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Prayer

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Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.
Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.
I read a very interesting piece out of the most recent Relevant Magazine yesterday. It was an article entitled, “Just Great…We’re The Most Anxious Generation Ever.” This article of course talks about a lot of things, but one part that really struck me was the following:
Modern life doesn’t give us as many opportunities to spend time with people and connect with them, at least in person, compared to, say, 80 years ago or 100 years ago,” Twenge told New York Magazine. She also pointed to millennials’ tendency to desire fame and money as a possible contributing factor. “There’s clear evidence that people who focus on money, fame and image are more likely to be depressed and anxious,” she said. But another study, also led by Twenge, may offer another clue. Not only is belief in God at an all-time low, but the amount of people who say they pray is five times less than the number of individuals who prayed in 1980.”
This study led by San Diego University social psychologist Jean Twenge definitely brings up some excellent points for us to consider. It’s worthy of us noting in our lives how connected as we? Also what is the connection between anxiety, isolation from community, and a down trend in our prayer life?
We would naive if we thought these are not connected because they are most definitely connected. From the beginning of time God has designed us to be beings that connected to nature, others in community, and of course to God himself. That design is everywhere in our lives and in creation.
The rise of social media and technology itself even speaks to our need to be in connection with others.However, we can be so connected to everything that we are really not connected to anything. Being connected in the sense that Jesus was speaking about in community is being all things for all people, but being intentionally connected to what or rather who matters.
As disciples of Jesus Christ our first and foremost connection should be lived out through prayer in the presence of God. By actively engaging in conversation with God through prayer the Holy Spirit molds us, convicts us, and empowers us to be more and more like Christ. If we are not connecting to that then we will stagnate and again will be controlled by anxiety, our will, and ultimately fear.
The argument is that we have too much going on to invest in this time with God and with our community the church.
I completely agree. It all comes down to intentionally connected to what or who really matters. We will have to sacrifice some things to invest in this connection and THAT IS A GOOD THING, becuase our connection with God should supercede everything, but it doesn’t because it’s easier or more comfortable to put God on the back burner than ourselves or others.
I pray that we will be in prayer with each other, and at times confess what we need and what God needs us to be and to do. And may we do what the Holy Spirit guides to do.
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Bring it All

Bring your mess, bring your brokenness, because all Christ wants is you. We find this new life, this new love at the cross, because we cannot get to easter unless we go through the cross. As hard as the cross was Jesus endured it for you and for me. And yes there will be trouble in this life, but because of Christ we will not be defined by our brokenness or our mess, we are defined by the mercy on the other side.

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Thin Places

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely,[a] and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of[b] the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

3 Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners,[c] so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. (Hebrews 12:1-3, NRSV) 

Yesterday was a hard day. This past weekend a tragedy struck the community of Benbrook, TX with the death of two young girls that left this world all too soon and last night at Arlington Heights UMC we opened our doors to the family to give them a memorial service for the two young girls.

In the midst of the memorial service I thought of this scripture that I had been trying to write a post for all day, but for some reason never got around to it. Barbara Brown Taylor one of my favorite authors once this following quote in an interview Flycatcher Journal.

Thin places are transparent places or moments, set apart by the quality of the sunlight in them, or the shadows, or the silence, or the sounds—see how many variations there are? What they have in common is their luminosity, the way they light an opening between this world and another—I’d say “between this world and the next,” but that makes it sound like one world has to end before the next one can begin, and a thin place doesn’t work like that. It works to make you more aware of the thin veil between apparent reality and deeper reality. It works to pull aside the veil for just a moment, so you can see through.

The author of Hebrews is illustrating for us a thin place in Hebrews 12. A place where we are cognizant of more than we can physically see. I have felt this type of place two times in my life, when my Papaw (my dad’s father) and when my grandmother (mom’s mother) passed away and I was at their bedside in their last moments. Words can’t express these moments, but there is a tremendous feeling of community in these moments. It’s when God blurs the lines between Heaven and Earth that we truly see who God is, when Jesus was born and when He died on the cross.

Just like my previous experiences, last night I felt a tremendous community among us, a priesthood of all believers, a cloud of witnesses that were and are with us in all times of our lives, but sometimes I guess its more thick, or more apparent than others. These moments are precious gifts to us from God himself, saying that we are not alone and we are never alone. And we never will be.

It’s Holy Week and Easter is coming, but Easter is not here yet and its in these moments that we need to realize more and more that to get to Easter you have to go through the Cross. There is no other way. Why does it have to be this way? No, it’s not because God wants us to feel pain before we feel love, it’s because God wants us to know that even though there is pain, anguish, and death, that God has the last word.

Not pain

Not regret

Not anguish

Not even death will have the last word.

As it turns out as Frederick Buechner says, “Resurrection means that the worst thing is never the last thing.”

So, wherever you are, whatever you are doing know that God is bigger than what you are facing, and God and God alone will have the last word, and that word is Love. Because that is the whole point. Jesus came and died not for himself, but that we, through Him would have life and have it to the fullest. Not just exist, but to live life fully now and forever.

So let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Amen.

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Integrity of Christ

Lately I have been wondering a lot of things, but mostly about an issue with ourselves and our culture. It seems that we have come to a place in our world and maybe we have always been there, but recently it has been more prevalent in my mind. It’s not just that its political season, but there is an overwhelming movement in ourselves and by ourselves I am being very broad; culture itself is moving towards a place where commitment means very little. In our culture we say things like:

If my marriage fails then that’s ok because I can always get a divorce.

or

I didn’t necessarily lie, I just didn’t tell the whole truth

We are moving further and further away from the Integrity of Christ and it’s dangerous. So dangerous that in fact we will not see the damage coming until it’s too late. We will repent when we are caught, but only because we are caught not because it was wrong. Today is Palm Sunday, a day of short celebration for Jesus coming to Jerusalem and yet the moment that always hits me in the gut is not the Palm Sunday Road, but on what happens that night. This is how it is told by the Gospel of John.

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4 got up from the table,[a] took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet,[b] but is entirely clean. And you[c] are clean, though not all of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very truly, I tell you, servants[d] are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. 18 I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But it is to fulfill the scripture, ‘The one who ate my bread[e] has lifted his heel against me.’ 19 I tell you this now, before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am he.[f] 20 Very truly, I tell you, whoever receives one whom I send receives me; and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.” (John 13:1-20, NRSV) 

What a powerful moment for the Disciples to experience with their Master and Friend. What an incredible for us to ponder for the rest of our lives in the context of following Jesus and living with each other. Jesus in this moment teaches us the utmost important priority that He has and that we are called to have.

  1. Jesus shows what really matters. The relationship that we have with God and our neighbor. Relationship is the utmost important when it comes to following Jesus
  2. It’s not about us, and it never will be. It’s about uniting with Christ in transforming the world in His sight not our own. His will is always better than ours. Our will and our limited thinking is the easier way to go, but it far lesser than His.
  3. Finally, this may be a crucial one. Jesus never did anything for the sake of just doing it, there was always a purpose and that purpose was never about Him, but about furthering God’s Kingdom. Everything He did furthered the Kingdom of God.

Let’s let that sink in.

Relationships matter. Your neighbor matters. What you do matters.

Don’t live your life by making decisions that don’t matter. Every bit of success that you achieve in this world is meaningless if you are furthering the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is the only thing we are asked to be a part, and please get that, Jesus invites us. He doesn’t force us like any other deity, he invites us, he wants us.

Money will fade.

Possessions will break.

The Kingdom is forever.

Let’s invest in what matters.

In closing for today I would like you to watch this video; I apologize for the watermark on the video:

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Noah

Noah

  So, last night Amy and I went to go see the latest biblical story that came to the big screen. We had done our homework, trust me. We read the book, we read review after review and article after article, and we were ready.

Mind you we knew that this would have things we probably wouldn’t agree with, and I myself actually when I go to movies that have come from another source I go into the movie expecting that this will not be the same. I think that is a healthy understanding of Hollywood, and I think and believe it is an expectation that we should have more often, but more than that. We need to have an open mind and open heart. We have to because this is the vision of someone else and that is not a bad thing, a new interpretation can be a great thing. That being said I really enjoyed the vision that was presented on screen by Darren Aronofsky is a very good one and one that I believe is about as true to the story of Noah that Hollywood is going to get.

Of course there are items in this vision that we all may not agree with, but isn’t there always and won’t there always be? Let’s remember that this is not a bad thing, but a part of the creative vision God has for creation. That we are all unique and different and although at times we may not agree but through that we may see things with fresh eyes. This movie is very good and I highly recommend you go see and figure out what you think and I pray that we don’t let reviews tell us what we think. We should do that for ourselves. So, a couple of things.

“I heard that they don’t mention God’s name at all?”

This is not a fair statement at all. Throughout the movie God is referred to as “The Creator,” which of course is still mentioning God. No the word God is never mentioned, but God is The Creator so I think this is a needless picking to say that they didn’t mention him. They do.

“It really is too dark for me…doesn’t remind me of the story I was told in my childhood.”

Ok let’s be honest. The childhood telling of Noah’s Ark is a terrible telling. This story is not cutesy, sweet, or innocent. It is dark, raw, and very violent. God wants to annihilate the world with water. This is not a cute idea. God is burdened by the wickedness of the world and wants to wipe the slate clean, and what gets wiped is lives, lots of lives. Let’s remember what the story is and what it is not.

Like I said previously do I agree with every minute of this movie? No I don’t, but I most certainly do not think it is the worst ever as many have said. I encourage to go see it and to have an openness about this new interpretation. We cannot ever think that we know best, because we don’t. Be open, ask questions, talk it out, struggle with it. This is what I believe Jesus calls us to do. Don’t close your mind or your heart, but be open, ask questions, challenge these things.

May we always be open to God and to people and may we love as He loves and show grace as He has shown it to us.

Amen.