Devotions - January 24-30, 2010
by, Jean Sovey
Bethany, Escanaba
Sunday, January 24
The Sabbath
When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. Luke 4:16
As a substitute Sunday school teacher, I like to greet the children as they come into the room. Some students seem happy to be there, but there are others that act as though Sunday school is the last place in the world that they want to be. It is fairly obvious that these children are forced by their parents to come. As I watch them saunter into the room and slump down into their chairs with a huge sigh, it is easy to see that Sundays were invented to torture young children.
Children are not the only ones to feel that Sunday is a burden. Even adults can act as though God created the Sabbath as something that must be endured. In Mark 2: 23 the Pharisees admonished the disciples of Jesus for plucking heads of grain on the Sabbath. It didn’t matter whether or not the disciples were hungry. They had broken the rules by working on the Sabbath.
When the Pilgrims first came to America, they had many rules about the Sabbath. So even though they had no food or shelter, and even though many Pilgrims were ill, no work at all could be done on the Sabbath.
The Sabbath, however, has never been about rules and regulations. God never intended it to be used as a club with which to beat others. The Sabbath is actually a beautiful gift from God. It is a gift of time to fill ourselves with the Holy Spirit through the Word and Sacraments. It is a gift of time to hear of God’s love and forgiveness. It is a gift of time to gather with other Christians to refresh and nourish our souls for the coming week.
Eventually with the love and guidance of their parents and Sunday school teachers, those youngsters who consider Sunday school torture will begin to understand the beauty of the Sabbath. As we all rest in God’s tender love and care on Sunday, let us all understand the great gift that God bestows.
Dear Father, thank you for the wondrous gift of the Sabbath. Fill us with your Spirit on Your day so that we might live faithfully and joyfully throughout the week. Amen.
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Monday, January 25
Are You Prepared?
Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Matthew 25:13
One doesn’t need to live in the Upper Peninsula for long to know how dangerous the roads can become during our winters. Temperatures can plummet and vicious storms can come upon a traveler with very little warning. Knowing this, the members of the Social Ministry Committee were very concerned about our Interim Pastor’s cantankerous car as she prepared to drive many miles to her home late at night in brutal temperatures. After looking at her car, one of our members felt that he could make a few adjustments to the car to keep it from stalling out. The problem was that he needed a wrench.
We soon found out that obtaining a wrench would not be a problem at all. Elmer, one of our committee members is always prepared. He went out to his own car and got a huge plastic container. We all gathered around as he lifted the lid. Inside the container was just about everything. He had tools for fixing a car like the needed wrench, but he also had hammers, saws, axes, food, blankets etc. Elmer even had toilet paper. Elmer was prepared for anything.
Elmer’s box turned my thoughts to my own car. Inside my trunk was nothing that might help me in an emergency. There were no tools, no blankets, no food, and no coveted toilet paper. I was as unprepared to handle an emergency as Elmer was prepared.
In the parable of the bridegroom, Jesus tells us that we need to be prepared. Just as Elmer was prepared for any emergency, we need to equip ourselves for those difficult times that will come into our lives. We can do this with daily prayer and daily reading of scripture. We can do this by gathering with other Christians every Sunday to hear the Word and receive the sacraments. We can do this by remaining aware that God is always close at our side and that his love for us is constant.
Are you prepared for the emergencies of life? Are you filling yourself with what you will need when the hard times come? If not, it is never too late to start.
Dear Father, guide our actions and fill us with your Holy Spirit that we will be spiritually prepared for what lies ahead. Amen. |
Tuesday, January 26
And He Came Down
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 1:14
Many scientists believe that human beings are hard-wired to believe in a god. They feel that we are prepared from birth to be religious just as we are prepared for language, eating, drinking and breathing. There are few communities in the past or present without some type of religion. It is part of the fabric of being human.
In this age of easy access to information, most of us have more than a passing acquaintance with a number of ancient religions. It doesn’t take too much reading of our own Bible before the god, Baal, comes into the picture. Also in the book of Genesis, Rachel, wife of Jacob, steals her father’s household gods.
Anyone who went to Hercules movies as a youngster has a rudimentary knowledge of the many gods in Greece also. On Mount Olympus, there were twelve gods with the most famous being Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, and Aphrodite.
Today, as the world moves more to secularism, when asked, most people still say that they believe in God. As in ancient times, the searching for God has led people to different conclusions. Much of the Mideast is Muslim while in Japan, many are Shinto with each mountain having its own deity. In India, Hinduism is prevalent with gods like Shiva the Destroyer and Vishnu the Preserver. Confucianism and Taoism can be found in the religions of China.
With so many gods both past and present, one would think that Christianity wouldn’t have a chance to stand out, but it does. Christianity stands above other religions for many reasons but the main one is that God actually came down to us. While other gods demand that people reach up to them, Jesus Christ is the only God that loves us so much that he came down to live among us. He is the only God to suffer and die for us. He stands alone as the God who loves us just as we are.
There is no better news for this world than our news that God came down and wrapped us in His love.
Dear Father, thank you for making it clear to us that you are the one true God by coming to Earth in the form of Your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. |
Wednesday, January 27
Do We Really Matter to God?
Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, “”Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Luke 15:8-10
Once when I was a small child, I decided to climb a large, maple tree that grew across the street from my house. This was an exciting adventure for me as I had only recently started to climb trees. When my brother came out of our house and began to call for me to come in, I quickly realized that although I could see everything, the leaves of the maple tree were concealing me from view. What a hilarious turn of events for a small child. I could hardly stop from laughing out loud. It wasn’t long before my mother, father, grandma and all of the neighbors began searching for me.
Eventually the search began to move out from my immediate area, and I could no longer see anyone. I sat up in my tree for a few minutes longer but with nothing new to watch, I decided to get down. I sat down on the front steps to wait for everyone to return so that I could share the hilarious joke with them. As luck would have it, a police officer came to deliver some papers to my father. I told him that everyone was gone and I was home alone. Shocked that such a small child would be left alone, he sat down on the steps and waited with me. When my father returned home, he received a lecture on the terrible perils that could befall an unattended child.
Just as my family and neighbors searched for me when they thought I was lost, so our Father in heaven also searches for us when we have lost our way. It truly boggles the mind that with millions and millions of people on this earth, that God would care so much about one insignificant person that he would drop everything to look. It would be easier to understand if we were always good and kind; that we always did the things that we should. But just as in the parable of the lost coin, for some reason, we are precious to Him; so precious that he will never let us go no matter what we do.
My parents still loved me even though I was obviously not very loveable that summer day when I was young. But as powerful as the love of a parent for a child is, it pales in comparison with the love that God has for each and every one of us. Our God loves us so much that he sent His only Son to suffer and die for us. There is no greater love.
Dear Father, I’m not sure why you love me so much, but I am so grateful that you do. Fill me with your Holy Spirit that I may walk in Your ways. Amen. |
Thursday, January 28
Would You Please Speak Louder Lord?
I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. John 16 12-14
I try very hard to do what God wants me to do. I think that you do too. But I don’t always know what God wants. Some decisions are black and white; it is easy to see the actions that God wants me to take. Other times, however, it is not so clear.
These days we seem overwhelmed with serious decisions that need to be made. As church dollars shrink, we are forced to make decisions on what will continue to be funded and what worthwhile program or church worker must be sacrificed. What does God want us to do?
Even the foundations of our beliefs must be evaluated these days in the aftermath of decisions made at the Church Assembly in August of 2009. With great angst, members in Lutheran churches across America must decide in which direction they will walk. What does God want us to do?
Sometimes in my frustration as I am praying for guidance, I want to say, “Will you please speak a little louder God, I’m not hearing you.”
It is at these moments when I am most frustrated that I remember that God has given me a hearing aide, the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is with me through every tough decision and He reminds me that in the end God’s plan will be fulfilled.
I may not know all of the answers and I may not always choose to do the right thing but I will continue to listen to the Spirit and to remember that God is in charge.
Dear Father, please fill me with your Holy Spirit and grant me patience to wait until you reveal your plan. Amen. |
Friday, January 29
If I Were God
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38
I wonder what it is like being God. Are His reactions like ours but on a bigger scale? What would I think of the world as I watch murderers and swindlers vie for who will get the most coverage on television by being rotten and terrorists are devising bigger and better ways to blow everyone up. If I were God, I think I would weep at what I see.
If I were God, I would wonder why my children are too busy to come to my house one day a week. After all, I just want to feed them so that they will be healthy and happy. Why do they think every other activity is more important than being with me?
If I were God, I would wonder why my children never want to talk to me. They don’t even need a phone for heaven’s sake. They can just start talking to me and I will hear them. I could help with those problems that they have. I could give them solutions. It might not be the solution that they are looking for but it would be the right solution. I could give them the guidance that they need and I could reassure them that they are not alone. I am right next to them every minute of the day, why won’t they talk to me?
If I were God, I would wonder why my children never learned to share. How can they keep everything for themselves when others have nothing? Have they forgotten that I have given them everything they have?
If I were God, I would wonder why my children can’t forgive each other. I have shown them how to forgive by forgiving them for everything. Can’t they do the same for one another?
If I were God, I think that I would start over. I would just collect all that material, mash it back into a big lump and then make a new and improved human species. This time I would make a species that is generous, kind and cares for one another. And while I’m at it, I will make everyone beautiful.
Thank God that I am not God. How wonderful it is that our God never gives up on us no matter what.
Dear Father, thank you for being our God. Thank you for loving us through every up and down. Thank you for never giving up on us. Amen. |
Saturday, January 30
Bear with One Another
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. Colossians 3:12-15
We recently had a baptism at our church. It seemed especially appropriate because it was The Baptism of Our Lord Sunday. What a joyous occasion it is to see a small child touched by the Spirit. It reminds us of our own Baptisms when we also became the adopted children of God and washed clean of our sins. What a great day.
But Monday always comes and along with it comes our sinful natures. It just isn’t easy to get along. These days there seems to be more dissension than usual. Poor economic conditions combined with the extreme rancor between our political parties seem to have put an end to civility.
Such disharmony has even crept to the far reaches of the world like the Upper Peninsula and Northern Wisconsin. The other day when visiting a shut-in, I was told that no conservative is really a Christian. The very next day an acquaintance of my family who stood up and asked members of his church to reconsider joining LCMS, was told that he was no longer considered a Christian. In both instances, the words were harsh and unforgiving.
The message in today’s scripture reading to bear with one another and love each other are very easy words to say but in the real world, very hard to do. If it were easy, families, friends, neighbors and countries would not be having the problems that we see in the world today. But God makes it clear that forgiving and loving each other is what we must do. God never claims that it will be easy, only that it must be done.
So how do we do something as difficult as forgiving and loving people who make us so angry? We can never do it on our own and God doesn’t ask us to do it alone. He has told us over and over again that He walks with us and that He is with us until the close of the age. With God, anything is possible and anything can be accomplished if it is His will.
Whether we are conservative or liberal, for gay pastors or against, through our Baptism, we all belong to the same body. We are all loved by God.
Dear Father, with you all things are possible. Guide our paths with Your Spirit so that we can accomplish what is impossible to do alone. Amen. |
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