Category Archives: Daily Devotion

Songs of God

Christmastide

January 3, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Isaiah 43:1-7

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; I will say to the north, “Give them up,” and to the south, “Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth-everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

Hymns from my youth played through my thoughts as I read this scripture. No Never Alone*, Jesus Loves the Little Children** (they are precious in his sight), and In Christ there is no east or west***. The first two songs are not in the current hymnal we use at my church. Music trends change just like everything else, but music plants the theology of our future in our lives as children that may stick with us longer than anything else we are taught. I think of my brother-in-law lying in ICE with COVID for 14 days before my sister could visit him in person. I thank God for the miracles of modern medicine but more importantly, I thank the Lord for being with him for those 14 days and every day since. Pictures of the children staving in Yemen flashed before me as I consider how we are all called to love the Little Children, all the children of the world. For the last several weeks, Oklahomans have opened their homes and their hearts to Afghans fleeing from the fall of their country as God gathers God’s children from the east and the west.

In Christ there is no east or west,
in him no south or north,
but one great fellowship of love
throughout the whole wide earth.

In Christ shall true hearts ev’rywhere
their high communion find.
His service is the golden cord
close binding humankind.

Join hands, then, people of the faith,
whate’er your race may be.
All children of the living God
are surely kin to me.

In Christ now meet both east and west,
in him meet south and north.
All Christly souls are joined as one
throughout the whole wide earth.

Prayer: Lord, I thank you for the songs of my youth and the love you shared with all who sang them. Let them continue to guide us in our love. Amen.

* https://childbiblesongs.com/song-30-jesus-loves-the-little-children.shtml See at **https://hymnary.org/text/ive_seen_the_lightning_flashing

***https://hymnary.org/text/in_christ_there_is_no_east_or_west_oxenh

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.

Terrible Twos of Faith

Christmastide

January 2, 2022

Scripture Reading:
John 1:(1-9), 10-18

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.”‘) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. John 1:10-18

We are a world, nation, state, city, and home caught on the cusp of being the people God created us to be or not. We are caught in the terrible twos of spiritual maturation. How we respond will carve our future. The terrible twos in the study of human maturation refers to a normal stage in a child’s development in which a toddler can regularly bounce between reliance on adults and a newly burgeoning desire for independence. The symptoms vary between children but can include frequent mood changes and temper tantrums*. In one way or another, we hear adults expressing similar frustration as we strive to transition from one form of being to one with more responsibility.

Our societal maturation follows a similar path. Jesus came to demonstrate in person the better way, the moral way, to transition into a positive world at all levels. He taught love, forgiveness, oneness, and justice, setting an example for all to follow as parents try to help their children develop. I guess his faith’s terrible twos came in the desert when the devil tried to distract him with wealth and power, and he withstood those temptations to usher in the movement toward a world and all that is in it that is ruled by love**.

Prayer: God, forgive us when we give up on growing in Spirit and truth. Grant us the peace of your love to help us through the difficult times caused by the world’s distractions. Amen.

*https://www.verywellfamily.com/terrible-twos-and-your-toddler-2634394#:~:text=The%20%22terrible%20twos%22%20refers%20to,mood%20changes%20and%20temper%20tantrums.

**Luke 4:1-13

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 Word

Christmastide

January 1, 2022

Scripture Reading: John 1:(1-9), 10-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. –John 1:1-9

In my college Spanish course, my class was given the assignment to write a poem in Spanish. I was barely adequate at Spanish. I could read it but never was good at understanding it when spoken to me. I did fancy myself as a bit of a poet, so the assignment was, I thought, perfectly designed for me. I wrote my poem in English and very carefully translated it into Spanish. The professor collected our poems and then handed them back randomly to members of the class and asked us to translate them back into English.  The poem I wrote was full of allegory and loaded with deeper meaning. The poor guy who got my poem did not get far in translating it much less understanding it. The words he chose were correct, their application made little sense. The poem I was assigned was simple and straightforward. Even I could translate its meaning even if I could not make it rhyme. I recall that experience when I try to make sense of various parts of the Bible where deeper meanings are harder to discern. John writes beautifully but I am glad I did not have to translate his work into English for all to understand.

What are we to make of “the Word” in the above scripture? It is derived from the Greek word légō and it is complicated:

3056 lógos (from 3004 /légō, “speaking to a conclusion”) – a word, being the expression of a thought; a saying. 3056 /lógos (“word”) is preeminently used of Christ (Jn 1:1), expressing the thoughts of the Father through the Spirit*.

The Word made flesh is the coming of the Christ as Jesus to express the thoughts of the Father through the Spirit. I take that to mean that Jesus came to demonstrate in person God’s love and plan for God’s creation. It is rather like watching a YouTube demonstration rather than simply reading the instructions that came with a new piece of equipment. And I pray that God gets a laugh out of that analogy rather than considering it blasphemy.

John, I think, was also saying that our history of God, from the beginning of time, has been filtered through the thoughts and circumstances of the people who wrote it. That makes it no less true or false; it just colors it in the shades of the writer. Admittedly, our history of Jesus and his actions come to us through the filters of others. Thus, we must not only study the whole wealth of information about Jesus that is available, but we must also seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in understanding what we read.

Prayer: God, open our hearts and mind to knowing you more nearly as we strive to serve you. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/greek/3056.htm

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 Holy Spirit

Christmastide

December 31, 2021

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1:3-14

In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory. –Ephesians 1:11-14

Never alone comes to my mind when I consider the Holy Spirit. The concept of a Holy One traveling with me through all the trials and joys of life is comforting. The Holy Spirit is not a puppet master who corrects any possible miss-steps in our lives. However, we do need to have the opportunity to learn from our mistakes. I think the Holy Spirit helps us realize when we are wrong and is with us when we know we need to repent and turn around from our misdeeds.  

However, we must recognize that for our relationship with the Holy Spirit to be fruitful; it must be two-way. We must be open to the Spirit’s guidance. Sometimes that means we will wrestle with the Spirit as Jacob, the trickster, wrestled with the angel until he became Israel he was capable of being. Or Saul, the religious zealot, became Paul, the apostle who introduced the gentiles to Jesus Christ. Our growth and development may not be as striking as these, but they are as necessary if we are to play our part in making the love of God the standard that rules our world.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Strengthen our relationships with the Spirit so we can serve you more nearly. 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.

Updating our Covenant

Christmastide

December 30, 2021

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1:3-14

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. –Ephesians 1:3-10

English is a complicated language with the same word sometimes having several usages. For example, the term “bless” is a verb the word “blessed” can be either an adjective or noun. When I read the above scripture, a weird question popped into my mind: who could bless God? So, I checked dictionaries and got way in over my head. However, I was pleased to read in Merriam-Webster, when used as an adjective, blessed could mean worthy of adoration. God certainly is. The first word of the scripture quoted above, translated as “Blessed,” is derived from the Greek word eulogētós, and this is its only use in Bible.

2128 /eulogētós (“blessed”) is only used of God the Father and Christ (God the Son), showing the Godhead is worthy of all our commitment. Indeed, only God is inherently praiseworthy, deserving every “good acknowledgment“!

We are a blessing to God when we fulfill our commitments to God to the very best of our ability. We attain that by first making a commitment to God. In our world, we might think of that as a contract. In such instances, one entity agrees to do this if the other does something in return. God, however, prefers to work in covenant with people.

Covenant: the promises of God as revealed in the Scriptures conditioned on certain terms on the part of humanity (as obedience, repentance, and faith): such as

a: an agreement regarded as having been made between God and Israel whereby Israel was to be faithful to God and God was to protect and bless his faithful people

b: a promise regarded as having been enacted by God and granting redemption and salvation to humanity through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ***

With Jesus Christ, we entered into a New Covenant, a promise of redemption by God to people as individuals rather than as a nation and on the basis of God’s grace rather than a person’s adherence to the law***.

As we prepare for a new year, let us take the time to make and review our commitments to God, map out our way to meet those commitments, and follow through with the plan while maintaining a close relationship with the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us through the whole process.

Prayer: Lord, here am I send me. Amen.

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

**https://biblehub.com/greek/2128.htm

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

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.

Oneness not Sameness

Christmastide

December 29, 2021

Scripture Reading:
Psalm 147:12-20

Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
   Praise your God, O Zion!
For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
   he blesses your children within you.
He grants peace within your borders;
   he fills you with the finest of wheat.
He sends out his command to the Earth;
   his word runs swiftly.
He gives snow like wool;
   he scatters frost like ashes.
He hurls down hail like crumbs—
   who can stand before his cold?
He sends out his word, and melts them;
   he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.
He declares his word to Jacob,
   his statutes and ordinances to Israel.
He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
   they do not know his ordinances.
Praise the Lord!

I learned the word ethnocentric in my first semester of college Sociology 103 course. The Greek word ethnos means “nation” or “people.” So, ethnocentricity shows itself in a lack of respect for other ways of life, and an ethnocentric person feels that his or her own nation or group is the cultural center of the world*. The above Psalm reeks with ethnocentricity from gated communities to expecting all who enter our nation must know and follow our laws. The challenge for those of us who live in the United States is that we are an amalgamation of every nation in the world to lesser and greater degrees. I was amazed the first year I lived in Colorado. I went to buy black-eyed peas for New Year’s dinner only to find out, I thought, they were sold out. When I inquired if there were any in the back, they assured me they did not stock them at all. What kind of year do they have if they do not eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s day?

I know that this is heresy for some, but I do not accept either the Doctrine of Discovery or Manifest Destiny as carried out in our country. God may well have allowed us to develop to demonstrate for the world that people can live together in diversity, even learn from each other’s traditions and values. Sameness is not Christ’s Oneness. The people of the United States need to take this role very seriously, for it is a fundamental value of God’s Kingdom on Earth.

Prayer: Gracious God, forgive us when we presume superiority, shine your light on our relationships with others so we can see how your Oneness works and strive to follow it. Amen.

* https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethnocentric

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.

One with God

Christmastide

December 28, 2021

Scripture Reading:
Jeremiah 31:10-14

Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
   and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,
   and will keep him as a shepherd a flock.’
For the Lord has ransomed Jacob,
   and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
   and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
   and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall become like a watered garden,
   and they shall never languish again.
Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,

   and the young men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
   I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
I will give the priests their fill of fatness,
   and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty,

says the Lord.

Israel fell to the pandemics of greed and lust for power, ending in exile. Jeremiah tried to assure them that God remained with them even in their folly and would return them to wholeness if they turned back to the Lord. This is one of the sadist things I have ever written, particularly immediately following the celebration of the birth of Christ. Although Jeremiah’s Israel had only the promise of the Messiah’s coming, we were blessed to be the recipients of his teaching and modeling love and his gift of grace and love in his life, death, and resurrection.  We follow the wrong paths as our ancestors in faith did. They should have known better because God sent prophets to warn them. We definitely should know better since we have a living Savior to guide and direct us if we can just turn away from that which distracts and isolates us from the ways of God’s love.

We will never fully address pandemics like COVID or stubborn problems like poverty and climate change if we do not seek the cure for the pandemics of greed and lust for power in our world today. Many of our elected officials have been bought by wealthy donors, but we seem to admire them for it and envy their wealth. The entrepreneurs of greed and power work hard at dividing and conquering us to our detriment. Paul addressed such divisions in Galatians 3:28. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. That oneness in Christ Jesus was in his prayer before his crucifixion as recorded in John 17:22-23 as he talks to God, The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

We can blame the politicians and others for our plight, but we must remember we elected them or allowed them to be elected because we did not bother to vote. Therefore, they no longer need us to support them and are doing everything in their power to take voters that do not help them out of the elections. If we do not reclaim our democracy by voting, we will find ourselves in an exile of our own making. To do that, we need to restore our faith in God and learn to be one with all of God’s children.

Prayer: God, forgive us for being tricked by people who use us for their aggrandizement. Please lead us to your oneness and heal the prejudices that divide us.  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.

Blessings

Christmastide

December 27, 2021

Scripture Reading:

Numbers 6:22-27

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the Israelites: you shall say to them,
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.
So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.

I was introduced to this beautiful blessing early in life. It tells us that we are always God’s children. To bless means to make sacred, and keep means to retain forever. The light of God shines on us so that we can see our way forward. For example, I had to get a new thermostat some months ago, and the one installed had a more prominent face. During the day, it is hardly noticeable, but at night it illuminates the whole room well enough for me to find my way when darkness is all around me. The face of God provides such light on all we do. God being gracious to us indicates God’s gift of grace filling in the blank space between where we are and where we should be related to kindness and courtesy.

As a child, I most likely did not understand the word countenance. It means one’s mood, emotions, or character. For God to project those traits on us is an interesting circumstance to consider. When God is pleased with us, we will welcome his countenance. I am reminded of the scene when Jesus drove the money lenders out of the temple, which was undoubtedly an expression of God’s countenance. That took courage on the part of Jesus. Would we have the tenacity to do such a thing? And how would we have felt had we been one of the money traders?

The blessing follows the countenance challenge with the promise of peace or shalom where we are granted completeness, soundness, wellbeing.

Prayer: Lord, we thank you for your blessings and dedication to our wellbeing. 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.

Communicating

Christmastide

December 26, 2021

Scripture Reading: Luke 2:41-52

Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished; and his mother said to him, ‘Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.’ He said to them, ‘Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’ But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.

I have a grandnephew who has never met a stranger. I walked down the nursing home hall where my mother lived with him once when he was eight. An elderly lady dressed in a nightgown using a cane walked toward us. She saw him and cried out, “It’s my grandson,” and headed straight for him. He hugged her around the waist and said, “How are you?” She was delighted. He indicated he had to leave and see someone else, and we continued to my mom’s room. I asked him who the lady was; he said he had never seen her before but thought she needed a hug from her grandson. Since he was not there, my grandnephew hugged her. I was not surprised at his behavior; I had a dad who had never met a stranger. His brother married a woman while stationed on the east coast during World War II. When he was called up to go overseas, he arranged for his wife to live with his mother. My mother picked her up at the train station and took her to my grandmother’s house, where the three women had a cordial, polite conversation for several hours but did not learn much about her each other. Later, when my dad joined them, my mother reported that Dad knew his new sister-in-law’s life story within the hour. Gregarious is probably the best word to describe this behavior, and I believe Jesus was gregarious from birth.

All are not born with that talent, and some people are not open to sharing so informally with others. The stories of Jesus indicate that from an early age, he read people well, was gregarious with those who welcomed it, and was more reserved with those who did not. In either case, he was a good listener and radared in his behavior that he cared about the people whose lives he touched. That included his parents when he realized at the age of 12 that he had caused them much distress, so he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them

We are called to develop good communications habits based on who we are and find the best ways to reach out to others using our God-given skills, sharing the love of God with them through our love.

Prayer: Lord, Help us develop the skills you have provided us and use them in your service. 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.

Perfect Love

Christmas

December 25, 2021

Scripture Reading: John 1:10-14

[Christ] was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

The Bible is our primary source of human observation of the history of God, including the coming of the Christ child. Yet John is trying to tell us there is much more to the story recorded in the Bible or anything written since that shares human experiences with God. John describes Christ as the Word we are to follow. The measure of God’s message is determined by whether it passes the test of love. We, indeed, must immerse ourselves in the stories of God, Jesus’s teachings and example, his death, and resurrection that has been passed to us over the years. But, even with those, we must seek love’s path. Such study requires us to call on God to guide us and help us understand the meaning of “love” as Christ lived it as what John describes as the Word.

Today we celebrate the coming of the Word into the world. Let this be a time to recommit our lives to expanding our understanding of the Word and molding our lives to follow the Word more closely.

In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan
Earth stood hard as iron
Water like a stone
Snow had fallen
Snow on snow on snow
In the bleak midwinter
Long, long ago
Angels and Arc Angels
May have traveled there
Cherubim and Seraphim
Thronged the air
But only his Mother
In her maiden bliss
Worshiped the beloved
With a kiss
What can I give him?
Poor as I am
If I were a shepherd
I would give a lamb
If I were a wise man
I would do my part
But what I can I give him
Give him my heart
Give him my heart*

Prayer: Thank you, God, for sending your Son the greatest gift we will ever receive. Amen.

*Hymn In the Bleak Midwinter  by Christina Rossetti and Gustav Holst

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.