Monthly Archives: November 2011

Thanksgiving Day: Giving God Thanks

Readings

Deuteronomy 8:7-18

Psalm 95

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Luke 17:11-19

Devotion

Peace be with you!

I am always amazed when God answers my prayers. Whether it is keeping my family and friends safe, giving me the wisdom to spread the good news through my devotions, or getting my puppies listen, God always listens and answers.

I remember one night while living in a condo in Saint Paul, Minnesota I let my oldest puppy (then an only child) out late to go bathroom before bed. Of course, Lily, my puppy, saw a squirrel that she had to chase and ran a hundred yards barking. To make matters worst, she ran to an area I could not get to with my electric wheelchair, and my significant other was away for wheelchair basketball. I remember yelling for her name and for help and praying to God for ten minutes. Eventually Lily got tired of barking and came back home. I felt so blessed and relieved when Lily back into my lap. Thanks be to God!

God gives us so much to be thankful for. He provides and blesses us with shelter, food and water, clothes, loving parents, loyal friends, passionate teachers, professors, and mentors, lovable pets, a healthy community, and so much more.

There are individuals who believe they climbed the cooperate ladder and obtained nice material items on their own. These individuals forget that God provides everything we need and want. The Christmas movie Scrooge [pick your favorite version] is about the individual who runs the town basically and works his/her employees to death until the three-ghost intervention. We can identify individuals in our lives who fit the character scratch of Scrooge, and some days it maybe ourselves. We also know God has no room for these individuals in heaven, because they do not value their relationship with him or the blessings he gives them.

After the three-ghost intervention, the Scrooge character’s outlook on life changes for the better, and he/she begins to mend the broken relationships in his/her life and treats his/her employee better. The Scrooge begins to value his/her more than by how much money was in the bank. He/she realizes that it is the community around you and the relationships you are in that makes life worth living.

God values his relationships with us so much that he sent his only begotten son to suffer crucifixion and death and to be resurrected. He did the one thing that could repair the relationship we broke by our sinful nature. He loves us so much and gives us even more.

The only thing God wants in return is for us to remember that he provides us with everything we need and want. We cannot say we got where we are on our own and keep a healthy relationship with God, because we would be lying to others and ourselves.

Healthy relationships are built on trust, love, and grace. We can put our unconditional trust and love into God, and he will give us the ultimate gift of blessings and grace. Whether it is a new pet, the ability to hike and the enjoy the great outdoors, a dinner with family and close friends, a new home, warm clothes for the winter, or [whatever “it” is] that makes you feel blessed, it is from God and we need to give thanks. Oh, what love God has for us – nothing else compares! So remember to give thanks to God the Father and be blessed forever.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for providing us everything we need and want. Help us to remember that everything we have is a gift from you and to give you thanks. Thank you for blessing us now and in the future. Amen.

Works Cited

Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit

Reflective Questions

Please feel free to answer the reflective questions through comments.  Please agree to disagree and be respectable to each other. Please take a moment, if you have not already, to sign the covenant.  You can answer all or just one of the questions. 

1. What are you thankful for?

2. What is the greatest blessing?

Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost: Help God by Caring for Others

Readings

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

Psalm 100 or Psalm 95:1-7a

Ephesians 1:15-23

Matthew 25:31-46

Devotion

Peace be with you!

An old African proverb says, “It takes a village to raise a child.” As Christians, we baptize our children and profess as a congregation that we will be witnesses of God’s love, grace, and forgiveness to each other’s children. The community is responsible for sharing the good news with all the children.

But does it stop there with the children? Is the community only responsible for the children, or is there more to it?

Most of my friends from college have Cerebral Palsy, like me, though it affects all of us differently. And boy, were we a crew when we all got together to go out! Since we all had various physical abilities, each of us needed help in different ways. It was common for three of us to make Wal-Mart runs together. I am the one who could reach the items on the shelf and put it in our cart. If I could not reach something, my one friend would go find someone to get help reach the item since her speech was not affected by the Cerebral Palsy. Our other friend is the responsible one who always brought the list and would point to things that we were forgetting. Then I would have to separate our items and check us out separately. Like I said, we were quiet a crew.

There were five of us who got together and did dinner almost every Friday. Two of my fellow Cerebral Palsy sisters could feed the three of us who could not eat independently. Thankfully there was usually one, maybe two, personal caregivers to help out, but that is not to say we did not try to do it all ourselves.

We would say we could be completely independent when we worked together. We are a community where each individual needs help and each individual could help the others out. And if asked why we help each other, the answer would be out of love.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus says, whenever you give someone who is in need food, clothes, shelter, etc, you are helping Jesus (Matthew 25:40). Since we are God’s children, we are called to help each other by taking care of individuals who are need.

As Christians, Jesus calls us to help each other out of love for one another and for God. This does not mean we should like we need to do works to enter heaven; however, we should do good works, such as feeding the hungry and providing homeless with shelter, out of compassion, which is found in love of Jesus Christ.

We often think our works have to large and grand, like working at a food pantry or a homeless shelter. Some individuals feel it is too much hassle to help others. They are always in a rush to get wherever they going. My Cerebral Palsy sisters and I saw this in college with our personal caregivers – some girls would rush through our cares and leave right away. God has no use for these individuals, because they only care about themselves. It is a harsh reality, which Jesus speaks and we all hope we are not in this group.

However, sometimes the smallest actions, like giving a hug to a friend or a hand to a stranger who is having bad day, can make a big impact on the other person. It is random acts of kindness that can turn an individual’s day around.

A few months ago I was flying home from Washington DC where I attended a conference for IMAlive.org, a non-profit committed to help individuals who fight thoughts of suicide. The non-profit has volunteers online who chat with individuals battling depression and thoughts of suicide. The conference was three days of training sessions where I began my discernment to become a volunteer.

While I was waiting for my flight, I sat at a table eating my Aunt Annie pretzel and drink a Coke. Two soldiers are enjoying a drink at the bar near by, but the bar gets crowded and the two soldiers asked to sit at my table, and I gladly said yes, although there were plenty of empty tables. Another female soldier came and went to get coffee with the male soldier.

The female soldier who stayed at the table with me and her beer introduced herself and asked me what brought me DC. I told her about the conference, what I learned about vets, and the website. She was the leader of her team and worried about her younger teammates. I asked her if she stressed the importance of taking of one’s mental health, and she said yes, she fights the stigmatism of asking for help with both of her female and male teammates. I gave her my business card to email me for more information on IMAlive.org.

Then she opened to me by explaining how she personally knew someone in the recent helicopter crash, which still brought tears to her eyes. She fought to get her composure back before her two teammates came back. I simply held her hand for literally a few seconds and said I would pray for her, which she appreciated.

Although it was a brief encounter, I can say both the female soldier and me had a connection, which made a slight difference in our lives. I saw first hand how much work IMAlive.org has to do; the female soldier learned about a new non-profit organization working to help vets who suffer from PSD. It is the small moments that speak volumes to an individual in need.

These are the small moments, the random acts of kindness that Jesus calls us to encounter. You cannot plan or write a script for these moments – they just happen. God just puts us in these moments to help him in his mission. When we accept his callings, we make God proud, and he extends an invitation to us to enter heaven. And boy, I cannot wait to go to heaven, although I am sure God has a lot more for me to do.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for the invitation to enter heaven. Help us to do your work through small moments and random acts of kindness according to your love, grace, and forgiveness. Thank you for giving us the chance to spread your love, grace, and forgiveness. Amen.

Works Cited

Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit

For more information on suicide prevention, go to IMAlive.org and HopeLine.com.

Reflective Questions

Please feel free to answer the reflective questions through comments.  Please agree to disagree and be respectable to each other. Please take a moment, if you have not already, to sign the covenant.  You can answer all or just one of the questions. 

1. Please tell us about a small moment or random act of kindness you experience.

2. How do you express God’s love to others?

Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost: God Radically Entrusting Us

Readings

Judges 4:1-7 and Psalm 123

Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18 and Psalm 90:1-12

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Matthew 25:14-30

Devotion

Peace be with you!

Have you ever wondered who is in charged of the church? I mean really in charge of the church as in who is making the hard decisions. Is it the congregation’s members? Is it the pastor? Is it a group of elites of the biggest donors? Is it the church council? Is it the church council’s president? Is it the bishop? Is it the regional office personal? Or is it [fill in the blank]? Or (let’s be radical) is it God?

For most of you, a name or name(s) of unique and physical individuals come to mind. You either love or hate the individual or individuals for the way they run the church for making it contemporary or keeping it traditional…or for bring in more young adults and youth or keeping them out…or [whatever “it” is] they are or are not doing. But is the church really run by individuals in the world? I mean the church has been two thousand plus years. Individuals are born; they live; then they die. So can individuals really run the church?

Is God running the church? I know it is a radical idea, but if you have been reading my devotions for the past year, you should be accustom to my radical ideas – so hear me out.

A few weeks ago we discussed how the community creates the church. The parable for this week defines the church as a community being owned by God the Father who is the one the church looks to for wisdom, comfort, and love through forgiveness. And because God owns the church, he entrusts us to be the church, to strengthen its roots in the world, and to spread the good news of the Triune God.

In the parable, God is the master who entrusts three slaves with talents. (One talent was worth one year of wages – this is not just a silly gold coin.) The first slave is given five talents, which he trades with and makes five more talents (Matthew 25:16, 20). This makes the master very happy, so he puts the first slave in charge of many things (Matthew 25:21). The second slave is given two talents, which he trades with and makes two more talents (Matthew 25:17, 22). Again, the master is very happy, so he puts the second slave in charge of many things (Matthew 25:23). The two slaves take what the master gives them and doubles it. When we use our gifts to spread the good news and multiply God’s love, we are growing in our spiritual gifts and expanding God’s kingdom on earth.

In a sense, these two slaves are agents of the Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God entrusts the two agents spiritual gifts to spread the good news of redemption, forgiveness, and peace, and they run with their gifts and trained many more individuals how to be his agents. They were able to go out and build communities of agents. The two agents also trust God will come back in his own timing to take them and their fellow agents to heaven.

On the other hand, the third slave is given one talent, which he buries in the field and makes nothing (Matthew 25:18). Upon the master’s return, the third slave gives the one talent back to him while expressing his fears of his master as a wicked, mischievous man who steals (Matthew 25:24-25). The master is not happy and proceeded to admit he is a wicked, mischievous man who steals (Matthew 25:26). The master complains that the third slave did not even have the sense to put the one talent in the bank in order to earn interest (Matthew 25:27). Then the master throws the third slave out into the darkness (Matthew 25:30) after giving his talent to the first slave (Matthew 25:28).

Many commentaries focus on the harshness of the master who symbolizes God. God is our master who we like to think of as loving, not as harsh. So how can this parable portray a harsh God? I would like to throw something out there. Maybe the third slave represents an agent of Satan, the fallen angel. We know Satan lurks in the darkness where the master threw the third slave (Matthew 25:30).

We also know God only gives abundance to those who follow and serve him (Matthew 25:29). And on last day, God will take us, those who believe in him and do his work, from this world, Satan’s realm, up to heaven to live in his kingdom. We also know agents of Satan do not trust that God will come back to redeem his agents. If God has not come by now, why would he come? (But we know different.)

Satan may even think of God as a wicked, mischievous man who steals by redeeming the souls of the fallen. Yes, God is wicked for forgiving us, so we turn our backs to Satan. Yes, God is mischievous for using Moses to free the Israelites from Egypt, for using Mary to carry, birth, and raise his only begotten son, for using John the Baptist to prepare the path for Jesus Christ, for using Jesus to redeem and forgive us through his crucifixion, death, and resurrection, and for using us against Satan. Yes, God is a thief for stealing us from Satan and annexing his kingdom.

So yes, my God is a wicked, mischievous man who steals. And thanks be to God! (Because I’ll have it no other way…sorry Satan.)

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for giving us talents and giving us the ability to use them to spread the good news. Help us to use our talents to serve your kingdom and to annex the world from Satan. Thank you for entrusting us with your church. Amen.

Works Cited

Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit

Reflective Questions

Please feel free to answer the reflective questions through comments.  Please agree to disagree and be respectable to each other. Please take a moment, if you have not already, to sign the covenant.  You can answer all or just one of the questions. 

1. How do you double the talents God gives you to expand his kingdom?

2. How does Satan try to steal you away?

Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost: Stay Alert

Readings

Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25 and Psalm 78:1-7

Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-16 or Amos 5:18-24

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Matthew 25:1-13

Devotion

Peace be with you!

We defined a church as a community last week. This week we look at what happens when a community divides into factions, which I know they “never” develop in your congregations. No elder fights to keep the same traditions going; no young adult asks for a contemporary service; no one argues with you when you want to buy the new hymnal; or [whatever “it” is] that your congregation members “do not” argue about.

Factions are inevitable. They pop unexpectedly and cause a community to divide, especially when a group of individuals try to introduce a change. It is difficult to please each individual all the time. It is even more difficult when the conflict, such as a new pastor or youth director, causes a division in the congregation where one group eventually leaves the church. This causes a sense of insiders and outsiders – a division no one really likes.

So upon reading the gospel text, if you wanted to throw something, I am here to say you are not alone. Jesus is clearly making a division: the wise – those who are alert and confidence in their faith and the foolish – those who are not prepared and fall away. Honestly, it is difficult for me to write about, because I do not want anyone to miss going to heaven.

But here we are with this difficult parable. The bridegroom is running late, which was common in ancient times when the groom negotiated for the bride with her family (Works 2011). The bridesmaids should have expected a wait. Five of the ten bridesmaids (the wise) were prepared while the other five (the foolish) were not prepare. Although all ten bridesmaids fall asleep while waiting for the bridegroom, the wise bridesmaids brought extra oil to relight their lamps with when the procession to the party was ready to begin (Matthew 25:4, 9).

All ten bridesmaids rush to relight their lambs when they see the bridegroom coming. However, the foolish bridesmaids are out of oil and ask the wise bridesmaids if they could use some of their oil to light their lambs (Matthew 25:8). The wise bridesmaids refused and told the foolish bridesmaids to go buy more oil, which they did (Matthew 25:8-9).

When the foolish bridesmaids come back with more oil, the wedding procession has already happened and the doors to the banquet hall is closed. CLOSED! No one is coming in or coming out. The Lord claims to not know the foolish bridesmaids when they call out to him (Matthew 25:11-12). The closed door is a harsh reality because it symbolizes not everyone will enter heaven. No one wants to be left out, like the foolish bridesmaids were.

Yet no one knows when Jesus Christ will come again. How we prepare for Jesus’ return will determine if we get to attend the banquet in heaven. So how are you preparing? (Please discuss through the comment box.) I dedicate my life to spreading the good news and doing Jesus’ mission, although some days are more difficult than others. We live in a world where God’s mission is overlooked for our own individual missions. But we must be prepared for Jesus’ return and put our own missions aside. So stay alert and find endurance in the good news of the Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The time will come when the procession to heaven will take place, and the banquet will begin got those individuals with endurance in the Lord.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for the promise of Jesus’ return. Help us to stay alert and find endurance in your good news. Thank you for the invite to the banquet. Amen.

Works Cited

Works, Carla. Matthew 24:1-13. 2011 йил 5-June. http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=11/6/2011 (accessed 2011 йил 5-November).

Reflective Questions

Please feel free to answer the reflective questions through comments.  Please agree to disagree and be respectable to each other. Please take a moment, if you have not already, to sign the covenant.  You can answer all or just one of the questions. 

1. How are you staying alert and preparing for Jesus’ return?

2. How do you build endurance in the good news?

All Saints Day: The Comfort in God’s Love and Grace

Readings

Revelation 7:9-17

Psalm 34:1-10, 22

1 John 3:1-3

Matthew 5:1-12

Devotion

Peace be with you!

Watching loved ones suffer and eventually die is never easy – no matter how prepared you are. Everyone in our lives means something different to us – mother, father, grandparents, friends, mentor, teacher, wife, husband, acquaintance, or [whoever]. And no matter how much we prepared ourselves, especially if the individual suffered for a long time, we never are prepared for the hole that the absence of the individual leaves.

But the Bible gives us the assurance that the individuals who pass away go to a better place. From Revelation, we know that all the saints are with God worshipping him day and night and are giving thanksgiving to the Lord (Revelation 7:11, 15). In return, the saints are no longer hungry or thirsty, too cold or hot, in pain, or anything (Revelation 7:16). And Jesus is with the saints giving them water and shelter (Revelation 7:17).

Personally, I find it comforting to remember that the individual who has passed away is in a better place. God’s love and grace give us the comfort in knowing that individuals who suffered from an illness or disability get a new body and are no longer in pain. Part of me is excited to go to heaven and be freed of my earthly body as well as giving me comfort that others who go be before me will experience the same thing.

Sometimes, children or young adults will pass away and we ask why God had to take them so soon. What do you tell a parent(s) who has to bury their child(ren)? Where is God’s love and grace?  These questions are never easy answer if you can find the right words to say in the first place. The only thing you can say is that the child(ren) is in a better place and no long have to suffer – that is God’s love and grace. We may never know the why, but we can rest in the comfort of God’s love and grace.

Death is never an easy subject to approach; death signifies a lost in individuals’ lives. But is it really a lost? We must remember we will be reunited with those who have gone before us in heaven with the Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God’s love and grace gives us the strength to carry on in this world because we will be reunited in heaven. We will only be on this earth for a little while, and then we go to be with God in heaven with all of the other saints.

When it is all said and done, God will wipe away our tears and give us shelter. Even in death, God is our comforter; we are never truly alone. When we are suffering, God suffers, and when we rejoice, God rejoices.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for giving us the comfort in knowing you take care of all of your saints. Help us to feel comfort in your love and grace. Thank you for your love and grace. Amen.

Works Cited

Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit

Reflective Questions

Please feel free to answer the reflective questions through comments.  Please agree to disagree and be respectable to each other. Please take a moment, if you have not already, to sign the covenant.  You can answer all or just one of the questions. 

1. Where do you find comfort when someone dies?