ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS Thought for the Day: Is anyone feeling a little on edge these days? There is a lot happening in our world, and some of the voices on tv (social media) are not creating a sense of peace and calm. I remain committed to the words I shared before: We are not alarmist or naive, but smart. In recent days, many of you have chosen to make some good modifications to your daily lives. Some of you who have underlying health concerns have chosen to act proactively. This all falls under the smart response. As experts encourage us to be mindful of our social interaction, specifically touching, handshakes, hugs, kisses, etc, it feels as if church has been impacted. We are the community that is prepared to offer a hug or to pray with someone while holding his/her hand. We are the community known for standing close in crisis and not being deterred. Do we give up being church? Of course not! We can still be who God is calling us to be for God’s steadfast love and comfort have not changed. How we announce and embody this expression of the divine life might require some creativity. When you think about the church historically, it has weathered so many moments of turmoil and fear. The church has often been the entity of stability. Remember, you are part of the church. You are standing in the gifts of God’s steadfast love and comfort. Allow yourself some time to receive and then think about how you are an agent of those gifts in this time of uncertainty. How might a phone call be the gift someone is needing? How might an email or Facebook message provide some of that God-comfort to a sister or brother who is afraid. Remember, we remain the community that Puts Love First. It’s not simply a slogan, but a way of life. Prayer: It is your love and calming Spirit, O Rock of Life, that is ever present. When concern and anxiety are heightened, provide me a voice to speak your grace and peace into the moment. Amen. via WordPress https://ift.tt/2IHu1S4
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ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS Thought for the Day: I’m backing up a few verses from yesterday as I often slide right past these words. One moment we’re talking about good trees producing good fruit, and the next moment it appears as if Jesus is suggesting we are children of snakes. He’s got my attention! Now I don’t know the mind of Jesus, but from what I glean from scripture, I see him using sarcasm, irony, and the occasional shocking phrase to awaken anyone who was dozing off. I think the snake thing is Jesus grabbing the attention of his listeners. John the Baptist used similar language early in the Gospel, yet in each case this rather stinging language was focused on specific folks. Are we to simply say, “Well thank goodness he’s not talking to us!” Or should we occasionally allow his confrontational language to grab our attention? Grace always needs to be present, but occasionally grace can shake us up if we allow it to do so. At the end of the day, it is still grace – God’s unmerited love – yet grace is given with the hope of transformation. I’m pretty certain there have been moments when I’ve needed a system shock to awaken me to a little snake-like behavior within my own life. Prayer: I want to produce good fruit, O Giver of Grace, but snakes don’t produce fruit…only more snakes. I know my prayer is mixing metaphors, but wherever I need to be awakened to something in my life that is not like Jesus, I ask that you use whatever means to do so. Amen. via WordPress https://ift.tt/3373RkW ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS Thought for the Day: On Sunday after church, I was walking to the parking lot feeling good about the morning. I had a couple of really good conversations with people, and I was looking forward to my kid getting home from the Youth Spring Retreat at Gonzalez. As I reached for my car door, I felt something strange. Ugh! I had just stepped in gum, and not a small piece. Oh no, it covered half the heel on my shoe. I grabbed a wrapper from the floor of the backseat and tried to get it off… but no success. I finally had to take my shoe off and drive home where I spent a long time trying to get the gum off. What a pain! You’re probably thinking to yourself right now, “What does that have to do with the scripture?” Absolutely nothing! Well actually, it was a good reminder how some of the things that I can so easily consider to be a problem are nowhere near a problem. Yet too often we can allow something less than perfect in life to consume us negatively, and then we draw our emotions and reactions from that negativity. Suddenly the gum on the bottom of a shoe is the catalyst for rude, nasty or even hateful words… and then it might move beyond just words. I’m not suggesting that gum on the bottom of a shoe could start WWIII, but there is a wealth of good treasure within us all assuming it doesn’t get lost in the negative. And there are folks out there dealing with real bad stuff who need our positive words and energy that shouldn’t be touched by some gum on the shoe. Prayer: Keep my spirit and attitude positive. Help me, Holy God, to be the blessing you need me to be in this world. Amen. via WordPress https://ift.tt/3cFG3ct ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS Why is it that I look to Jesus and find only love? Is love to be my manual for living? Is love to be my starting place and goal? Is love to shape how I approach every situation and the very thing I should leave behind as I walk away? It seems a bit too simple, yet way too complicated. To be honest, I’d rather have a five point plan for every conceivable situation, and a seven point plan for those I cannot imagine. Can you make it happen, God? You have loved us into existence as the Body of Christ, and if I am to be a part of the Body of Christ in the world today, then I guess I should make the life of Jesus my model. Encourage me in this great endeavor, and when I falter, show your mercy. What am I to do? I’ll start with love. Amen. via WordPress https://ift.tt/39CHUg5 ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS Thought for the Day: These are the verses that follow our focus scripture this Sunday morning. These words cause me to squirm and to feel some discomfort within. Remember, I am a preacher. I make my living, in part, through words. How far is my heart from what is spoken by my lips? Too often the leadership of a church has failed the faith community by presenting a significant gap between Words and Deeds. Will any preacher fully live to the standards of Jesus and the Gospels? Probably not! And if a preacher is suggesting that s/he is fully living to that standard, the congregation might see that as a red flag or just a really puffed up ego. At the same time, the church and the larger community needs to see consistency, to see those who are striving to reach the goal of the Jesus-life. I believe quite strongly that the decline in churches can be tied, not entirely, to the hypocrisy seeing at the highest levels. For the sake of the mission entrusted to us through the Holy Spirit, I pray that we will keep one another accountable. Prayer: Keep working with me, O Spirit of Christ, for I desire for the message of my heart to match the message of daily life. Amen. DID YOU SET via WordPress https://ift.tt/2TPQm4O ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS Thought for the Day: There are so many quotations floating through the universe that are attributed to someone, but they simply are not correct. Someone might have said it, but it has been attributed to a famous individual. One of my favorites was CS Lewis who supposedly said, “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” Come to find out, CS Lewis never said that. It is believed that someone in the 1980’s borrowed those words from James Sherman, an author, who made the following observation: “You can’t go back and make a new start, but you can start right now and make a brand new ending.” At first glance, it sounds more impressive when we attach the name CS Lewis, but what happens when people realize that’s inaccurate? I raise this because it seems strange for a quote about starting anew to have as its starting place a falsity. Paul had spoken some pretty harsh words to the church in Rome, but he also believed in them. He wanted to start them in a good place, a place filled with God. Hope needs to be rooted in something authentic and real. If the starting place for a new future is flimsy at best, then that future will probably be less than flimsy. Prayer: The hope provided in Jesus, O Gracious God, is a hope that I can trust. I believe that your love will never forsake me, and that in the end, love will always prevail. And if love hasn’t prevailed, then it must not be the end. Amen. TOMORROW — SUNDAY via WordPress https://ift.tt/2PPy6rl ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS Thought for the Day: Before we start pointing fingers at THOSE Pharisees and Scribes, let’s remove the log from our own eye. When have you ever heard folks in church flip out because someone didn’t do communion correctly or the preacher wasn’t wearing the proper attire or we didn’t do the Lord’s Prayer in worship. It probably won’t shock too many of you, but I had someone scream at me at the top of his lungs because we didn’t do the Lord’s Prayer in worship. Yes, we skipped reciting it at the traditional place because we had a soloist sing it during communion. And before you think I’m lecturing you, I have done the very same thing in regard to a practice that had strangely become the thing I was worshiping instead of a tool that should have pointed me to the One worthy of my worship. History, tradition and ritual are all so wonderful and beautiful until they are no longer wonderful and beautiful. It’s not that such things have become old, but we have allowed them to become empty of their meaning. We have become mechanistic as we recite or do the dance without being caught in the power of the Spirit at work in the words or actions. We’ve all been there, and so when we read scriptures like the one above, how do such passages challenge us moving forward? Is there still great meaning to be found in the rituals and practices of the faith? I hope so! Prayer: Holy God, continue to provide ancient practices that are full of life and power. Continue to share with me new revelations of your grace and goodness, whether it is something old or new. Amen. SEE YOU SUNDAY via WordPress https://ift.tt/2PTuzIu TO THE CYPRESS CREEK FAMILY - via WordPress https://ift.tt/334u3Ni ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS Thought for the Day: This is Mark’s version of the Two Great Commandments, ideas very much rooted within the Judaism of Jesus’ childhood. Some have translated Commandment as Rule or Precept. I don’t know Greek well enough to know what the best translation might be. With that said, I find it interesting that Jesus “commands” love, as that seems strange. I do not believe it is love if it requires a command. If I’m being ordered to love, it feels like something other than love. This is where Religion and Rules can undermine the Relationship Jesus intended. This is why some people translate the word as Precept, for a Precept is a Principle, a fundamental idea or way of living. It might appear to be a rule, but not in the traditional sense of the word. Love is more like patterns in a dance where it can be fun and beautiful even when we are learning. It appears to me that Jesus wanted to strip away everything that had become confusing or misused, and just focus on the basics where life and joy could be found. Prayer: Let me bring it down to the basics found in loving you, O Lord, and loving my neighbor. It might be real basic, but I’m pretty sure it will be challenging. Yet as I learn to love more deeply, I shall learn how to love amidst the complexities of life. Amen. via WordPress https://ift.tt/39pvZSV ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS Thought for the Day: After Sunday’s sermon on forgiveness, the staff conversed on why it is such an important point of discussion for so many. Among the many insightful things offered, we talked about the baggage people bring from other church experiences. For so many, they were made to feel bad, really bad or downright awful. A person might be 20 or 30 years past that experience, yet it can feel very real and present. We worship each week because most of us need a weekly reminder of the Gospel, a weekly reintroduction to the Good News. Whether it is new stuff that is playing havoc on our self-worth or a negative story we heard about ourselves decades ago, we need to have someone announce to us again and again, “Everything old has passed away! You are a new creation, beautiful and valued beyond measure.” Prayer: Sit with me a little while, Lord Jesus, and whisper into my soul the message of your love and forgiveness. May it plant a seed that will grow into a gift I can share with the world. Amen. via WordPress https://ift.tt/2TmUFpy |
AuthorRev. Bruce Frogge Archives
April 2024
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