Pumpkin Cupcakes

You never really know what you're going to take away from church when you go, do you?

Five02 is Rachel and my home church community. It's a fledgling community, being launched from within St. Marks UMC and only in its third actual week (after many months of planning and years of prayerful development). It's set up as a post-protestant (the term I like, others might call it post-modern) community, and the teaching is followed by discussion, which usually lends itself to a greater amount of knowledge, at least on my part. Something about hearing from other people and getting their POVs really drives it home for me, I guess.

Anyways, before each community worship gathering, we share a meal. It's a bring-whatever-you-have-in-your-cupboards potluck style meal. Ryan and Andrea typically make some kind of caserole (last week was super yummy apple-sausage-sweet potato), and others fill in with all kinds of deserts, soups, and whatnot. Tonight was almost completely filled with out-and-out dinners. There was a vegetable-ground beef-tater tot caserole, a lasagne, chili, chicken and bean soup ... and these amazing Pumpkin Cupcakes.

And, as we sat around the tables eating our meal, one-by-one it seemed that all of us tried a Pumpkin Cupcake and marveled at how good they were. They were light, but still filling, sweet but not overpowering, deserty enough to satisfy a sweet tooth, but still plain enough to compliment a meal.

So why do I bring this up?

Partially, because of tonight's teaching. We're going through the Lord's Prayer in our worship gatherings, and tonight we focused on "Your Kingdom Come" ... a simple, but loaded question. Ryan chose to focus on the word "Kingdom" and talk about what the Kingdom of God is, and how Jesus used parables to explain it to us.

Through it all, I came to realize that the Kingdom of God is more about restoration than reward. The Kingdom of God is where we are restored to what God's original plan was. That means we go away from the secular and into the spiritual. Our lives become completely Christ-centric. Everything we do is spiritual ... there are no lines between our "Christian" lives and the rest of us.

So, the Cupcakes, to me, brought this point home as I reflected later. How God-like is it to take something simple, add just a little bit of flare to it, and use it for glory? How many times has God done this? He took a sheppard boy, and turned him into a king. He took a fisherman, and turned him into a leader. He took a persecutor of the Church and turned him into a preacher most of us quote today.

And so what do we have? A basic box of yellow food cake, added to it 15 oz of pumpkin, a quarter cup of water and a quarter teaspoon of pumpkin spice.

And it's that simple.

And the way God wants to restore us, to allow His Kingdom to come ... are probably that simple, taken one step at a time.

And I think I'll pray "God, restore me in a simple step this day, so I may take another step towards Your Kingdom coming."

Amen.

Hallowed Be They Name

The Lord's Prayer. Most of us know it, in some form or another.

Our Father
Who art in Heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our tresspasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from Evil
For Thine is the kingdom
And the power
and the glory
Forever and ever
Amen

Well, at five02, we're kicking off our community launch by studying the Lord's prayer section by section. I missed the first teaching/discussion on "Our Father", as I got assigned child care duties (as an aside if you or anyone you know is in the Findlay Area and would like to volunteer to do Child Care for two hours on Saturday nights to help a ministry get off the ground, let me know). But, this week I got to participate.

Anyways, one of Ryan's main points was that part of God having a Hallowed Name is us keeping God's name above reproach (or at least this is what I heard/got out of it). So, the question is, how do we do that?

We can (easily) acknowledge with our lips, and even with our hearts, that God is mighty, pure, holy, above all, and hallowed. Is it our challenge to keep God's name holy and reverant? And if so, how?

I believe the word offers us to places to look:

O people, the LORD has already told you what is good, and this is what he requires: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

We are required to do what is right. Not to attempt to do what is right. Not to try to do what is right. To do it. Just shut up and do it. Not to make excuses when we don't. To do it. (My thanks to Nike and Yoda for some of the insight there).

We are also required to love mercy. Not only to love receiving mercy, but to love giving mercy. Which is difficult. Very difficult at times. It's not fun to show someone mercy. But it's required. A good friend of mine once read this line as "love loving others". And that's stuck with me. It's a philosophy I like to keep.

And last but not least, in this passage, we are to walk humbly with the Lord. God has given us a role to play. But we must always acknowledge that it is Him giving us a role, not Him needing us to play a part. He could recast us as easily as a sitcom recasts a holdout minor character. That's walking humbly. Knowing that anyone else can be called to fulfill your role.

No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love has been brought to full expression through us.

If God has a hallowed name, and is to be our Father, others need to know this. But how will they ever see God? Through our love. When we love others, he is made fully expressed. No longer emulated or simulated, but replicated. We replicate God when we love others. What an awesome power.

And, so, that's my challenge. At least for myself. To keep God holy, to keep His name above reproach. And there's my blueprint. Do what is right, love loving others, walk humbly, and replicate God through my love of others.