Mindful of God’s Expectations(Mar 22)

He is the Lord our God; his judgements are in all the earth. Remember his covenant for ever, the word that he commanded for a thousand generations, the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac. I Chronicles 16:14-16a

When we are born our parents make a covenant, be it spoken or unspoken, to nurture, protect and teach us children to be mindful of what it means to be a responsible, contributing persons in the world.

Growing up in a Georgia small town, between when I started first grade through third grade, I used to “run away from home.” My father defined “running away from home” as me going somewhere on my bicycle without telling him or my mother. He had a unique whistle that could be heard all over town. I never ventured so far that I could not hear the whistle. When I heard it, I would peddle furiously back home. Once there I was admonished to “never do that again.” The consequences were always serious, with “a good talking to.” My father would always precede the punishment with, “I’m doing this because I love you.”

Once I had my own children, I understood my father’s efforts and punishment were truly motivated out of love and a sincere desire for me to be mindful of what it meant to be nurtured as part of our family. Being a preacher, he wanted me to understand what it meant to be a child of God.

There are times in our lives when we forget our covenant with God and stray from the nurturing love and compassion of our Creator. Things happen that WE interpret to be God’s punishment. However, we impose this punishment ourselves when we are not mindful of our relationship with God. God wants us to be ever mindful of our covenant , because God is NOT the enemy. So, let us be mindful of God’s expectations as we live out our lives in fellowship with our Divine Parent.

Prayer: Keep us in your company, O God, that we may always be mindful of your presence, guidance, wisdom and love. Amen.

John B. Tate, Jr.

Metropolitan Memorial

Always Loved, Never Forgotten (Mar 21)

“The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind; the Lord raiseth up them that are bowed down; the Lord loveth the righteous” Psalm 146:8

Twenty-two years of life have led me to live in eight states, many homes, many schools with many people around them. I have been very nostalgic lately reflecting on past adventures and the moments which carry memory and bittersweet tastes. People come into my life and are suddenly gone from it, simply because the world turns and we all hold our paths and journeys.

All I can say, to all those in my life who I love or have loved is we are all united by God. In some way or another, even if we fail to believe in Him, acknowledge His beauty, we are united by Him. In this season of Lent, I always choose to take time every day and meditate in prayer to see and understand God’s beauty inside each and every person my day’s routine leads me to as well as come close to the gifts He has given to me. Let us remember, that in our travels and life’s grand course, we are grand creations, always loved and never forgotten by our God.

Kevin Altman

American University

We Are Not Alone (Mar 20)

And the Spirit immediately drove him out in to the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. Mark 9:12–13

I have quickly become a fan of the British folk rock band Mumford & Sons. One of my favorites songs is “Timshel.” There are debates about what the song means, but it clearly deals with situations, choices, and being alone. A few of the lines are “Death is at your doorstep, and it will steal your innocence but it will not steal your substance. You are not alone in this…” This song comes to mind particularly during the season of Lent. Our Lenten journey is one of self-examination. It is one of exploring our hearts and looking at the choices we make. During Lent, we find ourselves in the desert places of our lives, standing in the shadows facing things we have dared not face before. Jesus may have found himself in this very same place in the wilderness. I wonder what was on his mind? Was he hungry? Was he thirsty? Did he feel alone? There is a line in Mark 13 that can be easily passed over. It says, “and the angels waited on him.” Do we forget that we are not alone?

Through all of the struggles of being in the wilderness, the harshness of hunger and the thirst that could not be quenched, we are reminded that Jesus was not alone. In our journey through Lent, as we face the choices we make and examine our hearts, I want to challenge those on the journey to be mindful that we are not alone in this. Being mindful of that hope and promise that God is always with us can carry us through the days when we cannot see two steps ahead of us. As we practice the presence of God, may our mindfulness lead to an experience of God that reminds us that we are not alone in this journey. God’s grace will lead, guide, and nourish us, and those around us become awaiting angels.

Prayer: God, remind us that we are not alone in this journey. You go before us, beside, with us, and behind us. You put others in our lives to walk on the journey with us. Help us to experience the presence of angels who await us. Amen.

Rev. Jimmy Sherrod

Metropolitan Memorial &  Crossroads

I Shall Continue (Mar 19)

“Avinu malkainu, our Father, our King, I shall continue to call you Father until You become our Father.”

–Rebbe of Kotzk, a village destroyed in the Holocaust

There are times when I feel utterly powerless, and so utterly purposeless, and even more so for not understanding the world. No matter which nice explanations are offered, I keep coming back to the question: how can God allow such suffering? If God loves creation and God’s children half as much as I love my friends, how can God watch them torn and rent in body in mind in spirit, how can God let ignorance prevail while those who struggle for light and breath are brought low? Omniscience is no solace. A greater plan is no comfort, because it means that God finds the chaos and hurt acceptable means to an end. And so I spiral down, questioning and then despising the questions for putting into peril the beliefs that hold me stable.

In such times, the only relief to be found is in honesty and in presence: to have another person sit with me in my doubts and admit that they don’t know, and eventually to find a way for me to accept the reality of these questions without fleeing. Bringing your entire self to bear in the face of deep-seated doubt and anger is an act of great faith. It is an act in which one acknowledges the real danger of finding only chaos, but places one’s bet on God nonetheless. Like the rabbi of Kotzk, then, I pray to God in the breach, praying that God will be God.

Elise Alexander

American University

 

The Pace of Compassion (Mar 10)

“And Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest awhile.”  Mark 6:31

When I walked the Avon 3-Day 60 Mile Breast Cancer Walk several years ago, the walk organizers gave us some advice. They asked us to walk the pace of compassion, not the pace of competition. They reminded us that this was not a race where they would be keeping track of who came in first; but, instead, we were already winners, simply because we were there. Would we be mindful of those with whom we walked, so that when someone was in need along the way, the walking pace we set for ourselves would allow compassion? I must confess that there is a competitive spirit inside of me (I did notice what number I was when I crossed the finish line!) Because of that competitive nature, there were times I had to work at walking that pace, but I have never forgotten those words. And when days get hectic, too many pulls, too many demands, too much to do, that phrase creeps back into my mind. The “pace of compassion.”

In this Gospel verse, Jesus listens to his disciples as they gather around him and he invites them to a pace of compassion. His disciples have told him how busy they have been….up at dawn, teaching about God and God’s kingdom, healing the sick, touching the untouchable….maybe they even became competitive—who taught the most, who healed the most! Can’t you hear them all talking at once, excited about what they had said and done. Jesus simply said, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest awhile.” Jesus was inviting them to a new pace.

Christ does not call us to a pace of competition, to a pace where we realize how important WE are; instead, Christ calls us to a pace of compassion, where we realize our self worth, based not on what we do, but based on WHOSE we are; where we realize not our own importance, but the importance of the whole human family.

Drema McAllister-Wilson

Metropolitan Memorial UMC

Brain Power (Mar 9)

“Brain pop” is an educational video website. My school uses Brain pop a lot. At school I have watched videos about resources, World War I and II, heat transfer and more. I watched a video about the brain and this is what I learned:

The human brain is extremely complex. The brain is divided into 3 parts. The cerebrum, brain stem, and the cerebellum. The cerebrum is the biggest part of the brain; it is divided into 2 hemispheres. The cerebellum coordinates your body’s movements. The brain stem controls functions to keep you alive. The brain is billions of nerve cells that allow you to think, see, hear, smell, taste and touch.

Our brain is one of the most important body parts. The cerebrum is where we pray. The frontal lobe of the cerebrum is where we problem solve, and talking to God is talking to a problem solver. When we pray to God, our brain is working hard.

Elena Remez

Metropolitan Memorial UMC

All Have a Purpose (Mar 8)

“Christ is exactly like God, who cannot be seen. He is the first-born Son, superior to all creation. Everything was created by him, everything in heaven and on earth, everything seen and unseen, including all forces and powers, and all rulers and authorities. All things were created by God’s Son, and everything was made for Him.”

Colossians 1:15–16

We are all connected in the body of Christ.

Looking back at your eyelash and your lung cell, which is more important? Is one of them expendable? The answer is quite clear—if anything on your body was expendable, would it be there? No. The Lord created all the things in this world for a specific purpose. What those purposes are is irrelevant; it’s whether or not we respect each other’s purpose that counts.

Many times we forget that all other living things have a specificfunction given to them by God, and what’s worse is that some-times we forget that each of us has a purpose as well. It’s important for us to respect all life on Earth and their directed contribution toward making the world work the way it’s been called to… even if their purpose isn’t always obvious (think cockroach and mosquito).

Prayer:

Lord, help us to always see the Earth for the gifts you have given them and for the job you have called them to carry out. Help us to remember our own worth alongside the worth of others and to support one another in the proper functioning of your world.

Kathleen Kimball

American University

We Are All Connected (Mar 7)

“Christ is exactly like God, who cannot be seen. He is the first-born Son, superior to all creation. Everything was created by him, everything in heaven and on earth, everything seen and unseen, including all forces and powers, and all rulers and authorities. All things were created by God’s Son, and everything was made for Him.” * Colossians 1:15–16

Let me begin by saying this very obvious fact: all the DNA in your body is exactly the same. If somebody plucked a lash from your eye and compared the DNA in there against a cell from your lungs, the DNA would be 100% identical because they have come from the same body. Pretty obvious, right? But look again. Does that single, slender hair look anything like the lobed structure of your lungs? They’re quite different—designed for different purposes, but still part of the same body. So if the basis of their existence—the DNA—is completely identical, why do they look so different?

The truth: DNA is expressed differently in different parts of the body to serve different purposes. It’s as simple as that.

Colossians 1 tells us that everything was created by and through the Lord. That includes the grandest whale in the sea all the way through you, and down to a creepy fungus growing somewhere in Rock Creek Park. However insignificant or significant we find ourselves to be on this Earth, we are still—on a very fundamental level—part of it. We share a common ground in Jesus with all other living things.

We are all connected in the body of Christ.

Prayer:

Lord, help us to always see the Earth for the gifts you have given them and for the job you have called them to carry out. Help us to remember our own worth alongside the worth of others and to support one another in the proper functioning of your world.

Kathleen Kimball

American University

Wisdom and Learning (Mar 6)

One of the biggest critiques of Christians is that we are a bunch of sheeple who are willfully ignorant of the progress that science and knowledge have to offer. We choose to stay in the dark. We don’t believe in evolution. We believe that Earth is only 6000 years old. Yet that’s not what Scripture commands. Solomon writes in Proverbs:

For learning about wisdom and instruction,for understanding words of insight, for gaining instruction in wise dealing,righteousness, justice, and equity; to teach shrewdness to the simple,knowledge and prudence to the young— let the wise also hear and gain in learning,and the discerning acquire skill, to understand a proverb and a figure,the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;fools despise wisdom and instruction. *  Proverbs 1: 2–7

Not only does Solomon praise wisdom and learning, but he condemns those who despise wisdom and instruction as fools. And many Christians throughout history have followed this advice. Theologians like Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, and our own Wesley all came up with their ideas by examining their faith critically. Even in more contemporary times, Francis S. Collins—the man in charge of mapping the human genome—is a devout Christian (He even wrote a book about reconciling faith and science: The Language of God). As Christians, we have the responsibility to learn more about the creation that God has given us. We may fear the unknown, but knowledge has the power to alleviate that fear and bring the Kingdom of God closer to us.

Prayer:

All knowing God, I pray that you grant me wisdom and knowledge so that I may better understand the creation you have bestowed upon us. In the name of your Son, Jesus, I pray this. Amen

Ian C. Urriola

American University

Love God with All Your Mind (Mar 5)

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” Deuteronomy 6:5

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30

It is somewhat curious that when asked to name the greatest commandment, Jesus adds a word. Deuteronomy instructs the hearer to love God with all your heart, soul, and might. Jesus instructs his listeners to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. It’s an interesting touch.

Jesus includes “mind” along with the other aspects of person­hood as one of the vehicles through which one loves God. It is a reminder that love of God is not spiritual or emotional alone. It is something that occupies our reason and intellect as well. Is Jesus making a new point? Is he introducing a new under­standing to how people understand their relationship to God?

Well, no, not really. The Hebrew word lev is usually translated as ‘heart,’ but to the ancient Israelites, the heart was the seat of reason, not of emotion. The commandment always included an injunction to involve not just spirituality in one’s relating to God, but mindfulness as well.

When we think of mindfulness in relationship to our Christian faith, we often think of it as intentionality in religious action. But mindfulness can also be understood as using one’s mind as a way to love God. Gifts of the intellect, the use of reason, reflection on matters of thought and working in the realm of ideas, are all ways in which we can love God.

Prayer: God of heart and mind, help me to understand my mind as yet another gift from you, that all my think­ing, reflection, and reasoning may be a way of showing my love for you. Amen.

Rev. Mark Schaefer

American University