Thursday, June 28, 2012

Sent


I pray that you are well and want to thank you all for your prayers and thoughts for our Guatemala mission team, hard at work building homes and working with our partners in ministry in Guatemala. They’re getting along well and getting some good work done building three homes.

It’s amazing to be part of a community that is paying attention to the needs of the poor in Guatemala, in Uganda, and here, in the Delaware Valley. It’s a sign that even though our lives are not perfect at the moment (or any moment for that matter), we are open to God’s call. We are open to God’s call to pray for others, to care for others, to send members of St. David’s out into the world to make a difference so that others may know the presence and love of God in their lives, too.

Answering God’s call to go ahead of Him into the world is an important part of living the Christian life. Jesus sent His first followers ahead of Him to all the places He planned to go to prepare others for the presence of God in their lives. Some of them talked about Jesus and the coming kingdom of God. Some of them performed acts of power. Some of them worked to clothe and house and feed people as a way to begin to open the way for God to enter in. That’s what’s going on with our mission trip to Guatemala and that’s what’s going on in your life and my life today, whether we’re aware of it or not.

You see, Jesus has sent all of us ahead of Him to prepare the way for God to come into people’s lives. The way you and I are living our lives makes a difference in the lives of others and opens the way for God to enter in. It’s a partnership that builds relationships among people and a new relationship with God. So how we live each day is important for the people around us and for God’s purposes in drawing all people to God. 

Live today as though it matters to others and let your love and kindness and generosity open a way for God to enter in. He has sent you to do just that.

Grace and Peace.
WFA

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Touching God's Heart


I pray that you are well and are finding ways to keep the heat at bay - much more like a Texas summer this week than a Pennsylvania summer, so please keep as cool as you can and pray for or act on behalf of those who are being affected by the heat.


I picked up a message from my phone recently from a friend who didn't want anything; didn't need anything; didn't want me to call him back. He just wanted to say thank you. He wanted to express his thanks for how our lives have touched one another and become intertwined in some large, some seemingly insignificant ways. I was touched by his kindness and thoughtfulness and it warmed my heart to be thanked in such a selfless way. It wasn't necessary, of course, but that call changed the way I felt about my life and my relationship with this friend. I suspect it changed him to call.

After listening to the message two times (okay five times), I began to wonder about the power of saying thanks. I began to consider how saying thanks softens our hearts and thaws the hearts of those around us. I think many of us know that saying thanks to one another can change a relationship. Expressing thanks and showing appreciation is not only good manners, but also recognizes that another person has had an effect on our lives for the good. Saying thanks and having a grateful heart in general allows us all to look on our lives for the blessings that they are and warm the hearts of everyone around us.
 
And, since we are made in the image of God, I suspect that God would like some thanks from us as well. It's not necessary, of course, because God loves us regardless, but I believe that God's heart is warmed by our thanks, just as ours are. God feels our love just as we feel others' love when we give God thanks.

So take a moment today and thank God for whatever blessings and gifts that have come your way today and touch the heart of God. It will soften your heart and warm God's, too.

Grace and Peace,
WFA

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Salty Summer

I pray that you are well and, as we head into the start of summer and vacations, a word of thanks. Thank you for all that you have done personally and as groups to build Christian community at St. David's. Thank you, too, for making a difference in the world by offering yourself for the good of others.

From my vantage point, we do some remarkable things as a community and it's important to take a moment and appreciate all that God has inspired us to be and accomplish. Making a difference by the way we live our lives and what we give to others is one of the surest ways we grow spiritually and we please God.

Jesus is very clear that His followers have a role to play in God's world. We don't have to be the center of attention, nor do we have to be responsible for everyone and everything. Jesus encourages us to be salt; to be flavoring; to change things enough because we have passed through or brought our time and talent and treasure in some way that we've "seasoned" the people, communities and institutions in our world. It's a great encouragement for me, and I hope for you, that we don't have to be the "main dish" or do it all, but rather that we are a little part of the change and the good that the world so needs.

So, as we begin our summer schedule this Sunday at St. David's, Radnor with worship at 8 a.m. in the Church, 10 a.m. in the Chapel, and 5 p.m. in the Church, I invite you to join me in having a "salty summer." Find some way in this more relaxed time of the year to make a difference, however small, in your family, in the people you meet and in the larger world. Find some place to use your gifts for the good of others and reap the benefits of generosity and of God's pleasure in your life. Help God build a better world in our own day and for others who will come after you.

Peace and Grace,
WFA

Mountain Climbing


I pray that you are well and hope you are finding ways to enjoy these magnificent days God has given us, both the weather and these lives we’re living.

I’ve been thinking about mountain climbing this week, not because I’ve been out climbing or intend to go out climbing actual mountains any time soon. I’ve been thinking about metaphorical mountains we are all climbing as I have had the pleasure of attending three high school commencement exercises this week – including for our youngest son’s!

It’s amazing to sit in the presence of these graduates who have struggled and climbed through twelve plus years of schooling and sports and activities and growing up to reach that shining moment. There they can take a breath at the top of the mountain and look back over all the terrain they have crossed over; remember a few places where they might have slipped or even fallen; and revel in the accomplishment of reaching the top.

And the graduates are not alone nor have they been alone all through their climb. Family, friends, teachers, coaches, mentors stand in applause for what they have accomplished and enjoy the small part they all played in helping them reach the top.

And one more person stands to honor their accomplishment and who they are becoming -  person who has been with them before they were born and will be with them always – God. Perhaps God at His best is the promise and reality that He is with us when we climb, when we fall, when we stand back up, and when we reach whatever mountaintop we are seeking. God is with us always.

So, as you survey where you are today in your life, looking back to where you’ve been and where you’re going, remember God has been and will be with you always. So climb without fear, you’re not alone.

Grace and Peace.
WFA