GOD LIVES IN COMMUNITY by Dr. Jim Savage

Here....Now....Always

Jesus frequently proclaimed that He was in the Father and the Father was in Him and that He would send the "Advocate," or Holy Spirit, to the disciples to continue to guide and companion them. Jesus not only promised that God would live in community with the disciples but also declared the Reality of a Divine Community. Trinity Sunday highlights the deep Mystery of God in Three Persons living in Divine Community and invites the church to reflect that Divine Community in the contemporary world. (A Guide To Prayer For All Who Seek God)

REFLECTION: "Life Together" Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

"In the Christian community thankfulness is just what it is anywhere else in the Christian life. Only he who gives thanks for little things receives the big things. We prevent God from giving us the great spiritual gifts He has in store for us, because we do not give thanks for daily gifts. We think we dare not be satisfied with the small measure of spiritual knowledge, experience, and Love that has been given to us, and that we must constantly be looking forward eagerly for the highest Good. Then we deplore the fact that we lack the deep certainty, the strong faith, and the rich experience that God has given to others, and we consider this lament to be pious. We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts. How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things?"

AFFIRMATION: Believe! (Richard Baxter FRIEND):

"Who is more suitable for our love than Christ? His Godhead and humanity, His fullness and freeness, His willingness and constancy, all proclaim Him your most suitable Friend. Although your eyes have never seen your Lord, yet you have heard His voice, received His benefits, and lived close to His heart. He taught you to know yourself and Him. He opened that first window through which you saw into heaven."

Thank You, Father God. Thank You, Christ Jesus. Thank You, Holy Spirit. Amen.

Shalom,
Jim

Trinity Sunday: 1st Sunday After Pentecost

GOD LIVES IN COMMUNITY
Genesis 1......

The Bible's opening verses offer us our first glimpse of God. He presents himself as One who brings order from darkness, emptiness and formlessness. He separates light from darkness, sky from water, water from land. He commands His creation to "produce," to "mark" seasons and days and years to "govern" the day and night----all ways of establishing order.

1:3-4 "Then God said...."
The mode of God's creative Power is divine speech. All that is needed for the creation of light, even before the sun and stars have been created, is God's intrusive Word. That Word that creates also qualifies what it creates as "Good." At the utterance of the divine Word there is Order and Goodness.

"We can 'un-train' from our habit of thinking of time in the 'normal,' linear way. In an age filled with clocks and calendars, we have limited our natural abilities to choose how we traverse time in our lives......we can learn.....take profound spiritual steps toward achieving liberation from the ego, connecting to the universal consciousness, and overcoming the fear of death." (Fred Alan Wolf)

REFLECTION: Love In Three Words (Reuben Archer Torrey)
"God is Love is the greatest sentence ever written. It sums up the whole contents of the Bible. It is the subject of the first chapter of Genesis, it is the subject of the last chapter of Revelation, and it is the subject of every chapter that lies in between.
There is mighty Power in that one short sentence, Power to break the hardest heart, Power to reach individual men and women who are sunk down in sin and to lift them up until they are fit for a place beside the Lord Jesus Christ upon the throne."

"Whoever does not Love does not Know God, because God is Love." (1 John 4:8)

AFFIRMATION:
I Trust that Divine Order is always present. Spirit is at work in the details of life.
As independent as activities and surroundings may seem to be of one another, they blend together in an intricate pattern...the Journey of Life...Connection...Transformation.......
Even when I do not See evidence of Good taking shape and emerging, I Trust that it is there. Divine Order is present and All is coming together for Good.

"Trust in Him at all times, O people." (Psalm 62:8)

Shalom,
Jim

TRINITY SUNDAY: First Sunday After Pentecost by Dr. Jim Savage

God Lives In Community

Matthew 28:16-20
"Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee....."

The eleven do go to Galilee, and Jesus appears as promised. Jesus says He has been given all authority, and then He authorizes His disciples to make disciples of all nations, which is said to involve baptizing in the Trinitarian name and teaching the converts to obey all that Jesus commanded.

But Jesus does far more than just authorize and empower His "learners." He promises to be with them (Immanuel) as the divine Power, Presence, and Wisdom of God until the close of the age. Never again will they be bereft of Him. Thus, the Gospel closes with a presentation of Jesus as God's Wisdom, His wise Presence, who dwells within the People of God and guards and guides them.

As God's people we are called to live and call others to live according to the counterorder Wisdom of Jesus, the sage. The Gospel for learners is also the Gospel for teachers. Ultimately, there is only One Teacher, One Sage, One Wisdom-----Jesus.

REFLECTION:
Why did Jesus tell the disciples that He would be with them to the end of the age?
In what ways is Jesus Christ with us today?
Consider choosing one of those ways and attempting to be especially sensitive to Jesus' Presence with you this week.

SEEK LOVE (Andrew Murray):
"Has our daily habit been to seek being filled with the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Love?
When the body is divided, there cannot be strength. In the time of great conflicts, one of the mottoes is: "Unity gives strength." It is only when God's people stand as One Body, One before God in the fellowship of Love, One toward another in deep affection, One before the world in Love----it is only then that they will have Power to secure the blessing which they ask of God......Give yourselves up to Love, and the Holy Spirit will come. Receive the Spirit, and He will teach you to Love more."

"And Hope does not disappoint us, because God's Love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us." (Romans 5:5)

AFFIRMATION:
We are All God's beloved creations and One in Spirit.
As divine creations, we have Love within that Connects us One with another.
Following the leading of God's Love within, I Connect with others. God's Love links us heart to heart.
Thank You, Loving God. Thank You, Christ Jesus. Thank You, Holy Spirit! Amen.

"If we Love One another, God lives in us, and His Love is perfected in us." (1 John 4:12)

Shalom,
Jim

POWER FROM BEYOND OURSELVES by Dr. Jim Savage

Acts 2:1-21
"When the day of Pentecost had come..."

Pentecost was the Jewish feast day, fifty days after Passover, commemorating the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai (Lev 23:15-21). This passage exhibits rich association with that event (Exod 19-20). Again, when important things happen, the community is "all together."

PENTECOST
The birth of the Church. The coming of the Holy Spirit. It all begins here. Or does it?
Turn back to the second verse of the Bible: "The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters" (Gen 1:2). The Holy Spirit was present from the beginning of time. The Old Testament is filled with examples of how the Spirit worked in powerful and amazing ways, in unique situations and through specific people.

How then is the day of Pentecost a dividing line in human history? Because it is on this day that the Holy Spirit of God becomes available to every Christian man, woman and child. Previously, the Spirit revealed himself only occasionally and for unique works of God. Today, the Spirit never leaves. He lives in us, is ever with us and gives us the "righteousness, peace and joy" that is such a beautiful evidence of His work in our lives. (1 Co 6:19; Jn 14:16-17; Ro 14:17) (Women of Faith Study Bible)

"The practical question is: Do I adequately acknowledge the Spirit's role in the good actions I perform every day, or do I attribute them only to my own initiative and hard work? The scriptural model insists that if the action was good, the Spirit was present from the beginning to the end.......To the extent that I have not served in Love, I humbly admit my faults and ask for a greater increase of Grace to transform these areas. My reward for living in the Spirit is the habitual Peace and Joy I experience." (Richard J. Hauser, "In His Spirit")

Thank You, Loving God. Thank You, Christ Jesus. Thank You, Holy Spirit. The faithful today continue to receive this Gift of God-dwelling-within to provide direction, courage, comfort, hope, companionship, and peace. Amen.

Shalom,
Jim

WAITING TO RECEIVE INSTRUCTIONS by Dr. Jim Savage

WAITING TO RECEIVE INSTRUCTIONS
1 Peter 5:8-9; 1 Cor 10:13

No Temptation Too Great

Paul records one of Scriptures' most beautiful and assuring truths: Yes, temptation will come, but God will be there, too. Every Christian is faced with temptation of some sort. The temptation is itself not sin (even Jesus was tempted----Mt 4:1). Yielding to temptation is the sin. Some Christians may feel they are bombarded with temptation, and they grow weary under its weight. Through Paul, God responds to those weary Christians with His kindest and most reassuring words regarding the temptations they face: He is right there with them, and if they will only look about them, they will See a Way He has provided that will help them to resist. (Women of Faith Study Bible)

"God is the One who teaches to listen and to pray. We must pray for the Gift and pray for the Gift to be taught. They say that mature writers have 'found their voice.' I think we need to 'find our ear'----our best way of recognizing God's voice, knowing that, once we have found our ear, God may decide to speak in a different language." (John Ackerman, "Spiritual Awakening")

REFLECTION:
In what ways has the Holy Spirit helped to bring about "breakthroughs" in your spiritual formation?

Pray now that God would guide and enable you in a close walk of discipleship with Jesus, that He would grow you in the Grace and Knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

"Talk with God by frequent prayer. In particular, ask that your desires may be right---and love to have your affections with Him regular and holy. Call to Him for health, run to Him for counsel, and beg of Him for pardon. It is as natural to love Him to whom we make such addresses and on whom we have such dependencies as it is for children to love their parents. For it is not my governor, my employer, or my friend who supports me or provides my needs, but God." (Jeremy Taylor)

"But it was your own eyes that Saw all these great things the Lord has done." (Deut 11:7)

Jim

Easter Season ~ Job: Testing and Restoration

Job teaches us to Persevere.

His long monologues reflect the profound drama of the heart's spiritual formation.

His speeches explore shades of despair, bitterness, anger, grief, resignation, false hope, and genuine hope. His struggle to understand the contours of his pain inspires us to delve into the Mysteries of God and our own heart and understanding.

One of the deep lessons Job learns is that the God he thought he knew is different from the God who had been watching over him all along. Pain limited Job's reality, but gave him the tools to deepen it also.

A new knowledge of God is the Blessed Result.


One man wrote at length about experiences such as Job's, and through his wisdom we can come to better understand many of the truths first revealed in the book of Job. John of the Cross's "The Dark Night of the Soul" describes God's process of maturing souls through allowing times of suffering and darkness in their lives. A sixteenth century Carmelite monk, John faced such a dark night himself while under arrest and in confinement for his work to reform within the Church.

"God must take spiritual consolation away in order to purify the soul," John writes. He describes how God worked in Job's life and how He works in the lives of those who know Him today. "Because of His Love for us, God urges us to grow up. His Love is not content to leave us in our weakness, and for this reason He takes us into a dark night. He weans us from all the pleasures by giving us dry times and inward darkness......Through the dark night pride becomes humility, greed becomes simplicity, wrath becomes contentment, luxury becomes peace, gluttony becomes moderation, envy becomes joy, and sloth becomes strength. No soul will ever grow deep in the spiritual life unless God works passively in that soul by means of the dark night." (The Renovare' Spiritual Formation Bible)

"You have granted me life and steadfast love, and Your care has preserved my spirit." (Job 10:12)

"Now, nothing wills and works with God but the Spirit of Love because nothing else works in God Himself. The Almighty brought forth all nature for this only end that boundless Love might have its infinity of height and depth to dwell and work in. All the striving and working properties of nature are only to give essence and substance, life and strength to the invisible hidden Spirit of Love, that it may come forth into outward activity and manifest its blessed powers, that creatures born in the strength and out of the powers of nature might communicate the Spirit of Love and goodness, give and receive mutual delight and joy to and from one another." (William Law)

AFFIRMATION:
Faith is the assurance of the answer to all we take into prayer. With God, the healing, the guidance, the peace that we seek or that others seek are indeed ours.
Faith is holding to the blessings we Know to be true even when physical symptoms and feelings of concern indicate otherwise.
Thank You, Loving God. Thank You, Christ Jesus. Thank You, Holy Spirit. Amen.

JESUS MEETS US ON THE WAY By Dr. Jim Savage

"Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus....While they were talking and discussing, Jesus came near and went with them...As they came near the village....He walked ahead as if He were going on. But they urged Him strongly, saying, 'Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.' So He went in to stay with them...." (Luke 24:13-15, 28-29)

Two followers of Jesus are trudging down the Emmaus Road. Their hopes have been dashed, their dreams have been destroyed, their leader has been crucified. These two disciples are the painful portrait of the walking wounded, when suddenly, they get a new lease on life.

Cleopas and another man, whom tradition tells us was named Simon, have been followers of Jesus, but now they have thrown in the towel. They have quit, and they are limping down the Emmaus Road like broken and defeated warriors. They know about the Crucifixion. They saw it with their own eyes. But they do not yet know about the Resurrection. They have not yet experienced the Risen Christ. Disappointed, disillusioned, defeated, heartbroken, downcast, they trudge down the Emmaus Road toward home. Their hopes for the future have been dashed, so not knowing what else to do, they turn back toward the old life.

Their heads are bowed as though they carry on their backs a crushing burden of defeat and dejection. They limp along with weary steps as if their shoes are weighted with lead. Their eyes are misted over with the tears of disillusionment. They walk along in silence. They dare not speak for fear they will break into uncontrollable sobbing.

At last, with a sigh weighted with despair, the younger man speaks: "He's dead. He's gone. It's all over. They have killed Him, and without Him we are nothing. We should have known this wouldn't work. It was too good to be true, too idealistic for this cruel world. How could we have been such fools! We followed Him. We trusted, we thought He was the One to save us, and now it's all over." Down, dejected, defeated, worn, weary, wounded....

But we know that this is not the end of the story. No! The Risen Lord comes to them. He walks with them. He talks with them. He breaks bread with them, and as they experience the Resurrected Christ, they too get resurrected! They are healed! They find new life! And they rush, they run, back to Jerusalem to Share the Good News with the other disciples. They run, shouting, "Hope is still alive! Christ is risen! Christ is Alive!"

Dear God, thank You for the lessons of the Lenten Season and Easter Morning and afterwards..........We have learned, again, that Christ comes to us in a special Way when we are hurting. We have learned that Christ has the Power to heal our hurts. We have learned that Christ Shares His Resurrection with us today. Like Cleopas and Simon we get resurrected too! We too get New Life! Thank You, Christ Jesus! Thank You, Holy Spirit! Amen
("On the Road Again" James W. Moore) In Christ, Jim