Welcome and Instructions . Welcome back to our Facebook Church online experience for Wednesday, December 31, 2014. Today’s lesson will focus on what it can mean when we say or live in a way that recognizes that God is with us. . As a reminder, Facebook Church is one long post. Whenever you have to leave this liturgy to watch a linked video, please come back as soon as you can. That will make this devotion more meaningful. Also, the dots between paragraphs are on purpose—they make Facebook provide spaces between the paragraphs, something that doesn’t happen when the dots are absent. After a time, hopefully they won’t be a distraction. . To help you and others have more privacy, I invite you to put on some headphones. Headphones can help you from distracting others, if you’re accessing this at work or even at home. . Please join me now for a word of prayer. . . Opening Prayer . Please say or whisper this aloud: “Holy God, as the New Year beckons and the lazy days after Christmas have calmed our minds, we pray that we will listen and hear your words for us. Speak to us, O Lord, for we are listening. Amen.” . . Opening Music . “10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord),” by Matt Redman. youtu.be/DXDGE_lRI0E . . Reading Scripture . John 1:1-14 | New Living Translation . Please read this: . In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God and the Word was God. . He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it. . God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. . He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. . . Scripture Response . Say this aloud: “May your word, O Lord, be a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Amen.” . . Video Lesson . This is a cute news report about a lost dog being found. youtu.be/XtCwPEWRTOw . . Devotion . Have you ever prayed to God and wondered if you were heard? Sometimes in our faith journey, we may feel as if God isn’t as close to us as in the past. There may be times in one’s life when we go looking for God and for whatever reason, we can’t find God. Maybe we got away from our regular faithful activities or maybe we wondered off during our teenage years. We could have attended church and for one reason or another got mad and stopped going. Then, after awhile, we lost that close feeling we had with God and our church. Then an unexpected tragedy occurs or we read something in a magazine we saw in the doctor’s office and we get to wondering about the God we left behind—so we decide to go looking for God. We look high and low, this way and that way. We even go back to church or we open the Bible or we talk with people of faith. This may sound surprising, but after a long absence we can feel as if God is no where to be found. We get the impetus to rekindle our faith, if only for a moment, we then go looking for it and surprisingly, we can’t seem to find what we had. If this happens to you or someone you know, please don’t give up. The thing is, that impetus to go looking for God isn’t us curious about God again. It is God looking for and finding us. It’s like the little dog in the video, who went about his way until suddenly and quite remarkably, he was found. As far as we know, the dog had no idea the circumstances that would lead to him being found. He was and apart from the microchip in his body, he had nothing to do with it all. . God isn’t saying that we need to go there or anywhere, rather God is saying, “I am already here with you now.” God went looking for us and found us. We just need to sit still, wait a bit, listen, and ask that God’s presence be revealed to us—not in the familiar ways but in the new way. When God comes looking for us and we respond, we have been found. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t go to church, open our Bibles, or talk with someone. It does mean that your initial response isn’t to go searching for where you last remember finding God. It means to stop what you’re doing and respond with, “Thank you God, here I am.” . There is this great illustration of that in 1 Samuel 3. This passage of Scripture is known as Samuel’s calling. In the story, and old prophet Eli is training an apprentice, young Samuel. One night, Samuel heard his name called. He jumps out of bed and runs to Eli and asks, “Yes master, here I am.” Eli looked at the boy askance and sent him back to bed. Well, it happened again. Samuel heard his name and he jumped up and ran to Eli. “Master, did you call?” Eli said that he hadn’t. But then, it dawned on Eli that perhaps God was speaking to Samuel only he didn’t know how to recognize God yet. So he instructs the young boy, “The next time you hear someone call your name, right where you are say, ‘Speak, your servant is listening.’” And so it happened, God spoke Samuel’s name and he immediately responded. God then tells him a long prophecy meant for him and Eli both. From this experience, Samuel learned to recognize when God was speaking to him. He didn’t have to go anywhere, he only had to stop what he was doing and say, “I am listening,” and God did the rest. . As you go about your life looking for God, when you feel your spiritual tail being pulled, the story from 1 Samuel teaches us to hold still and simply wait upon God. Then, if we feel the direction, say out loud, God here I am. Then we simply wait upon God, or open a Bible, or go to church, or speak with a person of faith. God may be using them to speak to you—but you won’t have to go searching for God; God will find a way to speak to you. . . Closing Prayer . Let us pray. “Gracious and Everlasting God, sometimes I need to know when you are near; show me when you are near and open my eyes, ears, and heart to your presence and work around me. Teach me to see you that I may know and enjoy you. Amen.” . . Closing Praise Music . “Your Grace Finds Me,” by Matt Redman. youtu.be/orY_OWKTyfU . . Benediction . If you are able, please say or whisper this aloud: . “May God be my source of peace and power all day long. Amen.” . . Closing Thoughts . I hope this service was a blessing to you today. If you enjoyed it, be sure to tell a friend about it or share about it here on Facebook. There is a new service every Wednesday afternoon at 12:00 Noon. . You can learn more about the congregation I serve by visiting my church’s website at cresskillucc.org.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 17:01:42 +0000
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