Category: 3 Minute Devotional

A Christmas Heart Cry

Link to Daily Record Article

Rush and shudder, keep up the pace

My life and ambitions obscuring your face. (Psalm 27:8)

Come to my heart, Lord, I cry in my fear, 

In rest and returning I find you near. (Isaiah 30:15)

Oh come all ye faithful, return to the stall

A babe in a manger to rescue us all. (Luke 2)

Lowly and fragile, how can it be true?

This tiny babe is God breaking through.

Eternity touching the physical earth, 

Love emptied himself to come through a birth. (Philippians 2:5-11)

To join in our suffering, and reconcile shame, (Isaiah 53:3, Hebrews 4:15-16)

  We enter what’s holy by the power of HIs name. (Romans 10:13)

Jesus, Messiah, the God who came near (Psalm 34:18, James 4:8)

Bearing within him the pain of our fear. (1 Peter 2:24)

Come lay your burdens beside the cruel cross 

He bore every burden despising the cost. 

For joy set before him, he carried them all

A chance of connection with one or with all. (Hebrews 12:1-2)

God leaned out from heaven, spilt love on the earth

And we barely lift our eyes in return. (Ephesians 3:14-21)

Oh come, oh come Emmanuel 

And ransom captive Israel. (Romans 11)

Passing the Peace

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”  (Luke 2:14).

These are the tidings God sent the angels to share with shepherds in a field. The song  announcing the birth of Jesus. 

This anthem sets up the thesis for all of Christ’s interactions and his purpose here on earth. The core reason the God of the Bible is utterly different from any other deity lies in this truth. God bends down, emptying himself, to enter the world he created; a world gone terribly awry.

“Peace and good will!” His announcement bellows out to deaf ears as he does everything He can to reach out and make peace between us.  On the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Michael Angelo depicts the half hearted response of man to this God stretching himself out of heaven to reach us. 

Orthodox churches engage in a practice called “Passing the Peace”. In more modern church settings the practice has been replaced with greetings and handshakes. But great meaning is lost in this transition. Passing the peace is a moment set aside for reconciling with other congregants before sharing in sacred communion together. (Matthew 5:21-26) 

The Passing of Peace is radical good news Jesus shared with His disciples and what he instructed them to share with others. In Luke 10, Jesus trains seventy disciples how to preach the Kingdom of God. He instructs them to enter a home with the message “Peace on this house.” (Luke 10:5).  The disciples are told to stay with those who receive this offered peace. Spend time in fellowship and don’t go from house to house. The Kingdom of Heaven is depicted as deeply relational. Relationship, as neuroscience is revealing, is the foundation for transformation. 

The disciples are further instructed, if no one receives your peace, “shake the dust off your feet” as a sign. Or like Taylor Swift might say, “Shake it off.” This is another radical truth.  Do not worry about the people who refuse your offered peace. Those people, committees, or cities are not your assignment. Perhaps they will receive peace offered at a different time or from a different ambassador of the Kingdom (2 Corinthians 5:20). You, however, are free to move along. Though, if you read the chapter, Jesus has strong words for those who refuse.

Yet, Jesus set no argumentative example. He did, however, spend time eating and hanging out with people who chose to receive from him. To those who were willing, He embodied a radical way of peace with God and man. A peace that begins and ends with the God who desires a relationship in return. The birth of Christ displays the humility with which He reaches down to make contact. It is our choice to receive Him or not. 

May you receive His Peace this Christmas.

The Power of Shared Stories

October 15, 2022

Ellensburg Daily Record Link

The week of October 9-16, 2022 is the Feast of Tabernacles in the Jewish tradition. For this celebration the people take brush and branches to create a temporary shelter. That’s right, an excuse for adults to make a fort! These temporary shelters remind the Jews of wandering in the wilderness following their release from slavery in Egypt. While wandering, the spirit of God would rest on a ‘tabernacle’ (or temporary shelter) in the middle of their camp. Those who celebrate the feast spend daily time in the shelters expecting God will meet with them. This joyful celebration follows the day of Atonement. First, they assess the sin of their own hearts and lives and seek God’s reckoning through Atonement. Once trusting God to make things right, they are free to meet with Him in celebration for His grace and provision. Physically engaging this story through the tradition of the feast reminds them who God is and who they are. 

This depth of story displayed about God and people is a distinctive feature of most cultural traditions. Even if your traditions revolve around the flying spaghetti monster, they remind you about who your people are and what they believe about God. But somewhere along the way we confused these traditions with individual identity or personhood. Tribalism, as reflected in art and traditions, became our way of individually defining ourselves and others. This unfortunate misunderstanding has created division between cultures and obscured God’s more personal and motivational expression of identity. 

Culture and art serve a great purpose. They provide the platform for sharing our varied stories. Every culture’s traditions provide a framework for understanding how God has hidden or revealed himself in the experienced history of a people group. Meanwhile, art and artistic expression provide a universal emotional link to experiences we all can share or learn to understand.  But traditional art does not define personal identity. Each individual brings a great depth of motivation and giftedness (or talent) to our community. Identity transcends how we look, the tribe to which we belong, what we eat, or the celebrations we practice. 

God’s word touches on a number of identity definitions for those who are born into the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ. Those who choose this way understand their failures and shortcomings are only reconciled at the cross of Jesus Christ and through reconciliation brought about by the blood he shed. After this reconciliation they are sons and daughters of God, citizens of a heavenly kingdom. 

But God also outlines a very personal identity with varied layers that account for the seed of who we are as we engage life experiences.  In Romans 12:6-8 we are introduced to seven motivational gifts given by Father God to every human. Everyone could identify one or two of these gifts as the fundamental motivation from which they engage the world around them. Whether or not a person engages with God or His Kingdom, embedded in their person is a motivational gift that defines how they approach life and others. 

For those who follow Christ, there are two more layers of gifts providing depth and complexity to our personalities. Ephesians 4:11-13,  lists positional gifts that, when operating in a community of believers, result in maturity or growth. Supernatural gifts, accessible to Sons and Daughters of God, are listed in First Corinthians 12:7-11. These gifts display the manifest presence of God. 

Can you see the complexity of identity and personhood that emerges when these three layers of gifts are woven together? An individual can engage culture and tribes with a deeply individual expression of God’s grace. We connect with others, share art and stories with emotional resonance, and express our individuality through the motivations driving how we engage our experiences. The tapestry of life becomes even more beautiful and intricate when we add our cultural practices with stories displaying who God is and how he reveals himself to other people groups.

My assignment was to write about following Christ in Human culture; but I want to challenge you to reflect Christ, as individually gifted, to those you encounter everyday. Each individual and culture reveals aspects of the relational God. Imagine the power of engaging the shared stories of who He is with the redemptive purpose of who he created you to be.

The Gospel for Anxiety: Biblical Meditation

Research shows that meditation and prayer are effective in reducing symptoms of anxiety. In this video Jennifer walks you through a simple idea for meditation on scripture using the 23rd Psalm. Dwell and Abide are a couple of biblical meditation apps you may also enjoy. The idea in this video is a slightly modified version of “The Word Hand” found on the navigators website. It incorporates mindfulness visualization ideas know to aid in treating anxiety. This technique is very similar to one used by the team at Ministry Resources International.