Author Archives: karbly

Time for Deep Thinking
Jan Hill of New Brighton, MN, USA

Open your hearts and feel the yearnings of your brothers and sisters who are lonely, despised, fearful, neglected, and unloved. Reach out in understanding, clasp their hands, and invite all to share in the blessings of community created in the name of the One who suffered on behalf of all. Do not be fearful of one another respect each life journey, even in its brokenness and uncertainty, for each person has walked alone at times. Be ready to listen and slow to criticize, lest judgments be unrighteous and unredemptive. -Doctrine and Covenants 161:3a-b

A four-year-old in our extended household had misbehaved at the dinner table and had been banished to the time-out chair in the living room. She had been told by her mother that whenever she was ready to mend her ways and be nice, she could come back to the table and eat with the rest of the family.

After an appropriate amount of time, her mother went into the living room to see how the girl was progressing with that. Evidently, during her time alone, away from the table, she had been doing some deep thinking. She wrinkled up her forehead and said, “Well, who is this God anyway? Has anyone ever seen him?” Her mother’s quick reply was, “Yes, every time I open my eyes.”

It is true. The scope of where we see God or where we encounter God is very broad, deep, and all-inclusive. God meets us anywhere and anytime, and sometimes in the most unexpected ways.

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Spiritual Practice

Breathing God’s Compassion

Light a candle and sit quietly, reflecting on the fire and light of God. Pay attention to your breathing and let it become calmer and deeper as you focus on God’s presence. Ask God to breathe in you. Image each breath carrying the light of God into your lungs, bloodstream, and every cell in your body until God’s Spirit fills you. Now imagine breathing out God’s compassion and grace each time you exhale. Pray to have the Spirit of Christ radiate from your life like the gentle flame of a candle

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

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Recognize the Holy One
Tammy Lindle Lewis of Renton, WA, USA

They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching-with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee. -Mark 1:27-28

Occasionally I wonder, if I could choose to have a superpower, which one would I pick? In movies it seems the power always chooses the person. It’s usually an unsuspecting person. The transfer of power happens through an accident or some unseen cosmic force. If you could choose your power, what would you choose?

In Mark 1, we read about Jesus in an almost-dizzying series of events starting with his baptism. This immediately is followed by his 40 days of temptation in the wilderness and then his calling of the disciples and beginning his ministry of preaching, teaching, and healing. In his ministry, Jesus heals…not just one person, but many people. In Mark 1 he removes a woman’s fever, heals those sick with various diseases, cleanses a man suffering from leprosy. He even casts out demons and commands them to be silent.

Mark’s Gospel records Jesus performing 18 miracles, including 13 healings. Of those 13, four are exorcisms. We see that Jesus’ words and actions are powerful. He causes things to happen with just a word or a touch. His words alone bring healing; they show his authority over sickness, disease, and unseen demons. How’s that for a superpower!

What would it be like to have this kind of power, where a word, phrase, or touch causes powerful changes in people’s lives? Our days are filled with words-many that hurt, demean, misguide, distract, and abuse. What if the words we speak could cleanse, cure, or cast out? What would we do with these powers? Where would we go? Whom would we visit? What words of healing might you speak? What words of healing have you heard spoken to you?

All of us who have been changed by Jesus’ words or actions-many times through the words or actions of his disciples-also have the power to share those words and acts. We are called not just to recognize the Holy One, but to take practical steps in healing our world. God’s Spirit within us serves as a connection to the superpower from which all healing comes.

Prayer Phrase

“Light dawns on a weary world.” CCS 240

Spiritual Practice

The Light of God

Epiphany invites us to focus on the light of God. Close your eyes and draw your attention to your breath. As you breathe gently in and out, reflect on the statement, “The light of God is in all things.” The light has a bright, soft beauty and radiates God’s healing love. The light of God reaches you and permeates you with a deep sense of peace. Rest in the light as it surrounds and fills you. Thank God that you live in God’s light and it lives in you.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

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From Scarcity to Abundance
Zac Harmon-McLaughlin, Community of Christ Seminary Director

So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God. -Ephesians 2:17-22

What would it look like if we changed our mentality from strategic-thinking problem solvers to people who approach every new situation with an attitude of deep, authentic love? What would it feel like to walk into church on Sunday, not with a critical gaze toward all that needs correcting, but instead, to see the people and let “I love them” be the first thought to enter our minds?

I’m not advocating that we let issues go or avoid the need to make course corrections, but I am advocating that we lay down our spirit of scarcity and pick up a spirit of abundance. The church is not dying, but our passion and attentiveness may be waning. God’s enduring Spirit has not left us alone, but our willingness to be attentive to the movements of God may be stifled. When we live in a place of scarcity, all seems to be lost. When we move to a place of noticing God all around us and in all things, our vision is transformed. We see abundance!

In Luke 5, Jesus encourages his disciples to cast their nets into the deep. The disciples are blown away by this. They have been fishing all night and have caught nothing. Then, because of an awareness of invitation, they cast their nets into the deep and catch so much that they almost sink their boat! Is this not how it works with life in the Spirit?

We have been “fishing” for years in shallow water, and Jesus has been shouting to us, “Try going deeper!” Our response is, “But Jesus, that’s so much work…and we’ve been working for so long…and we are tired!” The good news is this: God invites us into the deep-that place just beyond the point where we have exhausted our own efforts.

The abundance of a deep life with God is not something we create on our own. It is something we discover! What might happen if we choose the radical act of living with no agenda and courageously love our neighbors and explore the depth of each other’s lives?

Prayer Phrase

“Light dawns on a weary world.” CCS 240

Spiritual Practice

The Light of God

Epiphany invites us to focus on the light of God. Close your eyes and draw your attention to your breath. As you breathe gently in and out, reflect on the statement, “The light of God is in all things.” The light has a bright, soft beauty and radiates God’s healing love. The light of God reaches you and permeates you with a deep sense of peace. Rest in the light as it surrounds and fills you. Thank God that you live in God’s light and it lives in you.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

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Is It Not All Blessing?
John Bonney of Springfield, OR, USA

I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will bless them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary among them forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. -Ezekiel 37:26-27

Is it not blessing to see
the face of the baby,
or the teen
the middle-aged
or the elderly,
to say to oneself,
that person is a blessing?

Is it not blessing to thrill
to the song of wild geese
as they fly overhead,
to hear a melody
in the baby’s cry
the burble of the brook
the boom of the bullfrog?

Is it not blessing to take time
to actually look at the flower
attentively,
to sense the fragrance
blessed to touch a loved one
to give thanks
for the food of the day?

To catch one’s breath
at a sunset
a sunrise
or in moon’s glow,
to note the lush effulgence
of vegetation
every year.

Yet, still, to love the sight
of the naked tree standing
in unabashed, intricate
and asymmetrical silhouette
against the gray sky of winter;
blessed to listen, to watch
and to wonder

at the water-
water roaring shoreward
from great oceans,
water running in swift rivers,
water lapping gently
along lake shores,
water to drink and thereby thrive.

Is this not all blessing?

Prayer Phrase

“Light dawns on a weary world.” CCS 240

Spiritual Practice

The Light of God

Epiphany invites us to focus on the light of God. Close your eyes and draw your attention to your breath. As you breathe gently in and out, reflect on the statement, “The light of God is in all things.” The light has a bright, soft beauty and radiates God’s healing love. The light of God reaches you and permeates you with a deep sense of peace. Rest in the light as it surrounds and fills you. Thank God that you live in God’s light and it lives in you.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Joyful Anticipation
Ben Smith of Tootgarook, Victoria, Australia

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. -2 Corinthians 5:17-19

The musician and his cellist knew exactly what was about to happen. It seemed they had a little secret they were bursting to share with the crowd. It made them obviously joyful to let down their walls and share with the audience. It was as if the hope of a new day was revealed. As tears welled in my eyes, I experienced what it was like to wake again with joyful anticipation to what lay ahead. Goosebumps appeared on my arms as I was engulfed in the delight of their talent and synergy.

This joyful anticipation is something that I want to experience every day. Like writing on my face, I want people to see that I am so joyful about life that a secret little smile appears that I don’t even know about. When I share with them the blessings I’ve received, when I compliment them on their cooking or their latest haircut, this feeling of joyful anticipation will be there for all to see. All one has to do to be a part of it is to share oneself in the purest way possible.

There is so much to look forward to this year: birthdays, weddings, baptisms, celebrations of anniversaries, and much more. At the same time, we will no doubt experience sorrow, loss, and grief, which are inevitable in the circle of life. These emotions and experiences will cause us to think about life and God, and maybe even move us toward conversations about the future of Christianity in today’s world. How can we be relevant today? How is God working with us? Are we listening to God at all?

I have hope. Hope that this year will bring new opportunities to experience the Divine in ways I could not have imagined. Hope that the ministries of the church will reach more people. Hope that we might work together with greater fervor in creating communities of love and generosity. Hope that I have the courage to apologize to those I have hurt, to thank those who have given me blessings, and to forgive those who might have hurt me. Hope that I have the strength and perseverance to pursue my dreams like never before.

What do you hope for? What are your dreams? Write them down; tell someone about them. Then live them and make them real! With joyful anticipation, wake again to the light of a new day rising.

Prayer Phrase

“Light dawns on a weary world.” CCS 240

Spiritual Practice

The Light of God

Epiphany invites us to focus on the light of God. Close your eyes and draw your attention to your breath. As you breathe gently in and out, reflect on the statement, “The light of God is in all things.” The light has a bright, soft beauty and radiates God’s healing love. The light of God reaches you and permeates you with a deep sense of peace. Rest in the light as it surrounds and fills you. Thank God that you live in God’s light and it lives in you.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

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Come, Holy Spirit
Andy Horner of Centennial, CO, USA

And again I say to you, “Sue for peace, not only the people that have smitten you, but also to all people; and lift up an ensign of peace, and make a proclamation for peace unto the ends of the earth.” -Doctrine and Covenants 102:11a-b

At the beginning of Sunday school, our pastor invited us to spend some time in silence. As I focused on my breathing, I fell into the spiritual practice I’d been trying to follow for several months: breathe in, “On Earth,” breathe out, “As heaven.” Breathe in, breathe out. “On Earth, as heaven; on Earth, as heaven.” It was not going well, though. A different phrase kept intruding: “Come, Holy Spirit.” I struggled to return to the phrases I’d committed to: “On Earth, as heaven.” Why couldn’t I stick with that?

“Okay, have it your way!” I finally gave in. “Come, Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit.” Breathing in and breathing out, “Come, Holy Spirit.” Those words slowly took me to a different place, a place where I recognized that even those sanctified words of scripture, “On Earth, as heaven,” were not serving me well.

Or, perhaps more accurately, I was not serving them well. I had been overlaying my own agenda on top of them-my view of how Earth will be transformed when those words come true. I knew how I wanted God’s Commonwealth on Earth to look, and I was trying to transmit those ideas to God in prayer. What I was not doing was listening for what God was trying to transmit to me.

Now, I’m not opposed to agendas. Everyone has an agenda. Even the person who says he doesn’t have an agenda has the agenda of wanting you to believe he doesn’t have one! The church has an agenda called the Mission Initiatives. There is nothing wrong with having an agenda.

But my time in silence with the Holy Spirit is a time that I need to let go of my agenda and simply receive the Spirit’s gifts.

Prayer Phrase

“Light dawns on a weary world.” CCS 240

Spiritual Practice

The Light of God

Epiphany invites us to focus on the light of God. Close your eyes and draw your attention to your breath. As you breathe gently in and out, reflect on the statement, “The light of God is in all things.” The light has a bright, soft beauty and radiates God’s healing love. The light of God reaches you and permeates you with a deep sense of peace. Rest in the light as it surrounds and fills you. Thank God that you live in God’s light and it lives in you.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Notice Where You Are
Abigail Nowiski of Lansing, MI, USA

Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called-that you might inherit a blessing. For “Those who desire life and desire to see good days, let them keep their tongues from evil and their lips from speaking deceit; let them turn away from evil and do good; let them seek peace and pursue it. -1 Peter 3:8-11

It was probably a risk sending fifteen not-quite and just-barely teenage youth through the labyrinth at the same time, but with a deep breath and a prayer, we did it anyway. One by one, with some distance between them, students in our junior high class at Sanford Family Camp entered the sacred space.

As is often the case when we learn to connect with God in a new way, it was awkward. But afterward, one young lady shared something that resonated loudly within me. She said, “When you are walking in the labyrinth, you can’t worry about where you are going or what is behind you; you just have to focus on where you are.”

What I had first seen as uncomfortable teens looking down at their feet, I now remember as a vision of youth engaging in the practice of noticing where they are.

I thought of the many individuals, congregations, and communities that could benefit from living that practice. What would happen if we stopped worrying about our past mistakes and stopped fretting about the details of the future? We might finally realize the great opportunities in front of us now. Would we stop our usual routine and fill a Sunday morning with the sounds of the gifted singers among us? Would we talk to the neighbors we’ve noticed but never met? Would we offer to journey with a young person wanting somebody to talk to as she explores her own talents? Would we use more words like thanks and appreciate and love?

Let us risk the discomfort of each awkward step toward the unknown future we dream of. Let us become more aware of the great beauty, the significant opportunity, the incredible giftedness, and the magnificent spirit that surrounds us right where we are.

Prayer Phrase

“Light dawns on a weary world.” CCS 240

Spiritual Practice

The Light of God

Epiphany invites us to focus on the light of God. Close your eyes and draw your attention to your breath. As you breathe gently in and out, reflect on the statement, “The light of God is in all things.” The light has a bright, soft beauty and radiates God’s healing love. The light of God reaches you and permeates you with a deep sense of peace. Rest in the light as it surrounds and fills you. Thank God that you live in God’s light and it lives in you.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Courage
Katie Harmon-McLaughlin, Spiritual Formations Ministries

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” -Isaiah 52:7

With all these questions
And expectations
And distractions
I come to the threshold
Of your presence
Weary and enlivened
Standing on the edge of
Vastness
Trembling with a
Joy-Fear-Awe

Do I dare enter in?
Do I dare set aside these
Safe preoccupations
To risk encounter
With the One
Who is the source of all?

Love so deep and pure
I ache even in nearness
Light so radiant
The path ahead is holy obscured
What will it mean
To get this close
To the mystery beyond imagination?

Courage Courage Courage
Is the
Pulsing
Prayer
Within

Give me the courage to seek you
In the invitations I’ve ignored
In the spaces I’ve neglected
In the deep wordlessness
Of prayer I don’t control

Courage Courage Courage
To follow
The yearning
That will change me

Prayer Phrase

“Light dawns on a weary world.” CCS 240

Spiritual Practice

The Light of God

Epiphany invites us to focus on the light of God. Close your eyes and draw your attention to your breath. As you breathe gently in and out, reflect on the statement, “The light of God is in all things.” The light has a bright, soft beauty and radiates God’s healing love. The light of God reaches you and permeates you with a deep sense of peace. Rest in the light as it surrounds and fills you. Thank God that you live in God’s light and it lives in you.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

The Kingdom Has Come Near
Rick Maupin of Lee’s Summit, MO, USA

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” -Mark 1:14-15

More than once on very long airline flights, after reading and giving up on trying to sleep, I have clicked on the small screen in front of me and scrolled through the movie selections.

I typically never go beyond the action/adventure option. I seldom am interested in a movie that spends a lot of time developing characters or takes viewers through a lot of back stories. I want a movie with action that moves quickly from scene to scene and keeps me drawn to the tale.

If the book of Mark were in the movie selections, I think it would land in the action/adventure genre. The text for today is a good example of a fast-paced adventure story: John is arrested. Jesus declares the kingdom of God has come near. Jesus invites four local fishermen to drop their nets and follow him, and immediately they do so. All of this action in only seven verses! Now that is a “movie” that keeps my attention with immediacy and urgency in nearly every scene.

When the credits of the movie in that seat-back screen begin scrolling, I click them off, because for the previous 120 minutes I have been drawn in, but not personally connected. But what about the “screens” of our world and communities that are filled with scenes of hatred, injustice, and violence? Are we personally connecting, dropping our nets, and following Jesus into those scenes? The call is urgent and immediate for us to participate in the action/adventure of working to establish the peaceable kingdom of which Jesus spoke.

Prayer Phrase

“Light dawns on a weary world.” CCS 240

Spiritual Practice

The Light of God

Epiphany invites us to focus on the light of God. Close your eyes and draw your attention to your breath. As you breathe gently in and out, reflect on the statement, “The light of God is in all things.” The light has a bright, soft beauty and radiates God’s healing love. The light of God reaches you and permeates you with a deep sense of peace. Rest in the light as it surrounds and fills you. Thank God that you live in God’s light and it lives in you.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Sharing Christ
Judy Luffman of Redmond, OR, USA

These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another, render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace. -Zechariah 8:16

Epiphanies, moments of sudden and striking breakthroughs in experience or understanding, seem to occur when you least expect them. For me, that makes the experience more powerful. I had an epiphany during a Discipleship NOW weekend in the Pacific Northwest Mission Center where I was privileged to serve as a mentor to four attendees. The weekend’s focus was Christian and Community of Christ Theology.

As we immersed ourselves in “thinking the faith” we explored the publication Sharing in Community of Christ. The instructor wrote “Jesus Christ” on the white board and then stated that “Christ” wasn’t Jesus’ last name. We all chuckled for a moment and then the conversation continued regarding what the name or title “Christ” meant. It was explained something like this: Jesus was the name of a person. Christ stood for the work, the mission in which Jesus was engaged.

That’s when it hit me. Our faith community’s name isn’t Community of Jesus. It is Community of Christ! We are not named to be identified with a man but to be about his work. In Doctrine and Covenants 163:1 we have been counseled “‘Community of Christ,’ your name, given as a divine blessing, is your identity and calling.” We are not to be Sunday-only Christians but are to live the mission Jesus initiated in all aspects of our lives. Each time you see the name of our faith tradition in print or sing a hymn about it or speak of it, remember what it really stands for. Try to keep it in the forefront of your life, informing what you do and say each day.

Prayer Phrase

“Light dawns on a weary world.” CCS 240

Spiritual Practice

The Light of God

Epiphany invites us to focus on the light of God. Close your eyes and draw your attention to your breath. As you breathe gently in and out, reflect on the statement, “The light of God is in all things.” The light has a bright, soft beauty and radiates God’s healing love. The light of God reaches you and permeates you with a deep sense of peace. Rest in the light as it surrounds and fills you. Thank God that you live in God’s light and it lives in you.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.