Epistle / Based on Psalm 126 / Emailed to Hudson UMC on December 11, 2020

 Daily Church Epistle for December 11, 2020
 
Hello Church!  Darci here.
 
It is hard to feel like Christmas is coming.  No shopping trips.  No social gatherings.  No snow.  I am grateful for our podcast that reminds me we are halfway through Advent.  Christmas is coming!
 
The scripture for Friday December 11 in our Disciplines book of devotions is Psalm 126.
 
Psalm 126
A pilgrimage song.
1 When the Lord changed Zion’s circumstances for the better,
    it was like we had been dreaming.
2 Our mouths were suddenly filled with laughter;
    our tongues were filled with joyful shouts.
It was even said, at that time, among the nations,
    “The Lord has done great things for them!”
3 Yes, the Lord has done great things for us,
    and we are overjoyed.
 
4 Lord, change our circumstances for the better,
    like dry streams in the desert waste!
5 Let those who plant with tears
    reap the harvest with joyful shouts.
6 Let those who go out,
    crying and carrying their seed,
    come home with joyful shouts,
    carrying bales of grain!
 
 
I have the Amplified Bible on my cell phone.  The second half of verse one in that version is:
 
“we were like those who dream, it seemed so unreal.”
 
There are days our current lives feel like we are living in captivity and we can identify with the people in this psalm that it seems unreal. It feels like a nightmare some days. I am a gardener that starts many of my plants from seed and see that final verse as one of patience.  You must wait awhile before a seed becomes grain you can harvest.
 
The psalm spoke to me enough today that I decided to give rewriting it a try.  That is one of the ways to study.  Take a scripture and make it your own.
 
Here’s Psalm 126 the Darci-version.
 
God was with his people in the past when life felt unreal.
They had their joy returned.
Back then people could see God was at work in their lives.
God is at work in ours!
Help us feel full of life once more.
Turn our tears into songs of joy.
Help us be patient and trust this joy is in our future.
 
Christmas will be different this year, yet we can still sing our songs of joy.  Christ came to earth as a tiny baby to help us understand the great gift of God’s love.  God’s love is not stopped by a virus.  Christmas is not cancelled because there are no shopping trips, or social gatherings, or snow.  Sing out with joy to honor Christ’s birth.
 
John 10:10b says: “I came so that they could have life—indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest.”
 
Be patient.  Trust this God of love.  Live life to the fullest.  God is faithful.
 
Pray with me the prayer from Disciplines for today.
 
Lord, change our circumstances for the better, like dry streams in the desert waste.  Continue your work within us and lead us to give thanks for your glorious deeds.  Amen.
 
Beams and blessings!
 

Epistle / Based on Judges 4:4-5 and Matthew 25:14-30 / Emailed to Hudson UMC on November 13, 2020

 

Darci here.  Happy Friday to you.  I am writing this epistle on Wednesday the 11^th just two days after turning 60 years old.  Normally birthdays do not bring a lot of emotion.  They are just the passing of time.  However, this year I am struck by that passing of time.  Perhaps it is because I have experienced multiple deaths and illness around me in the past twelve months.  They have me thinking more about how temporary life is.  I see that “60” and my head tells me I am approximately three-quarters done with my time on the planet.  Just twenty years left if averages mean anything.  Not much time to start any great new works.  I am a woman in her sunset years. 

Then I read the scripture for this week. 

I have experienced the “glass ceiling” keeping me just a bit lower than a male coworker.  I have been put in my place by someone lecturing me that the Bible tells women to keep silent.  This week I hear God has a different point of view.

Judges 4:4-5 

4 Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was a leader of Israel at that time.

5 She would sit under Deborah’s palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the Ephraim highlands, and the Israelites would come to her to settle disputes.

God had no trouble selecting a female to be judge over Israel.  Being a woman does not make me less likely to be called by God.  God calls who he wants to call.  Scripture makes that clear and I pray we can listen.  Our feeling of who is worthy is not a limit God recognizes.

Our Wednesday Bible study is diving into the birth stories of Jesus.  The study began with Elizabeth becoming pregnant when she was physically beyond the point that should have been possible.  Mary is told she will be pregnant and when she asks the angel how that could be possible, the angel tells her about Elizabeth and states, “Nothing is impossible for God.” 

It appears age has little to do with God’s call.  You are neither too old nor too young to be called.

Then I get to Matthew 25:14-30 and the parable of the talents.  I am not going to put the full scripture in here because I am assuming you will study it more fully during Sunday’s service.  Here is my “nutshell.”

 A wealthy man goes away and leaves three different servants in charge of different amounts of his property.  When he comes back the first two servants have doubled the value of what he gave them.  The third servant was too scared to risk attempting to do anything with what he had been given so hid his “talent”.  The wealthy man praises the first two but calls the third “worthless.”

The term “talent” in the parable is indicating a form of money, but we can legitimately treat it as our term “talent” to mean capabilities within us.  We have been given skills or talents by God.  What are we doing with them? Are we developing them and growing in our skill level?  Are we hiding them?

Reading the scriptures together, they appear to be telling me that gender and age do not matter.  What matters is that I am using what God has given me in a trustworthy manner.  Matthew also reminds me that in the end it is God that will let me know if I have completed my time here successfully, not fellow humans.

You are each at a different age.  You are neither too old nor too young.  Some of you are males and some of you are females. God does not give our physical being much weight at all in his decisions.  I am confident you each have different talents to choose to develop and use.  My hope is that you are as inspired by these scriptures as I am.

1 Thessalonians 5:2 reminds us, “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”

We do not know when our time on earth will come to an end.  Luckily for us that is not an important bit of information.  What is important is that we are living our lives as well as possible while we are on earth.  Listen for God’s call.  See the possibilities of using your talents.  Never say something is impossible for you because for God all things are possible. 

God of possibilities, help us to listen to your call and remember it is through your power that we are strengthened to complete it.  In that knowledge may we respond, “Here I Am Lord.”  May we use the gifts you give so freely in obedience and trust so they may be multiplied to serve your world.  We give thanks for each new day.  In Jesus name we pray.  Amen

Beams and blessings to you each.

 

 

 

Love/Based on Matthew 22:34-46/Delivered October 25, 2020 to UMC

Hymns: They’ll Know We Are Christians, This is My Song, This is My Father’s World

Good morning and happy Sunday to you.  I am Darci Strutt McQuiston, one of the Lay Speakers of our congregation.  Rev Dawn invited me into the pulpit this morning because she has spent the week doing the work of the church at a virtual annual conference.  It is my honor to be with you today.  I am glad you are worshiping with us.  Welcome.

The current scriptures we are dealing with these past few weeks are important.  Timeline-wise, Jesus is in his last week of life on earth.  That means the Pharisees and Sadducees are both trying to trap him because the political issues are coming to a head.  Just last Sunday, in their time, Jesus made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem which no doubt Rome noticed, and this makes the Jewish leaders nervous.  Jesus is also thinking about what final lessons he wants to teach before he returns to his Father in heaven.  That sets the stage for us.

I am going to focus on the scripture from Matthew and hit three ideas:

Love God

Love your neighbor

Recognize God and the Messiah, Jesus, are above earthly rulers

The scripture from Matthew is one that is familiar to most, and hopefully all, Christians.  It is what we call the great commandment.  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”  That one seems to be straightforward and uncontroversial.  Then Jesus adds in the second one, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus was not making these commands up.  The first is known as the Shema and is taken from Deuteronomy 6:4-9:

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.

Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

 

The second is from the book of Leviticus 19:18

“‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.”

According to Wikipedia there are 613 Jewish laws so asking what were the most important is not a foolish question.  The Shema was considered important by all already, but Jesus was the first to match it with the requirement to love neighbor.

Our founder, John Wesley, captured those two commandments in his three rules.  Do no harm.  Do good.  Stay in love with God.  It sounds so simple.  The first two rules have to do with loving what God loves, which includes how we treat all of creation including our fellow humans.  The third is a rephrase of the great commandment.  Love God.

So simple and yet it feels like we are failing so miserably.

The love we are dealing with is not a feeling.   It is a decision.  Love is described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 “Love is patient, love is kind, it isn’t jealous, it doesn’t  brag, it isn’t arrogant, it isn’t rude, it doesn’t seek its own advantage, it isn’t irritable, it doesn’t keep a record of complaints, it isn’t happy with injustice, but it is happy with the truth.  Love puts up with all things, trusts in all things, hopes for all things, endures all things.”

Love of God is commandment one, so let us deal with it first.

How do we love God with all our heart, soul, and mind?  I do not have a pat answer.  Since Jesus compared our relationship to him as a bride, maybe I can compare it to the love I experience with my husband.  The path toward love began with getting to know him.  Caring enough to get to know him deeply.  Translating that to God could be studying the Bible to get to know God as the people before us understood God. 

As my love blossomed with my husband I wanted to spend more time together and share my day.  When I think about how that would look between me and God the example that pops into my head is Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof.  His whole day was a conversation with God.  He thanked God and complained to God.  He attempted to bargain with God – Would it spoil some vast eternal plan if I were a wealthy man?  If you have not watched the movie in a while, I encourage you to watch it with fresh eyes and notice Tevye’s intimate relationship with God through his dialog.

Earlier this year my group did a Bible study on the book “The Walk” by Adam Hamilton.  It included praying as an essential practice of the Christian life.  The recommendation was to pray in the morning and evening, and at your three meals.  Five times a day bring God into your heart and mind for conversation.  It is helpful to have triggers that make you think of God but ultimately, I think God would like us to share our days with him like we would a friend.

As my relationship to my husband grew, the relationship became more important than my individual desires.  I went from thinking about what was good for me to thinking about what was good for us.  I desired his happiness as well as my own.  I tried to imagine how my decisions would impact him and was sensitive to his feelings.

These days when a woman is pregnant the couple says “they” are pregnant.  I used to think that was foolish because the baby was clearly being carried by the woman alone.  Then I realized it was the relationship that was pregnant.  It was the relationship that was being joined by that little baby.  By both being named as pregnant they were stating their love was what was carrying the child. 

My current Wednesday morning Bible study is focused on Jacob’s son Joseph.  He saw an act against another as a sin against God.  The relationship he had with his fellow humans was important, but his focus was on what pain his actions could cause his relationship to God. 

Joseph continually gave credit to God for his wisdom.  He understood it was God working through him that gave him success.  His relationship to God was so strong that he did not see himself as separate from that relationship.  Joseph gives us an example of loving God.

God is worthy of our love.  We love God because God first loved us.  Jesus called God his Father and us his adopted children.  The love of a good parent is strong.  I smile at remembering one of my niece’s comments when she felt her cousins were not accepting her.  She remarked, “Nobody likes me accept my parents and they HAVE to!”  God did not have to love us, but he does, and our proper response is to love Him back.

The second command is called “like” the first, which means similar but not equal.  “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Love and care for yourself is assumed.  If we love God, then we must respect what he loves.  God loves the whole world.  That is a tougher one.

1 John 4:20 “Those who say, “I love God” and hate their brothers or sisters are liars.  After all, those who don’t love their brothers or sisters whom they have seen can hardly love God whom they have not seen!”

We are to love ourselves and others because God loves us and others.  We are not in the business of loving because someone may have power to make our life easier or give us more status.  We are to love because that is who we are called to be.

1 John 4:7 “Dear friends, let’s love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God.  The person who doesn’t love does not know God, because God is love.”

They will know we are Christians by our love.  This is the greatest testimony we can give to the world.

In Luke 10:25-37 we see these same two commands stated by a legal expert.  He follows up with a question, “And who is my neighbor?”  Jesus gives the parable of the good Samaritan as a reply.

The question was “who is my neighbor” but Jesus response was an image of how to be a good neighbor.  The parable of the good Samaritan is about a man who gets robbed and beaten up while traveling and, after being passed by many the Jews would have considered to be good people, a Samaritan, who was not considered to be a respectable person, stops and cares for him.  In the end Jesus reframes the question and asks, “what do you think? Which one of these three was a neighbor to the man who encountered thieves?”  Of course, it is the one who acted in a neighborly way.

As humans we judge others to determine if they are worthy of our love.  Jesus’ takes the judgement out of it and instead asks us to look at how good we are at being neighborly.  How well are we sharing love? In many verses of scripture Jesus directed us to turn from judging others and instead work on improving ourselves.  God will work on others.  God through the holy spirit is asking us to work on ourselves.

We are called to love as God loves which includes acting in loving ways toward many who we may think do not deserve it.  We often do not deserve it but by grace God still pours his love out on us! 

I did not always agree with what my husband believed.  There were times I outright vehemently disagreed to the point of raising our voices at each other.  Yet, the relationship was more important than the situation that caused the disagreement.  This is how we showed love to each other.  We debated and at times attempted to change the others point of view, but we did not stop loving and respecting each other.

It helps if we remember that we each are growing and changing throughout our lives.  I do not know if I would invite my younger self over for coffee.  Her views are not my views.  Yet I have compassion for my younger self and understand she was doing the best she could at the time.  If that is true even as I look at my younger self deserving love, then how much more that needs to be considered as I look at others.

I am speaking to you during a time of conflict and intense emotions.  We have an election in process that has driven neighbor against neighbor.  We have a virus that science is struggling to understand, and the impact of leaders attempts to protect their people has driven neighbor against neighbor.  The topic of climate change and how to care for our planet has driven neighbor against neighbor.  Examining justice for people of different races and cultures has driven neighbor against neighbor

Add in social media that seems to encourage speaking without thinking and it feels like love is a far-off goal.  The energy I feel around me is often that of hatred and fear, not love.  I am betting even just hearing me read those issues caused your stomach to feel tense.

Hatred and fear are not of God.  Love and peace are of God.

I am going to touch on the second half of our Matthew reading.  The question Jesus asked the Pharisees after answering theirs is “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?”  They knew from scripture the answer was the son of David.  Then Jesus quotes Psalm 110 with a question, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.” 

It was a mic drop moment.  No one was able to give him an answer. 

The Gospel of Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus which traced him back to David.  If Jesus was the Messiah, this means he was Lord even over kings.  God was over the country’s leader, and so was the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Being a singing person the lyric from the Hallelujah Chorus comes to mind. 

The kingdom of this world is become

The kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ, and of his Christ

And he shall reign forever and ever.

A pandemic gives us a clue as to how interrelated our planet is.  A virus does not stop at country borders because our earth has a single atmosphere.  Depending on the winds, we can smell the fires in Colorado.  God’s spirit also covers the whole earth.  God’s love extends to all.  He has got the whole world in his hands.  To love as God commands certainly does set us apart from the world.  It also is impossible without help from the Holy Spirit.

I am proud to be within our country.  I feel very blessed to be born here.  I need to say that clearly.  As Christians we are members of two kingdoms.  Dual citizenship if you will.  We have a foot in our country and a foot in the kingdom of God.

The hymn “This World is Not My Home” is going through my head.

This world is not my home I’m just a passin’ through.

My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.

The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door.

And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

In the beginning the people of Israel only had God as their leader.  Then they demanded God give them a King so they could be like all the other nations around them.  The king was to be a servant leader and recognize the ultimate authority was God.  There was no separation of church and state back then.

In Jesus time the people were under Roman occupation.  Caesar was not a servant leader that looked to God.  Caesar thought he was a god himself and demanded respect as one.  The people needed to survive as members of the Roman community as well as members of their faith community.

Jesus teachings point out this dual citizenship is not on equal footing.  Just earlier in this chapter in Matthew the Pharisees asked him about taxes and Rev Dawn dealt with this scripture last Sunday, so I won’t repeat it except to say that the verse, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God,” makes me smile.  What can Caesar have without God granting it to him?  Jesus turned their question on its head.  All we have is but passing through our hands.  It is God that has it all within his hands.

The Bible does not say we should disrespect authority.  1Timothy 2:2 says, “Pray for kings and everyone who is in authority so that we can live a quiet and peaceful life in complete godliness and dignity.”

Paul’s letter to Titus 3:1 “Remind them to submit to rulers and authorities.  They should be obedient and ready to do every good thing.”

As Christians, we need to remember that the ultimate King of kings and Lord of lords is God.  Humans will die. 

Psalm 90 is also assigned for this Sunday.  Verses 2-6 speak to this.

Before the mountains were born, before you birthed the earth and the inhabited world – from forever in the past to forever in the future, you are God. 

You return people to dust, saying, “Go back, humans,” because in your perspective a thousand years are like yesterday past, like a short period during the night watch.

You sweep humans away like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning.

True in the morning it thrives, renewed, but come evening it withers, all dried up.

God remains.  We are about to elect a leader for our country for the next four years.  The past few elections have felt full of emotion and I am not making light of the strong beliefs people have, but we cannot forget that God is God of all the nations.  The citizenship that is lasting is our membership in the kingdom of God.  Our earthly kingdoms and political structures are dust in comparison.

My time with you is nearly done for today.  Here is what I hope you take away from my words.

Love God.  This is about relationship.  Seek to know him.  Spend time together.  Share yourself with God as you would a special loved one.  Jesus gave us a face to see God.  We can learn so much from his example of loving God the father.  Our primary command is to love him. 

Love others.  God’s love for us has never been deserved and we need to keep that in mind as we are called to love as God loves.  The command has nothing in it about waiting to see if the person is worthy of love or will show love to us back.  The command to love has little to do with the person we are loving at all.  It is concerned only that we love them.  We are not asked to feel love: we are asked to BE love.

I do not know what heaven will be like.  I do not know what my resurrected body will look like.  I feel in my heart that it is by our love that we will know one another.  Our love will become our heavenly fingerprint.  It will be developed throughout our lifetime on earth.  It is the identity worth cultivating.

Lastly, remember God is above all earthly kingdoms.  Support your family, your community, your state, and your country.  Please pray for wisdom, do your research, and do your civic duty and vote.  Decan Susan gave us multiple prayers to pray in our Daily Church Epistle on Tuesday.  A parking lot evening prayer service is being planned for the Monday before election night.  Our attention and care for these earthly connections has importance but they are not to be our highest loves.  God is above all.  The world is his.  We can rest in that thought.

Our first hymn today spoke of the fingerprint of love.  Others will know we are Christians by our love.  It includes being in community with each other as members of Christ’s family.  Claiming to follow Christ is not as strong a statement as living a life that follows Christ’s commands. 

The hymn we will hear next is a song recognizing God as ruler of all the nations and asks us to look for the day when we will all be united when Christ’s kingdom comes. 

Our final song of the day takes it one step further.  All of creation is God’s to rule.  We are to be his hands and trust God is the ruler even if things seem out of control to our eyes.

My Bible study this past Wednesday ended with a question.  Who in your sphere of influence needs to know the Redeemer?  How are you making the love of Jesus know to him or her?

Those questions were timely and here I am.  I do not know the power of my influence, but I am here to share Jesus words.  Jesus showed us God’s love for us.  God loves us so much he adopted us as his children.  The creator of the world desires us to call him Father.  Jesus loved us enough to die on a cross to redeem us.

Our response to this wonderous love is to love back.  The greatest command is to love.

Amen

 

 

Epistle / Based on Philippians 4:6-7 / Emailed to Hudson UMC on October 9, 2020

 

2020-10-09 Daily Church Epistle

 

Hello Church Family!  Happy Friday to you each!  Darci here.

 

I do not know if this happens to you, but sometimes the same message hits me multiple times as if God is trying to get my attention.  This was one of those weeks.

 

I read the Bible passage from the Upper Room Disciplines Book of Daily Devotions for today and this passage called out to me:

 

Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” 

 

Paul goes on to remind us we should be thinking about all the good things of God instead.

 

Our Wednesday morning Bible study had us reading 1 Peter 5:7, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

 

Did I mention I have been feeling anxious lately?  God noticed and sent a reminder from two different sources.  As I read today’s Discipline reading it seemed God was picking up my anxiety level and giving me a clear message.  “Trust me. I am here for you.  I care about you.”  I can even hear a gentle, “Turn it over to me please.”

 

Our current small group study is called “Finding God Faithful.”  We are finishing session 5 of 8 this week.  Now the question is, am I getting the message?  Or as my younger friends say, “Are you picking up what I am putting down?”  Do I believe God is faithful?

 

I have been staying away from the TV because the ads and news make me tense.  Even the weather made me tense last week because I am a gardener and frost warnings call for plant protection. I have much in my life that is out of my hands to control.  I am a “planner”, and the unknown has always made me anxious.

 

The scripture today’s devotion and in my study reading this week both remind me I do not need to hang on to those anxious thoughts.  God invites me to turn it over to Him!  Let go and let God.

 

The next verse in Philippians is:

Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” 

 

Woah!  Turning my anxiety over to God will give me peace?  That sounds wonderful.  I am all in!  Now my challenge is whether I can do it.

 

A favorite praise song came to mind as a third reminder.

“I cast all my cares upon you.

I lay all of my burdens down at your feet

And anytime I don’t know what to do

I cast all my cares upon you”

 

How have you been?  Have you felt unsettled and anxious?  Just maybe this is my Friday to write to you because these scriptures are meant for you as well as me.  Come to God by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, and lay those thoughts at his feet. Surrender is never easy, but it is the step we need to complete before we can float on God’s grace and feel that peace Peter promised.

 

Thank you loving God for your compassion and love for me.  Help me to let you take control of those parts of my life that cause anxiety.  I am weak but thou art strong.  I seek your peace.  I praise your holy name.  Amen

Epistle / Based on Psalm 137:1-4 / Emailed to Hudson UMC on August 28, 2020

 

2020-08-28 Daily Church Epistle

 

Darci here.  I was contemplating my remote worship experience and the following psalm verses came to mind.

 

Psalm 137:1-4 (CEB)

1 Alongside Babylon’s streams,

    there we sat down,

    crying because we remembered Zion.

2 We hung our lyres up

    in the trees there

3     because that’s where our captors asked us to sing;

    our tormentors requested songs of joy:

    “Sing us a song about Zion!” they said.

4 But how could we possibly sing

    the Lord’s song on foreign soil?

 

Now and then COVID-19 has felt like a captor.  I am careful of how I expose myself to others because my husband is in a memory care unit and the whole unit is high risk for a severe reaction.  I have a grandson with underlying conditions that could make this virus much worse for him.  My extra level of caution has caused me to choose not to worship with members of the congregation in our church sanctuary even though in-person worship is available now.

 

My home could feel like “foreign soil” for a worship experience, yet it has been my main location for worship for quite a long time. 

 

My husband, Mike, is on a journey with Alzheimer’s Disease.  While he was still living with me, one struggle we had was Mike not wanting to leave the house on Sunday morning.  Sometimes the church live broadcast would be available, and I could worship with you from home.  Sometimes it would not, but I could still read the sermons online.  With Mike at home I could not attend Bible study or take part in music ministry very often.

 

Fast forward to summer of 2019.  Mike moved into a memory care home where he could have 7X24 hour care.  At the same time, my father’s health failed and caused me to miss most Sundays with you still!  I did join a Bible study and even started leading one before my father ended his earthly journey.  The day after his funeral we went into COVID-19 lockdown.

 

Was I feeling crazy and frustrated and like my worship was under attack?  Yes, a little bit.  Yet my relationship to God felt strong.

 

God provided.  Where the remote worship had been off and on before COVID-19, it now became solid as an incredible podcast.  We have two different zoom prayer services, Sunday morning at 9:15 and Wednesday evening at 7:00.  I am active in a Bible study via zoom.  I am participating in music ministry from my home by recording my songs and sending them in.  For the first time in years I can be on worship committee again!  All because our church leadership has realized we can sing the Lord’s song wherever we are.  We still have our voice.

 

Of course, I wish there were no pandemic and I was not a captive in my home.  I cannot have that wish.  I choose to focus on the blessing of being able to sing my songs and worship my Lord from my kitchen table or even sometimes before getting out of bed since the podcast is posted before I get up on Sundays.  I know we are reaching people online that would not have found us otherwise.  I feel connected and loved by my church family even though I rarely see anyone face-to-face.

 

We have expanded worship and grown during this time.  Two zoom prayer services, two live services, a podcast, an emailed sermon, a broadcast on local TV, and good old USPS of the bulletin and sermon being sent out to those who need it.  That makes me think of yet another scripture.

 

Romans 8:35-39 (CEB)

35 Who will separate us from Christ’s love? Will we be separated by trouble, or distress, or harassment, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

 

We are being put to death all day long for your sake.

    We are treated like sheep for slaughter.

 

37 But in all these things we win a sweeping victory through the one who loved us. 38 I’m convinced that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord: not death or life, not angels or rulers, not present things or future things, not powers 39 or height or depth, or any other thing that is created.

 

I could add to that list at the end, not Alzheimer’s and not COVID-19!  We are more than conquerors.  We can thrive.  God is with us wherever we are.

 

Wherever you are this day, I hope you feel God’s love surround you.  If you have a connection to the Internet either from a computer or a smart phone, I hope you consider joining in worship with us via zoom.  The podcast worship experience is meaningful, and I hope those that do not feel comfortable gathering in the sanctuary will join me in watching it weekly.  If you do not have access to, or are uncomfortable with technology, make sure to reach out to the church office and get on the mailing list to receive the sermon and bulletin in your mailbox.

 

You are reading these words, so you already know about the Daily Church Epistle!

 

We are the church.  Nothing can separate us from God’s love.  Our song can be sung to God wherever we are. 

 

Tuesday’s reading in Disciplines was on Moses and the burning bush.  The prayer from that day speaks to my thoughts so I am going to have us close with it.

 

God, help me recognize that where I am standing, right now and in each moment, is holy ground so that I will be ready to hear you call my name.  Amen.

 

Beams and blessings to you each!

Epistle / Based on Romans 8:24-25 / Emailed to UMC Hudson WI on July 17, 2020

Darci here.  I had signed up to write to you today, Friday, July 17, well before my world was shaken.  Then on Wednesday, my Mom died unexpectedly.  Yesterday my husband, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease entered hospice. 

I had been lax at reading the daily epistles but went through them and saw the faces of our youth being shown.  This Sunday is confirmation. We will welcome three youth into full membership.  They have been guided and taught. Now they are confirming their desire to step into the commitments of the confirmation liturgy. I will not be in the car parade waving and getting a frozen treat, but I will be praying for them. 

The Disciplines reading for today was out of Romans.  I realize the “sufferings” Paul was writing about had to do with being persecuted for following Christ instead of a suffering from normal life.  Yet it feels personal to me as I feel the pain of loss.  As I read Paul’s words, I am reminded of the hope for a future with God that is yet to be revealed.

Romans 8:24-25

For in this home we were saved.  But hope that is seen is no hope at all.  Who hopes for what he already has?  But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

My parent's love is not lost.  Only their faces beside me are gone.  Their loving spirits are joined with God.  I can tap into that love now.  I am a believer that my eternity with God has already begun.  Yet part of that fullness is not yet.  It is what I am patiently waiting for.

My son, Paul, and his family are currently living with me.  They sold their home and their new home is not theirs until the end of August.  They are patiently waiting and moving between “Grandma’s Houses” until the time they can begin their new life in a new town and neighborhood.  It is another time of waiting and hoping for a future they are imagining but cannot live in quite yet.

Many of us are waiting for science and medicine to create protections to let our world feel more normal.  We wait and we hope for many things.  Your areas of waiting may include many more things.

It is not in today’s lesson, but I happen to pull an older Bible off my shelf that had verses highlighted.  My eyes went to verse 38 of this chapter.

Romans 8:38

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 Many of you are praying for me.  I feel those prayers.  Beyond that, I feel God flowing his strength into me.  It is there if we open to it.  It is always there.  It is not something we need to wait for some future to feel.  We need to accept it and open to it, but we do not need to ask for it.  Nothing can separate us from that love.

I pray for you, my church family, as you pray for me.  I pray blessings on the step these youth are taking this Sunday and embrace them as fellow siblings on this journey of growing as children of God.  Keep the faith.  Live in hope.  Open yourselves to feel that flow of love from God.

Beams and blessings to you each.

Epistle / Based on Romans 5:1-8 / Emailed to UMC Hudson WI on June 12, 2020

Darci Strutt McQuiston here, your guest Epistle writer for June 12.

There is a lot happening in our world.  I attended a forum from the UMC that dealt with what they called “2 viruses”.  The original focus had been how churches could safely restart sanctuary worship with COVID-19 in mind.  Before the day of the forum, we had a second “virus” make itself clear, racism.  The organizers decided to deal with both.  Rev Dawn spoke more about the forum in her Wednesday Epistle.

One speaker advised the importance of letting the discomfort linger instead of rushing to return to a place of comfort.  I remember a saying from my youth, “True Christianity comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.”  There are things to learn within this feeling of discomfort.  We are called to lives of service, and sometimes that means going outside our comfort zone. 

Thursday and Friday of this week the Disciple daily readings focused on Romans 5:1-8.  It fit my thoughts well.

1 Therefore, since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand through him, and we boast in the hope of God’s glory.

3 But not only that! We even take pride in our problems, because we know that trouble produces endurance,

4 endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

5 This hope doesn’t put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

6 While we were still weak, at the right moment, Christ died for ungodly people.

7 It isn’t often that someone will die for a righteous person, though maybe someone might dare to die for a good person.

8 But God shows his love for us, because while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

The translation I remember has the word “problems” as “sufferings” in verse 3.  I decided to look up verses 3 and 4 in my Amplified Bible to see what it said.

3 Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance.

4 And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation.

The Amplified Bible certainly does amplify meaning!  These problems or troubles or sufferings, when caused by following Jesus, lead us to endurance, and maturity of character, and confident hope.

One of my favorite hymns is “We Are Called”.   The second verse has been floating through my head.

    Come! Open your heart! Show your mercy to all those in fear!

    We are called to be hope for the hopeless

    so hatred and violence will be no more.

    We are called to act with justice; we are called to love tenderly.

    We are called to serve one another, to walk humbly with God.

The Apostle Paul reminded the church in Rome that the life of a Christian is not easy.  Yet, if they were following Christ’s calling, that suffering would lead to becoming a more mature person.  A person that has confidence in the love of God.  A person who is learning to love as God loves.

I offer you the prayer from the Disciplines for June 11.

Hold me, loving God, and steady me to keep walking with you on the paths you open.  Give me patience and persistence in following your call.  Amen.

Epistle / Based on Psalm 16:5 / Emailed to UMC Hudson on April 17, 2020

Epistle / Based on Psalm 16:5 / Emailed to UMC Hudson on April 17, 2020

Due to the COVID-19 Shelter-In-Place orders there are no services at CCH.  I did do some pondering on scripture for my church this month though.  Our pastor has been sending out a daily epistle and asked me to contribute one on Friday 4/17/2020.  This message went out to my UMC church family that day, but I decided to put it here in case anyone else might find encouragement by reading.

Here is more detail on a couple points our church members would have already known.

The Easter “parade” I refer to below was formed by a group of church members driving by member’s homes with signs, balloons, and noise makers.  It brought a smile to many on Easter morning.

“The Way” is a study by Adam Hamilton.

Hello Church!

Darci Strutt McQuiston here. Rev Dawn invited me to write you today so she can return to her regular Friday Sabbath. Of course, I said yes!

I have enjoyed her casual and encouraging style so hope to give this the same feeling. Goodness knows we need encouraging words right now. “Sheltering in Place” can feel isolating and lonely and we have another five weeks ahead. YouTube services and Zoom prayer meetings can keep us connected, but I am missing hugs and I bet you are too.

Before I get to my thoughts on the Psalm, I wanted to remind you that you are loved. If there is one goal for this note it is to tell you this. I am holding my church family up in prayer and sending my love. I feel great love both for my church family and from my church family. The Easter “parade” was awesome! You are very loved. Thank you for loving me.

I am a student in “The Way” book class. The chapter on the study was the first time I remember coming across the term “Lectio Divina”. I am glad this is a printed word because I fear I would not pronounce that correctly. Rev Dawn has been using this “divine reading” as she explored Psalm 16 throughout this week. I spent some time in the steps of reading, meditation, contemplation, and prayer on Psalm 16. Here is the verse that rose to the surface through the steps of reading and meditation.

Psalm 16:5, You, Lord, are my portion, my cup; you control my destiny.

As I completed the contemplation part of Lectio Divina I looked inside for why this verse jumped out. Our study book, The Way, advised me to ask the question, “How does this idea, this word, this phrase, or text relate to me?”  I realized part of my anxiety during this time is due to feeling everything is out of control. I do not know if my investments are going to recover. I do not have confidence in the health and safety of my loved ones. My husband is in memory care and I cannot visit.

While that feeling of stress can rise within me, this verse offers me calm. God is my portion. That thought brought up the song, His Eye Is On the Sparrow: “Why should my heart be lonely and long for heaven and home, when Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is he: his eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.”

God provides. God controls my destiny. I may feel out of control, but I can rest in knowing God is in control. From my study of scripture, I know God does not always save you from the storm, but he remains beside you in the storm.

The final part of Lectio Divina is conversing in prayer with God. I felt his presence as I completed this step. I hope you feel his presence today. I pray I can “sing because I’m happy and sing because I’m free”, as the song goes, and you can sing along with me. God is with us. We are Easter People! We do not need to fear death because Jesus paved the way into eternity.

The prayer at the end of today’s Discipline entry fit my thoughts so I am going to share it with you as I close.

“Living Christ, today I seek to love you whom I cannot see and to trust in your promise that you are with me, whatever comes. Amen.”

I am sending you much love this day! Beams and blessings to you each!

Darci

The Master’s Love / Based on John 11:1-45 / undelivered due to COVID-19 March 29, 2020

The Master’s Love / Based on John 11:1-45 / undelivered due to COVID-19 March 29, 2020

Hymns: Make Me a Servant, ‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus, What Wondrous Love Is This

John 11:1-45

11:1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

11:2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill.

11:3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, he whom you love is ill."

11:4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, "This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it."

11:5 Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,

11:6 after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

11:7 Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."

11:8 The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?"

11:9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world.

11:10 But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them."

11:11 After saying this, he told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him."

11:12 The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right."

11:13 Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep.

11:14 Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.

11:15 For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."

11:16 Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

11:17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.

11:18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away,

11:19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother.

11:20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home.

11:21 Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

11:22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him."

11:23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."

11:24 Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day."

11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,

11:26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

11:27 She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world."

11:28 When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you."

11:29 And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him.

11:30 Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.

11:31 The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

11:32 When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

11:33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.

11:34 He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see."

11:35 Jesus began to weep.

11:36 So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"

11:37 But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"

11:38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.

11:39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days."

11:40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"

11:41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me.

11:42 I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me."

11:43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"

11:44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

11:45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

We are living in stressful times.  Christian Community Home is in lockdown, as are all senior living locations, because of the risk of COVID-19 infection.  I decided to meditate on the scripture anyway and a message began forming.  Maybe at some future point I’ll share it, but for now it will be a blog post.

The scripture assigned for today is longer than normal, but worth the read.  The topics I’m pulling out of this reading are:

To be used or to be a servant

Trusting in Jesus

Experiencing Love

To be used or to be a servant

11:4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, "This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it."

11:5 Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,

11:6 after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

11:14 Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.

11:15 For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."

When I first thought about this part of the scripture, I felt a little angry.  It felt like Jesus is using a man’s illness and death for his own purposes.  He could have saved him from his illness but instead Jesus hung around until he knew Lazarus had died.  It doesn’t sound loving or fair at all.  They were friends!  How could he use him in that way?

Then the Wesley Covenant Prayer came to mind.

I am no longer my own, but yours.

Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will;

put me to doing, put me to suffering;

let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you,

exalted for you, or brought low for you;

let me be full,

let me be empty,

let me have all things,

let me have nothing:

I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things

to your pleasure and disposal.

And now, glorious and blessed God,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

you are mine and I am yours. So be it.

And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

(Contemporary version from Methodist.org.UK)

That is our call as we honor our relationship to God.  We are called to be servants.  That is a different condition than being “used”.  Lazarus, Mary, and Martha were close friends and followers of Jesus.  No doubt they had entered a similar covenant relationship.  Lazarus was not being “used”.  Lazarus was being a servant.

Trusting in Jesus

11:21 Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

11:22 But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him."

11:23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."

11:24 Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day."

11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,

11:26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

11:27 She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world."

After my meditation on the first topic I no longer see verse 21 as complaining.  She wasn’t saying, “Why did it take you so long!”  She was stating her belief.  She also trusted in Jesus ability to still act.

Jesus gives us another beautiful “I Am” statement.  It’s not just that there will be a resurrection.  Jesus IS the resurrection and the life for those who believe.

11:39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days."

11:40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"

11:41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me.

11:42 I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me."

11:43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"

11:44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

They trusted in Jesus and result was Lazarus was blessed to be a blessing.

11:45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

Experiencing Love

As I think of the difference between feeling used by someone and choosing to serve someone, one difference that comes to mind is feeling loved.

11:33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.

11:34 He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see."

11:35 Jesus began to weep.

11:36 So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"

Jesus cared.  This wasn’t a man he was using to further his own aims without thought to the man or his family.  Jesus was moved by their sorrow.  He shared their sorrow.  He loved them.

Jesus was pursuing a different result.  His actions caused more to believe that he was sent from God.  This meant more could be saved.  Without knowing it, Lazarus had become an evangelist and brought many to follow Jesus.  In death and in life he served Christ.

Jesus had a dual role.  He was a loving leader to those who followed him, and he was also a loving follower of God’s direction.  He was both a master and a servant.

This scripture points towards Jesus upcoming death.  He was not “used” by God as he ended his earthly ministry on a cross.  He gave his life obediently in service to God.  That act of service brings life and hope to all of us. 

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

To pray the Covenant Prayer I spoke of toward the beginning, we must trust that we are devoting ourselves to a being that is acting out of love.  Love so wondrous that we are willing to give our lives in service.

When Jesus asks, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"  I pray our answer can be a solid, “Yes I believe!”

We are seven days away from holy week.  We cannot gather physically in worship, but I pray you can find online resources to mark these special days.  We need to remember them.  They remind us that we serve a master that loves us without bounds.  I pray we remain faithful in our service as we trust in that love.

Amen