Devotional Pts. for Week of Dec. 4

Sunday- Ps 72 is a royal, political psalm.  For this season, vv. 10-11, 15 are linked to the Magi. Also, after the election look at how a ruler is judged at vv1-4,12-14. What prayers will you offer for our political leaders?

Monday-One of the beautiful practices of both the Celtic and Jewish imagination is blessing the world, blessing each and every encounter, experience, every ordinary moment. In the Jewish worldview, each act becomes worthy of blessing. Gratitude is offered for all gifts: upon awakening, when crossing a threshold, eating a meal, lighting candles. The Talmud calls for one hundred blessings each day.".--- Christine Valters Paintner

Tuesday-Dedicate one day this week to the casting of one hundred blessings upon all the myriad encounters and experiences that occur as you walk through the ordinary magic of your day.

Wednesday-Humanity cannot take Advent and God's coming among us to heart if we bypass the prophets. God's people struggled mightily with faithfulness and faithlessness. Their struggle and lack of discernment often brought dire and desperate consequences. Yet through the cacophony of pleas, arrogance, and wars, God's prophets spoke to the people of a redemptive future of joy, kindness, and peace—all made possible by God's steadfast love born into the world. When we allow God's prophets to speak a word to us, alongside those of the Gospel writers, we discover an even more stellar and glorious gift in the manger: Because of the darkness, the Light comes to us. Pamela Hawkins

Thursday-Eckhart asks: 'What is life? God's being is my life. If my life is God's being, then God's existence must be my existence and God's is-ness is my is-ness, neither less nor more.' He is speaking of identity with God’s being, not humans becoming God."

Friday-Hope has the power to sustain us in the midst of a life of uncertainty and dis-ease as well as a world of dissonance and violence. It is so not because of the one who hopes but because of the one in which that hope is placed."

Saturday-Scotus-We suffer from the "soul's forgetfulness," he says. Christ comes to reawaken us to our true nature. He is our epiphany. He comes to show us the face of God. He comes to show us also our face, the true face of the human soul.