Tag Archives: God’s grace

It’s Time

17 Tuesday May 2016

Posted by in Justice, LGBTQ, Reflections

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It’s hard to know where to begin as I reflect on my two days spent in our church’s quadrennial meeting known as General Conference. I continue to believe in the incredible gifts our church has been given to offer the world. We are truly a church of social witness from the time John Wesley first took to the streets to announce the good news of Christ to the poor. We have a vast humanitarian reach throughout the world that brings hope and healing to many lives. We are a people who use our feet and hands to move into a hurting world with peace in the name of Christ. We have so much to offer, which makes our persistent wrestling with sexual matters all the more troubling.

Yet there is much pain in the midst of our ecclesial body. There are children of God who feel invisible when others refer to them as an “issue” because of their sexuality. There are children of God who are forced to be secretive about their sexual orientation knowing they may be judged ineligible to be in ministry. There are children of God who know they will not receive the ministry of the church when they commit themselves to one another in marriage. There are children of God who are being silenced and pushed aside by a church that will not recognize their giftedness and beauty as people of sacred worth. The pain is magnified because it is caused by the very church that has nurtured them in faith and trust in God.

It’s time that the church stop harming those who are beloved of God. It’s time to allow ministers and churches to honor and bless the marriages of two persons of the same sex. It’s time to recognize the gift and graces of ministry candidates who identify as LGBTQI and not disqualify them from serving the church solely on the basis of their sexual orientation. It’s time to recognize that the discriminatory language related to sexuality in the Book of Discipline reflects heterosexuality and homophobia and needs to be removed. It’s time to stop acting from fear, misunderstanding, and intolerance. It’s time to reclaim our heritage as a church grounded in Christ’s grace! It’s time to let love overwhelm hate. It’s time to breathe in the Spirit of the Christ who welcomed persons into the presence of God without conditions.

It’s time!

Words (c) 2016 Mark Lloyd Richardson

This Preaching Life

30 Saturday Aug 2014

Posted by in Poems, Reflections

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Pulpit of First United Methodist Church, Santa Barbara (taken by Dallis Day Richardson)

Pulpit of First United Methodist Church, Santa Barbara (taken by Dallis Day Richardson)

Every week
week after week
I put words on a page
and I pray
as I write each one out
it is a word
that in combination with other words
will speak peace into the lives of hearers.

I am a preacher –
not a wild, untamed preacher like John the Baptizer,
whom one might be excused for judging as harsh
as he roared his message of repentance
at the righteous and unrighteous alike,
calling every soul out
to take a clear-eyed look at themselves
and finally grasp that something’s got to change!

I preach with trepidation,
aware that some may find my words inspired
while others seem to know better.

This preaching life does not get any easier.

The preacher stands in need of grace too.

I am a preacher.

Week after week,
the Word who took on flesh calls to all who have ears to hear,
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled,
and do not let them be afraid.”

Words (c) 2014 Mark Lloyd Richardson

Love Took My Hand

14 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by in Poems, Reflections, Worship Liturgy

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o-HOLDING-HANDS-facebookTwelve years ago, on the Second Sunday in Lent, at the church I was serving in Los Osos, California, I preached a sermon titled, “Love Took My Hand.” The sermon was based on the very familiar text of John 3:16, which reads, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” I have subsequently preached a revised edition of this sermon in my current church in Santa Maria, California, because so many people have responded positively to its underlying message of grace and hope!

The scripture text is almost too familiar. People of all stripes think they know clearly what it means. But my approach in the sermon was to make the words of John’s gospel very personal for myself and my listeners. I wanted us to consider how God searches for us throughout our life journeys and extends to us an inexhaustible and unconditional love. Eternal life is not some far-off, distant promise of a better future — it is the reality we know when we are embraced by our Creator and trust that we are loved, right now, right here!

A few weeks after delivering that sermon twelve years ago, one of my parishioners offered the most sincere praise one can offer. He wrote a beautiful song based on his reflections on the sermon, and sang it in his rich tenor voice for our church family. He even ended up taking the song on the road. So I offer his lyrics to you for your enjoyment and blessing!

Love Took My Hand by John Kelly

Love took my hand, and led me through my childhood,
Love held me close, and calmed my childish fears.
I felt Love in my mother’s warm caresses,
And when, with love, she wiped away my tears.
I found in Love a friend who would not leave me,
Who’d stand by me whenever I might stray.
I never knew why Love was so forgiving,
I only knew that Love would find a way.

But as I grew, I thought Love was unneeded,
I felt no need for Love to lean upon,
I turned away from all that Love could give me,
I turned away, and thought that Love had gone.
But then I found that without Love I’m nothing,
I needed Love to face a world of care,
I looked for Love, and Love had never left me,
I reached for Love, and Love was always there.

Love walked with me among the sick, the homeless,
Love walked with me when pain was everywhere,
Love said to me, “Love even these, the love-less,”
Love walked with me, and taught me how to care.
And now I know that Love will never leave me,
And now I know that Love comes from above.
And I will go wherever Love may lead me,
Because I know, I know that God is Love.

Thank you, John, for these beautiful words affirming the deep and abiding love of God for us!

God bless you, my friends, with the knowledge that God is for you and with you, and that indeed God is Love!

Grace and peace, Mark

Look Who God Let In

09 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by in Reflections, Sermon portions

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The New Testament book of James reminds us that we do well if we fulfill scripture’s royal law, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (2:8). Our neighbor is not only the person next door, but the one we haven’t yet bothered to get to know, the one of a different socioeconomic class, the one of another religious or cultural perspective. Our neighbors are increasingly diverse. As Diana Eck reminds us in relation to our own Constitution, “We the people” in our religiously pluralistic society includes the Muslim, the Buddhist, and the Hindu.

“If you show partiality,” James warns, “you commit sin” (2:9). The command to love our neighbors challenges us at the core of who Christ calls us to be. It challenges us to be inclusive in our welcoming. It challenges us to widen the scope of the ones we call our neighbors. It challenges us to live the gospel values of hospitality, compassion and grace.

When it comes to the church and who is in and who is out I am always stunned by God’s graciousness.

People I cannot relate to, God lets in.

People I don’t understand, God lets in.

People whose life decisions I can’t embrace, God lets in.

People who are stubborn or opinionated or worse, God lets in.

People who are not like me – fine, upstanding sinner that I am – God lets in.

God lets in all kinds of people. It’s the church that sometimes closes the door in the face of the hurting, the addicted, the self-righteous, the poor, the sojourner, or the different.

I favor the full inclusion of gay and lesbian people in the life of the church.

I am constrained by the Gospel of Jesus Christ to accept those whom God accepts.

As a follower of Christ I believe in my heart that God accepts me and loves me as I am.

God’s grace is so unfathomable that you and I experience it even when the people around us know we don’t deserve it.

God’s love comes to us even when we know ourselves to be unlovable.

I have felt the assurance of God’s forgiveness and grace in my life. How can I deny it to other sinners?

The doors to God’s grace open wide to a vast array of imperfect people. How can I close a door that God opens?

As another pastor is quoted as saying, “I am so glad that God wants people who sin and struggle with sin to come to church, because as Pastor, I would hate to be excluded from the church I serve in.”

God’s kingdom is an alternative Realm where the least, the last, and the lost are God’s most urgent concern. How these neighbors are treated is a sign of how well the church understands God’s purposes.

A wonderfully inclusive welcome statement at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Community in Daytona Beach generated a lot of buzz on the Internet recently. It reads:

“We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, gay, filthy rich, dirt poor, y no habla Ingles. We extend a special welcome to those who are crying new-borns, skinny as a rail, or could afford to lose a few pounds.

“We welcome you if you can sing like Andrea Bocelli or like our pastor who can’t carry a note in a bucket. You’re welcome here if you’re ‘just browsing,’ just woke up, or just got out of jail. We don’t care if you’re more Catholic than the Pope, or haven’t been in church since little Joey’s baptism.

“We extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet, and to teenagers who are growing up too fast. We welcome soccer moms, NASCAR dads, starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians, and junk-food eaters. We welcome those who are in recovery or still addicted. We welcome you if you’re having problems or you’re down in the dumps or if you don’t like ‘organized religion,’ we’ve been there too.

“If you blew all your offering money at the dog track, you’re welcome here. We offer a special welcome to those who think the earth is flat, work too hard, don’t work, can’t spell, or because grandma is in town and wanted to go to church.

“We welcome those who are inked, pierced or both. We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion shoved down your throat as a kid or got lost in traffic and wound up here by mistake. We welcome tourists, seekers and doubters, bleeding hearts … and you!”

Again I ask, if God opens a door to my neighbors, who am I to close it?

Words (c) 2012 Mark Lloyd Richardson

 

An Untroubled Heart

29 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by in Reflections

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“Do not let your hearts be troubled.” ~ Jesus

From a Christian point of view, your heart is who you are as a child of God. It not only reflects your affections and your intentions; your heart is the core of the person you are, and are becoming, in the light of God’s grace!

Jesus speaks of having an untroubled heart even as he himself prepares to face the very troubling consequences of a world wracked by hatred, intolerance and violence.

After a lifetime of doing my feeble best to follow Jesus, I still find it difficult to get my mind around his absence of fear and worry as he stared the prospect of death in the face.

Some of my fellow Christ-followers would ease my mind by easy talk of Jesus’ divinity. Our spiritual tradition, though, always keeps Jesus’ divinity in tension with his humanity.

Jesus’ humanity is evident throughout the gospels as he wept with those who were suffering. Jesus felt compassion for all who were hungry, whether for food or justice. Jesus became angry with people who were so focused on appearing pious they had lost track of their inward spiritual compass. Jesus condemned the taken-for-granted bigotry in the world – the sexism, racism, and classism masquerading as holiness.

Jesus was a human being whose divinity was expressed through a deep and abiding communion with God, whom he addressed as “Abba,” a term of familial intimacy.

Jesus was at peace with the path of his earthly life because he knew that all of life is ultimately blessed and encircled by God’s steadfast love, now and for all eternity.

Jesus invites his followers, then and now, “Believe in God, believe also in me” (see John 14:1-7) ~ an invitation to be in relationship with the Divine. Jesus assures his followers that this act of trusting God is the way to discover a “dwelling place” with God – a place of refuge, safety, and peace!

As we approach Holy Week, and consider the meaning of Jesus’ life and death, spend a few moments recalling Jesus’ untroubled heart, and let his words of peace roll over you like streams of living water ~ “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”

You are a beloved child of God. You have a place in the circle of God’s care. Your life, and all the life you see around you, is held within the abiding and steadfast love of God!

 

Words (c) 2012 Mark Lloyd Richardson
Photo (c) 2012 Dallis Day Richardson, Yosemite

God of pelicans and emus

06 Tuesday Mar 2012

Posted by in Prayers

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God of pelicans and emus,
God of wetlands and deserts,
God of strangers, neighbors and friends,
yours is a world of astonishing grace.

When the morning sun creeps silently over the hills,
and the day begins to hum with activity,
we remind ourselves that this day too belongs to you.
Our lives are wrapped in the movement of time
stretching all the way back
to the day you first called forth light.

With an Artist’s hand you drew the contours
of land and sea, hillside and valley,
and a sky that stretches beyond human imagining.
Yet you left room for other artists, made in your image,
to add their interpretive strokes of shadow and light.

You encourage us to observe the beauty in and around us,
so that we too can create places where hope shines through.
Yet some days we grow tired
and our partnership with you seems like mere duty.
Some days our eyes grow weary
and we cannot see the world in hopeful ways.

Grant us your vision,
God who is Spirit,
God who is Artist,
God who breathes life into our lives.

Help us to see anew the possibilities before us—
to welcome the stranger in our midst,
to welcome the beauty of this day,
to welcome the grace that is life with you and one another.

Photos taken by Dallis Richardson at Montana de Oro State Park near Los Osos, California. Words by Mark Richardson.

Keep the Flame Lit

01 Wednesday Feb 2012

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“What nourishes your spirit?”

Sounds like a reasonable question for someone like myself who is called, ordained, appointed and paid to be a spiritual leader within the United Methodist Church, don’t you think?

My spiritual director Donna asked me this question yesterday when we met. My tiredness was apparent. I know I sounded discouraged. There is always more work to be done in pastoral ministry than there are hours in the day. The need for congregational renewal is real and pressing. There is no time to waste!

Yet time is the very element of life that I need to redirect toward the nourishment of my own spirit if I am to be the kind of spiritual leader who can assist others in living out their faith in hopeful and life-affirming ways.

Intellectually I know this, but the demands of ministry frequently push me to neglect my own spiritual wellbeing. Before I know it I am depleted, and my sense of joy vanishes into thin air.

“What nourishes my spirit?”

It’s as though I need to continually ask myself this question, and remind myself of the consequences if I don’t ask it, because I am terribly self-forgetful. My memory functions reasonably well in most areas of life, but when it comes to caring for my own spirit – my own soulful being – I am often blinded by what I must try to accomplish and I tend to ignore the warning signs of spiritual or emotional fatigue. Before long I’m wondering if I can get through the day or the week, much less the season or the year.

So to answer the question – I am nourished by real relationships with other human beings who risk vulnerability with me. I am nourished by nature’s astounding beauty. I am nourished by exceptional literature, especially poetry. I am nourished by the art of arranging words in ways that reveal who you and I are as beloved children of God.

Thirty-three years ago as a college student considering that God might be calling me to pastoral ministry, I preached my first sermon in my home church on a text from Paul’s letter to Timothy. There Paul advises his young apprentice “to rekindle the gift of God that is within you” and reminds him that “God does not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:6-7).

I reclaim these words for myself today, as I seek to rekindle the gift of God that is within me. The light of Christ shines through people – imperfect, broken down people like me – to illumine the world with God’s grace and love.

I must do my best to keep the flame lit!

Where nothing’s broken and no one’s missing!

14 Saturday Jan 2012

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I’ve been thinking about Core Values recently as I prepare a four week sermon series on the topic for the church I serve.

It can be a challenge to identify the Core Values of a group of people like a congregation, because people bring their own hierarchy of individual values into community with them. Still, every effective group or organization has Core Values that can be clearly identified by observing what they do. Think Sierra Club or the United States Army and you have a good idea of who they are and what values guide them based on what they do.

Likewise, every effective Christian congregation has clear Core Values that keep us on the same page as we seek to be the people God needs us to be for the sake of the world.

Even if you don’t belong to a church or believe in the church, I hope you’ll bear with me as I share why Core Values are important.

Core Values are like guiding principles that never change. As a child I learned the importance of telling the truth. When I was caught in a lie, I soon understood that I had betrayed the Core Values of my family. It wasn’t even spoken. I just knew, and that “knowing” and those “feelings” were punishment enough for me to think twice the next time I thought I could do an end run around the truth.

Core Values are like DNA – they identify what is unique about you and tell the story of who you are. Each person has a story and each church has a story.

Sometimes there are portions of our story we would rather not tell, because they are not as positive as the rest of the story. I served a church once that was approaching a significant anniversary and a member was asked to compose a history booklet. When he brought me the final draft to review, I noticed that it mentioned an episode in the life of the church that had been divisive and painful. Even as I said out loud to him, “Does this have to be in here?” I knew he was right to include it as part of our story. Even seemingly negative details shine a light on what the real Core Values are.

Before I go on too long and lose you, let me say that people have generally understood the Christian faith to be a matter of professing a set of beliefs in the teachings of Jesus Christ. But Christianity is so much more than a belief system. Beliefs only take people so far and then they crumble under the weight of human experience – the sorrows, disappointments, and heartaches of this shared human life.

To be Christian is primarily to be a follower of Jesus – that is, to have Jesus guide you in the way that leads to deeper trust in God and deeper compassion for your neighbor (and yourself). This is about movement, about action, about choosing to align your life with God’s Realm of blessing and life. It goes beyond mere belief to a place of growing trust in the goodness and grace of God.

When Jesus was asked which commandment is the greatest, he answered, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:36-39).

Jesus’ way is the way of love!

Love God, love your neighbor, love yourself!

Following Jesus, being a disciple of Jesus, means learning to love with the same kind of reckless abandon as Jesus did, who ate with prostitutes, tax collectors, and a variety of other sinners – maybe even wealthy politicians!

“We may be surprised at the people we find in heaven,” according to Bishop Desmond Tutu. “God has a soft spot for sinners. His standards are quite low.”

If heaven is not some distant destination in the future but rather the Realm where love reigns, then it is a reality toward which we dream and pray and act in this life.

Someone has said that heaven is where there is room for all God’s children at the table, a place where nothing’s broken and no one’s missing!

Heaven is the Realm where love of God and neighbor and self flow together in healing, restorative and life-giving ways! We get glimpses of it in this life if we have eyes to see.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. saw glimpses of it. He had eyes to see a world where love would conquer indifference, cruelty and hate. He had the strength to persevere in the long, hard work of justice and peace because he knew that in the Realm of God’s love the table is spread and all people are welcome. Dr. King once said, “Human progress … comes through the tireless efforts of those willing to be co-workers with God.”

I intend to start with this extravagant God-inspired servant love as I consider the Core Values of the Christian community I serve, and God only knows where it will lead!

Kneeling in Adoration

06 Friday Jan 2012

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Epiphany is an annual Christian festival, observed on January 6, commemorating the manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles – who are represented by the Magi or wise men from the East (see Matthew 2:1-12). I’ve written a few brief reflections below on the meaning of this day.

Epiphany

To see with new eyes illumined by truth,
To drink in moments of divine surprise,
To discover joy in life’s brave search,
be it for love, beauty, or newness,
To accept this one startling life as sacred gift,
To bring whatever treasures one possesses,
humble as they are,
and lay them before the newborn Messiah.

This Epiphany…
Will you kneel down in adoration with the wise ones?
Will you bow before the angel-announced Child?
Will you see in his countenance God’s infinite grace?
Will you dream a world invaded by Holy Love?
Will you dare to be changed?