Devotional Notes for Week of Oct. 7

October 7- World Communion Sunday was started by a Presbyterian pastor in Pittsburgh during the Depression. When times are hard, we tend to go at each other’s throats. In those hard times, the pastor wanted a way to demonstrate that we are family, sisters and brothers. It has the feel of Pentecost to me. We may say the liturgy in different languages, but we all receive bread and cup together. Monday-Kent Ira Groff notes that Jesus asked 183 questions in the gospels. (No, I do not know if he is counting repetitions in the synoptic three) “In Kitchen Table Wisdom, Rachael Naomi Remen, MD, writes, "An unanswered question is a fine traveling companion. It sharpens your eye for the road." Try writing prayers using questions.” Tuesday-A friend picked up some extra work at a deli and catering company. Already she knows all of the workers and a number of the steady customers. I called her work there a secular communion. Already she is a confessor to workers and clients. It reminds me of the old saw about people using the bartender as a therapist. We just read in james 5 about confessing, telling the truth to one another. God is present whenever we do another the honor of hearing their story. Wednesday-A small storm arose when a piece of Coptic language material has a line wife of Jesus. Notwithstanding that the church is called the bride of Christ in Revelation 21, it shows our uncertainty still about the Incarnation. Of course Jesus could have been married. Perhaps he was widowed. How would it undercut the basic assumption of the church: fully human and fully divine. We do the fiath no favors to let divinity overwhelm the humanity of Jesus. Thursday- A friend praised a male for being vulnerable. She meant that he was emotionally open. I looked up the etymology of the word, and it comes from Latin, injurious, capable of being wounded. After we are hurt, we rebuild defenses, and we sometimes make them too forbidding. Can we love behind an impenetrable wall of defenses? Is not a sign of love our willingness to let them down, even a bit? Friday-I ordered a good new textbook on grief by Melissa Kelly. she underscores a new wave of grief work that emphasizes how we all cope differently with loss and come to grips with how loss changes our entire life situation. she makes the important point that we often have to negotiate our religious point of view as a consequence of loss. How did loss confirm, change, or undercut your religious points of view. what were or are your biggest arguments with the image or actions of god in relation to god and human suffering? Saturday-I waste time on Facebook. I am appalled at the misinformation to put it charitably, that people are willing to put up publically about political matters, in the name of their faith. Further, it is one thing to distort facts to persuade others, but these folks seem to believe their misstatements are factual. have we become so self-centered that the truth has to bear witness to our perceptions, and not the other way around?