CreatingCommunity is an email devotion to guide your preparation for worship next weekend. Imagine how much more clear and relevant God's Word will be if you have had an opportunity read, reflect, and dwell in the Word prior to worship. You may do this devotion alone, with others, as a family, or over Zoom as a small group.

This devotion is to be done in preparation for Sunday, June 21, 2020, The Second Sunday after Pentecost.

Please follow these three steps:

1. Read through the text
2. Respond to the questions (select one of the sets of questions)
3. Offer a Prayer
Matthew 10:24-39
[Jesus said to the twelve:] “A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!
“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.
“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
No Experience Necessary Questions:
  1. What scares, confuses, or challenges me in this text?
  2. What delights me in this text?
  3. What stories or memories does this text stir in me?
  4. What is God up to in this text?
Family Questions:
  1. Is being a Christian easy or difficult? Does following Jesus bring joy or pain? Explain your response.
  2. Does anything in this passage trouble you? Why or why not? Explain your response.
  3. What does it mean to take up your cross and follow Jesus? Can you give an example?
Advance Questions:
  1. Jesus warns his disciples that their ministry in his name will meet with opposition. Have you every experienced that? Explain.
  2. According to Jesus, you must lose your life to find it. What does that mean? How have you experience that? Tell of a time.
  3. What does Jesus means when he says, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword."? Have you experienced this? Explain.
Click here to listen to this week's CreatingCommunity Hymn
“ A Charge I Have to Keep ”
Prayer
It is too easy, God for faith to become an escape
– a way to avoid the pain of being human and alive;
or a path to success
– a way to persuade the universe to give us the things we want;
or a system of control
– a way to bend others to our will

But the faith you offer is different, Jesus,
more dangerous and compelling;
It’s the faith that carries the cross,
that embraces death
and lays itself down for the sake of others;
It’s the only faith that can lead us to resurrection
to life renewed and overflowing.

We praise you for this faith, God, and open our hearts to receive it. Amen