Announcing Good New to All Nations

 

After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples and said, “Go into all the world and proclaim the Good News to every creature,” Mark 16:15. Apparently, Saint Fracis of Assisi took that command to preach to birds, animals, and all creatures, who, as rumor has it, were on their best behavior when he spoke to them.

Most of us are more apt to announce the Gospel (Good News) to people of every nation – a calling no longer confined to the work of missionaries. Thanks to God and the Internet, our biblically-sound writings, devotions, sermons, and inspirational poems can reach each corner or curve of the earth. The Lord Himself, of course, led the way.

As Acts 2 tells us in the King James Version of the Bible:

2 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

² And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

³ And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

⁵ And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.

⁶ Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

⁷ And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?

⁸ And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?

⁹ Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,

¹⁰ Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,

¹¹ Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

 

 

from the FreeBibleImages website 

Because of the Jewish feast of Pentecost, people from all over the known world had gathered in Jerusalem, where the Holy Spirit fell upon them, thereby giving us the Christian celebration of Pentecost.

God knew that gathering would occur, making the perfect occasion to reverse the confused languages of Babel and giving everyone ear to hear in their own language! Since that made me curious about the location of the nations mentioned in Acts 2:9-11, a little online research produced this information found on the BibleHub website:

Acts 2:9

The Parthians, know for their power, lived in what is now known as northeastern Iran.

The Medies, an ancient people, lived in Media, part of today’s Iran.

The Elamites dwelled in the southwestern part of present-day Iran.

The people of Mesopotamia lived between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the area often known as the “cradle of civilization.”

Judea, a region of the Roman Empire, is in the Middle East.

Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia are in what is now known as Turkey.

Acts 2:10

Phrygia and Pamphylia, also in present-day Turkey, have been known for their diverse cultures, which helped to spread early Christianity.

Egypt has frequently held a prominent place in Bible history.

Libya in North Africa, includes Cyrene, the place which gave us Simon who carried the cross for Jesus,

Rome, at the time of Pentecost, was the heart of the Roman Empire.

Acts 2:11

Cretans lived on the island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea.

Arabs came from the Arabian Peninsula.

On this amazing day, people of all ages and ethnicity heard the Good News of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, ushering in diversity from the very beginning of Christianity. With each person hearing about Christ in their own language and frame of reference, the Bible sets a precedent for us to recall today as we become aware of peoples whose ways of worship show diversity too. May God continue to help us understand, love, and respect one another in Jesus’ Name.

 

Mary Harwell Sayler

 

 

 

 

Learning to Love the Whole Body of Christ

Losing any part of the human body causes pain and the subsequent adjustments needed to compensate. The more body parts lost, the greater the pain and time needed to cope. And yet, over the centuries, this very loss has happened to the Body of Christ.

Some Christians get distrustful of attempts to reconcile or reassemble, and I once fell into that wary category too, but the Lord had something else in mind. As God-incidence would have it, various job transfers gave my family the opportunity to get to know almost every denomination: Evangelical, Fundamental, Pentecostal, Orthodox, and Liturgical.

With each move, we looked for a church home where we felt the presence of the Lord, and, with each change, we learned to love yet another part of Christ’s Body on earth.

Initially, for instance, hymn lyrics and tunes were a priority, which encouraged singing praises and words of faith – still remembered decades later. Another church home emphasized Scripture, taking us through the whole Bible in three years or less and helping us to recognize God’s purpose and perspective from Genesis through Revelation.

Other churches focused on the Holy Spirit, making us aware of God’s desire to live with us and within us, today and forever, whereas Liturgical denominations filled us with appreciation for God’s creation through prayer, poetry, and art.

Do you see how each part of the Body has a place, a purpose, and something to add to the whole?

God loves all of His children! As we make an effort to understand where our siblings in Christ are coming from, we begin to realize we have the same Heavenly Father, the same Savior and Lord, and that our differences are primarily personal preferences and gift we’re given – gifts mean to be shared to edify the whole Church.

Even if we don’t feel comfortable visiting a church without an invitation or a member to accompany us, we can get to know denominations with which we’re not familiar by investigating their denominational websites and focusing on what we have in common.

With God’s help, we can pull ourselves together and do whatever we can to bridge our differences, make peace, and repair the breach. What a positive and powerful impact the whole Body of Christ on earth will make on our troubled world.

 

Mary Harwell Sayler

 

A few of many relevant Scriptures:

Romans 12:5, “Though many, we are one body in Christ, and individual members of one another.”

Colossi an 3:15, “Let the peace of Christ govern your hearts for to you were called to be members of one body.”

Ephesians 4:16, “Christ makes the whole body fit and united through the support of every joint. Every part does a job, so the body grows and is built up in love.”

 

Beyond Belief

 

“By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ I appeal to all of you, my friends, to agree in what you say, so that there will be no divisions among you. Be completely united, with only one thought and one purpose,” 1 Corinthians 1:9, Good News Translation.

Despite our diverse cultures, radically opposing beliefs, and personal preferences for how things are to be done, we are all to be One in Christ.

 

First, we believe:

Yes! God DOES mean what He says!

Yes! God the Father gave us Jesus the Son.

Yes, the Lord eradicates our wrongs and resuscitates us to a new life in Christ.

 

Then, we obey:

We find out what God wants.

We read the Bible. We talk to God and listen.

We invite God’s Holy Spirit to guide and empower us.

We use the ministry gifts and other resources we have been given to build up the Body of Christ.

 

Together, we do even more:

In Christ, we worship God and work with God’s Family.

We pray for discernment and wisdom, compassion and mercy.

We invite others into our ever-widening circle of God’s Love.

Together, we encircle the world with the good news of God’s Son.

We extend respect to all peoples, knowing we are all made in the image of God.

We focus on needs and goals we share, rather than our differences.

As God enables us, we make peace in the Name of Jesus.

                                   

©2021, Mary Harwell Sayler          

 

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I Sing Better With Him Behind

 

Has your voice ever slid off-key for lack of breath or unfamiliarity with a hymn? As our vocal chords age, it’s harder for most of us to hold a note or stay consistently in tune.

When our extended family members come back to Florida for the winter and early spring, I look forward to Henry’s return. As soon as I see him, I eagerly point to the seat behind me where I can hear his pleasing voice. Not only that, but my own voice instantly improves!

Who do you need to have your back?

What voice do you hope to hear?

What key verses keep you in tune with God’s Will?

 

Prayer: Loving Father, help us to hear You well as You speak to us through Your Word. Help us to stay on key with Your truth and love. Help us to sing Your praises this and every day in Jesus’ Name.

 

©2021, Mary Sayler

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Soul Care in African American Practice

When Intervarsity Press kindly sent me a review copy of Soul Care in African American Practice by Spiritual Director Barbara Peacock, I joyfully read a paragraph in the Preface describing the author’s upbringing, which reflected my own nurturing home and the deeply held convictions that grew from that love. As Dr. Peacock said:

“I thank God for his faithfulness toward my siblings and me in that he blessed us with an environment of a loving, caring, and nurturing community, including our parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles, and cousins. Such a foundation in my Christian journey allows me to seek ways to love unconditionally. Consequently I emphatically embrace the theology of love. I believe that love covers all kinds of sin. I believe what the world needs more is love. And is love not the greatest commandment? This is the greatest call: to love.”

Indeed, the certainty that God is love sets every troubling thing into perspective and enables us to discern the responses God wants from us as we ask, “What is the loving thing to do?”

Sadly, many people from every culture and country lack the loving care and encouragement needed to be all they’re meant to be, but thankfully, our spiritual growth doesn’t rely on love received from the human race but from God’s grace. Often, the greater the obstacles, the greater God graces us with His powerful presence.

As Dr. Peacock points out in the introductory chapter “African American Spirituality”:

“While in chains, many slaves expressed great faith in God, the only one who could deliver them from such inhumane circumstances.”

Therefore,

“It was on those slave ships making the Middle Passage that we find the origins of African American spiritual direction and soul care.”

However, “Many make the assumption that all Africans first heard about Christ when they came to America. This is far from true.”

“In fact, the African church fathers contributed to the formative years of Christianity. St. Augustine of Hippo as well as Egyptian and North African scholars such as Clement, Origen, Tertullian, and Athanasius are widely recognized as fathers of the church.”

Later, slavery sorely challenged Christian beliefs, but stories of faith and spiritual hymns provided strength. As the author explains:

“The wording, the verbiage, and the tone of slave narratives and spiritual songs in the African American tradition tell the journey as a story. Such songs lifted the heart and affirmed hope for a better day. The central relational focus of the spirituals was God. He was and remains the hope, the deliverer, and friend.”

In the following chapters, Dr. Peacock focuses on African American leaders who “have been tenacious in pursuing a relationship with Yahweh.” One seemingly unlikely person was Dr. Frederick Douglass, better known as an abolitionist, reformer, and former slave, whose master’s wife read the Bible to him and helped him learn to read.

“From memory, he began to speak words he heard her say while they read together. The way they read the Bible together resembles the Latin reading process called lectio divina, a slow, thoughtful reading of the text with God’s presence in mind.”

After explaining this ancient spiritual practice, the author provides “Questions For Reflection” to help us engage more fully. That section, included in subsequent chapters, too, additionally provides spiritual direction in talking with God, hearing from God, visually reflecting on the Lord, and praying.

“As a result of learning to read the Bible, Douglass became a well-known intellectual in his community and beyond. Reading was the fundamental skill that prepared him to live a life that transformed not only himself but also others. For him reading was not merely glancing over a text but meditating on what he heard, which eventually equipped him to impact millions.”

The next chapter, “Spiritual Direction and Prayer,” highlights the soul care of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose “life of contemplative prayer made him an effective spiritual leader.” The author goes on to say:

“It would have been impossible for Dr. King to fulfill the mandate on his life without the assurance of God’s unconditional love for himself and all humanity…. Thus, as a leader, he was called by God to lead in a movement for freedom that was centered in love – that is, Christ-centered love. Such love is the kind Dr. King allowed the Spirit to form in him amid racial discord. With such love, he loved God and his people to the extent he was willing to die for what he believed.”

In the chapter “Meditation and Contemplation,” we learn of the “conscientious decision to speak silently for her civil rights” that Mrs. Rosa Parks made before getting on that Montgomery bus. Having been brought up in a Christian home, she spent much time seeking God and developing the soul care needed to equip her for the task at hand.

“During the civil rights movement, Mrs. Parks needed the supernatural peace of God as she led the people God called her to serve. She understood the cost of developing and nurturing God’s peace within her that would equip her as a spiritual leader. Because of her faithfulness, God graciously provided her peace in the midst of adversity. In order to maintain and abide in this peace, Mrs. Park’s challenge was to keep her mind fixed on God.”

Throughout this enlightening book, Dr. Barbara Peacock focuses on the practices of ten African American leaders, whose companionship with God enabled them to do the work to which they had been called. By tending their own souls through prayer, meditation on God’s Word, and reliance on the Holy Spirit, they could then provide spiritual direction to others.

In “Conclusion,” the author calls us to re-call:

“The journey of all people (regardless of color or ethnicity) began in Genesis. The inclusivity of the Spirit of God is seen in the divine entity of life and the breath that all humanity shares…. All creatures, whether black, white, brown, red, or yellow, are communicative beings designed for the glory of God. All peoples are created to worship and to be in holy communion with our Creator.”

May we all enter into this intimate relationship with the Lord and express God’s love to others in Jesus’ Name.

 

Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2020, poet-writer, and lifelong lover of God’s people and God’s Word

 

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