Check out our recent Midweek Devotional about Showing Love First.
A Gospel Lens
This is from Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation from the Center for Action and Contemplation
| You are not here to verify, Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity Or carry report. You are here to kneel Where prayer has been valid. —T. S. Eliot, “Little Gidding” Everybody looks at the world through their own lens, a matrix of culturally inherited qualities, family influences, and other life experiences. This lens, or worldview, truly determines what we bring to every discussion. When Jesus spoke of the coming of the Reign of God, he was trying to change people’s foundational worldview. When Francis of Assisi described his “marriage to Lady Poverty,” he was using a lovely metaphor to explain his central thesis for life. When Americans identify money as “the bottom line,” they are revealing more about their real worldview than they realize. We would do well to get in touch with our own operative worldview. It is there anyway, so we might as well know what this highly influential window on reality is. It’s what really motivates us. Our de facto worldview determines what catches our attention and what we don’t notice at all. It’s largely unconscious and yet it drives us to do this and not that. It is surely important to become conscious of such a primary lens or we will never know what we don’t see and why we see other things out of all perspective. Until we can allow the Gospel to move into that deepest level of the unconscious and touch our operative worldviews, nothing substantial is going to change. It will only be rearranging the furniture, not constructing a new room. Conversion is about constructing a new room, or maybe even a whole new house. Our operative worldview is formed by three images that are inside every one of us. They are not something from outside; they have already taken shape within us. All we can do is become aware of them, which is to awaken them. The three images to be awakened and transformed are our image of self, our image of God, and our image of the world. A true hearing of the Gospel transforms those images into a very exciting and, I believe, truthful worldview. When we say Christ is the truth, that’s what we mean. Christ renames reality correctly, according to what reality honestly is, putting aside whatever we think it is or whatever we fear it is. Reality is always better than any of us imagined or feared; there is joy associated with a true hearing of the Gospel. All together, we could put it this way: “What should life be?” “Why isn’t it?” “How do we repair it?” When these are answered for us, at least implicitly, we have our game plan and we can live safely and with purpose in this world. |
Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Wisdom Pattern: Order, Disorder, Reorder (Franciscan Media: 2001, 2020), 135–138.
Midweek Devotional John 3:16-17
Unexpected Detours
I have been thinking lately about our journeys through life and the Unexpected Detours that change our direction. If you have ever had one of these detours that force or give you an ability to change directions, you are left asking yourself a question…… This is a question that repeats like a trending pop song you just cannot get out of your head, and only contains 6 words…
“Did I make the RIGHT choice?”
This question is asked because often in these detour moments we are left to choose the direction forward. If we are followers of Christ, we lean into God…. Attempting to find the direction God wants us to go, and very rarely do we hear a voice from heaven guiding our steps. This leads to us making the best decision we can and trusting it is in step with what God wants for us. Coming to this decision after countless hours of prayer and reflection with God. We sometimes know shortly after if the decision we made was correct but often we are left with a 6-word question.
“Did I make the RIGHT choice?”
I know this question has repeated in my head numerous times, and I have often struggled with knowing if I made the right decision throughout my life in these Unexpected Detours. If we are honest this question rings louder at times when what we expected does not happen. We wonder if our life journey would be greener if we made a different choice, so we ask ourselves…….
“Did I make the RIGHT choice?”
What if this is the wrong question to ask ourselves? In the story of Jonah, we read of a prophet who consistently rebelled against God. When he did listen to God, he only does the bare minimum required. Throughout his journey though we read of God meeting him and those around him. Pagan sailors turn to God and are welcomed by God’s divine grace. A city called Nineveh, known for its dominance and violence, turns to God and are embraced by his divine grace. God consistently meets Jonah on this journey regardless of his decision making. Jonah creates detour after detour and God simply continues to move and show more people his divine grace. We should not ask ourselves the question that repeats in our head about these Unexpected Detour moments, and instead ask ourselves another 6-word question.
“Do I lean into God’s grace?”
by Pastor Matt George
Sin is Personal
Sin is Personal.
We far too often forget that Sin is personal.
It is something that affects each of us different as an individual.
Sin separates us from God’s love and leaves us feeling alone.
Sin is personal.
We must take an inward journey to discover our sin.
Too often we avoid this by diagnosing the sin of others.
What if we stopped looking at others and focused on our sin?
Sin is personal.
Christ points us towards this truth by telling us to remove the log
From our own eye before getting the speck out of others.
Let us be brave and go on our inward journey addressing the sin within.
Sin is personal.
Sin stops us from showing love, grace, mercy, compassion,
And moving with God’s Spirit.
Let us be brave and address our sin as individuals, remembering that
Sin is personal.
Midweek Devotional on Jonah Chapter 2
MVP Interview with Verna Hall
Psalm 117 Midweek Devotional
Apophatic Prayer Challenge
Our Church is taking on an Apophatic Prayer Challenge this year. In Western Christianity we tend to only use our Cataphatic Prayer abilities.
Cataphatic comes from a Greek word meaning ‘with form or images.’
Cataphatic Prayer is prayer we do using our minds.
Examples: Praising Prayers; Repenting Prayers; Thanking Prayers; Meditative Prayers; some forms of Contemplative Prayers.
As a Church we want to use another important form of prayer which is vital for our spiritual growth. This form of prayer is known as Apophatic Prayer and we aim to grow in this form of prayer.
Apophatic comes from a Greek word meaning ‘without form or images.’
Apophatic Prayer is where we empty ourselves and we lay words aside to experience union with God.
That is why we are taking on an Apophatic Prayer Challenge and aiming to do it four times a week throughout the year. Please feel free to join with us but remember to have grace for yourself.
The Christmas Story by Highfields Youth & Kids
Check out this video of the Highfields Youth & Kids explaining the Christmas Story. They also attempt to say, “Hey Y’all,” which is how Pastor Matt kicks off must emails and messages to the Church.
Ed Dobson’s Story
Check out this video about Rev Ed Dobson
Become the kind of person who can find hope in the midst of difficult circumstances. In It Ain’t Over, the first film in the Ed’s Story series, Ed Dobson reminds us that life isn’t over yet and that we don’t have to feel overwhelmed by the struggles we’re facing today. Difficult news can sometimes make us feel like our lives are over. Ed shows us that we don’t know the future, and that things may turn out quite differently from what we expect.
Taking the Lower Place
Tuesday, December 15, 2020 from Center for Action and Contemplation by Richard Rhor
Jesus’ life offered an example of humility and self-emptying, but he chose an additional model for his disciples: that of little children. Despite what we see depicted in so much religious art, it was not meant as a “cute” or sentimental gesture! As Albert Nolan shares, it was a radical revaluing of human dignity, based on nothing that society could see or quantify! Taken seriously, it is still a profound message for us today.
Jesus was uncompromising in his belief that all human beings were equal in dignity and worth. He treated the blind, the lame and the [sick], the outcasts and beggars with as much respect as that given to those of high rank and status. He refused to consider women and children unimportant or inferior. This turned a carefully ordered society of status and honor upside down—even more so when he advocated moving down the social ladder instead of striving to reach the top. [1]
When his disciples were arguing about who was the greatest, Jesus put his arm around a little child (Mark 9:36–37). According to Jesus, the least or most insignificant persons in the society are the greatest (Luke 9:48). In the society and culture of the time, the child had no standing or status whatsoever. The child was a “nobody.” The implication is that Jesus and those who want to follow him are “nobodies,” right at the bottom of the social ladder. For Jesus, the child was a model of radical humility (Matthew 18:3–4) [or what I am calling “self-emptying” this week]. Those who wish to follow him will have to become as humble as little children. [2]
Richard again: It’s difficult to hear, but Albert Nolan is simply quoting Jesus from several contexts—usually when the Twelve are all in their heads arguing. We cannot become humble by mere intellect or willpower. Pretending to be humble only makes us more self-absorbed and self-referential. All we can really do is become more aware of our pride or vanity by noticing how we respond to even minor slights or humiliations. That will be more than enough to let us know how self-centered we are and how meaningless our taking offense truly is in this infinite universe.
It’s Not About the Show
Check out this Midweek Devotional from Pastor Matt.
MVP Interview #4
Check out this Midweek Devotional where we sit and interview Christine Sharp who leads our Compassion Partnership.
What Would You Do?
The Law of Love
by JARED BYAS, M.A. from the following website, just click here
As a former teaching pastor and professor of philosophy and biblical studies, he speaks regularly on the Bible, truth, creativity, wisdom, and the Christian faith. Tweets at @jbyas
In the Bible scholars often talk of two kinds of law: apodictic and casuistic. These are part of a collection of fancy words that we use as a secret code to determine who really is the nerdiest among us (see also: Deuteronomic, theophanic, and other impressive terms that end in ‘c’.)
Apodictic laws are Divine Commands that tend to be both general and absolute. Take, for example, the Ten Commandments. “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” That’s a very broad statement but is clearly meant to be an absolute command. It’s black and white – which you would think would help us be clear about it. But because life is in color, and all shades of gray, apodictic laws are actually confusing.
Enter casuistic laws.
Casuistic laws are case laws. They are very specific and also conditional (meaning they usually start with “if” and are followed somewhere along the way with a “then”). In some ways casuistic laws are the on-the-ground working-out of apodictic laws. We see this relationship in the Bible all over the place. If only we didn’t skip those sections out of boredom but then lie and tell people we really did read the whole Bible in a year.
A famous example of course is found in the contrast between Exodus 20 and Exodus 21. Exodus 20 contains The Ten Commandments, which contains things like:
“You shall have no other gods before me.” (v. 3)
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” (v. 8)
“You shall not murder.” (v. 13)
“You shall not commit adultery.” (v. 14)
“You shall not steal.” (v. 15)
And so on goes the list of apodictic laws.
Exodus 21 begins with a very different kind of law. See for example verses 28-29:
“If a bull gores a man or woman to death, the bull is to be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible. If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull is to be stoned and its owner also is to be put to death.”
These casuistic laws are trying to apply the abstract principle “You shall not murder.” If my bull kills someone, is that murder? Well, it depends. Does your bull have a habit of goring? Have verbal warnings been given? Casuistic laws have a lot of “it depends.”
Why do I bring you down into the dungeon of nerdom? Because I’ve been thinking a lot about how this applies to our ideas about love.
I find almost no one who pushes back on the “apodictic” law of love.
In the abstract, black-and-white, principled sense – who wouldn’t agree that love is the highest good?
It’s when we start to get into the casuistic applications that things get messy. In other words, expressing love in our life is more about practical wisdom than it is abstract principles. It’s messy. It’s the push and pull between the ideal and the real, the “this should work in theory” and “why the heck didn’t that work?”
What might not be obvious when we read Exodus 21 is the experiences and stories behind those casuistic laws of “if/then.” There was likely a time when the pronouncement was made: “Thou shalt not kill.” And we felt safe and secure knowing we had a rule. And then a bull gores someone. And we have to ask, “What do we do now?” There is no rule for this particular situation at this particular time involving these particular people. And we are stuck. To apply a universal rule that doesn’t take into account the specific situation feels unfair and unhelpful. To ignore the rule feels ungrounded and unhelpful.
So, we work through it. And then leave it as an example for the future generations to say, “This is how we did it. But you will need to make your own path.”
So, what is love? It depends.
Jesus and the Reign of God
The following is a Daily Meditation from Richard Rhor and the Center for Action and Contemplation. Please read slowly and upon finishing sit in contemplation with God.
| The Kingdom Is like a Mustard Seed Monday, November 16, 2020 from Center for Action and Contemplation The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed which a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air can come and shelter in its branches. —Matthew 13:31–32 The Reign of God is Jesus’ message, but he never describes it literally. He walks around it and keeps giving different images of the Real. For example, the mustard seed is very small and insignificant, and the kingdom is “like” that. Pliny the Elder, a contemporary of Jesus, wrote an encyclopedic book called Natural History, in which he describes all the plants that were known in the Mediterranean world. He says two main things about the mustard plant: it’s medicinal, and it’s a weed that cannot be stopped: Mustard . . . with its pungent taste and fiery effect is extremely beneficial for the health. It grows entirely wild, though it is improved by being transplanted: but on the other hand when it has once been sown it is scarcely possible to get the place free of it, as the seed when it falls germinates at once. [1] The two images on which Jesus is building in this parable of the mustard seed are a therapeutic image of life and healing, and a fast-growing weed. What a strange thing for Jesus to say: “I’m planting a weed in the world!” Jesus’ teachings of nonviolence and simplicity are planted and they’re going to flourish, even wildly so. The old world is over. The virtue for living in the in-between times Jesus calls “faith.” He is talking about the grace and the freedom to live God’s dream for the world now—while not rejecting the world as it is. That’s a mighty tension that is not easily resolved. There are always two worlds. The world as it is usually operates on power, ego, and success. The world as it could be operates out of love. One is founded on dominative power, and the other is a continual call to right relationship and reciprocal power. The secret of this Kingdom life is discovering how we can live in both worlds simultaneously. |
MVPs Behind the Scenes #2
Love Your Enemies
The following is a meditation writing from Richard Rohr from November 9th ,2020 from the Center for Action and Contemplation:
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.’ But I say unto you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. —Matthew 5:43–45
In the United States few public figures have spoken more plainly and powerfully about Jesus’ teaching to love our enemies than the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This was not an abstract theological question for Dr. King. He wrestled practically and at great cost with how to love his enemies, both through prayer and through nonviolent direct action. This passage is an excerpt from King’s sermon “Loving Your Enemies.”
When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. . . .
Probably no admonition of Jesus has been more difficult to follow than the command to “love your enemies.” Some people have sincerely felt that its actual practice is not possible. It is easy, they say, to love those who love you, but how can one love those who openly and insidiously seek to defeat you? . . .
This command of Jesus challenges us with new urgency. Upheaval after upheaval has reminded us that modern humanity is traveling along a road called hate, in a journey that will bring us to destruction. . . . Far from being the pious injunction of a Utopian dreamer, the command to love one’s enemy is an absolute necessity for our survival. Love even for enemies is the key to the solution of the problems of our world. Jesus is not an impractical idealist: he is the practical realist.
I am certain that Jesus understood the difficulty inherent in the act of loving one’s enemy. He never joined the ranks of those who talk glibly about the easiness of the moral life. He realized that every genuine expression of love grows out of a consistent and total surrender to God. So when Jesus said “Love your enemy,” he was not unmindful of its stringent qualities. Yet he meant every word of it. Our responsibility as Christians is to discover the meaning of this command and seek passionately to live it out in our daily lives. . . .
When Jesus bids us to love our enemies, he is speaking of neither eros [romantic love] nor philia [reciprocal love of friends]; he is speaking of agape, understanding and creative, redemptive goodwill for all people. Only by following this way and responding with this type of love are we able to be children of our Father who is in Heaven.
Richard again: This is a timely reminder to Christians around the world. We must ask ourselves “What would it mean to seek to embody love as ‘creative, redemptive goodwill’ on behalf of all living things?”
All Around Us
The Kingdom of God is always
Working, Moving, Breathing, and Dancing
All around us.
Help me to see this God because when I look, I see
Pain, Suffering, Distrust, Violence, and Manipulation of Power.
Help me to remember the parable of the Growing Seed found in the Gospel of Mark.
This parable allows us to see that the Kingdom of God is always
Working, Moving, Breathing, and Dancing
All around us.
You are calling for our partnership in this continued growth because
You are a God of relationship.
When I see
Pain, Suffering, Distrust, Violence, and Manipulation of Power.
You call me to partner with your Kingdom that is always
Working, Moving, Breathing, and Dancing
All around us
Even if I am unable to see it.
Like a seed that grows underground even when
We cannot see.
The Kingdom of God is always
Working, Moving, Breathing, and Dancing
All around us.
by Pastor Matt George