Friday, October 30, 2009

Weekly Meditation for November 1

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Weekly Meditation
How Shall We Pray?
By Tom Robertsen

Revelation 21: 1-5

I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jeusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men and will live with them. They will be people of God, and God will be with them and be their God. Our God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed." The One seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"


This passage from the last book in the Christian New Testament is an example of apocalyptic writing, which is usually a visionary depiction of a sometime future face off between powers of good and evil. The book of Daniel could be another instance of an apocalypse.

We know almost nothing about John the author of Revelation except that he lived on a small and rather barren island off the coast of Greece. The purpose and overall meaning of John's book have been almost anyone's guess for nearly 1900 years. In fact, it wasn't even included in the official collection of biblical writings until sometime in the 4th century.

In spite of that, certain passages -- such as the one above -- speak profoundly to us as followers of the gospel message. These words can quite possibly answer the most basic Christian question: Why do we pray? What does it do for me? or What do I get out of it?

Follow with me if you will in John's footsteps. Silently meditate for a few moments on the infinite love of our God, the inexhaustible care and benevolence provided on our behalf. Shut out from your perception anything to the contrary. Feel yourself to be spiritually centered on this single divine energy source.

I believe that continuing your prayer-meditation in this way you will soon begin to experience a new heaven and earth, a renewal of everything around you. Some of the old stuff in your life can begin to fall away. "No more sea?" That's Bible talk for an end to life's turbulence.

Let's look at what follows: a new Jerusalem or an exalted city of hope; then, God as an indwelling and living presence in our lives; and lastly, a way out from a lot of the bad stuff in our lives.

This happened in the experience I wrote about last month, seeming nearly like an apostolic event. Starting in the very depth of frustration, I saw through prayer how things could change almost immediately to a time of hope and fulfillment!

This Christ consciousness is constantly inviting us in to experience renewal and regeneration in our personal live as well as in our larger church community. Truly God does make all things new.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Weekly Medidation for October 24th ~ Rev. Sue Yarber

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Weekly Meditation
By Rev Sue Yarber


Jeremiah 31: 7-9


For thus says the Lord:
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
'Save, O Lord, your people,
the remnant of Israel.'
See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north,
and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
those with child and those in labor, together;
a great company, they shall return here.
With weeping they shall come,
and with consolations I will lead them back,
I will let them walk by brooks of water,
in a straight path in which they shall not stumble;
for I have become a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my firstborn.


Mark 10:46-52


They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!' Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, 'Son of David, have mercy on me!' Jesus stood still and said, 'Call him here.' And they called the blind man, saying to him, 'Take heart; get up, he is calling you.' So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, 'What do you want me to do for you?' The blind man said to him, 'My teacher let me see again.' Jesus said to him, 'Go; your faith has made you well.' Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.


Both Jeremiah, the Old Testament prophet, and Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, come calling "Save, O Lord, your people." Jeremiah says it literally, and Bartimaeus does so figuratively. Jeremiah foretells how the Messiah "will gather up the people from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and lame." Bartimaeus is a blind beggar, for to be blind in ancient days meant that one was relegated to a life of poverty, one's only chance for survival was to beg. Blind people could not enter the temple, which was the center of community life, but had to remain outside while others enjoyed each other's company.

Bartimaeus yearned to see again. He understood that sight would restore him to the community. As Jesus and his disciples were leaving they encountered crowds and, yet, over the din of chaos they heard a strong and determined voice calling, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus asked Bartimaeus what he wanted, surely he could tell he was blind, yet he asked what he needed. Jesus empowers Bartimaeus to state his own needs and to participate in his own healing. Receiving Christ's mercy happens when we recognize our own need and humbly confess that need to Christ. I have experienced this spiritual truth in my own life. God will allow me to struggle over and over with something until I am finally done and able to give it up to God's care. When I can identify my own need for healing and sincerely ask God to heal me, then, and only then, can I move forward in my process. God's grace, as demonstrated through Jesus in this story, can only be received through a humble and waiting heart, one that has quieted enough to hear when Jesus speaks. Jesus said, "Go; your faith has made you well." Jesus calls Bartimaeus and us to move beyond the situation for which we have requested healing. We can acknowledge how God has moved in our lives and brought healing to us. We must see ourselves as healed, not perfect, just as ones who have received mercy and grace and are grateful.

Bartimaeus followed Jesus; once healed, he was compelled to be a part of other people's healing experiences. We, too, are able to pass on the unconditional love, the compassionate care and the promise of new life to others. We have all met people who define themselves by their problems or their personal histories. They may focus on what has happened to them, or the ways in which they have been mistreated by others. They have not, yet, approached Jesus requesting healing, they are caught at the point of surveying the damage. Jesus will be there whenever they are ready to move on in the process. We are called to point that way to the foot of the cross where we are receive mercy.

Sight is so much more than vision; Bartimaeus knew that a miracle had happened and that his entire future was transformed in an instant. Help us along the path to Jesus and give us the courage and faith we need to walk as a healed and beloved people.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Weekly Meditation October 18th

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Weekly Meditation
By Val Jackson


1 Corinthians 13
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.


Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.


Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

The Trump Card

I've always had difficulty with the concept of unconditional love. It feels unnatural and unrealistic to me. I suspect others feel the same and that is understandable. We live in a competitive world. Value and lovability are linked closely to talents, appearance, possessions, influence, knowledge, and good works.

This biblical passage teaches about the characteristics and importance of unconditional love. Unconditional love is patient, kind, not envious, arrogant or rude. In the hierarchy of desirable traits and practices, unconditional love is above all others. All others are hollow without it and only have true value with it. Unconditional love, not strength, bears all things. Unconditional love, not faith, believes and hopes all things. Unconditional love, not power, endures all things. It is the only thing that will never end. Unconditional love is the trump card in the deck.

As spiritual children, it is difficult to practice unconditional love. We tend to be self-engrossed and shortsighted. We want others to earn our love. Sometimes, we can't love ourselves unless we've "earned it". But we are encouraged to mature from children to spiritual adults. We are encouraged to rise above the temporary and the incomplete and embody a trait which has no shelf life.

God is unconditional love and unconditional love is God. Unconditional love is like a magnet. As human beings we need and are drawn to it. It makes both the giver and the recipient whole and complete. When we practice unconditional love, we practice God.

Lord, help our church body to be the trump card in our community. Let us exemplify what it means to love others without conditions and agendas.

Lord, help me, as an individual, to remember that you have equipped me with your trump card. As I interact with others, let me ask myself, "Is the trump card on the table?"

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Weekly Meditation for Oct 11th

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Weekly Meditation
By Kelly Durbin


Mark 10: 17-31
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.'" He said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all of these since my youth." Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." They were greatly astounded and said to one another, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible." Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age-houses, brothers, and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions-and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first"

What must I do to inherit eternal life? Or another way to phrase the question might be how do I enter into relationship with God, or be restored to fellowship with God as I was created to be, both here and now, and forevermore? This is a fundamental question that is at the very heart of the gospel. Depending on our religious background or possibly for some, no religious background at all, we might answer that question in a variety of ways: we must be baptized, we must receive Jesus as our Savior, we must be born again, we must confess Jesus is Lord, we must do penance, we must give generously, we must obey church teachings, we must make peace, we must live a good life, we must love others, we must, we must, we must...when we focus on what WE must do, then we lose sight of God's part and transforming power in the relationship.

Jesus' response to the question is an interesting one. First of all he asked a question before answering in attempt to open the young man's spiritual eyes. "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone." Already, we begin to get a glimpse of the message AND the character of the young man Jesus was dealing with. The young man seems to have a belief or basic assumption in operation that he is capable of making judgments about others and then also about himself. A confidence, if you will, that he can discern who is good, and conversely then who is not good. Jesus begins by stating the obvious, that no one is good but God alone. In other words, we cannot be "good" of our own accord or of our own efforts. We ALL are on equal ground, found wanting, found needing. But the young man, as we also often do, misses the point.

So Jesus, loving him, tries again as God so often does with us. Having assured Jesus that he had kept the commandments since his youth, Jesus tells him there is "one more thing" he must do. I'm sure the young man was thrilled, excited with anticipation to hear the one last thing he needed to do in order to receive the benefits of the gospel. But all of the wind came pouring out of his sails when he heard the words "go sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." Why this one thing? What could Jesus possibly be saying? Why this particular instruction? Maybe it's because his possessions kept him in a place of self sufficiency, relying on himself to do whatever he judged as required to inherit eternal life rather than relying on God. Self sufficiency, self interest, and self importance...there seems to be a theme here...

God calls us to "let go" of self (the "whatever is in the way") of entering fully, and authentically into relationship with God. We need to see and experience that God's love is available for us, that we can partake of the fountain, but we have to "get out of the way" first. We can't give ourselves fully and wholly to God, when we are hanging on to things that we believe will provide us with joy and happiness in their own right. Acknowledgment that we can't do it alone seems to be the first step.

May we pray the Psalm from the Old Testament Reading this week in an effort to set self interest aside and to focus on what God can do in and through us this day? Psalm 90: 12-17: So teach us (God) to count our days that we may gain a wise heart. Turn, O Lord! How long? (God) Have compassion on your servants! Satisfy us (God) in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all of our days. (God) Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us, as many years as we have seen trouble. Let your work (God) be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power (God) to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands-O prosper (Dearest God) the work of our hands! May it be so.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Weekly Meditation October 4th

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Weekly Meditation
By Christine White


Mark 10:13-16
People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, 'Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.' And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

This episode begins with the disciples attempting to enforce one of the standard social mores of their day. Children should not be allowed to disturb the teacher and his students. The disciples demonstrate that they still don't understand the point of Jesus' ministry, which is inclusion. Including the children also made it possible for the women who had the responsibility for caring for them to hear Jesus' teaching. Jesus is always including the excluded of his society - lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors, women and children.


Jesus then goes on to say "whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." Children were not considered persons in their own right. They had no status or power. Jesus insists that God's rule exists for them.


This episode occurs after the disciples were arguing about which of them is the greatest. Modern ideas about the innocence of children were not held during the first century. Could Jesus be advising the disciples and us that we are all radically dependent upon God's grace just as a child is radically dependent on the parent for status, inheritance and life itself?


The message of radical dependence on grace is very inclusive. It puts us all on equal footing before God. Whatever our education, whatever our economic circumstances, whatever our race, whatever our gender, whatever our sexual orientation, whatever our religious affiliation, whatever our physical abilities or limitations, whatever our personality flaws - we are all radically dependent upon God's grace. We are all included in the circle of God's unconditional love.


This is the good news that we are blessed to receive and share - whatever your whatever, whatever your neighbor's whatever - we are all invited to share in God's kingdom. The challenge for both the disciples and for us is to realize that we are called to identify with the non-persons of our society - the homeless, the gang member, the mentally unstable, the chemically dependent. The list goes on. May God bless us as we struggle to be the body of Christ for each other and for those we would rather ignore.