Week of May 11 Devotional Pts.

Sunday-Ps.23 is the beloved psalm for many. I have little to add today, but I do wish to highlight “the table spread before my enemies.” Religious people still have enemies. I take the line to mean that the enemies are foaming at the mouth to see a banquet prepared for someone they hate.Enemies lurk in the valley of the shadow. Yet Yet, can they stand against the goodness and mercy of God?

Monday-“Prayer is not a way of making use of God; prayer is a way of offering ourselves to God in order that He should be able to make use of us. It may be that one of our great faults in prayer is that we talk too much and listen too little. When prayer is at its highest we wait in silence for God's voice to us; we linger in His presence for His peace and His power to flow over us and around us; we lean back in His everlasting arms and feel the serenity of perfect security in Him.” William Barclay

Tuesday-"Our business in life is less making something of ourselves than finding something worth doing and losing ourselves in it." (William Sloane Coffin) this is a fine definition of vocation, a calling not a job. Wednesday“Where there is devotional music, God is always at hand with His gracious presence.” (Bach) Our church takes understandable pride and pleasure in its musical offerings.Where does the presence of God enter your awareness with sacred or secular music? Does a particular piece of music have particular spiritual resonance for you? Thursday-Dona nobis pacem. Dona nobis pacem.Ralph Vaughan Williams, writing in 1936, produced this simple hymn as his plea for peace by referring to recent wars and during the growing fears of a new one. His text was taken from the poet, Walt Whitman, who wrote in the time of the Civil War, 1861-1865. And to this day, the wars continue. But we continue to join in the song of the ages, "Grant us Peace." We pray for peace not only among the nations but also in our communities, our church, and in our families. It all begins as we receive from the Lord Jesus his promise, "My Peace I leave with you." As we trust in the peace he gives, we have the opportunity to pass on the peace in our words and actions. As we "pass the peace" in our worship, let that be a reminder that passing the peace is also a part of our ministry in daily life. Help us Lord to identify a place in our lives where we join our Lord in answering the prayer, "Dona nobis pacem." In Jesus' name. Amen.Vern Rice Friday-I am polishing a way too long sermon on worship and Acts 2:42-47. Karl Barth saw the essence of theology, thinking the faith, in worship:” the essence of theology (is) lying in the liturgical action of adoration, thanksgiving, and petition.” At its best, worship gives us a pattern of thinking and feeling the faith. Irt gives form, pattern to our often inchoate thoughts about the divine. Saturday-Our youngest should be a graduate of Indiana University today. She is a major in art history and communications.I pray for her in matters social and private. Given my nature, i do fairly well in not worrying too much, but I still worry about both of our daughters still. Her mind’s horizon is so far expanded in her years in college, and I am grateful for her.I hope and pray the world can accept and recognize her gentle soul.