July 23, 2022 – Words of Wisdom, Brenda Bradford Ottinger (Writer for Proverbs 31 Ministries)

“When you feel unknown by the world around you, take heart — you are fully known by the Lord.” – Brenda Bradford Ottinger

“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part, but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see only a reflection, as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-13

Fully Known

The beauty and the frustration of living within the family unit is that within this orbit most of us are fully known. There is little that is hidden from the family – though it appears that is becoming less and less a reality. But when I was a kid, I was fully known not only within my family, but within my school and even within my community. There was no place to hide.

Today we live in a different world. Not only are fewer people known within their communities, they appear to be hidden within their families. The online world allows too many people to escape into a world they can create for themselves – a world that is completely foreign to the world in which we live. We can create a dystopian world to live in. We can create a fantasy world to live in. But no one in those worlds truly know us.

G-d knows us fully because we are children of G-d. No matter the trouble we encounter, no matter the ways society dismisses us, G-d welcomes us and loves us. Remember that every day.

Let us pray,

Lord Christ, you know us fully – you love us unconditionally. Help me to live into that reality today and every day. Amen.

Pastor Dave

July 22, 2022 – Words of Wisdom, Lisa Bevere (Christian Author)

God’s love for us is not subject to how we feel about ourselves. – Lisa Bevere

“Now there was a woman who had been suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians and had spent all that she had, and she was no better but rather grew worse.She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, “If I but touch his cloak, I will be made well.”Immediately her flow of blood stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my cloak?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ”He looked all around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” Mark 5:25-34

At Our Wits End

This woman is certainly at her wits end. She has spent all of her money on doctors and treatments – and still she suffers from a bleeding disorder. How many times do we feel the same way as this woman – at our wits end not knowing where else to turn? I preached a funeral sermon the other day where I shared with them these words from a modern day proverb:

“When you are at your wits end, remember G-d lives there.”

There are too many people out there in our society, in our country, and in our world who desperately need an encounter with the Jesus, who are living at their wits end, and who do not know where to turn. Throughout his ministry Jesus begs the outsiders to come to him – the ones desperately seeking an encounter with a G-d who, when they finally feel G-d’s love and acceptance that Jesus offers, well they might finally feel something inside of themselves begin to heal – or they might experience a love and a measure of Grace they thought they would never find.

Finally, Jesus calls this woman “daughter”. He accepts her into his family. We cannot miss this small gesture – for it is a huge deal. No one is outside of the possibility of being a part of G-d’s family. No one. All are welcome.

Let us pray

Lord Christ, you welcome the stranger, the sick, the outsider, the lost, last, least and little. Help me to remember today that I am in that list – that I matter – I am not outside of your love. Amen.

Pastor Dave