Soul Sister Time

              Advent draws our thoughts towards the beyond-good-news that God shared with the world over 2000 years ago.  God’s news spread throughout the whole world and continues to encircle the globe.  This news began broadcasting long before our modern media communication tools.  Similar to the way the good news spread in the vicinity of Bethlehem on the eve of His birth, this particular news has best been shared through word of mouth from individuals whose lives have been personally transformed after encountering Jesus.  After the angels, sent from heaven, startled the shepherds by announcing the birth of Jesus, the people of God have taken it from there.  The church can’t stop sharing the reality of what it means that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ came to our world to be one of us.  He did this so that God could restore any who will put faith in Jesus Christ to become one with Him.               As we prepare to gather in crowded churches on Christmas Eve, let us consider

              It’s Thanksgiving in America.  I’m thankful for Thanksgiving.  I’m thankful that the pilgrims and the Indians joined together to celebrate Thankfulness in the new community that was forming.  They demonstrated a moment in history that is worth repeating and celebrating.               History reveals that supporting one another’s mutual good was not maintained in the years that followed this celebration.  Mutual thankfulness gave way to distrust, greed and war. The outcome was years passing without an annual celebration of thankfulness.  I wonder if we can learn from history how thankfulness and mutual care for one another in America can produce a good result for all who come to the table.                 Thanksgiving 2016 happens in a year of a divided nation.  Riots and protests plagued our country after a hotly debated election.  Thanksgiving calls us to come to the table.  To set a historical Thanksgiving table, you could invite those who are different from you.

              I don’t think you can progress spiritually until you resolve the question of whether God is good.  The goodness of God will make all the difference in your devoted love for God.  What keeps us from believing in the goodness of God?  After all He sent His Only Son to die on a cross to enable humans to become reconciled to Him in spite of our innate sinful condition.  How could He express the extremity of His love more?                God created this world with goodness in mind.  Each and every day of creation He looked at what He made and declared it good.  Inherent in all of creation is an unrelenting goodness.  In the most horrid of experiences there is potential to see good, if you learn how to look for it.               This Sunday our opening prayer went like this: God the Revealer God reveals Beauty to us…if we open our eyes to see it. God reveals Truth to us…if we open our minds to accept it. God reveals Love to us…if we open our hearts to receive it

              Every person reading this devotion has personally experienced anxiety.  Anxiety is a common result of living in a sinful world.  God knows that all people face anxiety.  He assumes anxiety is a part of our human condition.  There is a lot of anxiety in America this week regarding our 2016 election.               I love how Peter addresses anxiety.  We see his vocation as a fisherman displayed in the way he describes what to do with the emotion of anxiety with which we all find ourselves constricted.  He uses an old fisherman’s term—casting.  He tells us: Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).  This statement is made at the conclusion of some other advice he gives to all Christians about submitting to others, being humble, trusting God’s mighty hand—basically the selflessness Christ demonstrated to us.  It’s as if he knows this advice would naturally produce anxiety.                Peter’s advice for overcoming anxiety is bold and irra