The Beatitudes Beat Whiny Mondays

By Pastoral Assistant Lisa Short

I don’t know about you, but I could use a little sunshine about now. I heard on the news today that we are in our 10^th day of no significant sunshine. It feels longer than that. I find myself turning lots of lights on in the house in an effort to brighten things up. We have a running joke around the GPS office that Mondays are set aside as “whiny Mondays”, a day when we can kvetch about whatever is irritating us. And, yes, we’ve mentioned the lack of sun a several times… My biggest complaint about “whiny Mondays” though is that it isn’t an alliteration. It’d be so much better if it was “whiny Wednesdays.” We’ve tried “mopey Mondays” but we really aren’t that mopey so that doesn’t work. And, really, we aren’t so whiny on Mondays either, but it makes for a good running gag. In general, the office at GPS is a pretty happy place. We laugh a lot, we sometimes eat leftover cookies from Sunday fellowship time if there are any, and we celebrate the blessings of God.  Good friendships, good ministries, a good and gracious God – what’s there to whine about anyway?

Let’s be real, though, there is a difference between good-natured whining and those times when we really are beaten down and life just doesn’t seem to be kind, friendly and fair. That’s when we can draw comfort from one of the most familiar and beloved passages in the New Testament: The Beatitudes. Here they are, from Matthew 5:3-12,

“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers.  Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven.”

 The Beatitudes present a model of blessing or happiness contrary to what is usually seen in this world. According to the logic of this world, those whom Jesus proclaimed “blessed” are regarded by most as useless, as “losers”. Yet Jesus declares them, declares us, declares the “losers” to be worthy and rewarded. Jesus knows that life isn’t always fair and sunny. He recognizes that there are times when we will be poor, when we will mourn, when we won’t see justice done. He tells us that even during those times we are to remember we are blessed by God. He tells us that God cares during those times. When we are in need of mercy he will be merciful, when we mourn he will comfort us. It takes courage to be happy in the face of hardship and persecution, and no one said it was an easy attitude to adopt! Yet Jesus encourages us to see the blessing, to be happy in the blessing. Why? Because recognizing that we are blessed, particularly when we are in the midst of hardship, changes us. I presented this quote once before, it’s a favorite of mine from author Anne Lamott: she says, “Feeling that we have been blessed makes us feel expansive and light. It makes us generous. We make a little gasp of surprised appreciation when we feel grateful to someone, and this gives us more breath, which connects us back to life, where we now have plenty to share.” Blessing, happiness, gratitude, delight, life.

Maybe Jesus knew what he was talking about (you think???) when he said “be blessed” in both the trials and the happy times in life. I think not so much because it means we’ll get a reward someday but because it changes how we see the world today. Changing how we look at the world will allow us to see it with more beauty, more joy, and more gratitude. I can learn from the Beatitudes and changing how I look at the world, particularly on Mondays, will make the tiny ‘whiny Monday’ kvetches very, very tiny indeed!

ALL ARE WELCOME!

“You are God’s Masterpiece, created anew in Christ Jesus for the good works God planned for you long ago.”

I hope this verse from Ephesians 2:10 is a verse that you have heard here more times than you can count.  I hope you have not just memorized it, but let these words transform you, comfort you and guide you.

But, if you have ever actually looked up the verse – you have soon discovered that it doesn’t actually say, “YOU are God’s masterpiece.”

It actually says, “WE are God’s masterpiece.”

I think we have to hear it personally, for us to fully grasp how beautiful of a promise this is.

Each one of us has been made in God’s image.  That in itself is remarkable.  But, when we come together in community, it is then, that TOGETHER, we become God’s masterpiece.

As we move through the Gospel of Luke together this year – one of the dominant themes we will see again and again is that Jesus comes and wipes away divisions.  When people are told they are not welcome to be a part of the community, Jesus is the first to say they are welcome.

I hope and pray that since the first weekend of March 2006 – this has been known as a welcoming community.  I believe it is why many of you are here.

Two years ago I had the privilege of meeting over coffee with a group of mostly first time visitors to GPS.  I sat and listened to a group of people that because of who they love – have too often been told, or made to feel, that they are not welcome in the church.

Or, they were welcome to sit in worship and participate, but when it came time to try to get involved and lead in the Faith Community they had to sign doctrines that discriminated against them because of who they love.  They were told they were not welcome.

As we sat in that conversation, we easily came to an agreement that none of us were looking for a Faith Community that went out of its way to welcome one group of people – but we all longed to be a part of a Faith Community that truly welcomed ALL people!

It was also clearly stated that it is not enough for the pastor or even the church to simply use language verbally that says, “All are welcome”, but there was a need for the Faith Community to take an official stand, within its documents to show that it is welcoming and to challenge itself to fully live into those promised words.

Over the last two years you have heard it change the language I use in leading our Faith Community.  Whether you knew it or not, you have witnessed people coming forward for communion after they have been told in other places that they were not welcome.

In April of 2016 our GPS Leadership Team unanimously adopted a “Wedding and Marriage Policy” that clearly names that we will not discriminate based on sexual orientation.

I have copies if anyone wants to see it, and it will soon be on our newly launched website.

I am proud to be a part of this Faith Community and grateful for the faithful members of our Leadership Team who so easily came to this agreement.

Our Leadership Team has continued in a long process of conversation and diversity exercises to be able to celebrate what it means for us to be a Faith Community that is truly welcoming to all people.

From that conversation I had two years ago, we have continued to focus the conversation on what it means and looks like for us to be fully welcoming of all people.

Today, we are excited to share this full Statement of Inclusion with you….

This is who we are, and who we long to fully be as the Faith Community that God has created by calling us together.

WE, all of us together, are God’s masterpiece!

I want you to know that if for any reason – you want or need to talk about this – that you can call me, I will make time to listen!

After the Catch

By Intern Pastor Bev

As Christians, we are called to be fishers of people. This of course is a figure of speech, but it is one that we cling to in our understanding of our commission. It is an illustration that appears in three of the four Gospels in the Bible.

This week’s sermon text is Luke 5:1-11. In this text, Jesus was with Simon, fishing in his boat, and Jesus told Simon that “from now on you will catch men,” (v. 10).

I’m sure that most of us are pretty familiar with this section of Luke, in which Jesus calls ordinary fishermen to be fishers of men. It helps us to frame our understanding of what it means to be followers of Jesus in this world, and to realize that God calls us, as ordinary people, into extraordinary ministries.

Very often, I have read this text through the lens of Simon, comparing myself and my calling with how Jesus called an everyday fisherman to a higher purpose and ministry. And it is indeed important to realize this truth, that God does not call the qualified, but that He qualifies the called.

This week, though, God has led me into something very exciting as I have been studying Luke 5, which is to take a closer look at something (or someone) else in this text, which I have never much considered before. That is, the FISH. I have always paid more attention to what it is like to be Simon in this text, and much less attention to what it is like to be the fish. In this metaphor that Jesus provides, the fish are those who need to be brought into the boat with Jesus. So in this case, what does it feel like to be the fish before the catch, during the catch, and after the catch? What were these fish doing before the catch? What would they be doing after they are caught? Jesus could have used any metaphor under the sun, and called men of any vocation—why fishermen? Why use the metaphor of catching fish?

We are Midwesterners; therefore, we are not unfamiliar with fishing. We are a people who like to go fishing and to eat fish. When we literally go out to catch fish as Simon and some of Jesus’ other disciples did—for the purpose of someone being able to eat them—it is implicit in this act that killing is going to be synonymous with our success. When we think about it, the more killing of fish Simon did, the more successful and lucrative his endeavor. And Jesus encouraged this! In fact, Jesus caused him to be incredibly more successful in this act of killing than Simon was by himself. Jesus told him to “Put out into deep water, and let down your nets for a catch,” (v. 4). And they caught so many fish that their nets could hardly hold them!

This all sounds wonderful—and it is!—but sometimes I have forgotten that in this act of calling Simon into ministry, Jesus chose to help Simon find success through a greater level of killing. Killing fish, yes—but fish that Jesus then quickly compared with people. What does THAT mean?

This week, I feel God reminding me that in order to receive new life in Christ, we must die to ourselves. And in leading others toward Him, we are inviting and shepherding people into death—a death that must happen in order for God to bring about the new life in us that He promises. We cannot develop in our Christian life—nor can anyone else—while fighting against being caught, and refusing to let go of that which needs to die within us.

As Christians, we look out at the multitudes of fish with loving compassion. But it is a kind of compassion that knows that when these fish are caught and brought into the boat, there is going to be a death—a radical transformation—where those we catch will no longer be who they once were. When we belong to God, the old has been put to death. And only then do we receive new life. We are absolutely called to go fishing. AND, we are called to be with people once they are brought into the boat. What is that experience like, of dying to oneself? Of bearing witness to the shedding of your old life? Of becoming a new creation in Christ? I believe that it is worth reflection, so that we can not only be fisherpeople who go fishing and then leave the fish in the boat, but who also accompany those we “catch” as they struggle and develop and go through the radical change process that is dying to themselves and being raised to new life in Him. It is a beautifully violent process. It is one that we all need. And it is one that begs accompaniment. Just as a fisherperson would not catch a fish and then ignore the fact that it’s been caught, we are called to be fishers of humankind who accompany their catch through the violence of death and the resurrection into new life.

Are You Love?

by Monica Proefrock; family, children, & youth ministry director

No, not are you in love. Are you love?

Jesus instructs us in the gospels that we are to love others as we love ourselves. And I think in today’s world we can’t be reminded enough about the importance of showing love to each other. Kindness creates more kindness and hope creates more hope.

You may have seen the post going around Facebook where a parent advises their teenager to take the name of the guy/girl they like and put it into 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 in place of “love” to help determine if he/she is worthy of their son/daughter’s attentions. I think it’s a concept that’s good (for teenagers especially) to think about. But the other day I saw it in another way that I think can be even more effective. Put your own name or the word “I” in the passage and read through it…

I am patient and kind. I am not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. I do not demand my own way. I am not irritable and keep no record of being wronged. I do not rejoice about injustice and instead I rejoice whenever truth wins out. I never give up, I never lose faith, I am always hopeful, and I endure through every circumstance.

Does it describe your actions and attitudes towards others?

Are you love?

I find it easier to think about in terms of myself because I have control over my thoughts and I make my own choices about how to treat others. If I’m not being particularly patient on a given day, I have the ability to change that. Looking at these verses and inserting someone else’s name can be helpful. It can guide us in choosing who in our lives is helping us be our best selves and who, on the other hand, might not be the best influence for us. At the same time, though, holding others to this standard without allowing grace and mercy can cause frustration, disappointment, and broken relationships. And that shouldn’t be the case.

None of us will consistently embody all of those traits, but we should all try to. Will there be days when I’m irritable and impatient? Yes, definitely! But in order to be love, I first have to recognize that I’m not and then find a way to change that. Instead of judging or looking down on others for being rude or selfish or unkind and expecting them to change, I need to focus on making sure the way I treat others is with love and is an example of patience, kindness, selflessness, hope, etc.

Will you join me in focusing on being love? I know some days and in some situations it will be harder than others. But I truly believe that if we all are at least trying to be more kind and show more love, that only good can come from that. God is love and God is good.

Prepared To See

By Lisa Short, GPS Pastoral Assistant

We know the story of the birth of Jesus and the manger and Mary and Joseph and the shepherds, right? In the church year the 12^th day after Christmas (you know, the one where your true love brings you Twelve Drummers Drumming, Eleven Pipers Piping, Ten Lords a Leaping…) is the day we typically focus on the importance of the 3 wise men. This day is called “Epiphany”, meaning “revelation”, because it was the day that the wise men revealed to the world that Jesus was the promised king.

Imagine what Mary and Joseph thought when this group of men bearing gifts arrived at the stable. Coming “from the east” (maybe Persia) and a distinctly different culture, they would have dressed differently, talked differently and behaved differently from Mary and Joseph. I find it remarkable that Mary and Joseph welcomed them into their home – these strange men, speaking of their son as a king, pressing gold and other expensive gifts into their hands, gifts that were suitable for royalty – and wanting to see the baby. What were Mary and Joseph to do with gold and frankincense and myrrh? Mary and Joseph were peasants, they perhaps wondered what use those gifts could possibly be. Certainly the presence of these strangers who fell down to worship their son bringing gifts fit for royalty must have given them much to think about. And, certainly, it gives us much to think about: even the wise men with their gold, frankincense and myrrh couldn’t possibly match the gift that God gave us at Christmas – gift of a savior who would die for our sins and give us eternal life!

So, how was it that these wise men were the ones to make this profound revelation of Jesus as king? I think it was because they were prepared to see. The wise men must have been studying the skies for some time to recognize that the star in the east was an unusual occurrence with astronomical importance. They must also have been studying the scriptures to recognize that this unusual astronomical occurrence had theological importance as well. They were prepared to see the truth. While chance favors the prepared mind, God’s truth favors the prepared heart.

For those of us willing to see, whose eyes are open for God’s glory, God illuminates our lives with his truth, sometimes in very surprising ways. We can learn from these wise men: if you are looking for what God is revealing to you by studying scripture you are likely to see it. If you are listening for God’s voice through prayer you are likely to hear it. God’s truth is revealed to us over and over again when we are open to see and hear it. Open your heart to his word, his work, and his son, the truth and the light: Jesus!