Field Guide Home Study: Week 4

Creative Living in a Consumer World

Vision and Division 

We are well on our way in a four week journey of Creative Living in a Consumer World. It is a joy to be able to study and practice together ways to live alternatively to the consumerist norms. We get to practice loving our bodies instead of comparing them to popular media’s perception of what we “should” look like. We get to practice creating rather than consuming so much. We get to practice service to others rather than trying to get ahead of them. We get to learn what it means to have grace for each other because we act imperfectly and let one another down. We get to practice forgiveness rather than spending so much energy holding bitterness and resentment. We get to practice what it means to have vision even within division.

As a congregation who is dedicated to an inclusive gospel which has no barriers for persons who identify as LGBTQIA+ but instead celebrates these beautiful identities, we find ourselves at odds with some fellow United Methodists. How, in this uncomfortable space, are we to continue to have a vision within division? How do we work towards a beloved community who mutually belongs to one another, while we are in a divisive denominational struggle? Where do we put our hope?

Scripture Readings: Romans 14:1-5, 10, 16-19 (CEB Bible)

Welcome the person who is weak in faith—but not in order to argue about differences of opinion. One person believes in eating everything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Those who eat must not look down on the ones who don’t, and the ones who don’t eat must not judge the ones who do, because God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else’s servants? They stand or fall before their own Lord (and they will stand, because the Lord has the power to make them stand). One person considers some days to be more sacred than others, while another person considers all days to be the same. Each person must have their own convictions. But why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you look down on your brother or sister? We all will stand in front of the judgment seat of God. And don’t let something you consider to be good be criticized as wrong. God’s kingdom isn’t about eating food and drinking but about righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever serves Christ this way pleases God and gets human approval. So let’s strive for the things that bring peace and the things that build each other up.

Spiritual Practices

+Center this thought in prayer, and post it on the fridge, phone or mirror:

We will not find justice in our apathy;
we will not find peace by our arguing;
we will not find love in being controlled by fear.
But, we will find You in the brokenness of the Bread;
we will find you in the gift of the Cup;
we will find you when we squeeze closer together,
making room at the Table for all your people.
O God of Community, may we find You. Amen

+Consider writing a prayer for someone you don’t particularly like. It may be easier to start with someone you don’t really care for and then work your way up to writing a prayer for someone that has hurt you deeply.

+Breath Prayer: choose one word/phrase to inhale and one word/ phrase to exhale. For example: inhale: “I am enough”/ exhale: “So, I can rest” Or, inhale: “I am forgiven”/ exhale: “I must forgive”

Prayer for the Week:

O God, bless those who make peace,
who bring no other hope but to see us belong to one another.

Bless those who, when we run out of room at the table, make a bigger table.

Bless those who welcome their enemy to the Table because they know the Table is not theirs to control.

Bless those who value humans over death- dealing systems.

Bless those who make peace,

Strengthen them, give them salve for their tired hands, rest for sore backs, and hope in their hearts.

Guard them from despair, as they draw the circle wide.

Bless those who make peace, O God. Amen.