Genesis 24:37-39
37My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; 38but you shall go to my father’s house, to my kindred, and get a wife for my son.’ 39I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’
The man speaking is the servant of Abraham and he is explaining why he has come to be among these people -- to retrieve a wife for Isaac. There are a couple of pieces about this story that interest me. First, the assertion that perhaps the woman would not go with him. Later, the question of actually going is posed to Rebekah and she is given the option between leaving at the moment or waiting a few days as her family proposes. She indicates she will go, but I marvel that she was presented with a choice.
Too often we paint with broad brushstrokes the stories that we know so well without reading them closely, or discovering new insights. What stories do you need to re-read with new eyes this week? What stories do you think you know so well that you don't bother reading them again?
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
Monday, June 28, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
ASLC Devotions -- Friday
Galatians 4:9 Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits? How can you want to be enslaved to them again?
Paul writes to the congregation of Christians at Galatia to correct some things he's heard about them. The details of that are not what I want to write about today. I'm just struck by the way Paul writes... "Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God..."
The phrase "I have come to know God" is familiar to us in our Christian culture. We talk about when we came to know God. Paul does the same thing.... but then corrects himself grammatically. He corrects himself and makes God the subject of the sentence, where God belongs.
It doesn't matter that much whether you know God. It doesn't matter that much ultimately what you know about God. What is of much more importance is what God knows about you. What matters is that God knows you are God's beloved child. You are God's redeemed. And God knows it.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Visit http://aslcdevotions.blogspot for conversation and http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for more details on all our ministries. Worship with us this weekend at 5 pm Saturday and 9 am Sunday.
Paul writes to the congregation of Christians at Galatia to correct some things he's heard about them. The details of that are not what I want to write about today. I'm just struck by the way Paul writes... "Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God..."
The phrase "I have come to know God" is familiar to us in our Christian culture. We talk about when we came to know God. Paul does the same thing.... but then corrects himself grammatically. He corrects himself and makes God the subject of the sentence, where God belongs.
It doesn't matter that much whether you know God. It doesn't matter that much ultimately what you know about God. What is of much more importance is what God knows about you. What matters is that God knows you are God's beloved child. You are God's redeemed. And God knows it.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Visit http://aslcdevotions.blogspot for conversation and http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for more details on all our ministries. Worship with us this weekend at 5 pm Saturday and 9 am Sunday.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
ASLC Devotions -- Thursday
Malachi 3:4 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?
For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap;
Sometimes contact with God, the holy one of Israel, is a scary affair. When the prophet Isaiah encountered God in the temple, his tongue was burned with charcoal. When Moses met God on the mountain, his face and appearance were changed for life. God is different than we are. All of our attempts to talk about what God might look like, what it might be like to meet God face to face.... all of it is metaphor. We cannot describe, we cannot know what that encounter would be like.
But the image of fire is common. Malachi reminds us that fire does not only destroy. Fire makes things stronger. Fire changes and purifies metal. God changes and purifies us. It may be not be comfortable. It may not feel like what we were hoping for. But we will be changed by an encounter with the living God. And we will be stronger.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Visit http://aslcdevotions.blogspot for conversation and http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for more details on all our ministries. Worship with us this weekend at 5 pm Saturday and 9 am Sunday.
For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap;
Sometimes contact with God, the holy one of Israel, is a scary affair. When the prophet Isaiah encountered God in the temple, his tongue was burned with charcoal. When Moses met God on the mountain, his face and appearance were changed for life. God is different than we are. All of our attempts to talk about what God might look like, what it might be like to meet God face to face.... all of it is metaphor. We cannot describe, we cannot know what that encounter would be like.
But the image of fire is common. Malachi reminds us that fire does not only destroy. Fire makes things stronger. Fire changes and purifies metal. God changes and purifies us. It may be not be comfortable. It may not feel like what we were hoping for. But we will be changed by an encounter with the living God. And we will be stronger.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Visit http://aslcdevotions.blogspot for conversation and http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for more details on all our ministries. Worship with us this weekend at 5 pm Saturday and 9 am Sunday.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
ASLC Devotions -- Wednesday
Luke 9:42 While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.
We are made for one another. We are made for relationships. In this vignette, Jesus heals a young boy of a demon at the request of the boy's father. After healing him, Luke tells us that Jesus "gave him back to his father." It's not like the son belongs to the father, in the sense of a possession. But the son belongs to the father in the sense of relationship and ties. Demons and illness and revenge and hatred tear those relationships and ties apart. Demons and illness and revenge and hatred tear us apart from one another; they make us less than we were made to be.
Jesus restores us to wholeness. As individuals, we are restored to wholeness with healing and hope. As families and as communities, we are restored to wholeness when relationships are restored. We like to focus on the "miracles" of demons cast out or the dead brought back to life. Personally, I think restored relationships are much more of a miracle. Praise God for restored relationships.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Visit http://aslcdevotions.blogspot for conversation and http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for more details on all our ministries. Worship with us this weekend at 5 pm Saturday and 9 am Sunday.
We are made for one another. We are made for relationships. In this vignette, Jesus heals a young boy of a demon at the request of the boy's father. After healing him, Luke tells us that Jesus "gave him back to his father." It's not like the son belongs to the father, in the sense of a possession. But the son belongs to the father in the sense of relationship and ties. Demons and illness and revenge and hatred tear those relationships and ties apart. Demons and illness and revenge and hatred tear us apart from one another; they make us less than we were made to be.
Jesus restores us to wholeness. As individuals, we are restored to wholeness with healing and hope. As families and as communities, we are restored to wholeness when relationships are restored. We like to focus on the "miracles" of demons cast out or the dead brought back to life. Personally, I think restored relationships are much more of a miracle. Praise God for restored relationships.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Visit http://aslcdevotions.blogspot for conversation and http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for more details on all our ministries. Worship with us this weekend at 5 pm Saturday and 9 am Sunday.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
ASLC Devotions -- Tuesday
Job 19:7 Even when I cry out, “Violence!” I am not answered;
I call aloud, but there is no justice.
Job now speaks for himself in the context of losing everything and his "friends" telling him that he must have done something to deserve it. Job cries out. Job cries out in pain and agony. And Job is answered by silence.
At least in the short term.
At the end of the book, God shows up. God shows up and speaks with Job. God will show up and speak with you too. I don't know when. It might be today, and it might be a long time from now. But if you are crying out for justice. If you are crying out for release, God will answer.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Visit http://aslcdevotions.blogspot for conversation and http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for more details on all our ministries. Worship with us this weekend at 5 pm Saturday and 9 am Sunday.
I call aloud, but there is no justice.
Job now speaks for himself in the context of losing everything and his "friends" telling him that he must have done something to deserve it. Job cries out. Job cries out in pain and agony. And Job is answered by silence.
At least in the short term.
At the end of the book, God shows up. God shows up and speaks with Job. God will show up and speak with you too. I don't know when. It might be today, and it might be a long time from now. But if you are crying out for justice. If you are crying out for release, God will answer.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Visit http://aslcdevotions.blogspot for conversation and http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for more details on all our ministries. Worship with us this weekend at 5 pm Saturday and 9 am Sunday.
Monday, June 21, 2010
ASLC Devotions -- Monday
Job 18:5 Surely the light of the wicked is put out,
and the flame of their fire does not shine.
If you've never read the book of Job, do it. It's great. Here's the basic outline: Job loses everything... his house, his family, his kids, his money, his cattle. He's the prototypical country music singer. And the question of the book of Job is "Why?" Why do these bad things happen? After all these bad things happen, three of Job's friends show up. And they provide possible answers to the why question.
The above quote is from the answer of Job's friend Bildad. Bildad says "Surely the light of the wicked is put out." Essentially he says... all these bad things are happening to you. You must deserve it. You must have done something bad. Bildad believes that bad things are a sign that God is punishing you.
Trust me for now, but read the book later... at the end of the book God shows up. And God tells Bildad to shut his mouth. We're left with some level of question about why exactly bad things happen, but God is perfectly clear that the answer is not Bildad's. So today when your coworker tells you about her aunt who has been hospitalized, please don't say "What did you do to deserve that?" Whatever the answer is to suffering, that ain't it.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Visit http://aslcdevotions.blogspot for conversation and http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for more details on all our ministries. Worship with us this weekend at 5 pm Saturday and 9 am Sunday.
and the flame of their fire does not shine.
If you've never read the book of Job, do it. It's great. Here's the basic outline: Job loses everything... his house, his family, his kids, his money, his cattle. He's the prototypical country music singer. And the question of the book of Job is "Why?" Why do these bad things happen? After all these bad things happen, three of Job's friends show up. And they provide possible answers to the why question.
The above quote is from the answer of Job's friend Bildad. Bildad says "Surely the light of the wicked is put out." Essentially he says... all these bad things are happening to you. You must deserve it. You must have done something bad. Bildad believes that bad things are a sign that God is punishing you.
Trust me for now, but read the book later... at the end of the book God shows up. And God tells Bildad to shut his mouth. We're left with some level of question about why exactly bad things happen, but God is perfectly clear that the answer is not Bildad's. So today when your coworker tells you about her aunt who has been hospitalized, please don't say "What did you do to deserve that?" Whatever the answer is to suffering, that ain't it.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Visit http://aslcdevotions.blogspot for conversation and http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for more details on all our ministries. Worship with us this weekend at 5 pm Saturday and 9 am Sunday.
Friday, June 11, 2010
ASLC Devotions -- Friday
Acts 11:29 The disciples determined that according to their ability, each would send relief to the believers living in Judea;
A severe famine had struck the land in the time when the church was just growing. It hurt the people of Judea most. Those who had just come to hear about this Jesus all around the world heard about how the believers in Judea were suffering. And the Bible, with its typical understatement, reports a miracle.
No, it wasn't a miracle like someone who died walked again. It wasn't a miracle like the blind receiving sight.
Except that it was. People came to see a need. People came to see that they had ability to alleviate that suffering. And they did. It was a miracle. It was a miracle then just like it's a miracle each and every time it happens today.
Thank you for being a part of a miracle. It's a miracle when we send thousands of dollars to our sisters and brothers in Haiti, and in China, and in New Orleans, and in Palatine. Thank you for being part of a miracle.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Join us for worship at 5 pm on Saturday and 9 am on Sunday. Comment on this and other messages at http://aslcdevotions.blogspot.com and find more information on all of our ministries at http://www.allsaintspalatine.org
A severe famine had struck the land in the time when the church was just growing. It hurt the people of Judea most. Those who had just come to hear about this Jesus all around the world heard about how the believers in Judea were suffering. And the Bible, with its typical understatement, reports a miracle.
No, it wasn't a miracle like someone who died walked again. It wasn't a miracle like the blind receiving sight.
Except that it was. People came to see a need. People came to see that they had ability to alleviate that suffering. And they did. It was a miracle. It was a miracle then just like it's a miracle each and every time it happens today.
Thank you for being a part of a miracle. It's a miracle when we send thousands of dollars to our sisters and brothers in Haiti, and in China, and in New Orleans, and in Palatine. Thank you for being part of a miracle.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Join us for worship at 5 pm on Saturday and 9 am on Sunday. Comment on this and other messages at http://aslcdevotions.blogspot.com and find more information on all of our ministries at http://www.allsaintspalatine.org
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