“…I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” John 10:10b

The other day I had a memory of one of my grandmothers, my father’s mother. My grandma was a God fearing woman but she was frail from having rheumatic fever as a little girl which weakened her heart. She left this world at the age of 66 in 1965 when I was 7 years old. Because of that I don’t have many memories of her, but I do remember how much she loved the Lord. She played the piano, but only church songs; she was very active but only with the church. My grandma was United Brethren, but her belief was more of the Puritan nature; if you didn’t walk the straight and narrow you would fall out of God’s good graces.  

I remember a Christmas my parents gave my grandma a wonderful warm coat to help with her frail health. She wouldn’t accept it and made them take it back because she believed it was better to give than to receive, and she was undeserving of this gesture. As a 5 or 6-year-old this was very confusing to me. Was it wrong to receive gifts, to receive kindness? At times it saddens me to think that she might she might have not understood the love of God as not just giving but also in the receiving of God’s abundant love.

God created all things out of love and said “it was good.” God came to us in Jesus out of love, to show us love beyond measure and to bring freedom from what binds us. St. Paul prayed that we would be deeply rooted and grounded in love so that we would experience the boundless love of Jesus Christ. Receiving love abundantly does not mean a life without struggle or pain but rather a life deeply connected to what God is doing in the moment, in us, in our relationships with others, and the world around us. When living in abundant love, hope and joy are accessible, even in the midst of a pandemic.

In closing I offer St. Paul’s prayer and know that I pray this prayer with you and for all of you.

^“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit,and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth,and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine,to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.” Amen. Ephesians 3:14-21

Blessings,

Brenda

For by the grace given me, I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. ⁴ For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶ We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your^[a] faith; ⁷ if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; ⁸ if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead,^[b] do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. Romans 12:3-8

When COVID-19 embedded itself into our society, it leveled the playing field. We were all immediately faced with the question, “How do I do this now?” Whatever “this” is. We all were starting from the same point… brand new uncharted territory. For some people it was how do I teach? For others it was how do I keep my restaurant open, and those in the medical profession wondered how they could see their patients.  Churches weren’t any different. They too asked the question How do we do church when we can’t come together?

The blessing is we have started collaborating and supporting each other.  Immediately people started to come together and brought their gifts of creativity, communication, big picture visioning and innovation. Bishop Hagiya sees the value in the sharing of ideas and innovation so much that he has set up a place for this to happen virtually. Messy Church USA has brought leaders of Messy Churches to share with others how they have continued to worship with their Messy Church congregations. Our Vacation Church Camp was the result of a few people collaborating together. At our staff meetings we regularly share ideas that we have come across while talking with others. 

There are a couple of ironies in all of this collaboration.  The first one is that while we are in a time where we have to socially distance ourselves, we are connecting with those who are not geographically close. They are people we would have never thought to collaborate with.  In Romans, Paul tells us that we all have been blessed with different gifts and that together we make up the body of Christ.  In this time, we all are using our God given gifts and coming together as one to be the church in the world. We have never been the church more than we are now. And that is the second irony.

I wonder how you are using your gifts to collaborate with others to be the body of Christ we’ve been called to be?

Dear God,

You surprise us all, just when we think we are in the dark you bring light to show us a new way. We give thanks for the opportunities to come together in different ways, near and far. We give thanks for the many gifts you give us to bring to these collaboration efforts so that we can be the church without coming together in one time and place.

 Amen

Marty

² He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. ³ And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 18:2-4

Recently, our caregiver’s son put together a service project for their church, and he excitedly included my four-year-old daughter. They made notes inviting people to donate for a contactless food drive, dropped them off in their neighborhood, and then went back to collect the food off neighbors’ porches. This went on for about a week.

My daughter came home every afternoon wanting to write more notes to give to people to get them excited about the drive too.

As a mom, I was anxious. Not about walking the neighborhood. They went with our amazing caregiver. I was worried that people would ignore their carefully crafted notes, people wouldn’t donate, and the kids would go for their pick-up day only to be disappointed.  Yes, I recognize this is pessimistic. But my concern went beyond this particular drive.

These kids found their fire through service. They were exuberant, confident, and proud of their work. I did not want anything to disappoint them, dampen their zeal for helping others, or cause them to question the power of our Almighty God.

Thinking about it now, I was the one questioning. I was dwelling in a human-centric mentality, wallowing really, expecting to be disappointed. How often do we find ourselves here? Especially in these times. I don’t know about you, but I, unfortunately, am disappointed in people a lot lately. I wonder how difficult it is to stop debating the efficacy of masks and face shields and just to put one on for the betterment of our common man hoping that we’re doing some sort of good. I lament that we’ve stooped to talking about rights rather than caring about our neighbor.

This service project reminded me, though, to look to our children. Follow their lead. Match their zeal. These kids did not once question that people would donate. They expected it. And people came through. They collected a trunk full of food with grins on their faces, and they’re eager for their next project.

As kids head back to school (virtual, in-person, hybrid or otherwise), may we remember to look to them. They will again demonstrate their resilience, persistence, and positivity going through these current challenges. May we adopt that child-like spirit always, not allowing the world to make us cynical.

Emalee Sugano

Lord, thank you for our children. Their spirits continue to bring joy and positivity through all of our challenges. May we follow their lead, experiencing you in the simplest of ways. Show us your path to protect, honor, and bless your smallest creations.

“Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, ‘Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.’ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.” – Exodus 1:8-12

Our schedule of Bible reading for this Summer includes the epic stories of the line of Abraham and Sarah. One theme that runs through all of these stories is that God works through adversity. To be called by God, and to be in covenant with the Creator, does not mean that life is easier. In fact, being in relationship with God often results in greater struggle and challenge. The message that becomes clear is that God is present through these times and allows for these crises to become an occasion for growth, perseverance, and change; and for God’s purpose to prevail. This doesn’t mean that the pain and struggle are not real, nor that they are somehow diminished or made palatable. It simply means that God’s intent will find a way, despite – and sometimes through – adversity.

In the story of Jacob’s children in Egypt, and the Exodus saga, we find the mechanisms for how God prevails. We receive insight to both the oppressor and the oppressed. We certainly can see how in our history, attempts to put down, exploit, and marginalize immigrants and asylum seekers (based on our own fear) will often backfire!  And we can see how working together, recognizing our common hurts and hopes, forges a common identity and provides the strength to persevere.

In our current crisis, we all experience some form of pain, struggle, discontent, and dis-ease. Many of us have been touched by unexpected death or at least the realization of our own mortality. As the meme states, “We might not all be in the same boat, but we are all in the same storm.” Perhaps this realization of our common crisis will provide the occasion for us to rediscover our common identity as children of God. Perhaps in uniting to fight this common enemy, doing our part, we will come to that day when we will escape this captivity and celebrate the fact that each of us has value.

“Do I have any value?” is the question we will deal with in church this Sunday. (Spoiler alert: Yes you do! We are sure of this only when we recognize it as God-given.)  Here are the post-sermon discussion questions:

1. What are some things you have done to try to make people like you?
2. What is one of your gifts that you can use for the glory of God?
3. How can you show another that they have value?

God of the light and the darkness, remind us that you are always with us. Help us to know that you treasure each one of us and want the best for each. Free us from a need to prove ourselves worthy to receive your mercy; instead, receiving your grace, allow us to extend that love to others. Transform our hearts and minds, so that we will focus beyond ourselves, and allow your purpose to work itself out through us. We pray this in the name of Jesus our Savior and our friend. Amen.

Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress; I will not be shaken.My salvation and my honor depend on God he is my mighty rock, my refuge.Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.

Psalm 62:5-8

I have always loved looking at the night sky.  Even as a young girl I liked the feeling of the evening sky, it always felt like a hug from God to me.  During this time of living in a pandemic and social distance, I find comfort in the night sky.  Lately my family and I have been driving out to get away from some of the light pollution to see the recent comet and meteor showers.  Seeing just a small portion of God’s handiwork is utterly amazing. Looking up at all those stars, is truly comforting to me.  Knowing that God created the vastness of that sky and beyond, can bring me peace and allows my soul to rest.

Recently I found this prayer called “Lord it is Night”  I have been praying it at night and it creates in me a sense of calm and peace, knowing that God is ultimately in control and that we are a people who live in hope, not fear.  I hope this prayer does the same for you.

 Lord, it is night. The night is for stillness. Let us be still in the presence of God.

It is night after a long day. What has been done has been done; what has not been done has not been done; let it be.

The night is dark. Let our fears of the darkness of the world and of our own lives
rest in you.

The night is quiet. Let the quietness of your peace enfold us, all dear to us,
and all who have no peace.

The night heralds the dawn. Let us look expectantly to a new day, new joys,
new possibilities.

 In your name we pray.
Amen.

Stay safe, stay well and be the hope you wish to see in the world.

Suzanne