All that is required?

Those of us who have been Christians for a long time sometimes forget that we have no claim or right to the grace we have received. When we feel we deserve it, that it is ours by right, it is no longer grace and we have no claim on it. To be a part of God's family is a gift pure and simple. Our lives and all we have are given by the Holy God who spoke the world into existence.

Take a moment to step back and look at our situation from the outside. We live in a country with freedoms never before experienced and our church facility is so much more than adequate. There is nothing to keep us from reaching out to those in need. Are we content with sharing ourselves and all we have a couple of times a year? Doesn't Christ charge us to empty ourselves and give freely with open hands? Luke 12:48 tells us "...to whom much is given, much is required". Are we doing and giving all that is required of us?

Critical Events

Life is God's initiative and can end or change suddenly, unexpectedly, and unpredictably. When we humans are ready to give up hope and resign ourselves to inevitability, God intervenes and reveals completely new beginnings. The resurrection of Jesus is God's sign breaking through every form of human fatalism and despair. In every critical event, there is an opportunity for God to act creatively and reveal a deeper truth than what we see on the surface of things. God also can turn around critical incidents and seemingly hopeless situations in our lives and reveal light in darkness.

Henri Nouwen

Labels

We live in world full of labels...with one to five words, people will presume to tell you everything there is to know about any subject or person.

Most labels are harmful and divisive and do not come from a place of love...especially when they are a knee jerk responses or are used to explain something as complex as a person or a denomination...I mean, after all, you know the:
Church of Christ will tell you...
Evangelicals feel that...
Catholics are...
United Methodists simply will not...
Baptists believe that...

Another way of thinking of it, how many people are there in your world that you will absolutely believe their opinion without question? Without thought? What they tell you, you take it as gospel just because they say so? Believe it as gospel. And yet, we listen to sound bites from news programs, from talk show hosts, from radio programs and claim it as truth. Without question, without research...really? Do you know these people? Do you know their motivations? Do you completely understand their belief system? Does come anywhere close to aligning with yours?

Even better, are your thoughts and opinions so absolute that you will share with someone and expect them to step right in line with you? Is there no room for error in your thinking? Are there no past experiences that color what you believe? I know my thoughts are not. My Youth will tell you that I often preface a teaching with..."This is what I believe. I expect you to take the time, at some point in your life, to decide what YOU believe."

Shouldn't we try to open our hearts and minds and be willing just to listen? Will you take what you're told and hold it to the prism of what you KNOW to be truth? And even if you feel it's flawed, will you discuss it with others? Study it for it's validity or what it can teach you?

God did not create us using cookie cutters, else wise we would all be just alike and would all agree on every topic. Even the people He created from the dirt, with His own breath were not told exactly how to think or behave. They were complex beings, capable of a range of emotions. And He gave them only one command...don't eat of this tree. And when they did, even then He didn't stop loving them. He certainly changed their environment but He still continued to love. He allowed them and every other person who has come after to learn, grow, stumble, fall, make mistakes, feel remorse, turn back, plead for forgiveness, receive His grace, learn some more.

How can we be so shallow as to think that anything God has had a hand in creating can be described in just a few words?

Prodigals

Recently our Pastor spoke during worship about the Parable of the Prodigal Son. His main focus being on the extravagant love our Father God has for us. But I wasn't hearing it.You see, anytime I hear a message about this parable, I can only see how badly the younger son messed up and wonder about the OLDER son? I'd like to blame it on the fact that I'm the elder sibling in my family. And so, on the way out the door that Sunday, I asked him..."What about the older son"?

He chose that very subject for his message this past Sunday. Bringing light to the fact that Jesus used these stories (Luke 15) to speak to His audience... and the very first lines tell us that there were sinners and tax collectors (younger son) coming to hear Him, while the scribes and Pharisees (older son) were grumbling.
Needless to say, the message opened my eyes (yet again) to the fact that it's not "all about me".

I've spent the last couple of days talking to myself about how and why I had made this parable about me.I realize now that I was seeing my sister as the younger and myself as the older.I did always have more responsibilities than she, but being older, I should have been an example. It did seem she was forgiven for things I would never dreamed of doing, but it wasn't her fault that I was such an introvert. But still, the story wasn't about me or her or us or our parents.

Sure, she may have been reckless and extravagant but I was resentful and quick to point out who isn't pulling their weight. She may have been a free spirit but in many ways I acted as if I was entitled because I was so "good". I realize I was no better than she, and she was no worse than me. I was no more deserving of any honor. Most importantly, I realize how all the years I've wasted thinking this way have wounded my Father God.

My relationship with Him has nothing to do with my being nice or being good. It isn't determined by anything I have ever done, or will ever do. It is determined solely on a wonderfully generous God who runs to meet me whenever I turn to Him, freely giving His extravagant love.

Grace

"Have you availed yourself to the means of grace this week?" John Wesley asked his followers this frequently. Why is it necessary? Because it is through the means which God has ordained, these means of Grace that God imparts upon us Grace in a real and tangible way. The only way we can grow in our relationship with Christ is for us to show up and allow God to show us Grace.
                                 David Dorn from Ministry Matters

Kids at church

A friend linked to this article on his Facebook page, and it's something we all need to read! This is only part, if you'd like to read it all, check here...

...Because if the normal noises of normal children are going to distract me, I was going to be distracted anyway.  By cute clothes or cute men or split ends or whatever.  And nobody’s suggesting that we wear burqas to Mass or segregate our congregations or require frequent trims.  Unlike most of the thoughts that grab my easily-distracted mind, the screams of your children are a distraction that draw me to deeper prayer.

So take them to the cry room if you want–or stay in the pew.  Lord knows that at many churches if you’re in the cry room you’re practically not at Mass, it’s such a circus in there.  Keep them as quiet as you can however you want to–I won’t judge.  They’re going to be ridiculous and you’re gong to be embarrassed, but taking them to Mass gives them grace, earns you years off of purgatory, and breaks my hardened heart just a little bit.

On behalf of those of us who don’t understand the sacrifices you make to bring your kids to the wedding feast, I’m sorry.  I’m sorry for judging you and being annoyed at you and rolling my eyes and everything else that focuses on me instead of on us.  Your kids are a very important part of us, even–especially–when they won’t stop yelling.

Because yes, your kids are distracting me.  They’re distracting me from my narcissism.  They’re distracting me from the idol I’ve made of worship, making me encounter God as he really is, not as I want him to be.  They’re distracting me from the endless series of irrelevant thoughts that occupy my “praying” mind.

Your screaming kids are distracting me.  Thank you for that.

Grace

How can we show grace in such a way that all men know that it is a gift from the Father? Do we so order our lives that all can see the esteem with which we hold this gift? After all, God's grace implies "the state of being protected or sanctified by the favor of God". And yet, as with any gift, we can set it aside at any time. God does not force His grace upon us...and we are nothing without it.

John Newton...

Slave trader, clergyman, songwriter, author of "Amazing Grace" and the piece below that is often misquoted 
and assigned to "anonymous" or to another author. We should each review it from time to time to check what we feel is the status of our soul. Can we heartily agree with what he says?

I am not what I ought to be — 
ah, how imperfect and deficient! 

I am not what I wish to be — 
I abhor what is evil, and I would cleave to what is good! 

I am not what I hope to be — 
soon, soon shall I put off mortality, and with mortality all sin and imperfection. 

Yet, though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be,
 I can truly say, I am not what I once was; 
a slave to sin and Satan; 

and I can heartily join with the apostle, and acknowledge, 
"By the grace of God I am what I am."

Grace...

There, but for the grace of God, go I.
J. Bradford

Lourdie

After the earthquake in Haiti I posted about the young lady we sponsor...Her name is Lourdie and she is now 12 years old. We've never met face to face but for 7 years my family has considered her one of our own.

Compassion did all they could to keep everyone with a child in Haiti updated...I appreciate their efforts and was comforted when we were told that she and her family were fine. But...last weekend we got an actual letter from her! It's common practice to receive letters, usually every 3 months or so but to finally hear from her personally was such a joy! She is safe! Praise God for His infinite blessings.

Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti...it's easy to get busy with our own lives and forget that it will take years for them to get back to "normal".