ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS December 21, 2019 Guest Writer: Rev. John Frey A Walk in the Kingdom By John Frey
Scripture: Isaiah 2:5 Come, house of Jacob, let us walk by the light of the Lord.
I believe the main story of the Bible is the establishment, struggles, and longing for the final completion of God’s kingdom here on earth. From the beginning, God called humanity to live as if God’s kingdom had already come and thereby help the kingdom come in all its fullness. This lifestyle called for each person to love unconditionally, care for the marginalized, seek justice, and treat strangers like friends. Throughout the Old Testament, God’s people refused to live into God’s kingdom invitation, choosing instead to live like the worldly cultures around them. Isaiah, one of God’s prophets, called God’s chosen people to “walk by the light of the Lord,” which mean to return to living as kingdom-dwellers. Unfortunately, the people soon fell back into their old ways, leading a period when God did not speak through the prophets.
This week, can you imagine how it must have felt to think that God had quit speaking? The prophets promised that God would do mighty things, but no one in your family could remember seeing God act. The world must have felt really dark. But, some of the people of God remembered the words of the prophets, who promised a new work of God. This promise kept the light of the Lord alive in their hearts. Their faith was rewarded with the gift of a Savior who came to earth to live among God’s people and demonstrate by his words and actions how citizens of God’s kingdom were to live. In the person of Jesus of Nazareth, we witnessed perfect example of how to “walk by the light of the Lord.” How can you “walk by the light of the Lord this week? In a season when many demonstrate their worst behaviors, how can you demonstrate the love first life to all you encounter?
via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EESbKV
0 Comments
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS December 20, 2019 Scripture: Luke 1:78-79 By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. Thought for the Day: These words are an echo of the ancient Prophet, Isaiah (42:6-7). Both the Prophet Isaiah and the Priest Zechariah (who is speaking here) recognize that divine revelation is what dispels the darkness. John, Zechariah’s son, will create the way for Jesus’ ministry as he proclaims repentance in advance of God’s Kingdom. Jesus is the embodiment of the Kingdom of Heaven, not so much a place, but a way of thinking and living. When Jesus shatters the darkness with his birth, the unhealthy and destructive ways people thought about God were turned upside down. For those who were burdened by guilt, for those who lived in grief, for those who acted out of a place of fear, for those who were devalued because of their age or race or gender or illness, or for those who didn’t do anything because of an emotional paralysis, religion justified their painful experiences as God’s punishment. Suddenly the birth of a child changed the narrative. Those who were rejected by the systems of religion and named as enemies of God were in fact the very ones for whom God was coming, for God so loved every single person! Prayer: I am forever in awe of your love, O God who took on flesh. When the world seeks to blame and exclude certain segments of the population, you declare the value of every human being. May your light continue to dispel the shadows that so many wish to cast upon a few. Amen. via WordPress https://ift.tt/2PIC8Ss ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS December 19, 2019 Scripture: Luke 1:76-77 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. Thought for the Day: I love it when a person in scripture receives the company mission and runs with it. These are a portion of Zechariah’s words spoken to his son, John (the Baptist), when he was still but an infant. Most kids here from their parents, “What are you going to do with your life?” Zechariah did not need to ask, for he knew exactly what John was called to do. Now the great theological question presented here is: Did John have a choice? Did God respect his free will to say, “Yes” or “No” to this calling? I have such strong convictions around free will that I believe John could have said at any point, “I’m out of here!” For me, this raises the fascinating (though a little out there) question of whether there were other people like John who God had called before, but they had declined God’s mission and invitation? As I believe in a God who respects free will, then I have to believe there were plenty of NO’s along the way. I find that very challenging – on one level, if I fail, God will find another way. At the same time, how many people will live a little longer in the darkness because God had to go to Plan B, and it took some time to ramp it up. Prayer: Provide me ears to hear and a spirit made available to what you are putting before me, O Lord. If I turn away from your invitation, I pray for forgiveness and your capacity to call another to serve. At the same time, provide me another opportunity, another chance to join the movement of your mission in the world. I don’t wish for anyone to spend another minute in the darkness of fear, grief, injustice, hatred, guilt or illness, simply because I chose to say NO. Amen. via WordPress https://ift.tt/2r6FJAo ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS December 18, 2019 Scripture: Luke 1:66 All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him. Thought for the Day: We associate these words with the greatness of John who would become the forerunner of Jesus, but maybe part of the problem in our world today is our inability to speak these words about every child, in every place. It does not matter if they are brown, white or black. It doesn’t matter their religion. It doesn’t matter their immigration status. At the end of the day, the story of Jesus’ birth requires any follower to place the value of another human being, especially children, above everything else. There is a lot of politics, positioning and posturing, but at the end of the day, the story of Jesus – from birth to death to resurrection – gives absolutely no wiggle room in regard to our calling to defend every human life. I’ll then add, especially the children who have the Lord’s hand upon them, each of them. If we don’t act with compassion and mercy, what then will these children become? Prayer: Forgive me, O Christ of Vulnerable Birth, when I allow my ideology or bias or fears to determine the value of another human being, especially when that human being is a child. Amen. -- via WordPress https://ift.tt/34A0p1i ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS December 17, 2019 Scripture: Luke 1:51-53 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. Thought for the Day: “I like the Christmas Jesus best.” Those were the words of Will Ferrell’s (Ricky Bobby) character in the comedy Talladega Nights. “Jesus did grow up,” Ricky’s wife reminded him. “You don’t always have to call him baby.” But Ricky Bobby responded, “I like the Christmas Jesus best when I’m saying grace.” And then Ferrell went back to his prayer, “Dear 8lb 6oz newborn infant Jesus. Don’t even know a word yet. Just a little infant, so cuddly, but still omnipotent …. Thank you for all your power and your grace, dear baby God. Amen.” In many ways, I think we all agree with Ricky Bobby’s prayer. We like the baby Jesus, yet Mary presented a picture of this baby that wasn’t all that soft or cuddly. Maybe I’m too much of a Christmas fan, but I think it is okay to enjoy the baby Jesus…yet always knowing that the little bundle of joy will challenge everything we believe. Maybe that’s true of every baby. Prayer: Dear 8lb 6oz newborn infant Jesus, let me enjoy you in this moment before your words of challenge rock my existence. Amen. __ via WordPress https://ift.tt/2YXumHJ ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS December 16, 2019 Prayer for the Week: We often sing: I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy Down in my heart! (Where?) Down in my heart! (Where?) Down in my heart! …down in my heart to stay. O Emmanuel, the Holy One who chose to dwell among us, I come singing your joy. May it reside in my heart, but only as the starting place. Bring me this joy, not as some emotion that will come and go with the changes of life, but as a way of being. Provide me an encounter of your unmistakable and unconditional love that took on flesh. Provide me this sacred encounter from which joy emerges, a joy that is not simply another way of speaking of happiness. Allow for joy to touch my heart, possess my way of living, encompass my whole being. May it dwell from my head to my heart, from my attitude to my outlook. May it spill forth in how I interact with those around me, for joy is never private or secretive. It is your gift to the world, a declaration of my beloved status embodied in the birth of a child. That is my joy! Amen. __ via WordPress https://ift.tt/38IRWMD ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS December 15, 2019 Scripture: Isaiah 9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined. Thought for the Day: This is the opening verse of our scripture this Third Sunday of Advent at Cypress Creek. First, the repetitive nature of the verse should be noted. It is a restatement of the same basic idea. Was this because readers were a bit clueless? There might have been a few who, like me, require stuff to be repeated more than a few times to actually soak in, but in this case, I do not believe that was the purpose of the author. It is poetry, a sort of parallelism that demonstrates importance and emphasis. The Prophets, like Isaiah, were skilled artists and communicators. Think about the great voices in recent history — Abraham Lincoln, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Jr., Alice Walker — people who not only had a message, but a gift for communicating the message. Too often we have people who have a flare for communication, but a weak or even empty message. God’s Gift of Light enfleshed in the Christ Child is the perfect example of God having both a solid message and a spectacular form by which the message was expressed. Prayer: O Light of Light, shine upon me and within me. Allow for your amazing message of hope to embed itself within me so that I too might know the message and be the message. Amen. -- via WordPress https://ift.tt/38IaLiT ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS December 14, 2019 Guest Writer: Rev. Sheila Gillette Scripture: Isaiah 2:5 “Come, house of Jacob, let us walk by the light of the Lord” Thought for the Day: Many years ago, my husband and I began helping friends or relatively strangers who needed help. Usually Greg or I felt a call upon our heart to help this person in what we considered a “divine appointment” from God. It was not by chance that one of us met the stranger; or Child of God as I would prefer to refer to each of them; but a God moment. Our heart would be moved to feel the need and circumstance right to help this person for a period of time until he/she could get back on their feet or through whatever rough patch of life he/she was needing help through. Always, Greg and I would discuss things and always agree that together we would help. Generally (7 times I can count) we would ask the person to move in our home for a period of time until we could help them get their lives together. Through prayer, guidance, and grace lives were usually changed and all were blessed. A wonderful example of a divine appointment is when I met Carmen with her little dog Diamond, at church in Paula’s office- when she had been thrown out of her grown daughter’s apartment and had nowhere to go. We talked for about an hour and I called Greg and asked if it was OK for me to bring her home? Of course he said- whatever I felt called to do. I really felt you could tell a lot by a person’s character by how he/she treated their dog. Carmen’s love for Diamond was obvious. She lived with us over a year until she could land a full time job that payed enough for her to get an apartment. We helped her through the highs and lows of getting established. Helping her get her first apartment, furnish it and stand on her own was such a blessing. We stayed in touch and remained friends. After not hearing from her for about a week, I was devastated when one of her family of 3 grown kids called and told me she had died in her apartment of a heart attack. They all wanted to come meet me which they did. Their wish was to have Carmen’s funeral in Omaha, Nebraska where she was from. It was an honor to help her family bring Carmen home to her roots and family. Greg and I cherish her friendship, her memory and eternal blessing in our lives. Living the love first life looks different for each person, but this is how it looks for Greg and me. We have room, have more than enough, are blessed, and can bless others when we feel called by God to do so. Church and the support of our church family is crucial to our mission as well. Shining our Light, to Greg and I, means walking our faith through love in action in our home. Sometimes it’s messy and not always easy, but we are always blessed MORE than we bless others. Giving of ourselves and our blessings is how we Walk in Faith, Shine our Light, and Live the Love First Life. __ via WordPress https://ift.tt/38H4W5E ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS December 13, 2019 Scripture: Luke 1:52-53 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. Thought for the Day: “He has…” is in the past. The Lord has brought down the powerful and sent away the rich empty. The Lord has lifted up the lowly and filled the hungry with good things. In glancing around, I am challenged to find where God has done such things, at least on a large scale. This again is part of Mary’s Song, and can’t you imagine Mary pondering the history of her faith and the stories of the Lord working to bring about such things, including the story of the Exodus and the people’s liberation from Exile. At the same time, simply speaking of what the Lord has done does not limit what God is doing and what God will do. If God is the same yesterday, today and forever, then wouldn’t it make sense that God is still doing what it is that God has done? Like every moment in history, the question must then be asked: If this is what God is doing, am I aligning myself with God so that the ways of God are made visible in my life? As Jesus grew, he would fully align himself with this vision. Is the church? Prayer: Continue to cast your vision, O Lord, that I might be so compelled as to make it my greatest desire. Amen. _ via WordPress https://ift.tt/2PAt1C4 ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS December 12, 2019 Scripture: Luke 1:49-50 …for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. Thought for the Day: I will spent only a few moments on my soapbox, but while I’m here, I wish to reinforce something I’ve shared many times. These words are found in Mary’s Song, or what is often referred to as the Magnificat. It speaks about those who stand before God in fear, and how such people are the recipients of God’s mercy. Fear? Years ago, I remember a man leading a workshop who said, “I feared my father, and that’s why I loved him.” Those words caused so much conflict within me that I approached the speaker following the workshop and asked for an explanation. He basically told me that because we are to “fear” God and because God loves us, then fear is the proper emotional status of one who stand before any authority. Of course, as we talked more, it became clear that he feared his father because his father had beaten him as a kid. Though the man was now in his 60’s, he still justified the physical abuse as appropriate because that’s how authority figures show love. To be honest, it was one of the most screwed up and heartbreaking rationalizations I had ever heard. To suggest that we are to fear God, as in fear and trepidation, is unhealthy for any human being who believes God is love. Many more modern translations of the scriptures suggest the word AWE instead of fear. It is ok to be awestruck, breathless, astonished or gaping-mouth wowed when it comes to encountering the radical and redemptive love of God. But the moment we impose some sort of fear requirement to a loving relationship is the moment where love slips away and is replaced by some unhealthy and destructive understanding of what it means to be in a relationship. Thus concludes today’s soapbox offering! Prayer: Where there is fear, O Gracious Spirit, there remains more for me to know about you. The perfect love you put on display in the gift of the Christ Child casts out all fear. Take me to the manger that I might once again glimpse your beautiful, awe-inspiring love. Amen. – – via WordPress https://ift.tt/2qPlozC |
AuthorRev. Bruce Frogge Archives
April 2024
|