy should become so seductive that it overwhelms those whose false joy comes from individualism and self-sufficiency.

Pray

for those who pursue false hope rooted in self.  Pray that you will engage the world with demonstrations of your joy which is rooted in the gospel community.

Living in Harmony

The Spirit Comes
Woven together in Love

The Spirit Creates One Body

Romans 15:1-13  The Message

15 ^1-2 Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?”

^3-6 That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!
^7-13 So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! Jesus, staying true to God’s purposes, reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the old ancestral promises would come true for them. As a result, the non-Jewish outsiders have been able to experience mercy and to show appreciation to God. Just think of all the Scriptures that will come true in what we do! For instance:

Then I’ll join outsiders in a hymn-sing;
I’ll sing to your name!

And this one:

Outsiders and insiders, rejoice together!

And again:

People of all nations, celebrate God!
All colors and races, give hearty praise!

And Isaiah’s word:

There’s the root of our ancestor Jesse,
    breaking through the earth and growing tree tall,
Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope!

Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!

 

For Reflection 

In these days, when little in human affairs seems harmonious, remember those who work for good in times of great distress.  In Nepal, thousands are left homeless and many are grieving lost family and friends.  But, righteous people from around the globe are lending aid.  In Baltimore, at the height of the rioting, rival gang members assisted in calming things down.  In Boston, a young man who, under the influence of his brother and caught up in an act of terrorism that  he thought, at the time, was justified, sits and suffers remorse.  Can we Christians forgive him?  Can he let the Spirit of God help him forgive himself?

God works in mysterious ways to reconcile the world.  God's ways are contrary to the ways of common culture.  God's way is to give us opportunities to love, forgive. work for justice and peace and to help each other find comfort in the midst of disquieting times.  How are you helping?

Pray

for those who's misguided actions are hateful and vicious.  Pray for those who seek forgiveness for the unforgivable. Pray that you will live a life for the greater good of God's Kingdom.  Pray for the courage to show compassion and to extend unconditional help.  Pray for the wisdom to ask, "How can I help?" rather than "Who can I blame?"

Sincere and Pure Devotion

The Spirit Comes
Woven together in Love

The Spirit Creates one Body

2 Corinthians 11:1-15  The Message

11 ^1-3 Will you put up with a little foolish aside from me? Please, just for a moment. The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much—this is the passion of God burning inside me! I promised your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband. And now I’m afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ.

^4-6 It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big-shot “apostles,” why can’t you put up with simple me? I’m as good as they are. It’s true that I don’t have their voice, haven’t mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I’m talking about. We haven’t kept anything back. We let you in on everything.
^7-12 I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming God’s Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you wouldn’t be inconvenienced by me? It turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free ride. Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the believers from Macedonia province. I was careful never to be a burden to you, and I never will be, you can count on it. With Christ as my witness, it’s a point of honor with me, and I’m not going to keep it quiet just to protect you from what the neighbors will think. It’s not that I don’t love you; God knows I do. I’m just trying to keep things open and honest between us.
^12-15 And I’m not changing my position on this. I’d die before taking your money. I’m giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing “preachers,” vaunting themselves as something special. They’re a sorry bunch—pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers—posing as Christ’s agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn’t surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they’re not getting by with anything. They’ll pay for it in the end.

 

 For Reflection 

"Flash in the Pan."  Flash and Dash!"   Slick Willy."  "Con Artist."  "Bunko!"  "Squeal and Steal"  OK, the last one's mine.  I don't know if it is a common term for the superficial babble that seems to unduly influence some people.   All of us are aware of those who use the name of God for personal ends.  They distort the meaning of the gospel.  Fear is their sword.  Lies are their armor.  

 

Follow those who preach the love that is God.  Follow those who foster compassion and forgiveness.  Follow the soldiers of justice and peace.

Pray

for those who use God's name in vane.  Pray for the wisdom to see through the darkness of sham and lies to the true light. 

Speaking with One Voice

The Spirit Comes
Woven together in Love

The Spirit Creates one Body

Exodus 19:1-8  The Message

19 ^1-2 Three months after leaving Egypt the Israelites entered the Wilderness of Sinai. They followed the route from Rephidim, arrived at the Wilderness of Sinai, and set up camp. Israel camped there facing the mountain.

^3-6 As Moses went up to meet God, God called down to him from the mountain: “Speak to the House of Jacob, tell the People of Israel: ‘You have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to me. If you will listen obediently to what I say and keep my covenant, out of all peoples you’ll be my special treasure. The whole Earth is mine to choose from, but you’re special: a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.’
“This is what I want you to tell the People of Israel.”
⁷ Moses came back and called the elders of Israel together and set before them all these words which God had commanded him.
⁸ The people were unanimous in their response: “Everything God says, we will do.” Moses took the people’s answer back to God. 

For Reflection 

From the beginning of time, God has been shepherding God's creation.  The Spirit of God breathed life into this planet.  The Spirit of God created us in God's likeness.  The spirit of God has always been with us helping each of us achieve a common good. We, the faithful are obedient to the Spirit of God and will keep God's covenant as a holy community.

Pray

for the body of believers. Pray that we, God's people, will bear witness to the love, patience, forgiveness, compassion, justice and grace with which we are blessed.

Grace Gifts; Given to Us

The Spirit Comes
Woven together in Love

Gifts of the Spirit

Romans 12:1-8  The Message

12 ^1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

³ I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.
^4-6 In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t.
^6-8 If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

For Reflection 

Each of us has unique gifts to share in God's service.  Each must serve to his or her best ability.  Each of us, in service to God, brings light into the dark chaos which surrounds us.

Pray

that you will always be a beacon of God's truth.

Gifts That Build Up the Church

The Spirit Comes
Woven together in Love

Gifts of the Spirit

1 Corinthians 14:1-5  The Message

14 ^1-3 Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does. Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you. Most of all, try to proclaim his truth. If you praise him in the private language of tongues, God understands you but no one else does, for you are sharing intimacies just between you and him. But when you proclaim his truth in everyday speech, you’re letting others in on the truth so that they can grow and be strong and experience his presence with you.

^4-5 The one who prays using a private “prayer language” certainly gets a lot out of it, but proclaiming God’s truth to the church in its common language brings the whole church into growth and strength. I want all of you to develop intimacies with God in prayer, but please don’t stop with that. Go on and proclaim his clear truth to others. It’s more important that everyone have access to the knowledge and love of God in language everyone understands than that you go off and cultivate God’s presence in a mysterious prayer language—unless, of course, there is someone who can interpret what you are saying for the benefit of all.

For Reflection

 You are known by what you say, what you do, and what others say about you.  The first two you can control; the last one, not so much.  However, controlling what you say and do influences what others say about you. Because you profess Christianity, what you say and do  is a witness to the character of God.  You, in your every day affairs bear witness to the Holy Spirit.  It is a precious gift, a gift you pass to others.

Pray

that your behavior reflects the mystery of love that is our God.  Pray that you will, by your common actions, be an authentic witness to the love of God.

Understanding the Gifts God Bestows

The Spirit Comes
Woven together in Love

Gifts of the Spirit

1 Corinthians 2:11-16  The Message

^10-13 The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you’re thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he’s thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. We don’t have to rely on the world’s guesses and opinions. We didn’t learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we’re passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way.
^14-16 The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit—God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God’s Spirit is doing, and can’t be judged by unspiritual critics. Isaiah’s question, “Is there anyone around who knows God’s Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?” has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ’s Spirit.

For Reflection 

A friend was aghast when I revealed that I rarely make and commit  thoroughly to a plan, because God always changes them.  My planning is always focused but always leaves room for responding to unexpected circumstance.  I have been known as a master of exploiting current circumstances!  I am comfortable with my approach to living.  Some, however, have a gift for making plans, I do not.

Whether one is good at making plans is not the issue.  The issue is wheather one's own commitment to a plan interferes with one's ability to change and follow a new direction whispered by the Spirit.

Pray

that you will take time to listen to the whispered plans of God.  Pray that you will sacrifice your unspiritual self to serve in Gods' plan for you.

God's Gifts and Calling Are Irrevocable

The Spirit Comes
Woven together in Love

Gifts of the Spirit

Romans 11:25-32  The Message

^25-29 I want to lay all this out on the table as clearly as I can, friends. This is complicated. It would be easy to misinterpret what’s going on and arrogantly assume that you’re royalty and they’re just rabble, out on their ears for good. But that’s not it at all. This hardness on the part of insider Israel toward God is temporary. Its effect is to open things up to all the outsiders so that we end up with a full house. Before it’s all over, there will be a complete Israel. As it is written,

A champion will stride down from the mountain of Zion;
    he’ll clean house in Jacob.
And this is my commitment to my people:
    removal of their sins.

From your point of view as you hear and embrace the good news of the Message, it looks like the Jews are God’s enemies. But looked at from the long-range perspective of God’s overall purpose, they remain God’s oldest friends. God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty—never canceled, never rescinded.

^30-32 There was a time not so long ago when you were on the outs with God. But then the Jews slammed the door on him and things opened up for you. Now they are on the outs. But with the door held wide open for you, they have a way back in. In one way or another, God makes sure that we all experience what it means to be outside so that he can personally open the door and welcome us back in.

 

For Reflection

 As the early Christian movement developed churches and gained a foot hold in society many Jews did not convert.  Some were openly hostile to the Christian movement and to its converts.  As a result a strong antisemitism developed. Paul, in this letter to the Roman church denounces such action and belief about those that remained in the traditional Jewish faiths.

If one asks, "Are the Jews still God's chosen people?"  The answer is found here in Paul's letter.  Clearly, the answer is yes.  Soon as we merge our faiths, Paul writes, we will all walk through the door into God's kingdom and God will welcome us all.

Pray

prayers for the living God.  Pray for the unity of all God's people.  Pray that in spite of our individual differences, we all will see and respond to God who resides in us all.

Not Exalted over Other Members

The Spirit Comes
Woven together in Love

Gifts of the Spirit

Deuteronomy 17:14-20 The Message

^14-17 When you enter the land that God, your God, is giving you and take it over and settle down, and then say, “I’m going to get me a king, a king like all the nations around me,” make sure you get yourself a king whom God, your God, chooses. Choose your king from among your kinsmen; don’t take a foreigner—only a kinsman. And make sure he doesn’t build up a war machine, amassing military horses and chariots. He must not send people to Egypt to get more horses, because God told you, “You’ll never go back there again!” And make sure he doesn’t build up a harem, collecting wives who will divert him from the straight and narrow. And make sure he doesn’t pile up a lot of silver and gold.

^18-20 This is what must be done: When he sits down on the throne of his kingdom, the first thing he must do is make himself a copy of this Revelation on a scroll, copied under the supervision of the Levitical priests. That scroll is to remain at his side at all times; he is to study it every day so that he may learn what it means to fear his God, living in reverent obedience before these rules and regulations by following them. He must not become proud and arrogant, changing the commands at whim to suit himself or making up his own versions. If he reads and learns, he will have a long reign as king in Israel, he and his sons.

For ReflectionIn the politics of life, leaders emerge.  I suppose in any group, it is natural that someone is given authority.  Sometimes that authority to lead is based upon knowledge, sometimes it is based upon skills.  Sometimes the authority is based on such insignificant things as how one looks.  Sometimes the authority is taken by coercion and force.

But, in all cases the authority and power to lead is given by those who are lead and if those who are lead are fed up, that power can be taken back from those in charge.

The special social and political position of a leader often corrupts the leader.  The power goes to his or her head.  The leader is surrounded by people who will not communicate the truth well either because of the leader's own choosing or by a person's desire to be favored.

So God's advice is well placed.  Whether the leader is of a small group or a nation, or of a political unit or a church, God calls us to choose our leadership wisely.  God also calls those who lead to be careful to avoid the corrupting influences of his or her position; to keep clearly focused on serving God and God's people, protecting justice, showing compassion and fostering peace.


Pray

for the leaders of our church.  Pray that they grow in knowledge of God's truth.  Pray that they will lead in love and a passion for justice and peace.  Pray that the leaders of the world will find compassion and work for justice and peace.  Pray for the people of the world who suffer under selfish and tyrannical leaders.  Pray that they will find peace, justice and compassion in a loveless world.