Our Foundations

It's a huge stretch to think that by the time God gives Moses the Ten Commandments, He didn't already know that even His new nation would find a way to get around obeying them properly.  Nevertheless, this mixed multitude of Jewish and pagan migrants needed practical guidelines to follow in order to treat each other with as much decency as possible, and establish God's holiness on  earth as it is in heaven.  Also known as the Decalogue to most Christian denominations, and the Torah to Jewish believers, the Ten Commandments are a good place to start when relationships and community life becomes volatile and fragile.  (Click here for English, Spanish and French translations)

We are living in a time when telling ourselves we 'got this' is not a wise mindset to hold on to.  Clearly, without God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit leading us and guiding us, we can find ourselves in situations which are incredulously painful.  David wrote this psalm coming from a perspective he knew from his earlier years as one who tended sheep.  Sheep are completely dependent on their shepherd and they only follow his or her voice.  While there is often much talk about the seeming weakness of sheep, it might be better to look at them and this particular psalm from the perspective of what true discipleship is and what the rewards of putting our complete trust in the Lord, really looks like.   (Click here for English, Spanish and French translations)

If one reads just a few sentences before Jesus presents this prayer, we see Him telling his disciples they were not to repeat the words of prayers over and over again as if they were magic chants which would eventually move God to action.  God is not moved by chanting but by His own timing because He already knows what we need.  So while this doesn't negate our praying for what we believe we need anyway, it does detour us from witchcraft type approaches to His throne, and instead follow the pattern of praying that inspects our motives and respects God's authority over our lives.  Who else but Jesus would know exactly how to pray to the Father for one's cares and concerns?  Not to get what we say we need or want, but to remind ourselves of just who our God and Father really is.   (Click here for English, Spanish and French translations)

When most of us think of protection, we tend to quickly consider the standard forms of covering, usually in some form of shelter, person or rightly designated weapon.  Who would've thought that the words of this psalm would have the reputation and credibility of placing a fence around us in times of trouble?   However, when you consider the fact that those words call into one's confidence the warrior and protector characteristics of our Almighty God, with His battle-worthy, war-tested qualities emerge on our behalf.  What an awesome God; do you know Him?  If not, now might be an acceptable time to let His righteousness be your righteousness so that in the troubled times, you have the assurance of this psalm being your war-cry, your weapon and your way of maintaining your peace and joy.   (Click here for English, Spanish and French translations)

More than likely, the Beatitudes are the first place many of us ever learned about the phrase 'poor in spirit' and it was a comfort to know that the only begotten Son of God understood just what we were feeling in the depths of our broken spirits.  Jesus' delivery of these meditations for the people who sat as His feet during His sermon on the Mount of Olives are just as timely and comforting now as they were back then.  Just as the people then were going through trials and tribulations in their daily fight to stand firm for God against the world's systems of pride, independence, power, self-centered pursuits, disloyalty and deceit, so are we today.  But take heart and keep the faith because as His children, we will gain so much more than this world could promise or deliver; greater mercy and comfort, to accompany a son- and daughter-type of rights in the Kingdom of Heaven and heir's rights to the Kingdom of God.  (Click here for English, Spanish and French translations)

 In the A.M.E. Tradition

The standard or rather, more commonly known version of the Apostle's Creed is the Nicene Creed, which is where the African Methodist Episcopal Church has pulled its faith tradition's wording.  Nevertheless, it embodies the same meaning with perhaps even greater attention paid to the inclusion of all of God's people regardless of color or ethnicity.  The Apostles' Creed is known for being a Biblical summation of Christian faith's fundamental beliefs or 'doctrine'.    This creed has been noted by other Christian faith traditions to have been created by the Twelve Apostles on the day of Pentecost and developed to glorify the Creator, Redemptive and Sanctifying qualities of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  (Click here for English, Spanish and French translations)