Author Archives: karbly

Become New
Carla Long of Salt Lake City, UT, USA

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his host! Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the Lord… -Psalm 148:1-5a

I am the pastor of the Salt Lake City Congregation. For the most part, my congregants are new members or friends of Community of Christ and haven’t had a lot of access to the greater World Church. Many of them have not visited the Temple and Auditorium or even another congregation. Since the pandemic started, all of that has changed. I have seen and heard of congregants going to other worship services all over the United States and all over the world! They are seeing new people (formerly just names on a social media page to them!), seeing new ways to worship, and understanding theology in a new and different way. It’s been amazing! I am so excited to learn what they have learned and hear what they have heard.

This pandemic has been dreadful, and I hope that we never need to deal with something like this again. But it has also given us some space to slow down and open up to things we might never have been exposed to otherwise. We now have the time and space to try something new! To meet someone new! To become new! To minister in a new way! To trust that God is with us, even though at times we feel alone.

It has shown me again how important community is-how important it is to be blessed by that community. The community in Salt Lake City is a special one, but because of the pandemic, we have the chance to see what community looks like all over the church. We get to see that community is bigger and wider and deeper than perhaps we ever thought! What a blessing it is to truly be a part of a worldwide community!

I pray that we can continue to take advantage of these opportunities where they present themselves to view community in a new way.

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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Awakening to the Holy Spirit
Velma Ruch

From Summoned to Pilgrimage: The Temple as Focus of a Pilgrim People, Herald Publishing House, 1994, reprint 2018

And it came to pass that there came a voice unto them, yea, a pleasant voice, as if it were a whisper, saying, Peace, peace be unto you, because of your faith in my well beloved, who was from the foundation of the world. -Helaman 2:112

A Quaker, Thomas Kelly, in his book A Testament of Devotion (HarperOne 1996), writes about this centering in the Divine:

“Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return. Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny calling us home unto Itself. Yielding to these persuasions, gladly committing ourselves in body and soul, utterly and completely to the Light Within, is the beginning of true life.”

It is in these deeps that the real business of life is determined. Those who do not cultivate these deeps know only the fragmentations of life, not the foundation. Today many people are feeling an increasing hunger for genuineness, reality, and growth in the commitments they have made to Jesus Christ. Many are reaching new levels of hunger and thirst for a transformed life of forgiveness, cleansing, acceptance, and spiritual strength. The question raised by many is, How can I truly feel Christ within?

For everyone the beginning is desire. We must truly want it. Then follows the discipline, the process of awakening to that life that already exists within us and becoming sensitive to the Spirit that comes to us from without. I referred to that process as practicing the presence of God. That means that in all our ways we recognize and acknowledge the Divine. It means that at the very center of our lives is that peace of Divine Presence. It means that at every moment of our lives, regardless of what we are doing, there is an inner part of us that is aware of our Creator. I think we all realize how difficult that is. For most of us, we alternate our periods of practicing God’s Presence with periods in which we attend to business, take care of our responsibilities, or deal with the multitude of activities with which we are confronted each day. We may come to the evening and realize we haven\’t thought of or related to the Divine all day.

There are a few who have worked with this for months and years who testify that attending to business and practicing God’s Presence can be simultaneous activities rather than ones that function on alternate tracks. The encouraging thing is that God will accept us where we are and will forgive our halting efforts and our times of forgetfulness. [God] will invite us in and bless us beyond our deserving. All of us are what we are because a door opened for us once and regardless of how dimly we may have perceived it at the time, we responded.

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.

Questions for a Year’s End
Katie Harmon-McLaughlin of Independence, MO, USA

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” -Romans 10:12-13

When, this past year, did I find myself captured by wonder?
What took my breath away in awe?
When did I find myself surprised by divine grace?

When, this past year, did I find my heart broken?
When did it break into pieces and when did it break open into deeper love?
How is it with my heart as I approach these final hours of this year?

What contradictions did I hold? What tensions ignited within me?
When did I experience the most growth?
When did I find myself retreating into the comfortable and familiar?

Whose presence has shaped and formed me this year?
What connections have sustained me?
What relationships call for my attention now that are in need of reconciliation, resolution, or tending?

When was I most aware of God’s presence?
When did I feel most alive, in the flow of the energy of that good Spirit?
What does that Spirit invite me to see now with greater clarity that I could not have seen a year ago today?

What did I think would happen that didn’t?
What happened that I never could have planned?
When did it bring devastation, and when did I taste delight?

If I were to summarize the fullness of all that has happened in this year to the me of the past, what would I say?
If God were to be speaking just one word to me about all that has transpired, what word would I receive?
How, now, do I stand on the threshold of yet another year, this wild gift of sacred life?

Prayer Phrase

“Trust what is being born.”

Spiritual Practice

Jesus, the Peaceful One

We have spent this year with a guiding question: Are we moving closer to Jesus, the Peaceful One? As we near the end of this calendar year, we review how this question has been shaping and forming us. In our thoughts, words, and actions, have we been embodying Jesus, the Peaceful One? What might it look like to move closer to Jesus, the Peaceful One as we make space in our lives for Christ incarnate this Advent season?

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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New Challenges, New Creations
Susan Naylor of Oak Hill, VA, USA

Therefore, continue to be strong in faith. To you who hear my voice and know my promises I will reveal myself and give my peace, even in the midst of your uncertainties. Indeed, I am longing to pour out greater blessings than you have ever known if you, my people, will open yourselves through preparation, study, and prayer. -Doctrine and Covenants 158:11a-b

That first cry was the most amazing sound-there she was, 8 pounds, 7 ounces, 21 \xc2\xbd inches long, our first-born child. The human body is and does remarkable things. The best advice I received when I was pregnant was, “Trust your body; you know what feels right and to what you should pay attention.” Trust what is being born.

Our 2020 year has been challenging. Not challenging in the way life challenges us typically. Pandemic, hurricanes, wildfires, the world in lock-down, personal and social gatherings disrupted, education online, fear of the unknown and unseen, and yet, trust-trust what is being born.

As the world closed down and we realized in-person reunions would not happen in 2020, a myriad of feelings became real-how can we replicate this personal experience online? I don’t know where to start. I’m not tech-savvy-we’ll skip this year. And yet, out of the void came incredible experiences.

In the September leaders debriefing, it reminded me of that first cry, a breath of fresh air as responses included:

• We had 19 states represented. It was an amazing experience.
• When our sessions ended, no one wanted to get off the video conference.
• Outstanding!
• Many people came and said if this had been any other way, they would not have been able to join. It gave us a format; the material provided us with the opportunity to use people from all over the mission center and age groups; reunion this year was truly a family camp.
• We loved hanging out in “the (virtual) dining hall” -bring your lunch and see who’s there, the joy of getting to know people we haven’t known before. Our discussions were incredible.
• We sent a fellowship box to each registered family. We hoped to send out maybe 25-we sent 67 boxes!
• People are considering going to reunion that haven’t been before.

“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). God is good. In Christ, everything old becomes new. This Advent season, we wait in anticipation-trust what is being born.

Prayer Phrase

“Trust what is being born.”

Spiritual Practice

Jesus, the Peaceful One

We have spent this year with a guiding question: Are we moving closer to Jesus, the Peaceful One? As we near the end of this calendar year, we review how this question has been shaping and forming us. In our thoughts, words, and actions, have we been embodying Jesus, the Peaceful One? What might it look like to move closer to Jesus, the Peaceful One as we make space in our lives for Christ incarnate this Advent season?

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.

Spiritual “Upgrading”
Nina Warriner of Bath, NY, USA

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are…a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God. -Galatians 4:4-7

I consider myself moderately computer literate. I am pretty comfortable with what I know but seldom purposely go looking for new applications. I don’t like to run updates and typically put them off until my computer forces them, mainly because things end up looking or functioning differently. I begrudgingly have to adapt to the changes or spend a lot of time trying to get my computer “back to the way it was.” There are times I struggle with my computer and ask myself, “What if there is no going back?” A better question would probably be, “What if going back ultimately means not moving forward?”

In the early months of church closure and reunion cancelation, I definitely felt a sense of loss. I desired to gather in sacred community. Yet as I reflect, I realize that sacred community has still existed; it has just “looked different.”

I have had the opportunity to worship with brothers and sisters from different states, time zones, and even different countries without needing to travel anywhere. I have been blessed to listen to stories of love, pain, hope, injustice, courage, and faith. I have been enriched with a diversity of connections and people sharing from their personal passions. I have had the opportunity to draw my circle wide and create new, authentic, meaningful relationships.

Instead of desiring to “go back” to the “default setting,” I’m asking myself, what about these experiences should be considered an update or maybe even an upgrade? Our spiritual journey is one in which we are continually challenged to reflect on our inward selves-our hardware and inner programming-so our outward selves-the applications of our lives, our functionality-are current, relevant, and the best upgrades we have to offer.

We need to save the good “settings” and “updates” so we don’t find ourselves simply relying on our “default” mode, especially if “going back” doesn’t move us forward!

Where is the Spirit trying to “run new updates” in me?

Prayer Phrase

“Trust what is being born.”

Spiritual Practice

Jesus, the Peaceful One

We have spent this year with a guiding question: Are we moving closer to Jesus, the Peaceful One? As we near the end of this calendar year, we review how this question has been shaping and forming us. In our thoughts, words, and actions, have we been embodying Jesus, the Peaceful One? What might it look like to move closer to Jesus, the Peaceful One as we make space in our lives for Christ incarnate this Advent season?

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.

Guided by the Spirit
Becky Savage of Lee’s Summit, MO, USA

Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God… -Luke 2:27-28

My husband and I waited nearly eight years for our first daughter. Multiple tests, medications, procedures, and surgeries unsuccessfully resolved our infertility. We relied on one promise from our adoption social worker: “One day you will be parents.”

Tena was 22 months old when we adopted her. She traveled from place to place with her birth mom for the first months of her life. When Tena’s mom decided to place her daughter for adoption, she told the social worker she could do so “because she knew Tena would sleep in the same bed every night.” Only a truly loving mother could relinquish a child for adoption, particularly one she protected for nearly two years.

Greg and I made a commitment to have Tena blessed. The sacrament of blessing of children follows a pattern similar to Mary and Joseph bringing Jesus to the Temple for a blessing, described in the second chapter of Luke. Elsewhere in scripture, Jesus also encouraged parents to bring their babies and children to him for blessings.

We responded to this guidance by bringing Tena to the elders for a blessing. She sat in my lap while Greg touched her shoulder. The congregation joined us in celebrating the sacrament. God’s grace blessed the new union of childless parents and relinquished child. Guided by the Spirit, parents, priesthood, and congregation members committed to loving care for the sake of a child. We all agreed to help Tena grow and thrive as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Prayer Phrase

“Trust what is being born.”

Spiritual Practice

Jesus, the Peaceful One

We have spent this year with a guiding question: Are we moving closer to Jesus, the Peaceful One? As we near the end of this calendar year, we review how this question has been shaping and forming us. In our thoughts, words, and actions, have we been embodying Jesus, the Peaceful One? What might it look like to move closer to Jesus, the Peaceful One as we make space in our lives for Christ incarnate this Advent season?

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.

Jesus Comes
Rev. Dan C. Damon, FHS, Pinole, CA, USA

 “Like a child love would send to reveal and to mend, like a child and a friend, Jesus comes.” -“like a child” CCS 403

Daniel Charles Damon is an internationally published writer of hymn texts and tunes whose work appears in many hymnals. He is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and a jazz pianist who plays at venues in the Bay Area. In 2016 he was named a Fellow of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. Dan teaches church music at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. Recently, Dan and his colleague, Nancy Hall, used Community of Christ Sings as the textbook for a college course, A Cry for Justice in Hymnody. He and Nancy were interviewed for a Project Zion podcast found at: http://www.projectzionpodcast.org/episode-221-community-of-christ-sings-at-graduate-theological-union-in-berkeley-california/.

For Daily Bread, Dan was asked to reflect on his hymn, “like a child” CCS 403. He quickly responded,
“It is a pleasure to remember the writing of what has been called my ‘signature hymn'” [Singing the Faith, Soundings of Lyrical Theology in the Methodist Tradition, 2020].

I wrote “like a child” in October 1992 while under the influence of e e cummings, a poet known to avoid punctuation and upper case letters. I like to write simply. It is a deep part of my poetic voice. I was thinking in a childlike way and began to use lines with only three syllables: “like a child/love would send/to reveal/and to mend/like a child/and a friend/Jesus comes.” Once I had that pattern, I knew I would be able to write a good text.

I worked for about a month trying different lines and thoughts. I was able to express my Christology in this lyric. God, who is love, sent Jesus, not to die, but to show us the way to live. Jesus comes to us today walking with the poor and oppressed. It concludes with our response to Jesus: we receive and believe Jesus comes. This text shows my personal relationship with Jesus, formed when I was a child.

After wrestling with the text, I sat down at a Steinway grand piano in the chapel at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, California, and wrote the tune in a few minutes. I shared it for the first time that same day at the Autumn Camp Farthest Out.

Alleluia!

Prayer Phrase

“Trust what is being born.”

Spiritual Practice

Jesus, the Peaceful One

We have spent this year with a guiding question: Are we moving closer to Jesus, the Peaceful One? As we near the end of this calendar year, we review how this question has been shaping and forming us. In our thoughts, words, and actions, have we been embodying Jesus, the Peaceful One? What might it look like to move closer to Jesus, the Peaceful One as we make space in our lives for Christ incarnate this Advent season?

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.

Trust in What Is Being Born
Ron Harmon, Council of Twelve Apostles

Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see-I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people; to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. -Luke 2:9-11

I remember as though it were yesterday the birth of my three children. Let me first acknowledge that we fathers have it easy. We have the privilege of just taking it all in. I can only describe the event itself as intense, unsettling, and full of immense joy.

As I reflect on each experience, it is in those first moments after birth where the real trust begins. You have responsibility for this precious little life that is totally dependent on your loving care. They don’t send you home with an owner’s manual, and even Google can provide conflicting answers to the daily questions that arise.

You soon discover that birth is only the beginning. Birth launches a process of discovery, struggle, uncertainty, and endless joy. You can’t predict what each day will bring but learn to trust in your capacity to learn, adapt, and grow. In moments of struggle, you discover something deep within-an inner strength and capacity to navigate each challenge along the way.

I imagine Mary must have felt the full spectrum of emotions in the hours after the birth of her son. We read in Luke 2:17-19, “When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.  But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” She must have held close feelings of indescribable love and uncertainty in those first moments. She did not know they would be fleeing to Egypt or that this precious life would become a threat to the most powerful empire on earth.

As we celebrate the birth of the Peaceful One, we pause and hold close in our hearts a love that knows no bounds. We treasure these moments knowing beyond the confines of our hearts are conflict and suffering. We trust not in the birth alone but what is being born in each of us this day and every day. We trust in the vision of a new community where each precious life will be held in loving care.

Prayer Phrase

“Trust what is being born.”

Spiritual Practice

Jesus, the Peaceful One

We have spent this year with a guiding question: Are we moving closer to Jesus, the Peaceful One? As we near the end of this calendar year, we review how this question has been shaping and forming us. In our thoughts, words, and actions, have we been embodying Jesus, the Peaceful One? What might it look like to move closer to Jesus, the Peaceful One as we make space in our lives for Christ incarnate this Advent season?

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.

From Mourning to Joy
Ryan Pitt of Bayonne, NJ, USA

They replied, “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.” -John 7:52

Christmas will be here shortly which means there\’s plenty of “searching” ahead. Best travel itineraries, housing options, recipes, pageantry, family activities, and perfect gifts. I frequently find myself caught in the commotion of Christmas festivities and lose sight of the reason to celebrate.

Surely something good can arise from chaos? 

After several years of discernment, a congregation in northern New Jersey decided to sell church property in December 2019. Declining numbers and aging participants made financial sustainability unrealistic. Though it was heartbreaking, the remnant knew it was time to act.

Miraculously, the small congregation sought meaning and purpose out of emotional loss. What easily could have been a linear financial transaction was birthed into a celebration of life and memory of the property. Mourning turned to livelihood as they reconnected with members not seen in years, and memories rekindled from forgotten photo albums and stories. On Sunday, August 30, 2020-five days after the property sale finalized-the congregation led an online worship. It was a message emphasizing God’s promise of new life.

Yes, something good arose from chaos.

Honestly, I empathize with the inquisitors in John 7, especially when it comes to unexpectedness. I want to change that. This year, I want to embody the Christmas spirit, and gaze in adoration into divine mystery. O come all ye faithful! It’s time to look beyond the commotion and into the horizon of possibility.

Prayer Phrase

“Trust what is being born.”

Spiritual Practice

Jesus, the Peaceful One

We have spent this year with a guiding question: Are we moving closer to Jesus, the Peaceful One? As we near the end of this calendar year, we review how this question has been shaping and forming us. In our thoughts, words, and actions, have we been embodying Jesus, the Peaceful One? What might it look like to move closer to Jesus, the Peaceful One as we make space in our lives for Christ incarnate this Advent season?

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 Promise of New Birth
Shandra Newcom of Boulder, CO, USA

I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever; with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations. I declare that your steadfast love is established forever; your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens. -Psalm 89:1-2

It’s an exciting experience, waiting for a baby to be born. It seems to be a slow process and yet, before you know it, there they are-emerging as a beloved child of God bringing light and life into the world. During this often chaotic time of uncertainty, it helps to know that we are blessed to be waiting on the birth of babies.

My family is expanding any time now. A new baby is coming and, after six months of “sheltering in place,” I’m looking forward to the joy and promise that comes with new life. I look forward to being an aunt. To holding new life. I’ve been living in a “bubble” in my home in order to be available to this child.

I rest in the promise that comes with birth. I trust that which is being born and look forward to welcoming this baby into my life, which will never be the same.

Trust takes dedicated attention. We remember the stories of those who have gone before and turn toward that which will be. During this time of Advent we see before us all that is possible: compassion, hope, a deep sense of love. However, we also recognize those things that hold us back: fear, individualism, systemic injustice.

In the midst of all of that, I have to believe that the world that is opening and waiting for babies can be a place of hope and promise. Even though it feels like the world has stopped, it keeps turning and embracing the new life being born.

This is the world as God created it to be-open to babies. Of course, we know that the baby Jesus was born into a world that, while desperately needing his message of God’s love for all, for the most part wouldn’t be able to hear it. But all that story, for us as we move into Advent, belongs in the not-yet.

For now, we have the promise of a baby born with mangers and animals and shepherds and a star.

The baby that will be born any day now into my family and into my arms will, of course, not have the same story as the Christ-child. But they will share something powerful: the ability to call and act God’s reign into being. We all share that ability. And it is in that promise that we must trust that which is being born: the peaceful reign of God.

It is no less than that to which we are called.

Prayer Phrase

“Trust what is being born.”

Spiritual Practice

Jesus, the Peaceful One

We have spent this year with a guiding question: Are we moving closer to Jesus, the Peaceful One? As we near the end of this calendar year, we review how this question has been shaping and forming us. In our thoughts, words, and actions, have we been embodying Jesus, the Peaceful One? What might it look like to move closer to Jesus, the Peaceful One as we make space in our lives for Christ incarnate this Advent season?

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.