Making the Gospel Real

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove  http://jonathanwilsonhartgrove.com  lives in a "new monastic community" in Durham, NC.  The group is called Rutba, named after a town in Iraq that showed Jonathan and his wife, Leah, hospitality while they were traveling there. 

In an article Jonathan said: 
“I’m convinced that we don’t fully comprehend the gospel until we have been forgiven for something particular, not just general forgiveness for general sins,” he says. “I had to live in community to learn the parts of my personality that hurt other people and hear them say, ‘We still love you and we’ll keep living with you.’ That made the gospel real for me.”

What particular thing has God used to show you real forgiveness and the power of the Gospel?


We judge our worth way too much on how good things are or are not going in our life.  When really, it is the mess up's and failures that tend to show us the real power of God's love.  The deep trials of my life have been times that God has molded me and made me into a person that is holding on to fewer idols for myself and experiencing the good news that I am loved no matter what!  That is an awesome experience.  


In my life, when I have seen things going "good" and as a sign of God's blessing, I would often later find out I was trusting in an idol or limiting what God really wants to do with my life, or just judging "blessing" by the wrong standard. Often then God would show me how I was hurting myself or others with a particular sin that needed to stop.  It always hurts, but in the end I have always seen His love bigger than my failures and pain and I hear him say something like, "I still love you and I will keep living with you!"


I hope the Gospel is being made real in your life today.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
   for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"  Matt. 5:3


God be with you on the Journey!
Kevin

Picture of Prayer time in Senate

Things went well on Monday.  I really enjoyed my time in the Senate.  Here is a picture taken while I was praying.  Obviously, Lynnette was not in the praying mood, so she could take a picture.  Just kidding!  I am the one directly above the white circular emblem on the wood rail. 

God be with you in the Journey!
Kevin

Prayer at Virginia Senate

I really get nervous about praying for a government meeting like this.  I am such an advocate of separation of church and state, but appreciate the opportunity that is before me.  I have been reading some of Peter Marshall's prayers and others that have prayed in these situations often.  I mainly see a need for peace, guidance and the willingness to love our enemies as ourselves.  I do not know if this attempt at a written prayer does anything advantageous for the Kingdom of God, but here it is below.  If you might have any pointers, I will check my email before I leave in the morning.  

God be with you in the Journey!

Kevin

Senate of Virginia

Monday, January 24, 2011

Opening Prayer

By

The Reverend Kevin D. Ritter, Centerville Baptist Church, Chesapeake, Virginia

Dear Holy God, Creator and Sustainer of all, we recognize your presence here, and ask that in this new day, you grant your guidance and blessings upon these Senators who come as willing servants and leaders of the people of Virginia.

Help the Senators and all who work with them

-         to desire what is correct and upright,

-         to be tools of peace and wisdom,

-         to have the courage and strength to make the difficult decisions that are for the true benefit of the people according to your will,

-         to be faithful in admitting their own mistakes and forgiving those mistakes they may see in others, and

-         to open their hearts to see your wonderful love moving through everyone they might be in contact with today.

We thank you for your amazing love and for hearing our prayers today.  We pray for your glory to fill this place, Amen.

Back to Blogging

Well, I finally got my old blogs moved to a new spot.  I hope to be more active on this now.  I have added some folks on the instant receiving list of my new blogs.  If you are not interested in that, I will be glad to remove you.

 I have gained a new interest in blogging in response to some study I have been doing in a Pastor as Spiritual Guide program I am doing through a group called The Center for Congregational Health.  The focus has been on helping 10 pastors learn more about developing our own spiritual lives and helping others to develop their spiritual lives.  It sounds simple doesn't it?  But we so often major on "running the church" that we very rarely get to focus on the real spiritual stuff that is involved in shepherding a group of believers.  It has been refreshing!

We are led by Larry Williams, a retired Baptist Pastor, and Joanna Walsh, a Catholic nun.  We have 4 Presbyterian, 2 Baptist, 2 Methodist, 1 Lutheran and 1 Disciples of Christ pastor(s) in the group.  We have been learning more about doing the spiritual disciplines (see Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline for more definition on "spiritual disciplines") and teaching others to use these spiritual disciplines.  Now, we get to teach a 6 week class on Henri Nouwen's book,  Making All Things New.  I will do that during lent on Friday nights at my house.  We are limiting the group to 12 folks.

Part of my new spiritual disciplines is to journal.  So, I think a great deal about putting some of that on here. Sorry to write so much, I am just happy to be back at it.  I will quit now.  Have a great day!

God be with you on the journey!
Kevin

Normal Day

I worked all day to try to spend time alone with God.  Things seemed to push us apart instead of drawing us together.  I hope I can get some time tonight. 

I am excited about it being Lynnette's birthday.  Now she is the same age as me!  I know she looks much younger and so beautiful, but we are only a few months apart.  I wish I had something really great for her birthday, but we have been cutting back on gifts.  I better get home and see what we can do.