Lumby United Church

05/28/2026

Wondercafe ll is on hold until September.Stay tuned for an exciting line up of story tellers

05/04/2026

"how does one acquire wisdom?"

The biblical answer is found in all of the Scriptures that we have cited and many more.
We can survey all of the pool of biblical insights about wisdom and siphon the precious nectar of truth about how to get wisdom:

1. Recognize that true wisdom is something that we need. Like grace, wisdom is something God offers and which we must receive. It is a gift.
2. Repent of your claim on wisdom. Turn to God. By faith, believe in God and in his only begotten Son Jesus Christ. Ask him for wisdom.
3. Receive the anointing of wisdom even as Joshua received wisdom after Moses laid his hand upon him. Recognize that wisdom is a spiritual act. It has very little to do with cognitive development or education. It has everything to do with the anointing of God to see what is right and what is wrong, to know what to do and when to do it. You and I both know that wisdom does not come along with a sheepskin of a diploma or certification. Cry out to God, and he will answer you and anoint you with wisdom.
4. Use wisdom for the glory of God and for the good of others. If wisdom is not exercised then wisdom ceases to be. However, the very nature of wisdom instructs your heart to use your insights, your discernment, your discretion, your vision to fulfill God's will and to demonstrate how to love your neighbor.
Yes, wisdom is a bountiful blessing that is available to all. You have only to go to the Lord God and ask for this wisdom.
As Paul prayed that the Colossians be granted wisdom, so I pray for those who read this: “And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9-10 ESV).

Let us always remember that Jesus is the fullness of God's wisdom. To receive the anointing of wisdom, then, is, in some way, to know the mind of God and to draw close to the one who is wisdom incarnate, even Jesus Christ our Lord:Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God. And to receive him is to recognize your need of him and cry out to him.
God will answer your prayer. So, this is wisdom and how to find it.

05/04/2026

Wisdom

Two questions -1. What is Wisdom 2. How do I get wisdom

The Bible mentions wisdom at least 141 times. It occurs in the wisdom book of Proverbs alone about 41 times. Often contrasted with foolishness or folly, wisdom derives from more than just intellectual knowledge but also refers to character, discernment, and the ability to live a godly life. According to the Bible, wisdom is a divine gift that is granted by God whenever any believer asks for it. This is the clear teaching of James: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” .

Wisdom, is the ability to contemplate and act productively using knowledge, experience, understanding,
common sense, and insight. Wisdom is associated with attributes such as unbiased judgment,
compassion, experiential self-knowledge, self-transcendence, and non-attachment, and virtues such as ethics and benevolence. Wisdom has been defined in many different ways, and there are several distinct approaches to assessing the characteristics attributed to wisdom.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines wisdom as "Capacity of judging rightly in matters relating to life and conduct; soundness of judgment in the choice of means and ends; sometimes, less strictly, sound sense, esp. in practical affairs: opp. to folly;" also "Knowledge (esp. of a high or abstruse kind); enlightenment, learning, erudition." Charles Haddon Spurgeon defined wisdom as "the right use of knowledge".
In social and psychological sciences, several distinct approaches to wisdom exist, along with techniques of operationalization and measurement of wisdom as a psychological construct.
Wisdom is the capacity to have foreknowledge of something, to know the consequences (positive and negative) of the available courses of action, and take the best of the available options.

Bible Verses About Wisdom - Scripture Quotes for Guidance
Scripture tells us that wisdom is better than gold! Bible verses about wisdom unlock the keys to gaining insight for your Christian walk. As Christians, we can gain knowledge through the study of God's word. "..the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere" (James 3:17).

The answer to the question, “what is wisdom” seems, at first hearing, to demand a rather simple answer. One could say, “Wisdom is the appropriate application of knowledge,” and that is so. But upon reviewing wisdom in the Bible, this invaluable virtue is deep, immeasurable, priceless, and rare. It is like saying, “Jesus is the Redeemer.” That is true, yet our Redeemer is infinitely more. The Lord offers wisdom freely; however, most don’t bother to ask and, therefore, receive. Wisdom is a plenteous crop with a meager harvest. Wisdom personified cries out in the street, “I am here! I bring great blessings!"

Thus, the Proverb: Proverbs 1:20-22 (ESV): Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? Dr. Michael A. Milton said But busy pedestrians walk briskly by, perhaps only glancing in contempt at its peculiar place. A busy man late for an appointment is put off by her offer. “My word, what an embarrassment! She is not a beggar but is annoyingly worse: she offers her treasures to any who will pause and ask. How ludicrous. Get out of my way! I am late!” Others ignore her. Some even avoid her. She holds wealth, happiness, and abundant life. But the sweet voice with her kind offer is drowned out by the urgent noises of practicality and utility and self-reliance.

True wisdom, like God’s grace, is alien to the natural man. Wisdom is, in fact, a divine gift that is granted by God whenever any believer asks. This is the clear teaching of James: James 1:5 (ESV): If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

05/04/2026

01/02/2026

Intention: A Purposeful practice

The type of Intention I want to share is a directed pulse of consciousness that contains the seed form of that which you aim to create.
Intention includes your motivation: the attitude you want to cultivate, the feeling you want to feed.
It’s internal, and it will help you maintain the right spirit.
It is a way of choosing who to be and extending your awareness into a directional flow of experience.
Intentions are mental states that involve action plans to which the person has committed themselves.

Folk psychology explains human behavior on the basis of mental states, including beliefs, desires, and intentions.
This explanation is based on the idea that desires motivate behavior and beliefs direct the behavior towards the desired goal. This can be understood in terms of causal chains, i.e. that desires cause intentions, intentions cause actions, and actions cause the realization of the desired outcome.
One difference between desires and intentions is that intentions impose more restrictions on their contents. This includes that intentions are directed at possible courses of action, i.e. that they involve something a person can do or at least think they can do. Desires, on the other hand, do not involve this form of restriction. In this sense, it is possible to desire sunny weather for tomorrow but not to intend sunny weather for tomorrow.
Intention is used in spiritual work to heal, change, or manifest something in your life. Intention requires releasing your seed into the fertile depths of your consciousness to let it grow and flourish.
Intentions are also mental states in which you commit yourself to a course of action, what one intends to do or bring about, the object for which a prayer, mass, or act is offered, a determination to act in a certain way. Intention is the seed of all change and it is the creative power that fulfils our dreams. An intention contains the DNA of manifestation and It is therefore the key to creating the life you want. Our outer world is a reflection of our inner world, the only way to shift reality is to start with what is inside us.

Successful intentions bring about an intended course of action
Intention is a process of self-enquiry that gets to the true heart of your intentions for this life. You will w**d out the obstacles in the way of your wishes, such as limiting self-beliefs and the stories you currently tell about yourself. You will plant the seeds of intention with a sense of true clarity and infinite possibility and then water them with your daily actions and care. And then all that needs to be done is to trust in the outcome and allow your intentions to grow.
Practicing intention is for anyone who wishes to align their life with their innermost wishes and tap into the most under rated power in the universe.
Mindfulness and intention are closely related
• Practicing mindfulness can help you become more conscious about setting intentions and living into them.
• Acting with intention allows you to be purposeful, directed, and true to your values.
• Intention is one of the three vital psychological elements of mindfulness.
• When meditating, you can set an intention or stay connected with the feelings you have in your heart and ask yourself why you’re meditating.
• The three vital psychological elements of mindfulness are intention, attention, and attitude

12/05/2025

Mindfulness. A Calming Grace
Mindfulness encourages us to pay attention to our experiences in the present moment. As Christians, our awareness of the present moment is enriched by knowing that God is present with us. We know that being still before God brings peace to our minds, hearts, and spirits. At the same time, scientific studies continue to show the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation for reducing stress and calming anxiety.
Mindfulness is a pretty straightforward word. It suggests that the mind is fully attending to what’s happening, to what you’re doing, to the space you’re moving through. That might seem trivial, except for the annoying fact that we so often veer from the matter at hand, our mind takes flight, we lose touch with our body, and pretty soon we’re engrossed in obsessive thoughts. Thinking about something that just happened or fretting about the future; that makes us anxious. I know myself many times I get distracted, start one thing, go for something else and forget what I was doing or I’m not paying enough attention to what I am doing, get flustered and stub my toe, spill things, break something or even fall down.
Yet no matter how far we drift away, mindfulness is right there to snap us back to where we are and what we’re doing and feeling.
• Mindfulness is the practice of purposely bringing one's attention to the present-moment experience without evaluation, a skill one develops through meditation or other training
• Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us. To look at what we are doing through the minds eye.
• Mindfulness is a quality that every human being already possesses, it’s not something you have to conjure up, you just have to learn how to access it.
• Mindfulness techniques are wide-ranging, Buddhist traditions explain what constitutes mindfulness such as how past, present and future moments arise and cease as momentary sense impressions.
• A form of self-observation and interoception, a method to increase awareness of the body, that can be beneficial to people with low self-awareness or low awareness of their bodies or emotional state. Lack of self awareness of what is happening in the body can lead to anxiety, distress, flashbacks, pain, and even trigger substance abuse.
• Mindfulness is not obscure or exotic. It’s familiar to us because it’s what we already do, how we already are. It takes many shapes and goes by many names.
• Mindfulness is not a special added thing we do. We already have the capacity to be present, we can cultivate these innate qualities with simple practices that are scientifically demonstrated to benefit ourselves, our loved ones, our friends and neighbors, the people we work with, and the institutions and organizations we take part in
• Mindfulness recognizes and cultivates the best of who we are as human beings.
• Mindfulness & Meditation begins and ends in the body. It involves taking the time to pay attention to where we are and what’s going on, and that starts with being aware of our body That very act can be calming, since our body has internal rhythms that help it relax if we give it a chance.
When we think about mindfulness and meditating, we can get hung up on thinking about our thoughts: we’re going to do something about what’s happening in our heads. It’s as if these bodies we have are just inconvenient sacks for our brains to lug around. Having it all remain in your head, though, lacks a feeling of good old gravity.
Mindfulness research has recognized that there is great value in spending time alone, in silence and stillness. It helps to bring peace to our busy lives and calm to our minds. This is something people of spiritual traditions have long been doing: quietly praying or meditating in solitude.
For Christians, creating the time and space to be alone and still before God helps us eliminate distractions, so we can focus on God and commune with Him
Jesus was very busy and in demand man when he was among the deciples they constantly had questions for Him, when He went among the people they called and reached out to Him to heal and help them. It must have been exhasusting and stressful. He would have needed to be alone to regroup and gather His thoughts.
Mark 1:35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
Psalm 143:5 I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.