The Fellowship Blogs

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Week of: August 26, 2018
Scripture: John 6:56-69

It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
(John 6:63, NRSV)

Devotion

Jesus is continuing to teach the disciples about the bread of life and how to receive it. He explains that it is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. Like the disciples, we too have moments of unfaithfulness and doubt. We often find ourselves relying too much on the flesh and not enough on the Spirit of God living within us.

Worship is a time for us to be reminded of God's life-giving Spirit and to be nourished by the bread of life. If we offer people the bread of eternal life through engaging worship experiences they will want to come back for more of what we are offering.

We are all in search of "good bread." There is no substitute for fresh, fulfilling, and authentic experiences. When worship arts are presented in authentic ways, then the people to whom we offer the arts in worship will receive them like rich, fresh bread, and will want more.

Prayer

Creator God, help us to be authentic in the ways we weave the arts throughout worship. Send your Spirit to guide us so that we are inspired and enabled to offer the living bread of life to all through worship.

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Minister of Contemporary Music & Worship Arts
Pulaski Heights UMC
Little Rock, AR

Photo: Communion elements are seen on the altar during closing worship at Music & Worship Arts Week 2016. The altar design was created by worship visual artist Wendy Marble.  (Fellowship photo by Daniel Craig.)

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Week of: August 19, 2018
Scripture: John 6:51-58

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.
(John 6:56, NRSV)

Devotion

Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Come and feast on Jesus! Imagine that you were standing among the Jewish people when Jesus spoke this passage from John 6 and he asked those questions. What he said next would shock most anybody. They must have whispered among themselves, “You want us to eat your flesh? Drink your blood?”

What Jesus tells the disciples doesn’t make much sense to them and ends up turning their world upside down. Has this ever happened to you in your daily work as a worship artist? Has someone asked you to do something you just don’t want to do at the time, or to take on a task that doesn’t seem like it will be worthwhile to you?

Jesus says that when we eat his flesh and drink his blood we will abide in him and he will abide in us. Jesus will be with us during all the worship arts endeavors that we enter into and offer in the liturgy.

Prayer

Gracious God, give us the strength to endure the tasks that we may not want to do. Remind us that you will be with us through the hardest situations and the best situations. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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Minister of Contemporary Music & Worship Arts
Pulaski Heights UMC
Little Rock, AR

Photo: Communion elements are seen on the altar during closing worship at Awaken 2017, the Fellowship's convocation held in Little Rock, AR. (Fellowship photo by Daniel Craig.)

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

Week of: August 12, 2018
Scripture: John 6:35, 41-51

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.
(John 6:51, NRSV)

Devotion

Do you have a daily bread presence?

This week’s Gospel passage reminds us that Jesus is the bread of life, which is given to all who believe in him. This bread is life-giving, intimate, and mysterious.

Bread is symbolic because it is something that is common, accessible, and a constant source of daily nourishment. We find reference to bread in the Lord's Prayer: "Give us this day our daily bread." In the same way that our bodies need food to be physically healthy, our souls must also be nourished and replenished for us to be sustained spiritually.

We receive this bread of life through Jesus' presence with us and through God's Spirit who draws us into an intimate, spiritual relationship.

As worship artists, we experience and share with all who gather for worship this spiritual intimacy through the arts — and, in turn, what we offer also becomes our own daily bread presence.

This bread of life, which is Jesus, works in wondrous and mysterious ways through the arts. It provides in worship, as well as in life, a nourishing connection to God, our Creator.

Prayer

Ever present God, we give thanks that you are always with us, reaching out to be our daily bread presence. Open our eyes, open our ears, and open our hearts that we might know you and love you more. Amen.

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Minister of Contemporary Music & Worship Arts
Pulaski Heights UMC
Little Rock, AR

Photo: Communion bread baked by event participants is seen on the altar during closing worship at Music & Worship Arts Week 2017. (Fellowship photo by Daniel Craig.)

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Week of: August 5, 2018
Scripture: John 6:24-35

Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life.
(John 6:27a, NRSV)

Devotion

In the verses of this week's Scripture, Jesus guides the disciples to both think and live in a more meaningful way. The disciples are focused on the present and want instant gratification for what they are asking. They say to Jesus, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" (v.28). In other words, tell us what we must do so we can enjoy the results.

Worship artists are, at times, much like Jesus' disciples — we expect quick results from the work we are doing with our ensembles, teams, and worship services. We too want to see and experience the "fruits" of people encountering God through the means of worship we diligently prepare.

However, most days seem to be filled with staff meetings, budget preparations, selecting music for the next church season, and putting out the latest "fire." The good news is that these tasks are also important to kingdom work that endures. It is important for us to remember that everything we do holds the opportunity of offering the bread of life to the world.

In what ways can you offer the bread of life through your work each day? 

Prayer

Wonderful Maker, we praise you for sustaining us with the bread of life that you provide for us each day. Help us to take the bread of life into our daily routines, so that others may encounter you and come to know you more through us. Amen.

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Minister of Contemporary Music & Worship Arts
Pulaski Heights UMC
Little Rock, AR

Photo: Communion elements are prepared prior to closing worship at Music & Worship Arts Week 2018. (Fellowship photo by Daniel Craig.)

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

Week of: July 29, 2018
Scripture: John 6:1-21

He said this to test them, for he himself knew what he was going to do.
(John 6:6, NRSV)

Devotion

Why is this story of feeding the five thousand so important to our story as Christian people? Maybe because the central act of this miracle story happens when Jesus takes, blesses, breaks and gives. You will no doubt recognize these actions as the same words in the same sequence as in the story of the last supper.

The repetition of this ritual action in the stories that the early Christians told about Jesus might suggest that they found that it is the way or pattern of relationship with Jesus — that somehow by grace Jesus takes what we offer, blesses it, then breaks it so that the gifts and graces we offer can be given for others in the power of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps this is the real miracle — not the number of souls fed or the initial quantity of provisions, but the movement that Jesus initiates within the disciples — a movement from scarcity to abundance, from "we can't" to "you can."

And just maybe, this is the good news of Jesus, that when people are thirsty for justice and hungry for hope, Jesus says, "Bring what you have to me."

When we allow our worship arts and our very being to be shaped by God's story, then we will truly learn that the question is never "Can we do it?" but always "Won't God do it?"

The answer to this question is always "Yes, and Amen!"

Prayer

Lord, transpose your church into a blessed, broken and given people, until all the world becomes a "Yes, and Amen!" Amen. 

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Pastor of Music & Worship Life
Christ Church, Sugar Land
Sugar Land, TX

Photo: The Rev. Alice Rogers leads the communion liturgy during closing worship at Music & Worship Arts Week 2018. (Fellowship photo by Daniel Craig.)

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

Week of: July 22, 2018
Scripture: Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.
(Mark 6:31b, NRSV)

Devotion

Wednesdays are the worst. After dropping kids at school, I go right into the office with back-to-back meetings, rehearsals with accompanists and liturgists, score study, picking kids up from school, helping with homework, and finally back to the church for choir rehearsals. Like the disciples, there seems to not even be enough time to eat – never mind sleep, exercise or pray. In the seeming urgency of right now, it is easy to not only neglect basic needs but also the life-giving practices that keep one grounded with God, with self and with others.

Over all this busyness, Jesus beckons us to "come away ... and rest." His words sound so wonderful, but always feel nearly impossible to actually do, in part because I love the work. We make fun and beautiful music; we design meaningful and inspiring altars and banners; I preach convicting and formative sermons. In short, my work as a worship artist transforms the world through worship ... but Sunday comes every week.

Maybe the invitation is meant to remind me that I am a participant in God's work, not the other way around. Sunday comes every week, not by my design or desire, but by God's grace. 

So it is, also, with the salvation of the world.

Prayer

Gracious God, deliver me from the pride of busyness to the restful rhythm of grace. Amen. 

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Pastor of Music & Worship Life
Christ Church, Sugar Land
Sugar Land, TX

Photo: Fog rises in the mountains over Lake Junaluska after an afternoon rainstorm during Music & Worship Arts Week 2018. (Fellowship photo by Daniel Craig.)

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Week of: July 15, 2018
Scripture: 2 Samuel 6:1-19

David danced before the LORD with all his might ...
(2 Samuel 6:14, NRSV)

Devotion

Dancing, like all the arts, requires a certain level of vulnerability – an acquiescence to both external and internal rhythms. I dare say, too, that the beauty of the artform arises and becomes clearer when the dancers submit themselves to these two rhythmic forces.

Here we see David dancing twice, but for different purposes. At first, he dances as a triumphant king intending to make a political statement by bringing the “ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim.” Here, David is bold and proud, and literally accompanied by all the bells and whistles.

However, the second dance follows the tragic death of Uzzah and David’s subsequent anger and fear of God. David is humbled by a God he cannot control. His dance becomes less triumphant and more vulnerable, emotional. Instead of royal regalia, David is now nearly naked and accompanied with only a trumpet. The more vulnerable dance elicits response: ridicule, from Michal who finds his vulnerability shameful, and extravagant generosity from David, whose place of vulnerability opens him to be a conduit for blessing.

Prayer

Almighty God, forgive my attempts to control or confine you. Teach me to dance and move with you until my life becomes a conduit of blessing. Amen. 

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Pastor of Music & Worship Life
Christ Church, Sugar Land
Sugar Land, TX

Photo: Tim Ethridge (center) solos as part of "Wade in the Water," a dance performed during Music & Worship Arts Week 2018. (Fellowship photo by Daniel Craig.)

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Week of: July 8, 2018
Scripture: Mark 6:1-13

And he could do no deed of power there ...
(Mark 6:5, NRSV)

Devotion

The first rule of nearly every music ensemble is "watch the director," to follow where and how they lead. Clearly the people of Jesus' hometown did not get the memo!

Since Jesus recently visited Nazareth, it is no wonder that they would be astonished at his teaching. This village would have been so remote and off the beaten path that you really had to be looking for it in order to find it. So, it is not hard to imagine that this traveling Jesus must have seemed laughable to them with all his new teaching, new authority, and new convictions. It is also not surprising that when Jesus comes home preaching repentance and disrupts the social and economic order by healing those who are dispossessed, his community becomes offended and discredits him – like his family did earlier in Mark 3:21.

As a leader, what do you do when the people in whom you have invested so much resist your leadership? Well, you follow Jesus. Even though the fullness of his ministry was frustrated in that place, Jesus did what he could so that at least some of the people could receive the healing they needed.

Resistance isn't failure – nor is knowing when to move on to the next place of ministry.

Prayer

Gracious God, you have called us to this place of ministry. Give us courage to lead through resistance to healing and new life. Amen.  

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Pastor of Music & Worship Life
Christ Church, Sugar Land
Sugar Land, TX

Photo: Welborn Young directs the Chamber Choir during a rehearsal at Waynesville First UMC as part of Music & Worship Arts Week 2018. (Fellowship photo by Daniel Craig.)

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Week of: July 1, 2018
Scripture: Mark 5:21-43

... And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him.
(Mark 5:24, NRSV)

Devotion

You know, sometimes it's the well-meaning church folk who stand in the way of someone's healing. We can get so caught up in doing our own thing that we don't realize that we, at best, block others from Christ; and at worst, we trample them in order to receive our own blessing.

There are always people who feel hindered in their access to Jesus. We are so caught up in our own selves that we can’t see them reaching out for a blessing from the Lord. Despite the crowd, this woman reaches out in desperate hope. She is perhaps unlike Jairus, who has enough social power and privilege to get Jesus' attention. She feels she has no voice, or at least feels that if she were to make a scene by pleading her case, she would be ridiculed and shamed. So, she does the only thing she feels she can. She stealthily and anonymously reaches out for healing.

Am I blocking others' access to Jesus? Is my ministry so oriented by my own perspective – physical ability, economic, cultural or otherwise – that others are shut out? Like Jesus, sometimes we have to stop doing our own "thing" so that others may have the space to speak their truth and receive their healing.

Prayer

Lord, give us eyes to see those who are straining to reach you. Give us courage to stop what we are doing so that they can. Amen.  

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Pastor of Music & Worship Life
Christ Church, Sugar Land
Sugar Land, TX

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Week of: June 24, 2018
Scripture: Mark 4:35-41

He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?"
(Mark 4:40, NRSV)

Devotion

Several of the disciples were fishermen and if they were afraid of a storm, it must have been quite severe. I can imagine them, calmly at first, summoning their skill to keep the boat afloat as the gale batted it around. One by one, the less experienced called upon the more experienced until, in desperation, they called upon the captain of the boat. I can see that captain, drawing upon his training and experience to guide them, yet knowing in his heart that they were doomed. How terrifying to be lost in a maelstrom!

This how I felt on Easter Sunday when our pastor became ill just before the service.

At first, the worship team tried to find a solution using our own resources: a Certified Lay Speaker would preside and preach his "pocket" sermon. But God led us in a different direction — repeat the children's program in the place of the sermon. What a blessing!

Meanwhile, in the back of the boat, Jesus was asleep. Asleep! Did Jesus not care that they were dying? In the chaos and storm, they had been looking to each other rather than God for help. Jesus had been there all along, willing to help if the disciples called upon him.

Worship planners and artists, we can also find ourselves in chaos. Will we try to solve the problems ourselves or will we call out to Jesus?

Prayer

Lord of all creation, help me to grow in faith so that I turn to you for guidance and assistance.  

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Music Director
Somerville First UMC
Somerville, TN

Image: Backhuysen, Ludolf, ca. 1630-1708. Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54955. Original source:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Backhuysen,_Ludolf_-_Christ_in_the_Storm_on_the_Sea_of_Galilee_-_1695.jpg.

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Week of: June 17, 2018
Scripture: Mark 4:26-34

... "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground ... and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how."
(Mark 4:26-27, NRSV)

Devotion

One of the things I find most frustrating about planning worship is the lack of immediate results. I receive a fair amount of feedback: hymns we like, hymns we don't like, more contemporary music, too much contemporary music ... you get the idea. What I don't often see is results.

Frequently, parishioners compliment the musicians or let me know that something in the service met a need or touched a tender spot in their soul. Those are good days.

What about the other days? What about the days when the choir has worked very hard to present a difficult piece — an offering of work and praise — and nobody responds?

Worship planning is much like planting a field. Just as I choose seeds for my garden, I select the hymns, anthem, and readings (the "seeds") far in advance. Those selections are the result of study, prayer, and a realistic knowledge of the capabilities and the hearts of the people I serve. There are times when the "perfect" worship element is not workable in my context. When these times occur, I have to trust the Lord to lead me to the appropriate resources.

God will lead me, if I will listen.

Prayer

Guide me, loving God, in planting seeds that glorify you. Help me to remember always that the harvest is yours. 

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Music Director
Somerville First UMC
Somerville, TN

Image: Gogh, Vincent van, 1853-1890. Harvest in Provence, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55315. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ernte_in_der_Prov%C3%A9nce.jpeg.

Third Sunday after Pentecost

Week of: June 10, 2018
Scripture: Mark 3:20-35

Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.
(Mark 3:35, NRSV)

Devotion

I had not really considered the reaction of Jesus' birth family to his mission. They — his mother and his brothers — were so worried that he might be crazy (v. 21) that they staged an intervention. It certainly hurts when those closest to us do not understand us.

How did Jesus react? First, Jesus used this opportunity to affirm that his mission was God's mission. How often are we able to stand firmly in God's will in the face of opposition?

Second, Jesus enlarged his family circle to include the entire family of God. He did not reject his birth family; rather, he enlarged his spiritual family to include all who would do the will of God.

A spiritual family is especially important for worship artists and leaders. We need to find or build a family who can support us as we do God's work. We who serve God are siblings in the same family, and we take care of each other by helping one another stand firmly in the center of God's will.

Prayer

Guiding God, help me to stand firmly in the center of your will with the support of my siblings in Christ. 

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Music Director
Somerville First UMC
Somerville, TN

Image: Giorgione, 1477-1511. Holy Family, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55244. Original source: https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.41590.html.

Second Sunday after Pentecost

Week of: June 3, 2018
Scripture: Mark 2:23 - 3:6

... [He] said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."
(Mark 3:5, NRSV)

Devotion

The Pharisees were on a mission; they followed Jesus and the disciples, waiting for them to make mistakes. On this occasion, they caught the disciples plucking grain on the sabbath. You could imagine the Pharisees scribbling the details of the infraction in their notebooks.

Later, Jesus encountered a man with a withered hand. You can still sense their glee throughout the ages; they knew they would catch Jesus working in the synagogue on the sabbath! Before he healed the man, Jesus asked them a question. Which is lawful on the sabbath — doing good or doing harm?

Despite knowing the answer, the Pharisees refused to speak. Scripture records that their hard hearts saddened Jesus. The man with the withered hand, however, responded to Jesus' call. He stretched out his hand and was healed. The Pharisees did not respond. They stood silent, their withered souls rejecting Christ's healing power, ignorant of their need for healing.

As busy worship artists, it is easy for us to ignore our own spiritual health. How often do we, like the Pharisees, ignore a restorative opportunity God presents to us? How often do we stand like a stone, set in our pride?

God's healing is but a touch away.

Prayer

Gracious, healing God, when my creative spirit withers, help me to reach for you.  

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Music Director
Somerville First UMC
Somerville, TN

Trinity Sunday

Week of: May 27, 2018
Scripture: John 3:1-17

... we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen ...
(John 3:11, NRSV)

Devotion

On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit empowered the disciples to testify. What did they know?

From the prophet Isaiah (6:1-5), the disciples knew God as holy and worthy of praise, but they had fallen short of God’s expectations. Isaiah confessed his sin and was cleansed. The disciples knew of Isaiah’s confession.

From the Psalms (29), the disciples knew that God commands the waters and rules over the flood. He breaks the cedars and the oaks. He shakes the wilderness.

The disciples knew the same things Jesus taught Nicodemus — that Jesus is the Son of God, and those who believe in Jesus will have eternal life (John).

The apostle Paul later taught the Roman disciples that by living through the Spirit, they became God’s beloved children (Romans 8:14-17).

The first-century disciples knew these things and they testified of these things, even at the cost of their lives.

These lessons still hold true two millennia later. So today, what do we know?

Through dance or movement in worship, we experience God’s richness.

Through visual expressions in worship, we envision God’s story.

Through music in worship, we experience God’s tender mercy and God’s glory.

We tell what we know of God through the artistic talents we have been given. This is our testimony through God’s gift of the creative arts.

Prayer

Abba, Father, thank you for enfolding me into your family. Use my testimony of your redeeming love to add to your kingdom.  

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Music Director
Somerville First UMC
Somerville, TN

Image: Strater, Louis Joseph. Trinity, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56147. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Detail_kazuifel_J.L._Str%C3%A4ter_drie-eenheid.jpg.

Day of Pentecost

Week of: May 20, 2018
Scripture: John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15

When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.
(John 15:26-27, NRSV)

Devotion

I wonder why Pentecost is not a bigger festival in our churches. The dramatic story is told in Acts 2:1-21; the disciples are gathered in a house in Jerusalem when they are startled by a windy roar and flame-like tongues. They are filled with the Spirit and speak in other languages which were understood by the curious crowd. Peter explains the empowering of the disciples by the Holy Spirit using the prophecy of Joel (2:28-32).

How could we not share such news?

The Holy Spirit empowers each of us to testify — to tell the story. We embody God’s good news in dance, gesture, and movement. We illustrate God’s story in visual arts. We write of God’s grace in narrative and poem. We sound God’s message with music.

We can testify with our tongues and our talents to the saving and sanctifying grace of Jesus Christ.

How could we not share such Good News?

Prayer

Gracious God, through your Spirit, empower me to testify to your grace using all of your gracious gifts. Amen.  

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Music Director
Somerville First UMC
Somerville, TN

Image: JESUS MAFA. Pentecost, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48388. Original source: http://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr (contact page: https://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr/contact).

Ascension Sunday / Seventh Sunday of Easter

Week of: May 13, 2018
Scripture: John 17:6-19

All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.
(John 17:10, NRSV)

Devotion

Ascension Sunday brings a day of endings which beget new beginnings. Jesus’ earthly ministry ends, leaving his disciples to begin the work again and anew. He’s embodied love fully — loving so powerfully that it defied death itself. And now he must depart.

We travel back in the Gospel of John to his farewell speech, before his death and rising. Jesus lifts his friends in prayer, gifting them to God, reminding them they’re divine possessions. The eternal love, life and light once contained in his singular body is now gifted to his followers. Having revealed divine glory to them, they will now bring glory, honor and praise because it lives on in them.

As we do glorious things that make the presence of the Living God visible, we are joined to the Risen Christ. Glory is the mark of resurrected hearts. Glory is the sight of resurrected eyes. Glory is our baptism into the eternal day of Easter.

As this season of resurrection ends, where in your ministry have you been awakened to glory? What would allow you to better reflect and radiate praise, thanksgiving and joy? As our choruses of “Alleluia!” shift with anticipation to “Come, Spirit, Come!” ... how will you allow yourself to be transformed again and anew into glory?

Prayer

Love Divine, let our lives echo the refrain of your eternal life. Let our lives proclaim your life-over-death promises. Let our lives become your glory. Amen.

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Central Texas Annual Conference

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Week of: May 6, 2018
Scripture: John 15:9-17

You did not choose me but I chose you. I appointed you to go and bear fruit ... I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
(John 15:16-17, NRSV)

Devotion

Jesus seemed to be in the habit of weaving together the most improbable, disparate people into the tapestry of God’s mission. Perhaps this crazy quilt of differences is the reason he felt compelled to command them to love, as if it were ever that simple. He was addressing those whose frayed lives were about to become truly unraveled by his death and resurrection. Jesus knew that love is the only tie that is strong enough to bind them together. And in that moment, he offered a reminder to all who have ears to listen: “You did not choose me but I chose you.”

And so, we find ourselves in a similar state of chosen-ness. Many of us were chosen by this life of service, ministry, artistry and leadership of God’s improbable and disparate people. We did not choose it – the Great Weaver chose us.

Chose us to live into the commandment to love with our whole hearts.

Chose us to weave generations together with ancient story and new songs as we piece together God’s reign on earth.

What binds you to the One who chose you? How do you live into your purpose in God’s grand design?

Prayer

Blessed be the tie that binds, O Great Weaver. May the cords of love hold us tightly together in beloved community. Amen.

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Central Texas Annual Conference

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Week of: April 29, 2018
Scripture: John 15:1-8

Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.
(John 15:4, NRSV)

Devotion

Several years ago, we planted some morning glory seedlings by our mailbox. They grew on the ground for awhile but didn’t seem to be doing that well. We bought some lattice so that the stringy stems would have something to climb. And then we went on vacation.

When we got back, the mailbox had been swallowed up in lush green leaves pierced with delicate blue flowers! Underneath, tendril upon tendril had woven together like rope. Thick vines, tenaciously holding onto every inch of lattice in hopes of getting more sunlight, even wound their way inside the mailbox!

Vines can be powerful, living things. Our life flows from the heart of Christ: the very love of God. From Christ the Vine, we receive the nourishment we need to become stronger branches; our lives intertwining to form a faith-filled latticework of love.

In this season of resurrection, what nourishment do you need to renew your artistic soul? What strengthens you to continue this work of proclaiming the gospel through sacraments of color, movement, music and poetry? What helps you abide in the source of creativity and beauty so that beauty and creativity might continually bear fruit in you?

Prayer

Nourishing God, Wellspring of Life: weave together our lives, our gifts, our hopes, our hearts. Rooted in Christ, restore us to be fruitful life-givers, vision-bearers, truth-tellers, bridge-builders, lattice-makers. Amen.

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Central Texas Annual Conference

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Week of: April 22, 2018
Scripture: John 10:11-18

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father… and they will listen to my voice.
(John 10:14,16, NRSV)

Devotion

The voice of Love has invited us into the fold. Named by Resurrection’s voice, we are called forth into new life and being. We are invited into a life in which we are well and truly known by the Shepherding One. We are called by this voice which re-inscribes our self-image of sacred worth. It’s a voice that seeks the lost, lifts up the lowly, heals the unworthy, awakens justice and entices us to join in the chorus which the morning stars began. This is the voice which invites us into pastures of peace, leads us through shadows and valleys, and ultimately teaches us to dwell in the house of God forever.

In this season of Eastertide, how have you listened for the voice which calls you to renewal, re-creation and rebirth? What creative practices help you to see the beauty within you? What is your joy-filled response to the One who calls you in joy?

Prayer

Shepherd of all, gather us as your children. Guided by your loving care for us, may we offer our lives in love for you and for the world. Teach us to follow you and to be faithful to the calling you gave us to be shepherds in your name. Amen.

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Central Texas Annual Conference

Third Sunday of Easter

Week of: April 15, 2018
Scripture: Luke 24:13-49 *

When [Jesus] was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. 
(Luke 24:30-31, NRSV)

Devotion

Blessed, broken, shared, and opened … it is the pattern of our very lives, not just the communion table. Did the Emmaus travelers know this truth as they invited a stranger to stay with them and asked him to share in a simple meal? What exactly did their burning hearts desire? Did they know that they would become bread for the world, grace made visible — a living sacrament?

In this season of resurrection, how do we embody this liturgical dance of sacramentality? There are days when we feel more broken than blessed; days in which we share all that we are, praying for those whom we lead to break open and join in the dance with eyes fully opened to the reality of Christ in their midst.

To keep leading the dance, we need to be fed. We need to sit at ordinary-yet-holy tables singing grace with strangers and friends, being human together. Feasting in our blessing and brokenness, we discover that we can be shared and opened to new possibility and new life!

Prayer

God of meager meals and rich feasts, lead us to the table of love. Let us be blessed. Let us be broken open to your actions in our lives every day. Let us be bread. Amen.

* Note: This devotion is based on a text from the Year B lectionary readings for Easter Evening.

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Central Texas Annual Conference