February 29, 2012

The Strong, Silent Type

Read Psalm 138:3

When I was a child, every night my Mom or Dad would stand vigil by my bedroom door as my sister and I said our prayers. We would kneel beside our bed, hands clasped together and recite in unison the prayer we were taught. Many of you know it I’m sure. It starts “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.”

As I became a teenager and then an adult I abandoned that tradition, but as soon as my own children were old enough I continued the tradition of my parents. I became my mother, teaching them the simple prayer and standing or kneeling beside them as they recited it.

Somewhere along the way we all became busy, my children’s bedtime ritual no longer included me and regular daily prayer once again slipped out of my life. Then, about 8 years ago, GPUMC offered a Disciple 1 Bible study class. This was a 32 week program that met once a week. During that time we read and studied 70% of the Bible. It was during this program my “conversations” with God began. Of course I wasn’t praying in the formal way I had as a child or we do in church, but I was praying again. As time went on these conversation became more regular. I would talk to God while I was making dinner, driving my car, taking a shower, or walking the dog.

During the last several years my family has had many blessings but we have had many difficult trials too. I know without prayer getting through these trials would have been so much more difficult. My conversations with God still my heart, calm my fears, and ease my mind.
If you are not having regular conversations with God consider starting. He’s a great listener and has a tremendous ability to make you feel better and keep things in perspective even if He doesn’t say much.

Prayer: That all may turn to you, Lord, in good times and bad that you might bring them peace.

Cathy Lorenz

February 28, 2012

My How Times Change

Read: Proverbs 17:6

Years ago (when our son Charlie was in high school) we made almost nightly calls to Ft. Wayne, Indiana. This was in the days before unlimited long distance. Charlie was in Honors Math which was not being taught very well. His grandfather in Ft. Wayne was a math teacher and our source of help.

How times have changed. Now a granddaughter (Kayla) is the source of help for the grandfather. Now Grampa calls for help to download from iTunes, or other computer related items that the local expert (Charlie) is not familiar with.

It's great to have a resource like my iTunes-meister. She spent so much time with an illiterate, she went cross eyed. Nothing phases the guru - - even special needs students.

God works in mysterious ways. Role reversal is just one of them!

Jack Van Becelaere

February 27, 2012

When Morning Gilds the Sky

Read: UMH #185

When I retired 1 ½ years ago I made some resolutions to give my new “free time” some focus – get some exercise, don’t eat too much, clean some part of the house every day (I haven’t kept that one up!), read the newspaper on the day it comes (l love that one), be more patient with my family and others, don’t get excited over the little snafus in life, hang with friends more, sing in the church choir, etc, etc - but the main resolution which I have truly enjoyed is to take time to see the beauty around me.

For example, last fall I taught an early morning class at a campus which was new to me so I was not familiar with the layout of the campus and buildings, especially the building I was going to teach in. The first morning I arrived really early (did I say that I am Type A?) – before the sun was up in fact – and I walked into my classroom to settle things in. I opened the blinds and got ready for class when I realized that the window in my classroom faced east and the sun was beginning to rise. What a treat that was for me.

So every week after that I looked forward to the sunrise as a wonderful perk to start the day. I actually mentioned it to some of the folks who work in the same building but in fact they didn’t get to work early enough to see what I saw every week. (This semester I am teaching a couple of noon classes so miss out on my sunrises and that’s a shame. I just don’t seem to be at the right place at the right time.)

There is no question that before I retired, my work consumed me and I loved just about every minute of my job . I’m thinking though I have missed a few sunrises so I am trying to make up for lost time.

One of my mother’s favorite hymns sums it up for me:
“When morning gilds the skies, my heart awaking cries, may Jesus Christ be praised.”

Vivian Anderson

February 26, 2012

UMH #595 – Whether the Word Be Preached or Read

Whether the Word be preached or read,
no saving benefit I gain
from empty sounds or letters dead'
unprofitable all and vain,
unless by faith thy word I hear
and see its heavenly character.

Unmixed with faint, the Scripture gives
no comfort, life, or light to see,
but me in darker darkness leaves,
inplunged in deeper misery,
overwhelmed with nature's sorest ills.
The Spirit saves, the letter kills.

If God enlighten through his Word,
I shall my kind Enlightener bless;
but void and naked of my Lord,
what are all verbal promises?
Nothing to me, till faith divine
inspire, inspeak, and make them mine.

Jesus, the appropriating grace
'tis thine on sinners to bestow.
Open mine eyes to see thy face,
open my heart thyself to know.
And then I through thy Word obtain
sure present, and eternal gain.

Charles Wesley, 1783

February 25, 2012

A Light to My Path

Read: Canticle of Light and Darkness (UM Hymnal #205)

A new day has dawned for our crazy dog, Toby. I have gone back to work, and he is adjusting to a different schedule (as am I).

Since I was feeling incredibly guilty that he is now home alone so much, I decided that he needed two walks a day. This means getting up at 6AM for the early morning hike. As I am not typically an early riser, I was surprised and dismayed to discover that in the winter-time it is still dark at 6AM. This can be rather treacherous with black ice on uneven sidewalks, not to mention half-opened eyes. I’ve come to rely on a small flashlight to shine on the pavement in front of me.

It got me thinking of the way that we, as Christians, rely on the light of Christ to guide our steps when the going gets rough. With Christ’s light to guide us, we can always safely navigate the dark times in our lives – no batteries required.

Sue DeWitt

February 24, 2012

Practicing God’s Presence

Read: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

I’ve been reading a little book by Brother Lawrence called The Practice of the Presence of God, and it’s beginning to have an effect on me.

The basic idea is quite simple and Biblical: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” Colossians 3:23-24

Brother Lawrence was a Carmelite monk in 17th century Paris who found himself working at tasks which he could have found distasteful or unsuitable, but which he instead performed as an offering to the Lord – he offered up his work and his suffering to God.

The bigger thing, though, was that he tried always to be aware of the presence of God, not just His omnipresence, His being in all places and times, but most especially the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence.

What this has done for me is to cause me to talk to God much more frequently and more conversationally, and that has meant a deeper and more satisfying and energizing prayer life. After all, what is prayer, but a conversation with God – talking with my Father about whatever is going on in my life or the world?

I’m praying that this will continue long after I’ve finished reading that book, and that I can encourage you to try it too. God is there, already listening – go ahead and talk to Him.

Charlie van Becelaere

February 23, 2012

Sailing Through Life

Read: Hebrews 13:8-9

We go from day to day, caught up in the “busy-ness” of life; our bodies, minds, and emotions leading us through life like wind blowing the sails of a sailboat on a lake. We are carried along, filled with getting “things” done. Every so often, the wind ceases, and we have an idle moment to observe the beauty of the water reflecting blue sky, and the sun dancing across its surface; or perhaps we see dark, menacing clouds of gray on the horizon that warn of a storm. It is in these lulls that we have the opportunity to take inventory of ourselves, and the way we live our lives.

Lent is such a lull.

How blessed we are to have a structured time built into our calendar to reflect on what puts meaning to our very being. Without intention, it is easy to let the winds of life take control, but Lent gives us an opportunity, or lull, to remember that we are sailors, and as such, cannot control the winds of life, but are our own navigators, and have a compass to guide us.
Our North is God. He is our constant by which we set course. Lent provides us a time to reflect on His ever-present, boundless Love.

He understands our role as sailors in life; for a little while, He became one right here on Earth. Our Father, our constant, showed us how to sail. He sent His Son to teach us. He sends the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the wind of life.

Lent reminds us vividly that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are One.

Lent is a gift. Lent is a time to reflect, a time to regroup our thoughts, and a time to prepare for Easter. Easter, the time that defines Rejoice! God blesses us with lulls as we sail, and winds to move us, but always is our North, our constant.

Anne Rector

Ash Wednesday – February 22, 2012

Waiting and Yearning in Lent

Read: Mark 9:2-8

In the season of Lent, we are invited read the stories in Scripture that are filled with a strange mixture of excitement and fear, success and failure, loyalty and betrayal, affirmation and denial, life and death. The popular healing and teaching Galilean ministry of Jesus took a dramatic turn following his mountaintop visit with Moses and Elijah. There God affirmed for the second time that Jesus was God’s beloved Son.

From that moment on, Jesus told his followers of his determination to go to Jerusalem where he would encounter death. (Luke 9:51). That was not what any of them wanted to hear. His followers were waiting and yearning for a popular crowning of a king. Matthew places Jesus’ intent to go to Jerusalem after the feeding of the 5,000, where waiting and yearning were expressed by the crowd’s determination to make him their king. (Matthew 16:21).

Our Lenten stories can be filled with the same sense of frustration … waiting and yearning … in the experiences of repentance, suffering, death, relinquishment, brokenness, alienation, abandonment, loneliness, isolation and conflict.

As we journey through this season of reflection and self-examination, perhaps these questions will guide us on our way:
Do I feel as though I am in a wilderness?
Am I facing temptation and need help to resist?
Do I see a weakness in myself and the need to change?
What do I need to allow to die in me in order to be closer to God?
With what am I struggling and in pain?
What do I need to confess in order to be rid of guilt?

Lenten waiting and yearning is the time of tension between dying and birth … it is about change: of heart, perspective, focus … sobering thoughts, but not morbid. We wait and yearn in Lent for the astonishing proclamation: Death is vanquished! Sin is overcome! God’s reign of justice and peace is ours! Tender and astonishing love embraces us!

With you on the journey,
Judy May

Introduction - 2012

As always, it has been my privilege and Joy to edit this book; and as has often been the case, there are a few common threads winding their way through the devotions you’ve shared here.

Over and over, expressions of the awareness of God’s Presence and Providence have cropped up. Over and over, experiences of the Triune God overflow with Joy and Awe. Over and over, the welcoming nature of our congregation comes into focus, whether based on our official status or simply on the experience of that welcoming. Over and over the experience of God’s love and leading in marriage and family is shared. Over and over, the Joy of living out our faith comes pouring out of pens and keyboards and off the pages into our hearts.

We have much to treasure and celebrate in the pages of this little book; it’s hard to imagine how a mere fifty or sixty pages can contain so many thoughts and emotions and experiences. I don’t know how it works, I just know that it does.
   

Just as we have each year since reviving this Lenten tradition, we repeat the introduction from our congregation's first book of devotions of well over thirty years ago:

Keeping a true Lent requires us to be vigilant in many ways: in prayer, study, worship, sacrifice, giving, meditation, and fellowship.

One or all may take precedence, depending upon our daily commitments. From these devotions, lovingly prepared, may you find a well spring of faith to renew and sustain you, so that the Glorious Triumph that is Easter will remain with you always.

The Lenten Committee 

Again, we can but say, “Amen.”

Charlie van Becelaere, Editor