Go! I Will Always Be With You – Matthew 28:8-10, 16-20

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Go! I Will Always Be With You – Matthew 28:8-10, 16-20

Several questions are worth pondering as we seek to be better disciples of our faith’s beliefs and values.

  • Who are we following – both religious and non-religious – and what are we learning from them?

  • Who are we leading and what are we teaching them?

  • How can we be better students and teachers of the Good News of God’s love?

Much like Jesus’ disciples, the Kingdom of God is filled with people from all backgrounds. Let’s work on inviting others to walk with us in this unique and amazing community as we all learn and grow together.

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John 10:1-21 – The Good Shepherd Calls Us to Abundant Living

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John 10:1-21 – The Good Shepherd Calls Us to Abundant Living

In verse 10, Jesus says, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Remember the Great Commandments? Love God, love yourself, and love others. What if we used that as a guide and a measure of abundant living?

  • If you felt like you had a direct, personal, intimate, conversational relationship with God, would you describe that as living abundantly?

  • If you loved yourself – loved who you are, if you could look in the mirror and say, “I like that person!”... would you describe that as living abundantly?

  • If you found it easier to love other people – even people you don’t enjoy being around... would you describe that as living abundantly?

If we trust Jesus and believe that He’s telling us the truth, then we can follow the words of our Good Shepherd and begin living more abundant lives.

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9 Readings – God’s Voice OR Our Imagination?

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9 Readings – God’s Voice OR Our Imagination?

How to tell if God is calling / drawing / tugging at / communicating with you:
#1: God’s message / communication with you will sound like it comes from a place of love.
#2: God’s voice will help you understand how to better love God, love yourself, & love others.
#3: God will lead you to places of need where you can serve others.
#4: God will draw you to be a light of justice, kindness, and humility.
#5: God’s leading often appeals to our “natural” (i.e. God-given) interests and abilities.

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Mark 16:1-7 – Peter’s Call-Back Story

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Mark 16:1-7 – Peter’s Call-Back Story

Peter’s story of being called back is living proof of God’s amazing grace. Peter’s call-back story presses us to ask two questions about our own lives.
1 - How have we received the Good News of God’s love?
2 - How can we share the Good News of God’s love with others?

Let’s go find the Peters in our community – the people who think they are unworthy of God’s love and remind them that they are worthy of God’s love and our love. Let’s remind them that they are welcomed, they are invited, they are called back to – and needed – in this big, messy family we call the Kingdom of God!

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4 Readings – Mary Magdalene’s Call Story

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4 Readings – Mary Magdalene’s Call Story

If you read the stories surrounding the 13 verses that include Mary Magdalene’s name, you will find that...

  • She’s the last to stay with Jesus at His execution.

  • She’s the first to discover the empty tomb.

  • She’s the first to hear about His resurrection.

  • She’s the first to see, talk with, and touch the resurrected Jesus.

  • She’s the first to be called and sent to tell others about the Good News of His resurrection – thus making her the first apostle to the disciples who would become apostles. She has often been called “the apostle to the apostles” and even been described as the 13th disciple.

As one of our greatest role models, Mary Magdalene’s life presses us to ask several good questions about our own commitment to our faith.

  • How have we experienced God’s transformative presence in our lives?

  • How are we staying close to God?

  • How are we serving God?

  • How are we searching for Jesus?

What better way to live our faith than listening and looking for God’s call so that when God say GO, we can quickly respond with joyful commitment?

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Jonah 1:1-17 – Jonah’s Call Story

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Jonah 1:1-17 – Jonah’s Call Story

The questions to us today – individually and as a faith community – are ones of critical (analytical) self-reflection:

  • Are we somehow resisting God’s leading? If so, how? Why?
    The answers to those questions are the beginning of healthy discussions and prayers.

  • Is God calling us to do or say something that, for whatever reason, forces us outside our comfort zones? Are we willing to be uncomfortable for the sake of helping others connect with a God who dearly loves them?

  • When we look at Jesus’ life of reaching out to the outcasts, of touching the untouchables, of sharing meals with society’s rejects, do we say, “Sorry Lord, that’s not for me.” If that’s the case, what are we willing to do for God? Our loving Creator will journey with us wherever we are willing to go.

Where is God leading you? Consider starting each day telling God, “Help me see where you’re leading me today, and give me the faith and strength to follow.” As we follow, God will provide and blessings will come.

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Esther 4:13-17 – Esther’s Call Story

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Esther 4:13-17 – Esther’s Call Story

Esther saved an entire community of Jews because 1) she was sensitive to God’s leading and 2) after much prayer and fasting, she was willing to risk her title, her status, and even her life to speak for and defend people unable to speak for and defend themselves. Following God’s call was not “safe” for Esther, but she trusted her faith and her loving Creator.

Esther’s story pushes us in several ways. I encourage you to spend this week thinking about her story and how you connect with it. Think about how God has blessed you with resources, with skills and abilities, as well as with the relationships and influence you have with others. Even if you don’t audibly hear God’s voice, how is God leading you, calling you, to use these skills and resources to benefit others?

Using who we are and what we have to bless others is the work of being the hands and feet of Jesus; it is the work of building the Kingdom of God in our homes and in our community.

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1 Samuel 3:1-10, 18-20 – Samuel's Call Story

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1 Samuel 3:1-10, 18-20 – Samuel's Call Story

From Hannah, we learn that God may respond to our prayers through the words and actions of people around us as Eli did for Hannah. And we learn to patiently await the fulfillment of answered prayers.
From Samuel, we learn to be active listeners, and we learn that neither our age nor our qualifications or accomplishments – OR lack thereof – prevent God from speaking to us directly.
From Eli, we learn the value of the wisdom we’ve acquired throughout our lives and the importance of nurturing younger generations despite our own failings. We are never Unqualified for God to use us.

As we, individually and collectively, look to our future, let us all pray with Hannah’s deep passion, let us all listen with Samuel’s attentiveness, and let us all serve those around us with Eli’s nurturing wisdom. As much as we are able to explore and express our faith in these ways, we will continue to create moments where God’s love is able to irrupt in our homes and in our community.

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Genesis 12:1-9; 15:1-6 – Abraham’s Call Story

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Genesis 12:1-9; 15:1-6 – Abraham’s Call Story

firmly believe that God has positioned and equipped us with everything we need to get to the next step. We need to be using all of our senses to detect God’s leadings. We need to trust that, as a loving creator, God wants the best for us and for our community. We need to share our life and faith stories with each other so that we can be encouraged, we can encourage others, and we – working and talking together – can more clearly understand where God is leading us next.

Two weeks ago, we sang Amy Grant’s, Thy Word, a song inspired by Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” We can take only one step at a time. Even the great Jesse Owens ran and jumped one step at a time. When we make ourselves available to God and seek God’s leading, we also need to muster the courage to trust God’s leading light and take that next step. If we do so, if we emulate Abram’s unwavering faith in and commitment to God, then we allow God’s life-changing, world-changing Spirit to move in us and through us. When God’s Spirit is freely moving, our lives and our community will be forever transformed and thus better able to accept the Good News of God’s love and experience the Kingdom of God here and now.

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Join Us for Dinner! – Mark 2:1-17

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Join Us for Dinner! – Mark 2:1-17

As God’s children, we are ALL warmly invited and declared worthy of celebrating our loving relationship with God through the elements of bread and juice, symbolically connecting us to the table where Jesus shared a meal with Levi and his very imperfect friends.

There is space for everyone: those who have been miraculously healed, those who are skeptical of healings; those who are curious; those who have been rejected by communities of faith, and those who have never before shared in this meal.

This is what the Kingdom of God looks like, everyone equally welcomed, equally accepted, equally embraced. This is a diverse Kingdom that we can ALL call home!

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Accepting God’s Invitations – Mark 1:16-20

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Accepting God’s Invitations – Mark 1:16-20

When God calls us, it’s an invitation to become a more active participant with God as we, together, strive to live into Jesus’ command for us to love God, love ourselves, and love each other (Matthew 22:34-40). Every time we answer yes to God, we grow the Kingdom of God in our hearts and in our communities. In the coming days and weeks, I encourage each of you to pray, “Lord, I am available and willing. What do you have in mind for me?” With that as our prayer and God as our partner, our future is filled with incredible possibilities!

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