Children have been in the spotlight the past few weeks, sadly, in the role of victims. Jesus lifts them up as role models for his Kingdom that we all are called to follow.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, giver of all good things, as we enter this week of Thanksgiving, help us to slow down long enough to actually see the many gifts you have given us. Remind us that our place and importance is yours alone to assign to us. In Jesus' name, amen.
Matthew 18: 1-5
Comments
As adults and parents, we often think of the importance of teaching our children how to live and live well. We teach them manners, math, and how to pray. According to Jesus, however, there are important things we need to learn from them about living in God's Kingdom.
We, like the disciples, tend to think of greatness in terms of whether we make the all star team, are the top earners in our companies, get promotions, or gain recognition. Jesus, however, points to a vulnerable, trusting child, whose everyday existence is an exercise of trust in those around her and says, "Now that is true greatness to my Father." Greatness in the Kingdom seems to be measured by how much we trust and depend on God, not in the accomplishments we acheive on our own power.
So many of us are control freaks, living our daily lives as though we were the ones solely responsible for our survival. Parker Palmer uses the phrase "functional atheists" to describe all of us who may say we believe in God but live as though God has left us alone to fight for our own survival. Life in God's Kingdom looks very different. It looks like a peaceful, trusting, response to God's continual provision and care.
Jesus lays down a great challenge for us. He says that no one can even enter the Kingdom of God unless we have the kind of deep trust that we see in the lives of children. That kind of trust is foreign in our world where the vulnerable are often exploited. That's probably why Jesus was so ticked off when he warned anyone who causes a vulnerable one's trust to be damaged that it would be better for them to jump off a bridge with a stone around their neck. So...
Life Questions:
1. How can we humble ourselves and trust more fully in our Heavenly Father?
2. May God give us grace to be worthy of the trust of our children and of the God who gave them to
us to help raise in faith.
Prayer
Precious Jesus, who heals the sick, feeds the hungry, forgives the sinners, frees the oppressed, and whose grace sustains us every single moment of the day, give us larger faith to trust in you. When we see children, let us see our relationship to you through their eyes. Thank you for your love. Amen.
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Monday, November 21, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Keys To The Kingdom
Ever get lost in the mundane tasks of daily living? Ever wonder how significant your life is while you are changing diapers, stuck in traffic on the interstate, or washing dishes? The mundane and seemingly "insignificant" are of more eternal value than you think!
Prayer
Jesus save us from our blindness to the magnficence of daily tasks! Open our eyes to see the potential in every moment for love and grace, to see that all time is an opportunity for Your Kingdom to break into time, to crash into this broken world of ours. Help us acknowledge Your presence in the kitchen, at work, in bed, in our cars, and everywhere we go. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we pray, amen.
Matthew 16: 15-19
Comments
Remember the first time you had car keys dropped into your hands with that thrilling jingle? You had the power and authority to take the car! You were the master of the engine, telling it where to go, how fast to go. You had freedom and power, and your world of possibilities grew exponentially! If you were like me, you also had to pay for gas and $3500 for the car!
Jesus says some astounding things in today's passage. He says to Peter,"I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven; whatever you bind (tie to/connect) on earth will be bound (tied to/connected) in Heaven, and whatever you loose (untie/disconnect) on earth will be loosed (untied/disconnected) in heaven." Peter has been given a measure of authority and power in the Kingdom of God! The Church, the followers of Jesus on earth, in fact, have been given the authority and power to expand the Kingdom of God or to expel destructive influences from the Kingdom of God! What power and freedom and possibilities open up for us, and what great responsibilities we now bear!
So what does this mean for people learning to follow Jesus today? Among many things, it means there are no fans, no observers, no Jesus followers who can sit in the stands of life and cheer on "those other Christians" who are confronting sin and the evil powers of this world. When we say "yes" to Jesus' invitation to "come follow me" we say yes to being participants in advancing his Kingdom. That means we point out and celebrate what is good and right with the world (bind on earth what is heavenly!). It also means that we confront sin and evil where we find it with the saving love of Jesus (loose on earth what is not of the Kingdom).
We have an obligation now, a calling. Our daily lives possess a great significance. When we see love expressed in a thousand tiny ways (a kiss on the cheek, taking the garbage out, working to secure a livelihood for our families and to serve others, showing courtesy and kindness to others, putting a hamburger in the hands of the man with the sign near the overpass, a visit with a lonely person), we point it out and celebrate it, for it is a sign of the Kingdom of God among us. And when we see abuse, dysfunction, destructive conflict, hunger, pain over a lost job, disease that causes suffering, greed that takes from others, we are called to point it out and help offer a counteractive solution.
Unfortunately, this week's events at Penn State remind us of how vitally important it is to oppose sin. With proper intervention and reporting of the alleged cases of abuse, it is likely that further abuse could have been prevented, the integrity of an institution and its people could have been preserved, and deeper trauma could have been avoided. May God help all of us be more attentive to protecting the weak and powerless among us.
One final word about the passage this week that is vital for the hope of all creation is that the powers of death will not overcome the love we find in God's Kingdom. Love really does win in the end. Paul wrote "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor demons, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8: 38-39)."
Life Questions:
1. Where do I see sin and evil around me that I need to stand up to?
2. Where do I see beauty and love and service to those in need in big or small ways that I need to celebrate?
Prayer:
Your Kingdom is at hand this moment! Give us grace to enter it and grace to help you bring it more fully into this day we live in and into the lives we interact with! Come, Lord Jesus!
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Prayer
Jesus save us from our blindness to the magnficence of daily tasks! Open our eyes to see the potential in every moment for love and grace, to see that all time is an opportunity for Your Kingdom to break into time, to crash into this broken world of ours. Help us acknowledge Your presence in the kitchen, at work, in bed, in our cars, and everywhere we go. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we pray, amen.
Matthew 16: 15-19
Comments
Remember the first time you had car keys dropped into your hands with that thrilling jingle? You had the power and authority to take the car! You were the master of the engine, telling it where to go, how fast to go. You had freedom and power, and your world of possibilities grew exponentially! If you were like me, you also had to pay for gas and $3500 for the car!
Jesus says some astounding things in today's passage. He says to Peter,"I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven; whatever you bind (tie to/connect) on earth will be bound (tied to/connected) in Heaven, and whatever you loose (untie/disconnect) on earth will be loosed (untied/disconnected) in heaven." Peter has been given a measure of authority and power in the Kingdom of God! The Church, the followers of Jesus on earth, in fact, have been given the authority and power to expand the Kingdom of God or to expel destructive influences from the Kingdom of God! What power and freedom and possibilities open up for us, and what great responsibilities we now bear!
So what does this mean for people learning to follow Jesus today? Among many things, it means there are no fans, no observers, no Jesus followers who can sit in the stands of life and cheer on "those other Christians" who are confronting sin and the evil powers of this world. When we say "yes" to Jesus' invitation to "come follow me" we say yes to being participants in advancing his Kingdom. That means we point out and celebrate what is good and right with the world (bind on earth what is heavenly!). It also means that we confront sin and evil where we find it with the saving love of Jesus (loose on earth what is not of the Kingdom).
We have an obligation now, a calling. Our daily lives possess a great significance. When we see love expressed in a thousand tiny ways (a kiss on the cheek, taking the garbage out, working to secure a livelihood for our families and to serve others, showing courtesy and kindness to others, putting a hamburger in the hands of the man with the sign near the overpass, a visit with a lonely person), we point it out and celebrate it, for it is a sign of the Kingdom of God among us. And when we see abuse, dysfunction, destructive conflict, hunger, pain over a lost job, disease that causes suffering, greed that takes from others, we are called to point it out and help offer a counteractive solution.
Unfortunately, this week's events at Penn State remind us of how vitally important it is to oppose sin. With proper intervention and reporting of the alleged cases of abuse, it is likely that further abuse could have been prevented, the integrity of an institution and its people could have been preserved, and deeper trauma could have been avoided. May God help all of us be more attentive to protecting the weak and powerless among us.
One final word about the passage this week that is vital for the hope of all creation is that the powers of death will not overcome the love we find in God's Kingdom. Love really does win in the end. Paul wrote "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor demons, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8: 38-39)."
Life Questions:
1. Where do I see sin and evil around me that I need to stand up to?
2. Where do I see beauty and love and service to those in need in big or small ways that I need to celebrate?
Prayer:
Your Kingdom is at hand this moment! Give us grace to enter it and grace to help you bring it more fully into this day we live in and into the lives we interact with! Come, Lord Jesus!
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Monday, November 7, 2011
Breaking Open
Your work bag or brief case is over-stuffed. You stand on it, stretch it, pull it to try to get it closed. Your smart phone calendar is colored in. There is not white space in which to breathe. Does your life ever feel to small to fit in all of your expectations and the expectations of others?
Prayer
Dear Jesus, what if we are the ones trying to shrink You and the life You invite us to down to a manageable size? What if our hopes and dreams of life are much smaller than Yours? Free us, break us open wide to enter a bigger life of love and grace than we can imagine right now. Give us courage, hope, and faith that You want to use us to expand Your Kingdom of love in this world of darkness. Amen.
Matthew 12
Comments
I enjoyed shrinky dinks as a kid. My friends and I would color on the plastic animals, people, and objects, then place them in the little oven to shrivel and shrink down into hard plastic art. Sometimes I wonder how often we try to shrink God down to our size. God is so big, so unmanageable for us, and, frankly, God's ways can overwhelm us. "Love your enemies...really? Forgive...really? Sell all we have and give to the poor...really?"
It's much easier for those of us who try to follow Jesus to try to shrink his teachings and way of life down to our size. One of the ways we do that is to distill his mind-blowing, heart-changing, disquieting, and freeing stories into a list of things for us to do or not do. While this process is important for us in order to "flesh out" how Jesus' teachings transform how we live, it is vital that we don't get so wrapped up in our "answers" that we stop listening to Jesus, stop allowing his teaching to challenge us. When we start defending our small ideas of Jesus' Kingdom against Jesus, that's when we find ourselves in trouble.
Matthew 12 shows Jesus to be like a crazed, sledge-hammer wielding God-man in a china shop, happily wrecking the misunderstandings and rituals the religious leaders came up with to try to shrink God's ways down to a manageable size. Unfortunately, the religious leaders, in their attempts to faithfully live according to God's laws, made many rules for "not working" on the Sabbath out to be more important than healing others or receiving God's provision to satisfy hunger. The Sabbath, intended to be a time of rest, renewal, and being in worship with God, became a huge, burdensome, fretful series of rules. Jesus broke those open as he broke open the heads of grain to eat on the Sabbath and as he extended his hand to heal the man with the withered hand. Several times in this passage he said, "I tell you, something greater than the ______ is here."
Anytime our vision of God's way of life (the Kingdom) gets to be too small, Jesus has a way of breaking our vision open and expanding it! Though that process can be a disturbing one, calling us to acknowledge where we are wrong and turn back toward Jesus' ways, it is life-giving! It is expanding. For love, mercy, and healing are greater than rules, laws and regulations, thank God! And we will know when we are following Jesus when we see the fruits of love, mercy, and healing.
Life Questions
1. Who is it that we don't want to be around, that we just don't like? This person might be our opportunity to see how big God's love is. How can we be at peace with them or reach out to them?
2. Where are we focusing on the "minor" issues of life while neglecting love, mercy, and healing?
Prayer
Gracious God, thank You for not allowing us to get too comfortable, for breaking us open when our love needs to grow bigger like Yours. Thank You for being slow to anger and rich in mercy. Give us the power of the Holy Spirit to love, heal, and forgive so that the world may know You are the Lord of heaven and earth and everything in them.
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Prayer
Dear Jesus, what if we are the ones trying to shrink You and the life You invite us to down to a manageable size? What if our hopes and dreams of life are much smaller than Yours? Free us, break us open wide to enter a bigger life of love and grace than we can imagine right now. Give us courage, hope, and faith that You want to use us to expand Your Kingdom of love in this world of darkness. Amen.
Matthew 12
Comments
I enjoyed shrinky dinks as a kid. My friends and I would color on the plastic animals, people, and objects, then place them in the little oven to shrivel and shrink down into hard plastic art. Sometimes I wonder how often we try to shrink God down to our size. God is so big, so unmanageable for us, and, frankly, God's ways can overwhelm us. "Love your enemies...really? Forgive...really? Sell all we have and give to the poor...really?"
It's much easier for those of us who try to follow Jesus to try to shrink his teachings and way of life down to our size. One of the ways we do that is to distill his mind-blowing, heart-changing, disquieting, and freeing stories into a list of things for us to do or not do. While this process is important for us in order to "flesh out" how Jesus' teachings transform how we live, it is vital that we don't get so wrapped up in our "answers" that we stop listening to Jesus, stop allowing his teaching to challenge us. When we start defending our small ideas of Jesus' Kingdom against Jesus, that's when we find ourselves in trouble.
Matthew 12 shows Jesus to be like a crazed, sledge-hammer wielding God-man in a china shop, happily wrecking the misunderstandings and rituals the religious leaders came up with to try to shrink God's ways down to a manageable size. Unfortunately, the religious leaders, in their attempts to faithfully live according to God's laws, made many rules for "not working" on the Sabbath out to be more important than healing others or receiving God's provision to satisfy hunger. The Sabbath, intended to be a time of rest, renewal, and being in worship with God, became a huge, burdensome, fretful series of rules. Jesus broke those open as he broke open the heads of grain to eat on the Sabbath and as he extended his hand to heal the man with the withered hand. Several times in this passage he said, "I tell you, something greater than the ______ is here."
Anytime our vision of God's way of life (the Kingdom) gets to be too small, Jesus has a way of breaking our vision open and expanding it! Though that process can be a disturbing one, calling us to acknowledge where we are wrong and turn back toward Jesus' ways, it is life-giving! It is expanding. For love, mercy, and healing are greater than rules, laws and regulations, thank God! And we will know when we are following Jesus when we see the fruits of love, mercy, and healing.
Life Questions
1. Who is it that we don't want to be around, that we just don't like? This person might be our opportunity to see how big God's love is. How can we be at peace with them or reach out to them?
2. Where are we focusing on the "minor" issues of life while neglecting love, mercy, and healing?
Prayer
Gracious God, thank You for not allowing us to get too comfortable, for breaking us open when our love needs to grow bigger like Yours. Thank You for being slow to anger and rich in mercy. Give us the power of the Holy Spirit to love, heal, and forgive so that the world may know You are the Lord of heaven and earth and everything in them.
Daily Prayer
Sermons
Connect To Christian Community
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