Authored by Lou Geense

Read: Galatians6:1-10 
vs. 2 – Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way, you will fulfil the law of Christ. 

Reflect:
I know that one of my blind spots as a believer and a leader has been to ask others for help. I am unsure where that mindset came from. We were raised to “Get it Done” without excuse and at the same time to always be ready and alert to help others. I am well aware that helping others has been one of things that has fuelled me as a believer. Helping others has allowed me to share my faith and to make me feel I am doing God’s work.
 
I am also aware that Jesus calls on us is to care for one another. I believe we are called to do so not just to be supportive of one another but also to be involved in one another’s lives.
 
This kind of care for one another means we care enough about our neighbours to find out what burdens they carry. In communities where we may not even know the names of our neighbours, God nudges us to hear the concerns of their hearts. Do you have an awareness of the struggles of others around you? Just caring enough to ask is a good first step. Often a listening ear is the best way to begin carrying a burden together. Genuine empathy can bring healing to a burdened heart.
 
Another step may be to offer prayer. Everyone needs prayer, and few people refuse an offer to be prayed for, even if they have little faith of their own. Pray over one another and lift each other up before God.
 
Perhaps you can lift a burden by lending a helping hand or an act of service. Or maybe you’re the one in need. Can you, in Christ’s name, allow others to serve you? Sometimes this piece is harder to get accomplished. For sure Christ’s law is fulfilled when we can reach out with genuine compassion and care for each other.
 
Pray:
Lord help us to carry one another’s burdens and allow us to humble ourselves and ask for help. Give us hearts to pray for those around us, especially for those in need. Amen.

Authored by Mary Lucas

Read & Reflect:
There have been so many changes this year amidst this health crisis.  A lot of these include disappointments…..trips cancelled, job losses, not being able to be with family and friends, churches closed, weddings and funerals postponed, etc. Sometimes, especially now, life does not seem fair.  It seems that God allows suffering and reward to occur on a seemingly inconsistent basis, whether you are a believer or not.  It is in moments like these that we may feel God is uncaring, unloving, unjust, or absent all together. 
 
I am trying to remember that all things happen within the grand story of God’s eternal purpose.  Jesus did tell his followers in John 16:33 “In this world, you will have trouble.  But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  I know I must continually look at the present in the light of eternity.  Otherwise, I end up feeling robbed or cheated as if I am not getting something that life owes me.  I must remember that this world isn’t the place of God’s final reward; it is the place where God is preparing me for it!
 
Mathew 5:45 says that our Father “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”  Does it seem fair that the righteous and the wicked are both recipients of God’s goodness?  There must be a reason or a purpose for this.  John 1:12 says “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.” I know that for the believer, our Father loves to bless his children as an expression of his love, just like any good parent would want to give good gifts to his children.  What is the purpose of God’s goodness for the unbeliever then?  Romans 2:4 says: “Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?” God lovingly showers the unbeliever with good gifts in the hope that they will turn to him as the giver.
 
But what about evil? This is the challenging one! Does it serve a purpose now for both the believer and unbeliever? I know that God is perfectly good and so He must have a perfectly good reason for not preventing all evil.  It seems to be that God’s wrath revealed now is both a perfect combination of judgement and grace.  Judgement in that we are bearing the consequences of sin for our rejection of God. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people…” (Romans 1:18)) And yet, in his mercy and grace, God does not yet fully treat sinners as their sins deserve.  We should be thankful for this! C.S. Lewis said, “Suffering is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” So maybe the evil serves to awaken us to our need for deliverance while leaving time and room for repentance. This is certainly something to pray about through this crisis – that people would turn to God and repent of their evil ways.
The great Augustine said that it is not the kind of suffering but the kind of person who suffers that is so important.  As children of God, He is lovingly working for our ultimate good.  Romans 8:28 says “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose”. But I know that I must not let the world define what is “good”. In this life, there is only one “ultimate good” God is leading us toward. Suffering produces something in us in a way that nothing else can.  In Hebrews 5:8-9 it says this about Jesus:  “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him”. The truth is that in the school of obedience, suffering teaches us more in a way that nothing else can. Perfect obedience to the will of God is our greatest good, because only in perfect obedience do we become the kind of person God made us to be.
 
Pray:
Lord, help us to remember that you are sovereign, that you are full of love and mercy, that you desire for all to come to You while there is still time, and that You are working out everything for our good and Your glory. Amen.

Read: Eph. 2:14-18.
Vs. 15-16 – by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

Reflect:
I grew up in a home and a culture that was very homogeneous. As a matter of fact, my parent’s friends and acquaintances were predominately of Dutch descent. However, my dad had a few friends from work that were from other cultural backgrounds and ethnicity and brought some diversity to our home from time to time. Dad made it known in our household that there would be no prejudice in our family. He himself battled with acceptance of the German; nation having gone through World War II created some prejudice in my dad.
 
The ancient Israelites thought of themselves as normal people and everyone else as abnormal. In fact, they thought that they alone were selected to receive God’s favour. But through the prophet Isaiah God told them that the promised Saviour was coming for all people. “I will . . . make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).
 
We know from New Testament writings that he is creating a new community and it will embrace, “every nation, tribe, people and language,” (Re. 7:9). Jesus came to put to death the hostility of prejudice and to create a new community of mutual love—no normal or abnormal people, no “us” and “them.” Just us in all our diversity. Hallelujah!
 
Pray: 
Oh Lord make our love reflect yours and make us alive to the differences that you have created in creation. In Jesus, Amen.

Authored by Martha Dodd
 
Read:  Mark 4:35-41
“That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go over to the other side.’  Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat.  A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.  Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’  He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.  He said to his disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’  They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Reflect:
Each of us, at some point in our lives, has experienced a storm – a health crisis, job loss, bereavement, pressures at work, relationship difficulties, doubt, or disappointment.  And this week, we mark one year since the global pandemic touched our community, bringing about many far-reaching changes that have caused loss, isolation, exhaustion, anxiety, and pain.   Right now, we are ‘all in the same boat’, and there may have been times over the past year when it felt as if the waves were breaking over the boat, threatening to overwhelm it…and us.  “Lord, don’t you care…?”
 
Ask:
Take some time to re-read Mark 4:35-41, and ask yourself what do the disciples learn about Jesus, and how do they learn it?
 
Prior to this, the disciples had only witnessed Jesus healing others, but now their own lives were in peril.   One author says of this moment, “For these novice disciples, it was one thing to marvel at a miracle of healing.  That was something that happened to somebody else.  But to have your own life thrown into jeopardy, to be reduced to quivering fear and terror, to believe that your life is over, and then to have Jesus calm the storm, well, that is another matter.” *  In the presence of Jesus, the disciples survived the storm and got to the other side.  But in the process, this experience caused them to re-examine what they thought they knew about Jesus, and they started asking the right question – ‘Who is this?’ 
 
Lord, don’t you care?  The answer is YES, He does care.  One of the disciples in the boat that day, wrote some 30 years later, “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7) Peter had learned firsthand about Jesus’ care for him during storms – physical, emotional, and spiritual ones.  And because of that care, he encourages us to cast all our anxiety on Jesus.  The word ‘cast’ means ‘to throw’ and in order to throw something, we have to let go.  
 
A friend reminded me once that while Jesus can quiet the storms around us, perhaps more importantly, He can quiet the storms raging inside us.  As we choose to abide, cast all our anxiety, trust, and yes, cry out to Him, the Holy Spirit transforms us, and we gradually emerge from the storm with a clearer picture of Jesus, our Saviour and Friend.  We may still have questions, but we come to a place of deeper knowing that His presence in us (John 14:23) sustains us through any storm we will ever face.
 
Prayer:
Almighty God, You are my refuge and strength, an always-present help in time of trouble (Psalm 46:1).   Please enable me to get to the root of my anxious thoughts and help me to reaffirm my trust in You today by casting all my anxiety on You. Thank you that You care for me.  
 
Scott Walker – Footsteps of the Fisherman p. 26

Read: Isaiah 2:1-5  
 vs. 2 – In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.

Reflect:
One day in Tanzania I drove with a friend for some hours before we veered off the road and travelled another short time over open fields. We came upon a village and he declared that he was in the village of his brother. The children gathered around our small truck and took turns touching my arm, which was resting on the truck door. My friend later told me that these kids had never seen a white man before. I asked how that was possible. He told me these kids had never left this community and that some would die here without ever stepping outside the village. I soon realised that I was not that much different as a child. Same neighbourhood, same friends, I do not ever remember a friend of colour or other visible difference from me.
 
High school changed things: different people, different backgrounds, different ideas. Work as a carpenter changed even more and my community grew. Becoming a Christian changed everything and my community grew again and community became more important. My Christian community began to shape me and my thinking and my outlook on life. Then Bible College, pastoral life, the mission field in East Africa and finally 9 years of travelling the world in ministry.
 
While I continue to hold on to the good things and loving people from my childhood background, I am thankful also to have friends across the world from a variety of backgrounds, belief systems, and experiences.
 
God has envisioned a much larger community than his people in Israel ever imagined. In Isaiah, he says that people from all nations will stream in. All of those people will come rushing to the Lord not because of how great they are, but because of how great God is. I am so very thankful for the rich community that I can call mine and I am sure that I have no idea how beautiful God’s eternal community will be like.
 
As our idea of community broadens and grows, God will bring people to us from all areas of life. They will have different backgrounds and experiences, but they will be drawn to us because of who God is in our lives. God loves people! He loves you, and he loves everyone who gathers around you. He loves your community and is the reason that it grows to include all types of people. The community that God envisions for his people is not a stagnant one but a growing one. I pray that you will be open to embrace all of the people God brings to you. It will stretch you, grow you, enrich you.
 
Pray:
Father, open our eyes, our minds and our hearts to see the community you have blessed us with. Help us Father to be accepting of all the people you bring into our lives. In Jesus’ name, Amen.