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Journal News Commentary Wisdom

New study links childhood religious practice with key health advantages in young adulthood

Here is something that common sense has always suspected. Applied religious faith makes a practical difference in the wholeness of people. Now we can say that the sociologists have confirmed it. A new study has shown statistically that religious practice by kids in childhood and teen years results in better well-being as young adults in crucial areas. Here are the links to both the news article reporting on the study and to the study itself. Among the list of positive effects carrying over into young adulthood are increased reported happiness, decreased drug use, and much less sexually transmitted disease.

If we needed it, it should be just one more reason to take the Bible seriously. And it certainly is an encouragement to parents that practicing faith as a family has a salutary effect on children in so many ways. Remember King David said;
Blessed is the one… whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. (Psalm 1:1, 3 NIV)

Jesus said;
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. Matt 7:24-25 NIV

Categories
Journal News Commentary Wisdom

The church taking a stand in today’s confusion

Here is a thoughtful and challenging statement by some of the leaders of the church today. It helps us on the road to seeing how the church can take a stand today to distinguish itself in the confusion of the hour.

Categories
Journal Meditations Wisdom

Praying Deeply

Lady at prayer
Praying with our whole lives

 

A Devotional Challenge

This year I’ve been reading from one of my favorite devotional books, A Guide To Prayer For Ministers And Other Servants. Each week, there are some readings to prod one’s thinking. Today the readings were about prayer that goes so much deeper than words. In our troubled world today, we must learn again that our religious life cannot be separate from our daily actions if we expect society to change for the better. I was meditating on the following quotes.

“Love to pray. Feel often during the day the need for prayer, and take trouble to pray. Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God’s gift of himself” (from A Gift for God by Mother Teresa).

Today we feel so inadequate to the task of changing our world. Yet it is through prayer that God enlarges our capacity and magnifies our spiritual strength so that we are able to do the good works that he has planned for us. Through prayer the “immeasurably more” of God works through us (Eph. 3:20).

Prayer at Work Everyday

“If when we plunge our hand into a bowl of water, or stir up the fire with the bellows or tabulate interminable columns of figures on our bookkeeping table, or, burned by the sun, we are plunged in the mud of the rice field, or standing by the smelter’s furnace, we do not fulfill the same religious life as if in prayer in a monastery, the world will never be saved” (quoted from Gandhi by Carlo Carretto in Letters From The Desert).

How can we save our nation from violence? It will only happen as the hearts of people are filled with nonviolence. Through prayer God changes our hearts. Continuing in prayer makes us uncomfortable with any hypocrisy that remains in our attitudes and actions because ultimately they hinder our prayers.

“[Jesus] lived his message before he spoke it. He preached it by his life before explaining it in words. This was Jesus’ method and we too easily forget it. In many cases catechesis is reduced to words rather than to ‘life,’ to discussions rather than to the pursuit of Christian living. And here, perhaps, is the reason for the poor results” (Carlo Carretto in Letters From The Desert).

Jesus admonished us that those who are wise would not only hear his words but put them into practice. In so doing, they would build a strong and durable foundation for their lives.

“Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” –Jesus  (Matthew 7:24).

A prayer for today

Oh Lord of life, teach me to pray deeply–with my everyday life, with my whole heart and also with my words of devotion.

Categories
Journal Wisdom

Practicing Faith is Healthy

Everyone benefits when we are people of faith

I have been preaching for years that practicing faith is good for physical health, emotional health, family health, and the health of society for people of all ages.    Here is a great article that enumerates some of the many benefits we receive from being people of faith.

http://swampscott.wickedlocal.com/news/20160509/13-things-religion-does-to-your-children

 

Categories
Journal Wisdom

Bishop Schnase encourages the church to also join in service projects which they don’t sponsor

Bishop Schnase encourages the church to also join in service projects which they don’t sponsor.

The church over the years develops its own habits and routines, including its own ideas of service to others.   But as Bishop Schnase points out in this thoughtful blog post, if the church only serves in its own ways, it will miss relating to many in today’s culture who are spiritual seekers but do not relate to the institutional church.   Often these people are involved in service and glad to work with others of like compassion for human need.  Even more basic, the church that won’t join hands with others will miss many opportunities to help needy people and express the love of Christ in practical service.

Just Say Yes! Guest blog by United Methodist Bishop Schnase

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Journal

Christianity Today Interviews JoAnne Lyon

An articulate presentation of the Wesleyan way.

Christianity Today is doing an interview series of evangelical leaders.  Recently they interviewed JoAnne Lyon, head of the Wesleyan denomination, one of many Methodist related bodies.   She is very articulate in expressing the Wesleyan way in a manner that should fit all branches of the Methodist family.    I highly recommend it.  Here is the link.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2015/august/exploring-evangelicalism-wesleyan-church.html