Think of the Mummy from your Halloween parties in need of unwinding. You have Lazarus just stumbling out of the tomb into bright sunshine. Jesus could have unwound him too, but he raised him back to life and invited those around Lazarus to do the unbinding. We are included in the helping those who are being transformed to come out and be made whole again. What a great gift.
On Sunday Aug. 14, we are dealing with Jesus invitation to involve us in helping to unbind the grave-clothes. We miss a great deal of power in the body of Christ, also known as church, when we let the professionals do the work that the body has been assigned to do. I was amazed that I could find 50 verses that ask us to "One Another." There is so much we can offer each other to help each of us be better followers of Jesus. This step in the Lazarus story will invite that kind of thinking.
If you are one of my readers who doesn't attend Liberty Grove UMC in Burtonsville, MD and you are too far away to get there, you ought to think about finding a church home you can go to. Not just be a part of a large crowd on Sunday morning, but become involved in a smaller group where the real "One Another" good stuff happens. That could be a Sunday School class, Bible Study, Choir, Praise Team, volunteer at a food kitchen, homeless shelter, or missions trip as well.
Jesus stressed that we are to be responsible for each other. We really need the connection of flesh and blood if we are going to reach our maximum potential the way God made us.
Facebook and other social media is great. I connect with my own family better through that than I did growing up with my relatives. All of my cousins are in my Facebook now. They are all over the country, but i keep up with what's going on with them. But as much good as a social network does, it's the face to face that really makes a difference. So let me encourage you to find a way to be in a face to face group. Weekly is best, but with hectic schedules even monthly real time connection is going to be good for the soul.
John Wesley wanted all those who followed his teachings to be in a a dynamic small group so that they could pray for each other, support each other, help each other out in business or parenting or with the challenges of being a better disciple of Jesus. If you had to answer the questions, "How goes it with your soul today? Where have you seen progress in faith? Where are you struggling and need help?" questions each week it would make you a better follower of Jesus.
Blessings on your journey. I hope and pray you can find a small group to connect to. You could start asking people you know at church to join you if you don't find one already.
Pastor Jeff
Friday, August 12, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Don't look at the Stock Market
I hate to see us struggle so much with our economy and the latest hit to the stock market hurt me in many ways, think pension, just like millions of others. This latest one got me thinking in some different ways than I usually go with this blog. Bear with me.
We may need a wakeup call about how much we depend on ourselves for all that we have and what we want. Maybe we can use this moment to reflect on what God wants to give us. We certainly aren't getting peace of mind from the world we live in. But that's been God's point for a long time. We can't serve both God and money. Money is such a cruel master, these days especially.
So I'm think maybe we will be open to some creative ideas about stretching our resources to help us get through a tough time. I am not old enough to have been around in the Great Depression, but have heard enough from people who were. Some of these ideas may seem like a repeat of the past, but it's still worth considering.
Let's get together as churches and really make an effort to help each other out. We can swap or hand down clothes for children and take a great burden off of young parents. We can find a time to share meals together, either inviting your neighbors or church friends to pot luck suppers in your own house or maybe at the church. We could save a lot of money if we pot lucked more often. Bringing one dish to share and seeing how God can multiply the loaves and fishes might help us get through tough times.
Bring the monthly magazines you subscribe to and pass them around. I know that the publishing industry won't like that idea too much, but it might save a few trees and a couple of pounds of recycled material. Share movies/DVD's after you've seen them.
One of the things I always thought about was a tool shed at church where people could keep tools that could be signed out, to keep track of, for those once in a while jobs around the house. We probably all have drills and saws and stuff just sitting on our work bench. It would make it difficult to start a job at night, you would have to plan ahead more, but think about the ways we could stretch the resources we have. Same goes for lawn mowers, leaf blowers, etc.
We could create a tool shed and you could put a few dollars in the collection plate for the privilege of taking a tool home for a couple of days. I'm sure there are people who are more creative than I am who could set up a system like this. I'm just the idea person.
So can I get you to begin to think outside your comfort zone to be more closely connected to your faith community and help you out financially? I know that communities like the Amish have this all worked out for sure. I'm just thinking it's probably going to be a struggle for a while for lots of people, maybe it's time we as the body of Christ, thought more like the body and recognize that we all have parts we can put to good use for the whole body.
If you know of someone who has pulled this off, or you are interested in brainstorming about how we can improve our community for each other, let me know. Or better yet, begin to be creative on your own. Just Do It!
There is much power in cooperating with one another. Now might be a good time to start.
May God start your creative imaginations going. Ephesians 3:20, a favorite verse, tells us that God is far more able to do beyond our imaginations that we can ever come up. Let us let God's great imagination Spirit stir us up to good works for one another and the Kingdom/Sphere of God.
Blessings, Pastor Jeff
We may need a wakeup call about how much we depend on ourselves for all that we have and what we want. Maybe we can use this moment to reflect on what God wants to give us. We certainly aren't getting peace of mind from the world we live in. But that's been God's point for a long time. We can't serve both God and money. Money is such a cruel master, these days especially.
So I'm think maybe we will be open to some creative ideas about stretching our resources to help us get through a tough time. I am not old enough to have been around in the Great Depression, but have heard enough from people who were. Some of these ideas may seem like a repeat of the past, but it's still worth considering.
Let's get together as churches and really make an effort to help each other out. We can swap or hand down clothes for children and take a great burden off of young parents. We can find a time to share meals together, either inviting your neighbors or church friends to pot luck suppers in your own house or maybe at the church. We could save a lot of money if we pot lucked more often. Bringing one dish to share and seeing how God can multiply the loaves and fishes might help us get through tough times.
Bring the monthly magazines you subscribe to and pass them around. I know that the publishing industry won't like that idea too much, but it might save a few trees and a couple of pounds of recycled material. Share movies/DVD's after you've seen them.
One of the things I always thought about was a tool shed at church where people could keep tools that could be signed out, to keep track of, for those once in a while jobs around the house. We probably all have drills and saws and stuff just sitting on our work bench. It would make it difficult to start a job at night, you would have to plan ahead more, but think about the ways we could stretch the resources we have. Same goes for lawn mowers, leaf blowers, etc.
We could create a tool shed and you could put a few dollars in the collection plate for the privilege of taking a tool home for a couple of days. I'm sure there are people who are more creative than I am who could set up a system like this. I'm just the idea person.
So can I get you to begin to think outside your comfort zone to be more closely connected to your faith community and help you out financially? I know that communities like the Amish have this all worked out for sure. I'm just thinking it's probably going to be a struggle for a while for lots of people, maybe it's time we as the body of Christ, thought more like the body and recognize that we all have parts we can put to good use for the whole body.
If you know of someone who has pulled this off, or you are interested in brainstorming about how we can improve our community for each other, let me know. Or better yet, begin to be creative on your own. Just Do It!
There is much power in cooperating with one another. Now might be a good time to start.
May God start your creative imaginations going. Ephesians 3:20, a favorite verse, tells us that God is far more able to do beyond our imaginations that we can ever come up. Let us let God's great imagination Spirit stir us up to good works for one another and the Kingdom/Sphere of God.
Blessings, Pastor Jeff
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Stumbling into the light
This week we are looking at the ongoing story of Lazarus as he first steps out of the tomb. He has heard Jesus call him, but it takes every ounce of strength to move with the grave clothes tied around him. It's an important lesson for us who get so antsy when some things take longer than we want them to. We have been spoiled and now we want everything to move at blazing speed.
Ever blown the horn at a person who didn't fire off the line when the light went green? How long did you give them before you blew the horn? Do you switch radio stations in your car or flip through the songs in your iPod without listening to them because you are bored or it's too slow or isn't your favorite song? Have you caught yourself flipping through the channels on the TV desperate to find something you can bear to watch?
Spiritual growth doesn't happen instantly either. That's the point of this week's lesson. We are moving slowly in this new transformed state. We have years of not doing spiritual life right to get out of our system before we perfect the abundant life Jesus promised. It's not in our nature at the moment to go slowly or to be patient with slowly, but growth as a follower of Jesus will take time. Let it, please!
The excitement of new found faith is great, but it wears off and we are faced with living the day to day as Jesus would want us to. But then we realize we don't know what Jesus would do in some of our cases and then we get frustrated, rather than thinking we need more time to know what Jesus would have done in this case. Getting off the old grave clothes so we can be whole and new takes a whole lot more time than we are willing to give it sometimes.
Remember how frustrated you got with an upgrade in software? Or having to use something new you really looked forward to but it wasn't operating the same way you were used to? Upgrading our spiritual dimensions is like that. Promising to follow God is an adjustment. Putting aside the former things in order to be more open to God takes a lot of work. So I want you to be patient with yourself. Just don't give up, resolve to take another step.
Maybe you were going to read the Bible from start to finish. That's a daunting task when you hit chapter 6 with all those begats. You don't care who gave birth to who at this point. A long time later, you move to chapter 7 but by chapter 11 another list of begats and your goose is cooked. May I suggest you start in the new testament with Matthew or Mark or Luke or John. Those are the stories of Jesus, it will bring back some memories if you did Sunday School as a child. This time you can decide you will imitate what Jesus did rather than just nodding your head and say how nice!
You once were dead and wrapped up, now you are resurrecting and it will take some getting used to. Training wheels are helpful to get you started, remember? Join in the faith a step up at a time, and don't crash and burn and give up, just use that stumble as a time for thanks that at least your not dead anymore.
Blessings on your journey, take it a step at a time, remember the pilots of the jumbo jets, didn't jump from paper airplanes to jets in a single bound, neither should you. Hang in there and start feeling the fresh air outside your tomb as a way to get started.
Pastor Jeff
Ever blown the horn at a person who didn't fire off the line when the light went green? How long did you give them before you blew the horn? Do you switch radio stations in your car or flip through the songs in your iPod without listening to them because you are bored or it's too slow or isn't your favorite song? Have you caught yourself flipping through the channels on the TV desperate to find something you can bear to watch?
Spiritual growth doesn't happen instantly either. That's the point of this week's lesson. We are moving slowly in this new transformed state. We have years of not doing spiritual life right to get out of our system before we perfect the abundant life Jesus promised. It's not in our nature at the moment to go slowly or to be patient with slowly, but growth as a follower of Jesus will take time. Let it, please!
The excitement of new found faith is great, but it wears off and we are faced with living the day to day as Jesus would want us to. But then we realize we don't know what Jesus would do in some of our cases and then we get frustrated, rather than thinking we need more time to know what Jesus would have done in this case. Getting off the old grave clothes so we can be whole and new takes a whole lot more time than we are willing to give it sometimes.
Remember how frustrated you got with an upgrade in software? Or having to use something new you really looked forward to but it wasn't operating the same way you were used to? Upgrading our spiritual dimensions is like that. Promising to follow God is an adjustment. Putting aside the former things in order to be more open to God takes a lot of work. So I want you to be patient with yourself. Just don't give up, resolve to take another step.
Maybe you were going to read the Bible from start to finish. That's a daunting task when you hit chapter 6 with all those begats. You don't care who gave birth to who at this point. A long time later, you move to chapter 7 but by chapter 11 another list of begats and your goose is cooked. May I suggest you start in the new testament with Matthew or Mark or Luke or John. Those are the stories of Jesus, it will bring back some memories if you did Sunday School as a child. This time you can decide you will imitate what Jesus did rather than just nodding your head and say how nice!
You once were dead and wrapped up, now you are resurrecting and it will take some getting used to. Training wheels are helpful to get you started, remember? Join in the faith a step up at a time, and don't crash and burn and give up, just use that stumble as a time for thanks that at least your not dead anymore.
Blessings on your journey, take it a step at a time, remember the pilots of the jumbo jets, didn't jump from paper airplanes to jets in a single bound, neither should you. Hang in there and start feeling the fresh air outside your tomb as a way to get started.
Pastor Jeff
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