| Words for Meditation |
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At almost every service the people are given some "Words of Meditation" as they enter the sanctuary. The words and thoughts are intended to deepen and fill the heart andprepare a person to experience God. The words are often associated with the morning message, but they can be inspirational on their own. You can access any Sunday's "Words of Meditation" directly from the on-line sermon or access a related sermon from the individual Words. These inspirational messages are grouped below into the quarters of the year. January - March 2012 February 13 Dearly Beloved, Grace and peace to you. A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, "If you choose you can make me clean." Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. --Mark 1.40-41
Who are the lepers who beg for our compassion, whom no one will touch? Are they the prisoners, who frighten us, or nursing home folks? Those who are depressed, or transgendered or angry, the drunk mumbling in the doorstep, the guy with the cardboard sign at the stoplight?
The mentally ill, kidnapped from their own minds, that we are afraid to speak to? The kid with piercings, tattoos and blue hair, immigrants who any moment will be hauled off, people who are chronically poor and grumpy about it?
Who are we afraid to touch, to be touched by? Don't think we have no Untouchables in our closely guarded caste system. They live within you. We are the ones with the dis-ease, who afflict them with our refusal to reach out to them, to connect, to admit that we are just like them.
What healed the leper was no magical power. It was the willingness of a compassionate heart to embrace. We can do miracles in this world with our own two hands.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
Steve Garnaas-Holmes February 6 Scripture strongly affirms ministries of spiritual healing, which in recent years have received renewed emphasis throughout Christ's holy Church. The root of the word healing in New Testament Greek, sozo, s the same as that of salvation and wholeness. Spiritual healing is God's work of offering relationships through confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Through such healing, God works to bring about reconciliation between God and humanity and the rest of creation. The New Testament records that Jesus himself healed the estranged and sick and sent out his disciples on ministries of healing. James (5:14-16a) calls us also to pray for and anoint the sick, that they may be healed. All healing is God. The Church's healing ministry in no way detracts from the gifts God gives through medicine and psychotherapy. It is no substitute for either medicine or the proper care of one's health. Rather, it adds to our total resources for wholeness. Healing is not magic, but underlying it is the great mystery of God's love. Those who minister spiritual healing are channels of God's love. Although no one can predict what will happen in a given instance, many marvelous healings have taken place. God does not promise that we shall be spared suffering but does promise to be with us in our suffering. Trusting that promise, we are enabled to recognize God's sustaining presence in pain, sickness, injury, and estrangement. Likewise, God does not promise that we will be cured of all illnesses; and we all must face the inevitability of death. A Service of Healing is not necessarily a service of curing, but it provides an atmosphere in which healing can happen. The greatest healing of all is the reunion or reconciliation of a human being with God. When this happens, physical healing sometimes occurs, mental and emotional balance is often restored, spiritual health is enhanced, and relationships are healed. For the Christian the basic purpose of spiritual healing is to renew and strengthen one's relationship with the living Christ. Laying on of hands, anointing with oil, and less formal gesture of holding someone's hand all show the power of touch, which plays a central role in the healings recorded in the New Testament. Jesus often touched others—blessing children, washing feet, healing injuries or disease, and raising people from death. Biblical precedent combines with our natural desire to reach out to persons in need in prompting us to touch gently and lovingly those who ask for healing prayers. Such an act is a tangible expression of the presence of the healing Christ, working in and though those who minister in his name. Anointing the forehead with oil is a sign act invoking the healing love of God. The oil points beyond itself and those doing the anointing to the action of the Holy Spirit and the presence of the healing Christ, who is God's Anointed One. From, "The United Methodist Book of Worship" January 29 So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go! This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him! -from The Message, by Eugene H. Peterson January 22 Christians are Joyful Sinners Excerpt from Isaiah 6:1-5 “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Does worship in your church include a prayer of confession? If so, it is probably near the beginning of the service. One reason for this placement is that God’s presence reveals things to us. In God’s clarifying presence we see things about our lives that we might not see otherwise. So when Isaiah had a dramatic encounter with God in the temple, his first response was confession. And it can be the same for us in our worship. Some congregations no longer include a prayer of confession in their worship because the practice is considered too “negative.” They contend that people have enough difficulties in their lives without the church adding to the burden. But confession is not about adding a burden. Quite the opposite. It is about being unburdened. Ultimately, there is no joy in denial. But there can be great joy in receiving forgiveness. As Christians we don’t need to traffic in denial. We can afford to be realists. We are free to face the truth about ourselves: good and bad are inextricably intertwined within us. Sometimes we act nobly, but even then our motivations can be mixed. This is not a hopeless admission. We are free to be realists because our hope is in God. In confession, we rely not on our own goodness, but on God’s forgiveness. The God in whose presence we see our lives with jarring clarity at the same time shows us that we are loved, nonetheless. Prayer Dear God, when given a chance, I mess up. Sometimes, when not given a chance, I mess up anyway. So I am grateful that I do not have to rely on my own goodness, but rather on your forgiveness. Amen. Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver January 15 It Takes Fire (Based on Exodus 3:1-15) It took a miraculous fire to get my attention. No loss of life. No burned out homes. No crowds to gawk and gaze. It was a private fire meant only for me. "Come." "Here I am." "Not too close. Remove your shoes. This place is holy." God puts holy fire into our mouths to speak truth to power. As long as fire in holy places goes unnoticed . . . and cool smoke rises where Christian passion once burned. On March 25, 1965, in Montgomery, Alabama, God put holy fire into the mouth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who dared to speak truth to power. He urged a crowd, weary from well-doing, to keep on. He knew that many wondered if they could continue the struggle for justice. This is the conclusion to his sermon: I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, (Yes, sir) however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, (No sir) because "truth crushed to earth will rise again." (Yes, sir) How long? Not long, (Yes, sir) because "no lie can live forever." (Yes, sir) How long? Not long, (All right. How long) because "you shall reap what you sow." (Yes, sir) How long? (How long?) Not long: (Not long) Truth forever on the scaffold, (Speak) Wrong forever on the throne, (Yes, sir) Yet that scaffold sways the future, (Yes, sir) And, behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow, Keeping watch above his own. How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. (Yes, sir) How long? Not long, (Not long) because: Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; (Yes, sir) He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; (Yes) He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword; (Yes, sir) His truth is marching on. (Yes, sir) He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; (Speak, sir) He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat. (That’s right) O, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant my feet! Our God is marching on. (Yeah) Glory, hallelujah! (Yes, sir) Glory, hallelujah! (All right) Glory, hallelujah! Glory, hallelu January 8 Rise Within Us Like a Star Beckoning God— who called the rich to travel toward poverty, the wise to embrace your folly, the powerful to know their own frailty; who gave to strangers a sense of homecoming in an alien land and to stargazers true light and vision as they bowed to earth - we lay ourselves open to your signs for us. Stir us up with holy discontent over a world, which gives its gifts to those who have plenty already whose talents are obvious whose power is recognized; and help us both to share our resources with those who have little and to receive with humility the gifts they bring to us. Rise within us, like a star, and make us restless till we journey forth to seek our rest in you. -Kate Compston |