Perspectives: Ring the Bell

 I love signs.  I love to "collect" them. This one was funny to me.  It just asks me to ring the bell. No reason, not for service - just ring the bell.  I was tempted.

Judgment and Grace

This was published as a Lenten Devotional from the West Virginia Annual Conference (written by me).

Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. (John 7:24)

 

Don’t read the comments.  I give myself this advice all the time. Don’t read the comments on Facebook posts, on online newspaper articles, anywhere – just don’t read the comments. The comments are littered with people making judgements and assumptions. The comments can be mean; they are filled with anger and hatred. Don’t read the comments.

 

A friend of mine was in the middle of a horrible experience. Her elderly mother had been driving and had made a wrong turn. She ended up three states away, lost. While they were looking for her, an article was published in the local newspaper. I made the mistake of reading the comments. People were judging the situation with such cruelty.  It was a situation about which they knew nothing, and yet they felt they were the experts in this story. And that is only one illustration I could have shared with you – one of many.

 

John 7:14-31 tells the story of Jesus preaching in the temple. There are those who are seeking to kill him, motivated by his healing of a man on the Sabbath (among other things). Jesus says, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

 

What is “right judgment?” Do you remember the song “Father’s Eyes”?  It was written by Gary Chapman and released in 1979 by Amy Grant.  Maybe I’m the only one old enough to remember it!  According to the song, God’s eyes find the good in things, find the source of help, are full of compassion, and can discover what challenges people. I think that defines “right judgment” – judging not with our own understanding, but with God’s.  We sometimes call that grace.

 

We would do well to let grace lead.  In all the situations we encounter in life – on the internet, in what we read, in our day-to-day conversations – we should let grace lead. We are not equipped by God to judge; instead, we are called to love. We are to live a life full of light and grace, so that the world will be changed. 

 

Share love, not judgment. Don’t read the comments, but more importantly, don’t write the comments. Work to see (and respond) to those around you through the grace-filled view of God’s eyes.

 

Prayer: Loving God, help me to be an instrument of your grace. Amen

 

Lent Photo-a-day - Revealed

I am a card maker, and this is a Easter card I made a few years ago.  It came up in my photos when I searched for the word "revealed."  It is a revelation, isn't is, when we proclaim a risen Christ?
 

Perspectives: Two Roads

Have you heard the poem by Robert Frost entitled "The Road not Taken"?  I memorized it in fifth grade.  Paths diverging like this always remind me of that poem.

Lent Photo-a-day - Harvest

 

Lent Photo a Day - Deep

 The word deep brings to mind lots of images - deep love, deep understanding, deep faith.  As I browsed my images, though, this one popped out to me as Deep.

Perspectives: Church Sign

 I love to look at church signs. I think this one might be one of my favorites.

On the Mountain. In the Valley.

View from Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park

A couple of Sunday's ago, our worship scripture was the transfiguration. Remember that one? Jesus Peter, James, and John go up on a high mountain. Jesus is transfigured - his face "shone like the sun and his clothes became bright as light." He was joined by Moses and Elijah. Peter asks Jesus if he should set up three tents on the mountain, but Jesus leads them back down the mountain to the valley below.

Mountaintop experiences are uplifting, aren't they? They booster our faith and provide us with strength to continue the work. I imagine Peter's faith was changed forever when he heard a voice from a cloud speaking.

That said, remember that Jesus came with them off the mountain. In times when we are in the valley, Jesus isn't on the mountaintop - he's in the valley with us. Can you think of a time when your faith was strengthened in the valley?

I've been thinking about this. Is it easier to see (and experience) God on the mountain, or in the valley? Do we come close to God in darkness, in the valley, because our need of God is so great?

Thank God that God is on the mountains and in the valley with us.

 

Beloved

 The Lent 2027 Photo-a-Day challenge for today is the word Beloved.

That's a lovely word, isn't it? Beloved. What makes you feel that you are a beloved person?

I think my husband's love language is doing for others. He certainly "does" for me, and it makes me feel beloved - special, loved, cared for.

How does God make you feel like a beloved person?

Perspectives: Bath Tub

 

David's Plea

Camp Creek State Park

This is a reposting of something I wrote in 2006.  Psalm 51 is traditionally attributed to David, written after he realizes his sin with Bathsheba.  It seems appropriate on Ash Wednesday.  

Please, father, have mercy.
I know you love me;
May you remember your love
You compassion,
And forget my sin.

I pray your love will be so large
That it will wash away my sins,
As huge as they are.
I know I have sinned.
I know I have disappointed you.
My sins are like a pile of garbage,
Impossible to miss.

I know I have disappointed you,
Done what you have told me was wrong.
You have every right to shine a light on my wrongdoings,
And to judge my faults.

I can't remember a time when I didn't sin.
My mistakes, my faults and my selfishness
Have been with me forever.

Transform me, Father.
Make me clean, from the inside out.
I have faith that you, and you alone,
Can take away the darkness in my soul.
I long to hear joy and gladness.
My crushed spirit begs to feel happiness.

Make my sins invisible,
And hide my wrongdoings.
Recreate me, God,
So that my heart beats for you,
And my spirit can fly on your wings.

Do not send me away from you,
I would die without your Holy Spirit.
Restore in me the joy of my salvation.
I have lost faith that you can save me
As I stand in the shadow of my sin.

If you can help me, Father,
I will have the courage to teach others of your glory.
I will have the means to convince others
Of your goodness.
I will sing your praises forever.

If I knew another way, dear God,
I would do it.
If forgiveness were in my power,
I would reach for it.
It lies only with you, God
I pray you will accept my repentance.
I pray you will find gladness in saving me.
My only hope is that you will forgive me.
 

Devotional: Foundation Board meeting

The following is a devotional I shared with our Foundation Board of Trustees at a recent Board meeting.  

I’m going to tell you a story this morning that might embarrass my younger son, if he were here. It is probably embarrassing for my husband and me, too, but we’re going to ignore all of that. 

Years ago, when Josh was young – in elementary school – we noticed that his bedroom smelled terrible.  Awful. Overpoweringly bad. So bad that we started tearing the room apart to find what was causing the smell. Had an animal died in the wall (I’ve never had that happen or even know if it could be a problem, but it’s what I thought of)?  What had happened that would create such an overwhelming, pervasive stink?

We finally found it. Josh had fixed himself a hotdog one day, taken it to his bedroom, and then decided he didn’t want it, so he threw it away in the small trash can by his desk – the one that should be just for paper. “Josh,” we asked. “Why did you throw a hotdog away in your room?”  His answer – “I didn’t want it, and it is a trash can.”

I still remember how terrible the smell was and how it permeated everything in his room.

I think, sometimes, people can be that way – not that we smell bad, but that our actions as human beings can be so bad that the “odor” of them makes our neighbors wish we were somewhere else, impacting someone else.

But Christ shows us a different way. These words are from 2 Corinthians 2:14-16a

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing: to the one group a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. (2:14-16a)

Josh’s room definitely smelled like death.  Do our actions as people and as the Foundation bring the scent of life to our neighbors? What would that be like?

Hear these words from Ephesians 5:1-2:  Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

We can see how our pleasing fragrance permeates the ministries we support through Jeff’s story of impact each quarter in the Trustees Booklet.  I am the keeper of the yellow Gratitude file that Jeff uses to manage and report on those stories.  I pulled this story out of the yellow file yesterday:

A seminary student, who was about to take out a loan, received the news (and the almost $10,000 check) that she had been chosen as this year’s Redding Scholar by The Foundation.  She wrote to Bonnie McDonald and Jeff, “The check from the UMF came in the mail today! I am absolutely floored. It’s just starting to sink in that this is real, and I am so excited and so grateful! Thank you both for all of your kindness, guidance, help and support on all of this. I am eternally grateful for you both.” 

This candidate for ordained ministry has felt and seen the love of the Foundation and of James Redding, who established an endowment in the early 90’s to provide seminary scholarships. She has experienced a “fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” This will permeate her ministry at least for years to come, and maybe for her entire career. All of those she works with in ministry will know Christ’s love through her.

May the Foundation’s fragrant offering to the world permeate our neighborhoods with the scent of life.

Please pray with me.  Creating, loving, sustaining God, empower us, equip us, and motivate us to be a fragrant offering in your world so that all those who come to know The Foundation will know Christ’s love and life.  In your son’s name, Amen.

Perspectives: A show

 

Seeing Jesus

I've written several posts over the past few weeks, where I share thoughts about how amazing I find some of the nativity and epiphany stories. I'm amazed that Joseph followed the guidance of God through dreams, that the Magi undertook the journey they did, that they recognized a king in a baby, that they were led by their dreams to disobey Herod.  They are all actions of faith, I think.

Now I'm reading Luke 2:22-40. This passage of the gospels features Mary and Joseph bringing their new child to present him at the Temple. There, they encounter Simeon and Anna. Both of these faithful people recognize Jesus as the Messiah. Immediately. With seemingly no questions. 

• Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, "Master now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word." The Holy Spirit had revealed to Simeon that he would live until he saw the Messiah.  He looks at this child, and he is convinced.
• Anna, who lived at the Temple, saw Jesus. Verse 38 says, "At that moment she came and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem."

I sometimes hear people wonder why the disciples heard, received, and responded to Jesus' call so easily and quickly. It seems to me that they are demonstrating the same faith that Simeon and Anna did. The same response that the Magi had. They saw Jesus, and knew what to do.