In Presbyterian Women, we continue our study of “God’s Promise: I am with you.” Earlier lessons reminded us that God is with us wherever we are; God is with us in our uncertainty and in our discouragement; God is with us in times of searching and in times when we’re powerless. Tonight’s lesson reminds us that God is with us in our trials.
One of the challenges of tracing a repeated promise through the pages of scripture, as we are doing in this study, is that the context in which God’s promise is spoken is ever changing, and often the context affects how we hear God’s promise.
We were challenged to share times of trial we’ve faced in our individual lives, when we needed to be reminded of God’s presence, and to tell of our experiences of God’s presence with us in such times. With the promise of God’s presence comes God’s activity in our lives, strengthening, helping, upholding, redeeming and rescuing us.
We read the following passage: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name, and you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow…” (Isaiah 43:1-3) God does not say “if you pass through the waters” but rather “when you pass through the waters” – for all of us will do just that time and again as we journey through this life. Those deep waters may be the pain of loss, betrayal by a friend, a life-changing illness, financial problems, addictions, disappointment, the battle of mental illness, struggles with our children and our children’s children, the death of a loved one, or any number of other challenges on life’s journey. God’s promise to be with us always is proved in those deep waters.
The tangible, hand-holding presence of God transforms our trials and offers us the assurance that trials, when they do come, do not have the final word. “The God who says ‘you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you’ (Isaiah 43:4) conveys again and again the same message: I will always be there. I will see you through this. I will never abandon you. I will be with you always.”
Giving thanks for God’s promise – “I am with you”, and for those streams of mercy, never ceasing.
-Elizabeth
In doing a little Monday morning reading, I came across something new and helpful: “Spiritual Practices in Crossing Boundaries.” In a day when we must be about crossing boundaries in grace-filled ways, I found these suggestions very helpful and encouraging. (Taken from Horizons Magazine, Nov-Dec 2018, Celebrating the Gifts of Women Service, by Jana Childers.)
Suggestion #1- “Keep in touch with several people who disagree with you on significant issues. Read a book every few months, written from a world view that diverges from your own.”
Suggestion #2- “Build skills that stretch your ability to hold two things in tension. One woman, for example, practiced cross-handed piano playing, playing the treble clef with her left hand and the bass with her right, because, she said, “it makes you open minded.” Some people arrange their seating in church or in choir so that as they sing God’s praises, they will be sure to be standing next to someone with whom they know they disagree.”
Suggestion #3- “Adopt a mantre that help you stay patient during disagreement.” One pastor experimented for a year saying, “Of course they may be right,” after every story about her critics.”
I once worked with a pastor who would state his opinions and beliefs as clearly as he could, then sit back, cross his arms across his chest and say, with a smile, “But I could be wrong.” I always appreciated this and have remembered it throughout my ministry. He stated his beliefs and then by his actions, welcomed those who believed differently to have their say!
Suggestion #4- “Increase your ‘attenuation.’ Although many factors contribute to an earthquake’s effect, ground that has sustained a number of quakes often makes for better attenuation – the intensity of the movement as it makes its way through the ground decreases at a better rate. This may be due to the fact that the ground is more broken up. Spiritual hardness, whether it is associated with pride or fear or another ego-related issue, makes it harder to do the grace-filled work of crossing boundaries. Being broken up can make all the difference in absorbing the energy of the differences or conflicts associated with those tasks."
The Prayer of Confession touched my heart:
Gracious God, you know us better than we know ourselves.
Find in us, we pray, the pockets of resistance and patches of coldness
that keep us closed to your movement among us.
Root them out and open us that we may be agents of your grace and channels of your love. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Giving thanks for fresh new thoughts and words of grace to help us find our way through these days, and for those streams of mercy, never ceasing.
Elizabeth
Driving through the country one day last week, I passed a little church with a sign sharing the following message: “Let the Sonshine protect you from a Sinburn.” I like this one too: “Feeling Puzzled? Is God Your Missing Peace”; and this one: “You may be the Hope someone finds today.” I always wonder how churches come up with something different each week! I notice bumper stickers too. One memorable one is this: “Honk if you love Jesus. Text if you want to see him real soon.” We all know what this means!
Years ago, I came upon a bumper sticker in the bookstore at Montreat: “God Bless the People of All Nations.” I bought it and placed it proudly on the rear bumper of my silver Chevy Malibu. When I returned home, someone in the Food Lion parking lot had this to say to me: “You’d better replace that with “God Bless America” if you live around here.” I realized then that bumper stickers don’t invite a conversation! If that person had bothered to talk “with” me instead of “at” me, he would have learned about my love for America, as well as my desire for blessing for all people. I saw another bumper sticker on another trip to Montreat: “Coexist” centered on the sticker and different kinds of animals and people filling either side. I bought it and have it on a bulletin board in my office at home.
The only other bumper sticker I’ve had states this: “Make America Green Again.” I like that, and have it tacked on my laundry room door! I suppose if someone saw it they would think immediately of another similar slogan – a political one. I heard on public radio about a German vendor selling a certain baseball hat with the slogan – “Make Germany Hate Again.” I shudder to think all that is implied in that slogan. And then there are others: “By the Time you Read this I will be Reloaded.” (with a picture of a handgun on the sticker ); “I Work for My Family, Not Yours. Get a Job.” I always wonder about such slogans, and long to talk with the people who put them up for all to see. There’s a story behind each of these slogans, I’m sure!
I drink tea out of my “In Everything Give Thanks” mug each morning, and have a “Live, Love, Laugh” magnet on my refrigerator, a bookmark with “Let Your Life Speak” (an old Quaker saying ) and a “God Alone” stone that I keep in a dish on the kitchen counter. Each of these objects speaks a “heart thought” that is a part of who I am, and I would hope they would invite conversation with those who happen to see them, and contribute to building a new relationship.
We’re living in a time when it seems we want to come up with clever, short saying and slogans to define who we are and what is important to us. As we take note of messages on bumper stickers, baseball caps, shirts and signs, let’s have conversations with one another about the meaning of it all.
“Imagine if instead of wearing our beliefs on the back
of our cars or on the front of our baseball caps, we set
out to try to discern together God’s hopes for one another,
for the world, for all of creation? None of which can be
contained in a few sentences of our own making.
All of which demand our energy, intelligence, imagination
and love – or to put it succinctly enough for a bumper
sticker: Our Lives, Our All.” (Jill Duffield, Presbyterian Outlook, August 2019)
Yesterday in worship we read part of Colossians and Paul’s challenge to “put off one’s old nature, and put on one’s new nature in Christ.” Perhaps that could translate into the bumper sticker message: “Off with the old, On with the new”! What wonderful conversations might be had as we discuss what it means to do that, and come to realize it’s something we have to do again and again!
Giving thanks for bumper sticker messages, for the messages we share with one another as we live our lives from day to day, and for those streams of mercy, never ceasing.
Elizabeth