Scripture

So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. John 11:6

A Word of Hope

Wasting Away

The Scriptures record that Lazarus was ill, but to put it another way, he was dying. He was not suffering because of a lack of faith. He had the faith; not only that, but Jesus was actually a friend of the family. Lazarus called on his Lord, but His Lord allowed him to suffer until death. Have you ever called onto the Lord while everything was being taken from you?

Maybe you are like Lazarus. Ask yourself these questions: Am I dead inside? Am I defeated? Is my very soul torn into innumerable pieces? Consider that reason why God is taking everything away from you is because God is setting you up to receive the riches of the Kingdom. Everything was taken away from the widow with the two mites so that she could be set up to give the last of what she had. The giving of the mites was an outward sign of what was happening inside. She was giving her heart to God. She couldn’t give her best without giving her last.

God asked another widow at Zarephath to give to the Prophet Elijah the last meal she had for herself and her son before they would die of hunger. She had to give everything she had so that when God was ready to increase her, God would make much out of the little she had. By so doing, the woman would realize that the supply was not in what she could see, but in the unseen almighty God; the same God who called light out of darkness.

Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” (John 11:14-15)

What has to die in order for you to believe?

Prayer

Sometimes the crushing drives us crazy, God. If it were not for the Lord, we would be without hope. In you God we find refuge. We had to lose everything to find you, even though we had you all along. Sometimes we focus on when we need to stop looking, and start seeing. Help us Lord to see you. How we desperately long to see you. You are invisible, but perceivable. Let us see with our hearts through heaven’s eyes. Amen.

Devotion Author

Jonathon McClellan
Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

Scripture

Matthew 2: 12-15

And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’

A Word of Hope

Today is January 7, and Christmas is over (unless you have some Orthodox friends who celebrate today as Christmas day). The twelve days have passed. Yesterday, Epiphany, is the traditional day to celebrate the arrival of the Magi. When I was younger I was taught that the early church celebrated Epiphany more than Christmas because it represented the recognition of Jesus by those outside the Jewish community;  the gentiles.

But as the passage above tells us, they are gone. The little family is left alone and Joseph has been warned of great danger from Herod. They flee. They return after the death of Herod, going to Nazareth to avoid Herod’s son who is ruling in Caesar’s name.

The Gospels give an outline, not a timeline. So putting together bits of Jesus life takes a bit of interpretation and mixing of stories. We know little but we know that some years after these events (and a few others the Gospels relate) Jesus begins his earthly ministry.

So, today, we are left with the memory of Christmas, the gifts we were given by family and friends; and mostly importantly the gift given to us by God: a Redeemer. But what do we do? Do we wait until Lent and Easter?

Or do we start to live into the gift of God? The Christ is in all of us. The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) refer to “that of God in all of us”. We must seek that out in ourselves and others.

The angels are gone. The star has set. The Magi have returned home. Joseph and Mary were left with baby and God provided a dream of salvation. We are left with our gift, ourselves, and our siblings in Christ, and a hope of salvation. But we need not flee what the world presents to us as Joseph had to do. We must not just wait for the time of remembrance of Jesus’ death at Easter. Jesus didn’t. His began his ministry knowing what the end would be.

Our walk in this world as followers of the Christ begins today. Not in the celebration of Jesus’ birth, not in the gifts, not in the wreaths and lights; but in the day to day existence of the day after Christmas.

Prayerful Words

Giver of Life, Giver of Hope, awaken the Christ in us through your Holy Spirit. Let us see and connect to that part of You that is in all of us. Give us strength to face whatever comes. Thank you for your gifts, life, love, and redemption. May we us these gifts with wisdom. Amen

Devotion Author

Weber Baker
Order of Saint Francis and Saint Clare.

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 9:7 (ESV)

Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.

A Word of Hope

Has anyone made you feel guilty for having fun yet in this New Year? In the church of my childhood, there were many experts in labeling anything I enjoyed as sin. They were usually members of my grandmother’s generation, although my grandmother did not share their enthusiasm for condemnation.

My grandmother was the wise person who introduced the joy of the above verse from Ecclesiastes into my life. She was the Encyclopedia Britannica of the Bible. She lived three houses away from my childhood home and I visited her often. When she wasn’t sewing hundreds of shirts for the local orphans home or tending her garden, I knew that it was a safe bet that she would be reading the Bible when I entered her living room.

This was the advantage she had over the other friends in her circle. They used the Bible as a weapon, but she actually read it. “Did you ever notice how many times Jesus was hanging out with his friends at mealtimes and parties,” she would say. “I think he knew how to have a good time. Why shouldn’t you?” Why? Because, according to the Holy Scriptures, God has already approved it.

By contrast, another of my early memories is the image of a Salvation Army worker, dressed in the bonnet and long dark clothing of the day, dutifully ringing her bell at Christmastime in front of Sanger Bros. Department Store. It was a cold evening. One of her fellow workers had just returned with hot chocolate. She took a sip and said, “This tastes so good, it must be a sin.” In her theology, anything that was enjoyable was sinful. Where does this fit into the philosophy, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Phil 4.4)

There are still people in the world who seem to rejoice only in making other people feel miserable. I take great pleasure in ignoring them and remembering the smile on my grandmother’s face as she said, “Don’t pay them no never-mind. They’re just jealous of you having fun because they forgot how.”

Prayer

Remind me, in this New Year, to rejoice every day in the world you have given us.

Devotion Author

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

Scripture

“Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.” (Matthew 9:17)

A Word of Hope

Not long ago, I had the pleasure of attending the art academy graduation of one of our youth; a young man I have known since he was five years old. He has always been prominent within our groups of the artistically inclined students from the Children’s or Youth Ministries who have accompanied us on many art museum field trips throughout the years. One trip I remember most was when all of us went to see a traveling Van Gogh exhibit at the Dallas Museum.

At the same time, there was a private collection of Late Victorian paintings at the SMU Meadows Museum. Common to both exhibits were a number of images of wheat harvesting; bringing in the sheaves; and while that old hymn did keep coming to mind, I was more often reminded of the “old wineskins” quote as our students and I observed the contrasts in painting styles, ranging from the Victorian studio realism to the bold abstractions of the Impressionists. The difference was striking, as well as sobering. The Victorian painters were certainly masters of their craft, representational beyond a photograph, with flawless transitions from light to dark, preserving their works with layer after expert layer of glazes. Yet, the results of all their months of laborious detail couldn’t compare in soul and vitality to the joyous splotches and strokes that took Van Gogh an afternoon to paint.

The artists’ stories were preserved for all generations. The Victorians were contemporaries of the radical Impressionists, but simply could not bring themselves to attempt anything outside their own familiar worlds; masters, yes, but destined to become quaint antiquities of their own era. They did however leave a good lesson to all of us, in or out of the world of art. No matter how proficient we may be at whatever we do, we must always be open to new dreams, to contemporary thinking, to new wineskins.

Prayer

Help us to remind our youth as well as ourselves, God, that you are born again to each generation. Guide us in fresh ways to communicate your love.

Devotion Author

Dan Peeler
Minister for Children and Families

Scripture

Matthew 13.58

And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

A Word of Hope

Some of the miracles of Jesus were almost “drive-by” events in which Jesus’ walkabout was spontaneously interrupted by those seeking healing. Some miracles actually interrupted purposeful activity or the progression of Jesus through a village. (John 9:1, Luke 5:12-16, Mark 2:4) Each occasion demonstrated Jesus’ compassion. He immediately recognized the value of the individual and her personal need as he reached out to restore her to whole living. Each occasion reveals to the modern reader that the Divine One continues to actively reach forth in loving, nonjudgmental compassion to restore individual humanity.

Generally, Jesus did not offer to explain to the onlooking crowd how they, as individuals, should interpret or experience the miraculous action. It simply happened within their sight or hearing. How they received the experience or what more they learned about God from the event; that was left to their decision. The contextual experience of the observer formed a basis to understand the miracle; however, it also would depend on the degree that they allow their inner self, their intangible spirit, to interpret what they had experienced.

Would they take the physical experience, the sights and sounds, and merge these with the sensation derived within their Homo spiritus, or would they rely only on what their physical eyes had seen? Their response to the miracle depended on all of these variables. Understandably, there would be a diversity of responses immediately after the event and much later; when in their memory, they reconstructed the event and responded to it.

We modern readers of these miracle stories are not different from those first observers. We must read (see) the event with our eyes, but elect whether or not to use our inner spirit to help interpret what the miracle story tells us about the Divine One. It is then, that we make the miracle come alive in our own lives. Truly, then we become part of that larger crowd which surrounded Jesus to watch, experience and learn from each miracle.

Prayer

Teach us to make the miracles come alive in our own lives. Amen

Devotion Author

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