Friday - April 26, 2024

SCRIPTURE Psalm 46. 1-3 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. WORDS OF HOPE Dear God, Hear us. Fear is all around and rage abounds more than mercy. These hearts have hardened. We would never love our enemies now. We are in so much pain for all that we have lost, losing more and more each and every day. I remember a time when things were simple. We knew who our enemies were. Now, many don’t realize that we’re fighting ourselves. Open our eyes to see wisdom again–to love our enemies without sacrificing our freedom. To resist evil but never ignore it. And to heal. We are sick with grief and sick of grieving. We are oppressed on every side. The meals no longer satisfy when the children go hungry. The nights are robbed of peace with the sounds of bombs exploding overseas. And joy, could we feel it without feeling ashamed, for many are falling all around us. Wake us up Lord, bring us to our senses! We should not be fighting each other! We should not be asleep at the gates! Oh, how we lament… Remember your people, oh God, for the flock scatters and goes its own way in want of a shepherd. Remember your people, and save us from ourselves. Amen. MEDITATION DEVOTION AUTHOR Jonathon McClellan Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

SCRIPTURE  Matthew 19.11-12 Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.” WORDS OF HOPE Jesus is talking about divorce and then adds this strange mention of eunuchs. A eunuch was not just a man who had been castrated, but also men who chose not to reproduce were often considered eunuchs. He speaks of them living for the sake of the kingdom of heaven and that makes me wonder if this is not an allusion to transgender people. Anytime I dig deep into the sayings of Jesus or many of the prophets I find words that through my lens reveals a lot of queerness in the Bible. I’m not talking about condemnations but subtle affirmations that pop up when I read them closely. So often queer peoples feel that scripture is irrelevant to their lives, and since it has been used as a weapon against queer folk it’s hardly surprising. Being queer myself I felt that way for a long time until I looked at the words again but took off the filter of the heteronormative world and read the books of what we call the Bible through my own eyes. Queer eyes. PRAYER God help me to shake off the filters that keep me from seeing the good and awesomeness of your creation. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Hardy Haberman

READING Shine through me and be so in me, that every soul with whom I come into contact may feel your presence in my soul. Let them look up and see not me but only you, Jesus, and give you glory. -John Cardinal Newman WORDS OF HOPE What does being a witness for Christ mean to you? The Christian witness is not egocentric, and she does not wish to magnify herself by the action of her witness. Rather, she hopes that the loving care with which Christ has graced her life, will be evident to the needy person and provide an experience of God's loving presence to others. As a Christian (Christ in and through us), our witness should reflect the Christ presence which blesses our life. The more we allow God's Spirit to fill and enliven our lives the more clearly God will be reflected in us. When others experience your love and care, may they see less of you as a person, but more of Christ Jesus reflected in your act of witness. Cardinal Newman also says, "Stay within me and then I will begin to shine as you shine; so, to share as to be a light to others, and that light, O Jesus, will be all from you. It will be you shining on others through me. As we meditate on that part of the prayer we can understand that it speaks about the nature of our witness which allows God's loving presence to be reflected through us. Let’s concentrate on the phrase: "stay within me". A bold and effective Christian witness must be consistent! The light from a lighthouse is not turned on intermittently nor does its brightness vary. It is consistent in its brightness and motion. Its electric power source stays on! We best witness for Christ if we "keep the power on". That requires us to keep "plugged in" and fully aware of God's voice and desires for all of our life. We must be attentive to God's presence in the big events of life and the little, mundane things of our daily routine interactions. This is what God desires of us. The Spirit wants to stay with us and empower us to reflect the Divine in our witness to others. May we keep the Christ light shining consistently in our lives today! PRAYER Sweet Jesus, Flood my soul with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that my life may be only a radiance of your life. It will be you shining on others through me. DEVOTION AUTHOR Donald (Luke) Day Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

SCRIPTURE  Revelation 3.20 “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.” WORDS OF HOPE Today’s reading from Revelation is a refreshing pause in a Book filled with visions of Seven Headed dragons, scorpion women, a lion with multiple serpent tails, Prophets that look like toads, punishments, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and pits of fire. Yet, the midst of it all, the writer takes a break and suddenly sees Jesus saying, “Lets have brunch and be friends.” The writer is called John of Patmos and is certainly not the same John to whom the Gospel is attributed. Their language and style of writing don’t begin to match, and the Gospel writer John is often called the Apostle of Love, the one Jesus declared he loved best. The Book has been known by several names, the longest being “The Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ to the Seven Churches of Asia” and the “Apocalypse of John” being the shortest. It is seen by many as the center of their eschatology (a theory of the end of things or the End Times). If someone simply calls it Revelations (plural) their theology considers it to have been written to reveal happenings directly affecting us in the current era. I’m not sure what the Book is all about. Neither was Martin Luther, who simply discarded the entire Book from his Bible. I do know it has been used for centuries to scare quite a few people into believing they were the one-and-only End Times Generation who had better shape up or feel the sting of the scorpion women. I also know it was written to seven churches in Asia, not to any other generation, including ours. They probably actually understood the symbolism of those scary monsters. We have our own share of scary monsters these days and the Book of Revelation does still speak to us in one way. No matter what degrees of trials and troubles we may be facing, one promise remains constant. Jesus is always there, knocking at the door, inviting us to be friends, offering a snack and reminding us there is always hope even when we fear the monsters will never go away. That is the authentic Revelation of true comfort. PRAYER Thank you for Jesus whose Gospel of Love helped his generation interpret the writings of the Ancient Hebrews and whose everlasting friendship is always at the door to guide us today. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Dan Peeler Order of St Francis and St. Clare

SCRIPTURE  1 Peter 4.10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. WORDS OF HOPE I’m a big fan of Elton John. I began listening to him early in his career, not realizing until much later, how tumultuous his life was on so many levels in the early 70s. He dealt with coming out as a gay man, family life, music business, and all the random, unexpected things connected to following his dreams. As most are aware, he is a prolific songwriter and singer. I had the pleasure of seeing him in concert in the late 90s. This morning one song of his auto-played for me on YouTube; one of my favorites, Tiny Dancer. The lyrics and context were timely. The video itself related to many things but what struck me was my own interpretation of the phrase “tiny dancer in your hands,” which, to me, is about responsibility we adults have to the children of the world. As adults we are responsible for the things we say and do, especially focusing on what our children witnessed in all of us. Jim Henson was often quoted saying, “….the world doesn’t belong to us, it belongs to the children, we only borrow it.” which is so true. Those tiny, inspired dancers, artists, scientists, doctors, environmental protectors, and yes, even those tiny ones soon to be politicians… In all of them lies stewardship and change. Let’ ask ourselves, what is it that we imbue to them as their adult counterparts? What is it that we set as examples for how we interact with them, how we adults manage our every-day lives, and invariably create for their world? Whether I am a “kid person” or not; whether we are given the gift of teaching and understanding them, we have the job of demonstrating life; all with the ups and downs, better or worse. I invite you now to remember yourself at five years old; then 12 years old, perhaps even at 16 or 17 years. What would you have had adults do around you that made your world better? In his endless enterprises and innovations, Walt Disney formulated ideas of how to create situations in which both parents and children could enjoy and experience growth together. His primary goal was to allow us to get in touch with the child within all of us. I’m sure you could make your own list of what that means to you. Then, take a good look at what children are facing today. How do we connect with them in the NOW? Those tiny dancers are counting on each of us. They are watching us closely and they don’t care whether we are their parents or not. We are all their teachers. PRAYER Help us to remember that one of Jesus’ followers most frequent titles of respect for him was “teacher”. May we revere and honor that title in our daily encounters with the tiny dancers in our lives. DEVOTION AUTHOR Charlie C. Rose Order of St. Francis and St. Clare