Grace for All

There is a popular quote, and I hope you’ll forgive me if the way I report it is not exactly how you have heard it. And I hope you’ll forgive me, too, if you know it to be from a particular source. You see, it’s actually attributed to many people — a quick Google search revealed attribution to everyone from Buddha to Saint Augustine to Christian author Joanna Weaver to Irish actor Malachy McCourt. In any case, the quote goes something like this: “Holding on to hatred is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”

That seems to be closely akin to the message the author of Proverbs is trying to convey. When we are kind to others, we are in turn helping ourselves. And when we are hurtful toward others, we are actually hurting ourselves, or drinking the poison, as it may be.

But to be clear, I really don’t think the point the author of Proverbs is making is to be kind to others in order to be kind to one’s self. Helping ourselves should be a by-product, not a goal.

One of my favorite podcasts (after Grace for All, of course!) is Hidden Brain. This is an exploration of the world through the lens of the social sciences. Host Shankar Vedantam invites incredibly intelligent people to his show to discuss, well, being human in this complex world. I highly recommend that you check out this podcast.

In April 2023, Shankar hosted psychologist Amit Kumar on an episode discussing why we are reluctant to be kind to one another. While the whole episode is worth your time, a few of the takeaways include that people often worry about getting the details of their particular kindness just right, but recipients seem to care much more about the effort than the act.

Further, small acts of kindness that might be inconsequential to the giver can be monumental to the recipient. When we share a kind word or make a small expression of warmth, we often are actually helping others more than we realize. And this chasm between how the giver and the recipient perceive the act creates what Kumar refers to as the Prosociality Paradox.

In this paradox, even though the act of kindness is good for both us and others, we are reluctant to behave in this way since givers of kindness worry about the details and minimize the effect. But it even goes further: this phenomenon also causes us to be reluctant to ask others for kindness that they could provide, even though studies show that we are more than happy to help others when we are able to do so, and we want to feel helpful.

As followers of Christ who are trying to demonstrate the fruits of the Spirit, we must be ever more intentional about sharing that kindness, no matter how great or small it may be. We must not worry so much about getting every detail right, as much as getting our intentions right. In short, we must overcome any obstacles from our efforts to make the world kinder. The podcast goes on to describe the pay-it-forward effect, which documents examples of how one act of kindness spurs another. Friends, let us make this society kinder and kinder still, and may nothing, least of all ourselves, get in our way.

Holy Spirit of God, you are the source of kindness. Let us channel that in our lives to all who need it, no matter how great or small the need. Help us to not worry so much about how to do so, but help us feel strengthened in you to not be reluctant to do so. We pray this in Christ’s name, amen.

This devotion was written and read by Dwight Dockery.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Job’s friends think they have God figured out.

Job has lost almost everything, and they think they know why. Surely, he must have done something terrible. God rewards good people and punishes bad people, they reason, so if Job is suffering, Job must be guilty.

Job knows they’re wrong. But he doesn’t understand what God is doing either. In fact, much of the book consists of Job demanding an explanation. At least he knows he hasn't figured it all out.

Then, in the middle of all that confusion, Job says something remarkable: I know that my redeemer is alive.

Scholars debate exactly what Job means by “redeemer” here. But perhaps the most important thing is what Job doesn’t say. He doesn’t say, “I understand.” He says, “I know.”

I once had a little Chihuahua who hated going to the veterinarian. From her perspective, I can only imagine how bewildering it seemed. The person she trusted most would carry her into a strange place and allow a woman in a white coat to poke her with needles.

She couldn’t possibly understand why I allowed that.

But afterward, she still wanted me. She still climbed into my lap. She still licked my hand. She didn’t understand what had happened, but she knew whom she trusted.

Sometimes we want faith to give us explanations. Job reminds us that faith can survive without them.

There are things about suffering, loss, and even God that lie beyond our ability to understand. The book of Job ultimately refuses to give us (or Job) a tidy explanation for all of them.

But it gives us something else.

We may not understand God. We may argue with God or even cry out to him in anger and confusion.

And still, with Job, we can say: I know that my redeemer lives.

Let's pray.

Lord, when I cannot understand what is happening, help me remember who you are. Give me faith that can ask hard questions, endure uncertainty, and still reach for you. In Jesus' name, through whom we can know you, Amen.

This devotional was written and read by Donn King.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Welcome to the Saturday episode of the Grace for All podcast. Thank you for joining us today. Saturday is a special time when we take a few moments to review the scriptures that we have cited in the episodes this week.

If you missed any of those episodes, you might want to consider listening to them today. And even if you heard them all, there may be one that you might want to listen to again. We hope that each of these scriptures and podcasts will bring you a full measure of joy, peace, and love.

Now, let's listen to the scriptures that have been on our hearts this week.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Not too long ago I was reading a book by a Benedictine nun. As I read, she kept talking about “the other”. I pictured the other as someone terrible. It took a while, but finally I figured out that she was talking about me. The other was anyone who was not part of her Benedictine community. It made me stop and think about how it felt to be the other. After all, when I think about the other, it isn’t me; it is someone else. It is someone who is not like me. Then I thought about other times when I had felt like the other. When I was in the Boy Scouts, I worked for several years as a staff member at a summer camp. The camp was for white scouts. Toward the end of that time, after the white-only scout season was over, the camp was opened to black scouts. With a few other staff members, for two years, I stayed at the camp during that time to help black scouts do the same thing that I had been doing. I felt like the other. On another occasion, I had the opportunity to visit a service at a synagogue. Not a single person spoke to me. In fact, as I sat there, I could hear all those around me talking about the Gentiles, i.e., the other, me. I have also had the opportunity to visit several all-black churches. I was always welcomed. These experiences made me think about how I feel about and treat others. They don’t have to talk, look, and dress like me, nor do I have to be like them. After all, God invites us all to the table. Wouldn’t the world be dull if they were all like me? There should be no other. We are all one in Christ.

Dear God, help us as we go through this day and encounter others, to remember that they may see us as the other. Help us to see them and treat them not as the other, but as loved members of your family. Amen.

This devotional was written by Alvin Jenkins and read by Cliff McCartney

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Everyone has times in life when it seems things are not working together for good. We live in a time when we want the “good” right now, so when things are not going well, we may question God. “Why me, Lord?” is the question many of us ask when a job is lost, a family is torn apart by divorce, a loved one or oneself faces a medical crisis, any of the times when things seem far from “good.” God may seem very far away and not very attentive to human needs at that point.

However, Paul is not writing about the now or just me. When he addresses both Jews and Gentiles in the Book of Romans, he repeatedly reminds them (and us) that salvation through Christ is for ALL, no matter their previous beliefs or lack of belief.

As might be expected, conflict often arose among the early house churches in Rome. Some Gentile believers had developed a sense of superiority over Jews, possibly due to the expulsion of Jews from Rome by the emperor Claudius in 49 A. C., while many Jews questioned if God had rejected them. Was God really fair and just? Paul’s letter emphasizes God’s purposes for Jews, all of humanity, and His entire creation. The ultimate purpose of the entire book of Romans is to invite us to share in, and pass on, the Good News - conquering sin and death through salvation. Paul does not mean Christians should just wait patiently for death and salvation. We are meant to live our lives according to His purpose, to act on behalf of God by loving others, following the example of Jesus by caring for “the least of these,” and by sharing the message of hope.

While we all face times in this life when “all things are NOT working for immediate good,” we have the promise of the ultimate good to come: Eternal life in God’s presence.

Let us pray: God, we thank you for the ultimate gift of your Son and his death and resurrection. This gift assures us of salvation and eternal life with you. Only then may we understand how things did work together for good, even when we could not see it or understand it. Through faith alone may we be saved. Amen.

This devotion was written and read by Pat Scruggs.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

When life feels easy and seems to present us with just what we need when we need it we are experiencing the energy called flow. We float along the path of least resistance. We are aware of all the blessings of life and we are joyful. We have all had these times and we wish that they might last forever. We have few concerns, our faith is solid and it feels like all creation is conspiring to help us along through life. It is as if we are floating down a lazy river on a sunny afternoon without a care in the world.

In my experience, life does not alway flow. Obstacles and losses naturally cross our paths. We struggle to know what to do. At these times it feels as if we have moved out of the slow waters and entered rapids. If you go on a raft trip where there are rapids the guide will give you many directions about how to maneuver the raft through these tricky waters. They will usually end their instruction by telling you what to do if you should end up in the water. You are told to point your feet down river, and with your face up go with the flow of the current until you come to a quiet place in the river where you can then swim to the bank and wait for help.

These instructions are helpful for us even if we never get near white water. When we have entered a stretch of white water in our life where we feel stuck or stymied, events and loss make us feel like every one and everything in life is against us and we know that we are no longer in the raft but have been tossed into the water it is a good idea to remember to go with the flow.

The writer of Proverbs tells us how. First of all we are reminded to put our trust in God. That is easier said than done so in Proverbs we are given further advice on how to trust and go with the flow.

We are told to not try and figure out everything on our own. This, for me, is probably one of the hardest things to hear. My comfort zone is to be in control, to think things through and come up with a plan. To admit I am not in control and I don’t have all the tools needed to get through this rough time is hard. It is becoming vulnerable as I place my trust in God.

This word of advice is followed with: listen for guidance. It has been my experience that when I move forward assuming I know what to do things rarely turn out well. But when I stop and listen and even more importantly ask for help I am always amazed at how many more possibilities are presented for what to do. Usually some of them are much better than anything I would have come up with on my own. Learning to trust the wisdom of others is part of what it means to trust God.

To be told to step back, ask for help and trust is hard but it is how we go with the flow of life. . It has been my experience that when I don’t let go and try figure it all out myself I am struggling against the current of life. We are reminded that there is a better way.

If you are dumped into the rapids of life, lie back and float a while. Try to not worry about what has happened or might happen. Live in the moment. Rely on others for help and wisdom. Relinquish control and just go along with what today brings you. Do this for a while and with God help and the care of others things will get better. Trusting in God you will be carried to calm waters.

Creator God when we feel like we are drowning in the rapids of life remind us to relax, to put our trust in you, to go with the flow knowing you are supporting us. And when we have passed through these rough waters and have again come to a calm and pleasant place remind us to continue to thank you, trust you and listen to your guidance. AMEN.

This devotion was written and read by Bill Green.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

When we read the gospel stories, we have both the benefit and the burden of knowing how the story of Jesus ends. “And on the third day he rose again.” We read verses like these where the women seem surprised by what they are being told, and we think, how could they not know? Jesus said over and over to whomever would listen that the temple will be destroyed and he will raise it in three days. We might conclude that they lacked faith. We might conclude that they forgot. We might think we wouldn’t make a mistake like that.

Like the denials of Peter, we are sure we would never behave this way. We might be quite certain. As we read the Gospel as both the story of Jesus and the scripture inspired by God, we often perceive it as an ancient text, as history, of what happened—past tense. We have heard the beginning, middle, and end of Scripture and think we know the story. We feel we understand.

But why do we feel this way when Christ has risen and is not found on paper? Like the women at the tomb, are we looking in the wrong place? No matter how many times we have read the Bible or heard the gospel stories in sermons, can we really claim to understand if we are not looking out at the world?

You can’t see the horizon if you are staring down at your feet. You can’t understand something that hasn’t happened yet no matter how many times someone tells you about it. You won’t understand something you haven’t experienced. You can’t meet a need you don’t know exists. You can’t see the beloved child of God in the eyes of the other if you don’t meet them in the streets.

You can’t answer a question before it is asked, no matter how hard you try. So my question to you is: are you looking down at what you already know, or are you looking to the horizon to see what you can discover?

Please pray with me: Lord, direct my eyes to your beloved children living next to me. Allow me to understand the resurrection of Jesus as my call to look for him in each person I encounter. Allow me to understand your creation and how I can share it with others. Thank you for all that you have given us, and let us show our gratitude for it by blessing all we encounter with your love. Amen.

This devotion was written by Jill Pope and read by Sally Stovall.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Who's that in the mirror?

Second Corinthians, chapter 3, verses 17 and 18 say, "The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Lord's Spirit is, there is freedom. All of us are looking with unveiled faces at the glory of the Lord as if we were looking in a mirror. We are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

There's a famous painting by Norman Rockwell called Triple Self-Portrait. It shows the artist with his back turned to the viewer, looking at himself in a large mirror, and painting a shades-of-gray self-portrait. The Rockwell in the mirror wears glasses, but we cannot see his eyes; the lenses are flat white. The Rockwell he is painting wears no glasses, looking straight at the viewer with no obstruction. Obviously, when Rockwell looked in the mirror, he saw Rockwell—that is, he saw himself. But he transformed what he saw as he painted.

When you or I look in a mirror, we expect to see ourselves. But when we look into the mirror that is the glory of the Lord, which seems to be a phrase that means Jesus Christ, we see not ourselves as we are, but as we can be.

John Wesley talked about three kinds of grace: prevenient grace that draws us to God, justifying grace by which we are forgiven and made right with God through faith in Jesus Christ, and sanctifying grace—the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives that transforms us into the likeness of Christ. Paul here tells the Corinthians about that ongoing work of sanctifying grace.

There's another key idea in this scripture: transformation is an ongoing project. The Common English Bible accurately translates the original verb with the phrase "we are being transformed," not "we were transformed," or "we are transformed," or "we will be transformed." It started in the past, is happening now, and continues on into the future. Hold up the mirror of Jesus Christ, and look into it to see what you are becoming as you follow the Lord's Spirit, in which there is freedom.

Let's pray.

Father, a lot of us don't enjoy looking in the mirror. We don't like what we see. Thank you for giving us the image into which you are transforming us. Open us to that transformation by your Spirit. Help us lay hold of the freedom you give to us. Amen.

This devotional was written and read by Don King.

In 1740, John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, preached a sermon in Bristol, England, in which he proclaimed: "The grace or love of God, whence cometh our salvation, is free in all and free for all.“

We are humbled to proclaim that message through this Grace for All podcast. Thank you for listening to today's message of grace.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

“He will swallow up death forever. The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.”

Sometimes I think we make God too small. We try to fit God into the small box of our tiny human brain, our limited imagination, our earthly three-dimensional world, governed by our five senses. Due to this limited perspective, we probably don’t see things the way God does. How can we begin to imagine God swallowing up death forever; much less wiping all tears and sadness from the eye of every human who has ever lived! Every human!

And more - removing the disgrace from all his people! (Sometimes we might think in the narrow vein that limits God’s people to only Christians.) But all people are God’s people. He created us all. He decides who His people are and Paul wrote in Acts 17:28 – “In Him we live and move and have our being. As some of our poets have said, ‘we are his offspring.’”

Perhaps here is where we need to just trust God and understand He has the master plan. Jesus came to show us how to trust God – all the way to torture on a cross. And while dying there he was actively forgiving the sinners beside him, and those crucifying him. He showed us how to love even our worst enemies.

It is our job to LOVE others and not hate; to judge not, that we not be judged. By that measure – I sincerely hope that I am praying for God’s will. His words in today’s scripture are clear – they tell us ALL humanity (all God’s children) will ultimately have the tears wiped from their faces, death will be swallowed up forever, and disgrace (the opposite of Grace) will exist no more!

God is LOVE! LOVE wins! The Lord has spoken.

Will you pray with me now…

Dear Loving God, fill us with your LOVE and teach us how to trust you in all things. Help us to stop throwing stones at people we judge unworthy. Fill us with the desire to LOVE others and to trust your good plan. Show us the way we should go…Amen!

This devotion was written and read by Bernice Howard.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

I’ve photographed the sunrise dozens of times from all over the world. One rule never changes: don't shoot before civil twilight — that window when the sun is still below the horizon, but there's enough light to make out shapes and colors. It's not darkness anymore, but it isn't day yet. It's a world that hasn't decided what it's going to look like yet.

That’s the light Mary walks into. She should have waited, but she didn’t. Her grief wouldn’t let her, because her grief doesn't respect the calendar or the clock.

She had cried through the worst of it on Friday, watching from a distance as they took him down from the cross. You'd think that she wouldn’t have any tears left. At some point, she put a lid on her grief, and by Sunday morning, she had pushed that lid shut with both hands — he's dead, I watched it, I know where they laid him.

And maybe some of her grief is for her. She walked behind Jesus for three years, listening as he said the world was about to turn over — and then didn’t. It just ended, on a Friday afternoon. All those things she heard went into the ground with him. Her grief is not only for Jesus, but also for a hope she'd let herself believe.

So she comes to the tomb with her mind made up. When she gets there, though, the facts in her mind don’t match the reality she sees. The stone is moved. The grave clothes are there, but the body isn't. She is stunned. The one solid thing she had left — knowing where his body was — has died like her hope did. She runs and tells Peter and John the only conclusion she can come to: someone's taken him. Not he is risen. Someone's taken him. Grave robbery, not resurrection.

Then she's alone again, weeping, and there's a man standing near her.

She thinks he's the gardener.

It's tempting to read that as a mistake — bad light, wet eyes, an honest case of not-looking-carefully. It is not a failure of her eyes. It's that she isn't looking for a living man She puts the man she sees into the nearest category that fits — gardener, stranger, anyone but Jesus.

Then the man says one word.

Mary.

Her name, said the one way only he says it, and the lid she's spent three days pressing shut comes flying off without her doing a thing.

She recognizes Jesus, and before she can even think, she calls out to him using the word most descriptive of her relationship with him — Rabbouni. Not just “teacher,” but “my teacher,” the word you use for the one person you trust completely, spoken by someone she thought she would never hear again, the same way he had spoken to her the first time he met her.

He didn't wait for her grief to clear, didn't wait for her eyes to adjust to the light, didn't require her to work out the theology of an empty tomb first. He found her exactly where she was — grieving, mistaken, looking at him and seeing a stranger — and called her by name anyway. Her eyes never did the work. Her ears did.

I know something about eyes that don't do the work. I've stood behind a camera at that same gray hour and missed the shot because I was looking for the picture I'd already decided was there. The light doesn't care what you came to find. Neither, it turns out, does grace. It just says your name, and waits for you to turn around.

Father, we come to you carrying made-up minds, certain we already know how the story ends. Meet us there. Speak our name before we've turned around, before we've earned the right to hear it, before we even know it's you standing near. Teach us to recognize you not because we finally looked hard enough, but because you called first. Amen.

This devotional was written by Cliff McCartney.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: [email protected].

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.