Arlington United Methodist Church

The most important jobs in the Kingdom of God are the least glamorous in the eyes of the world. Thoughts for the week: What work do you feel called to participate in? What work to you feel called to give to?

The many different Christian denominations came out of legitimate disagreements with one another, but we tend to focus on the disagreements and forget how much we have in common. Thoughts for the week: How do you get along with Christians who have different beliefs? What is preventing us from working together to make the world a better place?

We live out our discipleship daily by constantly being open to how we can be part of God’s redeeming work in this world. Thoughts for the week: What opportunities do you have to do God’s work every day? How can you become more aware of those opportunities?

God speaks to us in many ways that can include voices from the sky, but are often less subtle. Thoughts for the week: Have you ever felt like God was speaking to you? What form did it come in? Did you realize it at the time or after the fact?

God judges us by the extent to which we embraced and lived the reality of the Kingdom in our own time and place. Our internal beliefs and external works mutually influence one another in the way we live our lives. The experience of the afterlife is a reflection of the life we have cultivated in the pure, unmediated presence of a holy, just, and righteous God. Thoughts for the week: What do the concepts of Heaven and Hell mean to you? Do you find them comforting or disturbing? Why?

The Bible is a collection of writings reflecting people’s experiences and understanding of God in the times and places in which they lived. The Holy Spirit continues to speak through these texts calling us into a lifelong relationship with a living God. Thoughts for the week: What does the Bible mean to you? How do you experience God through reading and meditating on scripture?

God’s presence is experienced in the midst of the ordinary, everyday circumstances of life, not just the “special” moments.

Our response to things that make us uncomfortable is to push them to the margins. Jesus’ response is to embrace, heal, and invite us to join him. Thoughts for the week: Are there people or things in your life that you keep at arm’s length because they make you uncomfortable? What would it mean to let Jesus in to heal those things?

Both action and contemplation are equally important parts of the spiritual life, but we must be willing to set action aside for a moment and listen when God is speaking to us. Thoughts for the week: Do you ever find yourself being busy for the sake of being busy? What is one way you can slow down to become aware of God’s presence?

We have to root our emotional well-being in the opportunity to do the work of the Kingdom of God instead of the results of that work. Thoughts for the week: What brings you joy? What things do you let affect how you feel? Are those things worthy of having authority in your life?

Passing leadership from one generation to another over time is how we celebrate what God has done and declare our trust in God’s continuing faithfulness. Thoughts for the week: How did/do you see God working in the generation that came before you? How do you see God working in your generation? How do you imagine God might work in those that come after you?

Lay delegate Kathy Campbell reports on the recent meeting of the Tennessee Annual Conference and share about how hard times come and go, but Jesus' promise of faithfulness remains with us and will carry us through.

The Bible frequently uses parental metaphors for God because, like a parent sees their child, God is able to love us while simultaneously being upset disappointed at certain actions. Thoughts for the week: How does the image of God as a parent affect your relationship with God? Are there other images that are more helpful to you?

We celebrate the sacraments because encounter God in them, and we grow in our knowledge and love of God by our participation. Thoughts for the week: What does Holy Communion mean to you? What do you experience when you receive it?

We “offer” Christ to hurting places in our world through actions that embody the loving presence of Jesus and proclaim that God is already present. Thoughts for the week: Where do you see God’s presence in painful situations? How do your words and actions embody the presence of Christ?

The Holy Spirit empowers us to speak multiple “languages” faith to give fresh expression to the old story of God’s redeeming grace. Thoughts for the week: What is your “language” of faith? How could God be leading us to find new ways to tell the story of Jesus?

Jesus calls us to trust fully and follow his will for our lives.

God matches our gifts and talents with the needs around us to accomplish something we never thought possible. Thoughts for the week: Who are the people around you who are forgotten by the rest of the world? How might you demonstrate God’s love to them?

Whether we see immediate results or gradually over time, God’s grace is constantly at work on all of us, Thoughts for the week: Do you get impatient and look for instant gratification? Can you look back over your life and see God working in ways you didn’t notice at the time?

During this last week we have been confronted once again with the reality of evil in our world. In the face of terror and senseless violence, followers of Jesus witness to the God who enters into our suffering and breaks the power of death, claiming "Resurrection" as the last word.