Devotion: Led By Hope

When Moses failed to come back down the mountain rightaway, the people went to Aaron.  “Look” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us.  This man, Moses, who brought us here from Egypt has disappeared.  We don’t know what has happened.” 

Exodus 32:1

 

The Israelites had been lead out of slavery in Egypt by Moses, and when they reached the Sinai, Moses went up onto a mountain to hear from God.  What ensued down in the valley is interesting. 

The Israelites, fresh from their escape, felt leaderless and unsure.  That had spent their entire life under the burden of slavery to now find themselves in a strange land and under a strange sensation:  hope.

Yet, they do not know how to handle this newfound sensation.  Instead, they need something to bow down to.  Therefore, they approached Aaron telling him to build them a god—a god made of gold.

Whether we believe it or not, we are all hungry for some sort of leadership in our lives.  Like the Israelites making a new god out of gold, we gravitate towards things, objects and relationships that seem to fill us up but inevitably disappoint us.

Rather than being led by fear, what if we were led by hope.

As Paul tells the Romans, “now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”

Sabbath

Football and boys

Amazon Recommends...

These were today's recommendations for me:

A machete,
a book called "A Marginal Jew"
and a book on Career guidance...

hmm, is Amazon trying to tell me something.

Listening

Let everyone be quick to hear, Slow to speak, and slow to anger.         ~James 1:19

 

A wise person will hear and increase in learning, a man of understanding will acquire wise council.          ~Proverbs 1:5

 

Do you know what I hate…I hate those icebreaker games like when you have to go around the room giving your name and a fruit that begins with the second letter of your middle name.  “Hi I am Wes Barry, Apricot.”  I find myself worrying more about what funny fruit I can come up with than actually listening to other people’s names.  With Twitter, Facebook, and blogs it appears as though most of us are more interested in speaking than listening.

However, listening is an important spiritual discipline.

Margaret Feinberg describes this listening as hearing the sacred echo.  That God’s promises reverberate back to us.  “While a single whisper usually leaves me unsure, the repetitive nature of a sacred echo gives me confidence that God really is prompting, guiding, or leading…the sacred echo challenges me to prayerfully consider how God is at work in my own life as well as the lives of those around me.”

God is moving and speaking in your life.  His promises are echoing throughout the day, longing to penetrate our ears and hearts.  Yet if we are more concerned about being heard then we may drown out these echoes.

What are some ways you can hear the sacred echo in your life?  What is drowning out the voice of God for you now?

Take a moment and prayerfully consider how God is at work in your life.

 

 

~~~~~~

Associate Minister for Evangelism and Young Adult Ministries

First Presbyterian Church

200 West Trade St

Charlotte, NC 28202

(p)    704-927-0240

(e)  wbarry@firstpres-charlotte.org

(w) www.firstpres-charlotte.org

 

 

Waiting

One of the most counter cultural components to prayer is that it is not quick.  Human communication has evolved over time from oral to written to now digital, yet prayer has remained the same.  The human emotion expressed by King David in the Psalms are the same base needs we have thousands of years later.  They are requests, praises, and laments that have been repeated over time.

 

A huge challenge we face in modern society is that we want to have immediate feedback, but prayer requires that we wait upon God. 

We wait, unsure whether he heard our request. 

We wait, unsure he agrees with our request.

 

We wait.

 

But this is the same waiting that King David experienced when he prayed Psalm 13:

“How long, O Lord?

            Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

            How long must I bear pain in my soul?”

 

This process of waiting, however, is also a refining process.  It helps us keep our attention on what is the most important and not the most imminent.

 

And it is through to process of waiting, that we are able to pray with David what he says at the end of Psalm 13:

            “But I have trusted in your steadfast love;

                        My heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

            I will sing to the Lord,

                        Because he has dealt bountifully with me.”

 

We wait, with hope.

Devotion: Where Do You Sit?

Psalm 95:6-7

   O come, let us worship and bow down,

let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! 

  For he is our God,

and we are the people of his pasture,

and the sheep of his hand.

Growing up, my parents had decided that we would be "balcony" people.  So for my entire childhood we sat on the second row of the balcony thinking that this helped hide my brother and I.  When I graduated high school, the senior minister informed my parents that sitting up in the balcony actually gave him a better line of sight of us.  

When I was visiting an old Anglican church in Philadelphia the tour guide showed us the family pews.  Depending upon a family's financial pledge, they were given a seat closer to the pulpit.  Except for one family.  Benjamin Franklin's pew was on the back row--as the tour guide described--so that when he got bored he could slip out the back.

Then there is the unfortunate example of balcony's being used in the south as places for slaves to sit.  This was so that they could observer the worshippers, but remain not so subtly excluded from the community.

And finally, when I was seminary, I once received some very upsetting news.  I wandered around campus and ended up going to the chapel service.  sneaking in five minutes late and sitting in the back corner so that I would not have to see anyone.  There I worshipped and prayed to God; needing to hear about God's grace.

So, maybe where we sit in worship does matter.  But perhaps it is less about the location and more about the intent:

Are we there because our parents have dragged us?

Are we seeking a prominent position so that our family can stand out? 

Do we sit near the back so we can slip out easily?

Has the community ostracized us so that we feel excluded?

Or, are we coming to worship in desperate need of God's grace and love?

And what about the person sitting next to you in worship?

My View of the Vue

When I started at First Presbyterian, there were 15 condo projects being prepped to build in Uptown Charlotte. Since that time, I believe 4 have been completed, while all the rest have stalled.
I hold before the congregation that there are now 1595 condos across the street from our churches property. As of yesterday that number will drop to 1095, the Vue--a 50 story luxury condo--has been stopped.
From my office window I have been able to watch this building go up, and to my laymen's eye it is near completion.
This article at the Observersays alot more:
I wonder if I will ever see those cranes move again.