Category: Different Thoughts

Posted in Different Scriptures, Different Thoughts

a humbling season

Posted on by Wick

With new “political seasons” starting pretty much weekly at this point, it’s always a good reminder for us to take a deep, slow breath. Unplug from the barrage of posts telling us what we should think about who. Locally, our church has been reminded recently that disciples of Jesus (especially in our political contexts) should be regularly growing in both hope and humility. As Paul left Ephesus in Acts 18:21, he obviously had hope in God using Priscilla & Aquila for the ministry there, but also had humility enough to know it didn’t depend on him staying to sustain the work.

Yes, we want to be those who engage the world with hope. Yes, we want to participate in justice coming, love transforming, and healing wounds both personal and systemic. But we are limited beings. At the end of our abilities, the moments where we have to leave, turn off the lights, or go to bed – we purposefully lay it at the feet of God – who has it all in His hands already. Some of us, without realizing it, believe that we cannot do what we see Paul doing here. News feeds tell us we have to stay plugged in for updates at any moment. Our push notifications draw us constantly out of being physically present with others in order to discover new details about something not in the room with us. We feel like unplugging from all these things might convey that we don’t care enough. We’ve been told to turn away from anything we care about, even for rest, is a betrayal. We feel like – if we don’t make a public statement, or send an email about every topic we care about – the important thing that should happen or be known might not happen or be known.

Here’s an important thing to tell yourself: I am not God. (say that with me)
You know what that means? We can unplug, and probably should often. We don’t have to comment on everything, to show others we know it all. You know what knowing it all is called? “Omniscient.” You know who is omniscient? God. We don’t have to have a presence on all the different apps – you know what that’s called? Omnipresence. You know who is omnipresent? God. You are not God. (say it again if needed) The more we feel like we need to know all things and be in all places, the more we are trying to be God.

Now this doesn’t mean we don’t care. We’re not stoics, who believe all things are predetermined and so we just do the best we can. We’re also not hippies that sing “If it’s meant to be, it’ll be, it’ll be.” (Sorry not sorry, Bebe.) Just like Paul, we dedicate ourselves to the task. We vote and get involved however we’re able to live out the prayers we offer. We sacrificially offer the resources available to us. We empower and trust others to do their part of the work that is much bigger than us.

Paul does end up coming back to Ephesus, by the way. You know how he gets there? It’s not by a magical tornado labeled “Will of God”. He chooses to travel there, and as we can read (Acts 19), he stays quite a while. Because he actually desires to be there. He leaves Ephesus in Acts 18:21 not saying “whatever happens, happens”. Saying “if God wills it” confesses that even in his deepest desires, he is still a limited being. Saying “if God wills it” does not abdicate our response-ability, but humbly confesses our limited nature. We do what we can, but we daily lay all things in the hands of our God who is working to accomplish His will.

There is peace found in this practice, worth incorporating such “laying things down” into our daily lives. But we may have to stop consuming new things long enough to do so…

ps. If you’re willing, make plans to join us & and entire Free Methodist Church USA as we pursue a month of Prayer and Fasting throughout September 2024. Check out their website to learn more!

Posted in Different Thoughts

fatherhood.

Posted on by Wick

I’m thankful for tiny hearts and their natural inclination toward being loved.

I’m humbled to recognize my tiny heart has been inclined toward the Father’s Love, even in moments I am least aware.

I’m challenged by the seasons of parenting, and how our children incline themselves toward our love in different ways, each according to season. So often I’d rather give them the love I enjoy giving, rather than the love they’re seeking in that moment.

I’m thankful for the ways we are each pursued by the Father’s Love.

I’m in awe of the tender vulnerability shown in our creator becoming one of these tiny hearts, naturally inclined toward being loved by His own human parents.

I’m honest enough to know that I’m imperfect as a father, and I’ve not shown the love my children have needed every time they’ve needed it. I’m thankful for their grace.

I believe I have this in common with Joseph, meaning Jesus has experienced the wound of not being loved well at times. Our God knows our pain. He chose to experience it purposefully, even after seeing what humanity was capable of.

Even when Jesus was being loved imperfectly by His earthly father, it was part of His heavenly Father revealing love to all humanity – which now included Him. This offers an amazing foundation for Jesus to respond in His woundedness, as one who knows He is loved.

We know nothing less of ourselves.

And so again, I am thankful.

Tiny hearts – may we continue to lean in toward the Love we have always needed, and always known.

Happy Father’s Day.

Posted in Different Thoughts

important Free Methodist updates…

Posted on by Wick

I’d recently shared these with others, and this seems like a great place to post some updates the Free Methodist Church has made to it’s most recent “Book of Discipline“. These give us important guidance on topics of capital punishment, the criminal justice system, and creation care. A few other updates were made, but I wanted to share these three specifically. (The links for each will direct you to the full text of the resolution, giving the background/Biblical foundations for each.) I’m thankful to be part of a global movement that continues to seek a faithful response as we pursue the arrival/revealing of Jesus’ Kingdom here and now by the power of His Spirit…

“The Free Methodist Church is deeply grieved when any life is taken by murder. We believe that persons who commit these or other horrendous crimes should be justly punished by just laws. Nevertheless, we believe that all human life is sacred, created by God, and therefore we must see all human life as significant and valuable. When governments implement the death penalty (capital punishment), then the life of the convicted person is devalued and all possibility of change in that person’s life ends. In well documented studies innocent people have become condemned and executed, in which cases a sentence meant to bring justice becomes an additional and irreversible form of injustice. For these reasons, the FMC deems the death penalty as currently applied to be inconsistent with our commitments to the sanctity of life.” (Pp. 3222 D)

“A criminal justice system plays an important role in securing peace and order for a society, protecting innocent people from harm, punishing wrongdoers, and delivering some semblance of justice for victims. Such systems, however, do not always perform these tasks justly. While victims of crimes ought to receive special moral attention, victimizers should receive fair treatment, and the opportunity to repent and be rehabilitated.
Although Free Methodists submit to the justice systems of their time and place, we do not unwittingly affirm their understanding of or approach to justice. Such systems should be in a continual process of review and revision toward achieving justice that is equitable and seeks the common good. We especially lament the ways in which such systems incarcerate, target, and treat particular demographics disproportionately. Free Methodists oppose any system that demeans, abuses, depersonalizes, or enslaves human beings, treating them as less than human. We are accordingly committed to justice systems that protect and defend victims of harm without violating the dignity of those punished. God is our Redeemer. It is not the job of the state to redeem those who commit crimes, but the state’s criminal justice system must conscientiously preserve space, time, and humane conditions for the restoration of all to human community. The church, including the Free Methodist Church, plays a central role in this restorative aspect of justice through our chaplains, local church ministries, and similarly focused ministries. Remembering that all people are created in the image of God and for fellowship with God, Free Methodists will actively pursue criminal justice system reforms that recognize and protect the dignity of all persons.” (Pp. 3221 D)

“The Lord God brings salvation to earth through a series of revealed covenants, culminating in the New Covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ. The first of these covenants, God’s covenant with the earth (Gen 9), is instituted following humanity’s fall into sin and after the flood. The rainbow is the visible sign of this covenant. God thus has an everlasting covenant with the earth (Gen 9:8-17), as well as His saving covenant with people. As God’s stewards on earth, called to “cultivate and care for it” (Gen. 2:15, NABRE), we affirm that God’s covenant with the earth constitutes our stewardship commission.
Therefore:
A. We affirm the goodness of God’s creation, the value—physical, emotional, social, and spiritual—of engagement with it, and our responsibility to care for it as an integral part of our Christian discipleship and God’s Creation mandate (Gen 2:15).
B. We lament the ways in which humanity has failed to fulfill these responsibilities, polluting our environment, damaging ecosystems, and harming other species. The consequences of such failures are borne the most by the poor and marginalized.
C. We affirm and seek to support effective ministries of creation care such as reducing our consumption, tree-planting and reforestation, sustainable agriculture and energy production, drought prevention and relief, environmentally sustainable transportation, appropriate recycling, and the minimization of waste.
D. We commit ourselves to be faithful stewards of God’s creation, engaging in practices that reflect God’s covenant with the earth and our commission to care for it, especially in our preaching, teaching, and spiritual practices; the sustainable stewardship of our church buildings and properties; global and local missions work and ministry; and civic efforts to care for our environment.
E. We, along with the whole of Creation, groan in anticipation of the time when “the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God” (Rom 8:21). We eagerly look forward to the renewal of the whole of creation when God through the work of Jesus Christ finally “reconcile[s] to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by
making peace through His blood, shed on the cross” (Col 1:20).” (Pp. 3232)

Amen. 🙂