Tag Archive for: God’s presence

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Responding in a Time of Confusion

In a time of confusion and chaos, many voices are vying for your attention. So, as a follower of Jesus, a Christian, how do you discern the truth in the midst of all the rhetoric? Where do you start in your evaluation of what you hear and perceive?

It matters where you start. As a follower of Jesus, you start with love, particularly God’s love. In our culture, we talk a lot about love without much reflection. Often, we base our love on what we like or how we feel. Sometimes we even base our love on what is going to serve us best and cost us the least. 

Regardless of how you view love, I think you will agree that love is deep and complex. It is understood to be an emotion that touches the heart, a feeling that brings closeness and comfort, and a passion that lights something powerful inside us. It can be both gentle and intense, making us feel open and vulnerable. It is also what lifts us into the most joyful and meaningful moments in life.

Start with God’s Love

As followers of Jesus, love is defined and shaped by God’s love, and it is lived out in everyday situations and circumstances. It might be true that what the world needs now is love, but not just any kind of generic love. I want to offer a perspective that might help us respond to the rhetoric of today as followers of Jesus. Rather than starting with our deeply felt opinions or our political positions, let’s start with the love of God. I am convinced that the love of God will help us see more clearly how to respond as people of faith.

Agape

God’s love, in scripture, is known as agape. It is a selfless love, completely unconditional and given without expecting anything in return. It is not based upon feeling, emotion, or passion, but upon intentional choices that work for the good of all people. It is a choice no matter what the situation or circumstance. It is a choice regardless of difficulty or convenience.

With that said, it is not based upon political opinions or positions. It is not bound by our conditions or criteria. It is not bound by whether we have determined someone worthy of our care. God’s love goes beyond all boundaries we have set to protect ourselves and our assets.

Below are three scriptures that can and will help in forming your response of love to the words being spoken today.

Read John 1:1-5, 14

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word was with God in the beginning. Everything came into being through the Word, and without the Word nothing came into being. What came into being through the Word was life, and the life was the light for all people. The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.

The Word became flesh and made his home among us. We have seen his glory, glory like that of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

Matthew 23:36-40

“Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

He replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being,[c] and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.  All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

Galatians 522-25

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the self with its passions and its desires. If we live by the Spirit, let’s follow the Spirit. 26 Let’s not become arrogant, make each other angry, or be jealous of each other.

Reflect on the Scripture

Although each gospel writer expresses it differently, they announce the same good news, Jesus is the human expression, the human touch of God’s love. John says the Word became flesh in Jesus. So, amid the present confusion and chaos, a place to start and to stand in your evaluation is the Word of God, the love of God made human in Jesus.

Matthew, who is concerned about holy and righteous living, helps us to see that holiness is revealed in our primary relationships with family and friends, and in our relationships with strangers, and enemies. We love God by loving our neighbor. The measure of all relationships is love of neighbor.

Paul, when writing to the church in Galatia, writes about the behavior that is contrary to God’s love and then lists the characteristics of God’s love. The characteristics are known as the “fruits of the Spirit.” As a Jesus follower, you produce this fruit by the way you live and love others. All you say, do, and hear is measured by the fruit you produce as a Jesus follower.

Respond to the Scripture

Over the past several weeks and months we have heard a lot of words about “us,” meaning conservatives, Christians, and real Americans versus “them” meaning progressives, the woke left, and academia. The rhetoric has helped to create an atmosphere of division and polarization.

There has been an oversimplification of complex issues, which has led to conflict in the form of dehumanizing and demonizing those with whom we disagree.

Love One Another

How do we as followers of Jesus respond to such rhetoric? Remember, the Word became flesh and came to live with us.” We love one another as we have been loved in and through Jesus. When working for the good and well-being of others, there is no place for dehumanizing and demonizing persons with whom we disagree. So, keep focused on the love that God has shown you, so you can show that love to others regardless of political position or opinion.

There has been emotionally charged language like spiritual warfare and enemy territory used to motivate loyalty and action. The language has created the fear of loss and a moral urgency as well as inflamed division, created mistrust, and weakened attempts at constructive dialogue. To illustrate, a recent speaker said, “I hate my opponents and don’t want the best for them.” 

Start with Jesus

How do we as followers of Jesus respond to such language? When you start with Jesus, you start with love and trust. Even though you hear words that create fear, you trust the words “perfect love casts out fear.” Even though you hear words that create mistrust, you focus upon the God who loves you and works for your good. You focus upon the God who trusts you to be a witness of love in unloving situations.

Some of what you have heard treats political and cultural issues as threats to civilization, to our country, and to our faith. There has been a blurring of faith and country leading to political loyalty and ideology that has pushed aside values like love, compassion, justice and humility.

The rhetoric regarding culture wars has, in many instances, overshadowed the discussion of constructive policy that addresses systemic problems and reasonable responses to the threats around us.

Your Loyalty is to Jesus

How do we as followers of Jesus respond to what we hear related to what we believe? Your loyalty is Jesus. Remember, Jesus is the human touch of God’s love. To live your life as a follower of Jesus you will show the characteristics of love expressed in the “fruit of the Spirit,” the characteristics of God’s love: joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

To say it in another way. God’s love puts the well-being of others first.  It is rooted in the actions of grace, kindness, and commitment. When you seek to follow Jesus, you seek to align yourself with God. When you align yourself with God, you learn to love what God loves. “God so loved the world…” and all the people in the world. Whatever action needs to be taken to heal our world, our communities, our relationships is in harmony with God’s love. 

God’s love brings people together. God’s love shows up in the way we love one another. From a biblical perspective, loving others is more than a nice idea. Loving others is who we are as followers of Jesus.

Love Your Neighbor as You Love Yourself

Loving neighbor is rooted in the Old Testament teaching of Leviticus, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18), and from the New Testament witness to Jesus being God’s love, “Love one another as I have loved you (John 13:34). 

It is the intentional act of caring for others with empathy, respect, and compassion, recognizing their dignity and worth. Love of neighbor challenges us to look beyond ourselves, to serve, support, and uplift those around us, whether friend, stranger, or adversary. It challenges us to build communities of justice and peace through selfless concern and shared humanity.

God’s Love Seeks the Good of All People

God’s love shows up as a generous spirit that humanizes rather than dehumanizes people. As we have said, it expresses itself in seeking the good of all people.

So, in this time of confusion and chaos, when many voices are vying for your attention, you can discern the truth by staying focused on God’s love in Jesus. Jesus is the truth, the way, and the life. Start your evaluation of what you hear with him, and you will be able to stand through it all with love and grace.

I know that sounds simplistic, but it is not about power and position, it is about love and compassion. Listen to the voices around you. When you hear words of love and compassion, you will know how to make your decisions.

Return to Reflect on the Day

Give God thanks for the people you encountered. In whom did you see Jesus? In what situations did you decide to respond in love? What did you learn about yourself? What will you do differently tomorrow? Give God thanks for the experiences that have helped you become who God created you to be.

Prayer

O God, help me love the people you send my way every day. Fill me with a love so deep that I am not only moved but I make a conscious decision to work for the good of others. By your grace, help me respond to your love with love for the people around me. I place myself at your disposal, in the name of Jesus. Amen

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Will You Make The Difference

The following blog was written before the latest school shootings at Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Colorado, and Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. So, I want to update the statistics cited in the blog. 

As of September 10, there have been 47 school shootings: twenty-four on college campuses and twenty-three on K-12 school grounds. Nineteen people have died, and at least 77 other victims have been injured.

It is my hope that I will not need to update the statistics again before you read the blog.

Will You Make the Difference?

On August 27, two more children were killed in a school shooting. The incident was the 44th act of gun violence on school property this year in the United States alone. To date, 18 people (children and teachers) have died and 74 people (children, teachers, and bystanders) have been injured.

I confess that I am speaking from my heart and not my head when I ask, “In what universe is that acceptable?” How much longer are we, as the people of the United States of America, going to allow these acts of violence against our children to continue? I know there are no easy answers, but I also know that little has been done to address the disease of violence. Gun violence in our schools has reached epidemic proportions.

Startling Statistics

Forty-four school shootings so far this year compares to 39 school shootings in 2024, 38 in 2023, and 51 in 2022. You don’t need me quoting statistics and you don’t need me to say that one school shooting is too many. I am writing to ask the question, what kind of leadership is needed to address the disease of mass shootings and specifically school shootings in our country? Are our thoughts and prayers enough? Is attempting to explain it away as mental illness making a difference? Will targeting the perpetrators with more violence bring an end to the chaos and confusion? Is depending upon our lawmakers both in Congress and our state legislatures bringing any measurable results? Is saying “someone must do something” addressing the disease? 

Since Sandy Hook, almost thirteen years ago, when 20 children and 6 adults were murdered in their classrooms, mass shootings in schools have become part of who we are. I hope I am wrong, but the feeling is, we have normalized school shootings. The shootings are just part of the statistics for the 586 mass shootings in 2024. They are just a part of the 711 people killed and the 2,375 people wounded. With that said, what kind of leadership is needed to be effective? 

Public Health Crisis

In recent years, even when someone stepped forward to do something, a group of people grew indignant. “We have our rights.”  “You can’t take away our rights.”  And nothing changed. I remember thinking when I saw President Obama in tears as he addressed the country after Sandy Hook, that we would surely do something positive in the name of the children murdered. I thought that would lead to public outrage and there would never again be another mass shooting in our country.

The outrage faded until another act of horrible violence, like the shooting on August 27 at Annunciation Catholic Church shocked us back into the reality of our inactivity. The truth is, we do have our rights. But to address the public health crisis of mass shootings does not take away anyone’s rights. In fact, it takes seriously the rights of others, particularly children. 

“Someone Do Something”

So, let me ask again, are our words enough to be effective?

Are our broken hearts, whether rooted in compassion or outrage enough? Has standing in the pulpit and declaring, “In the name of Jesus, someone do something” been sufficient? Oh, there have been some changes. The Sandy Hook Promise has made significant progress in getting federal laws passed during divisive government. Congress has passed mental health and school safety laws. I want to applaud those changes. I also want to applaud the work of the teenagers from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. But the changes made are not enough.  So again, what needs to be done to make a difference?

To answer that question, let me start with this story.

Telemachus

There is a story of a monk, Telemachus, from southern France, who went to Rome to take in the splendors of the Holy City. When he arrived, he was caught up in the crowd going to the Coliseum. He wasn’t aware of all that was involved in the entertainment of the day. Soon, however, he realized what was going to happen when the gladiators took their places on the field. They drew their weapons, waved them at Caesar, then called out, “We who are about to die salute thee!” 

At that moment, the young monk realized that the gladiators were about to fight each other to their death. He called out in the middle of the roaring crowd, “Stop! Stop! In the name of Jesus, stop!”

His voice could not be heard above the roar of the crowd. He rushed down the aisle to the barrier that separated the cheering crowd from the strutting gladiators. Again, he yelled, “In the name of Jesus, stop!” Still, no one noticed him nor heard his pleas.

He jumped over the barrier and ran out into the middle of the Coliseum floor. He stood between two of the gladiators and yelled at each of them, “In the name of Jesus, stop!” 

The two gladiators ignored his words. The spectators grew indignant with the monk for interrupting their sport. So, they stoned him to death. 

Caesar was informed of the death of Telemachus. When he learned that Telemachus was now numbered among the victorious martyrs, Caesar put an end to the sport. ¹ 

From that day on, there would be no more gladiator fights in Rome’s Coliseum. An end to the brutality and the death all took place because one person was willing to pay the price.

What Kind of Action is Needed?

Let’s face it, no one wants the violence that has taken place at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, or Antioch High School or The Covenant Presbyterian School in Nashville, Tennessee, Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, or at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut, or at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, or Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado or the hundreds of other mass shootings over the years. Yet, we have gotten to a point where we can no longer live our lives without the thought that every time we say goodbye to our children, spouses, and friends, it could be the last because of gun violence. The question is, what kind of action will it take to stop it from happening again? 

Other countries seem to have addressed the problem of gun violence. Countries like Australia, Canada, Japan, England, China, Singapore, Germany, and New Zealand all have gun laws that have helped in preserving human life. I support the Second Amendment of our Constitution. You have the right to “bear arms.” My question is regarding the rights of the people who are being killed, especially children. What needs to be done to protect their rights? For me, the greater question is, what needs to be done to protect the lives of the citizens of our country?

Human Life is Sacred

As I think about it, there is a need for some fundamental changes in the way we view human beings.

Human life is sacred. As followers of Jesus, you and I understand that human life is sacred and that every person, regardless of nationality, race, gender, or religion is a beloved child of God? With that being true, let us begin to advocate for courses in our public schools that teach the sacredness of human life. These courses need to include the understanding and care for persons of mental illness as well as the care for all persons who might be different. As we teach the sacredness of human life, we will begin to live the sacredness of each person.

Work for the well-being of others. As followers of Jesus, let us work for the well-being of others. Let’s teach and model what it means to love with the love of God. Then advocate for courses in public schools that teach how to work for the well-being of all people, especially those who are vulnerable or marginalized. As we teach how to work for the well-being of all people, we will begin to model what it means to work for the well-being of others.

I know that for some people this seems simplistic, but these are ways we have not tried in recent history. The problem with violence, especially in our schools, is not guns but how we view people and how we work for the good of all people.

There is a need for some fundamental changes in the people we elect to create policies and pass laws.

Courage to Change

Elect Courageous Leaders to Congress

The time has come to elect leaders who will courageously step out and risk who they are and the positions they hold to make the difference. It will take courageous United States Senators and Representatives to risk re-election. The time has come to stop politicizing such acts of violence and to step up and advocate for the rights of children, teenagers, and adults who have become vulnerable in places assumed to be safe. Whether it be schools, concerts, or grocery stores, courageous leaders need to protect the rights of all of us regarding public safety. These leaders must shift from thoughts and prayers to policy and change. 

Elect Courageous Governors and State Legislators

The time has come to elect courageous governors and state legislatures to do the same. As our country moves more to state rights, it is imperative that state and local leaders think first of the people they serve before thinking of position or power. Courageous leaders are vulnerable leaders. They take the risk of being authentic and trustworthy. These leaders must shift from aspirational rhetoric to real action. 

Action and Policy 

Let Us Be Who God Created Us To Be

The time has come for you, as a courageous spiritual leader, to risk popularity and acceptance. Your life and what you believe helps to shape the thinking and the action of the policymakers. You have the opportunity to model responsibility and accountability, not only for governmental leaders but for people who vote. Through your word and action, you will assist people to contact their United States senators and congresswomen/men to address mass shootings. You will find a way to contact the governor, state representatives, and local authorities to address the violence. You have the opportunity to step up and lead in an effort to hold the sanctity of life before policymakers as well as those who vote. 

Needed Change: Be A Courageous Voter

The time has come for each of us to be courageous voters. We must risk voting for candidates who might not be members of our own political party. If there is to be any positive change, you must take advantage of the opportunity to assist people to vote and elect the leaders who will step up to make the changes needed. Help people be an educated electorate so that they will understand who they are electing and what each person stands for. Help people elect leaders who will have the courage to develop and deliver the policies needed to put an end to children being killed in our schools, racial hatred, and the availability of guns without appropriate laws and guidelines. 

Blessed are the Peacemakers

Jesus taught, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.” In leading through this crisis, you will be living as a true peacemaker. 

Stepping out and speaking up is truly difficult at the time in our history.  But you were created and gifted for this time in history. You have everything you need to step up and provide the leadership to change our accepted culture of violence. 

If someone must do something, then let the action begin with you and me. 

Know of my prayers as you become who you have been created to be as a follower of Jesus.

—

Story adapted from Let Me Tell You a Story: Life Lessons from Unexpected Places and Unlikely People, by Tony Campolo and Favorite Monks: Telemachus: The Monk Who Ended the Coliseum Games, by Monk Preston.

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Leading with Compassion

In a Gallup study of Strength-Based Leadership, there are four characteristics people look for in their leaders. Those characteristics are trust, compassion, stability, and hope. Gallup found that leaders who display these qualities have better results because they are associated with higher levels of engagement.

With that in mind, a Christ-centered leader understands that everything they do directly affects the people they lead. The best leaders lead with their followers in mind.

Compassion

Take the characteristic of compassion as an example. To lead with compassion means you have the willingness to listen, that you have a genuine concern for those under your care, that you work to remove the obstacles that keep them from using their strengths, and you create a culture where they feel supported, valued, and respected.

Whether it be in casual conversation or official communication, those entrusted to your care experience compassion in every interaction they have with you. As a Christ-centered leader, you show compassion in your empathy, understanding, and kindness. 

In her book, Rising Strong, Brene Brown states that compassion is a relationship between equals. It is only when you know your own weakness that you can be present with the weaknesses of others. She writes, “Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.”

With that in mind, let’s read Matthew 9:35-38.

Read Matthew 9:35-38

35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Reflect on Matthew 9:36

Let’s focus upon verse 36, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them…”

When Jesus saw the crowd of ordinary women and men, he was moved with compassion. The word used for compassion here is the strongest word that could be used in the Greek language. It is a word which means “bowels.” It describes the compassion which comes from the deepest depths of a person’s being.

In other words, Jesus’ love for the people was deep within his being. He was moved so deeply that he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

How do we best describe the love and compassion that grows from deep within? I will answer that question in this way.

Compassion at Work

The birth of my oldest granddaughter changed my life. Although she was born nineteen years ago, I remember that day as if it was yesterday.

Knowing her birth was near; Kim and I were prepared when our son called and said, “the baby is on its way.” We got in the car and drove to the hospital.

When we arrived, he met us in the waiting room. He told us he would come back when the baby was born. We waited about an hour. When he came back he had tears in his eyes. He could hardly speak. I immediately thought something was wrong, but before I could ask, he said, “She is perfect. I have a beautiful baby girl.”

The Depth of Love

He then invited us to meet our new granddaughter. As we entered the room, she was a small bundle in her mother’s arms. As we took turns holding her, admiring her, and absorbing the reality of the moment, I was overcome with a deep sense of love. It was a love so overwhelming that my life changed.

Over the next several months, through my reflection on her birth and upon the love I was experiencing, I realized that my perspectives were changing. Even though I had been married for almost 30 years, and Kim and I had experienced the birth of our own two children, the love I was experiencing was different. I did not know I could love so deeply. Although it was more than a feeling, the love was coming from deep within me.

Praying for Love

It was so transformative, that I began to ask God to help me love the church and the community with that same love. I began to think and feel that only God could give me, or anyone, a love so deep that it would transform the way I perceived and received others.

I began to pray every day, “O God, help me love the church and community the way you love me and the world.”

When I think of compassion, I think of the love I experienced that day nineteen years ago. A love so deep and transformative, I was moved to put it into action in the places I lived, worked, and associated with others.

When Jesus was moved with compassion, it was a love so deep that it changed the people around him and ultimately the world. When I experienced the depths of that love, I realized that God had given me a love with which to love others. 

Respond

Be aware of the people around you today. Look for those who need to be loved? How will you show compassion? How will you draw them into a closer relationship? Be aware of what needs to happen in your life to have compassion for the people God sends your way.

Prayer

O God, help me love the people you send my way today. Fill me with a love so deep that I am moved with the same compassion Jesus had when he saw the crowds as sheep without a shepherd. By your grace, I place myself at your disposal, in the name of Jesus. Amen

Return

Give God thanks for the people you encountered today. In whom did you see Jesus? In what ways were you moved by compassion? What did you learn about yourself? What will you do differently tomorrow? Give God thanks for the experiences that have helped you become who God created you to be. 

Pray for the compassion of Jesus. As you experience the depths of God’s love, you will become more who God has created you to be. And who you are in how you lead.

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Two Important Reminders About Leadership

This week, we’re looking back to look ahead.

Reflect momentarily on the people you’re leading and your leadership traits. What are you celebrating in ministry right now regarding your leadership? What areas are stretching you? Once you have a response to those two questions, below are three articles to review. Read all three or pick the one that will speak to your ministry and leadership in this seasons.

Here are two important reminders about leadership.

1. Remember the Golden Rule

First, the Golden Rule is familiar to many. Reflect on the Golden Rule in your ministry and leadership. When you consider, “do to others as you would have them do to you?” keep in mind God’s love and presence is already on the move in your life. Today, how we communicate and what we communicate are inextricably intertwined.

Read more and consider the Golden Rule of Leadership.

The Golden Rule of Leadership

2. It Matters Where You Start

When Christ-centered leaders start with issues, preferences, and/or agendas, they’re by-passing what sets us apart as followers of Jesus. When leaders start with Jesus, you create an opportunity for open dialogue and discernment. The presence of the living God we know in Jesus is an essential element of your leadership.

Read more and be reminded that it matters where you start.

Reflections on 50 Years of Ministry – It Matters Where You Start – Pt 1
Reflections on 50 Years of Ministry – It Matters Where You Start – Part 2
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I am Grateful

Where have the past eight years gone? It seems just like yesterday that I was first appointed to the Capital Area South District, then to the Capital Area North District, and then to the Olentangy River District. In many ways, the past eight years have been some of the best and most enjoyable of my fifty years of appointed ministry. 

I am at that rare juncture in life, which is at the same time fragile and strong.  Although it is most beautiful, it carries with it the possibility of being the ugliest of any transaction I can know. I am at the stage of giving and receiving a gift. 

On July 1, I will become the lead pastor of Christ Church in Charleston, West Virginia. So, as I am leaving the season of district superintendent, I’m entering a new season of being a pastor of a local church. As I am giving God thanks, I am receiving a gift. 

Grace 

Paul, more than any other writer recorded in the Bible, uses the same word for giving and receiving. The word is charis. It is usually translated as “grace.” But it can also be translated as “gift,” or “thanks.” 

When Paul uses it, you don’t know whether it is being given (thanks), being received (grace), or being given (gift). In a way, I am at a charis moment. It is as sacred as the Eucharist (thanks) and at the same time, it is charisma and charismatic. In other words, as I am giving thanks, I am both receiving and giving. 

Giving Thanks for You

All of that to say, I’m at a moment of giving thanks for you, but as I do, I am acknowledging what I have given and what I have received. May I say it again? I am at the juncture of the most beautiful and rarest moments that any one of us can know. 

So, with one last feeble attempt, I want to thank you for the opportunity and honor of serving with you over these past eight years. Using Paul as my guide, I want to thank you for helping me grow in my relationship with Jesus. Paul says, “I have been initiated into the mystery (secret). 

What is the mystery? What is the secret? 

Let’s see if Paul gives us a clue in his letter to the Philippians. 

Read: Philippians 1:3-11 

3 I thank my God for every remembrance of you, 4 always in every one of my prayers for all of you, praying with joy 5 for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.  

Reflect 

Paul’s letter to the Philippians is a note of thanks. Throughout his letter he expresses his gratitude for them, his affection for them, and offers prayer for them. 

As I reflect upon his words, I want to use his structure to express my gratitude for you and your ministry.    

I Thank My God for Every Remembrance of You

Paul writes, “I thank my God for every remembrance of you…” 

Friends, I am who I am because of you. I am convinced that God brought us together so that I might become more who God created me to be. I am even more convinced that God puts people in my life because I still need to experience and to be shaped by God’s love. 

Bonhoeffer wrote, “In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others.” 

I am grateful for you, your ministry, your friendship, and for all God has done to make me who I am in and through you. Please know that every time you come to mind, I will give God thanks for you as I pray for your health and well-being. May I ask you to do the same for me? Every time I come to mind, pray for me. Even if you don’t remember my name and don’t know what to pray, just pray, “Jesus, help that old man. He needs all the help he can get.” 

“I thank my God every time I remember you…” 

Paul writes, “praying with joy for your partnership in the gospel…” Colleagues in ministry, “I have you in my heart…and I long for you…” (Philippians 1:7-8). 

Paul gives thanks for the joy of their partnership in the gospel. They have taken up residence in his heart. Wow. I know what that is like. You now live in my heart. You have helped expand my heart to include not only you but many others I did not know existed until I opened my heart to you.

I am grateful. 

But there is something I am learning because I have allowed you into my heart. 

The Deeper the Bond…

The deeper the bond, the more painful the absence. 

How will I manage the separation from you and our ministry together? I have been thinking about it and I have concluded that it is a matter of memory.  I’ll remember the good times, the special occasions, the profound worship. I will remember the Lord’s Table (Do this in remembrance of me), baptism (Remember your baptism and be thankful), and the conversations we have had describing God’s call upon our lives. 

I will hold you in my heart, as I sing the hymns, pray the prayers, and preach the gospel. I will hold in my heart what we have experienced together, the memories that we have made, whether through celebrations of worship, one-to-ones, or strategizing mission. We have made memories together. 

As I reflect upon it, what we have shared together is what will sustain us tomorrow and beyond.  I have you in my heart, and I long for you to be who God has created you to be as a Christ-centered leader. You must know, that will never change. 

I am praying with joy for your partnership in the gospel…Know how much you are loved and appreciated. 

The One Who Began A Good Work in You

Then Paul adds, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”   

What do you think he intended to say with those words? If your reading continues to include verses 9-11, you will find an answer. Paul prays that they will grow and mature in love, a love that is undergirded by understanding and knowledge, a love rooted in experience and discernment, a love that is put to the test and strengthened in real-life situations, a love that is the foundation for making choices in matters that count. He assures them that God is working in and through them because he is certain that they are instruments of God’s love and peace.   

No prayer, no power. 

Little prayer, little power. 

Much prayer, much power.

Paul prays for them because he is holding them in his heart. If you take nothing else from this blog, take this, “No prayer, no power. Little prayer, little power. Much prayer, much power.”

Listen to me closely, for all the education and training you have, no one can teach, train, or give you the love you need for your congregation. 

There is no education that will break your heart for the church or your church’s heart for the community. There is no training that makes you get up early in the morning to pray for the people entrusted to your care. There is no one who can give you the burden for the broken and marginalized in your community. But that is what it means to be about God’s business. If God called you, God will equip you, but you have to be in conversation with God to keep God’s love at the center of who you are and what you do. Truly, it is a matter of prayer. 

What is Needed: Prayer

Let me say it another way. Education, knowledge, and training are good, but you do not need more training. I know you want to learn more about leadership and organizational structure. I have heard your desire to learn more of the scripture and to communicate with clarity. I have experienced your yearning to be effective in every aspect of your ministry. But from what I have learned over these past eight years, you do not need more training to be who God created you to be or who God needs you to be at this important time in history.

It is my “bias” opinion that what is needed most is prayer. So, more than anything else, here is what I hope you learn and put into practice. Learn to pray. Prayer is the good work God has started in you, and it is prayer that needs to continue until the day of Jesus Christ.

Prayer is Hard

Let me say it this way: prayer is hard. Effective prayer is even harder. A.W. Tozer, author, and preacher in the 20th century, had a person who sat outside his office door while he prayed each day. That person was not to let anyone interrupt him during his prayer time. Think about it. Learn to pray not as an exercise in worship but as an expression of your relationship with Jesus. The good work God has started in you is a matter of prayer.

At the end of Matthew 9, Jesus tells His followers to pray to the Lord of the harvest that workers would be sent into the harvest. With his own heart broken in compassion, Jesus sent his followers into the world, the community, because he saw the people as sheep without a shepherd. Think about it. Jesus is saying, “Pray to the Lord of the harvest so that your hearts will be broken in compassion for the people you encounter each day.” This is part of the good work God has started in you. It is a matter of prayer.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul calls the followers of Jesus to pray. He reminds them that they do not fight flesh and blood, but they fight against the spirits and powers of the day. He identifies prayer as the full armor of God. So, to fight the powers and injustices of this time in history, you first need to pray and then act. The action grows out of the love of God. This is part of the good work God has started in you. It is a matter of prayer. 

Clear is Kind

One of the things I have learned over these past years is “clear is kind.” May I be clear with you? Most of us, as leaders, lack a deep and meaningful prayer life. It is my experience that we are too busy. There are too many meetings, too many expectations, and too many demands upon time and energy. When translated, it means that your time and solitude with Jesus is cut short so you can “run the church” effectively. Your leadership is a byproduct of the good work God has started in you. To be connected to that good work, you first must pray, seeking to know about God’s business of loving others.

As a leader, your authority comes from your closeness to Jesus. The hours you spend in prayer will change your heart, will deepen your sermons, and be experienced in your compassion. You will lead with trust, compassion, stability, and hope.  This is the good work God has started in you. It is a matter of prayer.

Prayer is Our Primary Work

Now, please know that I understand that few churches allow their pastors to spend this kind of time and effort in prayer. Most church members don’t see prayer as real work.

So, let me once again be clear. Prayer is the primary work of the church. How can you be a Christ-centered leader if Christ is not the center of your faith and work?

When prayer becomes your primary work, you will provide and protect time to pray, to study the scripture, and to seek God’s guidance in loving others as you have been loved. This is what it means to be about God’s business. This is the good work God has started in you. You were created to be in relationship with God, to reflect his glory in the community and all your relationships.

I know this to be true, your time with Jesus will not only change you, but it will change your church, and transform your community and the world.

“I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”  

Respond 

So, what is the secret Paul refers to when he writes, “I have been initiated into the mystery.” 

May I tell you what I think? It is gratitude. The secret of the fundamental relationship with God that sets you free is gratitude. The closer you get to Jesus; the more your gratitude grows and deepens. 

From my experience, people of gratitude are people of grace and generosity in their relationships. They are people of hope and compassion, as well as people of courage and care. I can tell that they have spent time with Jesus because they love the people Jesus loves, and they give themselves for the welfare of the people around them and for the community in which they live. 

Let me say it this way. If I were on a Pastor Parish Relations Committee, waiting to receive a new minister for the church, and I had a chance to ask one question, before I would say, “Tell me about your preaching or about study habits or your leadership style,” I would ask, “What evidence of gratitude is there in your life?” 

How will you thank God for the people in your life today? Whether you call it grace, gift, or gratitude, keep your eyes and ears open to God’s good work in your midst. How will you live the good work God has started in you today? 

Prayer 

O God I am grateful for the good work you have started in my life, and I am grateful that you will continue your good work in me until the day of Jesus. By your grace, give me the faith to assist people to grow in their faith. Give me the courage to lead people into the community to love others as you have loved me. I am grateful for the opportunity to thank you for the people who have helped shape me into the person I am today. By your grace, give me faith to love and trust you more. Amen. 

Return 

Give God thanks for the people you encountered today. In whom did you meet Jesus? Where did you discover the need to assist people in growing in their faith? How did you respond to their need and desire to give care, support, encouragement, and hope to others? What good work has God started in you that you want to share with others? What did you learn that you will do differently tomorrow? Give God thanks for the opportunities you had to become more who God has created you to be. Keep in mind, who you are is how you lead. 

Now, please pray for me as I turn my face toward Christ Church in Charleston, West Virginia. Just know this, “I thank my God for every remembrance of you…” I am grateful!

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Engaging in Mission: Engage the Community – Part 3 

Engaging the mission is about following Jesus into the community and being about God’s business. It is a way of relating to and loving others within the community in which you are located.

To help resource you in Engaging the Community, we have explored The Seven Missional Questions (Engaging In Mission: Engaging the Community) and have done an overview of koinonia, the New Testament understanding of community (Engaging in Mission: Engaging the Community Part 2). 

Focusing On God’s Mission

Keep in mind that you are about God’s business. So, through the lens of being a follower of Jesus, what does it mean to live in community with other Jesus followers? What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus amid diverse people and beliefs?  

As you reacquaint yourself with your local community and grow in your understanding of koinonia, it is important to develop relationships, deepen your faith, and deploy into mission the people entrusted to your care.  

As you move forward in engaging the community, remember that John Wesley worked to develop both an identity of personal piety and an identity of social holiness. Wesley developed and organized a system to help followers of Jesus grow in their personal faith and to live out their faith in the places they lived, worked, and played. Wesley said it this way, “true Christianity cannot exist without the inward experience and the outward practice of justice, mercy, and truth.”  

With that in mind, let’s look again at the Acts of the Apostles and focus specifically on the two verses below:   

Read: Acts 2:42, 46  

They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers…Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts…  

Reflect on Acts 2:42, 46

On the Day of Pentecost, one hundred and twenty frightened, self-centered, discouraged, and disheartened men and women were transformed into newly empowered followers of Jesus. They were filled with new life and perspective, intellectually, emotionally, and physically.  

By the power of the Holy Spirit, those newly empowered followers began to communicate the story of Jesus in ways people understood and responded to positively. The people were amazed and perplexed. They asked, “What does this mean?”  Others mockingly said, “They are full of new wine.”  

The First Christian Sermon

It was a careless, scoffing comment that prompted the first Christian sermon. When the followers of Jesus were accused of being drunk, Simon Peter took responsibility for telling the story of Jesus. He told the people about the life, crucifixion, death, resurrection, and presence of Jesus. He explained God’s offer in Jesus, what people did to refuse it, what God did despite the refusal, and what could happen to each of them.  

When the people heard Peter’s sermon, “…they were cut to the heart…” and they cried out, “What shall we do?”  

Repent

Simon Peter was ready with an answer and the first Christian invitation to a congregation was extended: “Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  

The word repent means “to change one’s mind,” or “to perceive after a mind-changing truth or understanding.”  Peter wanted them to change their thinking about God’s messiah, the Christ, and to see their own need for him as the Lord of their lives.  

The word repent can also refer to becoming who you were created to be. By God’s love, you begin to live as God intends for you to live. Think of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. You are in the process of repentance as you begin to love more the way God has loved you. 

God’s Love and Power

Think of it this way. One of the things that changed for those at Pentecost was their way of communicating with one another. Instead of insisting that everyone learn to speak and communicate like they spoke and communicated, by the power of God’s love and presence, they learned new ways of communicating and relating to the people around them.  

The scripture says that those who welcomed Simon Peter’s message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added. They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 

That first community of faith was…:  

A learning community. 

They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching…  The word for “teaching” is a dynamic word. It means that they persisted in listening to the apostles as they taught.  

A fellowshipping community.

The word “koinonia” means having something in common or in fellowship. There is no true fellowship without Christ’s Spirit in us and between us. Jesus Christ is what we have in common. He is our common bond. That bond is greater than anything or anyone else. He draws us into oneness and loves each of us through each other.  

A praying community.

Life together was described as the breaking of bread and prayers. For people to be one with Christ and one with each other, it takes time to be together to listen to each other, to care for and be for each other. Praying together becomes the time of communication with the Lord in which we are replenished in God’s Spirit in order to continue unselfish and non-manipulative concern and caring for each other  

A worshiping community.

They had “gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God.”  Praise became an outward sign of the indwelling of the Spirit. It continued to be an outward sign as Jesus lived in them and in their fellowship. They could not praise God enough for what God had done for them in and through Jesus.  

A growing community.

People were attracted to the joy of the community and wanted to know the source of it. People wanted to be with those contagious, praising followers of Jesus and have what he had given them.  

At that time, the people began to gather in homes as they continued to gather in the temple. They broke bread together when they gathered and praised God with glad and generous hearts.  

Koinonia Helps Develop Community

An effective way of developing community in our day is to establish koinonia groups for personal faith development and for developing relationships that impact the community in which your church is located.  

To engage the community outwardly, you first develop relationships inwardly. Based on our scripture, five essential ingredients in developing relationships will make a difference in your local community:   

1. Study

“They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching…” Wesley called this “searching the scriptures.” One of the distinctive marks of the followers of Jesus is the understanding and engaging the gospels. Just as the apostles’ teaching was transformational in the lives of the early followers of Jesus, a focus upon the teachings of Jesus is essential in living out the good news of Jesus Christ and will be transformational both personally and socially.  

2. Fellowship

 “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship.” Koinonia Fellowship is both an informal time when people get to know and love one another and a formative time when people grow together in their personal faith and learn to give care and encouragement in their social interactions.  

3. Accountability

“Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple.” Those early Jesus followers spent time together every day. I can imagine they were sharing stories, asking questions, learning, and growing together.  

Although most of us do not feel comfortable being held accountable, especially regarding our faith, koinonia provides a space and safety to develop trust and courage. We grow into our accountability. I can imagine that was what was happening as they spent time together.  

Think of it this way: if you are a koinonia group member and want to develop a pattern for bible study, you might say to the group, “Please hold me accountable to reading the Bible each day this next week.”  The following week your group would ask you, “How did you do with reading your Bible this week?”  You respond by saying, “Well, I read my Bible each day until I got to the weekend. I want you to keep asking me the question until Bible study becomes a regular daily practice.”  

As your koinonia matures, your group might agree to ask each other questions as you gather. Questions related to personal faith development and to your interaction with Jesus and the people you meet each day. We all need help in developing and maintaining our walk with Jesus.  

4. Worship and Prayer

 It is important that each group has a time of worship and prayer. Sometimes singing a hymn or a praise chorus will lead your group into worship. At other times, it will be prayer or sharing experiences of experiencing God’s love or how Jesus showed up unexpectedly, leading to “glad and generous hearts…”   

5. Mission and Outreach

Your journey inward leads to your journey outward. Your koinonia leads you into developing relationships outside your group. Together, you find ways to love others the way God in Jesus has loved you. You might feed people who are hungry or find shelter for those who are homeless. You might provide care for children or jobs for the unemployed. One way to discover where to be in mission is to ask the question, “What can we do that no one else is doing?” God always provides people to love and places to serve. Koinonia helps turn your inner faith into outward expressions of love and care.  

“They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers…Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts…”  

To engage the community outwardly, you first develop relationships inwardly. 

Respond  

How are you engaging the people of your church to engage in the local community? Which of the five ingredients in developing relationships does your church do well? Which ingredients are missing or not done so well? How will you help equip those entrusted to your care to become a koinonia that will make a difference in your local community? What will you start? What assistance do you need? 

Prayer 

O God, I am grateful for your call upon my life and for the opportunity to be a leader centered on your love of Jesus. By your grace, give me the faith to assist people in growing in their faith. Give me the courage to lead people into the community to love others as you have loved me. Thank you for the ways you have provided to become more who you have created me to be. Thank you for John Wesley and for the way he has modeled personal piety and social holiness. Oh, God, thank you for your love. Give me faith to love and trust you more. Amen. 

Return 

Give God thanks for the people you encountered today. In whom did you see Jesus? Where did you discover the need to assist people in growing in their faith? How did you respond to their need and desire to give care, support, encouragement, and hope to others? What do you need to do to lead others into koinonia? What did you learn that you will do differently tomorrow? Give God thanks for the opportunities you had to become more who God has created you to be. Keep in mind, who you are is how you lead.

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Engaging the Mission: Hospitality

This is Part 1 on Hospitality

Read Part 2 Here

As a follower of Jesus, you have an opportunity for hospitality with every person you encounter. Whether family, friend, colleague, neighbor, stranger, or enemy, you have the opportunity to be God’s loving presence in the way you receive them and interact with them. Hospitality is part of God’s mission, and you were invited into that mission when you were claimed as a “beloved child of God, called and commissioned for ministry at your baptism

Explore more: Preparing for Mission: Being About God’s Business and Preparing for Mission: Hospitality is a Lifestyle

Why Does the Church Exist?

With that in mind, think of the church as a community of Jesus followers who exist primarily for people who are not members. As a follower of Jesus, you are an instrument of God’s love for people who do not know or understand the love of God.  The apostle Paul instructed the church in Rome, “Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Romans 15:7). Hospitality is your response to God’s grace, God’s great hospitality offered to you in Jesus.  

Said another way, as a beloved child of God, you love others for the purpose of being who God created you to be. You become an instrument of God’s grace, extending a welcoming heart and hand in the name of Jesus. Hospitality becomes who you are. It becomes the way you live your life. God sends people your way every day. So, reach out and receive them for the glory of God. It is who you are. Love them the way you have been loved by God in and through Jesus.  

The story of the road to Emmaus gives us insight into Luke’s understanding of hospitality. 

Read Luke 24:28-32 

When they came to Emmaus, he acted as if he was going on ahead. But they urged him, saying, “Stay with us. It’s nearly evening, and the day is almost over.” So, he went in to stay with them. After he took his seat at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight. They said to each other, “Weren’t our hearts on fire when he spoke to us along the road and when he explained the scriptures for us?” 

Reflect on Luke 24

Luke’s story clearly reveals his understanding of the resurrection faith being an act of hospitality. It is a story of two Jesus followers, walking to Emmaus, having a conversation about the events over the past couple of days. 

In the middle of their conversation, Jesus joins them on their journey. He is received as a stranger. Luke writes, “Their eyes were kept from recognizing him.” This is Luke’s way of saying that being with the earthly Jesus, hearing his teaching, seeing his miracles and knowing the example of his life are not enough apart from an experience of the risen Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit. In other words, to recognize God’s act in Jesus is not a matter of our human insight but is a divine gift. 

Understanding the Divine Gift

Jesus, the stranger in their midst, asks, “What are you talking about?” The one named Cleopas replied, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who is unaware of the things that have taken place over the last few days?” And Jesus asks, “What things?”

The two Jesus followers began to give a summary of what had happened. Their summary was not wrong but, because of his death, they did not perceive that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the anointed one. They recited the correct events but had a different perception of what had happened. The events did not fit their understanding of Messiah. 

One of them said, “We had hoped he was the one who would redeem Israel.” It is important to understand that Jesus’ followers believed that God was present in what Jesus said and what he did. They believed that God’s kingdom of justice was about to dawn. 

There is Always Hope

Then came the crucifixion and the shattering of their hopes. Their human wisdom said, “While there’s life, there’s hope.” The death of Jesus was the death of their hope. Even though they had his message, his example, and his ministry, the crucifixion meant that Jesus was another failed idealist. They had no reason to think differently. 

Their hope was that God would send the Messiah to restore Israel and set Israel free from oppression. These two on the road with Jesus perceived God’s redeeming work in nationalistic terms. For them, it was over. Hope was gone. 

A Clue About Hospitality

While on the road with the two travelers, Jesus is not recognized as the Christ but only as a weary fellow traveler. The two extend an invitation to food and fellowship. As they offer hospitality, Jesus is revealed to them. It is here we get a clue about hospitality. 

Luke tells us, “So, he went in to stay with them. After he took his seat at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him…” Luke 24:29-31. Jesus did not force himself on them, but when invited, the guest became the host. The meal was an ordinary meal, but the words were the familiar words of Holy Communion. The words, “took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it…” reflect the language of the liturgy of the Lord’s Table. It was the language of “do this in remembrance of me.” 

Hospitality is Demonstrated

Hospitality was shown in the blessing and breaking of the bread. Blessing in the Greek is the word “eulogy.” To bless was to eulogize God. 

Three times in Luke’s gospel, we get a story of eating with others: feeding of the 5000, last supper in the Upper Room, and with the travelers on the road to Emmaus. In each story, we have the “blessing, breaking, and giving” of bread. Could it be that hospitality is extended in and through Holy Communion?

The Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, is central to the life of the Church. In the house at Emmaus Jesus is a stranger, yet a guest. Even though he is the guest he becomes the host. 

It is in the breaking of the bread that the stranger, the outsider, becomes known to them as Jesus himself. 

Hospitality to the Stranger

For Luke, this is the church. To read and understand the scriptures is not solely a matter of human intellect and insight but is a gift in and through Jesus, the risen Christ.

When the Lord’s Supper takes place, there is an invitation to the outsider and hospitality to the stranger. It is in the breaking of bread that the risen Christ is made known to the community.

Even though there were only three at the table that day, the table was large enough for the stranger. 

Respond to Luke 24: Four Ways to Extend Hospitality 

(Read the blog: Extending Hospitality is Offering Hope) 

Here are four practical ways you can extend hospitality: 

1.      Be Curious and Become a Learner 

 Seek to understand. Jesus was interested in the two walking on the road. He asked questions and listened. His offerings in the conversation were for clarity and direction.   

Seeking to learn or to understand could be as simple as getting to know your neighbors. Learn their names, their needs, talents, and interests. Show an interest in people as a way of building relationships. Soong-Chan Rah writes, “In the household of God, we are called to a humility that places our relationships in a new light.” 

2.      Learn the language of the community.

Although Jesus was the Risen Christ, he took an interest in the two on the road. Even though they did not know who he was, He was able to communicate through their grief and hopelessness. 

Learning the language of the community could mean learning the language of teens and young adults.  It could also mean communicating with a Hispanic population, Congolese, or Vietnamese population. You might consider it could also mean that you are sensitive to different styles of music, and that you learn and participate in different cultural experiences. It means listening to the community and learning to communicate in ways that the people who live in the community understand and appreciate. Attempting to learn the language is a sign of hospitality that brings hope. 

3.      Share a meal together.

Jesus shared a meal with the two. Although Jesus was invited to eat with them, Jesus extended an invitation as a stranger. Jesus was present as a stranger. 

It is around the table, sharing a meal, that you have the opportunity to make room for others, especially the strangers and the outcasts. In the fourth grade, I had a Sunday school teacher who taught us, “There is always enough room at Jesus’ table.” You can always add an extension to the table. 

We extend hospitality when we bring children, teens, and senior adults together. How could you create cross-cultural connections with another congregation or with other groups of people in the community?  What would happen if you offered to provide the food they liked and gave them the opportunity to prepare it for everyone? 

4.      Examine and Evaluate

How are you inviting people to the movement of God’s grace and the mission of God’s love? Within the church building, practice hospitality by offering people opportunities to interact with one another. Even if they know one another, offer opportunities to practice hospitality.  “Welcome one another as God in Jesus has welcomed you.” And remember, your extension of hospitality is always to God’s glory. 

Be aware and sensitive to the practices you take for granted. Make everything you do an extension of hospitality. Do strangers know your routines? Who explains to people why you do what you do? Do the announcements include language that outsiders can understand? Do not assume people know the Lord’s Prayer, how to respond following the reading of scripture, and/or how to pray before worship begins. Just simple acts of hospitality are signs of hope to those being included.

Practice Hospitality

As you are working on the four practical ways to extend hospitality, practice praying, “Lord, send us the people no one else wants” and “Help us receive the people you are sending to us.”  When you do, you will find the above suggestions helpful. 

Remember, we love like Jesus because that is the way we thank Jesus for loving us.  I am convinced that when you extend hospitality, you can expect your church and community to experience the beauty, complexity, and love that comes with recognizing Jesus in the strangers you meet along the way.

Welcome one another as God in Christ welcomed you. Engaging in mission is extending hospitality. And hospitality is a sign of hope. 

Prayer

Lord, send me the people no one else wants and help me receive the people you are sending to me. By your grace, help me welcome others as you have welcomed me. Make me a blessing to someone, somewhere, today. 

Return

As you reflect back upon your day, give thanks for God’s call to follow Jesus. In what ways did you invite strangers into conversation? How were you curious? What questions did you ask? What did you learn about others as you asked questions and listened? Do you learn new ways to communicate with the people encountered today? How will you incorporate what you have learned? Did God send you anyone? How did you receive them? How did you express God’s love? What will you do differently tomorrow? 

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Preparing for Mission: Offer Them Christ

As a Christ-centered leader, you have the opportunity to invite people to learn of Jesus and to immerse them in God’s love in such a way they too will love others. 

The movement of God’s grace and the mission of God’s love is made real in and through your relationships as you interact with the people entrusted to your care.   

You offer Christ, God’s agape, by the way you receive and care for people. Your action of agape is a greater invitation than your words. You become so immersed in the love, the movement, the mission of God, that all you say and do invites others to love as they have been loved. 

The Invitation to Love

So, as a follower of Jesus, you have an opportunity to offer Christ to family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, strangers, and even enemies, by the way you receive and interact with them. The invitation to love is part of God’s mission. As a baptized follower of Jesus, you were been invited into God’s mission when you were claimed as a “beloved child of God” and called and commissioned for ministry at your baptism (Read Preparing for Mission: Being About God’s Business)  Offering Christ, God’s love, is who you as a follower of Jesus.  

As a Christ-centered leader, you have an opportunity to offer Christ as you model God’s love in your leading. In and through your relationships with people, you are inviting them into God’s movement of grace and God’s mission of love.

There are two examples of “offering Christ” found in John 1. The first is when John the Baptist points out Jesus to two of his disciples. “When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God!’  When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus” (John 1:35-37). The second is when Philip invites Nathanael to “Come and see,” when he tells Nathanael that he had found the one Moses wrote about in the Law (John 1:43-46).

But the example I want to use is found in Matthew’s good news.

Read Matthew 9:9-13 

9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.

10 And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with Jesus and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

Reflect

Here is where the blog “Preparing for Mission: Answering God’s Call” can be helpful.

The call of the first disciples is the beginning of the church. Matthew uses Hebrew history as the background for his story of the formation of a new community. When he tells the story of Jesus’ baptism and temptation, he is summarizing the history of Israel in the Red Sea and testing in the wilderness. Matthew wants us to know that the new community, the church, is being formed in response to God’s action in and through Jesus. 

Matthew has placed the call of the disciples in a context in which his hearers can understand and respond. So, look at the story from Matthew’s perspective.  

Just like Simon Peter, Levi is already at work. He is a tax collector. He has something useful and important to do and is not looking for a new life. In verse nine, the words “as he walked by” are taken from the same encounter as the call of the fishermen along the lake. Just as with the fishermen, Jesus does not fill an obvious vacuum or meet an obvious need in Levi’s life, But, like the call of prophets in the Old Testament, the call is intrusive and disruptive. Levi is being called to reorient his life and work.   

Reoriented to the Mission

When Jesus said, “Follow Me,” Levi got up and followed him. The mission of God became his priority and purpose. The mission permeated his living and reoriented his relationships.

When Levi followed Jesus, it impacted his personal passions, relationships, and decisions. He began to relate to others in a different way. His orientation was no longer upon himself but upon the people around him. Verse 10 tells us that Levi is having a dinner party with other tax collectors. Among them was Jesus and his disciples. Levi offers his friends and colleagues an opportunity to meet Jesus and to experience the love and acceptance he has experienced.

Levi offers Christ to his tax collector friends. He introduces them to Jesus and to the people whose priorities have been reoriented by following Jesus.

It is important to understand that the people invited to the party were tax collectors who were widely regarded as thieves, liars, and traitors.  The others were sinners, those who violated the biblical and traditional purity laws. They were ceremonially unclean. Matthew wants his readers to know the objections the religious leaders had of the early followers of Jesus. In other words, why does the church violate the biblical and traditional standards of God’s holiness by “eating with tax collectors and sinners.”

Offer Them Christ

Here is where “offer them Christ” comes in. When Jesus says, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick,” he is adapting a proverb to express the mission of God. It is the healing power present that overcomes sickness. It is healing and not sickness that is contagious. So, the holy love of God present in Jesus is not contaminated by his association with sinners but overcomes the brokenness and sin. It is holiness as right living and right relationships that are contagious.  

Jesus came to break down barriers and restore relationships between separated groups of human beings, and between human beings and God.  

So, this story of Jesus calling Levi to follow is an example of who you are is how you lead. Being called and chosen by Jesus is to have your priorities of living and loving directed by Jesus. It is to offer Christ at all times and in all places with all people. The offer of Christ is not based upon another’s worth; it is based upon God’s love. You have the opportunity and responsibility to offer Christ where you are and with whomever you encounter. Why? Because God’s love is always at work in the lives of people you meet and whom you introduce to Jesus.

Sharing God’s Love

Let’s take a moment to reflect upon a similar story. Think about another tax collector who followed Jesus. Luke tells of a time when Jesus was traveling through Jericho. “A man was there named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector” (Luke 19:2). He wanted to see who Jesus was, but he couldn’t because of the crowd. So, he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus (Luke 19:3-4).

When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today” (Luke 19:5).

My question is, did Zacchaeus met Jesus at a dinner party at Levi’s house? And when he heard that Jesus was coming to Jericho, did he want to see Jesus for himself? Could it be that when Jesus saw Zaccheaus, he told him to come down out of the tree because Jesus was ready to call another tax collector and sinner to reorient his life and to follow?

As a follower of Jesus, you are a channel of God’s love to others. Who is Jesus inviting to follow because of your offer of God’s love? Offering Christ is who you are as a follower of Jesus. And who you are is how you lead.

Respond

Today be aware of the opportunities you have to offer Christ. Who might Jesus be calling to follow because of your offer? Take notice of each person and your response or reaction to offering Christ. Be mindful of the impact of introducing people to God’s love in the way you receive them and respond to them. Be aware of what you think and feel about each situation and circumstance. Begin to be intentional in offering Christ in the ways you live your life.  

Prayer

O God, make me aware of the people around me today. By your grace, help me be an extension of your love in the lives of the people you send my way. Help me yield a little more of myself so that I may love others as you have loved me in Jesus. Help me be faithful to your call upon my life so that I may be a blessing to someone, somewhere, today. Amen

Return

As you reflect upon your day, give thanks for God’s call to follow Jesus. In what ways did you offer Christ? With whom did you share God’s love? How did you invite people into God’s movement of grace and mission of love? Where did you notice others offering Christ to strangers, outsiders, and to those considered unworthy? With whom do you need to celebrate the love you experienced in and through them? What will you do differently tomorrow?

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Living and Leading as a Christ-Centered Leader

As a Jesus follower, you have been called and gifted to be a Christ-centered leader. You have a responsibility to live and lead as God has created you to live and lead. The question is, “What does it mean to live and lead as a Christ-centered leader?

The Role of a Christ-Centered Leader

Your first and primary task is to be faithful to Jesus. So, your first task is not a political or social one, though you will certainly make an impact politically and socially. Your first task is to be shaped by God’s love so you can be who God created you to be. It is to live and be the truth of God’s love in everyday situations and circumstances.

Your goal is not success in terms of bigger and better or more people means more money. Your goal is to demonstrate that Jesus makes possible a new order based not upon what works or competing self-interest, but upon the truth of God’s love.

Living Out God’s Love in Everyday Situations

This is not a withdrawal from the world. God’s love invites, leads, and drives you into the world to work for justice and peace. You must take seriously the political processes that change systems and structures. You develop relationships with political leaders and assist them in working for the common good.

But you don’t put your hope in the political systems that serve self-interest or in societal norms of personal preference. As you live and lead you offer an invitation to the people entrusted to your care to confront the world. In obedience to Jesus’ invitation, you are first focused upon who you are by responding to, “Come unto me,” and “Do this in remembrance of me,” and then upon living as you have been created to live, “Follow me” and “Go into all the world.”

Balancing Belief and Behavior

As a leader of the people of God, you serve the church and the community. Your service is not in running errands but in providing light. You lead to provide an imaginative alternative to the culture. As you model leadership, you are providing hope for people who are struggling to create the structures and alternatives that the world cannot achieve through governmental power of self-interest.

You might wonder if your leading is worth the hassle. Here is where your courageous leadership comes in. Keep your eyes, heart, and mind on Jesus. When you feel your living and leading are ineffective, remember that Jesus appeared ineffective in the world. Then remember that his power was the truth of the nature of God and not power, strength, and violence within the culture.

Modeling Forgiveness and Reconciliation

Modeling God’s love will always be more radical than the world can provide. Legislation cannot serve the poorest and most powerless. The best policies can do is to give the less powerful a little more power and call it justice. The world cannot give dignity to the young, the old, the sick, the disabled, the marginalized. All it can do is hand out a few meager rights and call it compassion.

For the poorest of the poor and the sickest of the sick, there must be hope that is not dependent upon public policy but upon the promise that God’s love is stronger than death, and that nothing can separate them or any of us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. You living into your call and giftedness helps bring that about.

As a Christ-centered leader, your living and loving help develop and provide a radical hope that forms a community of faith around the truth of God’s love as experienced in and through Jesus.

So first be faithful to Jesus.

Putting Faith into Everyday Action

Your second task is to live your faith in everyday relationships, encounters, situations, and circumstances. It is important to put belief and behavior together. As a leader influenced by John Wesley, you balance personal piety and social holiness.

In the scripture, proper behavior is a response to faith in God who is acting on your behalf. God’s requirements are always preceded by God’s actions. In the Old Testament, belief and behavior are brought together, “Hear O Israel: The Lord your God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4). That is the belief. Then follows the response: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). So, to be faithful to Jesus is to live your faith in everyday relationships, encounters, situations, and circumstances.

The Ten Commandments begin with the words, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Exodus 20:2). That is faith and belief. The commandments represent appropriate behavior in response to God’s acts of deliverance from slavery in Egypt.

The Good News in the New Testament

In good news according to Mark, Jesus walked along the lakeside announcing, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near” (Mark 1:15). That was an invitation to faith. It was an invitation to believe that God was bringing a new world. Then comes the appropriate response, “Repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:15). All of Jesus’ demands, from “Come follow me” to “Take up your cross,” from “Go sell all you have and give to the poor” to “Turn the other cheek and go the second mile” are rooted in God’s invitation to love.

Paul in his letter to the Galatians writes, “For freedom Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1). That is belief. Jesus has set us free. Then comes the invitation to respond, “Stand firm, therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery…For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters” (Galatians 5:1, 13). Then Paul offers the expected behavior, “Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another” (Galatians 5:13). So, to be faithful to Jesus is to live your faith in everyday situations and circumstances.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (II Corinthians 5:19). God acted in Jesus to reconcile us to God, to our true selves, and to others. In other words, God has acted in Jesus so we can be who God created us to be. The question is, what is the behavior to be balanced with this good news? Paul answers the questions for us, “And entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us” (II Corinthians 5:19-20). Your response to God’s reconciling love is to model through your leading the gifts of forgiveness and reconciliation.

The Leadership Role of Gratitude

At the heart of your faith and action is gratitude for God’s faith in you. Gratitude transforms obedience from a dreaded duty to a joyful expression of love. We simply enjoy doing what we do out of gratitude and love.

I remember a friend of mine telling me about his wife being on a business trip and what his children did to surprise her. On the day she was to return, my friend said he tried to persuade his son and daughter to help him clean the house before she arrived. He said they grumbled and procrastinated because they had other things to do.

As he served them their lunch, he said to them, “You know, Mom has been very good to us. She works hard and long, and she loves us very much. She will come in the door tonight with a hug and a gift for each of us. That is who she is. We are lucky to be loved so much. Why don’t we give her something as a gift? Let’s give her a clean house.” The children agreed. After lunch, they helped clean the house and even had fun making a game out of it.

I remember thinking that a clean house became a grateful response to a loving parent. That is behavior linked to belief. What a beautiful expression of faith in Jesus lived out in everyday situations and circumstances. That is what it means to lead as a Christ-centered leader. First you are faithful to Jesus, and you live your faith in everyday relationships, encounters, situations, and circumstances.

The Impact of Leadership

As a Christ-centered leader, why do you put your faith in Jesus into everyday action?

Several years ago, I read a story of a Canadian photographer by the name of Yousaf Karsh. The only portrait he took of a person’s back was taken of Pablo Casals in a small French Abbey in 1954. Karsh said he was setting up his equipment when Casals began playing Bach on his cello. Karsh was so taken by the music that he said he almost forgot why he was there. He took his portrait of Casals with the musician bent over his cello, frozen in time against the plain stone wall of the chapel. Karsh said that he took it that way to capture the loneliness of the truly great artists and the loneliness of the exile.

You are God’s Masterpiece

Years later, when the portrait was on exhibit in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, another old man came day after day and stood for long periods of time in front of the portrait. The Curator of the Museum noticed him, and when his curiosity got the best of him, he went over, tapped the man on the shoulder, and asked him why he stood so long before the picture. The old man, with obvious irritation, turned toward the curator and said, “Hush, young man. Can’t you see I’m listening to the music!”

Karsh watched Casals play his cello and presented a picture. The old man, looking at that picture, could hear the music.

You have been called and gifted to be a Christ-centered leader. You have a responsibility to live and lead as God has created you to live and lead. As a leader, you are God’s model, God’s picture, God’s music of what God wants your community, your neighborhood, your city to be.

As a Christ-centered leader, when you live and lead with God’s love you provide a radical hope all people need. Your music, your leadership, will permeate the whole of life and people will listen to you and follow you to Jesus.

Remember, who you are is how you lead!

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Leading Through Divisiveness

May I state the obvious? We are living in a time of great division in our country, our communities, and even our churches. Whether it be political divisions caused by particular agendas or a cancel culture perpetuated by social media, there is a tension that leads to fear and a lack of trust. 

There are no easy answers on how to lead through divisiveness. One of the first places I go to is to the scripture. But we have just come through a time in the church when scripture has been used to separate people. It has been painful to experience. Something like this has happened: If you and I don’t agree on the interpretation of certain scriptures then there must be something wrong with you or at least one of us. Because of how scripture has been used as a weapon, it is hard to trust the truth that leads us to God’s Word made flesh in Jesus. 

Don’t Confuse Your Understanding of Scripture

At other times people have confused their political views with their understanding of scripture. Because we have made scripture more about morality than we have reality, people use scripture to support their views more than allow scripture to transform their lives. There is a culture of fear growing around the understanding of scripture. I think of it this way. You start talking about God’s love for all people and an old snake will come crawling out from under a rock to scare you away. 

So, let me put it into context and then we will explore a scripture that can be helpful in meeting the challenge of divisiveness. 

The Word Made Flesh

As Christians, we believe in the Word made flesh, not in the Word made words. The scripture points us to Jesus, God’s love in human form. Following Jesus is more than a set of beliefs. It is a way of life. Following Jesus is about loving one another, especially those who are strangers or who are different from us.    

According to the scripture, the world will know that we are followers of Jesus, God’s love in human form, by the way we relate to, interact with, and love one another. When I start with that perspective, I am convinced that Scripture provides a way to lead through divisiveness. 

Read Acts 17:24-25 

For the total story, read Acts 17:16-34

24 The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things.  

Reflect

The apostle Paul found himself in a new world. His old world in which all questions had clear, precise answers had been shattered by his Damascus Road encounter with the Risen Christ. 

He had to sort out that experience and its impact on his perception of himself, his tradition, and what he believed. He needed direction to begin his mission of love and acceptance of the Gentiles. Before his experience with Jesus, he had considered the Gentiles beyond mercy. Now, he was an ambassador of love to the Gentiles. 

New World Required New Tools

He traveled to Athens, a center of Greek culture, where new ideas, competing values, and diverse philosophies were the norm of the city. Sharing the gospel of God’s love in that setting demanded that simplistic answers to difficult questions would not suffice. 

The new world required new tools. So, Paul had to learn new ways, understand his context, and earn respect to deal with the new world that was thrust upon him. He had to take what he knew and what he was learning to meet the demands of faith in the pluralist environment in which he found himself. 

How did he respond to the demands of the new environment? What tools did he use to meet the challenges of the new culture? 

Leading Through The Lens of Scripture

One of his tools was his grounding in the Hebrew scripture. In this story, he is surrounded by a different worldview. He was dealing with people who were more familiar with Zeus than with Yahweh. Their heroes were Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle rather than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

Paul saw the situation through the lenses of scripture. The Old Testament’s emphasis on belief in one God and its warning against graven images shaped Paul’s perception of and response to the Greek world. His grounding in scripture shaped him and provided a framework for approaching a different culture. The scripture provided a foundation upon which his new faith in Christ was built. 

The shifting sands of our world today, with its conflicting values and diverse relationships, call us to reexamine the primary tool for discerning God’s presence and purposes. The Bible has always been our primary witness to God’s revelation and loving activity.   

Use the Bible for Illumination

John Wesley dealt with the changing social currents of eighteenth-century England with his faith firmly rooted in scripture. He was so steeped in the biblical story that every personal and societal issue he faced was shaped by the bible. 

The Bible remains the primary tool we use to approach the issues of our time. The question is, how do you use the truth of the scripture to address the challenges of our day? William Sloan Coffin, former chaplain of Yale University and senior minister of Riverside Church in New York City, once wrote, “Too many Christians use the Bible as a drunk does a lamppost, more for support rather than for illumination.”   

Instead of scripture providing a light to help us navigate our way through conflicting values, it is being used to support our political and theological perspectives. Instead of scripture being a framework for approaching cultural change, it is being used to separate and divide people. 

How Do You Read Scripture?

As I have written before, it matters where you start. If you start from the perspective that scripture supports your point of view, you will use scripture as a weapon to get what you want. If you start from the perspective that scripture gives you direction on loving and relating to people, you will be transformed to love others as God in Jesus has loved you.   

Paul used his grounding in scripture to shape his understanding of people and the culture in which they lived. The scripture became his framework for approaching a different culture and a foundation upon which his new faith in Jesus was built. 

The Tool of Tradition

Another one of Paul’s tools was tradition. As a respected Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, Paul was accustomed to interpreting and applying Jewish tradition to new situations. He knew the Torah and rabbinic literature. He drew upon his tradition when confronting the alien gods and philosophies of the Greek world. It is obvious from Paul’s speech to the philosophers that passages from the Wisdom of Solomon, from Isaiah 42, and from Psalm 74 were in his mind and heart. 

He not only drew upon his own tradition, but he took the tradition of the Athenians seriously. He quoted from their philosophers and called attention to their heritage. He saw connecting points between his own tradition and those of the people whom he confronted in Athens. 

Responding to Cultural Change

When confronted by personal tragedies as well as new challenges in the form of cultural change you must not only stay in touch with your values and traditions. You must also learn about and understand the values and traditions of others. 

You need to be clear about who you are in order to stand firm when the ground starts moving. But if you are aware only of your own tradition you will not be able to develop the relationships needed to address the complex challenges when the ground is moving. 

Claiming Tradition and Relating to Others

Please continue to learn about and stand upon the tradition of historic creeds and liturgies, the great stories of faith, the bloodstained examples of the martyrs, and the heartwarming sermons and hymns of our ancestors. They are part of who you are as a follower of Jesus. 

But, at the same time, don’t forget that those to whom you are trying to relate have their own creeds and liturgies, great heroes of faith, and heartwarming stories and songs. Remember, it is God’s love for you in and through Jesus who is at the heart of your tradition. 

The Power of Experience

For Paul confronting the Athenians, scripture and tradition were not enough. He had to call upon another tool in order for the gospel to be relevant in a new setting. Paul met the Athenians at the point of their experience. 

He acknowledged their desire to know the Divine. Rather than put down their experience, he affirmed their genuine search for the ultimate. He accepted the validity of the insights of their traditions and heroes. Rather than introduce them to God, as if they had no experience of the Divine, Paul named that which they had experienced but had labeled unknown. 

The Validity of Experience

Here is a clue to courageous and faithful leadership in a world of conflicting voices and values. If there is validity in your experience, then you will allow others the validity of their own experience. As a follower of Jesus, you know that God is present in and with every person and in all of life. 

In other words, God is not present with some absent from others. All persons experience the reality of God in whom “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). But, not all persons, know that it is God whom they experience.  

In Jesus, God has claimed each and every one of us. You have been claimed as a member of a loving household and called to be a giver of God’s grace. The scriptural story is a story of God’s love for all persons, but not all people know they have been claimed by God. Your experience of God’s love is a tool to connect with the experience of others and to identify the intersections of God’s grace and their experience. 

Love as You Have Been Loved

Just as Paul with the Athenians, it is your task as a Christ-centered leader, to be open to God’s presence in others and to hold the common experience in the light of scripture and tradition. God often comes to us from the experiences of those whom we assume do not know God. 

So, keep in your heart and mind the command to love as you have been loved. It remains at the center of what it means to be faithful to God. In the world in which we live, many complex realities are before us. The fundamental question remains the same, “Where have you experienced the presence and reality of God? 

The Tool of Reason

Notice that Paul did not stop with the Athenians’ unnamed experience. He connected their experience to the Risen Christ, who is the shape and source of authentic love. Scripture, tradition, and experience were resources used by Paul as he stood in the Areopagus. But he had one more vital tool, reason. 

The Athenian philosophers worshiped at the altar of reason, so Paul met them there. Drawing upon the insights of their philosophers, Paul attempted to connect the Greek culture to the God made known in Jesus. Paul told the Athenians, “From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth” (Acts 17:26). He then quoted their own thinkers and poets: “In him we live and move and have our being…For we too are his offspring” (Acts 17:28). 

Reason, motivated by love, under the banner of faith, can be fertile ground for eternal truth to grow and mature. In 1768, John Wesley wrote a reply to a theologian at Cambridge University, “To renounce reason is to renounce religion…for all irrational religion is false religion.” 

Reason as a Path of God’s Presence

When I was in Peoria, there was a young man, a physicist, who had difficulty believing God’s love for him, especially in and through Jesus. He spent hours reading, researching, and asking questions. Eventually, he took a step toward God. 

He found the universe to be full of mystery and wonder. He made his way to worship. In the liturgy, he found a way to express his sense of praise and adoration toward a reality he called God. Through many conversations and reading the writings of theologians, he was challenged to read the scripture with a fresh openness and to recite the creeds with integrity. Reason was a path of God’s presence for him. 

Ask Your Questions

I know a pastor who tells the story of receiving a letter from an eleven-year-old member of his congregation. Here is part of the letter: 

In the Bible, it says that several days after making the earth God made Adam and Eve. But in science, it says that no one lived before the dinosaurs or while they were living. How could dinosaurs have lived for millions of years before people if God made Adam and Eve seven days after the earth was made? …I hope you won’t be mad at me, but sometimes I have trouble believing…but I still believe in God. 

The pastor encouraged him to ask his questions. Somewhere this bright and articulate eleven-year-old got the notion that to use his mind was outside of having faith. Because he asked questions it meant he did not or could not believe. On the contrary, through reason, he and many others have come to glorify the God who is the source of all truth. 

Scripture, Tradition, Experience & Reason

Paul used the tools of scripture, tradition, experience, and reason to relate to the Athenians and to introduce them to the God who they had labeled unknown. These same tools are instruments by which God comes to us from that world out there beyond our church walls. They are the means by which God transforms the world through us. 

Respond

As a Christ-centered leader, how will you lead through the divisiveness of our culture? Here is something to keep in your heart and mind as you navigate the separation and pain of our day. 

  • It is not scripture, tradition, experience, or reason that creates the hostility we experience today. It is fear. So, as you lead with courage keep this in your heart. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). 
  • It is love that banishes fear and prejudice, which allows us to grow in understanding, freedom, and compassion. It was love that made Jesus draw to himself those who the world abandoned. It is love that will assist us to do the same. 
  • In the midst of the divisiveness, be who you are supposed to be. Love as you have been loved. Learn from Paul’s response to the challenges he faced in Athens and lead as you were created to lead. Be who you are because who you are is how you lead. 

Return

Give God thanks for the people you met today. Where did you see God? What new thing was taking place? Who from the community did you meet? What did you learn about them? How can you best develop a relationship with them? Through whom did you receive love and care? What will you do differently tomorrow? Give God thanks for the opportunities you had to love others as you have been loved.

Prayer

O God, give me eyes to see and ears to hear you in the lives of the people entrusted to my care. Create a pure heart in me, because I have learned that the pure in heart can see you. With my pure heart, and open eyes and ears, help me experience you in the people I meet tomorrow and every day. In the name of Jesus. Amen