Friday, January 24, 2014

week of Feb. 2 Devotional Pts

Sunday Feb.2 Ps. 15 is our lectionary selection places us in more unfamiliar territory. It is a version of the second tablet of the 10 commandments, no? If you were writing such a psalm, wohat would you include or exclude from this listing? What about despising the wicked?.

Monday-The playoffs have brought talk of the legacy of the great quarterback Peyton Manning. Other than sports, do we speak much of legacy any more? If we do, why do we speak of it so often in economic terms? The old last will and testament had a sense of leaving something to posterity beyond property. What family legacies last and which fade with time? What legacies should properly fade away and which should be treasured?

Tuesday-One of the folks at church averted a flat tire because an indicator on her dashboard altered her of low tire pressure.Ideally, a human life should be a constant pilgrimage of discovery.  The most exciting discoveries happen at the frontiers.  When you come to know something new, you come closer to yourself and to the world.  Discovery enlarges and refines your sensibility.  When you discover something, you transfigure some of the forsakenness of the world.—John O'Donohue, Eternal Echoes:
Wednesday-My memory is not what it used to be, and when I get stressed I forgot even more things. So, I am more careful to write things down.Sometimes I can’t read what I’ve jotted down. then I need better light to be able to even try to read the scrawled notes to myself.When is a failing memory a gift? when is it dangerous? What are reminders that you use to jog a memory? What reminders should you use to jog spiritual practices that make new spiriutal memories?

Thursday-I grow so tired of the cliche of being spiritual and not religious. i am so tired of the stereotypes of religious organizations being accepted as accurate. The popular consultant to churches Tom Ehrlich is getting a lot of play for an article he wrote that is the same tired complaints about organizations except fo r t his new tagline, church shouldn;t be this hard. Who wouldn;’t wish this? My question is when did this fairland exist ever? All organizations are prone to good and bad points. I once had a professor tell me I was looking for better bread than is made from wheat. I think this applies to the anti organized relgion stereotypes.

Friday-At the holidays, the words, good to see you echoed through many hallways.When we pray, imagine hearing God saying it’s good to hear from you.I like to imagine that is precisely god’s reaction when we are in worship. when we pray, can;t you just hear god saying it’s so good to hear from you?

Saturday- I cannot find the source of this quote. ”Think of occasions where you groped for words... times in your life when you went for days or weeks without knowing the outcome of something that troubled you. How have times of "unknowing" or "groping"--being emptied--changed you? Or made you a more trusted companion for another person?” We religious people somehow think we should have ansers and be certain about them.

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