2/28/2006

Ash Wednesday


Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Is my hair straight?
How about this tie
--does it match
the rest of the image
--(help me)
I wish to present?
This image made up
--of all the images
--of all the people
trying to present
----an image
I sometimes make a show
For the world
--so busy making shows
yet
--I long for something more
--(Lord)
--I long to uncork
------that stream
----of passion
------within me
that passion
--that draws me toward the light
----and illumines
------my innermost
--------Yes I dare to let go
----------self
--(to place)
protected now
by the walls of expectation
built on the unfulfilled dreamings
of what should be

but there are those times
when
--for some reason
----beyond me
I live in a world filled with people
--alone
--(my trust)
and in those brief glorious moments
I become
--whole
and cry
--for no reason
--seeing no eyes upon me
--Thank you
--(You)
----Lord

2/15/2006

The Transfiguration of our Lord


Mark 9:2-9

In the Joy filled intensity of our excitement
We look up
And catch a glimpse of
-----something unseen
--(This)
beyond the realm of all we know
--and feel
----and hear
beyond the encounter of those special moments in life
when every part of our existence
------is focused
on the here and now
and for a brief moment
----all is just right
beyond even the pureness of joy
that comes in the perfection of religious expression
--amid the rising voices
----and the spine tingling timelessness
--(is)
came this almost moment in time
rising from the mist
--of exhausted ecstasy
----on a high mountain top
--(My)
apart
--from the world
----seething in hunger and pain
--longing to see that to which they have turned
----a blind eye
here
--in this almost place and time
comes the light
--(Son)
that can burn through even the blindness
----of not looking
--or looking too hard
with our eyes focused on that unseen moment
that we almost notice
here at this time
the Son of God leads us down
------into
-----------the world around us
to see the glory of God
in the poor and lost around us
to see the pureness of unbounded timelessness
in the moment of love expressed
to one who knows not love
to see
--by not trying to see that faint glimmer
--------------------------------------------off high
--------------------------------------in the distant mist
--(Listen to Him!)
Christ
--in those around us

Change comes hard

Sunday February 26th, 2 Kings 2: Elisha replied, "I swear by the living LORD and by your own life that I will stay with you no matter what!" And he went with Elijah to Bethel. 3A group of prophets who lived there asked Elisha, "Do you know that today the LORD is going to take away your master?" "Yes, I do," Elisha answered. "But don't remind me of it." Change comes hard. Sometimes we just want to bury our head in the sand and pretend it isn’t going to happen. Sometimes even when God wants to bring about change in our lives, we want to bury our head in the sand. It just seems easier. But what God wants to bring us is what we were destined for from the time of our birth, a relationship with God. Change doesn’t come easy, but if God is leading, it will bring you back home.

Sometimes loss can also be gain

Monday February 27th, 2 Kings 2: 11 Elijah and Elisha were walking along and talking, when suddenly there appeared between them a flaming chariot pulled by fiery horses. Right away, a strong wind took Elijah up into heaven. 12Elisha saw this and shouted, "Israel's cavalry and chariots have taken my master away!" After Elijah had gone, Elisha tore his clothes in sorrow. Sometimes change can even bring about sorry as well as fear. Elisha would miss his old friend Elijah. Elisha’s journey would now begin and God would open before him vista’s and ministries beyond his imagination. Sometimes it is when we are cut loose, even from good things, that we begin to get our footing on what God has called us to do. Sometimes loss can also be gain.

Snappy!?!

Tuesday February 28th, 2 Corinthians 4: 3 If our Message is obscure to anyone, it's not because we're holding back in any way. No, it's because these other people are looking or going the wrong way and refuse to give it serious attention. 4All they have eyes for is the fashionable god of darkness. O that old god of darkness, what a snappy dresser. Sure wish I had cloths like that. Sure wish I had moves like that. Sure wish……………..Wait a minute, what am I saying? It is so easy to get mesmerized by all that styling. Billions are spent each year just to get us to pay attention to it and want it. God offers something different. Instead of a change of cloths, God offers a change of heart.

Can you see it?

Wednesday March 1st, 2 Corinthians 4: 5 Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we're proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. 6 It started when God said, "Light up the darkness!" and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful. That’s it! All those stories about how humanity interfaced with God, even if they didn’t do a very good job some of the time. All those stories from the Hebrew scripture we call the Old Testament, they were trying to tell us something besides just the cool miracles and battles and stuff. They were trying to tell us that God is a God of love and wants us to love one another. When the light first came to earth, we were created for just that. When I say the light in the face of Christ, I began to understand. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and love you neighbor as yourself, that is why we were created. It’s all in Jesus’ face. Can you see it?

Crossing over

Thursday March 2nd. Mark 9: 2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Jesus crossed the reality of this world into the reality of the next. Something new was taking place. Something new was breaking into the world. Something new that was already here and the people just didn’t see it. We don’t see it today either most of the time. That feeling that things are going to be OK in the midst of tragedy, that tingle at the sign of the true beauty of creation, that feeling of closeness and love from another human being, they all let us know in one way or another that the newness of God’s love has touched our souls. What we have to understand is that newness is only newness because we so seldom open ourselves up to that kind of love. In reality it has been around since the creation of the world.

Can we stay?

Friday March 3rd, Mark 9: 5 Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." 6(He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) Peter just didn’t see the big picture. All he could fathom was a Kodak moment to stay there and capture the essence of this event. What God wanted was for Peter, James and John to take this essence down into the world and there bring about transformed lives. God asks the same of us.

Listen to him!!!

Saturday March 4th, Mark 9: 7 Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" True wisdom starts with listening. We can’t do that when we are talking. We can’t do that when we are being entertained. We can only do that when we enter into the presence of the living God and tune out everything else. We can’t stay in that place, just as Peter, James and John could not stay on the mountain top. But we must return to that place in our lives where we can connect with the transcendent and loving Christ in order to bring wholeness to our lives and the lives around us.

The budget's bottom line by Yonce Shelton

In his State of the Union address last month, President Bush said, "Our greatness is not measured in power or luxuries, but by who we are and how we treat one another. So we strive to be a compassionate, decent, hopeful society," one that "comes to the aid of fellow citizens in times of suffering and emergency." He also pledged to "renew the defining moral commitments of this land."

His fiscal year 2007 budget proposal, sent to Congress one week later, lacks the commitments needed to support this vision. Budgets are moral documents. They show us what we value in revealing where we invest now and for the future. Government funding is not the solution to all needs, but the budget process is a road map for how leaders plan to navigate our country's challenges and opportunities. The economic security of every family in this country is a moral opportunity and challenge. But our investment to strengthen families' opportunities - and hope - is being sacrificed for luxuries for a few.

The president's 2007 budget cuts $183 billion from domestic programs - leaving homeland security untouched - during the next five years. It eliminates more than 100 programs. Many of the cuts are to services for the poor. Spending for homeland security, the military, and the war in Iraq amounts to nearly $600 billion, while domestic cuts are proposed in every other federal program.

The budget makes the largest cut to federal education spending in a decade. Although President Bush proposed increased funding for math and science education, his signature education initiative, the No Child Left Behind Act, has a cumulative funding shortfall of $55 billion. More cuts to low-income child care services would result in 400,000 fewer children receiving assistance. Despite Congress deciding not to cut food stamps in the 2006 budget (reacting, in part, to pressure from the faith community), food stamps are slated for a cut that would eliminate support for 300,000 people. Medicaid is again on the chopping block with nearly $14 billion in cuts. The list goes on.

These critical social supports hold families together and save lives. These cuts affect real people. There is a disconnect between basic needs and national priorities when more social cuts are proposed as poverty has risen in each of the past four years, according to the U.S. Census; food insecurity has risen in each of the last five, according to the Food Research and Action Center; and 9.2 million working families are on the brink of poverty, according to the Working Poor Families Project. Fiscal responsibility arguments hold no water because the 2007 budget would increase the deficit (as in 2006). A major culprit is the budget's $1.7 trillion (over 10 years) to permanently extend tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy. This sacrifices basic supports for the vulnerable to provide extravagances for the well-off. And it calls into question the validity of the administration's claims of steady deficit reduction over coming years.

But deficit concerns are about more than figures. We should be outraged that this approach lacks honesty and realism. This budget includes no analysis for spending for Iraq and Afghanistan past 2007, nor does it offer projections for expensive tax policies after 2006. This sidesteps customary budget practice. Ignoring these major expenses intentionally masks the impact of current tax and deficit policies on our long-term stability. We deserve better fiscal and moral accounting.

Despite claims that tax cuts stimulate the economy and help job growth, the current economic recovery has underperformed past recoveries and investment growth has been below historical norms, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Job creation under President Bush has been the lowest since World War II, and hourly and weekly wages are dropping, according to the American Progress Action Fund. Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, told The New York Times recently: "We should not be cutting taxes by borrowing.... We do not have the capability of having both productive tax cuts and large expenditures, and presume that the deficit doesn't matter."

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, years of rising poverty, and declining opportunity for more people constitute threats to our nation's strength. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) called cuts to health and education programs "scandalous." We cannot ignore these needs in the name of a defense-obsessed homeland security. Real security includes a vision for helping families realize the American dream. This demands compassion, not empty rhetoric. These budget priorities do not represent "defining moral commitments" or "aid of fellow citizens in times of suffering and emergency."

An America of strength and security can also be an America of justice and compassion. People of faith must stand up for the least of these, but also increasingly for the average person and family. As Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress have told us, our "budgets are moral documents" message has not gone unheard.

We must build on last year's successes in this battle for a moral budget. When national leaders do not offer a road map with a vision for the common good, we must put faith in action. We must use our voice and witness to redefine - to renew - the paths leading to moral commitment, hope, and greatness.

Yonce Shelton is national coordinator and policy director for Call to Renewal. www.sojo.com

2/09/2006

7th Sunday after Epiphany


Mark 2:1-12

Hope spreads
Like the ripple of the waves
Flowing ever outward
On a still glass pond
Shattered
By the newness of life
Breaking the surface
Spreads
To the very corners of the lives
Awakened now
To hope
And bothered by change
Brought about by its intersection
With changelessness
Spinning out of control in points of question
And fear
Seeing only the now
As eternity
Still
The ripple of waves returns
Crossing the paths of death
With a newness of life
That
Even with all stillness returned
Is never motionless again
Take up thy bed
In this smooth clear sea
And walk
Amid the ripples

Newness

Sunday February 19th Isaiah 43: The LORD said: Forget what happened long ago! Don't think about the past. I am creating something new. In the beginning God created a new thing out of nothingness. In these later days, God continues to create and recreate our lives each and every day. Each day we remember our baptism, our symbolic entry into the family of God. Each day we are forgiven and called to enter into the path God has chosen for us to follow. Each moment of each day we are called to remember our connectedness to all of creation and all of humanity. Each day, something new. Each day, filled with God’s creating love. Go out and live this day in the newness that God has created just for you.

Possibilities before us

Monday February 20th Isaiah 43: You have not brought delicious spices for me or given me the best part of your sacrificed animals. Instead, you burden me down with your terrible sins. But I wipe away your sins because of who I am. And so, the Lord will forget the wrongs we have done and bring us forgiveness once again. We don’t always do so well on our choices do we? We look to yesterday and perhaps even earlier today and understand that we have all fallen short of the glory of God. That we have loved our neighbor as ourselves, that we have not loved God with our whole heart. We also realize something else. What God calls forth in us is not guilt, but a newness and forgiveness that sends us forth into the world to be the word of God’s love and forgiveness for others. The Lord brings us forgiveness not to make us feel bad for what we have done, but rather to open before us all the possibilities that God has set before us.

Forever Yes

Tuesday February 21st 2 Corinthians 1: 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not "Yes" and "No," but in him it has always been "Yes." Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Christ brings to us the vistas of God’s possibilities in life. We tend to make the walk of being a Christian complicated, filled with do’s and don’ts. What we are called to do is to love God and love others. How we work out the details is what makes life interesting. The way we run from that task is what makes life less than God intends for us. What Christ brings into our life is “Yes”. What we too often answer is “No”. You might want to see about turning that around.

"Yes" in Christ

Wednesday February 22nd 2 Corinthians 1: 20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. Christ is the full revelation of God for humanity. We can speculate all we want about God “up there”, but we can never know fully know what God is like apart from what Christ has taught us. Christ spoke in parables when trying to describe the kingdom of Heaven. This was for good reason. A parable or story helps us get a glimpse of something that is beyond description. When we see Christ we get a glimpse of what God is like. It is God’s “yes” to which our minds gets a glimpse of the glory of God and can only respond “Amen”!!!

No way to go back

Thursday February 23rd Mark 2: 2 A crowd gathered, jamming the entrance so no one could get in or out. He was teaching the Word. 3They brought a paraplegic to him, carried by four men. 4When they weren't able to get in because of the crowd, they removed part of the roof and lowered the paraplegic on his stretcher. The crowd was hopeful, the men carrying the paraplegic were hopeful, the paraplegic himself was hopeful, there was something new happening in this Jesus. Their persistence paid off, they were able to get their friend an audience with Christ and he was healed. I think that on that day he was not the only one healed. The ones who carried him saw something new. The crowd saw something new. The disciples saw something new. Being a part of that experience means there is no way to go back to what was. Some still tried. We still try. But somehow, that newness keeps breaking in. It’s called God’s love.

Forgiveness, healing

Friday February 24th Mark 2: 5 Impressed by their bold belief, Jesus said to the paraplegic, "Son, I forgive your sins." What makes us less than whole? Is it the sin in our life that holds us back from the promises of God? Is it the physical ailments that somehow we allow to hold back our soaring spirits? At Jesus time illness was often associated with sin. Jesus could have, presumably, just healed him and not forgiven him. That would have made the purists in religion happier. But then purists in religion tend to rarely be happy anyway. They don’t so much want God in their lives as to be god of theirs, and everybody else’s lives. When Jesus said that his sins were forgiven, he was not only healing the paraplegic, he was also opening the door to the religious purists. They just weren’t ready to walk through it yet.

Transformed

Saturday February 25th Mark 2: 11"Get up. Pick up your stretcher and go home." 12And the man did it--got up, grabbed his stretcher, and walked out, with everyone there watching him. They rubbed their eyes, incredulous--and then praised God, saying, "We've never seen anything like this!" The man was transformed. The crowd was transformed. Even Jesus’ ministry was transformed. Jesus is also looking for our lives to be transformed. Transformed into the living, breathing word of God for the world. Transformed into the bringers of peace and the lovers of God and one another. Transformed into those who, through the love of Christ, transform the world around us. And the people praised God and went out into the world, transformed.

6th Sunday after Epiphany


Mark 1:40-45

Standing alone
--in the far off corner of the world
----stood
-------the messiah
The Chosen one
Who
Would lead the people on to
--a newness
beyond
their ability to see
and yet standing there
--with the hurting ones
----(if it be your will)
--who saw
if even for a brief moment
a wonder
----in this one called Jesus
----(you)
who in the powerlessness of humanity
--Shattered
----(can make)
the chains of those who could see them
the chains visible
--in the sores and blood
----the rejection and death
--------(me clean)
of all
but seen only by the many
who hurt enough to care
--or cared enough to hurt
--------and be made whole again
by the grace of God
--among us
and the void that was filled
in the lives
----made empty
spread
--------(it is my will)
to all the land
--and people
----and time
with the message
------------(be clean)
that the Christ was here

What hang-ups keep grace at bay?

Sunday February 12th 2 Kings 5: 11 But Naaman stormed off, grumbling, "Why couldn't he come out and talk to me? I thought for sure he would stand in front of me and pray to the LORD his God, then wave his hand over my skin and cure me. 12What about the Abana River or the Pharpar River? Those rivers in Damascus are just as good as any river in Israel. I could have washed in them and been cured." The trouble with things like arrogance, pride, and self-righteousness is that they are very good gate keepers. They don’t keep us safely within their confines however, what they do is keep grace safely out. Elisha no doubt could have used the Abana or the Pharpar rivers. It wasn’t about the magic of the river; it was about the willingness of ones faith. God calls us into a loving relationship. What hang-ups do you have that keep that grace at bay?

Boundaries imposed by arrogance

Monday February 13th 2 Kings 5: 13 His servants went over to him and said, "Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, you would have done it. So why don't you do what he said? Go wash and be cured." 14Naaman walked down to the Jordan; he waded out into the water and stooped down in it seven times, just as Elisha had told him. Right away, he was cured, and his skin became as smooth as a child's. I am sure that if Naaman was upset that Elisha didn’t come out to meet him, and that Naaman was upset that he was asked to wash in what he considered the wrong rivers, he surely was not happy when his servants pointed out the error of his ways. Naaman was a proud man. That was his downfall. Sometimes when we cross the boundary of our pride we find remarkable results. Naaman had to cross national boundaries to get to where Elisha was, but the more difficult was crossing the boundaries imposed by his own arrogance. The same is true for us.

Run for it

Tuesday February 14th 1 Corinthians 9: 24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. The prize is not the gift of eternal life, that one is up to God and is a matter of grace. The prize most of us miss is the joy of the journey. We are all invited to enter the joy of the journey right here and right now. We are all invited to live our lives surrounded by the knowledge of the grace of God. We are all invited to live our lives immersed in God’s presence. We can always choose to skip it until the end and hope we can still hop on board, but that is no way to get a T-shirt or anything else in the here and now.

Go for it

Wednesday February 15th 1 Corinthians 9: 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last for ever. Being a Christian is more than just hanging out. At Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church we state that we are inspired by God’s love to Gather to Grow through God’s Grace. That growing takes place in a community. That growing is the result of some input and effort on your part. Which Bible study or small group are you a part of today?

Sometimes you need to cross boundaries

Thursday February 16th Mark 1: 40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus, don’t touch that man, he is unclean. If you touch him, you will become unclean. Neither Jesus nor the leper listened to the conventional wisdom of the day. They both cross boundaries that were not to be crossed. Sometimes crossing those boundaries from unfaith to faith, from unlove to love, from fear to hope, from self-reliance to relationship, etc… sometimes crossing those boundaries is what is needed in order to see the love of God that surrounds us.

Another roadblock

Friday February 17th Mark 1: 43 Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44"See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." There were expectations for what the Messiah would be like and do. Jesus did not want the newly whole leper to go and tell so the word would not get around that the Messiah was in town. Everyone would come and see only what they expected to see, nothing less, nothing more. It would just be another roadblock keeping the boundaries of expectation in place.

Surrounded by expectations

Saturday February 18th Mark 1: ." 45Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere. The cat was out of the bag and the Messiahship of Jesus was being defined by exactly what everyone expected. Jesus continued to heal. Sometimes we find ourselves boxed in, surrounded only by expectations. When you find yourself in this situation, reach out and heal also. Sometimes it is just that reaching out that is in and of itself, the boundary crossing.

2/06/2006

Lutheran Services in America to Be 'Trading Graces' on eBay

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Services in America (LSA) will host "Trading Graces," its first annual online auction, from noon Feb. 26 to noon March 8 on eBay to benefit Lutheran social ministry organizations across the United States and Caribbean.

"Congregations and all sorts of people can partner with Lutheran social ministry organizations on this and spread the word, donate, volunteer and buy," said Jill Schumann, LSA president. "We're inviting everybody into this project, and we're partnering with those 100 million-plus existing eBay users to reuse, recycle and tell the LSA story," she said. LSA is an alliance of nearly 300 social ministry organizations, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. eBay is a platform on the World Wide Web where millions of items are traded each day. Lutheran health and human service organizations in thousands of communities provide care -- ranging from health care to disaster response, from services for children and families to care for the elderly, from adoption to advocacy -- to 6 million people annually, and employ a quarter of a million staff and volunteers.

One purpose of Trading Graces is to raise public awareness, Schumann said. "For a long time we've heard that Lutheran social ministry is one of the best kept secrets. We've been working hard to liberate that secret and make sure people know more about Lutheran social ministry," she said. Schumann noted that Girl Scout Cookies (registered trademark) and the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life raise awareness for their organizations while raising funds for their programs. She said she hopes Trading Graces will give LSA similar notoriety. The 10-day auction has been preceded by a year of planning, Schumann said. The social ministry organizations went "to their constituents, their employees, their donors, congregations, their business partners, and asked for items and services to donate,"she said. Pre-auction descriptions and photographs of items scheduled for sale were listed in the "Trading Graces Preview Gallery" on http://www.lutheranservices.org/ -- the LSA Web site. An LSA news release listed several items that will be up for auction, including a classic 1948 DeSoto car, vacations, sports memorabilia and a collection of more than one million sports cards. John B. Carter, LSA's Trading Graces online auction event manager, said the auction will look familiar to eBay regulars."The seller, a Lutheran health and human services nonprofit organization, places items up for sale to the highest bidder," he said.

"Buying on eBay can be a unique shopping experience, and bidders need to register with eBay in order to buy items online. Registering with eBay requires providing eBay with some very basic contact information which eBay keeps private on eBay's secure servers," Carter said. eBay confirms a completed registration by e-mail. While the auction is in progress, potential bidders can access Trading Graces online through the LSA Preview Gallery, by logging on to eBay at http://www.ebay.com or by searching for items at http://www.missionfish.org/ by a specific nonprofit organization's name. "Bidders can watch items over the course of the event, and the highest bidder will be notified by eBay that they have won an item," Carter said. "Afterward, the buyer and seller have an opportunity to converse through e-mail to make final arrangements for shipping, "Carter said. "Following shipment, both the buyer and seller rate each other on how the transaction was handled via mechanisms setup in the eBay system, " he said. Mission Fish is providing technical support for Trading Graces. Mission Fish has conducted online auctions since 2000 and teamed up with eBay in 2003 as the exclusive charity solution provider for eBay Giving Works and as a service of the Points of Light Foundation. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a nonprofit financial services organization based in Minneapolis, helped fund Trading Graces.

2/03/2006

5th Sunday after Epiphany

Mark 1:29-39

Into this world came the Christ
----Immanuel
casting out evil
--which had for so long dominated the very life
----of all who lived and breathed
in this perfect creation
--now soiled
----for too long
------for anyone to remember
He came
--casting out and making whole
--------again
--(help)
the people struggling to see
the other side
--of this existence
the other side
--into a world of what is
----from the beginning of time
Jesus came and healed
--(our eyes)
those who suffer
--what they need not suffer
that they may become
--that which they are
----and are called to be
As the hopeless encircled this power
------Christ
in hope
and felt the Power
--of God
----in
------that place
--------(see)
in their lives
--to far removed from the perfection of the universe
----to know
--(the glory)
------that it is once more
----------here
in this place
in this timeless moment
------within the limits of our lives
Here
With the sick and the poor and the despised and the lovely
Here
In a new way for all time
Changing the changeless lives
--(that is)
now
--(Christ)

Lift your eyes

Sunday February 5th Isaiah 40: 26Lift up your eyes and see. Who has made these stars? It is the One Who leads them out by number. He calls them all by name. Because of the greatness of His strength, and because He is strong in power, not one of them is missing. It is the Lord God who is the master hand behind all of creation. It is the Lord God who calls us all to come before the Lord and worship. We don’t all worship in the same way. We don’t all use the same name when we worship. Sometimes we are even silly enough to think that our way of understanding God and our way of worshiping God is right and everyone else, or at some of them, are wrong. That is like one of your children telling you that you are not allowed to love some of your other children. God must just smile and wonder when we will all grow up and understand that God loves all the children of God.

Lifted up

Monday February 6th Isaiah 40: 31But they who wait upon the Lord will get new strength. They will rise up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weak. Recent statistics indicate that the percentage of the nations wealth owned by the top 1% has risen from 38% of the nation’s wealth in 1993 to 54% in 2005. These are the ones we are giving tax breaks to while cutting programs that provide college loans and grants, medical coverage and other forms of assistance to those on the bottom. The world tends to beat the bottom down, the Lord lifts them up with wings like eagles. Where did we go wrong?

Messenger

Tuesday February 7th 1 Corinthians 9: I have become a servant of everyone so that I can bring them to Christ. The trouble with reading Paul is that you get the superhero version of what it means to be a Christian. The Lord does not call us to be a servant to everyone. The result would be that we wound end up doing nothing. You can relate to some people. The more honest you are with yourself, the more you can relate to others. God is not after a superhero in the kingdom being a servant to all and saving the whole world. God is after an honest person who can be the messenger of God’s grace to others with whom you identify.

Enjoy

Wednesday February 8th 1 Corinthians 9: 22 When I am with those who are oppressed, I share their oppression so that I might bring them to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone so that I might bring them to Christ. 23 I do all this to spread the Good News, and in doing so I enjoy its blessings. Someone who is really dealing with issues can spot a fake a mile away. Who do you have common ground with? With whom are you comfortable relating? These are the ones you are called to minister too, these are the ones God has placed before you. That doesn’t mean you do not concern yourself for the needs of others with whom you have little in common. As a matter of fact, your concern for those with whom you have little in common may be the very thing you share with those in which you do share commonality. The family of God is about community, honesty, and seeing one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Mission

Thursday February 9th Mark 1: 30 Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. 31 So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. Jesus mission was to bring wholeness to those he came in contact with. Simon’s mother-in-laws mission was to care for others. Jesus helps us in our mission. We are all called to minister to others. Sometimes that means being ministered to. When we build bridges, we have to remember that the traffic goes both ways.

Sabbatical

Friday February 10th Mark 1: 35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Even Jesus took some time off for quiet prayer. It is an important lesson for all of us. Take some time for yourself, time to just be alone with yourself and God, time to refresh, a sabbatical. Without it you are doing no one that much good. With it you are refreshed and all around you will benefit.

Refreshed

Saturday February 11th Mark 1: 38 Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." 39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. This is what happens after a sabbatical. Refreshed, Jesus travels to the surrounding villages and brings renewed faith, hope and wholeness. Take time to refresh yourself, not only for your sake, but also for the sake of all those around you.

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