Tag Archives: Morning Office

Remember Your Chains

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Today, a few words from 1 Corinthians 15 that stood out to me:

9 For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them-though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

Paul today says that he understands because of some of the stuff he did before his conversion (persecution of the church, the stoning of Stephen) that he has worked harder than the rest.  He knows that because of all that he has done, he has a debt, something that he feels like he needs to make clean for his own good.

Paul remembers where he has come from.  I think that’s a good thing.  One of my favorite songs by Steven Curtis Chapman is entitled “Remember your Chains” and this song shares with Paul this notion that we should remember where we come from.  We should remember that we were not always who we are now.  We should remember that it was God’s grace that saved us.

We need to remember that we are not perfect and have never been perfect. God has brought us a long way.

And, we need to remember to be merciful and grace that have not yet excepted the grace of God. For we were once there ourselves.  We are no better than them, or anyone.  It’s all about God’s grace.

God has shown us mercy.  We need to remember what God has done for us.  I know for me, that helps me to show mercy and grace to others. God has forgive me SO much.  How can I not show mercy and grace?

Even when I don’t want to. Even when they don’t deserve it.  Because I didn’t deserve God’s forgiveness of me. And He gave it anyway.

Remember where you have been.  Remember where God has brought you. Remember to forgive each other. As God has forgiven you.

Maundy Thursday

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This is one of the holiest days of the year. This is the day where we remember the betrayal of our Lord and His giving to us of the gift of Holy Communion.  Mark 14: 22-24 tells it this way:

22 While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. 24 He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.

Now, I’m a United Methodist and I’ll let you in on a little secret.  We love us some communion.  We hold it to be a sacrament – a means by which God gives us grace.  We believe that in the blessing and in the giving and receiving of the elements, God pours out His Amazing Grace upon us, and draws us closer to Him, and brings us into a closer walk with Him.

We believe it’s God’s gift to us.  A  means by which He shows us His love.

No matter what tradition of the church you are part of, it behoves us each to remember that it was on this night Christ was given for our sake.  He was betrayed, He was broken.  For you, and for me.

For the sake of the world, He laid down His life. So we may live.

If your church celebrates this Holy or “Maundy” Thursday today or tonight, take time to go and be with the people of God.  My church, Ripley First United Methodist Church, will worship tonight.  If you are in Ripley and want to experience a powerful service come be with us.

If you are unable to worship today or tonight, or you church does not focus on this day, then pause and remember.  Remember if was for us He died, it was for us He was betrayed, and it was for us that He gave this meal of Holy Communion.

Today, take time to remember all He has done for us.

The God of Repentance

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Today as I was praying through today’s Morning Office, one of the prayers really hit a cord with me.  It’s a passage from the Apocryphal Book the Prayer of Manasseh.  It says this:

And now, O Lord, I bend the knee of my heart, *
and make my appeal, sure of your gracious goodness.

I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, *
and I know my wickedness only too well.

Therefore I make this prayer to you: *
Forgive me, Lord, forgive me.

Do not let me perish in my sin, *
nor condemn me to the depths of the earth.

For you, O Lord, are the God of those who repent, *
and in me you will show forth your goodness.

This is Holy Week, the week we focus on the passion of our Lord as He was in Jerusalem, the week when we hone in on the cross and the price that the Lord paid for our freedom and forgiveness.

This can produce two emotions within us. First, a sense of great guilt and conviction.  Iunderstand this feeling. It was for me that Jesus came. It was for my sins He was given.  I was because of what I’ve done that He gave His life.  That is true for each of us.  He gave Himself for each of us.

That’s one reason, in my opinion, as Christians we must be forgiving, Jesus died for the sins of the world. But, also for my sins.  I don’t need to worry about what you are doing.  I need to worry about what I am doing. How am I living?  How am I being faithful.  How am I being who God has called me to be?  If we each live with that sense of awareness of our own sin, I imagine we’ll be more forgiving of each other’s sin.

The other emotion it produces is thankfulness. For, God is a God of repentance.  He is a God of those that turn to Him, that ask forgiveness.  That ask for new life. That turn away from the old.  That understand what they have done.

Today, God is a God that longs to forgive you. And me. He is a God that longs to offer each of us a fresh start. Today.  He longs to forgive us.

Repentance is a gift.  It allows us to make a new, fresh, and clean start.  Today.

And, repentance is not just for those that are not Christian.  It’s for each of us. For we all have sin and we all need to repent and turn away from it.  We all need to turn from our sin and turn to God.

Today, will you repent?  Will you turn away from your sin and turn to God?  Will you make a fresh start?  Will you have a new day?  God is the God of Repentance.  May we find His grace for that, even today.

Nobody Knows the Troubles I Face

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Today’s New Testament reading, 2 Corinthians 1:1-7

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is in Corinth, including all the saints throughout Achaia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ. If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering.

Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation.

I get myself into the most trouble when I feel like my troubles are worse than anyone else.  I get myself into trouble I when I think I have worse than anyone else.

Surely know one knows what I’m going through.  Surely the suffering I face is worse than anyone. It’s not right, it’s not fair, it’s not the way it should be.

I deserve better.

And, since I’m having a tough time, it’s ok for me to fall back into old habits.  Old habits, old destructive things, they can be like an old pair of shoes. We fall back into them when we want that comfort.

No one knows the suffering I face.

But, here’s the thing that spoke to me in this text this morning.  What makes me think I won’t have troubles?  What makes me think I won’t have tough times?  Where in my mind did I get the impression that the Christian life would be without its problems and sufferings?

In fact, did Paul not say this morning that we are comforted in our sufferings so that we can comfort others?  Yes. We will face tough times. We will face troubles, trials, sufferings.

These things, these trials, they are not an excuse to turn from God.

They are a reason to turn to God.

Your troubles, your trials, your sleepless nights, they can either be an excuse for bitterness and old sin.  Or they can be a driving force to God.

It’s your call.

We were never promised a life without troubles.  It will come.  I don’t always respond as I should to those troubles.  It’s easy to feel sorry for yourself or feel alone.

Instead of praying.

We are comforted in our sufferings.  In our lowest moments, hardest times, loneliest day, may we turn to God.  The worse it is, the more we need to turn.

Don’t let the troubles turn you from God.  Today, may they turn us to God.

The Inside Out Life

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Today’s New Testament Reading from the Morning Office was 2 Corinthians 4: 1-12

Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.

I like the notion in this that faith is an inside out thing. It starts with the inside.  No matter what is happening on the outside, no matter what is happening in your life, no matter what is happening today, faith starts inside.

Life starts inside.

I find in my own life, I pay more attention to the outside stuff.  I pay more attention to the things of this world, or to my fears, or to my hurts, my wants, my concerns.

I don’t pay enough attention to the soul.  To the life. To what matters.

No matter what happens today, life is at work in your. Through Jesus. Through the Spirit, life is at work in you.

Are you seeking it?  Are you listening to it?  Are you living inside out?  If we live outside in, where the external determines how our soul feels, we are in trouble.

If, though, our soul determines our external, we will find life, no matter what.  That’s what Paul tells us today. We are merely clay jars, that have this awesome life within.

Today, where is your life?  Today, what do you pay the most attention to? Today, what are you living for.  May we live the inside out life.