We have made it. We are on our way home. We have traveled almost 2,000 miles, grown closer together and closer to God, and have been shaped by Faithfulness, Love, Joy, Kindness, Patience, Peace, Generosity, and Gentleness. Self-Control is the final fruit of the Spirit and serves as an excellent reminder as to why we did what we did and will continue to do what we are doing. One of our small groups defined Self- Control as, “the ability that allows you to remain in a state of mind that allows you to act and react in a loving, courteous, caring, and prayerful manner.” As you reflect on the events of the week it should be evident that the fruit of Self-Control was present in acts of Faithfulness, Love, Joy, Kindness, Patience, Peace, Generosity, and Gentleness. By exercising Self-Control, and the other fruit of the Spirit, you mirror Jesus’ response to temptation by Satan in the desert. Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert and responded with strength to each temptation with scripture. As you begin to prepare yourself for the “real world” think of ways that you are tempted and remember the strength that you receive from exercising the Fruit of the Spirit, relying on and trusting in Scripture to give you word and strength when nothing else can, and to remember that it is ultimately about God and God’s will. When we follow the moving of the spirit, confront our temptations with faithfulness to scripture, and remember that the Lord our God will never leave us, we can face any challenge and remain in a spirit of self-control.
Reflect on Matthew 4:1-11 and these questions. What have been some temptations that you have had during this week? Are there temptations that you struggle with on a daily basis? How can you use the Fruit of the Spirit and Scripture to help you overcome your temptations?Sunday, June 28, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Gentleness...
A lamb is the representation of gentleness. Jesus is often known as the Lamb of God, because Jesus is the true representation of gentleness. We are called to be like Jesus, we are called to be gentle. Gentleness does not mean weak or puny, gentleness, rather, is true humility. A gentle person does not consider herself too important for a menial task nor does he consider himself too qualified to be the low person on the totem pole. What I am trying to say is that gentleness, as a way of life, calls us to put others ahead of ourselves. Moreover, we are called, as those who are gentle, to love others as we would want to be loved.
In Psalm 23, the Lord is described as a shepherd who leads sheep safely to green pastures, past danger. The shepherd even leads the sheep to still waters so that they may drink more easily. Sheep are not very intelligent animals and helping them get from one place to another safely takes some gentle prodding. Sometimes when we are helping someone or even when we are being helped it takes gentle explanation, gentle encouragement. The shepherd is gentle, we are gentle when we put the feelings, the needs of others ahead of our own. When we are gentle, as several mission team members pointed out “we won’t be aggressive towards each other. We will take time to stop and listen to each other.”
I know that God is our shepherd and that we all are to follow God’s leading, but maybe we all should seek to live like shepherds. When we put the needs of the sheep ahead of our own, then we will learn how to be gentle.
Generosity
The theme that we need to hear from today’s scripture passage comes from verse two, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” This is our final day of work and in order to complete the task at hand we must be generous to one another so that we can physically, spiritually, and emotionally bear one another’s burdens. We are able to, in fact, we are called to bear one another’s burdens because Jesus Christ first bore our burdens. Standing in for us as a slaughtered lamb, Jesus Christ, because he was the only one capable of such a sacrifice, died so that God’s forgiveness, mercy, and grace might be offered to all the nations. In response to Christ’s offering to us, let us find new ways each day, especially as our trip comes to an end, to generously offer Christ’s love to one another and everyone we meet.
Reflect on Galatians 6:1-10 and these questions? What does it mean to “Bear one another’s burdens”? As this week is coming to an end how can you be generous to others with your time, energy, emotions, and love? Do your actions show God’s generous love to everyone that you meet? What are some other ways that you can generously share and show God’s love?“It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters.” -Mother Teresa
“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.” -Mother Teresa
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”-Mother Teresa
“Despite giving your best to the world, you may be kicked in the teeth. Give the best you’ve got anyway.”-Mother Teresa
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Peace
At one of the Mission Trip teambuilding meetings one group explained that, “Peace is freedom from worry because we know that Christ is in control and are content that Christ will always be with us.” The hymn “It is Well with My Soul” describes peace to be like a river. Rivers are constant, always moving, never taking a break. Rivers are powerful and a river is a source of life. God’s peace is the only source of true freedom and unconditional love. It is God’s peace that gives us the ability to have peace in our own lives.
How do we achieve peace? - By loving the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, and might. Peace comes when we allow God to become the center of our lives. Complete, perfect peace, peace that occurs even when it seems that everything around us is crumbling, comes from God. God’s peace is like a river, it is constant, it is powerful, and it is the source of life.
There is no doubt that this week will bring, it may have already brought, times when you do not feel at peace. It is important that when we feel as though we cannot embrace the peace of Christ that we seek to love God even more. It is important that when we feel that peace is impossible, we remember that peace does not come from us; it comes from God.
Finally, take a moment and look around at the beauty of creation. Creation reminds us of the overwhelming power of God and can help us remember that God is powerful enough and merciful enough to give us peace. May the peace of God shape your life this day.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Patience
One of our small groups defined patience saying, “Patience is the virtue that gives you the ability to control your anger and frustration, assess and solve problems, listen, and recognize that everyone works differently.” Our scripture lesson offers an understanding of patience that is grounded in love saying: Love is patient, kind, it does not envy or boast, and it is not proud. It is not rude, self-seeking, or easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. It does not delight in evil, but rejoices in truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Love never fails. As we go through the struggles and trials of this week let us try to remember that our patience comes from our love of God and love of each other. Because we love one another we must be patient with one another. That means that we cannot allow the small emotions of anger, frustration, or weariness to affect our love for and ability to work with one another. There are things in this life, and in the life to come, which are more important than a nail going into a 2x4 in 4 swings or how many pieces of dry wall can be hung before lunch. We must remember our mission, the reason that we are here- to serve God and neighbor, and not allow the little things of life to cause us to stumble. Since God is love, as we read on Sunday, and Love is patient, God is patient. Therefore, we should strive to be patient with one another as God is patient with us by loving one another with a love that is from, and is, God.
Reflect on 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a and these questions. What does it mean that love is patient? How does that affect our love and patience for one another? How do the other aspects of love described in these verses affect our ability to be patient with one another? What are some ways that we can use these verses to remain patient with one another through out the day, so that our work can be done in a loving manner?
Monday, June 22, 2009
Kindness
It is almost impossible to come to Union Grove without someone offering you something to eat or, at the very least, a glass of sweet tea or a cup of coffee. Kindness is something that comes ‘naturally’ to the folks who worship at Union Grove; kindness is a way of life.
Our scripture lesson instructs us that we are to be kind to our enemies and we are told that we should show mercy just as God the Father shows mercy. It is easy to give someone a glass of tea during fellowship time (although giving the glass of tea may be easy it is still very important), but it is hard to be kind to someone who has hurt your feelings or to someone who you disagree with on a particular matter. It is much easier to be mean to our enemies and to punish those who are mean to us; however, God calls us to lives of mercy and kindness. We are called to love others and show kindness even to those folks who do not show kindness to us.
In his song “Kindness” Christ Tomlin sings:
God’s mercy allows us to show kindness to others. Without the mercy of God we are unable to show the full extent of kindness to the people we come in contact with each day. Today we pray that the mercy of God may rain down on us so that we may show kindness in all that we do.Open up the skies of mercy
And rain down the cleansing flood
Healing waters rise around us
Hear our cries lord let 'em rise
Joy
This is our first full day of work. Isn’t it exciting? Are you ready to start working? Can you feel it inside your stomach? - The feeling that great things will happen this week- God’s will being done, relationships being formed, people being helped. It feels like an uncontainable joy rising up from deep within you. All of that paper work, those late Sunday night meetings, and all of those long hours in the van are about to pay off. All of the emotions that we feel right now- excited, eager, nervous, tired, stressed, happy, annoyed, humbled, energized- all fall short of the level of true joy. True joy supersedes all other emotions because “joy is living in the understanding that you are loved unconditionally.” In Luke 1:39-45, John the Baptist, the one who is to prepare the way for Jesus, jumps for joy in his mother’s womb because he is in the presence of the Lord. Even in the womb John the Baptist is joyful because he can feel the unconditional love that radiates from the Christ child. We must remember to remain joyful throughout the week because we are constantly in the presence of the Lord, even during the tough times, and we are completely covered in Christ’s unconditional, perfect love, especially while sharing in God’s mission and love.
Reflect on Luke 1:39-45 and these questions. What brings you joy? How can you act and react joyfully? What is your reaction when you find yourself in the presence of the Lord? What are some ways that you can joyfully show God’s unconditional love this week?
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Love
As you go through this day, ask yourself, ‘How can I love others today?’ How will love shape even the little things of the day? We love because God first loved us, when we love others, it is God’s love working through us. May the love of God shape us, lead us and spread through us this day.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Faithfulness
Bill Irwin, with his Seeing Eye dog Orient, is the only blind person to have completed the 2,168-mile Appalachian Trail. His historic hike began in Georgia and ended almost nine months later in north central Maine.
We must do our business faithfully, without trouble or disquiet, recalling our mind to God mildly, and with tranquility, as often as we find it wandering from him. -Brother Lawrence
We are here because we have been called by God to be His hands and feet to the people of Deridder, Louisiana and have faithfully responded. Through our baptisms we are called into discipleship, called to go forth baptizing and teaching in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are here because we have responded faithfully to the call of our baptisms. As we prepare to embark on this journey we must remember our call to be faithful to God’s work on this trip, to be faithful to one another, and, most of all, to be faithful to God in all we do, individually and as a group. In one of our pre-trip meetings a small group defined faithfulness as, “Following where God leads even if it is difficult.” This is very close to what our scripture passage for the day says in verse one, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” We don’t know what challenges lie ahead of us this week, but we know that if we remain faithful to God in all situations, all things are possible. In verses 8-28 of today’s scripture lesson the author of Hebrews gives us examples of faithfulness in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses.
Take a few moment to reflect on Hebrews 11:1-3,8-28 and ask yourself these questions. What does it mean for me to be faithful to God, to others, and to this trip? How can I let faithfulness be my commitment to serve God through difficulty? Can I remain faithful by working hard when we don’t know what will happen after we leave? Reflect on verse 1- As we begin this trip what are some things that you hope for and what things do you think God hopes for from this trip? How can we faithfully makes “hopes” become a reality?
