Monday, January 25, 2016

"What Is God's Care/Protection Like?"

What is God’s Care/Protection Like?”


In you, O Lord, I take refuge;
    let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
    incline your ear to me and save me.

We all know what it is like to seek refuge.  Perhaps you have been driving out on the interstate and a vicious storm appears with significant hail.  You might try to stop under the nearest overpass to prevent any hail from damaging your car.  Perhaps you've gotten in trouble with your mom and run into your room and slam the door behind you.  Refuge takes many forms.

So, ask yourself in this passage from Psalm 71 how this psalmist feels about God's care and protection.  If the psalmist is saying he takes refuge in the LORD, then we know a couple of things.  1) He feels safe and protected when he calls on the LORD. 2) There is something in his world that makes him need to seek refuge in the LORD.

What is God's care and protection like?  It is like a safety net. It is a sanctuary. It is comforting and reassuring. We feel listened to and protected in the arms of this God.  Think of the safest place you can imagine being and the safest people you can imagine being there with.  This is how the psalmist envisions God's care and protection.

If we are called to be God's hands and hearts in the world, how could we help people in our midst feel this high level of safety, comfort, and security.  What can we actively do to let people know that we are here to offer the safety net of God's love to them?  And, how do we offer such protection to those who feel unsafe?

Comments?  Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.




Tuesday, January 19, 2016

"What Are God's Laws Like?"

Psalm 19:7-14 

If you are a rule follower, then you love laws. You love having a set of rules and regulations that guide the world around you. If you are a rule bender or rule breaker, then you feel confined by rules and feel they sometimes confine you.

Beginning with verse seven of Psalm 19, we have a lovely song about the laws of God.  This psalm calls them by different names... teachings, rules, orders, commands, judgments.  Pretty authoritarian language, and yet the descriptions are lovely, melodic words.... that lead to positive feelings.

  • perfect teachings give new strength
  • trusted rules make people wise
  • right orders make people happy
  • pure commands light the way
  • true judgments that are completely right


Somehow these laws don't make me want to run away, but make me want to learn more about them. If I can feel stronger, wiser, happy,  and have a right and lighted way set before me... then I''m all in! Aren't you?

How do these words describing God's laws feel different than words describing human-prescribed laws?  How do they feel the same? What rules and orders do we have in daily life that lead us to be stronger, wiser and happier?

That's what we will look at in the Sunday message this week.  Finding light and life in the order around us and seeking to enact 'laws' for our own life that bring happiness and goodness into the world.  It can be hard to do when we are so used to finger-pointing and finding specks in our neighbors' eyes. But these rules aren't about finding fault, they are about embracing life.

So instead of saying commands in a negative way, how about re-writing them to focus on love and appreciation for one another. Instead of saying Do not steal, say Respect your neighbor's property.
Instead of finding fault, how about finding a path to understanding.  Rather than saying, "the criminal got what he deserved," why not say, "I'd like to find out how I can help heal his brokenness."

It's a tall order.  Living into God's way instead of our own way. But we can all work on it together, one step at a time.

Questions? Comments? Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.  I enjoy hearing from you.


Monday, January 11, 2016

"What is God's Love Like?"

Psalm 36:5-10

This psalm is a great description of just how wide and far-reaching the love of God is.  It says that the love of the LORD extends to the skies and that the faithfulness of the LORD reaches the clouds.
It says God's righteousness is as far-reaching as a mountaintop and justice as deep as the deepest part of the sea.  I am certain that all of us understand, deep in the core of our being, what it feels like to have that wide and embracing love of God in our lives. When nothing else works and no one else seems to care, we know no matter where we are that God cares and God loves.

This psalm also sings of a love that is not only for humans, but also for animals.  God is a part of their lives, too.   Someone who has been participating on a fairly regular basis here at church brought her ailing and failing 14 year old dog to church yesterday because she wanted her sweet dog to feel the warmth and love of God in this place.  That is sacred to me. That is holy. The dog's presence here was a sacred and holy part of her journey to a new tomorrow and I thank God we could be here to share God's love with Tula.

This psalm describes God's love as being like a mother hen who protects her brood under her wing. And also as a river of pure joy that we are able to drink from to our hearts delight.

What wonderful descriptions of the love of God.  God's love is as wide as the sky and as deep as the sea. God's love is for all of us... human and animal... God's love is like a mother... and a swiftly-flowing, yet inviting, stream.

What images of God's love can you add to this?  This week we will look at the ways we might show God's love here in this place, in this community.  What descriptions would people who aren't a part of us use to describe the love of God they see extending from Niwot UMC?

Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.

Monday, January 4, 2016

"What Is God's Voice Like?"

Psalm 29

Psalm 29 reminds us in lots of poetic imagery that the voice of the LORD is power.  The voice of the LORD can move the oceans, the voice of the LORD can make the forests shake, the voice of the LORD can do mighty things.

 And it leaves us humans in awe and wonder at the works that simply the voice of God can do.  But what, exactly, is the voice of God?  We can use our own poetic imagery in 2016 to imagine the voice of God in much the same way the psalmist does in this particular poetic rendering. And, actually, I invite you to do so. How would you describe the voice of God today?

The voice of God booms as loudly as the sound of the crowd at Mile High Stadium when Peyton takes the field.

The voice of God forces its way into my life like the sound of a cat insisting on being fed at 530 a.m.

You get the idea. The psalmist has an interpretation of the voice of God, which we will explore this Sunday in our first of a series on the Psalms and what God is like.  But we, too, have experiences with God's voice. Whether we believe it to be the still small voice in our hearts or the loud booming experience that makes us stand up and say "A-ha!" God does speak to us.


What are your experiences with 'hearing God' in your life? What are your thoughts on the Psalms? I'd love to hear from you. Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.