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Text of the page (random words):
jesus cares about all of your time not just an hour or two on sunday we ll spend a couple of days this week thinking about intentional faith development what is sometimes spoken of as spiritual formation how do you go about creating habits and practices that cause you to become more like jesus one answer to the question simply has to do with how we steward the gift of time so think through your plans for this day how might you take your schedule and make it a holy offering unto the lord prayer gracious god my times are in your hand ps 31 15 and not only my times but my time the hours and minutes of this day that you ve placed before me order my steps making every minute yours lived thankfully and for your glory through christ our lord amen posted by mark crumpler at 5 00 am no comments tuesday february 09 2016 where does envy come from so cain was very angry and his face was downcast genesis 4 5 saint thomas aquinas defined envy as sorrow at another s good we experience that sorrow in different ways someone else s blessing may feel like your curse their gain feels like you ve been deprived their gladness galls you and their celebrating sends you into a tailspin of self pity at its root that sorrow the bitter gnawing we name envy grows in the soil of comparison we look at the life we have and we compare it to the life someone else has most often we re comparing ourselves with the life we think they have either way the flower of that kind of comparing is envy envy isn t the original sin but it makes its debut very early in the biblical story we ve been struggling with this for a long time an age old struggle both cain and abel presented offerings to god but the lord looked with favor on abel and his offering gen 4 5 why him cain asked the same question it ate at him making him sad and angry at the same time cain s sorrow at his brother s good drove him to kill his brother and then there s the story of joseph joseph s eleven brothers felt sorrow over joseph s good the story in genesis 37 never uses the word envy but it repeatedly uses the word hate that s how their sorrow felt they hated joseph they were jealous of him as we read the story we re hardly surprised that this is so for one thing what we see in joseph is less than flattering he is introduced to us as a tattle tale a brat on top of that he insists on sharing his self aggrandizing dreams with his family furthermore all of the things that typically evoke envy are present in the story we often envy someone s possessions and joseph was the only brother with a tailor made multi colored robe we often envy someone s rank or position and joseph clearly has a special place in jacob s affections jacob loved joseph more than any of his sons gen 37 3 we may also envy someone s talents or gifts obnoxious though he was joseph had a gift for dreams and what they meant joseph seems to have had all the good so we re not surprised at the brothers sorrow but here s the problem while envy may be sorrow directed at another s good that sorrow is not really caused by another s good i shouldn t feel this way but i do jesus made it perfectly clear that envy along with a menu of other evils has its origin in the human heart to be more specific my envy can never be blamed on someone else my sorrow be it anger or self pity is not created by someone else s good rather my envy comes from my own heart indeed the human heart is the primary residence of all sin this means that pornography does not make a person lust food does not make a person a glutton money does not make a person greedy and the windfall of blessing that comes to my neighbor does not make me envy the corrosive acid that is envy will not be abated by something external to you the remedy for what ails us is not to be found in a different turn of events or new set of circumstances and what s more you can tell yourself i shouldn t feel this way but you still will envy can t be cured by earnest efforts at doing or being a better person what we need is a new heart the hebrew prophets anticipated a time when god would make a new covenant with us writing his law on our heart that new covenant became a reality in the death and resurrection of jesus envy is put to death at the cross of jesus do you feel sorrow at another s good today stop looking at them and look to jesus the only one able to change what we cannot change prayer merciful god change my heart forgive the sorrow i ve carried because of someone else s good grant me the grace that replaces sorrow with joy i would leave my envy at the foot of the cross today receiving the gift of new life through jesus in whose name i pray amen posted by mark crumpler at 11 33 am no comments thursday november 26 2015 touch hands a thanksgiving poem thanks to dr john roark for sharing this poem i can t verify authorship a nearly identical poem is attributed to james patrick erdman touch hands as years go on and heads turn gray how fast the guests do go touch hands touch hands with those who stay young hands to old strong hands to weak around the thanksgiving board touch hands the false forget the foe forgive for every guest will go and every fire burn low and cabin empty stand forgive forget for who may say thanksgiving day will ever come again for friend or foe alike touch hands posted by mark crumpler at 6 41 am 2 comments tuesday november 24 2015 how can something i m so bad at be god s will for my life rejoice always pray without ceasing give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of god in christ jesus for you 1 thess 5 16 18 full disclosure the words above that make up the title of this reflection are borrowed shamelessly ripped off they come from one of my favorite books on prayer a volume by david hansen titled long wandering prayer an invitation to walk with god by far the most memorable words of the book or at least the words that somehow lodged in my memory are the words that that i borrowed and placed at the top of this page this is title six of the book how can something i m so bad at be god s will for my life great question i ve never said it quite that way but i ve wondered the same thing maybe you have too are we there yet let s get specific hansen is talking about prayer the bible instructs us to pray without ceasing but that doesn t come naturally to many of us i don t always feel competent or confident in my praying why then does god will that i do this it seems like there would be a closer connection between god s will and my skill hang on there s more the short verse that tells us to pray without ceasing is followed immediately by another short verse that tells us to give thanks give thanks in all circumstances for this is god s will for you in christ jesus turns out i m not any better at always giving thanks than i am at ceaseless praying this week marks the more or less official launch of the holiday season on thursday we will celebrate a day of thanksgiving for some thanksgiving is little more than a synonym for food and football for others the day is an occasion to genuinely express gratitude and then there are those for whom the day poses a difficult challenge the scripture says to give thanks in all circumstances but maybe you re just not there right now at some level the next 48 hours loom hard and painful because your reservoir of gratitude is bone dry you know that the bible says to be thankful you tell yourself you should be thankful but for whatever reason thankfulness seems elusive this year so how can something you re so bad at be god s will for your life if you re just not there yet how can you get to gratitude thinking hard and thanking well some time ago i did a memorial service for a man whom i did not know not an uncommon thing for pastors to do when i asked his daughter to tell me about her dad she handed to me a ten page type written document years before his death her dad had written a brief history of the most significant moments of his life beginning with his birth in the late 1930s the year by year synopsis contained not one word of religious language but as i read it god s grace and mercy kept showing up in his story laced through the years did he see it or recognize it or know what to name it did he know where and who it came from i believe so but whether he ever named it grace or not that s exactly what it was you don t have to type a ten page document but maybe we get to gratitude by thinking hard about our life and discerning the gifts that we cannot explain or take credit for can we take credit for anything we make a mistake if we expect thanksgiving to well up within us naturally a geyser of positive emotion and good will you may feel like you re bad at giving thanks but we don t give thanks because we re good at it we give thanks because god is good to us thanking well just might require thinking hard about your life sighting and naming evidences of grace can you see them in your story this week prayer apart from your grace o god our hearts are not inclined to gratitude to give thanks in all things we need the help of your spirit opening our eyes to mercies that come to us with each new day help us to see them and make us thankful we ask in jesus s name amen posted by mark crumpler at 1 57 pm no comments tuesday november 17 2015 the myth of a safe distance then the lord said i have surely seen the affliction of my people and i have come down to deliver them exodus 3 7 8 last month during a two week pilgrimage in the holy land our itinerary took us to a site referred to in the new testament as caesarea philippi today the site is called banias traveling to caesarea philippi takes you into the mountainous region of extreme northern israel called the golan heights on this day our guide and driver navigated a narrow road that led to a scenic overlook allowing us an expansive view into syria this place is designed for tourists complete with a gift shop and refreshment vendors signs marking the syrian border were only a few yards away from where we stood what we saw from that mountain belied everything i had been hearing in the news about syria the day was bright and warm the skies were clear and the view that stretched out in front of us appeared calm even inviting the view was beautiful until we heard the explosions our desire for distance initially i wasn t sure i had heard what i thought i had heard but soon the sounds came again and then again and on the far horizon a plume of smoke was rising this otherwise picturesque scene was marred by the sights and sounds of war what had previously been only a brief news report was now very real to us we were looking at a ravaged land what americans regard as a horrific anomaly happens every day in syria i ll never forget the sights and sounds of those explosions and i ll never forget my reaction to what i heard and saw i wasn t afraid none of us were directly threatened by what was happening some of our group spoke with un observers there who were watching with stoic and objectified interest more than fear i felt a sadness quickly followed by a strong desire to leave i just wanted to get away from that place i wanted to get back to the calm waters of the sea of galilee the comfort of my hotel room and ultimately back home i wanted to put as much distance between myself and syria as i possibly could of course millions of syrians are trying to do the very same thing the enemy of justice distance can take a variety of forms the most obvious is literal physical distance damascus and atlanta are separated by a large ocean and more than six thousand miles i can hear about what s happening there feel concern and sympathy while also feeling removed and grateful that it isn t happening here distance can also be emotional you can be right in the middle of something and yet be disconnected aloof you re there but you re not present the hebrew prophets admonished god s people for failing to do justice distance doesn t look like hostile disregard for others but it allows us to be aware without being impacted for this reason distance is the enemy of justice the attacks in paris over the weekend disturb us not only for the tragic loss of life involved but for the loss of our imagined distance from the reach of threat and danger there are awful things happening in this world and we want all the distance from them that we can get but to truly do justice requires getting close getting involved getting in the mess of our unjust world that s not to say you need to go to syria there s plenty of mess right where you live our god is not a distant god god sees the plight of his people and hears their cries god may not act as speedily as we wish but neither will he remain aloof and removed from this world distance is the enemy of justice how will you walk with god through this day drawing near to what is broken bringing wholeness doing justice prayer merciful and just god you draw near to those in affliction and those who walk with you must do the same we confess that we prefer a safe distance that lets us feel concern without getting involved grant us the courage we need to draw near to our broken world bringing the wholeness and justice that comes through jesus christ in whose name we pray amen posted by mark crumpler at 9 39 pm 2 comments thursday november 05 2015 living with expectancy one of his disciples andrew simon peter s brother said to him there is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish but what are they for so many jesus said have the people sit down john 6 8 9 consider this question and respond on a scale of 1 10 as you begin this day or continue to move through it depending on when you read this how would you rate your level of expectancy read the question one more time slowly note that you are not being asked about your level of excitement about your day excitement and expectancy are not the same thing excitement is a pleasure response to what the day holds for us when we see good things ahead we re excited about the day when the calendar has us engaging with people we really enjoy or doing things that bring us deep satisfaction we sense within ourselves an eagerness to engage what s in front of us the pleasures we see and the energy we feel we name excitement some of you are looking at your day and the last thing you feel right now is excitement boredom possibly dread hopefully not but excitement hardly have the people sit down expectancy is a cousin to excitement but not an identical twin they share a common sense of looking forward to something but being expectant doesn t require being excited expectancy grows in mystery in the unknown or unclear spaces of what you re dealing with being expectant means you know that something is about to happen you just don t know exactly what it is this week we ve been thinking about how jesus fed an enormous crowd of people with a boy s sack lunch five barley loaves and two fish to be precise jesus had presented his disciples with the problem of ...
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