Safe Harbor Devotions - June 4 – June 17, 2023
For the first time since Robbie and I left California in the summer of 2019, the kids and grandkids are coming to visit us in Alabama. As I talked to our daughter-in-law, Melissa about the trip and how to prepare, she said something that has stuck with me. She said, “I just want the girls to have a summer of getting back to basics, running through a sprinkler, seeing fire-flies, roasting marshmallows and squishing there does in a creek bed.” Well, little Greenville might not have a lot to offer California tourists, but those things we’ve got.

As I have reflected on fire-fly summers, and the sweetness of days with no responsibilities except to run through sprinklers and eat ice pops, I started thinking about the basics of our Christian faith that we sometimes lose sight of in the busyness and complexity of life. When was the last time you saw the fire flies of the Spirit and tried to catch them in a jar? When was the last time you ran through the sprinkler of your baptism and felt the joy all over again? When was the last time you wiggled your toes in the wonderful Word and felt yourself sink into its truth? When was the last time you warmed your hands over the open fire of purifying forgiveness? Maybe yesterday. Maybe it has been years.

So, this summer for our daily devotions we are going back to basics. Each week we will explore one of the great theological themes of our faith with different scriptures that illuminate different aspects of the theme. I am hoping for two gifts from this time. One, I hope these reminders will rekindle the flame of your faith if the embers are growing cold from too much busyness or the confusing times, we live in. Second, I hope these devotions will give you new confidence with which you can share your deepened faith with any to whom God leads you. At the end of the summer, I encourage you to print these devotions out as a set that you can refer to yourself, or that you could give to those who you think maybe struggling with the faith or have gotten lost in the weeds of too much, too much. It will, of course, not be complete. We can never completely describe faith or its meaning. What we can do is dip into it in tasty morsels and rejoice!

The Week of June 4 – God is One
June 4, 2023 - Sunday – Shema – The Holy one of Israel – Deuteronomy 6:4-5 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God will all your hearts, and with all your soul, and with all your might.  These verses form the very core of the faith of Israel. It is called the Shema because in Hebrew it begins “Shema Yisra’el.” It is one of only two prayers specifically commanded of believers in the Old Testament. (By the way, the other is the grace after meals.) The Shema is said morning and evening and is included in almost all worship services for the Jewish people to this day. The gift at the heart of these prayer verses, for all of us, is the supreme insight that God is one, and only one. In an ancient world with many competing religious views and many different gods and goddesses that ordered the lives of their adherents, the profound declaration of Israelite, and our own Christian, faith is that there is only one divine reality, there is only one divine One. It is that One, that we are called to worship and serve with our whole hearts, souls and power. The word for heart in Hebrew refers to more than our emotions. The heart is the seat of our ethics and moral choices. The soul does not refer to our immortal soul here. The word in Hebrew is nephesh. It refers to our inward being, our inner self, our inner thoughts and personality. The word we translate as might refers to a person’s personal power or physical strength. Try today to repeat the Shema in your own words, or as I put it in the following prayer. Do this morning and evening and notice what the Holy One does with your faithful prayer.
Prayer: O Holy One, you are my one and only. I love you today with all of my choices, my ethical and moral decisions. I love you with my inmost thoughts and offer my whole personality to you for refining. I love you with every bit of my physical and spiritual strength. Any power I have, I commit, from my deep love, to use for you. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.

June 5 – God is Creator (Parent) – Genesis 1:1-31 and Genesis 2:4b-23 “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth…”  The Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) give us two different and differently beautiful accounts of earth’s beginnings with all of its wonders and creatures, including human beings. Sometimes in our haste we try to conflate those stories into one literal narrative. The scripture was not inspired to be used in that way. The ancestors were in no way interested in whether a day was 24 hours or 24 eons, or any other period of time. They were not concerned with beings we call Adam and Eve and where, if they were the only humans, the sons’ wives came from. That is to miss the point completely. The point of both of these stories is to tell us something universal about who God is, what God does and what that means for our relationship with God, each other and the whole created order. The point is that God creates. God did in the beginning when there was nothing. God needed no ingredients because God was the ingredient. God created everything out of God’s own bounteous self with just a word, just a thought. All was created out of Love (which is what God is) and for love. God continues that loving creation with every bud in spring, every cleansing rush of water in a stream, every new cardinal in a nest and every new born human placed in parents arms. God creates continually and in infinite intricacy. If that were not glorious enough, we learn that God’s purpose for creating is goodness and loving relationships. Each part of the created order is named good and is to be treasured and cared for (this is what the word dominion means…to work for the long term good of.) All creatures are in relationship with God and with each other, made from the same spangled stars and rough red clay. Humanity itself is created for relationships of mutuality, fulfillment, trust and intimacy, both with other humans and with God. “Ah at last, bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” As God is One, God desires that we experience oneness. God makes us, loves us, sustains us. Today take a moment to look around you at God’s good creation. Notice the leaves on trees and the blooms in the garden. Notice the artistry of your own possessions and the intricate beauty of the veins in your hands. Notice whiskers on a beloved pet and the way the hair sticks up in back of your beloved when he or she tumbles from sleep in God’s arms. Notice morning shakes and smiles, and even grumpy shuffles. Notice life within and around you and, with God, call it good. See what happens to your outlook when you try this practice.
Prayer: Creator God, today we thank you for life itself, for the capacity to love, for the miracle of breathing in and out, for the sweet nourishment of the earth, for the call to tend to creation and to our relationships with you and others with creativity, imagination and love. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.

June 6 – God’s Image – Genesis 1:26a “And God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness;”  Don’t be concerned that God says, ‘Let us.’ The Hebrew scriptures often show God speaking with a kind of royal we. Perhaps it is even a foretaste of the Trinity. Most scholars believe that God is referring to the heavenly court of helpers and angels already created in the beginning. All of that is interesting, but not very important. So what is important? What is important is that God creates human beings to be like God. Not to BE gods, but to reflect God’s beauty, creative bounty and love, back to the world. We are created with the capacity to show God to one another. What an amazing evangelistic tool that is! We each have the capacity to reveal to others a bit of who God is. Maybe you have a musical gift that lifts others’ spirits. Perhaps you are gifted in the garden, as God was. Perhaps you can sew clothes as God did for Adam and Eve. Perhaps you have insights into scripture and can separate light from darkness. Perhaps you recognize your oneness with other people, somehow knowing that they were actually made from your own side. Perhaps you see pain and reach out to offer compassion and healing. The list is endless and filled with the variety that is the human family. Today take a moment to think of your positive qualities, things you can do, understand, feel or offer. Make a list of a few of those and think about how that quality is a window into a part of God. Ask yourself how you, as your own unique self, show others the image of God.
Prayer: O God, you are beyond our ability to define or contain, and yet you give us so many clues about who you are and what you value. You do that in Scripture and sacrament. You do that in the created order. And you do that in each human being. Help us to see ourselves, and everyone with whom we interact today, as creatures made in your image. Help us to rejoice in the wonder that is You. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.

June 7 – God is LOVE –  1 John 4:7-8,16b “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God…God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”   This entire section of 1 John is worth reading every day. Here the apostle helps us to see that, at least in part, God and Love are synonyms. Throughout this letter, the apostle is trying to help people grapple with twin afflictions, legalism and perfectionism. New believers could not grasp that grace was enough, nor did they know how to deal with the fact that sin was still a problem in their lives even after conversion and redemption. He has told them that it is God (Light) that gives us insight and illumination that helps us to change. He has told us that because of Jesus we have an advocate and are not left to face the music alone and without representation. Still, many are struggling to live a truly changed life and they fear that God is mad with them. After he addresses these issues and uses the beautiful imagery of being children of God, he arrives at what is, to me, the absolute pinnacle of his teaching. God is love. We must be careful here because we know that not everything that we may call love is actually of God. We use the word often, sometimes in less than loving ways. The word John uses is agape. It is a multi-faceted word that means unconditional mercy coupled with steadfast choosing the good of the other. That is who God is. When we live in mercy and steadfastly choose the good for others and ourselves, we live in God and know God. We could talk about these simple verses for an entire year and never plumb the depths. For today, read them out loud if you can several times. How do they land on your heart? How do they taste on your lips? How do you live in Love? How do you show and receive mercy? How are you constant and steadfast in love? If you feel that you are lacking, ask God, who is love, to give you a little more of Godself today.
Prayer: God of Love, help me today to see the love that is all around me and within me. Help me to choose loving actions and to show mercy wherever needed. Fill me with more of yourself so that I can be steadfastly loving, and secure in my relationship with you and others. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.

June 8 – God is Light – 1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.  The image of light (Greek phos)is rich indeed. It refers, of course, to literal light, the capacity to see with the eyes and discern one thing from another. Most often in the New Testament, phos refers to spiritual insight, truth, reality, enlightenment. When John uses this word with his flock, he hopes that they will understand that God is both the source of insight, truth, enlightenment, and insight, and is insight and enlightenment itself. To walk in the Light is to walk with God’s eyes, seeing the world through the lamp that is God. It is equally important for him to impress upon his church that there is no darkness in God. The word skotia refers to physical darkness but even more to spiritual darkness or even secrets. It refers to evil works and moral failures. It is important to John that his followers know that when there are secrets, lack of insight, spiritual blindness, and moral evil, that that is not God and God has no part in it. Those things are the lack of Light, the lack of Love. As we saw yesterday and today, God is Love and God is Light so that which is not light and love is not a part of God. God does not inspire confusion, does not author evil, does not keep us in the dark. We don’t need any help with that! Yet even when we find ourselves lost, compromised and confused, we have but to turn, open our eyes, and find the insight that we need in order not to continue stumbling around in the dark. Today practice seeing with your eyes, if you are able. See what you see, notice what you learn from what you see. Perhaps more importantly, see what you see with the eyes of your heart. You don’t need physical sight for that. What does your heart see as true? Is that consistent with what you know of God as Love and Light? Is it more consistent with lies or darkness? If the later, see if you can shift your inner sight toward the good and see if things become clearer.
Prayer: Light of the World, how we need your light and insight in these troubled times, and in our often troubled and confused lives. Open the eyes of our hearts to see you more clearly, to understand you more deeply and to serve you with more integrity. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.

June 9 – God is Mercy and Grace – Ephesians 2:4-8 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—by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.   This soaring passage nearly sings from the page! Remember that when you see long dashes in the text, that indicates that in the oldest manuscripts something has been lost or corrupted so much that it can’t be discerned. It could be a word, a phrase or even a page. We have no way of knowing. What we do know as we read these words is that what remains is all we need! Here the author presents us with a soaring picture of God’s mercy and redeeming grace. The word we translate as ‘mercy’ refers to the outward expression of compassion and pity toward those who are hurting, especially due to their own faults. It is mercy that forgives, binds up wounds, and sets us on a path of life. Mercy is without judgment. It never says, ‘you made your bed, now lie in it.’ It is boundless compassion and understanding at work in the life of the one in need. ‘Grace’ refers to God’s powerful, unmerited, unconditional and eternal love. It is this powerful love that saves us. The word for saved, sozo, means to be rescued or to be put back together again whole. ‘Faith,’ which means trust, is the way that we experience the mercy and grace of God as real and true for us. It is not a set of beliefs per se. It is a choice to rely upon the message we have received. It is not about doing everything, or anything right. It is about releasing into the miracle that God is mercy and grace, and has and will dispense mercy and grace to us forever. Do you sometimes find it difficult to trust that God looks at you with compassion? That God loves you eternally and that God’s love is enough to put you back together again whole? Do you get lost in notions of what you deserve or images you have been taught that God is harsh and angry with you? That God hates you for who you are? Those images are powerful in our culture and, sadly, sometimes in the church as well. They are just not true. God sees you as you are, flaws and beauty. God’s lavish compassion surrounds you all the time. God’s love will never let you go. See if today you can let go and trust that that is your truth.
Prayer: God of Mercy and Grace, I am so grateful for your saving love and bountiful mercy. Help me today to trust in your grace alone and begin to see myself through your eyes of love. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.

June 10 – God Works In Us – Philippians 2:12-13 Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.   Paul is writing this letter to his friends from prison. He is in an awful circumstance and yet this letter brims with joy and thanksgiving. In these verses he tells them two important truths. First he encourages them to keep at their spiritual practice. The word salvation has as its root, sozo, that we looked at yesterday. It means wholeness, put back togetherness. It does not simply refer to life in heaven after we die. It also refers to the life of wholeness that is our to enter into even now. That entering in takes time and practice. Working out our wholeness sometimes means that God’s values have to be worked into us. Sometimes it means that old habits or patterns of thought or self-deprecation have to be worked out of us. Obviously we are saved already. The cross accomplished that. But wholeness has to be worked into the dough of our lives and it takes daily attention. Second, and oh so comfortingly, he tells us that that working out of our wholeness/salvation is not dependent on our own ability or discipline. God is INSIDE of us, working our healing and wholeness day by day by day. Take a moment to look back on your life. Can you see how God has worked goodness into you? Can you see areas where you have changed, grown and become more loving? Stop for a moment. Rest in God’s pleasure at your growth and give thanks.
Prayer: O God, we are so grateful that you live within us constantly working to heal and transform us. We thank you for you faithfulness to us and ask that you will help us to be faithful to you. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.

Week of June 11: The Person of Christ
June 11 – Jesus the Son of God – John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.   For many Christians, this is the first Bible verse that we memorize. It is everywhere. People carry it on placards on street corners. Athletes paint it under their eyes before big games. Even some business people put it on their signs or logos as a signal to others of their belief and values. I sometimes wonder if those users understand the radical nature of this verse and what they are declaring. Many seem to only associate these words with eternal salvation without understanding that eternity has already begun. For some it is just a way to claim their team allegiance. For others it is a political signal. For others it signals who people are against more than who God is for. For still others it is an outpouring of trust that is both declaration and invitation. So let’s consider it’s elements one by one. We already learned last week that everything that exists is a manifestation of God’s love (agape.) God’s constant choosing the best for the beloved inevitably leads to the offering of Jesus to the world. The tense used in this verse indicates something that happens once, continues to happen, and never stops happening. The word ‘only’ doesn’t mean single in Greek. It means unique or unable to be duplicated. Although the concept of DNA was foreign to John, the use of the word ‘Son’ carries that sense. Jesus is the unique expression of Divine Being. The word ‘believes’ means to rely upon, to trust with ones life. It is not about a particular set of dogmas. It is about an intimate relationship of trust. ‘Perish’ is an interesting word that means to be utterly destroyed or to be lost and unable to find one’s way. The word ‘life’ is one of two Greek words translated as life, zoe. This word does not refer to biological life, but to the eternal life force within a person. The gift of this life force in us was understood as God’ greatest gift to human beings. God did not simply give Jesus to rescue us for heaven, although that would have been gift enough. In Christ, God gives us a share in God’s own eternal life. That life is for now as well as eternity. Today think about what it means to you to know that your eternal life has already begun. You are already living it. Nothing can change that. Not ever.
Prayer: Dear God, your graciousness toward us is beyond our comprehension. In Jesus you chose to share your very life force with us, the force of eternal love itself. In Jesus you have gifted us with a measure of your own nature and power. Wow. Just wow. Help us to welcome this gift, to sink into it, and to live out of it. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.

June 12 – Jesus the Word Made Flesh – John 1 John 1:14 – “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”
John is trying to explain the person and power of Jesus to an audience that does not have any Jewish theological background. The notion of Messiah or redeemer would not have made sense to them. So he chooses another metaphor that they will understand, Logos (Word.) Logos refers to a special word that embodies a big idea. It is bigger than the words used to describe it. Logos is a thought or concept embodied. Using this word tells his hearers that Jesus is an action of God, an embodiment of all that God is, values and desires. John doesn’t use the word ‘flesh’ the same way that Paul does. In Paul it usually refers to base desires, but for John ‘flesh’ is just a human body and experience. He is saying that Jesus is not a divine being in a human disguise. Jesus is fully human with the same body and emotions of every human being. The phrase ‘lived among us’ literally is ‘tenting among us.’ In other words, Jesus is the one that shows us that God pitches God’s tent with us, lives life with us day in and day out. The word ‘glory’ is a strange one. It comes from the root for ‘opinion.’ It refers to the honor that comes from a good opinion, but more than that, it refers to the nature and acts of God in self-manifestation. In other words, ‘glory’ refers to God being God for all to see. The ‘truth’ refers to the reality that lies at the heart of a thing, the essence of the matter distilled. The word ‘grace’ is a huge one. It means, love, power, blessing, kindness, favor, all unmerited and lavishly given. Grace is not just an emotion. Nor is it just an action. It is a force, a power. It is the very force of God’s love pouring out on and through the beloved. Think for a moment today about what it means to you for Jesus, embodying all that it is to be human and fully what it is to be God, to come to pitch a tent with you. Look at him carefully. What do you want to ask him? How do you want to model your life on him?
Prayer: O Word, you pitched your tent with us long ago and even today you do the same, picking up and moving camp when we do, kindling a fire and pushing back the night, filling us with your body for food, and staying close through each of our days. Thank you! Help us to see you with us at all times today, offering the sustenance of your very life to us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. 

June 13 – Jesus, Born of Mary’s Yes – 1:26-28. In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, [27] to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. [28] And he came to her and said, "Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!"    The mystery of the incarnation cannot be explained. Why did God choose this path? Was it really a virgin birth? Does that ultimately matter? Those questions are hard to answer, especially because the word we translate as ‘virgin’ is nuanced indeed. The virgin birth was very important to early believers, and still is today to those who believe that original sin is passed to a child through the act of conception itself. That is not a part of my theological tradition and is a debate not suited to these devotions. What is vitally important, divinely important, is that God chose to come to us in Jesus, that Jesus was born from Mary’s own body, that he lived and died and rose among us. What captures me so in the story of the angel Gabriel’s visit announcing what God was about to do, is Mary’s ‘yes.’ We don’t know if her yes was somehow necessary. Does God need our agreement to accomplish God’s plan? Sometimes it seems so. And, since there is no violence or coercion in God, my belief is that Mary’s yes was vital. She well knew the risk in agreeing. She could lose her impending marriage and reputation. She could even be executed if Joseph did not believe her and filed charges. And yet, she said yes. The risks receded at the thought of being the bearer of God’s son. Her role in salvation history boggles my mind. Still, I know that every day Jesus asks again to be born in me. Every day I wake knowing that God desires me to bring Christ to life for the people in my life and community. That is true for you as well. Jesus comes to life in the heartfelt yes of believers each and every moment. He wants you to deliver him, to nurture and care for him, to offer your life for him as surely as Mary did. Think today about what you know about Jesus. Make a list of things and pray through them saying something like: Dear God, how can I offer Jesus love to others today? Or how can I bring Jesus’ values to life in my home or office today? Or how can I stand as Jesus did with the poor today? Let the Spirit guide you in this and relax a bit. After all, Mary has done the heavy lifting for us. We get the easier part.
Prayer: Gracious God, you chose to have your son born from the yes of one ordinary woman. Help me today to say yes to the ways you ask me to bring Jesus into my own ordinary life. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.

June 14 – Jesus Challenge to Unjust Power – Matthew 2:3 “When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him.”   The baby Jesus has been born and lived in obscurity for his first years. Scientists and astrologers from the east, called Magi, have seen a unique star and traveled far to try to find him. They have heard, somehow, that he has been born to be king of the Jews, so in their search they go to Herod’s palace. Where else would they expect to find a king? When they present themselves to him, Herod is immediately afraid. And, when Herod was upset and afraid the whole city was upset and afraid? Was an insurrection in the works? A coup plot? Was the whole opulent, but fragile, network of power about to tumble down? To deal with his fear, Herod lied and hatched a vile plot to find out where Jesus was and ‘deal with him.’ Herod, lost in his corrupt power and feeling threatened, did what oppressors always do. He decided that the threat must be eradicated. The child must be killed. When God moves to interrupt this plot in a dream to the Magi, Herod escalates. Not only is the child Jesus to be killed, all male children under the age of two in and around Bethlehem must be killed too. Scared power is scary indeed. Oppression becomes a way of life. In the eyes of the oppressor it is a necessary and even laudatory tool. It is interesting that it is the birth of God’s Love in Jesus that terrifies Herod. Love always scares the unjust. They will lash out, with billy clubs. They will lash out with legislation to tighten their grip on power. They will lash out with violence that starts small and escalates. Like the wicked witch of the west in the Wizard of Oz, God’s undaunted Love in Jesus Christ, is the water they fear will dissolve them. They will do anything to stop that from happening. They will lie, blame, intimidate and ridicule anyone or anything that scares them. The sad truth is that sometimes, in our own small lives we know how to do that as well. When a family member challenges our behavior we know how to lash out, work the phones and build an ‘army’ against them. When a boss feels threatened by our ideas, we know how to get into a battle for control. If new ideas threatened us, we know how to run, ban, burn and vilify even before we know what it is all about. When we act on those kinds of fears, we are not saving ourselves, we are destroying ourselves. Today see if you can think of an example in your life, community or church where something new has felt threatening to you? How did you respond? Was anyone else caught in the crossfire? As you think about these things, ask Jesus to help you understand your motives and to give you new ways of dealing with old fears.
Prayer: Dear God, your love is so powerful. It is change itself. Help me today to see the ways I resist what you are doing in my life and in the world. Help me to see the things I cling to that I should release. Help me to welcome you in whatever way you come, even if it means I must change. In Jesus’ holy name I pray. Amen.

June 15 – Jesus Journeys with the Oppressed – Matthew 2:13 “Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”
While Herod plots his evil response to the fear of losing power, God sends an angel to Joseph to warn him and give him new directions. What I love about this story is not the simple wonder of God’s dream language, a topic worth extended study. What I love is this early glimpse of Jesus and his family as political refugees and God’s determination to give them a path forward to safety. Jesus and his family could not survive in their home land. They had to flee. I see that as such an act of solidarity with the many refugees around the world today who are forced to flee their homelands due to the threat of violence or poverty. I believe that Jesus always stands with them, children and adults, because he knows what they are going through. He also knows that God always provides a path that leads to life. There are many good and practical reasons why borders and their security are important in our day. No argument there. What this text shows us, however, is that borders don’t mean much to God when the lives of the beloved are at stake. Take a moment today to think about the many displaced persons all over the world. Open your heart to compassion and breathe your care as a prayer, knowing that Jesus accompanies every desperate journey. Even your own.
Prayer: O God of all our journeys, we thank you that you accompany us on our way. We thank you that Jesus, our Lord, knows what it is like to have to flee for safety. Fill us with your compassion and vision so that we may find ways to help and never harm. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.

July 16 – Jesus the One Worthy of Obedience – Mark 9:7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”   This verse is taken from Mark’s account of Jesus’ transfiguration. Things are coming to a head in his ministry when he takes his closest friends, Peter, James and John, with him up to a mountain to pray. In the Scripture, mountains are often symbols for places where God communicates directly with people. Think of Mount Sinai and the gift of the Law. Think of the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus’ mighty declaration of God’s values. Think of Mount Calvary where Jesus dies, ending the necessity for future sacrifice. We don’t know where this incident took place but, at least metaphorically, it is a mountain between mountains, with Sinai on one hand and Calvary on the other. Jesus knows what awaits him. His friends may not yet be clear about it. In this spiritual experience they are visited by the long dead Moses, symbolizing the Law, and Elijah, who was thought to return just before Messiah. The disciples are undone by this encounter. They do not know what to think as they see Jesus conversing with Moses and Elijah. Suddenly a cloud surrounds them, suggesting both God’s presence and their own confusion. From their clouded thinking, God speaks to soothe and direct. He reminds them of Jesus’ beloved status and gives them the best advice anyone could ever give: Listen to him! In Hebrew thought to hear, or to listen, implies being changed by what one hears in such a way that it is acted upon. It means to respond or obey. If we hear Jesus’ words and see his actions, yet do nothing about them concretely and specifically in our own lives, according to the Bible, we have not heard them at all. Today, stop and see if you can remember some of Jesus’ most powerful teachings. Listen to those words in your heart. Pray for right interpretation. Ask God to show you what to do.
Prayer: O God of Grace, we thank you for sending Jesus to show us the ways of life. Help us today to listen care-fully to his words. Inspire us with the truth. Remove from our hearts and minds faulty interpretations that can only harm us and others, so that we may hear and obey rightly. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.

June 17 – Jesus as Storyteller – Mark 4:30-32 “He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”   In this section of Mark, Jesus is telling a series of stories about growth. He uses imagery with which they are familiar from their ordinary lives. In the previous story he tells them that seeds must be scattered, and that when they are, growth is miraculous and surprising. In this story he tells them not to worry if they feel small and insignificant. When they offer themselves as seeds then they will grow into something lush, sturdy, fine and serviceable (the birds can nest there.) In the following verses, Mark tells us that Jesus spoke almost exclusively in stories. The stories Jesus tells, and even the stories of our own lives, are rich with meaning. They can be means of growth and understanding. When we tell Jesus’ stories, and our own, we continue to plant seeds for growth for ourselves and for this world that is so in need of something sturdy, fine and sheltering these days. Take a moment today to think about some of the stories of your life. It doesn’t need to be the big ones. It can be of the mustard seed variety. Take a minute to think about what that recollection has to teach you. Ask yourself if this story has anything in it that has to do with the great themes of faith: creation, sin, enlightenment, redemption and new starts, grace or compassion. Think of yourself as a living parable in Jesus’ hands. What does your life have to teach you and others?
Prayer: Storyteller God, we thank you that you teach in words we can understand. Help us today to learn from our own stories about grace and compassion. Help us to live in such a way that the stories our lives tell will further your kingdom’s goals and glorify your name. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen.