Prayer

Thursday Morning Sunshine

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Thursday Morning Sunshine is a revised version of our free weekly newsletter called The Sunshine Newsletter and distributed to a growing number of long-term care facilities. The staff consists of Pastor Janice Burnett, Rob Keller and myself – Peter Caligiuri. We believe that Jesus remembers and values people in every chapter of their lives. If you would like to receive a free pdf version contact me at revpete51@gmail.com We purposefully have not copyrighted the material so you may pass the pdf edition on to anyone who could use a bit of Sunshine.

He Watches Sparrows by Peter Caligiuri

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. Matthew 10:29

In Jesus’ day sparrows were common and held value only for what brief use anyone might have of them. Sometimes I have wondered, why Jesus tells us that God watches sparrows. After all God is everywhere and He also watches eagles, lions and even alligators (We have 1.3 million of them in Florida)! But unlike animals with talons, claws and teeth, sparrows have no offensive weapons. Instead their only hope is that in the moment of danger they will fly to safety. 

Have you ever felt like a sparrow? Apparently, many of Jesus’ listeners did. They had been oppressed by Romans, exploited by their own religious leaders and despised by the rich. But when Jesus came, they hung on His every word because He was someone who loved to spend time with them and who invited them to come to Him. Have you ever considered that God also loves spending time with you so much that He sent His own Son with the invitation to share eternity with Him? That is an invitation without an expiration date because the God who watches sparrows also watches you and me.

A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows – Saint Francis

Time is not measured by the years that you live but by the deeds that you do and the joy that you give - Helen Steiner Rice
Photo by Skyler Ewing on Pexels.com
                                                                           Are You Thirsty? By Pastor Janice Burnett

                                                        If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. John 7:37b NIV

When you are thirsty – I mean REALLY THIRSTY – what satisfies your thirst in the middle of a hot summer day? Or if you wake up in the morning and your mouth is cottony dry, and you realize that you just have to drink something, do you like lemonade or iced tea? For me, there’s nothing that will quench that kind of thirst like ice cold water! Jesus was on a long journey with his disciples as they walked through Samaria. The Jews disliked Samaritans, but Jesus thought differently. He had a plan – He wanted to meet a lady with a different kind of thirst.
Just as we would be worn out from a long uphill walk, Jesus was also tired, hot, and thirsty, so He stopped to rest. He was sitting by a well but he didn’t have a bucket to get any water out so when a Samaritan woman came for her water, Jesus asked her for a drink. It’s funny but as we read this story we see that Jesus never got His cup of water! He knew His physical thirst was less important the woman’s spiritual thirst. In fact, she was shocked that He would even talk with her. Yet she was fascinated by His offer of a living water that anyone could drink and never get thirsty again. Then Jesus asked the woman to go and get her husband (even though He knew she had five previous husbands, and the man she was living with was not her husband.) His knowledge of her personal life convinced her that He was the promised Messiah who was offering Himself as a well of living water that would never dry. Jesus still offers everyone this same living water today. Drinking of this water means never thirsting spiritually again. Are you thirsty? The Living Water Jesus gives is waiting for you today!

God’s way of dealing with us is to throw us into situations over our depth, then supply us with the necessary ability to swim – Catherine Marshall

Making the Best Choice

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But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42 ESV

In raising two boys, my wife and I discovered that showing favoritism was the worst thing we could do. If one got a chocolate chip cookie a piece of pizza or an ice cream bar, then the other had to have the same or there was trouble. In the past when I read today’s passage I was puzzled because it seemed that Jesus was playing favorites. At first glance it seemed that He just liked Mary better. She was quiet and respectful while Martha was loud, pushy and just someone He tolerated. But nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus loved Mary and Martha both the same. Martha had a lot going for her. She was the one who had boldly invited Jesus to their house. She volunteered to feed not only Him but also His disciples. Jesus was in no way saying that Martha was a loser. Instead, He just pointed out that Mary had chosen what was better that day. So just what did Mary do?

First she began with the decision to put her full attention on Jesus. She watched as He came in their house and heard Him begin to teach and decided that no matter what anyone else thought, she wanted to hear what Jesus had to say. Maybe she had things she had been asked to do, but she laid aside her list of chores and sat quietly at the feet of Jesus. Then Mary followed up her choice by carefully listening to what He had to say. I confess that all too often I have come to my quiet time with a mind filled with things I need to do. Then I rush through my prayer and Bible reading so I can get to the “Important stuff.” But Mary decided that she didn’t have more important things to do later. She knew that Jesus would not be at her house for long and that while He was there she wanted to hear everything He had to say. When we pray, are we looking at our wrist watch, wondering about some activity to do later, or are we eagerly listening for what Jesus has to say today?

Last of all Mary decided to sit at Jesus feet no matter what other people thought. By sitting at His feet and putting her focus only on Jesus, she turned the focus of others on Him too. Martha never slowed down long enough to look at Jesus. In her frenzy of serving all Martha could see was that Mary was not helping. Martha had forgotten why she had invited Jesus in the first place. But Jesus still loved Martha and He tenderly corrected her, Martha – Martha was a phrase of endearment, not disdain. “Martha – Martha,” He is almost pleading; “open your eyes and see Me! I came to your house for you – not your food or your service, but for you! And Jesus is coming to your house and my house and a million million other homes today as well. He loves and cares for us even when we are weighed down with the worries of life and He still quietly points us to people like Mary in our life and says, “She has chosen that better part. It will not be taken away from her – but I want it for you too!”

Quiet Time or Prayer?

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Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. Isaiah 12:6 KJV

It seems that everyone is insisting lately that we have a “Daily Quiet Time.” But with all the discussion about it, maybe we have gotten a little off track. For starters, the phrase quiet time doesn’t occur anywhere that I know of in the Bible. Of course Jesus spent plenty of time teaching about prayer, but the prayers we read about in the Gospels are not always private and very few of them were quiet. In fact if we prayed like Jesus prayed, our time would be far from quiet –  

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, … Hebrews 5:7

And King David did not have much to say about quiet prayer either.

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. Psalm 34:6

You could add to the list of these noisy prayers others; like Moses who was often crying out to the Lord because not a day went by without a problem, first in Egypt with Pharaoh, then in the wilderness with complaining Israelites. Elijah prayed loud enough for thousands to hear him on Mount Carmel and those loud prayers didn’t stop in the Old Testament. During Jesus’ ministry the Syro-Phoenician woman with a demon possessed daughter had the disciples begging Jesus to send her away because she was crying out too much. Then we all remember Blind Bartimaeus, whose friends kept insisting he sit down and shut up. But Jesus wasn’t disturbed at all by his noisy request. What impressed Jesus then and what impresses God today is when we believe in His ability and willingness to answer us so much that we cry out to Him from the bottom of our hearts. God values neither quietness nor loudness but when you and I need Him way too much to be quiet!