Welcome to the JCPC Daily Reflections Blog. Reflections are daily devotionals authored by JCPC pastors, staff and members and provide insight, guidance and comfort to help you make it through each day. If you’d like to receive Reflections each day via email, provide your email address.
"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are - no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought." Matthew 5:5 (The Message)
These wise words come from my desk calendar. In a season that can often get wrapped up in things, this was a meaningful message for me to hear. These words can keep us grounded. I understand what it means to feel content with who I am, but it has taken time to get there. I can also get derailed and caught up in the messages around me. After reading this, the question came to me, how do you teach this to someone?
I'm not sure how to teach it, but I do think it is learned through modeling and experience. At what point in your life, did you truly understand what it means. Was it a particular life experience? Was it something that someone said or did? Was it a series of situations that worked together to bring you to this revelation?
I think we learn more about being content, when we appreciate what we have and do not long for more. We value relationships and experiences over things. I think it also comes when you put the needs of others before yourself. I saw a glimpse of this on Saturday morning when we began our Advent preparations and traveled as a family to the Christmas tree farm. As we rode in the car, we talked about what kinds of ways we will prepare our home and our hearts for this season. We talked about ways that we can give to others. Will also knew that he would visit Santa while we were there. We asked if he had any ideas about what he might say. Without prompting, he said "First I need to tell him that our dog, Belle, needs a new bed and some treats. Then I'll tell him something I want this year." That's exactly what he did, he introduced Santa to our dog, Belle and then shared about her needs first.
I believe one message of this Advent season as we wait for the birth of Christ is about contentment with all the gifts we already have been given, putting the needs of others before ourselves, and then sharing the joy and hope that Christ's life offers with the whole world.
How can you do that today?
Prayer for Today
Gracious God, Thank you for the precious gift of the Advent season and the time we can experience contentment with ourselves. Help us to continue to appreciate all of the gifts that you offer to us each day. In Christ's Name, Amen.
We stared at the piles of donated shoes as we entered a local homeless shelter. The director had invited our youth group to help sort through the heaps of used footwear. We spent the morning searching for matches and lining them up in rows across the concrete floor. At the end of the day, we threw away more than half of the shoes because they were too damaged for others to use. Though the shelter couldn't stop people from giving poor quality items, they refused to distribute shoes that were in bad condition.
The Israelites struggled with giving God their damaged goods too. When He spoke through the prophet Malachi, He rebuked the Israelites for sacrificing blind, lame, or diseased animals when they had strong animals to offer (Malachi 1:6-8). He announced His displeasure (v. 10), affirmed His worthiness, and reprimanded the Israelites for keeping the best for themselves (v. 14). But God also promised to send the Messiah, whose love and grace would transform their hearts and ignite their desire to bring offerings that would be pleasing to Him (3:1-4).
At times, it can be tempting to give God our leftovers. We praise Him and expect Him to give us His all, yet we offer Him our crumbs. When we consider all God has done, we can rejoice in celebrating His worthiness and giving Him our very best.
Prayer for Today
Mighty God, please help me place You first and give You my best. Amen.
"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
-1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV
Do you hear that? Christmas music!! And it was on the radio BEFORE Thanksgiving even got here!! Now we have Black Friday, followed by Cyber Monday, and there are only 28 (?) shopping days until Christmas???
Now just hold on a minute! I'm already exhausted, and I could stand another day of Thanksgiving... What if Thanksgiving were more than just one day?? What if Thanksgiving were every day? Not the turkey and stuffing and pie (well, okay on the pie!) and extended family every day...giving thanks every day... reflecting on all the people and things we are thankful for? Giving thanks where thanks is due, to God, the giver of all good gifts!
The apostle Paul told the Thessalonians to "give thanks in all circumstances..." but is he saying we should thank God for our painful circumstances? The way I've always heard it explained, Paul is encouraging the readers to thank God not for but in all circumstances. Surely, God isn't expecting us to say thank you for chronic pain, or a child's illness, or the return of cancer... but I think it helps us, as children of God, to thank him for all he has given us that is wonderful in our lives!
What if every time we felt upset about what was missing from our lives, we immediately started thanking God for all the gifts that we currently enjoy? Even when we experience tragedy, we usually find that God's gifts abound, and sometimes genuine gratitude for those gifts can begin the healing within us. Think about how God has blessed you, as you read the words of this hymn of thanksgiving:
Now thank we all our God with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done, in whom this world rejoices;
Who, from our mothers' arms, hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.
O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us;
And keep us in God's grace, and guide us when perplexed,
And free us from all ills in this world and the next.
All praise and thanks to God, who reigns in highest heaven,
To Father and to Son and Spirit now be given;
The one eternal God, whom heaven and earth adore,
The God who was, and is, and shall be evermore.
And Sunday, when we are ready to begin Advent (to prepare our hearts and minds for Christmas), join us online or in the parking lot for our annual Hanging of the Greens worship service!!
Prayer for Today
We give you thanks, Lord God, for all the ways that you have blessed us, for your countless gifts of love, for family, friends, and other blessings too numerous to count. When our vision narrows, and we are consumed by our troubles, open our eyes back up to you, remind us of your love, and move us to share it with others. In Jesus' holy name we pray. Amen.
A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
-Isaiah 40:3
I work in the church world. I often have to translate things for others or remind myself that not everyone runs on the same set of assumptions or by the same calendar. Talk to any pastor or musician and they'll remind you that any time from October till mid-December is prep time for Christmas. And the planning starts earlier. It's a surprise to most folks the amount of planning and work and how early we start. It was not a surprise to my wife. She worked retail when we were dating and first married. She managed a children's clothing store and her prep for the holiday season put years of my preparations in Advent to shame. I moved here to begin this call in late August. And it was already too late for my wife's business to transfer her away from her store. It was "the Holidays."
Sometimes, I think the secular world is in desperate need for leadership, direction, and inspiration from the Church. Sometimes, it's the other way around. The cultural practices of many parts of the world have enriched Christian traditions. And maybe so could stores inspire us. Why do they prepare so far in advance for a six-week holiday spending spree? As my wife explained to me, up to 40% or more of her yearly sales fame at this time. With such an abundant and extravagant gift expected to arrive at that time, they can either prepare for it and receive it with thanks and joy, serving others, or take it for granted and miss the fullness of it. What would you do?
Is Christmas the gift we are given that sustains us all year? Do we prepare rather than simply await its arrival? Do we see it as the biggest opportunity of the year or take it for granted? Normally, I'd suggest shopping local, being overly kind to retail workers, and tipping tremendously. As most of us are planning to shop online, I suggest this... Many local businesses have online presence. Buy your gifts and gift cards there. Get them through the tough times. And plan to make a major part of your giving be alternative Christmas gifts. As we have done for several years now, JCPC will offer the chance to support both local and international partners through the Alternative Christmas Market. You can help local families get a meal, support foster families, or help build homes for those most in need, just to name a few. My prayer is you will join us in preparing for Christmas like it's our big season.
Prayer for Today
Lord, prepare my heart and home for your coming, and prepare me to serve. Amen.
Tomorrow most of us will celebrate Thanksgiving. Maybe we will also remember the very first Thanksgiving in this land of ours. Edward Winslow was one of the pilgrims present at that first Thanksgiving. His was the only eyewitness account which was written down. He described that celebration with the Native Americans in this way:
. .. amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, and many of the Indians coming among us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.
Now, if you know the history between the Native Americans and the pilgrims, it was not always this cordial. Both before and after this first Thanksgiving, there were terrible killings on both sides. But for a few days, people from different cultures who rightly or wrongly had great distrust of each other, sat down at a meal and enjoyed each other's fellowship. Winslow attributes this to "the goodness of God."
What does the coming kingdom of God look like? I think it looks like that! It looks like the first Thanksgiving. That celebration seems to illustrate the words found in scripture that say, "People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God." (Luke 13:29, NIV) Those are also the words we say every time we gather around the communion table. Not only do we remember Jesus whom God sent to this world to save it and all of us, we also believe these words point forward through history to that time when we will all sit around a great table -- feasting in God's kingdom to come!
Prayer for Today
Gracious God, you show your goodness to us in so many ways. Thank you for all your blessings. May our time around the table this Thanksgiving remind us that the best is yet to come. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.
What are some special activities/traditions you do in your family to prepare for Christmas?
All around us, we hear commercials, store advertisements and community events focused around the season of Christmas, but for the Church, we are entering into the season of Advent this Sunday. Advent is a time of waiting before the coming of Jesus. Advent is sort of a short form of the word "adventure." Why might this season be described as an adventure?
A scripture we often share at the start of Advent focuses on John the Baptist who was all about adventure. In fact, he was bold enough to go live by himself out in the desert with just the clothes on his back and eat only locusts and wild honey. He was waiting for something to happen!
What was John up to out in the desert? Read Matthew 3:1-12.
Why was he baptizing people? John knew the Messiah, the one from God, was almost here and he wanted people to get ready. Baptism was a way of showing that they were ready to get rid of things in their lives that would get in the way of experiencing the new thing that God was about to do in the world.
Consider what might be getting in your way of really focusing on God and Jesus in this season where so many of the messages we see and hear are about gift-buying and money-spending. How can you simplify your Advent season and make room for God?
Prayer for Today
Gracious God, Open up our hearts and minds to your message for us during this Advent season. Guide us as we live in a way that is pleasing to you. In Christ's Name, Amen.
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
-Matthew 25: 31-32
We did it! We've made it to the end of the year. This Sunday marks both the final Sunday in the liturgical calendar and Christ the King Sunday, also known as The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. This celebration of Christ as King is relatively modern and was started by Pope Pius XI in 1925 as a reaction to the denial of Christ's authority among European governments of the time. The term "messiah" and "Christ" themselves are royal titles, meaning, "anointed one", or alternately, "anointed king". We end the liturgical year in this way to prepare us for Advent, where we await the coming of the Christ child, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
When we think of kings, we probably think of golden crowns, luxurious palaces, and militaristic achievements. But we know Jesus didn't come as this kind of worldly king, but instead came to humbly serve the least of these. This passage in Matthew goes on to say that the "sheep" are those that will inherit the kingdom, while the "goats" are sent to eternal fire. It's interesting because, as you'll hear Sunday, modern sheepherders tend to prefer goats over sheep, because, well, sheep are dumb and kind of smelly! Isn't it ironic then that Jesus refers to the righteous as stinky sheep and not goats? This makes me think of how Jesus was always calling the Pharisees out, even though they appeared to be holier than others on the surface.
As we celebrate Christ's sovereignty over the universe this Sunday, take some time to reflect on the ways in which you are living your own life. Are you living as Christ taught us by feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick and imprisoned? There are so many people in need in the world, that it can seem overwhelming to serve. But our Cosmic Christ guides us to serve. Let us continue to serve those in need as the sheep of our Shepherd King.
Prayer for Today
Sovereign God, we are like scattered sheep, divided by political biases and personal convictions. We turn away from you, Gentle Shepherd, and seek comfort in lonely pastures. Guide us to pastures of understanding, acceptance, and service, and open our eyes to your authority. Amen.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me,
is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one. -John 10:27-30
Once again, we had a really meaningful annual blessing of the animals. This year, we gathered in cars in the parking lot and shared a liturgy thanking God for our pets and service animals. We also prayed for those animal friends we have lost in the last year. For so many of us, our creatures are a part of family life at home. When we gather on Sundays, that is our faith family. After the service, the youth gathered to talk about animals in scripture. God made animals first and then Adam to care for them. It's only after the creation story that God makes more people so Adam isn't lonely, but God calls the creation good before there are people everywhere.
We find animals depicted prominently in the Psalms and in Proverbs, in Job and Jonah, the minor and major prophets, and the ways God and angels are described throughout the Old Testament. Jesus begins the Gospels by being born among animals in a manger and visited by shepherds. His ministry is kicked off by the Spirit descending like a dove at his baptism. Jesus advises his disciples to be as wise as serpents and gentle as doves, to be obedient sheep and not wandering goats or like broods of vipers. And Jesus weeps over Jerusalem in his final week, longing to gather his people like a mother hen. And animals are important in Revelation and the prophetic visions of the peaceful kingdom where animals live in peace and a child leads us all.
Reading and discussing the many Biblical examples of animals, including the dogs that tend to Lazarus' wounds, it feels appropriate to have a service each year that honors them. I asked the youth what lessons animals teach us. They talked about friendship and unconditional love, the way pets love them no matter how bad a day they have. They talked about learning to care for someone who depends on them like a younger sibling, a child one day might, or an aging relative. And they talked about how loyal and obedient they are. Lastly, they mentioned how pets don't tend to live as long as us and we experience loss and grief, preparing us for those parts of life when we lose people we love. Animals have gifted our youth a maturity and spirit of readiness for what God calls them to next. The service provides an opportunity to acknowledge the gift God gives us in animals, both the joys and sorrows.
Last year, after our service, one family reached out to me with sad news. The small dog they brought was much older than I knew and had been ill. She passed away that night. The family said it was like she was waiting to be blessed. That story stuck with me all year. They didn't attend this year's blessing, but I know why. They were on the road out of state to pick up a new little dog. One of the youth said, "I hope they'll be here next year!" I imagine they will be. I hope you will be too, whether you have a pet or not.
Prayer for Today
Lord, make me a student of your creation so I may better follow you as one of your sheep. Amen.
For many years since we moved here, we have participated in Salvation Army Angels. This year I am grateful that with all that is different, this tradition is a constant. I was overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude when I opened the online sign up for this year and found that so many names were already claimed.
Each year I gain a renewed perspective as we begin the holiday season by Christmas shopping for this child first. When I consider this ritual, I am reminded of this passage from Paul's letter to the Corinthians. Even though we will not have a chance to see this little boy open his gifts on Christmas, we have sent a Gospel message to him through our actions.
You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
(2 Corinthians 3:2-3)
God speaks through us to others. God is still speaking if we are open to listen. There are messages to be heard, comfort to be received, strength to be gained, and hope to be given. There are mysteries that God wants to reveal to us. God speaks with a quiet and simple word. God who reigns is still speaking. Be still today, and listen.
May you find ways to be still and listen, so that you can share the message of Christ written on your heart.
Prayer for Today
Speak, O Lord. Create a stillness in me, that I may hear and understand your voice. Amen.
For many years since we moved here, we have participated in Salvation Army Angels. This year I am grateful that with all that is different, this tradition is a constant. I was overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude when I opened the online sign up for this year and found that so many names were already claimed.
Each year I gain a renewed perspective as we begin the holiday season by Christmas shopping for this child first. When I consider this ritual, I am reminded of this passage from Paul's letter to the Corinthians. Even though we will not have a chance to see this little boy open his gifts on Christmas, we have sent a Gospel message to him through our actions.
You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
(2 Corinthians 3:2-3)
God speaks through us to others. God is still speaking if we are open to listen. There are messages to be heard, comfort to be received, strength to be gained, and hope to be given. There are mysteries that God wants to reveal to us. God speaks with a quiet and simple word. God who reigns is still speaking. Be still today, and listen.
May you find ways to be still and listen, so that you can share the message of Christ written on your heart.
Prayer for Today
Speak, O Lord. Create a stillness in me, that I may hear and understand your voice. Amen.
