HONORING ONE ANOTHER

“Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.”  (Romans 12:9-10 NLT)

We can honor others in one of two ways. One involves ulterior motives. We honor our bosses so they will reward us, our employees so they will work harder, the wealthy so they will contribute to our causes, the powerful so they will use their power for us and not against us. God’s way involves love. As Christians, we honor people because they have been created in God’s image, because they are brothers and sisters in Christ, and because they have a unique contribution to make to Christ’s church. Does God’s way of honoring others sound too difficult for your competitive nature? Why not try to “outdo one another in showing honor” (Romans 12:10 ESV)? Put others first! 

-- From the “Life Application Study Bible”

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GIVING A BUM A HUG

I walked down Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. There was a filthy bum, covered with soot from head to toe. He had a huge beard. I'll never forget the beard. It was a gigantic beard with rotted food stuck in it. He held a cup of McDonald's coffee and mumbled as he walked along the street. He spotted me and said, "Hey, Mister. You want some of my coffee?"

I knew I should take some to be nice, and I did. I gave it back to him and said, "You're being pretty generous giving away your coffee this morning. What's gotten into you that you're giving away your coffee all of a sudden?" He said, "Well, the coffee was especially delicious this morning, and I figured if God gives you something good you ought to share it with people."

I figured, this is the perfect set up. I said, "Is there anything I can give you in return?" I'm sure he's going to hit me for five dollars. He said, "Yeah, you can give me a hug." I was hoping for the five dollars.

He put his arms around me. I put my arms around him. And I realized something. He wasn't going to let me go. He was holding onto me. Here I am an establishment guy, and this bum is hanging on to me. He's hugging me. He's not going to let me go. People are passing on the street. They're staring at me. I'm embarrassed. But little by little my embarrassment turned to awe.

I heard a voice echoing down the corridors of time saying, I was hungry. Did you feed Me? I was naked. Did you clothe Me? I was sick. Did you care for Me? I was the bum you met on Chestnut Street. Did you hug Me? For if you did it unto the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you did it to Me. And if you failed to do it unto the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you failed to do it unto Me. 

-- Tony Campolo (1935-2024) in "Year of Jubilee," Preaching Today

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WE ARE FAMILY – Part 2

“If someone says, 'I love God,' but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don't love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?”  (1 John 4:20 NLT)

We need to reflect on the implications of this image [of family] for our experiences of church. We frequently talk of churches and act as though they were branches of an organization, rather than as extended families. We often reduce the lists of qualities in passages like Galatians 5:22 and Colossians 3:12-14 to a purely individual affair. We lift ourselves out of our family context and speak about confidence and generosity etc. in some vague and abstract sense, rather than as a call to love deeply from the heart those people with whom we church. Without concrete long-term evidence of such love for each other our “Christian” communities are a [sham] (John 13:34-35).

-- Mark Strom in “The Symphony of Scripture: Making Sense of the Bible’s Many Themes”

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WE ARE FAMILY – Part 1

“So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when He adopted you as His own children. Now we call Him, ‘Abba, Father.’ For His Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.” (Romans 8:15-16 NLT)

Part of the normalness and significance of churches for the New Testament writers came from the association of these groups with homes. Houses were not only the context for these gatherings, they provided an essential perspective on what living as Christians meant. Christians were family and… this experience mirrored the heavenly reality.

The New Testament almost always used the Father/Son image to explain the relationship of Jesus and God. It was, therefore, natural to describe Christians as adopted into this family (e.g., 1 Thessalonians 1:10; Galatians 4:4-6). Thus Christian growth was a matter of maturing from infancy to adulthood (Ephesians 4:11-16; Hebrews 12:4-9) and of learning to relate to each other intimately and responsibly as in an ideal family (e.g., 1 Corinthians 8:11-13; Galatians 6:10; Colossians 3:12-14; 1 John 2:28 – 3:3). 

-- Mark Strom in “The Symphony of Scripture: Making Sense of the Bible’s Many Themes”

#5422

A PRAYER FOR THE U.S. ELECTION

“The government will rest on His shoulders. And He will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  (Isaiah 9:6b NLT)

O God, we acknowledge You today as Lord, not only of individuals but of nations and governments as well. As the Scripture says, we know that the government rests on Your shoulders, yet we act as if it all depends on us. Grant us the grace and the courage to put our trust and hope in You. You are our God, and there is no other. We acknowledge You are Lord of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.

We confess that we are experiencing fear and anxiety today, yet we know You are greater than those things that come against us. We pray for the 2020 Presidential Election and ask for peace and safety for all, and for Your guidance.

We are grateful for the privilege of being able to organize ourselves politically. We are grateful for the freedom to vote and to express our political loyalties.

We confess to you sometimes we are so loyal to our politics that we lose sight of our brothers and sisters. We ask for eyes that are free from blindness so that we might see each other as brothers and sisters. We are one in the Body of Christ because we, all humanity, are created in Your image.

We confess our actions, our words, our rhetoric have caused divisions. We pray for this deeply divided nation. May we come together for the common good and do as you have called us to do - to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with You through creation. Help us act out of love, mercy, and justice rather than out of arrogance or fear.

God, our Creator, guide us in truth and love.

Help us to listen in love, work together in peace, and collaborate with one another as we seek to make our community and world the creation You intended from the beginning.

In the name of Jesus, our Savior, we pray. Amen.

-- from First United Methodist Church in Ormond Beach, Florida

#4964

FOUR WAYS CHURCH IS LIKE FAMILY

"They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”  (Acts 2:42, 46, 47 NIV)

1. We're joined together by something greater than our personal preferences or life circumstances. We don’t get to choose our family, and similarly, we don’t get to choose our church family. We are made God’s children through the Holy Spirit the moment we are saved (Romans 8:15-17). Families are bound by blood, just as Christians are bound by the blood Jesus shed on the cross for us.

2. We have our own traditions and celebrations that are passed down from generation to generation. My family has traditions for every major holiday. Dad always carves the turkey. Grandma makes sweet potato pie, and we always watch "A Christmas Story" on Christmas day. It’s almost a ritual. Likewise, the church has traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation. The Lord’s Supper, or communion, is a great example. For thousands of years, the Church has celebrated communion to remember that Jesus died for our sins on the cross (Matthew 26:26-28).

3. We don't always get along, but that doesn't stop us from having each other's back. Brothers and sisters fight. They get mad at each other, especially during the holidays. But if our siblings get hurt by someone else, we get protective. This happens in the church, too. We are going to make mistakes, and we choose to love each other enough to hold each other accountable for our behavior. That’s having each other’s back.

4. We get fed constantly, whether we're hungry or not. Every mom wants to make sure you’ve been fed. It doesn’t matter if you just had your second helping at a holiday dinner or not, they will make sure you got enough. Your church family wants to serve you in the same way at church. From daily devotionals. to serving opportunities. to small groups, to Sunday worship, there are a number of ways to be spiritually fed and grow in your relationship with Jesus.

-- Jason Far, adapted

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