Thank Offerings

Here is the final devotion to go along with September's lessons in the International Bible Study series (for Sunday, September 28th).  The scripture focus is Jeremiah 33:2-11.  Again, if you haven't been following and want to know why this is being posted, look back 3 weeks.  After this, I'll be back to "normal" entries, whatever that is for me!  Here's the devotion, written during my last week working with the VAUMC Conference....

As I write this final devotion, I am close the end of my 14 years of service as part of the Connectional Ministries staff.  The question that caught my attention in the preparation materials for this week’s lesson was: “How do you mourn your losses?”  Let’s see, for the last few weeks, I’ve cried every time I’ve been asked to pray at the start or close of a meeting or phone call, while offering the blessing before a meal, and during the entire time that I was assisting Bishop Cho with serving Communion as the Bishop’s Cabinet and Connectional Ministries staff gathered together.  Yesterday, the tears came as I read cards from my fellow staff members.  Tonight it was while writing an email message for a gift I was honored to receive.  So, how do I mourn my losses while at the same time being excited about new possibilities?  I am eagerly looking forward to new things to learn, new adventures to undertake, and new relationships to form. Wait a minute!  Didn’t I start these devotions saying the same thing?

Jeremiah is still imprisoned when God reminds him once again that those who seek God and call upon God’s name will be joyful once again.  The voices of the faithful will be heard singing, laughing, and rejoicing.  They will bring their thank offerings to the Lord.  

Just like the inhabitants of Judah who had turned away from God, I’m giving thanks that God forgives:

- all my mistakes when I didn’t make the best choices over these 14 years – no, let me be honest and say over the last 53 years,

- my pride that doesn’t always let me admit I’m not perfect,

- procrastination when I’ve had lots of time to prepare,

- my weakness when I’ve thrown up my hands and yelled, “I can’t do this,” while knowing that God is the one who equips,

- and my complaining and whining which are certainly not reflective of who God wants me to be.

And I remember that God offers the healing:

- as I need to forgive myself for things left undone,

-when I harbor grudges or have a hard time forgiving the hurts,

- in times when I’ve had to accept God at work in ways that I didn’t plan for or want.

And I bring my thank offerings, realizing that difficult times are followed by recovery, that tears often come before laughter, that it takes chaos to bring about calm, and after Good Friday comes Easter.

A Little Gardening Therapy

I was very surprised to be asked to autograph a copy of this month's Advocate while visiting one of the VUMH communities this past week. Of course, the person wasn't serious, but it was nice to be recognized for writing a Bible study lesson.  Here's the devotion for Sunday, September 21, that goes along with the International Bible Study series on Jeremiah 32:2-9, 14-15. If you have missed why I'm sharing these lessons, look back 2 weeks.  Now, for a little gardening therapy..,.

 

War is raging. Jerusalem is under siege. Jeremiah sits in jail for his prophesying. And what does he decide to do?  Buy a piece of land from his cousin.  Everything is going badly yet in the midst of it, Jeremiah decides to make a commitment that shows those around him how God has promised that the future will be different.  Jeremiah demonstrates the kind of hope, the commitment to action, that prepares the ground for the future.  It’s the kind of hope that can prepare the church for a new day, a new reality, a new way of being in community.

 

There is a quote from Praying in the Wesleyan Spirit by Paul Chilcote that reads “…inner healing requires a long process of divine therapy.”  There are days when I realize that in addition to lots of divine therapy, I need dirt therapy.  I just need to play in the soil – to plant and trim and create.  I need to turn the soil with a shovel and push the wheelbarrow.  There are times when I need to dig up dead rose bushes and replace them with new ones.  And get the scratches to prove I did it.  I need to pull weeds, and haul all the dead stuff to the dump.  There are just times when I need to get dirty and sweat while playing in God’s creation.  Dirt therapy: as a professionally trained social worker, I recommend it highly.

 

As a Christian who knows that no matter what happens God’s final word is always renewal, there’s nothing better to remind me of who is ultimately in charge of all life than playing in the dirt.  When healing and wholeness for whatever struggles we face are needed, there is no better therapy.  The tulips will bloom again, the herbs will grow, the seasons will change.  God is always making an investment in the future.  My job is to prepare the soil, care for the seeds, and prepare for the growth and changes.  As Christians and as a church, do our lives, choices, and priorities show that we are making an investment in the future, or are we too preoccupied with life’s trials and woes? Are you willing today to go out and buy a piece of property? Or even commit to cutting the dead limbs off the rose bush?

Equipped for the Present and the Future

Well, The Advocate has arrived in people's mailboxes, and my mother has told me how many copies of the September Bible study she forced the church secretary to make.  You can see more about why I'm sharing these devotions in the start of last week's blog. Guess it's time now to share the devotion I wrote for September 14th based on Jeremiah 31:31-37. 

Carolyn Winfrey Gillette composed the words of a hymn, sung to the tune of “Jesus Loves Me,” where the verses tell the story of God’s covenant with Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Moses, and Jeremiah.  The fourth verse of “Long Ago, God Reached in Love,” reads:

“Jeremiah came to know:

God would help us change and grow;

so God’s law would fill each heart,

giving us a fresh new start.”

The final verse of her hymn shares that Jesus came to fulfill God’s loving plan for us. This new life through Christ is what transforms us and the world.  With all that is wrong with the world, our faith in God guides us toward hope and joy.  As Jeremiah told his people, the present may be filled with despair and weeping, but God promises a different future – a fresh start, a new covenant.

Several years ago I helped with a New Consecration Sunday stewardship program at a church in the Richmond area. As I was preparing to meet with church leaders, there were many things happening in the world which brought devastation to communities and fear to hearts. I researched a little history of 1972, the year I was confirmed into membership in The UMC.  Some of the things I read seemed strangely similar to events around our world then and even today….

• Back in 1972, the world was concerned about an outbreak of smallpox in Yugoslavia.  Now, the death till is rising from the Ebola virus.
• A 7.0 earthquake killed 1/5th of the population of the Iranian province of Fars in 1972. The news stories of the past weeks have focused on recovery in China following an upper magnitude quake, typhoons in The Philippines, and hurricanes headed toward Hawaii. 
• In 1972, the last U.S. ground troops were withdrawn from Vietnam.  Our family now awaits the return of a soldier from Afghanistan.

Today, as my faith journey enters the second half of a century, I realize more and more clearly how each of us has the power to shape and change the lives of others – those in our families, those sitting next to us in the pews on Sunday morning, and people around the world – by the example of our discipleship as followers of Jesus. God’s promises don’t change our circumstances.  The world situation or our personal crisis may not suddenly be transformed. Yet we are called to remember that we’re living under God’s new covenant, one that equips us for the present and the future. So the question for each of us is this: “What is God calling me to do to extend Christ’s transforming, restorative love to others?”

Lost or Certain About the Future?

The time has come to get back to the blog now that I've got a week under my belt on my new job with the Virginia United Methodist Homes.  I'm still going to be sharing my stories, but they will come from a variety of new settings and places - yet still with the same goal of trying to impact (or I guess I should really say, transform) the world as a follower of Jesus Christ in the United Methodist tradition and person still trying to be the best lay leader and lay servant that I can be. 

Before I left my position with the Virginia Conference UMC, I agreed to write the devotions for the International Bible Study lessons for September in The Adovcate, our Conference news magazine.  This series of lessons focuses on the 30th - 33rd chapters of the book of Jeremiah. That task turned out to be much harder than I ever imagined, in part because of the emotions connected with leaving a place of comfort for adventures in a new, unknown world.  The story I was living felt too much like the times Jeremiah was describing!  Since The Advocate will be out soon, I decided that the way to get back to the blog was to share what I had written with you.  If you subscribe to The Advocate, you can read ahead!   

The lesson for next Sunday, September 7 comes from Jeremiah 30:1-3, 18-22. The passage begins:

“The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: 

Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you.” 

(Appropriate words for a blogger,right?)

This time of the year always reminds me of returning to school.  I find myself reminiscing about going back to class, new things to learn, and new adventures to undertake.  Various scholars tell us that Jeremiah was a very young man at the time of his call.  Some think Jeremiah may not even have been 20 years old when God instructed him to “write in a book” all the words God had spoken to him.  I wonder if he might have been more interested in going back to school than announcing God’s judgment on the nations.

I was feeling lost back in the fall of 1979 when I left the comfort of Henry County and headed to North Carolina to college.  I didn’t know a single person who was attending the same school, but something about the campus the first time I set foot on the property made me feel it was where I was supposed to me.  My mother did not seem to feel the same way when we moved into the dorm.  She kept noting that I didn’t have the same type of clothing or jewelry that the other young women had.  I don’t think I had ever heard the description of “preppy” until then. I knew about overalls and steel-toed safety shoes, not espadrilles, madras plaid, or ribbon belts.  On her first visit back to campus, my mom handed me a few things she thought I needed:  a pink Izod shirt and a gold add-a-bead necklace.  At times, I really didn’t feel that I fit in, and the shirt didn’t help.

What felt safe when I was missing the security of my home community, what reminded me most that I would move beyond the loss of friendships to new relationships - from feeling desperate for a return to the life I had known to a new way of being, came from a ministry intern at the Wesley Foundation.  While on a retreat that first fall of college, we celebrated Holy Communion on the beach.  That was the first time I ever remember being called by name as I received the bread and juice.  Oh how powerful that was!  I had been lost in a world that was changing dramatically.  I was young, but God called my name in a new way. Sounds a little like Jeremiah, doesn’t it?  I was reminded in that moment – in a way I will never forget - that I was a child of God and covered in grace because Jesus had died for me.  I wasn’t called to write the words God spoke that day in a book, but they have been written on my heart ever since.  I was no longer lost, but certain of God’s promises.