ASLC Devotions -- Monday

Amos 6:8 The Lord God has sworn by himself
(says the Lord, the God of hosts):
I abhor the pride of Jacob
   and hate his strongholds;
   and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.

God's got a problem with pride. I've never quite understood why God doesn't like groups of lions... let that one sink in. Bad humor on a Monday morning.

Back to the point, if there was one: the problem with our pride is that it hurts us. As a loving parent, God does not want to see us hurt. And God knows that our pride (or pridefulness) will make us think we've got it figured out. It will make us think we don't need help. It will make us say in the immortal words of a 3-year old "I do it myself." And sometimes that works out just fine.

Until it doesn't. Until we get hurt. Until we cry. Until we hurt someone else. And they cry. And we cry. The problem with pride is NOT that God doesn't want us thinking highly of ourselves. The problem with pride is that God doesn't want us getting hurt. You need help today. I need help today. I cannot do it myself. Praise God that the important things have already been done.

In Christ,
Pastor Seth

See http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for information about all of our ministries and a full calendar. Bring your pets for a service of blessing Saturday morning in the church parking lot at 9. Worship Sunday morning at 8:30 and 11.

ASLC Devotions -- Friday

Ephesians 2:4-5
⁴But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us ⁵even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

In yesterday's devotion I reflected about how we have been made rich through Christ, and while I still stand by that statement, today's scripture reminds us that first and foremost God is rich -- rich in mercy. We use this verse as part of our worship during the Confession and Forgiveness, and it moves me as we speak of our God being rich in mercy. Of course God is rich in all things -- mercy and love and kindness and justice and grace, to name a few.

And, those are all areas in which we can strive to build our riches, too. We can be rich in kindness and mercy toward others. We can be rich in grace. We can be rich in love. My prayer is that we can see the many ways that we are rich -- as people and as a congregation -- and continue to share what we have been given as we are alive in Christ.

Peace,
Pastor Jenn

 

ASLC Devotions -- Thursday

2 Corinthians 8:8-9
 I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others. ⁹For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.

All too often we equate rich, poor, poverty and wealth with a bank account balance. It's not surprising -- after all, we have bills to pay and projects to complete and basic living to do. But it's clear that the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ really had nothing to do with money.

We are rich in our life with Jesus Christ. We have been on the receiving end of the most generous act that we could imagine. God has already determined your value and worth -- and nothing can change that.

Peace,
Pastor Jenn

ASLC Devotions -- Wednesday

Psalm 12:6-7
⁶The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure,
silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.

⁷You, O Lord, will protect us;
you will guard us from this generation forever.

The psalmist often writes from a point of view that makes it seem as if he is always under attack, which I'm not going to argue might have been the case. But he also writes from a position of deep faith that the Lord will protect. There are certainly days when the world does seem to conspire against us -- whether at work or school or simply driving from home to the grocery store. (Really, did ALL of the lights have to be red?) And, while I don't really think that God cares about red lights, I do believe deeply that God cares about us as God's children.

Chances are the whole world is not against you -- nor is this entire generation... However, God's promises and protection, perfected and made strong as if silver in a refiner's fire, are steadfast through the ages. 

Peace,
Pastor Jenn

ASLC Devotions - Friday

Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So what else did you want to know?

This passage is my go-to for funerals or at the bedside of someone facing surgery or death. Seems to me that it sums up all the most important things we need to know at those most important points in life: nothing can separate us from God's love... not this funeral, not this surgery, not this death.

But it's probably a good reminder for those of us not going through a death or particular grief right now as well.

So what else did you want to know?

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In Christ,
Pastor Seth

Join us for worship Sunday at 8:30 and 11 with Education Hour for ages 3 through adult at 9:45. More information at http://www.allsaintspalatine.org

ASLC Devotions -- Thursday

Romans 3:3 What if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?

We are an arrogant bunch, aren't we? Even when we are down on ourselves and feeling worthless, it comes out in arrogance. I can't tell you how many times I've thought "I don't deserve it." I have thought that whatever I had done was just so bad that nobody, not even God, should or would forgive me. When good things have come my way, like family and love, I've thought "I don't deserve it." I have thought that there was nothing I could possibly have done to deserve those things. There must be some kind of cosmic mistake.

And that's just it. I don't deserve it. I don't deserve any of it. And God gives it anyway. God has promised to give us life. End of story. If we, by being unfaithful, could make God not give us life, then we'd have some power over God, wouldn't we? And that's ridiculous. God promises to love us and God will love us no matter what.

In Christ,
Pastor Seth

Join us for worship Sunday at 8:30 and 11 with Education Hour for ages 3 through adult at 9:45. More information at http://www.allsaintspalatine.org

ASLC Devotions - Wednesday

Psalm 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
   but God is the strength^* of my heart and my portion for ever.

Are you having a bad week? Things dragging you down? Are the bills piling higher than you thought they might? Had you hoped for a little relief, for a little bit easier time this week than last and it's just not there.

I don't have and won't attempt to give any easy answers to life's very complicated troubles. I know that pain and stress and heartache are just too real for that.

All I know is this: there is a God who is strong and powerful. The God of all the universe has claimed you and washed you and promised to be with you forever. Try something: memorize this verse and repeat it to yourself when it feels like the end of the line:

My flesh and my heart may fail,
   but God is the strength^* of my heart and my portion for ever.

In Christ,
Pastor Seth

Join us for worship Sunday at 8:30 and 11 with Education Hour for ages 3 through adult at 9:45. More information at http://www.allsaintspalatine.org