Tag: YMCA Devotion

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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Day 10 :: Living Stone of GRACE

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 Laura DeVries, Program Director with onPrinciple

The Jerusalem International YMCA is often referred to as a ‘sermon in stone’, each column, wall, and relief tell a story. 

Framing the soaring entrance are carvings depicting the Woman at the Well and a lamb – a symbol for Jesus Christ.  

I’m reminded whenever I walk past this stone-sermon that goodwill between neighbors is practiced here and all are welcome to experience grace regardless of race, culture, class, or creed.

The story of Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well is surprising on many levels.

First, with a long history of racism and prejudice that was rooted in religious and racial stereotypes between Jews and Samaritans, travelers typically took the longer route around Samaria to avoid contact with each other. Jesus however, chose to walk straight through it!

Additionally, in this culture, a conversation between any Jew and an unknown woman would have broken social convention, and asking for water would have been understood as an invitation to be friends. Yet Jesus asks her for a drink!

We also know the woman was ostracized even before she shares her truth because women typically drew together in the cool morning but this woman came alone at high noon. Yet Jesus was completely undeterred by her questionable social status!

Practicing the Christian leadership principle of grace means extending favor to people whether they deserve it or not.

In this marginalized place and to this marginalized woman, Jesus extends grace, reaching past all human barriers into her thirsty soul and revealing that he is the long-awaited Christ. 

Through grace, God’s mercy meets her brokenness and her life and eternity are profoundly changed.  

As leaders who follow Jesus, we are compelled to cross human boundaries to extend grace to communities where prejudice, discrimination, and racism persist – to be intentional, regardless of, and sometimes because of social status, race, creed, or culture.

A great exchange can happen in a place of grace. Human brokenness can be exchanged for Christ’s righteousness. It is this Good News that lifts burdens, reconciles, restores, renews, and brings peace.

Pray with me:

Gracious God, give us eyes to see opportunities to reach across boundaries like Jesus, to love mercy, cling to truth, work toward reconciliation, bring healing and celebrate peace. Amen.

“Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but 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.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.””

Gospel according to John, 4.13-15 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