The Breath of God
Bob Griffiths

The Breath of God

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When I was a kid, I was confused by the term “Holy Ghost,” which was used back then. Since my idea of ghosts was informed by the movies I saw at the Rialto Theater on Brooklyn’s Flatbush Avenue, I just couldn’t get it. But some years later, churches moved to a more accurate translation: Holy Spirit. That helped, although I still felt mildly uncomfortable by its abstractness. Then I started my scripture studies as I worked toward ministry, and learned that in both the Hebrew of the Jewish Bible and the Greek of the New Testament, the words we translate as spirit also mean breath. Ah! The Breath of God! Then I recalled the old hymn, Breathe on Me, Breath of God and it all came together for me – made it more personal and relatable.

So let us pray the words of that hymn, and open the doors of our hearts and let the Breath of God blow through!

Breathe on me, Breath of God, fill me with life anew. That I may love what Thou dost love, and do what Thou wouldst do.
Breathe on me, Breath of God, till I am wholly Thine.
Until this earthly part of me glows with Thy fire divine. Amen

The Golden Rule(s)
Bob Griffiths

The Golden Rule(s)

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Christianity’s most famous directive for right living is found in Luke 6:31 – “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Matthew 7:12 adds a phrase: “ So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.” In everything! There’s no carving out exceptions, darn it!. We can all look and sound good when things are going our way, but how about the times they’re not? I know I’m faced with those challenges every day, from a surly store clerk to someone with different political views to the driver who pulls out in front of me. Jesus doesn’t tell me I’m responsible for my feelings about these things but makes it clear that I am for my actions. Perhaps it will help us understand the Golden Rule better if we recast it. Five centuries before Jesus, the great Chinese philosopher Confucius wrote a kind of manual for living a moral and ethical life. And here’s his version of what Jesus later commanded us: “Do not to others what you do not want done to yourself.” Got it!

Let us pray:
Merciful God, you loved us so much that you sent your beloved Son to be born as one of us, walk among us, teach us, heal us, and lead us to right living through his example. Fill our hearts with gratitude for this priceless gift, we pray, so that we are inspired to live out his example in our own life. We’re not going to do it perfectly, and you understand that, but inspire us to work mindfully toward living out the goal so lovingly set for us. Amen

From Everlasting to Everlasting
Joe Albright

From Everlasting to Everlasting

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Years ago I remember one of my daughters asking me, “Daddy, what was here before God?” And, I answered, “Honey, God has always been here, and God will always be here.” “How is that possible?” she replied. “Hmmm. The truth is, I don’t know.”

It is difficult to get our minds around the concept of eternity.

Dutch American Author, Hendrick Wilen Van Loon once wrote, “High up in the North, in the land called Svithjod, there stands a rock. It is 100 miles high and 100 miles wide. Once every 1000 years, a little bird comes to this rock to sharpen its beak. When the rock has thus been worn away, then a single day of eternity will have gone by.”

Psalm 90:1-4 offers this prayer:

Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Let us pray: Loving God, we thank you that our very lives rest in your hands. From this day throughout all eternity, we belong to you. Grant us a sense of your peace – knowing that you are love, and that love never ends. Amen.

Give Grace
Joe Albright

Give Grace

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Proverbs 11:25 says, “A generous person will prosper. Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed!”

It is amazing how often in the New Testament Paul’s letters include words of encouragement. He almost always opens his letters with thanksgiving for those to whom he is writing. And he almost always finds something supportive, something uplifting to share with them.

In the book of Acts, we see that encouragement returned. Wherever Paul travels, those who know him, love him and they receive him with affection and support.

This week try and find at least one person each day who may need some encouragement. Whether it is a note, a call, a hug or a spoken word, refresh them with thanksgiving or praise. At the end of the week, notice your own spirit feeling renewed!

Let us pray: God of Hope, we all know people who are discouraged or down or hurting. We all know people who seem to be just going through the motions. Give us the words or the actions to build up, to bless, to encourage, to show grace. And may your Spirit fall upon us, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

No Expectation of a Return
Roger Kunkel

No Expectation of a Return

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“God so loved the world that he gave…” begins the most familiar statement in Scripture. Giving is how love expresses itself. Giving is to love what eating is to hunger. The test of love is that it gives even when there is no expectation of a return. Ann Lamott wrote of an eight-year-old boy who had a younger sister dying of leukemia. He was told that without a blood transfusion she would die. His parents asked if they could test his blood to see if it was compatible with his sister. He said sure. They tested, and it was a match. Then they asked if he would give his sister a pint of his own blood, that it could be her only chance of living. He said he would have to think about it overnight. The next day he told his parents he was willing to donate the blood. They took him to the hospital; he was put on a gurney beside his six-year-old sister. Both were hooked up to IVs. A nurse took a pint of blood from the boy, which was given to his sister. The boy lay in silence as the blood that would save his sister dripped from the IV until the doctor came over to see how he was doing. Then the boy opened his eyes and asked, “How soon until I start to die?” Love is never so fully love as when it gives — even when there is no expectation of a return.

Let us pray: Loving How Great Thou Art! Your love to us in Jesus Christ is beyond our wildest imagination. Thank you for the rainbow covenant of your unconditional love and for walking with us each step of life’s way. Now hear our myopia, our hesitation, our pride that we may learn to love with no expectation of return… like the little boy who thought he was going to die when he gave a pint of blood to his sister. May the gentle breath of your spirit renew every part of our being that we may become more like Jesus, in whose spirit we pray. Amen.

Growing From Mistakes
Joe Albright

Growing From Mistakes

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Over the years I have kept much of the feedback I have received as a pastor – both good and bad. I do glance back over it from time to time. I look at the positive correspondence when I need a lift, when I need to be reminded of why I do what I do. The negative stuff reminds me to be humble, and that there is always room for improvement. Sometimes in seeing my failures, I can also see how they contributed to my growth.

As a pastor, I’ve noticed that some people have a hard time with criticism – even constructive feedback. Don’t get me wrong, it’s never pleasant at first. And, it’s true that some people are just bitter and angry and take that out on others. It is also true that people can be mistaken, they can get it wrong. But sometimes, if we sit with the feedback long enough, there is something to learn – some kernel of truth that can help us grow.

I pray that when you receive criticism, you would hang on to it a while. Give it a second thought, and try to see what is at the heart of it. Then, if there is nothing to it, lift up in prayer the person who shared it with you, and then let it go. But, if there is something to learn, give thanks.

Let us pray: Loving God, it is hard to look at our own mistakes and failures. It is hard to acknowledge that we are not perfect. We remember today that we are human and that there is always room to grow and learn. We ask for both insight and grace, and we thank you that in spite of our flaws and imperfections, you love us still. What a gift! Amen.

Valentine’s Day
Joe Albright

Valentine’s Day

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Do you remember the comic strip Cathy? Several years ago, around Valentine’s Day, I saw one where Cathy was talking to her friend Charlene. And Charlene said to her, “Irving’s been trying so hard, Cathy. You’re not even giving him a chance?” Cathy replied, ‘Too late Charlene. This Valentine’s Day, I’m recommitting to Me! Taking care of Me! Pursuing the needs and interests of Me! I’m finally liberating me to be me!” Charlene responded, “What’s wrong with him?” Cathy said, “Oh him? He’s too self-absorbed.”

Great Irony! But seriously, it is easy to make it all about us, isn’t it?

On this Valentine’s Day, let’s remember the familiar words of the Apostle Paul, who wrote with the intent of “showing us a better way…”

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 or resentful; 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…

May we share this kind of love with those all around us on every side.

Let us pray: We thank you, O God, for the way in which you love us – without resentment or envy or agenda or end. Help us to practice this type of love with family, with friends, and with the world at large. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.

Recovering Wonder and Awe
Joe Albright

Recovering Wonder and Awe

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In an old Peanuts comic strip, Snoopy’s brother Spike who lives in the desert is sitting with his back against a cactus. He’s writing a letter, “At night the sun goes down, and the stars come out; and then in the morning, the sun comes up again. It’s so exciting to live in the desert.”

I love Spike’s sense of wonder and awe at the natural world. In our fast-paced world, filled with technological wonders, sometimes we take for granted the beauty that surrounds us on every side. Sunrises and sunsets, beautiful cloud formations and star clusters abound. But often, we fail to notice – much less be amazed.

In his book, This Sunrise of Wonder, Michael Mayne writes this to his grandchildren: “If I could have waved a fairy grandfather’s wand at your birth and wished upon you just one gift it would not have been beauty or riches or a long life: It would have been the gift of wonder.” (Michael Mayne, This Sunrise of Wonder, p. 11)

Today I invite you to recover your sense of wonder. Try to get outside even if it is for a brief moment. Breathe the fresh air. Smell the rain or marvel at the snow. Watch the clouds drift across the sky. Remember the words of the psalmist:

O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!… When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?

Let us pray: Open our spirits again, O God, that we might be moved and awestruck by your creation, and by the beauty of music and art, and by the love of friends and family.
Through this beauty, draw us closer to you. We give you all thanks and praise this day. Amen.

The Dance of Joy
Roger Kunkel

The Dance of Joy

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“Today’s message was written by my friend, Rev. Roger Kunkel, founder of Dial Hope.” -Joe

Many years ago, someone asked Pavlova, the great Russian dance, what she meant – what she was saying in a certain dance. She replied, “If it could be said in words, there would be no need to dance it!”

Certain truths are too big for words. They have to be dramatized, acted out. And that’s why for the Christian, the cross and resurrection are so important to us. There on the old rugged cross of Good Friday, and there at the empty tomb of Easter morning, God dramatized his message, God acted it out for us. And now this symbol, the sign of the cross, serves as a constant and powerful reminder for us of God’s truth, God’s will for us, and God’s unconditional love for us. The apostle Paul sums it up in 1 Corinthians 13:13, “…and now faith, hope, and love abide, these three, and the greatest of these is love.”

Listen to these words from two beautiful hymns. The first is: “The Old Rugged Cross,” written in 1913:

On a hill far away, stood an old rugged Cross
The emblem of suff’ring and shame
And I love that old Cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain

So I’ll cherish the old rugged Cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will cling to the old rugged Cross
And exchange it some day for a crown.

The second hymn, “I Danced in the Morning” was written 50 years later in 1963:

I danced in the morning when the world was begun,
And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,
And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth,
At Bethlehem I had my birth.

I danced on a Friday and the sky turned black;
It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back;
They buried my body and they thought I’d gone,
But I am the dance and I still go on.

They cut me down and I leapt up high,
I am the life that’ll never, never die;
I’ll live in you if you’ll live in me;
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.

Let us pray: Creator God, sometimes we feel like the world is spinning out of control. Help us to see that the universe is truly a dance of joy. Give us an attitude of thanksgiving and eyes to see the wonder of life. Help us to see life as it is and as it can be, when all people everywhere will join in the everlasting song of peace, all people everywhere will live in communion with you through the power of the Holy Spirit, when all people everywhere will be free to live and love in the way you have intended since the dawn of time. In Jesus name. Amen.

A Sabbath Rest
Joe Albright

A Sabbath Rest

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When I lived in Jamaica, a couple of my neighbors kept a regular Sabbath. One such neighbor was called Smith – though I think that was his last name. Smith worked two jobs and his wife was a full-time nursing student. She actually worked and attended school an hour away in Kingston. They led busy, hectic lives.

On their day off together, they would go to church in the morning. Then, their afternoons would be spent sharing food with family and friends. Sometimes they’d hang out under the mango tree. I remember lots of laughter from their house, lots of singing. They took this time of rest so seriously – and yet had so much fun with it. It was a pattern of holy rest, a ritual. And it was amazing to see every weekend all of their stress just disappear.

Looking back, I too had this day off. In fact, I had the whole weekend free. But I spent Saturday mornings doing my wash, the afternoons grading papers. On Sunday afternoons I’d make the lesson plans for the next week. There always seemed to be something that needed to be done.

One Sunday afternoon, I was sitting outside grading papers as my neighbor walked up. I’ll never forget the moment. With a big smile on his face, Smith asked, “Presbyterians take no rest mon?” I said, “Sure. But I’ve got to get this done.” He gently replied, “Even God rests, Joe. Are you more important than God?” He was kidding. But not really. He was right.

Today I pray for you – that you would be able to take one day a week and let go of work; let go of laundry or paying bills. Or, maybe for you it is simply letting go of worry. One day a week. Instead, fill that day with things that nourish your soul: family, friends, prayer and worship.

Let us pray: Loving God, We want to honor you, and we want to experience the abundant life that you offer. Help us, O God, set a healthy pattern of work and rest, that we may live a life that puts you at the heart and center. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.