tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2185069968985959882024-02-22T03:34:42.498-05:00The Wonder Filled DayThe Wonder Filled Day: drawing close to God; thoughts, ruminations, poems, sermons - one woman's wonderful wanderings with Christ
Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.comBlogger396125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-27045755464151835902021-08-02T10:51:00.009-04:002021-08-02T10:56:15.688-04:00Manna for Today: Psalm 85<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-76s_pWKIiBScBudUC4t7VakqxUylBEuWZDycM4Z6NhCtjqxoStsSueeJi-TZldA6yxcmTb3cbveYGbgBjbvQpHVn_MzgvWxvEmIAfjkt7XEnyLm3wut6yuacVWa6cElT7hqQJj9iGToa/s685/manna.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="685" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-76s_pWKIiBScBudUC4t7VakqxUylBEuWZDycM4Z6NhCtjqxoStsSueeJi-TZldA6yxcmTb3cbveYGbgBjbvQpHVn_MzgvWxvEmIAfjkt7XEnyLm3wut6yuacVWa6cElT7hqQJj9iGToa/s320/manna.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm 85:1-13</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Key Verse: 6-7</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Won’t you bring us back to life again so that your people can
rejoice in you? Show us your faithful love, Lord! Give us your salvation!” CEB<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My
daughter is good with plants. She will find a plant, someone has given up on
and set out on the curb thinking that it is done for. She will bring it in,
take care of it and with love, care, the right amount of Sun and water, she can
bring it back to life. In this Psalm we are that plant and we are asking God to
bring us back to life. We desire for God to show us the loving kindness, which
can only be found in and through God. We cry out for God’s faithfulness, and provision.
We need God to gives us what we need so we can live again, so we can be
restored to fullness, life and growth. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If
we choose to turn to God, God will turn to us. In fact, when we turn to God, we will
find God is already turning toward us, reaching out to us, abandoned, lost,
left to along the roadside by grief, hardship, pain or even just the overwhelming
struggle of day to day life. God will bring us home, put us in the window. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God will provide us with exactly what we need
to flourish and grow. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we choose to
turn to God in the midst of it all we will always find that God is there
already, giving us what we need to bring light in to the dark places of our
lives, redeeming the pain and sorrow we have experienced, restoring us so we
can flourish and grow again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Prayer
for Today</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lord
God, I am so tired. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes I feel
life has drained the life out of me. I am withered, sun scorched and dry. I am
come to you today, in all my hurt, in all my pain, with all my struggles, with
the monotony and dullness of this day, desiring the restoration on you can
bring. As I turn to you let me see you at work with your faithfulness, your
love, your care and your provision. Let me know your redemption and your
salvation. Let me grow again. Let me flourish in your light and your love. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">- Amen<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-14824654726507858352021-06-07T10:20:00.005-04:002021-06-07T10:20:31.903-04:00Mann for Today: Psalm 84<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-76s_pWKIiBScBudUC4t7VakqxUylBEuWZDycM4Z6NhCtjqxoStsSueeJi-TZldA6yxcmTb3cbveYGbgBjbvQpHVn_MzgvWxvEmIAfjkt7XEnyLm3wut6yuacVWa6cElT7hqQJj9iGToa/s685/manna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="685" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-76s_pWKIiBScBudUC4t7VakqxUylBEuWZDycM4Z6NhCtjqxoStsSueeJi-TZldA6yxcmTb3cbveYGbgBjbvQpHVn_MzgvWxvEmIAfjkt7XEnyLm3wut6yuacVWa6cElT7hqQJj9iGToa/s320/manna.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm 84:1-12</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Key Verse:
8</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Lord God of heavenly forces, hear my prayer; listen closely,
Jacob’s God!” CEB<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So
much of this Psalm has made it into hymn and song. Something in this particular
Psalm resonated with us on so many levels. How often have we prayed only to
feel as if we speak words that dissipate like smoke. We cry out in our hearts
and the words hit the ceiling and go no further. Even when we know God hears, there
is still something inside which cries out. God, listen closely! God is the God
of all things. God is mighty and powerful. God spoke all creation into
existence. All that is, is because of God. And that is the God to whom pray. That
is the God to whom we sing our praises, lift our petitions and to whom we cry
out. Knowing the God of unseen and heavenly forces is listening is daunting, awe-inspiring
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and humbling. So we ask for God to lean
in, to listen closely, to hear our prayer. Because what a powerful thing it is
to know God is listening; to know God hears; to know God understands. Whatever
your prayer today, pray it knowing God is listening. God hears you today. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Prayer
for Today</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lord God,
you are magnificent. You are wonderful and good. You give me hope when the
chaos is too much, when the pain and heartache threatens to over whelm. Your
love fills me. I know your forgiveness, your grace and your mercy. I am
thankful for all the ways your redemption is at work in my life and in this
world. There is so much I wish to bring to you. I lay out my heartache, my pain,
my hurt, my concerns for myself and those around me. I give it all to you. As I
pray, I cry out, hear me! Listen to me. Let me see, let me know that you are at
work in all of this. Let me know that you hear me, so that I might give praise
to you for all the ways you work your redemption in my life, in the lives of
those I love and in the world around me. -Amen<o:p></o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-12314375057046888952021-05-26T10:59:00.001-04:002021-05-26T10:59:06.524-04:00Manna for Today: Psalm 83<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmc0ixHAnzWx3OmJIgHkc2WSpD1LZlzYVU76JFGk7kcfW3RY8RwtV6CQmAntzwudHkZXNEm7kpWXBajbExJXW4H5AY6GT04kXbivbfkdPJfy86JNwsSZ2hmfFNqU1mc4HypAuWH-U6UkUG/s685/manna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="685" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmc0ixHAnzWx3OmJIgHkc2WSpD1LZlzYVU76JFGk7kcfW3RY8RwtV6CQmAntzwudHkZXNEm7kpWXBajbExJXW4H5AY6GT04kXbivbfkdPJfy86JNwsSZ2hmfFNqU1mc4HypAuWH-U6UkUG/s320/manna.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm
83:1-18</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Key Verse:
1</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“God, don’t be silent! Don’t be quiet or sit still, God,” CEB<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Come on God do something!
Do not be quiet. Do not sit still. Move! Be active. This is our cry in our
frustration, in our anguish. When are hurting. When things are not going our
way, we believe God is not working. We do not see how God could be at work
right now. When things are not right; when there is so much injustice in the
world around, when so many are sick and dying, when we look at the world and it
does not see righteousness at work in the world’s events or in the events of
our nation, then we want God to work, to do something. Why can we not hear God’s
voice right now? Why do we not see God’s love and justice at work in the world,
in our nation, in our own lives and the lives of those around us? God must not be
moving. God must be silent. So we cry out to God to move, to act, to speak.
Yet, God is at work, there is nothing on this earth which is outside the reach
of God. Even in the darkness, God is at work. Even when it seems there is
nothing but injustice and chaos, God is seeking to set things right and bring
order. God is at work. God is working. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet sometimes, it is only when we call out to
God to not be silent, to break the quietude, to move and act, that is when we
are best able to see the hand of God at work in the small ways God is moving.
When we call out for God to work, then we are often most able to see how God
can work in and through us. Even as God is always at work, it is never wrong to
ask God to work, so that we can see God’s work with new eyes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Prayer
for Today</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Oh Lord,
I cannot see you today. I cannot hear you. Where are you? Are you taking the
day off? Are you on mute? Speak loudly to me today, so I can hear you. Help me
to see you at work in the world around me. Allow me to see your grace, your love,
your righteousness where ever it is in the world around me. Show me who you are
today. Help me to see how I can enter into your work. Show me how I can be your
voice, and your action, allowing others to see and hear you today. -Amen<o:p></o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-16130902613638797522021-05-25T10:18:00.004-04:002021-05-25T10:18:53.182-04:00Manna for Today; Psalm 79<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijqF0_A8hGG9fn1xxtpr1bweHl3GP7IokyC8DQGVPncCjxVrlvPPhkyEYwKKh5aGNg6DDHSYrogonjKWwQ-oZFt7-lPOMVVM8lL4Ujr6f52fLFV2fdHu9YWLw5jP-pVFcB8zXKc2AC_bPY/s685/manna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="685" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijqF0_A8hGG9fn1xxtpr1bweHl3GP7IokyC8DQGVPncCjxVrlvPPhkyEYwKKh5aGNg6DDHSYrogonjKWwQ-oZFt7-lPOMVVM8lL4Ujr6f52fLFV2fdHu9YWLw5jP-pVFcB8zXKc2AC_bPY/s320/manna.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm
79:1-13</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Key Verse:
13</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“We are, after all, your people and the sheep of your very own
pasture. We will give you thanks forever; we will proclaim your praises from
one generation to the next.” CEB<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are times when we our
lives seemed filled with struggle. Sometimes it even seems as if all that is
evil in this world is working to bring chaos, hardship and pain into our lives.
All that is holy and good in our lives, in the world even, is over run by the
forces of evil. We wonder if there is any place left for the goodness of God.
Where is God’s hand of grace? Even when the darkness does not overwhelm, and is
limited to certain places in our lives, sometimes it is hard to see how the
goodness of God can ever come to bear on that particular situation, or in one area
of our lives. Even when we can not see God at work, even when we are unsure if
God’s grace and goodness have any bearing on a particular thing, we are still
God’s people. Even in the chaos, even in the darkness, even when God’s hand
does not seem to be at woek we can give praise to God, we can proclaim God’s
goodness, even when we do not see it at work. God is always good, God is always
at work. We are God’s and God’s righteousness, goodness, grace and justice are
always at work in the darkness bringing light, in the chaos creating order, amidst
the evil bringing justice, for this we can give praise to God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Prayer
for Today</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lord you are
bring light to the darkness. You mend what is broken, you make right was is corrupted
by sin and evil. There is chaos, there is sin, there is evil, there is death an
and there is destruction. None of those things will have the final word. These
things are but temporary and all that you are is eternally and you are
eternally at work to make all things right. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In all things, at all times you are good. Your
righteousness is at work and your justice is coming. I give glory to you for
all the ways I see and do not see you at work in my life and in this world. Amen<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-61375754300716534102021-05-05T09:32:00.002-04:002021-05-05T09:32:26.346-04:00Manna for Today: Psalm 78<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtaFZzelcrMIGKYtfRKGsqwgkriq9EUgOBAXXm2mZmVwfyg5k7BKh5_AAaiSgmcwj-He1gROLrr_nEc7k6iyQvSjXKDwpkeKDWmSog796sK_JjFsTdrw56l1gSD6x7g2d0VuBe1qz86XpU/s685/manna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="685" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtaFZzelcrMIGKYtfRKGsqwgkriq9EUgOBAXXm2mZmVwfyg5k7BKh5_AAaiSgmcwj-He1gROLrr_nEc7k6iyQvSjXKDwpkeKDWmSog796sK_JjFsTdrw56l1gSD6x7g2d0VuBe1qz86XpU/s320/manna.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm 78:1-77</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Key Verse:
1-2</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Listen, my people, to my teaching; tilt your ears toward the
words of my mouth. I will open my mouth with a proverb.” CEB<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We have before us today
Psalm which recounts the history of God with the people of Israel up until the reign
of David. It begins with an invitation to listen. In Romans Paul reminds us
that someone is unable to have faith unless they have heard. Faith cannot to
those who have not experienced Jesus for themselves, unless we share what God
has done. Those of us who have seen, who have heard, who have experienced the love
and grace of God ourselves must be willing to join the Psalmist in recounting what
we know for all those who will hear. We too must proclaim the goodness, the
greatness, the grace, the mercy and the forgiveness of God and live out its
truth in our lives. Let us be a voice like John the Baptist proclaiming the
goodness of gospel. And when we hear the truth proclaimed by others, such as the
Psalmist let us rejoice together in knowing we serve a good God who works with people
and draws people into true relationship. God desires to know us as we learn to know
God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Prayer
for Today</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">God of
grace and power, of mercy and love, help me to see you today. Help me to know
you in my life. Help me to see you at work I my life. Help me to hear the truth
of who you are as it is proclaimed by those who love you and have experienced you
at work. Let me join with them in their proclamation. Let me share the truth of
your character with my actions as well as my words. Amen<o:p></o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-89136525203684754132021-03-31T10:37:00.003-04:002021-03-31T10:37:29.008-04:00Manna for Today: Psalm 77<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7bc-1fcu6p0fDQMwriZWYm7wXrdDjY_k83z99bERqwpNwM8qxPbuwy8JmnPzrTNb8OeINBnfksJeUWBoDOzXC79rOg0vu7HoiBtvP_csl8eXeKaSMMzLzRrDyJ0Xp1gl7fUHKusXvv8s9/s685/manna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="685" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7bc-1fcu6p0fDQMwriZWYm7wXrdDjY_k83z99bERqwpNwM8qxPbuwy8JmnPzrTNb8OeINBnfksJeUWBoDOzXC79rOg0vu7HoiBtvP_csl8eXeKaSMMzLzRrDyJ0Xp1gl7fUHKusXvv8s9/s320/manna.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><b><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm 77:1-20</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Key Verse:
1-2</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I cry out loud to God—out loud to God so that he can hear me! During
the day when I’m in trouble I look for my Lord. At night my hands are still
outstretched and don’t grow numb; my whole being refuses to be comforted.” CEB<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When I am hurting, when I
am struggling, when the injustice, the pain, the chaos of the world around me is
more than I can bear, I turn to God. I cry, I weep, I wail, I rage, I scream.
And yet the injustice continues, the pain, still hurts, the struggle remains
real and in the midst of the storm I cannot find peace. There is no comfort. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It all goes on, and on and
on. We cry out with the Psalmist, “Will my Lord reject me forever? Will he
never be pleased again? Has his faithful love come to a complete end? Is his
promise over for future generations? Has God forgotten how to be gracious? Has
he angrily stopped up his compassion?” (vs 7-9). We want to cry out with Jesus
(quoting another Psalm), “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” Where is
God? Where is God’s graciousness, and compassion? Why is there no relief for
me, and for all those who suffer? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is hard to remember the
goodness of God, when we are surrounded by the pain and suffering which so
often fills our lives. It is hard to see the hand of God at work when the world
seems to be flooded with injustice. Yet God is at work. God is always at work,
bringing redemption to the darkest places and bringing order to the chaos
created by sin and evil in this world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even in amidst the flood we
can trust that God is at work. Even when we feel unheard, we can know God
hears. Do not give up, do not ever believe God has abandoned the work of
salvation at work in this world. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Things to
Think on</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Do you feel as if God hears
you when you cry out?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Have you ever grown weary
calling out to God? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Is it hard to trust God
when you see the death, the pain, the suffering, the injustice, the chaos in
the world around you? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Can you recount the times
when God’s faithfulness, goodness, and compassion have been see in your life or
in the lives of those around you?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even in your pain, can you
give praise to God for the things God has done, and trust that, even now, God
is at work to bring redemption to the pain and suffering that is currently
going on? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Prayer
for Today</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lord, you
are God, forever and for always. I see the suffering. I see evil at work. I
hurt. I am frightened. I know the chaos sin brings into this world. Every day, I
call out to you. I lay all the burdens me at your feet. I give you the pain,
the suffering, the hurt, the injustice. But it all goes on and on. Help me to
trust you even when I do not see you at work. I have seen you at work in the past.
Help me to look to your great deeds, so I can give you praise even now when I
feel unheard and I do not see my prayers being answered. Amen<o:p></o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-72751529280918676902021-03-29T15:31:00.003-04:002021-03-29T15:31:36.981-04:00Manna for Today: Psalm 75<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipdk-Cy6qL_vbKWcndYLE_0qI32AeMWKa6EqZQ-YJnYEBSyyM5keYVjgopedBCx_8RGFXmXHxwlOH9e4LYu0l5oqSUYg8jFbTWO9Ttj0_xisQwW96f6yLwH6_Fzsv1DuNmXOiRQq4-k-7C/s685/manna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="685" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipdk-Cy6qL_vbKWcndYLE_0qI32AeMWKa6EqZQ-YJnYEBSyyM5keYVjgopedBCx_8RGFXmXHxwlOH9e4LYu0l5oqSUYg8jFbTWO9Ttj0_xisQwW96f6yLwH6_Fzsv1DuNmXOiRQq4-k-7C/w320-h159/manna.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm
75:1-10</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Key Verse:
1</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“We thank you, O God! We
give thanks because you are near. People everywhere tell of your wonderful
deeds.” NLT<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This is the week in which
we take time to truly think and ponder on all that the Lord has done. We are
truly thankful for all the ways Jesus was obedient to God in all things. In
Jesus the life, death and resurrection of of Christ, God draws near to all
humanity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we ponder the last week of
Christ’s life we are not only remembering but proclaiming the wonderful deeds
of Christ in our world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Remembering all that Christ
did through the course of his final week here on earth, is a way of taking the
event of Jesus’ life seriously. Jesus moved toward the cross obediently,
trusting God in all things. When we remember the great and mighty things the
Lord God has done, allows us to better recognize the ways God moves in and
through our lives, so that we too can respond, as Christ did, in trusting
obedience. Let us as we move with Christ toward his cross, seek out ways we too
can speak of the wonderful deed of God, not only in the life of Christ but in
our lives. Let us use Christ’s example and be ready to follow God to all the
places God might lead. Let us trust, let us obey and let us see the great and
mighty ways God’s redemption is always at work even when the events of our
lives seem to be the bleakest or most terrible. God is able to bring redemption
to all things, just as God brought redemption through the life and death of
Christ. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Things to
Think on</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Take time today to pay attention
to the things God has done and is doing in your life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How does remembering the ways
God has worked move you toward obedience?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What are the events of the
last week of Jesus’ life?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In what ways
was Jesus faithful to God in his final days?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In what ways do the final
actions of Jesus help move you to obedience?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In what ways can you tell
of God’s wonderful deeds through Christ today and throughout the rest of this
week.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Prayer
for Today</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lord, as I
remember who Christ is and what he has done for me, let me sense your nearness
in my life this week. Draw close to me, as I draw close to you. Help me to not
only remember, but throughout this week, proclaim the goodness and redemption
of Christ in all I do, and in all I say. Help me to move in obedience and trust
as Christ did. Amen<o:p></o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-17718246194559347132021-02-16T12:21:00.002-05:002021-02-16T12:22:19.505-05:00Manna for Today: Psalm 74<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX6nFNnKJqUdWUIdMunz50Polyp60s0_og0mhy-Ukqf7GRHHeb5yFC5bcEt7BBDkfaOlWVvjqlEzpf0TPw5COXybJDm_VUFZQqv_jGCID0bJzVCqXjTiE3inQ7DqJutnXBCvD0rv51ec-Y/s685/manna.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="685" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX6nFNnKJqUdWUIdMunz50Polyp60s0_og0mhy-Ukqf7GRHHeb5yFC5bcEt7BBDkfaOlWVvjqlEzpf0TPw5COXybJDm_VUFZQqv_jGCID0bJzVCqXjTiE3inQ7DqJutnXBCvD0rv51ec-Y/s320/manna.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm
74:1-23</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Key
Verses: 21-22a</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Don't disappoint those in need or make them turn from you, but help the poor and homeless to shout your praises. Do something, God! Defend yourself." CEV</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is easy to blame God with
others turn away from God. Why does God not do anything? Why did God allow them
to become disheartened? Why did God allow them to lose faith!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But what are we doing to be
the hands and the feet of God when this happens? What fault are the people God
when those among us do not experience the love of God in and among the people of
God. We are God’s witnesses. We are the way most of those around us experience
the love, the goodness, and the kindness of God. When we do not live out the
character in our lives, others will not experience the character of God in us.
Even worse, we prove to be false witnesses, and when they see us as the people
of God and experience that which is not of God in us and at our hands, they are
experiencing God falsely in us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When the Church as the Body
of Christ acts in ways which are contradictory to the nature of Christ, we are not
only failing to be the body, but we are sharing lies about who Christ is to all
those who only know him and experience him in us and through us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why are people disappointed
in what God is doing? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why is God not
defending God’s self? Because those who are called to live out the character of
God in this world are failing to live in such a way, which speaks the truth, of
who God is. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Things to
Think on</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In what ways
are you disappointed with God? Are you disappointed with God or are you really disappointed
with the people of God?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In what
ways could you better “defend” God in the things you do and say today?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How would
the Church need to be different, for the poor and the homeless to praise God because
of what the Church is doing? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How can
you help that happen in your life? In what you do and what you say?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Prayer
for Today</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lord,
there are so many people disenchanted with you. And I know that they are really
disappointed in with your Church, and the things people who are speaking and
acting in your name are doing and saying. It is also easy to push the burden of
this false witness off on others; on those people over there. But reveal to me
in what ways I am a part of this problem. Show me how I can be better a truer witness
of who you are. Purify me, my words, my actions so that I can be a true witness
of who you are to those around me who are disenchanted with you and your
Church. Help me to live in such a way that all I do speaks truth about who you are.
Let do better and be better today. – Amen<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-18088767949725782862021-01-22T08:00:00.001-05:002021-01-22T08:00:05.765-05:00Manna for Today: Psalm 73<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmc0ixHAnzWx3OmJIgHkc2WSpD1LZlzYVU76JFGk7kcfW3RY8RwtV6CQmAntzwudHkZXNEm7kpWXBajbExJXW4H5AY6GT04kXbivbfkdPJfy86JNwsSZ2hmfFNqU1mc4HypAuWH-U6UkUG/s685/manna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="685" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmc0ixHAnzWx3OmJIgHkc2WSpD1LZlzYVU76JFGk7kcfW3RY8RwtV6CQmAntzwudHkZXNEm7kpWXBajbExJXW4H5AY6GT04kXbivbfkdPJfy86JNwsSZ2hmfFNqU1mc4HypAuWH-U6UkUG/s320/manna.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm 73:1-28</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Key Verses:
21-23</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Once I
was bitter and brokenhearted. I was stupid and ignorant, and I treated you as a
wild animal would. But I never really left you, and you hold my right hand.”
CEV<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is so hard to look
around at the world and see that evil people prosper. So many people who do
cruel unjust things, not only get away with doing them, but they prosper while
doing so. It seems their lives are better, and easier than mine. It is easy to
see the injustice and hatred all around and become broken hearted. And in our
anger, in our bitterness, in our frustration, take it out on God. When we see
the evil and corruption all around it would be easy to say, “God does not see.”
“God does not care.” “God does not move.” But in our anger, in our frustration,
in our pain, let us not turn away from God. Even as we yell at God, even as we
hurl our insults at God for God’s inability to do the things God should be
doing, let us continue to hold on to God’s hand, because God will not let go of
ours. Even as we come to God with our anger, our frustration, our hurt and our
pain, and hurl all that at God, accusing God of being blind, incapable of
moving, or asleep at the wheel, God will not let go of our hand. When we are frustrated
with the evil all around hold on to God’s hand, as God continue to hold ours; giving
us the strength, peace, and assurance which can only come from God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Things to
Think on</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Psalmist
speaks of almost stumbling and almost falling, in what ways have you almost
stumble and fallen recently?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When you
look around, how are your frustrated, angered, or dismayed by the things you
see?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What does
it mean to you to know God is holding your hand through it all?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Prayer
for Today</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">God, it
is not fair. It is not right. So much of what goes on in the world around me is
not as it should be. People are sick, people are dying. People are hurting, are
angry. Unjust people, just keep on being unjust. Evil people seem to be
prevailing. Their hatred infects the world around me. I don’t know what to do. I
cry out to you until my voice is hoarse but it all keeps on going on. There is
so much darkness, I am unsure if I will ever see the light again. Yet I hold on
to your hand. I cling on to your hand. Thank you for not letting me go. Even
when I rail at you, even when I am frustrated with you, help me to trust you
through it all. Never let me go – Amen </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-67431219906207708712021-01-21T11:45:00.001-05:002021-01-21T11:45:31.612-05:00Manna for Today: Psalm 72<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOEz9Jh4vn_tmFMDoJuv6ntsEuypKUTVlFq_9ikKDWxdoMxGjPaHBBnlPqHfcUO9uan-RV5HGFfoRddXC8O3GdSxTPh4b2CSlomJQprauV-JapsF3UIgNbDeJvPf-x-0MrBEN5s99q-0KE/s685/manna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="685" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOEz9Jh4vn_tmFMDoJuv6ntsEuypKUTVlFq_9ikKDWxdoMxGjPaHBBnlPqHfcUO9uan-RV5HGFfoRddXC8O3GdSxTPh4b2CSlomJQprauV-JapsF3UIgNbDeJvPf-x-0MrBEN5s99q-0KE/s320/manna.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm 72:1-20</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Key Verses:
1-4</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Please
help the king to be honest and fair just like you, our God. Let him be honest
and fair with all your people, especially the poor. Let peace and justice rule
every mountain and hill. Let the king defend the poor, rescue the homeless, and
crush everyone who hurts them.” CEV<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here in the US, as of yesterday
at noon, we have a new President. No matter what we think of our new president,
we can join with the Psalmist praying our president would be the kind of ruler
described here in this passage. The psalmist asked god to let the new king be God,
honest and fair, especially to the poor. Let there be peace and justice, let
him be a ruler who looks to the needs of the poor, the homeless and let all
those who hurt them be crushed. The psalmist does not ask for a king who looks out
for personal needs and desires, who adheres to the psalmist’s politics, but
instead asks for peace and justice, honesty and fairness, someone who looks out
for the homeless and the poor. And this the psalmist sees as a ruler who is
like God. I am not sure when we think of having a “Godly” ruler we usually
think of honesty, fairness, justice, peace, especially in regards to the poor,
the needy and the homeless. Yet this is how a Godly ruler is described here. The
psalmist asks God that their new king be like God in these ways. Later on in
the Psalm it says, “Only you can work miracles.” A ruler who leads and governs
as God is a miracle indeed, but yet this is what we pray for, this is what we
ask God for, knowing that only God can work such miracles. And this is a
miracle we all need, every person, every country, to have a leader who governs
with God’s honesty, fairness, who seek God’s justice and peace, and who defends
the poor, and rescues the homeless. This is who our God and this is the miracle
we desire for God to work in our nation. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Things to
Think on</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What would
it mean to truly have a leader who governs as God would govern?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Read the Psalm
again, what attribute of a godly ruler surprise you? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Pray for
our president (or the leader of your nation) this morning. Pray as the Psalmist
would pray <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Prayer
for Today</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Oh, God, I
know you are not a part of partisan politics. Everyone around me, including
myself have our own ideas of what a good leader for our nation would look like.
I have ideas of what policies that person would enact. I have opinions as to
whether our leader is good or fair or is the right person for the job. Let me turn
away from my ideologies, the policies of the political party I support. Let me
instead turn to you. Let me look to your character and instead of desiring the
person I want to rule the way I would wish for them to rule. Let me desire a
leader who is like you, in all ways. Better yet, instead of attempting to put
my trust in a leader, a political party or a political system, let me put my
trust in you. Let me look to you to perform miracles in me, in my life, and let
me trust you to perform miracles in the political system and in the hearts and
lives of those who govern. Let me not put my trust in them, but in you, knowing
you can work in and through them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– Amen </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-9925335761781632052021-01-13T08:00:00.001-05:002021-01-13T08:00:05.109-05:00Manna for Today: Psalm 71<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijqF0_A8hGG9fn1xxtpr1bweHl3GP7IokyC8DQGVPncCjxVrlvPPhkyEYwKKh5aGNg6DDHSYrogonjKWwQ-oZFt7-lPOMVVM8lL4Ujr6f52fLFV2fdHu9YWLw5jP-pVFcB8zXKc2AC_bPY/s685/manna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="685" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijqF0_A8hGG9fn1xxtpr1bweHl3GP7IokyC8DQGVPncCjxVrlvPPhkyEYwKKh5aGNg6DDHSYrogonjKWwQ-oZFt7-lPOMVVM8lL4Ujr6f52fLFV2fdHu9YWLw5jP-pVFcB8zXKc2AC_bPY/s320/manna.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm 71:1-24</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Key Verses:
14-15</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I will
never give up hope or stop praising you. All day long I will tell the wonderful
things you do to save your people. But you have done much more than I could
possibly know.” CEV<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even when the darkness is
great, I will never give up hope! Even when the chaos seems to rule, I will not
give up hope! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even when I am lost in the
confusion, I will not give up hope! Even when it seems, the people of God have
also turned away, put their hope, and trust in the powers of this world, even
still, I will not give up hope! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You are still the creator
of all life. The earth is yours and all that is it. You made the sun to rise.
You put all the billions of stars in their places and set all the solar systems
to spinning. It is all yours. You created it and created the laws by which they
all move. You spoke and creation came into being. You breathed your breath and
humanity came to be. We are yours. You are God in and through it all. My hope
is in you! And I give you the praise for all you have done. For it is more than
I can possibly know. God is at work, in creation, in the world, working to
accomplish the hard work of redemption. Even when it we cannot see it, we can
know God is at work and say, “I will never give up hope or stop praising.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Things to
Think on</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What does
it mean for you to find hope in God right now?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Have you
ever been tempted to give up hope? Why?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What does
it mean to praise God, even when hope is hard to find?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In what
ways is it difficult praise God when things are hard?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Prayer
for Today</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I find
hope in you. You are my hope and my salvation. I will hope in you today,
tomorrow, and in all the days to come. Even when all else fails, I will still
hope in you. Lord I continue to give you praise for all you are doing, all you
have done and all you will do. Help me to continue to find hope in you at all
times and to find ways to give you praise, each and every day. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– Amen </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-35006918572943822202021-01-12T08:00:00.001-05:002021-01-12T08:00:05.908-05:00Manna for Today: Psalm 70<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiByNqcZcM-A12KGmq17djiRA1i7yu1hBaz8e-06uFiPhXwth8dNA7N9ktRtdWQc60PQGQ-OEWLr3L3m5DLaViQklmMT3VSAAoTherAW8aal8wYPYVj-kQRRsXujJ1Ull9HbnGctvs_lfQy/s685/manna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="685" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiByNqcZcM-A12KGmq17djiRA1i7yu1hBaz8e-06uFiPhXwth8dNA7N9ktRtdWQc60PQGQ-OEWLr3L3m5DLaViQklmMT3VSAAoTherAW8aal8wYPYVj-kQRRsXujJ1Ull9HbnGctvs_lfQy/s320/manna.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt;">Psalm 70:1-8</span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 14pt;">Key
Verse: 1</span></b><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Save me,
Lord God! Hurry and help.” CEV<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Does it sometimes seem to
you as if God is not enough in a hurry when it comes to helping when you are in
need or hearing when you call out? God never seems to move as quickly as we
would like. Often times God does not even do the things we wish for God to do.
God does what is best, what is right. Even so, is God listening to what we are
saying; to what it is we tell God we need? And why is God so slow? But, God
does move. God does hear. God is at work doing what is best, what is right,
seeking to bring salvation and redemption. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even in our distress, even
as we are lacking, even as we are in need, we can say, Our God is wonderful.
God is at work, even when we cannot see God at work. God is good, most especially
when our lives seem to be awash in evil. Our God is love even when we are about
to drown in the hatred. God is the light in the darkness. God is the raft in
the sea of pain, which holds us and carries us to the shore. God is wonderful
and good in all things at all times. We can trust and rely on God. Always.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Things to
Think on</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In what
ways does God seem to be working too slow in your life?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Are there
things you know God is doing, or will do which you wish God would hurry up in
doing?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tell God
exactly in what ways you would like God to “hurry up”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(The psalmist does, we all should feel free
to do so as well)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In what
ways do you see and know the wonder of God? In what ways can you say, “God is wonderful”
today?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Prayer
for Today</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">God when
you say you are slow to anger, sometimes I think it is that you are just slow. You
are not fast enough for me. But, then I run ahead. I go on past you. I am in a
hurry, but I do not always know where we are going, or the way to get there.
When I am ahead of you, I run the risk of going the wrong way, becoming lost.
When I am ahead of you, I am not following you. I am not waking in your way,
going along your path. I know I want you to hurry up. I but even as I am
impatient help me to slow down. Help me to see you at work, to see your wonder
and say, “you are wonderful.” And know it. Help me to be patient, to wait on
you, to follow and lay down my desire to lead, to set the pace. Help me to follow,
to wait. To be a disciple. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– Amen </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-7192210492403963502021-01-11T08:57:00.002-05:002021-01-11T08:57:24.296-05:00Jesus Man of Mystery: The Reveal - Mark 1:4-11<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ebq8duDX3OCwAYwkkjQQweimcICT2tjtyvYK2xYI_qKKKB23i3OLe2JkqoI2B9SpIGZmtGmPzHf2dCuGTV4Bh4vdYQu2hhjjm26ThygpChl5P6Yc_i4xDElzNAcWZzxf0Pop_w-btuuK/s510/Jesus+Baptism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="510" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ebq8duDX3OCwAYwkkjQQweimcICT2tjtyvYK2xYI_qKKKB23i3OLe2JkqoI2B9SpIGZmtGmPzHf2dCuGTV4Bh4vdYQu2hhjjm26ThygpChl5P6Yc_i4xDElzNAcWZzxf0Pop_w-btuuK/s320/Jesus+Baptism.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-right: -4.5pt; tab-stops: 463.5pt; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Last week we heard about the nature of who
Jesus is from John who was the latest of the gospel writers; his recounting of
the events of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, was the final
one written. This week, we are looking at a passage, which is found at the
beginning of Mark; Mark’s gospel being the last one to have been written. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-right: -4.5pt; tab-stops: 463.5pt; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The Mark’s gospel begins like this, “The
beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ.” Mark in his book is attempting present
to all who will listen, who Jesus is, as well as the purpose of his life, his
teachings, his death and his resurrection. As the first gospel writer, he would
have been the first person to record accurately the events of Jesus’ life. John
is pulling back the curtain and revealing the man of mystery behind it, whom
he, as well as so many others, had come to know as the Messiah, the one and
only true Son of God, who was himself God. In many ways, Mark is saying, “So
here is Jesus. Perhaps we have all heard a little about him; rumors, snippet of
his sayings and teachings perhaps, the thing a friend of a friend of a friend
might tell you, but draw close, and I will tell you who he really is. I will
let you know the truth of the man behind the legend.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-right: -4.5pt; tab-stops: 463.5pt; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">As he begins his story, Mark almost
immediately moves into this passage here. The good news, the gospel, begins
with Jesus being baptized. And Jesus’ baptism begins with, John the Baptizer,
out in the desert, looking and acting like Elijah, crying out for the people of
Israel to prepare the way for the Lord, and proclaiming a baptism of repentance
for the forgiveness of sins. The implication being, by being baptized in this
way a person is making preparations for the coming of the Lord, which John is
declaring as imminent. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-right: -4.5pt; tab-stops: 463.5pt; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The baptism he is offering is a water
baptism, to be done for the forgiveness of sins. This baptism marks the preparation
the person wishes to make in their lives, through the repentance of sin. John’s
baptism is the outward sign of the person’s repentance, and confession of sin
and the marking of the inward work of God, in a person’s life through
forgiveness. John preaches, saying all those accepting and participating in
this baptism are preparing for the coming of the one who will come after him,
who is not merely another prophet to follow him, but who is one whom John is
not even worthy to untie the thong on his sandal. This One for whom they are
preparing, whom John is proclaiming, will come after him and will not baptize
with water, as John is baptizing, but will instead baptize with the power of the
Holy Spirit. With his words and his call, John is proclaiming the coming of the
Lord's messiah, and is calling for the people to make ready their hearts and
lives for him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-right: -4.5pt; tab-stops: 463.5pt; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Then, suddenly Jesus is there. Jesus
appears on the scene, and is baptized by John. “In those days Jesus came from
Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.” Mark has had an eight-verse
lead up and then, bam, one short sentence; Jesus is introduced, and comes to
John and is baptized. Out of all the Gospel writers, Mark is the one who gives
the briefest account of almost everything (if Marks spends more words on
something than Matthew or Luke you should slow down, and really pay attention
to what it is Mark is saying). Mark is not much on the details, or elaborating.
Mark will not give you two words when only one will do. So, in concise Markan
fashion, he presents the facts in their rawest and most concise form. Jesus arrives
on the scene, is baptized and then the Heavens are ripped open, from which the
voice comes declaring that this is the Son God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-right: -4.5pt; tab-stops: 463.5pt; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">But, since Mark’s telling of these events
are so concise I need to be careful not to just bowl on ahead and skip over what
is perhaps the most frequently asked question of any of the gospel accounts of
Jesus’ baptism, the question, “Why?” “Why does Jesus come to John to be
baptized?” “Why would Jesus participate in this baptism for the forgiveness of
sins?” “Why is Jesus being baptized when John is baptizing people to help
prepare them for the coming messiah, who is Jesus?” “Why does one who has no
sins to confess; who does not need to be forgiven; who all these others are being
baptized in preparation for, come and get baptized?” “Why does Jesus participate
in something which does all these things, he does not need to do?” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-right: -4.5pt; tab-stops: 463.5pt; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Let us begin to unravel this question by talking
about baptism. Baptism is an outward action serving as a sign of that which God
has and is doing inwardly in a person’s life. John baptized people who had
repented and had confessed their sins, and whom God forgave. Baptism was an
outward sign of the forgiveness God was giving the person inwardly, it was an
outward sign of the relationship God has with the person who is baptized.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-right: -4.5pt; tab-stops: 463.5pt; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">So what does it mean for Jesus to be baptized?
First, it is important to note, Jesus does not come to John to repent and
confess his sins. Mark says nothing of him doing this or needing to do this. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nor does he tell us God needed to forgive him
of anything. Jesus does not seem to be coming as a response to the message John
is giving. So, if baptism is an outward sign of something God is doing
inwardly. What then would God being doing inwardly in the life of Jesus here?
Baptism is a sign of the inward relationship a person has with God and the work
God is doing in their lives because of this relationship. In order for God to
begin to be at work, most people would first need to repent, confess, and then be
forgiven of their sins in order to be in right relationship with God, but we
have already noted Jesus has nothing for which he would need to repent, confess,
and be forgiven. He has lived a sinless life. He was already living in right
relationship with the Father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have
already established, it is not the baptism itself, which does anything, but it
is simply a sign of the grace of God at work inwardly in a person. The baptism
of Jesus is therefore an outward sign of the inward grace of God, for Jesus,
just as it is for any of us. The main difference being, Jesus is already experiencing,
close and personal relationship with God, the Father. His baptism is a sign of
his relationship with God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-right: -4.5pt; tab-stops: 463.5pt; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">After coming to this understanding, it is
interesting then to note what happens after Jesus is baptized. The Heavens are
torn open and the Spirit descends on him as a dove. Now, in modern
Christianity, the dove has come to be associated with the Spirit, because of
this event right here, but to John and any other who might have also witnessed
this event, they did not immediately think of the Spirit when they saw a dove.
The dove, for them would have been a symbol for the community of Israel. In effect,
the dove descending upon Jesus, told all those who observed Jesus was the
epitome of what it meant to be a member of the people of God, living in right
relationship with God. The dove would have been a symbolic way of indicating
Jesus is living the way, God desires for people to live. The dove is revealing
Jesus as the prototypical child of God, living in total obedience to God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-right: -4.5pt; tab-stops: 463.5pt; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Not only do we have the Holy Spirit in the
form of a dove descending upon Jesus, but there is also the voice of God, heard
speaking, revealing who Jesus is. The voice of God coming from the Heavens
saying, Jesus is not only the prime example of what it means to be living as a
member of God's people, but he is also God's beloved Son, AND in him God is
well pleased. What an amazing statement indeed! Even if we just take it at face
value, this is significant, but there is more going on here than we might be
able to see on the surface.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-right: -4.5pt; tab-stops: 463.5pt; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">In the ancient Middle East, they knew very
little about reproduction, that all that entailed, but they did know it was
possible for a person to be born of a woman, yet not belonging to the husband,
so every child had to be claimed as a legitimate child by their father. Therefore,
on the eighth day after a child was born the father would claim the child and
name the child. The father would stand before the members of the community and
say, "This is my beloved child," and then the father would name the
child.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-right: -4.5pt; tab-stops: 463.5pt; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">So Jesus is baptized, and as he comes up
out of the water, the heavens split open and the voice of God is heard claiming
Jesus as son. This moment is pregnant with so much meaning and so much
symbolism. It is a moment, in which we have this outward sign of Jesus’ inward
relationship with God. It is also a moment, which serves to proclaim Jesus as
the prime example of what it means for a person to live in right relationship
with God, setting Jesus, life and teachings up as the pattern for all to follow
from this time forward. Finally, it is a moment in which God claims Jesus as
beloved son, with whom God is pleased. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-right: -4.5pt; tab-stops: 463.5pt; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Jesus is standing in the river, the water
running down off his face and his bear, he is dripping having just come up out
of the water. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Spirit then comes descending
upon him in the form of a dove. Through his baptism, he is outwardly
proclaiming his inward and intimate relationship with God, the same
relationship God desires to have with each of us, and then God declares Jesus
to be beloved Son. Mark, through his brilliant conciseness, is saying so much,
while saying so very little.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-right: -4.5pt; tab-stops: 463.5pt; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Mark begins his gospel declaring, this is
the beginning of the good news. For Mark the beginning of the “good news, is
Jesus’ baptism. In the baptism, without Jesus saying a single word, the good
news begins to be proclaimed. With the baptism of Jesus, we have standing in
the water the very One who brings all of humanity into right relationship with
God. Jesus is the only human who has lived fully in right relationship with
God. As such, he is the proto-type of what it looks like truly to live a
Christian life. All others who desire to be a part of the people of God, are to
pattern their lives after him, using his actions, interactions, the way he
communicates with those around him and his teachings as the pattern on which to
pattern our own. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-right: -4.5pt; tab-stops: 463.5pt; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Before Jesus begins to live out that example,
without preaching a sermon or saying a word, through sign and act of God, his
true nature and purpose is revealed. Mark, who never minces words, or uses flowery
words, has recorded this, in straight and simple language, for us all to hear
and to understand, so the good news of the truth of the gospel can be revealed
to us, so our eyes can be opened and we can see who Jesus really is. We need
only to look at the sopping wet Jesus to see him revealed as the one who has
come to bring salvation to us all, so that we might all have the relationship
with the Father that he has.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-right: -4.5pt; tab-stops: 463.5pt; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The baptism of Jesus, an event which on the
surface seems so strange and unneeded, is an event which reveals to us, at the
beginning of Jesus ministry, the beginning of the proclamation of the good
news, exactly what Jesus is all about. His life, his death, his ministry here
on earth is all about standing in the gap, so we might live in total obedience
to God, so we too might know what it means to live, to really and truly live as
the people of God, full of the spirit of God and free of all sin. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-right: -4.5pt; tab-stops: 463.5pt; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Let us rejoice today! The Jesus who is and
was, has always been God, one with the Father (as we heard from the beginning
of John’s gospel last week), came to this earth, was baptized, ministered and
died, so we might all know God and live in perfect relationship with God, just
as Jesus did. Let all of us who have been baptized walk daily with God
remembering God is at work inwardly in all of our lives filling us with his grace,
allowing us to walk in right relationship with him. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -4.5pt; tab-stops: 463.5pt; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-71209137364443819782021-01-11T08:52:00.001-05:002021-01-11T08:52:09.613-05:00Manna for Today: Psalm 69<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq7p9977OYqjNdgAdola1pPV69v8UPMZNKCwwH2kX3g1ZImt_NLNVb8_rv_IdCQHtzHmnvWhlMo5SshPfxydfAj4Vm0BwkThyXd7sAlk6FFYQiXE30wVI2DCvMnlcVFPeKyb8p_HWCcrOh/s685/manna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="685" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq7p9977OYqjNdgAdola1pPV69v8UPMZNKCwwH2kX3g1ZImt_NLNVb8_rv_IdCQHtzHmnvWhlMo5SshPfxydfAj4Vm0BwkThyXd7sAlk6FFYQiXE30wVI2DCvMnlcVFPeKyb8p_HWCcrOh/s320/manna.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm 69:1-36</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Key
Verse: 1-2</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Save me,
God! I am about to drown. I am sinking deep in the mud, and my feet are
slipping. I am about to be swept under by a mighty flood. I am worn out from
crying, and my throat is dry. I have waited for you till my eyes are blurred.”
CEV<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Have you ever felt as if
you were just going to drown under the weight of it all? It is too much.
Everything weighs so heavily that you are unable to lift your feet to move in
one direction or another. Have you have cried so much there are no more tears
to be cried. Have you ever seen a babies sock, lost on a wet windy day, now
seen laying on the sidewalk having been baked in the summer sun? You see it and
you think to yourself that is how I feel. I was about to drown and now I am
dried out and lost to all good purposes. Have you ever called out to God and
called out to God and felt as if God was choosing not to hear your cries, does
not see your pain, your hurt? You are a drift at sea in the midst of the chaos
of your life, being carried away by the currents of the world around you. Soon
you will be crushed against the rocks. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are time when it is
all too much. There are times when God seems silent, when God feels far away,
when it is as if God cannot, does not, will not hear you and turns away from
seeing you. Even when God seems deaf, and dumb, unmoved and unseeing, we are to
give praise to God. Even in the midst of the chaos, the pain the sorrow, we can
see God at work in the world, in our lives, bringing beauty where there seems
to be nothing but ugliness, kindness when we are adrift in a sea of hatred,
redemption and salvation, when there seems to be nothing left which is can be
saved or redeemed. God is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>at work and worthy
of our worship and praise. Even today, in the midst of all that is going on in
each of our lives, in our country and our world. God is here at work, bringing
salvation and redemption. And today we give God the glory and the praise.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Things to
Think on</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What is
one place of beauty in your life today?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Can you bring
to mind one thing that made you smile yesterday?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thank God
for these things. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How is
God at work in your life today, yesterday? Can you see God’s work of redemption
and salvation in the world today? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When it
all seems too much do this, remember the goodness, think on the beauty and
thank God for these things.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Prayer
for Today</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am
drift today. I see chaos and destruction all around. I feel as if I might
drown. I look around and say, “It is too much.” Lord, I feel so far from your justice,
your righteousness, your goodness, your light. As I sit here sinking down,
down, down. Show let me see the ways you are at work. Let me see the flower
blooming in the dry and rocky place. Let me see the rainbow in the storm. Let
me see you at work today bringing redemption and salvation, in places I had not
yet thought to look. Let me find the strength to praise you today. Show me one
reason to give you glory, so that I might give you the adoration you deserve,
so I can be reminded in the midst of it all that you are and always remain a
good God. – Amen </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-63428015776407752402021-01-08T08:00:00.001-05:002021-01-08T08:00:20.274-05:00Manna for Today: Psalm 68<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-76s_pWKIiBScBudUC4t7VakqxUylBEuWZDycM4Z6NhCtjqxoStsSueeJi-TZldA6yxcmTb3cbveYGbgBjbvQpHVn_MzgvWxvEmIAfjkt7XEnyLm3wut6yuacVWa6cElT7hqQJj9iGToa/s685/manna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="685" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-76s_pWKIiBScBudUC4t7VakqxUylBEuWZDycM4Z6NhCtjqxoStsSueeJi-TZldA6yxcmTb3cbveYGbgBjbvQpHVn_MzgvWxvEmIAfjkt7XEnyLm3wut6yuacVWa6cElT7hqQJj9iGToa/s320/manna.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><b><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm 68:1-35</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Key
Verse: 1-2a </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Do
something, God! Scatter your hateful enemies. Make them turn and run. Scatter
them like smoke!,” CEV<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Do something! It seems too
often the enemies of God are winning. Chaos and turmoil have no end. Yet we
know the God of creation, who spoke order into the chaos of pre-creation, can
scatter them. They are like smoke without a fire, easily waved away and
dispersed. God is at work, even today. In the darkness, in the chaos, in the
unrest, in the turmoil, God is there, at work, and greatly to be praised. God
is the God of the downtrodden the forgotten, those whose very lives are run
over by the strong and the powerful God rescues the widow, releases the prisoner
and declares freedom. God is the God who leads us through the desert, making a
way for us, when there seemed to be no way. Our God is mighty and we can sing
praise to God in the midst of the chaos of our enemies. Even when it seems the
unrighteous will reign, God is still there, and worthy of our praise through it
all, in it all. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Things to
Think on</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In what
ways do you see enemies of God at work in your life? In the world?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Do you
ever become discouraged because of how sin, evil, and all that is contrary to
God seem to be always at work?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">God is
with the lost, the prisoner, the widow, the poor, the weak, how do you see God working
release, help, strength and freedom in the lives of those who are most vulnerable?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In what
ways do you feel vulnerable? How is God at work in your vulnerability? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How can
you praise God today in the midst of the chaos or your life and your world?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Prayer
for Today</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Somedays,
Oh Lord, it seems the darkness will win. It seems the hatred and evil of some
in our world is too great. I am at a loss. I cry out to you and am not always
sure how to pray. Yet, I know you are at work, I know your kingdom is not
powerless in this world. So I praise you for all you have done. I give you
praise for all you will do. And I seek to join you in your work to release the
captives, help the poor, the orphan the widow, and to bring freedom to all
those who are imprisoned. Show me how I can be<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>your child, joining you in your work. Let me follow you to all the place
you are and to do the work you are seeking to do, each and every day– Amen </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-1090594397473997562021-01-07T09:46:00.003-05:002021-01-07T09:47:48.727-05:00Manna for Today: Psalm 67<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIRMiZaLCYjImlL4lKLDnWPzPG2UVECNQ50tr_BbMZDUo5yAKDKa6Xg2WG7-lMUOCaGuYd-fqkoagXGQ4IfUrinj6AfU6TI06ICzEfyrxNfp97SEQf4-9DAhSaibVoFRUPLet-zbwoOtGK/s685/manna.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="685" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIRMiZaLCYjImlL4lKLDnWPzPG2UVECNQ50tr_BbMZDUo5yAKDKa6Xg2WG7-lMUOCaGuYd-fqkoagXGQ4IfUrinj6AfU6TI06ICzEfyrxNfp97SEQf4-9DAhSaibVoFRUPLet-zbwoOtGK/s320/manna.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm 67:1-7</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Key
Verse: 1 </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“May God
be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us,” NRSV<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The first verse of the Psalm
mirrors the beginning of a common benediction, which comes from Numbers 6:
24-26.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first time I heard it was at
my high school baccalaureate. It must have been given by the Episcopal priest, because
I associated it with Episcopalians before I came to realize that it was a
passage of scripture, which he prayed over us and with which he sent us out
into the world. For some reason the imagery of this benediction has captivated
me my whole life since. I love the idea of God’s face shining down one me like the
rays of the sun. When I lift my face to the sun I can feel God’s guidance and
know the paths down which God is leading me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The priest prayed this over us, sending us out into the world with God’s
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>light shining us, illuminating our
paths, giving us God’s peace and assurance that as long as we walked down the path
on which God took us, we were headed in the right direction. When I feel lost,
when I feel I have lost the way. I lift my face to the sun, and know God’s face
is shining on me and I open my eyes to the God’s way, that it might be revealed
to me and walk with assurance and peace in the ways God illuminates for me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Things to
Think on</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What does
it mean to you to know God’s face is shining upon you?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Can you
feel the warmth of God’s guidance today? If you don’t can you ask God to make
God’s face shine upon you so that you may see God’s way today?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What are
the things which help you see God’s path in your life? For me it is lifting my
face to the sun. What do you do, what can you do to help you focus on God, God’s
ways and the light God is giving to you to reveal to you the way God’s path
goes?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Look for
God’s way(s) in your life, today. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Find
the ways God is gently leading you and revealing to you where you should go and
what you should do.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Prayer
for Today</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today I
look to the sun, I lift my face to its light, feel the warmth of its rays.
Shine you face upon me this morning, like the sun on a bright day. Let your way
be made clear before me. In the same way the light of the Sun reveals all to me
the way along the street, may you light the ways I should go today. So that I
can be a person who walks in your ways; who lives out your character; who goes
where you would go; who does what you would do, and who speaks as you would
speak in all the places I am today, with all the people I with whom interact today.
– Amen </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-70274073157954698202021-01-06T07:30:00.001-05:002021-01-06T07:30:05.838-05:00Manna for Today: Psalm 66<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZKOnlbhUelECl7h6AeCQrdWOLt_huREycUDHfook7eyIihQNRvmNfjDS1H6wRMTCSnRUALaiYuEXKU2KfwyE0bFuk_g6CNwYH22ixpW8dQ0L8k86cq9MDai66v4TnC_CTdjEw5rnYbUt0/s685/manna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="685" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZKOnlbhUelECl7h6AeCQrdWOLt_huREycUDHfook7eyIihQNRvmNfjDS1H6wRMTCSnRUALaiYuEXKU2KfwyE0bFuk_g6CNwYH22ixpW8dQ0L8k86cq9MDai66v4TnC_CTdjEw5rnYbUt0/s320/manna.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm 66:1-20</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Key Verses:
5,16 </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Come and
see God’s deeds; his works for human beings are awesome: Come close and listen,
all you who honor God; I will tell you what God has done for me:” CEB<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Come and see!” This is
Jesus’s invitation to his disciples as he walked along the Sea of Galilee and
called them away from their families and their homes into a life following him.
“Come and see,” is the invitation of the Psalmist when describing the reasons
we have to “Shout joyfully to God,” or to “Sing praises to the glory of God’s
name!” We have so much to sing about, so many reasons to give praise to God.
There are so many beautiful things in this world, there is so much good that
comes into our lives. Even on the worst days, there are moments when the
goodness of God breaks into the pain, sorrow and chaos we regularly experience
in our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is when we are
struggling the most, when the pain is the hardest to bear, when the sorrow
threatens to overwhelm and the chaos overtakes all semblance of order that we
need to invite ourselves to “come and see.” To pay attention, to notice to,
recognize the ways God is moving in the world, in our lives and is working to
bring redemption to all that has gone so very wrong. This is also when we need
to turn to those around us and say, “Come close and listen,” or as it says in
the NIV, “Come and hear.” Not remaining silent as to the goodness of God but
inviting others to share in our wonder and our awe at all the ways, even in the
darkest times, we are able to see the ways God is at work in our lives, in the
lives of those around us, in the world and in all creation. Drawing others out
of the dark places they may be so together you can share in wonder of the goodness
of our God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Things to
Think on</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Where do
you see the beauty of God in the world around you today?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As you go
about your day, pay attention, take note. Write down at least three ways in
which you can see the beauty, the glory, the goodness of God at work around
you. Find a way to share those things with at least one other person today.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tell God
about what you have seen, what you have noticed. As much as we ask God to pay
attention to us, it is also good to let God know we are paying attention to
what God is doing and how God is working. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Prayer
for Today</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lord God,
I have awoken into a new day. It is perhaps not the best day. Surely, I have
had better, but already, I can see you at work in this day, in the beauty of
the world outside my window, in the love I have already felt from my family, in
joy I have experienced in small ways in the small things I have done. Thank you
for showing your glory in the mundane. Thank you for being a God who reaches
into my life with your grace, your beauty, your love and shows me the wonder of
your creation. You are an amazing, God help me to never be blind to how it is
you are present with me each day and help me to never be silent as to all you
have done, are doing and continue to do. “How awesome are your works!” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– Amen </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-91184212779195274472021-01-05T08:00:00.004-05:002021-01-05T08:00:00.287-05:00Manna for Today: Psalm 65<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP9b560TivbJs4q-7oOkq3ub6EKSO6Tpl2W9xx0XItNxHDJGlC1VSRAU2Y5VOvWIuKHx2Vb7ApY-lXbQ90MK-70Pz4yQ1yqPP8CnWSHUNbKTTOb9fdi0Q90dDzdolVmQmrHqaAzHaiNPRh/s685/manna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="685" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP9b560TivbJs4q-7oOkq3ub6EKSO6Tpl2W9xx0XItNxHDJGlC1VSRAU2Y5VOvWIuKHx2Vb7ApY-lXbQ90MK-70Pz4yQ1yqPP8CnWSHUNbKTTOb9fdi0Q90dDzdolVmQmrHqaAzHaiNPRh/s320/manna.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><b><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm 65:1-13</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Key Verses:
2-3 </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You
listen to prayer—and all living things come to you. When wrongdoings become too
much for me, you forgive our sins. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You listen to prayer.”
When you speak, God listens. What a profound thing to think, “God listens to me.”
The God who spoke and creation came into being. The God who set the universe in
motion, and gave breath to all humanity, listens when I speak. Why would God even
pay attention to me, to any of us? However, God does. Even as we fail, even as
we muck things up over and over again, we can go to God with our concerns, our
hurts, our pains. It is never too much for God. God does not become annoyed
with us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even when we fail, repeatedly,
we can come to God in our failings, in spite of our failings, because of our
failings and when the weight, the burden, of our wrongdoings is so great that
it is too much for us to bear, it is not too much for God to forgive. God
forgives and forgives and forgives. As many times as we get it wrong, if we
come to God, whenever we come to God, seeking to set things right, God sets
them right. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No matter what, every time; God
sees; God hears; God listens; God forgives.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Things to
Think on</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> What
does it mean to you to know God listens to you prayer? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Have you
ever wondered if God gets annoyed with the way we continually expect God to pay
attention to the things, which matter, to us?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Have your
wrong doings, your failings ever been too much for you? What did that feel
like? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Have you
ever thought that your failings, your wrongdoings, your sin was too much for
God?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Prayer
for Today</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">God, I
come to you so much. I come to you with the trivialities of my small existence.
I ask you over and over again to reform me, to help me to do better, to be the
person you want me to be, the person I should be. I fail in so many ways, all
the time. I am never you I believe you to want me to be. Sometimes I think it
must be too much. I am not the Christian, the person you are calling me to be.
Thank you for not giving up on me, for restoring me each and every time. Help
me to never take your forgiveness for granted, yet always stand in awe of your
love and your mercy and yet continue to seek it every day. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– Amen </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-77634144243372972622021-01-04T09:53:00.004-05:002021-01-04T09:53:31.297-05:00Manna for Today: Psalm 64<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiByNqcZcM-A12KGmq17djiRA1i7yu1hBaz8e-06uFiPhXwth8dNA7N9ktRtdWQc60PQGQ-OEWLr3L3m5DLaViQklmMT3VSAAoTherAW8aal8wYPYVj-kQRRsXujJ1Ull9HbnGctvs_lfQy/s685/manna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="685" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiByNqcZcM-A12KGmq17djiRA1i7yu1hBaz8e-06uFiPhXwth8dNA7N9ktRtdWQc60PQGQ-OEWLr3L3m5DLaViQklmMT3VSAAoTherAW8aal8wYPYVj-kQRRsXujJ1Ull9HbnGctvs_lfQy/s320/manna.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><b><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Psalm 64:1-10</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Key
Verse: 64:1</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hear my
voice, O God, in my complaint;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>preserve my life from the dread enemy.
(NRSV)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Listen to me, hear
my voice! This is our cry this morning. We all want to be heard. We all want to
know that someone, anyone is hearing us, is paying attention. Sometimes we are
not particular, we don’t care who is listening, who it is who hear us, as long
as there is someone out there who is. At other times we wish for a particular
person to hear us, our spouse, our children, our dearest friend. We need them
to hear us, to turn to us with advice, compassion, understanding. Being heard
by those here on earth is one thing, but to turn the ear of the Almighty, to
have the God of creation pay attention to the words we say, to hear our
complaint. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It is hard to
listen to my children when is seems they do nothing but complain. It is hard to
hear their complaints to hear the truth behind the complaining tone on a
mannerisms with which they approach me. Sometimes it seems all they do is
complain which makes it increasingly harder to hear them. God is not like me.
When we come to God with our complains, our concerns, even when we come like children,
whining and demanding. God can still hear the truth in our complaints. God can
hear through the inappropriate ways we might present our pleas. God is not
offending by the words we use, or the way we make our case. God can hear what
it is we mean, what it is we are attempting to say, even when our
communications skills are less than stellar and would not hold water with
anyone else. We can come to God, knowing God will listen, God will hear our
voices, and hear what it is we mean, what it is we need and will know the best
way to respond to our complaints, each and every time. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Things to
Think on</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> If
you knew God was listening (because God is) in what ways would you complain to
God?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Have you
ever just opened up to God without shame or hesitation and told God exactly
what you thought, exactly what you wanted?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Do you
ever worry about annoying or offending God?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If you
knew that you could say anything to God, using any words you pleased, in any
manner you pleased, what would you say to God today?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Prayer
for Today</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lord, God
I hold so much back. Even in my private prayers I speak to you as if someone is
listening; as if someone is taking notes; judging me on what I say to you, how
I say it. Teach me to open my mouth, and say what I mean to say. To complain to
you in whatever manner I see fit, knowing you will hear my voice; knowing my
words, my thoughts, my deepest concerns are not shameful, are not wrong, are
not inappropriate for you. Let me open my mouth and speak to you all the things
I long to say, knowing you are listening, knowing you hear because you are
here. Lord, hear my voice this morning. – Amen</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-74169524402651092382021-01-04T09:52:00.001-05:002021-01-04T09:52:48.806-05:00God with Us - John 1:1-18 - Sermon for the Second Sunday in Christmas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHcf0Ay3v6Y6NnRKE43bbCWQlIxuZky_X6CBr0hpbRoIzNBKqfu_t5f1d2dzyCUmFvJiCGQkuQsoOit_okr97l-GtXO4jfP5_grkx6v1CBHLQOA3H6y7grAi0xASEj3RL_DmtLm6brR5_u/s290/God+with+us.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="174" data-original-width="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHcf0Ay3v6Y6NnRKE43bbCWQlIxuZky_X6CBr0hpbRoIzNBKqfu_t5f1d2dzyCUmFvJiCGQkuQsoOit_okr97l-GtXO4jfP5_grkx6v1CBHLQOA3H6y7grAi0xASEj3RL_DmtLm6brR5_u/s0/God+with+us.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">There
has been so much lead up to our celebrating of Christmas, which here on the
second Sunday of Christmas we continue to celebrate. We have lit the candles of
our Advent wreath each week and even as we worship this morning, they all
remain lit as a reminder of the continuation of this season. It is Christmas
and it continues to be Christmas. Even as the world around us has gone on to
celebrate the New Year, with the stores already decked in pink and red as they
have moved on to Valentines, we continue to celebrate Christmas. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As
we all moved toward December 25th, and the world around began celebrating, we
as the people of God, slowed down and waited. Now as the world around us has already
moved on, we as people who orient our congregational life around a different
calendar, continue our celebration of Christmas. In so doing we speak against this
hurrying on to the next thing, and the market forces which move those around us
on. In tension with our culture’s “pre-emptive celebrations of Christmas that
begin in late November, we patiently waited until the conclusion of Advent and
THEN began to celebrate Christmas. In these weeks following this Holy day, we
remind ourselves by continuing to listen to and perhaps we even continue to sing
our Christmas hymns. It is my hope that in these days following the 25<sup>th</sup>,
you have continued to surround yourselves with carols of glory to the newborn
king, commemorating the woman with child, and the coming of Emanuel. We continue
to say “Merry Christmas,” and celebrate joy on earth. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A
week and a half ago, we listened to the birth narratives, of the Angel coming
to Mary, and to Joseph, the angels singing on the night of Christ’s birth. We
reminded ourselves of the true “reason for the season,” we reflected on the
birth of Jesus Christ in the little town of Bethlehem. So, is this season any
more than Jesus’ birthday? If not, then we may conclude our season with singing
Happy birthday to you, dear Jesus, don party hats, pull out some noise makers
and have a cake with “Happy Birthday Jesus” written on it and call it good. If
the birth of our savior is all we celebrated, then I would not go so far as to
say that the cake is a lie, but it is at least not the whole truth. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
reason behind this season of Christmas is indeed Christ’s birth, but it is more
than just a birthday. To come to a better understanding of what it is we are
celebrating, we turn their attention to the miracle of Jesus’ birth. Though this
is a miracle indeed, it is no greater thing for God to cause Mary to conceive
than it was for all the other women in the Old Testament who were barren and
unable, for a variety of reasons, to have children, until God intervened in the
natural order of things. We also turn our attention to the fact that this is
not just the birth of any King, but Jesus, the King of Kings. Even though this
too is to be celebrated, it still leaves us a bit short of what this Christmas
celebration truly is. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In
the weeks leading up to this Season, we were preparing ourselves by listening
to “O come, O come Emanuel.” Emanuel, being a title often given to Jesus, which
means “God with us.” Christmas is the most poignant remembrance there is of the
name “God with us.” God with us is the truth behind the incarnation, the birth
of Christ is God coming to be with us, to dwell with us. There can be no better
understanding of God dwelling with us than in the incarnation of Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It
is for this reason; we turn our attention to the Gospel of John this morning.
One of the core beliefs of the Christian faith is the nature of the person of
Jesus Christ. John writes, before all things were created, the Word was with
God and the Word was God. Before Jesus was born of a virgin, before the
prophets spoke of his coming, before the creation, the divine Son of God was
there. This is one of the greatest mysteries of the Christmas season.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">John
goes on to tell us “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” It
is in this statement we see most completely what this idea of Emanuel, of “God
with us,” of what the incarnation is. The One, who is God, becomes flesh. This
is the mystery, the messiah is fully God, and yet came into this world, fully
human, as a small and fragile baby. The Christ child is a paradox in himself. In
this child, we see the divine Son of God, co-equal with the Father who
rightfully sits on the throne of heaven, and is also a tiny baby who lies in a
humble manger. God becomes flesh, is born, and we like the shepherds, revere
this God-child, this divine-human; understanding only a little of what we see. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">However,
the meaning of why we celebrate this day is not wrapped up completely in just
the birth. We celebrate his birth, his life, his mission, his work, and even
his death and resurrection. Christmas is the beginning of a chapter, and it is
one, which covers all of who Jesus is. Our redemption, our savior, our God, is
a child whose cradle means little without his ministry, his cross, and his
empty tomb. Today we continue to celebrate the glorious fact that we do not
have a God, who sits forever above us, over us, separate from us in all things
and in all ways. We do not have a God that will remain idly by, allowing humanity
to parish in its own folly. Our God is active. No, even better than that, our
God is interactive. Our God speaks and sends; moves and works, on our behalf. We
celebrate God’s love for us, which is so deep that God would be born, and live
among us and would suffer with us, would die for us, and be raised before us. All
for us, for our salvation and redemption, so that God might be united to us, so
that we might be united with God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
incarnation revealed in this passage this morning, as the purpose of the birth,
allows this season to be so much bigger so much deeper and so much more
profound than honoring the birth of our messiah. Christmas is not simply the
celebration of a birthday, it is the celebration of the moment when the eternal
God of creation stepped into finitude and dwelt among us. It is the celebration
of the moment when heaven and earth were changed forever because a child was
born and that child was God in all ways it means to be God and yet was human in
all that it means to be human. It is a celebration our minds cannot completely comprehend.
What does it mean for one person to be 100% God and a 100% human, defying
mathematics and nature, as we know it, simultaneously? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the most holy of divine mysteries, which
we, in our ignorance grasp ahold of, rejoice because of, in all its holy paradox,
and celebrate because it changes everything and it changes everything for us.
God broke the laws of nature, physics and mathematics to restore relationship
with us, to bring us the salvation we needed, and to redeem the brokenness
humanity brought into creation. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In
this season, we look to this chapter at the beginning of John’s gospel, as it
gives us hope for who God is in Christ and who we can be because of Jesus. It
gives joy for what God is doing for us and among us. It brings peace in the
wake of God’s word and deed. The beginning of the Gospel of John speaks to the
love of God for us. Christmas is when we behold this child in wonder, in
thanksgiving, and in awe. In this season, we commemorate not just Jesus’ birth,
but also his incarnation. We celebrate who Christ is, and remember what he does
for us. It is a season of wonder as the cradle overshadows the cross and empty
tomb.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-61484988026854756852020-12-20T22:05:00.001-05:002020-12-20T22:05:49.573-05:00Where We Belong: The Place of Rest<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0_zSEG65oQAndrEA8HZdqKJPRL79Z2bpM4llLV5khhOvdFkybm5mCYn7hdwmC6fSP-BU-_B9C6y9MW-AINsSKofGcQSVViMC-FvpBlY_7I0IHG6c4ASD77iLoA7kiFiMjYIyZEQnCL8KL/s240/place+of+rest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="160" data-original-width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0_zSEG65oQAndrEA8HZdqKJPRL79Z2bpM4llLV5khhOvdFkybm5mCYn7hdwmC6fSP-BU-_B9C6y9MW-AINsSKofGcQSVViMC-FvpBlY_7I0IHG6c4ASD77iLoA7kiFiMjYIyZEQnCL8KL/s0/place+of+rest.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">2
Samuel 7:1-11, 16 (Luke 1:26-38)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">When
Mike and I were in Romania we had the privilege to be able to get to spend one
night in a Pele</span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">ș</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">
Palace, well the carriage house. It was the last castle built in Romania having
been begun at the end of the 1800s. It is a picturesque castle whose façade is
often used in TV and Movies when they want to make an idyllic palace as their
setting. I often tease Mike saying that had we eloped while we were in Romania
we could have stayed in a Palace for our honeymoon. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Pele</span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">ș</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> was built to be the home
of King Carol I. This palace like so many others was built to be a reflection
of the King and the Kingdom he rules. Palaces are often symbols of the values
and culture of a nation. When Pele</span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">ș</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> was built it was the first palace anywhere
to be completely powered by electricity (in fact the King had built a separate a
power plant just to power the Palace and the surrounding buildings). Pele</span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">ș</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> being completely powered
by electricity was a matter of national pride, and was a symbol of the King
leading the Romanian people into the future. It brought Romania in to the
modern age and secured them a place of belonging in the future as a stable nation.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It
is a common idea that a king’s palace is a reflection of the nation and its
people. A king with no palace at all would be seen as a weak king. It would be
a signal to the surrounding nations that these people were a people who could
be easily conquered. Most kings palaces are symbols to their people and are
reflection to the world of the king’s power and authority<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This
is the thought process of David as he built his palace. He needed a palace to
join the people of Israel together as a kingdom and to present to the nations
around them that Israel was indeed a legitimate nation whom they could not
bully. So once he has established Israel, he immediately begins by building a
palace for himself, for the people and for the security of the nation. . David’s
palace by providing a home and a place for their King to belong, gave the
people of Israel stability and showed the world around them that they belonged
here. This was their land, this was their home. As a people, it tied them to
this place. They would not be easily chased from the place they belonged.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Once
he has finished his palace, he looks around him and sees how far God has
brought him, after all when God “found” him he was a boy in the countryside
watching sheep. He was so much of “a nobody,” his father had not even bothered
to ask him to come in from the field when the prophet asked to see all his
father’s sons. He is grateful to God. He wants to show God that he is grateful.
He sees how God has blessed him. He sees himself surrounded by all the
trappings of a King and he can look out of his palace and see the little tent in
which God “lives.” The same tent the Israelites carted around the dessert. The
same tent that crossed the Jordan river with them. The same tent which has been
God’s house since they arrived in the promised land and it looked mighty
pitiful next to David’s fine palace. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This
makes David want to build a place where God can belong among the people, a
palace where God can dwell, a home for God. He wants to give God what he has.
He has found rest, perhaps he should not rest until God also has a place to
rest. David wants to give God what he would want if he was in God’s position. He
wants to give God a house that befits the God of the universe. He wants to
build God a proper place to dwell among the people, so God knows that he is
grateful for all which God has done for him. He wants to build a temple where
God could belong which would befitting of the God of the universe, so the
nations around them will know that their God is the one and only living God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">God
says, “No.” God says, “I don’t need a house.” Later the prophet Haggai will run
up against the opposite problem, where God got upset with the people for
waiting 18 years to rebuild the temple after Cyrus told them they could. In
Haggai the problem was they spent time building their own houses while God’s
house stood in ashes. But here at this time, God does not want David to build God
a house, the tent is just fine. The temple can wait. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What
God does want David to do? Right now? David has been busy, setting up the
kingdom, expanding its borders, winning peace for the people and now that David
has a place where he belongs, God wants David to be still for a while, to rest
in the home he now has, to enjoy the place and be at peace in the place he
belongs. David has done much work to bring the nation to the place it is right
now, but now is the time for rest. From almost the moment David had been plucked
out of his rural shepherding life, chosen, by God, through the prophet, to be
the next King of God’s people, David’s life has been in chaos. When he was not a
warrior fighting in Saul’s wars, he was in conflict with Saul either directly
or indirectly and then even once he had gained the throne he had almost
continually been at war with one nation or another defending and expanding the
borders of the nation, until now they were finally at peace with all the
nations around them. God had given David rest from all his enemies. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Now
is not the time for building, or the time for more laborious work. Now is the
time to be still, to be in one place. Now is the time for rest. Instead of
building a house for God, God wants to take this time to build David’s house
for him. David has been very busy, his life has been exhausting up until this
point. Right now God want to allow David to rest for a bit, let God do some of
the heavy lifting. Rest, relax. God can handle this, enjoy this time of peace.
God will take this time to build up you and your house. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Calling
for David to be still and rest, does not mean God does not have plans for
David. Calling for David to rest does not mean God is finished with David. God wants
David to be a good Godly king. God wants David to rule God’s people the way
they should be ruled. God wants David to be the kind of great king who will be
praised throughout the generations, you know the kind of king David continues to
be known to have been. putting God first, and the people’s needs and wants
ahead of something God does not really “need” anyway, is not what God wants for
David or the nation right now. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">God
wants David to be the “father” of the King of Kings. God has plans for David,
they just don’t include building a temple. God has big plans for David. David
will be the “father king” of this nation. He will be regarded as the finest king
they will ever have. God is still at work with and through David, but God does
not want David to build a temple, instead God wants David to take this time to
be still and rest.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In
the Gospel passage this morning we encounter Mary. Mary is just a girl, she is somewhere
between the ages of 13-16. By all modern standards she is not even a grown
woman at this time. But she is kind of amazing. Even at her young age, she is
faithful and is ready to listen to God. How many of us, full grown adults, are
ready to listen to God and has the kind of faith Mary exhibits here in this
passage. Who among us, even at whatever age we are right now, is ready to allow
God to work in our lives the way that Mary allowed God to work in hers? God
tells her that she will have a baby (the Messiah). And she does not even seem
to skip a beat. She like, “Oh, wow, ok.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Can
you think about a teenaged girl? Can you imagine how she must have felt in the
moment she realized what was going on? Can you think about how her stomach must
just fall right out of her, how sick she must feel in that moment (perhaps
literally as well as figuratively), how scared she must be? What will she do?
What does she need to do first? She realizes first things first, I have to go
get a test.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So
here is this young lady, sitting there waiting for the test to do its thing. We
can imagine those long minutes as she waits. Then she sees that second little
blue line that says so much while being so silent. We can imagine her fear and
her anxiety. So many young girls who find out this news are alone and scared
when they find out. Then there is young Mary, Mary doesn’t find out from an impersonal
test, she finds out from the angel of God, but I am sure some of the same
feelings had to be brewing inside her; the anxiety, the fear. She was human after
all, and she was still very young.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Now,
of course finding out from a messenger from God is the ultimate way to find out.
The angel has already told her not to be afraid. He has already told her that
she is favored by God. Then he tells her that she will conceive and bear a
child. She asks a few obvious questions and then just accepts God’s plan for
her life. She says, “Let it be for me as you say.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Not
my response:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>my response would be. Umm,
God, I don’t think this is a good idea. I don’t think people are going to buy
the whole virgin birth thing. I am not sure this is a very good plan. Can I
think this over and get back to you. I am not quite so sure I am the right
person for this job. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">No,
Mary says, “Let it be for me as you have said.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>????? What a humble response! What an obedient response! What an
absolutely amazing response. If only I could be more like Mary!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If only all of us could be just a tiny bit
more like Mary!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Sometimes
we have great amazing plans. They are plans to do work for God, plans for the
betterment of the kingdom, they are good plans. But sometimes God says, no, and
calls for us to be still, for us to just rest. To sit back and let God do some
work for a while. This kind of message to God does not usually sit well with
us. We are a go, go, go, get it done kind of people. We always have a goal
toward which we are striving. We always have somewhere we need to be. There is
always a project we want to complete. We live in a culture in which we define
ourselves by what we do. We actually take pride in being tired and overworked. It
is a badge of honor to never rest, to be so busy you don’t have time for
yourself. We live in a culture which sees nothing wrong with having to work
60-80 hour work weeks. So to hear a passage where God says,” no, don’t do this
thing for me, even though it is a good thing, rest instead,” is almost complete
and utter nonsense to us. We are not a people who rest, who relax, who like sit
down in peace. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">At
this time of the year we, as a congregation, following Christmas we would
usually move into what we call Sabbath month; a month in which we par back our
congregational activities and slow down following the busy season of Advent. It
is a time for us to remember God’s call for us to rest, a reminder that scripture
tell us both Jesus while he walked this earth, as well as God following the
creation, rested and that we too are to find time, days, and seasons in which
to rest. Time for us to let God be in control and to listen intently to God’s
voice. As I look at this passage this week, I cannot help but think this would
be a great message for the beginning of Sabbath month. But this year Sabbath
month seems to be a little redundant as we have already cut down our activities
as a congregation during Corona times and are once again moving back to an all online
format, as we wait out these colder months for the vaccine. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Yet,
even though this would be a perfect sermon to move us toward Sabbath month, it is
probably also a good message for us all right now anyway. These past nine
months have been exhausting. As a nation and as a world we have been fighting a
pandemic. We have to wear masks anytime we leave the confines of our home, which
is not as often as often as we used to. We work from home, while our children are
schooled from home. All this is tiring even though we don’t go very many places
anymore. We go to the grocery store, to necessary appointments, we may have travelled
during the summer when the weather was warm and the cases were down, but not
now. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As
the cases have gone up, we all realize it is not the best choice to travel to
all the places we might at this time of year. So we continue to stay at home
and are getting just a bit antsy. We want to do something, something other than
just being at home all the time. Wouldn’t a trip to go see relatives, be nice?
Can’t we go somewhere, do something, anything? And the voice of God in this
passage comes to us as God speaks to David saying, “No, not right now.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Right
now is the time to rest. We may have taken time to venture to other places this
past Summer when the weather was warm and the more humid conditions slowed the
virus down and made it harder to pass from person to person. But the virus
thrives in this cold dry season and now it is the time to stay put. We have the
peace which comes with knowing the vaccine is coming but right now we need to
rest; to be still, to slow down. We need to stop for a little while and catch
our breath. And trust God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Stopping,
resting, relaxing, being still is about trusting God. I really think our antsy-ness
right now, our need to go somewhere, do something, something fun, something
else, is a byproduct of our inability to be still, to step back, take our hands
off the plow and rest. It is a symptom of our continual desire to be in
control. Doing all the things is a by-product of our need to always be in
control. When we can’t do something, we want to go somewhere, when we can’t go
somewhere, we really don’t know what to do with ourselves and we feel out of
control. Most of us are conditioned to think, if we aren’t getting things done,
then nothing will be done. If we are not working, if we are not striving, if we
are not doing, if we are not go, go, going all the time, then what needs to
happen will not happen. We do not know the good in being still, in resting. We
do not know how to trust God to do some of the work which needs to be done.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I
know we all had plans, we had great plans. But right now, we can’t do those
plans. They are not the right plans for right now, they are for another time,
another year. Right now they are not God’s plans. They are our plans. That does
not mean God does not have plans for us, great, amazing plans but they may not be
the plans we had wanted or hoped for. For right now, we need to set aside our go,
go, go plans, and our need to keep moving and our desire to go somewhere. Right
now is the time to rest and let God do what God needs to do right now, to
relinquish our need to be in control. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It
is time to give over the control we want to have in and over our lives and give
it to God. In many ways we need to let God be God. We can’t make plans for God,
we have to allow God to make plans for us, even if those plans are for us to be
still, to rest, to take this time to slow down and listen to God. Perhaps the
things we are wanting to do are fine things to do, greats things which were for
the furtherance of the Kingdom, but whatever it is we wanted to do, if it is
not what God wants us to do, it is the wrong thing to do. Right now is the time
to slow down, to rest, to stop, to be still. Right now is the time to stop, to
be still, to wait, and to listen. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
often we are so busy, busy busy, we are making the plans, giving the directions.
Perhaps right now is the time to allow God to do the work God needs to do and
to allow God to direct our plans; allow God to make the plans to give the
directions. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">When
we are resting, when we are still, and we are able to better listen. When we are
listening, that is when we are able to actually listen, we are able to hear what
it is God wants from us, what God needs from us. Sometimes it is not simply
that God has “other” plans. It is not simply that our plans are different than
God’s plans. Perhaps God’s plans for us are so completely amazing that we would
never have thought about it on our own because God’s plans would blow our minds
– like with the plans God had for Mary. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Now
wouldn’t that be cool, to get to be Mary. Sometimes, sometime we get to be like
Mary and what God is calling us to do is so beyond our grasp of understanding
that we would never think of doing those things ourselves. Sometimes the plans
that God is giving us sound crazy and scary and absolutely unobtainable. But they
are God’s plans. They are the plans that God is putting before us and we need
to respond obediently, as Mary did. We need to say, “Let it be for me as you
have said.” But first we need to be still enough to listen. First we need to
rest. To allow God to do what God needs to do, so that we are ready to do what we
need to do, so we are rested, rejuvenated, relaxed enough, have learned enough to
trust God that we can, are able to say, “Let it be for me as you have said.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-73944685411729752922020-12-12T08:22:00.000-05:002020-12-12T08:22:04.338-05:00Where We Belong: Salvation is Coming!<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxPxi6g_KG-79M_6mj4ZJ7QOXu_I51Rc3NKdI18sVm1A1oqkpPfibzMDmYV6xbWerdugOLofB6xHTQH0wIkNWKY87wseX7VzM1j3tjzu11n2JbHD4xZvYrDQOsyohwMp8WHnzibAx_LvTL/s1500/light-of-the-world.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxPxi6g_KG-79M_6mj4ZJ7QOXu_I51Rc3NKdI18sVm1A1oqkpPfibzMDmYV6xbWerdugOLofB6xHTQH0wIkNWKY87wseX7VzM1j3tjzu11n2JbHD4xZvYrDQOsyohwMp8WHnzibAx_LvTL/s320/light-of-the-world.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Isaiah 61:1-11<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As
our days grow shorter and our night grow longer, and the darkness around us
grows, literally, as we approach the Winter solstice on Jan 21<sup>st</sup> and
figuratively, as the numbers of COVID cases grows daily, the death rate climbs,
our governor has rolled back which step in which phase we are in, and we have as
a congregation made the tough decision to move our services back online in two
weeks’ time. A person we know can’t get needed a surgery, because the hospital
says they do not have beds for non-COVID patients. Another friend of mine had a
surgery moved up to this week, so that she does not face this same problem when
the surgery was originally scheduled for early next year. There are more fires
in California. There continue to be refugee children lost in our system too
young to tell us who their parents are. Injustices in our world continue to
mount, and yet another black man was shot dead entering his own house bringing
sandwiches home to his family. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Then
on top of the national and international crises, each of us go home to our own
struggles, the crises we are facing within our own families, and within
ourselves. The darkness is deep, the darkness is thick and it seems to only envelop
and surround us covering us with a thick blanket, like an ongoing winter snowstorm.
I know this is not the darkest period of time which has ever been, it is not
even the darkest it has been this century, but that knowledge does not change
that this is the part of the journey on which we all find ourselves right now,
is dark. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As
we look at the world around us, we look around knowing this is not the world to
which we belong. We are immersed in darkness and we are children of the light.
This is the deep of winter and we are spring and summer people, just as
assuredly as we are Resurrection and Pentecost people. This is a cold cruel
world and we belong to a world of love and warmth. We do not belong here. We do
not live here. For now we make our home here, but it is not a permanent home it
is temporary and even as we settle in this place, in this time, for now, we are
people of longing, who are continually looking to the horizon for the dawning
light that will show us where our home truly is. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">But
for now, in this time, we find ourselves in the darkness. It is as we face this
darkness that we come to the word of the prophet, this morning, as he continues
to speak into the darkness the people of God living in exile were experiencing.
It is into this darkness, God, through the words of the prophet, plants a dream
of a world made right, a world where the oppressed are set free, where fears
are assuaged, people are fed and clothed, and have a home, each person is
treated with dignity and respect no matter who they are, what they believe, or
their ethnic origin, where we are all healed from that ails us, where peace
reigns in our lives, in our homes, in our nations and within ourselves and all those
captured and enslaved in systems of injustice are released. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We
stand in our dark place in this world, surrounded by the darkness of the unjust
systems at work in our culture, and in our country, we are enveloped in the
darkness created by COVID, hospitals full of people on ventilators, by friends,
relatives, co-workers sick, or dying. The darkness is so thick, so deep, that
we hold our breath, as if we are underwater. It in is this darkness in this world
in which we are exiled one from another, exiled from the touch of others, from
hugs, from handshakes from the cheerful smiles of strangers we pass on the
street or our grocery store clerk. And in this place we listen and hear this
message of freedom, of release, of liberty, justice and comfort. And long for
it to be true in our world, in our homes, in our neighborhoods and in our
lives, today. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Oh,
Lord God, Yes!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Bring
your goodness to us this morning!” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Bind
up our broken hearts! Liberate us! Set us free!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Proclaim
to us a new year! We are finished with 2020; give us the year of the Lord’s
favor!” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Comfort
us!” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Raise
us up out of our devastations! Build up the ruins of our lives, of the world
which has been demolished since March.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Lord,
let us see your glory!” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Come
Lord, Jesus come!” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And
even as we cry out, do we truly know for what it is we are crying out? What
would it mean for the Year of God’s favor to be upon us? What would it truly
mean for us, for our world for Christ’s reign to be made manifest all around
us? What we are ultimately calling for is God’s justice; for God to come and
set all things right, for all that is wrong to be corrected, and all who
perpetuate that wrong to face the consequences of their misdeeds. Do we really
want all the wrongs to be set right? What about the wrongs from which we
benefit? What about the wrongs in which we participate? What would God’s
justice flooding this world, our cities, our neighborhoods and each of our
lives truly look like? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We
all like the idea of justice in our world. But when someone stands up and
attempts to do something about it, the reaction is a little less than the celebratory
jubilation one would expect. We all want to be treated fairly, we all want
there to be no suffering in the world. We want children to live “childlike”
lives. We want people to be fed, clothed and housed. We do not want anyone
living in slavery. We want everyone to have the “American dream.” We want no
one to contract COVID much less suffer or die because of it. As long as them
being able to do so does not affect me, as long as I don’t have to do anything
I don’t want to do to make that happen and it does not cause me to have to
change my way of living. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Most
of us like the idea of justice. We like the idea of a world where everyone is
treated fairly, where we all get what “we have worked for,” where our work is
valued and the payment we receive for it is just and fair, will put food on our
tables, roofs above our heads and get us the medical care we need when we are
ailing, where everyone’s needs are met, where nobody is mistreated, or
marginalized, enslaved, or killed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We
all desire justice, but have you ever looked at the lives of people who have worked
for justice in our world. Can you quickly in your head put together a list of
people you have heard about who worked for bring justice, equality, peace to
this world?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You got a list?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How well did their lives go?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their biographies go like this right. “So-N-So
fought for justice and when that justice was made complete, lived a peaceful
life and died at a ripe old age surrounded children, and grandchildren and
people who loved and cared about them.” No.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dr. King had a dream of justice and equality
and they killed him. Gandhi fought for independence for the Indian people and
they killed him. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, yeah they killed him too. I am sure there
are people on your list, and my guess is for the vast majority of them, because
of their work and their efforts to bring the kind justice to the world, which
God is seeking in this passage, things did not turn out too well for them
either.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus
stood up in the synagogue one morning and simply read this passage; a passage in
which God declares justice will be and he was nearly thrown off a cliff (not to
mention that whole crucifixion thing that happened three years later). Mary
quoted it in her song about her unborn son, and her virtue was questioned.
Still not the response one would expect. We all <b>want</b> justice; we just
don’t treat those who are seeking it, very well.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
problem is, even though most of us are pretty good people, we live in a world
where the systems of injustice are the poisoned waters in which we swim. Even
when they do not wholly benefit us, we have acclimated to them, the poison does
not bother us, perhaps we are immune to it and are completely unaffected by it.
We have learned to survive. We may, without our knowledge be benefiting from
the way things are. We are aware of the poison, but we are not willing to
actually do anything to remove the poison. We may feel powerless, unable to do
anything about it. We may even realize that if the poison was removed we would
be worse off. The adaptations we have made, unintentionally, would made would
be superfluous. We would lose the benefits we are experiencing. We really do
not know how to live in un-poisoned waters. We would have to completely change
how we live. It would be hard for us to adapt. And so when we are faced with
the reality of what that justice looks like, we are paralyzed, we don’t want to
take the measures needed; we are unwilling to make the needed changes. Right
now, some people are unwilling to wear a mask, because it is too uncomfortable,
or simply because they don’t want to. Others are unwilling to stop spending
time with people outside of their households, or to forgo traditional holiday
travel, to keep this virus from rapidly spreading. We are willing to make <b>some</b>
concessions, as long as those concessions do not inconvenience us in ways we do
not like. We will make changes in our lives as long as those changes will have
the results we want, and will not include any of the consequences we are unwilling
to face. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">At
the same time there are people all around us, they are suffering because of
this poisonous water in which we all live, their lives are ruled by the poison,
and it dictates even the smallest aspects of their lives. We want to do
something about it. We don’t want them to be dying, we don’t want them to be
suffering from the injustices we see them experiencing. But we feel unable to
move, unable to act, unable to make their lives better. We don’t know what to
do. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">God
speaks to us, though the words of the prophet here in this passage. God sees their
struggle, God sees our struggle and God says there will be justice, there will
be wholeness, slavery will cease, the hungry will be fed, there will be
healing, (dare I say there will be a vaccine which will release us), and all
will be set right. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Whenever
we see wrongs being set right, wherever we see the hungry being fed, whenever
an un-homed person finds a home, whenever, wherever things that were once
broken are made whole, whenever someone finds healing and whose health is
restored, that is God at work bringing this passage to its completion. Whenever
we see justice being done, people being made whole, broken systems being overthrown,
that is our God bringing about salvation, not just for you and me, but for the
world. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We
can rejoice. We can proclaim this passages in the public spaces, we can sing,
with Mary, we can cry out with Isaiah, <span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #010000;">God is at work to “</span></span><span style="background: white; color: #010000;">bringing good news to the oppressed, to
bind the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the
prisoners;<span class="apple-converted-space">. . .</span> [and] to comfort all
who mourn.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We can rejoice with God and all those who
belong to God and say, “I will greatly rejoice in the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="sc"><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span></span>, my whole being shall exult in my God; for God has
clothed me with the garments of salvation, God has covered me with the robe of
righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride
adorns herself with her jewels.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>For
as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it
to spring up, so the Lord<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="sc"><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">God</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>will cause righteousness and praise to
spring up before all the nations.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background: white; color: #010000; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">When we acknowledge God’s salvific work in this
world we can know that that salvation wherever it is, whoever is experiencing
its’ benefits, we can know it is on not simply on their behalf, the one who is receiving
the immediate benefits, but it is also our behalf. God’s work is always for me,
for you, for us. God is at work bringing redemption, salvation to all the
nations, before all the nations, but also for you and for me. So whenever we see
justice, peace, hope, goodness, rightness, wholeness we can rejoice because
THAT is God at working making our redemption, our salvation a reality in this
world; for us and for all peoples.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Wholeness
is coming, justice is coming. This is what we remember in Advent. Advent is a
reminder that we once waited for salvation to come and now that that salvation
has come, we are watching and waiting for salvation to be made complete. We are
watching and waiting for redemption to come to fullness. We can see it at work.
We can see the darkness around us parting, more and more. There is light, where
ever there is light we can see it, breaking the darkness, transforming the
darkness from a place of bleakness and to a place of hope. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And
so we remember that we are waiting and we remember, this poison in which we live
is not where we belong. The world where we belong, the place to which we belong
is a place of wholeness and healing, of comfort and fullness, of salvation and
justice. It is the place where Jesus is Lord and God is incarnate. One in which
the glory of the Lord rings forth and is known from generation to generation
And it is for this home for which we are waiting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Redemption is coming, just as surely as we
can see the dawn arriving as that darkness of the night fades, we can see God
at work all around us bringing wholeness and justice to our lost and broken
world. Let us rejoice with God, let us rejoice with those who are made whole
and let us do whatever we can do to join God in God’s redemptive work all
around. Let work out our salvation, God’s redemption for us, for our world. Let
Advent be!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-69297271213589243052020-12-06T07:49:00.001-05:002020-12-06T07:49:40.952-05:00Where We Belong: Where the Wild Things are<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9mItWTqYNxNUXflW5Ym0uQNOfFVMv-wJAG7Shb6hWtqqVyejOtOTldcHDWteRFdGceqhWRgfPYT7kII0djUm_k4fhlP9rZjrhEzQ8gFIPZ3N0Ene_7D_k37iIsznSoggVpc8z9oGzFLBJ/s275/wild+place.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9mItWTqYNxNUXflW5Ym0uQNOfFVMv-wJAG7Shb6hWtqqVyejOtOTldcHDWteRFdGceqhWRgfPYT7kII0djUm_k4fhlP9rZjrhEzQ8gFIPZ3N0Ene_7D_k37iIsznSoggVpc8z9oGzFLBJ/s0/wild+place.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Isaiah 40:1-11 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">There
are times when I am on one of my yearly backpacking trips with Melissa when we
come upon a box attached to a tree in the middle of the trail. A sign on the
box will read. “Entering a ‘Wilderness Area’ please sign in before entering.”
The box when opened will contain a logbook and a pencil, which is to be used to
write your name there will be another box at the other side of the wilderness
area which is used to sign out, so when the trail rangers come by to check on
it, they can keep track of everyone who enters and leaves the wilderness area.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">When
on the trail, when we are near state or national parks, or even near roads with
trail heads, we will often run into other hikers, mostly day hikers hiking to
the top of a nearby mountain or a popular loop trail. Something which can be
done in a few hours, so they can return home before evening. When we are in
wilderness areas, we are certain to not run into other people. Perhaps,
occasionally we will pass by someone else who has planned a two to three day
trip covering this section of the trail, or a through hiker who is somewhere
along their Appalachian trail journey, who have set aside 3-4 months of their
lives to hike from Georgia to Maine. But mostly we are alone.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">These
wilderness areas, are quiet still places. The human influence is minimal. The wilderness
is a place where truly the wild things are, and live and call their home. Along
these sections of the trail we will often see deer or moose poop. In these wild
places where the beauty of God’s creation surrounds us, when we are far from
any town, road or trailhead, the only things around us are trees and wild life.
And although when we are safe in our kitchens pouring over trail maps and trail
books, we might think to ourselves, it might be neat to see some of the local
wild life, the last thing we would want actually to do is to startle a deer, or
a moose, or a bear, because we have been too quiet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
wilderness is a wild place, where only wild things live. These are lonely and
abandoned places. Visiting such places is aweing and a bit frightening. Losing
the trail, wandering too far off of the path, coming up on an animal all of
these are real dangers. They are places where humans really don’t “belong”;
places which are truly unsafe for humans. When we enter wilderness places we do
so carefully and cautiously. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
wilderness, which is a more literal translation for the word “desert,” used in
the translation I read this morning, would have been a was similar kind of
place as a wilderness would be for us, except the wilderness, the desert, for
them, was an even wilder place, more lonely, more abandoned, and even less
touched by human presence than almost any place we might find here in the US.
The wilderness places, for them, were places without out water, without ready
food, teaming with wild animals and any humans who managed to remain there were
likely to be bandits and thieves. Wild places, full of wild things and were
fraught with dangers. They were places to be avoided and when traveling
anywhere all roads would take the long way around them and no traveler would
dare to take a “short cut” through. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
people who are addressed in this passage are God’s people in exile. They had
wandered away from the kind of lives God had called for them to live. They had
not taken care of the widow, the orphan, or the foreigner. God had accused them
of swindling one another with dishonest scales, for trampling the poor and the
needy, as well as for abandoning God, worshipping other gods alongside God, as
well as instead of God. God had instructed them to change their ways through
the words of prophets. They had been chastised, they had been warned, but they
heeded nothing and no one. And so, as they had been told would happen if they
remained living as they were, they were taken away into the exile, where they
lived for several generations. And it is to these people who are living so far
from their home, from the land of their ancestors, from the place where they
belong, which the words of this passage are addressed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">God
calls to these people, living in exile, from across the wilderness, from across
the barren and desolate places, to these people in exile, and calls them home. These
are people who actually have no memory, except cultural memory of the place
called home. But like any displaced people they long for a place they have
never been. They know they do not belong where they are. We can only image how
lost and abandoned they must have felt. Their parents had told them why they were
here. God had abandoned them, had allowed them to be destroyed and taken away.
As much as they had been taught to long for “home” they did not truly
understand what home meant, what it was to actually belong somewhere. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It
is to these lost, alone and abandoned people God spoke. “Comfort, Comfort, my
people.” God says. Comfort them by telling them they are going home. God will
bring them home. They will finally return to the place where they belong. And a
voice calls out, “prepare the way!” Make a highway, build a road, plan a route,
have it go straight through the desert, don’t let it divert this way or that,
make it straight and smooth and even, make it the easiest road to travel which
has ever been built. This is the road for my people. This is the road down
which they will travel to take them to the promise land.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">That
is where God is taking them, out across the desert, through the wilderness to
the land flowing with milk and honey. God is taking them to the land God had
promised to their ancestors Abraham and Isaac. God has heard their cry and once
again God is setting them free. God is rescuing them from the repressive rule
of their captors. God will once again lead them across the vast wilderness to
the land flowing with milk and honey, just has God had done before. But this
time, in this second Exodus, God will lead them down out of Babylon and
straight home. They will not take a long circuitous 40 year wandering. God will
not even divert along the wildly traveled route going around the desert wilderness
following the rivers and valleys, the along the “safe,” well-travelled way. God
will make a wide, straight, highway, through the desert, across the wilderness,
down which they will travel, a way which will take them home via the quickest
route possible. God will lead them through the wilderness, watching and guarding
them all along the way. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And
then God lets them know these words of promise are not like anything else which
springs up in this world. God’s words are not like the flowers or the grass,
which all will wither and decay. When everything else passes away, God’s
promise will stand. God will lead them home, upon this they can rest assured. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
final word they hear is a description of their God. “Here is your God,” the
voice cries out. Your God is a shepherd, who will lift you up. Like a shepherd
carrying the lambs, God will carry you. You will be held close to the bosom of
God, and gently led. “Here is your God,” a loving shepherd carrying for the
sheep, gently, kindly, leading you home, where you will be safe. Guiding you to
the place where you belong. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In
these days, when travel is discouraged, so many of us are perhaps longing for
home, but even those of us who do not live far from the places we call home, we
can find a deep longing for another time, another place when and where things
were different than they are right now. It is December at the end of the year 2020
and we are living in a foreign world, from the one we entered at the beginning
of this last year. This is a world where we all wear masks, unless we are
inside our own houses. This is a world where there is no singing in our worship
services, no handshakes or hugs or the caring touch on our shoulder when we
need to be comforted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our sanctuaries
are unrecognizable with pews taped off and signs telling which direction we
must go. And some of us continue to be unable to be here in person and you “watch”
church from your living rooms. If you were able to make a recording of even simple
visit to the grocery store and send it to your January self, your January self
would not believe that it was a recording from life in just a few months’ time.
We live in a foreign land; a land of COVID and social distancing. And I don’t
know about each of you, but I long to go home, to go back to the place where I
belong, back to a world which makes sense and felt so much safer than the world
does today. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Although
this passage is addressed to the people of God living in exile in Babylon, we
too can listen and hear the words of God, as if they were for us. “Comfort,
comfort my people.” God will bring us comfort. God is with us in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">this</b> place, where we are, at this time,
even with all that is going on. God has heard our cries. God will make a way
for us. A highway which will take us home, a safe way, a straight way and God
will lead us down that way. God will bring us Home. God will bring us to the
place where we belong. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I
don’t know about you all, but I need to hear these words this morning. I need
to hear words of comfort from God this morning. It brings me peace to hear and to
say, “Comfort, comfort my people, says <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your</i></b> God.” God will speak tenderly
to us this morning and remind us where it is we belong. As God promises a road
home, a road back to a more familiar world, a safer world, we can know this is
a promise which God is making for us today, just as God made it to those people
in their exile so long ago. God will make a way for us too. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God will bring us out of this COVID exile. The
place to which we are going may not look like the place we remember from last
January, but it will be a better place, a place where God will be our comfort, to
which God will lead us, a place where God will care for us and guide us like a
shepherd does the sheep.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As
we look around at our world in chaos, as we see the fear and confusion in which
our nation currently finds itself we can find our rest, our comfort, our peace
in God. We will not live here forever. And we know that “Here” was never really
home. Even as God promises to lead us out of this troubling time we find
ourselves in, we can also know the home to which God ultimately leads is a
greater home, a better home. A world where God’s will is done, where God reigns
and God’s peace is known throughout the earth. One day we will be home again. Here
in our place of exile we can hear the words of the Lord to us this morning. Because
the Lord is our shepherd, God will hold us close, will take care of us and will
bring us home again. And now in this season of Advent waiting we are reminded
even as we are waiting for a vaccine, for a better world, a more stable world,
we are really waiting for something which this world cannot provide, the peace
we will know when Christ returns and where we will truly and finally be where
we belong. We can rest in the peace of God’s promise this morning to bring us
comfort, to make a way for us and to finally bring us home. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-88242376314539654292020-11-29T08:54:00.006-05:002020-11-29T08:57:30.262-05:00Where We Belong: The End of the World as We Know It - A Homecoming<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOz1NC_GGQjkSDqnV1YG9z4u1qcbsV-_ZWJmhBet_czznt4LW4QkBB0hYDsR1_ZlE8fDRWgP-M557oSt-fEbvPZQvP95RvbjF1uu8ObdRezndVB4sx36De0JsQAmGaVuuGHkdFx5cPDX95/s500/Advent+Journey.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOz1NC_GGQjkSDqnV1YG9z4u1qcbsV-_ZWJmhBet_czznt4LW4QkBB0hYDsR1_ZlE8fDRWgP-M557oSt-fEbvPZQvP95RvbjF1uu8ObdRezndVB4sx36De0JsQAmGaVuuGHkdFx5cPDX95/s320/Advent+Journey.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">Mark 13:24-37</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">We
have just come off of what was probably not the Thanksgiving we would have
chosen or the one many of us would have wanted. Now we begin to look toward
Christmas which will pretty much be the same. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am sure we all had lovely thanksgiving
dinners and enjoyed the ones with whom we were able to spend it. For many the
day did not include as many as we would have like. There were vacancies at our
tables, some because we had not been able to join those with whom we usually
celebrate this meal, some because they were unable to join us, and others were
simply vacant because those seats will never be filled again. Not the Thanksgiving
we would have hoped for. Not the Thanksgiving we would have wanted. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">We
are in the between times. Our national and cultural calendar keeping tells us we
are in those strange days which fall between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This
is a season when we focus on family. It is the time of the year when so many of
us take the journey home. If we manage to make it “home” once a year this is
the preferred time to do so. These are “home” going days, when we go to the places
and to the people where there are those who joyously wait our “home comings”. This
is the season of our year when we traditionally travel the places where we
belong, home to “our people.” Not this year. This year we are staying put. Our celebrations
this past week were smaller and for some lonelier and we can expect pretty much
the same for Christmas as well. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">In
this year when we cannot “go home” when we are unable to take that annual
pilgrimage to the places where belong, we once again as the Church enter into
the Advent season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Advent, as well
as the Christmas seasons are seasons of homecoming, not only in the culture
around us, but for us as Christians as well. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">In
Advent and Christmas we remember that God came and found a home among us,
becoming flesh and dwelt with us for a time. As we look toward the manger and
the tiny Messiah it holds, we are once again reminded that Christ’s dwelling
places are not always the place where we would expect to find the God of the universe.
So many times when we are looking for Jesus we look for him in the sanctuaries
and cathedrals we have built for him. We search for him in abbeys and monasteries
among the men and woman who have given their lives over to worship and prayer.
Yet when Chris dwelt among us he came to us in a manger, and slept in stable
room among the animals. He grew up among the meek and the lowly. He made his
ministry among the outcasts and the sinners, for which he was commonly ridiculed.
And when he went into the sanctuaries and holy places of his day, he was not well
received and was often cast out. So as we move into this Advent season this
year, I ask the question, where do we belong? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">The
passage with which we are faced this morning does not seem to be very homey. Yet
it is a homecoming passage, in which we contemplate Christ’s return. At the beginning
of the passage Jesus is using language and imagery which would have been familiar
to his listeners, as it was the same as that used by the prophets when they
spoke of the great and terrible day of the Lord. “In those days,” are the word
the prophets used to describe the days when the messiah would come. They are
the words Jesus uses here to describe the coming of the “Son of Man” that is
his own second coming. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">The
great and terrible day of the Lord, the coming of the Messiah is the time when
God promised to right all which had gone so terribly wrong. Evil doers would be
punished. Those who swindled the poor, who did not seek to help the orphan and
the widow, who bought and sold with dishonest scales, who mistreated those
around them and hoarded up wealth for themselves at the expense of neighbor, stranger
and kin alike, would get what the truly deserved. Justice would finally be
found throughout the land. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A terrible
day for all these; a great day for those who love and for all those being
misused and abused; for those who serve the Lord. It is the ultimate homecoming.
It will be the day on which all those who love God will be where they truly
belong. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">The
passage begins with the darkening of the sun and moon and the falling of the
stars. Often when we read this passage and those like it, we want to look to this
paragraph to give us clues, to serve as a road map or to be an alarm clock
which will go off to warn us when Jesus is coming. But, as Christ reminds us
here, “No one knows the day or the hour, neither the angels in heaven or
himself, only the Father knows when all this will come to be. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">What
Jesus is describing here is the entire created order losing all “order”. The
heavens break open, the cycle of days and seasons fall into disarray. All that
makes and measure time ceases as we enter into a new “season” which will no
longer be marked by day and night, or the phases of the moon or the positioning
of the stars. When the heavens break open and eternity invades finitude,
everything is affected and time itself unravels. What Jesus is giving us here
are not billboards on the highway letting us know that the next rest stop or
gas station will be in three miles, so that we can prepare to get over now.
What Jesus is letting us know is that when eternity breaks into our world, all the
ways we know to mark the days and the season, to mark time, will no longer
matter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">Why
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do</i></b>
we need warning signs for when Jesus is returning, anyway? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is it we are hoping for? Would a
billboard telling us when Christ will return really change who we are, what we
are doing, how we are living? If we knew Jesus was returning in May of 2020
would we work harder, to be the holy people we are called to be? If we knew He
would return before the end of the year, would we pray more and longer? What would
we do differently with our lives, with our faith? Why would knowing Christ’s
immanent return change these things? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">The
message Jesus is seeking to convey is not for us to look for the signs so we can
hurry up and be ready for his return. The message here can be found in the idea
which is repeated several times throughout this passage, that is, “Keep
alert;" "keep awake.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">In
the parable we are those to whom the master has entrusted with the care and
keeping of the estate until his return. As we wait for his return are we doing
our best, working to further the kingdom, living lives which are reflecting the
love of God and neighbor we saw lived out in the life of Jesus Christ and to
which he called us through his teachings? We are the workers managing the
estate until the master’s return. As we do so we are to continually be working,
doing our best to “hold down the fort” so to speak, until his return, so that
we are always awake, always ready for his arrival.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">We
are not to be like teenagers from TV show and movies, who upon finding
themselves home alone for the weekend throw a huge party, only have their
parents return earlier than expected and have to hurriedly put everything back
in order before they arrive. Instead we are to always be ready for Christ’s
return, whether he comes today or 2,000 years from now. We cannot go through
our lives expecting to have a warning, so we can hurriedly get ourselves and
our lives in order. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">We
are to live in hope, in expectation, always ready for Christ to return, desiring
and longing for the moment when all things will be set right. Yet working and
living to make right what we can while we have the time. We are to live into
and work for the good, the justice which will be made complete, made full when
Christ returns. Each day is to be lived seeking to make God’s will, God’s
justice, righteousness, goodness and love a reality in the here and now, all
the while hoping for the time when it will all be made manifest with the return
of Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">Advent
is the season when we remember the moment when God came into the world and made
a home among us. We remember that Jesus, for a time, belonged with us and
continues seek our belonging in him and with him. Right now we are reminded
what it is like to be longing for home. In this time when we cannot be where we
want to be, we long for the places where we belong. Yet, as Christians we know we
will never truly find home, this side of eternity, outside of the home we will
make with God in Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;">In
this Advent season of waiting, we are also reminded we continue to wait for
Christ’s return, for Jesus to come “home.” We wait for a time when we will come
together for the greatest “homecoming” feast the world has ever seen, one in which
there will be no vacant seats. We wait for the time when we will all come home,
because Christ has finally returned and we can all be home together for eternity.
And while we wait, let us not wait like those who are looking for early warning
signs, so we can hurry up and get our act together, but let us be alert, and always
be ready, living today as if Christ will come today, yet also living prepared
to continue to wait. All the while we are waiting, let us wait in hope and not
in despair, not waiting for Christ for all things to be set right, but let us
work to make things right, to be agents of justice, love and peace as we wait. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218506996898595988.post-40176160792466369282020-11-07T08:19:00.001-05:002020-11-07T08:19:38.511-05:00Meeting Christ - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-28<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyKViVFZDRITo7Jn5b15HCqbAMgQg2I4oq3_WeyU_FaF-KfjR6oeGqSuQuydDGl68zOQiZ7s5uimrHb2ZHX4TCHZn-tio7rpqSzQ3X3Sr7jd6HrIB3WWZZWyhWeKRUYJM2whEBRm-ttfXM/s500/Christ+the+Redeemer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="410" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyKViVFZDRITo7Jn5b15HCqbAMgQg2I4oq3_WeyU_FaF-KfjR6oeGqSuQuydDGl68zOQiZ7s5uimrHb2ZHX4TCHZn-tio7rpqSzQ3X3Sr7jd6HrIB3WWZZWyhWeKRUYJM2whEBRm-ttfXM/s320/Christ+the+Redeemer.jpg" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">1 Thessalonians 4:13-18<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
saying goes, “There are only two things in life which are certain, death and
taxes.” Both seem to be inevitable parts of human existence. Apparently there
are ways certain people are able to avoid taxes, but for the average working
person, they are pretty much unavoidable. Death is something else entirely. It
comes when it comes and anyone who has lived for any length of time on this
earth has had to deal with. And the longer I live and the more I experience the
death of those around me and most especially those whom I love, I am more and
more convinced God did not create the humans to experience death, and the pain,
the emptiness, the hurt and loss which death leaves in its wake. If we were
truly born to die, the human psyche would have evolved to better deal with it. But
we have not, therefore in my mind, it cannot have been an intended part of
creation. It is an unwanted intrusion; Death is an uninvited house guest whose presence
is harmful all who are living and he disrupts the created order, by creating
gaping hole in the interior of our lives where there once a living breathing
being who was cherished and loved. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Whenever
we come face to face with the death of someone close to us, we ask questions. What
has happened to them? Where are they now? What is actually going on with them? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How are they experiencing this separation? Are
they conscious, aware of what is going on here on earth? Are they now outside
observers, watching everything that is going on from a distance? Can they see
us? Do they know how much their death is hurting us? Will we really ever see
them again? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Paul
speaks into these questions, so that we will “not remain uninformed” and so
that we do not grieve “without hope”. There are so many ways to misunderstand
this passage. We will begin with this second statement, so that none of us will
be misinformed. Paul is not telling us that we are not to mourn, experience
grief when we lose someone to death. Grief is a part of what it means to live
in a world so full of death. Death cuts us to the core. It halts us as we journey
through life, and disrupts our lives in ways which bring turmoil to our
wellbeing and which hurt us in ways which we could never have expected before having
experienced it. And each new death is a new kind of pain and a new kind of
hurt. It is an experience of which we never grow accustomed, no matter how many
times it occurs throughout our lifetime and with it comes a hurt which does not
grow numb the more often we feel it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Paul
instead tells us that we are not to mourn, “without hope.” And then as the
passage continues, he explains, to us, why we have hope and what it is for
which we are hoping. But hope, does not push away the pain, nor does it negate
our need to grieve and mourn the death of each and every one we lose. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I
can remember talking to my Dad one cold winter day, after we had recently
buried one his brothers. He told me he knew it was silly but what bothered him
most, at that moment, was that his brother was out there in the cold. You see
his brother always hated to be cold, and now he was out there on that bitter
winter night, and Dad felt, he had to be so cold and there was nothing Dad
could do about it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Death
hurts us and affects us in ways we would never have thought. We begin to think
things and ask questions of ourselves and of God, which we perhaps would not
ask at other times. At others times, the very questions which plague us the
most in the midst of our grief, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are
questions we think we know the answer to, or might think too silly to ask. But
there in the moment of grief we ask them and the answers no longer seem so certain.
This was just as true when Paul wrote this letter to the Christians in
Thessalonica, as it is today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems
following the death of some among them, the Christians had some questions and
concerns about their fellow believers who had died and what would happen to them
when Christ returned. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As
we continue to worship with our remembrance tree here before us, as its
presence continues to serve as a reminder to us of those in Christ who have
gone on before us, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul’s words can be
seen as fairly apropos. As we think about these who have died, Paul does not
want us to be uninformed about them, and what will happen to them. Paul wants
to set straight any misconceptions, or any concerns we might have about whether
being dead will put their loved ones at any sort of disadvantage when Christ
finally returns. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
Christians of the church of Thessalonica did not know what to think when it
came to those among them who had died. Their concern was for those they loved,
what would happened to them when Christ eventually returned? For these
Christians the community of believers was everything. They were the body of
Christ and parts of Christ’s body had died and were no longer a part of the
body. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What did this mean? They wanted to
be assured not only of the hope of the resurrection, but needed to also be assured
in a restoration of community, that they as the body of Christ would be whole
again. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Paul
tells them, Christ’s coming would not parse the living from the dead. The dead
in Christ would rise (just as Christ had) and they would be united with their
loved ones. Then together, they would be united with Christ. The resurrection
was assured and “needing” to be resurrected was not a failing or something which
would put a person somewhere else, or in a different place, somewhere away from
those who had remained alive. At the time of Christ’s return, the living and
the dead would be alive and united. Paul assures believers, those who are alive
will have no advantage over those who had died, and thusly those who had died
would not be at a disadvantage <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">because</i>
they had died.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Paul
then goes on to describe the second coming of Christ with imagery which has
capture the imaginations of Christians through the ages and most recently, in
the last 100 years or so, the imaginations of many have simply run away with
the scripture, (some might even say “away from” the true meaning of the scripture).
There are several books, as well as movies which depict this event with
Christians mysteriously disappearing leaving clothing, leaving cars, planes and
various other vehicles to become driverless means of destruction. Loved ones
are secreted away and are simply gone. And all those who are left are shocked
and dismayed. I think the song, “I wish we’d all been ready” from that great
70’s classic “A Thief the Night” will forever play in my head when I think of
scenarios such as this.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I
am not sure about you but I have never found this kind of imagery comforting or
encouraging. Yet Paul lays out this passage for us and then says, “Therefore encourage
one another with these words.” How can disappearing people, the world in chaos and
all that is depicted in the dramatic presentations of the events of this
passage be described as “encouraging?” Is it really “encouraging” that we will
be caught up in the clouds and will meet our savior in the air. Even at its
most benign (when you take away the empty clothes sitting on the couch and a daughter’s
night dress all that remains in her bed), what about this passage is a believer
supposed to find encouraging?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">All
these dramatic depictions can be summed up in the English word “rapture,” which
you might notice is not actually found in text that I read this morning. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The word rapture does come is from the Latin
word, “rapio,” which is used in this passage in the Latin translation of the
text (Latin being one of the earliest translations of the Bible and was
commonly used by those studying scripture until surprisingly recently).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Latin word “rapio” literally means, “to
take away.” And many take this to mean that the living and the dead will be
secreted away to be with Christ for eternity. In the original Greek the word
here is, “harpazō” also carries a similar idea of being, “taken away”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although the meaning of, “harpazō” when used in
conjunction with “apantēsis,” which here is translated “meeting,” takes on a
new meaning, altogether. The two words together are the words most often used to
describe the way a group of people goes out from a city to go meet an honored
dignitary. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">When
a dignitary came to town, or a hero returned after being away, some would go
out of the town and meet him a ways out from the city and lead him into the
city in a sort of procession, or parade. This is what the crowds were doing at
Jesus’ triumphal entry. They went out to meet him and returned with him,
singing and shouting and giving him the praise one would give a honored dignitary
or conquering hero. It is because of this kind of historical understanding of
the procession we conclude that those greeting Jesus that day believed Jesus
was coming into to Jerusalem as a conquering hero who would finally throw off
their Roman oppressors. But not only do we find this imagery in the Bible at Jesus’
triumphal entry but we also find this imagery and this exact language in the
Matthew passage which was read this morning.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Culturally,
at this time, it was traditional, following the engagement, for the bride to be
to return to her own home and wait there. The groom would return to his home to
set upon the task of either building a house, or an addition to his parents’
home, in which he and his new bride could live. Once the home was finished he
would go to his bride’s home (usually this was done in the middle of the night
for some reason) and bring her to his home, where they would be wed and a huge
wedding feast would ensue. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
bridesmaids here are waiting for the groom to come, so that when he comes they
can go out to him, escort him to his bride and then they all can return to his
home. The words to describe the bridesmaids going out to meet the bridegroom
and escort him to his home are the same words used here in 1 Thessalonians. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
bridesmaids are awaiting the return of the bridegroom and they need to be
ready. When he does arrive, they trim the wicks on their lamps and go to light
them so they can provide light to the bridegroom. Unfortunately some of them do
not have enough oil and are forced to go looking for oil in the middle of the
night. Once they are able to procure the oil it is too late, the bridegroom has
come and gone and the doors to the banquet are closed. They are not recognized
as members of the bridal party because they were not there at the time of the
groom’s arrival. These bridesmaids are called foolish and are left outside in
the night. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Thessalonian
Christians are working to be the believers they know they are called to be. They
are ready. Their wicks are trimmed and their lamps are full. The light of Christ
is burning brightly in their lives. They are prepared for Christ’s return, but they
have one concern, some of them have fallen asleep (which is the metaphor
actually used here in the Greek). They are sleeping the sleep from which they cannot
be awakened. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What does the return of the
Bridegroom mean for them? Are they the foolish bridesmaids? Are these who have
had the misfortune to have died the bridesmaids who are unable to get their
lamps lit in time? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Paul
says emphatically, “No, those who have died in Christ are not the foolish bridesmaids.”
Those alive will not precede those who have died. Those who have died will rise
first and then together, with all your lamps lit and shining bright you will go
to greet the bridegroom and usher him back. Together you will rejoice. It will
be like the triumphal entry all over again. But this time Christ will be
returning and will remain and you will ALL be with the Lord, together forever!
Never to be separated again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as our
text told us last week, every tear will be wiped from your eyes. The sting and
the pain of death will be removed. All will be resurrected and all those who
believe will live eternally together with the Lord! Thanks be to God!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In
this passage Paul is depicting a joining of Heaven and Earth. Christ will come
down, Heaven will come with him and we will go up to meet him, a symbolic
gesture showing that all Earth will escort him, in his return. Heaven descends,
Earth ascends and they will come together. Earth and Heaven will be reunited in
way they have not been since the fall. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Paul
here is clearly describing a bodily resurrection. He is telling us that in the
resurrection we will all be resurrected as Christ was resurrected. We will be
restored to our bodies. At Christ’s return, we will not be disembodied spirits,
floating up into the clouds to greet a Spirit Christ. No we will be fully
resurrected persons, who greet a fully embodied Savior who is returning just as
he was when he left, in his resurrected body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And together fully alive in ways which are sometimes hard to comprehend,
we will live eternally in a new Heaven and a new Earth which are united and inseparable.
It will be a new Eden in which there is no death and in which life is abundant and
eternal. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And
it is with these words, with this imagery, with this promise Paul tells us we
are to comfort one another. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Kazimiera Fraleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14008780524223228198noreply@blogger.com0