Devotions for the week of May 22

May 22-Rob Bell has encountered praise and intense criticism for his new book, Love wins. He says the germ of the book started when someone pointed to a picture of Gandhi and said with certainty, that he was in the fires of hell. Bell reflects his Calvinist roots when he comes to realize that a God who desires that the whole world be saved (I Tim. 2;4) will not be thwarted. How much deterrent impact does the doctrine of hellfire have? How doe sit apply to justice denied in this world? do you fear it, or are you confident of the grace of god?

Monday-John Bowker in A Year to Live says (p.138) that everyday we wake up Christ is calling us out into our world, "the stupendous moment of miracle...each day, and each moment of the day,to respond ...as he calls us to a new ordering of our life." Even if we wake with aches and pains, how do you embrace that miracle? How does the ordering of our life in terms of a calendar demonstrate our faith? When do you notice the call of Christ into the world?

Tuesday-Aging is not easy, as we accumulate new limitations almost daily, it seems. Aging had better contain wisdom, or how else will we adjust to all of its cruel tricks? Aging does bring a deeper perspective on time, especially as the sands in the hour glass finally seem finite.For some, it finally offers us a less harried life with time. I have long wondered if we have unwittingly offered ourselves the monastic gift of time for prayer for us when we are older? One good way into a longer prayer life is to pray the newspaper, for the joys and crying needs you encounter there.

Wednesday-Gregory the Great asked why we take such good daily care to feed our bodies, but we neglect feeding the spirit with good works? How do you think doing good feeds our spiritual lives? If you are limited in what you can do outside the home, what good works are available for you there? Especially consider the good work of praying for others, of praying for the differing needs of our world, local and global.

Thursday-Complaining can be an art form. I think of the old story where  a person survives a shipwreck but is far from shore. He prays and a wave magically deposits him right on the shore of an island. he gets up and gets himself together and prays, "I had a hat." The book of exodus is filled with complaint. when opponents of Jesus murmur, that's another locution for complaining.What evokes your most heartfelt complaints. do you complain in prayer? What annoys you about the complaints of others?

Friday-Reinhold Niebuhr had connections with nearby Eden Seminary. I've been thinking about him lately as the President says he has been influenced by him and also the reactions ot the death of Osama. Niebuhr refused to allow Christians the ease of easy decisions. He fully realized the pacifist course in christian ethics but was convinced that we could not apply that standard when facing menacing, militarist evil. At the same time, he would not permit us the illusion that whatever our country does is somehow pre-approved by God. Further, even good intentions can go astray. Unanticipated consequences are part of a complex world made up of limited decision-makers.

Saturday-We talked in the Tuesday morning class about different factors in our spiritual lives. Our worship comfort zones  are dictated not only  by convention but our personality. an extrovert may love being in a huge crowd, but an introvert may needs some quiet. A person who learns by touch may prize communion but doesn't hold on to much of a sermon. How do your spiritual practices fit, or not fit, your personality?