• Read James 1:19-27. James instructs his readers in balancing devotion and personal piety with acts of justice and service. How can Christian community balance these two calls? What is the danger in giving priority to one over the other?

The book of James is so clear and forthright. He pulls no punches. In this passage, right at the beginning of the book, he lays out one of his key points about Christian community - we must be doers not only hearers of the word. In verses 23-25, James makes the point that we learn the word of God, it is written on our hearts, when we go out and do what it says. For those of us who are experiential learners, this is truly good news!

One of the dangers of a privatized faith is that our relationship with God becomes an end in itself, not an relationship that blesses others with signs of God's love through Jesus. Christian community, fellowship with other followers of Jesus, can help us balance the being and the doing. When our lives get out of sync, our group members can help us align our spirits. If we live too far in doing and we are not connecting with the source of life through prayer and Bible study, we lose our perspective. When we devote all of our time to the inward practices and do not move outward to serve, we close our spiritual lives to the revelation that God offers us in one another.

Turbo Group - November 10 reflection

• Read John 13:31-35, where Jesus gives the New Commandment to love.  What is stirred within you when reading and reflecting on this passage? What does it mean to love in the way Jesus shares? Spend time meditating on the love of Jesus.

This passage is the Gospel lesson for Maundy, or Holy, Thursday, the night when we remember Jesus' last supper with his disciples. We call it "Maundy" from the Latin word mandatum, which means commandment. In this lesson, Jesus gives a new commandment to his small group, his closest friends: to love one another just as Jesus loves us. 

I am filled with awe and joy when I read this passage. I also am touched with repentance and seek forgiveness because of all the ways I do not love others as much as Jesus loves me: selflessly, unfailingly, fully, eternally. I think of how our lives would be completely transformed if we spent just one day loving every person we meet like Jesus loves us. Imagine if we loved our children and family members with endless compassion and grace. How would our places of work or our schools be changed if we spoke with every person in gentle, loving tones? 

A small group is so important because in that relationship of trust and understanding, we can model Jesus' love for each other and we can try out what it means to love and to be loved like Jesus. What does it mean for you to follow this new commandment?

Turbo Group - November 9 reflection

• Read Matthew 18:15-20. In this passage, Jesus addresses how to handle conflict in the community, ending with the reminder that when two or three are gathered, Jesus is there.  How does this affirmation by Jesus affect how Christian small groups operate? What does it mean for you that Jesus is present?

There is something very powerful about being a part of something bigger than ourselves, whether it's participating in a sports team, attending a concert or voting in an election. It's even more powerful to participate in something where Jesus is present. When we gather with fellow followers, we are not gathering as mere men and women; we are gathering with the Divine. Remembering that Jesus is the "third guest" at our conversation can change the way we speak to one another, our tone, and even the flow of our discussion. Remembering and recalling Jesus' presence also opens our heart to the movement of the Spirit, giving us revelation, comfort and sustenance.

Reaffirming Jesus' presence provides us with a powerful connection to the reality of God. Have you ever experienced his presence in a way that was real or memorable?

Turbo Group - November 8 reflection

• Spend time in prayer for our congregation. Lift up all of the small groups that enable our weekly worship: Sunday School classes, music ministry, fellowship groups, the prayer chain. Pray for those members who are not connected with other Christians. 

Loving, giving God, thank you for West Grove United Methodist Church. I praise you for your body that you have knit together and the bonds that are made by the power of your Spirit. Lord, I raise up to your light and love each person connected to our family of faith, whether they have visited one time or been a member their entire lives. Meet each one's needs, physical, mental, emotional, financial. Protect them from all harm. Awaken our hearts and spirits that we may grow in grace and love.

Thank you for the men and women, boys and girls, who give of their gifts and talents to serve you, praise you, and lead your people in worship. For all who use their voices to sing, their fingers to play, their arms to care for children, their eyes to read, their ears to hear, anoint them with the power of your Holy Spirit that their offerings will be used to share your love.

Thank you for loving relationships you give to us with one another. For members of our faith family who are isolated or alone, show us how to reach out in love. Help us form places of connection, safety and trust. Guide us as we develop this new ministry of small groups, that those who are most in need of connection and those called to offer will be brought together in relationships of joy and peace. We ask all of this in your son's name, Amen.

Turbo Group - November 7 reflection

• "John Wesley preached: . . . Christianity is essentially a social religion, and . . . to turn it into a solitary religion is indeed to destroy it. By Christianity I mean that method of worshipping God which is here revealed to man by Jesus Christ. When I say this is essentially a social religion, I mean not only that it cannot subsist so well, but that it cannot subsist at all without society, without living and conversing with other men. (Source: Albert Outler, ed., Sermons I, vol. 1, The Works of John Wesley,"Upon our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, Discourse the Fourth." Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1984; 533:26-534:1.)                                                                                                                                            Do you agree or disagree with Wesley’s assessment of the “social” nature of Christianity? Where do you see your spiritual journey at this point – as a social venture or as a more isolated one? Spend time in prayer over where God is calling you – to share more of your journey with others or to draw closer in quiet prayer, or both."

I love this quote from John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement in the 1700s. Wesley had a very healthy understanding of both the private and the public nature of Christianity. The Christian journey is both inward and outward. We must meet God in the silence of prayer, scripture reading and reflection. It is where our souls are fed. But we can't leave our experience with God in our heads and hearts. It is in community where we have our leadings from God affirmed, our miscues noted, our minds and hearts opened.

John Wesley had a very structured system of small groups to introduce people to the Christian walk, to grow their faith, deepen their connection with Christ, and move toward spiritual perfection. Even in meeting in a small group with other pilgrims on a weekly journey, the average length of time between exploring the Christian life and claiming a saving, justifying relationship with Christ was two years! Two years of intense, intentional, focused journey with a committed group of folks. Many Christians do not experience that type of small group ever, much less for two years.


In the small group, the private and the public face of the Christian faith find a safe meeting place. In a group of trust, accountability, openness and welcome, the soul finds a safe place to show up, to borrow a phrase from author Parker Palmer in Hidden Wholeness. We can experience the voice of God speaking through others, through prayer, and through the Scriptures. Where do you see the place of the small group in the social and private practices of faith?

Turbo Group - November 6 reflection

Last night, 12 people (a perfect God-number!) gathered to begin a five-week "Turbo Group" small group experience. We have another five or six who are interested in the journey. I praise God for these pilgrims that are willing to journey with us as we discern God's desire for us for small group ministry at West Grove UMC.

Each day we will reflect and pray about small group ministry, and I will blog my reflections and prayers here. Here is today's question:

• Read  Acts 2:43-47. If you have time, read Acts 1 and 2 to understand the context of this first extended community of Christians. The disciples went from a fearful group hiding out in the upper room after Jesus’ crucifixion to a bold and fearless group that lived in the open and attracted new believers. What made the change? How does this passage speak to you as you learn more about the need for Christian friendship and companionship?

As I said last night, this is one of my all-time favorite Bible passages. I love the depiction of the early followers of Jesus living in such harmony, equality and joy. As many commentators have pointed out, that harmony did not last long - look at all of the division and dissension that Paul and the other Epistle writers address in their letters to early church communities!

I believe the coming of the Holy Spirit in such a powerful way was the beginning of the change in the disciples. But I also believe that in addition to the boldness and power they drew from the Spirit, they also had the witness and companionship of one another. The disciples and the women with them had shared a great deal together. They had eaten meals, sat at the feet of Jesus, slept under the stars together and witnessed the execution of their leader. They had huddled together in fear and then in awe as the risen Jesus came to them. They had been through a lot with one another!

This passage, and the focused picture of a group of people seeking the joy of the Lord with their entire beings - their time, their homes, their families, their resources, their worship - speaks to me of the imperative to travel the Christian journey with others. Joy is multiplied when we are with others. Burdens are shared. Generosity is modeled and encouraged. Endurance is possible. We can go farther and deeper on our journey when we have traveling companions.

What about you? What is your reflection on this passage? 

Day 17

Today and last Wednesday, a small group of the fasters gathered in our prayer room at church for a group Lectio Divina. This prayerful way of reading scripture seemed a good way to ground and center our group in prayer. The spiritual director who led us was wonderful, and the participants were thoughtful, open, honest and willing to plumb the depths of their spirits.

The lesson for today was John 4:4-7, the beginning of the account of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well.  Jesus tells her of the living water that he has come to give all who will receive it, water that flows and gushes with life. I usually drink a lot of water, but in the past 2 1/2 weeks, it has been the only liquid to slake our thirsts. Imagine if we only went to Jesus every time we had a place of thirst in our lives. Why don't we tap into that living water that isn't just trickling within us but is available as a geyser to fill our brokenness, cover our wounds, direct our paths and refine our hearts. As our spiritual director said today, "Sometimes, all we need to do is say yes to Jesus."

Jesus, we say yes to you right now. Yes to your love, yes to our power, yes to your grace and yes to your possibilities. Take our lives and put them to use for your purposes. Reawaken your spirit within us and make us forceful, energetic, gushing fountains of your love in the world. We offer this and our gratitude in your name, Amen.

Day 16

I've missed Day 14 and 15 because of a 24-hour bug. I had to break the fast slightly - I drank 1/4 of an organic ginger ale and ate three whole wheat crackers that had leaven to them. Since neither of them brought me any pleasure in my yucky stat, I believe God forgives me!

On Sunday, we were incredibly blessed to host the Hope for Africa Children's Choir at both of our worship services (look back soon for a link to their performance). The children were amazing in their song, their dance and their testimony. During both services, we passed around the microphone and the children shared briefly the story of their journey to the choir. Without fail, they were heartbreaking. One had a mother who died in childbirth and her father did not have enough to feed her. One boy tried to go to school but the teachers chased him away because he didn't have school fees. A boy and a girl both told of how they had to sleep without blankets and on the ground, even in the mud.

But all of their testimonies began with "I thank God for life and for my health". These children who had known suffering, deprivation and loss that we in this country cannot fathom, all began with smiles and thanking God for the most basic gift - life. This experience of fasting has helped focus me back to the basics - God's provision, God's love, God's grace, life now and eternal we have because of Jesus.

Amazing God, we thank you for life - for breath, for movement, for thought and feeling. Thank you for the gift of the Hope for Africa Children's Choir. Continue to pour out your blessings on the children and adults who form that ministry. Heal their broken places by the power of your great Spirit. Forgive us, oh, forgive us God, for the ways that we fail children around the world every day by our apathy, our bad decisions, our ignorance and our pride. Break open our hard hearts. Turn us toward you and your justice, compassion and mercy, and give us an uneasy heart until all of your children live in peace, safety and love. In the name of your blessed child Jesus, Amen.

Day 13

As we prepare to celebrate World Communion Sunday tomorrow, I am so excited about the Hope for Africa Children's Choir that is coming to sing at both worship services. Our congregation has a special connection with a theological college and a missionary family in Tanzania, so I'm excited to see what new links we can make with this important ministry.

I've also been meditating on the absence of food in the terrible natural disasters that have occurred this week: the tsunami in the Samoas, the typhoons in the Philippines, and the earthquake in Indonesia (see Unitted Methodist Committee on Relief for information on our response to these terrible situations). Our voluntary forgoing of food is so luxurious compared to our brothers and sisters around the world, who have no choice but to ration their food, if they can even find some to eat. I confess before God that I am not nearly as passionate about their suffering as I am interested in ensuring that I have a full belly. Forgive me, God, for the ways I fail you and your people.

God of all comfort and all hope, forgive me, forgive me, for my selfish focus on my own needs, wishes and desires at the expense of your people. Use this time of fasting to focus my gratitude on you and my heart to those who suffer day in and day out across your world. Open up our eyes as a body to see the needs that you are laying plain before us. Give us the strength and courage to respond lavishly, selflessly, completely to the path you offer. May our rumbling stomachs remind us of those who have hunger pains but are not able to fill their bellies. Shake us out of our apathy and send us on a journey to wholeness. In Jesus, who knew hunger and knew wholeness both, Amen.

Day 12

On Friday, I co-officiated a wedding of a lovely couple who now live in Washington, DC, but who have connections to Landenberg. It was a wonderful evening, full of the love of two families who were glowing at gaining a son and a daughter each.

At the rehearsal Thursday night, it dawned on me that I had to eat the entree I had ordered several weeks ago, when I wasn't even thinking of the fast. I wondered what I should do. Friday morning, one of the fasters asked what she should do when she was at her friend's house for the weekend. Her friend's mother cooks lovely meals - should she decline all that is offered or could she break her fast and eat what had been prepared?

Reflecting on these situations, God brought to mind the concept of hospitality. When we are offered hospitality - whether in the form of a home-cooked meal or a wedding entree - our response as followers of Jesus is to graciously accept with humility and gratitude. Hospitality is a gift, an offering of oneself to another. If the purpose of the fast is to become more Christ-like, then reveling in hospitality is on the path, because Jesus always accepted the gifts of another, whether it was expensive perfume poured out on his feet or a humble meal offered in the home of two sisters and their brother. As Christians, our calling in life is to offer, and graciously receive, hospitality. "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." - Hebrews 13:2


God of grace and full of love, we thank you for the many times you have offered us hospitality. Our spirits rest in the expanse of your love, our bodies are fed by the food of your hands, our gifts find rest when used for your purpose and your reign. You offer us this fast as a sign of hospitality, welcoming us into your presence in powerful and new ways. Lord, forgive us for the many times we turn away or ignore strangers, rather than welcoming with your love. Give us new eyes to see the stranger in our midst, and the heart of Christ to respond to him or her with Christ-like compassion and love. Infuse our community of faith with a passion for the least, the lonely and lost, that in the stranger, we will see the face of Christ. In his name we pray, Amen.