These Days Devotional for August 19

I wrote a week's worth of devotionals for the devotional guide These Days.  This week is when they are in the book, so I thought I would share them here as well.

Scripture: 2 Kings 5:1-14

Wash And Be Clean

“Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? ”

2 Kings 5:13

Why do we make it so hard?? Why do we think we have to jump through hoops to be clean and whole in God's eyes?

Maybe, like Naaman, we want a sign of wonder and power. Maybe, like Naaman, we think we are so important we deserve such a sign.

But remember the beginning of the faith story, where God calls all things good. Remember the Christ who told the lepers that they were clean, the Christ who proclaimed God's forgiveness.

It is easy to be whole in God's eyes. Easier even than bathing in the Jordan. We just have to say “here I am, heal me”. Why do we make it harder?

Action Step: On those days when you feel unlovable or unclean stop and look in the mirror and say “I am a beloved child of God”. For that matter do it at least once everyday.

Parent God, help me always remember how easy it is to place myself in your loving arms. Amen.

These Days Devotional for August 18

I wrote a week's worth of devotionals for the devotional guide These Days.  This week is when they are in the book, so I thought I would share them here as well.

Scripture: Isaiah 2:1-4

Holy Disarmament

...they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Isaiah 2:4b

This verse is posted at the United Nations. But that doesn't seem to have really inspired the world's leaders as they make decisions.

70 years ago World War II ended. And since then there has not been a moment of global peace. Instead of destroying weapons we as a society seem to specialize in developing new “better” weapons. I wonder what we could accomplish by redirecting those research and development dollars?

A common practice in Christian worship is to greet each other with the Peace of Christ (who we call the Prince of Peace). I wonder if we can get national leaders to also greet each with words of peace – and mean it.

Action Step: There is a long tradition of Christians advocating for peace. Look for a chance to raise peace and disarmament as an option in your world.

Jesus, Prince of Peace, fill our hearts with a desire for peace and justice in our world Amen.

Looking Forward to August 23, 2015

For the next three weeks we will be re-hearing some well-known parables from Luke's Gospel.

The Scripture Reading this week is Luke 15:1-32

The Sermon Title is Lost and Found

Early Thoughts:  Parables are always a challenge.  And parables we have heard over and over again and been told for years are even more of a challenge.  Because when we hear them over and over we start to think we know exactly what they mean.  But Parables don't often work that way.  They don't have just one meaning, just one lesson.  And sometimes when we jump to the obvious meaning we might miss something deeper.

This week we have in fact 3 parables.  A lost coin.  A lost sheep. A lost son.  So obviously we are talking about searching right?  Well yeah.  But where are we in these stories? What do these stories tell us about how to live a citizens of the Kingdom of God?

Normally these are told as feel-good stories, showing God's devotion to God's children, showing how none will be shut out or left behind.  And that is a valid reading.  It is a reading that Luke makes explicit as he tells the story.  I am just not sure it is the only possible meaning to be found.

But where are WE in the stories?  Are we the hunter?  The hunted? The sheep safe in the fold? The older brother? The prodigal father? The servants preparing the banquet? The guests at the party?  And how is the story different from those perspectives?

I submit that we all, to a degree, at different times in our lives, play every role in these stories.  So maybe we need to explore what that means to us.  Jesus tells Parables to expand our vision of the Kingdom, to expand our understanding of how we shall live.

Are we Lost? Found? Searching? Hiding? Waiting? Pouting?
--Gord

These Days Devotional for August 17

I wrote a week's worth of devotionals for the devotional guide These Days.  This week is when they are in the book, so I thought I would share them here as well.

Scripture: Matthew 25:31-45

When do we...?

And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’

Matthew 25:40

This is one of my favourite passages in all of Scripture. And also one of the most challenging. Life in service to Christ is about meeting the needs of the “least of these”. To live fully in God's presence, to live as one filled with the Holy Spirit means giving of what we have to feed and clothe and comfort. But we don't always do such a good job of that.

Then there is the shadow. When we ignore the needs of those around us we ignore Christ. Ouch.

The essence of Kingdom living is to share the love. The love of God appears and flows through us in many forms.

Action Step: Who are the “least of these” in your neighbourhood? Challenge yourself to find out more about their needs..

God, open my eyes to see the needs around me, open my heart to respond to those needs Amen.

These Days Devotional for August 16

I wrote a week's worth of devotionals for the devotional guide These Days.  This week is when they are in the book, so I thought I would share them here as well.

How Shall We Live?

Scripture: Micah 6:6-8

Justice, Kindness, Humility

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8

We get it wrong. At least that is what Micah and other prophets suggest. We argue about whether we are doing the rituals of faith properly and miss the acts that are called for.

I mean does God really care what colour the altar cloth is or how we serve communion? Or is God more worried about how the world is being transformed by our encounter with the Holy?

Christ came into the world to proclaim the Kingdom, not the church. In the Kingdom peace and righteousness are the rule and norm. In the Kingdom justice, kindness and humility will describe God's people.

And rituals may well be left behind.

Action Step: When you finish weekly worship or daily devotion, ask yourself and your community how you can help create a kinder, more just world today.

God, help us to be people of peace, kindness, and justice. Amen.

Summer 2015 Letter to Northern Lights Presbytery

Brothers and Sisters:

Greetings in the name of the Threefold God!

I trust that you are all enjoying your (hot and dry) summer. Hopefully you will find time during this season to rest and be re-created. Hopefully you will also be re-awakened to a sense of what God is doing in our midst as we look toward the future.

As I sit here preparing for my own vacation time (36 hours away but who's counting) there are a couple of prayer concerns I thought I would share with you all.

The first is weather related. Yesterday morning Parkland County declared a state of emergency due to drought and grasshopper damage to crops. Several communities are starting to issue water-use advisories. Campfires are becoming a thing to save for another year, And for the last several days our news reports have been filled with reports about the wildfire danger and activity in BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan – wildfires that may only really be extinguished when the snow comes in October/November. As much as we may enjoy nice clear days on our vacations, let us also remember the desperate need for moisture, I ask all of you to pray for those whose lives are disrupted by drought and wildfire this summer.

Close to our lives as a faith community are the prayers we hold for General Council. Hard as it may be to believe (except perhaps for those wading through hundreds of pages in the workbook), in just a month and two days GC42 will have met, deliberated, and dispersed. As we know, the commissioners have been entrusted with a weighty topic in the report from the Comprehensive Review Task Group, along with many other pieces of business that is coming before them. We join with United Church folk across the country to hold them in prayer. And we trust that they will be open to the voice of God as they deliberate and discuss and decide.

If you go to the GC242 website (http://www.gc42.ca/) you can not only read the workbook but find out more about the Prayer Pilgrimage we have been invited to join in as the commissioners prepare for the meeting. Also the Moderator, the Right Rev. Gary Paterson has been posting an intriguing series of blog posts lately to get people thinking about what it means to be the church. Gary's blog is at http://www.garypaterson.ca/.

Then after the summer will come the fall. And the work of the church will continue. Our Fall meeting (September 25-27) this year will take us up to meet and visit with the folks of Hillcrest United Church in Fort Nelson. There is a possibility we will also schedule the Covenanting service between Northern Lights Presbytery, St. Luke's United Church in Fort St. John, and the Rev. Louise Hart on that same weekend. Watch for an e-mail from Martha with more information. At that meeting we will not only do our regular work but are hoping to hear some more about the Truth and Reconciliation process. And of course we are building in a substantial block of time to hear from Bev and Margaret-Anne about what happened in Corner Brook and to discuss what they share with us.

As I leave you to enjoy the rest of your summer, one small advertisement. The Banff Men's Conference this year is a month earlier than traditional. It will be the weekend before our Presbytery meeting. The theme this year is “Finding Kanata in our partnerships with indigenous people”. Information and registration forms can be found on their website http://banffmen.org/ and we will be back at the Banff Centre this year after being in Canmore in 2014. It would be nice to see a number of folks from this area in attendance (which reminds me that I have yet to register myself).

May you feel the creating and re-creating power of God flowing through and around you this summer. May you feel the loving presence of the Risen Christ guiding you. May the Spirit set a fire of hope and faith and possibility in your hearts and souls as we all strive to live together as followers of The Way.

See you in a couple of months!

Gord

Looking Forward to July 12, 2015

The Scripture Reading this week is Psalm 146

The Sermon title is In God We Trust

Early Thoughts:  There is an old joke about the sign in the country store:

In God We Trust

All Others Pay Cash

It is a nice play on words around credit and who gets it.  But I think it also speaks to something deeper in our lives of faith.

The Psalm reminds us that even when others break trust with us God is still reliable.  In fact the Psalmist reminds us that we should be wary about putting our trust in other people.

One of the recurring themes of Scripture, both the Hebrew and Christian Testaments, is that God is faithful, that God is working to create the world as it could be.  In Christian terms we call this the Reign or Kingdom of God, which indeed is what Jesus was all about.  And we are called to trust that God is doing this, that God is correcting injustice, that God is in charge.

However I think it is sometimes a challenge to trust God.  Because to fully trust God means surrendering control.  It means taking a leap of faith.  It means opening ourselves to a whole new way of being in the world.

Can we do that?
--Gord