Be Amazed!

Deuteronomy 4:32-34

Romans 8:14-17

Matthew 28:16-20

Divine Inspiration

Be amazed at the Glory of God!

Be AMAZED at the Glory of God!

As we go about our days, our lives, our own issues, it is easy to take the Lord for granted.  Sure, we love Him and we pray to Him; that’s not in question.  But do we really ever step back to just revel in how AWESOME God is?

In the Old Testament, Moses asks the people if they have ever seen or heard anything so great as the Voice of God.  Think about it – God had just brought them out of Egypt and slavery.  He parted the Red Sea, for Heaven’s sake!  And yet, the people fell back into their daily issues and worries and started complaining again.  They had failed to continue to be amazed at God’s glory.

In the Gospel, the eleven disciples are travelling with Christ.  They see all He is doing – the teaching, healing and miracles – and yet, they doubted.  They failed to be amazed by the glory of God.  And there were there with Him!

When we get caught up in our own fears, doubts and issues, and we fail to be amazed by God, we’re not alone!  In fact, we’re in good company.  But, that doesn’t mean we should give up.  No, to the contrary, we should try to remember and find something every single day that reminds us of God’s glory and amazes us.  Maybe it’s seeing a beautiful picture of the land.  Maybe it’s simply seeing the sun!  Maybe it’s a phone call from a loved one or a smile from a dear friend.  All of this comes from God and is a reminder of how much He loves us.  And when take time to notice the signs he sends to us every single day, when we realize just how very much He loves us, it is truly awesome, truly amazing.

Be amazed at the glory of God.  Be amazed every day with the signs of His love for us.  And, share that love with one another. 

Amen.

Readings and Divine Inspiration from Sunday, May 31, 2015

We Are All Connected

Acts 8:5-8, 14-17

1 Peter 3:15-18

John 14:15-21

Divine Inspiration

Life is good when we can stay connected with others.  This is what Jesus is doing with the disciples in the gospel today – trying to tell them they will stay connected.  He will go to His Father, and someone (or something) will be sent from the Father – an advocate of sorts – to stay connected.  This advocate is the Holy Spirit.  It will always keep the disciples together.  And, it binds us to Jesus and each other in communion. 

This friendship and connection will never end, even in death.  We belong to the communion of saints.  It is a connection to all - living and deceased.  It goes on forever.  And, it gives us strength to continue Jesus’ work here on earth.  The Holy Spirit flows through this connection, guiding us, urging us to do God’s will.  It is always with us, always. We are never alone.  The Holy Spirit is part of God here on earth, loving us, comforting us.  And, we take that love and comfort so that we can give it to others, spreading the gospel and being filled with the Holy Spirit.  The connection we have with God through the Holy Spirit becomes the connection we have with all people.

Amen.

Readings and Divine Inspiration from Sunday, May 29, 2011

Choices

Acts 2:14, 36-41

1 Peter 2:20-25

John 10:1-10

Divine Inspiration

The gospel reading today celebrates the Feast of the Good Shepherd.  The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.  The key here is recognizing that the Lord is my shepherd.

Sounds simple.  But, do we really follow Christ?  Or do we allow our own perceived needs and wants to guide us?  Do we want something so much that it consumes our thoughts, our actions?  And, if so, are we choosing to be led by something or someone other than the Lord? 

God has given us free will.  He does not require that we follow Him.  In fact, that’s an example of His unconditional love for us – He loves us whether we follow Him or not.  He waits for us, gently (or sometimes not so gently) reminding us that He’s there for us, loving us, wanting to lead us.  It’s our choice to follow.  And when we do, when we make an active decision to, “Let go and let God,” everything falls into place.  Our worries and fears melt into the background.  They may not go away completely.  But, we, as God’s sheep, are better able to deal with them because the Good Shepherd is truly leading us.

Amen.

Reading and Divine Inspiration from Sunday, May 14, 2011

The Bond of Love

Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48

1 John 4:7-10

John 15:9-17

Divine Inspiration

Today’s readings are all centered around love.  How fitting, when today we celebrate our mothers and our love for them.  While we may all not be mothers, we all have or had a mother.  And, the love between us – mother and child – is deep, special and unlike any other.  It is a bond that can never be broken, regardless of the state of the relationship.  The love that God has for us is similar.  He is love, and He loves us all without conditions, regardless of the state of our relationship with Him.

In the New Testament reading, it is said that whoever is without love does not know God.  And, that is true.  But that does not mean that God does not know him or her.  God knows us better than we know ourselves, and he loves, warts and all, because God IS love.  The bond is there - He is simply waiting for each of us to wake up to that realization.  He will wait for as long as it takes, loving us unceasingly.  No matter how distant or far we may feel from God, He is always there, waiting for us, loving us, calling to us and welcoming us when we do wake up to the realization that we are living in the shining glory of God’s love.

Happy Mother’s Day, everyone!

Amen.

Readings and Divine Inspiration from Sunday, May 13, 2012.

Know God’s Love Through Serving Each Other

Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48

1 John 4:7-10

John 15:9-17

Divine Inspiration

Today is all about one of my favorite topics – love!  In the Gospel, Jesus gives us his famous and only commandment – to love one another as He loves us.  And in the new testament reading, John says let us love one another because love is of God.  There seems to be all this love swirling around!  But what happens when we don’t necessarily, “feel the love?”  It’s great to hear how much God loves us – that He sent His only son.  And it’s truly awesome that Christ loved us so much that He died on the cross for us.  So, if we don’t really feel it, truly feel it in our hearts, does that mean that we’ve somehow, by some weird twist of fate, been left out of the loop?  Could God have accidentally missed us?

There is a very important line in the New Testament reading.  It says, “Whoever is without love does not know God.”  Think about this.  It is not saying that God only loves some.  It is not saying that only some have God’s love and others don’t.  I’ll read it again.  “Whoever is without love does not know God.”  The accountability here is on us.  God ALWAYS loves us.  That never, ever changes.  Ever.  God has told us and shown us over and over that He loves us.  But relationships go in two directions, not one.  And it is up to us to say, “OK, God, I want to know You and I want to feel your love.”  And, even then, after we say it, we have to do more.  We have to talk with God every day, multiple times a day.  And then, we have to take it a step further.  We have to – MUST – love each other.  We must look for ways to serve and see God in each other.  Because, in serving each other, we are serving God and building that relationship with Him.

I have one final thought on loving and serving God through serving each other.  In the very first reading today, Cornelius, upon meeting Peter, fell to his knees before Peter.  Cornelius was honoring Peter, his way of loving.  And, Peter said, ‘Get up, I am also a human being.’  Peter, who could have fed his ego, chose instead to love and connect with Cornelius.  Peter even went on to say that ‘God shows no partiality.’  This is how we need to be with everyone we know and meet every day.  When we are complimented and honored by others, it is important to keep the ego in check and return the compliment, honor and love that are flowing our way to the person from whom it is flowing.  And, as we focus on loving each other, we will feel God’s loving arms wrapping around us, too.

Amen.

Readings and Divine Inspiration from Sunday, May 10, 2015

What Now?

Acts 1:1-11

Ephesians 1:17-23

Luke 24:46-53

Divine Inspiration

This morning, in the first reading which is from the Acts of the Apostles, the apostles find themselves standing there, looking up to the sky as Jesus had just been lifted up.  And, I believe they were probably thinking to themselves, “What now?”  Imagine all that they had just experienced and been through – from Jesus first coming on the scene, to their leaving their jobs, following him, his dying and his return.  It’s as if they had lived an entire lifetime in a matter of a few short months.  And now, here they were, left alone to look up at the sky and say, “What now?”

Well, the “What now?” was that it was time to learn something new.  For the apostles, it was time to learn how to lead.  Whether they knew it or not, they had a job to do, and that job was to step up and start the church and lead more people to God.

When is the last time you learned something new?  I imagine some of us may feel like those apostles standing there, looking up at the sky.  We may be thinking, “I’m tired, exhausted even, and I’ve lived an entire lifetime.  Isn’t it time for me to just rest?”  The answer to that is yes and no.  It’s always important to rest and recharge.  But, we can’t stay in that space all of our waking hours.  We must say to ourselves, “What now?” and learn something new.  It can be anything – from coloring in one of those new coloring books they have for adults, to getting some flowers, whether fake or fresh, and arranging them in new and different combinations.

I think that, often times, we have a tendency to think that if we haven’t learned a skill by a certain age or point in life, that we’re not going to ever learn it.  But, that’s not true!!  It is never too late to learn a new skill.  There is so much to be gained from it, from the new grooves you put in your brain to the deep sense of fulfillment that comes from seeing the new creation come to life.  Imagine how the apostles must have felt as they saw people grow in their faith and the earliest church being to form.  They probably had no idea they had it in them.  After all, it was Jesus who had started it all and Jesus who had done all the miracles.  They were just the loyal friends who had helped and served and protected him.  But, no, they had an important role to play, too, and it was time for them to step into it.

What new role or phase or activity will you step into?  What fun thing will you learn how to do?  Are you still asking yourself, “What now?”  You have the ability to answer that question.  You need only to listen to God, to that voice deep down inside your heart, to know how God is calling you to answer that question.

Amen.

Readings and Divine Inspiration from Sunday, May 8, 2016.

Conscious Love

Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41

Revelation 5:11-14

John 21:1-19

Divine Inspiration

In the Gospel today, Jesus asks Peter if Peter loves Jesus three times.  And, I have always wondered why.  First, Jesus knows everything.  He is the son of God and he has risen from the dead.  Surely he doesn’t need to ask anything; he is all-knowing, omnipotent.   So, why does he ask not once but three times?  Because it’s not about Jesus needing an answer.  It’s about Peter making a conscious decision and commitment to love the Lord.  The first time Jesus asked, Peter’s response was like ours whenever someone asks us how we’re doing – “Fine, thanks, and you?”  it rolls off the tongue without even thinking first.  The second time Jesus asked, Peter’s response was in the context of, ‘I just said yes, didn’t you hear me?’  There was thought behind Peter’s response, but not the thought Jesus was looking for.  The third time, Peter consciously and thoughtfully said ‘Yes, Lord, I love you.’  It wasn’t an automatic response or irritation at not having been heard.  It was from the heart.

Do we consciously commit to love the Lord from our hearts?  And, if we do, do we do it daily, or even hourly?  To consciously love the Lord with all one’s heart, mind and soul takes work and commitment, like a marriage.  It’s important because it deepens our relationship with God.  We can’t just assume He knows, because that doesn’t grow the relationship.  How much do we long to hear the words from a loved one?  It doesn’t warm us to simply know that the other one loves us, without hearing it and feeling it.  We must say it – often – and we must show it.

Maybe tomorrow, as we wake up, we can let our first thought be of the Lord, that we love Him and want to show Him.  And, maybe, if we start our day that way, the entire day and all of our actions will flow from that conscious love.

Amen.

Readings and Divine Inspiration from Sunday, April 14, 2013.