The third of our goals for this week together is to “enable us to live in Christian community, with worship as a key part of our week.” With that in mind, we begin and end each day with worship. Each morning by 7:40, we are all out of our cabin and in a private, quiet space to have at least 10 minutes of devotion time using the following guide. It has scripture for each day, as well as a guided reading to spur your prayer and thoughts. Our themes each morning come from the daily programs for our Day Camp this week. Each talks about how much God cares for us and loves us, and the different ways that God’s love is expressed by God’s constant presence in our lives. And then at 7:50, we gather at the pavilion for our morning worship. Let this time enrich your week and your growth in faith. Click the <more> link below for the devotions
GOD CREATES Monday Genesis 1:1-2:4a As we read this creation story, it’s important to remember that God communicated to the ancient people using language and images that were familiar to them and we can still use those same images to learn from. God creates a good and imaginative world, but does not leave it to cope on its own. God remains present and active, even in the wake of human sin, choosing to work creatively in and through creatures, especially God’s chosen people, toward divinely established goals of salvation and new creation. God is the Creator of all things and God invites us to work together for the sake of the world. God is constantly creating, making all things new. Think about all the ways that your life is created, re-created, and is made new throughout these days and particularly in this week ahead. Think about the long bus ride that we took from New Providence to Sunset Gap, more than 12 hours. Think about the new relationships that are created this week as you meet new people from home and here in your home for the week. How will these relationships create new and lasting memories for you? How will God’s family be re-created for you as you explore new places in this special place called Sunset Gap? All of God’s creation is a special gift, meant for us to enjoy and to care for. Trust in God’s presence to be with you as you pray for all those you come in contact with today and in the week ahead.
“How majestic is your name in all the earth!” ~ Psalm 8:1b
GOD HELPS Tuesday Exodus 2:1-10 God not only creates the world, but God helps the world as well. Our reading from Exodus tells the story of how God helps the baby Moses through the actions of his sister, Miriam. In his attempt to control Israel’s population, Pharaoh orders that all the male children of the Hebrews be killed by the midwives. The policy is foolish at a number of levels. Killing the females would be a more effective way to limit the population. Second, in the long run, Pharaoh would diminish his labor pool for heavy construction work. Pharaoh’s policy is undercut by the midwives who defend their action to Pharaoh by claiming that the Hebrew women are so vigorous that they give birth before the midwives can arrive. Pharaoh again looks silly, hardly an image of royal control. Throughout the Bible, God sends people to help one another. God sent Jesus to show us how to live and as a sacrifice for sin and for all of creation. Today’s Bible story shows us how God sends people to care for us and is a reminder that we are sent to care for others. Our worship theme this year has been “New Beginnings” and our lesson for today reminds us that we are forever being made new. God helps us through struggles and challenges, sending people to care for us and help us through those dark days. Our life experiences change us and help us to be people of faith, people of the Family of Faith. God helps us see who we are by those we come in contact with here in Tennessee, by members of our Ministry Team, and throughout the ministries that we share as people of faith.
“Your help has made me great.” ~ Psalm 18:35b
GOD LOVES Wednesday Matthew 3:13–17, John 1:29–34 All four Gospels write about Jesus’ baptism, a critical moment marking the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell of the heavens opening. In Matthew, this is a personal vision where Jesus sees heaven and earth no longer as separate. When the spirit of God descends like a dove, this is reminiscent of the way God’s creative power was present at creation in Genesis 1:2. God’s power is equipping Jesus for his mission, for a new creation, for bringing Gods kingdom to earth. In John 1:32, John the Baptist says that God told him the Spirit would come down from heaven and rest on the one for whom John was waiting for and preparing others for. When John saw the Spirit descend, just as God said, he recognized that Jesus was the Son of God. A dove symbolizes purity of heart, deliverance, gentleness, and peace. This is Jesus. This is what God’s power is like for us – this is the Holy Spirit that empowers us to serve in Christ’s name, to care for God’s world, to love one another. Being reminded that we are loved by God shapes how we work, play, and care for others. When we are baptized, we make promises to work together for justice and peace. How will you share God’s love with others today? How will the Holy Spirit empower you as you care for God’s creation today?
“This is my Son whom I dearly love; I find happiness in him.”
~ Matthew 3:17b
GOD CALMS Thursday Luke 8:22-25 So far this week, we have seen in Genesis that God has power over all of creation and is constantly creating; in Exodus, we discovered that God helps; and in Matthew, that God loves. Today the disciples get to see God’s power, help, and love on display through Jesus, although initially they struggle to recognize it and who he is. In the middle of a storm, Jesus demonstrates to the disciples that they have nothing to fear, despite the fact that their faith has been shaken. Jesus’ presence with the disciples on the boat shows them that he cares, even if they can’t see that God is with them during the storm. Knowing the storm is no match for God and remembering that he is God’s “beloved Son,” Jesus sleeps in peace. He trusts in God’s power and care. Much of religion then, and perhaps for some even now, is based in fear, but Jesus reminds us that God’s care abates our fear even when there is a storm raging. Like those disciples, we too might wonder if God is aware of what’s happening, wonder about God’s presence in our lives. Storms help us understand God’s love and constant presence in our lives, particularly on those dark and difficult days. We need those storms to remind us that God is with us. Remember that God sends people to care for us, and God sends us to care for others to calm their fears. How will you experience God’s calming presence today? How will you share that calm with others?
“The God of peace will be with you.” ~ Philippians 4:9b
GOD SENDS Friday John 21:1-17 On this last day of camp, we are reminded of God’s active love for us, for all of humanity, for all of creation. God’s love is one that engages us to be part of community – the community of Sunset Gap in Cosby, Tennessee and our Family of Faith in New Providence, New Jersey. In our Bible lesson today, Jesus reaffirms his love and acceptance of Peter by having Peter bring the fish to shore. When Jesus asks if Peter loves him, he offers forgiveness and healing for the three times that Peter betrayed him. Jesus loves Peter and sends him out into the world to share that love. He tells him to ‘feed my sheep,’ instructing Peter and the church to not only be ‘fishers of men’ but also ‘shepherds of the flock.’ God’s family, the Church, is called to love and nurture one another just as Jesus loved and nurtured his disciples. We are called by God, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and sent to care for God’s kingdom, just as Jesus shows us and teaches us. Our daily spiritual walk with God enables our faith to grow and flourish. As we look back at our week, try to recall where we have been, how far we have come, and where we have yet to go, with the words of the Servant’s Prayer: “O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through challenges unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
“Then I heard the Lord’s voice saying, ‘Whom should I send, and who will go for us?’ I said, ‘I’m here; send me.’” ~ Isaiah 6:8
FAITH Saturday On the bus and heading home. It was faith that brought us here in every sense of the word. The faith that God has given each of us. The Family of Faith that organizes this annual pilgrimage. And now it is time to thank God for this week. For those who have touched our lives and those whose lives we have touched. For new friends we have made and for relationships that have grown. For the gift of being able to live in this special Christian community for a week. In the quiet of the bus ride today, take some time to thank God for these gifts and for the special blessings you have encountered. Pray for those we are leaving and understand that ministry always involves movement. Praising God always involves movement. Movement to familiar and unfamiliar places. Places like Tennessee, like New Providence, like Newark, like Tanzania, and countless other places. Like Jerusalem, where the world was forever changed. Thank God. Thank God.
Our Family members back home will receive copies of these Devotions
and are invited to join us each morning for prayer at 7:40.
Appalachian Ministry
Sunset Gap, Cosby Tennessee
This is a ministry that was begun with seed money provided by Faith Nursery School. In 1998, the first ministry team was sent for a more than 12-hour long bus ride from New Providence, New Jersey to Cosby, Tennessee in the heart of Appalachia. We went there because we wanted our folks to see that poverty transcends geography and race, and that is endemic to greed and selfish economic policy. We wanted to take a large, intergenerational team. We wanted to do construction and to run a day camp. And, we wanted to live together in Christian community in the sparsest of facilities. And Sunset Gap in Tennessee, in the deep South, was the closet place that met our criteria. We have had an interesting relationship there over the years. In our first year we were known as the “damn Yankees,” and now we are called “kin.” There have been hundreds of folks of all ages from our Family who have made this journey. Dozens of construction projects started and finished. Hundreds and hundreds of children have heard the Gospel with a new accent. Live have been forever changed. Lives will continue to be forever changed. In Tennessee and in New Jersey. No matter where we go, we have opportunities to share the Gospel. We have opportunities to speak a word of hope, to share the gift of love that gives witness to our Easter gift. Tell the story. Share the Faith.