Month: November 2021

Day Four :: Beauty is Forgiveness / World YMCA Week of Prayer 2021

For almost a 120 years the World YMCA has been calling its members and leaders to a week of prayer, along side the World YWCA, and this year the theme is: Beauty from Brokenness

“Although we may be easily broken, the light of Christ within us can heal brokenness and burst through, reaching out to those around us.”

Join us for a week of prayer in your heart at noon each day this week!

Today we focus on the beauty of forgiveness. Yet, forgiveness is one of the most challenging things to do for many people. It is difficult for most people to seek forgiveness. In many cases, it is also hard for many to forgive.

“The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?”

He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”

‭‭John‬ ‭21:17‬ ‭

Forgiving does not mean completely forgetting the wrongdoings of the offender.

There must be justice for the crime committed against the offended, the sinned-against.

The contemporary criminal justice system metes out justice by establishing the guilt of the offender and punishing the offender according to the provisions of the law.

This is retributive justice. Yet, it is not a guarantee that forgiveness takes place.

In restorative justice, a dialogical approach takes place in an attempt to restore the dignity and the relationships between the offended, the offenders, and the community that the crime has afflicted. In the restorative justice system, there is a high probability of forgiveness and healing.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

Why do we need to seek forgiveness and forgive those who have offended us?

What is your response to Jesus if he will ask you now, “Do you love me?” Would you want Jesus to ask you the same question three times?

What would it take you to forgive someone who betrays your trust and violates your personhood?

How can we use our freedom to love and forgive amid a world beset with sinfulness and brokenness?

How can we love the unlovable – rapist, murderers, oppressors, colonizers, land grabbers, and the oppressive social structures, etc.?

PRAYER OF BLESSING

God of Beauty and Holiness;
You have created a wonderful universe.
You have fashioned the amazing Earth and the delightful creatures in it. We bless you and praise you for creating us, human beings, in your image. And yet, somehow, in our arrogance
We forget our creatureliness.
We behave as if we are the creator of this Earth.
We forget to reflect in our lives your divine image.
We destroy the Earth because of greed.
We destroy our lives and our fellow earthlings.
We nurse our hurts and find it so difficult to forgive.
We nurture our proclivity for vengeance.
We delight in violence, conflicts, and wars.
We refuse to build communities of peace.
We are broken vessels; we wallow in our self-pity and brokenness.
For all our weaknesses, failures, and ugliness we brought into this world, Help us forgive ourselves, and forgive us, O God.
Help us become instruments of your blessing of forgiveness.
Dear God, as we leave this place,
Bless us with uneasiness with our complacency,
Bless us with courage and steadfastness
That we may strive to restore the beauty of our relationship with each other And with the Earth.
Amen.

Please share any thoughts, insights or recorded actions that come as a result of
today’s devotion on social media using the hashtag: #WWOP21
Team: Muriel Orevillo-Montenegro, Philippines/Hong Kong; Jacob Palm, USA; Joanna Tan, Singapore; Ololade Aregun, Nigeria; Salem Gin, Nigeria

If you are on Instagram, I highly recommend you follow @ymcairelandchaplaincy – they post inspiring content and are participating in the World Week of Prayer with daily posts and videos.

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Day 11 :: Living Stone of PEACE

Join us for the 12 Day YMCA Devotion Series – LIVING STONES: LEAD, CARE AND SERVE LIKE JESUS

How can we be ‘like Living Stones’ used by God to strengthen the presence of Christ where we lead?

Recently, 24 YMCA leaders with the OnPrinciple program visited 12 places throughout the Holy Land where Jesus taught about how to live and lead in God’s kingdom.

From this experience comes 12 spiritual leadership principles – or Living Stones – (inspired by 1Peter 2:4-5) that Christ-followers can embody as we are being built up to lead, care and serve everyone, like Jesus.

by Norris Lineweaver, Board Secretary with Friends of the Jerusalem International YMCA

Forgiveness is the work of returning dignity to those from which it was taken.

Jesus, for example, did not encourage his disciples to seek revenge against local authorities for the atrocities committed toward him.

Instead, upon his being raised from the dead, the first words of Jesus were a blessing of shalom; then he declared a mission of forgiveness for his followers.

Located just outside the old city walls of Jerusalem, The Garden Tomb is considered by many to be a possible location for the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

Whenever I visit the beautiful Garden Tomb in Jerusalem, it’s like entering a sacred space for peaceful prayer and meditation – not only for me but also for Christians from around the world.

One of the most important reminders for me from reflecting at the Garden Tomb on the Easter story is the power of forgiveness and reconciliation for peace in the example demonstrated by the resurrected Christ Jesus our Lord.

Near the Damascus Gate and standing in the shadow of Skull Hill, this beautiful garden is a powerful symbol of Christ’s peace in the face of adversity, violence, and death.

Current examples are demonstrating everyday work of Christian peace near The Garden Tomb. 

As CEO of the East Jerusalem YMCA, my dear friend Peter Nasir is the third generation of his Christian family to lead peace initiatives of the Y in occupied Palestine.

Peter’s grandfather Labib and his father Kamil demonstrated through leadership succession a consistent language of reconciliation for peace and forgiveness while holding authorities rightfully accountable for civil injustice and violence.

From their very beginning, YMCA operations in Palestine have focused on everyday works of peace through vocational training for young people.

Skilled hands build sustainable economies as a foundation for both progress and peace.

Engaging both Christian and Muslim leaders and youth working together reduces internal conflict and prejudices.

Resilient leaders find renewed strength from encouraging forgiveness in the face of adversity to resurrect peace.

What do these examples of peace mean for you in your everyday life?

If the living stones of The Garden Tomb could speak they might ask where in your life is a sacred space for contemplation to encourage everyday acts of peace and forgiveness?

May you respond to Christ’s call to build up everyday works of peace and forgiveness where you are sent to play, work and live.

“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”

After he said this, he showed them his hands and side.

The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.””

Gospel according to John, 20.19-23 NIV

This YMCA devotion series brought to you by onPrinciple – click here to learn more about it – a new leadership development program to strengthen the presence of Christ in the YMCA

Click here for the entire devotion series as a downloadable PDF booklet.

Click here to access entire devotion series on YouVersion

Day Three :: Beauty is Dignity and Inclusion / World YMCA Week of Prayer 2021

Since 1904 the World YMCA has been calling its members and leaders to a week of prayer, along side the World YWCA, and this year the theme is: Beauty from Brokenness

“Although we may be easily broken, the light of Christ within us can heal brokenness and burst through, reaching out to those around us.”

Join us for a week of prayer in your heart at noon each day this week!

Jesus acts to include and dignify the “outsider,” reaching out cross-culturally and across gender divides

He says, “Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.

Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Jesus of Nazareth, Gospel according to John, 4:14

Division. Exclusion. Shame.

All over the world and in our own communities, we see how divided and separated we are.

Wherever you go, it seems that there are insiders and outsiders.

Sometimes we ourselves have been the outcast and felt the pain of exclusion.

What is it that humanity is thirsting and longing for?

What will finally fix what is so clearly broken

God said through the prophet Jeremiah saying: “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” (Jeremiah 2:13)

As long as we insist on our own cisterns, we will continue to struggle as a society and as individuals.

Without God, we are broken and cannot put ourselves back together.

The good news is that God came to repair our hearts and heal every- thing that divides us.

Through Jesus Christ, God offers living waters of healing and welcomes the outsiders and restores dignity to the outcast.

REFLECTION POINTS

When you think about your own community, what are the sources of greatest division?

What are some examples of people who are often excluded, isolated, and outcast?

When you think about your own life, how have you felt separated from others before?

Who is someone who reached out and made a difference?

When you think about your own heart, what are the things that have separated you from God?

What are you thirsting and longing for?

What does it look like to receive Living Water?

PRAYER OF BLESSING

Dear God,

Thank you for coming to seek us out and bridge the divide that separates us from you.

Thank you for restoring the brokenness of our lives and bestowing dignity on us in Christ.

We confess that there are many things that divide us from one another and give rise to hatred or indifference.

Lord, give us eyes to see those who are excluded and alone.

Give us a heart that is transformed by your grace like the Samaritan woman.

And give us the courage to reach out and share your love with others.

We ask you for a dramatic shift in our society– that even long-held animosity and strife may be healed.

Help us to be instruments of your peace and bringers of Living Water so that others may drink deeply from a relationship with you.

We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Please share any thoughts, insights or recorded actions that come as a result of today’s devotion on social media using the hashtag: #WWOP21
Writing Team: Rev. Bjorn Dixon, USA; Christine Becker, Germany; Nicole Kaul, England; Matt Merkling, USA; Ephraim Nashaat, Egypt.

If you are on Instagram, I highly recommend you follow @ymcairelandchaplaincy – they post inspiring content and are participating in the World Week of Prayer with daily posts and videos.

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