Bias Opinion / Blog
January 13, 201240 Days of PrayerWesley wrote, "And indeed our prayers are the proper test of our desires, nothing being fit to have a place in our desires which is not fit to have a place in our prayers."He also wrote, "Prayer may be said to be the breath of our spiritual life. United Methodist Christians believe that regular devotional and corporate prayer is a means of transformation for every believer.
Today, we begin Forty Days of Prayer. This Sunday, we begin a new sermon series, “Why Pray.” You and I have the opportunity to pray daily for one another, our families, specific ministry areas of our church, and for our community and city.
The sermon series, “Why Pray,” will focus upon the prayer life of Jesus from Luke’s perspective and will be as follows:
January 15: Luke 3:21-22 New Beginnings
22: Luke 6:12-16 Significant Decisions
29: Luke 10:17-23 Dealing With Success
February 5: Luke 9:12-17 While Serving
12: Luke 9:18-20 Facing Public Opinion
Each day, for the next forty days (during this sermon series), you and I have the opportunity to receive an email with a daily scripture reading, a prayer for the day, and a ministry area for the day. To subscribe to your Forty Days of Prayer daily email, please go to 40daysumc.org to subscribe. With your subscription you will receive your daily scripture, prayer, and ministry focus.
Then, as we gather for worship each Sunday through these forty days, let us prepare our hearts and minds with the following:
Almighty and loving God,
We bless you for the sheer privilege of joining freely with others
To hear your word, receive your sacrament, and sing your praise.
Free us from the temptation to worship worship.
Help us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Send your Holy Spirit, we pray, to encourage, challenge, and correct us,
That we leave equipped to be faithful servants in the community and the world,
In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
Throughout these next forty days, let us make prayer one of our spiritual disciplines.
January 7, 2012From Destination to ConnectorWhat is the first image that comes to mind when you see or hear the word “church”? Is it a building? An institution? A faith of community? Is it a destination? Is it a connector?
All of my life I have talked of the church as a destination. I have said “I am going to church” or “I will be at the church” or “Let’s meet at the church.” But in my heart I have understood the church to be a community of believers, people related to one another through Jesus Christ, for the purpose of the assisting one another along life’s journey.
Over the years of my ministry, I have learned that many people in the church see the church as a destination. We have invited people to church, whether it be worship, small groups, dinners, fellowship, etc. The part that seems to have been missing, for me at least, has been the relationship part. The part missing is where we are assisting one another along life’s journey.
I have always thought of the church to be wherever the followers of Jesus are. In other words, we do not go to church; we are the church. We don’t bring people to church; we bring the church to people. We assist people along life’s journey where we live, work, and play.
Reggie McNeal in his book, Missional Renaissance, writes the following:
“I travel by plane almost every week. This means I get to visit a lot of airports. On a fairly routine basis, airports get confused about what they’re there for—and for whom. They think that if a bunch of planes are on the ground, close to the hub, and the concourse is full of people, they are winning. They apparently think they are the destination! Of course, when this happens, it means a bunch of people aren’t getting where they want to go. They’re stuck at the airport, like flies on flypaper.
The airport is a place of connection, not a destination. Its job is to help people get somewhere else. An airport-centric world of travel would be dull and frustrating, no matter how nice the airport is.
When the church thinks it’s the destination, it also confuses the scoreboard. It thinks that if people are hovering around and in the church, the church is winning. The truth is, when that’s the case, the church is really keeping people from where they want to go, from their real destination. That destination is life. Lucky for us, it just so happens that is what Jesus promised to bring to us. (He did not say, “I have come to give you church and give it to you more abundantly.”) Abundant life is life out with loved ones, friends, and acquaintances in the marketplace, in the home, in the neighborhood, in the world.”
It seems to me the church is a connector, linking people to God’s love and to the kingdom life that God desires for each of us. The church is a community of believers related to one another through Jesus Christ, for the purpose of assisting one another along life’s journey. It is strange for the church to substitute destination activity for connecting activity. Substituting church activity for God activity is as strange as believing that airports are more interesting that the destinations they serve.
What would it mean for us to shift our thinking from going to church to being the church? Will you join me on that journey through this 2012 year?
December 29, 2011What to Wear in the New YearHave you ever wondered why the symbol of the New Year is a smiling baby wearing a diaper and top hat? What does it mean? A beginning of life? A time of innocence? A scenario for change?
I think I have discovered part of its meaning. For years, I have been overdressed for the New Year. I always enter the New Year with shoulders bent, wrapped in all the thoughts of the things I did not do in the previous year; and, when I can't wear it all on my body, I lug it along in heavy boxes and suitcases, kicking it with my foot to make sure all of it makes it into the next year of my life.
I always wrap around my neck a mantle of guilt and I usually wear a shirt of self-pity. Both have been uncomfortable for years, but to discard either is unthinkable. It has taken my entire life to acquire my guilt and to turn my self-pity on just at the right time.
I wear a belt of prejudice which encompasses anyone who does not agree with every word I have ever said. I really feel naked without it.
There is a foot locker full of anger. A lot of it doesn't fit anymore, but I hang onto it just in case I'm caught short. And the biggest piece of baggage contains old grudges that I sift through each year like old photographs.
Each year the load gets heavier and heavier to carry into a new year; but, to be honest, I don't know if I can face a New Year without my clothes on. I don't know if I can check into 2012 without my luggage.
Will you do something with me? Just for a moment, imagine you are looking out over a vast landscape of seemingly happy people. They are laughing and celebrating together. As you look out over this scene, you gradually become aware that some persons, here and there, move less freely than others. They are linked by invisible chains to huge weights. One is hooked up to an old resentment which has festered for years. Another is chained to bitterness, and another to alcohol. Still others are bound to tempers which sometimes lash out and wound deeply those whom they love the most. Invisible chains. Unseen weights. As you look, you see that even the most free dancers on this landscape are trying to carry about their chains and weights; petty complaints, worry, gossip, a desire to be right all the time. Everyone dances and everyone smiles yet, at least inwardly, each person seems aware of his or her own chains.
Look now in the distance. You can see a new figure walking into the landscape. He bears no chain, no weight. In his hand he carries a key which says "Deliverance to the Captives." He moves about, unlocking the shackles of all who will let him.
God, in Jesus Christ, has come to unlock the shackles and to journey with us into the future. Let go of the guilt, the failure, the pain. Let go of your inadequacies and negative attitudes.
God is with us and is calling us into this new year. The past is over. We cannot change it. But the future is set before us for our shaping.
Will you risk entering this new year dressed in the grace of God? Together, let us step into this new day trusting God’s leading with confidence and conviction.
Have a blessed New Year!
see all →