Is Your God too Small?

OPENING PRAYER. . .Loving God, Creator of all that is, here I am--today in this place that you have given me, with all the senses you have given me. Help me to use them to experience you on a deeper level. May I experience you all around me, open me to know more of your ways and know that your goodness surrounds me. Thank you for this time to be with you, to be still and to just listen. Amen

LISTEN: "When some in the crowd heard these words, they said, “This man is truly the prophet.” ⁴¹ Others said, “He’s the Christ.” But others said, “The Christ can’t come from Galilee, can he? ⁴² Didn’t the scripture say that the Christ comes from David’s family and from Bethlehem, David’s village?” ⁴³ So the crowd was divided over Jesus. ⁴⁴ Some wanted to arrest him, but no one grabbed him.
⁴⁵ The guards returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked, “Why didn’t you bring him?”
⁴⁶ The guards answered, “No one has ever spoken the way he does.”
⁴⁷ The Pharisees replied, “Have you too been deceived? ⁴⁸ Have any of the leaders believed in him? Has any Pharisee? ⁴⁹ No, only this crowd, which doesn’t know the Law. And they are under God’s curse!”
⁵⁰ Nicodemus, who was one of them and had come to Jesus earlier, said, ⁵¹ “Our Law doesn’t judge someone without first hearing him and learning what he is doing, does it?” John 7:40-51

CONSIDER: In this reading today, Nicodemus tries to save Jesus from prejudicial condemnation, a verdict rendered before all the facts have been heard.  "The verdict first and then the evidence," says the Red Queen of Alice in Wonderland.  Many times we think that the outcome is rigged in courts with political bias.  The question is, do we judge God in the same irrational way? Do we create a picture of God that is unworthy of the name and then decide we don't believe in this unbelievable God?  Have we already decided that God is hard to please and then allow that prejudice to justify our distance from God?

SO WHAT:  Maybe our view of God is too small. Making God small may seem to justify our distance from God that we try and maintain.  Each of us has a picture of God in our mind's eye, whether we ever speak it or not. The only question is whether that image is ample or cramped, more right or more wrong. I think we need to stop putting limits on our God. We need to open our hearts and minds to the infinite love and mercy that is our God. Infinite. . . immeasurable. . . endless. . .boundless . . .love and mercy. There is no end to the love and mercy that God has for those who believe. The only end to this is the "end" that we place on it. The only explanation of a small God is the explanation we make that limits God in our mind's eye.

• What do I believe about God?
• What keeps me skeptical about God?
• Do I listen to a worldview of God?
• How do I understand the infinite love and mercy of God?

PRAYER: Lord, on my own I can do nothing. In your infinite love and mercy, sustain me and allow me to see the view of You that is true. Help me to accept your infinite love and mercy that You have for me. Amen

A Hunger for Stillness

OPENING PRAYER. . .Loving God, Creator of all that is, here I am--today in this place that you have given me, with all the senses you have given me. Help me to use them to experience you on a deeper level. May I experience you all around me, open me to know more of your ways and know that your goodness surrounds me. Thank you for this time to be with you, to be still and to just listen. Amen

LISTEN: Therefore, the Lord God, the holy one of Israel, says:
In return and rest you will be saved; quietness and trust will be your strength—but you refused. Nonetheless, the Lord is waiting to be merciful to you, and will rise up to show you compassion. The Lord is a God of justice; happy are all who wait for him. Isaiah 30:15,18

CONSIDER:  One of the costs of living in our fast-paced, electronic world is that finding a silent, restful moment, day or night can be tough.  Instant communication creates a steady stream of info from everywhere. We expect from ourselves and others--an instant response. . . no matter if we (or the other person) is driving or sick as a dog. This minute by minute distraction keeps us far from a contemplative space. If we really think about it, this need to know what's going on with everyone addictive. So much so, that even if we aren't getting "notifications", we're still pulling out our phones to check on what we might have missed. . . but what we've really missed is our connection to God, and face to face connection with family and friends.

SO WHAT: Even in the ancient times of Isaiah, it's clear that getting busy and forgetting God was a common occurrence. To find God, we must wait. . . .waiting is not something that we are in a habit of doing!  Instant gratification is the rule, not the exception.  Did you know that Amazon.com is working on implementing deliveries within an hour of ordering online?  We begin to think that praying should be as instant as Amazon!  It is difficult for us to ratchet-back our obsession for instant actions. We expect that our faith-life should be just as quick-paced as the lives we live. We get bored in worship experiences because the pace is much slower than TV. . .or our smart phone videos. We want everything, including our faith, to be drive-through; with new and improved meaning delivered in the ever shrinking scheduled time slot we have available. Isaiah is speaking in the way God works--quietly, confidently, patiently through resting; encouraging us to SLOW DOWN.
Isaiah's advice to "return, rest, be patient and your strength will be gained in quiet confidence" is still valid for us today.  Your health, blood pressure, heart rate and frantic mind will all benefit from his advice.

• What makes putting down your smart phone, iPad, tablet difficult for you?
• Experiment with waiting. How long can you last before either internal or external interruptions end the waiting?
• Be honest with yourself. . . when you think about having to wait for something you want, how do you feel?

PRAYER: Loving God, slow me down! Still my anxieties and help me to wait in quiet. Remind me that good things come to those who wait. Show me how to find rest in you. Amen

A Light Shines in the Darkness

OPENING PRAYER. . .Loving God, Creator of all that is, here I am--today in this place that you have given me, with all the senses you have given me. Help me to use them to experience you on a deeper level. May I experience you all around me, open me to know more of your ways and know that your goodness surrounds me. Thank you for this time to be with you, to be still and to just listen. Amen

LISTEN:  Isaiah 60:18-19

^18" Violence will no longer resound throughout your land,
    nor devastation or destruction within your borders.
You will call your walls Salvation,
    and your gates Praise.
¹⁹ The sun will no longer be your light by day,
    nor will the moon shine for illumination by night.^[a]
The Lord will be your everlasting light;
    your God will be your glory."

 

CONSIDER: Sometimes when we read a passage of scripture we have to step back in time and think about how things were at that time. In the scripture from Isaiah we need to remember that walled cities were the best means of protection against bandits and thieves as well as the occasional marauding army. In our life, affliction, illnesses, tragedy and pain afflict us in a multitude of ways. The wall that protects us is our salvation and our praise to God helps the misery leave us. Our light and joy don't always come from nature or by our own hands. But the light of Christ illuminates the darkness that tends to creep into our souls from time to time.  The sun or the moon can't do it. A flip of the light switch won't do it. So what will? I think sitting down and calling to mind God's unfailing light in Jesus Christ as our own light helps to dissipate the gloom and darkness. . .the Gospel of John affirms this. . . "A light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it."

 

SO WHAT:  Our reflection time and meditation isn't a cure all for everything that you might experience. Sometimes the gloom and darkness (maybe even depression) comes from a chemical imbalance that needs medication to cure. (God made the medication available for us too) But think of your reflection upon the light of Christ as an ever present oasis, or walled city, that you go to as a respite from the burden you might be feeling. This Light, is a s near as your withdrawal to silence to pray.  Jesus gave us that example in the many times he withdrew from people to pray.  It was a time when he reconnected with the true source of light.

So, if you are weighed down with too much life, remember that there is a saving wall that surrounds you through Jesus Christ and bask for awhile everyday in the Light that conquers all darkness.

• How often are you faced with gloom and darkness? What is it's source?
• Sometimes there is too much "mental noise" going on in our heads to calm down enough to pray. Using a piece of paper, write down all those thoughts and then go to prayer.
• What activities bring peace to your soul? What keeps you from them?

 

Come to the Waters

OPENING PRAYER. . .Loving God, Creator of all that is, here I am--today in this place that you have given me, with all the senses you have given me. Help me to use them to experience you on a deeper level. May I experience you all around me, open me to know more of your ways and know that your goodness surrounds me. Thank you for this time to be with you, to be still and to just listen. Amen

LISTEN:  ^1-6 Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem. Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves. Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves. One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, “Do you want to get well?”
⁷ The sick man said, “Sir, when the water is stirred, I don’t have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in.”
^8-9 Jesus said, “Get up, take your bedroll, start walking.” The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off.
^9-10 That day happened to be the Sabbath. The Jews stopped the healed man and said, “It’s the Sabbath. You can’t carry your bedroll around. It’s against the rules.”
¹¹ But he told them, “The man who made me well told me to. He said, ‘Take your bedroll and start walking.’”
^12-13 They asked, “Who gave you the order to take it up and start walking?” But the healed man didn’t know, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd.
¹⁴ A little later Jesus found him in the Temple and said, “You look wonderful! You’re well! Don’t return to a sinning life or something worse might happen.”
^15-16 The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. That is why the Jews were out to get Jesus—because he did this kind of thing on the Sabbath. John 5:1-16

CONSIDER:  No one comes to Baptism unless another brings them. Some of us were carried in our parents arms or maybe if we are adults, a friend walks us to the water where Christ baptizes us into a new life. Our hearts are changed, we move from isolation into community with God. We are no longer living a life of paralysis but walking in the love of God.

SO WHAT: The paralytic that we read about has been ill for 38 years and was still waiting for someone to help him come to the healing waters. What we need to understand is that it is never too late for us or too late for us to help someone else.  As we are in this time and space, we are the hands and feet of Jesus. It's not by accident that we are in this place at this time with the people in our life.  You see, we are called to bring those we see with paralyzed hearts to Jesus, so that they may walk with us to the healing water of Jesus. Many times people come to the faith because they have seen a friend live the Christian life with faith and love and as they watch them they think, "I want to live like that, I want what they have."
This Sunday, we will be baptizing one of our youth. She came to the church because a friend invited her. She has watched her friends and church family. She is not the same young lady who first came to our church. Sunday she will be walked to the water by her friends and baptized into a new life. Her heart has been changed and she will proclaim that to her church family on Sunday. She is walking in the love of God.

• Who can you invite to come and join you at church?
• Who is that person that you can walk beside and bring to the waters of life?

PRAY:  Dear God, help me bring others to the water. Help me to pay attention to those who are laying at the side of the pool just waiting for help to get into the healing waters. Give me the courage to invite others to join me in the water. Amen

God Knows the Heart

OPENING PRAYER. . .Loving God, Creator of all that is, here I am--today in this place that you have given me, with all the senses you have given me. Help me to use them to experience you on a deeper level. May I experience you all around me, open me to know more of your ways and know that your goodness surrounds me. Thank you for this time to be with you, to be still and to just listen. Amen

LISTEN: "He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’
 “Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’”
Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.” (Luke 18:9-14)

CONSIDER: One of the best reasons not to judge is in understanding that we can't even judge ourselves. Only God knows the human heart. Many times we put on a good show for everybody else. . . but we can't fool God.  Our sins of omission are many, even if we are not conscious of our many times that we are unkind. Maybe not even unkind but just uncaring. "We don't always say what we mean or mean what we say. And sometimes what we say is not what is heard."

SO WHAT:  Do we really know ourselves in any depth? Only God sees and knows the depths of our hearts. Sometimes we talk a better talk than we walk. But sometimes when we think less of ourselves, God may know that we walk a better walk than we talk.  Whatever we think, do or say, God knows the truth. God knows our hearts like no one else. So lets not think that we can say one thing and do something else or think one way but act another. God knows the truth of who we really are. Others may misunderstand your intentions, judge your words or find fault. . . but God knows that you are learning and trying to be all God has created you to be.

• Take time today for self-examination.
• Be honest with yourself, do you try to hide your truest self?
• How can you trust God and become who God has made you to be?

PRAYER:  Dear God, forgive me, a sinner. Help me to see myself through your eyes and to act like a child of God today. Show me what you see in me and teach me to be that person. Amen

Be Still. . .

OPENING PRAYER. . .Loving God, Creator of all that is, here I am--today in this place that you have given me, with all the senses you have given me. Help me to use them to experience you on a deeper level. May I experience you all around me, open me to know more of your ways and know that your goodness surrounds me. Thank you for this time to be with you, to be still and to just listen. Amen

LISTEN: Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10

CONSIDER: Be still for a time this day. . .breathe. . . listen. . .pray. . . listen. . .

SO WHAT: A calming of your heart and soul. . . a time to rest in God.

Love God, Love People

OPENING PRAYER. . .Loving God, Creator of all that is, here I am--today in this place that you have given me, with all the senses you have given me. Help me to use them to experience you on a deeper level. May I experience you all around me, open me to know more of your ways and know that your goodness surrounds me. Thank you for this time to be with you, to be still and to just listen. Amen

LISTEN:  "One of the religion scholars came up. Hearing the lively exchanges of question and answer and seeing how sharp Jesus was in his answers, he put in his question: “Which is most important of all the commandments?”
^29-31 Jesus said, “The first in importance is, ‘Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.’ And here is the second: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment that ranks with these.”
^32-33 The religion scholar said, “A wonderful answer, Teacher! So lucid and accurate—that God is one and there is no other. And loving him with all passion and intelligence and energy, and loving others as well as you love yourself. Why, that’s better than all offerings and sacrifices put together!”
³⁴ When Jesus realized how insightful he was, he said, “You’re almost there, right on the border of God’s kingdom.” Mark 12:28-34

CONSIDER:  Many people say it is hard to define what makes a saint, but many of us would agree that we know one when we see one. Simple goodness cannot be faked nor can it be camouflaged. Loving God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength and furthermore, loving your neighbor as yourself,  will leave a trail of care and concern for the welfare of others.  Not all saints talk much about God. Not all saints go to church. Jesus was impressed with the man in this Gospel lesson.  He was a man of little talk and simple goodness. Those words, "you're almost there, right on the border of God's kingdom" are words that all of us might want to hear.

SO WHAT:  When we love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, it only seems natural that the result will be loving our neighbor as ourselves, but . . . We find it very difficult to "be all in" when it comes to our relationship with God. We seem to only want to go so far and then we pull back. Are we afraid of the changes that will happen when we are "all in"? Do we even know how to be "all in" for God? "Do we know that nothing that we do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people He has made?" Francis Chan-Crazy Love

• Be honest with yourself and God, what is it that keeps you from giving your all to God, being "all in" for God?
•  What would your life look like if you began loving God with all that you have?
• What difference would it make to the people you come in contact with if you loved God and them with all that you have?
• What would it be like to love everybody, no matter who they are, no matter what their sin, no matter what?

TODAY, make a commitment to "be all in" for God. Be bold, be strong, be who God has called you to be. Love radically and without limits, just as Jesus did.

PRAYER: Dear God, show me how to be "all in " for you. Teach me to love like you love. Remove any embarrassment I might feel in showing not only my love for you but my love for everyone. May I love like Jesus. Amen