11.1.09 – A Christian Community

Weekly Prayer:
Dear God, with keen insight the early Hebrew storytellers showed you saying it was “not good” for a human to be alone—even in the “very good” Garden of Eden. Too many of us today feel alone in our stories. Grant me wisdom to address any causes of isolation that lie within me. Help me see more clearly the way to healthy community—in small groups I’m part of and in my congregation. Help me find the spiritual home you offer me. Amen.

Prayer Tip:
At times, I get very discouraged in my prayer life. Sometimes I wonder if God is even listening to me when I pray. Worse are the times when I lift up prayers and think that perhaps God is listening, but just doesn’t care about these particular requests. Of course, these moments of discouragement are temporary and all one-sided. God is always listening and always cares, whether I sense this or not (something I have to remind myself of during those prayer-droughts). In fact, if there are degrees of God’s care, I imagine God would care even more in those moments of discouragement, because it probably pains God to see me so discouraged. So what do you think? Could God be closest to your heart in those moments when you think God is farthest away?
Mother Teresa had moments of sharp discouragement in her prayer life as she ministered to the “untouchables” in Calcutta. She would lift up prayers on behalf of these outcasts, but would question whether she truly believed God would answer her prayers. She wrote in one of her letters, “Where I try to raise my thoughts to heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul.” She felt as though God was so very far away that her prayers did not matter and were not received. The irony is that God was so very close, that God was showing God’s care and nurturing presence for these people through Mother Teresa. For many, she was the answer to the constant prayers she lifted up to God.
If you are in a prayer-drought and unsure if God is listening to you, I invite you to look within yourself. Could God be using you to answer the very petition you are lifting up? Are you getting in the way of God’s choice to use you as an answer to prayer? Sometimes the very thing we are looking for really is just under our nose.
–Michael Maroon, Pastor of Prayer Ministries

Join us for worship today–click here for information on worship times and locations. If you are not in the Kansas City area, you can take part in our worship via live Web stream at live.cor.org.

Download a printable version of this week’s GPS.

10.31.09 – Share your story

Personal Application:
When did you last really enjoy a restaurant you tried, or see a movie you liked a lot? How many people did you tell? Were any of them upset when you shared how much you valued the experience? Spend time praying about how sharing Jesus’ positive impact on you can become as natural as sharing a great movie. Ask God to lead you to people you can reach, and to give you the life and the words to share the good news.

Family Activity:
Create a family faith timeline. Attach several sheets of paper together horizontally. Draw a horizontal line down the middle of the paper. Ask the oldest person in the family to place his/her date of birth at the left and today’s date at the right. Ask each family member to use a colored marker to identify his/her birthday, then to represent his/her faith milestones on the line. Using these milestones, practice telling your faith story to one another. As you listen to each other’s stories, be encouraging and supportive. Think of someone else who would benefit from hearing your story and commit to sharing it! If you and your family are new to faith, begin a timeline and continue adding to it as you grow in God!

Prayer:
Dear God, sometimes our lives are so closed up–we close our minds, we close our hearts and we close our doors. But you call us to be open so that your love might flow through us and into the world. Help us to open up the windows of our being so that we can allow your Spirit to freely flow through us and into the lives of those you hope to touch and reach. Amen.

10.30.09 – Go and make disciples

Daily Scripture: Matthew 28:16-20
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Read additional translations at Biblegateway.com or youversion.com

Reflection Questions:
At the end of his earthly ministry, Jesus gave his followers this charge (called the “Great Commission”). A disciple is not just a person who knows some things about Jesus. A disciple intends to follow Jesus in all parts of life. So “making disciples” is not a one-time effort, but a continual choice to invest ourselves in making the lives of others better.

• This passage offers a command, and a promise. Jesus addressed the command to all his followers: “Go…make disciples of all nations…baptizing them …and teaching them.” In what ways are you gifted to help carry out this commission? How does this mission shape your understanding of what it means to be “the church”?
• Jesus’ promise is more priceless than anything a MasterCard could get you: “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” In what situations has it made your life better to remember and live in the light of that promise? How can knowing Jesus is with you give you courage, strength and peace in life’s hardest times?

Read Darren Lippe’s insights on today’s scripture at gpsinsights.wordpress.com

Weekly Prayer:
Dear Jesus, you came to seek and to save those who were lost. I’m one of the ones you found. I’m so thankful for the ways your grace and love give me hope and inner peace as I learn to live beyond shame, guilt and emptiness. You’ve asked all of us to be a part of your ongoing mission to seek and to save. Give me the courage and concern to seek to share you with the people I care about who don’t know you. Amen.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, TODAY’S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society®. Used by permission of International Bible Society®. All rights reserved worldwide.

10.29.09 – Be ready to give an answer

Daily Scripture: 1 Peter 3:8-16
8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For, “Whoever among you would love life and see good days must keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech.11 Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

Read additional translations at Biblegateway.com or youversion.com

Reflection Questions:
St. Francis of Assisi is credited with saying, “Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.” The early Christians who read this letter had no political power, little money, and a low social status. Yet their lives, and (when needed) their words, were so eloquent that the good news spread across the Empire, even in the face of scorn and persecution.

• Verse 15 assumes that, at times, the effect of a patient, persistent Christian life will be to prompt questions from others. Has anyone ever asked you about your hope? If so, what triggered the talk? How well are you prepared to give an answer if someone asks you why you have the hope you do, or what shapes your inner life?
• The social climate for Christians today is in many ways more welcoming than it was for the early Christians. Think of yourself and the Christians you know. How well are you doing at living into verses 8-9? Do you believe that approach to life has become less needed as the social status of Christians has risen, or not?

Read Rev. Penny Ellwood’s insights on today’s scripture at gpsinsights.wordpress.com

Weekly Prayer:
Dear Jesus, you came to seek and to save those who were lost. I’m one of the ones you found. I’m so thankful for the ways your grace and love give me hope and inner peace as I learn to live beyond shame, guilt and emptiness. You’ve asked all of us to be a part of your ongoing mission to seek and to save. Give me the courage and concern to seek to share you with the people I care about who don’t know you. Amen.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, TODAY’S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society®. Used by permission of International Bible Society®. All rights reserved worldwide.

10.28.09 – Showing forth God’s light

Daily Scripture: 1 Peter 2:4-10
4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by human beings but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”8 and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Read additional translations at Biblegateway.com or youversion.com

Reflection Questions:
The last two verses of this poetic passage deliver the “punch line.” God’s mercy builds us into a community that can show forth God’s marvelous light. Peter’s foundation for that claim shows us how New Testament Christians found Jesus all over the Old Testament. Verse 6 quotes Isaiah 28:16; verse 7 draws on Psalm 118:22; and verse 8 uses Isaiah 8:14.

• Some Bible scholars believe 1 Peter may have been adapted from a talk given to new converts at their baptism. How, if at all, do you remind yourself of your confirmation, baptism or other time when you first “owned” your faith in Jesus? How does your identity as a Christ-follower shape your day-to-day life?
• “A chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (verse 9). Peter applies Old Testament terms for Israel to God’s people, “the church.” Acting jointly, how can we show God’s grace and light in ways we can’t do alone? How can a sense that together we are God’s hands in the world help us rethink the meaning of “church”?

Read Rev. Russell Brown’s insights on today’s scripture at gpsinsights.wordpress.com

Weekly Prayer:
Dear Jesus, you came to seek and to save those who were lost. I’m one of the ones you found. I’m so thankful for the ways your grace and love give me hope and inner peace as I learn to live beyond shame, guilt and emptiness. You’ve asked all of us to be a part of your ongoing mission to seek and to save. Give me the courage and concern to seek to share you with the people I care about who don’t know you. Amen.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, TODAY’S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society®. Used by permission of International Bible Society®. All rights reserved worldwide.

10.27.09 – Look at the harvest!

Daily Scripture: John 4:19-35
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” 27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.

Read additional translations at Biblegateway.com or youversion.com

Reflection Questions:
Jesus met a person with three strikes against her: a) she was a Samaritan, b) she was a woman, c) she’d had multiple husbands. To his disciples’ surprise, he treated her as valuable. In fact, verses 28-30 show her as the first witness to Jesus (the first “preacher”) in John’s gospel! “There’s a great harvest to reap,” Jesus said. “Open your eyes to see it.”

• For what reasons were Jesus’ disciples surprised when they found Jesus talking with this woman? In what ways were their eyes not open to her value, or that of the others who, at her word, made their way toward Jesus (verse 30)? How do those factors operate in your life? Who are the people you tend to look right past?
• How do you understand the exchange Jesus had with his disciples in verses 31-34? We know Jesus needed to eat, like any human being. How did being about his God-given mission provide inner fuel and strength for him? When, if ever, have you had a sense of being so caught up in God’s mission that you almost hated to stop to eat?

Read Rev. Scott Chrostek’s insights on today’s scripture at gpsinsights.wordpress.com

Weekly Prayer:
Dear Jesus, you came to seek and to save those who were lost. I’m one of the ones you found. I’m so thankful for the ways your grace and love give me hope and inner peace as I learn to live beyond shame, guilt and emptiness. You’ve asked all of us to be a part of your ongoing mission to seek and to save. Give me the courage and concern to seek to share you with the people I care about who don’t know you. Amen.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, TODAY’S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society®. Used by permission of International Bible Society®. All rights reserved worldwide.

10.26.09 – Jesus came to seek and save

Daily Scripture: Luke 19:1-10
1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

Read additional translations at Biblegateway.com or youversion.com

Reflection Questions:
Meet Zacchaeus. He was wealthy because, as a tax collector for the Roman Empire, he was free to extort large sums for himself. To his victims (verse 7), no one seemed less worthy of Jesus’ notice. Beneath the wealth and abuse of power, Jesus saw his spiritual poverty, his thirst for something beyond himself. People like him, Jesus said, are the reason I came!

• What changes, if any, did Jesus demand of Zacchaeus before he would come to his house? How (then and now) was this unlike the picture many people have of what God asks before he will accept us? What changes began to happen in Zacchaeus after Jesus lovingly accepted him? How did those changes affect his neighbors?
• In The Good and Beautiful God, James Bryant Smith writes that many of us believe the common narrative that “God loves you when you are good, and is angry with you when you are bad.” How did Jesus’ view of his mission change that sense of God? What does this tell you about the kind of community the church needs to be?

Read Rev. Andrew Conard’s insights on today’s scripture at gpsinsights.wordpress.com

Weekly Prayer:
Dear Jesus, you cam e to seek and to save those who were lost. I’m one of the ones you found. I’m so thankful for the ways your grace and love give me hope and inner peace as I learn to live beyond shame, guilt and emptiness. You’ve asked all of us to be a part of your ongoing mission to seek and to save. Give me the courage and concern to seek to share you with the people I care about who don’t know you. Amen.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, TODAY’S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society®. Used by permission of International Bible Society®. All rights reserved worldwide.

10.25.09 – Opening Minds, Hearts and Doors: The Church That’s Needed Now

Weekly Prayer:
Dear Jesus, you came to seek and to save those who were lost. I’m one of the ones you found. I’m so thankful for the ways your grace and love give me hope and inner peace as I learn to live beyond shame, guilt and emptiness. You’ve asked all of us to be a part of your ongoing mission to seek and to save. Give me the courage and concern to seek to share you with the people I care about who don’t know you. Amen.

Prayer Tip:
In the United Methodist Hymnal there is an order of worship for communion services. Within this order, there is a section of prayer titled Confession and Pardon. We often offer up prayers of confession to God, but sometimes we fail to recognize the pardon and forgiveness that we receive through our prayers of confession. When you pray your prayers of confession, don’t forget to thank God for pardoning your sins. Below is the prayer of confession and pardon that is found in the United Methodist Hymnal.

Merciful God,
we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart.
We have failed to be an obedient church.
We have not done your will,
we have broken your law,
we have rebelled against your love,
we have not loved our neighbors,
and we have not heard the cry of the needy.
Forgive us, we pray.
Free us for joyful obedience,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
In the name of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven!
Glory to God. Amen.

–Michael Maroon, Pastor of Prayer Ministries

Join us for worship today–click here for information on worship times and locations. If you are not in the Kansas City area, you can take part in our worship via live Web stream at live.cor.org.

Download a printable version of this week’s GPS.

10.24.09 – Making “Church” a Verb

Personal Application:
The Church of the Resurrection is not the buildings on our Central Campus, or along College Blvd. out west, or near Grand Ave. downtown. Pastor Hamilton says, “When the building burns down, and the preacher leaves town, what you have left is the church.” How does “going to” church move you away from God’s calling? What altered ways of thinking or acting could make church a “verb” for you, a reality you live and are?

Family Activity:
Acts 9:36 says Tabitha (or Dorcas) “was always doing good and helping the poor.” If someone wrote one sentence about you, what two phrases do you think that person would choose to describe you? If that person wrote a short paragraph about your family, what do you think he or she would write? Tabitha was an everyday, ordinary person, just like most of us, yet she touched many lives and did great things for God. Discuss your lives as a family. Choose one or two Christ-like qualities you hope will describe your family. Create a banner or poster using these words or phrases and post in a conspicuous place in your home. What steps will you take to live these out in the world?

Prayer:
Dear God, you have hopes that your Church will move the mountains of injustice and shine light into the darkest valleys. Help me to remember always that Church only really happens in the movements of the body of Christ. Help me to live into whatever part of the body of Christ you have called me to be as I seek to honor you in all that I do. Amen.

10.23.09 – Salt and Light

Daily Scripture: Matthew 5:13-16
13″You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

14″You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Read additional translations at Biblegateway.com or youversion.com

Reflection Questions:
This is the keynote of Jesus’ call to each of us. Notice: he doesn’t ask us to “go” to a place, but to be and to do certain things on God’s behalf. In Pennsylvania, Tri-County Church gave their members T-shirts. On the front, they read, “I don’t go to church.” On the back, they said, “I AM the church.” When we let our light shine, then we truly are the church.

• Let’s start with the image of salt. One writer said, “Some Christians act as if Jesus said, ‘You are the vinegar of the earth.’” Eugene Peterson renders this as “You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth.” (The Message) Who has blessed your life by adding flavor and joy to it? Whom can you bless in this way?
• Jesus’ second image is light—a lamp in a dark home, or a city atop a hill, visible for miles around. Are there settings where you tend to put “a bowl” over your light, to keep God’s presence in your life hidden? If so, think about what makes you fear to shine your light. Prayerfully choose one new way you’ll shine your light this week.

Read Darren Lippe’s insights on today’s scripture at gpsinsights.wordpress.com

Weekly Prayer:
Dear God, it’s odd, when I think about it. At times, I find myself fearing that you, who spun a vibrant, ever-changing cosmos out of nothing, meant “church” to be boring, stuffy, and outdated. Remind me that “we the people” are the church. By your Spirit, help me to live as your salt and light, your physical presence, right here in my hometown. Amen.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, TODAY’S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society®. Used by permission of International Bible Society®. All rights reserved worldwide.