Personal Narrative: Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

This past week, I had the honor of being invited by one of my seminary scholarship donors. This donor was a woman, probably in her eighties, who said that should I visit her at her place, a retirement lodging, in Lake Forest. I was given a ride to the place by the Director of Stewardship who works at my seminary, called Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. To my surprise, not only this senior woman was a professional artist, her art was exhibited at the same retirement place where she lived at. She took the time to narrate each story about her paintings, with specific mention of month, year and the event related to the paintings. One of her paintings showed her father hiking up a mountain. This painting was entitled “Guide Me Up High Rock

Dear Sherman United Methodist Church, we bring the diverse gifts without any hard work to manifest Christ’s love to strangers. The letter to Hebrews mentions “Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” (13:1-2) We speak different languages, serve as caretakers, hair dressers, teachers, nurses, social workers, so why not take pride in the Creator who created us, redeemed us and continues to sustain us? We might not run into angels, like prophets of the Old Testament, but strangers might be a source of blessing to

If that is the case, we must own the beauty that exists in and around us as the persons that we, the straight and the gay, the bisexual and the heterosexual, the lame and the blind, the deaf and the dumb, in short, God’s people. Since God has created us all in God’s own image, why do we bother to hold grudge against others, because he or she is not like you? What we need to question ourselves is “Why should the other be like me?” We have been called by grace to be the church, a community of believers that are diverse and, when God has not discriminated any of us, then why do we take time to hurt and persecute others, knowingly and unknowingly? 1 Corinthians 1:28-29 mentions “God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are so that no one might boast in the presence of God.” It is the need of the time that we understand the character of God. We are created, redeemed and sanctified only by God. We all are low, we are dust, we do not have worth, it is by God’s grace that we have been chosen to be God’s beloved children. I will say it again, “we have been chosen to be God’s beloved children,” which means all of us, humans, whom God has created! Today, I would invite each of you to take time and ask yourself a question: What have I done that God has chosen me? I am sure, the answer would be “Nothing.” So,