Faithful to the End: Our Witness – November 24, 2019
Scripture: Luke 23: 33-43
“Stay alert at all times, praying that you are strong enough to escape everything that is about to happen and to stand before the Human One.” (Luke 21:36)
We are faithful when we stay alert at all times to the life Christ wants us to live. We bear witness to the power of Christ when we overcome the temptations of the world and stay strong.
Scripture: Luke 20: 27-38
“He isn’t the God of the dead but of the living. To him they are all alive.” (Luke 20:38)
Sometimes we make mountains out of molehills, and big deals out of nothing. Yet, God doesn’t give up on us, and is faithful in all things! Remembering that love of God and love of neighbor are our marching orders, we lift up service as a way to stop our own foolishness.
Scripture: Luke 19: 1-10
Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone, I repay them four times as much.” (Luke 19:8)
The story of Zacchaeus reminds us that faithful giving and growth in Christ come in surprising ways by unpredictable people.
Scripture: Luke 18: 18-30
Jesus replied, “What is impossible for humans is possible for God.” (Luke 18:27)
Jesus reminds us that it is only with God’s help that impossible things are truly possible. We celebrate the saints who have shown us how to walk in ways of impossibility as they have left what they have known to embrace the things of God.
Won’t God provide justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he be slow to help them? I tell you, he will give them justice quickly. But when the Human One comes, will he find faithfulness on earth?” (Luke 18: 7-8)
In this parable of the judge and the widow, we see that life is often unfair…yet God promises justice when we continue to pray.
Scripture: Joshua 24:1-15
“As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)
The people have now settled and prospered. But “settled and prospered” can be its own roadblock. We begin to forget how we needed God’s help before when things weren’t so rosy. Joshua gathers up all the tribes and reminds them of all the ways God has served them well and encourages them to joyfully choose to serve God. We know that we have arrived at an important milestone in our journey, living the kind of life that we were created to live, when we can look back over all the struggles that have come before us and affirm that we would endure “the good, the bad, and the ugly” all over again in order to be in the place to which God has led us.
Consecrating – October 13, 2019
Scripture: Exodus 19:3-7; 20:1-17
“I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant . . . ” (Exodus 19: 4-5)
The drama of deliverance in the Moses story soon gives way to the drudgery of “so now what?!” as the people wander the desert. There is only so much God can do for us without us doing our part. God can give us reason to trust God, God can bless us, protect us, prosper us, and deliver us. But if we are to truly live into our identity as God’s precious and holy ones, we are called to make a commitment of our own free will.
Scripture: Exodus 14:10-14, 21-29
“Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today.” (Exodus 14:13)
Perhaps no other story from the Hebrew texts has the drama that Moses’ story has. The people are delivered in an epic scene from their slavery. Our own deliverance, however, might feel just as dramatic when we are in the midst of it. Sometimes the way ahead appears utterly blocked and we have no power or ability ourselves to overcome it. At these moments we are faced with a critical decision: do we return to slavery and servitude, or do we allow God to make a way outa no way?
Scripture: Genesis 39:1-23
“The chief jailer paid no heed to anything that was in Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with you; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.” (Genesis 39: 23)
It seems Joseph can’t get a break. He is left for dead by his brothers, taken into a foreign land to serve as a slave, then he is lied about by the master’s wife and jailed. But throughout he seems to bloom where he is planted, making a way outa no way. Perhaps on our journey we need to look for blessing not in the absence of struggle, but in the heart of it, where we are protected and prospered.
Scripture: Genesis 12: 1-9
“Leave your land, your family and your father’s household… I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:1-2)
Leaving everything we have known before to set out for the unknown can feel unsettling, to say the least. But at 75 years old?! Abram trusted this new path–this new way–and the promise of God’s presence and blessing anywhere. We take the first significant step on our journey with God when we accept a blessing that we believe is too large for us to deserve and a responsibility that we feel is too large for us to fulfill.
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