Dear Children of God is a three-part worship series developed by Discipleship Ministries that runs from the second Sunday after Pentecost through the end of August.
Dear Children of God: OMG (Part 1)
What would St. Paul text? Something clever, profound, and to the point, no doubt. Some of the writings of Paul or attributed to Paul in the New Testament are some of the most eloquent and beautiful prose in all of scripture. But these texts were about getting the point across, arguing for faith, and inviting the readers or hearers to a deeper experience of the risen Christ. So, what are those core elements, those essentials that would bring the desired outcome? What would Paul text to open the conversation and get readers to claim the faith he presents? That’s what we hope becomes clear as we engage in the conversation we call "Dear Children of God."
Now That Faith Has Come (June 22)
Today, the surprise of Pentecost and the glory of Trinity Sunday propel us toward…Ordinary Time. This is always the way of it in the liturgical year and in the Christian life, this juxtaposition of extraordinary and mundane, the shocking revelations and the ordinary question of “What do we do now?” As you invite your congregation into this extended season after Pentecost, take a moment to explain the meaning of this season. In Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Eastertide, we re-member the story of God’s revelation of divine love among us in Jesus, God Incarnate. Ordinary Time calls us to listen, discern, and wrestle with how to live into the story of Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection in our daily lives as individuals and as a community.
Called to Freedom (June 29)
Our passage from Galatians this week includes one of those well-known texts that many of us were required to memorize at some point in Sunday school or youth group. Yes, the fruit of the Spirit is incredibly important; it is the culminating point of this passage. Yet, be careful not to skip to the end and miss how Paul gets us there. The goal is not to check everything off Paul’s list and count ourselves righteous. Rather, the fruit of the Spirit is more like a compass, helping us discern when we are and are not living into the freedom for which Christ sets us free.
A New Creation is Everything! (July 6)
“One last thing!” That’s what I imagine Paul saying as he was finishing his letter to the Galatians. “I can’t forget this one last thing! Oh, and I need to make it big: SO THEN, WHENEVER WE HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY, LET US WORK FOR THE GOOD OF ALL AND ESPECIALLY FOR THOSE OF THE FAMILY OF FAITH.” Yes, I like to think the apostle Paul “shouted” these words to the Galatians—and to us. Because this is the point of all of it. All that Paul has been trying to say in this letter and beyond—work for the good of all and take care of one another so we can keep doing God’s good work together.
Who emails anymore? Well, some do, of course. Paul and other epistle writers would have used any method of communication to share the message they brought. Maybe we can think of email as a place to enlarge the conversation. We can go a little deeper, invite serious thinking, and seek input and responses to the ideas and plans put forth. Is it possible to hear the gospel as an invitation to engage in dialog? Are we allowed to ask questions and consider the implications and applications of what we read or hear? Certainly! That’s what it means to be engaged as the "Dear Children of God."
Heard of this Hope (July 13)
Sometimes, the Pauline epistles feel like we’re picking up in the middle of a conversation or perhaps an email thread. Whatever came before or after, we get only this one snapshot of the stories, events, and questions that exist between the author and the community. Today’s passage gives us more information than most, though, about the community itself. Paul pulls back the curtain and tells us not only about the Colossians’ reputation as Christ followers, but also names Epaphras, a minister who lives in Colossae and writes to Paul about the church there.
Image of the Invisible (July 20)
Most of my early memories of singing happened in church. I joined the children’s choir when I was three and a half. I sang and clapped enthusiastically every time we ended a service with “You Shall Go Out with Joy,” and I joined in loud and proud when we sang “Amazing Grace,” because I knew all the words early in life. I was a child who loved to sing, and church, for me, equaled singing. Even if you didn’t have quite that level of enthusiasm for singing in church as a child, I imagine it would be hard to recall a worship service that didn’t include singing. As United Methodists, singing is in our DNA. As worship planners, you select hymns and songs every week that are meaningful to your congregation and tie into the theology and themes of that day’s scripture(s). We spend a lot of time focused on the content of our singing, but not necessarily on the act of singing itself. Singing together is what some call a “mega-mechanism for bonding.” When we sing together, we align our breath and our focus toward the same goal, which, in the case of worship, is praising God and declaring what we believe to and with one another. In other words, it's not just what we sing, but that we sing in worship that forms us.
Made You Alive (July 27)
I feel alive”: something we exclaim after an invigorating dunk in cold water, soaring through the air on a hang glider, or feeling the rush of wind as we tip over the edge of that first big hill on a roller coaster. Funny how none of these involve sitting quietly and contemplating deep and heady things. As much as I love a good theological or philosophical rabbit trail, sitting and cogitating, as my grandmother would say, has a way of drawing my focus away from the body instead of toward it. And it seems that to feel alive, we have to be in our bodies, feeling and experiencing the world around us with our whole selves.
Set Your Mind (August 3)
This week marks the last “email” from Paul to the Colossians in this worship series, the last reminder about who the Christians of Colossae are and how their story forms their identity as a community. And, of course, how the Christians of Colossae might also inform who we are as the Christians of Little Rock, Buffalo, Athens, Wichita, Alamosa…I think you get the picture. The church in Colossae is part of our story, and we are part of theirs, even as we are all diverse Christian communities planted in places uniquely different yet somehow similar to Christian communities that sprouted and grew almost 2000 years ago.
Dear Children of God: Dear Beloved Children (Part 3)
When was the last time you opened an actual love letter? One written by hand, perhaps, on fancy stationery? It’s rare, to be sure. But there is something special about that mode of communication—something personal, something human. A letter is a reminder of a relationship. Therefore, it was to be treasured, read and reread, maybe for years. It may seem odd, after that prologue to launch into a series from Hebrews. Written by an unknown hand to an unknown and scattered audience, the letter to the Hebrews seems more like a theological treatise or a sermonic exhortation than a letter. Yet, we reflect on the human side of faith as we engage in this ancient but ever-new conversation. We invite you, dear children of God, to join us in the dialog.
Desire a Better Country (August 10)
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for…” I remember being a teenager and having a Sunday evening lesson at youth group on Hebrews 11. Even at that time, I was drawn in by the enticement of a definition. Finally, an authoritative definition of faith! Something I can wrap my mind around and understand. When we start breaking down this definition of faith, it becomes unmanageable. There is still substance to it, but not a substance I can hold in my hand and figure out. It’s more like a substance that sweeps us up in a current, taking us toward a better country, to quote the author of Hebrews.
For the Sake of Joy (August 17)
Joy can be a hard thing to nail down. Last week, we talked about defining yet not grasping faith. The substance of faith sweeps us with it toward the “better country.” This week, we turn to joy. But not just any joy—Jesus’ joy. Have you ever thought about Jesus having joy? We encounter Jesus suffering in the Passion, but we don’t often think about Jesus having emotions. Yet surely he did. Fully God and fully human. Fully human people tend to experience emotions. But then, is joy an emotion? Or something more? Like, an emotion+? I’m not going to pretend to have all of the philosophical answers to this, and philosophers, theologians, pastors, and lay people have spent a lot of time and ink to write about all these things and more. But, if we plan worship around joy, then worship has to include joy. Our congregations don’t need to just hear about joy. They need to experience it.
Cannot Be Shaken (August 24)
“The wise man built his house upon the rock. The wise man built his house upon the rock. The wise man built his house upon the rock, and the rains came a-tumblin’ down.” If these few sentences have now triggered an earworm you can’t get out of your head, you’re welcome! I loved this song growing up. I loved the hand motions and the tune but also came to love this image of building a house—a home—on the rock. As I grew in life and faith, I started to recognize that this song (and the parable it is based on) centers around a foundational assumption: the rains will come. Or, as in the case of our text from Hebrews this week, the rains, the fires, the shaking, the darkness and the gloom are all going to come. The question is, have you found your home in the Rock that cannot be shaken?
Let Mutual Love Continue (August 31)
When I was a pre-teen, I got a copy of a Christian magazine in the mail (I feel like I’m starting to show my age already), and inside it was a poster with Hebrews 13:2 on it: “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it” (NIV ). I hung that poster with its vague visual references to angels' wings up on my wall, and it stayed there for years. Unfortunately, the message of that poster and the message I was taught in other contexts about Hebrews 13:2 was, essentially, “Be kind to everyone because you never know when the stranger is actually an angel, and you don’t want to miss out on that.” Looking back, that’s an interesting take on this verse, given that throughout the Bible, people are usually aware when they’re talking to an angel and not an “ordinary” human.
Originally published by Discipleship Ministries. Republished with permission by ResourceUMC.