The Symbol of Our Mission - Christmas

Week of December 25, 2011 – Christmas

Theme/Title:  The Symbol of Our Mission - Christmas

Scripture:   Luke 2: 1-20; Isaiah 9: 1-7

Media: The final scene from " The Fourth Wise Man"

Reflection:

C.S. Lewis wrote a poem entitled “The Nativity.”  I think it is a good one to read and reflect on this Christmas.

THE NATIVITY

Among the oxen (like an ox I’m slow)
I see a glory in the stable grow
Which, with the ox’s dullness might at length
Give me an ox’s strength.

Among the asses (stubborn I as they)
I see my Saviour where I looked for hay;
So may my beastlike folly learn at least
The patience of a beast.

Among the sheep (I like a sheep have strayed)
I watch the manger where my Lord is laid;
Oh that my baa-ing nature would win thence
Some woolly innocence

My favorite song of Christmas is “Do You Hear What I Hear?”  When I listen to or sing it I find that I have connected somehow to the real meaning and significance of Christmas. It ends with the line “The child, the child sleeping in the night, he will bring us goodness and light.” It makes me aware that the message of Christmas is that goodness and light have come to our world. It also makes me aware that the world will really only know of this goodness and light if I share it with them. The world will be God’s dream when all people know goodness and live in the light. This is when the world will be transformed and people will be shaped and molded into partners of God. So pray for peace people everywhere and have a very Merry Christmas!

Meditation: How has Christmas shaped you? Do you remember a Christmas where you didn’t get much but it was a great Christmas? What made it so? How is Christmas a symbol of our mission to boldly shape partners of God for the transformation of the world?

Prayer: Pray for children everywhere but especially those who will not know a Christmas that is anything like the one you will have. Pray for peace. Pray that all people will find hope and love and know joy. Pray that you will be open to the spirit as it seeks to lead you forward in a life of faithful living.

Celebrating the Incarnation

Week of December 18, 2011 – (Joy Sunday of Advent)

 Theme/Title:  Celebrating the Incarnation 

 Scripture:    John 1: 1-5, 14 & 16-18; Luke 1: 26-38; Matthew 1: 18-25;

Reflections:  Incarnation – the central Christian doctrine that God became man in the form of Jesus, the son of God and the second person of the Holy Trinity. In Jesus the divine and human nature are joined but neither is changed or diminished. This difficult doctrine gave rise to a variety of heresies, some denying Jesus' divine nature, others his human nature. For orthodox believers the conflict was settled at the Councils of Nicaea (AD 325) and Chalcedon (AD 451).

What does it mean to believe that God was/is incarnate in a human being?  Why would this be a central Christian doctrine?  You can go to thousands of websites, read hundreds of books and talk to many different pastors and theologians and get so many and varied answers to these questions.  But what seems most important to me is the idea that God became human, became like you and me.  Why did God do this?  I believe because God wanted to know what it was like to be human; God was trying to understand all the various emotions, desires and beliefs that we humans have and how they affect the choices we make and the things we do.  God is all knowing (omniscient) but knowing isn’t always understanding and I believe God sought to understand God’s human creations.  There is no better way to understand another then by walking in their shoes therefore the Incarnation!

God also needed to show us that we could do it, that we could live as God wants us to live and do as God wants us to do.  God needed to be sure that God’s creatures had the stuff to be able to live in such a way as to make the universe over into God’s dream for creation.  Jesus is our sample, our mold, our way of knowing how we can and ought to live so that God’s kingdom can come and God’s will be done.

And so, as God had done before, a message arrives with a messenger only instead of an angel or a prophet, a burning bush or cloud of smoke and pillar of fire, a still small voice or a thundering earthquake God comes as a baby, born to a teenage mom in a stable in a backwater town.  God comes to show us the way, to teach us about love and to call us to the task of being beloved Children of God – loving and serving – witnessing – practicing what we preach and putting faith into action – caring for the least and lost – working to change the world into God’s intent for creation.

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”  Isaiah 9:6-7 (KJV)

Meditation:

What does it mean for God to know what it feels like to be human – to know our emotions and desires and ways first hand?  When has the Incarnation had meaning to you?  Why then?  Is it meaningful to you now?

Prayer:

Thank God for coming to us and experiencing human life first hand.  Ask God to help you move on to perfection so you might be as Jesus was and is.  Pray that others will know God and Christ and find in this relationship hope, peace, joy and love.

Hope: What the World Seeks Now

Week of December 11, 2011 – How? Offering Hope (Hope Sunday of Advent)

Theme/Title:  Hope: What the world seeks now
Scripture:  Psalm 62: 5-8; Psalm 130: 1-8; Romans 5: 1-5 & Luke 24: 44-48

Media:  

 “Doing the Right Thing” Liberty Mutual ad on YouTube

Reflection:

I believe that a lot of what ails our culture, world and its people can be boiled down to one thing, hope.  More accurately it is the feeling of hopelessness that seems to permeate life for a lot of people on this planet.  I can only speculate about other cultures but I know for a fact that here in these United States we suffering greatly from a sense of despondency, of hopelessness.  The economy, the ongoing wars, the debt crisis, unemployment, loss of retirement funds, loss of employee benefits, the lack of compromise and solutions to our problems that is coming from our political leaders, etc gives rise to the belief that from here on out life will be just a bit tougher; that the future will not be as optimistic and bright as it has seemed for past generations.

Part of the hopelessness people experience is due to what is known as “a hole in the soul.”  Religious people talk about this as the place of God in a person’s life and if you don’t have a real and vital relationship with God then there is a hole in you that aches to be filled.  AA programs talk about a “Higher Power,” self-help gurus preach about finding inner peace, life coaches advocate discovering your strengths and developing self-confidence. They all are speaking about filling this hole in the soul and what they hint at is what we know – get God and hope comes.  Many try to fill this hole with drugs or food or sex or shopping.  Some are overcome by it and sink into depression.  Some feel so out of sorts that they lash out, abusing others or hurting themselves.  While there are other causes for some of these reactions hopelessness plays its part.

At this time of Advent – of awaiting the coming of God into our lives and world – it seems appropriate that the church, the place of hope, speak and act in ways that help the “hole-y” ones find the Holy One.  We are the ones on this planet that know where hope comes from and the value of filling the hole in your soul with meaningful relationships based upon faith in the one God whose grace and love are for everyone and sufficient to provide all people hope.  We sing about Jesus being the hope of the world.  We pray to the God of all hope.  We look forward to a world better than the present one, we hope for the kingdom of God.  Hope defines us and motivates us.  It is who we are and what we are about – bringing hope, light, love, grace, help into the places that are hopeless, dark, hateful, diseased and suffering.  If there is no other issue the church is uniquely positioned to address hope is the one.

And where do we find hope, we find it in a community of faith that believes in grace and love, which lives hope and believes hope.  Hopefulness comes from meaningful and deep relationships with faithful people and with God.  The hole in our souls is filled to overflowing and it is part of our vocation to pour that hope upon the world.

Meditation: Remember a time when you felt hopeless and how you found hope.  Reflect on a time when you brought hope to someone else.  Meditate on a time when you felt God in your life and the hope that came from that encounter.  Ponder the world and the places and situations that are hot beds of hopelessness and ways to being hope to them.

Prayer: Pray for hope for the world.  Ask God to let you and the church be beacons of hope for the world.  Pray for those who are hopeless that they might find hope.  Ask God to shower down upon this earth hope and healing.

Who Belongs?

Week of December 4, 2011 – How? Addressing Inclusion (Peace Sunday of Advent)

 Theme/Title:  "Who Belongs?"

Scripture:      1 Corinthians 10: 31-33 & Matthew 15: 21-28 

Media:    

YouTube video Radical Face 'Welcome Home' by thebreadcrumbtrail

Reflection:

Since the beginning the church of Jesus Christ has had to wrestle with the issue of inclusiveness - who belongs, who is acceptable, what is required for participation and salvation?  Paul struggled with this issue when it came to allowing Gentiles to be Christians without needing to be Jewish too.  He also struggled with the distinctions between rich and poor, slave and free, women and men and gifts of the spirit that were all being used in churches to segregate and create categories of who is more and less acceptable.

A lot has changed over the centuries with the doors of the church and society opening wider and wider to include and accept more and diverse people.  But still this issue of who belongs, who is acceptable, what is required for participation and salvation runs through Christ’s church and our culture.  I think God, Jesus, Paul and millions of others over 2000 years have made it pretty clear that everyone belongs and that the church exists for one primary purpose – to help people know God.  The church isn’t about correct belief.  It is about knowing God, helping others to know God and caring for others so that they can get to a place where they can know God.  It is about living as God wants us to live.  When we throw up barriers, limit who it is that can be a part of the church or society we keep people from knowing God – we violate our primary reason for being.

This second week of Advent we are using the word “peace.”  To be fully included in the life of a faith community, to know God and to be surrounded by people who care for you, nurture you and support you brings peace to you and your life.  Living in peace is living in a state of harmony with yourself, others, creation and God.  Being a part of a community of faith assists you in living in this way.  We cannot keep others out nor can we make it restrictive or difficult for those outside to come in.  We are God’s hosts and the church community is God’s home and we are charged with the task of welcoming all people! 

If you believe that the grace of God is real and that the love of God is real then you have to believe that God wants, needs and expects God’s home to be a place of welcome and peace for all people.  There are no restrictions.  Even Jesus needed to be reminded of this when he encounter that Canaanite woman whose daughter had a demon. Peace will come to our lives and world when those who are faithful children of God begin to practice what God desires for all – inclusion, welcome, a place at the table and a room in God’s home.

Meditation: When have you been excluded from somewhere or something?  How did it feel?  What examples can you think of that show inclusion or exclusion?  What does it mean to live in harmony; to live in peace?  When have you practiced the art of inclusion – hospitality?

Prayer: Thank God for all those moments in your life where you felt included.  Thank God for those who have worked so hard to build an inclusive world and church.  Pray for those who still are or feel excluded from society and the church.  Ask God to help you and our church be a haven of blessing and place of peace for all people.

How? How do we accomplish the mission?

Week of November 27, 2011: How do we accomplish this mission? [Love Sunday of Advent]

 Theme/Title:  "How? How do we accomplish the mission?"

 Scripture:  Galatians 3: 28; Jeremiah 29: 11-13; Genesis 1: 24-27 & Isaiah 58: 5-11

 Media:   

 YouTube video “inclusion is belonging” by TorrieatKIT 

YouTube video Jack Johnson – Hope by Jack Johnson

YouTube video “The Crying Indian – full commercial – Keep America Beautiful”, 

YouTube Video “Poverty – PSA” by nuitsdelapleinelune

Reflection:  This week we enter the season of Advent, a time of preparation and reflection.  Each week of Advent has a traditional theme that reveals an aspect of the season.  This week we use the word “Love.”  What does it mean to prepare our hearts and minds and spirit for the coming of God in a baby – for the Incarnation?  How do we understand “love” in the context of Advent, our mission to boldly shape partners of God for the transformation of the world, and as we seek to discover how we will transform the world?

Love in this context is a verb – it is the “how” questions answered.  Love is what we do and how we do it in our effort to transform the world.  There are four issues or needs that VHUMC and its faithful are uniquely positioned to effectively address in our community and world: inclusion, hope, the environment and poverty.

 Love is including everyone in the entire life of our community and it is seeing that every person in our society and world has their basic rights protected and that they can live up to their fullest potential.  Love is helping others find reasons and ways to hope and be hopeful about the present and the future.  Love is healing our earth and working to see that this creation continues to thrive and support life for millenniums to come.  Love is caring for the basic needs of people everywhere and addressing the causes of poverty and eliminating them.

 You and VHUMC already love in these ways – maybe not fully or passionately – and we need to be more and do more if the world is to be transformed.  Some are passionate about these issues but not sure how to put that passion to work.  Some want to do more but are unsure it will make a difference.  And some feel like they are bashing their heads against the wall and getting nowhere.  Which are you?  It is time we combined our efforts, join forces and take what we already do and crank it up.  “What the world needs now is love, sweet love, no not just for some but for everyone!”  It’s time to show the love, be the love and to witness to the love.

Meditation:  What are you most passionate about?  What issue or need are you most fired up about?  What are you already doing to include others, to heal the environment, to bring hope and to end poverty?

Prayer: Pray for those who suffer most from hopelessness, exclusion, poverty and the damaged environment.  Celebrate the places and ways you are already addressing these needs.  Pray for those who work to attend to these issues.  Ask God to reveal to you how VHUMC can tackle these issues to transform the world.

What are we to be about?

Week of November 20, 2011: Boldly Shaping Partners of God for the Transformation of the World

Theme/Title:   "What are we to be about?"

Scripture:  Matthew 25: 31-40; Acts 1: 6-8 and Revelation 21: 1-5a 

Media:   

 YouTube video – USA for Africa – We Are the World (Official Video) by USAforAfricaVEVO

Reflection:

It’s time for you to make a choice.  We’ve been exploring Biblical values, looking at why a mission is important, traveling through the various meanings and possible implications of a mission to boldly shape partners of God for the transformation of the world and we have arrived at the moment of truth.  Do you agree with this mission?  Will you adopt it as your own and do all you can to accomplish it?

I cannot be clearer about what it is I hear God calling us to be and do.  I cannot write, speak, or share anything new about this mission.  I firmly and wholehearted believe that God is calling me and this church and the church to this mission.  I believe that in order for the world to address its problems and resolve its issues faithful people must embark upon this mission.  We cannot wait until tomorrow.  We cannot pause and want to study it more.  We cannot withhold our efforts, our resources and yourselves any longer.  The world needs us now, right now.

It’s time to step up and claim your place in God’s universe.  We cannot wait for someone else to step forward.  If we delay we risk waiting too long and the results will be disastrous.  I have faith that somehow things will work out but they cannot if people of faith will not do what we can to make the world over into what God has intended it to be. 

Meditation & Prayer:  What do you think is the mission God has for you, for our church and for the church? Meditate on all that has been written, said and shared over the last nine weeks.  What comes from all this?  Reflect on and pray the words to the song “From a Distance” written by Julie Gold and best known I think as sung by Bette Midler:

From a distance
The world looks blue and green
And the snow capped mountains white
From a distance
The ocean meets the stream
And the eagle takes to flight

From a distance
There is harmony
And it echoes through the land
Its the voice of hope
Its the voice of peace
Its the voice of every man

From a distance
We all have enough
And no one is in need
And there are no guns, no bombs and no disease
No hungry mouths to feed
From a Distance
We are instruments
Marching in a common band
Playing songs of hope
Playing songs of peace
They are the songs of every man

God is watching us
God is watching us
God is watching us
From a distance

From a distance
You look like my friend
Even though we are at war
From a distance
I just cannot comprehend
What all this fighting is for
From a distance
There is harmony
And it echoes through the land
And its the hope of hopes
Its the love of loves
Its the heart of every man

The Whole Kit and Caboodle

Weekly Devotion - November 13, 2011: Boldly Shaping Partners of God for the Transformation of the World

Theme/Title:  "The Whole Kit and Caboodle"

Scripture:   1 Samuel 2: 7-8; Psalm 24: 1-6; John 3: 16-17; Romans 12; 1-21;

Media:  

YouTube video: “We Are All Humans of Planet Earth (Song)” by ZiYuFilms

Reflection:

“For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and on them he has set the world.”  “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world and those who live in it; for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.”  Creation, the universe, the world, the earth; they are God’s and God’s handiwork.  What is comes from what God has done.  But it hasn’t turned out the way God intended.

God created the world and then God placed within it humankind.  God did this because God wanted to have a partner, someone to be in a deep, intimate and life-giving relationship with.  In order to have this be a reality God had to give humankind freedom – freedom to choose to be in a relationship with God or to choose not to be in that relationship.  God had to set us free in order to see if we would return and do so of our own free will and choosing.  This is all well and good except that we humans make choices and then change our minds and then do things we regret and then try to get back into the relationship we turned down often without changing the habits or behaviors that caused problems for the relationship in the first place. 

God’s intention for the world has run up against the results of human choices and freedom and the world and its inhabitants (human and otherwise) are suffering for it.  But when people realize that a relationship with God fills the void they have in life, when they enter into a deep and intimate relationship with God they see the world that is and they come to know the world God intends and they see the disconnect.  The faithful also know that things can change. 

“For God so loved the World that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.  Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3: 16-17 NRSV)

In Romans 12 Paul spells out how citizens of God’s world are to live while being sojourners in the world that is.   He summarizes the entire chapter in one sentence: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”  Transforming the world begins when we start overcoming evil with good.  Living as the people of God is living in such a way as to help creation move in the direction of God’s intention for it.  The world is God’s, we are God’s children and if we truly want to live in the world God created we must strive to change the present course of human existence so that the universe may once again align with God’s intentions.

Meditation: Where have you struggled with being a citizen of God’s kingdom and a sojourner in the world that is?  What does it mean to have a deep and intimate relationship with God?  What choices have you made that have either pushed the world away from God’s intentions for it or helped to realign it with those intentions?

Prayer: Ask God to forgive you for those times and actions that pushed the world away from God.  Ask God to forgive others who have done the same thing.  Pray that all God’s people will find their way to God.  Pray that the faithful will join efforts to realign the world with God.  Thank God for those who are working on this realignment.

Transformers

Week of November 6, 2011: Boldly Shaping Partners of God for the Transformation of the World

Theme/Title: "Transformers"

 Scripture:  Matthew 18: 1-5 & Matthew 20: 1-16

Media: 

Reflection:

I am fascinated by the Transformer movies (use to be by the cartoon series on TV when the boys watched it some years ago).  Not only the story line about alien machines that destroyed their home planet in war for domination but also by the way these machines can transform into all sorts of different things, especially modes of transportation.  I can never look at a Mack Truck or a Camaro again without thinking about how it might look as a robot.

The same thing happens when I see a child or watch folks getting paychecks – I can never look at those events without hearing Jesus say “unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” nor “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?  Or are you envious because I am generous?”  You see, God wants this world to change!  That’s clear from the Biblical values we have been taught and the sense of what is right and wrong that many of us are born with.  The world as it is isn’t the world God intended and so a transformation is needed.  The world as we know it must shift and transform into a kingdom that looks, feels and functions differently – like a car transforming into a robot, similar but different.

We sometimes sing a song “Enviado Soy de Dios”(*) and part of lyrics are: “The angels cannot change a world of hurt and pain into a world of love, of justice and of peace.  The task is ours to do, to set it really free. O help us to obey and carry out your will.”  That’s what it means to be partners of God for the transformation of the world.  We know what the world, creation is meant to be and God has made sure that we have the gifts, talents and resources to make the transformation but God cannot – more accurately will not force us to act.  We have to choose to do it, we have to have the will to put our comfort, our wealth and our very way of life on the line so that we can bring about the world God intends. 

Ultimately we are to be about the building of a kingdom that is childlike, that operates not according to what we think is fair but according to the laws of grace, generosity and love.  We are to transform our world by working for justice, peace, and the unalienable rights we all are due as human beings and beloved children of God. 

Meditation:

Can you remember when have you experienced a transformation; a change so dramatic that nothing was ever the same again?  If not, image what it would be like to do that.  If you have ever participated in a restoration project remember that effort and see it as a symbol of transformation.

Prayer:

Thank God for the changes and transformation of your life.  Pray for those who need to transform themselves.  Pray for those who work to transform the destruction we have caused creation into life and health.  Pray that we all may do what we can to transform creation into all that God intents for it to be.

(*) “Sent Out in Jesus’ Name” No. 2184 in The Faith We Sing ©2000 by Abingdon Press

Created in the Image of God

Week of October 30, 2011 – Boldly Shaping Partners of God for the Transformation of the World

Theme/Title: "Created in the Image of God"

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3: 5-11; John 15: 12-17; & Genesis 1: 26-31

Media:YouTube video “The Vocal People (amazing creative team work)” by kishorjagirdar

Reflection:

Being a partner of God is an awesome responsibility.  It means we take ourselves and our lives very seriously.  If we are partners of God – a partner is one that is united or associated with another or others in an activity or a sphere of common interest – then we share with God a desire to change the world and see that all people have the basics of life.  To be a partner means working with, side-by-side, sharing in the task, contributing to the effort, doing your part, not your will but our will be done.  Being “Partners with God” means working with God to make God’s dream for creation come true. 

If you’ve ever played a card game where you partner with someone (bridge or pinochle for example) you know that partnering means sometimes you take the lead and sometimes your partner does.  But the goal of your partnership (besides winning) is to do the best and be the best you can be together.  Partnering means trusting each other, learning how each other work, and spending time together working on your effort.  This is how we are partnered with God.  But it is also a much deeper partnership.

To be partners of God means living together, working together and being willing to sacrifice your own wants, needs and desires for those of God.  It means sometimes your will, sometimes God’s will and sometimes a compromise of wills.  God isn’t an autocrat.  God wants partnership and that means giving and taking and compromising, it means working together and realizing that the sum of the parts is greater than the parts separated.

While it is true we are not God, it is also true that we are very, very close to God and that we share with God a desire for the world and all its peoples to live having all their basic needs met.  God created us so that God would have partners to help bring about the kingdom.  God wanted our input, our observations, and our reflections.  God knows that by our teaming up today, tomorrow can be better than if we work separately from each other.  God needs us, not because God lacks anything but because God knows that only through cooperation and teamwork can God’s dream come true because it is a dream that includes each person and their unique piece to bring about the perfecting of creation.

Meditation:

Think of a time when you were part of a team that accomplished something truly special.  Remember how working with others to achieve a common goal felt.  Can you think of a time when you could not pull a team together and something wonderful was missed?  How do see yourself in partnership with God and with other faithful people? 

Prayer:

Pray for those who are teaming up to be God’s hands, voices, and feet.  Pray for the church that it might be a good partner with God.  Pray for yourself and the partnerships you are involved in.  Ask God to help you find the team you need to join to do the work God needs you to do as God’s partner.