Romans 7:14-15
For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin.* 15I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
Paul really struggled with the idea of wanting to do what he knew he should do, but feeling captive to the flesh that remained in slavery to the desires of the flesh. I'd say, "Poor Paul," but really, I think we can all relate to knowing what we should do and then doing the complete opposite. So how do we find hope?
Well, we confess our sins to God. We strive to do the right thing, knowing that we will always fall short of perfection. We remember that we have been washed by the waters of baptism. And, we gather in a community to hear the proclamation that God loves us, still.
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
ASLC Devotions -- Wednesday
Psalm 140
4 Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
protect me from the violent
who have planned my downfall.
5 The arrogant have hidden a trap for me,
and with cords they have spread a net;*
along the road they have set snares for me.
It wouldn't be a far stretch to think that the psalmist is occasionally a little bit paranoid. Taken out of context, we could make ourselves believe that nothing really threatened the psalmist and that no one planned ill will. And yet, the struggles of the day were real, and the cries and prayers for help are real.
There are times when we all need to realize that no one is out to get us, no one is plotting to trip us. But when we have our fears, turning to the Lord is a good way to deal with our concerns.
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
4 Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
protect me from the violent
who have planned my downfall.
5 The arrogant have hidden a trap for me,
and with cords they have spread a net;*
along the road they have set snares for me.
It wouldn't be a far stretch to think that the psalmist is occasionally a little bit paranoid. Taken out of context, we could make ourselves believe that nothing really threatened the psalmist and that no one planned ill will. And yet, the struggles of the day were real, and the cries and prayers for help are real.
There are times when we all need to realize that no one is out to get us, no one is plotting to trip us. But when we have our fears, turning to the Lord is a good way to deal with our concerns.
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
ASLC Devotions-- Tuesday
Acts 12:1-11
7Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists. 8The angel said to him, “Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.” He did so. Then he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”
I wish an angel of the Lord would appear suddenly before me and tell me what to do. Yesterday's extended reading from Genesis also featured the assurance of an angel of the Lord to smooth the way for Abraham's servant. Angels of the Lord sure seem to make things easier for these folks, and appear at just the right time.
Before you get discouraged that the Lord has left you off the "In Need of an Angel Visit" list, I invite you today to think of the angels all around you. Maybe they aren't adorned in white with wings and cherubic faces. Perhaps they don't arrive with a light shining around them. Most likely they're wearing everyday clothing and have names like Joe or Linda or Jack or Betty.
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
7Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists. 8The angel said to him, “Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.” He did so. Then he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”
I wish an angel of the Lord would appear suddenly before me and tell me what to do. Yesterday's extended reading from Genesis also featured the assurance of an angel of the Lord to smooth the way for Abraham's servant. Angels of the Lord sure seem to make things easier for these folks, and appear at just the right time.
Before you get discouraged that the Lord has left you off the "In Need of an Angel Visit" list, I invite you today to think of the angels all around you. Maybe they aren't adorned in white with wings and cherubic faces. Perhaps they don't arrive with a light shining around them. Most likely they're wearing everyday clothing and have names like Joe or Linda or Jack or Betty.
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
Monday, June 28, 2010
ASLC Devotions -- Monday
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
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
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.
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