WORDS OF GRACE: CONSEQUENCE by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

In the movie “Men in Black 3” there is a character (Griffin) that sees the world in terms of all the possible choices people have made and the resulting consequences. He sees everything the way it has happened and the way it could have turned out if someone made another choice. If I lived like him I would go crazy. I mean think about it, he sees all the options and all implications of all the options. It’s mind boggling really. But there is this fun scene in the movie when he takes them to see the Miracle Mets winning the World Series. He shows them the moment that causes them to win. He shows them that the ball has a tiny little defect in it because the woman who sewed had some crisis in her life and that defect affected the game. One of the key players would not have played baseball if it were not for the fact that when his dad went to the store to buy him a football for a gift, they were out of footballs, so dad bought him a baseball mitt instead.  (if you don’t mind Greek subtitles and You Tube doesn’t pull it you can see the scene here - http://youtu.be/8uw57I5SD8s)

We make choices and they all have consequences, some good, some bad, some neutral. We sometimes think about this in our family as we are still paying off Kurt’s student loan bills for law school now that he is almost 20 years out of law school. But, you see, if he had not gone to Case Western for Law School, then he might not have gotten into Workers Comp law, and he might not have gotten a job in Toledo and I never would have met him, and Jamie & Becca would not exist, and well you get the idea. Every month, I find a way to give thanks for that decision. 

Let’s turn, for a moment to science. Just for fun. Because we tend to think of consequences as bad, but they are not all bad. And I’m scared to as there are so many science teachers in here right now.  For example, consider Sir Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion: For every action there is opposite and equal reaction. So, if I push on a wall, the wall pushes back. My hand does not go through the wall. Or to use one of Newton’s examples: If a horse draws a stone tied to a rope, the horse (it could be said) will be equally drawn back towards the stone. Why do I use such mundane examples? To be clear that all actions have consequences.

Now let’s look at some examples that begin to have some negative consequences. If my child, or if an adult is careless and leaves a dish too close to the edge of a kitchen counter, and a plate falls to the ground. For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. The plate hits the floor and breaks. There are consequences to the actions of being careless with a plate, small consequences. If that same child (or adult) puts my laptop on the edge of my desk and dog walks by and knocks it off onto the floor, and it breaks, the consequences are much more painful to my bank account (thankfully not a real story)  But still, these are not intentional. There are accidental. Careless, but accidental.

 

When we talk about consequences in terms of moral choices, the implications begin to have more serious. Today’s scripture (Galatians 6:7-8  from The Message for those following along at home) gives us a phrase you may have heard from your mother or grandmother as a warning when you were growing up: “You reap what you sow.” That use of the word “sow” is so old fashioned that the spell check in Microsoft word thought it was wrong.  The Merriam Webster dictionary gives two definitions for sow as a verb. 1) to plant a seed for growth, especially by scattering. 2) to set something in motion, to begin an enterprise. 

Both of those definitions seem to fit when we think about sowing as a metaphor for consequences. When you plant one type of behavior, it is going to result in the same type of behavior. Or when you set in motion one type of action, such as a lie, it is going to begin an enterprise of lying, isn’t it? Don’t you find that once you lie, you have to keep lying? I think we’ve all been there.

The scripture in Galatians says simply, that whatever you plant, you will harvest. If you plant selfishness and ignore the needs of other people and ignore God, you will harvest weeds. That is pretty clear. On the other hand, if you plant what God wants and let God’s Sprit work in your life, then you will have a harvest of real life, a life that is eternal. 

So, we can choose to ignore God and have a life of weeds, or we can choose to plant God’s way and have a full life.  Either way, there are consequences to our choices.

So let’s take this idea that actions have consequences a bit further. A young man lies when he is 15. He goes on a date with one girl and tells her she is the only one for him. The next night he goes out with another girl and tells her the same thing.   No let’s be honest, girls can do the same thing.  We see such a scene on a TV show and laugh. Would that we should be so lucky to have two people to date when we are 15!

Fast forward to age 30. The man has two partners. One is his wife, the other a male prostitute. He contracts AIDS from the prostitute and gives it to his wife and their unborn child. The behaviors that we brushed off as adolescent fun at age 15 have deadly consequences at age 30.

Some actions in life have immediate and severe consequences. They can slowly chip away at our life blood. One by one, we make tiny decisions that move us away from God’s desire for our lives, and we die a slow death. 

Think about it.  Jesus says: When we plant a life of God’s spirit, letting God do the work, we have a full life, and a life eternal. But when we are selfish and ignore God and God’s ways and God’s desires for us, then we wind up living in a bed of weeds.  We’ve all been there at one time or another.

Every day, we make choices, and those choices have consequences, slowly and steadily move us along God’s path and God’s desire for our lives. Others slowly and deceptively pull us away from God and away from God’s desire for us. Before we know it, we are lost from God and we wonder, how did this happen? If we look back, we see the choices we made, one by one that took us away.  At the time, we didn’t realize how far they were taking us away from God. 

Thankfully, there is hope for us. You see, as followers of Jesus we do have this gift. We have grace. Grace is the gift that God gives us that says: God’s love is bigger than any of our mistakes. It means, as my friend Paul Nixon writes, “there is life beyond mistakes” (Mother Tongue, p. 204, unpublished manuscript, copyrighted material). Grace does not mean the consequences are “erased.” “God takes the broken pieces of our lives and begins gluing things back together again- but some opportunities are lost. Some consequences remain forever” (ibid). 

The Bible is a book filled with stories of God’s people, like us. It is a book of stories of decisions and consequences. Some of them are good choices with good consequences and some of them bad. Some of them are not so clear. Sometimes when we make a choice we are not so sure now things will turn out, are we? Other times, we are pretty sure which choice God would have us make, but we do our mental gymnastics in order to justify why we are going to make the other choice anyway, because it is the one we want to make.  The gymnastics I can do in my head are amazing.

We are right now in the season of Lent leading up to Holy Week and Easter. Think about some of the consequences that the disciples had to live with after Jesus was gone. His best friend Peter denied Jesus three times. Jesus predicted he would do it and Peter promised he would not. But then, in his fear, when he was asked, “Aren’t you one of Jesus’ disciples?” Peter said “No.” I think the consequence of his action was shame and heartbreak. I wonder what the people who loved Jesus thought of Peter when they heard about it. 

But Peter overcame this mistake. He became the rock that Jesus said he would be. He was a great leader in building the church that we are a part of today.  Peter became a great preacher.  He failed Jesus and he could have walked away in shame, never to be seen again. He could have shriveled up and never forgiven himself. But he accepted God’s forgiveness, and so he moved on to be a great leader in the Jesus movement. 

Here’s another great one, do you remember Moses? His story takes many twists and turns. You may remember that even though he was a Hebrew, that he was raised by Pharaoh’s daughter. When he grew up and saw how badly his own people were being treated, as slaves in Egypt, he was upset. One day Moses saw one of the Egyptian task masters beating a Hebrew slave. Moses intervened. There was a fight and Moses killed the Egyptian. Even though he was defending the weak, there were consequences for murder. Moses had to flee the country. Even though we believe murder is wrong, I would have to say that Moses had to do that one thing in order to put in motion a series of events which led to him becoming the leader who could lead his people out of slavery and into the promised land. He would always carry that murder with him in his heart. But “God takes the broken pieces of our lives and begins gluing things back together again.”  Even though “[s]ome consequences remain forever.” (ibid.)

You see, in the privacy of our own homes, written somewhere in a journal, hidden somewhere in our most private place, we have something we wish we could go back and change. We are living the consequences of our choices: a broken relationship, a body abused by our addiction to food or drugs; we are living the consequences of a crime, a lie, a broken promise, a betrayal. It could be anything.

This is the good news. God’s grace is bigger than our mistakes. Grace does not mean the consequences are “erased.” We may have to live with some consequences. But “God takes the broken pieces of our lives and begins gluing things back together again” (ibid). Because God does not want us to remain broken people.   God wants us to be set free from our brokenness and be whole in God’s grace. 

That is why God sent Jesus: to tell us we are always forgiven. We always get another chance.  Today, I want to invite you into a ritual. It is an ancient ritual of the Christian Church and it is quite simple, find one or more people to do this with that you love.  I want you to stand if you are able, look another person in the eye, and say “In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.”  Have them say it back to you.  If not, picture taking my hands right now, and do this.  Imagine saying it to me; and now, I will say it to you, “In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven”.  Now, I want you to believe it, because friends, it is true.   

          Do you have a place where you can experience this grace?  If not, find one, they are out there.  And if you are near the Toledo area, come to the corner of the Anthony Wayne Trail and Conant Street one Sunday.  We are in the back of the Maumee Indoor Theater Sundays at 10:30 AM.  Come receive this grace. 

Words of Grace: SHALOM by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

W. E. Sangster, who was a Methodist preacher during the Holiness movement of the last century used to teach that the way to pray for a spiritual revival was a draw a circle around yourself, and to ask God to work a miracle first inside that circle. My friend Paul Nixon who wrote our study on the words of grace suggests that shalom works best in this way. He writes: “We are much more likely to be effective influences for peace and justice in our communities and in our world, if first we are living in harmony with God, if God’s shalom has filled our lives personally” (Mother Tongue, p. 182, Paul Nixon).  Maybe you are that kind of person, if not you probably know someone like that. 

Shalom is of course the Hebrew word for peace, but it means more than the absence of war or conflict. Shalom means wholeness and harmony. Shalom means contentment in our personal well being and in all our relationships from the one-on-one to our community to those among nations. 

In 1992, the United Methodist General Conference (our every 4 year international meeting) was meeting in Louisville Kentucky. At that same time you may remember riots were erupting in Los Angeles because five police officers had been accused of excessive force in the beating of Rodney King. He was black and they were white. As we watched the beatings over and over on the television, there was a national conversation about police brutality and racism. When the police were acquitted, riot erupted on the streets of LA. Fifty three people were killed and two thousand were injured during the riots. Rodney King appeared on television during the riots and gave his famous quote from the time: “Can’t we all just get along?” 

As I said, at the same time, the United Methodists were having our every four year international gathering called General Conference, in Louisville KY. One of the members of the General conference was a wise pastor from Columbus named Joe Sprague. Joe would later become a bishop. Joe and some others presented a resolution to create the first Shalom Zone in Los Angeles. We would claim an area of peace. The Shalom Zone initiative still exists 20 years later. We have one in Columbus. The idea was that a group of churches, or a district or conference could concentrate their resources in an area of extreme conflict, poverty and need, claim God’s shalom, and really make a difference. 

You see, sometimes we have to draw a line around a neighborhood and say “enough.” No more gun violence, no more failing schools, no more gangs, no more hungry children. In the name of Jesus, we are going claim God’s shalom in this four block radius. We are going to claim healing and wholeness here. We are going to be peacemakers here and now. 

Eventually, if enough of us do that and the “shalom zones” connect, then the whole world becomes a “shalom zone.” Now that would be a miracle of biblical proportions. That would be something worth giving our lives for. One circle of shalom at a time we can bring peace to our world.  Starting with each one of us creating this circle and then expanding it out around the world.  

Here is what Jesus said about being peacemakers: “You are blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.” And at the end of his life: “Put your sword back where it belongs. All who use swords are destroyed by swords.”

I think the comment about swords could be used to give us a glimpse about where Jesus might stand on the debate about ordinary citizens owning assault weapons. But we will save that for another day. 

Let’s just look at the comment about cooperation rather than competing and fighting. When we show people how to cooperate then we discover who we really are in God’s family, to be a light, to be an example.  

You see, here at The Village, we are followers of Jesus and we believe that when we follow Jesus we ARE changing the world.  So, Jesus says, we will live as people who not only have a spirit of cooperation, but we will SHOW other people how to cooperate. That means we won’t fight. PERIOD.

But it gets complicated. I know. Does that mean, if you’re on a plane and the hijackers are going to fly the plane into a building and kill thousands of people that it’s wrong to fight the hijackers and crash the plane into a field? Was there a non-violent way to take out Osama bin Laden? Not so easy to talk about these is it?  Thankfully those are the big questions that most of us don’t have to face on a day to day basis.

But have you seen the videos on the morning news, where parents are telling their children when they leave school to go down the street and fight the bully? What is a child to do, when at school the teachers and the counselors are saying, don’t fight, talk to a trusted adult, and “we don’t tolerate bullying at our school” and then they go home and mom or dad says: “You’ve gotta fight to make it in this world.”  Sometimes it gets complicated.

Decisions are not so clear.  But I will stand here and say that some things are clear. As the people of God, we have to start claiming shalom somewhere. I can take my string outside of my pocket  (Cheri then pulled a rainbow string) and lay it down and say, within this circle, I will be peaceful. And I can start each day with that prayer: may I be well, may they be well. I breathe in tolerance, and breathe out forgiveness. 

I am moved to spread my tiny shalom zone into a larger shalom zone throughout the day.   As I work, as I come into conflict with other people. What makes it most difficult for you to make be at peace with another human being? “Why can’t we all just get along?” in the words of Rodney King?

You see, I think we can stand inside our individual circles of shalom. We can center ourselves and pray. But then we step outside of our circles and somehow we don’t take God with us. We don’t take our shalom with us. We forget who we are.  We forget we are people of peace, we are people of shalom.

We become people who cannot forgive, and people who cannot cooperate and compromise. We compete and we fight. We have to win.  I have to win at Bowling (Kurt added Putt Putt Golf). 

Roger Conner, a peace negotiator experienced in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict shares four basic principles for constructive conflict between parties in conflict.

11.     Be passionate. That does not seem hard to do when there is conflict. 

22.    Be honest about who you are. If you truly want to make peace with someone, do not weasel around, playing with the truth and trying to manipulate the situation. Honesty and peace go hand in hand.

33.    Be respectful, calling people by their names and not speculating about their motives. For example if a person who is anti abortion wants to be called pro life then call them what they wish to be called – being respectful of who they say they are and don’t call them names you have created.

44.    Be committed to truth. No guilt by association. Hold yourself to your highest values and hold the other side to their highest values.

.    Paul Nixon adds 

 5. Remember that God is always present on both sides of a conflict. God is with all of us; rarely is either side completely right in a conflict. Remembering that God loves the other person too goes a long way in helping us deal with the situation in a more peaceful way. 

 

Just remembering that the other is a beloved child of God goes a long way toward this.  These guidelines are helpful in world conflicts and in interpersonal conflicts: passion, honesty, truth, respect and remembering that God is with the other person too.

Often what happens is we allow the passion to over-take all the others. We let things escalate. We stop all communication. We simply end the relationship. That person is not worth my time. But does it really feel good to be cut off from someone. I don’t think that is how God wants us to live. Shalom means peace and wholeness in the world. It means my peace connects to your peace, not that I created my peace by cutting myself off from you. Now of course, if there is someone in your life who abuses you, and you have no choice but to distance yourself from an abusive person I understand that, but that is the exception rather than the rule. For the most part, I believe we are called to the constructive work of making shalom in the world.

So I invite you, during your prayer time this week, to take out a piece of string, and place it around you. You can do this sitting or standing. Create your own little shalom space. With each breath, breathe in God’s shalom. Use this prayer: “may I be well, may they be well.” Breathe in tolerance, and breathe out forgiveness.   You can picture world or national conflicts, or individual people. 

Remember these words of Jesus: “You are blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.” (Matthew 5:9) Amen.

WORDS OF GRACE: FIRE by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

We are doing this series on Mother Tongue, and this week’s word is Fire. When you yell this word in a crowded theater it results in chaos. If you turn down your street, come home to a fire truck and your house in flames, the word fire means devastation. 

But fire, when we use it in the spiritual sense, can be powerful, amazing, it is a good thing. Fire means passion, it often means single-minded focus and purpose toward achieving a goal. Fire in the belly means a person is moved to do SOMETHING and is nothing is going to stop them until that something gets done.

Fire manifests itself in different ways in the lives of Jesus’ followers. The story of the beginning of the church is the story of a movement that spreads like WILDFIRE.   Read our scripture this week Acts 2 from the Message if you are reading along on the web.

It was awhile after Jesus had left the Earth, about fifty days, and they were celebrating a Jewish holiday called Pentecost. The disciples were all together in one place. This is how the writer of the book of Acts describes it:  “Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks.”

People who had come to Jerusalem from all over that part of the world, for the celebration of Pentecost, came running and joined them. It was a mad house. Crazy stuff started happening like people started speaking in languages they did not know before.

Their Leader, Peter got up and preached and by the end of the day, 3,000 people (probably really 3,000 men and then their wives and children too) were baptized and joined this Jesus movement. They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers. They were on fire.  

Have you ever been on fire like that?  Have you ever just been swept up in a movement? Maybe when you were young you joined a political campaign. Maybe your conversion to Jesus was just that dramatic! Maybe when you discovered your vocational calling in life and starting work at your first job you felt on fire like those early Christians. 

Can you think of a time when you have been really passionate about something important in life? Did you feel like God put you on this earth to do this thing? It might not have to be the thing that you were put on earth to do forever, but even something for a season, maybe you feel like being a parent? I think people can feel on fire to be a parent. Some days, every now and then, you look at your child and you think, “You know, I’m doing ok with this. I am on fire. I can do this!”  Some days are like that, aren’t they?  Once in a while you get a day or an hour like this.  

I know you all know the name Mother Teresa, don’t you? She is one of the most revered people on the planet. Born in Albania in 1910 she felt the call of God to be a nun at age 12  (think of the 12 year olds you know, imagine one of them becoming Mother Teresa), she joined the Irish sisters of Loreto serving the poor in India at age 18. In 1950 she received permission to found her own order, The Sisters of Charity, in Calcutta. 

They felt called to serve the poorest of the poor, those who were dying on the streets of Calcutta. Over the years their care has included refugees, ex-prostitutes, the mentally ill, sick and abandoned children, lepers, people with AIDS, the aged, and convalescent. They care for the people that no one else cares for and remind them that God loves even them. Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1979 for her amazing work. Her Missionaries of Charity are now throughout the world in more than 133 countries with more than 4,500 sisters and one million co-workers. 

She died in 1997. Ten years later a book was published which revealed closely held insights into her private spiritual life. In Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of Teresa of Calcutta. In the book, you can read letters between Teresa and her confessors throughout her life. She asked that the letters be destroyed but the church refused. They felt the letters were an important part of history and it would be very inspiring to read her journey. 

You see, it took many years for Teresa to convince the hierarchy of the Catholic Church to allow her to found the Missionaries of Charity. One does not just start a new order overnight. They did not think she had the skills and the fortitude to do the job. This little Catholic nun was not up to the task. 

But Teresa was on fire. She had experienced what we call ecstatic visions of Jesus. In fact, she had conversations with Jesus. Again, a young nun does not just go to her superiors, or to the priests, bishops or cardinals and say, “I had a conversation with Jesus.” Otherwise, they will lock you up in the metal hospital. But over time, and writing many letters, (remember this was the 1940’s and there was no internet so it was a slow  and tedious process), she felt safe to write them about her conversation with Jesus. 

Now you need to understand that her prayer life with Jesus had become so intimate that she felt as though Jesus was her spouse. This may seem strange to us, but it was her relationship (and Kurt ads many Catholic nuns feel this type of relationship)This is what she wrote.

[Jesus:] Wilt thou refuse to do this for me? ... You have become my Spouse for my love — you have come to India for Me. The thirst you had for souls brought you so far — Are you afraid to take one more step for Your Spouse — for me — for souls? Is your generosity grown cold? Am I a second to you?
[Teresa:] Jesus, my own Jesus — I am only Thine — I am so stupid — I do not know what to say but do with me whatever You wish — as You wish — as long as you wish. [But] why can't I be a perfect Loreto Nun — here — why can't I be like everybody else.
[Jesus:] I want Indian Nuns, Missionaries of Charity, who would be my fire of love amongst the poor, the sick, the dying and the little children ... You are I know the most incapable person — weak and sinful but just because you are that — I want to use You for My glory. Wilt thou refuse?
— in a prayer dialogue recounted to Archbishop Ferdinand Perier, January 1947

       You see, by 1946, she had spent 17 years as a teacher in Calcutta with the Loreto Sisters, they were an uncloistered, education-oriented community based in Ireland.  She took a trip, a 400-mile (645-km) train trip. She had been working herself sick, and her superiors ordered her to relax during her annual retreat in the Himalayan foothills. On the ride out, she reported, Christ spoke to her. He called her to abandon teaching and work instead in "the slums" of the city, dealing directly with "the poorest of the poor" — the sick, the dying, beggars and street children. "Come, Come, carry Me into the holes of the poor," he told her. "Come be My light." The goal was to be both material and evangelistic , "to help them live their lives with dignity [and so] encounter God's infinite love, and having come to know Him, to love and serve Him in return." (from Time magazine)  http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1655720,00.html#ixzz2MPBK64cV

It took her four years to convince her superiors, but they finally let her start the Sisters of Charity, and the rest, as they say, is history.  But this is what we did not know until after her death. Mother Teresa lived the rest of her life, doing all that amazing work, work for which she earned so the world’s respect and so many accolades, and inside, Mother Teresa was spiritually dying. You see, she had those amazing moments when she felt Jesus speaking to her, when she was on fire, when she learned of her singular purpose in life. And then the fire burned out. What is revealed in the letters to her confessors is that her fire burned out. Except for one brief period 10 years later, she felt abandoned by God for the rest of her life. She never heard Jesus again.  However, she sustained her work, and her faithfulness, based on the strength of the memory of those early encounters with Jesus. The fire was so strong then, that she trusted them.

She suffered, but she suffered privately, with a series of confessor priests who knew her pain. She suffered what we call the “dark night of the soul”. On the outside she had that trademark smile. She kept doing her work, caring for the poor, opening one school and home for the sick after another. But on the inside, she was asking herself, “where is God?” Carrying on her work, agonizing, suffering as she longed for a connection with God. 

Here is the lesson for us: If Mother Teresa can do all that she did, based on a short time of being on fire with God in her heart, followed by a life time of emptiness, then we, too, can look for that moment in our life, when we have felt close to God, when God’s fire has burned bright, we can seize it, and make the most of it.

You see, I am convinced that we all have a purpose. We all have a passion. God puts some fire inside of each one of us. We all have a fire that makes us part of God’s movement to make the world a better place for all people – to make the world kinder, more peaceful, more compassionate,  more just, to make the world kinder. God is the spark, but we have to provide the fuel and then the Holy Spirit comes along and fans the flames.

Think about it, when you build a fire, you need a spark. We usually use a match, and then you start with some tinder, some light weight wood that burns easily and then you move to larger wood. And when you want to make that fire really burn you fan the flames. God puts that passion inside us. God gives each of us a gift and some burning desire to make a difference in the world. But we have to do the work. We have to put the tinder on the fire and then the big logs. The Holy Spirit fans the flames. The Holy Spirit gives that mysterious extra boost that makes all the difference – those unexplainable things that happen to make our projects move forward, that help doors open, and the impossible become possible. That is God working with us to make God’s dreams for us come true.

So, for example, my passion and purpose is to plant new vibrant communities of faith so that you have a place where you can get support to find God’s purpose for you. God gave me the spark – the idea that this is my calling. The Holy Spirit fans the flames by encouraging me in this work. But I have to put the tinder on the fire. I have to do the work. I have to plan good worship, have conversations to guide you and lead this church. I have to have conversations with you to guide you. I had to find the financial resources to start up this church and not give up when it seemed like the money was not there. That was really hard in those early years and there are still months when that is a challenge.

 Like Mother Teresa, there were days when I felt like God had abandoned me, but I knew God had called me to do this work, so I had to preserve and trust that the resources we need are out there. I just have to keep putting tinder on the fire to find the resources.

So, what about you? What is your fire? What is your passion? What is the one reason why God put you on this earth? It might be your vocation. But it might not be. I know someone whose job is to be an engineer to create better diapers. I am not sure that is his passion in life. It might be. But maybe his passion is to be a positive influence with his co-workers and always be a positive force everywhere he goes. Maybe he volunteers at the Boys and Girls Club after work because that is his passion and his job is just something he does because he is good at it but he is on fire to be a positive role model for young boys and girls who come from single parent families and need a hand up.

Maybe you have a dream to make a difference in the lives of people who have struggles with something that has been a struggle for you. Perhaps God has put that on your heart but you are thinking, “I don’t know how to do that. Who am I to do that?” Well you are right. You won’t make a difference if you sit around feeling defeated. Instead, how about putting one piece of tinder on that fire? Could you have a conversation with one person who does know something about that issue? Could you take a class? Read a book? Could you pray every day for 10 minutes for a month and ask God for guidance? Prayer is an amazing source of fuel for a fire. I can tell you that The Village would not be here without prayer, without a doubt!  If you have some idea, some dim fire that needs help to find it’s next step.   Then you should consider prayer. 

Perhaps your passion has to do with your work, or something you want to do in retirement. You need to make a change. You really want to change jobs but you feel stuck. In this job market, it’s easy to feel stuck. But you know that you have this tiny fire in your belly to do something different. You have been trying to ignore it for a long time because it is not practical. Now, I would not counsel you to do anything rash that puts your family in financial peril. If you have kids you need to take care of them. But if there is a fire, I urge you to pay attention to it. Consider whether it is the beginning of God trying to tell you something. Spend some time in prayer. Take a walk. Talk to a trusted friend or mentor and consider whether or not this fire is the spark is the beginning of you being the person God put you on this Earth to be.

When the Holy Spirit came to the people on that first Pentecost Day they were on fire. They knew the power of God in their lives, and they devoted their lives to the way of Jesus. Their lives were never the same.

That same fire is available to us. Now, I can’t snap my fingers and make it a roaring fire I in your hearts today. But I believe that fire exists deep inside all of our hearts. If you have ever had any inkling that God made you, knows you and loves you, then you have a sense that the fire of God lives in you. God wants to burn in you like a passion ready to set the world on fire with positive change in the name of Jesus.

My question is this: what is your contribution to the world? And what will you do to put fuel on God’s fire inside you. (Remember, the Holy Spirit will help too, but fanning the flames.)

       I want to invite you to take a little stick (They were on the tables in worship) and imagine that it is a piece of tinder. Think about what step you want to take to live into God’s dream for you. That piece of tinder is the fuel – the step you need to take. Maybe it’s a conversation you need to have, a class you need to take, a phone call you need to make, a book you need to read.   So you can take that little fire inside you and turn it into a roaring flame.

            Do you need a place to help find that tinder?  Or is it finding the bellows, that wind that will fan the flames of your fire?  Find one, they are out there.  If you are near the corner of Conant Street and the Anthony Wayne Trail in the Toledo area, come check us out.  We are here Sundays at 10:30 AM and out in the world the rest of the week.  We’re ready to help you hunt for or tend that flame.