Financial: Risking Your Money

Weekly Devotion – February 26, 2012 – 1st Sunday of Lent - Resources for Mission: Financial: Risking Your Money

Theme/Title:   Show Me the Money. 

Scripture:       Deuteronomy 12: 5-6; Matthew 6: 24-33; Mark 12: 41-44 & 2 Corinthians 9: 6-8

Media:  

YouTube video - poverty and wealth by KavanaghInfo

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZGaR0mUE-A&feature=related

Reflection:

As we wind down our conversation about resources for accomplishing our mission we have to take a look at the subject most of us don’t like to talk about, money.  The key resource we have to fulfill our mission (besides faithful people willing to make God’s dream real) is money.  Money pays the bills, frees us to explore new directions and funds our efforts to boldly shape partners of God for the transformation of the world.

In case you don’t know, our Bible is chock full of references to money and wealth and instructions on how faithful people are to employ this gift from God.  Deuteronomy 12 is concerned with the rituals of worship and lays out the expectation of offerings of your wealth as a major part of worship.  Matthew 6: 24-33 is part of the Sermon on the Mount and focuses upon Jesus’ teachings about practical piety and contains that famous phrase “No one can serve two masters…You cannot serve God and wealth.” Mark 12 has Jesus in the Temple teaching as the end nears and has within it the story of the widow and her offering known as the “Widow’s Mite.”  2 Corinthians 9 is the conclusion of the section of this letter from Paul about the relief collection for Jerusalem and reminds us all that “God loves a cheerful giver.”  This is just a sampling of what the Bible has to say about wealth.  But it can be safely said that there is a constant theme running through them all, those who have are to give, not because it’s required but because we want to respond to the generous gifts of God we have received by sharing them and it is one way to participate in the bringing about the Kingdom of God.

Giving is a spiritual matter.  It is listed among the fruits of the spirits and spiritual gifts.  Generosity is a mark of faithful living and a hoped for way of faithfully responding to the gifts of God one receives.  How you utilize the wealth you have is a visible indicator of your values and shows what you truly believe in.  We are amazingly generous in this church and because of that generosity we are doing a lot to bring about the Kingdom of God.  But if we are to have an even more dramatic and significant impact on the world, transforming it and doing so as partners with God, then we need to create and find projects and programs to fund that will emphasize inclusion, bring hope, protect and preserve the environment and make a sizable dent in the causes and the results of poverty.  We need to sow abundantly so that we can reap abundantly.

Meditation:                

Look over your checkbook and bill pay printout.  What do you spend your money on?  When you have funds not committed to the fixed expenses of life what do you do with them?  How have you seen generous giving making a difference in the world?  What stops you from giving more to programs and projects that are making a difference in our world?

Prayer:           

Thank God for the wealth you have and the opportunity God gives you to steward that wealth.  Ask God to give you wisdom and courage to use your wealth in ways that make a difference in our world.  Seek God’s advice on how our church can best use the wealth we have to bring God’s dream to fruition.

Can I Get a Witness

Weekly Devotion – February 19, 2012 – Resources for Mission

Witnessing: Risking Your Reputation

Theme/Title: “Can I Get a Witness?”

Scripture:  Luke 24: 44-49; Acts 1: 6-8 & Acts 4: 1-4

Media:  

 YouTube “Practice what you preach” by cooltonetheman1

Reflection:

“Can you practice what you preach?” the Black Eyed Peas sing.  Are you willing to risk your reputation, your good name, your comfort?  You see we have to share the story of God’s grace and love if we truly want to boldly shape partners of God for the transformation of the world.  There isn’t any other way to accomplish our mission and reach our goals.  We are God’s witnesses to Hayhurst, Portland, the United States and the entire world.  Christ commissions us to this work.  And we are either witnesses in the legal sense – sharing what we know as truth to a world with God on trial – or in the evangelism sense – showing God to the world through what we say and do and how we live out our faith in our daily lives.  Either way we are sharing the story of our faith and our relationship with God so that others can come to know God too.  Either way we are risking ourselves.

In the past couple of decades I have been embarrassed to be known as a Christian because of the bad images and connotations associated with that word.  Think about it… televangelists stealing money, predominate pastors having drug induced orgies, Catholic priests sexually abusing children, right to life people bombing clinics and killing doctors, creationists pushing Intelligent Design as a reasonable theory for creation, and advocates for war in the Middle East who say it is what needs to happen to bring about the Second Coming of Christ.  I have hid my faith from public awareness because I didn’t want to be lumped in with these abuses of Christianity.  But in hiding I have abdicated the meaning of faithful living to the radical fringe and left people believing that this is what it means to be a faithful child of God.

I have sinned because I have done this.  I have allowed a false teaching to perpetuate.  I now confess my sin and know that speaking my story, sharing what I believe and why are critical to the realization of God’s dream for creation.  People need to know God and they can only begin to know God through my introducing them to God.  I must boldly stand before the world and proclaim the grace and love of God for all people.  I must offer others the space, time, experiences and opportunities to encounter God and I must help them as they too begin to practice what they preach.  When faithful people like you and me share what we know of God’s grace and love we begin to transform this world.

Meditation:

Reread the above paragraph.  Can you see yourself as the “I” in what it says?  When has someone shared God’s grace and love with you?  Have you ever shared your story of your relationship with God with anyone else?  How have you helped the world to know God?

Prayer:

Offer a pray of thanksgiving for those who have the strength and will to share God with others.  Thank God for those who have shared their faith with you.  Ask God to empower you so that you can share your experience of God with others.  Seek God’s guidance for yourself and for our church as we move ahead in our efforts to boldly shape partners of God for the transformation of the world.

Prayers and Presences – Risking Your Time

Week of February 12, 2012

Resources for Mission: Prayers and Presences – Risking Your Time

Theme/Title: Prayer Power and Being Present

Scripture:  Mark 11: 22-25; James 5: 13-16 & Acts 2: 43-47

Media:  YouTube “God help the outcasts” 

                                                            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESVAexpA1Wc

Reflection:

Jesus in Mark’s gospel and James in his letter both are trying to tell us something about prayer.  It is critical to our lives of faith and it is indispensable as a community.  How can we achieve our mission objective of boldly shaping partners of God for the transformation of the world? By employing all the tools and resources we have and among these is prayer.  Esmeralda in Disney’s “Hunchback” finds herself in the cathedral of Notre Dame and she is moved to speak to God.  She prays a prayer that picks up so much of what prayer is about.  A conversation with God about what’s most important in life. An important aspect of this prayer is its focus on the needs of others.

Prayer is central to our life of faith and our life as a community of faith.  James attests to this in our passage this week.  Prayer is one of the most powerful and effective tools we have in our effort to be all God wants and needs us to be.  We pray for strength to do what needs doing, for guidance to know what we are to do, for inspiration to keep ourselves going, for forgiveness when we miss the mark, and offer thanks for all that we are blessed with.  We pray for others that they may find their way, that they may be healed and comforted, that their needs might be met, and that they might experience a deeper relationship with God.  Through prayer we call God’s attention to what we feel is vital and important in our lives and the lives of others and seek God’s insight and inspiration for living out our faith and accomplishing our mission.

Because we believe in God, because we are part of the Christian faith, because we know God’s heart and the values of our faith tradition we understand the critical nature of being present.  But this presence is so much more than just being physically in a place.  When we are present as people of faith we are present physically, mentally, spiritually and psychologically and we are involved in this holistic way in the events, programs, ministries and worship experiences of our community.  But presence also means being present wherever we are as God’s representatives.  Living the life of faith you cannot “take off” your faithfulness, you’re partnering with God, when you don’t feel like being a partner it doesn’t work like that.  Being God’s partner is 24/7.  The world needs us to be present so that God can be present so that the world may be transformed.   Risk your time – God and the world need it!

Meditation:

Have you experienced the power of prayer in your life?  Have you known of a time when your prayers made a difference for someone else?  When do you feel most connected to God?  How do you understand prayer and how do you use prayer?  Has there been a time in your life when being with other faithful people helped you?  Has anyone ever shared that having your presence with them made a difference?

Prayer:   

Sit in silence for a few minutes and listen to what God might be saying.  Pray for those who need your prayers.  Pray for yourself.  Ask God to give you strength to be the presence needed in your family, work place, school and world.  Commit to being present whenever you can in all the ways you can.

Resources for Mission: Talents & Skills Risking Who You Are

Weekly Devotion – February 5, 2012 – Resources for Mission: Talents & Skills Risking Who You Are

Theme/Title:   B.Y.O.T. S. – Bring Your Own Talents and Skills

Scripture:       Exodus 35: 10-19 & 36: 2-3a; 1 Corinthians 12: 12-21; John 6: 1-14;

Media:             YouTube video EDS "Airplane" by AFallGuy4u

Reflection:

All my life I wished that I were more talented, more gifted, and more skilled.  I am not very good at a lot of things.  I am not a good singer, I never played the guitar.  I can’t paint a picture or rebuild a car.  I don’t play piano and I sure can’t dance.  My grades were so-so and reading came hard.  I have always been overweight and my athletic ability is mediocre at best.  All in all I feel somewhat inadequate and wonder how what I have to offer matters.

I don’t write this to get your sympathy nor to get you to shower me with praise.  I’m trying to show that we often don’t see our own gifts.  The truth is we all have gifts and talents and abilities some have more than others, some are extremely gifted but no matter the level we all have something unique to bring to our role as partners of God.  A master builder cannot build a cathedral by him or herself.  The master builder need stone masons and laborers and carpenters and blacksmiths and a host of others to complete the task.  Each one must bring their talents and skills and abilities to the job in order to see it through.

Our mission is to build a better world, to transform it into the creation of God’s dream.  We are pooling our skills, talents, resources and abilities together as we partner with God to shape others and ourselves into the bold people God needs for things to get better.   Whatever I am and whatever I can do and whatever I can access is what God needs me to bring to the build.  God is asking me to risk what I am and what I have and who I know so that my meager resources can be pooled with those of others and soon we will have more than we can use to build the tabernacle.  But first I must be willing to risk who I am, offering myself without pause or reservation, willing to put all my trust in God. 

We have to be like that man in Tiananmen Square who stood in front of the tanks holding his shopping bags and stopping them in their tracks.  He didn’t raise an army.  He wasn’t a charismatic leader.  He didn’t offer motivating oration.  He simply did what he could with what he had.  He risked himself and did more to affect the world then all the speeches and marches.  This is what God asks of us as we work to boldly shape partners of God for the transformation of the world.

Meditation:

Think about a time when you worked with others to accomplish a task that you could not have done alone.  What did it feel like?  Remember a time when you were trying to accomplish something but you didn’t have what was needed to finish the job.  What did that feel like?  How did you complete the task?  Have you ever had to risk yourself in order to do what was right?

Prayer:

Pray for those who risk themselves.  Ask God to give you the strength and courage to risk yourself.  Pray that when the time comes you will offer your skills, talents and abilities in order partner with God and transform the world.