This church: building bridges of care and unity
Daily Scripture
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 2 Corinthians 5:14-21
Ezekiel 34
11 The LORD God proclaims: I myself will search for my flock and seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out the flock when some in the flock have been scattered, so will I seek out my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered during the time of clouds and thick darkness. 13 I will gather and lead them out from the countries and peoples, and I will bring them to their own fertile land. I will feed them on Israel’s highlands, along the riverbeds, and in all the inhabited places. 14 I will feed them in good pasture, and their sheepfold will be there, on Israel’s lofty highlands. On Israel’s highlands, they will lie down in a secure fold and feed on green pastures. 15 I myself will feed my flock and make them lie down. This is what the LORD God says. 16 I will seek out the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the wounded, and strengthen the weak. But the fat and the strong I will destroy, because I will tend my sheep with justice.
2 Corinthians 5
14 The love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: one died for the sake of all; therefore, all died. 15 He died for the sake of all so that those who are alive should live not for themselves but for the one who died for them and was raised.
16 So then, from this point on we won’t recognize people by human standards. Even though we used to know Christ by human standards, that isn’t how we know him now. 17 So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived!
18 All of these new things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and who gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 In other words, God was reconciling the world to himself through Christ, by not counting people’s sins against them. He has trusted us with this message of reconciliation.
20 So we are ambassadors who represent Christ. God is negotiating with you through us. We beg you as Christ’s representatives, “Be reconciled to God!” 21 God caused the one who didn’t know sin to be sin for our sake so that through him we could become the righteousness of God.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
The prophet Ezekiel knew God promised to be the good shepherd who would “seek out the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the wounded, and strengthen the weak.” Jesus did just that (cf. John 10:7-11). The apostle Paul said the good news is that God loves us, wants to reconcile the world to God, and acted in Christ to overcome our alienation. One of Pastor Hamilton’s earliest books was titled Leading Beyond the Walls. * Resurrection aims to build bridges, to call others to “be reconciled to God,” and to one another.
- “[Ezekiel’s] metaphor goes beyond the normal responsibilities of making sure that the sheep are protected and fed. Instead it focuses on the remedial duties, caring for the sick and finding the lost. These equate to the need for kings to bring about justice for alienated and disenfranchised people.” ** What are some ways you can help your church actively support and work for justice for alienated or disenfranchised people today?
- The Message paraphrased 2 Corinthians 5:21 as “We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.” *** Do you picture God as eager to bridge the distance to all human beings (including you), as distant and uninterested, or as angry and punitive? How has your reconciliation with God made you “a new creature in Christ”? Who do you know who needs to hear that good news, quite possibly from you?
Prayer
Lord, help me each day to develop greater understanding, compassion and vision. Then as I become more whole, help me to see each person as your precious child. Amen.
GPS Insights
Lauren Cook
Lauren Cook, who serves as the Entry Points Program Director at Resurrection, wrote today’s Insight. She is a self-proclaimed foodie, a bookworm, and is always planning her next trip. She has the sweetest (and sassiest) daughter, Carolina Rae, a rockstar husband, Austin, and a cutie pup named Thunder. She loves connecting with others so let her know the best place you've ever eaten, best book you've ever read, or best place you've ever been!
Happy Thanksgiving, friends! Unfortunately, in our society, we have popularized gratitude in a way that makes it almost trite. We tend to stay surface-level with our gratitude, using pre-designed journals to write down that we’re grateful for our friends, our homes, our work (repeat) …
I so hope that you spent yesterday with people that you love, whoever that might be (and maybe even ate a few slices of delicious pie). But I do know that the holidays can be a handful for many of us, a good handful or a heavy one. Regardless of how your Thanksgiving Day or week has gone, it is a time to think about the things that we are thankful for.
And our gratitude can and should go deeper than obvious surface things. One place it can quickly go deeper? Around our faith. Our Father, Our Creator, has given us everything. He has given us life, and life to the fullest through His love, His gifts, and the ultimate sacrifice of His Son for our forgiveness and eternity with Him. Most of us know this and yet we can forget the depths of His love depending on our relationship with Him.
How was God portrayed to you when you were growing up? How did you see Him? How did you think of Him? How did you talk to Him? For a very long time, I saw God as a punishing and angry God. I thought that I had to be perfect for Him or He would be angry with me, and I would be unworthy of all He had done (and would still do) for me. I thought that the bad things that happened in my life were all punishments for some sin I had committed. Most of my prayers were apologies and conversations around how I could and would be different, be better, be worthy. To be honest, sometimes I can still fall into that trap.
Over time, with the help of many helpful mentors and guides in my faith journey, I have come to learn that God isn’t an angry God on the lookout for me to mess up so that He can punish me. Quite opposite, God is the most loving Father we could ever imagine. As our GPS reflection question said, God is eager to move towards us, to love us, to bridge the divide between us. He loves every part of us and reconciles every part of us without us having to ask the right question or act the right way.
Whatever list you’ve made, or whatever you shared around your Thanksgiving table, I hope that what you’re grateful for includes this: a loving, gracious, reconciling God who chooses us every time. A faith that fills our future with hope. A love that knows no bounds and has no stipulations. I’m grateful for all of this, all of you, and all that is to come this season!
© 2024 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Adam Hamilton, Leading Beyond the Walls: Developing Congregations with a Heart for the Unchurched. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2002.
** NIV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (pp. 7248-7249). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
*** Peterson, Eugene H. The Message Numbered Edition Hardback. Navpress. Kindle Edition.
