Wesleyan Accent
Ken Loyer ~ Communion as a Prayer of Thanksgiving
December 4, 2014
“There I was, the new pastor of a church that had a strong, proud heritage but more recently had experienced several decades of slow decline while nobly carrying on, a congregation like so many others these days. I was trying to envision through hope-filled eyes the potential for renewal and growth in that setting, but as I stepped into the prayer chapel that day almost all I could see was a bunch of clutter in a space that was supposed to be devoted to prayer.”
Tammie Grimm ~ Advent Adjustments
December 3, 2014
“Advent bids us to a posture of getting ready for Christ. We prepare our homes and our hearts not only for the celebration of the nativity inaugurating the twelve days of Christmas, but also for the constant way Christ breaks into our lives each and every day, and for the eventual, expected and awaited second coming of Christ in history.”
Cole Bodkin ~ Advent: Thy Kingdom Come
December 1, 2014
“Christians may forget that Advent marks the beginning of the Christian calender year. It entails celebrating two events simultaneously: Jesus’ first coming and his second coming. The lectionary texts during Advent orient themselves more towards the latter, and it might be worthwhile to suggest that we do likewise. It’s high time that we get back to celebrating the Christian New Year with as much anticipation as watching the ball drop at Times Square.”
Carolyn Moore ~ The Secret of Joyful People
November 29, 2014
“The Bible tells a story of a people who lost their connection with God. They were like a country that used to have electricity running through its wires. The Law that was supposed to build their character, teach them holiness and define boundaries in their relationship with God, became nothing more than one more oppression in an oppressive society. Rather than a goal of being perfect in love, they’d become sticklers for perfection. That pursuit made them angry and bitter people. They were starving, spiritually. Imprisoned by a system of obedience that stole their smiles.
Live like that long enough and either your heart grows hard or you start longing for life beyond the borders. Paul didn’t exactly long for that life, but when he encountered it on a road between cities he found it irresistible. Jesus himself walked Paul across the border into freedom, where Paul discovered those things like love, joy and peace that make life worth living.”
Maxie Dunnam ~ Generosity
November 27, 2014
“There are things that you and I can never do for Christ and the kingdom by ourselves. We have to be a part of a body, a community. This is especially true in the use of our money.”
Talbot Davis ~ Lost Trust
November 22, 2014
“Every time you think you’re the only honest person left, every time you think there are no good men or no good women left, God who is the One and Only whispers back: You’re NOT the only one. The One And Only has the ideal number of people to surround you, to advise you, to walk alongside you, to make you realize that there are a lot more trustworthy people than you realize because God is at work in every life on the planet!”
Danny Morris ~ Corporate Spiritual Discernment
November 20, 2014
“Our use of consensus would not be a litmus test, nor a safeguard, nor an effort to prove something. It would be a spiritual ingredient of our relationship. We would be committed to hear each other, learn from each other, and bring forth the best in each other. Consensus would not mean that the many would hold out, or gang up on a few until they abandoned their position, or came around to what a majority wanted to do. It meant that God’s will was so important to each person that nothing else mattered.”
Christine Johnson ~ Take Up Your Cross
November 19, 2014
“Bearing a cross is humbly accepting difficult circumstances over which we have no control. Taking up a cross is embracing the will of God and choosing that which is painful when we could do otherwise. It is voluntarily suffering that which we find distasteful because to do so will further us along the path toward Christ. It is doing the good we know to be right and true, not only when it is convenient, but when we find it most inopportune.”
Elizabeth Glass Turner ~ The Bread Line at the End of Your Rope
November 17, 2014
“This Thanksgiving and Christmas, we need food pantries and nonprofit organizations, churches and kind social workers, homeless shelters and business donations, we need Good Samaritan funds and people who order a coffee in the drive-thru for the guy with the sign at the intersection. The Church is really good at putting programming in place.
Only when you’re at the end of your rope, it’s not always programming that you need. In fact, programming can be a tool to distance ourselves from uncomfortable need.”
JB Jackson ~ Your Special Invitation
November 15, 2014
“Come to me, all ye who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest…” Do you need rest? Are you yoked with Christ?