ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS Thought for the Day: As a kid, I used to play a mean game of Follow the Leader and Simon Says. The games are similar, but one of the games is more about going wherever the leader guides the followers, while the other game is all about mimicking, imitating, trying to mirror what the leader is doing. When Jesus invited Levi to follow him, it was sort of a combination of Follow the Leader and Simon Says. Jesus wanted him to get off his duff and begin walking down the road with him, but there was an unspoken expectation that Levi’s life would begin to take on the characteristics and attributes of Jesus. Today, I am thinking a lot about discipleship and what it means for us. There are times when discipleship requires us to get off our duff and begin moving, other times it requires us to pay close attention to the instructions we are given so that we know exactly what we are to do. Though some people might try to tell you it is one or the other, I tend to think it is both. Let’s play a few games of Follow the Leader and Simon Says. Prayer: I want to follow you, O Living Christ, wherever you might lead. I also want to resemble you wherever it is that you take me, and when I say resemble, it is more than just being able to talk the talk. Amen. via WordPress https://ift.tt/3l48Xrc
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ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS To Listen To via WordPress https://ift.tt/3vea9gy ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS Thought for the Day: Today is the day after International Women’s Day. Mondays I share a prayer for my Etchings, yet I didn’t want to ignore this important day. A number of years ago I heard someone say, “It is good to have an International Women’s Day to counter the 364 International Men’s Days each year.” The point was well taken, a point acknowledging the ongoing challenges, systemic sexism and misogyny permeating human history. Women are disproportionally impacted by poverty and hunger both in the United States and around the globe. White women in the United States on average make $.79 and black women make $.62 to every dollar a man makes, while women are more often raising children on their own. With all that said, International Women’s Day is intended to be a celebration of women’s accomplishments. As a pastor, I am proud of our denominational history when it comes to women clergy, yet there are some significant caveats in regard to that statement. Men still hold a majority of the Sr. Ministry positions in our denomination even though I believe four out of our top five preachers are women, and our General Minister and President is a woman. I see many positive changes, but we should never allow measurable progress to be the finish line. I was raised and surrounded by women during my most formative years – brilliant, caring, determined, funny, successful, creative, progressive, prophetic women, and I feel confident that I am a better person because of it. And today, I am married to such a woman who helps me to see my blind spots in regard to toxic masculinity and other unhealthy behaviors still woven into our cultural ethos. Take some time today to give thanks for women around the globe who act with courage and extraordinary faithfulness when it comes to the dream of seeing true equality. Prayer: Holy One of Heaven, we celebrate the amazing gifts brought to this world by women, yet we acknowledge with great sadness the people and systems that continue to discriminate and bring injury to women around the globe. No human being deserves to be treated with anything less than the respect and reverence you have for humanity, every single human being. May that be our holy aspiration. Amen. via WordPress https://ift.tt/3rrwqF8 ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS via WordPress https://ift.tt/3kZ7ORF ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS Thought for the Day: Is kindness the opposite of oppression? I don’t know if kindness by itself has the power to overcome oppression, but it is better than doing nothing. If you’re like me, there are times when I can become overwhelmed by the immensity of the problems facing us. We become incapacitated when we’ve convinced ourselves that our little contribution will make no difference. Oppression, specifically systemic oppression, does not change overnight or with a handful of people acting with kindness. At the same time, enough single acts of kindness will eventually bring change. There is a tipping point at which a sudden and dramatic change will occur. Often, no one really saw it coming. It happened because one more person did their little part, and it was added to the acts of kindness by many others. And as a final word of encouragement, kindness toward someone in need is one of the best ways of honoring God. You can’t go wrong with that. Prayer: O Maker of Heaven and Earth, continue to encourage us to act with kindness in this world. At times it can feel as if it is making absolutely no impact on the real problems. Yet at the end of the day, you called us to act with kindness and not to choose kindness only if we thought it would make a big enough difference. Keep leading us in the right direction. Amen. TODAY’S WORSHIP SERVICE via WordPress https://ift.tt/3qqQE0t ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS Thought for the Day: This is the beginning of the story often entitled: Jesus and the Samaritan Woman. Jesus and his disciples have been in Judea, the area West of the Dead Sea where we find Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The plan is to go north to Galilee, but as Jews, they would have most often gone around Samaria. There was a bit of a conflict there, and Samaritans and Jews did not speak well of one another. Yet our scripture says Jesus “had to go through Samaria.” Technically, that is incorrect. There was a route that required the crossing of the Jordan river, and though a bit longer, it was a commonly chosen road for those who wanted to avoid Samaria. So why is it that the Gospel writer makes it sound as if Jesus had no other options? Could it be possible that this comment is less about actual options and more about calling and purpose? There are so many times when we have choices, yet if we are going to live the life we believe we’ve been called to live, then there is only one option. Jesus did not see boundaries the same way others did. These boundaries were not uncrossable lines, but opportunities. There are times in life we can avoid a situation rather easily, but if we are serious about following Jesus, there is often only one path and it takes us directly into the situation we might have chosen to avoid if it were not for God’s tugging at our spirit. Prayer: Let me look at the options and then spend time discerning my option. Help me to see, O God of Vision, the path by which I can best serve you. Amen. via WordPress https://ift.tt/38fvPyU ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS Thought for the Day: There are strong admonitions against foolishness throughout the Old Testament, specifically in what is called the Wisdom Literature. Yesterday’s devotional spoke to one of those passages, and I purposely drove the point home to create the contrast with Paul’s comment about being fools for Christ. Are we to be foolish or not? It almost feels as if we are being yanked around just a bit. Like a lot of things in faith, it is important to understand context. The Wisdom Literature of old was very interested in creating a contrast between the wise and the foolish, those who make prudent choices and those who do not. In many situations, I do not believe Jesus or Paul would disagree, yet much of their ministries went against the tide of social expectation. They spent a lot of time with outcasts, the sick and even those who were considered immoral. A mother might tell a child how hanging out with “certain folks” would not be a wise choice, yet as followers of Jesus it sure appears as if those are the folks we are called to befriend. I think there is being stupid for stupid-sake. I’ve probably been there once or twice in life. Then there is taking a risk for and with Jesus, a risk in expressing the far-reaching character of God’s love. Many will look at it as foolishness. If it is, at least it is being a fool with Christ. Prayer: If you guide me into foolish ways, O Spirit of Christ, then I feel certain its ok to be a bit of a fool. Amen. via WordPress https://ift.tt/3kP9bCh ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS Thought for the Day: I don’t mean to step on any toes here, but there are plenty of folks who are taking instruction from the foolish. Don’t get defensive, but we need to be honest with one another and acknowledge how many of the so-called news and opinion shows are only opinion, and those doing the show would probably have the opposite opinion if they thought they could make more money doing so. Discernment, education and listening critically to a diverse group of quality news organizations will help to weed out the foolish who claim to offer good instruction. As people of faith, we have an obligation to seek out what is true and proven fact, not hearsay or antidotal evidence. We can still disagree in regard to the best response to a situation. But if many folks are being fed by the fools, there is no possibility of having a good productive conversation. Prayer: Help us to grow our insight and knowledge, O Spirit of Wisdom, for too often the fools can make foolishness sound almost reasonable. Amen. via WordPress https://ift.tt/38aBgPr ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS To Listen/Watch via WordPress https://ift.tt/2O0I6jA ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS Thought for the Day: What do you grieve this day? Many of us know a very real and palpable grief. Change, brought on by a whole host of losses, has bombarded us from every direction as of late, and change requires us to grieve. Denial and anger are two of the steps within the grief process, and they’ve been manifesting themselves in some pretty noticeable ways… just not usually noticeable to those who are grieving. I remember watching an older couple years ago grieving their daughter’s divorce. They had never known anyone who had been divorced, and within their church, divorce was an unforgivable sin. At the same time, they loved their daughter. As only an observer in this process, I was fascinated to watch the grief play itself out. They not only were grieving for their daughter who was hurting, but they were grieving the loss of innocence, of a world that no longer existed. For a long time, they held tightly to a vision of a world where divorce would never happen to good faithful people like them. The months that followed were bumpy and painful, yet they found a world on the other side of that grief where divorce was not some unforgivable sin, and even more so, they learned that faith, joy and love could be found once again. I remember that father walking his daughter down the aisle four years later, doing something that was beyond his capacity to even imagine five years earlier. The world around us is changing as it always has, and people of faith need to grieve in a healthy way, in part, to model how we join God in the new thing being done, even when a few months earlier we could not have imagined such a thing. Prayer: You journey with us, Gracious God, continuing to be kind and gentle when change is thrust upon us. Change is nothing new, yet in the moment it can feel very arbitrary, chaotic and frightening. Let us do the necessary work through the assistance of your grace, grieving what needs to be grieved. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen. via WordPress https://ift.tt/37XYbgQ |
AuthorRev. Bruce Frogge Archives
May 2024
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