Your Life is a Gift From God
“The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’"
Matthew 25:23 (NLT)
In almost every area of life, we understand the idea of stewardship encapsulated in Matthew 25:14-30. We understand it and live by it. To get a promotion at work, you have to demonstrate competence at your current level of responsibility. Sometimes parents expect their children to prove their diligence at caring for a goldfish before they get a dog.
It works this way in the kingdom of God as well. God determines how trustworthy we are by what we do with the skills and resources we have been entrusted with.
This idea is graphically demonstrated in the passage cited above. The master entrusts a sum of money to three different servants according to their abilities. That last phrase is crucial. The master did not entrust the servants with more than they could handle, but with amounts that were fully in their capabilities. He then expected them to use the money for the master’s benefit.
It works that way for us as well. God is the source of everything we have. Our resources, opportunities, skills and even life itself are gifts from God. We were given these gifts to be used for the benefit of God’s kingdom. As we prove ourselves faithful with the resources we have, God will grant us more – because we have proved trustworthy.
As we continue in the Christian to the Core series, stewardship of God’s resources is an important core value of the Christian life. All we have and all we are is a gift from God, and we are stewards of those gifts. As a wise person once said, “Your life is a gift from God - what you do with that life is God’s gift to you.”
-Pastor Alan
CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S FAITH NOTES.
Alan Cassady serves as Senior Pastor at Navarre UMC, and has been at the church since 2011. When he's not preaching and teaching, he enjoys sci-fi movies and FSU Football. Read more about Alan here.
I don't like to pray.
I don't like to pray.
There, I said it.
At least, I don't like to pray in the traditional sense of the word. It's not that I don't have anything to say - I'm fairly outspoken and opinionated for an introvert - it's that I only like to talk under certain circumstances. My examples of prayer as a kid were all about what the person praying had to say, and I got those examples from three very different traditions. My home church was liturgical, so the person praying at the front was often following a script or using "King James English" that I found hard to understand as a child. The summer camp where I learned about Jesus was in the Holiness tradition, so prayer often involved "laying on hands" and people crying out to God in what just seemed like wails. The kids in my school were primarily Southern Baptist and their prayers often seemed like random sentences sprinkled with the words "just" and "Lord."
So, in retrospect, it's easy to see where my dislike for prayer came in. Being raised by mental health professionals, like I was, teaches you that your role in a conversation is just as much to listen as it is to speak. So when I was learning about prayer, and learning that it was about having a conversation with God, I never felt comfortable because it felt like I was the only person saying anything.
Resources
As I've gotten older, I've had my perceptions of prayer challenged. If what I experienced as a kid was prayer, I always felt like it wasn't anything that could benefit me. It wasn't until I started to really take time to focus in on spiritual disciplines that I understood that prayer was just as much about listening as it was about speaking. As someone who deals with ADHD, it's often hard to sit still and quiet and "listen." So I've had to provide myself with some resources:
- Written Prayers
It's not cheating. It's not insincere. It's a real thing that you can use to grow closer to God. You don't have to reinvent the wheel; written prayers are a powerful tool to enhance your prayer life. Some of my favorite resources for pre-written prayer are The Book of Common Prayer, from the Episcopal Church, and Shane Claiborne's Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. The thing I enjoy about them, especially the one from Claiborne, is that they offer a series of prayers for a particular day of the year. It's different then a daily devotional because it's written to help you have a conversation with God, not just obtain a deeper level of knowledge.
Equally as powerful for people like myself who like to write is writing down your own prayers in a journal or on your computer. This can be a great way to clear your head when things feel crazy. I'm a sucker for a good pen and a Field Notes notebook, personally.
- Music
I was praying with music before I ever realized I was doing it. As a musician, I find that my most intimate moments with God are when I sit down behind the piano without an agenda and start to play. That's obviously not the answer for everyone, but it's a powerful one for me. For non-musicians, good worship music can help you guide and focus your prayers and help you feel comfortable speaking less and listening more.
- Lectio Divina
Lectio Divina is Latin for "divine reading," and describes an ancient monastic practice of using Scripture to guide our prayers. Again, it's about speaking less and listening more. This is one of the earliest forms of Christian prayer, and the Upper Room describes the process like this: (click over to read more)
- Read the scripture slowly. Watch for a key phrase or word that jumps out at you or promises to have special meaning for you. It is better to dwell profoundly on one word or phrase than to skim the surface of several chapters. Read with your own life and choices in mind.
- Reflect on a word or phrase. Let the special word or phrase that you discovered in the first phase sink into your heart. Bring mind, will and emotions to the task. Be like Mary, Jesus’ mother, who heard of the angel’s announcement and “treasured” and “pondered” what she had heard (Luke 2:19).
- Respond to what you have read. Form a prayer that expresses your response to the idea, then “pray it back to God.” What you have read is woven through what you tell God.
- Rest in God’s word. Let the text soak into your deepest being, savoring an encounter with God and truth. When ready, move toward the moment in which you ask God to show you how to live out what you have experienced.
Just do it.
There are so many different ways to pray, and many different resources to help you out. Even if you're like me and you don't like to pray in the way you've seen it done before, be wiling to step out and try something new. You can find an unexpected level of comfort and support when you just look around and see what's out there.
As our nation feels increasingly divided and in turmoil, I've found comfort in a written prayer from the United Methodist Book of Worship. It's attributed to the Church of Pakistan, and is a good example of enhancing your prayer life with the words of others. Remember, you don't always have to reinvent the wheel.
Look graciously, O Lord, upon this land.
Where it is in pride, subdue it.
Where it is in need, supply it.
Where it is in error, rectify it.
Where it is in default, restore it.
And where it holds to that which is just and compassionate, support it.
Amen.
-Matt
Matt Dailey serves as Worship Director at Navarre UMC, and has been at the church since 2013. When he's not leading worship and designing graphics, he enjoys baseball, comic books and team trivia (his team is nationally ranked. #micdrop). Read more about Matt here.
Family Priority
Where does the time go?
Look at your calendar for last month. Was it crazy busy? What about for this month, or even this week? Do you ever stop to wonder how family life got so busy? And as you look at that busyness are you really able to do the things that you most want to do with your family? What is capturing most of your time, and does that function have God changing leverage for you, for your family?
The core value of family is that God has given us family as the primary context in which we practice, learn and live out the grace and truth God calls us to. When it comes to loving God back with everything we have, family is both the easiest place to get started and the hardest place to consistently get it right.
This week, as we prepare for worship, think about the motivations that you have behind the choices that you make for your family with your time, talents, and resources. Then ask God to help you align what you do with what you believe. Ask Him to give you the power to make life choices for you and your family that most honor, celebrate and emulate Him.
Blessings!
-Lori
CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S FAITH NOTES.
Lori Ferguson serves as Children's Director at Navarre UMC, and has been at the church since 2015. When she's not planning or teaching, she enjoys spending time with her grandkids. Read more about Lori here.
Not Everyone's Holidays are Happy
Trick or Treat?
My family was one of those that turned off all the lights and hid in the basement on Halloween, praying no kids would knock on the door. I’ve never been trick-or-treating, although I’ve helped with a few trunk-or-treats at church. I only dressed up twice for a church function as a kid: Once I was Darkwing Duck, and once, I kid you not, I was the full armor of God. For the most part I didn’t care about not going trick or treating and I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything. Except for costume day in first grade.
I guess some schools still do it today where kids can wear their Halloween costume to school one day before Halloween. When I was a kid, m class went on a parade to all the other classes and every kid was wearing a costume - except me. Everyone got to show off their costume and tell people about who they were and why they wanted to be that for halloween. And because kids don’t always handle awkward social situations the best, I got asked over and over again what I was dressed as. And when I said I wasn’t dressed as anything I would inevitably be asked why I wasn’t and I would have to got through a little spiel about how my family didn’t really do halloween and blah blah blah. It started to wear on me. I was about to break down and just start crying when a random kid in a class answered for me when the other kids asked who I was.
He said I was dressed just like that guy from Back to the Future.
That was it. The guy said a total of twelve words in my presence. He didn’t even say the words to me. I think he might have given me a thumbs up or an ok sign or something but somehow everything was better after that. I didn’t even know what Back to the Future was but from then on I got to say I was dressed as the guy from it, the questions stopped, and I knew I had a third grader on my side. As I’m typing this out, I completely realize how ridiculous this is. I was planning on writing something different about Halloween. But even 25+ years later, I can’t talk about Halloween without thinking about what a complete stranger did for me when I was six.
It's OK to not be OK
We are about to head into the biggest holiday season of the year. We have Halloween next week, Thanksgiving next month, and Christmas is just around the corner (just walk through Walmart and try to ignore all the Christmas merchandise already out). While for a lot of us this is the most wonderful time of the year, there are people who can’t wait for this time of year to be over. The holidays will remind them of people they’ve lost, remind them that spouses or parents are overseas, or make people wonder how everyone else is so happy while they feel so miserable (SAD, or seasonal affective disorder, is a real thing that affects over 3 million Americans each year).
This is why the youth are going to go reverse trick-or-treating (going around neighborhoods handing candy out instead of asking for candy). It’s why Boo at the Zoo matters, why we encourage people to serve at Richard’s Memorial for Thanksgiving, and why we’re doing something new this year known as "the Longest Night" in December. None of these are extravagant things. But in the simplicity of them, we acknowledge that for some people the holidays are rough. That not everyone feels perpetual hope, and that we are willing to meet people where they are. So as we do these organized things as a church to reach our community, be on the look out for simple ways that you can personally make a connection with someone. Maybe it’s just an encouraging word, or a hug, or bringing someone a cup of coffee. The little things, even things as little as twelve words and a thumbs up, can make a huge, lasting, impact on someone.
-Nathan
Nathan Persell serves as our Youth Director. When he's not leading devotions and playing basketball with teenagers, he enjoys disc golf and bike riding. Learn more about Nathan here.
Multiplying Disciples
You then, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus; and what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well.
2 Timothy 2:1–2, NRSV
Learning to Be Like Jesus
In the past the only way you learned a trade was to find a master of that trade and learn from them. That is still the way to learn many trades today: brick masons, pipe fitters, carpenters and steel workers.
It’s the same way with following Jesus. I marvel at the way Jesus handled critics, showed compassion and spoke about God. Those are things I would like to be able to do. So, the only way I can learn to respond as Jesus did is to learn from him – become his disciple.
Discipleship is, in the simplest terms, becoming an apprentice of Jesus. We become apprentices of Jesus by watching, listening and practicing what he did. To that we have to spend time with him in prayer, read his words, observe his actions, mirror his devotion to God and do what he says. However, to truly follow Jesus, there is one additional step we have to take – we have to make disciples too.
Paul Discipled Timothy
Paul describes the process for one of his young apprentices, Timothy, “Take what I have taught you and teach others who can then teach others.” That is the key. Being a disciple means that we pass on to others what we have learned from those who taught us, so that they can teach others. A true disciple never lets the process end with them.
Paul taught Timothy who taught others, who taught others. They taught others who taught others and so on and so on. Then someone taught Bertha Norris and Fred Melvin and James O’Shields and John Chisum and Dot O’Shields who taught me. Chances are you have never heard of any of those people, but each of them played an important part in helping me follow Jesus.
That is what Paul instructed Timothy to do. It’s a job not just for ministers, but for everyone. Only two of the persons listed above were ministers; the rest were just followers of Jesus who cared enough to share their lives in Christ with me.
What about you? Is there anyone around you who needs an example of how to follow Jesus? I think there is.
Blessings!
Alan
CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S FAITH NOTES.
Alan Cassady serves as Senior Pastor at Navarre UMC, and has been at the church since 2011. When he's not preaching and teaching, he enjoys sci-fi movies and FSU Football. Read more about Alan here.