Christian Reflection and Prayer

Scripture:

17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought
to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
(James 4: 17)

Reflection:

I'm not sure why, but this short, powerful
verse comes to my mind, especially this
time of year. 
We have just celebrated Thanksgiving and
we are about to celebrate Christmas. There
is meaning to these celebrations and somehow
we loose it.  We get so wrapped up in the
physical trappings of this world, we forget
what these celebrations are all about.
It seems to me the celebrations of
Thanksgiving and Christmas are about
knowing what is good and doing it.  God
knows whats good and He provides for us.
I know that many of us are is some bad
situations, life has not been easy.  I have to
admit that this economy has had a big
affect on my life.  But there has also been
good in my life and I am so thankful for all
the good things.  I'm very thankful for
the good thing God did for us.  He gave us
His son and His Son changed my life. That's
the good I celebrate. 
Can I make a suggestion for this holiday
season just take some time, in all the
confusion that is about to take place,
and do something good for someone else.
Just as God has done something good for us. 
YOU CAN DO SOMETHING GOOD FOR SOMEONE ELSE. 
THESE HOLIDAY SEASON PLEASE TAKE TIME TO CARE,

Prayer:

Oh Lord I think about Your goodness
especially this season.  Thank you God
for all the good You have done for me. Oh
Lord show me the good I can do for others.
In Jesus Name AMEN

It's Time To Move On
December 12, 2010
Third Sunday of Advent(A)

Isaiah 35:1-6,10; Psalms 146:6-10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11

"Happy is the man who does not lose faith in me" (Mt. 11:6). 

One Sunday morning a certain country preacher opened a sermon on faith with these words: "My dear brothers and sisters, your fields are drying up and you have come here to pray for rain. But where are your umbrellas?"

At the age of four, I knew that God was everywhere. I spoke to Him...But as I grew toward manhood, the more I learned, the less I believed in God...When I was twenty-one, my superior intellect told me that God was a fake. Heaven could not be "up" and Hell could not be "down" because in space there is no up or down. And I knew that everything in creation dies, including the smallest insect and the biggest star.

These words were written by Jim Bishop, the author of many best-selling biographies and histories. "Then one day," he said,

I felt a new experience. I saw the miracle of birth -- Virginia Lee, a child of my own -- and it turned my wandering mind around. I began to doubt my doubts. Gradually I lost faith in my intellect. It was not supplying the needed answers.

I could not see the air, but without it I would die. Thus it is, I decided, with the spirit of man. I needed something to breathe life into a soul that had been crushed by the dominance of the human mind.

What Jim Bishop needed was faith. "I was a slow learner," he said, But, somehow, somewhere, as I groped my painful way, I found my soul...I knew it was there -- wounded, bleeding perhaps, but alive.

I began to pray, and as faith returned to me, I feared that it might dissolve again. So I prayed for continuing faith.

It was only when I gave up -- when I let go and allowed myself to be carried by God -- that I began to really feel His Presence. He was there, and I knew it!

I had wanted proof -- something for my eyes or ears or hands. He wanted me to believe without it. Faith and trust are what He required of me! And He never rested till I found them.1

We think of faith in terms of belief, and rightly so. Faith is believing something. It has been said that faith is believing what you know is true but cannot prove on any rational level. But in Gospel terms, belief is simply the doorway to the House of Faith. Matthew's Gospel contains an incident in which Jesus spells this out clearly and directly. In the story, the people are trying to bring their children to Jesus and the disciples are trying to get the children out of His way. In their view, Jesus has more important things to do than to be bothered with the antics of little children, and so they are trying to protect Him. But Jesus insists that the children be allowed to draw near to Him. Then He tells the people that if they want to become the kind of persons God wants them to be, they must follow the example of those little children. "Let the children alone and do not stop them from coming to Me," Jesus says, "for to such belongs the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mt. 19:14). Earlier Jesus had said to the disciples, "I tell you solemnly, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mt. 18:3).

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Scripture:

They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy
mountain; for the earth shall be full of the
knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover
the sea (Isaiah 11:9).

Reflection:

Here is something for you to remember
especially during this holiday season.

(from a devotion by Pastor Ken Klaus)

Jesus Christ-our brother and King-is here with us.
He guides us in humility and meekness and teaches
us to treat one another in the same way. He who
came to this world as a little baby shared our
humanity, our sorrows, and our disappointments.
He suffered from the cruelty and murderous hatred
of His own people. He wore a crown of thorns  and
died on the cross for all the sins we committed
against our God and against one another. But now,
risen from the dead, He works to bring healing,
peace, and harmony to us and each one of our
broken relationships.

Prayer:

Holy Lord, tame our wild impulses, forgive our sins,
and change our rebel hearts so that we may no
longer cause any hurt or harm.  We pray this in
Jesus' Name. Amen.