Author: lakewooducc

When we look at the economic system around us, it clearly favors the haves.  Tax rates favor the rich.  The government is set up to fund large corporations through financial incentives and regulatory concessions.  Government contracts of all kinds pad the pockets of those who are rich.  

And the poor are sent empty away.  Loss of all kinds of benefits.  Lack of access to food for children.  Loss of access to needed healthcare and healthcare supplies.  Lack of funding for schools and libraries and programs that enhance life for so many.  But then when does a rich person ever visit a library or swim in a neighborhood pool?  

I know Christians who believe that God wants everyone to be rich.  They see no problem with the biased economic system because they believe God wants to favor them through this system.  Never mind that it never actually happens. . . 

And when they read or sing something like the Magnificat this time of year:  

God has pulled the mighty down from their thrones,

and exalted the lowly;

God has filled the hungry with good things

and sent the rich away empty,

they say, that was for those people in those times.  God did that for them back then.  That is not for us today.

But, ‘a man shall not lie with a man,’ they sure think that’s for today.  

The thing is, the Bible is rife with verses about God’s concern and favoritism, even, for the poor and the oppressed.  It’s practically on every page of the Bible. That is a message from God for all time.  Justice for the poor.  

The verses about same sex behavior are few and are clearly bound to the time and cultural setting in which they were written.

Prayer:  Help us to know that as long as there are poor people, God will favor them, will have compassion upon them, will chastise those who make them poor.  That is who God is.  That is who we meet in Jesus and in his mother before him.  May we prepare for Jesus’ coming with joy!  Amen.

This devotion was prepared by Rev. Kim P. Wells, pastor of Lakewood United Church of Christ in St. Petersburg, FL.

In so many paintings of the annunciation, of the nativity, Mary looks so, well, spiffy.  She often has on some glowing gown trimmed with gold.  Her dress is often adorned with lace and embroidery.  Frankly, she looks like she is from the class of the mighty who get put down from their thrones and the rich who get sent away empty, according to the Magnificat.  

Mary was from a small town,  doubtless part of a family of some kind.  And as a woman she would be involved with chores such as doing the laundry, gardening, cooking, mending, maybe spinning wool from the sheep.  

We have a children’s book about Christmas with wonderful illustrations. When the angel Gabriel approaches Mary, she is hanging out laundry on the line out in the yard.  To me, that very much suits the Mary of Nazareth in the first century.  

The thing about making Mary ‘ordinary’ instead of rich and fancy, well, it portrays the vast power of God channeled through a regular person.  And if Mary, then why not some other ordinary person for another job God wants done.  And what if that ordinary person is you?  Or me?  Or the coworker in the cubicle beside us that we can’t stand?  Or the grocery clerk. . . .  Suddenly the world is aflame with Spirit, and we are most definitely not in control.  

Prayer:  With God, nothing is ordinary.  Everything is divine, holy, and sacred.  Especially every person.  May we create a world where every ordinary person is treated with respect and dignity.  They may be a Mary!  Amen.

This devotion was prepared by Rev. Kim P. Wells, pastor of Lakewood United Church of Christ in St. Petersburg, FL.

You may have gotten up this sleepy, cold Friday morning and headed to work or the doctor or shopping or the gym not even realizing that for millions of people this is one of the most important days of the year!!!

December 12 is the Feast Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, probably the most well-known and widely celebrated of all the ‘Mary’s.’  Yes, she is the patron saint of Mexico, our next door neighbor, but she is so much more.  She has become the patron of people of color the world over.  Everywhere you go in Mexico, you see her.  And she is revered by all, even those with no ties to the Catholic Church.  She has become a universal symbol of the universal love of God.  

While the Catholic Church was busy colonizing Mexico and imposing their religion on the indigenous people, the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared several times to a mere peasant, Juan Diego.  Finally, the Bishop accepted Juan Diego’s stories of the appearances of the Virgin of Guadalupe and built her a church on the site she selected.  And Mexico got a brown, indigenous looking Mary who appeared to an indigenous peasant.  The white Euro Americans no longer controlled the church in Mexico.  And the Mexicans got a goddess figure in their new religion that connected them to their indigenous goddesses.  

In the Magnificat, Mary sings of lifting the lowly. The Virgin of Guadalupe has lifted up the indigenous people of Mexico generating respect for them as people and for their indigenous traditions which are life-giving and honor the sacred earth.

Today, do something to honor the Virgin of Guadalupe – light a candle, eat a burrito.  And celebrate the lifting up of the lowly.

Prayer:  May we allow our faith and our lives to be enriched by the traditions of peoples and cultures that are different than our own.  God is so much bigger than one ethnicity or color or religion.  Amen.

This devotion was prepared by Rev. Kim P. Wells, pastor of Lakewood United Church of Christ in St. Petersburg, FL.

Last year at Christmas time I was in the throes of being treated forbreast cancer.  I had two surgeries in December.  

There was a a lot of drama about how we were going to celebrate Christmas as a family.  I did not want to host, for obvious reasons.  Our daughter was in the process of moving from Naples to St. Pete.  She did not want to host.  So we went to our son Malcolm and fiancé Samantha’s house in Sarasota.

Some weeks before the holiday, I let everyone know that I was not getting any Christmas gifts for anyone except for the two grandsons, aged 3 and 5 at the time.  This ended up giving some others permission not to give gifts.  So, instead of the usual piles of presents under the tree, there were a few gifts.  We had a full day of fun, sitting around the fire, chasing the children in the yard, eating lots of different foods, listening to music,  spending time together.  it was very festive.  Really, one of the best Christmas’s ever!

As this Christmas rolls around, one of the kids asked me, are we doing gifts again this year or not?  I was told it was more fun last year without all the presents.  So, I said, it’s up to you.  I’ll just do gifts for the kids again.  The rest can do as you wish.  

This was a little controversial at first, but it is catching on.  Less stress.  More fun.  Less financial burden in tight times.  

“You have scattered the proud in their conceit, 

you have deposed the mighty from their thrones

and raised the lowly to high places.

You have filled the hungry with good things,

while you have sent the rich away empty.

These are the drastic sweeping changes promised at Christmas.  It isn’t going to happen if we keep doing everything the same way all the time.  Why not start with with making a change in how you celebrate this glorious holy day of rebellion!  We don’t have to always to it the same way. 

Prayer:  This season is a celebration of newness.  A new baby!  A new dream for the world!  Maybe we can honor this newness by starting some new traditions for the holiday season.  Amen.

This devotion was prepared by Rev. Kim P. Wells, pastor of Lakewood United Church of Christ in St. Petersburg, FL.

There is a tradition that the angel Gabriel approached other women before he finally got a ‘YES!’ from Mary of Nazareth.  We can imagine the angel going to a young woman in one town and being turned way.  We can imagine Gabriel going to someone in another village and being ignored.  Indigestion, maybe?  Finally, Gabriel is sent to Mary of Nazareth and she accedes to God’s plan.  Perhaps to Gabriel’s great relief.  He can move on to another assignment?

We can imagine that over these speculative visits, Gabriel hones his pitch.  Maybe he started with something like, Has God got a plan for you!  Or, This is YOUR lucky day!  Maybe he tried, Brace yourself, it’s going to be a wild ride!  What we finally get is something like:  Rejoice, highly favored one!  God is with you!  Blessed are you among women!  It’s a lot of pious flattery, yes.  Mary is still deeply troubled, so Gabriel goes on, Don’t be afraid, Mary.  

Mary knows that God has amazing plans and dreams to bless humanity.  She knows this from hearing the reading of the Hebrew scriptures and the promises of peace and plenty.  She knows of God’s commitment to justice.  And she knows from scripture that God’s plans and dreams come to fruition when human beings of faith submit themselves to God’s will and God’s intentions.  Abraham and Sarah had to leave home and seek out a new land.  Moses had to go back to Egypt to free the slaves.  

Mary knows her people are living in a time of great oppression by the Roman Empire.  And God desires their freedom.  So when the angel comes, she is reticent at first but she agrees to be an agent of God’s intentions.  

God has hopes and dreams for this world.  We celebrate hope, peace, joy and love this precious season.  We celebrate new birth.  And the promise of liberation.  But people in today’s world are still needed to say yes to giving their lives to God’s dreams and intentions.  People are still needed to stand up to the rich and the powerful leaders who abuse the poor.  Someone still needs to fill the hungry with good things.  

Is that someone one you?  Me?  Or is someone else going to do it?

Prayer:  In our quiet moments this advent season, may we be attentive to how we are needed to make the hopes and dreams of God a reality.  We may even hear a brush of angel’s wings!  Amen.

This devotion was prepared by Rev. Kim P. Wells, pastor of Lakewood United Church of Christ in St. Petersburg, FL.