Join us Wednesday night at Panera on 101 A for a chance to discuss how we deal with family issues.
This week we will see what happens when a group of friends has to deal with conflict (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2018:%205-17;&version=65;) and then we will talk about ways to live a life worth living (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians%203&version=31).
We start at 7:30 PM and go to about 8:30 depending on our conversation.
See you there!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
A Truth Worth Trying On
Last week Steve reflected on the enormously tough but endlessly rewarding work of forgiving those who’ve messed with you. You get hurt. The hurt creates a wall. You can either live with the wall in place or you can do something about it. Be honest. Keep reaching out to the offender. Show the same patient compassion to others as God shows you. Forgive. Or else…
Or else? Yeah, there are consequences to not forgiving. They range from being mildly irritable to living a tortured life. And if the negative consequences are not enough to motivate you, try the positive: True forgiveness is so sweet, such a release, refreshing as a deep cleansing breath. Not to be missed.
With God’s help, and only with God’s help I’m afraid, forgiveness can become a way of life… a way we stray from, to be sure… but the Spirit keeps tugging on us to come back and taste its sweetness again. It can be downright habit-forming.
Forgiving those who’ve injured us is vital. But if you limit yourself to just forgiving the jerks around you, you’re missing out.
This week, try forgiving Life. Try forgiving God. Try forgiving the jerk you sometimes see in the mirror.
List your grievances. Call in your witnesses. Be honest to God. Dare to lay it all on the table. Write it down. Whine a little. Confess to a friend. Do whatever works for you to clean out the stuffed closet that holds all the times life has let you down or you have let yourself down.
Then let it go. With God’s help, let it all go. See God's image in the mirror instead. See God's grinning face when you look out at Life.
Then do it again tomorrow morning, too. Because forgiveness is a gift that keeps on giving. Trite as it may sound, it's the truth. A truth worth trying on.
Many of us visualize the never-drying-up well of forgiveness that is our God with the sign of the cross. All the grievances of all time can somehow fit on that cross.
It’s now a reflex action for me. When my waking-up toes touch the braided rug right next to my bed, my hand flies up to my forehead and down to my heart, across to my left shoulder and on to my right. I’ve sketched a cross upon my body, and I can’t get up out of bed without walking through it.
A new day of forgiveness begins.
~ Kari Henkelmann Keyl
Or else? Yeah, there are consequences to not forgiving. They range from being mildly irritable to living a tortured life. And if the negative consequences are not enough to motivate you, try the positive: True forgiveness is so sweet, such a release, refreshing as a deep cleansing breath. Not to be missed.
With God’s help, and only with God’s help I’m afraid, forgiveness can become a way of life… a way we stray from, to be sure… but the Spirit keeps tugging on us to come back and taste its sweetness again. It can be downright habit-forming.
Forgiving those who’ve injured us is vital. But if you limit yourself to just forgiving the jerks around you, you’re missing out.
This week, try forgiving Life. Try forgiving God. Try forgiving the jerk you sometimes see in the mirror.
List your grievances. Call in your witnesses. Be honest to God. Dare to lay it all on the table. Write it down. Whine a little. Confess to a friend. Do whatever works for you to clean out the stuffed closet that holds all the times life has let you down or you have let yourself down.
Then let it go. With God’s help, let it all go. See God's image in the mirror instead. See God's grinning face when you look out at Life.
Then do it again tomorrow morning, too. Because forgiveness is a gift that keeps on giving. Trite as it may sound, it's the truth. A truth worth trying on.
Many of us visualize the never-drying-up well of forgiveness that is our God with the sign of the cross. All the grievances of all time can somehow fit on that cross.
It’s now a reflex action for me. When my waking-up toes touch the braided rug right next to my bed, my hand flies up to my forehead and down to my heart, across to my left shoulder and on to my right. I’ve sketched a cross upon my body, and I can’t get up out of bed without walking through it.
A new day of forgiveness begins.
~ Kari Henkelmann Keyl
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Wednesday Conversation Info: Dealing With Family Issues
Join us Wednesday night at Panera on 101 A for a chance to discuss how we deal with family issues.
We will take a look at the story of Hagar from the book of Genesis (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2021%20;&version=65;) and then discuss ways to gain some peace with comforting words from Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%202:%2011-22&version=31).
See you there!
We will take a look at the story of Hagar from the book of Genesis (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2021%20;&version=65;) and then discuss ways to gain some peace with comforting words from Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%202:%2011-22&version=31).
See you there!
Steve-o's Devos: You Hurt Me, I Forgive You
The Gospel passage (click the title above to read) has some often difficult words to hear. Perhaps my title is a bit more provocative than the scripture even intends. This is because the interpretation of what is being said here can really veer us into dangerous territory, a place that would inapropriately allow us to not deal with a variety of abuses inflicted on us. But if we look very carefully at what Jesus is saying in this passage we can come up with only one end result: that we own the decision that will shape the direction of the relationships we are in.
Think about that for just a minute. Too often someone hurts us (mentally, physically, verbally) and we have several choices available to us. We can simply ignore the abuse, we can attack back, we can wait until time passes and then seek revenge, or we can seek to repair the damage and hope for healing. It is this latter path that Jesus encourages but with a specific request: that we not go it alone.
You can probably think of any number of people that you have been in conflict with in your life. Often we try to deal with the conflict with that person on our own, suffering the pain alone or lashing back at that person or someone else to spread the frustration and pain around. Jesus encourages us to take a second person along when we want to address a problem and that together you are able to discern the problem and perhaps come to a solution. If that does not work, involve the community in solving the problem with the hope that reconciliation and healing can occur. Jesus does not expect the community to take a side, only to live out a chance to hear the problem and discern a solution that solves the conflict.
What is fascinating is that while this often seems quite idealistic, it is obvious that the reality may not allow for resolution between the two people involved. So, there is a way that we can work towards having our own peace of mind and soul that allows us to move on with our lives and to not let that person have power or control over us any longer. It means sitting down in prayer with another person and giving over our pain and hurt to God. It means not letting that pain have power over our life our our daily living. It is about offering the one who causes us pain a chance for repentance and then handing over to them the power to change, forgiving them in the process.
When we forgive someone it allows us a chance to no longer let them have power over us. It will take a long time. In fact Jesus encourages us that we will need to forgive people 7 X 70 times before we will even be able to move on with our lives. I think rather than giving us a number to remember, Jesus just reminds us that forgiveness is not simple and it takes a long time to take root. But it needs careful nurturing, a time for reconciliation to take root, and a supportive community to hold us close and remind us that we are loved and lovable. The result of having others around us reminds us that Jesus is part of that loving circle and that when we come together in prayer to rejoice in our faithful living we discover that joy that comes from living out our messy lives together.
So, while provocative my title may be for today's devo, I don't mean to imply that you should stay in an abusive situation. God does not want you to live in abusive relationships with others either and this passage from Matthew reminds us that we need one another to overcome those times when it may be too difficult for us to confront the realities of relational abuse.
By the Way we hope will be, and is, such a developing community, where we can walk, or perhaps stumble, towards a great understanding of support and forgiveness made possible through Christ.
Think about that for just a minute. Too often someone hurts us (mentally, physically, verbally) and we have several choices available to us. We can simply ignore the abuse, we can attack back, we can wait until time passes and then seek revenge, or we can seek to repair the damage and hope for healing. It is this latter path that Jesus encourages but with a specific request: that we not go it alone.
You can probably think of any number of people that you have been in conflict with in your life. Often we try to deal with the conflict with that person on our own, suffering the pain alone or lashing back at that person or someone else to spread the frustration and pain around. Jesus encourages us to take a second person along when we want to address a problem and that together you are able to discern the problem and perhaps come to a solution. If that does not work, involve the community in solving the problem with the hope that reconciliation and healing can occur. Jesus does not expect the community to take a side, only to live out a chance to hear the problem and discern a solution that solves the conflict.
What is fascinating is that while this often seems quite idealistic, it is obvious that the reality may not allow for resolution between the two people involved. So, there is a way that we can work towards having our own peace of mind and soul that allows us to move on with our lives and to not let that person have power or control over us any longer. It means sitting down in prayer with another person and giving over our pain and hurt to God. It means not letting that pain have power over our life our our daily living. It is about offering the one who causes us pain a chance for repentance and then handing over to them the power to change, forgiving them in the process.
When we forgive someone it allows us a chance to no longer let them have power over us. It will take a long time. In fact Jesus encourages us that we will need to forgive people 7 X 70 times before we will even be able to move on with our lives. I think rather than giving us a number to remember, Jesus just reminds us that forgiveness is not simple and it takes a long time to take root. But it needs careful nurturing, a time for reconciliation to take root, and a supportive community to hold us close and remind us that we are loved and lovable. The result of having others around us reminds us that Jesus is part of that loving circle and that when we come together in prayer to rejoice in our faithful living we discover that joy that comes from living out our messy lives together.
So, while provocative my title may be for today's devo, I don't mean to imply that you should stay in an abusive situation. God does not want you to live in abusive relationships with others either and this passage from Matthew reminds us that we need one another to overcome those times when it may be too difficult for us to confront the realities of relational abuse.
By the Way we hope will be, and is, such a developing community, where we can walk, or perhaps stumble, towards a great understanding of support and forgiveness made possible through Christ.
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