Fishing Tales

Matthew 4:12-23

    For most people in our time, taking a fishing trip has little to do with feeding ourselves or the survival of our family; it's a matter of sport. And for those who are truly "hooked", there's more to fishing than simply choosing the right bait or learning to properly play a fish. One of the most important attributes of a true angler is the ability to stretch the truth—to tell stories about the great big fish we caught, or the one that got away. When we tell a tall fishing tale, we're following a time-honored tradition of the modern sports fisherman.

     With such a background to the subject of fishing, its important to remember that the fishermen Jesus called to be disciples were fishing for their lives, and for their well being.  When Jesus asked them to put down their nets, when he offered to show them "how to fish for people", he was asking them to walk away from everything they'd ever learned about how to support themselves.  He asked them to give up their livelihood; he asked them for nothing less than a bold act of complete and total trust in him.

    In time, the tales these disciples told would come to be called "the good news". The good news for us is that we serve a God who calls us forth...Jesus still calls us today.  If we are bold enough, even now we can turn from what we've always known and follow him in faith.

Embracing Our Cultural Diversity

Julie Ascuncion grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii and moved to Southern California 40 years ago.  She attended CalState LA. After working for 35 years, she retired as a Programmer Analyst.

Julie is married, has two 2 children, 8 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren. She has been a proud UMW member for over 20 years and is currently serving as the Cal-Pac Conference UMW Secretary. She has held positions in the former Pasadena District and at her local church.

Julie has also served on the Board of Laity for the Cal-Pac Conference. She attends the Filipino-American United Methodist Church in Hacienda Heights.

In her local church, Julie serves as Chairperson of the Church Council and has held other positions in various committees such as Outreach, SPRC, and Social Action. Julie also volunteers as a study leader for Bible study classes. She currently serves as President of the Methodist Hospital Women’s Auxiliary in Arcadia.

After retiring, she and hubby have enjoyed traveling and spending time with grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Julie is an avid reader and enjoys volunteering — at the Methodist Hospital, a local museum, the Performing Art Center and her church. She also enjoys taking classes in upholstery, sewing, and dancing. But Julie’s main passion is volunteering at church and serving the Lord by being involved with the United Methodist Women and its missions.

Clean and Ready

Isaiah 42:1-9; Matthew 3:13-17

    People get cleaned up and dressed up for important events.  A woman gets her hair done, picks out a new business suit, and buys a new briefcase because she has an important job interview in the morning. A young man stands in front of the mirror, clean-shaven, smelling of cologne, and tugging at the first tuxedo he’s ever worn in his life—his prom date is waiting across town and he wants everything to be right. A chief master sergeant pulls his dress uniform from the closet and carefully puts it on, adding three rows of medals, laces up the shoes that are polished like mirrors, and buckles on his ceremonial sword;  after more than 30 years he will celebrate his retirement today. For important occasions the “everyday” just won’t do—a special event requires a very special kind of preparation.

    When John the baptist appeared in the wilderness, he stepped into a long line of prophets and elders—stretching back across the span of Israel’s history—who told the people to wash and dress themselves, for the Lord God would soon be made manifest among them. Little did anyone know just how special this event would turn out to be, for God himself was washing them in order to prepare them for receiving the Holy Spirit.

Grace, Sovereignty, and the Innocents

A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition
a prayer of commitment for the new year

I am no longer my own, but thine.

Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,

exalted for thee or brought low by thee.

Let me be full, let me be empty.

Let me have all things, let me having nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things

to thy pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,

let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.

A Festival of Lessons and Carols

A FESTIVAL OF LESSONS AND CAROLS

In 1880 E. W. Benson, then Anglican Bishop of Truro, England, composed a Festival of Lessons and Carols, based on ancient sources, for Christmas Eve. In 1918 it was adapted for the chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, but its Dean, Eric Milner-White, who also wrote The Bidding Prayer. The Blessing after that Lord’s Prayer, addd by Milner-White, was first included in its present form in 1930. The Lessons given here have been customarily used in recent years at King’s College. The service has been edited for United Methodist congregations.

—United Methodist Book of Worship—

Meditation on Christ the Light of the World

THE GIFT BEYOND VALUE

Christmas is the most earthy of the Christian religious observances. In Christianity, God takes on the form of a human person. This is a remarkable and outrageous assertion—foolish and scandalous, according to Paul of Tarsus.

The point of this assertion is not to suggest some magic or extra-terrestrial happening. This is not pyrotechnics. It is not like the northern lights or sunspots. It is the declaration that God enters the world in decisive ways to tell us human beings what the big picture is all about…

...The Christmas story is the claim that the world’s reason for being is love. Not the sentimental kind favored in soap operas.  But the love once described by a wise commentator as “love with its eyes wide open.” Christmas really belongs to all those people in the world who long for love and peace and hope.

—Excerpted from GOD IS WITH US, by F. Thomas Trotter—

Love is Our New Law

Matthew 1:18-25

For Matthew, the story of Jesus is a way of talking about God; in Jesus—his teaching, life, and ministry—God is with us. From the beginning, it is God, always God, who is active. God is the one who is living, and God is the one who saves…so much so that Matthew’s gospel is less a store of the amazing things done by Jesus and much more a proclamation of what God has done for humanity through the event of Jesus.

Matthew’s story of Joseph and Mary reveals that serving a God who is active and alive is both a wonderful and (occasionally) terrifying truth. Joseph was a righteous man. He kept strict adherence to the scripture and traditions of his people. He was rooted deeply in strong and steady expectation of how things “ought to be done.” Righteousness and justice before God demand that we keep the laws of God inviolate.  And yet…

God’s revelation to Joseph, and to each of us, is that a new thing is being done through Jesus.  A new work of grace, based on God’s love, is being revealed through Jesus.  Jesus will reveal a way of being “righteous” that both respects the law, and also orients the heart toward love.  It will take an entire gospel to reveal this new way—including a sermon on the mount, a whole host of miracles, a crucifixion and a resurrection.  But it begins here…when a man who was struggling with the tension between “doing what’s right” and “showing mercy” toward another was visited by an angel and shown another way.

Waiting Becomes Hearing and Seeing

Isaiah 35:1-10; Matthew 11:2-11

At the very moment Jesus’ public ministry began, the ministry of John the Baptist was brought to an abrupt halt. After spending his life helping God’s people “prepare the way” for messiah, John was arrested and sent to prison. Sitting alone in a cell, contemplating his life’s work, he began to have some second thoughts and sent his friends to ask of Jesus, “Are you the one to come, or shall we wait for another?” John was wondering if he’d spent his life in vain.

From time to time, each of us may find ourselves alone, at the end of a long stretch of hard work, and wondering “Have I done any good at all?  has this been worth it?  does my effort count for anything?” The fears, doubts, and uncertainties of such moments are as paralyzing and imprisoning as any of the stones and cell doors that held John the Baptist.

Jesus’ word for John is the word for us in such moments.  We are part of a larger work from God, and God is the one who brings good things to pass.  Hear the word of the Lord.  See the good works that are occurring.  God’s salvation is breaking forth, and the joy of the Lord is our strength!