Given Back to God

      Just a few days before Christmas, our church staff was given an unusual, as well as, challenging gift. An anonymous donor from our church family had made a gift of several hundred dollars which was separated into smaller gifts of $10, $20, and even $50 dollar bills. These bills were placed in envelopes and handed out at our staff Christmas gathering. Some receive $10, some $20, and some $50. The instructions were that these gifts could be kept if the person needed the money, given to someone in need, or multiplied in some way for even larger projects.

      After Christmas, we gathered to share the stories that flowed from this unique idea. One staff person heard of a little boy with a brain tumor who needed surgery at Duke Medical Center. She took her $10 and challenged others in the church and community to match, or multiply the gift. A day later, over $2,000 had come into her hands enabling the family to get the car fixed, make the trip, and take care of other expenses.

      Another person took his $10 and gave it to a church member who found a family whose mother was sick and unable to work, the father was laid-off, and the power to their house had been turned off. This church member collected over $600 so that the family would have electricity, presents for Christmas, and extra money until the parents returned to work.

      Then, there is another story of the $50 gift that found its way into a community benefit to help with funeral expenses. Another staff person gave her gift to put gas into the truck of the family who came to the church office asking for wood to stay warm. The gas took the family to the staff person’s house where the truck was filled with wood.

      Story, after story, was told of how the initial gift was given away and/or multiplied. This incredible event is a testimony of what great works God can do if we are willing to give what he has given us, back to him. One staff person said, “What a mighty God we serve! Just look at what his people can do when they are open to his whisperings...”

      Not only does this remind me of the parable Jesus told in Matthew 25 of the talents given to the three servants, but it also brings to my mind another story; the wonderful miracle of Jesus feeding all those people. We remember those hungry, tired, needy people, the little boy and his lunch, and the miraculous hands of Jesus. The multiplied blessing of food that day came from the willingness of the boy to give all of what he had for a seemingly impossible cause, but with faith that something would happen if he did.

      The gifts God gives us, financial or otherwise, placed back in his hands, have the potential to overflow into the needy lives of so many people. Not only is the giver blessed, but we also find that Christ’s kingdom is enlarged and enriched.

The challenge for all of us is to be more generous givers; giving to others as God has so graciously given to us.    

      Let’s give it back to God, and then forward to others.

Rev. Tim McConnell Long’s Chapel UMC January 20, 2013   

Am I in Covenant With God? 

    The terms contract, agreement, treaty, and covenant have the same basic legal interpretation. Two, or more sides, or parties, have agreed to carry out obligations, or responsibilities, in exchange for favors from the other party. We live with these kinds of agreements on a daily basis. When we write a check, use a credit card, take out a loan, or sign a lease, we are engaging in a covenant relationship with the merchant or lender. With our signature on the check, credit card, or loan application, we promise to pay for the goods or services in the future. However, we must be faithful to carry out our regular payments or the agreement will terminated by the other party. If either party becomes dissatisfied with the behavior of the other party, the right to end the relationship is exercised.

      When I hear the word covenant, I am reminded of the marriage vows, most sacred of all covenants in our human world. The man and the woman take vows to love and support each other in the good times, as well as, the bad; and to forsake all others while putting one another first. If one person breaks the covenant, the relationship is tested, or perhaps broken.

      So, how often do we hear or think about the word covenant when describing our relationship with God? This idea of covenant was important to the formation and continuation of the political, military, and economical relationships among many of the ancient kingdoms. Alliances and empires were built largely upon covenants-covenants which were often very fragile.

      God chose to pursue his people by the use of this covenant idea. In Malachi 2 we find several references to this idea that God reveals who he is through covenant-making. God’s covenant sets him off from all other gods, and tells us that there is none other than him, he is a God who keeps his promises, and his nature promotes obedience in us his people. As we look deeper, we find that the covenant that God offers his people has a quality that is not found in any of the other covenants. God’s covenant includes grace, love, and is expressed by the Hebrew word hesed.

      Hesed can be adequately defined as “passionately loyal.” Both sides in the covenant “doing hesed” toward each other. Scripture reveals that the ancient Hebrews soon realized that God’s hesed was everlasting. Here was a God that kept on “doing hesed”with them even when they had broken relationship with him.

      John Oswalt writes in “Where Are You God?” “What sort of God is this? Not only is he trustworthy, but persistently trustworthy, not only loving, but insistently loving. It was embarrassing! Had he no pride? Slowly, but surely, these ancient people realized they had not found God, but that he had found them, and his very nature was hesed.”

      The God of the ancient covenant is the same God of the Christian faith today. The invitation is the same today as we hear the words, “I will be their God, they will be my people, if they turn their faces toward me and surrender themselves completely.” Our God is a God who is “passionately loyal” to us his people, desperately wanting to “do hesed,” eagerly pursuing us.

      So, we ask, “Am I consistently in covenant with the God of hesed?”

 

Rev Tim McConnell Long’s Chapel UMC January 13, 2013   

Hands Lifted Up

      We all worship in different ways. Some of us praise God in a quiet way, keeping our joy and thanksgiving inside our hearts and minds, silently offering them to God. Others of us cannot sit or stand still as we clap our hands, raise our arms, singing our worship in a spirit of outward expression. Both ways, and anything in between, if done in sincerity and honesty toward God, are acceptable and honorable to our God who deserves all our praise.

      As we think specifically about our posture when we worship and approach God, there seems to be something special about lifting our hands and raising our arms toward heaven and God. These worshipful gestures may symbolize our desire to reach out and touch God, to invite his presence into our lives, and to unite ourselves with a person outside of our selves.

      This physical reaching toward God during worship and devotional time may also be a cry for help and strength for our daily walk, or a specific crisis in our lives. I am reminded of the story in the Old Testament when the Israelites were fighting one of their early battles after they came out of Egypt. Moses watched from a nearby hillside with his arms raised toward heaven, toward God for strength in the battle. As long as Moses’ arms were raised toward God the Israelites pushed back the enemy. However, when Moses’ arms dropped down, the enemy began to win. Moses’ arms were a symbolic channel for God’s grace and providential intervention.

      I recently ran across an article from the Associated Press written by Rob Maaddi. The story was about a 29 year-old wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles named Jason Avant who raises his hands to heaven after each catch of the football. As the story unfolds, we see that Jason is celebrating much more than catching a pass or scoring a touchdown.

      “Jason was 12 when he started selling drugs. He went to elementary school high on drugs and alcohol. Jason soon joined a gang on the South Side of Chicago, surviving shootings, and running from the police. Yet, somehow and with a praying Granny, Jason escaped that life unlike so many of his friends.”

      On May 4, 2003, Jason met Jesus and his life was changed forever. He turned his back on his former life and began to study the Bible even more than his football playbook. Jason testifies today, “When I lift my hands up, it’s me saying ‘Lord, I know where I could be and I thank you for where I am.’”

      So, as we leave this old year behind, maybe we can say, “Lord, I thank you for being with me last year, I know where I could be without you, I want you to go with me into the New Year. I lift my hands to you in praise, honor, and thanksgiving.” Just as the people of the Old and New Testaments were people with an eye to the future, we too can look to the New Year with expectations from a God who keeps his promises. We look, our hands lifted toward the God of the future, the God of hope, made possible by Jesus who became one of us.

 

Rev Tim McConnell Long’s Chapel UMC January  6, 2012