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.
Twenty-four-karat gold is nearly 100 percent gold with few impurities. But that percentage is difficult to achieve. Refiners most commonly use one of two methods for the purification process. The Miller process is the quickest and least expensive, but the resulting gold is only about 99.95 percent pure. The Wohlwill process takes a little more time and costs more, but the gold produced is 99.99 percent pure.
In Bible times, refiners used fire as a gold purifier. Fire caused impurities to rise to the surface for easier removal. In his first letter to believers in Jesus throughout Asia Minor (northern Turkey), the apostle Peter used the gold-refining process as a metaphor for the way trials work in the life of a believer. At that time, many believers were being persecuted by the Romans for their faith in Christ. Peter knew what that was like firsthand. But persecution, Peter explained, brings out the "genuineness of [our] faith" (1 Peter 1:7).
Perhaps you feel like you're in a refiner's fire-feeling the heat of setbacks, illness, or other challenges. But hardship is often the process by which God purifies the gold of our faith. In our pain we might beg God to quickly end the process, but He knows what's best for us, even when life hurts. Keep connected to the Savior, seeking His comfort and peace.
Prayer for Today
Father God, help me see how the trials of my life bring out the gold in me. Amen.
These Greek words from this Sunday's anthem (and their English translation) may be familiar to you. Perhaps you recognize them from sung or spoken liturgy in worship, or maybe you have sung choral works including masses and requiems that contain these words. Or maybe I just sent you in a time warp back to 1986, where that song by Mister Mister topped the charts for two weeks. Any way you have heard them, they are ancient words, appearing in the bible many times, especially in the psalms, and also in this week's text about the Canaanite woman.
Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly." Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said. He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs." "Yes it is, Lord," she said. "Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table." Then Jesus said to her, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed at that moment. (Matthew 15:21-28 NIV)
Wait a minute!! Look at that again. What did Jesus say? First, nothing. Then he was sent only to Israel, implying that he wasn't sent there for her people. Then something about dogs?? What??? This is out of character for Jesus!! Or is it??
We overlook the seemingly odd things that Jesus says in the Matthew passage because we already know the rest of the story... "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." But before she heard his final words to her, she wrestled with his silence, and his statements, but he granted her an audience, and then finally her request to heal her daughter.
Do you always get straight answers from God? I don't. I think if we did, we'd never learn anything. Just as Jacob wrestled with God in the Old Testament scripture, we wrestle with God's answers, or silence, when we approach him with our requests and questions. Through this wrestling, sometimes we even come to a different understanding of what God wants for us and from us, maybe a clearer meaning or a clearer mission.
God is good, all the time. We can always approach the throne of heaven, keeping this in mind.
But as you excel in everything-in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you-see that you excel in this act of grace also.
-II Corinthians 8:7
Seminary, the churchy word for grad school, was every bit as grueling and competitive as you'd expect any other grad school might be. Some of my classmates had been lawyers and doctors and it was ever encouraging and discouraging to know they found our three to four years of divinity school training just as difficult. While many of the students and professors I encountered were compassionate and encouraging folks, colleagues and mentors to this day, a great many more helped make it the theological boot camp it was. Therefore, the times I experienced grace were all the more poignant.
My first summer before seminary, I took an intensive summer Hebrew class. We attended class for three hours a day, five days a week, and studied for another 6-8 hours each afternoon and evening, covering a year's worth of ancient Hebrew in 6 weeks. So then I took Old Testament, then Greek, followed by New Testament. I'll be honest. While I found Hebrew beautiful and life-giving, Old Testament was a bear. Think of the she-bears from the book of II Kings that came out of the woods and devoured the children. Greek was daunting as well, and so by my third year, I was braced for New Testament and the gauntlet it would be. We were assigned our first paper and I worked arduously to complete it and slide it through the mailbox slot on the professor's door at the appointed hour. That's when I began chatting with classmates and realized I'd done this 15-page paper on the wrong scripture. I'd misread the the syllabus!
I raced to the professor's office, ready to throw myself on her mercy. She was well-within her rights to give me a failing grade for the paper, and with it, the semester. She could show me some mercy and let me re-write it that day, which I begged to have the chance to do. And yet, she heard my story and apology and plea and smiled softly and said, "I always liked that scripture. I'll put your paper in the middle of the stack and it'll be a nice break to read as I grade them." That undeserved gift was the greatest grace I received in my three years of grad school. It was totally unexpected, as grace always is. This week, our scripture and Pastor Gray's message are about the unexpected nature of grace. I invite you to think about when you've experienced it and how you can offer it now to others.
Prayer for Today
Lord, help me be unexpected in the grace I offer others. Amen.
Your word is a lamp unto my feet, a light to my path.
- Psalm 119:105, NIV
"Lectionary" is a word we may have heard before. I would call it a "church word." It comes from two Latin words for "a reading" and "a collection." So, a lectionary is a collection of readings. In the Christian church, we have what is called a "common lectionary." These are suggested readings from the Bible, not only for every Sunday, but for every day of the week. There are four suggested readings for each day: one from the Old Testament, a Psalm, one from the gospels, and one from the New Testament letters and epistles. These suggested readings repeat every three years. They follow the liturgical or church year, beginning with Advent.
In worship, churches may read anywhere from one to all four of the suggested readings each Sunday. One of the reasons we have lectionary is to encourage not only the reading of scripture but reading from a wide range of passages -- so that we will hear the word of God from different Biblical perspectives. It also keeps us from only focusing on our favorite passages, challenging us to hear God's word from books we might not normally choose.
We have just finished up our-eight-week sermon series called Living Through the Storm. Over those eight weeks we actually covered a pretty wide range of passages from the Bible, beginning with Genesis and ending with Revelation. This Sunday, I'm not starting a new sermon series. (Surprise!) Instead, I decided to focus on a lectionary reading from the gospels to speak to us each week. Over the years, I've been surprised at how timely the words of scripture from the weekly lectionary reading speak God's word of grace and hope we need to hear. So, join us this Sunday for Drive-In or On-Line worship for our message, "When God Does the Unexpected" from Matthew 15:21-28.
Prayer for Today
Loving God, may your word be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path as we walk our journey of faith this day. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus the Christ, who is the Word made flesh. Amen.
As we begin a new school year, these days are often filled with making new commitments and promises. How many commitments do you think you make in the course of one day? How many people have you promised your time, effort, gifts or service?
The scriptural meaning of covenant is to make a lasting agreement with God. Covenants are always centered in God. Covenants are never broken by God. Covenants are always permanent. They cannot be adjusted or amended, only broken.
Throughout scripture we see the story of God's faithfulness in covenanting with us. God remained faithful to the covenants made with Noah (Genesis 9:1-17), Abraham (Genesis 12:1-9) and Moses (Deuteronomy 5:1-21). Even when God's people were disobedient, God offered a lasting and saving covenant through Jesus Christ.
What does it mean to you that God loves you so much that God would make a covenant with you to provide both salvation from sin and peace in life?
One way that we continue to grow into our covenant with God is through our study of God's Word. Each year we take time to share about the many opportunities where you can connect and grow in this relationship at JCPC.
This month we will be highlighting our groups and classes through a virtual open house. You'll see pictures and videos highlighting our offerings this month on our church website and through social media. This is a time of year when we make commitments to grow in our faith through the Education ministry at JCPC. At 9:30 a.m. drive in worship, we will commission all of those who have made the commitment to teach and lead this year in many of these Education ministry groups and classes.
Take some time to not only to make new commitments and promises, but to renew our covenant with God.
Prayer for Today
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew my spirit. Guide me into your presence and lead me each day to remain true to our covenant. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
he earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.
- Psalm 24:1, NIV
To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.
- Deuteronomy 10:14, NIV
"Stewardship" often hear. Gray periodically mentions that our time, treasures, and talents are ways that we are giving back to our community. That is good stewardship. Stewardship is also a theological belief that as humans, we are responsible for our world and we should take care of it. A Biblical view of stewardship can be defined as "utilizing and managing all resources God provides for the glory of God and the betterment of His creation." There is a strong link between Christian stewardship and caring for the environment. What does it mean for humans to take care of the world? Environmental stewardship is often described as reducing human impact on the natural world.
Here at JCPC, we have been working hard at being good stewards in many ways. Over the past several months, there has been a lot of work happening on our campus thanks to the generosity of members of our church. If you have been on campus, you may have noticed we now have solar panels on the south roof of the Education Building and Great Hall. While it is a little too soon to have statistical data on exact savings, we do have estimates.
Prayer for Today
Lord God, we thank you for your many blessings that you have bestowed upon our church. Please continue to guide us, so that we will continue to be good stewards of all your resources and of our time, our talents, and our treasures. Amen.
Praise the Lord upon the earth, ye dragons and all deeps,
fire and hail, snow and vapors, wind and storm fulfilling his word!
Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars!
Beasts and all cattle, worms and feathered fowls!
Psalm 148: 7-10
This is such a great part of Psalm 148. There are dragons, vapors, worms, and even feathered fowls! This is just one translation, of course, and other translations are somewhat less fantastical, but I love this one. Heidi and I will be singing this translation of the psalm during the extended prelude for this week's Drive-in Service.
This particular psalm is all about the extent to which God should be praised. For most of its 14 verses, the psalmist is talking about praising God, taking a few brief moments to state why, and then concluding with a final, "Praise the Lord!". Today, we read the psalms as poetry, but they were probably used as a kind of hymn book for service music sung during temple worship in ancient times. It's anyone's guess as to how this was sung when it was originally composed, but I sure hope the original Hebrew brought to mind such things as "worms" and "dragons".
I think there is something profound in this psalm. We often think of "praising the Lord" to be something that only humans can do, but this psalm is very clearly calling all of creation, even parts that aren't alive, to praise God. I mean, how can snow and vapor praise the Lord? I get the feeling that there is more to creation than we realize. When told by some pharisees to rebuke the crowd for praising him as he entered into Jerusalem on a donkey, Jesus himself said, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out." (see Luke 19: 36-40)
If the author of this ancient psalm called on all creation to praise God, and Jesus said that the stones on the ground would cry out in praise if the people were silent, then I think it's safe to say that praising God is not just something that we human should do, but something that we should feel compelled to do. Especially now, it is very easy to feel helpless and feel like we aren't doing enough, but making a point to worship and praise God is meaningful and right. God can handle what we cannot. Give in to God, and He will show us the way forward (even for the worms).
Prayer for Today
Lord, make me a dreamer. Awaken the artist in me and open me to new ways of being led in worship by those you gift with artistic gifts. Amen.
"Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." - Galatians 6:2
"Each one should carry his own load." - Galatians 6:5
Today I want to pass along to you what someone shared with me because it was so good. In these verses above, Paul may seem to be saying almost contradictory things. However, in the first verse, the Greek word for "burden" refers to something so heavy that it might sink a ship - like a boulder. However, in the second verse, the Greek word for "load" describes something smaller like a backpack. Glenn McDonald says this:
What Paul appears to be saying is that every one of us has to carry his fair share. If we're on a hike together, you need to carry your own bottle of water and your own extra pair of socks. Life is not a series of entitlements. Each of us needs to work. Each of us needs to serve. Each of us needs to take responsibility for solving problems, facing challenges, and deciding to grow up. But every now and then, each of us may feel crushed by a burden so heavy we cannot possibly lift it by ourselves. It's not a backpack. It's a boulder. You may feel flattened by grief - by a loss that came so suddenly and so dramatically that you can hardly breathe, let alone think about tomorrow. You may feel crushed by disappointment. Or trapped by the dead weight of shame. Or pinned down by a rage you cannot control. Or immobilized by a sense of failure so great that you've wondered if you can ever go on. Those are the moments, says Paul, that we desperately need each other. Even a ship-sinking burden is no match for a few people who are fueled by compassion. In doing this, we "fulfill the law of Christ" - which is really a way of saying that every time we help each other carry what one person could never carry alone, we become the strong hands and shoulders of Jesus. So put on your backpack. Another day's hike lies before us. But also ask God for one other thing: the grace to become a boulder-lifter along the way.
Prayer for Today
Gracious God, give us the strength to face the challenges of today and the grace to become a boulder-lifter along the way. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Remember that the Sabbath Day belongs to me. You have six days you can do your work, but the seventh day of each week belongs to me, your God. No one is to work on that day... Exodus 20:8
We live in a place where everyone wants you to work hard. Teachers, parents, bosses, coaches, and children all have expectations for what we should do with our time each day. This commandment is very familiar, but often challenging to follow through with in our day to day pace of life. Often, we think about Sabbath as rest and worship. What else do you do with your Sabbath? How do you find time to connect with God in a deeper way?
Finding time for rest and worship can be challenging during those first days and weeks of a new school year.
As we prepare to begin a new school year, I am realizing my need to be more aware of God at work in my life and the ways that I can slow down and appreciate the blessings of each day. I know that this passage and message may be challenging at this time of year. When we experience drastic life transitions like this, I find it renewing to be able to just start fresh and build in some new practices.
I would like to invite you to take one or two minutes this week to think about how you will find time to uphold this fourth commandment as we begin a new school year.
This Sunday we will take some time as a congregation in drive in and online worship services to pray a blessing over all of those in our church family that are starting a new school year. I would invite all of our students (preschool through graduate school), teachers, administrators, and school staff to join us for drive in worship with your backpacks, briefcases, tote bags or devices. During the service, you will be invited to stand next to your car wearing your mask and participate in a blessing.
Prayer for Today
Gracious God, Thank you for the blessings we experience when things change. Open our minds and hearts to the ways that we can experience rest and worship as begin a new school year. In Christ's Name, Amen.
For twenty-nine years after World War II ended, Hiroo Onoda hid in the jungle, refusing to believe his country had surrendered. Japanese military leaders had dispatched Onoda to a remote island in the Philippines (Lubang) with orders to spy on the Allied forces. Long after a peace treaty had been signed and hostilities ceased, Onoda remained in the wilderness. In 1974, Onoda's commanding officer traveled to the island to find him and convince him the war was over.
For three decades, Onoda lived a meager, isolated existence, because he refused to surrender-refused to believe the conflict was done. We can make a similar mistake. Paul proclaims the stunning truth that "all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death" (Romans 6:3). On the cross, in a powerful, mysterious way, Jesus put to death Satan's lies, death's terror, and sin's tenacious grip. Though we're "dead to sin" and "alive to God" (v. 11), we often live as though evil still holds the power. We yield to temptation, succumbing to sin's seduction. We listen to lies, failing to trust Jesus. But we don't have to yield. We don't have to live in a false narrative. By God's grace we can embrace the true story of Christ's victory.
While we'll still wrestle with sin, liberation comes as we recognize that Jesus has already won the battle. May we live out that truth in His power.
Prayer for Today
Jesus, I know You've won the battle over evil and darkness. Would You help me to live this out? Amen.
