Rev MaryGean Cope

Tag: forgiveness

  • The Heart of Prayer

    The Heart of Prayer

    My granddaddy always said, keep your own counsel. Don’t tell your business all over the place. And I lived by that for years without even realizing I had. See, that’s how it works. Nobody has to say it out loud. We just absorb it from the air around us. We pick it up from what people do. From what gets punished. From what gets praised.

    I didn’t know until I was older that I had written this script for myself: don’t ever be wrong. Don’t ever say something incorrect. Because when you say something wrong, people shame you. They correct you. They look at you like you’re stupid. So I decided to just not talk.

    We all have these scripts. Your mama always told you something. Your granddaddy said something. And maybe it was good advice. Maybe it was broken advice. But it’s running in your head now, telling you who you are and how you should be. The thing is, Jesus looks at all of that and says, who is my mother? Who are my brothers? He’s saying that living God’s way matters more than living by the rules we inherited. More than staying silent. More than being perfect. Your story starts here. In God. In what God wants for you. Not in what your family decided.

    A reflection by Rev. MaryGean Cope

  • The Power of Love

    The Power of Love

    Mother’s Day. I’ve never been great at these kinds of days. You’re supposed to say the right thing, honor the right people, and I always feel like I’m missing somebody. Somebody’s mother showed up on a Friday when her own mother couldn’t. Somebody’s mother is gone. Somebody’s mother did her best and it still wasn’t enough because nobody’s perfect. Somebody’s mother left, and somebody else became the one who showed up.

    What strikes me is that real love—the kind Jesus was talking about—doesn’t require blood. It doesn’t require perfection. It just requires showing up. It requires saying, I see you. I’m here. You matter.

    That’s what we’re really celebrating today. Not the card. Not the flowers. The people who looked at another person and decided to love them anyway.

    A reflection by Rev. MaryGean Cope

  • The Power of Love

    The Power of Love

    This morning we had children’s time. We sang “Jesus Loves Me,” “This Little Light of Mine,” “Do Lord.” Songs I sang when I was little and still love.

    One of those songs asks God: “Do Lord, oh do Lord, remember me.” And I asked the children: Do you think God could ever forget you? The answer is no. But we ask anyway.

    We ask God to remember us. We ask God to see us. Even though we know he does.

    When we sing—whether it’s with children down front or in the pews—our whole body gets involved in praising and worshiping God. Something shifts inside us when we sing together. It’s not just about the words. It’s about the unity. It’s about being part of something bigger.

    We bring the light of Christ into the church. And at the end of the service, we carry it out. Because that means we’re taking the light of Christ out into the world. We’re letting it shine for other people.

    So carry your light. Let it shine. Remember that God remembers you. And take that light with you when you leave this place. Take it into your homes, your workplaces, your communities. That’s what the light is for.

    A reflection by Rev. MaryGean Cope

  • The Heart of Prayer

    The Heart of Prayer

    I want to talk about something coming up that matters to us as a church. Vacation Bible school. It’s not just a week of activities. It’s a whole-church production. And I need all of us.

    Can you help with snacks? Can you be a group leader? Can you teach at one of the rotation stations? Can you be a greeter or a prayer? Can you help with setup, decoration, cleanup?

    All of us.

    And then there’s something else coming this summer. Glen Lake Camp. If you haven’t been there in the last couple of decades, you might be surprised at what’s changed. But it’s a wonderful place for families to go together, for elementary kids, junior high, high school—all ages can go.

    Here’s what I’ve said for years: A week at church camp is the equivalent of a full year of Sunday school. Because of the intensity of the Christian community there. Because of the learning that happens in that concentrated time. Because kids experience what it means to be part of the body of Christ when they’re away together, worshiping together, learning together, being challenged together.

    So I want us to start thinking about it now. Praying about it. And making sure we’re able to provide scholarship assistance for families who need it. Because every child should have the chance to experience what it means to belong to something bigger than themselves.

    A reflection by Rev. MaryGean Cope

  • The Gift of Forgiveness (Romans 6)

    The Gift of Forgiveness (Romans 6)

    Romans 6:23 says that the wages we earn for our sin is death. It is a debt each of us must pay one way or another. But that verse goes on to say that God decided to give us a gift instead of death. We can accept the gift of eternal life because Jesus paid the debt for us when he took our sin to the cross.

    The old hymn says it: “Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, but now I am white as snow.”

    Jesus became sinned for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Scripture tells us that everything went dark as Jesus hung on the cross. The sun disappeared. He completed the sacrifice and yielded his life.

    The women who had followed him watched from a distance. Two influential but secret followers buried his body. A heavy stone rolled across the tomb’s entrance. But all that happened before Sunday came.

    We have been bought. Our freedom purchased with God’s grace. And there’s more to this abundant life we’ve received than just forgiveness. The Savior who made our future secure wants to make this life we live now something that brings him honor and glory.

    A reflection by Rev. MaryGean Cope

  • The Gift of Forgiveness

    The Gift of Forgiveness

    One of the questions I get asked, especially during retreat settings like Emmaus walks, is this: “Pastor, there’s no way God can forgive me. You don’t know what I’ve done.”

    And I say: You’re right. I don’t know. But God does. And God’s forgiveness is there.

    There was a woman at one of the walks who was convinced God couldn’t forgive her because of the depth of her sin. The team leader challenged her and said: “You’re selling God short. You think your sin is more powerful than the blood of Jesus Christ? You think you’re bigger than the grace of God?”

    And she got it. She understood that God’s grace is big enough. The sacrifice of God is powerful enough to cover whatever anyone has done.

    Now, the only unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. And that doesn’t mean using bad language about God. It means God is right here offering you full life and forgiveness and wholeness, and you’re saying: No. God isn’t big enough for that. God can’t do that. You’re putting up the barrier yourself.

    Sin, in Scripture, isn’t just a list of bad behaviors. It’s distance from God. And anything we do that distances us from God—whether it’s big or small, whether it’s something we do or something we allow—that’s what sin is. But grace is bigger.

    A reflection by Rev. MaryGean Cope

  • The Table of Grace

    The Table of Grace

    When I was little, the pastor would say during communion: “Drink all of this.” And I thought that meant drain the cup. I was so committed to getting every last drop. Some of the boys in the children’s choir with me had the same idea—they really went to town on those little cups.

    But “drink all of this” doesn’t mean gulp it down. It means all of you, drink some.

    Today we talk about the communion of saints. And that’s not just about the bread and juice. It’s about being in communion with each other. When God looks at the church, God doesn’t see Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian. God sees one church.

    I watched it happen at the food bank when all of us—different churches, different denominations—worked side by side. Nobody could tell us apart. We were just people working together, part of one body.

    That’s what the communion of saints means. All of us who know Jesus. Past and present and future. Those who have gone before. Those here now. Those still coming. All of us, one. Forgiven, transformed, together. That’s the communion. That’s what we belong to.

    A reflection by Rev. MaryGean Cope

  • Walking by Faith

    Think about this: What is it about you that is holy? What part of you is set aside, consecrated to God? What is other than the ordinary?

    When we talk about holiness, we’re not talking about being perfect or better than anyone else. And we’re definitely not talking about that snooty piety that says “I’m better than someone else.” That’s not holiness. That’s just religious pride.

    Real holiness is about being set apart for God. It’s about being called out and asking what God wants to do through you. It’s the idea that you’re not just living for yourself, but for something bigger. Not in a weird way. Not in a judgmental way. But in a way that changes how you live, what you prioritize, how you love people.

    Look at your own life. What in you has been consecrated to God? What have you set apart for his purposes? That’s holiness. Not performance. Not judgment. Just your life, deliberately given.

    A reflection by Rev. MaryGean Cope

  • Walking by Faith

    Walking by Faith

    There’s a difference between knowing something exists and actually believing in it. Let me tell you a story.

    There was a debate about infant baptism, and someone asked a guy: “Do you believe in infant baptism?” And he said, “Believe in it? Heck, I’ve seen it done.” He thought belief meant the same thing as knowledge. But it doesn’t.

    When we say “I believe in the Holy Catholic Church” in the Apostles Creed, we’re not just saying we know it exists. We’re saying we trust it. We’re part of it. We’re committing to it. Belief is about relationship. It’s about being in.

    And when we talk about something being holy—in the biblical sense—we’re talking about something set apart. Consecrated. Different from the everyday. Not in a holier-than-thou way. That’s just snooty piety and that’s not what holiness is about. Real holiness is being set apart to God. Being called to something other than the usual. That’s what the church is. That’s what we are, if we’re willing to be.

    A reflection by Rev. MaryGean Cope

  • The Heart of Prayer

    The Heart of Prayer

    The church needed a way to sum up what it believed. And there was this guy named Marcian who had completely wrong ideas about God. He thought all matter was evil. So Jesus couldn’t have actually been human, couldn’t have been born, couldn’t have died. He was just some spiritual being delivering nice messages.

    The church said no. That’s not what we believe. So they wrote the Apostles Creed to push back against that heresy. And if you look at the middle part of that creed—the part about Jesus—it’s all about him being real. Conceived. Born. Suffered. Crucified. Dead. Buried. Because if Jesus wasn’t actually human, he couldn’t have suffered. He couldn’t have paid the price for our sins.

    Here’s what matters: Jesus came in flesh. He walked on earth. He bled. He died. And that’s how he saved us. Not as some ghost, not as some idea, but as a person. A real person. That changes everything.

    A reflection by Rev. MaryGean Cope