devotions Week of january 15

January 15-Ps 139 has so many engaging phrases. “If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me “(9-10). If one saw god as a hunter, this would be frightening. With the yes of say, the Runaway bunny, it tells us of a love that “will not let us go.” It is part of the same impulse that has the good shepherd search for the one lost sheep. Know that no valley is too dark and deep, no mountain to high and lofty for the presence of God,

Martin Luther King Day-MLK had a doctorate in social ethics from Boston University but went to a pastorate and found himself in the midst of the developing boycott against seating segregation on buses in Birmingham. One night in his kitchen, with the weight of early death weighing on him, in prayer he had a moving revelation. to stand up for righteousness. Do yourself a favor a read some of his writing, or just a few quotes to bring to mind a rhetorical genius, a Christian minister to his untimely end.

Tuesday-Sometimes you want to be helpful but end up feeling powerless. When you try to say or do something, ti seems as if it is the wrong thing. We ask if there is something we can say or do, and the answer is often, “no.” We often say we can listen, and that is true but it does not feel as if it enough. We pray for inspiration, for the right word or deed, and that intuition means much. If we do what we can, then we can stay in touch but turn the pressure over to God.

Wednesday-My calendar says we start the week of Christian unity today. Part of me thinks that it is such a same we need such a week. On the other hand, part of me likes Christian disunity on the grounds of letting a hundred flowers bloom in diversity. What do you consider the elements that all Christians share/ What divides us that you consider trivial? What good comes out of the great diversity of faith responses?

Thursday-Our church deacons meet today.They appear as people who help provide relief to widows in Acts 6. Calvin emphasized the diaconate in Geneva. In our church government, the diaconate is our formal attempt to continue work of care and compassion. Every Christian is called to work of care and compassion. Quick, where do you act as a deacon even if not ordained to the office?

Friday- A book singing is held for one on Roger Williams today. He was a dissenter against the Puritan commonwealth in Massachusetts and founded what would become Rhode Island, He spoke of a high wall of separation between the garden of the church and the power of the state. he was one of the few early colonists who sought to treat Indians fairly. What aspects of free exercise of religion are most important to you. How do you try to navigate the wall of separation between church and state?

Saturday-I feel the need to reassert private interior spirituality today with so many more public pieces for this week. When I helped lead a new pastors group, I said that they would not get much help in tending their own spiritual gardens, but if they did not they would be operating on fumes sooner than they could imagine. Private practices refuel our spent spirits.