Author: Cindy Lee

Lately, I’ve been pondering this: “We depersonalize people by stereotyping them. We depersonalize God by generalizing Him.”   First – Other People With the flick of a word, one can stereotype a person and from there, it is simple to not love them.  This is very easy to do.  In the span of one day, I heard many examples.  Perhaps the most known label of Jesus’ day was Samaritan.  Once labeled, it is easy to ask the same question as the expert of the law asked of Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10).   Obedience to God’s command to love our neighbor is easier when we exclude people from the command by dehumanizing them. It narrows the pool to only the ones we want to love. Yet, the Parable of the Good Samaritan re-humanizes people. In a sense it re-neighbors people and our neighbor becomes every person.   Second – God If God is always a spiritual principle, an ethical or moral cause, or a mysterious feeling, then we fail to comprehend how He has revealed himself.  In Jesus, we see God personally—a living body that ate food, drank wine, spoke to people, and listened to people.  Jesus was born into a family, had a childhood, got angry, wept, and lived and walked among people.   The reason this is important is that we can’t become more like Jesus by divorcing our humanity. We don’t grow in grace by becoming less human. We aren’t more spiritual by being less human. It is in our humanity that God seeks to redeem. It is our humanity that God loves, and it was a human that God humbled himself to become in the person Christ Jesus.    So, again, ponder with me: “We depersonalize people by stereotyping them.  We depersonalize God by generalizing Him.”  This Week’s Readings: *Monday – Revelation 18 *Tuesday – Revelation 19 *Wednesday – Revelation 20 *Thursday – Revelation 21 *Friday – Revelation 22 Prayer Requests: *Families traveling to and fro this holiday season. *Heal those who are sick and protect those who are not. *Comfort those who are grieving and in distress. *Wisdom for our leaders as they navigate through uncertain times. *Guidance for those seeking to find their way. *Continued Growth Inside and Outside the Walls of St. Paul UMC.

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6

Is there a such thing as a respectable sin?  I’ve wondered.  Obviously, in the strictest sense, the answer is a resounding “NO!” However, hang with me as we explore the concept.  Some sins need no announcement for they shake the earth. For instance, adultery, theft, and murder are easy to spot, and by no means would anyone call them respectable. They rear their ugly in places that would never be a pew or at a church meeting.   But there is a sin that can show up often in the pew or in the middle of a worship service where Christians gather to praise God.  It is self-righteousness that can be a type of cancer to the heart for out of this one sin grows many others: Gossip, lying, lust, and envy.  Though we wouldn’t call them respectable, but at least they happen in a respectable place, in the pew, under the radar of anyone to see.   They are eusebeigenic (Eugene Peterson’s term stemming from the Greek eusebeia meaning “godly reverence”). Peterson formed this word while recovering from a staph infection where his doctor said he had an iatrogenic illness, a disease contracted while being healed of something else.  Spiritually, while being healed from something else, a person can develop a practice of something equally as destructive, self-righteousness. While reverencing God, we practice judgment, gossip, envy, and many other inward sins stemming from self-righteousness. This was the struggle of the older son in Luke 15.  He failed to realize he was a wandering sheep just like his younger brother.  Whenever we cross the line and fail to recognize our constant need for God’s grace, our sin of self-righteousness is eusebeigenic.  Thankfully, the remedy is simple in practice, difficult in heart—humble oneself and allow God’s Spirit to show us our constant needs. It is there that we will find that his grace continues to be sufficient.  This Week’s Readings: *Monday – Revelation 13 *Tuesday – Revelation 14 *Wednesday – Revelation 15 *Thursday – Revelation 16 *Friday – Revelation 17 Prayer Requests: *Heal those who are sick and protect those who are not. *Comfort those who are grieving and in distress. *Wisdom for our leaders as they navigate through uncertain times. *Guidance for those seeking to find their way. *Continued Growth Inside and Outside the Walls of St. Paul UMC.

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6

Two of my favorite books carry the same title: The Story of Christianity by Justo Gonzalez. They are a two-volume set of Church history that was a required reading for first-year seminary students. I’ve always liked them because I love the Church’s history. For at one point, I considered becoming a Church History professor; however, over the years, my affection for these books has deepened because I like the concept of the story.  A narrative directed by God that now includes me.   Do you consider yourself part of the narrative of God’s work? Sometimes, I think we miss this important part of the gospel. We are in fact very much a part of that story. You are a character; you have a part to play. God uses you as much as he used Moses, Peter, Andrew, Paul, and many others. Don’t miss your part in the story. Read Hebrews 11:1-12:3. Ponder the narrative of faith. Focus on the beginning of Chapter 12 and know that you now have a part to play.    This Week’s Readings: *Monday – Revelation 8 *Tuesday – Revelation 9 *Wednesday – Revelation 10 *Thursday – Revelation 11 *Friday – Revelation 12 Prayer Requests: *Heal those who are sick and protect those who are not. *Comfort those who are grieving and in distress. *Wisdom for our leaders as they navigate through uncertain times. *Guidance for those seeking to find their way. *Continued Growth Inside and Outside the Walls of St. Paul UMC.

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6

“Sin is a refusal or failure to be in a personal relationship with the living, personal God, and so forgiveness of sin cannot work with some dictionary definition of sin but only in a deeply personal act that restores intimate relationships. The sin that denies the person can only be dealt with personally…So if something is going to be done about sin, it is not going to be along the line of laws and rules, codes and regulations. God and every person on earth are inherently personal and can only be engaged in relationships that are personal…We don’t sin against a commandment; we sin against a person.  Sin is not an offense against justice; sin is an offense against a living soul…And so Jesus comes alongside us and prays with us, ‘Forgive us. Forgive us our debts, forgive us our trespasses, forgive us our sin.’  He also trusts us to do the best we can in what he does best of all: ‘as we forgive our debtors.’  He can legitimately, genuinely encourage us to forgive because he has already set the stage by extending his forgiveness on a cosmic scale.”  (Eugene Peterson—Tell It Slant) Three things that stand out: 1. Sin is personal and separates one from God, another person, and the person God’s Spirit is trying to fashion. 2. The remedy is also personal for, in Jesus Christ, God redeems the world. 3. We are to practice what we have received—Forgiveness.  As we have been forgiven, we forgive.     At the beginning of this week, I invite you to ponder Peterson’s words and allow the Spirit to guide you as you follow the living God.   This Week’s Readings: *Monday – Revelation 3 *Tuesday – Revelation 4 *Wednesday – Revelation 5 *Thursday – Revelation 6 *Friday – Revelation 7 Prayer Requests: *Heal those who are sick and protect those who are not. *Comfort those who are grieving and in distress. *Wisdom for our leaders as they navigate through uncertain times. *Guidance for those seeking to find their way. *Continued Growth Inside and Outside the Walls of St. Paul UMC.

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6

If Mercy is God’s infinite and inexhaustible energy to be compassionate, then Grace is the manifestation of that compassion for human beings. I’ve been thinking about God’s grace and why one might resist it. For many, the stumbling block isn’t due to utter depravity or evil, though that can be a reason why, but because that level of love is beyond comprehension. In my finite mind, I like to think I can get my mental arms around the concept, but in full honesty, I can’t. The fact that one, in the face of innocence and then crucifixion, could forgive the very people that are crucified is overwhelming. Frankly, I’m undone by it all. To forgive is a free act by one person to release another person of his/her actions. I like how C.S. Lewis describes it:   “I find that when I think I am asking God to forgive me I am often in reality asking Him to do something quite different.  I am asking Him not to forgive me but to excuse me.  But there is all the difference in the world between forgiving and excusing.  Forgiveness says, ‘yes, you have done this thing…I will never hold it against you and everything between us two will be exactly as it was before.’  But excusing says, ‘I see that you couldn’t help it or didn’t mean it, you weren’t really to blame’… Real forgiveness means looking steadily at the sin, the sin that is left over without any excuse, after all allowances have been made, and seeing it in all its horror, dirt, meanness and malice, and nevertheless being wholly reconciled to the [person] who has done it.” The receiver of that free act is nothing more than a simple receiver. This wonderful gift in its fullness, rawness, and untainted, is humbling. I am a receiver of one’s infinite compassion.  That gift is called grace!    This Week’s Readings: *Monday – 1 John 5 *Tuesday – 2 John *Wednesday – 3 John *Thursday – Revelation 1 *Friday – Revelation 2 Prayer Requests: *Teachers, students, and parents coping with anxiety. *Heal those who are sick and protect those who are not. *Comfort those who are grieving and in distress. *Wisdom for our leaders as they navigate through uncertain times. *Guidance for those seeking to find their way. *Continued Growth Inside and Outside the Walls of St. Paul UMC.

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6

Though grief can be overwhelming, there are moments of blessings for those who walk the difficult road. One of the reasons we struggle with grief is the physical loss and the perception of a lack of control when it comes to our loved ones. By control, I mean the desire for security and certainty. We long to know that our loved one is okay and at peace. There is great consolation when all are at rest. I think that is why I cherish All Saints Day. For me, it is a day of comfort and relief. On this day, the focus is on those who have died in faith and now rest. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. My favorite hymn normally sang on that Sunday is For All the Saints. The lyrics are as majestic as the music. It is perfect when accompanied by an organ. As I write this, I can hear the melody and the voices, past, and present, singing in harmony. For all the saints who from their labors rest, who Thee by faith before the world confessed; Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest. Alleluia, Alleluia! Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress, and their Might; Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well-fought fight; Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light. Alleluia, Alleluia! O blest communion, fellowship divine! We feebly struggle, they in glory shine; yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine. Alleluia, Alleluia! And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long, steals on the ear the distant triumph song, and hearts are brave again, and arms are strong. Alleluia, Alleluia! From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast, through gates of pearl streams in the countless host, in praise of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Alleluia, Alleluia! If you are walking this road of grief, I hope you will rest in the promise of God’s care for those who have gone before us. Envision the picture the hymn paints. Allow God’s Spirit to carry you with them to a communion of fellowship in the presence of the Almighty.   This Week’s Readings: *Monday – John 21 *Tuesday – 1 John 1 *Wednesday – 1 John 2 *Thursday – 1 John 3 *Friday – 1 John 4 Prayer Requests: *Teachers, students, and parents coping with anxiety. *Heal those who are sick and protect those who are not. *Comfort those who are grieving and in distress. *Wisdom for our leaders as they navigate through uncertain times. *Guidance for those seeking to find their way. *Continued Growth Inside and Outside the Walls of St. Paul UMC.

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6