Week of 10/2 devotions

Sunday Oct 2- Ps. 19-I’ve always liked this psalm, in part, as I wanted to be an astronomer when I was young. I also like the linkage between natural order and moral order in this psalm. God is a god of harmony, not dissonance. Even when we are struck with awe at one of the pictures from NASA, the heavens are not merely beautiful for us. In a spiritual sense, they push us to look at the order and disorder in our own lives.

Monday-Presbyterians put a loot of faith in groups as deliberative bodies and as checks on possible errors. When ear and anxiety infect a group, it becomes a mob, perhaps incapable o returning to deliberative, discerning action. Fear is hard enough to deal with alone, but it seems to have contagious and growing impulse in a group. Groups as well as individuals do well to heed the Biblical injunction to fear not. then we can catch sight of god’s leading edge.

Tuesday-a word from the Lord is something that we may desire when in the throes of indecision. After all, some folks maintain that God does speak to them directly, sometimes with a sense of a matter, or sometimes even a voice. I usually have more static on the line than those folks, it seems. At the same time, i am attracted to the renewed interest in processes of discernment where we try to integrate spiritual concerns and prayer with other decision-making tools. Inspiration is Spirit-breathed certainly, but it still goes through the medium of our limited capacities.

Wednesday I saw an Augustine quote from facebook on an image versus a sacrament -one is seen while another is grasped...what is grasped can produce spiritual fruit. What Augustine calls grasped probably goes back to the Latin roots of words like comprehend, or better, apprehend, to grasp something. I would link a sacrament to understanding with both the mind and heart. What do the physicality of the sacraments help you to grasp in heart and mind?

Thursday-Few things show our fundamental separation from ah other more than pain. We ca sympathize; we can even wince at their pain, but we do not cross over to feel it. We ted to minimize the pain of others, or maximize our own pain. this applies not only to the body but the heart and soul as well. we can glimpse what is going on inside another, but we cannot take in what they are experiencing. Then, in prayer, the god of the suffering understands and consoles.

Friday Constant God language by some folks gets on my nerves. I really do appreciate trying to weave God into daily life. I’m not even sure why it gets on my nerves. Part of it is Presbyterian reserve about wearing religion on one’s sleeve, instead of “praying in secret” as Jesus said. Part of me hears it, even if it is not intended, as saying I am holier than thou.

Saturday -We go into an occasional spasms, to throw the rascals out. That may well be the right and prudent course, but the issue is also with whom, we going to replace the current rascals. It reminds me of sports radio where the answer seems to be always to get rid of a player or a coach.While this may allow us to vent, it almost always fails to look at the variety of connections that cause success or trouble. When we start to let our religious duties slide, could it be a subtle form of trying to force god out of life when we are disappointed?