Thoughts and Musings from My Faith Journey
This prayer from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals is well worth making our own.
Open our eyes to see you where we have failed to see you before. Amen. [1]
It’s worth making our own because if only we could see Christ in every person who stands before us, the world would quickly become a better place.
[1] Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hargrove, and Enuma Okoro, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2010), Kindle, 365.
Because of the weather last Sunday we canceled the hanging of the greens, but this coming Sunday is still the First Sunday of Advent. For that reason, we’ve rescheduled the hanging of the greens for tomorrow (Wednesday, November 28, 2018) at 5:30 p.m. If enough people show up and are interested, we can all pitch in and order pizza. We’ll pause for the regular, brief communion service at 6:00 p.m.
I haven’t yet responded to the recent headlines on immigrants, migrants, and those seeking asylum, nor the actions taken along the border between the United States and Mexico because I have simply been too heartbroken. Over and over again, the Bible tells us that we are to welcome the stranger and treat the alien among us as a neighbor. The gulf between what we are doing and what we should be doing is like that between the rich man and Lazarus. I have heard the protestations, objections, and difficulties involved in doing what the Bible tells us we are to do, but above all that din, I can still hear the voice of God, and we are not heeding it.
If you want some examples of what the Bible says here are a few highlighted in The United Methodist Book of Resolutions: Leviticus 19:33-34; Exodus 22:21; 23:9; Deuteronomy 10:19; 24:18-22; Matthew 2:13-18 (in which the child Jesus himself is the one seeking asylum); and perhaps most importantly Matthew 25:31-46 (in which the nations of the world are judged).
Abilene Schools have canceled classes tomorrow (Monday, November 26, 2018) and so the church office will also be closed. Stay warm and stay safe.
Sunday School and the 10:30 Worship Service have been cancelled for today, Sunday, November 25, 2018. Stay home and stay safe!
According to both the weather radar and the wind, there is a storm coming. But it’s hard to cancel something as important as worship when it’s not here yet. As of now (6:14 a.m., Sunday, November 25, 2018) both worship services and Sunday School are on. However, Jenny and I are canceling the potluck and hanging of the greens following the 10:30 service. We will find another time to get the greens hung.
We’ll be having the Hanging of the Greens this Sunday (November 25, 2018) sometime around 11:30 a.m. At the same time, we’ll be having a potluck. You’re invited to bring a soup or a side.
This Thanksgiving, as you gather with family and friends, I pray for you all the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
I don’t have an inspiration quote for Thanksgiving Day, just a reminder that the church office is closed today (Thursday, November 22, 2018) and tomorrow. Have a happy Turkey Day!
“If you do one good deed your reward usually is to be set to do another and harder and better one.” — C. S. Lewis [1]
[1] C. S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia: Horse and His Boy, Kindle.
My main reference for yesterday’s sermon was John Wesley’s sermon, “The Use of Money.” Below is quote I want to share with you where Wesley makes the point that it is the love of money and not money itself that is the root of all evil.
“The love of money,” we know, “is the root of all evil;” but not the thing itself. The fault does not lie in the money, but in them that use it. It may be used ill: and what may not? But it may likewise be used well: It is full as applicable to the best, as to the worst uses.
… it is an excellent gift of God, answering the noblest ends. In the hands of his children, it is food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, raiment for the naked: It gives to the traveller and the stranger where to lay his head. By it we may supply the place of an husband to the widow, and of a father to the fatherless. We maybe a defence for the oppressed, a means of health to the sick, of ease to them that are in pain; it may be as eyes to the blind, as feet to the lame; yea, a lifter up from the gates of death!” — John Wesley [1]
John Wesley, “The Use of Money,” General Board of Global Ministries, accessed November 19, 2018, https://bit.ly/2NjHEbk.
We have a lot going on this coming Sunday (November 18, 2018). We’ll have two pieces of special music: one from the Ring Praise Youth Bell Choir and another from Jackson Welsh. We’ll also be welcoming John, Cecilia, and Joy Clemence into membership. I’m even excited about the sermon. I’ll be preaching on Mark 12:38-44.