Round Valley UMC
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The Round Valley United Methodist Church Daily Devotional Archives (2009)
Below is a list of past Daily Devotionals that were sent out by our Pastor, Jessica Campbell. We hope you enjoy and are inspired by them.
Click any of the headings below to read or hide the Devotional
Daily Faith Lift - December 23rd, 2009
Yesterday Nathan and I were talking about this week-making cookies, Christmas Eve service, Gram and Papa coming-all of the things that would take place in the next few days. He looked at me and said the following: "I know mom, Santa brings presents to the good boys and girls". I said-yes. He went on to say "so...baby Jesus loves all the people but then Santa tells him which ones are bad so baby Jesus doesn't love them people".
Now-I have tried very hard to keep the story of Jesus' birth alive in our house. Nathan sings Happy Birthday to baby Jesus every morning. We have told him all about St. Nicolaus/Santa Claus who started bringing gifts to the poor kids without toys and then let him figure out what that means today. But now the two stories have come together in his mind, and in many minds throughout the country (hence why some of the Jewish kids at the school are excited about Santa coming in two days!).
We will press on and get out the nativity pieces again and go through the story one more time, I am sure this play time will be followed by a good Santa Claus movie!
Merry Christmas, Pastor Jessica
Now-I have tried very hard to keep the story of Jesus' birth alive in our house. Nathan sings Happy Birthday to baby Jesus every morning. We have told him all about St. Nicolaus/Santa Claus who started bringing gifts to the poor kids without toys and then let him figure out what that means today. But now the two stories have come together in his mind, and in many minds throughout the country (hence why some of the Jewish kids at the school are excited about Santa coming in two days!).
We will press on and get out the nativity pieces again and go through the story one more time, I am sure this play time will be followed by a good Santa Claus movie!
Merry Christmas, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - December 21st, 2009
We did not have church yesterday because of the foot of snow. As much as I enjoyed playing outside in the snow with my three boys, all of whom love the snow, I really missed worship.
I spent the whole night Saturday and most of the morning Sunday anxious about whether or not everyone got called, who may have visited, how will I get all of the announcements out and so on. I was disappointed too that I didn't get to finish my advent sermon series.
I kept saying to Jonathan on Sunday-maybe we should call everyone and have a mid-afternoon service.
Here we are on Monday-a new day- a day of new beginnings. The forecast looks ok for Christmas Eve and I have developed some ways of getting the announcements out (watch your emails later in the day) and the entire service is going to be re-done on 1/3 where we celebrate Epiphany (the coming of the wisemen) and "loving all"(the final message in the Advent series).
I am reminded again that God does make a way.
God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
I spent the whole night Saturday and most of the morning Sunday anxious about whether or not everyone got called, who may have visited, how will I get all of the announcements out and so on. I was disappointed too that I didn't get to finish my advent sermon series.
I kept saying to Jonathan on Sunday-maybe we should call everyone and have a mid-afternoon service.
Here we are on Monday-a new day- a day of new beginnings. The forecast looks ok for Christmas Eve and I have developed some ways of getting the announcements out (watch your emails later in the day) and the entire service is going to be re-done on 1/3 where we celebrate Epiphany (the coming of the wisemen) and "loving all"(the final message in the Advent series).
I am reminded again that God does make a way.
God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - December 18th, 2009
This is a special edition of a newsletter regarding my sermon series for this year. Enjoy! You may have to paste the link below into your browser.
Christian Group Launches New Attack on Christmas Commercialism - Yahoo! News
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Christian Group Launches New Attack on Christmas Commercialism - Yahoo! News
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - December 17th, 2009
On Sunday the theme is Love All. If you have not already been to the website check out www.adventconspiracy.org. Because of the theme and its being the last Sunday before Advent, I am going to jump right in and read the birth narrative. For those that want a head start on Sundays reading- read the first chapter of Matthew over the next few days and hear again the Words of Good News-that God became flesh to be with us and show us the way of love.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - December 16th, 2009
Today my boys are going for their official Santa visit at the mall. It is the first time I have been in a mall since October when the mall was calm and mild.
A pastor friend of mine encouraged me to do "prayer bys" when going through the mall at Christmas time. Instead of drive-bys he prays for people as he walks past them. If he sees a family struggling with children, he says a prayer for them. If he sees a senior all alone, he says a prayer, if he sees teens hanging out, finding their place in the world, he prays for them. Each person he walks by, he prays for and it has radically changed his shopping experiences in this season.
As I enjoy watching my children with Santa, I will try my first prayer-by and hopefully I will know the deepest meanings of the season as well.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
A pastor friend of mine encouraged me to do "prayer bys" when going through the mall at Christmas time. Instead of drive-bys he prays for people as he walks past them. If he sees a family struggling with children, he says a prayer for them. If he sees a senior all alone, he says a prayer, if he sees teens hanging out, finding their place in the world, he prays for them. Each person he walks by, he prays for and it has radically changed his shopping experiences in this season.
As I enjoy watching my children with Santa, I will try my first prayer-by and hopefully I will know the deepest meanings of the season as well.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - December 15th, 2009
As a devotional today, would you go to our church website and look up Life Lessons from Mom and Dad. If you haven't already done so, would you fill out the questions and submit them for my sermon series coming up in January?
Also, check out our prayer wall, we need some activity!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Also, check out our prayer wall, we need some activity!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - December 14th, 2009
Christmas Eve is ten days away. Yesterday someone asked me if I was done shopping and I said, "I have not even started yet". The look of horror that came over this persons face was priceless. I kind of laughed and said "don't worry we are just getting a couple of things and I know what aisle they are all in". Inside this did cause a moment of panic. Did I ruin Christmas? Will Christmas come and my gifts won't be in place?
With the sermon series I have been doing-theadventconspiracy-I calmed myself down and realized that even with small children, Christmas day could come and even if I had no gifts to give, we could still celebrate the birth of Christ. I had to remind myself that we are just getting a few things this year and to face a store, and doing what we want to do, even with only ten days to go, will not be impossible. It is difficult setting the cultural pressure aside and not feeling like we are behind or not doing enough.
This season of Christmas preparation has been radically different for me. We have made time to be with family and friends instead of waiting in line. We have kept to our budget and feel good about that. It has been different but I have encountered God in deeper ways and who knows maybe Christmas will change the world again.
As you continue to prepare...may God's Word be heard over the jingle of the latest ads, may God's presence be with you more than the presence of co-shoppers, and may God's peace be with you more than culture's anxiety.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
With the sermon series I have been doing-theadventconspiracy-I calmed myself down and realized that even with small children, Christmas day could come and even if I had no gifts to give, we could still celebrate the birth of Christ. I had to remind myself that we are just getting a few things this year and to face a store, and doing what we want to do, even with only ten days to go, will not be impossible. It is difficult setting the cultural pressure aside and not feeling like we are behind or not doing enough.
This season of Christmas preparation has been radically different for me. We have made time to be with family and friends instead of waiting in line. We have kept to our budget and feel good about that. It has been different but I have encountered God in deeper ways and who knows maybe Christmas will change the world again.
As you continue to prepare...may God's Word be heard over the jingle of the latest ads, may God's presence be with you more than the presence of co-shoppers, and may God's peace be with you more than culture's anxiety.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - December 10th, 2009
Last night the Conference Ministry Team sat down and looked at the budget for 2011. It is strange planning for a time that seems so far away and it is even more strange knowing that while the current economic climate is difficult, we have no idea what it will be like two years down the road.
I keep turning back to the hymn Faith While the Trees are Still in Blossom. I keep thinking about the power behind that kind of faith-the kind of faith where we rely on God's goodness even before we see it or are aware of it. At times I struggle to have faith and I let fear and anxiety take over but I read and re-read Jesus' teaching about having faith the size of a mustard seed. It doesn't take much to move mountains when God is who we are trusting.
Today, keep the faith and stay in love with God!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
I keep turning back to the hymn Faith While the Trees are Still in Blossom. I keep thinking about the power behind that kind of faith-the kind of faith where we rely on God's goodness even before we see it or are aware of it. At times I struggle to have faith and I let fear and anxiety take over but I read and re-read Jesus' teaching about having faith the size of a mustard seed. It doesn't take much to move mountains when God is who we are trusting.
Today, keep the faith and stay in love with God!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - December 9th, 2009
The following letter was written by the Council of Bishops. We have been asked to read it from the pulpit. I am not sure I will be able to read all of it but I strongly encourage you to read it.
Pastoral Letter (English), adopted November 3, 2009 at Lake Junaluska, NC, USA.
God's Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action
A Pastoral Letter from the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church
God's creation is in crisis. We, the Bishops of The United Methodist Church, cannot remain silent while God's people and God's planet suffer. This beautiful natural world is a loving gift from God, the Creator of all things seen and unseen. God has entrusted its care to all of us, but we have turned our backs on God and on our responsibilities. Our neglect, selfishness, and pride have fostered:
* pandemic poverty and disease;
* environmental degradation, and
* the proliferation of weapons and violence
Despite these interconnected threats to life and hope, God?s creative work continues. Despite the ways we all contribute to these problems, God still invites each one of us to participate in the work of renewal. We must begin the work of renewing creation by being renewed in our own hearts and minds. We cannot help the world until we change our way of being in it.
We all feel saddened by the state of the world, overwhelmed by the scope of these problems, and anxious about the future, but God calls us and equips us to respond. No matter how bad things are, God?s creative work continues. Christ?s resurrection assures us that death and destruction do not have the last word. Paul taught that through Jesus Christ, God offers redemption to all of creation and reconciles all things, "whether on earth or in heaven."(Col 1:20ii)
God's Spirit is always and everywhere at work in the world fighting poverty, restoring health, renewing creation, and reconciling peoples.
Aware of God's vision for creation, we no longer see a list of isolated problems affecting disconnected people, plants, and animals. Rather, we see one interconnected system that "groans in travail."(Romans 8:22) The threats to peace, people, and planet earth are related to one another, and God's vision encompasses complete well-being. We, your bishops, join with many global religious leaders to call for a comprehensive response to these interrelated issues. We urge all United Methodists and people of goodwill to offer themselves as instruments of God's renewing Spirit in the world.
First, let us orient our lives toward God's holy vision. This vision of the future calls us to hope and to action. "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."(Jer 29:11) Christ?s resurrection assures us that this vision is indeed a promise of renewal and reconciliation. As disciples of Christ, we take God's promise as the purpose for our lives. Let us, then, rededicate ourselves to God's holy vision, living each day with awareness of the future God extends to us and of the Spirit that leads us onward.
Second, let us practice social and environmental holiness. We believe personal holiness and social holiness must never be separated. John Wesley preached: "The gospel of Christ knows of no religion, but social. No holiness but social holiness."iii Through social holiness we make ourselves a channel of God's blessing in the world. Because God's blessing, care, and promise of renewal extend to all of creation, we can speak today of "environmental holiness" as well. We practice social and environmental holiness by caring for God's people and God's planet and by challenging those whose policies and practices neglect the poor, exploit the weak, hasten global warming, and produce more weapons.
Third, let us live and act in hope. As people in the tradition of John Wesley, we understand reconciliation and renewal to be part of the process of salvation that is already underway. We are not hemmed into a fallen world. Rather we are part of a divine unfolding process to which we must contribute. As we faithfully respond to God's grace and call to action, the Holy Spirit guides us in this renewal. With a resurrection spirit, we look forward to the renewal of the whole creation and commit ourselves to that vision. We pray that God will accept and use our lives and resources that we re-dedicate to a ministry of peace, justice and hope to overcome poverty and disease, environmental degradation, and the proliferation of weapons and violence.
With God's help and with you as our witnesses…
1. We as your bishops pledge to answer God's call to deepen our spiritual consciousness as just stewards of creation. We commit ourselves to faithful and effective leadership on these issues, in our denomination, and in our communities and nations.
2. We pledge to make God's vision of renewal our goal. With every evaluation and decision, we will ask: Does this contribute to God's renewal of creation? Ever aware of the difference between what is and what must be, we pledge to practice Wesleyan "holy dissatisfaction."iv
3. We pledge to practice dialogue with those whose life experience differs dramatically from our own, and we pledge to practice prayerful self-examination. For example, in the Council of bishops, the fifty active bishops in the United States are committed to listening and learning with the nineteen active bishops in Africa, Asia and Europe. And the bishops representing the United States? conferences will prayerfully examine the fact that their nation consumes more than its fair share of the world?s resources, generates the most waste, and produces the most weapons.
4. We pledge ourselves to make common cause with religious leaders and people of good will worldwide who share these concerns. We will connect and collaborate with ecumenical and interreligious partners and with community and faith organizations so that we may
strengthen our common efforts.
5. We pledge to advocate for justice and peace in the halls of power in our respective nations and international organizations.
6. We pledge to measure the "carbon footprint"v of our episcopal and denominational offices, determine how to reduce it, and implement those changes. We will urge our congregations, schools and settings of ministry to do the same.
7. We pledge, to the best of our ability, to provide the resources needed by our conferences to reduce dramatically our collective exploitation of the planet, peoples and communities, including technical assistance with buildings and programs, education and training, young people's and online networking resources.
8. We pledge to practice hope as we engage and continue supporting the many transforming ministries of our denomination. Every day we will thank God for fruit produced through the work of The United Methodist Church and through each of you.
9. We pledge more effective use of the church and community webpages to inspire and share what we learn.vi We celebrate the communications efforts that tell the stories of struggle and transformation within our denomination.
With these pledges, we respond to God's gracious invitation to join in the process of renewal. God is already visibly at work in people and groups around the world. We rededicate ourselves to join these movements, the movements of the Spirit. Young people are passionately raising funds to provide mosquito nets for their "siblings" thousands of miles away. Dock workers are refusing to off-load small weapons being smuggled to armed combatants in civil wars in their continent. People of faith are demanding land reform on behalf of landless farm workers. Children and young people have formed church-wide "green teams" to transform our buildings and ministries into testimonies of stewardship and sustainability. Ecumenical and interreligious partners persist in demanding the major nuclear powers to reduce their arsenals, step by verifiable step, making a way to a more secure world totally disarmed of nuclear weapons. God is already doing a new thing. With this Letter and the accompanying Foundation Document, we rededicate ourselves to participate in God's work, and we urge you all to rededicate yourselves as well.
We beseech every United Methodist, every congregation and every public leader: "Will you participate in God's renewing work?" We are filled with hope for what God can accomplish through us, and we pray you respond: "We will, with God's help!"
May God's grace purify our reason, strengthen our will, and guide our action. May the love of God, the peace of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit be among you, everywhere and always, so that you may be a blessing to all creation and to all the children of God, making peace, nurturing and practicing hope, choosing life and coming to life eternal. Amen.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Pastoral Letter (English), adopted November 3, 2009 at Lake Junaluska, NC, USA.
God's Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action
A Pastoral Letter from the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church
God's creation is in crisis. We, the Bishops of The United Methodist Church, cannot remain silent while God's people and God's planet suffer. This beautiful natural world is a loving gift from God, the Creator of all things seen and unseen. God has entrusted its care to all of us, but we have turned our backs on God and on our responsibilities. Our neglect, selfishness, and pride have fostered:
* pandemic poverty and disease;
* environmental degradation, and
* the proliferation of weapons and violence
Despite these interconnected threats to life and hope, God?s creative work continues. Despite the ways we all contribute to these problems, God still invites each one of us to participate in the work of renewal. We must begin the work of renewing creation by being renewed in our own hearts and minds. We cannot help the world until we change our way of being in it.
We all feel saddened by the state of the world, overwhelmed by the scope of these problems, and anxious about the future, but God calls us and equips us to respond. No matter how bad things are, God?s creative work continues. Christ?s resurrection assures us that death and destruction do not have the last word. Paul taught that through Jesus Christ, God offers redemption to all of creation and reconciles all things, "whether on earth or in heaven."(Col 1:20ii)
God's Spirit is always and everywhere at work in the world fighting poverty, restoring health, renewing creation, and reconciling peoples.
Aware of God's vision for creation, we no longer see a list of isolated problems affecting disconnected people, plants, and animals. Rather, we see one interconnected system that "groans in travail."(Romans 8:22) The threats to peace, people, and planet earth are related to one another, and God's vision encompasses complete well-being. We, your bishops, join with many global religious leaders to call for a comprehensive response to these interrelated issues. We urge all United Methodists and people of goodwill to offer themselves as instruments of God's renewing Spirit in the world.
First, let us orient our lives toward God's holy vision. This vision of the future calls us to hope and to action. "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."(Jer 29:11) Christ?s resurrection assures us that this vision is indeed a promise of renewal and reconciliation. As disciples of Christ, we take God's promise as the purpose for our lives. Let us, then, rededicate ourselves to God's holy vision, living each day with awareness of the future God extends to us and of the Spirit that leads us onward.
Second, let us practice social and environmental holiness. We believe personal holiness and social holiness must never be separated. John Wesley preached: "The gospel of Christ knows of no religion, but social. No holiness but social holiness."iii Through social holiness we make ourselves a channel of God's blessing in the world. Because God's blessing, care, and promise of renewal extend to all of creation, we can speak today of "environmental holiness" as well. We practice social and environmental holiness by caring for God's people and God's planet and by challenging those whose policies and practices neglect the poor, exploit the weak, hasten global warming, and produce more weapons.
Third, let us live and act in hope. As people in the tradition of John Wesley, we understand reconciliation and renewal to be part of the process of salvation that is already underway. We are not hemmed into a fallen world. Rather we are part of a divine unfolding process to which we must contribute. As we faithfully respond to God's grace and call to action, the Holy Spirit guides us in this renewal. With a resurrection spirit, we look forward to the renewal of the whole creation and commit ourselves to that vision. We pray that God will accept and use our lives and resources that we re-dedicate to a ministry of peace, justice and hope to overcome poverty and disease, environmental degradation, and the proliferation of weapons and violence.
With God's help and with you as our witnesses…
1. We as your bishops pledge to answer God's call to deepen our spiritual consciousness as just stewards of creation. We commit ourselves to faithful and effective leadership on these issues, in our denomination, and in our communities and nations.
2. We pledge to make God's vision of renewal our goal. With every evaluation and decision, we will ask: Does this contribute to God's renewal of creation? Ever aware of the difference between what is and what must be, we pledge to practice Wesleyan "holy dissatisfaction."iv
3. We pledge to practice dialogue with those whose life experience differs dramatically from our own, and we pledge to practice prayerful self-examination. For example, in the Council of bishops, the fifty active bishops in the United States are committed to listening and learning with the nineteen active bishops in Africa, Asia and Europe. And the bishops representing the United States? conferences will prayerfully examine the fact that their nation consumes more than its fair share of the world?s resources, generates the most waste, and produces the most weapons.
4. We pledge ourselves to make common cause with religious leaders and people of good will worldwide who share these concerns. We will connect and collaborate with ecumenical and interreligious partners and with community and faith organizations so that we may
strengthen our common efforts.
5. We pledge to advocate for justice and peace in the halls of power in our respective nations and international organizations.
6. We pledge to measure the "carbon footprint"v of our episcopal and denominational offices, determine how to reduce it, and implement those changes. We will urge our congregations, schools and settings of ministry to do the same.
7. We pledge, to the best of our ability, to provide the resources needed by our conferences to reduce dramatically our collective exploitation of the planet, peoples and communities, including technical assistance with buildings and programs, education and training, young people's and online networking resources.
8. We pledge to practice hope as we engage and continue supporting the many transforming ministries of our denomination. Every day we will thank God for fruit produced through the work of The United Methodist Church and through each of you.
9. We pledge more effective use of the church and community webpages to inspire and share what we learn.vi We celebrate the communications efforts that tell the stories of struggle and transformation within our denomination.
With these pledges, we respond to God's gracious invitation to join in the process of renewal. God is already visibly at work in people and groups around the world. We rededicate ourselves to join these movements, the movements of the Spirit. Young people are passionately raising funds to provide mosquito nets for their "siblings" thousands of miles away. Dock workers are refusing to off-load small weapons being smuggled to armed combatants in civil wars in their continent. People of faith are demanding land reform on behalf of landless farm workers. Children and young people have formed church-wide "green teams" to transform our buildings and ministries into testimonies of stewardship and sustainability. Ecumenical and interreligious partners persist in demanding the major nuclear powers to reduce their arsenals, step by verifiable step, making a way to a more secure world totally disarmed of nuclear weapons. God is already doing a new thing. With this Letter and the accompanying Foundation Document, we rededicate ourselves to participate in God's work, and we urge you all to rededicate yourselves as well.
We beseech every United Methodist, every congregation and every public leader: "Will you participate in God's renewing work?" We are filled with hope for what God can accomplish through us, and we pray you respond: "We will, with God's help!"
May God's grace purify our reason, strengthen our will, and guide our action. May the love of God, the peace of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit be among you, everywhere and always, so that you may be a blessing to all creation and to all the children of God, making peace, nurturing and practicing hope, choosing life and coming to life eternal. Amen.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - December 8th, 2009
How do you encounter God? In the book THE SHACK the main character encounters God in a shack. Over a weekend he meets Jesus, God, and the Spirit and deepens his relationship with the divine in powerful ways.
In worship, God is there with us but I am afraid that we do not open ourselves to encountering God there. I worry that Christians have lost the ability to expect to meet God in worship. So I ask again-how do you encounter God? Have you encountered God and if so, when and where? How has that encounter changed you? Do you expect it to happen again?
In the journey together...
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
In worship, God is there with us but I am afraid that we do not open ourselves to encountering God there. I worry that Christians have lost the ability to expect to meet God in worship. So I ask again-how do you encounter God? Have you encountered God and if so, when and where? How has that encounter changed you? Do you expect it to happen again?
In the journey together...
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - December 7th, 2009
This Upper Room Devotional was so in line with what I have been preaching on, I had to share it.
Say Thank You
Suggested Bible Reading
O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it. These all look to you to give them their food in due season; when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
-Psalm 104:24-28 (NRSV)
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Say Thank You
Suggested Bible Reading
O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it. These all look to you to give them their food in due season; when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
-Psalm 104:24-28 (NRSV)
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - December 3rd, 2009
There are times when I get really frustrated and down and really question why God called me into ministry. Last night I was feeling this way (it has been a long week of three hour nights) but I found this on youtube. Click on the link, it is really beautiful and takes maybe 30 seconds.
YouTube Video Link
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
YouTube Video Link
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - December 2nd, 2009
This is the Advent prayer in the Hymnal. It is number 201 if you want to read it there.
Merciful God, you sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation. Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may celebrate aright the commemoration of the nativity, and may await with joy the coming in glory of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Merciful God, you sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation. Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may celebrate aright the commemoration of the nativity, and may await with joy the coming in glory of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - December 1st, 2009
Today my kids will start all of their countdown calendars for Christmas. This morning they will put a little animal on what will become a crowded nativity scene. Tonight they will open a little jar in a Christmas tree that will reveal a little trinket for them to enjoy.
To help them remember what the season is really about, we are going to go online and find a group of people to pray for that day. Because today is world AIDS day, we will go online and find stories of orphans of AIDS and pray for them. I have attached a UM Article about some of the things the United Methodist Church is doing in improving this global health issue.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
To help them remember what the season is really about, we are going to go online and find a group of people to pray for that day. Because today is world AIDS day, we will go online and find stories of orphans of AIDS and pray for them. I have attached a UM Article about some of the things the United Methodist Church is doing in improving this global health issue.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
November 2009 Archives
Daily Faith Lift - November 30th, 2009
I have become the prodigal son (daughter). Let me explain. I had worked with a nutritionist in the beginning of the year and had done really well. I was eating well, moving well, feeling well. Over the summer I stayed strong but in the last 5 weeks or so, I have really gotten away from those good habits.
McDonalds knew me by name once again. A nightly treat seemed to help ease my stress. I was a mess. As I grew more tired from the bad habits I was giving up on working out too.
In a moment of panic and despair, I sent my nutritionist an email asking to meet with her again. Last night we met and I tearfully confessed that I had squandered away her advice and healthy ways of living. I had been the one who wasted and had gone astray.
I hate it when I am the prodigal child because I would rather be the grace-filled parent any day of the week. On the other hand it was nice being embraced by her grace, welcomed back into a life of healthy choices and given another chance.
On the way home I was inspired and beaming knowing that I had received grace and second chances. I thought of the parable of the prodigal son immediately and my heart warmed even more as I remembered that God walks with me even when I go astray but that God will always be there to welcome me home again.
Today, I pray that you will receive grace in some way.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 25th, 2009
My Thanksgiving Prayer:
God of abundance, when you show us your love, it is in abundance. When you bless us, it is with the abundance of family and friends and creation to enjoy. When you comfort us, it comes in the abundance of cards and phone calls, hugs and healing tears. Thank you for your abundance. Hold us in a moment of faith and hope-that whatever we may be facing, we know your peace. Develop in us an attitude of thanksgiving that flows from our hearts in all that we say and do.
As we gather around Thanksgiving tables this weekend remind us of those who mourn the person not at the table this year, the person without food this year, the person struggling to have something to be thankful for. Strengthen us and renew us for the work to which you have called us. In thanksgiving, we pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 24th, 2009
As we approach Thanksgiving day here in the States, I am praying that all of us, even those out of work, those who are struggling to make ends meet, can find ways to be thankful. I got a free CD recently and the first song is "love is all there is". This reminded me of what we are ultimately thankful for, the love of God, the love of neighbor, the love for family and friend.
If you would like to celebrate Thanksgiving in a community atmosphere, I invite you to attend an Ecumenical Thanksgiving Eve service at 7:30 at the Stanton Reformed Church. This service is going to be led by about 10 churches in our community. If you need more information look up the Stanton Reformed Church online.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 23rd, 2009
As Thanksgiving quickly approaches I am turning to the Psalms to hear the eloquent words of praise and Thanksgiving that were written so long ago. I recommend starting with Psalm 100 and reading at least to Psalm 103.
If you do not have a translation that you are comfortable with, let me know and I would be happy to help. If you are reading this online and don't have a Bible, you can look up Scriptures online.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 19th, 2009
Forgive me if I have already sent this but I have fallen in love with this idea:
"Church people think about how to get the people into the church; kingdom people think about how to get the church into the world. Church people worry that the world might change the church; kingdom people work to see the church change the world." -Howard Snyder
Are you a church person or a kingdom person? Find out more on Sunday!
Because I am trying to be faithful in taking Fridays as my Sabbath, I will no longer be doing the Daily Devotional on Fridays. So, the passages for Sunday are Revelation 1 and John 18.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 18th, 2009
As I prepare for Sunday worship I have been reading various websites for ideas and history. I would like to invite you to read this and see if you have any ideas for Sunday. There is a brief history and then some worship ideas. If God speaks to you through an idea let me know sooner rather than later!
Christ the King/The Reign of Christ is one of the latest additions to the Christian liturgical calendar. Begun by the Roman Catholic Church in 1925, adopted fairly quickly thereafter by a number of Europe-related Protestant denominations who were already seeing that gathering threats of fascism and communism, and now observed worldwide by Western Christians, this day caps the Christian Year by boldly professing that Jesus Christ is Lord of All. Readings in the three years bring somewhat different perspectives on what the ultimate Lordship/Kingship/Reign of Jesus means, but all of them draw fairly bright lines between his Reign and the ways of the kingdoms of this world.
The readings for this week are connected around the theme of kingship. The image of the just king from David's song in 2 Samuel may seem strange in light of current language and struggles around the word "justice" in both the secular and religious spheres. There, "justice" is something to fight over, or claim one has a greater claim to than another, hardly a thing of dazzling and gracious beauty.
Here are two questions to ponder in your worship planning team.
1. How might just leadership or justice in general be for us like "the rising sun glistening off the morning dew"? 2. What does a "beautiful" politics of justice look like where you are? What people or organizations already seem to embody such a beautiful politics of justice where you are?
If you have painters or other graphic artists in your congregation, you might invite them to develop a painting or other pieces of art that help make these connections in the context of your particular community. Or you may move from the reading or projection of this text into a time of meditation and community sharing on how just leadership or justice itself might become so embodied in your congregation, community, nation, and world.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 17th, 2009
I just read about an ancient Jewish prayer that is new to me.
In the first century the following prayer was common among Jewish men:
"I thank Thee Lord, that Thou has not made me a Gentile...Thou hast not made me a slave...Thou hast not made me a woman."
The response from those converted to following Christ and his way of life: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" Galatians 3:28.
Even though I knew this was the thinking of the day, I think realizing what the ancient prayer specifically said and how the Christian community responded gives us an interesting way at looking at that famous Galatians text!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 16th, 2009
I don't know if this story below is true or not but it is one of the stories that I would have included in my sermon yesterday if there was more time.
57 CENT CHURCH --- AMAZING
A little girl stood near a small church from which she had been turned away because it was 'too crowded.' 'I can't go to Sunday School,' she sobbed to the pastor as he walked by.
Seeing her shabby, unkempt appearance, the pastor guessed the reason and, taking her by the hand, took her inside and found a place for her in the Sunday school class. The child was so happy that they found room for her, and she went to bed that night thinking of the children who have no place to worship Jesus.
Some two years later, this child lay dead in one of the poor tenement buildings. Her parents called for the kindhearted pastor who had befriended their daughter to handle the final arrangements.
As her poor little body was being moved, a worn and crumpled red purse was found which seemed to have been rummaged from some trash dump.
Inside was found 57 cents and a note, scribbled in childish handwriting, which read: 'This is to help build the little church bigger so more children can go to Sunday School.'
For two years she had saved for this offering of love.
When the pastor tearfully read that note, he knew instantly what he would do. Carrying this note and the cracked, red pocketbook to the pulpit, he told the story of her unselfish love and devotion.
He challenged his deacons to get busy and raise enough money for the larger building.
But the story does not end there...
A newspaper learned of the story and published It. It was read by a wealthy realtor who offered them a parcel of land worth many thousands.
When told that the church could not pay so much, he offered to sell it to the little church for 57 cents.
Church members made large donations. Checks came from far and wide.
Within five years the little girl's gift had increased to $250,000.00 -- a huge sum for that time (near the turn of the century). Her unselfish love had paid large dividends.
When you are in the city of Philadelphia, look up Temple Baptist Church, with a seating capacity of 3,300. And be sure to visit Temple University, where thousands of students are educated.
Have a look, too, at the Good Samaritan Hospital and at a Sunday School building which houses hundreds of beautiful children, built so that no child in the area will ever need to be left outside during Sunday school time.
In one of the rooms of this building may be seen the picture of the sweet face of the little girl whose 57 cents, so sacrificially saved, made such remarkable history. Alongside of it is a portrait of her kind pastor, Dr. Russell H. Conwell, author of the book, 'Acres of Diamonds'.
This is a true story, which goes to show WHAT GOD CAN DO WITH 57 CENTS.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 13th, 2009
Here are the readings for Sunday. Don't forget to join us Saturday night for an Italian Dinner!
Genesis 14:17-24
After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!" And Abram gave him one tenth of everything.
Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself." But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have sworn to the Lord, God Most High, maker of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal-thong or anything that is yours, so that you might not say, 'I have made Abram rich.' I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me-Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their share."
Genesis 28:20-22
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house; and of all that you give me I will surely give one tenth to you."
Mark 12:43-44
Then he called his disciples and said to them, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on."
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 12th, 2009
As this "perfect storm" comes up the Atlantic coast, I have plans to do lots of reading while the kids play indoors. One of the books I am reading right now is called Good News and Good Works by Ronald Sider. He talks about the problem of some churches just focusing on individual salvation and other churches focusing just on social action.
His plea to his readers and the church at large is this:
"We must reclaim a full-orbed biblical understanding of the total mission of the church if we are to seize the astounding opportunities for both evangelism and social transformation offered at this moment in history".
In the United Methodist Church we recently changed our mission statement from: Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, TO: Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ FOR THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE WORLD. The addition in caps is the new part of our denominational mission. I think it is trying to live out exactly what Sider is suggesting-we must be about individual salvation and redemption but we must also be about transforming the entire world to bring about God's kingdom. We can no longer be lopsided. Some thoughts for reflection:
What side is more comfortable for you? Personal salvation or social action?
How can God challenge you to grow in the area that is more uncomfortable?
How can God use your local church to challenge you to go deeper yet?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 11th, 2009
In the midst of the economic crisis, stress continues to weigh heavily on many people around the nation and right here in our local communities.
Today would you join me in praying for those who are: out of work, struggling to pay bills and stay in their homes, and/or meet their basic needs? The stress is really starting to break up marriages, turn into depression and hopelessness, and even bring people to ending their lives.
It is a dark time for many people and we are reminded to be the light in the midst of that darkness because we know and have faith in a good God who will see us through this time.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 10th, 2009
Here is the sum of the Gospel:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. John 3:16
What does it mean to you today that God became flesh and lived on earth to suffer as we suffer, to teach us, to show us the way of love, and even die as we die so that we may have a new life in following Christ?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 9th, 2009
Yesterday I preached a sermon about the book Enough by Adam Hamilton and how we are called to live simply and generously for God and for others. It was one of those horrifying moments when I not only forgot my fourth point but also realized that my notes and book were in my car and not with me in the Sanctuary! Overall I think the sermon went well but those public humiliating moments remind me that we all need grace.
My plan had been to just play a video clip with the sermon that Rev. Hamilton gave but the sound wasn't working. I knew the message well and knew that I could preach it if need be but I was not ready to be note free. Lessons learn: plan ahead, plan even more, and then always be humble enough to share grace with others and yourself.
God is still good...
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 6th, 2009
On Sunday I am going to give a Stewardship sermon on the book Enough by Adam Hamilton. Please still come to church.
Because I will be using multiple texts, I was hoping that over the next few days you could ask yourself some questions about Stewardship in preparation of the sermon and topic.
First, many people believe that "where you put your money is where you put your values" In other words, if you put most of your money into property and housing, that must be something you value deeply. If a lot of money goes into retirement, security for the future must be a value to you. Do you agree with this concept? If so, where does your money go over the course of the year (I encourage you to look at actual numbers and not just your best guess) and what does that say about your values?
Second, if the church had an endless amount of money to do God's work on earth, what would you envision the church doing in the community and in the world? What would it feel like to be a part of that kind of work?
If you want to send me your responses, I would be happy to receive them.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 5th, 2009
Take time to listen to the Word of God.
Be generous to your servant and I shall live, and shall keep your words.
Open my eyes and I shall fix my gaze on the wonders of your law.
Traveller though I am on the earth, do not hide your commandments from me.
My heart is pining away with longing at all times for your judgements.
You have rebuked the arrogant who stray from your commandments.
Set me free from taunts and contempt because I observe your instructions.
Psalm 119:17-22
What is God saying to you today?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 4th, 2009
Last night Nathan wanted to pray at dinner really really badly. This is what he said:
Everybody, everybody be quiet. Put your hands like this (put them palm to palm in traditional prayer form) and be quiet, me pray. Geez us, dank for da food, dank you for da family, dank you for da day. Amen.
Thank you Nathan for reminding me how to talk to God!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 3rd, 2009
Uh! What are you doing sitting at home reading your computer-get out and vote!
“Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote.”
William E. Simon quotes
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 2nd, 2009
I used to love the fall when time "fell back" and I got an extra hour of sleep. I would go to bed at my usual time and then be able to get an extra hour of rest while the clocks set back at 2am.
Now that I am a mom, I despise the time changes. The last two nights we have kept the boys up late so that they would sleep in and adjust to the time change. But they seem to have different plans. Both yesterday and today they have been up and bouncing around by 6am (still thinking that it was 7am). Gone is my hour of sleep, gone is my rest! If someone were to write a book about everything that changes with kids in the house, I think it would a.) be a bestseller and b.) scare many people into long term birth control.
Well, Chris has learned to give kisses, I guess it is worth losing sleep!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
I have become the prodigal son (daughter). Let me explain. I had worked with a nutritionist in the beginning of the year and had done really well. I was eating well, moving well, feeling well. Over the summer I stayed strong but in the last 5 weeks or so, I have really gotten away from those good habits.
McDonalds knew me by name once again. A nightly treat seemed to help ease my stress. I was a mess. As I grew more tired from the bad habits I was giving up on working out too.
In a moment of panic and despair, I sent my nutritionist an email asking to meet with her again. Last night we met and I tearfully confessed that I had squandered away her advice and healthy ways of living. I had been the one who wasted and had gone astray.
I hate it when I am the prodigal child because I would rather be the grace-filled parent any day of the week. On the other hand it was nice being embraced by her grace, welcomed back into a life of healthy choices and given another chance.
On the way home I was inspired and beaming knowing that I had received grace and second chances. I thought of the parable of the prodigal son immediately and my heart warmed even more as I remembered that God walks with me even when I go astray but that God will always be there to welcome me home again.
Today, I pray that you will receive grace in some way.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 25th, 2009
My Thanksgiving Prayer:
God of abundance, when you show us your love, it is in abundance. When you bless us, it is with the abundance of family and friends and creation to enjoy. When you comfort us, it comes in the abundance of cards and phone calls, hugs and healing tears. Thank you for your abundance. Hold us in a moment of faith and hope-that whatever we may be facing, we know your peace. Develop in us an attitude of thanksgiving that flows from our hearts in all that we say and do.
As we gather around Thanksgiving tables this weekend remind us of those who mourn the person not at the table this year, the person without food this year, the person struggling to have something to be thankful for. Strengthen us and renew us for the work to which you have called us. In thanksgiving, we pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 24th, 2009
As we approach Thanksgiving day here in the States, I am praying that all of us, even those out of work, those who are struggling to make ends meet, can find ways to be thankful. I got a free CD recently and the first song is "love is all there is". This reminded me of what we are ultimately thankful for, the love of God, the love of neighbor, the love for family and friend.
If you would like to celebrate Thanksgiving in a community atmosphere, I invite you to attend an Ecumenical Thanksgiving Eve service at 7:30 at the Stanton Reformed Church. This service is going to be led by about 10 churches in our community. If you need more information look up the Stanton Reformed Church online.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 23rd, 2009
As Thanksgiving quickly approaches I am turning to the Psalms to hear the eloquent words of praise and Thanksgiving that were written so long ago. I recommend starting with Psalm 100 and reading at least to Psalm 103.
If you do not have a translation that you are comfortable with, let me know and I would be happy to help. If you are reading this online and don't have a Bible, you can look up Scriptures online.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 19th, 2009
Forgive me if I have already sent this but I have fallen in love with this idea:
"Church people think about how to get the people into the church; kingdom people think about how to get the church into the world. Church people worry that the world might change the church; kingdom people work to see the church change the world." -Howard Snyder
Are you a church person or a kingdom person? Find out more on Sunday!
Because I am trying to be faithful in taking Fridays as my Sabbath, I will no longer be doing the Daily Devotional on Fridays. So, the passages for Sunday are Revelation 1 and John 18.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 18th, 2009
As I prepare for Sunday worship I have been reading various websites for ideas and history. I would like to invite you to read this and see if you have any ideas for Sunday. There is a brief history and then some worship ideas. If God speaks to you through an idea let me know sooner rather than later!
Christ the King/The Reign of Christ is one of the latest additions to the Christian liturgical calendar. Begun by the Roman Catholic Church in 1925, adopted fairly quickly thereafter by a number of Europe-related Protestant denominations who were already seeing that gathering threats of fascism and communism, and now observed worldwide by Western Christians, this day caps the Christian Year by boldly professing that Jesus Christ is Lord of All. Readings in the three years bring somewhat different perspectives on what the ultimate Lordship/Kingship/Reign of Jesus means, but all of them draw fairly bright lines between his Reign and the ways of the kingdoms of this world.
The readings for this week are connected around the theme of kingship. The image of the just king from David's song in 2 Samuel may seem strange in light of current language and struggles around the word "justice" in both the secular and religious spheres. There, "justice" is something to fight over, or claim one has a greater claim to than another, hardly a thing of dazzling and gracious beauty.
Here are two questions to ponder in your worship planning team.
1. How might just leadership or justice in general be for us like "the rising sun glistening off the morning dew"? 2. What does a "beautiful" politics of justice look like where you are? What people or organizations already seem to embody such a beautiful politics of justice where you are?
If you have painters or other graphic artists in your congregation, you might invite them to develop a painting or other pieces of art that help make these connections in the context of your particular community. Or you may move from the reading or projection of this text into a time of meditation and community sharing on how just leadership or justice itself might become so embodied in your congregation, community, nation, and world.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 17th, 2009
I just read about an ancient Jewish prayer that is new to me.
In the first century the following prayer was common among Jewish men:
"I thank Thee Lord, that Thou has not made me a Gentile...Thou hast not made me a slave...Thou hast not made me a woman."
The response from those converted to following Christ and his way of life: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" Galatians 3:28.
Even though I knew this was the thinking of the day, I think realizing what the ancient prayer specifically said and how the Christian community responded gives us an interesting way at looking at that famous Galatians text!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 16th, 2009
I don't know if this story below is true or not but it is one of the stories that I would have included in my sermon yesterday if there was more time.
57 CENT CHURCH --- AMAZING
A little girl stood near a small church from which she had been turned away because it was 'too crowded.' 'I can't go to Sunday School,' she sobbed to the pastor as he walked by.
Seeing her shabby, unkempt appearance, the pastor guessed the reason and, taking her by the hand, took her inside and found a place for her in the Sunday school class. The child was so happy that they found room for her, and she went to bed that night thinking of the children who have no place to worship Jesus.
Some two years later, this child lay dead in one of the poor tenement buildings. Her parents called for the kindhearted pastor who had befriended their daughter to handle the final arrangements.
As her poor little body was being moved, a worn and crumpled red purse was found which seemed to have been rummaged from some trash dump.
Inside was found 57 cents and a note, scribbled in childish handwriting, which read: 'This is to help build the little church bigger so more children can go to Sunday School.'
For two years she had saved for this offering of love.
When the pastor tearfully read that note, he knew instantly what he would do. Carrying this note and the cracked, red pocketbook to the pulpit, he told the story of her unselfish love and devotion.
He challenged his deacons to get busy and raise enough money for the larger building.
But the story does not end there...
A newspaper learned of the story and published It. It was read by a wealthy realtor who offered them a parcel of land worth many thousands.
When told that the church could not pay so much, he offered to sell it to the little church for 57 cents.
Church members made large donations. Checks came from far and wide.
Within five years the little girl's gift had increased to $250,000.00 -- a huge sum for that time (near the turn of the century). Her unselfish love had paid large dividends.
When you are in the city of Philadelphia, look up Temple Baptist Church, with a seating capacity of 3,300. And be sure to visit Temple University, where thousands of students are educated.
Have a look, too, at the Good Samaritan Hospital and at a Sunday School building which houses hundreds of beautiful children, built so that no child in the area will ever need to be left outside during Sunday school time.
In one of the rooms of this building may be seen the picture of the sweet face of the little girl whose 57 cents, so sacrificially saved, made such remarkable history. Alongside of it is a portrait of her kind pastor, Dr. Russell H. Conwell, author of the book, 'Acres of Diamonds'.
This is a true story, which goes to show WHAT GOD CAN DO WITH 57 CENTS.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 13th, 2009
Here are the readings for Sunday. Don't forget to join us Saturday night for an Italian Dinner!
Genesis 14:17-24
After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!" And Abram gave him one tenth of everything.
Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself." But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have sworn to the Lord, God Most High, maker of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal-thong or anything that is yours, so that you might not say, 'I have made Abram rich.' I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me-Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their share."
Genesis 28:20-22
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house; and of all that you give me I will surely give one tenth to you."
Mark 12:43-44
Then he called his disciples and said to them, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on."
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 12th, 2009
As this "perfect storm" comes up the Atlantic coast, I have plans to do lots of reading while the kids play indoors. One of the books I am reading right now is called Good News and Good Works by Ronald Sider. He talks about the problem of some churches just focusing on individual salvation and other churches focusing just on social action.
His plea to his readers and the church at large is this:
"We must reclaim a full-orbed biblical understanding of the total mission of the church if we are to seize the astounding opportunities for both evangelism and social transformation offered at this moment in history".
In the United Methodist Church we recently changed our mission statement from: Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, TO: Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ FOR THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE WORLD. The addition in caps is the new part of our denominational mission. I think it is trying to live out exactly what Sider is suggesting-we must be about individual salvation and redemption but we must also be about transforming the entire world to bring about God's kingdom. We can no longer be lopsided. Some thoughts for reflection:
What side is more comfortable for you? Personal salvation or social action?
How can God challenge you to grow in the area that is more uncomfortable?
How can God use your local church to challenge you to go deeper yet?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 11th, 2009
In the midst of the economic crisis, stress continues to weigh heavily on many people around the nation and right here in our local communities.
Today would you join me in praying for those who are: out of work, struggling to pay bills and stay in their homes, and/or meet their basic needs? The stress is really starting to break up marriages, turn into depression and hopelessness, and even bring people to ending their lives.
It is a dark time for many people and we are reminded to be the light in the midst of that darkness because we know and have faith in a good God who will see us through this time.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 10th, 2009
Here is the sum of the Gospel:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. John 3:16
What does it mean to you today that God became flesh and lived on earth to suffer as we suffer, to teach us, to show us the way of love, and even die as we die so that we may have a new life in following Christ?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 9th, 2009
Yesterday I preached a sermon about the book Enough by Adam Hamilton and how we are called to live simply and generously for God and for others. It was one of those horrifying moments when I not only forgot my fourth point but also realized that my notes and book were in my car and not with me in the Sanctuary! Overall I think the sermon went well but those public humiliating moments remind me that we all need grace.
My plan had been to just play a video clip with the sermon that Rev. Hamilton gave but the sound wasn't working. I knew the message well and knew that I could preach it if need be but I was not ready to be note free. Lessons learn: plan ahead, plan even more, and then always be humble enough to share grace with others and yourself.
God is still good...
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 6th, 2009
On Sunday I am going to give a Stewardship sermon on the book Enough by Adam Hamilton. Please still come to church.
Because I will be using multiple texts, I was hoping that over the next few days you could ask yourself some questions about Stewardship in preparation of the sermon and topic.
First, many people believe that "where you put your money is where you put your values" In other words, if you put most of your money into property and housing, that must be something you value deeply. If a lot of money goes into retirement, security for the future must be a value to you. Do you agree with this concept? If so, where does your money go over the course of the year (I encourage you to look at actual numbers and not just your best guess) and what does that say about your values?
Second, if the church had an endless amount of money to do God's work on earth, what would you envision the church doing in the community and in the world? What would it feel like to be a part of that kind of work?
If you want to send me your responses, I would be happy to receive them.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 5th, 2009
Take time to listen to the Word of God.
Be generous to your servant and I shall live, and shall keep your words.
Open my eyes and I shall fix my gaze on the wonders of your law.
Traveller though I am on the earth, do not hide your commandments from me.
My heart is pining away with longing at all times for your judgements.
You have rebuked the arrogant who stray from your commandments.
Set me free from taunts and contempt because I observe your instructions.
Psalm 119:17-22
What is God saying to you today?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 4th, 2009
Last night Nathan wanted to pray at dinner really really badly. This is what he said:
Everybody, everybody be quiet. Put your hands like this (put them palm to palm in traditional prayer form) and be quiet, me pray. Geez us, dank for da food, dank you for da family, dank you for da day. Amen.
Thank you Nathan for reminding me how to talk to God!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 3rd, 2009
Uh! What are you doing sitting at home reading your computer-get out and vote!
“Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote.”
William E. Simon quotes
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - November 2nd, 2009
I used to love the fall when time "fell back" and I got an extra hour of sleep. I would go to bed at my usual time and then be able to get an extra hour of rest while the clocks set back at 2am.
Now that I am a mom, I despise the time changes. The last two nights we have kept the boys up late so that they would sleep in and adjust to the time change. But they seem to have different plans. Both yesterday and today they have been up and bouncing around by 6am (still thinking that it was 7am). Gone is my hour of sleep, gone is my rest! If someone were to write a book about everything that changes with kids in the house, I think it would a.) be a bestseller and b.) scare many people into long term birth control.
Well, Chris has learned to give kisses, I guess it is worth losing sleep!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
October 2009 Archives
Daily Faith Lift - October 30th, 2009
On Sunday we will honor All Saints Day in the life of our congregation. See you Sunday!
The texts that will be read are:
Isaiah 25:1-10
O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you, I will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the palace of aliens is a city no more, it will never be rebuilt. Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you. For you have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat. When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm, the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place, you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds; the song of the ruthless was stilled.
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.
It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain. The Moabites shall be trodden down in their place as straw is trodden down in a dung-pit.
Revelation 21:1-6
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true." Then he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 29th, 2009
I thought these were too funny not to share. The school Halloween parties start today in my house so I thought they were pretty timely as well.
The career talk with the first grade went really well yesterday. One little boy got all excited when I pulled out my clergy robe and he said "I remember that-that is what you wore on Christmas when you talked about baby Jesus!". That was his one and only church experience. God is at work...!
Enjoy the pictures below.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 28th, 2009
Today it is my turn to go to my oldest son's class to talk about my career. I could tell the teacher was a little nervous when I signed up. I assumed she was thinking that I would go in and try to convert the students so I told her I would talk more about how pastors are our friends and community helpers and just give the bare bones of the religious aspect.
Now that the day is here, I am not sure how I will really do that. The very foundation of my job is to lead worship and help others in their spiritual journey. So much of my job involves prayers, Scripture, breaking bread, funerals, weddings-the sacred things of life. When I strip that away I feel like I am a building manager for fundraisers and the occasional food pantry.
With all of that said, I am left with about five hours to figure out how to find an appropriate balance! I want the kids to really know that I am a safe person and the church is a safe place and at the same time I can't ignore the very crux of what I do. Should of thought of this on Monday...
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 27th, 2009
Sorry for the delay but I found this prayer in one of my cookbooks.
Delicious Creator God,
I taste your glory in the tangy crunch of a crisp apple.
I taste your glory in salty tears of emotion.
I taste your glory in cool, clear, life-giving water.
I taste your glory in the heavy sweetness of dark chocolate.
Your glory flavors the early peas and new lettuce of spring,
the raspberries and sour cherries of my backyard,
the mealy goodness of new potatoes and butternut squash,
it steeps in my tea and bakes in my peach cobbler.
For the nibbles and feasts of your glory and for my taste buds,
I give you thanks.
By Donna Mast, Scottdale, Pa.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 26th, 2009
Yesterday was a blessing to me. The Round Valley UMC threw a surprise party/pastor appreciation for me after church.
There are so many times in ministry where I doubt if I am making a difference in anyone else's life or if I am just running on a hamster wheel all by myself. Yesterday reminded me that no, by the grace of God my life has become intertwined with the lives of so many people in the congregation. What a gift that realization was. I looked around fellowship hall and thought about how I have seen the youth and children grow-some of them from babies to kids, some from kids to now young adults. I looked around and thought about who wasn't there because they have now gone to their eternal homes. I looked around and thought about how blessed I am to journey alongside these wonderful people.
The church surprised me with gift certificates to some of my favorite places-let's just say Jonathan and I have date nights for the next few months and I am going shopping real soon!
The difficult part for me is how to truly express my thankfulness for their generosity. Is a simple thank you in the bulletin enough? If I could I would take everyone out for dinner as a way of saying thanks. It is much harder for me to be on the receiving end then the giving.
I am blessed in so many ways...thank you God, thank you church, thank you family.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 23rd, 2009
Here is the primary passage for Sunday. After struggling alongside Job for the last few weeks, it is time for the happily ever after with God who is always working for good...
Job 42: 1-17
Then Job answered the Lord: "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 'Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.' I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."
After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: "My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done." So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them; and the Lord accepted Job's prayer.
And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job's daughters; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children's children, four generations. 17And Job died, old and full of days
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 22nd, 2009
Oh my goodness! What a surprise to find the church sign last night. I was driving home after a theology discussion group and I turned bright red seeing the Round Valley Church sign wishing me a happy Birthday. Thank you very much for the well wishes as my 30th rapidly approaches!
On Saturday I say goodbye to my twenties and hello to my thirties. I would not be facing the decade change without the love and support of my beloved church community. Thank you!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 21st, 2009
Last night Jonathan hosted a dialogue about healthcare reform at the Washington UMC. The turn out was not great but the people who attended really got a lot out of the evening. There were three panelists-a Doctor from the Hunterdon Medical Center, a Policy analyst who works in Trenton, and a pastor from Princeton to offer a theological perspective.
The three people came from different points of view but all agreed that some kind of reform was needed. As the dialogue continues across our nation, I pray that you will continue to seek out the truth behind the headlines and the over-the-top "news" media. For more information about the United Methodist Church stance-please check out our website and join the John 10:10 challenge today!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 20th, 2009
Yesterday the clergy met with Bishop Devadhar to discuss the state of the Conference and the United Methodist Church. It was reported to us (not for the first time) that clergy used to be in the top five of the healthiest professions. Today we are in the bottom five of the healthy ones (another way to say it is that we are still in the top five but now for UNHEALTHY professions).
We spent a lot of time discussing why the change has occurred. One of the biggest factors for our sad state is stress. I realized that my day yesterday started at 5:30 am and I did not leave the church until 10:45 pm. Many of my days are like that and when I am home, I am usually making or taking calls and/or reading/studying for Bible studies or sermons. My day off Friday-is almost never taken. This Friday for instance I have a meeting at 10:30 and one at 1pm-I will undoubtedly have some other work to get done before Sunday.
The clergy talked in length about how, because we love our work, we have a very difficult time saying no to things and we end up doing things that really should be work shared with others. I sometimes have to remind myself that I am probably the only one staying up at night worried about the lightbulbs that need to be changed, the mail that has not been sorted, and what programs we are lacking to revitalize the congregation. I am still struggling to let this fall on the shoulders of the entire congregation. It is not "My church" it is God's church that we (myself and all of its members) are called to care for.
I am realizing that in this fast paced world that we live in today, I am probably not alone in having a full plate and a stressed life. I am left wondering what we can do together to help one another along life's journey so that we may all live healthy and whole lives.
I will pray for you, will you pray for me?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 19th, 2009
A Scripture for you today: O God, you will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are fixed on you, for in returning and rest we shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be our strength. Isaiah 26:3; 30:15
May our minds be fixed on God so that we may have peace this day. Be content in the love of God and know that you are loved deeply by our Lord.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 16th, 2009
On Sunday I am preaching a sermon called "and now a word from God" the passage is:
Job 38: 1-41
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements-surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? "Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb? When I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors, and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stopped'?
"Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, so that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? It is changed like clay under the seal, and it is dyed like a garment. Light is withheld from the wicked, and their uplifted arm is broken. "Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this. "Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness, that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home? Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great! "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?
"Who has cut a channel for the torrents of rain, and a way for the thunderbolt, to bring rain on a land where no one lives, on the desert, which is empty of human life, to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground put forth grass? "Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven? The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. "Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth? "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that a flood of waters may cover you? Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go and say to you, 'Here we are'? Who has put wisdom in the inward parts, or given understanding to the mind? Who has the wisdom to number the clouds? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens, when the dust runs into a mass and the clods cling together? "Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in their covert? Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 15th, 2009
On Saturday Round Valley UMC will have a Blessing of the Animals service at 10 AM. According to a recent poll 72% of Americans feel that their pet is a part of their family. If you or someone you know feel that your pet has a special place in your life please share the news and come. Thanks to two animal lovers in the church, we will have treats for the people and their pets after the brief service.
Hope to see you there!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 14th, 2009
Every night Jeremiah's homework comes home in a green folder. One side has his homework, the other side has his completed school papers. Last night, on the completed papers side he had some writing. He had to complete the sentence: "ON Sunday I ...." and "On Sunday pigs....". They were talking about what they do on Sunday's and what others might do (like animals). Jeremiah's answers as written on his papers were: On Sunday I go to trj. On Sunday a pig goes to the trj. When asked to read it to us it turns out that "trj" stands for "church". He told his whole class with quite a bit of joy that he goes to church and pigs go to church. I asked him which church pigs attend and he replied well mom-they can worship God in their cages.
I was a proud mom and pastor and was amazed at how simply children can witness to their priorities. Culture sometimes teaches us to hide our light under a bushel but I really believe that our youth can remind us that we should never, never be ashamed of our faith and our being a part of a faith community.
I pray that today you can share your faith in a simple and non-threatening way that shows others the love of Christ you have in your heart.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 13th, 2009
I am planning a book study on Enough by Adam Hamilton. I have asked a few people to pre-read it to get their feedback and make sure it would be a good book for the church to study. The results are in and are very positive.
This little book offers a lot of wisdom on how we can live simply and generously and I think that by God's grace through this book we can be transformed individually and as a congregation. If you are near Lebanon, NJ please, please try to carve out some time on Tuesday nights beginning 10/27. If you are reading this and don't live near NJ, please consider reading the books and posting your thoughts on our website or on our facebook site anytime.
I will talk to our web-guru about having a space for your thoughts!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 12th, 2009
It is good to be home. I am busy processing lots of information and good ideas and prayerfully discerning what may or may not be a benefit to the churches I serve. I continue to be in prayer about what I enjoyed and found meaningful from the Church of the Resurrection and what I am still critical about. All in all it was inspiring that over 100 volunteers took the week of off work to serve the attendees of the leadership institute and to see what they are doing in both local and foreign missions is, in no doubt, the church being the hands of God at work in the world.
Please continue to pray for me as I sift through the materials and seek God's guidance in my personal ministry and my ministry with Round Valley and High Bridge. I will keep you in my prayers.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 9th, 2009
The number one inspiration that I have had here at the Leadership Institute in Kansas is that we must have passion. We must have passion for our love of Christ. We must have a passion for serving Christ and helping others to know him. We must have a passion for being Christ's hands and feet in the world. If we lose our passion then we must go back to the well and drink deeply from the well of God to be refreshed. This time has been that well for me. I pray that when I return to my local churches I can offer them a drink of God.
May our prayers be with Obama and the world around us as we celebrate the Presidents peace prize award.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 8th, 2009
Registration is at 7:30 (Kansas time) and I will be on my way to a day packed with good things. I hope that you will enjoy this forwarded message and that it will bless you and remind you of who your daddy is.
"What we leave behind is not what is engraved in stone, but what is woven into the lives of others"
A seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in Gatlinburg, TN. One morning, they were eating breakfast at a little restaurant, hoping to enjoy a quiet, family meal. While they were waiting for their food, they noticed a distinguished looking, white-haired man moving from table to table, visiting with the guests. The professor leaned over and whispered to his wife, 'I hope he doesn't come over here.' But sure enough, the man did come over to their table.
'Where are you folks from?' he asked in a friendly voice.
'Oklahoma,' they answered.
'Great to have you here in Tennessee. Then the stranger said, 'What do you do for a living?' 'I teach at a seminary,' he replied..
'Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you? Well, I've got a really great story for you.' And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair and sat down at the table with the couple.
The professor groaned and thought to himself, 'Great... Just what I need .....another preacher story!'
The man started, 'See that mountain over there? (Pointing out the restaurant window). Not far from the base of that mountain, there was a boy born to an unwed mother. He had a hard time growing up, because every place he went, he was always asked the same question, 'Hey boy, who's your daddy?' Whether he was at school, in the grocery store or drug store, people would ask the same question, 'Who's your daddy?'
He would hide at recess and lunch time from other students. He would avoid going into stores because that question hurt him so bad. 'When he was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to his church. He would always go in late and slip out early to avoid hearing the question, 'Who's your daddy?' But one day, the new preacher said the benediction so fast that he got caught and had to walk out with the crowd.
Just about the time he got to the back door, the new preacher, not knowing anything about him, put his hand on his shoulder
and asked him, 'Son, who's your daddy?'
The whole church got deathly quiet. He could feel every eye in the church looking at him. Now everyone would finally know the answer to the question, 'Who's your daddy?'
'This new preacher, though, sensed the situation around him and using discernment that only the Holy Spirit could give, said the
following to that scared little boy.. 'Wait a minute! I know who you are! I see the family resemblance now; you are a child of God.'
With that he patted the boy on his shoulder and said, 'Boy, you've got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.'
'With that, the boy smiled for the first time in a long time and walked out the door a changed person. He was never the same
again.. Whenever anybody asked him, 'Who's your Daddy?' he'd just tell them, 'I'm a Child of God.''
The distinguished gentleman got up from the table and said, 'Isn't that a great story?'
The professor responded that it really was a great story!
As the man turned to leave, he said, 'You know, if that new preacher hadn't told me that I was one of God's children, I probably
never would have amounted to anything!' And he walked away.
The seminary professor and his wife were stunned. He called the waitress over & asked her, 'Do you know who that man was --
the one who just left that was sitting at our table?'
The waitress grinned and said, 'Of course. Everybody here knows him. That's Ben Hooper. He's governor of Tennessee!'
Someone in your life today needs a reminder that they're one of God's children!
'The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of God stands forever.' ~~Isaiah
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 7th, 2009
Today I leave for a four day Leadership Institute at the Church of the Resurrection in Kansas. I am thrilled to be going with about 40 colleagues from NJ, all of whom are prayerfully seeking new ideas for our congregations.
Please keep me, those traveling with me, and my family in your prayers. Tomorrow I will be writing from somewhere in their church's mega-structure!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 6th, 2009
A prayer for the day:
Great and good God,
give us hearts that we may hear you,
hearts of love that we may serve you,
hearts of faith that we may live in you,
reverent hearts that we may worship you,
here and in the world out there,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
by Richard of Chichester (1197-1253)
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 5th, 2009
Crayons. How do you say the word? It turns out that I say "crans" and here in NJ I guess everyone else says "cray-ons". I have found nuances like this to be funny in many situations with other words but I just discovered this one this morning. We were at breakfast and my kids dropped their crayons on the floor. I asked them to pick them up and someone at the table asked me what I was talking about. I said the word a few more times and we started laughing when we realized the difference between how mid-westerners talk and those on the east coast. We started running through a few others pop vs. soda, paper bags vs. sacks, grocery shopping vs. food shopping.
I think that where we come from makes a huge impact on how we speak. I even think that is true in how we speak about God. Depending on our experiences and depending on our upbringing, we speak about God differently. For some God in Scripture is full of wrath and punishment. For some God in Scripture is all about the end times. For some God in Scripture is about justice on earth here and now. Some know God as a friend, others know God as an authority, some know God as love.
I think what is beautiful is that God is big enough to be known to us no matter where we come from or how we speak of God's being. Whether you are saying cray-ns or crans, it is still speaking of the same thing. I love that there is some mystery in who God is and how we speak of God. May we all be humble enough to hear how one another speaks of God as we journey together.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 2nd, 2009
The passage for Sunday is from Job. I will be doing a 4 part series on Job.
Job 1:1
There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. The Lord said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the Lord, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it." The Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason." Then Satan answered the Lord, "Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face." 6The Lord said to Satan, "Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life."
So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes. Then his wife said to him, "Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die." But he said to her, "You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 1st, 2009
Cell Phone vs. Bible:
Ever wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone?
What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we flipped through it several time a day?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
What if we gave it to Kids as gifts?
What if we used it when we traveled?
What if we used it in case of emergency?
This is something to make you go....hmm...where is my Bible?
Oh, and one more thing.
Unlike our cell phone, we don't have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill.
Makes you stop and think 'where are my priorities? And no dropped calls!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
On Sunday we will honor All Saints Day in the life of our congregation. See you Sunday!
The texts that will be read are:
Isaiah 25:1-10
O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you, I will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the palace of aliens is a city no more, it will never be rebuilt. Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you. For you have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat. When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm, the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place, you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds; the song of the ruthless was stilled.
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.
It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain. The Moabites shall be trodden down in their place as straw is trodden down in a dung-pit.
Revelation 21:1-6
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true." Then he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 29th, 2009
I thought these were too funny not to share. The school Halloween parties start today in my house so I thought they were pretty timely as well.
The career talk with the first grade went really well yesterday. One little boy got all excited when I pulled out my clergy robe and he said "I remember that-that is what you wore on Christmas when you talked about baby Jesus!". That was his one and only church experience. God is at work...!
Enjoy the pictures below.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 28th, 2009
Today it is my turn to go to my oldest son's class to talk about my career. I could tell the teacher was a little nervous when I signed up. I assumed she was thinking that I would go in and try to convert the students so I told her I would talk more about how pastors are our friends and community helpers and just give the bare bones of the religious aspect.
Now that the day is here, I am not sure how I will really do that. The very foundation of my job is to lead worship and help others in their spiritual journey. So much of my job involves prayers, Scripture, breaking bread, funerals, weddings-the sacred things of life. When I strip that away I feel like I am a building manager for fundraisers and the occasional food pantry.
With all of that said, I am left with about five hours to figure out how to find an appropriate balance! I want the kids to really know that I am a safe person and the church is a safe place and at the same time I can't ignore the very crux of what I do. Should of thought of this on Monday...
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 27th, 2009
Sorry for the delay but I found this prayer in one of my cookbooks.
Delicious Creator God,
I taste your glory in the tangy crunch of a crisp apple.
I taste your glory in salty tears of emotion.
I taste your glory in cool, clear, life-giving water.
I taste your glory in the heavy sweetness of dark chocolate.
Your glory flavors the early peas and new lettuce of spring,
the raspberries and sour cherries of my backyard,
the mealy goodness of new potatoes and butternut squash,
it steeps in my tea and bakes in my peach cobbler.
For the nibbles and feasts of your glory and for my taste buds,
I give you thanks.
By Donna Mast, Scottdale, Pa.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 26th, 2009
Yesterday was a blessing to me. The Round Valley UMC threw a surprise party/pastor appreciation for me after church.
There are so many times in ministry where I doubt if I am making a difference in anyone else's life or if I am just running on a hamster wheel all by myself. Yesterday reminded me that no, by the grace of God my life has become intertwined with the lives of so many people in the congregation. What a gift that realization was. I looked around fellowship hall and thought about how I have seen the youth and children grow-some of them from babies to kids, some from kids to now young adults. I looked around and thought about who wasn't there because they have now gone to their eternal homes. I looked around and thought about how blessed I am to journey alongside these wonderful people.
The church surprised me with gift certificates to some of my favorite places-let's just say Jonathan and I have date nights for the next few months and I am going shopping real soon!
The difficult part for me is how to truly express my thankfulness for their generosity. Is a simple thank you in the bulletin enough? If I could I would take everyone out for dinner as a way of saying thanks. It is much harder for me to be on the receiving end then the giving.
I am blessed in so many ways...thank you God, thank you church, thank you family.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 23rd, 2009
Here is the primary passage for Sunday. After struggling alongside Job for the last few weeks, it is time for the happily ever after with God who is always working for good...
Job 42: 1-17
Then Job answered the Lord: "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 'Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.' I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."
After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: "My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done." So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them; and the Lord accepted Job's prayer.
And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job's daughters; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children's children, four generations. 17And Job died, old and full of days
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 22nd, 2009
Oh my goodness! What a surprise to find the church sign last night. I was driving home after a theology discussion group and I turned bright red seeing the Round Valley Church sign wishing me a happy Birthday. Thank you very much for the well wishes as my 30th rapidly approaches!
On Saturday I say goodbye to my twenties and hello to my thirties. I would not be facing the decade change without the love and support of my beloved church community. Thank you!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 21st, 2009
Last night Jonathan hosted a dialogue about healthcare reform at the Washington UMC. The turn out was not great but the people who attended really got a lot out of the evening. There were three panelists-a Doctor from the Hunterdon Medical Center, a Policy analyst who works in Trenton, and a pastor from Princeton to offer a theological perspective.
The three people came from different points of view but all agreed that some kind of reform was needed. As the dialogue continues across our nation, I pray that you will continue to seek out the truth behind the headlines and the over-the-top "news" media. For more information about the United Methodist Church stance-please check out our website and join the John 10:10 challenge today!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 20th, 2009
Yesterday the clergy met with Bishop Devadhar to discuss the state of the Conference and the United Methodist Church. It was reported to us (not for the first time) that clergy used to be in the top five of the healthiest professions. Today we are in the bottom five of the healthy ones (another way to say it is that we are still in the top five but now for UNHEALTHY professions).
We spent a lot of time discussing why the change has occurred. One of the biggest factors for our sad state is stress. I realized that my day yesterday started at 5:30 am and I did not leave the church until 10:45 pm. Many of my days are like that and when I am home, I am usually making or taking calls and/or reading/studying for Bible studies or sermons. My day off Friday-is almost never taken. This Friday for instance I have a meeting at 10:30 and one at 1pm-I will undoubtedly have some other work to get done before Sunday.
The clergy talked in length about how, because we love our work, we have a very difficult time saying no to things and we end up doing things that really should be work shared with others. I sometimes have to remind myself that I am probably the only one staying up at night worried about the lightbulbs that need to be changed, the mail that has not been sorted, and what programs we are lacking to revitalize the congregation. I am still struggling to let this fall on the shoulders of the entire congregation. It is not "My church" it is God's church that we (myself and all of its members) are called to care for.
I am realizing that in this fast paced world that we live in today, I am probably not alone in having a full plate and a stressed life. I am left wondering what we can do together to help one another along life's journey so that we may all live healthy and whole lives.
I will pray for you, will you pray for me?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 19th, 2009
A Scripture for you today: O God, you will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are fixed on you, for in returning and rest we shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be our strength. Isaiah 26:3; 30:15
May our minds be fixed on God so that we may have peace this day. Be content in the love of God and know that you are loved deeply by our Lord.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 16th, 2009
On Sunday I am preaching a sermon called "and now a word from God" the passage is:
Job 38: 1-41
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements-surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? "Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb? When I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors, and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stopped'?
"Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, so that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? It is changed like clay under the seal, and it is dyed like a garment. Light is withheld from the wicked, and their uplifted arm is broken. "Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this. "Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness, that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home? Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great! "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?
"Who has cut a channel for the torrents of rain, and a way for the thunderbolt, to bring rain on a land where no one lives, on the desert, which is empty of human life, to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground put forth grass? "Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven? The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. "Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth? "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that a flood of waters may cover you? Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go and say to you, 'Here we are'? Who has put wisdom in the inward parts, or given understanding to the mind? Who has the wisdom to number the clouds? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens, when the dust runs into a mass and the clods cling together? "Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in their covert? Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 15th, 2009
On Saturday Round Valley UMC will have a Blessing of the Animals service at 10 AM. According to a recent poll 72% of Americans feel that their pet is a part of their family. If you or someone you know feel that your pet has a special place in your life please share the news and come. Thanks to two animal lovers in the church, we will have treats for the people and their pets after the brief service.
Hope to see you there!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 14th, 2009
Every night Jeremiah's homework comes home in a green folder. One side has his homework, the other side has his completed school papers. Last night, on the completed papers side he had some writing. He had to complete the sentence: "ON Sunday I ...." and "On Sunday pigs....". They were talking about what they do on Sunday's and what others might do (like animals). Jeremiah's answers as written on his papers were: On Sunday I go to trj. On Sunday a pig goes to the trj. When asked to read it to us it turns out that "trj" stands for "church". He told his whole class with quite a bit of joy that he goes to church and pigs go to church. I asked him which church pigs attend and he replied well mom-they can worship God in their cages.
I was a proud mom and pastor and was amazed at how simply children can witness to their priorities. Culture sometimes teaches us to hide our light under a bushel but I really believe that our youth can remind us that we should never, never be ashamed of our faith and our being a part of a faith community.
I pray that today you can share your faith in a simple and non-threatening way that shows others the love of Christ you have in your heart.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 13th, 2009
I am planning a book study on Enough by Adam Hamilton. I have asked a few people to pre-read it to get their feedback and make sure it would be a good book for the church to study. The results are in and are very positive.
This little book offers a lot of wisdom on how we can live simply and generously and I think that by God's grace through this book we can be transformed individually and as a congregation. If you are near Lebanon, NJ please, please try to carve out some time on Tuesday nights beginning 10/27. If you are reading this and don't live near NJ, please consider reading the books and posting your thoughts on our website or on our facebook site anytime.
I will talk to our web-guru about having a space for your thoughts!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 12th, 2009
It is good to be home. I am busy processing lots of information and good ideas and prayerfully discerning what may or may not be a benefit to the churches I serve. I continue to be in prayer about what I enjoyed and found meaningful from the Church of the Resurrection and what I am still critical about. All in all it was inspiring that over 100 volunteers took the week of off work to serve the attendees of the leadership institute and to see what they are doing in both local and foreign missions is, in no doubt, the church being the hands of God at work in the world.
Please continue to pray for me as I sift through the materials and seek God's guidance in my personal ministry and my ministry with Round Valley and High Bridge. I will keep you in my prayers.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 9th, 2009
The number one inspiration that I have had here at the Leadership Institute in Kansas is that we must have passion. We must have passion for our love of Christ. We must have a passion for serving Christ and helping others to know him. We must have a passion for being Christ's hands and feet in the world. If we lose our passion then we must go back to the well and drink deeply from the well of God to be refreshed. This time has been that well for me. I pray that when I return to my local churches I can offer them a drink of God.
May our prayers be with Obama and the world around us as we celebrate the Presidents peace prize award.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 8th, 2009
Registration is at 7:30 (Kansas time) and I will be on my way to a day packed with good things. I hope that you will enjoy this forwarded message and that it will bless you and remind you of who your daddy is.
"What we leave behind is not what is engraved in stone, but what is woven into the lives of others"
A seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in Gatlinburg, TN. One morning, they were eating breakfast at a little restaurant, hoping to enjoy a quiet, family meal. While they were waiting for their food, they noticed a distinguished looking, white-haired man moving from table to table, visiting with the guests. The professor leaned over and whispered to his wife, 'I hope he doesn't come over here.' But sure enough, the man did come over to their table.
'Where are you folks from?' he asked in a friendly voice.
'Oklahoma,' they answered.
'Great to have you here in Tennessee. Then the stranger said, 'What do you do for a living?' 'I teach at a seminary,' he replied..
'Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you? Well, I've got a really great story for you.' And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair and sat down at the table with the couple.
The professor groaned and thought to himself, 'Great... Just what I need .....another preacher story!'
The man started, 'See that mountain over there? (Pointing out the restaurant window). Not far from the base of that mountain, there was a boy born to an unwed mother. He had a hard time growing up, because every place he went, he was always asked the same question, 'Hey boy, who's your daddy?' Whether he was at school, in the grocery store or drug store, people would ask the same question, 'Who's your daddy?'
He would hide at recess and lunch time from other students. He would avoid going into stores because that question hurt him so bad. 'When he was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to his church. He would always go in late and slip out early to avoid hearing the question, 'Who's your daddy?' But one day, the new preacher said the benediction so fast that he got caught and had to walk out with the crowd.
Just about the time he got to the back door, the new preacher, not knowing anything about him, put his hand on his shoulder
and asked him, 'Son, who's your daddy?'
The whole church got deathly quiet. He could feel every eye in the church looking at him. Now everyone would finally know the answer to the question, 'Who's your daddy?'
'This new preacher, though, sensed the situation around him and using discernment that only the Holy Spirit could give, said the
following to that scared little boy.. 'Wait a minute! I know who you are! I see the family resemblance now; you are a child of God.'
With that he patted the boy on his shoulder and said, 'Boy, you've got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.'
'With that, the boy smiled for the first time in a long time and walked out the door a changed person. He was never the same
again.. Whenever anybody asked him, 'Who's your Daddy?' he'd just tell them, 'I'm a Child of God.''
The distinguished gentleman got up from the table and said, 'Isn't that a great story?'
The professor responded that it really was a great story!
As the man turned to leave, he said, 'You know, if that new preacher hadn't told me that I was one of God's children, I probably
never would have amounted to anything!' And he walked away.
The seminary professor and his wife were stunned. He called the waitress over & asked her, 'Do you know who that man was --
the one who just left that was sitting at our table?'
The waitress grinned and said, 'Of course. Everybody here knows him. That's Ben Hooper. He's governor of Tennessee!'
Someone in your life today needs a reminder that they're one of God's children!
'The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of God stands forever.' ~~Isaiah
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 7th, 2009
Today I leave for a four day Leadership Institute at the Church of the Resurrection in Kansas. I am thrilled to be going with about 40 colleagues from NJ, all of whom are prayerfully seeking new ideas for our congregations.
Please keep me, those traveling with me, and my family in your prayers. Tomorrow I will be writing from somewhere in their church's mega-structure!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 6th, 2009
A prayer for the day:
Great and good God,
give us hearts that we may hear you,
hearts of love that we may serve you,
hearts of faith that we may live in you,
reverent hearts that we may worship you,
here and in the world out there,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
by Richard of Chichester (1197-1253)
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 5th, 2009
Crayons. How do you say the word? It turns out that I say "crans" and here in NJ I guess everyone else says "cray-ons". I have found nuances like this to be funny in many situations with other words but I just discovered this one this morning. We were at breakfast and my kids dropped their crayons on the floor. I asked them to pick them up and someone at the table asked me what I was talking about. I said the word a few more times and we started laughing when we realized the difference between how mid-westerners talk and those on the east coast. We started running through a few others pop vs. soda, paper bags vs. sacks, grocery shopping vs. food shopping.
I think that where we come from makes a huge impact on how we speak. I even think that is true in how we speak about God. Depending on our experiences and depending on our upbringing, we speak about God differently. For some God in Scripture is full of wrath and punishment. For some God in Scripture is all about the end times. For some God in Scripture is about justice on earth here and now. Some know God as a friend, others know God as an authority, some know God as love.
I think what is beautiful is that God is big enough to be known to us no matter where we come from or how we speak of God's being. Whether you are saying cray-ns or crans, it is still speaking of the same thing. I love that there is some mystery in who God is and how we speak of God. May we all be humble enough to hear how one another speaks of God as we journey together.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 2nd, 2009
The passage for Sunday is from Job. I will be doing a 4 part series on Job.
Job 1:1
There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. The Lord said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the Lord, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it." The Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason." Then Satan answered the Lord, "Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face." 6The Lord said to Satan, "Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life."
So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes. Then his wife said to him, "Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die." But he said to her, "You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - October 1st, 2009
Cell Phone vs. Bible:
Ever wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone?
What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we flipped through it several time a day?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
What if we gave it to Kids as gifts?
What if we used it when we traveled?
What if we used it in case of emergency?
This is something to make you go....hmm...where is my Bible?
Oh, and one more thing.
Unlike our cell phone, we don't have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill.
Makes you stop and think 'where are my priorities? And no dropped calls!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
September 2009 Archives
Daily Faith Lift - September 30th, 2009
Tonight concludes a three week study on 1 Corinthians. It has been a small group but I think we have had a really good time learning about call's plea for Christian Unity. It has re-energized my passion for ecumenism and the work that I am doing nationally.
When we think about the global problems-the environment, the poor, the hungry, sex-trades, lack of clean water-and then we think about the possibility of every Christian joining hands with every other Christian to address these issues, I think we can all agree that we would be an amazing witness to the world. Someone put it this way-when you are hungry and need food for your children-you don't care about theological differences, you just need someone to feed you. When you are being abused, you don't care about the denomination, you just want someone to support you and offer safety. When you need to hear a message of hope, the hope of Christ crosses all denominational barriers and lines.
I really believe that the young people of our world today are passionate about addressing global issues, the church needs to be a witness to them that we are passionate about those issues too. Then every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that God is alive and active in the world today!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 29th, 2009
LOL
BTW
BFF
TTYL
These nonsense letter combinations are new "words" that are emerging because of our technology age. They are as follows: "Laugh Out Loud", "By the Way", "Best Friend Forever", "Talk To You Later". My computer even recognizes LOL and BTW as legitimate words that are not misspelled!
There are many more "words" like these that are used by the internet savvy and texters alike. Most of the time when people use these letter combinations, I am familiar enough that I know what they stand for. Recently I have been with colleagues and have received myself texts with these "words" and I have had no idea what they stand for. WUT? Still don't know that one.
As our language is ever changing and ever adapting to new generations and inventions, how does our language about God change or do we insist that we stay with our old ways and deny the need for change? I think we should PAI (Pray about it) to SGMC (see God more clearly). How would you tweet a description about God? How do we express our faith in ways that younger generations truly understand and can relate to?
Well TTYL my BFF.
and don't forget GLY! (I hope you will take some guesses here)
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 28th, 2009
I have been writing my papers for my ordination interviews and I recently sent them to two clergy colleagues to be edited. Today I get feedback from the first person and I have a horrible knot in my stomach. I have no idea what he will say but I automatically start from a place of doubt and insecurity. I wonder why we do that? I wonder why we "psyche" ourselves out and don't trust on the everlasting arms of God.
In Scripture we have so many witnesses of people who have confidently stepped forward in following their call. Esther who asks the king to save her people. Daniel who is willing to be thrown into the lions den. Andrew and James who just drop their nets to follow Christ. I often wonder if in private moments they didn't have some sense of insecurity or fear. Knowing they were human makes me think they must have and this gives me comfort.
I am not comparing my paperwork the the bold acts of these saints but I do feel like in the interview process I step out on faith and trust in God in my own way. How about you. When have you been asked to step out of your comfort zone in faith? How did you feel? Were you able to find comfort and strength in the witness of those who have gone before?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 25th, 2009
This morning I am attending a lecture at Drew entitled "Church Growth: Revitalizing a small, shrinking church" with Rev. Kevin Miller. I am hoping to come back inspired and enthusiastic about practical things that can strengthen the churches I serve. One thing that always frustrates me is that I get all excited and energized but then cannot get others passionate and motivated.
I pray for both churches daily, really praying that God will help the churches meet their highest potential and really transform the communities around us. Would you join me in that prayer and in praying for me as I go to learn today? I will keep you in my prayers over the weekend.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 24th, 2009
At this point (although the Spirit is still working in me about the texts) the passage for Sunday will be:
Esther 7:1-10
So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. On the second day, as they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have won your favor, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me—that is my petition—and the lives of my people—that is my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have held my peace; but no enemy can compensate for this damage to the king.” Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who has presumed to do this?” Esther said, “A foe and enemy, this wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.
The king rose from the feast in wrath and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that the king had determined to destroy him. When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman had thrown himself on the couch where Esther was reclining; and the king said, “Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?” As the words left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman’s face. Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Look, the very gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, stands at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.” So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the anger of the king abated.
Esther 9:20-22
Mordecai recorded these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, enjoining them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same month, year by year, as the days on which the Jews gained relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and presents to the poor.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 23rd, 2009
Tonight in the Bible study I am leading on First Corinthians, we will look at what Paul is teaching about church unity and the need for us to be "one". What does that mean to you? That we are to be united and act as one body? What does that mean on a personal level? as a local church? as a denomination? as Christians?
We will explore Paul's book in a fun and hands on way. If you can join us at 7pm at Round Valley UMC, we would love to have you there. If you can, read as much of the book (only 16 chapters).
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 22nd, 2009
Sorry for the delay, it was a crazy morning in the Campbell house.
I hope you all read and enjoy this forward below. I try not to include them very often but sometimes they are worth passing along!
- - - - - - -
A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner.
In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding. All but one.
He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his buddies to go on without him, waved goodbye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor. He was glad he did.
The 16 year old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one topping and no one to care for her plight.
The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display.
As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket.
When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?" She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, "I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly." As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister". He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, "Are you Jesus?"
He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: "Are you Jesus?"
Do people mistake you for Jesus? That's our destiny, is it not?
To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world (shopping, working, reacting to others that are serving us) that is blind to His love, life and grace.
If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day.
You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked you and me up on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.
Let us live like we are worth the price He paid.
~Author Unknown~
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 21st, 2009
Yesterday afternoon a few of us went to Ocean Grove for the Bishop's SongFest. For two hours we joined with other Methodist voices in singing praises to God not only in English but in Spanish, and Hebrew too. We sang some old time hymns and some contemporary and enjoyed several choirs.
It was a nice afternoon and I think it was a great way to end the summer-a stroll along the shore, praising God with our voices, and being in fellowship. Next year, I would love to have a large group go, it is certainly an event where the more, the merrier.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 18th, 2009
Last year we were at an Apple Orchard and Jeremiah was stung by a bee. It was a traumatic experience that everyone at the Orchard heard about by the bellowing of his screams but the pain subsided and we moved on. He talked about his bee sting for months and ran away from every flying insect welcoming the "bugless" winter.
But in time he stopped talking about it and this spring he paid no attention to bugs so I figured all the trauma had sunk into his lost memories.
I announced yesterday that today we were going to the apple orchard after school to pick apples and go home to make an apple pie. He immediately started screaming "no, no I don't want to go, I dont' want to get stung again". After a long talk about letting go of fear, and what to do if a bee flies around, we are going to give the Orchard a try.
It made me realize that many of us do this. We let our fears, our pains, our anxiety keep us from living full lives. We refuse to let go of past hurts that keep us locked in fear.
What has stung you in the past? How has this pain kept you in fear? How can you give it to God and move into a safe place where you can enjoy where you are going in life?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 17th, 2009
The texts for Sunday are as follows:
James 3:13 - 4:8
Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.
Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you suppose that it is for nothing that the scripture says, "God yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"? But he gives all the more grace; therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Mark 9:30-37
They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again." But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 16th, 2009
I love this devotional from The Upper Room so I am passing it along-please see below.
The call to be faithful in reading Scripture reminds me of my new favorite quote- "The worst kind of fool is the one who believes that God exists but lives as if God's directives don't really matter" Rev. Mike Slaughter (my paraphrase of his quote anyway, the book Upside Living in a Downside Economy is in my office).
...
Suggested Bible Reading
These are the things you must insist on and teach. Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I arrive, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhorting, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders. Put these things into practice, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.
-1 Timothy 4:11-16 (NRSV)
Today's Scripture
Continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures.
-2 Timothy 3:14-15 (NIV)
I am the proud owner of an antique medical book, The Practice of Surgery. It was written by Sir Ashley Cooper, "Surgeon to the King," and published in 1828. The book was a gift from a close friend, and I keep it in a prominent place in my office. I make sure it is easily visible for people to see when they visit me. I don't often read it, and I certainly don't follow its recommendations in my practice of medicine! It is out-of-date; I keep it only for show.
Many of us treat our Bible the same way. Though the Bible may be the greatest best-seller of all time, it is perhaps the least read book on our shelf. We like to display our Bible in a prominent place, but we don't necessarily follow its recommendations. Many people feel it is out-of-date. The Bible was written by human hands but under the inspiration of God. It proclaims eternal truths. When we read the Bible, God will speak to us through its pages -- as to countless others before us.
Bill Scurlock (Arkansas, USA)
Prayer
Lord, help us to read the Bible daily, discovering food for our soul and guidance for our journey. Amen.
Thought for the Day
The truths of the Bible are never out-of-date.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 15th, 2009
A challenge for the day. Make your own top ten list of things you are thankful for once in the morning and once tonight. Give God your thanks for all that is in your life!
If you want to share, I would love to read them!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 14th, 2009
Today is my 7th wedding anniversary. It seems strange thinking that 7 years ago today, I was already nervously getting ready to be married. I have created a top ten list of things people should know before getting married.
10. Marriage, like all things, takes work
9. It does not matter how hard you try some things, like leaving the toilet seat up, will never change
8. Communicate, communicate, communicate
7. Enjoy your days that are pre-children
6. Don't forget to make time for each other post-children, long after the kids are in college you will still have to look at each other
5. There are two things you cannot say enough: "I love you" and "I'm sorry"
4. Fighting is normal-- you have different ideas and opinions and that is a strength not a weakness
3. As romantic love ends, something much deeper and more profound begins
2. There is no harm in occasionally repeating your wedding vows to one another
1. Keep God in your marriage.
For more on what Paul said about love don't forget to read 1 Corinth 13!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 11th, 2009
I originally wrote a personal devotional that was not sent before my computer stopped working-again. I received this in the mean time and think it is even more poignant than I had first said it.
Eight years ago, when the United States was attacked on 9/11, Sojourners offered "A Religious Response to Terrorism." In that statement, we mourned the loss of thousands of lives taken on that day, and sought to deny the terrorists victory by refusing to submit to a world created in their image-a world of fear, hatred, and death. Instead, we asserted a "vision of community, tolerance, compassion, justice, and the sacredness of human life."
Instead of upholding those values, many Americans, fearful for their safety, responded to the crisis by supporting the government's rush to costly wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, wars which included torture, abuse, and many thousands of deaths. Today, while we remember both the lives lost on 9/11 and those killed on all sides in the wars that followed, we must also lament that America failed to respond to 9/11 with its best values.
Today, America faces another crisis-also one of life and death-and one that again demands our best values and a wise application of our nation's resources. Every year, lack of adequate health care causes more American deaths than the 9/11 attacks and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq combined [1].
But once again, voices of fear are trying to drown out voices of compassion and justice-leaving many others afraid and confused. The health-care crisis and the opportunity for real reform have once again presented us with an opportunity to choose our priorities as a nation.
Jesus opposed the false teachers of his time by publicly opposing them, often using stories to communicate complex, profound truths. He challenged those with "ears to hear" to "go and do likewise."
So each day next week we will be sending stories of real people, along with opportunities to take action in the debate for health-care reform. Each message will be simple and straightforward, and will do these three things:
1. Expose a lie spread by fear-mongers hoping to block reform.
2. Challenge that lie with the true story of a real person suffering because of our broken system, explaining how current proposals would fix that particular aspect of the system.
3. Provide a way for you to take action and tell your friends.
Tell your friends about this campaign, so that we can raise a chorus of voices for health-care reform.
Remember how, after 9/11, it was almost impossible to hear voices of peacemakers above the drumbeat of war? Many of us felt helpless to resist that tide, as the vast majority of our elected officials and even the so-called "liberal mainstream media" echoed with cries for military vengeance and with blind patriotism that valued American lives above all others.
The good news is that times have changed. The time is ripe to replace patriotic bluster with true concern for American lives by asserting health care as a human right for all.
We're not trying to support a specific piece of legislation. But as debate continues about the details of health-care reform, all legislation currently proposed shares common elements that would bring critical, life-giving change. And as the needed debate continues, the self-interest and fear driving most of the health-care protests reveal an America at its worst.
We have all been horrified at the hateful and slanderous rhetoric of talk-show pundits and town-hall bullies, but voices of reason and compassion are beginning to be heard. We need your help to spread the word. If you've been angered by the tactics of fear and misinformation, this is your chance to respond with truth-telling.
Share this message-and those to come-with your friends and family who've been confused and frightened about health-care reform.
And next week, each time you take action, make sure to use our "tell-a-friend" page or post these calls to action on your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Use every tool you can to spread the message that every life is sacred and deserving of access to quality, affordable health care.
Shalom,
Ryan, Elizabeth, Duane, and the rest of the team at Sojourners
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Sources:
[1] "18,000 deaths blamed on lack of insurance." USA Today, May 22, 2002; "According to a recent estimate by the Urban Institute, the lack of health insurance leads to 27,000 preventable deaths in America each year." New York Times, April 11, 2008.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 10th, 2009
I have to keep my devotional short today. I am installing my Internet security system and my computer just keeps stopping while making this horrible sound. I don't think that is a good sign.
For the lectionary passages that I will preaching from on Sunday go to www.textweek.com. I will primarily be using the Mark passage:
Mark 8:27-38
Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" And they answered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah." And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
Pray for me- the noise on my computer just stopped and now I am even more afraid.even if it is only for a few moments, that you will be fully present in life-appreciating all that you have today.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 9th, 2009
Last night I sat down to check my email before heading to bed. I typed in my address, I typed in my password. Error. I tried it again. Error. Again and again I kept typing it in and I kept getting error message after error message. I started to really panic. All those email address! All of the saved emails I need to reply to! What would I do to recover from somehow losing my hotmail account?!?
It turned out that I was typing in my facebook password and not my email password and that I do need to start getting to bed earlier. But in those 20 minutes in between these error messages and that realization, I was really upset at what I may have lost. We do that so often-we take things for granted until they are gone.
Scripture repeatedly calls us to live today to the fullest-don't worry about tomorrow for today has its own troubles, THIS is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Passages like those call us to appreciate what we have today, well, today. It is hard to live in the moment because we inherently look to tomorrow, we worry about the future, we chase after our dreams but I hope that today, even if it is only for a few moments, that you will be fully present in life-appreciating all that you have today.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 8th, 2009
Jeremiah starts first grade today and this morning at the YMCA all the moms and I were tearfully talking about what it is like to see our little ones load up their backpacks and trek through the doors of their classrooms on the first day.
Wherever you are today, whatever you are doing, would you stop to say a prayer for all of our teachers and students. My dad is a high school teacher and I know how hard he and his colleagues work to give their students the best education they can. Education is so important for our future both individually and collectively. Join in prayer today.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 4th, 2009
For the weekend I thought I would share with you some of the recent happenings of the United Methodist Church. To subscribe to this Daily Digest, there is a subscriber form at the bottom of the page.
I'll be back on Monday for Labor day and then the start of school!
Click HERE to read the UMC Daily Digest.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 3rd, 2009
The Passages for Sunday are below. As you read them consider how God is calling us to act or be through these sacred texts.
Proverbs 22:1-23
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
and favor is better than silver or gold.
The rich and the poor have this in common:
the Lord is the maker of them all.
The clever see danger and hide;
but the simple go on, and suffer for it.
The reward for humility and fear of the Lord
is riches and honor and life.
Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse;
the cautious will keep far from them.
Train children in the right way,
and when old, they will not stray.
The rich rule over the poor,
and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity,
and the rod of anger will fail.
Those who are generous are blessed,
for they share their bread with the poor.
Drive out a scoffer, and strife goes out;
quarreling and abuse will cease.
Those who love a pure heart and are gracious in speech
will have the king as a friend.
The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge,
but he overthrows the words of the faithless.
The lazy person says, "There is a lion outside!
I shall be killed in the streets!"
The mouth of a loose woman is a deep pit;
he with whom the Lord is angry falls into it.
Folly is bound up in the heart of a boy,
but the rod of discipline drives it far away.
Oppressing the poor in order to enrich oneself,
and giving to the rich, will lead only to loss.
The words of the wise:
Incline your ear and hear my words,
and apply your mind to my teaching;
for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you,
if all of them are ready on your lips.
So that your trust may be in the Lord,
I have made them known to you today-yes, to you.
Have I not written for you thirty sayings
of admonition and knowledge,
to show you what is right and true,
so that you may give a true answer to those who sent you?
Do not rob the poor because they are poor,
or crush the afflicted at the gate;
for the Lord pleads their cause
and despoils of life those who despoil them.
James 2:1-17
My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet," have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For the one who said, "You shall not commit adultery," also said, "You shall not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
Mark 7:24-37
From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go-the demon has left your daughter." So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, "He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 2nd, 2009
There is wisdom in the old adage about not missing something until it is gone. On Monday our water seemed very hot but we really did not think much about it. Yesterday our water was very cold and we were unable to get any hot water. That got our attention. At first I thought I was being impatient, not willing to wait for the water to heat up quickly enough but by the second time I went to make a bottle for the baby, I knew something was wrong.
With a call into Van Doren and the response that we would have to wait until morning-I quickly missed our hot water. Now each bottle would take longer to heat, the bed time bath was out for the boys and quick shower was out for me. I missed the convenience of the easily accessible hot water.
We are so lucky here in this part of America. When we turn the faucets at our taps, water comes streaming out and we don't think twice about it until something goes wrong. Then we are inconvenienced and annoyed in having to wait until it is fixed.
All over the world, there are people who have to travel long and far just to get a days supply of water. There are people who still have to fight over wells to have any access to water. There are still people who have no access to clean, sanitary water. As Christians we are called to care for them just as we would care for ourselves or our children. Let us press on in speaking up for justice for them and keeping them in our prayers this day.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 1st, 2009
I have a book that I turn to occassionally-it is called Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach. She has a way to enjoy life simply for every day of the year and at the end of each "month" she lists things to do for that month. For the month of September some of the suggestions are:
-"L ete c'est fini, as the French say, so end summer on a high note. Make a really big deal out of the last cookout of the summer. Serve your favorite summer recipes with a final flourish. Linger in the twighlight, watch the sun go down, and bid summer a fond adieu.
-Take fifteen minutes to write down all the things you wanted to do over ths summer but never got around to. Put your list in an envelope. When you get your next year's calendar, paperclip the envelope to the first day of June and open it then.
-Look at farmer's markets for dired flowers and create your own bouquet. Creating your own bouquet on a September Sunday afternoon is a relaxing restorative that reminds you all winter long that beauty is simply abundant if you look for it.
To a simply abundant September!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Tonight concludes a three week study on 1 Corinthians. It has been a small group but I think we have had a really good time learning about call's plea for Christian Unity. It has re-energized my passion for ecumenism and the work that I am doing nationally.
When we think about the global problems-the environment, the poor, the hungry, sex-trades, lack of clean water-and then we think about the possibility of every Christian joining hands with every other Christian to address these issues, I think we can all agree that we would be an amazing witness to the world. Someone put it this way-when you are hungry and need food for your children-you don't care about theological differences, you just need someone to feed you. When you are being abused, you don't care about the denomination, you just want someone to support you and offer safety. When you need to hear a message of hope, the hope of Christ crosses all denominational barriers and lines.
I really believe that the young people of our world today are passionate about addressing global issues, the church needs to be a witness to them that we are passionate about those issues too. Then every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that God is alive and active in the world today!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 29th, 2009
LOL
BTW
BFF
TTYL
These nonsense letter combinations are new "words" that are emerging because of our technology age. They are as follows: "Laugh Out Loud", "By the Way", "Best Friend Forever", "Talk To You Later". My computer even recognizes LOL and BTW as legitimate words that are not misspelled!
There are many more "words" like these that are used by the internet savvy and texters alike. Most of the time when people use these letter combinations, I am familiar enough that I know what they stand for. Recently I have been with colleagues and have received myself texts with these "words" and I have had no idea what they stand for. WUT? Still don't know that one.
As our language is ever changing and ever adapting to new generations and inventions, how does our language about God change or do we insist that we stay with our old ways and deny the need for change? I think we should PAI (Pray about it) to SGMC (see God more clearly). How would you tweet a description about God? How do we express our faith in ways that younger generations truly understand and can relate to?
Well TTYL my BFF.
and don't forget GLY! (I hope you will take some guesses here)
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 28th, 2009
I have been writing my papers for my ordination interviews and I recently sent them to two clergy colleagues to be edited. Today I get feedback from the first person and I have a horrible knot in my stomach. I have no idea what he will say but I automatically start from a place of doubt and insecurity. I wonder why we do that? I wonder why we "psyche" ourselves out and don't trust on the everlasting arms of God.
In Scripture we have so many witnesses of people who have confidently stepped forward in following their call. Esther who asks the king to save her people. Daniel who is willing to be thrown into the lions den. Andrew and James who just drop their nets to follow Christ. I often wonder if in private moments they didn't have some sense of insecurity or fear. Knowing they were human makes me think they must have and this gives me comfort.
I am not comparing my paperwork the the bold acts of these saints but I do feel like in the interview process I step out on faith and trust in God in my own way. How about you. When have you been asked to step out of your comfort zone in faith? How did you feel? Were you able to find comfort and strength in the witness of those who have gone before?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 25th, 2009
This morning I am attending a lecture at Drew entitled "Church Growth: Revitalizing a small, shrinking church" with Rev. Kevin Miller. I am hoping to come back inspired and enthusiastic about practical things that can strengthen the churches I serve. One thing that always frustrates me is that I get all excited and energized but then cannot get others passionate and motivated.
I pray for both churches daily, really praying that God will help the churches meet their highest potential and really transform the communities around us. Would you join me in that prayer and in praying for me as I go to learn today? I will keep you in my prayers over the weekend.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 24th, 2009
At this point (although the Spirit is still working in me about the texts) the passage for Sunday will be:
Esther 7:1-10
So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. On the second day, as they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have won your favor, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me—that is my petition—and the lives of my people—that is my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have held my peace; but no enemy can compensate for this damage to the king.” Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who has presumed to do this?” Esther said, “A foe and enemy, this wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.
The king rose from the feast in wrath and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that the king had determined to destroy him. When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman had thrown himself on the couch where Esther was reclining; and the king said, “Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?” As the words left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman’s face. Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Look, the very gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, stands at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.” So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the anger of the king abated.
Esther 9:20-22
Mordecai recorded these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, enjoining them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same month, year by year, as the days on which the Jews gained relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and presents to the poor.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 23rd, 2009
Tonight in the Bible study I am leading on First Corinthians, we will look at what Paul is teaching about church unity and the need for us to be "one". What does that mean to you? That we are to be united and act as one body? What does that mean on a personal level? as a local church? as a denomination? as Christians?
We will explore Paul's book in a fun and hands on way. If you can join us at 7pm at Round Valley UMC, we would love to have you there. If you can, read as much of the book (only 16 chapters).
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 22nd, 2009
Sorry for the delay, it was a crazy morning in the Campbell house.
I hope you all read and enjoy this forward below. I try not to include them very often but sometimes they are worth passing along!
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A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner.
In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding. All but one.
He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his buddies to go on without him, waved goodbye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor. He was glad he did.
The 16 year old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one topping and no one to care for her plight.
The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display.
As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket.
When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?" She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, "I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly." As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister". He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, "Are you Jesus?"
He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: "Are you Jesus?"
Do people mistake you for Jesus? That's our destiny, is it not?
To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world (shopping, working, reacting to others that are serving us) that is blind to His love, life and grace.
If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day.
You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked you and me up on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.
Let us live like we are worth the price He paid.
~Author Unknown~
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 21st, 2009
Yesterday afternoon a few of us went to Ocean Grove for the Bishop's SongFest. For two hours we joined with other Methodist voices in singing praises to God not only in English but in Spanish, and Hebrew too. We sang some old time hymns and some contemporary and enjoyed several choirs.
It was a nice afternoon and I think it was a great way to end the summer-a stroll along the shore, praising God with our voices, and being in fellowship. Next year, I would love to have a large group go, it is certainly an event where the more, the merrier.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 18th, 2009
Last year we were at an Apple Orchard and Jeremiah was stung by a bee. It was a traumatic experience that everyone at the Orchard heard about by the bellowing of his screams but the pain subsided and we moved on. He talked about his bee sting for months and ran away from every flying insect welcoming the "bugless" winter.
But in time he stopped talking about it and this spring he paid no attention to bugs so I figured all the trauma had sunk into his lost memories.
I announced yesterday that today we were going to the apple orchard after school to pick apples and go home to make an apple pie. He immediately started screaming "no, no I don't want to go, I dont' want to get stung again". After a long talk about letting go of fear, and what to do if a bee flies around, we are going to give the Orchard a try.
It made me realize that many of us do this. We let our fears, our pains, our anxiety keep us from living full lives. We refuse to let go of past hurts that keep us locked in fear.
What has stung you in the past? How has this pain kept you in fear? How can you give it to God and move into a safe place where you can enjoy where you are going in life?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 17th, 2009
The texts for Sunday are as follows:
James 3:13 - 4:8
Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.
Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you suppose that it is for nothing that the scripture says, "God yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"? But he gives all the more grace; therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Mark 9:30-37
They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again." But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 16th, 2009
I love this devotional from The Upper Room so I am passing it along-please see below.
The call to be faithful in reading Scripture reminds me of my new favorite quote- "The worst kind of fool is the one who believes that God exists but lives as if God's directives don't really matter" Rev. Mike Slaughter (my paraphrase of his quote anyway, the book Upside Living in a Downside Economy is in my office).
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Suggested Bible Reading
These are the things you must insist on and teach. Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I arrive, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhorting, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders. Put these things into practice, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.
-1 Timothy 4:11-16 (NRSV)
Today's Scripture
Continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures.
-2 Timothy 3:14-15 (NIV)
I am the proud owner of an antique medical book, The Practice of Surgery. It was written by Sir Ashley Cooper, "Surgeon to the King," and published in 1828. The book was a gift from a close friend, and I keep it in a prominent place in my office. I make sure it is easily visible for people to see when they visit me. I don't often read it, and I certainly don't follow its recommendations in my practice of medicine! It is out-of-date; I keep it only for show.
Many of us treat our Bible the same way. Though the Bible may be the greatest best-seller of all time, it is perhaps the least read book on our shelf. We like to display our Bible in a prominent place, but we don't necessarily follow its recommendations. Many people feel it is out-of-date. The Bible was written by human hands but under the inspiration of God. It proclaims eternal truths. When we read the Bible, God will speak to us through its pages -- as to countless others before us.
Bill Scurlock (Arkansas, USA)
Prayer
Lord, help us to read the Bible daily, discovering food for our soul and guidance for our journey. Amen.
Thought for the Day
The truths of the Bible are never out-of-date.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 15th, 2009
A challenge for the day. Make your own top ten list of things you are thankful for once in the morning and once tonight. Give God your thanks for all that is in your life!
If you want to share, I would love to read them!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 14th, 2009
Today is my 7th wedding anniversary. It seems strange thinking that 7 years ago today, I was already nervously getting ready to be married. I have created a top ten list of things people should know before getting married.
10. Marriage, like all things, takes work
9. It does not matter how hard you try some things, like leaving the toilet seat up, will never change
8. Communicate, communicate, communicate
7. Enjoy your days that are pre-children
6. Don't forget to make time for each other post-children, long after the kids are in college you will still have to look at each other
5. There are two things you cannot say enough: "I love you" and "I'm sorry"
4. Fighting is normal-- you have different ideas and opinions and that is a strength not a weakness
3. As romantic love ends, something much deeper and more profound begins
2. There is no harm in occasionally repeating your wedding vows to one another
1. Keep God in your marriage.
For more on what Paul said about love don't forget to read 1 Corinth 13!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 11th, 2009
I originally wrote a personal devotional that was not sent before my computer stopped working-again. I received this in the mean time and think it is even more poignant than I had first said it.
Eight years ago, when the United States was attacked on 9/11, Sojourners offered "A Religious Response to Terrorism." In that statement, we mourned the loss of thousands of lives taken on that day, and sought to deny the terrorists victory by refusing to submit to a world created in their image-a world of fear, hatred, and death. Instead, we asserted a "vision of community, tolerance, compassion, justice, and the sacredness of human life."
Instead of upholding those values, many Americans, fearful for their safety, responded to the crisis by supporting the government's rush to costly wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, wars which included torture, abuse, and many thousands of deaths. Today, while we remember both the lives lost on 9/11 and those killed on all sides in the wars that followed, we must also lament that America failed to respond to 9/11 with its best values.
Today, America faces another crisis-also one of life and death-and one that again demands our best values and a wise application of our nation's resources. Every year, lack of adequate health care causes more American deaths than the 9/11 attacks and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq combined [1].
But once again, voices of fear are trying to drown out voices of compassion and justice-leaving many others afraid and confused. The health-care crisis and the opportunity for real reform have once again presented us with an opportunity to choose our priorities as a nation.
Jesus opposed the false teachers of his time by publicly opposing them, often using stories to communicate complex, profound truths. He challenged those with "ears to hear" to "go and do likewise."
So each day next week we will be sending stories of real people, along with opportunities to take action in the debate for health-care reform. Each message will be simple and straightforward, and will do these three things:
1. Expose a lie spread by fear-mongers hoping to block reform.
2. Challenge that lie with the true story of a real person suffering because of our broken system, explaining how current proposals would fix that particular aspect of the system.
3. Provide a way for you to take action and tell your friends.
Tell your friends about this campaign, so that we can raise a chorus of voices for health-care reform.
Remember how, after 9/11, it was almost impossible to hear voices of peacemakers above the drumbeat of war? Many of us felt helpless to resist that tide, as the vast majority of our elected officials and even the so-called "liberal mainstream media" echoed with cries for military vengeance and with blind patriotism that valued American lives above all others.
The good news is that times have changed. The time is ripe to replace patriotic bluster with true concern for American lives by asserting health care as a human right for all.
We're not trying to support a specific piece of legislation. But as debate continues about the details of health-care reform, all legislation currently proposed shares common elements that would bring critical, life-giving change. And as the needed debate continues, the self-interest and fear driving most of the health-care protests reveal an America at its worst.
We have all been horrified at the hateful and slanderous rhetoric of talk-show pundits and town-hall bullies, but voices of reason and compassion are beginning to be heard. We need your help to spread the word. If you've been angered by the tactics of fear and misinformation, this is your chance to respond with truth-telling.
Share this message-and those to come-with your friends and family who've been confused and frightened about health-care reform.
And next week, each time you take action, make sure to use our "tell-a-friend" page or post these calls to action on your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Use every tool you can to spread the message that every life is sacred and deserving of access to quality, affordable health care.
Shalom,
Ryan, Elizabeth, Duane, and the rest of the team at Sojourners
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Sources:
[1] "18,000 deaths blamed on lack of insurance." USA Today, May 22, 2002; "According to a recent estimate by the Urban Institute, the lack of health insurance leads to 27,000 preventable deaths in America each year." New York Times, April 11, 2008.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 10th, 2009
I have to keep my devotional short today. I am installing my Internet security system and my computer just keeps stopping while making this horrible sound. I don't think that is a good sign.
For the lectionary passages that I will preaching from on Sunday go to www.textweek.com. I will primarily be using the Mark passage:
Mark 8:27-38
Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" And they answered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah." And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
Pray for me- the noise on my computer just stopped and now I am even more afraid.even if it is only for a few moments, that you will be fully present in life-appreciating all that you have today.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 9th, 2009
Last night I sat down to check my email before heading to bed. I typed in my address, I typed in my password. Error. I tried it again. Error. Again and again I kept typing it in and I kept getting error message after error message. I started to really panic. All those email address! All of the saved emails I need to reply to! What would I do to recover from somehow losing my hotmail account?!?
It turned out that I was typing in my facebook password and not my email password and that I do need to start getting to bed earlier. But in those 20 minutes in between these error messages and that realization, I was really upset at what I may have lost. We do that so often-we take things for granted until they are gone.
Scripture repeatedly calls us to live today to the fullest-don't worry about tomorrow for today has its own troubles, THIS is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Passages like those call us to appreciate what we have today, well, today. It is hard to live in the moment because we inherently look to tomorrow, we worry about the future, we chase after our dreams but I hope that today, even if it is only for a few moments, that you will be fully present in life-appreciating all that you have today.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 8th, 2009
Jeremiah starts first grade today and this morning at the YMCA all the moms and I were tearfully talking about what it is like to see our little ones load up their backpacks and trek through the doors of their classrooms on the first day.
Wherever you are today, whatever you are doing, would you stop to say a prayer for all of our teachers and students. My dad is a high school teacher and I know how hard he and his colleagues work to give their students the best education they can. Education is so important for our future both individually and collectively. Join in prayer today.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 4th, 2009
For the weekend I thought I would share with you some of the recent happenings of the United Methodist Church. To subscribe to this Daily Digest, there is a subscriber form at the bottom of the page.
I'll be back on Monday for Labor day and then the start of school!
Click HERE to read the UMC Daily Digest.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 3rd, 2009
The Passages for Sunday are below. As you read them consider how God is calling us to act or be through these sacred texts.
Proverbs 22:1-23
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
and favor is better than silver or gold.
The rich and the poor have this in common:
the Lord is the maker of them all.
The clever see danger and hide;
but the simple go on, and suffer for it.
The reward for humility and fear of the Lord
is riches and honor and life.
Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse;
the cautious will keep far from them.
Train children in the right way,
and when old, they will not stray.
The rich rule over the poor,
and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity,
and the rod of anger will fail.
Those who are generous are blessed,
for they share their bread with the poor.
Drive out a scoffer, and strife goes out;
quarreling and abuse will cease.
Those who love a pure heart and are gracious in speech
will have the king as a friend.
The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge,
but he overthrows the words of the faithless.
The lazy person says, "There is a lion outside!
I shall be killed in the streets!"
The mouth of a loose woman is a deep pit;
he with whom the Lord is angry falls into it.
Folly is bound up in the heart of a boy,
but the rod of discipline drives it far away.
Oppressing the poor in order to enrich oneself,
and giving to the rich, will lead only to loss.
The words of the wise:
Incline your ear and hear my words,
and apply your mind to my teaching;
for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you,
if all of them are ready on your lips.
So that your trust may be in the Lord,
I have made them known to you today-yes, to you.
Have I not written for you thirty sayings
of admonition and knowledge,
to show you what is right and true,
so that you may give a true answer to those who sent you?
Do not rob the poor because they are poor,
or crush the afflicted at the gate;
for the Lord pleads their cause
and despoils of life those who despoil them.
James 2:1-17
My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet," have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For the one who said, "You shall not commit adultery," also said, "You shall not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
Mark 7:24-37
From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go-the demon has left your daughter." So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, "He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 2nd, 2009
There is wisdom in the old adage about not missing something until it is gone. On Monday our water seemed very hot but we really did not think much about it. Yesterday our water was very cold and we were unable to get any hot water. That got our attention. At first I thought I was being impatient, not willing to wait for the water to heat up quickly enough but by the second time I went to make a bottle for the baby, I knew something was wrong.
With a call into Van Doren and the response that we would have to wait until morning-I quickly missed our hot water. Now each bottle would take longer to heat, the bed time bath was out for the boys and quick shower was out for me. I missed the convenience of the easily accessible hot water.
We are so lucky here in this part of America. When we turn the faucets at our taps, water comes streaming out and we don't think twice about it until something goes wrong. Then we are inconvenienced and annoyed in having to wait until it is fixed.
All over the world, there are people who have to travel long and far just to get a days supply of water. There are people who still have to fight over wells to have any access to water. There are still people who have no access to clean, sanitary water. As Christians we are called to care for them just as we would care for ourselves or our children. Let us press on in speaking up for justice for them and keeping them in our prayers this day.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - September 1st, 2009
I have a book that I turn to occassionally-it is called Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach. She has a way to enjoy life simply for every day of the year and at the end of each "month" she lists things to do for that month. For the month of September some of the suggestions are:
-"L ete c'est fini, as the French say, so end summer on a high note. Make a really big deal out of the last cookout of the summer. Serve your favorite summer recipes with a final flourish. Linger in the twighlight, watch the sun go down, and bid summer a fond adieu.
-Take fifteen minutes to write down all the things you wanted to do over ths summer but never got around to. Put your list in an envelope. When you get your next year's calendar, paperclip the envelope to the first day of June and open it then.
-Look at farmer's markets for dired flowers and create your own bouquet. Creating your own bouquet on a September Sunday afternoon is a relaxing restorative that reminds you all winter long that beauty is simply abundant if you look for it.
To a simply abundant September!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
August 2009 Archives
Daily Faith Lift - August 31st, 2009
A prayer for a new day-
"Grant us, even us, O Lord, to know you, and love you and rejoice in you. And if we cannot do these perfectly in this life, let us, at least, advance to higher degrees every day, till we can come to do them in pefection. Let the knowledge of you increase in us here, that it may be full hereafter. Let the love of you grow every day more and more here, that it may be perfect hereafter; that our joy may be great in itself and full in you. We know, O God, that you are a God of truth. O make good your gracious promises to us, that our joy may be full. To your honor and glory, who withthe Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns one God, world without end. Amen.
-Augustine.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 28th, 2009
As a weekend of heavy rain approaches promising to ruin my plans again, I am left in the mood to just get down and dirty playing with the kids. Its been a while since we have built a fort and read a story by flashlight. It has been a while since we have broken out the play-doh and I have scratched piece by piece out of the churches carpets. The kids are disappointed that they won't be heading outside today but changes in plans are not always a bad thing.
So often in life when we have detours-even simple ones, we get frustrated and disappointed. Oprah once talked about how when she is stuck in traffic, even if it means she is late to something important, she just closes her eyes and she does some deep breathing. She figures there is not much she can do anyway so she might as well take it as a moment of time that was given for her to just breathe.
I hope whatever may get disrupted today and over the weekend, we will take it as a gift and just breathe!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 27th, 2009
On Sunday I will conclude my sermon series "The Gospel According to..." with the Gospel According to Starbucks. I will be preaching from Len Sweets book with the same title. It should be interesting!
The main passage I am using is:
Luke 8
The Parable of the Sower Explained
'Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones on the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe only for a while and in a time of testing fall away. As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 26th, 2009
I have often heard parents tearfully explain how their baby is still their baby even though the so called baby is now a grown adult. Today I think I understand why. My baby is 1 today. I can barely stand the thought that my youngest is celebrating his first birthday, got his first hair cut and is quickly learning to stand and walk. Gone are the days of holding him while he sleeps (he is now so tall that it is uncomfortable for both of us) gone are the days of the baby swings and exersaucers. Before I know it I will be packing him up for college and wondering why the house seems so quiet.
In the mean time I wish for him joy for life and strength for the ride. Happy Birthday Christopher, Happy Birthday baby boy.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 25th, 2009
Sorry for the delay-got caught up in house cleaning. This is a forward I received and thought the humor could put a smile on your face today.
DA END BE NEAR!!!
Reverend Boudreaux was the part-time pastor of the local Cajun Baptist Church and Pastor Thibodaux was the minister of the Covenant Church across the road.
They were both standing by the road, pounding a sign into the ground, that read:
'Da End is Near Turn Yo Sef 'Roun Now Afore It Be Too Late!'
As a car sped past them, the driver leaned out his window and yelled, 'You religious nuts!'
From the curve they heard screeching tires, and a big splash...
Boudreaux turns to Thibodaux and asks, 'Do ya tink maybe da sign should jussay..... 'Bridge Out?'
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 24th, 2009
The United Methodist Church just released their stance on the national health care debate. I hope that you will take the time to read our official position prayerfully. If you are interested in joining the challenge, I joined the team created by my friend Gary Frieze in Lyndhurst, NJ.
To learn more, please click HERE
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 21st, 2009
Today our Muslim brothers and sisters begin a month long celebration called Ramadan. I don't love Wikipedia but here is their description of Ramadan:
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, sexual conduct, smoking, and indulging in anything that is in excess or ill-natured; from dawn until sunset Fasting is meant to teach the Muslim patience, modesty and spirituality. Ramadan is a time to fast for the sake of Allah, and to offer more prayer than usual. Muslims also believed through good actions, they get rewarded seventy times as much as they normally can achieve. During Ramadan, Muslims ask forgiveness for past sins, pray for guidance and help in refraining from everyday evils, and try to purify themselves through self-restraint and good deeds. As compared to solar calendar, the dates of Ramadan vary, moving forward about ten days each year. Ramadhan was the month in which the first verses of the Qur'an were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.
The month of Ramadan is really a lot like the Christian season of Lent with fasting, seeking forgiveness, purification, etc. I am very excited that I will be having a Ramadan breaking of the fast dinner with a Muslim family in early September. I will let you know how that goes when the time comes.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 20th, 2009
On Sunday I will be preaching on: The Gospel According to the Gym. It promises to be a fun Sunday!
The text I will be using is: 1 Corinthians 6
Glorify God in Body and Spirit
‘All things are lawful for me’, but not all things are beneficial. ‘All things are lawful for me’, but I will not be dominated by anything. ‘Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food’, and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, ‘The two shall be one flesh.’ But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 19th, 2009
The baby got his cast off successfully and he was so brave. No tears or anything! When we got home and I put him on the ground for the first time, he was crawling around with his leg stuck straight out, like it was still in the cast. All day yesterday he continued to move as if he were still in a cast.
It made me think about our relationship with Christ. When we turn to Christ our sins are forgiven but I wonder how many of us still walk around as if they were still on our shoulders-still casted to our body so to speak. Do we live lives that reflect the removal of our casts/sins or do we still go about limping as if they were still wearing us down? What does a transformed life look like and how do we, with the guidance of the Spirit, live a transformed life?
I know for me guilt and worry, stress and fear still weigh me down at times. With Christ in my life I know that I have been set free to live and love with the mind of Christ. With God's help, I press on to be cast free. Glad to be journeying with each of you.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 18th, 2009
Three weeks ago my youngest son broke his leg. He gets the cast off in two hours! The little guy is mentally ready to walk. He stand at the edge of a table, lets go, and tries that first step. With cast, he just can't do it. I am hoping that if all goes well, he will be free to walk when the injured leg can actually bend at the knee.
I realized that there are "casts" in my life that prevent me from trying new things. Some of my casts are body image issues, insecurities, and fears. Jesus' life reminds me that we are called to do what is right and to follow God at all cost-even on to the cross. By God's grace, our "casts" are removed and we can take our first steps in leading merciful and holy lives.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 17th, 2009
Yesterday in service my sermon title was THe Gospel According to the Outdoors. THere are so many things I wanted to include but didn't have time for. Here is a poem I have been reading since I was just a kid. IT is called Where Mountain Lion Lay Down with Deer by Leslie Marmon Silko.
I climb the black rock mountain stepping from day to day
silently.
I smell the wind for my ancestors
pale blue leaves
crushed wild mountain smell.
Returning
up the gray stone cliff
where I descended
a thousand years ago.
Returning to faded black stone
where mountain lion lay down with deer.
It is better to stay up here
watching wind's reflection
in tall yellow flowers.
The old ones who remember me are gone
the old songs are all forgotten
and the story of my birth.
How I danced in snow-frost moonlight
distant stars to the end of the Earth.
How I swam away
in freezing mountain water
narrow mossy canyon tumbling down
out of the mountain
out of deep canyon stone
down
the memory
spilling out
into the world.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 14th, 2009
As I get ready for the weekend and some family time tomorrow, I have been looking at my calendar almost in shock. Is it really the final weeks of summer? Sometimes I don't know where the weeks and even months have gone. We just bought the older two boys their back to school "stuff" and most of my scheduling is now for September.
I marvel at how much time changes. I remember as a child being told we would have to wait 1/2 an hour for something. My mom would tell me 1/2 an hour was one tv show and it would seem to drag on endlessly. Today full days fly by let alone a 1/2 hour. It makes you wonder what time is like from God's perspective. God who has been in existence from the beginning and who has journeyed with us for generation after generation must have a sense of time that is not even imaginable. I sometimes have to marvel at the fact that the God of all times and places even knows who I am. God is good!
Enjoy your weekend!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 13th, 2009
On Sunday we will look at the Gospel According to the outdoors and I will be reading from the Creation story from Genesis 1 and from Psalm 104. Here is the Psalm:
Psalm 104
God the Creator and Provider
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honour and majesty,
wrapped in light as with a garment.
You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
you set the beams of your chambers on the waters,
you make the clouds your chariot,
you ride on the wings of the wind,
you make the winds your messengers,
fire and flame your ministers.
You set the earth on its foundations,
so that it shall never be shaken.
You cover it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
At your rebuke they flee;
at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys
to the place that you appointed for them.
You set a boundary that they may not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth.
You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills,
giving drink to every wild animal;
the wild asses quench their thirst.
By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation;
they sing among the branches.
From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to use,
to bring forth food from the earth,
and wine to gladden the human heart,
oil to make the face shine,
and bread to strengthen the human heart.
The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
In them the birds build their nests;
the stork has its home in the fir trees.
The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the rocks are a refuge for the coneys.
You have made the moon to mark the seasons;
the sun knows its time for setting.
You make darkness, and it is night,
when all the animals of the forest come creeping out.
The young lions roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.
When the sun rises, they withdraw
and lie down in their dens.
People go out to their work
and to their labour until the evening.
Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
Yonder is the sea, great and wide,
creeping things innumerable are there,
living things both small and great.
There go the ships,
and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
These all look to you
to give them their food in due season;
when you give to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created;
and you renew the face of the ground.
May the glory of the Lord endure for ever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works—
who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke.
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
May my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord.
Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
and let the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 12th, 2009
Our family got cable back for the first time this summer and so I have been re-connecting to the news stations and what is going on in the world. After 2 days, I am ready to disconnect again. As much as I hungered to know what was happening in the world, now that I know, I want to stick my head in the sand like an ostrich and pretend that none of the worlds events are happening.
I believe it was Karl Barth who believed that we should hold the Bible in one hand and the daily news in the other. I think he was right on because I cannot face the news without understanding the world through Scripture and Scripture has so much more meaning when we can see how it applies to our daily living.
As we hear more about war, healthcare, Monsoons, accidents, and violence, join me in hearing the voices of the prophets calling for repentance and the end of oppression. Join me in hearing the words of Christ who calls for God's kingdom to come with mercy and compassion. Join me in having hope that we can work toward a better tomorrow because God is the source of that work and hope.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 11th, 2009
Last night was the first night of our Vacation Bible School. Even though I have no musical ability, I was in charge of music. God is mysterious. We did a few call and response songs about nocturnal flamingos and blessing the Lord and all in all I think we had fun.
I was so self conscious leading the music that my own nervousness almost got in the way of the music time. I had to make a decision to either stumble through the 20 minutes or let go of my issues and just confidently lead the music. It was very freeing to just let go.
The story of the night was about Moses leading the Israelites around in the desert. Moses, who didn't want to be called by God to lead, had a lot of esteem issues as well. He was worried that his speech impairment would get in the way of his leadership abilities. He tried to talk God out of calling him into ministry. With a little help from his brother Aaron, Moses became one of the best leaders in Israel's history. What would have happened if Moses would have insisted that he couldn't lead? How would the narrative of God's people changed?
We all have different gifts and abilities but sometimes God calls us into places and roles that we don't think we can handle. We have to learn to let go and trust. Will you?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 10th, 2009
Tonight our Vacation Bible School begins and the theme this year is Camp E.D.G.E. which stands for Experiencing + Discovering God Everywhere. That has been the theme of my sermons as well.
Be on the look out today and see where you can find God. Think in terms of metaphors and Scriptural stories.
Here are my sermon notes from Sunday:
Learning to think theologically=seeing God everywhere and being able to interpret/understand things in a faith-based way.
Today we are going to the grocery store and we are going to try and see if we can find God and faith in the grocery store.
1. Lots of choices- but are all of the choices equal? Is choosing a donut = choosing an orange?
Lets think about this theologically-bad choices are like? SIN
Sin can be easy and tempting-cheating, lying, an affair, stealing, drugs/alcohol abuse etc.
Making these choices frequently lead to making more bad choices
How about making healthy choices what is that like? Living a faith based life
Maybe the more difficult road-being honest, standing up against oppression, forgiving when we don't want to, etc.
Making these choices with God's (the nutritionists help) lead us to a healthier more whole life
2. The next thing that I want to talk about from the grocery store is a topic that comes up in the Scripture passage from Ephesians.
Before I read some of the passage again, I want you to do some visualizing with me. It is a few days before Thanksgiving. Everyone and their brother, three young and screaming cousins and very slow grandmother are in the store. You are in a rush of course-its holiday time and you have just gotten out of a cart-jam in the freezer aisle. You and a young woman with three small boys/I mean children approach the only open cashier at the same time and the other woman feels she was in line first.
Do you:
a. scream "freeze" as loud as you can hoping that everyone in the store will be put on pause while you peacefully unload your cart?
b. Turn red in anger and give her cart a little nudge out of the way
c. Take a deep breath, give thanks for the season and the fact that you don't have to change diapers and let her go ahead?
I ask this because in the midst of the most joyous seasons I have seen some of the most disheartening acts of teens pushing the elderly out of the way in aisles, of people cursing in anger because things were not going there way, those sorts of things. The Ephesians passage calls us to a higher standard of living as Christians. It says:
3. The final lesson that I want to share with you that I learn at the grocery store is this: real, flawed food tastes better than "perfected" engineered food.
Before this summer I had never eaten a tomato fresh from a garden. I had only eaten tomatoes that had been genetically engineered to look perfect. When I first brought a tomato home from the farm it was misshapen, discolored, ugly looking. But when I had a bite, it was far and away the best tomato I have ever had.
Most of our food at the grocery store has some manufactured quality to it. Large food corporations are now growing our food in high rises-did you know that? Many companies have started buying high rises and having a floor of tomatoes, a floor of cucumbers and so on. Artificial soil, lighting, temperature control.
Let's look at this theologically now. How did God intend for our food to be produced, how was it meant to look and taste? What has society deemed as a better bottom line and better to look at?
How about humanity? How often are we made to feel like we should look good like the fake tomato and hide our human flaws? In our relationships how much better is it when we show our true selves with one another and let others love us for who we really are, flaws and all?
What does that say about materialism and consumerism? What should our Christian response be?
Well, that's enough from me. I see God just about everywhere these days but I want to hear from you. Has this conversation made you think of times or places where you have seen God at the grocery store?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 7th, 2009
Last night I was reminded of why I love being a pastor- I am invited into some of the most sacred and intimate moments of peoples lives. Whether someone is in the hospital, getting married, needing counseling, or seeking help on their spiritual journey, people allow me to be there in those moments. This is a gift that has given me a fresh perspective on life, on what is important, on family, and on priorities.
What has God given you a heart and passion for? What is it that makes you feel alive and joyful? How can you use that for the benefit of others? I have been working on a 1 Corinthians Bible Study and I am reminded of the chapter on Spiritual Gifts.
We all have different gifts. I can't imagine doing anything else in life that would utilize my gifts the way ministry does. But what about you? What gifts do you have for ministry and for life? How do you share them? Do you let other things get in the way of your sharing them? Can that be changed?
I hope that you will really pray this weekend about what your gifts are and how you can use them in your service to God and neighbor.
Have a good weekend!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 6th, 2009
Here is the passage for Sunday:
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
Rules for the New Life
So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labour and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, 32and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 5th, 2009
Last night Jonathan and I watched the film: God Grew Tired of Us. It was a moving and powerful story of The Lost Boys of the Sudan and their life both in Africa and here in America. The movie begins in Africa telling the stories of these young men (and a few women) who lived in war torn Sudan. They were the children who in the late 80's had their disturbing pictures taken of their near death states. These children, well the ones who survived, are for the most part grown men now. In Africa they continued to struggle for food, identity in a foreign land, and hope for a future.
Many of the refugees were given the opportunity to travel to and live in America. The film captures their transition from living in Africa struggling for daily bread in their mud-made huts to being on an airplane with electricity and food for the first time. When they come to America they have to be taught the basics-how to turn lights on, what the abundance of food is for, what a shower looks like and how to use it, etc.
This powerful and endearing documentary is a powerful story about the abundance that we have here in the US, the perspectives of immigrants to this country, and what other cultures can teach us about our own culture here. These men were Christians and one of the most powerful scenes for me was when they realize how we celebrate Christmas here. They are flabbergasted at our need for "stuff" to celebrate like trees, lights, and Santa. They then tell how they celebrate the birth of Christ in Africa-with singing in the streets, spiritual preparedness, and joy so that Jesus can be born in their hearts again.
I hope you will see it and reflect on its meaning as followers of Jesus Christ who are called to love our neighbor...
If you see this movie, would you add your comments about it to our website as prayers on the prayer wall?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 4th, 2009
So often we get focused on our own lives that we forget about the world around us. Last night at our council meeting we were given a handout of who had looked at our website. Most of the "hits" have been from the northeast but there were people looking at our site from all over the world.
This did two things in my mind-one it made me realize the power of the Internet and its ability to more deeply connect all of us. And two, it made me rethink my global perspective of the church.
We forget that the church in NJ is part of the same church in Liberia which is part of the same church in Korea and so on. We are all deeply connected and we need to be conscientious of that in our worship and in our giving, in our actions and in our speech. We need to always be aware that we have brothers and sisters in Christ in every corner of the world and that we should care about them because God cares about them. In turn, we need to help show that we are united in Christ and be a witness of that unity to the whole world.
Today will you join me in praising God for the Global Church and praying that we here at Round Valley will continue to work toward the realization of God's united church?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 3rd, 2009
Yesterday we had amazing amounts of rain. It seemed to be coming down in sheets of water. When my husband drove home from his churches he kept calling me to tell me that various routes were blocked off becuase of flooding. I didn't think to much of it, just worried about how to get him home.
When I was getting the boys to bed, I checked my facebook page and saw pictures of Clinton, NJ flooded. The main street where all the shops are had enough water to fill the streets and even go up to the doors of the parked cars.
I couldn't believe that something so disasterous could have happened in the town next door and I wasn't even aware of it. I called the Clinton UMC and offered to help in any way that I could if they too were flooded.
It left me wondering-how often are our neighbors flooded out with worry, stress, depression, illness, and we aren't even aware of it. How can we as Christians be safe places where people can honestly come to us for help? How many of us are feeling flooded and in need of help and don't know how to ask for what we need?
Let's be in prayer together and if I find out Clinton can use some help in the clean-up I will let you know.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
A prayer for a new day-
"Grant us, even us, O Lord, to know you, and love you and rejoice in you. And if we cannot do these perfectly in this life, let us, at least, advance to higher degrees every day, till we can come to do them in pefection. Let the knowledge of you increase in us here, that it may be full hereafter. Let the love of you grow every day more and more here, that it may be perfect hereafter; that our joy may be great in itself and full in you. We know, O God, that you are a God of truth. O make good your gracious promises to us, that our joy may be full. To your honor and glory, who withthe Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns one God, world without end. Amen.
-Augustine.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 28th, 2009
As a weekend of heavy rain approaches promising to ruin my plans again, I am left in the mood to just get down and dirty playing with the kids. Its been a while since we have built a fort and read a story by flashlight. It has been a while since we have broken out the play-doh and I have scratched piece by piece out of the churches carpets. The kids are disappointed that they won't be heading outside today but changes in plans are not always a bad thing.
So often in life when we have detours-even simple ones, we get frustrated and disappointed. Oprah once talked about how when she is stuck in traffic, even if it means she is late to something important, she just closes her eyes and she does some deep breathing. She figures there is not much she can do anyway so she might as well take it as a moment of time that was given for her to just breathe.
I hope whatever may get disrupted today and over the weekend, we will take it as a gift and just breathe!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 27th, 2009
On Sunday I will conclude my sermon series "The Gospel According to..." with the Gospel According to Starbucks. I will be preaching from Len Sweets book with the same title. It should be interesting!
The main passage I am using is:
Luke 8
The Parable of the Sower Explained
'Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones on the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe only for a while and in a time of testing fall away. As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 26th, 2009
I have often heard parents tearfully explain how their baby is still their baby even though the so called baby is now a grown adult. Today I think I understand why. My baby is 1 today. I can barely stand the thought that my youngest is celebrating his first birthday, got his first hair cut and is quickly learning to stand and walk. Gone are the days of holding him while he sleeps (he is now so tall that it is uncomfortable for both of us) gone are the days of the baby swings and exersaucers. Before I know it I will be packing him up for college and wondering why the house seems so quiet.
In the mean time I wish for him joy for life and strength for the ride. Happy Birthday Christopher, Happy Birthday baby boy.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 25th, 2009
Sorry for the delay-got caught up in house cleaning. This is a forward I received and thought the humor could put a smile on your face today.
DA END BE NEAR!!!
Reverend Boudreaux was the part-time pastor of the local Cajun Baptist Church and Pastor Thibodaux was the minister of the Covenant Church across the road.
They were both standing by the road, pounding a sign into the ground, that read:
'Da End is Near Turn Yo Sef 'Roun Now Afore It Be Too Late!'
As a car sped past them, the driver leaned out his window and yelled, 'You religious nuts!'
From the curve they heard screeching tires, and a big splash...
Boudreaux turns to Thibodaux and asks, 'Do ya tink maybe da sign should jussay..... 'Bridge Out?'
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 24th, 2009
The United Methodist Church just released their stance on the national health care debate. I hope that you will take the time to read our official position prayerfully. If you are interested in joining the challenge, I joined the team created by my friend Gary Frieze in Lyndhurst, NJ.
To learn more, please click HERE
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 21st, 2009
Today our Muslim brothers and sisters begin a month long celebration called Ramadan. I don't love Wikipedia but here is their description of Ramadan:
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, sexual conduct, smoking, and indulging in anything that is in excess or ill-natured; from dawn until sunset Fasting is meant to teach the Muslim patience, modesty and spirituality. Ramadan is a time to fast for the sake of Allah, and to offer more prayer than usual. Muslims also believed through good actions, they get rewarded seventy times as much as they normally can achieve. During Ramadan, Muslims ask forgiveness for past sins, pray for guidance and help in refraining from everyday evils, and try to purify themselves through self-restraint and good deeds. As compared to solar calendar, the dates of Ramadan vary, moving forward about ten days each year. Ramadhan was the month in which the first verses of the Qur'an were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.
The month of Ramadan is really a lot like the Christian season of Lent with fasting, seeking forgiveness, purification, etc. I am very excited that I will be having a Ramadan breaking of the fast dinner with a Muslim family in early September. I will let you know how that goes when the time comes.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 20th, 2009
On Sunday I will be preaching on: The Gospel According to the Gym. It promises to be a fun Sunday!
The text I will be using is: 1 Corinthians 6
Glorify God in Body and Spirit
‘All things are lawful for me’, but not all things are beneficial. ‘All things are lawful for me’, but I will not be dominated by anything. ‘Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food’, and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, ‘The two shall be one flesh.’ But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 19th, 2009
The baby got his cast off successfully and he was so brave. No tears or anything! When we got home and I put him on the ground for the first time, he was crawling around with his leg stuck straight out, like it was still in the cast. All day yesterday he continued to move as if he were still in a cast.
It made me think about our relationship with Christ. When we turn to Christ our sins are forgiven but I wonder how many of us still walk around as if they were still on our shoulders-still casted to our body so to speak. Do we live lives that reflect the removal of our casts/sins or do we still go about limping as if they were still wearing us down? What does a transformed life look like and how do we, with the guidance of the Spirit, live a transformed life?
I know for me guilt and worry, stress and fear still weigh me down at times. With Christ in my life I know that I have been set free to live and love with the mind of Christ. With God's help, I press on to be cast free. Glad to be journeying with each of you.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 18th, 2009
Three weeks ago my youngest son broke his leg. He gets the cast off in two hours! The little guy is mentally ready to walk. He stand at the edge of a table, lets go, and tries that first step. With cast, he just can't do it. I am hoping that if all goes well, he will be free to walk when the injured leg can actually bend at the knee.
I realized that there are "casts" in my life that prevent me from trying new things. Some of my casts are body image issues, insecurities, and fears. Jesus' life reminds me that we are called to do what is right and to follow God at all cost-even on to the cross. By God's grace, our "casts" are removed and we can take our first steps in leading merciful and holy lives.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 17th, 2009
Yesterday in service my sermon title was THe Gospel According to the Outdoors. THere are so many things I wanted to include but didn't have time for. Here is a poem I have been reading since I was just a kid. IT is called Where Mountain Lion Lay Down with Deer by Leslie Marmon Silko.
I climb the black rock mountain stepping from day to day
silently.
I smell the wind for my ancestors
pale blue leaves
crushed wild mountain smell.
Returning
up the gray stone cliff
where I descended
a thousand years ago.
Returning to faded black stone
where mountain lion lay down with deer.
It is better to stay up here
watching wind's reflection
in tall yellow flowers.
The old ones who remember me are gone
the old songs are all forgotten
and the story of my birth.
How I danced in snow-frost moonlight
distant stars to the end of the Earth.
How I swam away
in freezing mountain water
narrow mossy canyon tumbling down
out of the mountain
out of deep canyon stone
down
the memory
spilling out
into the world.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 14th, 2009
As I get ready for the weekend and some family time tomorrow, I have been looking at my calendar almost in shock. Is it really the final weeks of summer? Sometimes I don't know where the weeks and even months have gone. We just bought the older two boys their back to school "stuff" and most of my scheduling is now for September.
I marvel at how much time changes. I remember as a child being told we would have to wait 1/2 an hour for something. My mom would tell me 1/2 an hour was one tv show and it would seem to drag on endlessly. Today full days fly by let alone a 1/2 hour. It makes you wonder what time is like from God's perspective. God who has been in existence from the beginning and who has journeyed with us for generation after generation must have a sense of time that is not even imaginable. I sometimes have to marvel at the fact that the God of all times and places even knows who I am. God is good!
Enjoy your weekend!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 13th, 2009
On Sunday we will look at the Gospel According to the outdoors and I will be reading from the Creation story from Genesis 1 and from Psalm 104. Here is the Psalm:
Psalm 104
God the Creator and Provider
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honour and majesty,
wrapped in light as with a garment.
You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
you set the beams of your chambers on the waters,
you make the clouds your chariot,
you ride on the wings of the wind,
you make the winds your messengers,
fire and flame your ministers.
You set the earth on its foundations,
so that it shall never be shaken.
You cover it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
At your rebuke they flee;
at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys
to the place that you appointed for them.
You set a boundary that they may not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth.
You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills,
giving drink to every wild animal;
the wild asses quench their thirst.
By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation;
they sing among the branches.
From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to use,
to bring forth food from the earth,
and wine to gladden the human heart,
oil to make the face shine,
and bread to strengthen the human heart.
The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
In them the birds build their nests;
the stork has its home in the fir trees.
The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the rocks are a refuge for the coneys.
You have made the moon to mark the seasons;
the sun knows its time for setting.
You make darkness, and it is night,
when all the animals of the forest come creeping out.
The young lions roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.
When the sun rises, they withdraw
and lie down in their dens.
People go out to their work
and to their labour until the evening.
Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
Yonder is the sea, great and wide,
creeping things innumerable are there,
living things both small and great.
There go the ships,
and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
These all look to you
to give them their food in due season;
when you give to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created;
and you renew the face of the ground.
May the glory of the Lord endure for ever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works—
who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke.
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
May my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord.
Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
and let the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 12th, 2009
Our family got cable back for the first time this summer and so I have been re-connecting to the news stations and what is going on in the world. After 2 days, I am ready to disconnect again. As much as I hungered to know what was happening in the world, now that I know, I want to stick my head in the sand like an ostrich and pretend that none of the worlds events are happening.
I believe it was Karl Barth who believed that we should hold the Bible in one hand and the daily news in the other. I think he was right on because I cannot face the news without understanding the world through Scripture and Scripture has so much more meaning when we can see how it applies to our daily living.
As we hear more about war, healthcare, Monsoons, accidents, and violence, join me in hearing the voices of the prophets calling for repentance and the end of oppression. Join me in hearing the words of Christ who calls for God's kingdom to come with mercy and compassion. Join me in having hope that we can work toward a better tomorrow because God is the source of that work and hope.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 11th, 2009
Last night was the first night of our Vacation Bible School. Even though I have no musical ability, I was in charge of music. God is mysterious. We did a few call and response songs about nocturnal flamingos and blessing the Lord and all in all I think we had fun.
I was so self conscious leading the music that my own nervousness almost got in the way of the music time. I had to make a decision to either stumble through the 20 minutes or let go of my issues and just confidently lead the music. It was very freeing to just let go.
The story of the night was about Moses leading the Israelites around in the desert. Moses, who didn't want to be called by God to lead, had a lot of esteem issues as well. He was worried that his speech impairment would get in the way of his leadership abilities. He tried to talk God out of calling him into ministry. With a little help from his brother Aaron, Moses became one of the best leaders in Israel's history. What would have happened if Moses would have insisted that he couldn't lead? How would the narrative of God's people changed?
We all have different gifts and abilities but sometimes God calls us into places and roles that we don't think we can handle. We have to learn to let go and trust. Will you?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 10th, 2009
Tonight our Vacation Bible School begins and the theme this year is Camp E.D.G.E. which stands for Experiencing + Discovering God Everywhere. That has been the theme of my sermons as well.
Be on the look out today and see where you can find God. Think in terms of metaphors and Scriptural stories.
Here are my sermon notes from Sunday:
Learning to think theologically=seeing God everywhere and being able to interpret/understand things in a faith-based way.
Today we are going to the grocery store and we are going to try and see if we can find God and faith in the grocery store.
1. Lots of choices- but are all of the choices equal? Is choosing a donut = choosing an orange?
Choices of food=choices in life
a. Unhealthy foods can be very tempting-look good, convenient, cost but what happens when we live a life making bad food choices? And the more bad choices we make, the harder it is to be healthy
b. Have the option of reading labels/learning about nutrition/resisting temptation - maybe the more difficult choice at times but leads to eating well, feeling better
Lets think about this theologically-bad choices are like? SIN
Sin can be easy and tempting-cheating, lying, an affair, stealing, drugs/alcohol abuse etc.
Making these choices frequently lead to making more bad choices
How about making healthy choices what is that like? Living a faith based life
Maybe the more difficult road-being honest, standing up against oppression, forgiving when we don't want to, etc.
Making these choices with God's (the nutritionists help) lead us to a healthier more whole life
2. The next thing that I want to talk about from the grocery store is a topic that comes up in the Scripture passage from Ephesians.
Before I read some of the passage again, I want you to do some visualizing with me. It is a few days before Thanksgiving. Everyone and their brother, three young and screaming cousins and very slow grandmother are in the store. You are in a rush of course-its holiday time and you have just gotten out of a cart-jam in the freezer aisle. You and a young woman with three small boys/I mean children approach the only open cashier at the same time and the other woman feels she was in line first.
Do you:
a. scream "freeze" as loud as you can hoping that everyone in the store will be put on pause while you peacefully unload your cart?
b. Turn red in anger and give her cart a little nudge out of the way
c. Take a deep breath, give thanks for the season and the fact that you don't have to change diapers and let her go ahead?
I ask this because in the midst of the most joyous seasons I have seen some of the most disheartening acts of teens pushing the elderly out of the way in aisles, of people cursing in anger because things were not going there way, those sorts of things. The Ephesians passage calls us to a higher standard of living as Christians. It says:
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.Last Christmas this scenario happened to me and the guy who thought he deserved to go first in line blew up at me about waiting my turn. I just smiled and said, oh sure go ahead, that's fine. I then proceeded to lead Nathan and Jeremiah in sing "tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la la la la." We are called to live our faith in trying times and in every day exchanges. It is not always easy, like making the right healthy choices, but if we all keep walking with God and inviting the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, then maybe in time it will get easier.
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
3. The final lesson that I want to share with you that I learn at the grocery store is this: real, flawed food tastes better than "perfected" engineered food.
Before this summer I had never eaten a tomato fresh from a garden. I had only eaten tomatoes that had been genetically engineered to look perfect. When I first brought a tomato home from the farm it was misshapen, discolored, ugly looking. But when I had a bite, it was far and away the best tomato I have ever had.
Most of our food at the grocery store has some manufactured quality to it. Large food corporations are now growing our food in high rises-did you know that? Many companies have started buying high rises and having a floor of tomatoes, a floor of cucumbers and so on. Artificial soil, lighting, temperature control.
Let's look at this theologically now. How did God intend for our food to be produced, how was it meant to look and taste? What has society deemed as a better bottom line and better to look at?
How about humanity? How often are we made to feel like we should look good like the fake tomato and hide our human flaws? In our relationships how much better is it when we show our true selves with one another and let others love us for who we really are, flaws and all?
What does that say about materialism and consumerism? What should our Christian response be?
Well, that's enough from me. I see God just about everywhere these days but I want to hear from you. Has this conversation made you think of times or places where you have seen God at the grocery store?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 7th, 2009
Last night I was reminded of why I love being a pastor- I am invited into some of the most sacred and intimate moments of peoples lives. Whether someone is in the hospital, getting married, needing counseling, or seeking help on their spiritual journey, people allow me to be there in those moments. This is a gift that has given me a fresh perspective on life, on what is important, on family, and on priorities.
What has God given you a heart and passion for? What is it that makes you feel alive and joyful? How can you use that for the benefit of others? I have been working on a 1 Corinthians Bible Study and I am reminded of the chapter on Spiritual Gifts.
We all have different gifts. I can't imagine doing anything else in life that would utilize my gifts the way ministry does. But what about you? What gifts do you have for ministry and for life? How do you share them? Do you let other things get in the way of your sharing them? Can that be changed?
I hope that you will really pray this weekend about what your gifts are and how you can use them in your service to God and neighbor.
Have a good weekend!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 6th, 2009
Here is the passage for Sunday:
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
Rules for the New Life
So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labour and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, 32and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 5th, 2009
Last night Jonathan and I watched the film: God Grew Tired of Us. It was a moving and powerful story of The Lost Boys of the Sudan and their life both in Africa and here in America. The movie begins in Africa telling the stories of these young men (and a few women) who lived in war torn Sudan. They were the children who in the late 80's had their disturbing pictures taken of their near death states. These children, well the ones who survived, are for the most part grown men now. In Africa they continued to struggle for food, identity in a foreign land, and hope for a future.
Many of the refugees were given the opportunity to travel to and live in America. The film captures their transition from living in Africa struggling for daily bread in their mud-made huts to being on an airplane with electricity and food for the first time. When they come to America they have to be taught the basics-how to turn lights on, what the abundance of food is for, what a shower looks like and how to use it, etc.
This powerful and endearing documentary is a powerful story about the abundance that we have here in the US, the perspectives of immigrants to this country, and what other cultures can teach us about our own culture here. These men were Christians and one of the most powerful scenes for me was when they realize how we celebrate Christmas here. They are flabbergasted at our need for "stuff" to celebrate like trees, lights, and Santa. They then tell how they celebrate the birth of Christ in Africa-with singing in the streets, spiritual preparedness, and joy so that Jesus can be born in their hearts again.
I hope you will see it and reflect on its meaning as followers of Jesus Christ who are called to love our neighbor...
If you see this movie, would you add your comments about it to our website as prayers on the prayer wall?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 4th, 2009
So often we get focused on our own lives that we forget about the world around us. Last night at our council meeting we were given a handout of who had looked at our website. Most of the "hits" have been from the northeast but there were people looking at our site from all over the world.
This did two things in my mind-one it made me realize the power of the Internet and its ability to more deeply connect all of us. And two, it made me rethink my global perspective of the church.
We forget that the church in NJ is part of the same church in Liberia which is part of the same church in Korea and so on. We are all deeply connected and we need to be conscientious of that in our worship and in our giving, in our actions and in our speech. We need to always be aware that we have brothers and sisters in Christ in every corner of the world and that we should care about them because God cares about them. In turn, we need to help show that we are united in Christ and be a witness of that unity to the whole world.
Today will you join me in praising God for the Global Church and praying that we here at Round Valley will continue to work toward the realization of God's united church?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - August 3rd, 2009
Yesterday we had amazing amounts of rain. It seemed to be coming down in sheets of water. When my husband drove home from his churches he kept calling me to tell me that various routes were blocked off becuase of flooding. I didn't think to much of it, just worried about how to get him home.
When I was getting the boys to bed, I checked my facebook page and saw pictures of Clinton, NJ flooded. The main street where all the shops are had enough water to fill the streets and even go up to the doors of the parked cars.
I couldn't believe that something so disasterous could have happened in the town next door and I wasn't even aware of it. I called the Clinton UMC and offered to help in any way that I could if they too were flooded.
It left me wondering-how often are our neighbors flooded out with worry, stress, depression, illness, and we aren't even aware of it. How can we as Christians be safe places where people can honestly come to us for help? How many of us are feeling flooded and in need of help and don't know how to ask for what we need?
Let's be in prayer together and if I find out Clinton can use some help in the clean-up I will let you know.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
July 2009 Archives
Daily Faith Lift - July 31st, 2009
An oldie but a goodie...
5 Fingers
1. Your thumb is nearest to you. So begin your prayers by praying for those closest to you. They are the easiest to remember. To pray for our loved ones is, as C. S. Lewis once said, a "sweet duty."
2. The next finger is the pointing finger. Pray for those who teach, instruct and heal. This includes teachers, doctors, and our church leaders. They need support and wisdom in pointing others in the right direction. Keep them in your prayers.
3. The next finger is the tallest finger. It reminds us of our leaders. Pray for the president, leaders in business and industry, and administrators. These people shape our nation and guide public opinion. They need God's guidance.
4. The fourth finger is our ring finger. Surprising to many is the fact that this is our weakest finger; as any piano teacher will testify. It should remind us to pray for those who are weak, in trouble or in pain. They need your prayers day and night. You cannot pray too much for them.
5. And lastly comes our little finger; the smallest finger of all. Which is where we should place ourselves in relation to God and others. As the Bible says, "The least shall be the greatest among you." Your pinkie should remind you to pray for yourself. By the time you have prayed for the other four groups, your own needs will be put into proper perspective and you will be able to pray for yourself more effectively. Should you find it hard to get to sleep tonight, just remember the homeless family who has no bed to lie in.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 30th, 2009
Here is the primary Scripture for Sunday: (still looking for photos of your tables)
John 6:24-35
So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, 'Rabbi, when did you come here?'
Jesus answered them, 'Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.'
Then they said to him, 'What must we do to perform the works of God?'
Jesus answered them, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.'
So they said to him, 'What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing?
Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, "He gave them bread from heaven to eat." '
Then Jesus said to them, 'Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is that which* comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.'
They said to him, 'Sir, give us this bread always.'
Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 29th, 2009
On Sunday I will begin a new sermon series-Finding God in the ordinary. The first week we are going to talk about Finding God at the Table and I need pictures. I need pictures of a table you have set, of people around a table, just an ordinary table in your house-anything involving a table. If you are not a photographer but want to share a story or a poem about something that has happened around the table or something you have learned from being around a table with loved ones, it might just appear on Sunday as well. If you have a minute to snap a photo or jot down your thoughts and email it, I would appreciate it! I will be collecting picutres up to Friday night.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 28th, 2009
I have learned over the weekend and beginning of the week that you can't turn back time. On Friday my husband was carrying groceries in one arm and our youngest son (11 months) in the other. In his first sky-diving attempt, the baby dove out of my husbands arms and landed on our deck.
He broke his leg.
After the ER and a very tiring few days trying to chase mr. daredevil around, we go today to get his cast on. The cast will be on for four days and my middle child just keeps saying that if we can get a blue cast, everything will be ok.
I just can't stop thinking about the what ifs. What if I had been home? What if my husband had made two trips? What if, what if, what if? In the end, what is done is done and we will put up with a cast for the next four weeks.
Pray for us today-we are going to need it!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 27th, 2009
Yesterday I dropped my husband and oldest son off at camp for the week. There is something overly emotional about leaving your oldest at overnight camp for a whole week. I thought I would be upset but I had no idea.
Does he know how to groom himself on his own? Will he think to take a shower at least once? If there is a 2 hour block of swimming each day and he swims as well as a rock what will happen over the week? In the thunderstorms is he laying in bed crying for his mom? If so, what will they do?
I am already looking forward to embracing him on Saturday and hearing all about his week.
In Scripture Jesus is often referring to God as our parent who cares for us perfectly. What does that mean to you? What does it mean to you that God loves you and wants to know all of your worries and concerns? When we distance ourselves from God, do you think God anxiously waits for you to draw close again? Remember-God loves you!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 24th, 2009
For the weekend I thought I would leave you with a little humor. On Tuesday night of this week I was "strong in the Lord" and I decided to try my very first group class at the YMCA. I had been doing a yoga dvd at home and thought that might be a good class to try...plus I knew they exercised with the lights off which could only help.
So I walked into the fitness studio and the instructor took one look at me and literally said "oh crap". I made a half turn for the door. She assured me that it was not me specifically that elicited her response, it was the fact that she was trying something new and uncomfortable and she was not expecting any visitors.
Well...she was right. New and uncomfortable does not even begin to describe "partner yoga". First I was assigned a partner. It was a small woman who weighs the same amount as my right leg (I'm probably not kidding). We are quietly and calmly asked to turn our backs to our partners and then get close enough that our, and I am not exaggerating here, "that our cheeks are up close and personal". Fantastic. Well an hour later I have been closer to this woman than my own husband and I have been tormented in keeping my personal space.
At one point when we had to lay on our partner, I was fully prepared for the headline "Pastor kills petite at local Y". God is good-no ambulances were called.
This made me think a lot about the churches hospitality. What do we do that make visitors uncomfortable. Rarely do we go cheek to cheek (and I am not talking about faces here people) but we do hold hands, we do share intimate prayers.
In the end I know yoga is good for me and I will go weekly even though I am NOT comfortable. Is that how the church should press forward? Are there times when it is good to be stretched out of our comfort zone?
PS-a homework assignment: If you can in the next week or so, email me a picture of a table. The table can be in your home or not, it can be decorated, it can be messy, it can have people gathered around it or not. Whatever you think, I need photos of tables! Help is appreciated. I will be using these photos in worship so don't send me anything copyrighted or private please.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 23rd, 2009
On Sunday we will look at the early church wars over the divinity of Christ and how that was resolved and what it teaches the church today.
The passages that we will read are:
Philippians 2:5-11
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
and
John 1:1-5, 10-14
The Gospel According to John
The Word Became Flesh
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 22nd, 2009
This morning I put Chris down for his morning nap and he started babbling away for one of the first times that I have heard him. He was in there really talking up a storm. Blah, Blah, Blah! Ogrababbaba. Blababababa.
It didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, sitting on the other side of his door but I could tell he was in there really having a good conversation with himself.
Sometimes when I am praying I get worried that I am not making sense and at other times I feel like all I am hearing from God is senseless babble. In hearing Chris having a good old conversation I am reminded that it is through babble that we learn to speak. So what if I still need help learning what to say and how to hear God? Each day I pray I get a little better and the babble starts to form simple words of prayer and praise. Today I am going to learn from Christ and just enjoy the conversation I have with God. If you sit on the other side of my door and are a bit confused, be patient I am learning. In fact, I hope that today we will all babble a bit with God and take time to just enjoy the conversation knowing that in time our relationship will deepen and the necessary words will be formed.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 21st, 2009
A word of inspiration for the day: "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us then you are mature be of the same mind."
As we press on in faith and love, may we remember the ultimate goal and prize.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 20th, 2009
Last night, for our monthly "date night", Jonathan and I drove to Ocean Grove to hear Tony Campolo preach. It is always amazing worshiping in this huge auditorium that has been used for Methodist Camp meetings. Filled with singing and charismatic prayers, my heart was warmed and I was ready to hear God's word proclaimed!
Tony did not disappoint. In preaching about What God is doing in the World, Jonathan and I were taken aback when a big portion from his sermon is almost exactly what we had preached on earlier in the day. He preached about the shameful exclusion of women in the ministry and in the churches. He even sited how English translators changed the female Junia to Junius to make her a him! Jonathan and I dropped our jaws and kept looking at each other at how God does work mysteriously. He went on to preach about how in Africa there are 50,000 people being baptized each week. Yes, there are the correct amount of zeros-50,000 people! He talked about how the youth today are not religious but they are profoundly spiritual and how the church has to invite them in and help them explore that spiritual nature.
It was quite moving and I strongly recommend that if you ever get a chance to attend one of the worship services in the Great Auditorium-that you do so. It will be a blessing in your journey with God.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 17th, 2009
Here are the passages for Sunday so you can meditate on them over the weekend. This week in the sermon series it is: Men vs. Women. There will be lots to discuss!
1 Timothy:
8 I desire, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or argument;
9 also that the women should dress themselves modestly and decently in suitable clothing, not with their hair braided, or with gold, pearls, or expensive clothes,
10 but with good works, as is proper for women who profess reverence for God.
11 Let a woman* learn in silence with full submission.
12 I permit no woman* to teach or to have authority over a man;* she is to keep silent.
13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve;
14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.
Galatians 3:
23 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed.
24 Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian,
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.
27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring,* heirs according to the promise.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 16th, 2009
I just checked through my email and received notification that another magazine that I read is going to go digital only. Printed copies will no longer be mailed out, I will receive the magazine from now on via email.
I try to stay up with technology and force myself to adjust to the trends of the technological day but I am having a really hard time with this one. Normally my magazines pile up next to my bed and I enjoy flipping through the pages late at night. Now my magazines are piling up in my inbox and they are becoming chores that I need to read so I can keep my inbox cleared out. I know that if I put them in a folder until later, that I will never read any of them.
In some ways this little problem seems trite and in other ways it is making me feel profoundly old and out of date. It seems even more odd to me that to express this issue I am emailing it out and having it published to a website while my IPOD plays and my cell phone gears up for a day of texting and calls. Interesting how things change.
Ecclesiastes talks a lot about the aging process and how our perspectives change as we age. Maybe I will have to flip through those pages later in the day. Geez books are heavy, maybe I should look into getting a Kindle.
Sundays Scriptures will be tomorrow...
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 15th, 2009
This morning has already been filled with so many blessings. One blessing I received was casual advice from a very wise woman. She said to me: "don't worry, it is summer time, just enjoy your day and breathe."
Today what would happen if we stepped outside if we are at work and took a 5 minute break just deeply breathing? What would happen if we had dinner outside tonight with a loved one and just listened to the birds of the air? What if today we said to ourselves that it will be different today because we are going to enjoy this day as a gift from God? Do you have a million errands to run? Could you cut one or two and give yourself a treat?
Today I had a visitation with a shut in. I left my car at home and walked to the house just so I could breathe in the beauty of this day. What a treat it was.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 14th, 2009
I am starting to think that on Tuesdays I will suggest a verse to memorize for the week. Then on Thursdays I will do a brief devotional on Sundays Scriptures. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we will let be a free for all.
This week I would suggest you read, write down, and try to remember the following verse from Galatians 3:
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.
Say the verse a couple of times and let the words sink in. What does it mean to you that through your faith in Christ Jesus you are a child of God? Is that an identity that you know well and are comfortable with? Why or why not? How can you celebrate being God's child today?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 13th, 2009
On Saturday I made this huge pot of soup that was filled with tons of summer veggies. Jonathan was supposed to heat the soup up Sunday afternoon so when it was dinner time, everything would be ready. Well, God bless him, he turned the oven on Med-High and left the soup boiling for a little over an hour.
Did you know that burnt black stuff is really hard to get off the bottom of Stainless steel pots?
I have never scrubbed so much in my life. I tried soaking, Brillo pads, baking soda, and boiling salt water. I have removed about 90% of the charred soup off of my pan but this morning I have another round of scrubbing to go.
Sometimes I feel that there are certain issues in my life that need a lot of scrubbing in order to be resolved. There are some sins of my own and some sins of others that, even if I have forgiven them, I still can't quite let myself forget them. I met with someone last week who talked about tapes running in our heads giving us bad messages that hurt our sense of worth and confidence. These tapes are filled with voices who have hurt us along the way and they continue to be voices we carry with us even if we try and at least hit the "pause button".
In Christ I have come to know forgiveness and grace at my very core. It is in Christ alone that I know my "pot" will truly be scrubbed clean and I can live a life with the tapes in my head silenced. Praise God for whom all blessings flow....
In the mean time I am off to have a prayer-filled time of scrubbing away! By the way, the soup was still delicious although my oldest son kept asking what that burnt taste was.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 10th, 2009
In yesterdays Hunterdon Democrat there were three editorials complaining about the "Latinos" that are loitering in Flemington. The three comments were based on a lot of fear and anger and it made me very frustrated in reading these three opinions. The Bible I read reminds us again and again to be compassionate to the stranger in a foreign land. The Bible I read teaches us that everyone, even those we least expect, are our neighbors and that we need to show them love and mercy.
After I was done reading the three opinions I said a prayer for the authors and for everyone who comes to this country for whatever reason and however they come. When I was done praying I looked back at the newspaper page one last time and I started laughing. On the top of the SAME page was a picture of the "good old days". In this picture there were people crowding the streets "loitering". Now they were all white as far as I can tell and maybe that is the difference but it made me realize that maybe "loitering" is a long standing tradition in this country. Maybe being together in public spaces sharing our lives with others and being in a deeper community is something we need to re-learn from our Hispanic brothers and sisters. The irony of their complaint in relation to the particular picture the newspaper selected reminds me that God must have a deep sense of humor.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 9th, 2009
On Sunday I will have my second part of a four part series called Church Wars: what the early church conflicts teach the church today. The sermon on Sunday will be about the conflict between nation and God's Kingdom and what that teaches us today. The passages we will look at will be Isaiah 40:9-17 (see below) and Romans 13. If you have time read these two passages and ask yourself the following questions:
What do nations mean to God?
As Christians is our allegiance to God alone, God and country, or country alone?
If forced to choose between your country and its laws and the church and its moral laws, which would you choose to follow and why?
Pray for me as I prepare this sermon and I will pray for you as you reflect on these tough questions.
Isaiah 40:
9 Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good tidings,
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,
lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,
'Here is your God!'
10 See, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him,
his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd,
he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead the mother sheep.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure,
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has directed the spirit of the Lord,
or as his counsellor has instructed him?
14 Whom did he consult for his enlightenment,
and who taught him the path of justice?
Who taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted as dust on the scales,
see, he takes up the isles like fine dust.
16 Lebanon would not provide fuel enough,
nor are its animals enough for a burnt-offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 8th, 2009
Okay so now that we are finding a stride again and our boys have become boys and not monsters again-I wanted to share what I did for the invocation at the Fourth of July Parade here in Lebanon.
Every year the town takes turn asking either the pastor of the United Methodist Church or the pastor of the Reformed Church. This year it was my turn but the theme was "Many Faces, One Nation" and I thought it might be a great witness to the whole community if Rev. Ken Petty and I did the invocation together and kind of exemplified the many but one concept.
Rev. Petty agreed and came up with the idea of saying "May God Bless You" in several languages. It was interesting searching for the phrases and pronunciation guides via the internet but in the end we said May God Bless You in 8 different languages. We tried our best to say everything correctly but I think everyone got the idea. So here is our prayer:
J: As we gather together on this Independence Day in 2009
K: and we celebrate the many faces that make up our one nation
J: We ask you to join us in praying together a simple prayer that begins to reflect the rich diversity of our nation. Let us pray.
K: God bless you.
J: Yevarekh Otkha Ha-Shem (Hebrew)
K: Que Dieu vous bénisse (French)
J: Dios les bendiga. (Spanish)
K: Dio vi benedica (Italian)
J: Gott Segnet Sie (German)
J: barak Allah Feek (Arabic)
Together: On this day, in this parade, in all that you do…as one nation with many faces . . . May God Bless You.
Amen.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 7th, 2009
Yesterday was not a good day. It started off fine, I got a lot of work done in the morning and decided to go home and help Jonathan with all the back from vacation chores: grocery shopping, BJ's, Target, cleaning, etc. Well all three of the kids were bitten with some kind of crab bug or something because they were whining and crying and throwing tantrums everywhere we went. When we finally got our chores done we came to realize we had forgotten one important staple-baby wipes. If you are a mom of a baby you know that when you need wipes, you NEED wipes. Out we go again.
Once the kids were settled I went to put in the "big boy car seat" for the baby. Found it in the basement only to find it covered with mold. After having that gagging moment we threw it out. Out we go again. I then wrestled with the new car seat for about 25 minutes trying to figure out what straps went where and how the heck I was supposed to buckle the seat in so it does not move at all. Really no wiggling whatsoever?
Okay that is done, I finally settle in to read a magazine only to discover someone spilled what must have been a gallon of water all over it. Okay fine. Why is my foot itching? Its poison ivy. Time for bed.
Today I woke up and sang "this is the day that the Lord has made I WILL REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT". I pray you have a day that you can rejoice in...whatever you face.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 6th, 2009
Well we are home and still remembering a great family vacation. It is hard for me to believe that two weeks have passed and that I have been to Florida and back to work but, so it goes.
On the way down to Florida the two little ones got pretty sick which made a long drive that much longer and the first few days not so much fun. Once we got some antibiotics we were able to really start the fun part of vacation-amusement parks, putt putt golfing, swimming, movies, the whole nine yards.
It was great having the kids spend some time with their Grandparents and to be a way from the work load for a bit of rest. Thanks for all of your prayers, it is good to be home (we wouldn't have wanted to miss the Fourth of July Parade)!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
An oldie but a goodie...
5 Fingers
1. Your thumb is nearest to you. So begin your prayers by praying for those closest to you. They are the easiest to remember. To pray for our loved ones is, as C. S. Lewis once said, a "sweet duty."
2. The next finger is the pointing finger. Pray for those who teach, instruct and heal. This includes teachers, doctors, and our church leaders. They need support and wisdom in pointing others in the right direction. Keep them in your prayers.
3. The next finger is the tallest finger. It reminds us of our leaders. Pray for the president, leaders in business and industry, and administrators. These people shape our nation and guide public opinion. They need God's guidance.
4. The fourth finger is our ring finger. Surprising to many is the fact that this is our weakest finger; as any piano teacher will testify. It should remind us to pray for those who are weak, in trouble or in pain. They need your prayers day and night. You cannot pray too much for them.
5. And lastly comes our little finger; the smallest finger of all. Which is where we should place ourselves in relation to God and others. As the Bible says, "The least shall be the greatest among you." Your pinkie should remind you to pray for yourself. By the time you have prayed for the other four groups, your own needs will be put into proper perspective and you will be able to pray for yourself more effectively. Should you find it hard to get to sleep tonight, just remember the homeless family who has no bed to lie in.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 30th, 2009
Here is the primary Scripture for Sunday: (still looking for photos of your tables)
John 6:24-35
So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, 'Rabbi, when did you come here?'
Jesus answered them, 'Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.'
Then they said to him, 'What must we do to perform the works of God?'
Jesus answered them, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.'
So they said to him, 'What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing?
Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, "He gave them bread from heaven to eat." '
Then Jesus said to them, 'Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is that which* comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.'
They said to him, 'Sir, give us this bread always.'
Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 29th, 2009
On Sunday I will begin a new sermon series-Finding God in the ordinary. The first week we are going to talk about Finding God at the Table and I need pictures. I need pictures of a table you have set, of people around a table, just an ordinary table in your house-anything involving a table. If you are not a photographer but want to share a story or a poem about something that has happened around the table or something you have learned from being around a table with loved ones, it might just appear on Sunday as well. If you have a minute to snap a photo or jot down your thoughts and email it, I would appreciate it! I will be collecting picutres up to Friday night.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 28th, 2009
I have learned over the weekend and beginning of the week that you can't turn back time. On Friday my husband was carrying groceries in one arm and our youngest son (11 months) in the other. In his first sky-diving attempt, the baby dove out of my husbands arms and landed on our deck.
He broke his leg.
After the ER and a very tiring few days trying to chase mr. daredevil around, we go today to get his cast on. The cast will be on for four days and my middle child just keeps saying that if we can get a blue cast, everything will be ok.
I just can't stop thinking about the what ifs. What if I had been home? What if my husband had made two trips? What if, what if, what if? In the end, what is done is done and we will put up with a cast for the next four weeks.
Pray for us today-we are going to need it!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 27th, 2009
Yesterday I dropped my husband and oldest son off at camp for the week. There is something overly emotional about leaving your oldest at overnight camp for a whole week. I thought I would be upset but I had no idea.
Does he know how to groom himself on his own? Will he think to take a shower at least once? If there is a 2 hour block of swimming each day and he swims as well as a rock what will happen over the week? In the thunderstorms is he laying in bed crying for his mom? If so, what will they do?
I am already looking forward to embracing him on Saturday and hearing all about his week.
In Scripture Jesus is often referring to God as our parent who cares for us perfectly. What does that mean to you? What does it mean to you that God loves you and wants to know all of your worries and concerns? When we distance ourselves from God, do you think God anxiously waits for you to draw close again? Remember-God loves you!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 24th, 2009
For the weekend I thought I would leave you with a little humor. On Tuesday night of this week I was "strong in the Lord" and I decided to try my very first group class at the YMCA. I had been doing a yoga dvd at home and thought that might be a good class to try...plus I knew they exercised with the lights off which could only help.
So I walked into the fitness studio and the instructor took one look at me and literally said "oh crap". I made a half turn for the door. She assured me that it was not me specifically that elicited her response, it was the fact that she was trying something new and uncomfortable and she was not expecting any visitors.
Well...she was right. New and uncomfortable does not even begin to describe "partner yoga". First I was assigned a partner. It was a small woman who weighs the same amount as my right leg (I'm probably not kidding). We are quietly and calmly asked to turn our backs to our partners and then get close enough that our, and I am not exaggerating here, "that our cheeks are up close and personal". Fantastic. Well an hour later I have been closer to this woman than my own husband and I have been tormented in keeping my personal space.
At one point when we had to lay on our partner, I was fully prepared for the headline "Pastor kills petite at local Y". God is good-no ambulances were called.
This made me think a lot about the churches hospitality. What do we do that make visitors uncomfortable. Rarely do we go cheek to cheek (and I am not talking about faces here people) but we do hold hands, we do share intimate prayers.
In the end I know yoga is good for me and I will go weekly even though I am NOT comfortable. Is that how the church should press forward? Are there times when it is good to be stretched out of our comfort zone?
PS-a homework assignment: If you can in the next week or so, email me a picture of a table. The table can be in your home or not, it can be decorated, it can be messy, it can have people gathered around it or not. Whatever you think, I need photos of tables! Help is appreciated. I will be using these photos in worship so don't send me anything copyrighted or private please.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 23rd, 2009
On Sunday we will look at the early church wars over the divinity of Christ and how that was resolved and what it teaches the church today.
The passages that we will read are:
Philippians 2:5-11
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
and
John 1:1-5, 10-14
The Gospel According to John
The Word Became Flesh
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 22nd, 2009
This morning I put Chris down for his morning nap and he started babbling away for one of the first times that I have heard him. He was in there really talking up a storm. Blah, Blah, Blah! Ogrababbaba. Blababababa.
It didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, sitting on the other side of his door but I could tell he was in there really having a good conversation with himself.
Sometimes when I am praying I get worried that I am not making sense and at other times I feel like all I am hearing from God is senseless babble. In hearing Chris having a good old conversation I am reminded that it is through babble that we learn to speak. So what if I still need help learning what to say and how to hear God? Each day I pray I get a little better and the babble starts to form simple words of prayer and praise. Today I am going to learn from Christ and just enjoy the conversation I have with God. If you sit on the other side of my door and are a bit confused, be patient I am learning. In fact, I hope that today we will all babble a bit with God and take time to just enjoy the conversation knowing that in time our relationship will deepen and the necessary words will be formed.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 21st, 2009
A word of inspiration for the day: "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us then you are mature be of the same mind."
As we press on in faith and love, may we remember the ultimate goal and prize.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 20th, 2009
Last night, for our monthly "date night", Jonathan and I drove to Ocean Grove to hear Tony Campolo preach. It is always amazing worshiping in this huge auditorium that has been used for Methodist Camp meetings. Filled with singing and charismatic prayers, my heart was warmed and I was ready to hear God's word proclaimed!
Tony did not disappoint. In preaching about What God is doing in the World, Jonathan and I were taken aback when a big portion from his sermon is almost exactly what we had preached on earlier in the day. He preached about the shameful exclusion of women in the ministry and in the churches. He even sited how English translators changed the female Junia to Junius to make her a him! Jonathan and I dropped our jaws and kept looking at each other at how God does work mysteriously. He went on to preach about how in Africa there are 50,000 people being baptized each week. Yes, there are the correct amount of zeros-50,000 people! He talked about how the youth today are not religious but they are profoundly spiritual and how the church has to invite them in and help them explore that spiritual nature.
It was quite moving and I strongly recommend that if you ever get a chance to attend one of the worship services in the Great Auditorium-that you do so. It will be a blessing in your journey with God.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 17th, 2009
Here are the passages for Sunday so you can meditate on them over the weekend. This week in the sermon series it is: Men vs. Women. There will be lots to discuss!
1 Timothy:
8 I desire, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or argument;
9 also that the women should dress themselves modestly and decently in suitable clothing, not with their hair braided, or with gold, pearls, or expensive clothes,
10 but with good works, as is proper for women who profess reverence for God.
11 Let a woman* learn in silence with full submission.
12 I permit no woman* to teach or to have authority over a man;* she is to keep silent.
13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve;
14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.
Galatians 3:
23 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed.
24 Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian,
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.
27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring,* heirs according to the promise.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 16th, 2009
I just checked through my email and received notification that another magazine that I read is going to go digital only. Printed copies will no longer be mailed out, I will receive the magazine from now on via email.
I try to stay up with technology and force myself to adjust to the trends of the technological day but I am having a really hard time with this one. Normally my magazines pile up next to my bed and I enjoy flipping through the pages late at night. Now my magazines are piling up in my inbox and they are becoming chores that I need to read so I can keep my inbox cleared out. I know that if I put them in a folder until later, that I will never read any of them.
In some ways this little problem seems trite and in other ways it is making me feel profoundly old and out of date. It seems even more odd to me that to express this issue I am emailing it out and having it published to a website while my IPOD plays and my cell phone gears up for a day of texting and calls. Interesting how things change.
Ecclesiastes talks a lot about the aging process and how our perspectives change as we age. Maybe I will have to flip through those pages later in the day. Geez books are heavy, maybe I should look into getting a Kindle.
Sundays Scriptures will be tomorrow...
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 15th, 2009
This morning has already been filled with so many blessings. One blessing I received was casual advice from a very wise woman. She said to me: "don't worry, it is summer time, just enjoy your day and breathe."
Today what would happen if we stepped outside if we are at work and took a 5 minute break just deeply breathing? What would happen if we had dinner outside tonight with a loved one and just listened to the birds of the air? What if today we said to ourselves that it will be different today because we are going to enjoy this day as a gift from God? Do you have a million errands to run? Could you cut one or two and give yourself a treat?
Today I had a visitation with a shut in. I left my car at home and walked to the house just so I could breathe in the beauty of this day. What a treat it was.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 14th, 2009
I am starting to think that on Tuesdays I will suggest a verse to memorize for the week. Then on Thursdays I will do a brief devotional on Sundays Scriptures. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we will let be a free for all.
This week I would suggest you read, write down, and try to remember the following verse from Galatians 3:
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.
Say the verse a couple of times and let the words sink in. What does it mean to you that through your faith in Christ Jesus you are a child of God? Is that an identity that you know well and are comfortable with? Why or why not? How can you celebrate being God's child today?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 13th, 2009
On Saturday I made this huge pot of soup that was filled with tons of summer veggies. Jonathan was supposed to heat the soup up Sunday afternoon so when it was dinner time, everything would be ready. Well, God bless him, he turned the oven on Med-High and left the soup boiling for a little over an hour.
Did you know that burnt black stuff is really hard to get off the bottom of Stainless steel pots?
I have never scrubbed so much in my life. I tried soaking, Brillo pads, baking soda, and boiling salt water. I have removed about 90% of the charred soup off of my pan but this morning I have another round of scrubbing to go.
Sometimes I feel that there are certain issues in my life that need a lot of scrubbing in order to be resolved. There are some sins of my own and some sins of others that, even if I have forgiven them, I still can't quite let myself forget them. I met with someone last week who talked about tapes running in our heads giving us bad messages that hurt our sense of worth and confidence. These tapes are filled with voices who have hurt us along the way and they continue to be voices we carry with us even if we try and at least hit the "pause button".
In Christ I have come to know forgiveness and grace at my very core. It is in Christ alone that I know my "pot" will truly be scrubbed clean and I can live a life with the tapes in my head silenced. Praise God for whom all blessings flow....
In the mean time I am off to have a prayer-filled time of scrubbing away! By the way, the soup was still delicious although my oldest son kept asking what that burnt taste was.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 10th, 2009
In yesterdays Hunterdon Democrat there were three editorials complaining about the "Latinos" that are loitering in Flemington. The three comments were based on a lot of fear and anger and it made me very frustrated in reading these three opinions. The Bible I read reminds us again and again to be compassionate to the stranger in a foreign land. The Bible I read teaches us that everyone, even those we least expect, are our neighbors and that we need to show them love and mercy.
After I was done reading the three opinions I said a prayer for the authors and for everyone who comes to this country for whatever reason and however they come. When I was done praying I looked back at the newspaper page one last time and I started laughing. On the top of the SAME page was a picture of the "good old days". In this picture there were people crowding the streets "loitering". Now they were all white as far as I can tell and maybe that is the difference but it made me realize that maybe "loitering" is a long standing tradition in this country. Maybe being together in public spaces sharing our lives with others and being in a deeper community is something we need to re-learn from our Hispanic brothers and sisters. The irony of their complaint in relation to the particular picture the newspaper selected reminds me that God must have a deep sense of humor.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 9th, 2009
On Sunday I will have my second part of a four part series called Church Wars: what the early church conflicts teach the church today. The sermon on Sunday will be about the conflict between nation and God's Kingdom and what that teaches us today. The passages we will look at will be Isaiah 40:9-17 (see below) and Romans 13. If you have time read these two passages and ask yourself the following questions:
What do nations mean to God?
As Christians is our allegiance to God alone, God and country, or country alone?
If forced to choose between your country and its laws and the church and its moral laws, which would you choose to follow and why?
Pray for me as I prepare this sermon and I will pray for you as you reflect on these tough questions.
Isaiah 40:
9 Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good tidings,
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,
lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,
'Here is your God!'
10 See, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him,
his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd,
he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead the mother sheep.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure,
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has directed the spirit of the Lord,
or as his counsellor has instructed him?
14 Whom did he consult for his enlightenment,
and who taught him the path of justice?
Who taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted as dust on the scales,
see, he takes up the isles like fine dust.
16 Lebanon would not provide fuel enough,
nor are its animals enough for a burnt-offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 8th, 2009
Okay so now that we are finding a stride again and our boys have become boys and not monsters again-I wanted to share what I did for the invocation at the Fourth of July Parade here in Lebanon.
Every year the town takes turn asking either the pastor of the United Methodist Church or the pastor of the Reformed Church. This year it was my turn but the theme was "Many Faces, One Nation" and I thought it might be a great witness to the whole community if Rev. Ken Petty and I did the invocation together and kind of exemplified the many but one concept.
Rev. Petty agreed and came up with the idea of saying "May God Bless You" in several languages. It was interesting searching for the phrases and pronunciation guides via the internet but in the end we said May God Bless You in 8 different languages. We tried our best to say everything correctly but I think everyone got the idea. So here is our prayer:
J: As we gather together on this Independence Day in 2009
K: and we celebrate the many faces that make up our one nation
J: We ask you to join us in praying together a simple prayer that begins to reflect the rich diversity of our nation. Let us pray.
K: God bless you.
J: Yevarekh Otkha Ha-Shem (Hebrew)
K: Que Dieu vous bénisse (French)
J: Dios les bendiga. (Spanish)
K: Dio vi benedica (Italian)
J: Gott Segnet Sie (German)
J: barak Allah Feek (Arabic)
Together: On this day, in this parade, in all that you do…as one nation with many faces . . . May God Bless You.
Amen.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 7th, 2009
Yesterday was not a good day. It started off fine, I got a lot of work done in the morning and decided to go home and help Jonathan with all the back from vacation chores: grocery shopping, BJ's, Target, cleaning, etc. Well all three of the kids were bitten with some kind of crab bug or something because they were whining and crying and throwing tantrums everywhere we went. When we finally got our chores done we came to realize we had forgotten one important staple-baby wipes. If you are a mom of a baby you know that when you need wipes, you NEED wipes. Out we go again.
Once the kids were settled I went to put in the "big boy car seat" for the baby. Found it in the basement only to find it covered with mold. After having that gagging moment we threw it out. Out we go again. I then wrestled with the new car seat for about 25 minutes trying to figure out what straps went where and how the heck I was supposed to buckle the seat in so it does not move at all. Really no wiggling whatsoever?
Okay that is done, I finally settle in to read a magazine only to discover someone spilled what must have been a gallon of water all over it. Okay fine. Why is my foot itching? Its poison ivy. Time for bed.
Today I woke up and sang "this is the day that the Lord has made I WILL REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT". I pray you have a day that you can rejoice in...whatever you face.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - July 6th, 2009
Well we are home and still remembering a great family vacation. It is hard for me to believe that two weeks have passed and that I have been to Florida and back to work but, so it goes.
On the way down to Florida the two little ones got pretty sick which made a long drive that much longer and the first few days not so much fun. Once we got some antibiotics we were able to really start the fun part of vacation-amusement parks, putt putt golfing, swimming, movies, the whole nine yards.
It was great having the kids spend some time with their Grandparents and to be a way from the work load for a bit of rest. Thanks for all of your prayers, it is good to be home (we wouldn't have wanted to miss the Fourth of July Parade)!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
June 2009 Archives
Daily Faith Lift - June 19th, 2009
Today is the first day of vacation and what lies ahead is 24 hours of prayer. We have 1100 miles before we get Gram and Papa's house. Between here and there could either be fun family time or well...a living nightmare. The boys are so excited they can see Disney from here (which only means more "are we there yet's") and mom and dad think we have what Nathan had the other day-some kind of stomach virus that is sure to make the trip more pleasant.
Pray for us! Jonathan and I are hoping to renew our strength for ministry and to really have quality family time.
The Daily Devotionals will resume on July 6th. In the mean time will you check out our website: www.roundvalleyumc.org and look at other church websites for ideas and inspiration.
Until then peace and blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 18th, 2009
In a book I have called Simple Abundance, the author shares the following information: "The Talmud (the Rabbi's ancient interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures) tells us that 'Each blade of grass has its Angel that bends over it and whispers, 'Grow, Grow.'' So do we."
Every time we make changes in our lives, every time we have experiences that alter who we are, we are indeed growing. I pray that the author is right and that each time we grow, there is God, right there beside us encouraging us. It is that time of year where our gardens our flourishing. When you look over this season of your life, how have you been flourishing? How are you growing and changing? How have you noticed God's encouragement in this time?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 17th, 2009
The Scripture for Sunday (that our guest preacher is using) is a well known passage but I wanted to share it with you ahead of time so you could read it for yourself and give yourself some time thinking about God's word. I am also putting a quote just below the passage for further reflection.
1 Samuel 17:1-49
17 Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. 2Saul and the Israelites gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah, and formed ranks against the Philistines. 3The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. 4And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him. 8He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us." 10And the Philistine said, "Today I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man, that we may fight together." 11When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
12 Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul the man was already old and advanced in years. 13The three eldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle; the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14David was the youngest; the three eldest followed Saul, 15but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. 16For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening. 17Jesse said to his son David, "Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers; 18also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See how your brothers fare, and bring some token from them." 19Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. 20David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, took the provisions, and went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the encampment as the army was going forth to the battle line, shouting the war cry. 21Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. 22David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, ran to the ranks, and went and greeted his brothers. 23As he talked with them, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him. 24All the Israelites, when they saw the man, fled from him and were very much afraid. 25The Israelites said, "Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. The king will greatly enrich the man who kills him, and will give him his daughter and make his family free in Israel." 26David said to the men who stood by him, "What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?" 27The people answered him in the same way, "So shall it be done for the man who kills him." 28His eldest brother Eliab heard him talking to the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David. He said, "Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart; for you have come down just to see the battle." 29David said, "What have I done now? It was only a question." 30He turned away from him toward another and spoke in the same way; and the people answered him again as before.
31 When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul; and he sent for him. 32David said to Saul, "Let no one's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine." 33Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth." 34But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and whenever a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, 35I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. 36Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God." 37David said, "The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine." So Saul said to David, "Go, and may the Lord be with you!" 38Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. 39David strapped Saul's sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, "I cannot walk with these; for I am not used to them." So David removed them.
40 Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd's bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. 41The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. 42When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. 43The Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field." 45But David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand."
48 When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.
The Journey with Jesus: Notes to Myself,
Daniel B. Clendenin, Journey with Jesus Foundation, 2009.
"Sometimes the connection between religion and violence is tenuous, sometimes it is explicit. Sacred terror is almost always complex and bound up with other causes (social, historical, economic, cultural, political, etc).
But at the end of the day we must admit that there is far too much violence in the world that is fomented with a specifically religious rationale, motivation, or justification.
Christians should commit ourselves to do whatever we can to stop it."
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 16th, 2009
Yesterday ended up being a "mom" day for me. It was supposed to be a "work" day but my mind was not on church life. To begin with it was Jeremiah's first field trip and there was something about 10 Kindergarteners running through a zoo that just kept me a bit nervous. If he got lost, would he ever think to tell someone? Will he be the child climbing the animal gates? What if, what if what if.
Then mid morning I got a call from Jonathan saying that our three year old was vomiting and had a fever. By this point I knew my day was dramatically changing and so I left Flemington (hospital visitations) and went home. My little baby. That sweet little thing that laid on me the first 6 months of his life. There he was grey and sweating and freezing. My heart melted and all I could do was sit with him and tell him it would get better. (And of course call the doctor and decide which medicine to try). A moment came when he suddenly but lightly called for "mommy" and he turned to give me a full hug. In that moment, I felt his love for me. What I didn't feel (but will now always remember) was that this sudden movement was not a moment of love but the precursor to...yep...that. All over me and him and the couch.
It is interesting what you find out as a parent. You can stay calm with puke all over you. You can say "I love you", "its okay" while thinking you yourself may vomit. You can leave the chunks in your own hair while tenderly cleaning off you child. Hmm, I did not know that.
This morning the fever is broken and food seems to be staying down.
God is funny but God is good.
Back to work I go...I think.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 15th, 2009
I have been re-reading Adam Hamilton's Seeing Grey in a World of Black and White. This is a thought provoking, wound healing book that I think we should consider studying locally and nationally. In his chapter "Where is God When Bad Things Happen?" he shares the following quote:
"Suffering is not God's desire for us, but it occurs in the process of life. Suffering is not given to teach us something, but through it we may learn. Suffering is not given to punish us, but sometimes it is the consequence of our sin or poor judgment. Suffering does not occur because our faith is weak, but through it our faith may be strengthened. God does not depend on human suffering to achieve his purposes, but sometimes through suffering his purposes are achieved. Suffering can either destroy us, or it can add meaning to our life."
This quote is from an unidentified Church newsletter.
May the wisdom of this quote be a blessing to you today.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 12th, 2009
Last night Jonathan and I saw The Full Monty with some friends. While this may not be standard "pastor fare", both Jonathan and I really enjoyed our date night. The play is about out-of-work men who decide to try 1 night of stripping even though they don't necessarily have the talent or physique for the position. In this comedic yet poignant musical, the audience is given the hope of finding something bigger than work-authentic relationships, love, friendship, and a project bigger than their dreams.
In this time when so many people are out of work, we all need to hear this word of encouragement. There is a scene toward the end when one of the newbie strippers looks into the audience before the show and realizes his minister is in the audience. At least I know, I wasn't the only one!
P.S. This Sunday you are invited to the old Court House in Flemington for a Peace Walk. Gathering time with music is at 2:30 and the walk begins at 3pm. There will be a dedication of a peace pole after the walk.
Blessings and don't give up hope, Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 11th, 2009
Plateaus stink. I have been on a weight-loss plateau for about 2 weeks now and it is driving me mad. I have increased my exercise (unfortunately I have not been as strict with the diet but I have still been very good). Still no change.
Through these 2 weeks I have had moments where I throw my hands up and say, that is it-I quit. Then I have other days where I say goodness-gracious I have had enough of this I am working out for 10 hours today. Through all of the ups and downs I have relied on something that I call faith. My faith that God will help me become a healthy person is truly only the size of a mustard seed BUT I am learning that we can not only move mountains with that size faith but we can persist in difficult times too.
My prayer today is that God give me faith to believe that God will help me and that I can do this by making good choices. The rest will work out just fine.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 10th, 2009
Last night I was at a Conference meeting and some of the laity asked the following question: "I was so excited and energized about the Quadrennial Training but when I came back to my church, no one got excited with me. My excitement died like a dead balloon. How do we get our churches fired up and passionate about ministry?"
It was a great question and one that I have struggled with for quite a while. I know that I leave these training events and Conferences with loads of excitement and ideas. When I get back to the local church, I have a very difficult time getting others to be "on fire" with me.
Not really sure what the answer is but I hope you will say a prayer right now not only for me and Round Valley/High Bridge, but all 600+ UM churches in NJ.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 9th, 2009
I am not sure what the connection is but there is something holy for me about reading the Psalms on cloudy, stormy days. And so I share with you a few verses from Psalm 71.
Psalm 71
1 In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.
2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me.
3 Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
5 For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you.
7 I have been like a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all day long.
No matter what you are facing today, may you find ways to give God glory and praise.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 8th, 2009
We had our Youth Sunday service at Round Valley UMC yesterday. Having the kids present and participating in everything from the beginning of worship right up to the end is just a beautiful and sacred time. My favorite moment is when the kids are all up at the Lord's Table with me. Some desperately want to touch the bread, some are happy to watch and observe, some are willing to help in any way that they can. Being crowded together all preparing to break bread together reminds me of the closeness that is meant to be felt in this Sacrament. The energy that they give to Communion and the service is just so powerful.
The theme for the day was Peace-God's Shalom and the older youth read a story called Peace Begins With You. My prayer is that all of these young people will stay close to God's table and live that peace out in the world. Each of the kids drew a picture of what peace meant to them. Their drawings were projected unto a screen while they read the story. What a testimony it was that these young people, who could have been doing a number of other things yesterday, stood before their congregation and witnessed to their faith in this way. May God's peace be with us all!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 5th, 2009
According to MSNBC.com today is National Donut Day. While this may be an important day to celebrate, according to one of my parenting magazines today is also National Compost Day. I have no idea how these days are selected or who organizes all of them but it seems like an odd pairing.
Because of my diet and my inability to eat donuts, I will focus on the compost issue. One of my girlfriends gave me an old trash can with a huge whole in the bottom. She was so proud of her gift and I was so very confused. She told me that we could use it to compost our food scraps. All we had to do was punch wholes in the side add "browns" and "greens" and we would have compost before we knew it. Jeremiah and Nathan loved the idea of throwing our paper bags and cardboard, fruits, veggies and eggshells into this trash can and making dirt. So, about 4 months later we have a new routine after dinner of taking out the compost. The boys lift the lid to the trash can with caution because they know a swarm of flying "things" will come out first. When it is all clear they stick their little heads over the can and see that all of our food is quickly becoming new dirt.
It is so beautiful to see how these things that were once food from the earth have now recycled into earth for a new generation of producing food. Seeing our scraps become the compost that sustains my little garden reminds me of how cyclical life and the earth are. To everything there is a season...
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 4th, 2009
Yesterday I received all of the paperwork assignments for the ordination process and it really is quite daunting. I will have sermons to write, Bible Studies to design, Theology and Polity questions to answer and so on. All of the paperwork is finalized with a 4 day interview in February of 2010.
As I sat there thinking there is no way I can do this...or in other words...I don't think I can, I don't think I can, Philippians 1:6 came to mind. Here is the Faith We Sing Hymn based on the verse: "He who began a good work in you, he who began in a good work in you will be faithful to complete it, will be faithful to complete it. He who started the work will be faithful to complete it in you."
If it is God's will that I be ordained, then this work will be completed. If God still has other plans for my life then so be it. As nervous as I already am, hearing these words of promise gave me profound comfort. God will not abandon me in the work that God calls me to. If I am faithful in my part, then I have followed my call. If the church affirms it-praise God. If the church does not affirm the call-then praise God.
May the words of Philippians be a blessing to you today.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 3rd, 2009
The Daily Faith Lifts are about to go online to the new church website. It is so weird thinking that strangers could be or will be reading what I write and that it will be so public. Clergy friends remind me that many of their sermons are now pod casts online or are printed and posted on websites. I guess that exposure is something you adjust to.
In the mean time, I have been thinking about the content of the daily devotionals. What do you find most inspirational? Most helpful? Most informational? I normally don't ask for replies back but I would like to get your feedback. When I started the devotional, I thought it would be something I would try for a couple of months. I think I have been doing it for over two years now. Let me know your thoughts.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 2nd, 2009
Just a beautiful Psalm.
Psalm 65
Thanksgiving for Earth’s Bounty
To the leader. A Psalm of David. A Song.
Praise is due to you,
O God, in Zion;
and to you shall vows be performed,
O you who answer prayer!
To you all flesh shall come.
When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us,
you forgive our transgressions.
Happy are those whom you choose and bring near
to live in your courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
your holy temple.
By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
O God of our salvation;
you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas.
By your strength you established the mountains;
you are girded with might.
You silence the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples.
Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs;
you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.
You visit the earth and water it,
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide the people with grain,
for so you have prepared it.
You water its furrows abundantly,
settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
and blessing its growth.
You crown the year with your bounty;
your wagon tracks overflow with richness.
The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
the hills gird themselves with joy,
the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
the valleys deck themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 1st, 2009
Is it possible that it is really the beginning of June? Jeremiah is starting to wind down at school, seniors are starting to graduate, Vacation Bible School planning is underway. I can't quite believe how fast the year is going. Each year seems to go a bit faster and I am starting to understand some of the phrases of life going by in the blink of an eye and that mentality.
The more aware I am of this, the more I want to step back and make sure I am soaking in life as much as I can. It makes me wonder am I living life to the fullest as God would desire for me? Are there things in my life that are more life wasting then life giving? How do I change those things? How/where do you relate to any of this?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Today is the first day of vacation and what lies ahead is 24 hours of prayer. We have 1100 miles before we get Gram and Papa's house. Between here and there could either be fun family time or well...a living nightmare. The boys are so excited they can see Disney from here (which only means more "are we there yet's") and mom and dad think we have what Nathan had the other day-some kind of stomach virus that is sure to make the trip more pleasant.
Pray for us! Jonathan and I are hoping to renew our strength for ministry and to really have quality family time.
The Daily Devotionals will resume on July 6th. In the mean time will you check out our website: www.roundvalleyumc.org and look at other church websites for ideas and inspiration.
Until then peace and blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 18th, 2009
In a book I have called Simple Abundance, the author shares the following information: "The Talmud (the Rabbi's ancient interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures) tells us that 'Each blade of grass has its Angel that bends over it and whispers, 'Grow, Grow.'' So do we."
Every time we make changes in our lives, every time we have experiences that alter who we are, we are indeed growing. I pray that the author is right and that each time we grow, there is God, right there beside us encouraging us. It is that time of year where our gardens our flourishing. When you look over this season of your life, how have you been flourishing? How are you growing and changing? How have you noticed God's encouragement in this time?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 17th, 2009
The Scripture for Sunday (that our guest preacher is using) is a well known passage but I wanted to share it with you ahead of time so you could read it for yourself and give yourself some time thinking about God's word. I am also putting a quote just below the passage for further reflection.
1 Samuel 17:1-49
17 Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. 2Saul and the Israelites gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah, and formed ranks against the Philistines. 3The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. 4And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him. 8He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us." 10And the Philistine said, "Today I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man, that we may fight together." 11When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
12 Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul the man was already old and advanced in years. 13The three eldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle; the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14David was the youngest; the three eldest followed Saul, 15but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. 16For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening. 17Jesse said to his son David, "Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers; 18also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See how your brothers fare, and bring some token from them." 19Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. 20David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, took the provisions, and went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the encampment as the army was going forth to the battle line, shouting the war cry. 21Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. 22David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, ran to the ranks, and went and greeted his brothers. 23As he talked with them, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him. 24All the Israelites, when they saw the man, fled from him and were very much afraid. 25The Israelites said, "Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. The king will greatly enrich the man who kills him, and will give him his daughter and make his family free in Israel." 26David said to the men who stood by him, "What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?" 27The people answered him in the same way, "So shall it be done for the man who kills him." 28His eldest brother Eliab heard him talking to the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David. He said, "Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart; for you have come down just to see the battle." 29David said, "What have I done now? It was only a question." 30He turned away from him toward another and spoke in the same way; and the people answered him again as before.
31 When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul; and he sent for him. 32David said to Saul, "Let no one's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine." 33Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth." 34But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and whenever a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, 35I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. 36Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God." 37David said, "The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine." So Saul said to David, "Go, and may the Lord be with you!" 38Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. 39David strapped Saul's sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, "I cannot walk with these; for I am not used to them." So David removed them.
40 Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd's bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. 41The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. 42When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. 43The Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field." 45But David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand."
48 When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.
The Journey with Jesus: Notes to Myself,
Daniel B. Clendenin, Journey with Jesus Foundation, 2009.
"Sometimes the connection between religion and violence is tenuous, sometimes it is explicit. Sacred terror is almost always complex and bound up with other causes (social, historical, economic, cultural, political, etc).
But at the end of the day we must admit that there is far too much violence in the world that is fomented with a specifically religious rationale, motivation, or justification.
Christians should commit ourselves to do whatever we can to stop it."
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 16th, 2009
Yesterday ended up being a "mom" day for me. It was supposed to be a "work" day but my mind was not on church life. To begin with it was Jeremiah's first field trip and there was something about 10 Kindergarteners running through a zoo that just kept me a bit nervous. If he got lost, would he ever think to tell someone? Will he be the child climbing the animal gates? What if, what if what if.
Then mid morning I got a call from Jonathan saying that our three year old was vomiting and had a fever. By this point I knew my day was dramatically changing and so I left Flemington (hospital visitations) and went home. My little baby. That sweet little thing that laid on me the first 6 months of his life. There he was grey and sweating and freezing. My heart melted and all I could do was sit with him and tell him it would get better. (And of course call the doctor and decide which medicine to try). A moment came when he suddenly but lightly called for "mommy" and he turned to give me a full hug. In that moment, I felt his love for me. What I didn't feel (but will now always remember) was that this sudden movement was not a moment of love but the precursor to...yep...that. All over me and him and the couch.
It is interesting what you find out as a parent. You can stay calm with puke all over you. You can say "I love you", "its okay" while thinking you yourself may vomit. You can leave the chunks in your own hair while tenderly cleaning off you child. Hmm, I did not know that.
This morning the fever is broken and food seems to be staying down.
God is funny but God is good.
Back to work I go...I think.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 15th, 2009
I have been re-reading Adam Hamilton's Seeing Grey in a World of Black and White. This is a thought provoking, wound healing book that I think we should consider studying locally and nationally. In his chapter "Where is God When Bad Things Happen?" he shares the following quote:
"Suffering is not God's desire for us, but it occurs in the process of life. Suffering is not given to teach us something, but through it we may learn. Suffering is not given to punish us, but sometimes it is the consequence of our sin or poor judgment. Suffering does not occur because our faith is weak, but through it our faith may be strengthened. God does not depend on human suffering to achieve his purposes, but sometimes through suffering his purposes are achieved. Suffering can either destroy us, or it can add meaning to our life."
This quote is from an unidentified Church newsletter.
May the wisdom of this quote be a blessing to you today.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 12th, 2009
Last night Jonathan and I saw The Full Monty with some friends. While this may not be standard "pastor fare", both Jonathan and I really enjoyed our date night. The play is about out-of-work men who decide to try 1 night of stripping even though they don't necessarily have the talent or physique for the position. In this comedic yet poignant musical, the audience is given the hope of finding something bigger than work-authentic relationships, love, friendship, and a project bigger than their dreams.
In this time when so many people are out of work, we all need to hear this word of encouragement. There is a scene toward the end when one of the newbie strippers looks into the audience before the show and realizes his minister is in the audience. At least I know, I wasn't the only one!
P.S. This Sunday you are invited to the old Court House in Flemington for a Peace Walk. Gathering time with music is at 2:30 and the walk begins at 3pm. There will be a dedication of a peace pole after the walk.
Blessings and don't give up hope, Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 11th, 2009
Plateaus stink. I have been on a weight-loss plateau for about 2 weeks now and it is driving me mad. I have increased my exercise (unfortunately I have not been as strict with the diet but I have still been very good). Still no change.
Through these 2 weeks I have had moments where I throw my hands up and say, that is it-I quit. Then I have other days where I say goodness-gracious I have had enough of this I am working out for 10 hours today. Through all of the ups and downs I have relied on something that I call faith. My faith that God will help me become a healthy person is truly only the size of a mustard seed BUT I am learning that we can not only move mountains with that size faith but we can persist in difficult times too.
My prayer today is that God give me faith to believe that God will help me and that I can do this by making good choices. The rest will work out just fine.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 10th, 2009
Last night I was at a Conference meeting and some of the laity asked the following question: "I was so excited and energized about the Quadrennial Training but when I came back to my church, no one got excited with me. My excitement died like a dead balloon. How do we get our churches fired up and passionate about ministry?"
It was a great question and one that I have struggled with for quite a while. I know that I leave these training events and Conferences with loads of excitement and ideas. When I get back to the local church, I have a very difficult time getting others to be "on fire" with me.
Not really sure what the answer is but I hope you will say a prayer right now not only for me and Round Valley/High Bridge, but all 600+ UM churches in NJ.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 9th, 2009
I am not sure what the connection is but there is something holy for me about reading the Psalms on cloudy, stormy days. And so I share with you a few verses from Psalm 71.
Psalm 71
1 In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.
2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me.
3 Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
5 For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you.
7 I have been like a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all day long.
No matter what you are facing today, may you find ways to give God glory and praise.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 8th, 2009
We had our Youth Sunday service at Round Valley UMC yesterday. Having the kids present and participating in everything from the beginning of worship right up to the end is just a beautiful and sacred time. My favorite moment is when the kids are all up at the Lord's Table with me. Some desperately want to touch the bread, some are happy to watch and observe, some are willing to help in any way that they can. Being crowded together all preparing to break bread together reminds me of the closeness that is meant to be felt in this Sacrament. The energy that they give to Communion and the service is just so powerful.
The theme for the day was Peace-God's Shalom and the older youth read a story called Peace Begins With You. My prayer is that all of these young people will stay close to God's table and live that peace out in the world. Each of the kids drew a picture of what peace meant to them. Their drawings were projected unto a screen while they read the story. What a testimony it was that these young people, who could have been doing a number of other things yesterday, stood before their congregation and witnessed to their faith in this way. May God's peace be with us all!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 5th, 2009
According to MSNBC.com today is National Donut Day. While this may be an important day to celebrate, according to one of my parenting magazines today is also National Compost Day. I have no idea how these days are selected or who organizes all of them but it seems like an odd pairing.
Because of my diet and my inability to eat donuts, I will focus on the compost issue. One of my girlfriends gave me an old trash can with a huge whole in the bottom. She was so proud of her gift and I was so very confused. She told me that we could use it to compost our food scraps. All we had to do was punch wholes in the side add "browns" and "greens" and we would have compost before we knew it. Jeremiah and Nathan loved the idea of throwing our paper bags and cardboard, fruits, veggies and eggshells into this trash can and making dirt. So, about 4 months later we have a new routine after dinner of taking out the compost. The boys lift the lid to the trash can with caution because they know a swarm of flying "things" will come out first. When it is all clear they stick their little heads over the can and see that all of our food is quickly becoming new dirt.
It is so beautiful to see how these things that were once food from the earth have now recycled into earth for a new generation of producing food. Seeing our scraps become the compost that sustains my little garden reminds me of how cyclical life and the earth are. To everything there is a season...
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 4th, 2009
Yesterday I received all of the paperwork assignments for the ordination process and it really is quite daunting. I will have sermons to write, Bible Studies to design, Theology and Polity questions to answer and so on. All of the paperwork is finalized with a 4 day interview in February of 2010.
As I sat there thinking there is no way I can do this...or in other words...I don't think I can, I don't think I can, Philippians 1:6 came to mind. Here is the Faith We Sing Hymn based on the verse: "He who began a good work in you, he who began in a good work in you will be faithful to complete it, will be faithful to complete it. He who started the work will be faithful to complete it in you."
If it is God's will that I be ordained, then this work will be completed. If God still has other plans for my life then so be it. As nervous as I already am, hearing these words of promise gave me profound comfort. God will not abandon me in the work that God calls me to. If I am faithful in my part, then I have followed my call. If the church affirms it-praise God. If the church does not affirm the call-then praise God.
May the words of Philippians be a blessing to you today.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 3rd, 2009
The Daily Faith Lifts are about to go online to the new church website. It is so weird thinking that strangers could be or will be reading what I write and that it will be so public. Clergy friends remind me that many of their sermons are now pod casts online or are printed and posted on websites. I guess that exposure is something you adjust to.
In the mean time, I have been thinking about the content of the daily devotionals. What do you find most inspirational? Most helpful? Most informational? I normally don't ask for replies back but I would like to get your feedback. When I started the devotional, I thought it would be something I would try for a couple of months. I think I have been doing it for over two years now. Let me know your thoughts.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 2nd, 2009
Just a beautiful Psalm.
Psalm 65
Thanksgiving for Earth’s Bounty
To the leader. A Psalm of David. A Song.
Praise is due to you,
O God, in Zion;
and to you shall vows be performed,
O you who answer prayer!
To you all flesh shall come.
When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us,
you forgive our transgressions.
Happy are those whom you choose and bring near
to live in your courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
your holy temple.
By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
O God of our salvation;
you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas.
By your strength you established the mountains;
you are girded with might.
You silence the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples.
Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs;
you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.
You visit the earth and water it,
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide the people with grain,
for so you have prepared it.
You water its furrows abundantly,
settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
and blessing its growth.
You crown the year with your bounty;
your wagon tracks overflow with richness.
The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
the hills gird themselves with joy,
the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
the valleys deck themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - June 1st, 2009
Is it possible that it is really the beginning of June? Jeremiah is starting to wind down at school, seniors are starting to graduate, Vacation Bible School planning is underway. I can't quite believe how fast the year is going. Each year seems to go a bit faster and I am starting to understand some of the phrases of life going by in the blink of an eye and that mentality.
The more aware I am of this, the more I want to step back and make sure I am soaking in life as much as I can. It makes me wonder am I living life to the fullest as God would desire for me? Are there things in my life that are more life wasting then life giving? How do I change those things? How/where do you relate to any of this?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
May 2009 Archives
Daily Faith Lift - May 28th, 2009
I am already knee deep in Annual Conference. Conference began at 9:30 this morning with worship and praise. We gathered together by remembering the saints who have gone before us. The preacher, Rev. Dr. Lloyd Terrell, gave an arousing sermon that was steeped in the African American preaching style. There was clapping and "amens", there were a total of about 6 different endings which cumulated into Dr. Terrell running up and down the aisles of people screaming "Make Life Count". His sermon was simply that because we know Jesus, we have to live a life that counts. We cannot give 99.5%, we have to give 100% of our life to following Christ and pursuing the holy which includes loving God and neighbor.
In the afternoon we heard a sermon/teaching lesson from Adam Hamilton, pastor of the largest UM Church in the country. He talked to us about leadership and what is required to make our churches be the body of Christ that we are called to be. There will be much more coming about this.
It is already almost 11pm and I have to be out the door by 6:30 am so I am going to end this message here and will try and write more tomorrow. Margaret Simpson, the Lay Member to Annual Conference from Round Valley is going to give a report about her findings. I have been very interested in getting her feedback and hope you will be to.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - May 27th, 2009
As I pack the family to leave for Annual Conference, I am excited as usual. What is Annual Conference you ask? The Annual Conference is the most basic body of the United Methodist Church. It is where the work of the Conference is done. We decide on the annual budget (which the local churches support through shared ministry), we ordain those who are ready for ordination (which will prayerfully be me in one year), we hear the annual reports, elect lay and clergy to Conference committees and other Conferences, and we approve or turn down any changes to the Constitution that have been approved by the General Conference. This year there are many Constitutional amendments that need to be voted on.
For the next three days Jonathan and I will experience soul moving worship, hear visionary sermons and be a part of the business of the church at this level. I will keep you updated on what is happening through my daily devotional. The kids during this time go to their separate rooms where they have a three day Vacation Bible School with all the other kids of clergy and lay delegates. They think it is a special vacation just for them-I am not popping that bubble any time soon.
You'll hear from me next from King of Prussia, PA!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - May 26th, 2009
We survived our first multi-day family camping trip! We left Friday night with a van literally packed from floor to ceiling (ask Jeremiah and Nathan about what it is like traveling and not being able to see anything in front of your face). We arrived at the United Methodist Camp in South Jersey (Pinelands Center) and were greeted by smiling faces. Before we knew it a team of teenage boys had been assigned to us and they were setting up camp for us. At first I was a little taken a back but I quickly learned that this part of camping-close community even if strangers.
We stayed up late hoping to tire the boys but had a screaming baby from 2-4:30 am. Jonathan was in charge during that time. On Saturday the boys went fishing, hiking, saw snakes and turtles and had an all out good time with the Wells family. I learned through the course of the day that mosquitoes were merciless and that ticks could cause paralysis. It turns out a full bottle of bug spray is needed for one family.
Saturday night we had a community dinner followed by some game playing and conversation. On Sunday we packed up and went to a local park called the Popcorn Park which houses abused, sick, and abandoned animals from peacocks to camels.
All in all it was a great weekend and it was great being outdoors and seeing the multitude of stars, hearing the boys joy at discovering animals and wildlife, and being in a new type of community. If anything being away from everyday life and having a few days of retreat was renewing and enriching. I came home tired but refreshed, stinky but invigorated.
What can you do for those retreats and times of renewal? How can they help connect you to God?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - May 22nd, 2009
About three months ago I read about a weekend camping trip at one of the United Methodist camps. At the time it sounded like this ideal getaway for the family that would be filled with nature-loving relaxation and fun.
Today, now that it has arrived, this ideal getaway is an anxiety inducing stressor. I don't know what to pack, I don't know how the baby will be, what if it rains? what if I forget something essential like baby wipes and I am standing in the middle of the forest with a messy baby? All of these thoughts keep creeping into mind and my stomach is in knots. Speaking of which-as a non-boy/girl scout are there knots I need to know before I go? Oh no!
Why do we let life do this? In my rational moments I remember I have a car and civilization can't be too far off. If we need to go, we go. If I forgot an essential item, we can find a store. If the baby wakes the whole camp in the middle of the night, we will apologize in the morning and make an extra bottle before bed. Life will go on.
More and more I believe that God calls us to fight the good fight but to also enjoy life. What if we all did that more often? What if we really made our values a priority and let all the other stuff go? My gut reminds me that in three days when we drive home, I will leave knowing that we had a great time as a family and that we made memories that will last a lifetime. Is that not worth a messy diaper in the middle of the woods? I think it is.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - May 21st, 2009
We have probably all heard of twitter by now. It is now going church style. The following article is about Twitter in worship. Pretty interesting!
How and Where Twitter Might Help Worship
One of the big challenges in worship with a relatively large group is allowing for a sense of genuine interactivity where that is what is called for at particular parts of the service. Dialog between "the experts up front" and "the masses in the pew" can be very difficult to foster. People don't tend to be willing or ready to "speak up" in large public gatherings. Or perhaps only a few of those present do; and over time, they become the only ones who ever do. With Twitter, instead of standing up and talking loudly or into a microphone (which has to get to where the person is), people can give their feedback at interactive moments from where they are, and all who do this can have their comment, or question, or request for prayer, or even testimony immediately viewed by all in the assembly. And many people can do this at once, so the time it takes to allow each person to speak is greatly compressed. With Twitter's 140 character limit per message, no message will take very long to read, either.
One person "in the pews" who found Twitter helpful put it this way: "I've been using Twitter for months now. But today, I actually "Tweeted" our two services and liked it. It made me a better listener. It helped me synthesize my thoughts and helped me ask 'What now?' in response to the message."
So what are the "interactive" moments in worship where Twitter might really help? These could be such times as gathering prayer requests, responding to a Scripture reading or sermon, or perhaps even a response to a call to discipleship or a request for a testimony.
One other use, from Trinity Wall Street, is to Twitter the actions of the service as they are happening, not for the folks who are present but for those who are absent. Trinity did this for their passion play this year. This allowed everyone in the world who had access to the designated tweet to follow the contours of the play as it was happening, and did so in a way that was not legally either a "performance" or even a "broadcast" -- which also meant that it did not require the church to purchase copyrights and licenses since it was not sharing anything that was copyrighted this way.
While Trinity normally webcasts its principal Sunday morning worship service, congregations that cannot afford the broadcast costs or the technology or the licensing to do this could still follow Trinity's example by tweeting the contours of their worship services for those who are absent. As long as no copyrighted text is tweeted, no performance, mechanical or synchronization licenses would need to be purchased.
Cautionary Notes: How Twitter Could Be Problematic
Responders to Time's article yesterday and today have noted a number of reasons to approach the use of Twitter in worship with careful discernment.
1. Using Twitter might privilege the "haves" over the "have nots," and the "techies" over the "non-techies." This could reinforce classism, and perhaps in some contexts, racism, unless everyone in the worship space is given the training to use Twitter and the means to use it (a reliable device that can connect to it) at each service.
2. Related to that, using Twitter is expensive. Although Twitter itself is free, accessing it is not. You have to have either a cell phone with a texting service or data plan, or a device with wireless internet access (notebook or handheld), plus adequate bandwidth in the worship space to accommodate all users. This means a more robust high-speed internet service to the worship facility, and multiple high-speed wireless routers so everyone has the ability to participate at once without losing much speed and without some people getting knocked off. On top of that, you will need a dedicated screen or wallspace and projector for the "Twitter Screen" itself.
3. Add up all the electrical use required, and the eco-friendly quotient goes down.
4. Several people have raised the issue of "hecklers." Twitter doesn't filter comments. Anything posted to a stream by anyone, anywhere will appear there. One workaround is not to post the stream directly, but rather to post a version edited by someone on site who then reposts either to a related Twitter stream or, more safely, to a basic word processing document by cutting and pasting the "good posts" from Twitter into the document actually seen onscreen. That's at least one other person to add to the technology team for each service, the "Tweeditor" (tweet editor). That also means one more person in that space who will not be able to worship, because his or her focus will have to be on the task at hand.
5. Brain science reveals three other significant challenges: focus, mode switching, and priority. Our brains can give primary focus to only one thing at a time. When what is happening in worship calls for the united attention and action of the whole assembly -- such as singing, prayer, responsive readings, and celebrating the sacraments -- Twittering would actually break the unified action of the whole community into individualized actions of individuals.
Switching focus from one thing to another -- such as from someone speaking to the task of composing or even reading a tweet -- creates a gap in our primary attention that lasts a few tenths of a second on average, long enough, when driving, for example, to make a crash more likely. (This is why talking on the cell phone while driving is a bad idea -- for the driver and both conversation partners!). This means that for parts of worship where continuous primary attention is appropriate, the physical act of Twittering actually reduces attention to whatever is going on at the moment and causes a total loss of primary attention between the time you start Twittering and the time you return your focus to whatever is going on in worship.
Finally, the brain is designed to give priority to visual inputs all the time, without our conscious awareness. It gives first priority to visual inputs whose motion changes (slow to fast, fast to still), preferencing 3D over 2D, then gives priority to high contrast visual inputs (such as black on white, the usual way Twitter feeds are presented live), then to images over text per se (over a few characters, the brain reinterprets text into images). Posting and continually updating Twitter feeds thus automatically creates a condition of moving 2D images in high contrast that will take priority over every static, lower contrast non-3D image in the worship space (www.brainrules.net/vision and www.brainrules.net/attention).
That's not necessarily a bad thing. But it does call for judicious use of this technology. Since this will happen automatically, it would be best to limit the use of Twitter to times when the Twitter screen and Twittering itself really should be the primary focus rather than something else going on (such a prayer, or music, or a reading of Scripture).
So Do We NEED Twitter in Worship?
If the primary use for Twitter during worship might be during times that call for intentional interactivity, Twitter really could help.
But what one still has to ask is whether using Twitter facilitates better interactivity than actually interacting with our bodies and voices might do. Perhaps what we might learn from congregations who are using Twitter in worship are ways such real interaction might be encouraged by REAL means. We might consider then how to make adjustments in how that real interaction currently happens to make them more fruitful and engaging for all.
Case in point: Do we now actually encourage anyone to share his or her reflections from the Scripture readings with the worshiping community? If not, and we encourage silent meditation on the text, might we actually be reinforcing more of a "me-and-Jesus" approach than a corporate reading?
Case in point: Do we either (a) not encourage people to share prayer requests in real time or (b) do this in such a way that only a few "outspoken" people ever do it? Twitter might be calling us to re-examine how we actually empower more people to share their concerns in real time so more of us can corporately and individually pray with more understanding and compassion.
Also related to prayer, multiple messages to Twitter can happen all at once, as can the Korean (and in many ways, early Christian) way of each person praying aloud all at once. This may sound like a mere aggregate of "me and Jesus" experiences if you haven't participated in it before. In practice, it's much more like a "symphony" of prayer, each "instrument" playing at the same time, though differently, according to its ability, usually guided by a set of biddings or petitions that set the overall "topic" for prayer at each point along the way. (Persons who attended the Quadrennial Training Event in Jacksonville this year got a taste of that during the Communion service).
If the sermon becomes a more interactive experience, it can also become much more the work of the people -- much more a liturgical, participatory action, than an offering by a "soloist" intended to be applauded (or critiqued!) by any and all. Twitter can help that happen -- but then again, so can the models of preaching as interactive event of God's word in the midst of God's people found in African American and other global contexts.
So do we NEED Twitter to worship well? I don't think so. But perhaps we can use the reminder of what Twitter can do well for worship so that we can offer ourselves to God in ways that do so even better. Instead of interaction being mediated by expensive and perhaps distracting technological means, we might instead find better practices that let us offer ourselves more fully to God with one another, in flesh and bone -- real people, in real time, in real life gathering around our real, living, Triune God who offers us real word, real cleansing and real presence.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
I am already knee deep in Annual Conference. Conference began at 9:30 this morning with worship and praise. We gathered together by remembering the saints who have gone before us. The preacher, Rev. Dr. Lloyd Terrell, gave an arousing sermon that was steeped in the African American preaching style. There was clapping and "amens", there were a total of about 6 different endings which cumulated into Dr. Terrell running up and down the aisles of people screaming "Make Life Count". His sermon was simply that because we know Jesus, we have to live a life that counts. We cannot give 99.5%, we have to give 100% of our life to following Christ and pursuing the holy which includes loving God and neighbor.
In the afternoon we heard a sermon/teaching lesson from Adam Hamilton, pastor of the largest UM Church in the country. He talked to us about leadership and what is required to make our churches be the body of Christ that we are called to be. There will be much more coming about this.
It is already almost 11pm and I have to be out the door by 6:30 am so I am going to end this message here and will try and write more tomorrow. Margaret Simpson, the Lay Member to Annual Conference from Round Valley is going to give a report about her findings. I have been very interested in getting her feedback and hope you will be to.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - May 27th, 2009
As I pack the family to leave for Annual Conference, I am excited as usual. What is Annual Conference you ask? The Annual Conference is the most basic body of the United Methodist Church. It is where the work of the Conference is done. We decide on the annual budget (which the local churches support through shared ministry), we ordain those who are ready for ordination (which will prayerfully be me in one year), we hear the annual reports, elect lay and clergy to Conference committees and other Conferences, and we approve or turn down any changes to the Constitution that have been approved by the General Conference. This year there are many Constitutional amendments that need to be voted on.
For the next three days Jonathan and I will experience soul moving worship, hear visionary sermons and be a part of the business of the church at this level. I will keep you updated on what is happening through my daily devotional. The kids during this time go to their separate rooms where they have a three day Vacation Bible School with all the other kids of clergy and lay delegates. They think it is a special vacation just for them-I am not popping that bubble any time soon.
You'll hear from me next from King of Prussia, PA!
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - May 26th, 2009
We survived our first multi-day family camping trip! We left Friday night with a van literally packed from floor to ceiling (ask Jeremiah and Nathan about what it is like traveling and not being able to see anything in front of your face). We arrived at the United Methodist Camp in South Jersey (Pinelands Center) and were greeted by smiling faces. Before we knew it a team of teenage boys had been assigned to us and they were setting up camp for us. At first I was a little taken a back but I quickly learned that this part of camping-close community even if strangers.
We stayed up late hoping to tire the boys but had a screaming baby from 2-4:30 am. Jonathan was in charge during that time. On Saturday the boys went fishing, hiking, saw snakes and turtles and had an all out good time with the Wells family. I learned through the course of the day that mosquitoes were merciless and that ticks could cause paralysis. It turns out a full bottle of bug spray is needed for one family.
Saturday night we had a community dinner followed by some game playing and conversation. On Sunday we packed up and went to a local park called the Popcorn Park which houses abused, sick, and abandoned animals from peacocks to camels.
All in all it was a great weekend and it was great being outdoors and seeing the multitude of stars, hearing the boys joy at discovering animals and wildlife, and being in a new type of community. If anything being away from everyday life and having a few days of retreat was renewing and enriching. I came home tired but refreshed, stinky but invigorated.
What can you do for those retreats and times of renewal? How can they help connect you to God?
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - May 22nd, 2009
About three months ago I read about a weekend camping trip at one of the United Methodist camps. At the time it sounded like this ideal getaway for the family that would be filled with nature-loving relaxation and fun.
Today, now that it has arrived, this ideal getaway is an anxiety inducing stressor. I don't know what to pack, I don't know how the baby will be, what if it rains? what if I forget something essential like baby wipes and I am standing in the middle of the forest with a messy baby? All of these thoughts keep creeping into mind and my stomach is in knots. Speaking of which-as a non-boy/girl scout are there knots I need to know before I go? Oh no!
Why do we let life do this? In my rational moments I remember I have a car and civilization can't be too far off. If we need to go, we go. If I forgot an essential item, we can find a store. If the baby wakes the whole camp in the middle of the night, we will apologize in the morning and make an extra bottle before bed. Life will go on.
More and more I believe that God calls us to fight the good fight but to also enjoy life. What if we all did that more often? What if we really made our values a priority and let all the other stuff go? My gut reminds me that in three days when we drive home, I will leave knowing that we had a great time as a family and that we made memories that will last a lifetime. Is that not worth a messy diaper in the middle of the woods? I think it is.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
Daily Faith Lift - May 21st, 2009
We have probably all heard of twitter by now. It is now going church style. The following article is about Twitter in worship. Pretty interesting!
How and Where Twitter Might Help Worship
One of the big challenges in worship with a relatively large group is allowing for a sense of genuine interactivity where that is what is called for at particular parts of the service. Dialog between "the experts up front" and "the masses in the pew" can be very difficult to foster. People don't tend to be willing or ready to "speak up" in large public gatherings. Or perhaps only a few of those present do; and over time, they become the only ones who ever do. With Twitter, instead of standing up and talking loudly or into a microphone (which has to get to where the person is), people can give their feedback at interactive moments from where they are, and all who do this can have their comment, or question, or request for prayer, or even testimony immediately viewed by all in the assembly. And many people can do this at once, so the time it takes to allow each person to speak is greatly compressed. With Twitter's 140 character limit per message, no message will take very long to read, either.
One person "in the pews" who found Twitter helpful put it this way: "I've been using Twitter for months now. But today, I actually "Tweeted" our two services and liked it. It made me a better listener. It helped me synthesize my thoughts and helped me ask 'What now?' in response to the message."
So what are the "interactive" moments in worship where Twitter might really help? These could be such times as gathering prayer requests, responding to a Scripture reading or sermon, or perhaps even a response to a call to discipleship or a request for a testimony.
One other use, from Trinity Wall Street, is to Twitter the actions of the service as they are happening, not for the folks who are present but for those who are absent. Trinity did this for their passion play this year. This allowed everyone in the world who had access to the designated tweet to follow the contours of the play as it was happening, and did so in a way that was not legally either a "performance" or even a "broadcast" -- which also meant that it did not require the church to purchase copyrights and licenses since it was not sharing anything that was copyrighted this way.
While Trinity normally webcasts its principal Sunday morning worship service, congregations that cannot afford the broadcast costs or the technology or the licensing to do this could still follow Trinity's example by tweeting the contours of their worship services for those who are absent. As long as no copyrighted text is tweeted, no performance, mechanical or synchronization licenses would need to be purchased.
Cautionary Notes: How Twitter Could Be Problematic
Responders to Time's article yesterday and today have noted a number of reasons to approach the use of Twitter in worship with careful discernment.
1. Using Twitter might privilege the "haves" over the "have nots," and the "techies" over the "non-techies." This could reinforce classism, and perhaps in some contexts, racism, unless everyone in the worship space is given the training to use Twitter and the means to use it (a reliable device that can connect to it) at each service.
2. Related to that, using Twitter is expensive. Although Twitter itself is free, accessing it is not. You have to have either a cell phone with a texting service or data plan, or a device with wireless internet access (notebook or handheld), plus adequate bandwidth in the worship space to accommodate all users. This means a more robust high-speed internet service to the worship facility, and multiple high-speed wireless routers so everyone has the ability to participate at once without losing much speed and without some people getting knocked off. On top of that, you will need a dedicated screen or wallspace and projector for the "Twitter Screen" itself.
3. Add up all the electrical use required, and the eco-friendly quotient goes down.
4. Several people have raised the issue of "hecklers." Twitter doesn't filter comments. Anything posted to a stream by anyone, anywhere will appear there. One workaround is not to post the stream directly, but rather to post a version edited by someone on site who then reposts either to a related Twitter stream or, more safely, to a basic word processing document by cutting and pasting the "good posts" from Twitter into the document actually seen onscreen. That's at least one other person to add to the technology team for each service, the "Tweeditor" (tweet editor). That also means one more person in that space who will not be able to worship, because his or her focus will have to be on the task at hand.
5. Brain science reveals three other significant challenges: focus, mode switching, and priority. Our brains can give primary focus to only one thing at a time. When what is happening in worship calls for the united attention and action of the whole assembly -- such as singing, prayer, responsive readings, and celebrating the sacraments -- Twittering would actually break the unified action of the whole community into individualized actions of individuals.
Switching focus from one thing to another -- such as from someone speaking to the task of composing or even reading a tweet -- creates a gap in our primary attention that lasts a few tenths of a second on average, long enough, when driving, for example, to make a crash more likely. (This is why talking on the cell phone while driving is a bad idea -- for the driver and both conversation partners!). This means that for parts of worship where continuous primary attention is appropriate, the physical act of Twittering actually reduces attention to whatever is going on at the moment and causes a total loss of primary attention between the time you start Twittering and the time you return your focus to whatever is going on in worship.
Finally, the brain is designed to give priority to visual inputs all the time, without our conscious awareness. It gives first priority to visual inputs whose motion changes (slow to fast, fast to still), preferencing 3D over 2D, then gives priority to high contrast visual inputs (such as black on white, the usual way Twitter feeds are presented live), then to images over text per se (over a few characters, the brain reinterprets text into images). Posting and continually updating Twitter feeds thus automatically creates a condition of moving 2D images in high contrast that will take priority over every static, lower contrast non-3D image in the worship space (www.brainrules.net/vision and www.brainrules.net/attention).
That's not necessarily a bad thing. But it does call for judicious use of this technology. Since this will happen automatically, it would be best to limit the use of Twitter to times when the Twitter screen and Twittering itself really should be the primary focus rather than something else going on (such a prayer, or music, or a reading of Scripture).
So Do We NEED Twitter in Worship?
If the primary use for Twitter during worship might be during times that call for intentional interactivity, Twitter really could help.
But what one still has to ask is whether using Twitter facilitates better interactivity than actually interacting with our bodies and voices might do. Perhaps what we might learn from congregations who are using Twitter in worship are ways such real interaction might be encouraged by REAL means. We might consider then how to make adjustments in how that real interaction currently happens to make them more fruitful and engaging for all.
Case in point: Do we now actually encourage anyone to share his or her reflections from the Scripture readings with the worshiping community? If not, and we encourage silent meditation on the text, might we actually be reinforcing more of a "me-and-Jesus" approach than a corporate reading?
Case in point: Do we either (a) not encourage people to share prayer requests in real time or (b) do this in such a way that only a few "outspoken" people ever do it? Twitter might be calling us to re-examine how we actually empower more people to share their concerns in real time so more of us can corporately and individually pray with more understanding and compassion.
Also related to prayer, multiple messages to Twitter can happen all at once, as can the Korean (and in many ways, early Christian) way of each person praying aloud all at once. This may sound like a mere aggregate of "me and Jesus" experiences if you haven't participated in it before. In practice, it's much more like a "symphony" of prayer, each "instrument" playing at the same time, though differently, according to its ability, usually guided by a set of biddings or petitions that set the overall "topic" for prayer at each point along the way. (Persons who attended the Quadrennial Training Event in Jacksonville this year got a taste of that during the Communion service).
If the sermon becomes a more interactive experience, it can also become much more the work of the people -- much more a liturgical, participatory action, than an offering by a "soloist" intended to be applauded (or critiqued!) by any and all. Twitter can help that happen -- but then again, so can the models of preaching as interactive event of God's word in the midst of God's people found in African American and other global contexts.
So do we NEED Twitter to worship well? I don't think so. But perhaps we can use the reminder of what Twitter can do well for worship so that we can offer ourselves to God in ways that do so even better. Instead of interaction being mediated by expensive and perhaps distracting technological means, we might instead find better practices that let us offer ourselves more fully to God with one another, in flesh and bone -- real people, in real time, in real life gathering around our real, living, Triune God who offers us real word, real cleansing and real presence.
Blessings, Pastor Jessica
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