Tag: Beauty From Brokenness

Day Five :: Beauty is Serving Others / World YMCA Week of Prayer 2021

For almost twelve decades 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!

Serving others comes in many forms. When we accept others, give them space, challenge negative perceptions and operate in forgiveness we demonstrate the servant heart of Jesus.

“Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.”

Jesus of Nazareth, Gospel according to ‭‭Luke,‬ ‭7:44‬ ‭

True service is focused on the needs of the other, and not on our personal con- victions and opinions.

True service seeks a future and a perspective for our fellow humans.

True service places our own needs on the back burner.

But remember! You don ́t need to save the world; Jesus has already done that.

REFLECTION POINTS

Where are you currently challenged to serve your fellow human?

Is it easier for you to help people or to serve them? What is the difference, for you?

How do you recognise yourself in the woman and in the host?

What can help you to focus on the needs of the other person in the future?

How can you include Jesus in your actions?

PRAYER OF BLESSING

Jesus, you know us and our hearts.

We thank you because you don ́t leave us alone, but instead meet us in different ways.

You don ́t judge. You give new perspectives and look into our hearts in a way that no one else can.

We pray that you change our hearts.

Let us serve our fellow man in such a way, that their needs are fulfilled, that they experience acceptance and appreciation, and that they get to know you as their God.

We pray for the people around us who are excluded. Help us build connections and bridges.

We pray for possibilities, that people have genuine and freeing experiences with you.

Give us a change of heart, so that we love you, God, with our hearts, and love our neighbour as ourselves.

Through you we have hope and confidence for this world and the next.

Help us become people of service, who love you and who change the world for the better.

Glory to you, O Lord. Amen.

Please share any thoughts, insights or recorded actions that come as a result of today’s devotions on social media using the hashtag: #WWOP21
Team: Tobias Nestler, Germany; Javier Delgado, Columbia; Jannis Bauder, Germany; Wendy Ramirez, Columbia; Daniil Tritonaov, Russia.

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 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 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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