From the UCC Network: Devotional for 12/17 "Results Beyond Measure"

Results Beyond Measure

Excerpt from Philippians 4:4-7 

“The Lord is near.”

Reflection by William C. Green

In determining what’s good, we want measurable results.  Our way of measuring often fails to question the value of what we’re looking for.  Do we really wish all our prayers had been answered?  If so, we might be stuck in a job we prayed was safe but that we needed to leave, or relieved by assurance that proved misguided.  And so with better church attendance, good performance evaluations, and successful campaigns.  What’s measurable can be misleading, and it’s not what counts. 

What counts is what Advent anticipates: the coming of true hope in the birth of Christ.  Who could have measured the difference this would make?  With the advantage of hindsight we see world-wide significance.  At the time what could be “measured” was the poorness of parents and the extremity of poverty.  Later on, what could be measured was twelve disheveled disciples.  Then what could be measured was the might of Rome and the weakness of a crucified Savior.  The power of Easter could not be measured by the number who believed.

Paul says, not that the Lord is here, but that the Lord is near.  God is with us, but that’s hard to nail down and quantify.  Poverty, oppression, all manner of disorder and disease still prevail.  That’s measurable.  What’s immeasurable is God’s promise that this will be overcome.  In this expectation we are meant to live, to plan, and to love.

Prayer 

God, whose love is near and beyond measure, may we count on the new hope that is ours in Christ.  Amen.

About the Author William C. Green, a United Church of Christ minister, is the Director of Long Looking, a consultancy service specializing in fundraising and education for congregations. His new book, 52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation: Generous Giving, has just been published.

Daily Prayer

“Abba!” “Father,” I cry wanting no longer to be a slave of this world, but an heir to your Kingdom, as you have promised all who turn to you. But what is it that I am inheriting? Certainly not the world as we have it today. My inheritance must be something better – more precious – more divine. War, hunger, capital punishment, poverty, unemployment, classism, divisions among those who declare themselves faithful, and a greed which has permeated our hearts and souls in these times of struggle; this is not the stuff of your Kingdom on earth for which we pray. As an inheritor of the age-old promises, there must be more.

Yet, what I do see and live each day is what I do inherit as your follower in this time and place; on this side of the paradise that awaits all your faithful. And so, I pray, that during the precious few years of my existence, you will use my life to:

… Strive for peace, by opposing war

… Provide fullness by opening my table to others

… Stand for life, by speaking out against the death chambers

… Labor for the end of poverty, through equality of the distribution of the wealth you have provided us with

… Boldly speaking out for ways to provide employment for all who have sought for so long for an income to support their families

… Live my life in ways that break down the barriers that divide us and turn us against one another

… Open up the dialogs between all peoples of different faiths

… and to live with an open heart, of love and compassion, to those around me; that gives, as well as receives, the blessings that are ours.

May I be an inheritor of your ministry and work – here and now.

Amen.

Rev. Michael Kirchhoff

based on Galatians 4:1-7