Scripture

Strive earnestly to live a quiet life and to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, just as we commanded you. 1 Thessalonians 4.11

A Word of Hope

When I was a teenager and I began my junior high year, my world was rapidly changing. We had just moved to Arlington, Texas. It was a new city full of hope and promises where all kinds of new beginnings happened.

It was 1975. I began going to movies. In school, I met two artistic friends who shared common interests with me such as animation and other fantasy movies. The only thing topping that was meeting my future business partner at age 14, of course not knowing that was to be the case a mere eight years later. The time line of life moves very slowly as a teenager. But it was then I began experiencing Life was always best when I followed my bliss. That also happened to be the year that the movie, Jaws, came out… which was the very year the term “summer blockbuster” was introduced into the American vocabulary.

I saw the movie at least twice, perhaps even three times. Since then it has been one of those movies that stands out among the hundreds of other less significant films made, at least for me.

Fast forward… As I began teaching Sunday school a few years later, it occurred to me that the Bible has many stories that became their own blockbusters which stand out among the less spectacular stories. Like those movies, I look at those Bible stories differently now too. The huge carnivorous fish in Jaws, in reality, was a mechanical rubber shark. Likewise, i suppose the worldwide flood of Genesis was actually a compilation of a number of local disasters that certainly did not encompass the entire globe. It is in a similar context now that I can look back at any of those blockbuster stories and remember how thrilling and bigger than life they were; a big fish swallowing a man and later regurgitating him on the shore or the magical feat of Jesus turning water into wine in an instant.

In a strange way, the world has followed suit. Now we are inundated by the news that must be of blockbuster size in order to gain our attention. We’ve lost our way. What happens to us when we can no longer appreciate simpler times, life without big stories, and just enjoy simply working with our own hands, or walking along a beach for the sake of enjoying Creation?

The Blockbuster designation eventually lost its edge. Far too many films now are billed as blockbusters for many months before they are even released. We have also found that the addiction to big news stories has only led us to expectations of escalation; we are addicted to bigger and better. Even the truth has become secondary to the manufactured excitement.

It’s time to step back and take a deep meditative breath. I invite you now to join me and to lead by example; enjoying the simpler things of a quiet life, helping others to find and follow their own true internal bliss.

Prayer

May we cease being blinded by the emptiness of this life’s blockbusters. Open our eyes to the path to peace, so that we may follow the way of Jesus in contented silence.

Devotion Author

Charlie Rose
Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

Scripture

By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance, O God of our salvation; you are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas.…You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with richness. The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy. Psalm 65.5, 11-13NRSV

A Word of Hope

International Artists’ Day

I appreciate unique art forms including sculpture, clay, music, photography, light, glass, dance, and even digital art. There are a multitude of artistic forms that represent the creative minds of humans. It continues to amaze me as I go to various museums, art shows, and art galleries how people represent what is going on in society, cultures, and human nature in general. Daily we see various art forms on walls, buses, television, and buildings, including churches. We hear music (jazz, symphonies, hip-hop, rock, etc.) or creative sounds that set our moods

When I read the above scripture, it reminds us that God created everything from nothing the earth to the seas and beyond. God’s imagination was infinite; and since we are God’s children our creativity is limitless. We can praise God and show our gratitude by the things we create and formulate through artistic expressions. Some of the greatest songs, monuments, and sculptures have been created while we were in the midst of our emotional highs or even in our low moments of life. New research indicates that creativity may play an important and key role in our ability to thrive during tough times. In support of artistic expressions all over the world, I would like to encourage you to go to a museum, a musical, a play, an art gallery, or a concert and listen (or view) with a new perspective: the beauty of God exists in all things that are created from beginning to end.

Prayer

Dear God: We are thankful for your generosity in the area of art that can be created, viewed, and heard. We each have a creative nature and it is up to us to explore, experiment, and elevate our God-given artistic expressions to touch the minds and souls of our fellow human beings so that we make a difference in the world. May it be so, in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Devotion Author

Reverend Winner Laws
Cathedral of Hope Minister
TCU Brite Divinity Graduate

Scripture

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4

A Word of Hope

I am not specifically fond of trials or conflict of any kind. I seriously don’t recall the last time I experienced conflict that I considered it joyful on any level, especially while in the painful throws of perceived defeat.

I am very grateful God is patient while I learn because I am not always patient, particularly with myself. One of my favorite sayings is “I’ll be patient if you’ll just hurry”. In fact, all this past week my patience and faith were both tested in ways I didn’t even know it could be nor would ever want to experience again. Just as I was going to throw in the towel, God faithfully presented options when I let go of control.

Nevertheless, I am grateful I can count on the fact the God of all grace and glory is patient. God is patient toward the world and God is patient toward me. I never want to presume upon that patience in a self-centered way, but I am grateful that I can depend upon it every day and every moment.

The greater our blessings, the more we are tempted to look upon them as our own accomplishments, or as our rightful due, and to become more proud than humble. While trials test the strength of our faith, God assists us through our trials to demonstrate the strength or weakness of our faith. When I become resentful, bitter, and self-pitying during trying times, I feel weaker than the times I turn closer to God and hold onto the loving hands that patiently guide me back on track. God will carry the burden. It’s the promise we have been given. All we must do is let go and let God take the lead.

Prayer

Creator God, as I trust you had the wisdom to create the heavens and the earth, may I humble myself to believe you have the power to lead me through my life. Amen

Devotion Author

Donna Jackson

Scripture

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” Matthew 4:19

A Word of Hope

I must admit that I have a greater “understanding” of the nature of God than how the internet works, the power of computer code or how massive amounts of data can be stored on a tiny chip. I suggest that this phenomenon relates to my personal experience with these “events”. I’ve used the internet and have saved photo albums on tiny plug-in chips, but I don’t have any actual experience writing code, building mother boards or searching the innards of a mainframe server. Of such matter – I don’t have a clue! But I have had a long and deeply involved experience in relationship with God.

The experience of “getting to know God”, this intimate relationship of the Divine Creator with each person was made possible when God breathed the spark of divine communion into the lives of those early homo sapiens creating the “spiritual bridge” between us and the Creator: Later, it was made tangible when Jesus spoke the words…”Come, follow me”. When God’s Spirit whispers those words into my ear…into your ear, it is God’s invitation for each of us to enter this relationship of intimacy with our Creator and to walk day-by-day with God…growing, loving and giving thanks for those blessed words of invitation.

But we can choose to distance or limit the intimacy of this relationship by sticking our fingers into our ears and becoming deaf to God’s call, or by filtering downward the sound by the drone of our “busy life”. However, we can choose to live with our ears and eyes widely open to that Divine call to: “Come, walk with me…live your life fully in my intimate embrace”. The choice is personal and unavoidable. God invites each of us to “Come and let’s live in an intimate relationship!”

Prayer

As I continue this journey into ever-greater intimacy with you, O God, I want to respond to your awesome Divine disclosure by making my life choices, desires and actions similar to those which characterize you, the God with whom I intimately live.

Devotion Author

Br. Donald Luke
Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

Scripture

With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it… Jeremiah 27.5a

A Word of Hope

Have you ever sat down on the ground and thought that you were on top of a whole “new and exciting world” composed not just of “dirt” but grains of sand, rock and clay…organic molecules as complex as those found in your own body…life forms, some relatively simple and some multi-cellular and very complex…fungi, bacteria and viruses…bugs and worms of all types…Oh and yes, molecules of oxygen and water.

Why it’s a whole complex ecosystem right there under your “rear-end”! Don’t ignore it! Without its healthy survival, we humans can’t survive. The next time you look at some “dirt”, remember that your very life depends upon its well-being!

One of the most valuable residents of that exciting world beneath us is Lumbricus terrestris – the common earth worm…plain and simple ole earth worms. But there is really nothing simple about these divinely created animals. “Simple” – well, they don’t go to college; but “functional”- they’re fantastic! As they digest organic matter in the soil, they reduce it into simpler molecules upon which soil microbes and fungi exist. Simply put, their digestion helps their neighbors thrive turning our waste, garbage and leaves into nutrient rich soil to grow the plants upon which we depend. Our very lives depend upon this humble creature. Its essential action, hidden beneath our feet, benefits not just us but also its neighbor creatures in the soil ecosystem.

What might happen if I too would fill my day with humble acts which support the existence and well-being of the neighbors around me?

Prayer

May we always be aware of the lessons even your most humble creatures around us continually teach.

Devotion Author

Br. Donald Luke
Order of St. Francis and St. Clare