Praying for Community: Humility and Obedience

June 11, 2017 ~ Prev | Intro | Next

During June we are concentrating on prayers that strengthen community. This week we will focus on the values of humility and obedience.

Humility is a virtue that is often maligned in our society, where self-esteem and being a “self-made person” are held up as models. Yet the theme of humility runs deep in the biblical texts and Christian tradition. Daniel Wolpert observes that the word humility comes from the root humus or “earth.” It is "the notion of being grounded in the reality of who one is before God."[1] Humility is acknowledgment that we did not create ourselves, but that God created us, as this week's scripture text from Genesis 1 reminds us.

As creations of God, and as recipients of grace through the salvation of Jesus Christ, we owe God our obedience. Matthew 28:19-20 gives us the Great Commission:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
What Jesus commanded us, what he said was the essence of the law and the prophets, is to love God with our whole being and to love one another. Thus the virtues of humility before God and obedience to God’s commands are the basis of a healthy community. Paul spells it out in 2 Cor 13:11:
Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.
This week, pray for the virtues of humility and obedience, that the community of Christ UMC may be unified in love for empowered worship of God and witness to the world.

[1] Daniel Wolpert, Creating a Life with God, Loc 2117