Hi Church! 

Well the Advent Season is in full gear!  I love coming into the church and seeing all the decorations - thank you to those who were able to come last Saturday and deck the halls!

And a special thank you to those that have lived out generosity as a spiritual discipline.  You all have gone above and beyond what I had hoped for with the extra requests. 

We are currently in a series during Advent called Almost Christmas.  There is a devotion book that goes along with this series, and I still have some copies if you have not been able to get one yet.  They will be in the lobby on Sunday. 

We also have several serving opportunities - from greeting, to making coffee, to reading Scripture on Sunday, to praying, to helping out in the nursery, to helping with Communion and many more!  And we have a few open roles on the Executive Team if you are interested in that as well.  See me or email Roger and we will get you plugged in. 

Lots of great things are coming up this week and next as we go full force into celebrating the birth of our Lord!  Check out the newsletter for all events! 

Blessings,
Pastor Marcy

Devotion this week:

During the holidays, a memory from a very long time ago tends to pop up from time to time.  It was back when I was working in an office, before I made the jump to full time ministry.  My boss at the time gave me a necklace for Christmas.  And this was a boss that I quite frankly could say back then I hated.  I absolutely hated working for her. 

I was totally and completely miserable every single day.  It was all I could do to get up in the morning and go to this job.  Nearly every day I’d come home and just cry over having to work there.  And it was during the recession, so there were no other jobs to be had.  In fact a ton of folks I knew had lost their job – so I had to find some gratitude in my heart for just being employed.  I was a single mom with full custody and at the time no child support.  I had to go every day despite how miserable it made me feel.  She seemed to relish in my misery too.  She was snide, condescending, rude, and abrupt.   She was so mean to me.  But again,  I needed the job.   

And then the holidays came and she gave me this necklace as a Christmas gift.  I remember thinking “wow thanks – a bonus would have been much better! You know I am a single mom and need money more than anything.  I am assuming this necklace cost a lot too and I need the money way more than this stupid necklace.” 

But then I started looking at it and realized she actually did put some thought into it.  It had two pieces, one with my initials and one a purple gem.  And something in me changed as I looked over that necklace.  I believe the Lord spoke to me loud and clearly.  I kept hearing over and over in my head to pray for her, but I kept saying NO to the Lord.  I didn’t want to do what he was telling me to do. 

Finally, I decided I would pray for her.  But the only prayer I could come up with was, “Lord I pray, please let her get fired!”  Or, “Lord I pray that she gets transferred to another part of the company!”  Or even more horrible prayers:  “Lord I pray that some illness forces her to quit!” 

And of course the Lord said no, that isn’t what I meant.

So I started praying something different:  “Lord I pray that you make her be nice to me!  Lord I pray that you show her how good of a person I am and that she shouldn’t treat me this way.” 

And the Lord still said no, that isn’t what I meant either. 

So I humbled myself before the Lord.  And I prayed, “Lord please extend blessings onto her.  She is a child of God just like I am.  We are to love the way you loved.  We don’t deserve your love so we can’t put stipulations on our love to others.  Lord I pray blessings and love to her.” 

And I prayed that over and over and over, day after day after day.  So you may be expecting me to say and then a miracle happened right?  You are expecting to hear me say: and she changed!  She became a nice person!  She treated me so much better! 

Well that didn’t happen.  She didn’t change.  She didn’t treat me any better.  But you know what changed?  I did.  I changed.  I had been touched by the Lord and it didn’t matter anymore how she treated me.  I didn’t see her as the enemy anymore.  I saw her as a child of God.  I saw her the way God saw her.  And I was able to handle her mistreatment better.  I was able to let it just roll off me.  And I treated her differently – and THAT is what made the difference in our relationship.  There were no miracles that happened – she didn’t just suddenly become different.  But I became different – I learned more about praying for your “enemies” better than I ever had.  I knew what the Bible said, love your enemies, turn the other cheek, etc.  But they had been empty words before now.   

I learned how powerful prayer was by learning to pray for others with selflessness, without a demand for my justice, with pure love in my heart.

I encourage you to pray for your enemy – but pray without expecting something in return.  Your “return on investment” is in you.  It comes in the form of becoming more Christ-like, in loving the Savior enough to put aside your needs and take up the cross, and follow Him. 

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you  Matthew 5:44