The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection GPS Guide for Wednesday, 30 December 2020

 The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection GPS Guide for Wednesday, 30 December 2020

The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection <info@mc.cor.org>

Wednesday, 30 December 2020 

The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection GPS Guide for Wednesday, 30 December 2020

“He is Lord of all!”

Daily Scripture:

Acts 10:34-43

34 Peter said, “I really am learning that God doesn’t show partiality to one group of people over another. 35 Rather, in every nation, whoever worships him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 This is the message of peace he sent to the Israelites by proclaiming the good news through Jesus Christ: He is Lord of all! 37 You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism John preached. 38 You know about Jesus of Nazareth, whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit and endowed with power. Jesus traveled around doing good and healing everyone oppressed by the devil because God was with him. 39 We are witnesses of everything he did, both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him up on the third day and allowed him to be seen, 41 not by everyone but by us. We are witnesses whom God chose beforehand, who ate and drank with him after God raised him from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Reflection Questions:

The apostle Peter didn’t just declare Jesus’ Lordship in Jerusalem. When a Roman centurion invited Peter to tell him and his troops about Jesus, Peter told those occupying soldiers Jesus “is Lord of all!” With their military access, they could easily confirm (or refute) any factual claims, and Peter made one provable claim after another: “You know… you know… we are witnesses.” Rome’s military might against Jesus' outwardly naïve witnesses looked like a terribly uneven contest. It was—but 2,000 years of history show that Jesus, not Caesar, had the greater power.

One crucial way Rome insisted that citizens in its empire show their loyalty was to say, formally in a temple to the emperor, “Caesar is Lord.” Imagine Peter telling these soldiers sent to enforce Caesar’s lordship, “This is the message of peace he sent to the Israelites by proclaiming the good news through Jesus Christ: He is Lord of all!” (verse 36) What “lords” has Jesus challenged and dethroned in your life?

There was surprise in this story—and not among the Romans. We can almost hear the wonder as Peter, who no doubt resented the Roman invaders, said, “I really am learning that God doesn’t show partiality to one group of people over another.” Later we read that “the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles” (Acts 10:45). When has the amazing reach of Jesus' kingdom expanded your mental horizons?

Prayer:

Jesus, you are Lord of all. That takes in all the world’s big problems that sometimes trouble me—and it also takes in all my internal struggles. Be Lord of all, inside me as well as outside. Amen.

Want more reflection on today's GPS?

Read the GPS Insight by Caleb Berciunas

Caleb Berciunas

Caleb was born in San Diego, but calls KC home. He's been married to his wife Maddison since 2013 and their three daughters keep them on their toes daily. He is a graphic designer on Resurrection’s staff as well as a life-long musician and self-proclaimed coffee snob.

Looking back at 2020 – one of the most challenging years in many of our lives – how and where did we see Jesus being “Lord of all?” Where and when did we feel His peace, if any?

For me, Jesus being “Lord of all” feels more like a persistent anthem of hope rather than a message of peace when applied to this past year. Many of us didn’t feel much at peace this year and when looking ahead to 2021, it still feels like a forced or strained hope that there is any light at the end of the tunnel. But there is hope.

For me, a couple key things come to mind in helping me feel hopeful and at peace at the end of this year.

First is community. This looks different for many of us right now. For me, my immediate little community is my household, which consists of my wife and three daughters. As fed up as we get with each other on a daily basis being cooped up in our home, I have to focus on the gratitude I have for them just being with me. I am lucky just to have some human face-to-face connection on a daily basis, knowing that’s not the case for many right now. As stressful as it can be sometimes, I am also grateful to have the purpose of serving my wife and girls every day. I’m not sure how I’d be getting along these days if I didn’t have them around.

The second key thing that’s kept me hopeful this year is prayer. My prayer rhythm has gotten interrupted many times this year. My daily prayer time used to be during my daily commute into work. When we shifted to working from home in March, my commute was #canceled. I found myself having to get up earlier to do morning prayer walks before the day began. Over time though, I got lazier and lazier about sticking to this routine. The more prayer time I lost, the more disconnected I felt from God and even from myself. I admit I still struggle to get back into a good prayer routine. When I do pray, I focus on thanking God for being the Lord of all even in the midst of chaos, failure, and uncertainty. When I talk to Him out loud, I can feel His presence reassuring me that He’s got this under control, so I don’t have to worry about trying to be in control all the time.

When it feels like 2020 has tried to take everything away from us, hang on to the hope that Jesus is Lord of all. He is using our challenges for greater purposes that we may not be able to see yet.

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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011.

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