Mission Moment 12.11.24

I can remember how excited I would become when mom and dad would announce our annual vacation. I was eager and impatient as I looked forward to the family trip. We always went to either Atlantic Beach, designated for Black people because of segregation, or to visit relatives in Ohio. We did not take extravagant trips or stay in luxury hotels, but my excitement never changed. I was so impatient, enjoying crossing off the days on the calendar until it was time to leave!

Have you ever become impatient? I believe we all have felt impatience in our lives, and we find it extremely hard to wait! It may be an offer for a new job, a first date, an important trip, recovering from illness or other experiences.

Have you ever grown impatient while waiting on God to answer your prayers?

Waiting requires patience, obedience and determination. The will to wait is a gift from God. He gives us the Holy Spirit so that we can walk patiently with him. Sometimes we might feel that he is going to say “no” or “not now.” We have to remember that regardless of the answer, God knows best! 

I have received so many blessings in giving time to listen to stories from refugee families about their journeys to America. I sometimes ask how long they had to wait for approval to leave their homes behind and come to another country. Refugee families do not have the privilege to select a country. They are assigned a destination. Their answers may be that it took as long as 13 years. I confessed to a family that I did not think I could endure that experience. They responded that it was patience and prayer. They have blessed me by their example to wait on God when I become impatient.

Is there anything that you are afraid to say to God in prayer?

I shared the refugee example of patience and the fact that their responses included prayer. Their prayers were bold prayers and extremely specific. They wanted to leave trauma, fear and war behind, even if it meant starting a new life in a foreign country. They prayed boldly, in anger and sorrow, and were extremely specific. God answered their prayers, and they are now here after showing patience and courage while waiting on God.

• David’s lament in Psalm 13:1: How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

• James 4:2 tells us that we have not because we ask not.

• Our prayers should also be persistent as shown in the Parable of The Persistent Widow in Luke Chapter 18. 

Pray, Practice, Ponder
Ponder a time when you grew impatient while waiting for God to answer your prayer, or a time when you were hesitant to even utter the cries of your heart aloud to God. What did you learn through that experience about yourself, God and a life of prayer?

Pray...Give...Go.

Wednesday Night Bible Study

Due to a number of Christmas holiday services and events through December, there will be no Wednesday evening Bible study until the new year. Be on the lookout for the date we will gather again for our Wednesday evening Bible study!

The Longest Night Worship Service: TONIGHT!

Please join us for a shared service with the First Presbyterian and Methodist churches for a night of remembrance and hope on Wednesday, December 11 at 6:00 p.m. at the Methodist Church. 

1st Explorers Christmas Play

It's Showtime! First Explorer After School Ministry students will present "Twas the Night Before the Birth" on Wednesday, December 18, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. in the Mission and Fellowship Center. Doors open at 5:45 p.m. The show is approximately 30 minutes long.

The Longest Night Worship Service

Please join us for a shared service with the First Presbyterian and Methodist churches for a night of remembrance and hope on Wednesday, December 11 at 6:00 p.m. at the Methodist Church. 

Giving the Jesus Way

United Christian Ministries requests that we temporarily suspend providing supplies and instead provide monetary donations.  Given the current situation with Hurricane Helene’s suppliers, the needs of clients are changing daily.  A monetary donation will allow them to purchase specifically what is needed at any point in time.  To donate, please drop off a check at 191 Skyland Drive or mail it to PO Box 188, Sylva, NC 28779.  Thank you!

Wednesday Night Bible Study

Due to a number of Christmas holiday services and events through December, there will be no Wednesday evening Bible study until the new year. Be on the lookout for the date we will gather again for our Wednesday evening Bible study!

Women’s Fall Bible Study

Monday, December 9 at 10:00 a.m.

Women’s Fall Bible Study will continue Monday, December 9 at 10:00 a.m. in the Gathering Place Room.  We will be studying “Jesus In Me” by Anne Graham Lotz.  Books are available in the church office.

The Mystery of Christmas Christmas Program

Mission Moment 12.4.24

Co’Relous Bryant 
Senior Pastor, United Church of Lincoln, Vt.

When the logic of this world fails to offer a cogent explanation of what the heck is going on. I turn to divine interrogatories for relief. I have developed a bold posture of asking God to provide answers for the growing incongruence of how things are and how they ought to be. I do this under the guise of seeking wisdom, but between you and me, it’s my chance to cross-examine the One who has the whole world in His hands. This unabashed, childlike “but why?” approach is saving my spiritual life right now. Because whether in God’s wisdom or humor—God, on occasion, responds. 

As a young boy, my mother warned me not to question God. At that age, I would be complaining about not being able to go out and play because of the clockwork summer afternoon thunderstorm in northeast Florida. Every afternoon in the summer, between 4 and 4:30 p.m., the skies would darken and open and suspend every child’s daily recreation dreams. I would suck my teeth and stomp my feet and ask, “Why does God have to make it rain right now? Why, God, why?” My southern mother would snap back almost reflexively, “Child, don’t you question God.” Since childhood, I have carried a real complex about questioning the Creator.

Imagine my surprise and delight when years later in seminary I come across Genesis 32. Jacob wrestling with God. Wrestling!? I was so hung up on making God an interlocutor and here was this patriarch of our faith in a literal tussle with the Almighty. And if you read the passage carefully, you see that Jacob not only wrestles, but then he demands a blessing, and then he, wait for it, asks a question about God’s name. The audacity to inquire! The nerve! So now friends—I keep a running tally of holy questions. 

But I have also discovered that my mama was right—as always. She was right to tell me to be careful about questioning and demanding things from the Ancient of Days. More often than not, when I pose a question to God in the mirror, the answer to that question is staring me back in the face. Remember, friends, many biblical scholars believe that Jacob was actually just wrestling with himself. So be careful. It’s okay to question, wrestle even, but God’s solution might just be you. 

Wondering where God may be in the midst of serious poverty? God may be wondering where you are. Wondering where God may be in the treatment of our neighbors and refugees? God may be wondering where you are. Wondering where God may be in the everchanging brokenness of our world? God may be wondering….

So, friends: question, interrogate, cross-examine—wrestle. But when God has a question for you, be just as faithful in the answering as you are in the questioning. 

Pray, Practice, Ponder
Reflect on a time when you have wrestled with God. How did this change your faith and your life? Consider this: Are you prepared to be the answer to your own prayer?

Pray. . .Give. . .Go.