The Advent of PEACE – Luke 1:26-38

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The Advent of PEACE – Luke 1:26-38

In this season of Advent, this season of looking forward with anticipation, today’s story presses us to ask ourselves – individually and as a church…

  • How is God inviting us to birth God’s loving presence into our community?

  • Will we steadfastly remain connected with God, continuously praying for God’s leading?

  • Can we overcome our own doubts and insecurities?

  • Will we work to prepare ourselves for an unknown future?

  • Can we deflect external negative criticisms?

  • Is our skin thick enough to be servants of God?

Like Elizabeth and Mary, despite the inevitable growing pains ahead, can we joyfully await the advent of a new season in our own lives and in the life of our church? Do we have the courage and bold humility to see ourselves and our faith community as instruments of God’s peace?

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The Advent of HOPE – Matthew 1:18-2:2

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The Advent of HOPE – Matthew 1:18-2:2

Today’s story shares the advent of a new era, a new way of understanding the Good News that God’s love, peace, and hope is for everyone. Matthew’s story reminds us that, like Jesus, we can expand the Kingdom of God when we share this gift with ourselves and others, especially people who may be feeling a bit Scroogish or Grinchish this time of year.

Matthew’s story reminds us that we are all God’s children, all God’s family and thus, no matter what we have or have not done with our lives, we are all accepted and loved by the Creator of the Universe.

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Generosity as Thanksgiving – Matthew 25:31-46

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Generosity as Thanksgiving – Matthew 25:31-46

According to this story, God’s only qualification for being “righteous” is quite simple: Did you actively try to alleviate the suffering of your neighbor? Recall the lesson from the story of the Good Samaritan, everyone is your neighbor, no exceptions.

As you give thanks to God this week for your many blessings, I encourage you to ask God to give you wisdom, direction, opportunities, and the courage to combine all of those into action. If we continually ask God for that package of blessings, we will certainly make God’s loving presence known to ourselves and to the people around us.

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Using our God-Given Talents – Matthew 25:14-30

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Using our God-Given Talents – Matthew 25:14-30

God created us out of love and holds us in love, which means… we never have to earn God’s love. Also, we never have to wonder if God loves us. God always loves us. Always.

When we, individually and collectively as a faith community, understand the gifts and talents God has given us and use them to welcome, include, and encourage those who are fearful, rejected, and suffering… THEN we will truly fulfill our role as the bearers of the Good News of God’s love.

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Waiting for God – Matthew 25:1-13

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Waiting for God – Matthew 25:1-13

The Kingdom of God involves waiting… in a good way. While you wait for God’s promises to you to be fulfilled, are you willing to find and wait with people who care about you, who will support you, and who will wait with you?

As much as we must trust God when we’re called into action, we must also trust God when we are called into alert waiting as we prepare for what’s next. Let us all actively wait in prayer and fellowship so that we’ll be attentive and prepare for God to speak to us and lead us into the next chapter of our lives, individually and as a congregation.

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Sharing God’s Presence – Matthew 26:17-30

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Sharing God’s Presence – Matthew 26:17-30

In Luke’s version of the Passover meal, the Last Supper, Rabbi Jesus says, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Do this… Do what? Last week we talked about the Great Commandments (Matthew 22:34-40) Jesus shared with His disciples: Love God, love yourself, and love others. Our answer lies in those precious instructions.

We can start “remembering Jesus” by following Jesus’ example. In response to God’s love for each of us… In response to your relationship with God, love others to the point of sacrificing your own comfort and security so that others may come to know God and enjoy a loving relationship with Him. Jesus did that repeatedly.

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The Meaning of Life – Matthew 22:34-46

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The Meaning of Life – Matthew 22:34-46

The Great Commandments Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy and Leviticus serve as perhaps the ultimate litmus test for our own lives and communities.
· How well are we loving God?
· How well are we loving ourselves?
· How well are we loving others?

These are not rhetorical questions. In fact, I often think we would do well starting and ending each day reminding ourselves of these three loves as an encouragement, a compass, and a litmus test – a way of determining where we are and what adjustments we need to make to keep everything balanced and healthy.

Here’s the Good News that Jesus proclaimed: The Lord, our God, our Creator is indeed with us and loves us more than we can imagine! God’s “plan,” the meaning of our lives, is to embrace that Divine love, share it with ourselves, and let it flow through us to others. That is how we create the Kingdom of God here on Earth.

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There is Life After Death – Matthew 22:23-33

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There is Life After Death – Matthew 22:23-33

Jesus says the patriarchs of Israel (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) are “living” with God. This gives us great hope for our own ongoing relationships with God. This is the Good News that Jesus was sharing with anyone who would listen: God made you; God loves you; God wants to be in a close, loving relationship with you for forever. That’s not just Good News, it’s GREAT News! And its news worth sharing with people carrying the burdens of guilt, of insecurity, of hate, of neglect, abuse, and suffering of all forms! Our living God offers them and us relief and release!

No matter what is happening in our lives, no matter what we’ve done or imagined doing, the Good News is that we are born into a relationship with the creator of the universe, and that Creator is crazy about us!

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Give to God What is God’s – Matthew 22:15-22

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Give to God What is God’s – Matthew 22:15-22

Everything about Jesus’ ministry challenged the status quo. Jesus urged the people of his day, as well as us today, to use our God-given hearts and brains to decide, in light of our faith, what is the appropriate way for each of us to live. The crucial question is how we integrate our faith into each day. How can you integrate the values of your Christian faith into your workplace? We can do this every day when we vote.

Look at how you’re voting with your time and money. You have these precious resources at your fingertips. Each day is an opportunity to put your faith into action as we all try to live into the Great Commandments of loving God, loving ourselves, and loving others. Consider the issues and vote each day for a better you, a better family, a better community, and a better church. Led by our faith, we really can vote our way toward making the Kingdom of Heaven a reality around us.

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A House of Prayer – Matthew 21:12-17

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A House of Prayer – Matthew 21:12-17

If we focus on prayer, if we build our individual and collective prayer muscles, I am convinced that God will use our greater strengths to accomplish great works of healing in us and through us.

Let Susanville UMC be called a house of prayer! Let the blind and lame come to us! And let God’s mighty Spirit flow through us as we seek to be the hands and feet of Jesus in our community!

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Leadership Jesus’ Way – Matthew 20:17-28

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Leadership Jesus’ Way – Matthew 20:17-28

Jesus tells his disciples then, and us today, “Here’s how you lead: by serving others.” When we tackle a situation by asking, “What would Jesus do?” we open ourselves to following the leadership examples of God in the flesh. We have to work at understanding the concepts of Jesus’ words and actions and determine how we can apply those concepts to our own modern situations.

Jesus looked for God’s leading and followed it. God continues inviting us, drawing us, luring us into opportunities for us to lead our families and our community. By following God’s lead, we can truly be the light of God’s love, piercing the darkness, shining for all to see. The best question we can ask each day is, “Lord, what can I do for you?” and then respond with faith, hope, and love.

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That’s Not Fair!… Or is it? – Matthew 20:1-16

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That’s Not Fair!… Or is it? – Matthew 20:1-16

Today’s parable lets us know that everyone, no matter when they come to embrace God’s love, is welcome in the Kingdom of Heaven. They come not by their works or how long they have believed, but by God’s Grace.
Do we rejoice or are we envious of new members? Many people we don’t expect to see in the Kingdom will be there. The criminal who repented as he was dying (Luke 23:40-43) will be there along with people who have believed and served God for many years.
We need to focus on God’s gracious blessings to us and be thankful for what we have. When we look at God’s generosity to others, we can see His love at work. We can spread the love by being His hands and feet in the world.

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For God, All Things Are Possible – Matthew 19:13-26

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For God, All Things Are Possible – Matthew 19:13-26

God’s primary desire for us is to be in relationship with us. Think about that. Yes, as His precious, beloved children, God wants us to be happy and healthy. And, even more than that, God wants us to be in close relationship with Him. And to get us there, God does not ask us to do anything that we cannot do. Following God’s leading may be difficult, but there’s a world of difference between difficult and impossible.

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Childlike, not Childish – Matthew 18:1-14

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Childlike, not Childish – Matthew 18:1-14

If all of us, individually and as a community of faith, could be a little more childlike, offering ourselves as ambassadors of God to the people around us, offering all we have, all we can, without restraint, without shame, and without worry for our own futures…
If we could exhibit those childlike traits, we would all make major strides toward creating the Kingdom of God in our midst.

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Take Up What Cross?!? – Matthew 16:21-28

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Take Up What Cross?!? – Matthew 16:21-28

“Follow me.” Follow You where?!?
“Follow me as we experience God’s transfiguring power. Follow me as we heal the sick, learn about forgiveness and accountability, discuss money management, confront authority as we seek social justice, and share one last Passover meal together. Follow me.”

When we, individually and as a community of faith, follow Jesus through all of that… then we will have experienced what it means to be the hands and feet of God in the world. And with so much “on the job training,” we will be well-equipped to passionately share our vision of a world that loves God, loves ourselves, and loves others.

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Who do YOU say I am? – Matthew 16:13-20

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Who do YOU say I am? – Matthew 16:13-20

In life’s most dramatic moments – good and bad – would you rather be connected with a Divine WHAT or a Divine WHO? We need to wrestle with Jesus’ question, “WHO do you say I am?” I encourage all of us to consider WHO answers that are no doubt informed by our understandings – our theologies – of WHAT Jesus was and is.
As we better understand our own theologies and relationships with God, we will be able to more comfortably, more instinctively, and more enthusiastically share our faith with the people we meet – people who desperately need to hear and know that they are precious children of the Living God.

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Flexing the Forgiveness Muscles – Genesis 45:1-15

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Flexing the Forgiveness Muscles – Genesis 45:1-15

Joseph’s emotional (and spiritual) maturity gave him the capacity to forgive the wrongs of the past so he could embrace a future that would be better for everyone involved.
Jesus tells us to stretch our muscle of forgiveness 490 times. The natural consequence of doing anything 490 times is that 1) you’ll get better at it, 2) you’ll increase your capacity to do it, and 3) you’ll develop “muscle memory” so that you can flex your “forgiveness muscles” instinctively.
Like Joseph, we are all works in progress. Out of our free will, when we let God work with us and in us, we can live happier lives and be greater blessings to our families, friends, and communities.
I encourage you to look for opportunities to flex your forgiveness muscles, regardless of their size.
Working together, we can become known as an overflowing cup of forgiveness, healing, and joyful living.

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Rejected but not Abandoned – Genesis 37:1-28

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Rejected but not Abandoned – Genesis 37:1-28

When you feel rejected by family or friends, know that God is still with you.
When you lose your social status or prized possessions, know that God is still with you.
When your wellbeing is threatened by others, know that God is still with you.
When your life dramatically changes from what you had expected or hoped for, know that God is still with you.

And when we begin to get a grasp of how much God loves us, of how God will never reject us, of how God’s arms are always reaching out to us, of how God is working in and through us, we may well ask, “God, why me?”

And God replies, “Because I made you; you are my child; I love you, I adore you, and I will do whatever it takes to share the journey of life with you. That’s why!”

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Face to Face with God – Genesis 32:22-32

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Face to Face with God – Genesis 32:22-32

Look for God’s nature. Look in the likely and unlikely places and people.
Look with anticipation and with a receptive heart.
Look with a desire to engage with the Divine Presence.
It’s human nature to find what we’re looking for. Every single one of us, has the opportunity to encounter God’s presence face-to-face, essence-to-essence, in our families, in our friends, and in the people of Susanville and beyond.
When we look at people – including ourselves – anticipating the possibility of seeing God’s presence through them, we are more likely to see God’s presence in them – and in us.

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Broken Together – Genesis 29:15-30

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Broken Together – Genesis 29:15-30

Left to our own devices, we remain broken, unable to function to our fullest abilities, unable to find a way to move from where we are to where we want to be, to being the people we want to be.
But when we invite our relationship with God into our human relationships, then we give God the freedom to work in us, with us, and through us to change our hearts and minds. That’s the Good News of our faith – that we are not broken and without hope. Rather, we are broken with hope and with direction.

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