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Posts Tagged: devotionals
September 26, 2009
A Wedding Day Reflection on 1 Corinthians 13
Love Never Fails
I was reminded this morning, as I prepared for this afternoon’s wedding ceremony, of the poetic beauty of the Apostle Paul’s chapter on love in 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 13 is popularly referred to as the “Love Chapter,” and for good reason. It’s all about love! Love never fails! Some might even say something crazy like “God is Love!” I would agree with that crazy person, and so would the writer of 1 John! 1 John 1:8 says “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” Simple, right? Well, it should be.
So, as I sat this morning reflecting upon Paul’s musings in 1 Corinthians 13, I thought it would be interesting to replace all the occurrences of the word “love” with “God” just to see how it would impact the reading of the scripture, if at all. I’ll let readers decide for themselves. Read more…
April 18, 2009
Trust me! I can see you!
A relationship with God is a little bit like this sometimes: A two-story house had caught on fire. The family – Father, Mother and several children – were on their way out when the smallest boy became so terrified that he tore away from his mother, and ran back upstairs. Suddenly, the boy appeared at a smoke-filled window crying hysterically. His father, outside, shouted “Jump son, jump! I will catch you!” The boy shouted, “But daddy, I can’t see you!” The boy then began to cry even more! “I know!” his father shouted, “I know you can’t see me! I know! Just trust me! I can see you!”
April 10, 2009
A Good Day For Mourning
It’s Good/Mourning Friday. It’s a day for mourning and commemoration. This day is a day for deep reflection. Today, we not only reflect upon the uncompromising truth of Jesus of Nazareth, and how he did not flinch in spite of the insurmountable odds he faced, but also the sad and terrible rejection of God’s Kingdom and it’s innocent proclaimer. Read more…
March 26, 2009
A Mid-week Meditation
“A student doesn’t get a better desk than her teacher. A laborer doesn’t make more money than his boss. Be content-pleased, even – when you, my students, my harvest hands, get the same treatment I get. If they call me, the Master, ‘Dungface,’ what can the workers expect? Don’t be intimidated. Eventually everything is going to be out in the open, and everyone will know how things really are. So don’t hesitate to go public now. Don’t be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life – body and soul – in his hands. What’s the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail-even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries. Stand up for me against world opinion and I’ll stand up for you before my Father in heaven. If you turn tail and run, do you think I’ll cover for you? Don’t think I’ve come to make life cozy. I’ve come to cut – make a sharp knife – cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law-cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. If you prefer father or mother over me, you don’t deserve me. If you prefer son or daughter over me, you don’t deserve me. If you don’t go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don’t deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.” – Jesus, teaching his disciples, as found in The Gospel of Matthew 10:24-39 Read more…
February 25, 2009
A Mid-week Meditation
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord …” – Isaiah 1:18
Critical thinking is an important and often neglected aspect of our faith. God is not someone or something that we simply attach to our lives, as if Divinity were just another fashionable accessory. God is a living being and an active concept with whom we must struggle, wrestle, search and investigate. God is that complex and unavoidable life-paradox that reveals just enough of himself so that we can authentically know and relate to him, but never reveals enough for us to claim that we have completely exhausted him. We consequently have to actually think (reason) about/with God, and as much as we devotionally worship God. And that’s the way God wanted it … Read more…
February 18, 2009
A Mid-week Meditation
“In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.” – Luke 6:12; “And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone…” – Matthew 14:23; “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” – Mark 1:35; “And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.” – 6:46; “But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.”- Luke 5:16 Read more…
February 6, 2009
A Mid-week Meditation
Psalm 56:3: When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. Read more…
January 29, 2009
A Mid-week Meditation
Psalm 27:14: Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! Read more…
January 14, 2009
A Mid-week Meditation
Jesus, late in John’s Gospel, says something like this to his disciples: “I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bare them now. But as you go on obeying me and walking with me, and listening to me, you will, and then you will see how glorious, how marvelous my revelations are, and my teachings.” Read more…