Category Archives: Daily Devotion

Let Your Light Shine

Ordinary Time

January 24, 2022

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 1:4-10
 ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’
Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.’ But the Lord said to me,
‘Do not say, “I am only a boy”;
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
says the Lord.’
Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me,
‘Now I have put my words in your mouth.
See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.’

One of the few bright spots in our world today is the actions of youth and young adults to make the world we live in a better place. From world-renowned advocates for peace, Malala Yousaf and for climate change, Greta Thunberg, to Amanda Gorman who recited her poem, The Hill We Clime, at the Biden inauguration, young adults are taking responsibility for making the world a better place. There are also those who show up and take charge of the small, community-related issues. I saw a teenager filling holes in the streets in front of his home on TV a few months ago, and youth through their own initiative trying to end school shootings. Jeremiah was one such young adult who accepted the call to warn his nation of its folly. We can learn a lot from the study of the book of Jeremiah, and we can learn a lot from the example of the young people in our world today setting the example for us adults.

Prayer: Lord, let our light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven*. Amen.

*Derived from Matthew 5:16

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Ministry of Justice

Ordinary Time

January 23, 2022

Scripture Reading: Luke 4:14-21

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
   because he has anointed me
     to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
   and recovery of sight to the blind,
     to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’  –Luke 4:16-21

The text for Jesus’s first sermon was Isaiah 58:6, and 61:1-2 quoted above. They outline his ministry’s purpose—bringing justice to the poor, captives, blind, and to letting the oppressed go free. These remain our goals today. We have failed repeatedly to maintain justice.  We live in the richest nation in the world and yet $140 million people* live in poverty or are one crisis away from poverty. Former students remain in low-income situations because of interest rates making payback of loans a lifelong commitment. They are captives to a system designed to make the rich richer not to lift people out of poverty. It is interesting that Jesus chose the blind to highlight. Besides returning sight to the blind, It may mean he came to open all people’s eyes to disparities in our world and how we drift away from the core of God’s plan for all creation. Oppression continues in the USA, for example, Black male offenders continued to receive longer sentences than similarly situated White male offenders**.  According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, in 2020, women’s annual earnings were 82.3% of men’s, and the gap is even wider for women of color.

I invite you to join me in a season of prayer for our nation and our world as we seek to discern what kind of world in which we want to live, during this election year.

Prayer: Lord, Open my eyes that I may see glimpses of truth thou hast for me, Spirit divine!*** Amen.

*For more information see https://wwSeew.poorpeoplescampaign.org/140-million-maps/

** see https://www.ussc.gov/research/research-reports/demographic-differences-sentencing

Derived from hymn Open My Eyes by Clara H. Scott see at https://hymnary.org/text/open_my_eyes_that_i_may_see

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

What Is Truth?

Ordinary Time

January 22, 2022

Scripture Reading:
Luke 4:14-21

Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. –Luke 4:14-15

This scripture describes how Jesus came back from wandering in the wilderness where he was tempted by the devil. He, applying the teachings of his faith and taking advantage of the gifts of the Spirit, was able to withstand the willy creature and returned to begin his ministry. That did not mean Jesus was never tempted again. However, he learned from experience where help was when he needed it. Those same sources of help are available to us today as we commune with God.

When I was in grade school my dad was committed to a popular radio minister who offered a correspondence course that dad received in the mail. We spent evenings, where I read the lessons aloud at his behest.  Each lesson was carefully written with what the author discerned as important presented in bold print. Even at the age of ten, I was cynical of these teachings and my greatest act of defiance was never to read the bolded sections with emphasis. Two good outcomes resulted. I developed skills at reading allowed and the drive to test everything I read or heard for its veracity– devotion to the truth. The older I get the more I understand the Spirit guides me toward finding and understanding truth.  For me, the most profound measure of truth is whether the situation being assessed passes the test of love.

We find ourselves in a world where truth is evasive and lying is treated like truth if one can get away with it. At times my mind flashes back to the scene in John 18 where Jesus says ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’  and Pilate says, ‘What is truth?’

Make no mistake truth is stronger than all the evil in the world and truth does exist.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for the gift of the Spirit and turning awkward situations into positive lessons learned. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Make Me a Blessing

Ordinary Times

January 21, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Romans 12:9-21

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. –Romans 12:9-21

To bless means to confer what is beneficial*. Confer means 1) to hold conversation or conference now typically on important, difficult, or complex matters: to compare views: to take counsel,  2) to grant or bestow (something) from or as if from a position of authority, 3) to give or yield (a property, characteristic, or quality, especially an advantageous one) to someone or something**.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
   and all that is within me,
   bless his holy name. (Psalm 103:1)

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them (Romans 12:14a)

While it may seem contradictory in terms, God calls us both to bless the Lord and bless those who persecute us. They are not contradictory. When we do what is beneficial for others, we benefit God. Behaving in such a manner is a habit we must cultivate requiring us to see others as Christ would see them through the pain and fears that are causing them to persecute. How can we turn a negative encounter with another into something that dispels their vulnerabilities and moves them a step closer to wholeness without damaging them further and without compromising what is just and merciful? Maintaining a close relationship with God and staying in tune with the Holy Spirit are the drivers of our ability to be a blessing to others. It is in God’s blessings including those sent through us and others, that the Kingdom of God will be realized.

Prayer: Lord, strengthen each of your servants to be a blessing especially when it is the very last thing we want to do. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/greek/2127.htm

** https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/confer

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Transform Us

January 20, 2022

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness. –Romans 12:1-8

I am going off lectionary today because I messed up and used the scripture for today, last week. I am sure this scripture from Romans is somewhere in the lectionary but it is one of my favorites and I am substituting it here so I will not repeat the same scripture too closely.

I wrote emails this morning making changes in meetings because COVID is peaking in Oklahoma. I used the phrase “COVID times” to describe how we must adapt to the world in which we live. I then moved on to consider this scripture that tells me Do not be conformed to this world and realized that our world has no conformity. My faith group strongly supports safety precautions during COVID, passing out masks at entrances to people who desire them and offering worship in-person, live-streamed, and on Facebook. Other groups refuse to adapt to such safety recommendations. They indicate requiring them to follow such steps limits their rights as individuals. We are a house divided in so many ways, all believing theirs is the way to which we should conform.

Amid our divisiveness how do we as Christ-followers, be transformed by the renewing of [our] minds, so that [we] may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect? My usual response is to say we need to love like Jesus and to love our neighbor as ourselves, but the louder cry seems to be to question who is my neighbor? These have only become words, not actions. My prayer is for God to reach into our collective hearts and transform us.

Prayer:

Bind Us Together, Lord
Bind Us Together
With Cords That Cannot Be Broken
Bind Us Together, Lord
Bind Us Together
Bind Us Together In Love

There Is Only One God,
There Is Only One King
There Is Only One Body,
That Is Why We Sing*. Amen.

First verse and chorus of Bind Us Together by Bob Gillman see at https://divinehymns.com/lyrics/bind-us-together-song-lyrics/

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Of Laws and Grace

Ordinary Time

January 19, 2022

Scripture Reading: Psalm 19

The law of the Lord is perfect,
  reviving the soul;
the decrees of the Lord are sure,
   making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
   rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is clear,
   enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is pure,
   enduring forever;
the ordinances of the Lord are true
   and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
   even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey,
   and drippings of the honeycomb. –Psalm 19:7-10 he

Sister Joan Chittister’s book The Ten Commandments: Laws of the Heart helped me understand the importance of law in our lives while delving into the breadth and depths of the Ten Commandments. I grew up on a farm. One evening while watching TV, we saw an ad for a Gubernatorial candidate showing him walking idyllically through a pasture with grazing cattle holding his wife’s hand staring up at the blue sky. My dad said he could never vote for anybody who does not have sense enough to watch where he was stepping in a pasture full of cows. Laws and rules formed from experience ease our paths in life.

God wants the very best for all of God’s creations including each of us, and through God’s various emissaries shared guidance toward that end. The Ten Commandments are the most practical advice we could ever receive. Think about how much better our world with be if we had ever all worked at following them. Instead of practicing sage advice we either use them to establish self-righteousness or to judge others.

A few thousand years later God sent Jesus who introduced us to grace establishing that God’s love is our salvation and God’s supreme commandments to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves encompasses all the laws. Those laws remain relevant as they help us discern how to apply love in our daily lives.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the gift of your grace and for the laws that exemplify our living in your love. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised. Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Restore Our Souls

Ordinary Time

January 18, 2022

Scripture Reading:
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10

So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, ‘This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.’ For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, ‘Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’ —Nehemiah 8-10

One of my favorite songs is Lessons to be Learned* I heard on a Barbra Streisand album.

They say there’s a universal plan
For every woman, for every man
I do believe there’s a higher power
But in our darkest hour it’s hard to understand
So we start to question, start to doubt
We lose faith in what life’s all about

Why did the right road take the wrong turn
Why did our heart break, why’d we get burned
Just like the seasons there are reasons for the path we take
There are no mistakes
Just lessons to be learned
We too might weep if we come together and realized the way we live our lives differs from God’s design for living an abundant life. Perhaps that is because our definition of an abundant life relates to financial well-being whereas scriptures describe spiritual health. We tend to get the world’s measures of success mixed in with God’s.

I do believe that spiritual health supports and sustains the idea that all people have the right to have enough—enough food, clothing, and shelter; enough quality affordable and accessible health care, and public education that enables each person to become the one they were created to be. We all have responsibility to make sure that enough is reality.

Prayer: Lord, as you return us from the exile of COVID help us to examine our lives and see the changes we need to be in sync with you. Amen.

*First verse and refrain from Lessons to be Learned by Gazeley / Malamet / Rich © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Spirit Music Group, Write By The Sea Songs

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

The Source of Life

Ordinary Time

January 16, 2022

Scripture Reading: John 2:1-11

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

I hosted a singer from Europe several years ago while she was touring churches in the USA when she sang at our church. I was notified ahead of time I would need to stock wine for her to drink as she never drank water. I wondered what I had gotten into but I went to the liquor store and found the wine she required. It was an inexpensive common wine, which surprised me. I thought I was dealing with a diva. She was a wonderful person and I enjoyed her company. Raised, in eastern Europe, she learned early that the water in her community was not safe to drink and everyone’s water, including the children’s, was laced with a little wine to kill the deadly germs in the water supply.  She only added enough of the red wine to turn her water pink. With her career taking her all over the world, she treated every venue in the same manner.

I do not know what symbolism John intended when he wrote the above scripture, but reading it just now reminded me of my European guest. Turning water into wine was a life-saving act to her and most likely was true in first-century Israel.  John continues this theme a little later in the book when he quotes Jesus as saying, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10) We are called to be in the world but not of the world and we are called to live and love like Jesus no matter where in the world we might find ourselves.

Prayer: God, enable me to follow your lead in interacting with the people whose paths I cross.  Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Called

Ordinary Time

January 15, 2022

Scripture Reading: John 2:1-11

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

How do we know the right time to initiation our life’s calling?

  • Moses encountered a burning bush (Exodus 3:1-17),
  •  Gideon tested God twice before following God’s command (Judges 6:36-7:23),
  • Isaiah had a vision (Isaiah 6),
  • Jesus had a mother who was told by an angel who her son was, and she encouraged his stepping into that role (Luke 1:26-38).

These were all leaders whose works deserved recording in the annals of history. However, each Christ-follower has at least one calling, likely many, from checking on the sick to donating food to a pantry or working for justice for all God’s children. Each person is gifted with skills to foster the Kingdom of God on this earth. Answering our calling and supporting others in theirs are critical elements to enabling a world ruled by God’s love. We must keep our whole beings open to hearing our calls and answering them.

Prayer: Grant us each the strength and courage first to hear your call and then answer it with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Created to be One

Ordinary Time

January 14, 2022

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot were to say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear were to say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’, nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. –1 Corinthians 12:14-26*

In Jul 2015, former president Jimmy Carter said the United States is now an “oligarchy” in which “unlimited political bribery” has created “a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors.” Both Democrats and Republicans, Carter said, “look upon this unlimited money as a great benefit to themselves*.”

An Oligarchy is a group or organization that is controlled by a privileged few**

Recalling Carter’s above observation, I saw this scripture in a new light. I more and more believe that God created the world to be interdependent, and any attempt to disconnect that objective leads eventually to disaster. Like steering a boat sharing the waterway with many other travelers, we are each called to maintain a steady course using all the skills and talents God has gifted us to be the best of who we are and desire that all those other people become the best that they can be. I fear greed blinds some to the necessity of achieving that critical mission to sustain our very lives. There is no trickle-down in the economy. All wealth is dependent upon the abundance each person shares in the economy.

The USA is a grand experiment on whether a nation can exist in harmony as a government of the people by the people and for the people. We have never met that vision fully, but we stand very close to the precipice of proving we cannot. The actual test is whether the people want democracy. Are we letting ourselves be trapped by the oligarchs? Why are we letting them rule us?

 Prayer: Lord, strengthen us with the power of love to recover our dream of a world ruled by loving our neighbors as we love ourselves and not impoverishing them so we can be richer. Amen.

*https://theintercept.com/2015/07/30/jimmy-carter-u-s-oligarchy-unlimited-political-bribery/

**https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/oligarchy

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.