Hyde Park United Methodist

Much of Nehemiah’s prayer constitutes much of what one would expect: petition, confession, praise. But then there is this. At the end of the prayer, something happens to Nehemiah. God does something within his heart and his spirit to give him the courage to do something about the situation. The result of the prayer is that Nehemiah heard this message from God: “You, Nehemiah, are the answer to your own prayer.” God will give you the opportunity and the courage, and even the words to do something about your prayer concern.Prayer can not only give us comfort and help us stand firm amid crisis. God can also use our prayers to prepare us to be part of the solution, and make a difference for others. 

Perhaps the most famous verse in Philippians is from 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” The broader context is important to remember. Paul is not talking about doing something superhuman or in the realm of comic book superheroes. He is talking about living a faithful life despite the pressures and adversity of life. It begins with contentment, an acknowledgement that God has already and will always supply him with everything he needs. And just like God has demonstrated numerous times in the Bible, God gives us just enough to take one more step and go one more day, even when we feel like we can’t. No adversity is greater than God’s ability to provide for us.  

Paul’s most vivid and encouraging word in Philippians is in verses 13 and 14: “Brothers and sisters, I myself don’t think I’ve reached it, but I do this one thing: I forget about the things behind me and reach out for the things ahead of me. The goal I pursue is the prize of God’s upward call in Christ Jesus.” The Bible sometimes uses the metaphor of a race to depict the spiritual life (Hebrews 12), but none is more vibrant than this one. We can imagine the spiritual life as a marathon, replete with hills and potholes and inclement conditions. But Paul calls us to “press on” and not give up. The source of that endurance comes from an “upward call,” which is to say that we should keep our head up and our eyes fixed on Jesus, who enables us to move on, one step at a time. 

In this famous Christ hymn of the early church, Paul encourages us to have the mind of Jesus Christ. It is in the kenosis (self-emptying) of Jesus that he shows us that the way to true life is not through selfish ambition and rising to greatness, but through service, humility, and obedience. That can be a gateway to joy, as we are liberated from the needs of self and freed to love God and others. (thus fulfilling the great commandment). The central part of this text is verses 3 and 4. They are both necessary. It begins with the mindset of being selfless; it is expressed by assuming the best in others. 

Paul begins with this encouragement in verse 6: “the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus.” For Paul, joy comes from the acknowledgment that since the beginning, God has been working in our lives, and will be relentless and reliable in working in us through every challenge of life. God is not only with us along the way, but is ahead of us at the finish line to see us through to the end. 

Jeff Morton (Seminary Student and Chaplain at Tampa General Hospital) considers what our lives would look like if we re-gifted more often in our lives—specifically regifting forgiveness, encouragement, kindness, and presence.

Everything has a beginning. And returning to explore those beginnings can help us understand what we are meant to be doing in the present. Tonight, we return to the beginning of the Christian story—the birth of Jesus—and discovered what it means to be full of grace and truth.

In one wonderful, glory-filled instant, the shepherds went from lowly, overlooked citizens to ambassadors of good news and great joy. The Christmas story from Luke 2 reminds us that God sees more in us than we might see in ourselves, and empowers us to make a big difference for the kingdom. How might we as a church communicate the good news of Jesus? How might we reach out in invitation and love to those we know, to experience the love of God born at Christmas?

Step into Mary's story through this dramatic reflection on the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus. From the appearance of the angel Gabriel to sitting alone after Jesus' death and resurrection, reflect with us on the meaning of Jesus' life through the eyes of his mother's love.

The story of Zechariah—and his song in Luke 1:67-80—pray for a coming time of peace, when God will send a savior to the Israelites. This Christmas season it can be hard to feel at peace with all the to-dos and the busyness that comes with the season. Find out ways to discover peace this season.

John the Baptist arrives in the Christmas story as one of the most unexpected guests. He's a nomad—a wandering prophet—telling people to repent and to straighten out their paths. It's bizarre! But what might this have to teach us about how to structure our preparation for the birth of Jesus this Advent? What can we learn from John about confession and about repentance? And how can that make Christmas more meaningful?

The opening of Paul’s letter to the church in Collossae offers a grand, sweeping vision of the majesty and supremacy of Jesus Christ. It is a comprehensive view of Christ’s lordship, encompassing not just the personal, but the communal and cosmic as well. On this Christ the King Sunday, we acknowledge that Jesus seeks to be lord of more than just our individual lives, but also seeks to right the systemic injustices of our community, heal the broken divisions within the body of Christ, and offer salvation and grace to the whole world. The title of the sermon “Christ at the Center” echoes the first and foremost core value of our church, and reminds us that if Christ is not at the center of our lives, then nothing else matters.

We know these are tough times for a lot of people. Many families are living with economic uncertainty. Affordable housing is hard to come by, and the “poor we have always among us,” as Jesus said. But such times are not new to the people of God, who throughout history have been called to focus less on their own needs and more on making an impact through their generosity and love. This Sunday is Commitment Sunday, in which we give in gratitude for God’s goodness and in celebration of the impact of this church. But most importantly, it is a commitment to living beyond focusing on our own needs, so that we can be the hope that God is calling us to give to the world.

This is All Saints’ Sunday, traditionally the first Sunday of November, in which we join with Christians around the world in remembering the life, legacy, and impact of the saints who have gone before us. This text from Ephesians comes from the lectionary, and Paul reminds us of the blessed privilege it is to be a follower of Jesus. In Christ, we have been given a glorious inheritance of God’s love and grace, which has been handed down to us from our spiritual ancestors. It is now our turn to exhibit that same faithfulness, so that we can both experience and share the hope of God with the world.

In this moving passage from 1 Chronicles, David leads the Israelites through the power of his own generous example. God called the people to gather together the materials necessary for the building of the grand Temple, which David’s son Solomon would be entrusted to construct. The lavish, ornate materials necessary to build the Temple would come from the Israelites themselves. In other words, the Israelites already had all that was necessary to build the Temple; they just needed to surrender it over to God in an act of generosity.God is calling our church to do amazing and mighty things in the future. What is amazing is that God has already given this church the means to accomplish our calling. It is simply in the wallets and hands of our people, awaiting an obedient and generous offering of our resources over to God. We have everything we need. We just need to give it to God.

Paul’s letter to the Galatians offered practical guidance on how to live in peace and harmony despite the cultural forces that would pull the apart. The instructions build to the fifth and final chapter, in which Paul boldly and plainly asserts that each Christian can play a role in building the kingdom simply by watching their own behavior: avoid the desires of the flesh, and live out the fruit of the spirit. We remember that whenever the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the New Testament, it is never solely for the benefit of an individual; it is always for the benefit of the community. The fruit of the spirit – and specifically, generosity – is always for the purpose of building each other up and extending the reach of God’s love to more people.

The work of missions is tiring, difficult work at times. You may feel exhausted and worn out, in need of encouragement. Or maybe you are wondering what God has called you to do in the world. Derrick Scott from Campus City to Wesley in Jacksonville, FL encourages us to embody the Holy Spirit, practice repentance, and live into our ordination as people called to serve God.

This is simultaneously the easiest and hardest of the Great Commandment. It is one thing to love God, which we can render easier in our minds as simpler to do. But to love someone we can see, with consequences that we can more readily experience, that can be harder. Especially if that person is, in our minds, harder to love. But there is a reason that this is the ultimate conclusion of the Great Commandment. Loving others as ourselves is not only easier, but possible, when we love God with our whole being. It is the fruit that we can bear when our heart, soul, mind, and strength are right with God.

Paul’s letter to the Philippians tells us that whatever we do, we should do it for the glory of God. Every action, every moment of rest, every initiative we take, ought to be done through the filter of loving God and others. To do otherwise is to miss the mark, and it might even mean sin. The beauty of the Great Commandment is that it understands that none of these four aspects of our being (heart, soul, mind, and strength) can be offered to God in isolation. To give God our whole activity, it requires a matter of the will (mind) and purpose (soul) and passion (heart). God really requires (and deserves) everything we’ve got.

Faith and reason are not contradictory. Religion and science, long considered opposites, are actually complementary. As Christians in the Wesleyan tradition, we believe that “reason” is one of three primary ways we interact with and understand the authority of scripture. Loving God with our minds also means allowing room for doubt and questions. Our minds, after all, have a finite capacity in terms of understanding an infinite God. So embracing mystery can be a worshipful acknowledgement of the grandeur and majesty of God.