Church in Bethesda Blog
Message Reflections
Praying with Romans 12
I shared an invitation on Sunday to spend not only this week but the whole month of January reading and praying with Romans 12. Hopefully this will give the passage time to speak all of it’s wealth and find a place in our lives beyond just being words on a page.
And so I’d like to share a reflection on the verses 3- 8, which will be our focus this coming Sunday morning. Please take a look…
“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with yourfaith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead,do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”
This is one of those passages that gets put in with Ephesians 4 in discussions of spiritual gifts, and certainly the language is all there. And as Paul loves to make lists, it feels very natural to pluck out the list in this passage: prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading and showing mercy.
As I read the passage this week and mulled it around, I found myself relating to that list of gifts as more gifts of opportunity than ability. Know what I mean? With the exception of prophecy, the others all seem to be things that we will each encounter in a given month. When are we not presented an opportunity to serve someone? Then there’s opportunities of encouragement, giving, mercy and even leading and teaching for most of us, regardless of our chosen vocation. And as I tend to understand prophecy, many of us will have chances to speak prophetically into the lives of friends or family at some point.
I think we’ve just worn out the gifts of ability discussion at times. It often devolves into spiritual gift testing and a bunch of angst over whether we have guessed our “right” gift or not, which may miss a big point…
That point is in verse 5, “…and each member belongs to the other.” Looking at gifts of ability tends to focus me on myself. Looking at gifts of opportunity keeps me looking to others.
So, we begin to ask not just what God has faithfully put into us, but where God has faithfully equipped and placed us. And how does our faith cause us to hear and move in response to the lives, needs, challenges, hurts and joys around us?
I think this might be a good way to obey the words of verse 3, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” Looking not at what I may have gained by my gifting, but what my neighbor has gained by it, in the right here and right now.
I hope you’re finding Romans 12 a great place to rest and pray this week! See ya soon!
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Independence Day Thoughts, 2011...
Tomorrow is our Independence Day, when we celebrate our political and national freedoms. And thinking of our freedoms, I am reminded of one of my favorite passages from Paul… it is in the letter to the church in Galatia.
Galatians 5:13-15
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”
Paul was reminding that church that they had been called to a freedom totally different than living under a repressive Law. They were free in Christ. Free to “live by the Spirit.” And free to revel in the love of God.
But that freedom, a spiritual freedom, was not their own to use only to serve their own interests. That freedom was the basis of serving one another. One person’s freedom was the opportunity to bless another person.
By the way, I like a uote by Anthony de Mello SJ to explain what spiritual freedom is… “Imagine God imagining you, and smiling.” That is freedom. To know that God smiles on you in love.
So, is there a parallel between our spiritual freedom and our national freedom? Maybe. Just maybe we can look at our national freedom as the same kind of opportunity to serve our neighbors with humility.
Of course we are grateful for the women and men of our country who made the freedoms possible, and we thank them, honoring them sincerely. But we can also grasp those freedoms and use them to help make life better for all our neighbors!
That is true freedom… being free to receive and give love, and free to serve our neighbor.
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A Month of Psalms!
Praying Thru the End of Summer
A Month of Psalms
Though the first day of Fall is technically toward the end of September, we can take the month of August to be prayerful for the rest of the year 2011, and think about the “new year” that usually begins about this time, school and work and the whole cycle of life thingy…
So we approach a time of transition… days will soon start getting shorter, kids are back to school and work wears on. But it’s also time of the year when families make moves and we can look forward at the busy holiday season that’s just around the corner.
To help with the prayers we a chance to make a short journey through the Psalms. Of course, we can’t cover them all (150 of them) in one month, but we’ll touch on some nice ones. Why the Psalms? We’ll go with the Psalm because as songs from the heart of David they really come to us with some raw accessibility. And it’s that aspect, these being songs from a person’s heart in the midst of life’s joys and struggles, that draws us in, makes sense and helps us relate.
Week of August 1
Psalms 1, 2, 3, 8 and 13
Week of August 8
Psalms 20, 23, 24, 51 and 63
Week of August 15
Psalm 100, 113, 115, 116 and 117
Week of August 22
Psalm 119:1-16, 33-48, 57-72, 105-112 and 169-176
Week of August 29
Psalms 130, 131, 133, 146, 150
*Each week has five entries, one for Monday thru Friday...
weekends are for reflection on the week.
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Ideas for Coming Sundays and the Fall of 2011!
Ideas for Fall 2011 @ CiB
Sept
4 ~ Spiritual Life, Being Mindful of the Spirit
11 ~ Spiritual Life, Letting Go of What Hinders
18 ~ Spiritual Life, Testing the Spirits
25 ~ Spiritual Life, Spiritual Warfare & Victory
*Vision Walk, evening prayers?
Oct
*Begin Pumpkining the Altar, Sundays 2-23!
2 ~ Celebrating Our Connection to Pets & Nature
*Nature Walk/Reserve" Excursion?
4 ~ St. Francis of Assisi's Feast Day
9 ~ Community Life, What "Shared Life" Means to Us
16 ~ Community Life, Church Family Governance
23 ~ Community Life, Church Family Resources
26 ~ Halloween Party @ The Children's Inn, 6 to 8pm
30 ~ Community Life, Pledging and Planning for 2012
Nov
1 ~ All Saints Day
6 ~ Saints and Communion of Saints, Saints & Sainthood
13 ~ Saints and Communion of Saints, Ancient Saints & Their Impact Today
20 ~ Saints and Communion of Saints, Dorothy Day & Teresa of Calcutta
*Begin Advent...
27 ~ First Sunday of Advent!
*Year B
Dec
4 ~ Second Sunday of Advent
11 ~ Third Sunday of Advent
18 ~ Fourth Sunday of Advent
24 ~ Christmas Eve
25 ~ Christmas Day
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Examen for Advent and the Year
Practicing the Daily Examen for the Year!
On this past Sunday (Nov. 27), our Weekly Grace was to move forward with the Daily Examen as an exercise for the year. Instead of just reflecting on the day past and the day coming, we might reflect on the past year and the coming year. This blog is just a reminder and an outline of how that practice might work.
It helps to make a definite plan for a place and time to do this, away from distractions. And begin with a short time of prayer, thanking God for the present exercise and inviting the Spirit to do this little practice with you.
The Daily Examen
Here's a quick reminder of the Examen, it's focus and five pieces:
1. Become aware of God’s presence.
2. Review the day with gratitude.
3. Pay attention to your emotions.
4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it.
5. Look toward tomorrow.
Now, how does this look in practice for a year instead of a day? Hopefully, these short guides for the five pieces will help!
1. Becoming Aware of God's Presence. How has God been present in the last 12 months? What were the times and even places where you most felt God's peace and joy? These may have been times of "victory" or when everything was working out as you had prayed for them. These may also have been times of "failure" or struggle when you were forced back into a realization of dependency on God.
2. Review The Year With Gratitude. It's easier to do this for a day just gone past you, but it will take some more time to review a whole year and really think of the gifts that have come your way over 12 months. Have you kept a journal to review? It will probably help to make a list. Were there some things in the last year that you didn't immediately recognize as gifts from God?
3. Pay Attention to Your Emotions. What is the single greatest defining emotion of the last 12 months? Look back: Was the year joyous? Happy? Sad? Over-whelming? Fearful? Depressed? D) All of the above? Bring this God. And don't be ashamed of your emotions or emotional responses throughout the year. Offer them to God to redeem and share.
4. Choose One Feature From the Year and Pray From It. Was there a defining moment in the last year? Was there an event that really stands out? Or maybe a moment of internal shift for your life? Can you say that "2011 was the year of ________?" Bring that to God as well. It may have been a negatice thing, or a positive thing, but God can use both to our blessing. As a spring-board for your prayer, how does it lead you into conversation with God?
5. Look Toward Next Year. Now take a few minutes to dream and vision forward. What are your hopes for 2012? What are your expectations? Bring these to God. Do you hear the Spirit pushing you in any particular direction? Convicting you of needed change? Have you begun to dream something for God in the coming year? All these can be brought to God's throne and shared, the simple things and the grand things. You might do this in several areas of life: personal, church community, work, health, financial, spiritual, etc.
I hope this helps with your prayers this week and with looking ahead into 2012! I'm praying for God to move in exciting ways with our church family, and each of us individually.
Peace, Todd
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Reviewing 2011 & Welcoming 2012
2011 in Review
I am so grateful to be a part of Church in Bethesda. Traveling as we did in the last week of 2011 afforded me many opportunities for people to ask me over and over again, “So how’s work? Is the church growing?” It never seems to come to me in any other form but, “Is the church growing?” And I always said, “Yes. God is good.” I didn’t answer that way because we are exploding numerically or because numerical growth is necessarily an indicator of good or bad things. The fact is that I am encouraged by our growth in so many ways that a community can grow.
The last year was a good one. Our faith community welcomed a few new folks, and said goodbye to a few who moved on in life or found other faith communities to join. All in all, we continued what I’ve always a healthy pattern of numerical growth. We welcomed some new people and began the joyful exercise of incorporating them into our family.
We had the best year ever as our finances go. Why? Because you are all participating and sharing the resources that God has blessed us with, to continue the presence and work of this church family. We ended up borrowing very little last year, only $10,000. I know that’s a lot of money to borrow, but relative to the borrowing levels of previous years, it’s a good sign indeed. And you’ve pledged the highest levels for 2012 I have ever seen in my time with Church in Bethesda. That’s humbling and exciting!
We shared the seasons of the year beginning with the Lenten fast and focus which lead us into the Easter Season. We shared the joy of baptisms and baby blessings! We shared the richness of a joyful summer of Sundays. I still smile as I think back on the warm summer months and our shared worship and time together.
We continued our ministries to our own children at CiB as well as to the many kids and families at The Children’s Inn at NIH. We welcomed the third family to the Del Ray House, a family from Guatemala. We began special times of study for adults and continued our women’s and men’s groups. We were present for Bethesda and our surrounding communities.
Did the church “grow” in 2011? Yes, we grew. I think we grew in faith, love and hope. I think we grew in many rich ways. I am very glad for the months of shared life with you all.
Welcoming 2012
Let’s stop and welcome the new year! Maybe even say it out loud with me, “Hello 2012! Nice to see you! Stick around and make yourself at home!” This is going to be a good year because we are giving it to God and waiting expectantly to see what all it holds.
The new year started in a bit of a rush for me. We arrived back in town on New Year’s Eve, slept and hit the ground running with you on Sunday morning in worship and fellowship. And as slow as I was dragging, you were so gracious and it was so good to be together.
That same day, New Year’s Day, brought a homeless friend to our front door in the evening looking for some help and hoping to have a small load of laundry done. It was a full day of sharing and being a part of community, faith community and local community.
Monday was the holiday and day of rest that many needed, and I certainly slept a little later and relished the need to be nowhere. But a couple of morning phone calls reminded me that life rolls on. By the early afternoon I was talking wedding plans with some friends as they dreamed of their big day in CiB’s Sanctuary.
By 2pm on Monday afternoon I was over on Jones Bridge Road to attend the vigil for the two young people killed in Sunday’s early morning crash. I know the father of a friend of the victims and he called me to come and help lead the vigil as they were gathering but had no one to help lead the time. It was humbling and deeply affecting.
I sat back Monday night and thought, “Wow. The new year is starting off in fifth gear! Forget crawling, we’ll just start running.” I wouldn’t have it any other way.
On Sunday morning we shared the reminder that as Christ came as Light for this world, we are also invested with salting and lighting, we share that great work with our Christ. I believe that we can give ourselves faithfully to this world, seasoning and illuminating the many needs and can count on God being right along beside us. Jesus is the Light (John 1) and we are the Light in Christ (Matthew 5, Ephesians 4 & 5).
So dream church! Cut loose, pray and imagine what this year can mean to us and the communities around us! Let’s light it up!
With all peace, Todd
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