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.
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. -John 1:4
Darkness descended on our forest village when the moon disappeared. Lightning slashed the skies, followed by a rainstorm and crackling thunder. Awake and afraid, as a child I imagined all kinds of grisly monsters about to pounce on me! By daybreak, however, the sounds vanished, the sun rose, and calm returned as birds jubilated in the sunshine. The contrast between the frightening darkness of the night and the joy of the daylight was remarkably sharp.
The author of Hebrews recalls the time when the Israelites had an experience at Mount Sinai so dark and stormy they hid in fear (Exodus 20:18-19). For them, God's presence, even in His loving gift of the law, felt dark and terrifying. This was because, as sinful people, the Israelites couldn't live up to God's standards. Their sin caused them to walk in darkness and fear (Hebrews 12:18-21).
But God is light; in Him there's no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). In Hebrews 12, Mount Sinai represents God's holiness and our old life of disobedience, while the beauty of Mount Zion represents God's grace and believers' new life in Jesus, "the mediator of a new covenant" (vv. 22-24).
Whoever follows Jesus will "never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12). Through Him, we can let go of the darkness of our old life and celebrate the joy of walking in the light and beauty of His kingdom.
If you're a believer in Jesus, how has your life changed since He came into it? What are some ways you'd like to grow in your faith?
Prayer for Today
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for bringing me out of darkness into Your marvelous light. Help me to avoid the darkness to continue walking in the light toward eternity. Amen.
On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a sacred assembly. You are to do no laborious work. It is for you a day for sounding the shofar.
-Numbers 29:1
It is the new year! Welcome 2019. Our Jewish friends, our ancestors of faith, celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the first of their two high holy days. Many people take on New Years resolutions in January, and those can be excellent opportunities for spiritual renewal and practices. Some choose to take on the challenge of a new language, especially those wishing to travel or learn more about people or places that interest them. As believers, we should all seek ways to travel deeper in our faith and get to know the author, our extended family of faith, and grow in knowledge and wisdom. And one way we can do that is with language.
So, whether or not studying a new language was one of your resolutions, I'm going to offer some new words this year in my reflections for your study and spiritual toolbox. I'll start today with Rosh Hashanah - literally: the head of the year. It had an even more fun name in scripture... yom teruah (literally - the day of shouting or blasting). The new year is still announced in Jewish communities with the blowing of the shofar and we ring in ours with fireworks and music all over the world. Now you know some more Hebrew!
We share an important link to millions of other people of faith whose traditions flow from our Old Testament. It is important that we understand it as our shared story and common heritage. It is a constant reminder of our shared humanity as children of one God who loves us. This year, my hope is that we all resolve to make the world a better place as we work to become better people, better disciples, and better neighbors.
Prayer for Today
Lord, help me to learn, to grow, and to be more. By your spirit, teach me, renew me, and call me to your work. Amen.
The beginning of a new year invites us to look back at the events of the past year, as well as look forward to the year to come. In looking back at 2018, I think one of the buzzwords was "identity." Add to it the word "politics" (as in "identity politics") and you could probably find an argument on Twitter looking to hook you in. So, I want to begin 2019 talking about identity -- not from a political perspective, but from a Biblical viewpoint.
The main question we often ask about our identity is this: Who Am I? How would you answer that question? Would you describe your age, vocation, gender, race, politics, location, or religious beliefs? There are endless ways we could answer that key question of identity - Who am I?
In John's gospel there are seven different sayings in which Jesus tells us who he is, and each one is different. These are sometimes called "The Seven 'I Am' Sayings of Jesus." This Sunday I am beginning a new series of messages on these seven "I Am" sayings of Jesus. I want to invite us to look at the Bible and see how we might find some answers to that question. For example, maybe we need to remember who God says we are - that we are all made in the image of God. Or, that we are also sinners saved by God's grace. Even in the Bible, there is not just one answer to the question, "Who am I?"
I think that we can better answer the question "Who Am I?" when be begin with knowing how Jesus might answer that question. Because we are made in the image of God, and because Jesus is the best way for us to know what God is like - then the more we know about who Jesus is, the more we can know about who we are and who we should become.
I also want to recommend the book, "The God We Can Know - Exploring the 'I AM' Sayings of Jesus" by Rob Fuquay for your Small Groups or for personal devotions during this series. This Sunday we are focusing on "I Am the Bread of Life."
Also, I am asking you to come join me and support our amazing, interactive Mission Fair this Sunday at 10:00 a.m. in the Great Hall during the Sunday School hour. You don't want to miss out on this!
Prayer for Today
Thank you, God, for making all of us in your image. May we live as those made in your image. Help us remember to treat each person as someone made in your image and loved by you. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus, who is God incarnate. Amen.
If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights, and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator.
If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals, and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.
If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, I am nothing.
If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata, but do not focus on those I love the most, I have missed the point.
...In other words,
Love stops the cooking to hug a child.
Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the spouse.
Love is kind, though harried and tired.
Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.
Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way.
Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those who can't.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, and golf clubs will rust.
But the gift of love will endure.
Merry Christmas! Give the gift that keeps on giving; LOVE.
We pray that you will experience the peace of Christ during this Christmas season
Prayer for Today
Gracious and loving God, bless us with the gift of your spirit this day so that we ready ourselves to celebrate the birth of your son. All our concerns and harried distractions will fade into the background and our hearts will be opened to the greatest gift of all; Christ our Lord. Amen.
Nearly every time an angel appears in the Bible, the first words he says are "Don't be afraid!" Little wonder. When the supernatural makes contact with planet Earth, it usually leaves the human observers flat on their faces in fear. But Luke tells of God making an appearance in a form that doesn't frighten. In Jesus, born with the animals and laid in a feeding trough, God takes an approach that we need not fear. What could be less scary than a newborn baby?
On Earth Jesus is both God and man. As God, He can work miracles, forgive sins, conquer death, and predict the future. But for Jews accustomed to images of God as a bright cloud or pillar of fire, Jesus also causes much confusion. How could a baby in Bethlehem, a carpenter's son, a man from Nazareth, be the Messiah from God?
Why does God take on human form? The scene of twelve-year-old Jesus debating rabbis in the temple gives one clue. "Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers," Luke tells us (2:47). For the first time, ordinary people could hold a conversation with God in visible form.
Jesus can talk to anyone-His parents, a rabbi, a poor widow-without first having to announce, "Don't be afraid!" In Jesus, God draws near.
Prayer for Today
Heavenly Father, we pause at Christmas to remember how Your Son came to us in the form of a helpless baby . . . and we worship in amazement and wonder that God came near to us. Amen.
Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.
-Ephesians 4:26
See Also:
James 1:19; Psalm 4:4, 103:8, & 145:8; Proverbs 14:29, 16:32, & 19:11; and James 1:19-20
One of my very favorite Christmas stories is the classic,
A Christmas Carol. Not only is it a beautiful story and well told in countless movie adaptations from Mickey to the Muppets to George C. Scott, but it's an important one, rich in meaning and deep in new lessons for annual reading or viewing. And one of my favorite questions is to ask people what the moral is, or what new moral have they gleaned.
I'd like to suggest to you that one of the truly meaningful lessons we can observe in this story for Scrooge that is particularly relevant for us today is about his indignation... that which offends Scrooge. For better or, more likely, for worse, one of the easiest ways to identify someone nowadays is to ask a person what offends them most. If it's government interference in education or business, you can guess perhaps their political party, and maybe the opposite, if it's climate change and minimum wage. If it's drinking, we might guess one denomination, and if it's someone taking your pew, we might guess another. We are perhaps most easily recognized by what it is that offends us most. It's no different for Scrooge. And the change we observe in Scrooge is most easily recognized in the shift in what offends him, and not that he becomes less or more sensitive.
At the start of the tale, what seems to offend Scrooge the most is anyone squandering his time or money. He begrudges his assistant's Christmas Day off, calling it an annual excuse to pickpocket an employer, and the coal to warm the office. He is infuriated by the request for charitable giving to widows and orphans and even the invite of his nephew to a Christmas party. But after a review of his life and that of his employee, he becomes just as angry at the injustice of the poverty he witnesses and the hunger and illness he himself has the power to prevent.
I think it's worth reflection for us all when we are visited at Christmas by this story. Rather than assessing if we get easily offended or never offended, asking something new. We should take an honest inventory of what has offended us this year. In other words, what makes us righteously angry, not quickly angry. If what tops our list is the words or actions of those in poverty or under oppression or the people speaking for them, we need to consider we may be in need of some reorientation of our spirit. But if the top of our list this year or for next year for what offends us is poverty and oppression itself, violence and hunger, cruelty and prejudice, and we are willing to act for change and justice, then we know it will be said of us, as Dickens would say, that we know how to keep Christmas well.
Prayer for Today
Lord, help me to keep Christmas well by becoming righteously indignant about evil, and moved by your spirit to make your world as it is in heaven. Amen.
A while back I heard a minister preach an Advent sermon called "Hurry Up and Wait." He began by telling the story of a man who got so caught up in the busyness of the season, that he went into a card store and grabbed the first Christmas cards he could find. He quickly signed all 49 of them and mailed them out as fast as he could -- not wanting to get behind with all the things he had to do before Christmas arrived. It wasn't until Christmas Eve that he sat down to read one of the cards he had sent out. He opened it up to find these words: "This card is just to say, a little gift is on its way!" Sometimes it doesn't pay to be in a hurry - in fact, it could cost us a lot!
The season leading up to Christmas is one in which we are all pushed to hurry and get things done. Even the countdown to Christmas, which tells us how many days we have left for shopping, is enough to drive us a little crazy. Yet, the message of the season of Advent says something that seems counter-intuitive: wait, slow down -- pay attention to the here and now.
Advent is a time of preparation to celebrate the coming of Christ into our lives anew and the best way to do that is not to hurry up, but to slow down. What works against us is our anxiety over many things - not getting enough gifts, not meeting expectations, and wondering if we will "do" Christmas "good enough" this year. Yet, the word of God that leads to peace and joy invites us to wait and watch. Slow down and pay attention to God breaking into the everyday events of our world. If we spend our time hurrying, we may miss what is really important!
Prayer for Today
Gracious God, help us to slow down and wait. Free us from the anxiety that looms like a low-grade fever. Thank you for breaking into the busyness of our lives today. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.
When you picture the story of Jesus' birth, how do you imagine it? If you were there as a character in the story, what do you think you would see? What would you smell? What would you hear? What would it be like for Mary to give birth in that place? What do you suppose Joseph is thinking/doing? What is the baby feeling or doing?
Read Luke 2:1-20
Think about the ways that Jesus would have been like any other child. Jesus was unique but also, he was a regular kid. Often, we think of Jesus as this perfect guy, with a halo around his head, walking on water. Why do you think it might be helpful for us to remember that he was a person just like us as well -- that he cried when he got his baby teeth, that he got hungry, that he played as a child, that he had to go through all the growing pains of the teenage years? What other regular human challenges do you think Jesus faced as he grew up? How might his life as a teenager have been like yours?
Jesus changed the world. What do you think about that? How is a baby born as a peasant into a violent culture able to change the world? In what ways, do you think the world is different because Jesus was born? In what ways is your life different? What do the lyrics "He showed us heaven with his hands and his heart" mean to you?
Take a moment today to name and pray for "children" of all ages both near and far in need of the good news of God's love that Jesus shared with his life and ministry.
Prayer for Today
Lord, whose light shines in the darkness, have mercy upon us. Christ, whose birth gives hope to all creation, have mercy upon us. Lord, whose advent brings us joy and love, grant us peace. Amen.
I received a Christmas card in the mail from one of my dear seminary friends, Mark Knisley. I must admit that I felt a bounce in my step when I realized the card was from him (and his wife Nancy). I experienced joy.
The third advent candle represents joy and yesterday Gray preached an inspired sermon entitled, "The Joy of Friendship." At least three aspects of joy show up to me when I think about friendships. The first is the act of finding a new friend. You can have many acquaintances, but a true friend is a special find. There is something familiar in them, a piece of your-self, and of course, so much that is different. To find a friend is the joy of recognition.
A second joy in friendship is that they transcend time. You probably have a friend in your life with whom you didn't speak to in years, but when you reconnected, it was as if you hadn't missed a beat. A deep sense of joy arises in the re-connection with an old friend.
Another joy in friendship is the grace of acceptance. No friend can perfectly meet our expectations and needs so disappointment is baked into the cake of friendship. With friends, true friends, a Godlike form of acceptance creates a supportive space that we all need in our lives. A true friend is an accepting and forgiving friend.
I want to share a picture of friendship that encapsulates these three aspects of joy. The picture was taken as two dogs; Buddy and Boudreaux met for the first time. I'm quite sure I have never been so transfixed in capturing the utter joy of finding a new friend.
These two are a mess!!! May their joyful delight in friendship light to candle of joy in your hearts this Christmas and may you share this joy with your friends and family.
Prayer for Today
Reawaken in us the joy of friendship, Loving God, so that as we celebrate Christmas our hearts will be filled with love and we will share this gift with all. Amen.
In 1936, songwriter Billy Hill released a popular hit song titled "The Glory of Love." Before long a nation was singing about the joy of doing even little things out of love for one another. Fifty years later, lyricist Peter Cetera wrote a more romantic song with a similar title. He imagined two people living forever, knowing together they did it all-for the glory of love.
Revelation, the last book in the Bible, describes a new love song that will someday lift the voices of everyone in heaven and earth (Revelation 5:9, 13). The music begins, however, in a minor key of mourning. John, our narrator, cries, seeing no answer to all that has gone wrong with the world (vv. 3-4). But his mood brightens and the music builds to a crescendo (vv. 12-13) as John learns the real glory and story of love. Soon he hears all creation praising the powerful Lion-King of Judah (v. 5), who has won the hearts of His subjects by lovingly sacrificing Himself, like a Lamb, for our rescue (v. 13).
In the most moving lyrics ever sung, we see why even simple acts of kindness rise on the wings of a song. The glory we sing about reflects the heart of our God. We sing about Him because He gave us our song.
Prayer for Today
Father, please help us to see that even the smallest acts of love and kindness can remind us of Your love for us. Amen.
