Psalm 119:97 Oh, how I love your law!
It is my meditation all day long.
The law gets a bad rap. God's law, I mean. Too often we associate it with oppressive laws that tell us all the fun things we'd like to do but aren't allowed to do. And I think we in America have a particular problem with this because we confuse freedom with a lack of law and structure. God's law is not a list of don'ts. Part of God's law is a list of don'ts. Yes, we are not allowed to do things like kill and steal and bear false witness and covet our neighbor's donkey.
But that's just one part of God's law. God's law is really about teaching. God's law is God's way of guiding and teaching us to live the fullest lives that God has offered tou s. God's law includes love and humility and grace and graciousness. God's law includes hope and promise and mutual respect and prayer. Now that's a kind of law I could love and I could meditate on all day long.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
For more information about all of the ministries of All Saints, visit http://www.allsaintspalatine.org To share your story or your responses to this devotional, visit http://aslcdevotions.blogspot.com
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
ASLC Devotions -- Tuesday
Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
We all know in a secular, regular educational context that the most important step in learning something is to recognize that you need to learn it. Those who "know it all" will never learn. The most widely-acknowledged brilliant people in human history are all united in one thing: they recognized profoundly how much they did not understand. It's a common maxim that the more I know the more I know that I do not know.
The same is true of our relationship with God and our understandings of the divine and of our relationship to God. Proverbs puts it that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." That common biblical phrase "fear of the Lord" gets a bad rap in our day because we think of fear as hiding under the table cowering. That's not at all what we're talking about here. In this case, what the writer of Proverbs is saying is that the beginning of wisdom, the first step to understanding the world more deeply comes when you recognize that God is God and you're not. There is a difference between you and God. It's obvious, but we all need reminders.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
For more information about all of the ministries of All Saints, visit http://www.allsaintspalatine.org To share your story or your responses to this devotional, visit http://aslcdevotions.blogspot.com
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
We all know in a secular, regular educational context that the most important step in learning something is to recognize that you need to learn it. Those who "know it all" will never learn. The most widely-acknowledged brilliant people in human history are all united in one thing: they recognized profoundly how much they did not understand. It's a common maxim that the more I know the more I know that I do not know.
The same is true of our relationship with God and our understandings of the divine and of our relationship to God. Proverbs puts it that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." That common biblical phrase "fear of the Lord" gets a bad rap in our day because we think of fear as hiding under the table cowering. That's not at all what we're talking about here. In this case, what the writer of Proverbs is saying is that the beginning of wisdom, the first step to understanding the world more deeply comes when you recognize that God is God and you're not. There is a difference between you and God. It's obvious, but we all need reminders.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
For more information about all of the ministries of All Saints, visit http://www.allsaintspalatine.org To share your story or your responses to this devotional, visit http://aslcdevotions.blogspot.com
Monday, July 19, 2010
ASLC Devotions -- Monday
Exodus 18:8 Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had beset them on the way, and how the Lord had delivered them.
We struggle sometimes to come up with the right words to use when we want to tell others about our faith, when we want to do some faith-sharing or evangelism. Moses was one who struggled with words. You may remember that when God first called him to go to Egypt and talk to Pharaoh, Moses resisted saying he wasn't a good public speaker. But Moses found the words when he had a story to tell. Moses had an amazing story to tell about God's power and God's faithfulness.
So do you. God has given you life out of death. God has given you hope out of fear. God has brought light into your darkness. You have a story to tell. Your story is different than Moses' story and it's different than my story, but you've got one.
Once we've got the story, sometimes we struggle with an audience. With whom do we want to share our faith? Who around us might benefit from hearing the story? Here Moses is a great example as well: notice Moses tells the story to his own father-in-law. Faith-sharing often starts very close to home. So what's your story? And who might benefit from hearing it?
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
For more information about all of the ministries of All Saints, visit http://www.allsaintspalatine.org To share your story or your responses to this devotional, visit http://aslcdevotions.blogspot.com
We struggle sometimes to come up with the right words to use when we want to tell others about our faith, when we want to do some faith-sharing or evangelism. Moses was one who struggled with words. You may remember that when God first called him to go to Egypt and talk to Pharaoh, Moses resisted saying he wasn't a good public speaker. But Moses found the words when he had a story to tell. Moses had an amazing story to tell about God's power and God's faithfulness.
So do you. God has given you life out of death. God has given you hope out of fear. God has brought light into your darkness. You have a story to tell. Your story is different than Moses' story and it's different than my story, but you've got one.
Once we've got the story, sometimes we struggle with an audience. With whom do we want to share our faith? Who around us might benefit from hearing the story? Here Moses is a great example as well: notice Moses tells the story to his own father-in-law. Faith-sharing often starts very close to home. So what's your story? And who might benefit from hearing it?
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
For more information about all of the ministries of All Saints, visit http://www.allsaintspalatine.org To share your story or your responses to this devotional, visit http://aslcdevotions.blogspot.com
Friday, July 16, 2010
ASLC Devotions -- Friday
Ephesians 3:20-21
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
To him be the glory. I think it's part of who we are that we want credit for what we do -- what we write, what we say, our list of accomplishments (though not always our failures), and our place in life. Yet we're reminded through this letter to the people in Ephesus that it's God who works within us to accomplish far more than we could on our own.
In fact, the scripture reads "far more than all we can ask or imagine," that's where the glory should go. Thinking too much about the time-space continuum of something that we can't imagine begins to hurt the brain a little bit, but there's also a beauty in recognizing that God's power that is at work within us, is so much bigger than we can even dream. So dream big and the give the glory to God, because God's power is so much more, always.
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
To him be the glory. I think it's part of who we are that we want credit for what we do -- what we write, what we say, our list of accomplishments (though not always our failures), and our place in life. Yet we're reminded through this letter to the people in Ephesus that it's God who works within us to accomplish far more than we could on our own.
In fact, the scripture reads "far more than all we can ask or imagine," that's where the glory should go. Thinking too much about the time-space continuum of something that we can't imagine begins to hurt the brain a little bit, but there's also a beauty in recognizing that God's power that is at work within us, is so much bigger than we can even dream. So dream big and the give the glory to God, because God's power is so much more, always.
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
Thursday, July 15, 2010
ASLC Devotions -- Thursday
Hebrews 5:5-6
5 So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him,
‘You are my Son,
today I have begotten you’;
6as he says also in another place,
‘You are a priest for ever,
according to the order of Melchizedek.’
We talk about appointments as something that fills our calendars and keeps us busy throughout the day, but scripture and our Christian lives also talk about being appointed, or an appointment to an office or a calling.
On a particularly busy day, I'm not sure that thinking about my calendar as a gift from God will be all that helpful, but I'm willing to give it a try! How does our outlook for the day change when we think about how we have been appointed by God (through our baptism) to be God's people in the world? Are your appointments for the day ways that you can live out that calling? Hold the people and things on your calendar in prayer today.
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
5 So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him,
‘You are my Son,
today I have begotten you’;
6as he says also in another place,
‘You are a priest for ever,
according to the order of Melchizedek.’
We talk about appointments as something that fills our calendars and keeps us busy throughout the day, but scripture and our Christian lives also talk about being appointed, or an appointment to an office or a calling.
On a particularly busy day, I'm not sure that thinking about my calendar as a gift from God will be all that helpful, but I'm willing to give it a try! How does our outlook for the day change when we think about how we have been appointed by God (through our baptism) to be God's people in the world? Are your appointments for the day ways that you can live out that calling? Hold the people and things on your calendar in prayer today.
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
ASLC Devotions -- Wednesday
Psalm 25:16-18
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
17 Relieve the troubles of my heart,
and bring me* out of my distress.
18 Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.
This psalm also includes the image of God removing the feet of the afflicted one from the net, a powerful image of the grasp that our afflictions can have on us. We turn to the Lord, assured of God's grace and mercy to relieve our troubles. Sometimes, though, recognizing that our feet are trapped in the net and that we need to turn to the Lord can be a difficult step.
How often have we wanted to shoulder the burden of our troubles all on our own, calling out with a weak attempt for help, "Oh, I wish someone would help me" but never really turning our worries and distress to God. Our appeal for forgiveness to God does not go unanswered; God does relieve the troubles of our hearts.
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
17 Relieve the troubles of my heart,
and bring me* out of my distress.
18 Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.
This psalm also includes the image of God removing the feet of the afflicted one from the net, a powerful image of the grasp that our afflictions can have on us. We turn to the Lord, assured of God's grace and mercy to relieve our troubles. Sometimes, though, recognizing that our feet are trapped in the net and that we need to turn to the Lord can be a difficult step.
How often have we wanted to shoulder the burden of our troubles all on our own, calling out with a weak attempt for help, "Oh, I wish someone would help me" but never really turning our worries and distress to God. Our appeal for forgiveness to God does not go unanswered; God does relieve the troubles of our hearts.
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
ASLC Devotions-- Tuesday
Proverbs 19:11
11 Those with good sense are slow to anger,
and it is their glory to overlook an offense
One of my favorite scripture passages and references to God includes the phrase "slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." I love that description of God and have found myself coming back to it again and again. Now I recall a similar passage in Proverbs and recognize the value for all of us in being slow to anger and overlooking of offenses.
The opposite of the proverb would be quick to anger and keeping of offenses. As mortals we probably fall closer to that end of the spectrum than to the godly end of the spectrum, and yet I feel that we could all turn toward being slow to anger and overlooking offenses. Peace to you today, as you (and I!) practice being slow to anger.
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
11 Those with good sense are slow to anger,
and it is their glory to overlook an offense
One of my favorite scripture passages and references to God includes the phrase "slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." I love that description of God and have found myself coming back to it again and again. Now I recall a similar passage in Proverbs and recognize the value for all of us in being slow to anger and overlooking of offenses.
The opposite of the proverb would be quick to anger and keeping of offenses. As mortals we probably fall closer to that end of the spectrum than to the godly end of the spectrum, and yet I feel that we could all turn toward being slow to anger and overlooking offenses. Peace to you today, as you (and I!) practice being slow to anger.
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
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