Scripture

“Gentle words are healers and helpers; but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.” Proverbs 15.4

A Word of Hope

There have been a lot of posts on social media lately by animal rights activists on the subject of big game hunting. Images of gloating hunters posing with their prizes are nauseating to me, to say the least. Not only are they extinguishing a precious lives, they are also displaying a deliberate ignorance about the delicate balance of the ecology. Every time I see one of these posts, I am reminded of the Ray Bradbury short story, “A Sound of Thunder.” It’s about a time-traveling safari company that specializes in accommodating the desires of wealthy big game hunters.

The jaded hunters have grown bored of wiping out the same old local species year after year and are now longing for bigger game from the past; like a Tyrannosaurus or a Pterodactyl, perhaps. The hunt is timed so that the kill will be made at the exact moment a particular animal would have died anyway, so as not to cause an event that could change history. They are confined to standing on some sort of sci-fi generated path that floats above the ground so that not even the smallest flora or fauna is disturbed. Inevitably, someone blunders off the path thinking no real harm had been done, but on returning to his own time discovers history indeed has profoundly changed. Then one of the other hunters happens to notice the sole of the boot of his clumsy companion. On it is the crushed remains of a tiny pre-historic butterfly. He had unwittingly interrupted the flow of events in the natural course of the food chain.

The importance of little things, supposedly insignificant events the world sees as irrelevant, was an often-explored motif in many of Bradbury’s sci-fi stories, but this particular example has stayed with me for years. -A crushed butterfly. How often, as children or adults, have we callously brushed aside or destroyed small lives such as those without any regard for environmental consequences? In that same regard, how often have we injured the spirit of another human being with a thoughtless word that would change that person’s future forever? We see the same motif repeated throughout the Bible, too. James compares the tongue, such a little thing, to the rudder of a ship guiding it into peaceful seas or destroying the vessel on the treacherous rocks.

Whether we choose to use our feet to squash a very essential spider or our tongues to crush a spirit, these supposedly irrelevant actions do matter to God, and who can predict when our planet’s future can be changed forever by a thoughtless action in the present?

Prayer

Loving God, teach me to tread lightly in your world.

Devotion Author  

Dan Peeler
Minister for Children and Families
Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

Scripture

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139.13-18

A Word of Hope

Humankind – You are made of Stardust

Ancient people thought of themselves in very tangible terms: blood, muscle, sweat, fecundity, etc. Yet, each of these aspects of our body and its function are constructed from stardust similar to that which is observed in the nighttime sky. We continue to be connected to those distant night-lights because our bodies are remnants of the subatomic particles, which were generated from that point of singularity. All of our universe is essentially unified from that single speck of energy. The flowering of differences, which we witness on Earth reflects the creating gifts and purpose of the Divine One.

So, if we accept that we, like the stars, plants and animals, are made of the same stuff; why is it so difficult for many Christians to accept that humans are developmentally part of that progressive creating or flowering of life forms? To many people the thought of connecting us to simple things, e.g. dust, yeast and monkeys, is considered demeaning. The real majesty of this relationship is found in its unity and the wise power of the Creator, which ordained the potential for all of this in that original point of creation.

To many Christians the word evolution invokes chills up and down the spine and immediate gasps of denial. These are responses generated by fear that in accepting this concept there will be a diminishment or denial of the creative work of God. However, accepting the possibility that God’s creating work involves this flowering of diversity and development demonstrates the Divine’s wisdom. So, let us Christianize the word evolution and recognize that from the original unity (point of singularity) God continues to bring forth great diversity with a single goal of interrelationship and ultimate unity in relationship with the Divine One.

Prayer

Thank you for the diversity of Your stardust, unified from that single speck of energy, for our eternal interrelationship with You. Amen

Devotion Author

Br. Donald (Luke) Day
Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

Scripture

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia: Grace and peace to you from God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Praise to the God of All Comfort

Praise be to the God and our Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

We do not want you to be uninformed about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead and who has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On Christ we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.   2 Corinthians 1.1-11 (NIV)

A Word of Hope

The second book (or letter) to the early church in Corinth is very different from the first.  In the first, the writer chastises the early church for the way it treats its members.  They are not living by the values that Christ taught the early disciples and remained unchanged by the Holy Spirit that causes transformation in our lives. 

The first epistle calls them to change their ways, to treat each person as an equal sibling in Christ; to put away the ways of the past and to step into a glorious present that is made whole in living more Christ-like.

The early Church took notice!  By the time this second letter is sent, the writer is obviously impressed and is far more complimentary of the Corinthian Christians.

In this opening chapter, Paul is letting the Corinthians know what is going on in his life and justifying the reason why he had not yet returned to visit them, as he said he would.  He uses this letter to encourage them in their faith, even if they must suffer, for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus.

Paul speaks favorably of them and commends them for the changes in their behavior. However, he also addresses some of their overzealous acts.  For instance, the man who was sleeping with his father’s wife was not allowed back into the Christian community, even after his expressed repentance.  He cautions them for being too harsh and instructs them that they should forgive the sinner and welcome him back into fellowship.

It is a timely reminder for us all that we should extend a radical welcome to all who express a belief in Jesus Christ.

In our churches today, many are judged harshly for their shortcomings and I lose count of the number of people who have shared with me their stories of exclusion.  The pain and suffering is not at the hands of those outside the church, but those inside – those who should know better.

Paul might write a similar letter today, reminding the church that our job is to extend radical love, compassionate hearts and to extend forgiveness to one another as God forgives.

It is sad to hear these stories, but I remain grateful to places and communities like Cathedral of Hope UCC who have learned the art of forgiveness and compassion and who are living into the values of extravagant grace, radical inclusion and relentless compassion. 

These are the values the Jesus speaks to and the church should resemble as the body of Christ in the world today.

No matter what we have done, or what we will do, God is still speaking through these acts of grace that keep us close, connected and loved.

Prayer

God of us all, help us to extend forgiveness in the same way that we accept Your forgiveness.  Amen.

Devotion Author

Rev. Dr. Neil G. Thomas
Senior Pastor
Cathedral of Hope UCC Dallas

Scripture

“Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch; and he built a city, and named it Enoch after his son.” Genesis 4.17

A Word of Hope

“So, where did Cain get his wife?” the rationalist lawyer Clarence Darrow asked the fundamentalist politician William Jennings Bryan. The famous political leader had taken the stand in the famous Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925. Bryan mumbled something about “leaving the agnostics to hunt for her” and the bitter cross examination went on.

Incredible as it may seem to so many of us, the bitter discussion of Creationism vs. Evolution is still going on. The defendant in the 1925 trial was simply a seeker of answers to such questions. He was a teacher, John Scopes, who was accused of violating a Tennessee statute against teaching the theory of evolution in public schools. After a week in court he was found guilty of breaking the Tennessee law, but the media of the day had already awarded an overwhelming victory to the eloquence of Darrow over the religious rhetoric of Bryan.

Karen Armstrong in her 2007 book, The Bible-A Biography, comments on the impact of the Scopes trial:

“The press gleefully denounced the fundamentalists as hopeless anachronisms, who could take no part in the modern world. This had an effect that is instructive to us today. When any fundamentalist movements are attacked, they usually become more extreme.”

Before the trial, southern fundamentalists were suspicious of evolution, but few went so far as to champion the literal 6-days-of-creation belief later to be known as Creation Science. But the bad press about the trial had  put them on the defensive as never before.

Armstrong concludes: “Before Scopes, fundamentalists had been willing to work for social reform with people on the left; after Scopes, they swung to the far right of the political spectrum, where they have remained.”

Karen Armstrong’s wisdom should give us pause, especially in the midst of the internet media vitriol that seems to permeate our nation today. It is distressing to see formerly responsible news outlets becoming biased courtrooms, applauding one view at the expense and humiliation of another. This kind of sensationalism does nothing except keep the fires of hate burning.

I thank God that, as individuals, we have the option to use our time more productively; pursuing justice centered on what we believe is God’s initiative. We have the opportunity to support benevolent groups such as Dallas Hope Charities in doing what is right, rather than logging frustrating hours on Facebook building our case against what we believe is wrong.

Prayer

Help us to remember that when we choose to sow seeds of hate, the only result will be a hateful harvest.

Devotion Author

Dan Peeler
Minister for Children and Families
Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

Scripture

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Acts 2.42

A Word of Hope

The Book of the Acts of the Apostles has some brave and inspiring stories on the theme of Christian unity. These founders of our Christian communities tested their own faith every day in their efforts to be “One in the Apostles’ Teaching, Fellowship, Breaking of Bread, and Prayer.” This was quite a challenge since the Apostles themselves often were known to have some healthy disagreements about their own courses of action. Yet they still called their brothers and sisters to continually make each day one of prayer toward renewed commitment to working together. Genuine unity had been modeled for many of them so recently, in the life and works of Jesus, who they had personally known as a friend and teacher. They also knew Jesus was the champion of diversity.

Our own congregation as a whole certainly has a lot of opportunities to follow the lead of our Early Church mothers and fathers as our worship services and programming focus on study, service, communion and prayer as our most worthy undertakings. Unity should be the goal of every aspect of any Christian community. Of course, our faith origins are from all over the map. If a little impatience and if a few healthy disagreements arise in our theological discussions, we are in good company. The Apostles themselves recognized and respected the infinite variations the Christ had inspired within each of them.

Only when we acknowledge and respect the differences within our own family can we learn to live in peace as part of the greater world community of faiths. The Book of Acts can always be a good guide for our behavior. Compare the diversity of theological teachings between Paul and Peter sometime, or the difference in discernment issues between Paul and Barnabas. Aspiring to be a reflection of the Early Church does not reveal a picture of bland uniformity. It was their diversity that kept them alive and thriving; their vital conversations that still inspire our own, and the same Holy Spirit who still guides us.

Prayer

Come Holy Spirit, guide our lives and hear our prayers during these sometimes divisive days in our world’s history that we may always be true to ourselves, but forever united in your love.

Devotion Author

Dan Peeler
Order of St. Francis and St. Clare
Minister for Children and Families