Love is the guiding principle for everything we believe about Christianity.  That principle is important in our relationship with good and evil.  We must love good and hate evil.  That principle is crucial to our desire to serve Christ.  It affects our relationship with others whether they are our friends, our enemies, or our brothers and sisters in the faith.  And it is most critical in our relationship with the moral and ethical challenges of the world around us.  We — all Christians everywhere — all called to be living witnesses of Christ’s love active in service to the world.  How we reflect that in our local communities doesn’t change our responsibility.  And a connecting link to our responsibility to love is our responsibility to show hospitality to those who are strangers in our midst.

         Our denominational effort has defined a Social Principle to guide us and keep us aware of that role. 

In ¶163.IV.G under Basic Rights and Freedoms, it says in short:

1. G) Migrants, Immigrants, and Refugees — We affirm the dignity, worth, and rights of migrants, immigrants, refugees, including displaced or stateless people, recognizing the growing global displacement crisis caused by war, famine, climate change, failed protections, and other forces. We urge United Methodists to welcome them into their congregations and provide concrete, practical support with immigration processes, food, housing, education, employment, and other needs. We oppose all laws and policies that separate families, criminalize, dehumanize, and detain in inhumane conditions displaced persons, and for-profit detention centers for such purposes.[1]

         So, we — by the word of God and in agreement with the policy of our church — have a moral and spiritual responsibility to those who are strangers in our community.  We have a spiritual obligation proposed by God to show them hospitality as well as a social responsibility laid out by the church to show those strangers among us the same love that Christ showed us.  In doing so, we empower ourselves to live faithfully to both the gospel of Jesus Christ as the church gives honor to the Word of God.

• What have been your feelings as you’ve seen our governments actions against those who are considered immigrants and displaced persons in our community?
• What can we do as a church to be a more active living witness to Christ’s love to the strangers around us?

[1] The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church, The Social Principles, p.147

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer
Gracious God, gently guide my heart to bear witness to Your love in my community and throughout the world. Enable me to welcome each person I meet with the warmth of Your hospitality.

         We all live in a world where we make choices.  Some of those choices are simple.  Others are more complex.  But each day we choose to do one thing over another — to eat one food over another; to give our time to one thing over another.  There is no difference in our ability to make choices when it comes to having the freedom to choose in matters related to God.  We get to choose obedience over disobedience.  We get to choose whether we will love our enemies or continue on a journey of revenge and retribution.  We get to choose whether or not we will either live according to that lifestyle that glorifies God or live a lifestyle that glorifies us.  To live a life outside of God’s desire and design for us is to thumb our nose at God’s plan while choosing to go it alone.  Essentially, it’s choosing to court a lifestyle disconnected from God — one that ultimately leads to death.  The other option is to take our cues from the Spirit of God, honoring God by not just how we live, but by acknowledging that we are proactively allowing ourselves to be led by the Spirit on our journey to life, to choose that option for ourselves and live.

• What choices have you made as a disciple of Jesus Christ that have led to a more fulfilled life for you or those around you?
• Why would you recommend that type of transition to someone who doesn’t believe in Christ?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Lord of grace and understanding, place within my heart and mind the desire to choose you and your will over my own self-imposed ideas. Teach me to walk each day according to your divine plans for my life, and not my own.

         We live with the choices we make as well as the outcome of those choices.  The carrying of our cross is a significant responsibility for those who choose to become disciples of Jesus Christ.  For those who choose to follow Jesus Christ, carrying the cross is a serious responsibility.  Yet many of us fail to recognize its importance, and some who call ourselves disciples have not fully understood what our cross is or how we are meant to carry it.  Christ’s call can be difficult, especially when it challenges our closest relationships and requires a loyalty greater than family, friends, or personal comfort.  That alone can feel like a heavy burden.  Still, when our relationship with God and Christ becomes central to our lives, the choices before us become deeply significant.  Family, friends, and acquaintances may pull us away from walking alone with God.  The truth is we are often misguided by what’s really important in life.  Some of us believe that family is everything.  They are important.  But, if you had to choose between living without family or living without God, which would you choose?  At times, we may face the same kind of testing Jesus faced in the wilderness with the propositional phrase: “If you are a child of God …”  In that moment, we must decide whether to walk faithfully alone with God or follow the crowd listening only to the voice within our own heads.  But the reality is, we must choose.  And our decision will determine whether we are disciples who are picking up our crosses and following Christ or bystanders seeking to choose the cross of our own comfort and convenience.  The cross we choose will tell whether we’re seeking to do our will rather than the will of God.

• How difficult do you believe it will be to refuse a friend or family invitation to do something that goes against your faith, even if it might be considered “fun?”
• What is the cross God has given you to pick up and carry?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Loving God, make clear to me what my cross is to carry and then, help me to lift and carry the cross You’ve appointed for me.