There is nothing in the world like being free.
Freedom from fear, worry, anxiety, anger …the emotions which weigh us down, allow us to have eyes to see God’s world and ears to hear God’s voice.
There is an exercise which I find myself doing frequently: I exhale myself, my issues, and I inhale the Holy Spirit. I do this exercise consciously, saying out loud, “I exhale myself, and I inhale you, O God.”
Why? Because it is so easy to allow ourselves to be burdened with the “troubles of the world.” I am convinced that the troubles of the world are good things, lessons put in place to teach us how to avoid doing the same things over and over.
“Troubles” are story problems given to us by God to engage our partnership with the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit in us which finally unclogs our spiritual pores and allows the lessons to seep into our beings.
If we concentrate on what is wrong in our lives, we cannot see what is good and right. We miss the tiny things which, cumulatively, are big blessings, that are all ours. We see the world with vision that is in bondage to a burdened spirit.
Let something go today. Let just one of your worries go; watch it float away into the arms of God. The problem will not go away but your resolve to not worry about it will and your readiness to receive the lesson God wants you to receive will become obvious to God.
And …you will learn.
God did not put us on this earth to worry ourselves to our graves. No …God put us here to “make a joyful noise,” in spite of what might be going on. God put us here to be co-creators in creation, adding the gifts She gave to us to enhance what God has already done.
We cannot do that if we have obstructed vision. Truth be told, we cannot connect with the gifts God gave us at all when all we can see is what is wrong with the world.
Yes, it would be nice if there were no “troubles,” but the troubles and trials strengthen us and give us wisdom. Without the trials and troubles, we would all die fools.
So, praise God, whatever is going on. Wipe your eyes; I mean, wipe away the tears or the mucous of worry that makes your vision faulty. Exercise your shoulders; roll your neck around a few times to get rid of the worry and stress that you have carried all week long. Exhale all that toxic stuff and remember that we serve an awesome God …
And then, act like it!
Pastor Smith
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Stretch Toward the Goal!
We are about to enter the fifth month of the “new” year.
The question we need to ask ourselves is, “What have I done for God? How am I doing in moving toward being a new person?”
This whole year of concentrating on repentance and transformation also requires a fair amount of self-reflection and self-accountability. If we believe in the ritual baptism of our church and ourselves we did on Ash Wednesday, expecting resurrection in ourselves and in our church, then we have to consistently monitor where we are as opposed to where we want to be.
December will be here before we know it.
We have agreed upon the statement that if we always do what we’ve always done, we will always be what we’ve always been. In a year of repentance and transformation, that sameness is unacceptable and if we end up this year the same, then we will not have met our goals of repentance and transformation.
As we turn away from the old, and turn toward God, there ought to be a laser-type divine light that burns through to our souls and spirits, burning out the old so that there can be newness in us. And in order for that to be the case, we have to say to God, “Here am I! Send me! Use me!” In a year of transformation and repentance, there is no room for excuses.
We spent time this week in our quarterly meeting stating what we want our church to be like at the end of this year…and so the question I ask of us all is, “How do I contribute to making that change happen?” We have to ask ourselves as individuals and as a church, “How do I make this chapter of the book we ultimately present to God a new chapter and not just a rearrangement of the same plot and storyline of the chapter we are in, and past chapters?”
If we want our income to be more, what do we do? If we want our ministries to be stronger, again, what do we do? It is almost as if we are asking, “What must we do to be saved?” We are trying to save ourselves and our church from having the same story, the same testimony, and the same issues.
There is nothing stopping us, as a church and as individuals, from radical transformation, nothing, that is, except our own self-barriers. The prayer I have is that we identify those barriers and, with God’s help, move them out of the way. If the stone could not keep Jesus in the tomb, surely the barriers in our lives cannot keep us from repentance, transformation and ultimately, resurrection.
Sing to the Lord a new song! Sing as you work and pray and move and as WE as a church work, pray and move. O happy day! That’s what we want our Watch Night service in December to be- a testament to a goal taken on and met.
Have a good week!
Pastor Smith
The question we need to ask ourselves is, “What have I done for God? How am I doing in moving toward being a new person?”
This whole year of concentrating on repentance and transformation also requires a fair amount of self-reflection and self-accountability. If we believe in the ritual baptism of our church and ourselves we did on Ash Wednesday, expecting resurrection in ourselves and in our church, then we have to consistently monitor where we are as opposed to where we want to be.
December will be here before we know it.
We have agreed upon the statement that if we always do what we’ve always done, we will always be what we’ve always been. In a year of repentance and transformation, that sameness is unacceptable and if we end up this year the same, then we will not have met our goals of repentance and transformation.
As we turn away from the old, and turn toward God, there ought to be a laser-type divine light that burns through to our souls and spirits, burning out the old so that there can be newness in us. And in order for that to be the case, we have to say to God, “Here am I! Send me! Use me!” In a year of transformation and repentance, there is no room for excuses.
We spent time this week in our quarterly meeting stating what we want our church to be like at the end of this year…and so the question I ask of us all is, “How do I contribute to making that change happen?” We have to ask ourselves as individuals and as a church, “How do I make this chapter of the book we ultimately present to God a new chapter and not just a rearrangement of the same plot and storyline of the chapter we are in, and past chapters?”
If we want our income to be more, what do we do? If we want our ministries to be stronger, again, what do we do? It is almost as if we are asking, “What must we do to be saved?” We are trying to save ourselves and our church from having the same story, the same testimony, and the same issues.
There is nothing stopping us, as a church and as individuals, from radical transformation, nothing, that is, except our own self-barriers. The prayer I have is that we identify those barriers and, with God’s help, move them out of the way. If the stone could not keep Jesus in the tomb, surely the barriers in our lives cannot keep us from repentance, transformation and ultimately, resurrection.
Sing to the Lord a new song! Sing as you work and pray and move and as WE as a church work, pray and move. O happy day! That’s what we want our Watch Night service in December to be- a testament to a goal taken on and met.
Have a good week!
Pastor Smith
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Blessed to Bless Others
We’re blessed and don’t know it, far too often.
What we don’t see or hear about, we don’t think about, but I heard a story this week about kids who have been in foster care who finally get too old to stay in the system, and they are simply …let go.
They move from lives of instability to even more instability, with no guidance, no sense of direction, nobody, really, to help them. They are expected to fit into a society they have never fit into.
Many of the young men, not surprisingly, end up in prison, and the women end up pregnant, also not surprising.
One young man being interviewed said he was trying to make it. He had gotten an apartment – apparently the state helps these kids for a while as long as they follow some specified rules – and he had tried to cook. He had never cooked before. The meal, he said, wasn’t too good.
When I hear stories like this, I think of all the ways the church can be working to serve the kingdom. It is good and all to do mission work overseas, but we have a lot of mission work we need to do on our own shores, in our own states and in our own cities and communities. Just like we need to reach out to African American kids who are gay and who find themselves ostracized from their families and churches, so also do we need to devise programs to help these foster kids who are basically set up to fail.
No wonder the world is so messed up. These kids represent “the least of these” that are thought of even less than other kids. The BREAD initiative this year is focusing on kids, youth and young adults. Surely, these young people qualify for our help.
In order to work with kids, an adult must undergo a background check and it costs $60. The church cannot afford to pay for it for you, but I would urge those of you who want to help us build our youth programs so that we can help kids who need us who have been blessed, to see Sis. Deneen Day or Dr. Judy Alston and make arrangements to get the check done. Members who want to tutor kids through the church need to get a background check as well.
We have too much work to do. Kids are crying out for help. If there is anything we can do, we need to do it. There is such a thing as the Cradle to Prison pipeline, and the School to Prison pipeline that are realities in our country. It grieves me that some kids, too many kids, are doomed before they get a good start.
If we do something, we need to, and soon.
Have a good week.
Pastor Smith
What we don’t see or hear about, we don’t think about, but I heard a story this week about kids who have been in foster care who finally get too old to stay in the system, and they are simply …let go.
They move from lives of instability to even more instability, with no guidance, no sense of direction, nobody, really, to help them. They are expected to fit into a society they have never fit into.
Many of the young men, not surprisingly, end up in prison, and the women end up pregnant, also not surprising.
One young man being interviewed said he was trying to make it. He had gotten an apartment – apparently the state helps these kids for a while as long as they follow some specified rules – and he had tried to cook. He had never cooked before. The meal, he said, wasn’t too good.
When I hear stories like this, I think of all the ways the church can be working to serve the kingdom. It is good and all to do mission work overseas, but we have a lot of mission work we need to do on our own shores, in our own states and in our own cities and communities. Just like we need to reach out to African American kids who are gay and who find themselves ostracized from their families and churches, so also do we need to devise programs to help these foster kids who are basically set up to fail.
No wonder the world is so messed up. These kids represent “the least of these” that are thought of even less than other kids. The BREAD initiative this year is focusing on kids, youth and young adults. Surely, these young people qualify for our help.
In order to work with kids, an adult must undergo a background check and it costs $60. The church cannot afford to pay for it for you, but I would urge those of you who want to help us build our youth programs so that we can help kids who need us who have been blessed, to see Sis. Deneen Day or Dr. Judy Alston and make arrangements to get the check done. Members who want to tutor kids through the church need to get a background check as well.
We have too much work to do. Kids are crying out for help. If there is anything we can do, we need to do it. There is such a thing as the Cradle to Prison pipeline, and the School to Prison pipeline that are realities in our country. It grieves me that some kids, too many kids, are doomed before they get a good start.
If we do something, we need to, and soon.
Have a good week.
Pastor Smith
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