Safe Harbor Presbyterian Church
Lent Daily Devotions 2023
Daily Devotions for Lent. February 22, 2023 to March 31, 2023 Safe Harbor Presbyterian Church
Making Room Devotions for Lent 2023 …. Eugenia A Gamble
Throughout the centuries of the church’s common life, it has been a practice during the holy season of Lent (the forty days plus Sundays leading up to Easter) for the faithful to ‘give up something’ as a sign of devotion. Often those commitments fade fast. Even if we do remain steadfast, it becomes a dogged practice of self will that leaves us rushing to the Seven Eleven for Twinkies as soon as the clock ticks past midnight on Easter morning. While God blesses all attempts at faithfulness, I do wonder about how much the kingdom actually hinges on our ability to refrain from sugar or broccoli or cussing for 40 days only to become more focused on those things by the very act of denying them.
Still, Jesus himself fasted for 40 days in the wilderness. Just after his baptism, (that glorious moment during which the Spirit came to him, assured him of his holy status and strengthened him for his mission,) the Spirit drove him into the wilderness to grapple with his identity and do spiritual battle with anything that sought to undermine him. Fasting was the spiritual tool that he chooses to help him face and face down anything that could derail his ministry and mission. It can be a potent spiritual tool for us as well. Fasting is not a way to flex our will power, or to lose a couple of pounds. Fasting is about making space within for new growth and insight. It is about coming to understand our self-indulgences and how much room they take up in our hearts. Fasting helps us understand those things that we do habitually or even addictively and why we do them.
So, this year, I am asking that each day you choose to ‘fast.’ If you feel led to fast from a food or the relationship with that food that is damaging you somehow, feel free. Twinkies be gone! But my hunch is that for most of us there are other things with more damaging power over us from which we would benefit by abstaining. So, each day this year, I will invite you to fast from a particular mindset, habit or pattern of behavior. If one day’s challenge doesn’t speak to you, thank God for that grace and ponder it a little anyway. If another day’s challenge is particularly difficult, you might want to return to it several times, or even stay with it for a week or more. Let the Spirit be your guide.
At the close of each day’s reflection, take a moment to move your hand to your heart and then out and above your head like you a tossing something to someone else and say, “I release this tendency to you, O God. I do not need it anymore.” Then conclude with the daily prayer. You may find that you want the thing back and immediately scramble for it. That is natural. Each time you release, even briefly, you are creating inner territory for God to more fully claim in you. God will take you where you need to go at the pace you can maintain. You may be assured of that. May you have a holy fast!
February 22 - Ash Wednesday - Easy Answers - Luke 4:1-4 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” (Deut. 8:3)
Jesus is famished. Do you recall what that feels like? How it can take over your thoughts, and muddle your vision and determination? Do you recall a time that you felt like you would do anything for something to eat or drink (or maybe a cigarette, or a drink, or a word of love from someone you were beginning to think didn’t really love you? Do you recall how frantic you felt? That is what Jesus is feeling here. And, of course, along comes the devil with an easy answer to his problem. “Do this one thing for me and I will fix it. Imagine what Jesus might have felt and thought.” Can you imagine Jesus’ inner dialogue with God when confronted with that temptation? “I know, Father, that this fast is purposeful? But haven’t I done enough? Couldn’t I do even more with a little extra physical stamina? Isn’t it time to test my powers to get what I want or need?” Perhaps he went through all of those natural thoughts. Sometimes, we are tempted in the same way. We have a worthy goal or a legitimate need and the yet route to meet that goal or need seems too long and arduous. Isn’t there an easier way to meet our needs, we wonder. Isn’t there some trick or key to fill our hearts, meet our hungers? It is this desire for an easy way to meet needs that leads to many a corrupt practice, broken relationship, and shallow faith practice. When we find ourselves looking for an easy way out of our situations, especially if those situations have been Spirit led in the first place, it is rarely the guidance of the Spirit to which we are turning. One of the favorite wiles of the devil is the lure of the easy, pain free, effortless answer (often cloaked in platitudes that may sound holy.) Take a moment to examine your heart for this pattern, then release it to God.
Prayer: Gracious God, only in you, and in your ways, do we find the answers we seek. Only in you are our hungers met. Help me today to accept no substitutes. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 23 - Worldly Power - Matthew 4:5-7 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Jesus Deut. 6:16) Devil Psalm 91)
Here we find Jesus wrestling with the lure of power, gaining it, keeping it and growing it. It is interesting that the devil takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the Temple for this test, the highest place of the highest place, with the whole world at his feet. Perhaps most interesting of all is that the devil uses scripture itself (Psalm 91) as a proof text to get Jesus to succumb to the temptation! As if the use of scripture somehow made what was being asked right. In our own day this is not an unknown strategy either. There are those who also use scripture as bait to get us to fall into our baser inclinations. Over the years I have had my beloved scriptures venomously waved in may face to try to justify behavior that I found immoral and unjust. “You can’t let homeless people live in our church. The Bible says the poor will always be with us. If you want to keep your pulpit you better do as I say.” And the like. Still, in today’s passage the devil is being more subtle. He is offering
Jesus unparalleled power if he will just do something flashy that the people will find undeniable. If he will be a good enough showman, then people will flock to him. Isn’t that what he wants anyway? The desire to have the world at our feet is a natural one whether it is at home, at work, or in the church. The subtle voice that says “just razzle dazzle them, just don’t be authentic for a moment and see if that will get you what you want” is not unknown to any of us. The problem for Jesus was that if he manipulated people into faith, was that really faith at all? It is the same for us. If we manipulate others into the next promotion, or the next hug, or the next prize, does it really mean anything? If we do that by not being real and true to our own life mission, can we be sure that what we receive is real and true in return? Ponder this ‘temptation’ in your life? How do the luring words come to you? How do them seem justified? Take a moment to examine your heart for this pattern, then release it to God.
Prayer: Gracious God, help me today not to be fooled by the lure to achieve my goals, or gain some kind of power over others, by unholy, unkind, inauthentic means. Help me release this tendency to you for healing. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
February 24 – Being Inauthentic- Mark 1:12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
Mark’s gospel tells the story of Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness in one simple and provocative verse. What do we learn? Immediately after the great high of receiving his mission from God at his baptism, the Spirit compels him to go and face his demons before he can go on with his saving work. We can’t know the specific things with which Jesus wrestled in those early days of his wilderness experience. I have often wondered if, early on, he had to wrestle with the desire to shape himself in a way that was more palatable and pleasing to others. Surely, even this early, he knew that his message would ruffle feathers. More than that, that it could create a storm of rage and indignation that would be hard to turn around. And yet, in the stories that we have of him, we see very little people pleasing. Kindness? A plenty. Wisdom? A stunning amount. Tenderness? That too. But trying to shape his life and message to please others? Not at all. I cannot say the same of myself. There have been many times when my need to please has harnessed my tongue, muddied my boundaries and made self-care a pipe dream. What Jesus helps us see is that when we measure everything we do by how we think it will be perceived, we probably will never be true agents of change or ushers of the kingdom. Today, take a moment to think about your tendency to ‘package yourself’ in order to please others. I’m not talking about actions you take from genuine love in order to bring joy or lift others up. I’m talking about actions you take, or do not take, that are inauthentic to your true self, feelings, and beliefs for a whole host of reasons. Invite the Spirit to show you a specific incidence when you hid behind a mask and how that affected you and others? Did it get you want you thought you wanted? Was there a price to pay? Look at that tendency carefully and gently. When you are ready, release that tendency to God.
Prayer: Gracious God, today help me to see the times when I hide behind a mask, when I want others to think I am something that I am not. And, when I want them not to
see who I really am. Help me to release this tendency and live a more authentic life. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 25 - Fear - Romans 8:15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
Often when we find ourselves living inauthentic lives, or lives in which we hide our true selves, fear is the ultimate motivator. Some say that fear is false evidence appearing real. Why is the evidence false if the wolf really is at the door, the diagnosis really is dire, the bombs really are falling, and the relationship really is over? The evidence is false not because awful things are not, and do not, happen. The evidence is false because we tell ourselves lies about it. Paul is writing to people he does not know well but his subject is universal. When times are hard it scares us, and we forget who we are. Paul wants us to remember that what we are experiencing is not all that is real at any given time. God is not mad at us. God has not abandoned us. Does that mean the bad things won’t happen to us? Not necessarily. What it does mean is that the bad things will never be the last things that happen to us. Good is always both present and on the way. In the ancient world, a father could disown a genetic son, but adoption was permanent. Nothing could change that. Paul reminds us that our status as God’s beloved child is unchangeable, so fear need not rule our lives, especially fear of God’s rejection. It is not possible. Think about what you fear. Is the thing you fear likely? Often the fear itself is as bad as what we fear. Remember that some fear is natural. It can motivate us to take care of ourselves, our loved ones, and our community. But when the fear becomes toxic and takes up undue energy, or else immobilizes us completely, then it needs to be released. It can be released because we belong to God and glory and wonder are always ahead for us. Today notice when fear arises in you. Ask yourself if it is urging you to address something for the good or if it only sapping your strength and making you miserable. If the later, and you are ready, release that tendency to God.
Prayer: Gracious God, your love and care are greater than anything we fear, even fear itself. Help me today to notice when fear is immobilizing me and to release those feelings to you with confidence. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 26 - Worry - Matthew 6:31-34 (25-34) Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed, your heavenly Father knows you need all of these things. But strive for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Worry is a thief. It robs us of the beautiful and powerful moments of our lives. If we nurse our worries, they quickly become fears. If we ruminated on them, we could become debilitated. In this beautiful passage in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is trying to teach his disciples, then and now, how much their worry is costing them. He sees that they are
worrying about many of the same things we worry about and it all boils down to survival. Where is our next meal coming from? How can we get clean water? Can we get the kids new coats this winter? In the extended reading he adds fear for our lives. In each of those instances, Jesus gives examples from nature to show us how dearly God loves and cares for us. It is as if he is saying, “Just open your eyes and you will see for yourself the tender care and mercy of God. You are safe. So please do not waste your joy on worrying.” If you are anything like me, that is not always easy! Perhaps the wonderful clue to dealing with worry is to use our eyes and not just our intellect. If worry robs you of joy today, stop for a moment and look around you. Look at your confident sleeping pet, or the birds at your feeder or your sleeping child. That kind of rest and security is what God wants for you. Just as you would never forget your child’s needs, or even your pets, God will never forget your needs. Your worry will not somehow stir God to an action that God has not already undertaken. Notice today when you fall into worry. Look around you. See God’s care all around and remember how important you are!
Prayer: Gracious God, we thank you that you weave promises of your care and provision into the created order for us to see plainly. Help me today, if worry besets me, to open my eyes and see your love and care everywhere. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 27 Toxic Past - Philippians 3:12-14 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
Paul is writing this letter to beloved friends from a horrific jail cell. It is hard to imagine the conditions of squalor and degradation he is in as he writes this most joyful of his letters. His friends have sent him an offering that will help him to survive his circumstances. At this point he has been sharing with them what he understands the goal of Godly like to be, to know Christ, to understand the power of the resurrection, and to share his sufferings and rejection if need be. He does not claim to have yet attained these goals but, not looking back, he presses on. It is interesting that he seems to tell us that clinging to the past, especially a toxic past, is a major stumbling block to Christian maturity. Most of us know that if we focus too much on the wounds of the past, or on our personal failures, they will soon come to dominate our thoughts and define how we see ourselves. We are no longer the one who experienced a failure. We are failures. When we allow the hurts of the past to define us and usurp our energy, we will head in the direction of our focus. Today, ask yourself if there are ways you have allowed a painful past to interfere with your present and your personal and spiritual aspirations? How have you experienced that stuck-ness? When a memory or feeling rises up in your heart or mind, notice it but try not to judge it. That only feeds it. Rather, lift the thought to God. Use your hand to toss it to God. Thank God for what you have learned from that experience and for the promise that it does not define you. You might say, “I give this to you, God. I am finished with it.”
Prayer: Gracious God, sometimes we feel haunted by memories, disappointments, and failures. Today we hand all of those tender things to you. Fill us with a different ‘haunting,’ a haunting of your Spirit of love and new life. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 28 - Poor Self-love – Matthew 22:39 And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Once in a particularly difficult time in my life, I remember sitting on my sofa talking to a friend that I trusted. In the course of telling her what was happening, I started blaming myself for everything, criticizing my every action and motivation. After I had been at that a while, and a bit of my pain energy was spent, she touched me on my shoulder and said, “Stop being so mean to my friend!” It took my breath away in that moment to realize how easily the ‘as yourself’ part of the great love commandment eluded me. Maybe you have known moment like that too. Your love for God seemed strong. And your neighbors too. But that ‘self’ part? Not so much. Scholars forever argue about this passage. Was Jesus fearful that we loved ourselves too much and we needed to up our game with our neighbors? I can see that. Or was the command really for three loves: God first, then neighbor and self, following behind. Well, I think that as is true with so much of scripture, we hear in the words exactly what each of our souls needs most. If we are not sure about God, this God’s calls to try loving God anyway. If we are harsh and judgmental of neighbors, and always making excuses for ourselves, we are invited to look at that. And, at least according to me, if we wouldn’t dare treat our neighbors with the same disdain with which we often treat ourselves, the text calls us to make a change. Today, see if you can recall a time, when you did not treat yourself in a loving way? Have you ever been troubled with poor self-esteem? Have you ever found yourself dealing with hurt or anger in a self-destructive way? Ponder this and see if you see a theme or a tendency to poor self-love in your life. Release that to God and ask God to fill that space with a healthy love and appreciation of your own sacred life.
Prayer: Gracious God, sometimes I treat myself so poorly. Why do I do it? Why do I misuse the life your give me and your temple that is my body? I am not even always aware until I feel the consequences. Help me today to see myself through your love filled eyes and to love myself rightly. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 1 - Need to Please – Acts 5:5 Now when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died.
The story of Ananias and his wife Saphira is one of the hairiest stories in the New Testament. What happened? In short, the early disciples considered all of their property and wealth to be held in common for the use of the whole community. People could still do what they wanted with what was theirs, but in case of need (and there was a lot of it) they often sold their holdings and gave all of the proceeds to the church. Ananias and Saphira’s problem was that they wanted to keep back a portion of what they sold, but still be seen by others as having given all. They wanted to please people and have their esteem, all while hedging their bets and keeping some profit back for themselves. When it became clear that that was what happened, they both dropped dead. Now, the text does not say
they were somehow struck dead as punishment. I have always thought that it was the shame of their duplicity that killed them. Whatever the case, most of us cannot identify with this story very well. I’ll bet, though, that that we, too, know what it is like to mask our true behavior in order to please those who matter to us. And we know how devastating it is to be found out. Can you think of any times when you have tried to make yourself look better to someone else? Told a story and buffed up your role in it to gain approval? Can you think of a time when your fear, or lack of trust, caused you to do something that you didn’t want anyone to know you had done? The need to please others is natural and in many ways a wonderful loving tendency in us. I want to please Robbie so I make cookies, sometimes when I would rather read a book. That is just a small hug, not a mighty deception. Still, if I make cookies while my back aches, my teeth grind and I find fault with the way he has left his socks on the floor and then lie about it, even by keeping my mouth shut, that is different. It is a delicate line and worth pondering. It often comes down to motive. If you can think of times when you got into people pleasing, and it didn’t go well for you internally or externally, what was your real motivation? Could there be a more honest way to get what you need? If you see this tendency in yourself, ask God to show you how it harms you and others. When you are ready, release that tendency and ask God to fill the space with honesty and true intimacy.
Prayer: Gracious God, help me today to understand the motives behind my choices so that I can live in an open, honest and loving way. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 2 - Retaliation – I Peter 3:8-9 Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but on the contrary, repay with a blessing.
I recently went to my doctor for my annual check-up. Now that I am officially old and on Medicare, there is a list of questions that I must answer to gauge my general health. These are questions like: can you put on your socks by yourself (yes) or can you pick up heavy objects from the floor (no) or do you laugh and enjoy hobbies and interests (a thousand times yes.) These questions are asked in order to help me, and my doctors see if there are areas of my well-being that need particular attention or intervention. When I read these wonderful verses from I Peter, I cannot help but see them as a similar kind of checklist for our spiritual and interpersonal wellbeing. I can almost see St. Peter in a lab coat with a clipboard asking, “How has your unity of spirit been this past year, Eugenia? Are you able to manage the heavy lift of sympathy, love, and a tender heart? Are you getting too big for your britches?” I see myself nodding and feeling a little smug. Then he looks over the tops of his glasses and asks, “What about your tendency to want to retaliate in kind when someone has hurt you?” Suddenly I’m no longer smug and wondering just how tender and sympathetic my heart really is. It can be natural to want to hurt when hurt, to return blow for blow, to wish evil on the one who does evil. In our national life, and to an extent throughout our dominant culture, the idea of ‘making them pay’ is often considered a virtue. In the Scriptures, it is never one. The opposite is the virtue: giving blessing when all the want to do is inflict harm. Peter says it. Paul says it. Jesus says it. And not only that, Jesus does it. It is the nature of Christ to lavish blessing on the least worthy. Again, and
again. I could write a book on this one! Today, though, take a few moments to consider the tendency to return evil for evil as if that somehow balances the scales. (It doesn’t.) How do you see that tendency in your life? In our broader community? If you would like to release that tendency and the bondage it brings, ask God to help you release the hurt and fill the empty space with empathy and forgiveness.
Prayer: Gracious God, how do you do it? How do you forgive again and again? How do you respond to disrespect with deep blessing? More important, how are we, who are made in your image, to do the same? How do we live in this world with an entirely new paradigm? Help us, O God, not to return evil for evil and to learn your ways of love and forgiveness. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 3 - Clinging to Possessions - 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
It is apparent from the beginning of the Christian story that God’s people sometimes struggle with where our ultimate security lies. The discipline of giving, in my view, is designed not so much to fund needed ministries and projects as it is to desecrate the idol of money as security. Let’s face it, many of us struggle with that one. If we struggle to make ends meet, then what we have feels essential and can, indeed, be the difference between life or death, heat or cold, medicine or tragedy. If we are like the widow with the two small coins, it is hard to imagine letting go of one, much less both. If we are people who have enough, the concept of what is enough can be a constantly moving target. What if this happens? What if inflation gets worse? What if I get sick or my adult child loses his job and I have to help out? All of those are practical concerns. The problem is that they leave the main player of our lives out of the picture. Would God be unfaithful to God’s promise of provision when we follow God’s call to give? No. So why is it sometimes so hard to live a cheerful generous life? In part, I think, it is because we allow what we accumulate or control to give shape to our identity. Our 401k produces well, and we think, “I am successful.” We buy a nicer house or move into a larger apartment, and we think, “I am moving up in the world.” We follow all the rules for emergency savings and think, “I am prepared for anything.” Paul realizes that the tendency to cling excessively to our possessions and our money is a tough spiritual nut to crack. In these verses, he reminds us of the reciprocity that is built into spiritual giving. You reap what you sow. What I love here is his insight into the human mental gymnastics around giving. He knows that coerced or shamed giving is neither pleasing to God, nor useful for growth. It is giving that comes from a joy filled heart that is bursting with love and gratitude that moves life into bountiful living. Think today about your relationship with money (and power.) How do you use it? If you find that you have an anxious or negative relationship with money, ask God to help you release that attitude and fill you with joy in giving.
Prayer: Gracious God, help me today to trust you with every area of my life. Fill me with the joy of your promises and show me how I can cheerfully give back to you! In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 4 - Plans for the Future - Luke 12:20 But God said to him, ‘You fool!’ This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?
Today’s verse comes from an extended teaching in which Jesus is trying to help people grapple with the devastating consequences of greed. To help them do that, he tells a story about a very rich man who is doing so well for himself that he decides he must build bigger barns in which to store his bounty. Once that is done, he feels that he can relax, eat, drink and be merry. With that set up, Jesus has God address the man, call him a fool, tell him his life will be demanded of him that night. Then what will become of all his possessions and all his plans for the future? So, what is that all about? Clearly, Jesus is no fan of people hoarding their bounty when so many around them are in need. There is ample evidence of that. But is there more? I wonder if Jesus is also concerned that in the rich man’s desire for more and more, the man is putting off the joy and blessing available to him in the here and now. He clearly has enough to enjoy a merry time right now. And yet, he pushes that out into the future, blinded by the need to accumulate more. Jesus wants his hearers to know that when greed takes over the heart, there will never be barns big enough because enough always seems to move just beyond our reach. He also wants them to know that when we cannot feel joy today until some future goal is reached, that we will likely never experience joy at all. Most of us are not in the literal barn building business, but we do know how to become blinded to the days blessings because we are focused on a future when we will feel safe and secure. Can you think of a time when you were so focused on a future goal that the joys of the moment were put on the back burner? Do you find that you live in the future and are waiting somehow for your life to get started later? If you find a tendency toward greed, or putting off daily joy until you meet some benchmark, ask God for insight to help you see when you have crossed the line from pursing worthy goals to putting off your life in pursuit of them. If you are ready to release the hold, (not necessarily the plans) that your plans for the future have on you, offer that to God today and ask that God clarify your thinking and show you today’s joys.
Prayer: Gracious God, we thank you for the insight that these ancient teaching stories bring into our lives. Help me today to release all of my plans into your care, knowing that your plans for me are greater than anything I could dream. Awaken me to today’s blessings as you take me into tomorrow. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 5 - Comparisons - Exodus 20:17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
It has been said that most of us would be satisfied with what we have if we did not see others with something more. Early in our faith story, God recognized that comparing our lives to those of others would create problems in our own hearts, relationships, and communities. At the heart of this last of the Ten Commandments, is God’s desire that we not waste our energy comparing our lives with others and feeling dissatisfied as a result. There is a restlessness at the heart of these kinds of comparisons. It can set up a desire
within us, not just for something someone else has, but simply for something other than what we have. We may start by desiring a friend’s new apartment and pretty soon we desire their car, their relationship, their job, their trophies. In short, we become dissatisfied with our own lives and want somebody else’s. The truth is, there will always be someone richer, healthier, faster, more talented, smarter, wittier, skinnier, and more popular than we are. Does this mean that we do not strive to better ourselves? Of course not. Does it mean that if we don’t have enough, we should not desire more? No. What is means is that we will waste our lives and destroy our communities if we decide that the only way, we can be happy, and loving is if we can keep up with or outpace our neighbors. Those comparisons are poison, and they will inevitably leak into relationships and damage them badly. Can you see this tendency in yourself? Do you sometimes compare yourself to others and feel that you come up lacking? How does that affect your relationship with that person? If you would like to release the tendency to ‘comparisonitis,’ ask God to help you notice when you are doing it, then help you let go.
Prayer: Gracious God, you have given me such a lovely life, please forgive me for unduly comparing what I have, who I am, with others. Help me to feel the joy of this moment and release comparing my life with others. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 6 - Need to Win – Matthew 22:15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said.
In this passage the Pharisees, (a powerful political/religious party in the Jewish community that was primarily concerned with interpreting and strictly enforcing the Law,)have become so rattled by Jesus that they are trying to trap him into a legal error so that they can either arrest or discredit him. What better way to do that than to bring up the subject of taxes. Jesus rather cagily slips the trap but sometimes you and I are not quite that nimble. Especially in this time of political division, theological rancor and either/or thinking, it can be hard not to rise to the bait when a family member or colleague tries to best us, or just prove we are wrong, and they are right. Last November, before the Thanksgiving holiday, my Face Book feed was flooded with friends expressing angst about family gatherings and the political and religious trip wires that they were unsure how to avoid. Sometimes the only survival skill we have in those situations is to choose not to engage. That is what Jesus chose in today’s passage. Sometimes, though, if the situation is so morally repugnant that to keep silence would feel like condoning, we must speak. The key in those circumstances, for our own spiritual health, is to release the need to win the argument. Instead, our goal can be to speak our truth plainly, with compassion and integrity, without the heavy artillery of blistering words that will leave lasting scars. It is, after all, not our job to convert. They belong to the Spirit. It is our job to proclaim and to live with integrity. Releasing the need to win, or have the last word, is not easy. Sometimes when we pull out of a difficult confrontation, we can still take it with us in our hearts and build resentment around it. Sometimes, if we have known abuse, any kind of confrontation can feel life threatening and we don’t so much want to win as want to run. In any case, if you find that you have an inordinate amount of energy invested in winning, or being right, so much so that the opponent seems completely wrong and without any
redeeming humanity, that tendency is exhausting and a thief. Think about times when you wrestle in this way? What seems to trigger you? How can you tell the difference between needing to prove yourself right and needing to speak truth with integrity? If you are ready to release the negative aspects of needing to win, ask the Spirit to give you a renewed sense of peace, security, and compassion for the journey.
Prayer: Gracious God, I thank you for the reminder that integrity is enough, that I do not have to always prove myself right. Fill me today with the sweet peace of letting go of the need to win. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 7 - Regret – 2 Corinthians 7:8 For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it (though I did regret it, for I see that I grieved you with that letter, though only briefly.)
Apparently, even for Paul, regret was a sticky wicket. In this one sentence we see him on the same see-saw we ride. “I don’t regret what I said or did, except for maybe sometimes a little.” Granted, Paul is referring to a pretty confrontational letter that he wrote to the Corinthian church challenging their behaviors, practices and even theology. He knows that when they got the letter, they were really hurt by it. I’m sure he wanted to help them and not to hurt them, but sometimes the line between those two things is pretty blurry. I have recently started physical therapy because I fell and broke my back. Yesterday it was really hard. It hurt. I could see in the therapists eyes her compassion and how much my whimpers affected her. Still, she had my long-term best interest at heart and so she pushed on. Surely Paul must have experienced a similar tug as he tries to help his broken congregation regain their strength. Paul regrets the pain his words caused but not the prescription they called on the people to take. That is the regret for pain but no regret for outcome. But what about the recipients of this letter? Did they feel regret when they got his letter? Did they regret their actions, their false steps, the pain their errors left in their wake? Frankly that is the kind of regret that I know most intimately. That is the regret of ‘How could I?’ or ‘Why didn’t I?’ Regret of this kind is not so easily transcended as the kind that Paul wrestled with and released in this passage. The regret for actions or inactions can take up a lot of room in the human heart and psyche. It can leave us focused on the past. It is exhausting to carry. It is fruitless. What has been done cannot be undone, even though it can be forgiven and redeemed. Do you ever find yourself awash in regret? How does it affect you? How do you deal with it? If you think you are ready to release debilitating regret, offer it to God. Ask for forgiveness if needed and renewed compassion for yourself. Toss those memories and tendencies into God’s arms, grateful for grace that is big enough to handle and transform even the worst you have done.
Prayer: Gracious God, help me today to release all of my regrets knowing that in the beauty of your grace, I no longer need to carry them. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 8 - Lies - Exodus 20:16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
These days, when faced with contradictory claims vehemently voiced and impervious to facts, we too can find ourselves standing with Pilate, dazed, and asking, “What is truth?” (John 18:38) In today’s lesson, false witness refers to lying in court, or what we would
today call perjury and hearsay testimony. God knew in those early years that no community can stand without trust in the bedrock honesty of the judicial system. If you cannot trust what people say under oath, then how can justice exist? Throughout the scriptures, the notion of lying when not on the witness stand is a little more nuanced. There are instances when lying is acceptable, for example to save a life or to make God look good. Even little white lies are sometimes considered moral if they are loving and enhance the esteem of another. Theologians through the ages have taken stances from insisting that all lies are completely and totally immoral, to some lies, on rare occasions, are bad but not as bad. But what about today? What happens when people prefer lies to truth and will do anything to hold as true that which is demonstrably untrue? What then? Heaven help us is all I can say to that. But what about us? If it is true, as in the old medical drama House, Dr. House used to say, “Everybody lies,” what are we to do? First of all, I think we must acknowledge that nearly no lies are completely benign. With the possible exception of lying to protect someone you are giving sanctuary in your home; even white lies can be robbers. They take from someone potentially beneficial knowledge of the truth. They place a wall between us and others. The more significant or self-serving the lie, the higher and thicker the wall becomes. Perhaps the most destructive lies are those we tell ourselves about ourselves. Those are the lies that either exalt our actions and motives, or the ones that denigrate them and lead to unshakeable shame. Think today about how and when you have a tendency to lie or shade the truth. What is your motive? Have you noticed any consequences? If you are ready to release this tendency, ask God for help. Sometimes we tell lies to ourselves so long we come to believe them and need help sorting truth from lies.
Prayer: Gracious God, help me today to live a truthful loving life, releasing any damaging lies and holding fast to you alone. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 9 - Burdens too Heavy for Me– I Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.
A wise spiritual director once gave me a small ball to use in my prayer practice. It was about the size of a baseball but not as heavy. Still, it had some weight to it. It was bright red. She gave this to me at a time when I was experiencing trouble on many fronts. My beloved father was dying. My husband’s business was in danger. My best childhood friend’s 15 year old son was killed in a wreck. My health was rocky, our finances rockier and the weight of old hurts was bending me over nearly double. I remember she said to me, “It is too much, Eugenia. Those burdens are too heavy for you to carry. Take this ball, name each of your burdens, the first that come to mind all the way until you run out of thought. Then toss that ball that carries all your burdens into a laundry basket, or off the deck or anywhere where you can easily leave it to retrieve later. Don’t retrieve it right away, even if you don’t feel lighter at once. You don’t need to toss and toss and toss. God caught it the first time. So just thank God for carrying the burdens that are to great for you. Ask God to show you if there are specific things you must do to ease the situation, but if not, let God do what only God can do.” That practice became a mainstay of my spiritual life and I have offered it to dozens of folk who were struggling over the years. Perhaps you
might want to memorize this verse, or to write it on a note and pin it to your mirror. It is your truth. You are not required to carry burdens that are too heavy for you. You can invite and allow God to carry the lion’s share of the load for a while. Even on his way to the cross, Jesus asked for help carrying. So can you. Today, I invite you to try the prayer practice I described. It doesn’t have to be a ball. You can use a rolled-up sock. or yarn. or anything you can lay hand to. As you name your burdens see if you can feel their physical presence in your body. As you release the ball, see if the weight shifts at all. Eventually it will.
Prayer: Gracious God, we are so grateful that you care for us and promise to carry burdens too heavy for us. Help me today to trust you and release to you my burdens. Thank you for lightening my heart. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 10 – External Security as an Excuse- Luke 10:4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road.
Jesus has appointed seventy of his early followers to go out on a preaching and teaching mission. He has been preparing them for a long time. They have listened slack-jaws to his great ethical teaching sermon on the plain. He has fed the five thousand. He has told them that greatness doesn’t lie where they think. He has told them how exacting being his follower can be. Now, he thinks they are ready to set forth in this name. Now he gives them their final instructions about what to take with them as they go out to share his love and ways. In a similar story in Matthew, Jesus sends out the twelve and tells them not to take anything extra, like an extra tunic. But in today’s story, they are to take nothing at all but who they are, who Jesus has made them, and Jesus own power and message. They don’t need money. They don’t need a purse to carry earnings, they don’t need an extra pair of shoes and they don’t even need the esteem of people they meet on the road. They themselves, changed, transformed, healed, born anew, they are all that they need to take with them to spread the gospel. It is the same with us. We don’t need a lot of money or fancy stage lighting and visual effects. We don’t need a bag of tricks or the esteem of others along the way. All we need in order to make the case for Jesus is the case he makes with our lives. We need nothing outside of ourselves. All we need is the Bible Jesus continues to write with our lives. When that is all we need, then the extras can’t hurt. But when we think the extras are necessary for our message, then they will quickly reek of hypocrisy and become our focus rather than our tools. When you think of sharing your faith, or in some way living it out loud in word or action, do you ever find that you feel like you do not have what you need, the right setting, the right words, the right scripture knowledge? If you knew that God wanted you to share your faith with another and all you had was your own story of how God had changed your life, what would you say? The expansion of the gospel happens today just as it always has, person to person, story to story, transformed heart to transformed heart. Sometimes we have a bigger microphone than others. Sometimes we think we need ‘an extra pair of sandals’ to even begin, but the truth is, Jesus speaks to hearts with hearts. Ponder today whether or not there are benchmarks you have set in place before you are comfortable sharing your faith. What bag
of tricks, or sandals, do you need to leave behind? What approval of others can you release?
Prayer: Gracious God, help me today to be ready to serve you, ready to share your love. Remove from me any excuses or feelings of inadequacy. You have written your word of love and grace with my changed life. Remind me that that is enough for what you ask of me today. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 11 – Selective Blindness – Luke 16:19-21 There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores.
The story of the rich, self-satisfied man, and the poor Lazarus certainly doesn’t pull any punches. The story comes in the midst of a long teaching in which Jesus is still trying to help the Pharisees understand what their love of money is doing to them and to the community. There are elements in this story that are too rich and complex for us to examine in a short devotion like this. So, let’s focus on just one aspect. A central point of the story is that wealth and ease can blind us to what is happening around us, and also to what is happening within us. We simply choose not to see that which might call us to change or to share. Most of us are not. I’m guessing, the super-rich like the man in this story. Maybe we have plenty, but not the kind of excess we see here. Maybe, in fact, we identify more with Lazarus who is just scrambling for the scraps needed day by day to survive. Many of us fall somewhere in the middle between these characters. No matter where we find ourselves, I expect that we each know something about choosing not to see or address that which is threatening to us, that which might call us to change, or that which might urge us to open our eyes, pockets, and priorities to the needs of those around us. The rich man in this story was so wealthy and self-satisfied he stepped over the poor man at his gate day after day without seeing him. Our selective blindness can be a little more subtle than that. Maybe we stay out of certain areas of town because we tell ourselves they are unsafe when what we really fear is that they will be unsettling. Maybe we block all those that disagree with us on social media because we don’t want to test our own opinions. Maybe we would rather ban a book or an idea that wrestle with what it might say about the world and our place in it. Maybe we choose not to look at our motives in how we use our time, our money, our vote our energy. Maybe we choose not to look at the behavior of a family member, thinking that if we don’t face it, it will just go away. In our own ways, we know how to turn a blind eye, and we know the cost of doing so. For the rich man in our story, the cost was dire and eternal. For us, the cost may not be quite so dear, but each moment we turn away from a need, from a truth that makes us uncomfortable, from a problem that seems intractable, we find ourselves like the rich man did, in the fiery furnace of uselessness. Think for a moment about some of your blind spots. You may not know what they are, of course, since by definition they have to do with what you do not see. But you will know some. The Spirit will see to that. Ask yourself if you are ready to release them. If so, toss them to God asking for grace and courage to see and face what you have not seen clearly before.
Prayer: Gracious God, help me today to see what I have chosen to hide. Help me to see needs around me that, with your courage, I may face. Help me to be an instrument of your grace in any way you want. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 12 - Procrastination - James 4:13-14 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.” Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring.”
In this section of James letter, he is giving his flock a list of qualities, attitudes, and behaviors to avoid. He has told them to stop quarrelling amongst themselves, to stop lusting after worldly pleasures, to stop praying for things with wrong and selfish motives, and to stop doubting themselves. Toward the end of this list, he makes a point of calling out the dangers of procrastination. He is particularly upset that people are putting off the demands of the gospel until they make enough money, or finish this or that business venture. He reminds them that no one is promised tomorrow, and that if we do get a tomorrow who knows what it will bring. All of those procrastinations are a way of saying that something else is more important to us at the moment. If the house is on fire, we do not put off getting out. It is the most important thing. But if we are asked to serve on a mission team, or to visit a cranky neighbor, or discipline a colleague at work, then all of a sudden finishing a work project, or getting supper in the oven, or going to the water fountain, is more important than the task at hand. We only put off something when something else is more important. That something else can simply be our feeling of comfort, or the desire to be the good guy in any situation. Today take a moment to think about anything you may be putting off. Why are you doing that? What seems more important? Is it really? If you are ready to release this tendency, ask God to help you notice it when it happens, and to unmask your excuses so that you can confidently do what needs to be done in the moment.
Prayer: Gracious God, sometimes everything seems more important than the most important things. Sometimes I get scared and put off confrontation or trying something new. Help me to be discerning today. Show me what is most important and give me courage to follow where you lead. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 13 - Excuses - Matthew 8:21 Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
People have been listening to Jesus with amazement. They see in him something that they have never seen before. He has an air of authority and such undeniable, and fresh wisdom that all they want to do is follow him and learn from him. Well, almost all they want to do. They want to follow, but they naturally want to take care of their affairs and relationships before they do such a drastic thing. Jesus will have none of it. He seems to see each of the requests, which seem entirely reasonable and loving to me, to be excuses that make the follower unworthy of following. I have always had a love/hate relationship with this passage. Perhaps that is because, like many of us I assume, I have always had a love/hate relationship with total commitment to Christ and all of the submission that that entails. Why did Jesus seem so harsh in this text? Was it unreasonable to want to settle your
father’s estate or kiss your family goodbye before your left town to follow a wandering scandal ridden rabbi? Perhaps Jesus sensed something beneath those reasonable sounding requests. Perhaps he sensed in them a reluctance to give all, a hesitation about entering into a new life that Jesus knew would entail hardship and danger. Perhaps he sensed that those requests were just delaying tactics, just excuses to appear ready to give all while not actually being ready to give all. The important thing, Jesus knows, is that a follower of Christ be willing to be ruled by Christ and not by any other allegiance. Perhaps Jesus was testing them like they so frequently tested him. Perhaps he just wanted to know that nothing would be more important to them than he was and as soon as he got a sense of that he would say, “Go bury your Daddy and we’ll meet you in the next village. Now I know that you would give all to me, so you don’t have to…this time.” I’m not sure about that. What I am sure of is that Jesus has no patience with our excuses for not taking on the deep challenges of discipleship. If our job is more important, or our inheritance, or even our family, then Jesus knows we will be vulnerable to all of those things. And when the hard times come, as they do in one way or another for all of us, then those things we have put first will never hold us up. They cannot save us. Can you think of a time when you made excuses to delay an important commitment or a fledgling calling? Can you think of a time when you made excuses to get out of doing something you really didn’t want to do but wanted others to think you did? How did that work? Ponder today the things that actually come first in your life. How do those allegiances impact your spiritual growth and maturity? If you notice that you make excuses from fear, people pleasing, or indecision, ask God to show you when you do that. If you are ready to release that tendency, then toss it in the laundry basket, take a deep breath and move forward on Christ’s invitation.
Prayer: Gracious God, sometimes I become confused by the tyranny of the urgent. Sometimes, too, I use that confusion as an excuse to stay in my comfort zone. Help me today to be brave, awake, and ready to follow wherever you lead. In Jesus’ Holy name I pray. Amen.
March 14 - Resentment - Matthew 26:14 Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests, and said, “what are you willing to give me to deliver him to you?” And their weighed out to him thirty pieces of silver.
Judas is one of the most interesting characters in our faith story, probably not least because, whether we like to admit it or not, we really get him. When we look at him closely, we can see our own eyes looking back at us. At one time or another, in large or small ways, most of us have betrayed our values to get what we want. We may even have betrayed those that loved us to try to get them to do what we want. There are many who believe that Jesus and Judas were in cahoots, that Jesus needed Judas when the time was right to set the ball rolling for the cross and our salvation. Many others find that idea completely appalling, verging on blasphemy. Maybe the truth lies somewhere in the middle. It often does. Whatever we think of Judas, it is without question that from time to time we share some things in common with him. If the stakes are high enough, we will do just about anything to get what we want or what we think is right. What intrigues me is what motivated Judas to do what he did. If you read passages before the betrayal, it is
clear that Judas is getting angrier and angrier. Things are not going the way he thought they should, and he is fed up. The anointing of Jesus with expensive ointment is the last straw. From that moment his resentment does nothing but build until it can do nothing but seek to destroy. That is what resentment does. One dashed expectation at a time, day after day, it sours our hearts until something must be done to relieve our pain. The problem with resentment is that it is self-defeating. Granted we may lash out and do harm to another in a faulty effort to return to some kind of equilibrium, but the truth is that we have been doing daily harm to ourselves for a long time before we erupt. Resentment is also a liar. It draws stark lines between us and others, telling us that ‘they’ are the problem. ‘They’ are why we hurt. ‘They’ must be stopped or else. If you scratch the surface of many a prejudice, you will find a fear that has long been nursed into resentment. Think for a moment today about your own resentments. Can you identify any? If so, I promise you, they are not serving you well, no matter how justified they may seem. If you are ready to begin to release your resentments, know that it is a process. Today, start with a relatively small thing. Look at its roots and when you are ready release it to God. Ask God to fill the cleared space in your heart with love and light and compassion.
Prayer: Gracious God, sometimes our hearts are a tangled mess of hurts, resentments, and confusion. Help us today to take our hurts and expectations to you before they fester. Help us to release the grinding pain of resentment and rest content in you. In Jesus holy name I pray. Amen.
March 15 - Manipulation – Matthew 5:37 But let your word be, ‘Yes, yes’ or No, no’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.
Today’s verse comes from Jesus’ masterclass on ethics and holiness that we call the Sermon on the Mount. In this extended section he is trying to help us understand what it takes to have long lasting, healthy, loving relationships. Of course, he quickly covers the basics: don’t kill each other, don’t hold grudges, make friends with your opponents, don’t commit adultery and don’t act in ways that will lead your friends astray. Then he moves to today’s verse. Here he reminds us that there can be no true intimacy in our relationships without trust and personal integrity. If we change with the wind, if those closest to us never know if we will keep our word or mean what we say, then the best we can hope for is to go through the motions of human love and commitment, never to be able to rest and restore our souls in safe and faithful friendship. Somewhere along the way, often in childhood I suspect, we learn to say what we think people want to hear. We think we do this so as not to hurt or upset others. Or maybe we do it because we are trying to get affirmation or love from another. Maybe we do it in an attempt to gain something from another like a promotion, a proposal, or a vote. In whatever circumstance, when we enter into the exhausting dance of undependable integrity, all involved are harmed. Can you think of times when you say yes then do no? Or times when you say no but secretly intend yes? Can you think of times when you hedge your bets, or compromise your principles, in order to get a reaction that you want or feel you need from someone? Does that happen more at home or in the workplace? If you can identify times when your word becomes slippery and undependable, ask yourself what motivates you. Is it just a people pleasing
habit or is there something more? If you are ready to release this tendency in your heart, toss it in the laundry basket. Take a deep breath and see if you can feel for a moment the spaciousness and freedom that comes from committing to life with integrity.
Prayer: Gracious God, sometimes we have spent a life time trying to get what we want from others in manipulative ways. Like a slippery politician that nobody believes anymore, our words carry no sacred weight with those we love. Help us today to live open, honest and truthful lives. Remove from us the tendency to use others to meet our needs. Turn us from our comfort with falsity. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 16 - Disappointments - Matthew 27:61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
It is hard to look at the picture of these two women who loved Jesus more than life as they sit down opposite his tomb after standing next to him as he died so brutally on the cross. The overwhelming grief coupled with the deep disappointment that it had all come to this, takes my breath away every time I think of it. Granted, we know the rest of the story, but at that moment they did not. We know that the end is not the end, but they did not. We know that he will never leave them or us, but at that moment they did not. Sometimes our own disappointments are nearly of that magnitude. We stand at the grave of our child and see the emptiness ahead, and all of the things we had assumed we would experience land like blows. The one who pledged to love us walks away and the vision of growing old together melts like fog. The diagnosis comes in and our plans for the future are suddenly void. Most of the time, though, our disappointments are not that lethal. We don’t get into the school that is our first choice. We don’t make the team. We don’t get the promotion that we were sure we should. We don’t get the raise, or the contract, or the flowers for Valentine’s Day. Even those simpler disappointments that don’t linger too long in our minds, can have a cumulative effect in our hearts. We can begin to think of others as disappointments, never quite meeting our needs. We can come to think of ourselves as disappointments, never quite getting ahead. Gradually we become disappointed with life, with our lives and all they contain. When that happens, things dull to gray and even the most beautiful and unexpected graces can be overlooked. Think for a moment about disappointments you have experienced. If they still need to be grieved, do that. Cry or yell if you need to. If they don’t carry that weight but still come back to you with a twinge of pain, offer those to God and ask for relief and release. You do not have to define your life by what did not go as you had hoped.
Prayer: Gracious God, we thank you for your loving care for us when we are hurt or disappointed in our lives. Help us not to take on our disappoints as a life position and view our world through that lens. Help us to release our disappointment to you so that we can find in each day the joy you promise. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
March 17 - Excessive Nostalgia – Genesis 19:26 But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked b ack, and she became a pillar of salt.
Lot’s wife is a tragic character in our faith family story. She lives in a town run amok. Her town, Sodom, is about to be destroyed. This is, quite frankly, a horrible and hard to take
story that requires a lot of study and help to grasp and find any hint of good news or redemption. If you read the whole thing, try not to get tangled up in it. What captured me for this meditation is how hard it is to let go of what we know and are accustomed to, even when it is awful. Many of us have fond, cozy memories of childhood or our young adult lives. We have memories of running through sprinklers in the summer, or eating ice pops on the stoop and watching neighbors walk or play in the street. Or we remember with a smile what it was like to be young and full of energy, ready to face the giants with confidence and a measure of the supernatural power of youth. When we remember those times, we may certainly feel a bit of nostalgia for the world as it once was in our minds. That is natural and sweet. What is unnatural and salty is looking back to the extent that we despise now and white wash then. Lot’s wife was given a special grace to escape with her family from a destruction that was surely coming. She was told not to look back but to focus her eyes straight ahead on the saving path God had prepared for her. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t leave the past behind in its proper place, not even to save her life and to obey her God. That inability killed her. Sometimes we too can cling so tenaciously to the past, even an ugly past or one that we have made up from our wily memories, and give that past every ounce of our life energy trying to recapture it. When nostalgia becomes excess, not just the cozy feeling of watching an old sitcom or looking at the family picture album, but when all of life is defined by what was, we may not turn into a pillar of salt, but we will dry up and lose the sweetness that is always available even in the direst now, and is guaranteed in every future. If you find that you are looking back too much, that you judge today against the remembered standard of yesterday and find today wanting, if you can’t let go of the way things were even if they are damaging you and others, then you may have a tendency to toxic nostalgia. Ask God to help you identify when you are overly clinging to the past and to help you release that tendency. You will not lose what you loved, only what is killing you now.
Prayer: Gracious God, sometimes we just don’t know what is good for us even when you tell us straight out. Help us not to waste today looking back at yesterday. Rather, help us to live this day strengthened by the gifts of the past but no longer bound by them. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 18 - Looking Good Only on the Outside - Matthew 21:18-19a In the morning when he returned to the city, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing on it but leaves.
When we pick up Jesus’ story here, he has arrived in Jerusalem for what we know will be the last time. He immediately went to the Temple and was appalled at the exploitative commerce he found taking place there. In explosion of righteous indignation, he turns over tables, disrupts businesses and chases people around with a whip. Needless to say, that upset or awed almost everybody. Now we find him on his way to home base in Bethany. The kind of rage and disappointment that he experienced has left him hungry and he goes up to a beautiful fig tree, glossy and healthy looking to find a snack. What he finds is a tree that looks good but has no figs. He curses it and declares it will never have figs again. The tree withers and dies. Clearly, he sees a parallel between the fig tree and
the people he found in the Temple. They looked good too from a distance. They were wearing the right clothes and doing business in a customary way. The problem was the fruit. They looked good but produced nothing of holiness. Just like the fig tree, they were no longer doing what they were created to do. They looked good but they no longer actually were good. Sometimes we too can substitute appearances for depth, especially in the spiritual life. We may look pious in church on Sunday but be mean and vicious to our family on the way to and from. We may wear a cross around our necks and carry our Bibles with us to the office and still harbor prejudice and a willingness to lash out at anyone that disagrees with us. Looking good on the outside is not the same as being transformed into the likeness of Christ from the inside. Can you think of times when your outsides are just a pretense, when a smile hides a dagger, when a prayer is little more than a self-serving rant? Most of us, I suspect can think of those times. If you are ready to stop trying to look good and get about the real transformative journey of being made good, then release this tendency to God in prayer. Apologize for the pretense and for the missed opportunities that came with them. Ask God to replace pretense in you with a transformed spirit and watch what happens.
Prayer: Gracious God, sometimes it just seems easier to fake it. The path to holiness is hard and we lose our way. Help us today to release the pretenses and to live authentically changed lives in your name. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 19 - Pride - Mark 7:20-23 And he said, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Here again, Jesus is trying to help us see that all human behavior comes from the heart. The heart in the ancient world was not just the seat of the emotions. Rather it was the seat of the ego and the will. When our egos are broken so will our behavior be broken. What is unredeemed within us will always come out in some behavior that is harmful to others. Always. We can justify almost any awful thing we do to somebody when we haven’t had the courage to look deeply at ourselves. In the midst of this list of awfulness that flows like a stream from Jesus’ lips is the one little word that is bigger than all the others, the one little word that contains and fuels all the others. Pride. This word refers to more than an inflated opinion of oneself. It refers to an unredeemed ego run amok with no boundaries other than the gratifying of personal desires. Pride assumes that what we want, by definition must be right. It assumes that we are somehow the center of the universe and all else should bend the knee to our wants and needs. Pride considered one of the traditional seven deadly sins by many is seen in the Reformed tradition as the root sin, the root condition called Sin that then results in all kinds of behaviors that are strangers to love. Pride is incapable of love of others because it’s love of self is so distorted. It’s love of self is distorted because it knows only the image it wants others to see and not the true soul that lies within. It is from this false self, this unhealed, unexamined ego, that all painful and degrading behavior flows. Here Jesus is telling us to look at our hearts and see what is there. Even if we would never dream of doing the things on his list, if we don’t deal
with our root heart and motivations, pride will out sooner or later and we will dispense pain to others in order, falsely, to fortify ourselves from change, growth, and healing. Take a moment today to look into your heart. I know you will find much love and beauty there. Look a little deeper. Do you find a pridefulness that assumes it is right and that others should agree? Do you find a pridefulness that is willing to use other people to meet your desires? Do you find a pridefulness that secretly thinks you are better than those with less education, advantages, or natural talents? What else do you see? If you find any tentacles of pride in your heart, make a decision to release them to God. Take a deep breath and imagine what might fill up the inner spaces that pride and selfishness leave behind. That is the true you and it is more beautiful than words.
Prayer: Gracious God, sometimes we are strangers to ourselves, but our behavior will always tell us what is really going on in our hearts. Today, examine our hearts and heal the places that need it. Fill us with love. Awaken us to our deepest selves so that we may be your love in the world. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 20 - Gluttony - Proverbs 23:21 for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them with rags.
Someone dear to me once said, “The problem with nearly everybody is more brand new.” The desire for more when enough is enough certainly can be a problem. The deadly sin of gluttony is not just eating an entire quart of Ben and Jerry’s while simultaneously knocking off a bag of Ruffles. Although the thought of that is enough to gag most of us. Gluttony is not over eating or over drinking in and of itself. It is too much of anything. Too much food, too much drink, too much screen time, too much couch time, too much hobby time, too much of anything that takes you away from your life rather than fulfills it. Gluttony is at its heart a numbing mechanism. We stuff ourselves with substances or activities until we can no longer think, feel, or know what is going on around us or is in our own hearts. Sometimes this can be useful in a limited way. It is not strange that people bring food to those who are grieving. There is comfort in eating sometimes. There is beauty in a big feast. One of the criticisms of Jesus in his day was that he ate and drank too much. Was he a glutton? Obviously not. Gluttony kicks in when we use something, and it can be anything, as a short-term solution to our problems or emotions. All the Ben and Jerry’s on the planet will never assuage our grief, our guilt or our poor self-esteem. Only God can do that. If we turn to substances or activities to do for us what only God can do, we will find ourselves in trouble very quickly. Take a moment to think about your over indulgences. Do you notice anything that you do obsessively? Can you think of anything that you do to change your emotions? Do you sometimes over do? If you find that tendency in yourself and would like to let it go, toss it in the laundry basket and ask God to help you day by day.
Prayer: Gracious God, help me today to enjoy my life and to know for sure when enough is truly enough. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 21 - Willful Ignorance – Acts 7:57 But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him.
Today’s verse could be ripped from the headlines, couldn’t it? This verse comes in the story of the early disciple, Stephen. The scripture says that he is a person full of grace and power. He has been doing signs and wonders that have upset the temple leadership. They arrest him for causing a disturbance. He makes his defense by beautifully rehearsing salvation history from the beginning and then calls out the leaders for not getting it at all. It is at this point, when their own faith story has been used as a mirror before their faces, that the authorities can stand no more. They cover their ears, rush toward him in masse, and condemn him to death. (By the way, the apostle Paul was a supporter in this crowd and held the robes of those who stoned Stephen to death.) In our day, we know how-to live-in echo chambers in which we refuse to hear what others have to say if they disagree with us, or especially if they are calling us out on our behavior. Sometimes refusing to listen to babbling untruths is a useful survival skill. Other times it is an ego game that can lead us quickly from rejecting an idea, to doing violence against a person, or community, or even institution. When we only listen to that which reinforces our own prejudices it is very easy for the ‘other’ to be painted as a dangerous enemy, less than human, that must be destroyed. In some states right now, leaders are banning books that they think contain ideas they dislike or would lead to conversations that might be uncomfortable or damage an idealized version of life and history. They stop their ears when the full range of history is taught, when the voices of the oppressed are heard, when the legacy of slavery is identified. Like a child who covers his ears and babbles when asked to clean up his room, too many of us do not want to hear what our wholeness and reconciliation requires that we do hear. Just like the temple authorities did with Stephen, we can turn violently on the one who tries to help us see. Can you think of ways that you stop your ears and kill the messenger sometimes? Are there points of view that you simply will not listen to? If you find that you are fearful of things that are new or might ask you to reevaluate a long held view, ask yourself if you are ready to release that defense mechanism. Do you trust God to hold you up in difficult discussions? Do you trust that no idea itself can harm you? Do you trust yourself to hear and sort good from evil, better from best? If so, release this tendency to reject before listening. God may bring you blessings in respectful hearing, especially if it helps us see our own blind spots.
Prayer: Gracious God, we live in such small chambers of the mind so often. Are we so timid in our beliefs that we cannot listen to those of others and search for our common humanity with them? Are we so fragile in our egos that we cannot bear the scrutiny of those who see our flaws when we do not? Sometimes we are. Help us today to open our ears to hear your voice, even if it comes from an unexpected place. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 22 - Rage - Luke 4:28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.
It can be especially hard to speak your truth at home, can’t it? This verse comes when Jesus has gone home and begun to preach in front of a crowd of folks who have known him all of his life. They know the scandal of his birth. They know how he led his parents on a merry chase by staying at the temple and being lost for several days. Maybe they even
remember what he said the first time he hit his thumb with a hammer in his father’s carpenter shop. When I went to be pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Birmingham Alabama, I remember climbing into the pulpit my first Sunday and seeing the pews dotted with people I had been in college with in the seventies. I had a moment of angst. What did they remember? I knew there were no secrets here. (Of course, I remembered theirs too which was some comfort.) But that moment of realization came with a sense of vulnerability. The problem came for Jesus when we began to go outside the bounds that there former relationship with him and his family had set in place. He senses this and calls them out on it, telling them that prophets are only without honor in their hometowns. This utterly enrages the people who have come to hear the hometown boy preach. I wonder what enraged them. Was it their pride of place that they thought was disrespected? Was it like saying, “America, love it or leave it” when someone talks about ways we need to change? Was it that they thought he was trying to be above himself? Was it because he shone too harsh a light on their lives? I’m not sure. But rage always has a trigger. Take a moment to ponder whether you have ever experienced anger that escalated to rage. What was the trigger? In my experience, if we want to release the toxic toll that rage takes on ourselves, our relationships and society, we cannot hope to do that if we cannot identify the triggers. People who are full of rage are always full of pain, shame, and/or fear. So today see if you can think for a bit about what tends to light your fuse. What is the source? Ask God to help you and show you other responses that will not be harmful to yourself and others. When you are ready, try to imagine your rage as a ball of flame. Remind yourself that in this form it cannot hurt you. Allow it to turn a beautiful violet color, the color for royalty and healing. Then toss the violet ball in the laundry basket. Don’t forget to say thank you after a practice like this. You may feel release right away or you may have to practice this several times before you notice what God is doing in your heart. God will set the timing that is best for you.
Prayer: Gracious God, we live in such a rage filled time. Everywhere we look people are lashing out at each other in hurtful and destructive ways. We even know how to lapse into rage ourselves from time to time. Help us to release that negative energy and drink in your grace today. Thank you. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 23 - Greed - 2 Peter 2:14c They have hearts trained in greed.
In the scripture the word for greed almost always refers to money, wealth, or possessions. Peter has been sharing with his flock the character traits by which Christians are to be known. Now he is talking to them about the pitfalls that he sees in false prophets. He is afraid that the people will fall to the flash and dazzle, the worldly success and wealth that popular false prophets sometimes enjoy. He describes them as people whose hearts of full of adultery and who entice weaker souls with all their razzle dazzle. At the heart of what he condemns is a deep greed that sees everything as an opportunity for gain either in wealth or status. Slightly different from, but related to gluttony, a person enthralled to greed never reaches a point of saying that what they have is enough. The finish line continually moves. When one wealth or status goal is met, it does not satisfy because it is immediately followed by another to be pursued. Greed can be practiced by individuals,
congregations, communities, and nations. Greed stockpiles more than can ever be used. It begins to look at what is accumulated, and what may yet be accumulated, as it’s real source of power and security. Most of us know pesky desires that can tangle us up, but fewer of us know the kind of greed that takes over our ethics and begins to make our moral decisions for us. In greed MORE becomes God. Have you ever experienced this in your personal life? Maybe but I doubt it. Have you ever seen this in a loved one, colleague or family member? Again maybe, but I expect rarely. We most often see this kind of greed operating in communities or in halls of power. Can you think of times that you have seen this tendency among the powerful? If you find yourself vulnerable to greed, ask God to remove this trait from you. It is hard to do it as an act of will because it often feels like a virtue. If you see this kind of greed in ‘false prophets’ in our day, pray for them. If you see it in leaders, pray for their release as well.
Prayer: Gracious God, we ask today that you will protect us, our families, and our communities from debilitating greed. If you find it in our hearts, remove it and replace it with the purest form of gratitude. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 24 - Envy – 1 Timothy 6:3-9 Whoever teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that is in accord with godliness, is conceited, understanding nothing, and has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words. From these come envy, dissension, slander, and base suspicions, and wrangling among those who are depraved in mind and bereft of truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
Envy is a powerful emotion that can set in motion dynamics in the human heart that are hard to turn around. Think of Jacob’s envy of his brother Esau’s special relationship with their father. That envy led to lies, stealing, deception and a total rupture in the fabric of the family for many, many years. Joseph’s brothers’ envy of their brother’s status with their father is another case in point. This one led to slavery and pain for generations. Ahab envied Nabboth’s vineyard and people died. David envied Uriah his wife, Bathsheba, and generations of death and destruction followed. In today’s verses Paul is concerned that straying far from Jesus’ words will produce an envy that unleashes the flood gates of disastrous behavior. Even in our day, intense enough envy can fracture families and lead to death. More often for us, for good and ill, envy does not lead to quite those severe consequences. Still, great damage can be done to relationships from unexamined and untamed envy. Even the simplest envy, the ‘I want something that you have’ kind can make us miserable and eventually lead us to hate or disparage the one who has what we want. There is much in our culture that stokes our envy. Our economy is built on fanning the flames of our desires for something. One of the sneaky things about nursing envy is that it often leads to insecurity and fear. Our pathway to what we want is never quite sure enough. Think for a moment today about whether envy plays a role in your life or in your discontents. Do you look at what others have and feel dissatisfied with what you have? Do you look at your spouse and fear that he or she might be swayed to another? Do you look at your child packing for college and feel beneath the sadness and gratitude, a surge of envy for those who will share her life now and shape her thinking? If you notice that
tendency in yourself and would like to begin to release it, go to God in prayer and ask for help to release the hold envy has on you.
Prayer: Gracious God, help me today to be grateful for all that I have. Search me and show me any places where envy hides in my heart. Release me from its prison so that I may live fully and gratefully the live the life you give me today. In Jesus’ holy name I pray.
March 25 - Laziness - Matthew 25:26a But his master replied, “You wicked and lazy slave!
Some of us have been raised to think that if we aren’t working at the next task on our to do list that we are lazy. In extreme cases. rest, hobbies, and refreshment can produce a secret guilt. We find ourselves thinking, “I should really be doing something more productive” and suddenly the joy of the moment is marred. In order to understand today’s verse, we need to let go of those limiting beliefs and look at what laziness actually is in this Bible story. The story is of a wealthy man who entrusts his resources to his servants while he is away on an extended trip. Two of the servants invest and are able to give the owner a good return on his investment when he comes back for an accounting. The third servant was so afraid of losing the money that he hid it in a hole in the ground and had only the original sum to return to the owner. (Try not to get tangled up in the slavery language here. Yes, it was awful then. It was awful in our country’s beginnings and its legacy is awful now, but that is not the point of this passage.) The laziness that this story points out might be best described as the fearful inability to do anything for the greater good. This is the kind of laziness that lets a deadline at work pass and a project get scrapped for fear of doing it wrong or poorly. Better to do nothing than to fail. This kind of laziness results from, and results in, sluggish distorted thinking, that fears consequences of error more than the joy of accomplishment or service. Do you ever find that you let an opportunity pass you by because you are afraid you won’t be up to the task? Do you ever hold back at work because you are afraid that the boss won’t approve of your efforts? Are you ever hesitant to try something new if you think there is a risk you might not have foreseen? Are there times when you hold back from doing something for the greater good because you are afraid of upsetting someone that matters to you? If so, ask God to help you notice when this tendency arises in you. When you see it, ask yourself if the fears are really warranted? If not, then maybe today is the day to put your toe in the water and see what happens.
Prayer: Gracious God, help me today not to shy away from taking reasonable risks for the upbuilding of your kingdom and the glory of your name. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 26 - Acedia – Psalm 95:1 O come let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
Today’s scripture verse is an example of the opposite of the concept I want you to explore today. The word comes from a Greek word that means something like negligence or lack of care. It came to refer to someone who was basically in an inert state. Early Christian monks took up this word to describe a condition of torpor, apathy, boredom, or just not caring anymore about much of anything. In those monastic circles it came to be called the
devil of the noon day sun and described a spiritual listlessness that had moral overtones. Evagrius Pontus saw it as the most troublesome of evil thought patterns. We are going to think about spiritual laziness in a few days, but today I’d like for you to think about those moments when you just stop caring. (In modern parlance this word has been picked up to talk about depression. I am not talking about depression! Depression is a serious illness that must be treated in a multidisciplinary way. It is not a spiritual characteristic that can be picked up or relinquished in the way we are talking about in these devotions.) One of the things I have noticed recently among many of my friends is that they have just thrown up their hands in the face of too much injustice, too much violence and too much change. I get it. It is hard to carry the world’s sorrow. It is hard to watch the news. It is hard to go to one more protest. It is hard to hold one more grieving mom in your arms. Being the body of Christ is hard. It just is. We need to constantly monitor our reactions and our need for rest and renewal so that we are not so overwhelmed that we fall into acedia. We must guard against becoming so overloaded that we can no longer feel because our caring mechanism is over loaded, and our coping skills have crashed. Sometimes we fall into acedia when we feel helpless to affect a positive outcome in a situation. Jesus seems to constantly prove his statement that the poor will be with us always no matter how many food banks we fill and empty, no matter how many vigils we hold or council meetings we attend. Sometimes to cope we have to build some boundaries around our hearts, recognizing that while we always have responsibility to care and work, not everything that is happening is happening to us personally. (Except of course in the broadest sense of the human family.) All of us are vulnerable to burnout. That is not an indictment of our faith. We are also responsible for monitoring our spiritual condition so that we can come to Christ for the rest, replenishment, and redirection we so often need. Take a moment ask yourself if you have felt overwhelmed lately. Have you found that your heart has grown a little colder? Have you found that you are bored or listless more than usual? If so, I invite you to repeat today’s verse as a prayer over and over and over. Ask God, not just to relieve your acedia, but to fill your heart to bursting with love, love, gratitude, inspiration and energy. Ask God each day, “O Lord, what is mine to do today?” so that you don’t take on too much or the wrong things. If you are depressed seek support immediately. Contact your church or medical doctor for a confidential referral. There is both help and spiritual power to help you through.
Prayer: Gracious God, sometimes we lose heart. Please forgive us. We know that you are always at work in exactly the right way for us and for the world. Show us what is ours to do and fill us with energy and gratitude to do what you ask. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 27 - Injustice – Amos 5:24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
What if we come to understanding abstaining from injustice and working to dismantle injustice as spiritual disciplines necessary for any growth or maturity in faith? Obviously, this concept requires taking up and not just giving up. What exactly does the Bible mean by the word justice as used here by Amos? Perhaps we first need to unlearn some things
in order to understand. Often when we use the word justice we are talking about accountability. If someone has been harmed or killed, we often see family members on TV calling for justice. What they want is accountability, or perhaps even revenge and eye for an eye. (By the way, that is a misuse of the Biblical mandate of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. That instruction was actually intended to be merciful and to make sure that punishments were always proportional to the harm. You couldn’t stone somebody to death for stealing your goat. That is for unpacking another day.) In our day when we think of justice it is often tinged with retribution and seen as a way of balancing the scales of pain. The problem with that view is that it just produces more pain, more heartache and more death. So, what is Biblical justice at its heart? It is not about people getting what they deserve, mercifully, or we would all be done for. Biblical justice is about ALL people getting what God desires for them to have. It is about all people having access to God’s dreams. Biblical justice is about dismantling any structure, process, pattern of thought, private behavior or system of society that leaves any person or group unable to access the fullness of life for which they were created. That is what Amos is praying can flow into and through each of us, each church, each community, and every nation with all its systems and priorities. Justice is about ensuring that each person has the resources needed for the fullness of life and that nothing that blocks that is allowed to stand. For this reason, we talk about justice ministries as systemic change. For example, we dismantle racism not by changing the way we feel, as laudable as that may be. We dismantle racism by changing the way things are done and by changing the eyes through which we see speak and listen. We do justice not by our punishments (that is another thing altogether.) We do justice by changing the situation that underlies hopelessness, helplessness, and oppression. What injustices do you see around you? How might you refuse to participate with it? How might you fast from its processes and priorities?
Prayer: Gracious God, today we release the hold of injustice on our lives. No longer will we mindlessly participate in systems that rob your children of the lives you dream for them. We are done with it. Remove its traces from our hearts and let your justice pour on us and through us to your world. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 28 - Hopelessness – Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the Glory of God.
This soaring statement is one of those verses that should be pinned on our mirrors or framed on our desks. Here in a nutshell Paul tells us who we are, what Christ has done for us and what that means for today and eternity. God’s grace has broken down every barrier, our simple trust in that truth allows us to live at peace with God, with no fear or shrinking away. Christ is like the password that opens an entirely different operating system that is based on love. Love is the 0 and the 1 in our code. It has become our very DNA. Grace, grace, and inexhaustible grace is the story of our lives and will be for all eternity. We cannot be separated from it. We cannot run out of it. We cannot ever outrun it. Because the eternal grace of God in Christ is our reality and because we choose to trust it, we live in hope. When Paul says that we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God he
means both that we will intimately share with God in fullness in heaven. He also, and even more astoundingly, means that we will share in God’s glory in our selves. In other words, we will come, by grace alone, to look more and more like Jesus every day from now on. We will become God’s glory. In ways that are impossible to define or comprehend, we are reflectors of that glory already. And all it took was trusting that God’s grace in Christ Jesus is enough for us. Sometimes it feels that we are living in a hope starved time. All around anger, violence and bad news gets to most air time and sucks up the energies of the age. Pandemic fatigued people are so overwhelmed with the notion that things are getting worse that they can’t actually see that things are getting better. We are programmed to respond to bad news and so good news hardly registers and bad news is either normalized or so fatiguing we are drained of hope that things can be different. But here is the thing: things are already different. It just takes eyes to see, and the tiniest bit of trust, to experience. Can you think of any situation with which you feel hopeless? Name that situation right now and speak today’s verse into it. For example, perhaps you feel hopeless at work or about an issue like gun violence. In a prayerful attitude say to God, Even at work (or as I hear of another shooting) I know that, since I am justified by faith, I have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom I have obtained access to this grace in which I stand; and I boast in my hope of sharing the Glory of God even in this situation that is causing me pain. And claim this for all involved. Therefore, no hopeless can touch me, no despair derail me.
Prayer: Gracious God, your word, your grace, your presence are my hope. Help me to be a hopeful presence in my every interaction. Fill my heart, and every heart, with hope and a vision of your glory. Let it show to others. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 29 - Thinking Too Much - Matthew 6:28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet, I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.
Earlier this Lenten season we considered the common spiritual toxin of worry. (Feb. 26) That day we thought about the general things that we worry about, our daily provision, our safety, and the safety of family. Today I’d like you to consider an aspect of how worry actually works in your life. I am writing this on Valentine’s Day after staying up much of the night watching the horrific unfolding of yet another senseless mass shooting on the campus of Michigan State University. Looking at the scene, hearing the announcers, many of whom are young moms themselves, unsuccessfully trying to report without their voices breaking, listening to students who had been playing video games with friends or doing homework a moment before, trying to explain what they were going through with flat affect and a near total inability to find a name for their feelings was heart rending. Not to mention that it all unfolded on the fifth anniversary of the shooting at Marjorie Stillman Douglas High School in Florida. Not to mention that a lot of us have numbed out to the daily carnage of gun violence in our nation. As I lay awake stewing about all of this, praying and sending love into another untenable situation, I remembered a story from years ago when I was a pastor in Denver. In those days, there was a large Hmong population in the area. Our congregation was committed to refugee resettlement and
support. To the utter consternation of the medical community, young Hmong men were dying in their sleep. They could not explain it. One of the wives when asked, however, said she knew exactly why the men were dying: processed foods, evil spirits and thinking too much. At the time that explanation made me smile. Today, however I get it. When we ruminate too much about too much it saps our strength and makes it difficult for us to be the solution to problems that our lives and world so desperately need. Thinking too much and doing too little can kill off even our trust that God might use us for something mighty. I am not saying that careful, prayerful analysis and planning are inappropriate. They are vital. Still, until our ‘thoughts and prayers’ end with an amen that is prayerful, courageous action, we are not instruments of God and thinking too much might soothe our hearts and consciences for a moment, but we will not be the instruments of the kingdom for which we were born. If you are ready to move from overthinking a problem into wise action, I invite you to harness that energy, offer it to God and do the thing that rises as true, honest, loving and just in your heart.
Prayer: Gracious God, today please help us not to use our thinking about our problems as a substitute for acting to alleviate our problems in the specific ways that you direct us. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
March 30 -Spiritual Sloth - Romans 12:11 Do not lag in zeal. Be ardent in spirit. Serve the Lord.
In this verse the one word in Greek that we translate as the ‘lag in zeal’ comes from the root for ‘to shrink away from, to become small in the presence of, or to find something irksome and flee from it. It is not exactly a word for laziness as much as it is for energy depleting desire to avoid or hide. Sometimes this energy depleting urge to shrink away can even show up in our spiritual lives and practice. It often shows up right at the point where we are about to experience a significant breakthrough, healing, insight, or new mission. Years ago, when I had just graduated from college with my degree in Creative Writing and was working as a waitress at Joe Namath’s restaurant in my college town of Tuscaloosa, I was very unsettled spiritually. I knew that God was trying to get my attention, but I was scared. Finally, when God woke me in the night with the call to go to seminary (I had never seen a woman pastor) I came up with every excuse under the sun. My personal favorite, looking back, was my childish wailing that I would never get to wear my little black strapless cocktail dress again and it wasn’t even paid for. When I tossed that one heavenward, I was greeted with a vast silence both from above and from within. I was so frightened. (Where, I do not know, did I get the idea that God would call me to something I would hate?) In the weeks that followed that night, my zeal lagged. My prayer life sputtered. Worship lost its allure. I was adrift in a way that including fleeing the irksome, and shrinking for the new way. I wasn’t lazy. I was a coward. So, I entered into a period of soul that the ancients call Sloth, one of the seven deadly sins. I stopped growing in Christ because I did not want to go where I was sure God was leading. It didn’t last too long, mercifully, a couple of months. Many of us, however, have the experience of sloth that lasts for a moment or even for years. We are afraid to move forward or go deep so we stand still, as if internally frozen. Nothing moves. Like a sloth, we slow to a near standstill
and any movement is laborious. Can you think of a time when you found God’s call irksome? Can you think of a time when you were nearly immobilized in your spiritual life? What do you think was going on with you? If you are experiencing sloth now, are you ready to trust that God loves you and only wants joy for you? Are you willing to consider that you were made for this moment? Are you ready to release your pent-up spiritual energy? If so, then toss your spiritual sloth in the laundry basket and watch what happens next!
Prayer: Gracious God, awaken my spiritual energies today! Remove my fear and sloth. Use me as you see fit! In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
March 31 - Spiritual Arrogance – James 4:16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.
Ok, I’ve got one for you. How do we think about spiritual arrogance without being spiritually arrogant? Sometimes, we are more beset by arrogance than sloth. This is a wily one because God does love for us to celebrate accomplishment and to encourage one another when we have learned something new or taken a deeper step in discipleship. The problem comes when we cease to celebrate a gift or insight or grace, and begin to claim that it was all our own doing and that we and we alone have figured everything out. We have the answers! We have the only answers. So, the rest of you poor slobs should just get on board with the way we see things. Or else. It doesn’t take long for us to move from thinking that our ideas and insights are better and truer, to thinking that we ourselves are better and truer. When, in our own minds, we are in a one up position with another one down, we can easily feel justified in doing just about anything to the ‘wrong’ other person. We can conquer their lands. We can dismiss them from our churches. We can burn them at the stake, literally or physically. Humility recedes and our opinions, understandings and fears become our God’s. Evangelism can even become abuse in the name of Love itself. Can you think of a time when you experienced a time of spiritual arrogance yourself? How did that manifest itself? Have you ever been on the receiving end of someone else’s spiritual arrogance? How did that feel? What happened in that relationship? If you are ready to identify and release spiritual arrogance from your heart and actions, you will need the Spirit’s help. Most of the time we see our arrogance as faithfulness and only the Spirit can truly open our eyes to our motives and the harm we do. So today, take a moment to ask for the help you need. A moment of humbling won’t kill you. It might actually make you whole.
Prayer: Gracious God, today please show me any tendency to spiritual arrogance. Help me to release that tendency to you and do no harm to any of your beloved children. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
Safe Harbor Presbyterian Church
February Daily Devotions 2023
Daily Devotions February 1-21, 2023 Safe Harbor Presbyterian Church
For most of this month we continue to consider characteristics that mark one as a disciple of Jesus. These are qualities that are ours for the developing. Each day, I invite you to consider how this aspect of being a Christian is evident in your daily life. If you find it in abundance, rejoice! If you rarely notice it, take heart! Each day is a new day and the Spirit is working in you to develop these qualities even if you are not aware. Bringing awareness to them makes the Spirit’s work so much easier. The qualities of Christ’s body life are like muscles. You can lose nimbleness but you can also strengthen it with a little effort and attention. On the 22nd, Ash Wednesday, we will shift gears a bit. Each day during Lent, I invite you to consider something that you may need to release in your life or in your deep heart. If you do that work during Lent you will find that you are open and ready to receive new wonders on Easter and beyond.
February 1 - Arise - Matthew1:24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife.
There are several words used in the New Testament that we translate as arise. None of them appear in today’s verse but the concept is certainly present. To arise is choose to stand up or change one’s position. It is usually used literally, but also metaphorically. In that case it means to arise and rebel against enemies without and within. In today’s verse Joseph has a lot to deal with. He is engaged to Mary, has not had physical relations with her, and she has told him she is pregnant, by the Holy Spirit no less. Of course he does not believe her. He has warm feelings for her and does not want her shamed, or executed, for the deed (which in his day was considered adultery and worthy of the death penalty.) Nor does he want to be shamed in the community and made a laughingstock. He has always prided himself in keeping the Law and now he is stuck between the letter of the Law and the desire for mercy. So he falls into a troubled sleep during which an angel speaks to him and tells him it will all be ok. Mary is not lying so he should go ahead and marry her as planned. God is up to something mighty in his life, but he has to get up and face it with all the pain and sacrifice that may come with it. God is up to something mighty in your life as well. Every day of your life you, too, are invited to bring Jesus to life in some way. Granted, you will be spared the literal birthing that Mary and Joseph went through, but your role is important too. Jesus comes to life in the world today through us, through you. You only need to arise and meet your moment with the love, justice and courage of Mary and Joseph. How might you stand up for Jesus today? How might you arise and change your position for Jesus today? As you go through your day today, if things get difficult, whisper to yourself, ‘Arise, shine!’ Listen for the Spirit’s whisper, ‘It is going to be ok. Just get up and move forward. You will not have to face anything alone.’
Prayer: Gracious God, thank you for using me for your purposes today. Help me to choose mercy where I can and to rise up in your defense showing love wherever I go. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 2 - Ask - Matthew 7:7 Ask and it will be given you; search and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you.
Today’s verse is found in a section of Matthew in which Matthew has gathered together a number of Jesus’ teachings on subjects that affect daily living. Jesus has told us not to focus on money or the lack thereof. He has told us that we can’t serve God and wealth. He has told us not to worry because God is aware of what we are dealing with and moving to help. He has told us not to judge others because it will come right back on us. He has told us to be careful about holy things. Then comes today’s verse. There are two words we translate as ‘ask’ in the New Testament. They have to do with the position of the supplicant with regard to the one being asked. In this verse the word is used of a person who is in a lower position asking for something from someone who is in a higher position, such as a human asking of God, or a child of a parent. The other word for ask is of a request between equals. It is interesting that Jesus never uses the former word when he himself is praying or asking of the Father. The word for ‘search’ means to examine carefully. It is often used of examining the heart, looking at one’s motives, honestly facing one’s short comings. In this verse, Jesus is not saying that we can ask God for just anything, like wealth or even health and expect the answer we desire. He has just told us not to focus on those things as God is already on the job. Here he is talking about the deep things of the kingdom, the deep insights of the spiritual life, the big picture and the small graces of life with God. If we earnestly ask and carefully examine our hearts and motives, if we ask and keep on asking, then we can be assured that God as a loving parent will supply us with exactly what we need to live the lives for which we were created. Do you find that your spiritual life feels flat or stagnant? Take a moment today to search your heart about that. Ask the Spirit for insight. Ask God to give you today exactly what you need in order to live your life joyfully, righteously and bountifully.
Prayer: Gracious God, today with a humble heart I ask that you open the door to deeper relationship with you. Make me an instrument of your grace as I receive grace upon grace myself. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 3 - Believe - John 20:27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”
It is interesting that the word ‘doubt’ does not appear in this verse in the original Greek. The verse literally reads, ‘do not be unbelieving, but believe.’ The word we translate as ‘believe’ is a relational word. It is not about deciding to accept some concept in one’s mind. It means to trust or to rely upon another. To ‘believe’ in Jesus is not just to accept that he lived, died and rose again, although that is the result of believing for most of us. To believe is to entrust our lives, every breath, every resource, every desire to Jesus’ care. To believe is to trust not only in Jesus as a person, but to trust in the way of life he modeled as the complete way of life of a disciple. To believe is to trust that what Jesus said, and what he did, is true and trustworthy. It is not possible to say we believe in Jesus and then live our lives in a way that is antithetical to what he teaches. That is the height of hypocrisy. In today’s passage we are not told that Thomas does indeed reach out and touch as Jesus offers. Perhaps the mere presence of Love offering what he needed was enough to drive him to his knees in wonder and trust. He could not begin to understand. But he could trust. Perhaps that is what you need today too: a gentle reminder that Jesus stands before you offering exactly what you need so that you can trust him with today’s challenges and with the future. Take a moment to close your eyes and see him in your imagination opening himself to you for inspection. What do you need from him today? Ask him and wait for a moment for him to offer what you really need most. Then join Thomas in the simple creed/prayer ‘My Lord and my God.’
Prayer: Gracious God, I trust that you are constantly present, waiting to offer me what I need. Help me to see the ways you stand with me. Help me to feel your love and majesty. Help me to proclaim with my lips and in my heart that you are my Lord and God. In Jesus’ holy name I pray.
February 4 - Bless - Romans 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
This is an interesting and difficult verse! The word ‘bless’ that Paul uses here is not the same word used in the beatitudes to describe a happy or desirable condition. This word is the one from which we get our English word eulogy. It literally means to speak well of someone, to express good wishes for the person. The word for ‘curse’ means to wish evil upon a person.
When I read this verse in that light, all I can say is “Yikes!” Paul is writing this letter to the church in Rome as an introduction of himself and his theology to a prominent church that he did not found and has not yet visited. Today’s verse comes from a section of the letter in which he outlines the basic character and behavior of those who follow Jesus, those who are, as Paul puts it, ‘in Christ.’ Paul understood that no good ever comes to a soul by cursing and wishing evil upon even the worst enemy. Again and again in his letters, Paul tells us to return to no one evil for evil. He takes it literally, as I think it was intended, when Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:11) that we are not to curse those that curse us. Rather, we are to bless our enemies, speak well of them and express our hopes for good things for them. I confess that I find this very difficult. For the last year or so I have tried to practice saying nothing bad about those whose behavior I find most abhorrent and destructive. I have not been wildly successful with this. I have, however, noticed that when I stop, breathe, and take a moment to try to find something good to say, or even to understand their motives with compassion, I find that my heart opens a little. I feel a breath of freedom and expansiveness. The enemy does not take up as much energy or produce as much pain in me. Blessing and cursing cannot occupy the same second. They cannot inhabit the same energetic moment. We may feel like we are on a see-saw with this one, but every blessing we pronounce produces more for us to bless either in the enemy, or in the creativity to deal with that one. Blessing breeds blessing and cursing does nothing but use energy and focus us on more that we find appalling. Take a moment today to think about any ‘opponents’ in your life. Who angers you most? Who do you find that you nearly despise? Stop for a moment and wish that person well, whole, repaired, just as God desired in the moment of their creation. You might practice the breath prayer, “(Name), child of God, I wish you whole and well.” You might need to add, “And I forgive you,” depending on the circumstance.
Prayer: Gracious God, this is hard! We see in Jesus that he never cursed even those who lined up to kill him and it is nearly unbelievable. Help me today to bless my enemies, knowing that when they are well and whole, we all move closer to you. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 5 - Courage - Acts 28:15 And so we came to Rome. The believers from there, when they heard of us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage.
The word for ‘courage’ here means to be emboldened as a result of being in good cheer. Haven’t you noticed that when you are of ‘good cheer’ you are more full of confidence and bravery? Haven’t you noticed that when you are downcast, everything looms large and seems insurmountable? In one of my favorite books, Father Melancholy’s Daughter by Gail Godwin, when the daughter is young and her mother is no longer with the family, she gets frightened at night because she is sure there is a closet witch hiding among her clothes. When I am unhappy, confused or in pain, I know how to create a ‘closet witch’ of some sort myself.
Maybe it is about there being more month than money. Or maybe it is about a medical test or even anticipatory grieving. Whatever it is, I am certain that it is going to be awful and I won’t have the resources to deal with it. Paul and his friends certainly would have had every reason to assume that when they arrived in Rome after their perilous journey that there would be closet witches in centurion’s uniforms everywhere. And indeed there were. Still, he faces what is coming next with good cheer that made him brave. Even he, however, had to have some concrete help with that. How did that help arrive? It arrived in the form of other believers who came to stand along side him in whatever he was to face. Our believing friends in our congregations, families are often the conduit that God uses to make us optimistic and brave. Can you think of a time when just being with a Christian friend made you feel better and believe that you had what it took to face the future? Have you ever been honored with helping a friend, ‘clear the closet witches’ and feel more able to cope? Thank God for those moments and practice looking for opportunities to connect with other believers. You will find that you too have more courage than you thought.
Prayer: Gracious God, help me today to be brave and full of good cheer. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 6 - Praise - James 5:13 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.
The book of James is unique in many ways. We are not sure of the author. Was it Jesus’ brother? Was it another early church leader? We are not certain. In any case the author was a no nonsense believer who understood that you cannot say you believe one thing and live a different way. Faith in Jesus results in a specific way of life. James is not interested in what we say. He knows what we believe by what we do, not what we say. When we find this verse, James has just given a dire and caustic warning to rich oppressors. He is furious with them.
His church, for a number of reasons, is impoverished and many struggle under the weight of injustice. He is fed up with it and tells the rich oppressors that their priorities will eat them up like fire. He then goes on to tell his flock to be patient in oppression because God is on the move on their behalf. Today’s verse begins a section on the power of faithful prayer. What I love so much about this verse is it’s honesty. “Feel what you feel,” he seems to say. “If you are hurting ask for relief. If you are joyful, tell God about that too!! For many of us, if we count up the moments of our prayer, I bet we would find that we spend more time on the former than the later. We are quick to go to God when we are at the end of our ropes, and often forget to go to God when things are wonderful. We can even think that the good things that are happening are a result of our own labor, wits or perseverance rather than pure gifts from God who may or may not use us to bring about that which makes us happy. The words we translate as ‘praise’ in the New Testament have the connotation of telling a tale or narration. So when James tells us to give praise when we are cheerful, he is telling us to tell the story of our joy to God with thankful hearts, knowing that God is the worker of all good things in our lives. In my experience, narrating my praise and gratitude to God is the cornerstone of my spiritual life. In the Reformed tradition, all prayer is to be rooted in praise and thanksgiving. So today, take a moment to tell God the story of your praise. Identify everything for which you are grateful. Do more than say, I praise you God for my house or my health. Tell God what your house and your health do for you, the joy they bring.Tell God the story of your praise!
Prayer: Dear God, I praise and thank you today for……It has made my life full and joyful in these ways:…..Thank you God of graciousness and wonder! In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 7 - Commitment - Psalm 37:5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do it.
This season of Epiphany we are focusing primarily on characteristics of disciples as found in the New Testament. I could not resist dipping into the Psalms for this one, however. It is just so wonderful! The word for commit means ‘to whirl, to roll, to turn, to roll together, or to be rolled in.’ The image is of a person rolling oneself up in God’s presence and values like a cocoon and trusting that, immersed completely in God, one will emerge just as God intends. I can’t but think of the image of our dog Bonnie rolling in a mud puddle until covered in mud then sitting in complete joy with her tongue hanging out because she has come up from the puddle exactly who she is. When we commit ourselves to God, we roll ourselves in God’s will, ways and loving presence and emerge exactly who we are created to be. I love that so much! Just as humans were created from mud, when we roll ourselves in Christ we are created anew with all the joy of God at our emerging. Commitment is, therefore, not a matter of will, steely determination or self-control. It is a matter of joyful immersion in God such that we could never want to be anywhere else or do anything else! Take a moment today to think about how you can immerse yourself in God’s love for you. How can you surround yourself with God’s will and values today? Can you make the joy of committing to God a priority today?
Prayer: Gracious God, help me today to see you surrounding me in every circumstance, in every person, in all aspects of your precious creation so that I can joyfully commit all of my life to you. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 8 - Confidence (boldness) - Hebrews 10:19-22 Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is through his flesh), and since we have a great priest
over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Words for confidence or boldness are used more than any others to describe the life of the early Christian community. Their confidence, or assurance, in their faith is what allows them to live with bold and fearless power. In this section of Hebrews the author has just made the case that with Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, the sacrificial system is no longer needed. Jesus has done all that is necessary. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we don’t need to keep atoning but we do need to live a new life of bold conviction and service. We can do that because, and only because, we have confidence in Christ that we have indeed been made whole. Our confidence does not come from our ability or diligence. Our confidence comes entirely from our trust in Christ and the salvation he has brought to the world. There is nothing left to fear. The best is always yet to come. Can you think of a time when you felt super confident? What were the circumstances? How did that feel? Have you felt that kind of bold confidence in your faith?
How did you show that? If not, what seems to block that confidence? Ask God to remove those blocks so that you can live confidently and with boldness every day.
Prayer: Gracious God, sometimes I feel more timid and unsure than I do bold and confident. Help me today to dip into your promises so that I can live with joyful confidence in all that I do. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 9 - Comfort - Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
The word used for ‘comfort’ in this snippet from Jesus’ great Sermon on the Mount is a form of the word Paraclete. This is the word Jesus uses to describe the coming Spirit in John’s Gospel. It holds a variety of meanings all at the same time. It means to come along side someone bringing consolation, encouragement, to whisper tenderly and and to bring alleviation of grief. The word ‘blessed’ could be translated happy or joyful in the sense of the joy that comes from knowing one is actually safe in the stream of God’s love. Comfort as a quality of a disciple of Jesus is not something that we strive to master for ourselves. It is something that God does for us and, on many occasions, through us. Comfort is not something for which we long. Rather it is a steady and settled reality into which we open ourselves or to which we awaken. The promise is this: whenever we are hurting God will come along side, comfort, console, encourage and whisper tenderly to us. The consolation that God brings comes with the realization that we are never parted from God, nor in the ultimate sense, from those we love and grieve. Comfort does not deny the feeling of pain, or even seek to eradicate it. Comfort is what happens when we know that we are on a journey and that that journey is with God and to God. As disciples we live with that comfort so that we can share comfort with others when it is most needed. Can you think of a time when you were comforted? Try to remember that in detail and thank God for the comfort. Can you think of a time when God used you to comfort someone else? Thank God for the opportunity to serve in that way. Today, look for the small comforts that come to you all day long and be grateful.
Prayer: Gracious God, thank you that you never fail to comfort and console me. I am grateful to my core for your tender whispers of grace. Help me to comfort others as you have comforted me. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 10 - Contribute - Romans 12:9-13 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.
These beautiful verses are full of wise advise for everyday living. If you want a snapshot of the Christian life, this is it. Disciples are to love without hypocrisy, despise evil, cling to goodness, esteem one another and live ardently with hope, patience, prayer and perseverance. For our reflection today, I’d like you to focus on the last verse and the concept of contributing to the needs of others. We will consider hospitality tomorrow. A literal translation of the last sentence in today’s verses would be ‘to the needs of the saints contributing, hospitality seeking.’ The word ‘contributing’ used here means ‘to lay open to all.’ It has the connotation of opening and offering all that one has, and is, to another. The word ‘needs’ refers to that which is necessary for a person to live a full and complete life. The author’s point is that followers of Jesus live lives wide open, with open hearts, open hands, regarding all that we have as given by God to be used by those in need. This kind of contributing of our life’s energies and resources is not done, however, as a rule or grudgingly. Rather, we give because we love. It is all one action. Love gives. Giving loves. It is interesting to notice that we give not to excesses, but rather, to support those who do not have what is needed to live the life of dignity for with they were born. In other words, disciples of Jesus give to level the playing field in the world. We do not ask questions of worthiness, because every child of God is worthy. We do not give to those we like or with whom we agree. We give to all simply because they are children of the same Father. Can you think of a time when you felt the joy and closeness of helping another with important needs? What was that like? Remember, that our giving is not tied to the response of the one to whom we give. That is no longer giving. That is purchasing a reaction, or a feeling of self righteousness. When we give to those in need it comes from a deep love of the humanity of that person and an understanding of their incredible worth to God. Ask God today to show you how you can contribute to the needs of others and be thankful.
Prayer: Gracious God, I thank you for your incredible generosity to me in body, soul and spirit. Help me today to recognize need when I see it and to do what I can to meet that need. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 11 - Hospitality - Hebrews 13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.
The words ‘hospitality to strangers’ are all one beautiful word in Greek. It means ‘to show warm genuine affection for strangers.’ The root of this word, philios, is one of the Greek words for love. It refers to the deep affection for those with whom we are closest, our families and dearest friends. That kind of love always seeks to lavish love on the beloved. It looks to do things just to bring joy and a sense of well being to the beloved. It is not shaken by circumstances and has much endurance. In this 13th chapter of Hebrews, a chapter than many believe was appended to the book by a local pastor to help the flock understand how to live out the themes in the book as a whole, the author is anxious that his hearers know what it means to live out their salvation day by day. One of the things that means, according to this chapter, is to rid ourselves of the notion of the other, the outsider for whom we have no responsibility or feelings. Every creature is worthy of love and care. Can you imagine what would happen if we took this verse to heart as we sought solutions to the problems we face at our border? There was an old tradition in Hebrew faith that God liked to trick people, or test their faith, by sending angels in disguise to see if people will actually act like what they claim to believe. “You say you love all people. Well, let’s see if you really do. What about this stranger who seems a little weird or different or is just interrupting your day? What about the family trying to cross the border to find a better life? Child of mine, do you love that one?” In the Bible, showing hospitality to a stranger is not about putting out the punch and cookies after worship. It is about growing a heart so wide and deep that the concept of stranger disappears all together, and everyone we see is either family or an angel. Can you think of a time when you welcomed a stranger and found that they were really messengers from God? Can you think of a time when you reached out to someone who was very different and a deep love grew up between you? Reflect on those times and thank God for all the angel messengers in your life.
Prayer: Gracious God, everyday you surround me with opportunities to love and go out of my way to assist and welcome your children into my life and world. Show me today exactly how I can love the ones you send to me with my whole heart. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 12 - Endurance - 2 Corinthians 6:4 but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities…
This beautiful verse comes in the midst of a soaring passage (6:3-10) in which Paul is trying to help the church in Corinth understand what it means to live with integrity as Christ’s disciple through a sea of troubles. He begins this reflection with a Greek word that we should all learn, hupomone. We translate it into English as endurance, but it is almost untranslatable. It doesn’t describe a kind of passive putting up with hardship. Nor does it refer to a teeth gritted waiting it out. It refers to the ability to bear hardships in such a triumphant way that it transfigures the hardships themselves. St. Chrysostom calls hupomone the queen of virtues, the harbor that knows no storms, the foundation of right actions, peace in war, calm in tempest. William Barkley in his commentary on 2 Corinthians says that hupomone “is the courageous and triumphant ability to pass the breaking point and not to break and always to greet the unseen with cheer. It is the alchemy that transmutes tribulation into strength and glory.” This is a Spirit imbued quality that allows us to be so certain of the goodness of our own outcome that the pain of life is viewed through the lens of heaven because, since we live in Christ, we are living in heaven already. This kind of endurance doesn’t just allow us to survive. It changes the lens through which we see our trouble. That can change the trouble itself. Can you think of a time of trouble in which you experienced anything like this centered, peaceful endurance? Many of us may not have. If you have, take a moment today to reflect on that experience. Can you think of a time when you reached your breaking point and yet did not break? What happened as a result?
Prayer: Gracious God, thank you for the strength of your grace that gives me the capacity to endure all things knowing that I am already safe at home with you. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 13 - Compassion - Hebrews 10:34 For you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting.
There are a number of words in Greek that we translate into English as compassion. One means to be moved inwardly to such a degree that we act to alleviate suffering. Another means to have pity on another person and their circumstances. Still another means to show kindness or benevolence. The word in today’s verse, however, is still another. It is the word from which we get our English word ‘sympathy or sympathize.’ In Greek this word means ‘to suffer along with another, to be personally affected by the pain of another.’ This is the word that the author of Hebrews uses to describe Christ as High Priest who sympathizes with our weakness (4:15) In today’s verse the author is telling the listeners that they have suffered along with those who were in prison and allowed their own goods to be used on behalf of the imprisoned. Of course, we know that it is possible in our lives to become lost and overwhelmed with this kind of compassion. There is no distance in it. Our hearts so identify with what is happening to another that we ourselves feel like it is happening to us. When you chop onions, my eyes water. This aspect of life in the body of Christ has to have boundaries sometimes. We have to be able to realize that not everything that is happening, is happening to us personally or we will be swamped and unable to function. Still, that tender sense of being able to ‘feel with’ another on the part of a friend or church member has gotten many of us through some times when we nearly sank. Compassion can be misused if our egos are weak and it all becomes about us. But, it can also be a powerful healing tool when it is loving, authentic and respectful. I once had a young doctor sit by my bedside all night long reading the psalms to me as we waited for what we both thought was my imminent death. I could tell that he felt deeply with and for me and yet it never became about him. He sat all night reading from his pocket Bible and in the morning as he left he told me it had been a privilege. I don’t know how I could have borne that night without his compassion. Can you think of a time when you were shown this kind of compassion? How did that affect you? Have you ever been honored to offer that kind of compassion to another? What was that like?
Prayer: Gracious God, your compassion toward us is beyond words. So is our gratitude. We thank you for all who have shown us compassion and for the honor of sharing your compassion with others. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 14 - Giving - Acts 20:34 You know for yourselves that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions, In al this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
These verses come in the midst of Paul’s farewell address to the elders in Ephesus as he is getting ready to set sail for Jerusalem to take the offerings he has received in his missionary journey to the impoverished church there. The quote he attributes to Jesus does not appear in any of the four gospels but, as we read in the Gospel of John, Jesus said many more things than the Gospel writers could ever write down. We don’t have to look very hard at Jesus’ life and character to see that he lived these words that Paul claims he spoke. Paul himself has learned the grace of these words as he worked his way across the lands earning his own living and preaching the gospel. Many of us have learned this too. The word ‘give’ here carries with it the connotation of showing honor. When we give to others we show them that they have an honored place in our lives. It is the word Jesus uses when he breaks the bread at the last supper and gives it to his friends. There is intimacy, honor and almost a sense of ecstasy or holiness in this kind of giving. It comes from the heart and has no strings attached. It is no longer giving if there are strings or expectations of return attached. Can you think of a time when you were able to give in this way? Did you experience a sense of joy and blessing? Remember that this teaching is NOT saying give so that you will receive. It is saying give and you will experience joy. Try it! You will like it!
Prayer: Gracious God, you have given so much to me. Thank you. Show me today the ways that I can give to others as an act of love and gratitude to you. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 15 - Goodness - Romans 15:14 I myself feel confident about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.
At this point in his letter to the Roman church, a church he does not know personally but needs to help support him in his dream of taking the gospel to France, Paul inserts a little bit of encouragement and sincere flattery. He has been very bold in what he has said to them and wants them to understand that he has spoken so plainly because he trusts their spiritual maturity. Most particularly, just prior to this verse he has urged the believers to put others’ needs ahead of their own and to welcome anyone, even Gentiles, into the fellowship of the church. Putting aside our own preferences and welcoming those we have been carefully taught to fear or disdain is both hard to hear and hard to do even in our day. Paul feels confident to tell them how importance service and welcome are because he has heard that this congregation is ‘full of goodness.’ Again the word choice (agathosune)is hard to translate. It means active goodness and is an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22.) It is more than mellowness of character (christotes,) another word often translated as goodness. It is an energized character that constantly expresses itself in actively working for the greatest good for all. A unique quality of agathosune, as oppossed to the mellow christotes, includes a zeal for truth as the ultimate good. This zeal for goodness can be be expressed in direct words of correction or even rebuke when needed. Agathosune is not always gentle but it is always deeply moral. It is a quality of the believer’s life because it is a quality of the Spirit that lives within us. Courageous commitment to actively pursue the greatest good for all is both a moral imperative and an energetic necessity. We seek the good because we are compelled to do so from the deep Love that resides in us. Because Paul saw this quality in the Roman Christians he felt confident that even if his words had an element of rebuke, they would be received in a right Spirit and result in growth and joy. Have you ever felt fired up to work for the good of others or your community? Have you ever found yourself possessed of a courage you didn’t know you had in order to address issues that were just plain wrong and had to be dealt with? Think about those experiences. How did you grow through them?
Prayer: Gracious God, we thank you for your zealous goodness toward us. Help me today to share your zeal for the good in my life and community. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 16 - Holiness - 1 Peter 1:15 Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Peter’s imprint on the early church was immense. You can read about it in the first 12 chapters of the book of Acts. We have two New Testament letters that are attributed to him, although there is some scholarly debate as to their actual authorship and time frame. What is clear is that Peter’s world view and experience permeate these letters. They are called general epistles because they are not addressed to one particular church with particular problems that need solutions. They are addressed to a general audience in the five provinces of Rome in Asia Minor. The churches to which Peter is writing are not yet experiencing the wide spread persecution that is on the horizon. Still, there were pockets of local persecution that could be quite severe. In this letter, he in encouraging people to remain filled with hope and to let their faith transform their behavior so that they will look more and more like Christ, their lord. The word holy, hagios, means to be set apart, sanctified, consecrated or pure. The emphasis is on being set apart. In other words, their faith in Jesus must show in their behavior. They are not to behave just like non believers behave. It should be apparent to all that following Jesus makes a difference and makes them different. (The quote here is from Leviticus 11:44) Today, think for a moment about your behavior and priorities. Would they set you apart as a person who belongs to Christ? Is there anything distinctive about you that sets you apart from a good person who is not a believer? Perhaps the key for us comes from Peter’s earlier argument about living with hope in hard times. How is your hope obvious? Is that what sets you apart? Notice as you go about your day how your holiness shows.
Prayer: Gracious God, I am so grateful for your goodness to me and the good you long to do through me. Help me today to model my life and priorities on you so that your holiness can show in my life. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 17 - Humility - Acts 20:18b-19 When they came to him, he said to them, “You yourselves know how I lived among you the entire time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, enduring the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews.
It is my suspicion that humility did not come easily to Paul. Here we return to his farewell speech to the elders in Ephesus as he prepares to head to Jerusalem and face the dangers he must know await him there. The word we translate as ‘humility’ is a doozy. It literally means lowliness of mind. In other words, it means not thinking that one is better than someone else. The humble person does not compare his or her life with others and make judgments either about whether the other deserves what they have, or why we don’t have what we think we deserve. To be frank the concept of ‘deserving’ is poison to humility in every instance. This word humility is the word that would be used for leveling off mountains or hills. It is used of the relinquishment of status and the lowering of one’s position in the world. As used in these verses, Paul is telling the elders that he has given up much. He has lost his status. He has wept over his low treatment and the trials he has undergone for the sake of the gospel.
And yet, for him none of that was of true significance. At least in this moment, he no longer needs to be the best, which by definition means that others are below him. He no longer needs to win for status. All he needs is to persuade from love, to walk the faith hand in hand on a level place. It is this kind of humility that we see in the incarnation where Jesus ‘came down’ to walk with us. And we see it’s results in the humiliation of the cross which was a perverse kind of lifting up by lowering completely. Can you think of a time when you were humbled? How do you experience humility in your daily life? Are there those with whom you compete in some way for a win or a leg up? Is that really who you are? Notice your motivations today and ask yourself: “Am I trying to rise above someone else? How can I accomplish my goals in a way that everyone benefits?”
Prayer: Gracious God, help me today to live a humble grateful life. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 18 - Righteous - Romans 4:4-5 Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.
Many of us may understand righteousness more from an Old Testament perspective than a New Testament one. In the Hebrew Scriptures, righteousness has to do with the ability to stand before God as a result of living according to the law. It was right standing or even the right to stand, before God. We often think of it as solely talking about our salvation, our being justified to stand before God. That is all true. It is also a bit more nuanced in the New Testament. The word, dikaiosune means the ‘character or quality of being just.’ It was formerly translated as right-wiseness, the capacity for wise action according to God’s values. So to be made righteous is also to be fit for living justly. Here Paul is trying to help the Roman church understand that ‘right-wiseness’ is not a matter of doing the Law correctly or not having any debts in our ledger. There would be no grace there, only a transactional payment of some kind. In Christ, it is different. We are reckoned (counted) as having done right not because we have kept the Law perfectly but because Jesus did so on our behalf. So for Christians, righteousness becomes made-right-ness. It is a gift and not a payment for any behavior or commitment. Being made righteous by Christ then imbues us with the characteristic of living justly. Think of it this way: Christ gave us the gift of being able to live justly even though we have not been able to do that on our own. Righteousness or right living is a free gift of grace that we accept and allow to shape our actions and our perceptions. It is, of course about our relationship and standing with God. It is even more about what that relationship does through us in our lives, priorities and practices. To be made righteous by Christ is to be made over new into creatures who live and breathe justly. Take a moment now to confess any sin that may have come into your mind in this moment. Let it go. Then ask yourself how it is that you behave righteously, justly in your daily life. Are there times when you do not act according to the Law of Love? Ask God to help you in those situations to become better reflections of the righteousness that Christ has bought for you.
Prayer: Gracious God, we are grateful for Christ’s saving work in our lives. We thank you that we can rest in our relationship with you. And we thank you that in that relationship you give us the capacity to recognize and live justly. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 19 - Obedient - Philemon 1:21 Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.
The tender little letter to Philemon gives a beautiful insight into the change that happens to people when they accept Christ and become immersed in the Christian faith. The story concerns two men: Philemon and Onesimus. The letter is actually addressed to Philemon, his sister Apphia and another man Archippus. These people are members of the church in Colossae. Apparently Onesimus is a slave who has run away from his master, Philemon. It is not clear whether Onesimus has stolen from Philemon or whether it is just that he had debt to work off before he could secure his freedom. Paul is writing from prison, perhaps his first imprisonment in Rome. He has met Onesimus and has mentored him in the faith such that he wants him to remain with him as a partner in the gospel. But he knows the law and knows that Onesimus must go back to Philemon or something worse will happen to him. So Paul writes to Philemon to receive Onesimus back, not as a slave, but as an equal, a brother in the Lord. He is so confident of the faith of Onesimus that he tells Philemon that he, Paul, will pay any debt still owing. We don’t know Philemon’s response, although Paul is certain he will be obedient to this request and receive Onesimus back on a new footing. The word for ‘obedience’ that Paul uses is unknown in classical Greek. Everywhere it is used in the New Testament it refers to obedience to God’s will in a special sense of willing subjection to divine revelation. Some argue that Paul overstepped himself in using this word since the request comes from him and not God. But is that really the case? I don’t think so. It seems to me that anytime a request is made for forgiveness and for the releasing of people from bondage that is clearly God’s will. Here we see that, while Paul does not flaunt unjust laws directly, he does what he can to undermine the travesty of slavery. As he says in Galatians, in Christ ‘there is neither slave nor free.’ Have you ever had an experience in which you saw things in a new way, a kind of revelation, and felt that you must act accordingly? Have you ever needed to forgive and release another’s “debt” to you? Take a moment today to reflect on those moments. What do you learn?
Prayer: Gracious God, show me your ways and help me to obey your calling, even if it is hard and costly to do so. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 20 - Repentant - Romans 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
Paul is concerned that the Romans are judging other people’s faults and then doing the very same things themselves. They seem to think that because they are assured of forgiveness in Christ, it doesn’t matter what they do. Paul recognizes that passing judgment on others spells the death of any community of faith, especially when excusing one’s own faults. Even if we manage to escape the pitfall of toxic judgmentalism (which most of us don’t,) there are certainly many other traps that we do not escape. Sin is a reality. Whether we think of it as single moralistic actions, or as the larger state of pride and ego blindness, we all know that we often miss the mark of the life into which Christ calls us. Sin will always lead us away from the live of love. It will always diminish us and others. Sin is real. We need to know that. And we need to address it. The word ‘repent’ means to turn around and go in an entirely new direction. It means not only to change behavior, but also to change worldview. When we repent, we are not just saying we are sorry for a wrong action. We are saying that we have changed fundamentally how we see that action and its effect on us and on the world. To repent is to exchange a self centered world view for an entirely different one. In a sense, this is what Jesus is talking about when he tells Nicodemus that he must be born again, and what Paul talks about when he says that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. To repent is to change, not to simply feel bad and hope to escape punishment. Can you think of anytime when you were sorry for your actions or their consequences but you wound up doing the same thing all over again? What were the results? Did you find that you eventually began to feel immune to the sorrow you felt at first and the things didn’t feel as bad the next time? Or the next? We can feel remorse for a long time before we truly repent and turn to go a different way. Are there areas of your life in which you need to repent? If so, offer those to God and ask how God can lead you in a new and Christlike direction.
Prayer: Gracious God, I am sorry for the harm I do and the excuses I make for it. Help me today to truly repent and live a new life. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
February 21 - Empty - Philippians 2:5f Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.
Here is a lesson that life in Christ teaches us: You cannot tell who is winning by the score. What seems so important in the eyes of the world, and even much of the time in our own eyes, is not all that important at all. Actually, it can get in the way of what truly is important. Basing our lives and emotions on what we accumulate, on what we can control, on the wins and the thank yous of our lives can fill our ears with the painful whispers of fear, regret or resentment. Sometimes we simply must empty ourselves of all of those things so that the real things can rise and occupy more of our hearts and energy. Paul, writing from horrible conditions in prison to friends he deeply loves, reminds them and us that even Jesus did cling to the trappings of divine power, or even worldly power. Rather, he laid all of that aside in order to be with us and care for us. Sometimes we too need to set all aside in order to be with him more deeply and to care for him and ourselves. Tomorrow we will begin the season of Lent. Traditionally Lent is a time of letting go, of fasting and of repentance. Throughout Lent this year we will focus on what we need to release, repent and relinquish in order to live faithfully and joyfully. For today, take a moment to think of the things that take up most of your mental, physical and emotionally energy. Are there any of those things that you are ready to relinquish, even for a moment? If so, take a deep breath and, as you breathe out, let the unneeded thing flow from you with your breath. Notice, for a split second the free and open space in your heart. You can rest assured that Jesus himself will fill that space with more of his presence and guidance.
Prayer: Gracious God, help me today to let go of unworthy or damaging goals, thoughts, or things. Make me an empty vessel waiting to be filled and used by you alone. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
Safe Harbor Presbyterian Church
January Daily Devotions 2023
January 1- February 21, 2023 Christmas and Epiphany Daily Devotions Safe Harbor Presbyterian Church
People often ask me if I think that this or that public figure is really a Christian. The answer to that is, obviously, above my pay grade. None of us can judge another’s heart or relationship with God. What we can do is pause to observe behavior, particularly our own. Do we exhibit the values of a follower of Jesus the Christ or do we seem ruled by something or someone else?
These devotions begin during the season of Christmas, which lasts until January 6, and span the entire season of Epiphany. Celebrating the light and liberation of Christ is at the heart of this time of the church year. As the calendar year turns over to 2023, many of us naturally tend to contemplate where we have been and what goals we want to set for ourselves for the coming year. One of the things that I do in December each year is pray for a guiding word for my work with our congregation for the coming year. This year the word that was immediately raised in my heart was discipleship. In these small devotions, we will turn to scriptures scattered throughout the New Testament to do an annual discipleship check up. You will be invited to assess both where you are and where you want to go in your journey as Christ’s body in the year 2023. Be mindful, humble and full of peace as you ponder these passages.
Don’t judge yourself harshly. And above all, don’t judge others and use these scriptures as weapons, or as excuses, to harm or dismiss others. This devotion is intended to be introspective, and a source of inspiration and freedom for you as an individual. God will deal with others, so you focus on your own inner ways and motives. That is why the prayers are individual rather than corporate, using I instead of we.
Each day, begin by reading the devotion. Then ask God to show you how you have exhibited this discipleship quality. Make notes of that so that you will begin to see it more and more in yourself, and in others. Also ask where God would like you to grow in these areas and how. Finally, ask God to show you people in whom these qualities are coming to maturity so that you can have role models for your own growth. I will join you in this journey! Know that I am just an email or phone call away if you feel the need for a companion along the way! Love, Eugenia
Jan.1- LOVE 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. Many of us know Paul’s great chapter on love almost by heart. We hear it read at weddings in order to help partners understand that love is not simply a feeling. It is a lifestyle. Love does some things and refuses to do other things, even if those other things seem justified or the only possible way to settle unbalanced scales. Here Paul reminds us that the love that is the hallmark of the Christian way, agape, is not something that we ‘fall into.’ It is a daily choice. We will look at some of these qualities later on in this study. For today, I invite you to ponder Paul’s remarkable last sentence. Love never ends. Obviously, Paul is not saying that feelings of being ‘in-love’ never end. We all know that those feelings shift and change constantly. What Paul is reminding us is that love itself is eternal. It is not discarded with a body that no longer houses our loved ones. And it is not one sided. Just as our love for those precious to us extends past the grave, so does their love for us with all it’s kindness, endurance and joy. Take a moment today to ponder the durability of love in your life. How do you keep faith with those you love? What does it mean to you to consider that love is eternal, even your very own loves? Are there ways today that you can deepen your love walk? Ask God to help you and enjoy the ride!
Prayer: Gracious God, I thank you for your great love for us that is eternal. Help us today to love well and to find comfort in knowing that love is everlasting. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen
January 2- JOY - Philippians 4:1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. In the New Testament, the word we most often translate as joy comes from the same root as grace or gift. It is a big word that is used to describe everything from calm delight to wild hilarity. Like love, joy is not just an emotion. It is also a power. Joy is a quality of God and gives us strength. As Paul is saying to his friends in Philippi, we are God’s joy and crown. God rejoices in us. God smiles at us. God laughs and plays with us. Again, like love, joy is a quality over which we have some control. Joy is a choice and so is misery. It is easier to choose joy as our life position, when we take time to reflect on our relationship with God. It is not possible to remain joyless when we contemplate God’s greatness and goodness to us. Joy is possible in any circumstance because it is not tied to circumstances at all. Joy is rooted not in what happens but in what has already happened for us in Christ Jesus. Joy is not the same thing as happiness which is often tied to what is happening to us. Joy is deeper than that. It is the only rational response to being eternally loved and rejoiced in. Joy, while independent of circumstances, can also be obscured by lack of attention, worry or sorrow. It is still there, but it must be nurtured to be obvious. One of the criticisms of the church in our day is that we display so little joy. We major in sin and minor in salvation. We give more energy to our bad news than our good news. Needless, to say this is not compelling witness, nor is it conducive to joyful living. Today, count the times that you smile. What triggers those smiles? Thank God for those triggers because they are angels sending you messages from God to enjoy your life and rest in God’s joy-filling love. Pause and remember the last time you laughed out loud. Thank God for that reminder. Ask yourself how you display joy to your family and community. How might you do that more?
Prayer: Gracious God, help me today to live from your joy, knowing that you are my strength, my joy and my crown. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 3 - MIRTH James 4: 9 Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. Rienhold Niebuhr once said that humor is the prelude to faith. Even so, words for laughter do not get good press in the Bible. They are almost always used in some kind of derisive way, like a synonym for sneer. We have to look to spiritual experience, and often between the lines, to find the mirth that brings energy and springs from joy in the Bible. Long theological tomes have been written arguing about whether Jesus ever laughed and whether, as James suggests, we should trade our laughter for tears. To understand the sense of mirth that is central to life in Christ, and dramatically attractive to those who look at us to decide who Christ is and whether following him is worth it, we look to words like merry or to the action of dancing as expressions of gladness and mirth. There are jokes in scripture that we often miss because we don’t know the culture. For example, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” There are stories that just can’t be read without a grin, like little Zaccheus up a tree. Today’s verse from James comes in the context of the author’s frustration with the people’s love affair with the world, its wealth and its oppressive values.
Laughter that comes from excess or at someone else’s expense will lead to lament one way or another. Still, the kind of mirth that bubbles up from a soul in love with Jesus is perhaps the most winsome and attractive attribute of a disciple. How can you show others the lightness of love fueled mirth today?
Prayer: Gracious God, today I ask that you will fill me with mirth and show me how I can help lift others up with laughter. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 4 - PEACEMAKING - Mathew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. The word in Greek that we translate as peacemaker is stunningly beautiful. (eirenopoios) It refers to a person who has the capacity to put an end to strife between others because he or she has first received the peace of God in his or her own heart. It is not the word for someone who simply makes peace between two parties. This is not the word for a negotiator or diplomat or treaty creator. It is a word for someone who is so at peace, due to God’s grace alone, in his or her heart that the power of that transformation can change situations and people around him or her. Wow! Blessed indeed is such a person! Are you at peace in your heart? Are there warring thoughts that you need to bring to God for mercy? How do you need to make peace in your own heart? Are there obstacles to your allowing the settled peace of God to transform your heart? If so, offer those to God today for healing. How might this notion of being a peacemaker change your behavior? Are there disputes around you that need true peacemaking? Start with your own heart. Then you will be able to bring Christ effectively into other situations.
Prayer: Gracious God, give me peace like a river today, deep peace in my heart so that I can experience the joy of being a peacemaker in my home and community. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 5 KINDNESS - 2 Corinthian. 6:6-7 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; In this section of his letter, Paul is urging the church to make their discipleship obvious in their behavior. As in so many other places in his letters, Paul offers a long list of qualities that are consistent with being a follower of Jesus, and those that are not. Here, he tells his friends, and us, that the time is ripe for them to display the true transformation of character that is a part of the walk of faith. There is great urgency in his writing. It is as if the whole world depends on the genuine transformation of Christians. Perhaps the time is always ripe for that. The bottom line is that others need to see the Jesus in us. They need to see that we have been changed and are still becoming more and more Christlike. As in our own day, one of the defining signs for Paul that a person actually belongs to Christ is kindness. The news and even much of what passes for entertainment these days is rooted in violence, judgment and meanspiritedness. Kindness often seems in short supply. People have meltdowns in grocery store lines, shoot each other in road rage incidents and wither vulnerable others with sneers and jeers. Kindness is a choice we make until our character is so transformed by it that we actually become kind. Kindness is a quality of a heart rooted in Christ that has finally realized that it has nothing to prove and nothing to gain. It is rooted in the realization that all are one, all have struggles and it is not Christlike to add to those struggles. Think today about kindness. How do you display kindness that comes from a deep and peaceful heart rather than through gritted teeth? What situations in your life are most in need of a kind response? Notice your reactions to others or situations today? Where are you kind? Where do you need to show more kindness? Make a mental note of your kindness quota today.
Prayer: Gracious God, fill me today with a supernatural kindness that is rooted in a heart that knows your love and mercy. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 6 - GENTLENESS - 1 Thessalonians 2:7 though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. Paul Is reminding his friends that in his ministry with them he was not high handed, arrogant and dictatorial. The word we translate as gentle, is one of several in the New Testament that have various meanings. This word, epios, means to readily follow another and to be ready to do what the other wants and needs. It means to be mild and not harsh. It means to be easy going and tolerant. This word is very different from the word praus that is translated as gentleness in the fruit of the Spirit. That word refers to an attitude of Spirit that is so confident in God’s will and ways that nothing need be resisted. This word describes a wonderful tenderness and warmth that Paul makes explicit in his image of the mother tenderly caring for her beloved child. The opposite of these words is to be self willed, where only what we want matters. In what ways do those two aspects of gentleness show up in your life? How do you find yourself acting tenderly in an easy going tolerate way? Where is this hard for you? In what ways do you find yourself so trusting in God that you do not need to resist or coerce an outcome? How can you nurture this qualities in your life? Ask God for what you need to allow these qualities to grow.
Prayer: Gracious God, today I ask for a special measure of trust in your goodness so that I can approach others with tenderness and optimism. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 7 PATIENCE - Galatians 5:22-23a By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. The word we translate as patience here, makrothumia, is sometimes translated as long suffering. It is a word that nearly defies translation. It comes from the root for temper. I like to translate it as having a supernaturally long fuse. This kind of patience comes from deep compassion and an understanding of the basic oneness, or commonality, of all living things. Makrothumia makes special allowances for another’s human frailties and does so with little effort. It implies a contentedness that no longer needs to fight for rights, or to be right. It is a quietness of spirit that is extraordinarily hard to provoke to anger or retaliation. Makrothumia knows that we are all one, all loved and all frail, so we don’t need to lash out at others for their faults. Nor do we do that toward our own faults. In what circumstances do you find yourself impatient with others? Do you sometimes need others to hurry up or slow down? To think like you? To do what you want and do it quickly? Are there certain behaviors in others or even in yourself that tend to light your fuse quickly? What is that really about? What feels threatened? In the long view does it matter? How might you display patience with strangers today, as well as those in your home? Are there areas of your own life or work in which you need to be a little more patient? Notice your triggers today. Don’t resist them and judge yourself impatiently! Just notice and invite the Spirit to bring this fruit to maturity in you more each day.
Prayer: Gracious God, fill me with the wonder of life today. Make me more and more loving and patient with all those I come across today. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 8 - FAITHFULNESS Colossians 1:2 To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae. The root for the word faith or faithful in Greek is pistis. It means to trust. It is not about right beliefs or proper creeds. It is not about right thinking or even right actions. Faith is all and completely about trust. To be faithful is to live trusting in God. We don’t so much believe in Christ as we trust in Christ. Trusting is so much bigger than believing. Trust can actually happen when belief wavers. Believing with the mind and will is sometimes easier than trusting with heart, mind and soul, isn’t it? I have no trouble ever saying ‘I believe in Jesus.’ If I am honest, though, I do struggle sometimes with trusting him, especially in times of difficulty or with my loved ones. I can usually breathe deeply and sink into that wonderful expansive release of trust for a moment or two. But before I know it, I have picked my ‘problem’ back up again, thinking that I and I alone can solve it. Can you identify with that at all? If you can, I invite you to do an experiment in trust today. Sit quietly for a moment. Think of any worries or problems that you are dealing with. One by one, offer each of those situations to Jesus. You might actually visualize tossing them to him. That is the image of ‘casting care.’ With each toss, say, “I trust you with…Help my lack of trust.” Do this whenever the need arises and notice what happens.
Prayer: Gracious God, I believe! Help my unbelief! In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 9 - SELF CONTROL - 2 Peter 1:5-7 For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self control and self control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection and mutual affection with love. Are you beginning to note some themes in these checklists that the ancestors were inspired to offer their friends and us? Self control occurs in many of them. The word in Greek is also sometimes translated as temperance. I prefer that translation because self control can too easily become self IN control and it is not that. This word comes from the root for ‘strength’. It is the capacity to be strong in the presence of temptation, especially the temptation to accept the unacceptable. The ancient ones understood that the gifts and powers that God gives to us can easily be abused. We are not only capable of abusing them. We are also capable of becoming abusers. Self control is choosing to put one’s will under the control of the Spirit. It is, with God’s help, putting love into practice along with all that we have learned from God. This self-control is not about turning down a piece of cheesecake (except if that cheesecake would do actual harm.) It is about deciding that the desires of the ego, especially when they harm or exploit, will not be given free rein in our lives. Self control recognizes that sin and excess are real and must be dealt with by consistent acts of moral will. Self control is like a muscle that becomes strong the more we exercise it. It also becomes easier to exercise it in big circumstances when we develop the habit of exercising it in smaller circumstances. How does this concept of self control differ from what you might have thought before? How is it the same? How might you strengthen your self control muscles today? Be sure to ask for Spirit’s help as self control is always an activity of the Spirit through us.
Prayer: Dear God, help me today to put into practice what I most deeply believe. Do not allow me to fall prey to the temptation to do things my own way, or at the expense of others. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 10- UNITY - John 17:11 And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. In this section of John’s Gospel, called The High Priestly Prayer, Jesus and his closest friends are in the upper room. He has washed their feet. He has given them his new commandment to love one another. He has shared some final teachings with them about his nature, that of the Father, and what he knows is coming soon.
After all of that he lapses into fervent prayer. The record of this prayer is one of the most poignant sections in all of the scripture. In it we see Jesus’ great love for his friends and his longing that they will finally understand that they are one with him and each other. In my view, this is the core teaching of John’s Gospel. We are one with Christ and we are all one in Christ. This oneness is the very nature of our being. It is not about agreement or even warm feelings of connection. The oneness that Jesus prays for here is the oneness that leads us to recognize that there truly is no separation. It is the oneness that the incarnation bears witness to… humanity and divinity can cohabitate. Because that is true in Jesus, then it is true in us. Not in the same way, obviously. But we as Jesus’ disciples are branches of his vine. There is not a spiritual life and a physical life where two different sets of values operate. We move through the world as Christ. It is on our branches that Christ’s fruit ripens. This is hard to wrap our minds around. It is no wonder Jesus had to ask for the Father’s help for us. What this means in our relations with others is that we treat each person as if they are a part of us and beloved of Christ. No exceptions. So unity as a quality of discipleship is not about unanimity or sameness. It is about knowing, and showing without doubt or hesitation, that we are all one in all our diversity and even all of our discord. In what ways do you exhibit this kind of oneness to the world? What are your most Christlike traits? How is your connection to the Vine these days? What is your fruit of unity? If you need to grow in this area, be comforted, for as Jesus prayed for his friends he still prays for us.
Prayer: Gracious God, open my heart today to the oneness of all things. Help me to display the respect that unity requires. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 11 - SHEEP TENDING - John 21:15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” In his last post resurrection conversation with Peter in John’s Gospel, Jesus tries to help Peter see the connection between loving Jesus and serving others. It is not possible to do the one without committing to do the other. There is a lot to unpack in that passage, not the least being Jesus’ use of the words agape (unconditional ethical love) and philios (warm affection) to describe the love he hopes Peter has for him. What is important for us to consider today, however, is not so much what kind of love but what any kind of service love of Christ produces. If we love Jesus, we tend his flock. Some have debated about just who in included in the flock. Are some outside the scope of our tending? I think the earlier teaching about unity of all things pretty much lays that to rest. There are no litmus tests to tending. There is no way out by clinging to the notion of deserving. Jesus uses the word lambs here to reinforce the helplessness of those served and the fact that without care they will not survive. Clearly we cannot tend to everyone personally. Mercifully we are not the only ones Jesus has to work with. That does not relieve of us of our calling to tend to those who are most vulnerable whether that is a lonely neighbor down the street, an angry person hurt by life and the church, or a mom trying to make it and feed her children while cleaning hotel rooms. Our call is to be found wherever vulnerability is found. It is not just a calling for special times and seasons. Tending the vulnerable is our to do list every day as Jesus’ disciple. Lambs need feeding every day. Think today about how you answer Jesus’ call to demonstrate your love of him by tending the vulnerable. Ask God to show you ways today that you can love Jesus by caring for someone else.
Prayer: Gracious God, show me today how you would have me express my love by tending your lambs. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 12 - CARE FOR THE LEAST - Matt. 25:35-36 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus makes the tending of lambs more concrete and specific. He also makes the consequences of not doing so concrete and specific as well. (If we do not act in care for others, even if we think we are doing everything right, then we will no longer be able to experience Jesus’ intimate presence.) In this familiar story of the separation of sheep and goats the call is not to an individual but to a people. The judgment is between nations that take care of the poor and oppressed, and those that don’t. This story asks us to stop and consider our politics. How do we encourage our city council to deal with affordable housing? How do we encourage our school board to continue to provide free hot meals for children? How do we make education affordable? How do we encourage prison reform? How do we make health care affordable and accessible? How do we work for policies that protect people from homophobia or antisemitism? How do we deal with growing hate crimes and white supremacy? All of these are deeply spiritual and moral issues. As disciples of Jesus we have a responsibility to work for justice, freedom and peace in our community and nation. There is just no wiggle room here. Today, ponder the ways that you use your power as a citizen to push for a more just community and nation. Are there specific reforms that you feel led to advocate? How might you do that?
Prayer: Gracious God, help me to remember that my discipleship does not stop at my own front door. Show me how you want to use me specifically to make our community and nation more caring and just. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 13 - PRAYER - Luke 18:1 Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. This little verse is the preamble to a marvelous story that Jesus tells about the persistence of a widow in getting her rights of inheritance from a corrupt judge finally results in justice. I love the humor in this story. The judge doesn’t do the right thing because he realizes it is the right thing. He does it because she is fierce and pesters him to death. A literal translation could be that he fears she will beat him up and black his eyes! I love that. In this context, Jesus is teaching that we must be fierce and persistent in our prayers for justice. It is also appropriate to conclude that we are called to be persistent in all prayer whether that is for those we love, those across the globe or our own needs. Prayer is after all, as this little story shows, a long term way of life. Be careful not to think that the judge is a God figure in the story and that we have to pester God to death to get what we want! That is not what Jesus is implying. Rather he is reminding us that prayer does things, it brings right outcomes (not necessarily desired outcomes,) when we give time, energy, focused, long term attention to our praying. We are not to lose hope in the most troubling circumstances because, even the unjust or intractable can be turned toward the good if we don’t give up. Think for a moment today about your prayer life. How would you characterize it? Haphazard? Intense? Beautiful? Superficial? Persistent? If you desire a deeper relationship with God in prayer, ask God to help you find the way that is perfect for you and don’t give up!
Prayer: Gracious God, I thank you for the intimacy and power that you offer to me in prayer. Help me today to turn to you often with my every need and the needs of the world. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 14 - WORSHIP - Acts 2:46-47 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the good will of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. Worship has always been at the heart of Christian practice. Being a disciple of Jesus is not a solitary path, not even in solitude. We are bound together in a body on purpose, and that is how the greatest growth occurs. In worship we learn to discipline ourselves, to open ourselves, to be fed at the Table, to join our voices, to become bigger and finer than we think we are. Granted, since the pandemic the ways disciples find to worship together have certainly changed. Still, whether we gather virtually or in person, worship is a corporate act. It binds people together and allows God to do miraculous things that we would never dream to ask, and certainly cannot control. Sometimes people say that they drift away from worship because they are ‘not getting anything out of it.’ That is to miss the point. Worship is not magic, but it is medicine. We both get and give whenever we worship, whether we know that or not. As you read the verses for today, what strikes you most? For me it is the word together. How do you experience the together of worship these days? Do you ever feel that your commitment flags and you find yourself pulling back? Do you know why? How might you address any issues you have with worship?
Prayer: Gracious God, I thank you today for the freedom, desire and ability to worship you with your body the church. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 15 - FELLOWSHIP - Acts 2:46-47 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the good will of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. Let’s look once more at the verses we considered yesterday. What strikes me is that for the disciples ordering their lives around worship also included deepening relationships between the members of the body. The Greek word we translate as fellowship is koinonia. It means communion and sharing things in common. When we spend time together, especially with a shared meal or festivity, or even sharing in a project like planting trees or filling back packs, the time together has many benefits. It, of course, addresses our basic loneliness. It also lifts us out of too much focus on our selves and our own concerns. In fellowship we gain perspective and come to understand that we really do share everything in common. Our circumstances may be wildly different but the emotions of the heart are universal. Gladness, sadness, jubilation and worry are realities that we all know. When we share those things with each other joy grows and fear loses some of its power. What ways might you put some extra energy into your relationships and fellowship with others in the church? How can you be intentional about that? What obstacles to you find to fellowship? Ask God to help you address any obstacles and strengthen you with time together.
Prayer: Gracious God, I thank you for the opportunity to share my life with others who are also walking with you. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 16 - WISDOM - Ephesians 1:17-18 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your enlightened heart, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints and what it the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. Ephesians is an interesting letter indeed. Scholars do not agree whether it was written by Paul himself, probably from prison near Rome, or whether it was written by one of his disciples later. Unlike many of Paul’s letters, this letter, while addressed to the church in Ephesus, was probably a circulating letter intended to share wisdom and encouragement to a number of churches. There are no circumstances mentioned that are particular to any one church. Rather the issues are universal. Here the author expresses a longing prayer that the people will be given the gift of wisdom and revelation. The Greek word wisdom is Sophia. It refers to a deep wisdom that allows a person to order one’s relationship with God rightly. It is big picture wisdom that sees what God is up to and how God’s values apply to every situation. This kind of wisdom easily sorts good from evil, better from best. It gives rise to concrete choices and behaviors that are both prudent and good. The word revelation, comes from the root apocalypse. It means uncovering or disclosure. It is a grand word that means not just the revealing of something but the capacity to understand the thing revealed and know how to respond. In what ways do you see this kind of wisdom and revelation in your own life? In your church? Do you need a little more wisdom to know how to order your relationship with God? Are you attuned to seeing what God is up to and what that means for your life? Can you sort good from evil easily? Do you understand what you see? If you would like a little more wisdom and revelation in your daily life, why not pray the author of Ephesians prayer for yourself today and each day?
Prayer: Gracious God, may you fill me today with your spirit of wisdom and revelation! In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 17- THIRST FOR KNOWING- Ephesians 3:18 I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. The word we translate comprehend here is one of the Greek words for to know, ginosko. The word means to know something experientially, as opposed to knowing intuitively. What the author prays for us is that we will experience and understand the power and expanse of God’s love for us. This is not comprehending like an algebra equation. This is knowing that flows from experiencing. Sometimes this is not easy, is it? We may know in our minds that God loves us, but we may not always experience the life changing power of that love. Partly this is because we often don’t like, much less love, ourselves very much. We are hyper sensitive to every flaw and store up failures like flamboyant garments we wear for a night on the town. I had a wise spiritual counselor say to me years ago that if God loved me the way I loved myself why did I bother. God’s love during that period of my life was something I believed, but not something that I knew experientially. I couldn’t feel it, so it was not powerfully changing my life or circumstances. Sometimes experiencing the love of God is a gradual process of awakening. Sometimes it is a wild storm of wonder. However it comes, though, it is the key to the fullness of life. The author of Ephesians tells us that knowing the unfathomable love of Christ for each one of us personally is the key ingredient to being filled with all the fullness of God. When we experience Christ’s love for ourselves, when we take our fingers out of the dyke, the flood waters of all of who God is, and all that God longs for our lives, flow like a torrent, taking away with it all the self hatred, disappointment and ego masks that we have accumulated because we did not experience that love for ourselves. Part of the joy and task of discipleship is to thirst for the experience of God’s love in our lives so that the love we share with others can be authentic and not some fear filled doctrine that we cling to in our minds because we are afraid it isn’t true. Do you know, ginosko know, the unsurpassable love of Christ for you? Have you felt its real power? If you need more of that? Today take a moment to be still and ask God to give you the grace to know the love of Jesus for real.
Prayer: Gracious God, today I ask you to open me up to experience your great love. Give me a thirst to know your love and presence today and always. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 18 FORGIVENESS - John 20:22-23 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” In this odd little interchange, the disciples are locked up tight in one of their homes, probably Peter’s. Mary Magdalene has come from the empty tomb with the outrageous story that Jesus has risen and spoken to her in the garden. They don’t know what to think. They are afraid that the authorities will come for them once they discover the tomb is empty. So they have battened down the hatches and are hovering together trying to decide what to do next when suddenly Jesus walks right in and says hi. He shows them his wounded hands and side as proof. He doesn’t look the same. Death changes a person. But it is him alright, and he gives them a mission to continue his ministry. Then he breathes the Spirit upon them. That is where we pick up the story today. Some have argued that verse 23 about forgiveness was added to the text much later to support the institution of the priesthood and their control of confession and forgiveness. I don’t know about that. It makes sense to me that the first result of receiving the Spirit is the capacity to forgive. Forgiveness from the heart is not a natural human tendency. At least not all the time. Forgiveness is supernatural work and it requires supernatural help. I have often wondered about the clause about retaining sins if we don’t forgive. I have come to believe that what the risen Christ is saying here is that if we don’t forgive those who have hurt and harmed us, it is we who retain the hurt and nurse the harm. Notice that in that clause Jesus doesn’t add the word ‘them.’ I don’t think forgiveness is about the wounder as much as the wounded. When we refuse to forgive, the hurt stays with us wherever we go. It lives in our bodies and eats away at our peace and well being. We forgive, not when another deserves it, but when we do. We forgive not when another repents but when we decide that we have hurt long enough and are ready to be free. We forgive not when the wounder expresses remorse, but when we decide that we will no longer give them the power to control our healing. Forgiveness is not saying that what happened didn’t matter. If it didn’t matter there would be no need to forgive. It matters. It just doesn’t get to rule our lives. Only God gets that honor. Disciples of Jesus forgive because we are called to do it. We forgive because we know that we ourselves need it. We forgive because only God gets to rule us. We forgive because we are Christ’s body and that is what Christ does. If you struggle with forgiveness, take a moment to pause, breathe in the Spirit’s power and ask for help.
Prayer: Gracious God, breathe your Spirit into my heart and help me forgive as I have been forgiven by you. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 19 - BOLDNESS - Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus. The word boldness comes for the root for ‘speech’ in Greek. It is used often in the New Testament to describe the disciples’ capacity and willingness to speak freely and clearly about their faith. It means to speak without fear and with a kind of cheerful courage. It was one of the qualities for which the early believers were know and, as we see in today’s verse, one that astounded others. They spoke with courage and clarity even though they were not men of letters. Why? Because they knew from experience what they were talking about. They knew how being in Christ, following Christ, modeling life on Christ changed lives from the inside out. Sometimes we are hesitant to speak of our faith because we do not want to alienate or offend others of different or no particular faith. (I think everyone has a faith, even if they claim they do not.) After 9/11 I was asked to speak on a panel of faith leaders at the coliseum in downtown Birmingham. I was seated by the imam of the mosque. I was so nervous that I would offend him in some way by my remarks that I was nearly shaking. As we talked, he said something wonderful to me. He said, “Pastor, I am never offended by authentic faith. It is when people water it down and make it nothing that I become offended. You be you and I am grateful for your concern for me.” I felt released completely and it was a moment of real boldness for me in faith. What do you need in order to be more bold in speaking your faith? To
whom is it most difficult? Why? What frightens you? Today ask God to help you speak your truth with cheerful courage, deep love, and abiding respect.
Prayer: Gracious God, give us proper boldness today. If we have the opportunity to speak for you, let our words be pure and our love genuine. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 20 GRATITUDE - Luke 17:15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. In the New Testament the word we translate as gratitude, or more often thanksgiving, is the word we use for the Lord’s Supper, Eucharist. Eu prefix means good, charis means thanks. Gratitude and thanksgiving are expressions of joy and wonder Godward. This concept is filled with warmth and sweetness. It is also full of intimacy and power. When we express thanks and gratitude to God, channels in our hearts open up and we experience renewed energy and vitality. Some speak of gratitude as a vibration of the soul that then attracts more opportunities for thanks. In that sense we reap what we sow. Thanksgiving in today’s verse comes from a leper that Jesus has healed of his disease. Jesus healed ten that day but only one returned to him in joyful thanksgiving. Why is that? Well, perhaps the more important question to ask is why do we so often fail to return thanks for the blessings of our lives? Are we too busy? Do our problems or responsibilities crowd out our gratitude? Do we think we deserve to get what we get or that it is a product of our own labor? Something I think that we do. The important thing for discipleship, though, is to pause and become aware that all of life is a gift. We did not cause our first breath or heartbeat, and we do not control them now. We did not, most of us, grow our food or build our house, or lay the wiring for our heat or the pipes for our water. All of that is done for us. God uses many instruments through which to bless us, a doctor when we are ill, an electrician when we are in the dark, a pet when we are lonely, an artist when we are depressed, an unexpected gift when we are struggling, the beauty of nature, or a kind word, or a wise spiritual friend when we are depressed. There is much in even the hardest of time for which to give thanks. Today practice making a list of everything for which you are grateful. You could fill pages of text and not scratch the surface. Be like the healed man who understood where thanks were due, and offer God your thanks and gratitude today. Make this a daily practice and it will change your life.
Prayer: Gracious God, I give you thanks and praise for every good gift in my life! In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 21- Mercy - Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—The New Testament uses several words to describe concepts of mercy and compassion. The one in this verse is usually used to describe God’s mercy. It is the active outward manifestation of pity. It assumes that the one expressing it (in this instance, God) has the resources to adequately meet the need seen. An example of mercy on a human level would be something like stopping on the side of the road when seeing an abandoned puppy, rescuing it, taking it to the vet, washing, feeding and tending to it until it grew strong, then loving and keeping it close. That is how humans do mercy (and mercy is something one does, not something one just feels.) When we talk about God’s mercy there is an expansive quality to it that looks past all failings with unseeing eyes and applies mercy to all. Mercy is when God brings God’s salvation wholeness into situations of need and helplessness. Mercy given by people is a kind of paying it forward. Because we have received mercy from God, we are then encouraged to offer mercy to others. What does that mean? It means that we are to train our eyes to see pain and helplessness without judgment, and to act to alleviate that pain and bring lasting wholeness. It seems to me that mercy must first be developed in the eyes of the heart. So often in our hurting world we no longer see the ones that need mercy. We judge them for their conditions and excuse our own. Yet in James 2:13 we are told that if we substitute judgement for mercy, we ourselves will cease to receive mercy. Mercy must always triumph as a way of life for Jesus’ disciples. What specific situations can you identify in which God has shown you mercy? Are there times when showing mercy to others is easy for you? What makes it so? Is there an element of judgment in how, and who, you think is deserving of your mercy? Are there any that you find it difficult to offer mercy? Is it sometimes hard for you to receive mercy? Ponder these things today and ask God to make you more merciful as a sign of gratitude for the mercy you have received.
Prayer: Gracious God, thank you for your great mercy toward me. Please make me merciful so that I may show your true nature to the world. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 22 STORYTELLING - Acts 1:7-8 He replied,”It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you: and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Christians always evangelize. Some of us are called to do that in specific and straightforward witness. All of us do it by the story that our lives and choices tell. My evangelism professor in seminary always said that everything we do is witness. It is either a good witness or a bad one. It is either true to who God is or it lies about who God is. St. Francis, I believe it was, said “Preach the gospel everywhere. Use words if you have to.” A colleague recently said, “Don’t forget that you are your neighbor’s Bible.” All of those quotes point to the reality that the stories of our lives are the witness we give to the love, power and presence of God. Spend a little extra time with your devotion today. Stop now and think about the story of who God is that your life tells. How has God worked in your life? If you were put on the witness stand, what would be your testimony? If all that your neighbors ever knew of God was what they see in you, what might they determine?
Prayer: Gracious God, I know that each day I am on the witness stand for you. Today, help me to witness to your love and saving grace in ways that are authentic and true. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 23 - SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER - Matthew 14:3-4 For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been telling him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” Sometimes it is easier to go along to get along, isn’t it? Sometimes silence seems like the only reasonable response when powers greater than ourselves are feeling threatened and on the rampage. John the Baptist was not good at that. His gift was speaking the deep truth of God, especially with regard to repentance and change. He did that to all equally, even King Herod. In this story John is outraged that Herod has taken his brother Philip’s wife as his own. John has called out his illegal behavior all over town. He is thrown in prison for it and ultimately, gruesomely, decapitated for it. Sometimes telling the truth to those in power can be risky business indeed. This is especially true if calling out personal moral failing, injustice and greed. It is no easier in our day that John’s. When I was a teenager in the 1970’s, a young black friend and I planned to go out after school to do voter registration in the public housing areas of our small south Alabama town. When our school librarian somehow got word of our plans, she called us in to her office to forbid it. I puffed and protested. She leaned across her desk, pointed her finger in my face and said, “Genie, you be careful of the truth. The truth can get you killed.” Being God’s voice for truth and justice in a time of lies and injustice isn’t easy. It can make us want to run and hide under the bed. Still, it is the calling of disciples of Jesus, who turned over the tables of injustice and, along with his cousin John, paid for his witness with his life. Can you think of a time when you had to speak truth to power? Perhaps a boss at work was engaged in shady practices, or the town council was exploiting the poor by setting up zones where people can not longer rest on benches or sleep in a park.There are hundreds of examples everyday. How do you usually respond?
Prayer: Gracious God, today I ask you to make me brave in the face of injustice. Give me your own words to speak and tell me where and when. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 24- PUTTING OTHERS’ NEEDS FIRST- Philippians 2:3-4 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Paul is in prison in appalling circumstances, yet the letter to his beloved friends and supporters in Philippi is one of the most joyous letters in the New Testament. He has several purposes in the letter, to thank them for their financial support, to urge them to deal with a personality dispute between two leaders and to tell them he is sending help. Most of all, though, he is writing to encourage them to continue their growth in faith and discipleship. Here he reminds his friends that the way of Christ never includes personal aggrandizement and the wily games of ego, especially the ‘me-first’ game. Granted, this advice can be taken too far at times. It is no more useful to Christian maturity to adopt a ‘me-never’ stance that shuns personal care and makes us little more than resentful door mats. Still. There is power, and deep joy, in thinking about others rather than ruminating on ourselves. There is power and joy in putting energy into helping others and insuring that vital needs are met. In my old church in Birmingham we operated a homeless shelter for women and children. The shelter was first in the church basement until we acquired an old hotel a block away and rehabbed it for that ministry. I often noticed the change in many of our volunteers. They might come in for their shift dragging, complaining of aches and pains or irritated with a family or church member. Most often though, within an hour of working together to prepare a meal or trouble shoot problems or handing out supplies, their was a noticeable change in the volunteer. Suddenly what they were facing was on the back burner and they were lifted up by the simple joy of serving another person. In what ways might God be calling you to put the needs of others first for a moment? (Don’t use this reflection as an excuse to not take care of yourself and stand up for your needs when necessary!) Spend some time imagining how you might meet the needs of others. What will you need in order to do that?
Prayer: Gracious God, awaken me today to needs you would have me meet. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 25 LOVING SELF Matthew 22:37 He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your hearts, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and prophets.” Jesus’ disciples seemed to constantly be concerned about whether they were getting things right, pleasing God, and understanding what was most important. In this passage a lawyer is trying to test Jesus’ orthodoxy. The lawyer asks Jesus what is most important in the Law. Pulling from Deuteronomy and Leviticus, Jesus answers him with what we have come to call the Summary of the Law. Today, let’s ponder what it means to love others in the same way we love ourselves. The little word ‘as’ means in the same exact way. Frankly, for some of us, if we treated our neighbors the way we treat ourselves we would have few friends at best, or wind up in jail at worst! The root for the word ‘love’ in this passage is agape, that wide ranging ethical love. Agape means to choose the good for the beloved no matter the circumstances. It is unconditional and not dependent on feelings. How do we discern what it means to choose the good for ourselves in every circumstance? Is our capacity to love our neighbors somehow tied to our ability to love ourselves? I think so. Otherwise even our purest love of others will always be tainted with our own need. That is something that is completely absent from agape. If we are misusing ourselves, driving ourselves into the ground with work, even good works, or neglecting our physical, mental, or spiritual health, is it really possible to love neighbor or God? I think it is hard. When we do not choose the good for ourselves, we quickly become ego’s marionettes. We get into trouble when we look at the Summary of the Law as a menu from which we can choose love of God, or love of neighbor, or love of self. It is not. It is all of a piece and none of those loves will function well with out the others. Notice today how you choose the good for yourself (not necessarily the easy or the comfortable.) Notice how you feel when you make a good choice for yourself? If you are not accustomed to doing this you may feel fear, disorientation or even disappointment. That is just the ego’s fear of losing control. Notice the feelings and let them pass. Are their choices or habits that you want to change? Ask God to help you.
Prayer: Gracious God, help me to love myself in a healthy way so that I can more authentically love you and my neighbors. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 26 LET LIGHT SHINE - Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Being a disciple of Jesus is not fundamentally about being a better person. That is a by product. Being a disciple of Jesus is about being a real person, an authentic person. It is about laying down the the pretenses that we take on, sometimes unconsciously, in order to look good to others or feel better about ourselves. Letting our light shine is about stripping away, more than it is about searching for a match. In the scripture, light most often refers to insight or truth. The deep truth’s of God’s love dwells inside each of us. Some days that truth bubbles to the surface like Old Faithful. Others it seems to refuse to rise no matter how much we need it. On days like that, the truth of God’s love, and all of the insights about what that means for us and the world, lies there still, but we have paved over it with worries or fears or distractions. Even so, the light that is in us is the reality of God’s love and the beauty of our souls’, or true selves’, intimate relationship with our loving savior. Even when we cannot see it ourselves, God is working beneath the surface with a little spiritual pick ax to cut through the pain we hide behind, so that the true light can become visible to us and to others through us. God never fails. Today take a few minutes to think about the light of love that is with you and within you. How can you live a more real and authentic life today? Be quiet for just a moment and ask God for insight into what needs to be released so that your amazing light can shine.
Prayer: Gracious God, shine through me today! Cut away the clutter that dims my awareness of your love. Put me in situations in which I can authentically reveal myself to others, and through that, your love for them as well. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 27 ONE HEART & SOUL - Acts 4:32-34 Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possession, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. The book of Acts often gives an idealized picture of what it means to ‘belong to Christ’ and to live that belonging in community. In today’s verses we get a Hallmark card picture of unanimity, spiritual transformation and generosity. Like in our lives, that picture was true some days more than others. In the next chapter, in the story of Ananias and Sapphira, we see that not everybody was completely on board with everything. Still this vision of accord is an important one for us to think about. In the time of Jesus, the word ‘heart’ referred to the seat of the will more than the emotions. It stood for a person’s entire mental and moral activity. It included the hidden depths of a person’s life. The word we translate as ‘soul’ is used in many different ways in the New Testament. It often refers to the natural life of a body, the breath and livingness of a person. Sometimes it refers to the immaterial part of a person. Sometimes it is understood as the seat of personality. Sometimes it refers to the part of a person that perceives, reflects, feels or desires. Soul is the individual nature of a person. That is the sense I think the word is used here. So what is the point? Here we see an image of Christian community united in will, perceptions and desires. They have truly become one body. Even for them that experience was fleeting. For us, it is sometimes rare indeed. Can you think of times when you have felt the spiritual power of being of one heart and soul as the church? Can you identify times when that was clearly not the case? What was the result? Often for us our inability to unite in heart and soul has deadly consequences, just like it did for Ananias and Sapphira. How might you address any disunity you may feel? How do you release it, deny it power? What qualities of sacrifice are necessary to truly be of one heart and soul? Ponder these things today.
Prayer: Gracious God, cleanse my heart and strengthen my soul so that I can share in love with all your children. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 28 - ALL THINGS IN COMMON - Acts 4:32-34 Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possession, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Let’s take one more look at the verses we considered yesterday. On more than one occasion over the years of preaching on this verse I have been taken to task by parishioners as they exited the sanctuary. “Eugenia, you make Christians sound like communists.” Or, “Eugenia that is so completely ridiculous. There is no way that could ever work.” Or, “This sounds like a bad marketing campaign. I’m not buying it.” And my personal favorite, “Eugenia do not ever preach on that dangerous text again!” What drew these passionate responses? Obviously it was the notion of holding all things in common. What does in mean in Christ for others to have an equal claim on our resources? The implications are massive. Even in the church where we try to live as Jesus asks, we do not have one giant joint bank account or add all our church members names, (even the ones we think are a little ‘off’) to our retirement accounts. I mean what if somebody got on a wild hair and spent all of our money and left us destitute? That must surely have been the thought process of Ananias and Sapphira, two good church people who paid the ultimate price with their lives for lying about their pledge! The problem, of course, was not the money. Even Peter says they had a right to do with what belonged to them as they wished. The problem was the lying, the duplicity. The problem was that their holding back demonstrated both a lack of trust in God and desire to be thought more generous than they actually were. Duplicity and desire to look good, are deadly for us as well. Granted we may not fall down dead on the spot, but something inside us begins to wither and die when we trust our money more than God, and when we want to seem different than we really are. Sit for a minute with these verses and ask yourself if there are things that you are holding back from God or the community of faith. How do you understand your resources as being for the use of others? What would need to heal in your thinking for you to release all you have to God to use as God sees fit?
Prayer: Gracious God, help me to trust you so much that I am free and generous. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 29 - SIGNS & WONDERS - Acts 2:43 Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. Signs and wonders are terms often used together in the New Testament. They have slightly different meanings. Signs are occurrences (natural and supernatural) that points toward new understanding about God and life. Wonders comes from the root for ‘something strange.’ Wonders, (always plural) are occurrences that appeal to the imagination. Wonders are things that produce a kind of slack jawed awe at the completely unfathomable ways and power of God. In the New Testament wonders are most often of supernatural origin but they aren’t only things like a star in the east or angel choirs in the heavens. Wonders can also happen in a heart that is open to awe in the presence of extraordinary kindness or the the intricacy of nature. If we are open to it we will see wonders everywhere, angel messengers in every smile or feather. How do you experiences God’s majesty and wonders? Are there things that you need to be more conscious of in order to open your eyes to signs and wonders? Are there things you need to release? Take time today to really look around you, in your home, office, yard, anywhere. What are the signs and wonders that you see? Breathe them in and feel the awe of God’s amazing world and your part in it!
Prayer: Gracious God, open my eyes today to see the wonders of your grace. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 30 HOPE Rom. 5:1-2 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. The word hope appears 129 times in the New Testament. It is one of the most important gifts of God, and qualities of a disciple. Hope is not a wish or wishful thinking like we might say “I sure hope that I get a bonus this year.” Or, “I hope I can stick to my resolutions this year.” Hope is not a wish. It is a steady calm assurance that all is, and will be, well. Hope is filled with confidence and a happy anticipation of all the that goodness lies ahead. For Christians, our hope is rooted in Christ. It is assured in Christ’s resurrection and in the promise of eternal life. We do not wish for that. It is assured. That is Christian hope. Hope is a settled thing. It is not something to be worked on or earned. Hope is, simply because Christ is. Our future is assured, and good will always win in the end. If that does not seem to be happening, it is not yet the end. How do you experience Christian hope? Are there circumstances that make it difficult for you to rest in hope and confident expectation? Ask God to help you to find hope in all things.
Prayer: Gracious God, fill me today with new hope and joyful expectation for all that you will do in, with and through me today. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
January 31 GRACE - Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. Paul has just made the case to the Roman church that we are saved by God’s grace and not by our own trying, or even our own attempts at goodness. Grace is the core of the Christian faith. I am writing this devotion on the second day of Christmas and feel filled to overflowing with the grace of incarnation in Jesus. I also feel filled with the grace-love that God implants in the created order as well. As Calvin begins his master work, Institutes of the Christian Religion, with the thought that God’s revelation is found in all creation, I too find the natural world outside my window to be a grace saturated world of wonders, feathers, fur, leaves and lichen, sky and earth. Grace abounds. The word grace itself is used to describe a number of different things including pleasure, delight, favorable regard, loving kindness, friendliness, joy, unconditional love, and redemptive mercy. Take a moment now and reread today’s scripture substituting each of the italicized words above for the word ‘grace’. Do this slowly and reverently. As you do, I know that you will begin to experience the radiant wonder of God’s grace lavished upon you personally. Can you think of examples of God’s grace in your life up until today? Look around you right now. How do you see, or feel, God’s grace in this present moment? How can you share grace with others today?
Prayer: God of Grace, I thank you for the grace with which you lavish my me today to be a conduit of your grace to others. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.
Safe Harbor Presbyterian Church
December Daily Devotions 2022
Arise! Shine! Your Light Comes!
For Advent 2022, I invite you to focus on the image of Light. In scripture, Jesus is called the Light of the world. We know that he is still the source of light and hope. Advent is a season of preparing, hoping, expecting and pondering. So to help with that reflecting I looked for every reference to light in the Bible. What a journey! The scriptures I have chosen, in keeping with the traditional themes of Advent, largely come from the Old Testament until we get to the days immediately before Christmas. Not all, but most. If the passage was longer than a verse or two, I did not print it out for you. This devotion is, at heart, a guided retreat in which you can sit with the scripture and journey both backward and forward in your life, safe and secure in the loving Presence of God. Each reflection is designed to help you open up new inner spaces in which to welcome Jesus into the home of your heart more completely this Christmas. Some of the suggested reflections may not speak to you at all. Some may take you to deep rooms in the soul that need a good dusting. Whatever you experience, it is just what you need in that moment. God will bring fruit in in your life in due time. If you enjoy keeping a journal, that will deepen your experience on this journey. I know that is not for everyone, so just choose what is right for you and dive in. Sometimes Advent gets lost in our culture of months long Christmas commerce. My prayer this year is that you can carve out just a few moments of real inner space to prepare for the coming of the One who is your everything.
All my love! Eugenia
First Sunday in Advent: Light in the Dark
Isaiah 9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined. And John 1:5 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.
It was a dark stormy night and I was fighting for my life. Only the flashes of lightening lit the little hospital room. I was terrified. For hours my doctor read the Psalms to me from his well worn pocket Bible. He used a pen light to see the pages, to split the darkness and give me hope.
The people of Israel were in a dark night, too. Their hope was feeble and fading. To them Isaiah gave a powerful image of light coming and changing everything. In the Bible light often means truth. When light comes, we see things the way they really are. Jesus is called Light because in him we see the truth of God’s love and values in our lives and world. Even when the dark times seem very powerful, the Light of Christ is more powerful. Nothing can overcome it!
During Advent we pray and expect Christ’s Light to shine into every situation of darkness and despair bringing a real and living hope for all people. I invite you to spend these days noticing the light, where insight comes, where darkness lingers, where your need for Christ is strongest. If you care to, make a note of those times in a journal. You might write about how the winter light changes or how the stars seem nearer or farther away. You might write about how easily insight and encouragement come some days and how absent God feels on others. Do not judge any of this. Just notice. That will create new space in your heart for the Christ Child this Christmas.
Prayer: Gracious God, break through our darkness with your loving truth. Prepare us to serve you as people of your Light. Amen.
Monday: Genesis 1:3-4 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
On the first day of creation God created light. This is not the creation of sun, moon and stars. That comes later on the fourth day. Granted, creation itself is a mystery that defies literal interpretation. Still the fact that God’s first action was to create light (truth/insight) and that that is what separates the darkness is instructive. From the beginning God has desired that his created order be able to separate truth from confusion. We have not always been good at it. So, abounding in love and patience, God sends Jesus, the light of the world, to allow us to truly see what love and life look like. Today pause and take a deep breath if you feel confused or do not know what to believe or choose. Check inside to see if the confusion comes from a space of fear or pain inside of you. If it does, notice the feeling and invite the great light of God’s creative spirit to shine into that place. You might want to write about what you see or notice. If the source of confusion is from outside you and beyond your control, notice how much room you have allowed that situation to occupy in your heart. Is it deserved? If not, invite the creative light of God into the situation and see what it reveals. Don’t judge anything. Just notice. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: Great God of All Creation, we thank you for your light that allows us to sort truth out of confusion. Fill our hearts today with just the light we need. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Tuesday: Exodus 25:37 You shall make seven lamps for it; and the lamps shall be set up to give light on the space in front of it.
The book of Exodus tells the story of how the people of Israel found their way from slavery, through wilderness, into the life of Promised Blessing. In this verse, the covenant of special relationship has been established and God has asked God’s people to create a Tabernacle which was to be a place of intimacy and worship. Within the Tabernacle they are to set up seven golden lampstands so that people can see clearly in their renewed close relationship with God. Our sanctuaries, whether in our churches, homes or other special sacred places, must be filled with light or they will be easy to dismiss or misuse. The fact that God asks for the lampstand to be gold, is not just so that they will be beautiful. It is so that they will be valuable as God’s light and insight are always valuable. Worship in darkness is not God’s desire. Encounter with God in worship is always intended to shed light into any dark corners of pain, ego or ignorance. At some point today, light a candle. Maybe you have an Advent wreath in your home. If so, light the first candle. If not, any candle will do. Stop for a moment and notice the candle light. Watch how it flickers. If practical, move it around the room and notice the shadows and light it gives. As you move with the candle, invite the light and warmth of God’s intimate presence with you to show you what you most need to see. Make a note of that in your journal, if you keep one, and in your heart if you do not. Don’t judge anything, even if you choose not to do this at all, or feel ridiculous doing it. Just notice that too and wonder about it. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: Great God of insight and intimacy, shine your light in our hearts and world. Show us the corners that must be swept, the love that needs to be fanned. Create new inner spaces for the coming of the Christ child this year. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Wednesday: Exodus 34:29 Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking to God.
Moses has been communing with God on the holy mountain. God has entrusted him with the mighty vision of God’s love and values that are to guide human life and community. The tenderness, clarity and insight of that encounter has changed Moses. It even changed his physical appearance. He reflected the light of God in which he had spent so much intimate time. It was so powerful that the people were afraid to come close to him. Have there been moments in your life, or people from time to time, that fairly glimmered with a holy light? Perhaps you have seen that light sparkling on the ocean, or in the crags of a mountain, or the burbling of a stream. Perhaps you have seen a glimpse of God’s presence in a friend, family member, colleague or pastor when their love, or words really hit home with you. Perhaps you have even seen the glimmer of God’s presence as you looked in the mirror and prayed for loved ones, or dug in the garden, or turned the page of an inspiring book. Today notice the places and people that seem to shine with a special light and be thankful. Don’t judge or resist anything that you notice. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: Gracious God, your shimmering presence fills the world and even our small lives. Help us today to notice you more and more. Help us to clear away the clutter of the unimportant so that we will have new room for you when you come at Christmas. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Thursday: 2 Samuel 22:29 Indeed, you are my lamp, O Lord, the Lord lightens my darkness.
King David, a man like each of us filled with a combination of contradictions and faith, has just led his army in victory over the Philistines. It was a fierce battle of ups and downs. At one point David was so worn down and disheartened his army sent him home. It wasn’t just to protect him, however. They saw in David a wisdom and closeness to God that they did not want to vanish from the land. On the day of victory, David spoke a beautiful song to God thanking God for the victory, for God’s hand in it, and for all that David had learned about himself, his people and God in the process. About midway in the song he writes today’s verse. Adversity and facing his own limitations has allowed David to recognize that every real insight comes from God and leads to a more real and true understanding of oneself. Can you think of a time of adversity when you were not able to do what you intended to do and others had to pick up the ball and run without you? What did you learn about yourself? About how God works in your life? How have your experienced the Lord lightening your darkness? Take a moment to notice the times that flicker across your mind. If nothing readily comes to mind, perhaps this is such a time and you need the Lord to lighten your darkness today. If that is the case, ask for light to guide you. Don’t judge or resist anything that you notice. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: O Great God of Light, we thank you for all the ways that your presence and wisdom lighten our darkness, help us accept our limitations and welcome the victories your bring. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Friday: Job 24:13 There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its path.
Job’s life has completely fallen apart. He has lost his health, his family, his position in the community and his certainties about how God will behave and how justice works. Still, the book of Job is not really about all his suffering. It is about how a man navigates his suffering and at what point he will be willing to go against his deepest beliefs and curse God in the process. Job may lose a lot, he may not come to any real understanding of God, but still God is always the central character in his life. In this section, Job is distraught about the state of the world. The violence of it all is adding a deep gash to the wounds of his own personal life. “Where is God in it all,” he must wonder. In today’s lament he is astounded at how many people rebel against the love and light of God. He is struck by how many are perfectly willing to destroy themselves, others and the earth in their rebellion. Today take a moment for quiet lament with Job.
There are still many who rebel against the light, who do not recognize it, and who will not stay on the path of God’s love and values. Sit with Job, and with God, and weep for them and the damage they cause. Perhaps you will notice how you, too, rebel against the insights God sends, or the path on which God has placed you. Don’t try to fix anything. Don’t judge anything. Just sit with it for a moment and make note of what you think and feel. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: Gracious God, you accompany us even when times are hard and our own behavior makes them harder. Help us today to place our hand in yours, no matter our condition, and weep with you for a moment at the pain of your people. May our tears clear new space in us to greet the Christ child when he comes to us at Christmas. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Saturday: Psalm 18:28 It is you who light my lamp; the Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.
Again, we find King David giving thanks to God for deliverance in battle. He recognized that nothing he does is solely of his own doing. God moves with him, stays close to him, sweeps the path for him and gives him exactly the insight that he needs for everything he faces. In this beautiful song, David describes the indescribable majesty of God with words and images that soar above the ordinary experiences of life. About two thirds of the way in, he reminds us and himself, that every insight for good has been given to him by God. God has become his light and his lamp. Can you think of a time when you got a special insight and you just knew it came from God? Maybe you did something that you look back on and can’t believe you accomplished it. Maybe you wrote something and know the words were not solely yours. Maybe a word of comfort or insight came to you when you were trying to help a family member or hurting friend and you didn’t even know that you knew the things you said. Take a moment to record those moments in your journal or on your heart. Don’t judge yourself if nothing comes to mind. Don’t beat yourself up and tell yourself you never have insights. Just notice what you think and feel as you re-read the verse. That itself is insight. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: O Gracious God, you are a lamp unto our feet and the very light of our lives. Help us today to be open to all that you have to give and share today. Open in us new spaces to receive your light in the Christ child at Christmas. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Second Sunday of Advent: Dark as Light
Read Psalm 139:7-12
Nellie the Night Heron lives at the end of my old street in Shell Beach, California. She lives in a cypress tree overlooking the Ocean. She is fat as a football with grey feathers and bright terra cotta rims around her eyes. She is a wild bird who has been befriended by my neighbors who bring her two fish at sun up each morning. She comes up to them on the bench, eats their offering and then nests for the day. Night is as day for her.
So it is with God. The Psalmist tells us that darkness is as light for God. Sometimes darkness is not really darkness at all. We may not be able to see clearly when night comes but God’s vision is never clouded. And in a God-filled darkness we may experience depths that the day’s responsibilities make difficult to see.
Advent is a season of waiting. Sometimes it means waiting in the dark for a dawn that is slow in coming. Even in our waiting we do not despair because the darkness, too, is filled with Light! A seed busts from the dark ground, a butterfly from the dark chrysalis and even justice from the darkness of war, prejudice and greed. So in this season of preparation (that includes repentance) and waiting (that tries our patience) we rest, knowing that God sees what we cannot and stays close to guard our nights.
Prayer: God of Light, we await your coming with hope and joy! Come and enLighten us! Amen.
Monday: Exodus 10:23 People could not see one another, and for three days they could not move from where they were; but all the Israelites had life where they lived.
Moses has had an insightful conversation with God from a strange burning bush. He has answered God’s command to return home to Egypt and be God’s instrument in freeing the Hebrew people from slavery. Pharoah is resistant to losing his cheap workforce, as all enslavers usually are. So, God sends plagues to convince the people that Moses is the real thing and that the enslavement of the people must end. In today’s verse, the ninth plague is upon them: Darkness. The only thing worse is the last plague, the death of the children. That is really where ignoring the darkness of injustice always ultimately leads, isn’t it? If we will not look at the dark corners of self-serving, other oppressing behaviors and assumptions, it is always the innocent that suffer first. Perhaps in our day, never-enough-profit can still be a powerful motivator that makes it impossible to see clearly or hear God’s call for justice and equity. Today, ponder times in your life, or our history, when the desire to gain has led to misusing people. Have there been times when you found yourself ‘enslaved’ by a harsh boss who simply could not see what he or she was doing to others? Have you ever been that boss or partner? Have you ever felt the weight of prejudice yourself, while all the while hearing the oppressor claim that you were the one doing the oppressing? Are there things that you just decided not to see because you felt it was in your best interest not to do so? Notice what memories and feelings this reflection surfaces. Make a note in your journal, or on your heart. Like the Hebrew people did, ask God to give you light to see real truth in difficult times. Again, do not judge anything or try to fix any of it right now. Just notice for today. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: God of Light and Love, remove our blindness today, both our willful and our ignorant blindness. Help us to see clearly in dark times so that we never allow anything to stand or become normal if it leaves the vulnerable to pay the price. Open new space within us to receive your Christ at Christmas. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Tuesday: Isaiah 42:16 I will lead the blind by a road they do not know, by paths they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I will do. I will not forsake them.
The prophet is writing from a time of despair and promise. Even when things are bleak, he steadfastly believes that God is faithful and will lead the people through their time of confusion and danger. This verse comes from the Servant Songs section of the book of Isaiah. They are prophetic songs that Christians associate with the coming of Jesus and his work of redemption and guidance. It is important to remember that in the Bible, the theme of darkness is not about badness. Darkness is not evil, it is the lack of insight. Too often in associating darkness with badness, white people have let that association land on darker skinned people. This is a serious and dangerous mistake.
When the servant says ‘I will turn the darkness before them into light’ he is saying that he will provide insight and illumination for the journey. Can you think of times when you did not know which way to turn? Times when you felt that the path you were on was strange and you couldn’t read the sign posts? Times when you felt lost and could not see a way forward through the problems, sorrows or challenges you, your family and community faced? Were you able to experience God with you in those times? Were you able to cling to God’s promise that you would not be forsaken in those times? How did light eventually dawn? Make a note in your journal or on your heart about the thoughts and feelings this verse inspires. Don’t judge anything, either in the time you are remembering or in your response now. Just notice. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: God of Insight and Accompaniment, we thank you that you have walked with us all of our lives, sweeping the path and pointing us toward what is best. Help us today to notice your leading and create new space within us to receive Christ again at Christmas. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Wednesday: Nehemiah 9:19 You in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness; the pillar of cloud that led them in the way did not leave them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night that gave them light on the way by which they should go.
The books of Nehemiah and Ezra were originally one long book that tells about the struggles and dedication of the people exiled in Babylon. It tells of their commitment to the ruined city of Jerusalem and their determination, when they return, to restore it.
Today’s verse comes in the midst of a long remembrance and repentance service. Ezra and Nehemiah believe that their national calamity was a result of people losing sight of God and their own story with God. When that happens we are always vulnerable to all sorts of destructive things. In this service, they call the people to recall how God was faithful in their time in the wilderness after their earlier release from Egyptian bondage. They invite the people to remember how God illumined their long journey, especially when they could not find their way or began to lose heart in their future. Can you recall a time when God gave you a glimmer of light when you were lost and losing heart? What are the ways that hope and direction most often come to you? How do you experience God’s leading? How have you experienced God’s majestic mysterious presence (the pillar of cloud) in the times of clarity in your life? How have you experienced God’s guidance and insight (pillar of fire) in times of chaos or confusion? Take a moment to jot down your thoughts and feelings as you think of these mighty images and tender moments. Don’t judge. Just notice. It is enough. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: God of Fire and Cloud, we thank you for your guidance and presence in the sacred journey of life. Give us awe and insight today so that we may meet the Christ anew on Christmas. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Thursday: Esther 8:16 For the Jews there was light and gladness, joy and honor.
The book of Esther is unique in the Bible as the only book that does not mention God directly. It is the story of a Jewish women who became Queen during the time of Persian rule in Palestine and, through her implied faith, her commitment to her people, her wits, her courage and a stalwart mentor, Mordecai, saved the Hebrew people from genocide. The verse we consider today comes after the saving events. It reminds us that when clarity comes, when salvation comes, we experience joy, gladness, and honor. In other words, in whatever ways God moves to our aid, it comes with insight, joy and a rise in our self-esteem. This is, of course, exactly how we Christians respond to the coming of Jesus: insight, joy, gladness and a rise in healthy self-esteem. It is often when we surface from difficult times that we truly experience the Joy of the Lord. Can you think of a time when God rescued you from trouble or danger? What were your feelings associated with that time? Who have been the people in your life who have fought for you, even at personal risk? What have you learned from those ones? Take a moment to write their names in your journal and list the lessons learned. Or, simply pause to think about each one in reverent prayer. Today stop often and thank God for the Queen Esthers in your life and in our community. Don’t compare yourself. Just rest in the light, and joy that has been at the heart of your journey even when you did not recognize it. Notice how this joy feels. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: God of Light and Joy, we thank you for all those ones who have conspired with you to save, guide and protect us. Each one was your image in our lives. As we experience the joy of your ways, open up inner space within us to meet you anew on Christmas. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Friday: Job 12:22 He uncovers the deeps out of darkness, and brings deep darkness to light.
Job’s friends are not being helpful. The only way they can make sense of his calamity is that he must have done something really awful and deserves what is coming to him. Job knows that he has not been perfect, but he also knows that he has lived a righteous life and there is no way he deserves what is happening to him. The particular technique the friends are using is to tell Job that he, who was once held in esteem, has become a laughingstock in the community. This is very painful so Job goes to God complaining about his lot and how he is being viewed. He pours it all out. And then.
Then he goes back to where he always goes, to the belief that God is in control of his life. In a beautiful poem he recounts all that he has seen of God’s hand in the world, in the animal kingdom, and in the rise and fall of powers. He says in our verse that as lives and princes rise and fall, God uncovers the deep truth at the heart and everything is, eventually, revealed. Sometimes it seems that there is deep confusion in our hearts, our churches and our nation. There is much we do not understand. There is much that those in power seem to want to keep hidden. Even so, Job, from the depths of his despair, reminds us that even the most confusing times are in God’s hands and that which is good and true will always come to light. Today think about a time in the past when you were confused about just about everything. How did that time resolve? Looking back can you see things now that you could not see then? Can you see God’s hand at work? What helps you to put things in perspective when trouble comes? What helps you to trust in God when God seems to be absent or unconcerned? Take a moment to breathe deeply. Notice what memories and feelings arise. Do you feel mostly gratitude? Mostly wonder? Mostly sadness? Don’t try to fix anything right now. Just notice what arises. It is enough. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: God of the Often Unseen Presence, we thank you for the faith to rely on you when we cannot understand either the big or small picture. Fill us today with the light of your presence and create in us new spaces to welcome the Christ anew on Christmas. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Saturday: Job 17:12 They make night into day; ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’
Things have not improved for Job. Now his friends are telling him that his plight is even bad for religion. He is making God look bad. Job is in such despair that he acknowledges that his spirit is broken and he is ready to die. Those who mock him and blame him for his distress have stopped trying to help. They figure he has brought his trouble on himself and is no longer worthy of God’s help or their own. In this verse, Job is actually mocking his friends, saying that they don’t know up from down. What captivates me in this verse, however, is something quite different from Job’s intention, but something that I find to be true nevertheless. Light is, indeed, very near darkness.
Like Nellie the Night Heron, sometimes we too find our greatest nourishment in the darkest of times. It is into the times of confusion that insight comes. It is in the midst of times of pain that healing comes. It is in the night that stars become brightest. It is when we think we can’t go on, that a wash of pink begins on the eastern horizon. It is when we cannot save ourselves that Messiah is born. Can you think of times when you found the darkness to be very close to the light? What have been the gifts and insights that have come to you from times of trouble? Have you ever felt that you couldn’t stand it, whatever it is, one more day, and almost without knowing, a breath of hope arose in you? Make a note of any light God shines on these memories for you today. Thank God that in Christ, darkness is never complete anymore. Notice how that feels to you. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: God of Dark and Dawn, we thank you for the gifts of the night. Help us to learn its lesson and fill our hearts with stars. Remove resentment from our hearts and create new space for us to welcome Christ at Christmas. Amen.
Third Sunday in Advent: Light to the Nations
Isaiah 42:6: I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.
The season of Advent reminds us that no matter what our circumstances, things are about to change. The help we long for is coming. The salvation that we need is on the way. God is on the move. The time is ripe.
This was spectacularly good news for the hearers of Isaiah 42 and, of course, to those whom Jesus later addressed. They were in terrible shape. They needed change desperately. We do too, of course, but sometimes the news that change is coming doesn’t seem quite so welcome.
For many of us, life is pretty good. Even in the time of prolonged pandemic and national turmoil, most of us have homes, food, health care. As a nation we have extraordinary power, even if less than we thought. Many of us, don’t want the world turned upside down, maybe just tweaked a bit.
Isaiah offers us uncomfortable comfort! Not only is change coming, we are its agents! We are the ones through whom Light comes. We are the Light tellers, the Love shedders, the justice bearers, even if we must speak change and repentance into our own comfortable lives. Think today about those who have brought life giving change to you. How have you been a light, love or justice shedder in your life? How about your church? Take a moment to relive those times in your heart. Feel the joy of being used by God.
Feel the discomfort. Ponder today what you need in order to have the courage to be the Light in your family, church and community. Notice those moments today when you give light. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: God of Light, you call us to be light. Teach us to live up to that holy calling. Remove our blinders and create in us new spaces to welcome the Christ child at Christmas. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Monday: Isaiah 60:3 Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
The prophet is filled with passionate longing and joy at the thought of the coming restoration of the people. He imagines throngs coming from the dispersed people of God back to a restored holy city. He knows that even though there are times when confusion seems to reign over the earth like a thick darkness, God will arise and dispel the confusion and darkness. In this verse, he tells the dispirited people that when this restoration happens, the whole world will see the transformation and be drawn into its light and values. Even nations and kings cannot resist the glorious transformation that is coming. Wow. Sometimes it is difficult to look at our lives, family, church and nation and to see ourselves as so powerfully transformed that the whole world will see in us what it means to truly live and come together in glorious unity. Still, that is the image the prophet offers. Granted, he is envisioning the joyous return of the exiles to Palestine, but the reality of lives so transformed by the love and power of God that they shine to others is our reality too. As the prophet looks forward to that great day, we as Christians also look forward to its fullness. As we do, we simultaneously live out of its present reality.
Christ has come, redeemed and transformed. Christ comes, redeems and transforms. Christ will come redeem and transform again. Have there been times in your life when you longed to be transformed so that you could be an example for others to follow? Have you had experiences when that actually happened? How do you think your church is a winsome example of true life in your communities? How does God’s faithfulness shine through us to a hurting world at home and far away? What do people see when they see you? How do people feel around you? Take a moment to jot down your thoughts and feelings in your journal or on the canvass of your heart. As always, don’t judge. Just notice. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: God of Redemptive Grace, help us today to look like you. Forgive our blunders. Heal our wounds. Remove our resistance and create new spaces in us to welcome the Christ child anew on Christmas. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Tuesday: Psalm 4:6 There are many who say, “O, that we might see some good! Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!”
Psalm 4 is a song about confidence that God will deliver in times of trouble. The psalmist begins by asking God to answer when he calls. Then he moves to state his case and also encourage the people to act righteously. He encourages them to not let their hardship lead them to make bad choices. Rather, they are to think about God, to ponder God in their lives as they lie down to sleep, and not neglect the importance of right worship. In today’s verse he expresses the hope and longing of many of us in times of trouble…’O that we might see something good! O that we might see God’s face.’ It is easy for us when faced with personal difficulty, or when we see the suffering and violence in our world, to share the psalmist longing to see something good, to see the hand of God. That is a part of the longing of every Advent. We want God to come in new ways, to be born again in us, and in our broken and fearful world. We, too, trust that God will work, but it is also hard to wait to see results. The beauty of this poem is that once he has called out to God, stated his need, remembered God’s faithfulness, encouraged others, he then takes a nap! He lies down to sleep in peace knowing that God alone can fix all that needs fixing in his life and nation. Perhaps he knows, too, what Advent seeks to teach us every year, that all good things come in God’s time and not our own. Can you think of times when you have especially longed to hear some good news, to see God’s hand obviously at work in your life or community? Imagine using the process of the psalmist in times like that. Call on God. State your need. Remember answered prayer.
Encourage others. Check your own moral choices. Then take a nap trusting that God’s timing is perfect. The baby will indeed arrive in the manger at just the right time. Notice how you feel and what memories arise for you. Jot them in your journal or inscribe them in your heart. Thank God for what you have noticed. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: God of Perfect Timing, we thank you even for the longing that we feel to see good results right away. Help us to trust that you are our help and salvation. Create space within us to welcome you, however and whenever, you come to us, especially as we greet you again in Bethlehem as a little child sent to save. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Wednesday: Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalm 27 is one of the most beautiful expression of confidence in God ever written. The writer has been through much. He has won and he has lost. He has experienced ecstasy and despair. He has experienced love and betrayal. He has experienced faithfulness and terrible moral failing. Throughout it all he has learned one thing. God is everything and with God there is nothing left to fear. Fear is indeed, false evidence appearing real. Notice that in this verse his first exultant declaration is that the Lord is his light. By that I think he means both the one who shows him a clear path, like a lantern on a dark pathway, and also that it is God who gives insight and puts things in perspective. It is God who makes what we go through make sense eventually. It is God who allows us to take experience and, with God’s light, turn it into wisdom. The word ‘salvation’ in Hebrew means wholeness, nothing broken and nothing missing. Looking back, how has God shed light on the experiences of your life? Are there things that seemed completely confusing and awful at the time that now seem to fit somehow in the fabric of your life? Are there choices you made that, given the chance, you would not make again, but that still were somehow the making of you? When we are able to view our lives from the psalmist’s perspective, that naturally reduces our fear. While we might wish some things never happened, God works even with those things to help us see God and ourselves more clearly. And with more compassion. God makes us whole again no matter what we experience. This is true for communities, nations and peoples. When God is our light, even our scars can become light for others. Notice what thoughts and memories arise in you as you think about these things. Can you say even a broken thank you for what has gone before, for what you have learned? Don’t feel bad if you cannot. It is enough to wonder if someday you might be able so to do. Today just notice and do not judge. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: Great God, you are the one who stiches life together from many different fragments. We thank you that you are our light, our wholeness. In you the pieces all fit together. Help us today to open our hearts to create even more room for the Christ child this Christmas. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Thursday: Psalm 37:6 He will make your vindication shine like the light, and the justice of your cause like the noonday.
Then psalmist is asking worshippers to be patient and trusting while God works justice for, with, and through them. It can be hard to keep up the fight when things seem not to change. Or if they do change, they seem to change for the worse. This is most difficult for those who are oppressed. It is also difficult for allies and those who may be unsure if their efforts are helping or hindering. In this beautiful song prayer the psalmist encourages worshippers to hold on, He reminds them that God will always vindicate the cause of justice. Justice may momentarily fail. Those moments my build up into what seems like an immoveable mountain, but one day the sun will rise, and injustice will fall. Someday the just cause that may be defamed too long, will be obvious to all. Someday the kingdom breaks through and nothing is the same again. In Advent, we remember such an inbreaking in the birth of a baby in a stable in Bethlehem. We may want the waiting to be done. But it is not done. Just as we must wait by the manger for the right time, we also keep up the fight for justice until God’s right time. It could be any minute! Can you think of times when you have needed encouragement to continue to do the right thing when you could see no results? Can you think of times when you wanted to give up and let someone else do the heavy lifting? Think about a time like that and hear the psalmist utter God’s promise to you “Your vindication will shine like the light.” What feelings or memories arise? Take a moment to honor those moments with understanding and compassion. Doing the right thing is hard. Working for justice is hard. Ask God to create space in you for a new spirit of energy so that you can meet the Christ child in Bethlehem. The wait is shorter today than yesterday. Today, notice your desire to continue to fight and your desire to throw in the towel. Don’t try to make one desire win over the other. Just notice and God will do the work. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: God of the Long -View, we thank you that our cause rests in your power. We thank you for the promise that when we are in the right we will be vindicated and shine ourselves like the sun. Make room in us for the work that is ours so that we may greet the babe in Bethlehem with joyful hearts. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Friday: Psalm 43:3 O send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.
Once again we find the psalmist in a time of trouble and confusion. He does not know what to do. Every option either seems like it won’t work or he doesn’t have the strength for it. He needs help and he knows it. So he turns to God and asks for insight, truth and guidance. For Christians, we cannot read this verse in Advent without thinking of the answer that came in Jesus. He is God in skin giving us insight, showing us deep and lasting truth, and giving us guidance through whatever our days may bring. Further in the psalm, the writer says that when the light comes he will follow it to the altar and sing praises to God with the harp. In that moment of joyous worship, he wonders how he could ever have been downhearted and encourages others never to give up hope. In these winter days, when light dims and nights are long, we can experience insight, guidance and joy as we worship together, both gathered and dispersed. Today, push the season just a bit and think of your favorite verse of your favorite Christmas carol. It’s not my favorite carol, but a line from O Little Town of Bethlehem comes to mind in this regard. “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” Throughout the day sing this or another verse to yourself whenever you feel the need of God’s closeness, when you long to be brought to the holy hill. Thank God for the desire to worship and for each moment of comfort and guidance you have received in your life. Notice what memories and feelings arise. Just notice. It is not a test or a work you must perform for Santa to come.
Just notice. God does the work. God always comes. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: Great God, we thank you that the hopes and fears of all the years are met in you alone. Give us the joy of our faith and the ecstasy of worship. Prepare our hearts to receive you anew as you come to us on Christmas Day. In Jesus’ holy name we pray.
Amen.
Saturday: Psalm 97:11 Light dawns for the righteous and joy for the upright in heart.
Psalm 97 is a song in praise of the glories of God’s reign on earth and in heaven. That reign always sheds light and joy for those who are willing to enter into it. Earlier in this song, the psalmist rejoiced that God is king, that even his lightening lights up the world. We are a week away from the manger. It may feel like the season has come and gone. Trees went up in stores three months ago. Some of us put ours up on All Saints.
The gift of Advent waiting has never been our long suit. Still, even if we have kept a scrupulous Advent, only lighting candles and waiting until Christmas Eve for our tree, it can begin to feel like light is dawning. The nights may feel shorter. We may feel the memory of straining in our beds on these close-to-Christmas nights, wondering if maybe Santa would come early and thinking we hear reindeers on the roof. Sometimes we see before we see because we are so sure of what we will see. Such was the case with the psalmist. His life wasn’t perfect. Things didn’t always seem to work out. Yet he sings his confidence that God is bringing everything needful about, even if he, and we, must wait just a little longer. When we know that the outcome is good, when we are confident that God is at work, we too can live in the fullness of what is coming even while we live in the waiting of the present moment. We live as Paul put it, already and not yet. Wherever we are on the continuum of fulfillment and hope, we too can rest today in joy. What are the ways that you have kept Advent with its themes of coming light, hope, and expectation? In what ways has Christmas fulfillment joined in Advent’s spiritual work? Notice today how you both wait and receive. Jot down any thoughts that arise and any feelings. Don’t judge. It is enough to notice. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: Dear God of every Dawning, we thank you that you fulfill our every need. We look forward to all the future miracles you have in store for us as we walk with you to Bethlehem once again. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Fourth Sunday in Advent: Carrying the Light
Read Luke 1:26-56
Mary was probably only 13 or 14 years old when she became engaged to Joseph. Marriages were arranged by the families. During her engagement Mary was considered Joseph’s wife. If Joseph died during this time, Mary would be a widow even if the marriage was never consummated. If she were to get pregnant, not by Joseph, she would be guilty of adultery and subject to the death penalty.
One day an angel came to Mary with a strange and dangerous message. He told her that she would have a son named Jesus who would rule over the house of David forever.
She was mystified and afraid. But she said, “I am God’s servant. Let it be as you have spoken.” With that moment of risky obedience, Mary agreed to become the bearer of the Light for the world. Advent reminds us that we are to do that, too and it may be risky for us as well. Can you think of moments when you experienced ‘carrying’ the light of the world to someone? Perhaps you have shared your Christian faith with someone who was seeking God. More often, I expect you have displayed that faith in acts of love and service to others, maybe without ever speaking of Jesus at all. Still, he was the message that you carried. If you imagine yourself as a torch bearer, a Christ bearer, what feelings arise in you? Do you feel joyful, like Mary? Awed? Afraid? Exhilarated? Ill equipped? Ready for risk? Perhaps you are in a place where your light feels dim and you need re-kindling yourself. What do you need? Just notice these feelings and desires. The noticing of them in the context of devotion is itself a prayer. Remember, that each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: Dear God, we want you to use us to bring your Light and love to the world. Help us say yes to what you want to do through us. Create in us new spaces for you to claim when you come to us as the babe in Bethlehem. In Jesus’ holy name we pray.
Amen.
Monday: Psalm 56:13 For you have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from falling, so that I may walk before God in the light of life.
The context of this psalm is a time when King David was seized by the Philistines in Gath. He is in big trouble and the kingdom with him. Amazingly, his trust in God seems deepened by the experience. When he hits the bottom reaches of his own fear, he finds there a bedrock of trust in a God who exists and rules within and totally apart from whatever we experience. God is deliverer and God is faithful and sure. For Christians, we cannot read this song without thinking of our Savior as our ultimate deliverer. He is the one who comes at just the right moment when we are in trouble and afraid. As we move through these last days of Advent, we are invited to deepen our trust in the One who comes, and who is to come. That little baby, God in skin, is still the bedrock of our lives. He has delivered and continues to deliver us in every time of trouble. While God as a helpless infant is a surprising manifestation, so also our own deliverance can come in surprising packages and at surprising times. Can you think of a time when you experienced deliverance from trouble, maybe big trouble? Did the Savior follow your time table? Did the result look like you hoped or expected? Maybe yes. Often no. Even when the path forward in our lives seems strange, or filled with obstacles, God is there keeping us from utterly falling. This is true through all of life and even eternity. Perhaps that is the ‘light of life’ that David describes as our walk with God. Perhaps it is simply the insight that God is always there, always delivers and that even death has no power to change that truth at all. Notice today, moments when you feel confident in your faith.
Check inside to see if you feel a sense of release, even for a second or two. Notice if there are things in your life that still need full deliverance. Noticing is a step in the walk of healing. Don’t judge your progress or even your desire for progress. You are in a perfect place because you are with God just as you are. Deliverance always comes. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: God of Light and Deliverance, we are drawing ever nearer to your manger cradle this week. We know that you have already come. And we also know that you come again in ever surprising ways. Help us to welcome the light that shines forth from Bethlehem even into our own hearts. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Tuesday: Psalm 89:15 Happy are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance.
Psalm 89 celebrates God’s covenant with King David. A covenant is a binding agreement of faithfulness. When God makes covenant, in the Bible that agreement is literally cut, or carved, into something indestructible, like the stone tablets of the Law. The prophet Jeremiah recognized that the most indestructible thing in which a covenant can be carved is the human heart. As Christians, we often talk about binding ourselves to God. Sometimes we use the word submission to talk about this. Less often do we think about the mystery of God choosing to bind Godself to us in an indestructible way. At least a part of what the incarnation demonstrates is just how powerful and transformational God’s commitment to us is. God doesn’t just act on us. God acts with, for and within us. The psalmist recognized that the intimacy of God’s presence, the light of God’s countenance is enough to make us shout out loud and dance with joy. In the coming of Jesus, we see God’s covenant faithfulness in a form we can comprehend. We see love with arms to hold, wisdom to share, healing to offer, clarity to display, sacrifice to embrace, salvation to ensure. Today, see if you can remember the first time Jesus’ Presence became real to you. Has it always been there? Did you shake your rattle at him as he rocked your cradle? Or did you have a time, or series of times, when your eyes popped open and all you could say was, “Oh my”? Or has your relationship been a rocky one, tarnished by the punitive ways in which he was introduced to you, or used as a weapon on you? Perhaps you were long estranged and only recently decided to risk reconciliation. Whatever your experience, think of a specific moment. Re-inhabit it. Look around and describe what you see. In your imagination see Jesus. It doesn’t matter if the image is blurry. Just let your heart see and tell him everything. Notice how you feel? Are there tears? Is there dancing? Don’t judge. Just notice. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: Gracious God of the Festal Dance, in this sacred time as we approach the festival of the incarnation, help us to experience the joy of our salvation and be thankful. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Wednesday: Isaiah 50:11 But all of you are kindlers of fire, lighters of firebrands. Walk in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that you have kindled.
Today I want to take this verse totally out of context. The prophet is not feeling great about the people’s insight and capacity to do the right thing. In the early part of the chapter, he talks about the depth of his own faith and the certainty that even though he is wildly unpopular and disparaged that God will vindicate him. In this last verse, speaking for God, he is basically saying to the wicked, or the simply falsely faithful, that they have made their beds and they will lie in them. They have lit a destructive fire by their behavior and so they will experience the torment they have chosen. Whew. Still, in the Bible fire is not only a symbol of destructive power. It is also a symbol of cleansing and purifying. It is also a source of light. What if we looked at the verse with that lens? What if we thought of ourselves not as people whose failings burn the house down, but as people whose life experiences can illumine our lives and warm the house rather than destroy it? Sometimes we tend to define our lives by either our failings or our accomplishments. We ruminate over a failed relationship or a hurtful word spoken in anger. We can even come to think of ourselves as failures who hurt other people. Or sometimes, we day dream about our accomplishments, reliving the feelings of power or adulation until we must have more and more and nothing is enough. What if we looked at our lives as a walk with God along a sparkling river bank. Each step, painful, difficult or joyful, is a teacher in the ways of grace. Take a moment to think of your life as a lovely walk with God. How has God turned your darkness to light? Redeemed your failings? Put your accomplishments in perspective? Jot down your thoughts and feelings in a journal, or ask the Spirit to help your remember what you need. Notice what comes to mind.
Don’t judge. Just notice. Each time you notice, you create more inner space to welcome the Christ child this Christmas.
Prayer: God of Wild Fire, illumine our lives by your grace. Clear away what does not serve your purpose for us. Purify our hearts and heal our consciences so that in the spaces that have held our pain we may create new room for you. In Jesus’ holy name we pray.
Amen.
Thursday: Psalm 118:27 The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar.
In this psalm the people are celebrating a great victory. They have been vindicated. They think that not only did God vindicate them, but God was also vindicated in the eyes of the surrounding nations. In other words, the victory they experienced has made God look good to the world. So they are worshipping with joy and abandon. The horns of the altar were especially sacred. That was the place where even those who had committed crimes could go for sanctuary and no one could touch them. The branches are signs of victory and the greening of life after times of death or destruction. For us as Christians, it is Jesus himself who is the ‘horns’ on the altar. He is our safe place where nothing can ultimately harm us. That is why in Presbyterian churches we choose not to have an altar. We don’t need to make sacrifices anymore because Jesus has done that. We have a communion table instead, a place of intimacy, refuge and feeding. Granted, other Christian traditions see this very differently. One is not right and another wrong. It is all a song of insight and praise and that is simply the note we sing. Today, think about the ways that Jesus has been your refuge. Have there been times when you ran to him when you were discouraged or feeling lost. Bring one of those times to mind and re-inhabit it for a moment. What was going on? What did it feel like to run to him? What light did he shed on your situation? Take a moment to jot this down. If you feel creative you might draw your memory and include celebration branches. Or just look at your Advent wreath or Christmas tree and celebrate your own deliverance. Notice if anything shifts inside you. Don’t judge. God is working even when we don’t feel it. Just notice your experience right now.
Prayer: God of Safety and Deliverance, we thank you that you are our safety and our point of starting over. We thank you that we can always run to you and you help us understand our lives and celebrate your new beginnings, especially our new birth in the One whose birth we prepare to celebrate. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Friday Isaiah 58:8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
In this passage God, speaking through the voice of the prophet, tells the people about true transformative worship. God tells them that their heavy ritualized fasts and traditions are not cutting it. Why? Because they are not resulting in real demonstrable change in lives and communities. What good is a fast, God asks, if the people do not give their bread to the poor and invite the homeless into their homes? When worship so transforms us that we become beings of welcome and doers of justice, that is when our light shines to the world and the darkness cannot overcome it. In this holy season, how does your worship (not what you are offered in worship, not the style or the smoothness of what others do on your behalf,) how does your worship contribute to a change in your character and behavior? In what ways do you demonstrate that change to benefit others on a daily basis? As we approach the Incarnation, it is always appropriate for us to think about how we make Jesus visible in the world through our own lives and choices. Are there ways that you feel led to contribute your ‘bread’ (financial resources, time, gifts, wisdom) to those who are lacking? Take a moment to imagine in your mind’s eye someone to whom you might offer your ‘bread.’ Look deeply at that person’s face and demeanor. Do they seem sad, bowed down, suspicious, surly, resistant, hesitant? What wounds might have led them to that reaction? Take a moment to breath a prayer of healing on that person. You might even imagine doing what Jesus did, and wash their feet. Then, in this imagining prayer, ask the person what they need. Since prayer is always guided and protected by the Spirit, it will likely be something that you can provide. Do you sense an instant of wonderment, like dawn breaking? Respond however feels natural to you. As your close this time of prayer, ask Jesus to make you shine and notice, without judgment, how that happens.
Prayer: God of the Guiding Light, help me today to reflect your light of compassion in everything I do. Show me the bread I have to offer and exactly who needs it most so that I may look more and more like you. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.
Saturday: Hebrews 1:1-3b Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. Today is Christmas Eve. We have walked together for this season in the Light of Christ largely as it shines through the Hebrew Scriptures. Today’s text moves us into the time of fulfillment. While the word light does not appear here, the whole passage is infused with it. How in the world were our ancestors able to see the full light of God in one baby, then refugee, then child, then man, then itinerant rabbi, healer and exorcist? How did they see in him the very essence of God, the very presence of God in human life? It boggles the mind and could only have happened by God’s doing, God’s own light shedding. As always, God does what has to be done for, with and through us. That itself is miracle. So on this holy day and evening, I invite you to create some small places of welcome in your heart for the God of love is born for you, born in you this night just as vibrantly real as on that star sprinkled desert night more than two thousand years ago in Bethlehem. As you finish your preparations, or laugh with family, or bow in worship, or search the sky for stars, remember the truth of the Little Town of Bethlehem. The hope and fears of all the years are met in him tonight. Alleluia.
Prayer: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace goodwill! Alleluia! Amen!
Christmas Day: The Light Comes!
Read:Luke 2:1-14
For centuries God’s people waited and prayed for Messiah to come. They imagined a great warrior to vindicate them in battle and restore their homeland and honor. They imagined him riding through town in a chariot with golden wheels polished to catch the sunlight and blind their enemies, wearing boots encrusted with pearls.
For centuries they prayed and strayed, begging God for help one moment and resisting God’s ways the next. The prophets urged them to change their ways. But it was too much for them. Still they believed. Still they hoped.
Then one night, under a deep desert sky with stars like diamonds close enough to pluck by hand, a Child was born in Bethlehem and Help arrived.
Help does not always come as expected. Christ/Light often comes quite unexpectedly, in the cries of children, the burden of the poor and in the intimacy of family life. Christ calls to us in the needs of others and comes to us in the midst of our own. Hallelujah! Our Light has come!
Prayer: Loving God we celebrate your coming! Help us recognize you in the needs of all your children. Amen.