Friday - November 15, 2024
Dan Peeler
SCRIPTURE
Romans 8. 35-38
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?…No, in all these things we are more than victorious through the One who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
WORDS OF HOPE
Who, in your life, has ever been the cause of your feeling separated from Christ? -an agnostic old friend, an articulate atheist, a proof-seeking historian? How about other Christians? We live in a disturbing age of hateful and frightened, but well-publicized and unrelenting groups who proudly proclaim themselves as Christians.
Their behavior, however, does not indicate any relationship with the loving Redeemer of all Humankind. According to several reliable surveys, they are the number ONE cause for record numbers of people, especially young people, abandoning the church and forsaking their faith, perhaps to be separated from Christ’s love forever.
I have a young friend, in his late twenties, who is wrestling with that dilemma even as I am writing this. He has been a searcher for as long as I have known him, a spirit-oriented person in a skeptical world. After seeking answers from several motivational programs and various denominations, he finally landed in a church to which he was drawn by an enthusiastic group of people his age who promised spiritual fulfillment. He was thrilled to meet young people who were also spiritual seekers.
Sadly, though they were young, the doctrine of what turned out to be a toxic denomination, was the same old rhetoric many of us have heard far too often. Their motivation for adding my friend to their number was to “Pray the Gay” out of him in order for him to be eligible to enter that special part of the hereafter reserved only for them. They had mastered the art of “Bait and Switch.” He fled.
“All they wanted to talk about was hate and fear!” he later texted me. “I thought Jesus was all about love!” Certainly, I have told him about the Cathedral of Hope and the online services. (He lives far away from Dallas) Also about other affirming churches. But he wanted to be in a young group close to home. At this point, however, he wants nothing to do with any church, anywhere, live or electronic. We still chat, but the wounds are deep and he presently plans to be permanently unchurched.
The fact that we still are in conversation gives me hope for his situation. I know the “One Way” of our fear-motivated sisters and brothers who misled him is not the way of Jesus. We’ll see what God has in store for him…and for them as well. No one is ineligible for redemption.
PRAYER
Help us to be resources of your love in a world of lies, fear, and hatred. Help us also to remember that nothing can separate us from that love. Amen.
DEVOTION AUTHOR
Dan Peeler
Order of St. Francis and St. Clare
Need More Inspiration? Read our Daily Devotions
SCRIPTURE Ephesians 3:18-19 I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. WORDS OF HOPE Today’s passage comes from a letter of Paul written to the Ephesians. It is a prayer that ends the letter and is given to encourage hope within the readers. Probably written while Paul was in prison in Rome around AD 62, it resembles other Pauline letters and was essentially an “inner-office” memo to the church in what is now Turkey. Though the message was for a specific group of believers, the sentiment still resonates with me today. The idea that “the love of Christ surpasses knowledge” speaks volumes. It tells me that God’s love is something mystical, something beyond my meager reasoning. I have thought about this a lot recently as I look at the newest photos from the Vera C. Rubin telescope. The images are the highest resolution ever taken and reveal a vastness of the universe that puts in perspective how small and precious life on Earth is. They also fill me with awe at the inconceivable fullness of the universe. My power to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of creation reminds me that I can never know it all, and that is alright with me. I am content to marvel at creation and live in the mystery of it all. It’s mystery also reminds me that the spirit of love and creation which I know as God is always with me, even in the vastness of our universe. PRAYER May we find the spirit of God in our lives and the love of Christ which sustains us. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Hardy Haberman
SCRIPTURE Matthew 6:25-27 Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? WORDS OF HOPE Happy New Year! Who’s ready to do a little house cleaning? When I was young, each church revival service would include my pastor's admonition that we must "clean out every closet in our life and let God's Spirit fill all of our life". To a little boy, it was very dramatic; however, it took teenage years and older experience for that to really have potent meaning. If we are honest, we all have areas of our life in which God does not rule. The entrances to those "closets" are blocked by old junk which we have piled up there for the purpose of keeping those areas private and off-limits from outside change. They're our personal places of unforgiveness, greed, dishonesty, etc. (you can fill in the etc. yourself). We all know that the Holy One is a God of absolute perfection, purity of goodness, forgiveness, love and kindness. And that God wants our lives to manifest as much purity of motive and action as possible for us to achieve. Now, there is the rub... "for us to achieve". Even with our best efforts, by ourselves we usually fail to fling open those closet doors and let the goodness and forgiving light of Christ Jesus flood those spaces of living. It requires divine help and forgiveness for us to unstack and remove the piles of junk (excuses, delays, distractions, etc.) which have blocked God out of those life areas. With the help of divine power, you can pitch out a lot of garbage which is not worthy of a garage sale and thus open wide all aspects of your life to God's presence. The Holy One can work only in areas of life which we make available for the divine living presence! We need to regularly seek out those closeted areas and pray that God's presence will "fill every nook and cranny" of our life! And a brand New Year is the perfect place to start. PRAYER Throughout 2026, may the Living Presence of Christ Jesus fill every nook and cranny of my being to grow me to be a more effective and faithful servant of yours. DEVOTION AUTHOR Donald (Luke) Day Order of St. Francis and St. Clare
SCRIPTURE Joshua 1.9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. WORDS OF HOPE Today’s Scripture reading wraps up the first chapter of the Book of Joshua and references the transition of the leadership of the ancient Hebrew people after the death of Moses. Joshua had been Moses’ assistant, confidant, and communicator of the commandments throughout most of their wilderness wanderings. He was now given the honor and task of leading them into the Promised Land. Today we interpret the Promised Land in many ways. In Christianity, the Promised Land is spiritually and metaphorically symbolic of divine promises fulfilled. In Judaism and Islam, it is seen as the same divine fulfillment, except literally, and the land they are talking about is the same land. Therein lies the conflict as God-ordained ancestral homes become geopolitical conflict. That was the problem facing Joshua as he was about to step into a much-coveted territory that would begin a 3,000-year long dispute that has yet to see a viable settlement. He had to be strong and brave, without fear, and had to guard against discouragement. To be confident that his God would be with him throughout his journeys and military confrontations within this new homeland he had been promised. How much of the Book of Joshua is fact and how much of it is retro-fitting God’s will into a conflict over territory we can’t ever know, but the Book does teach us that even in what may seem to be an impossible situation we can be encouraged to aspire for the same strength, bravery, courage, and drive that Joshua demonstrated in this book about wars within ourselves and with others. This is Twelfth Night, the last night of Christmastide, and we stand thankful for the gifts of God during the now completed year. As we stand at the beginning of another New Year, as fresh as Joshua was as he received the mantle of Moses, we must remember that eternal promise made to him is the same one made to us today: “the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” 2026 is our current Promised Land from God. The rest is up to us. PRAYER God of Promises, thank you for the opportunities, challenges, lessons, and learnings, trials and triumphs of the exciting year before us. May we always carry the assurance that you will be with us wherever we go. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Dan Peeler Order of St. Francis and St. Clare
SCRIPTURE Proverbs 22:6 Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. WORDS OF HOPE On this Friday, January 2nd, the celebrations are still not over for a lot of us since it begins a holiday weekend. But, the holidays are not always a happy time for so many people, but over the years, I have been blessed with the ability to put the bad memories behind me and gravitate toward the things that have warmed the holidays of my life. It’s a New Year, but still Christmastide, and although none of my grandparents are still alive, there are so many “Santa Claus – time” things they did that stick out in my mind. Today we have things like Pinterest to look at all the visuals of what some people call “Vintage Christmas” where we can relive some of our generic favorite memories. But my memories are specific. My maternal grandmother created so many indelible holiday memories, certainly without knowing it. She probably didn’t realize that making granny’s popcorn balls would be a memory that would literally stick with me forever. One year I think she might’ve been behind schedule when she asked all the grandkids to butter up their hands and help her make popcorn balls, which we had enjoyed almost every year when she was alive. It’s amazing what those 15 or 20 minutes did for me as we had been given the honor to help make her famous holiday treat. We felt important, useful! In fact, none of us realizes what a simple smile or friendly gesture does for someone this time of year. We don’t really know what’s going on in somebody else’s world. But my grandmother’s lesson is one that I became very conscious of at this time of my life when I see Sunday school kids I taught years ago, all grown up and out of college, some of them with children of their own. Those kids are the same age their parents were when I had the privilege of being a small part of their lives. I am fortunate to still know many of those kids of yesteryear and hear them reminisce about the good times we had together. My grandmother would never know the warmth she created in my childhood would be my favorite holiday memories today. She taught me, without words, that each of us could be the creators of happy times now that will be the treasures of someone’s future. In this New Year, what is something you or I can do that might forever enhance or change someone else’s life? If we live our lives with Jesus’ love model as our guide, it’s usually not something that we’ll think about ahead of time. That was my grandmother’s way. She loved us. I’m sure sharing those buttery popcorn treat moments we treasure now were her own reward. And she was truly creating many future Happy New Years for the ones she loved. PRAYER May each of us today be someone’s happiest holiday memory tomorrow. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Charlie C. Rose Order of St Francis and St. Clare
SCRIPTURE 2 Corinthians 4.16-18 Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. WORDS OF HOPE A Poem for the New Year We are Eternal My steps in the sand go very deep. And forgive my defiance, But you are not my god to Tell me otherwise. If a house fly lives for two days, Assuming it dies naturally, Then assuming I die naturally, It is as though millennia are passing. And time, Being relative, No longer matters. Though I see that it matters to you. In this known universe, Countless “trees” seem young and old. But the “forests” are really continuums. See the forest from the trees. How many organisms live and die in Milliseconds? How many stars live and die in Millions of years? Don’t ask, “How long is eternity?” Eternity is how many steps Can be taken in a perfect circle. If you can perceive Your agedness, Then tell me, How does a fly measure time? PRAYER From John 17.3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Jonathon McClellan Order of St. Francis and St. Clare
SCRIPTURE Revelation 21.1-2 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. WORDS OF HOPE Today’s Scripture reading is from the Book of Revelation. It’s been called by several longer titles such as the Revelation of Jesus Christ to Saint John the Divine and incorrectly referred to simply as Revelations (plural). The “John” referred to is undoubtedly not the Gospel writer John who wrote the gospel of Love. Most of the book is about the bad guys being defeated and punished by a variety of angry angels and monstrous composite animals. However, the creators of these daily lectionary readings showed mercy in choosing this New Years’ Eve passage. They skipped to the happy ending. This is apocryphal literature, which was almost always directed to the persecuted masses, and spends a lot of time picturing their oppressors suffering a lot, and finally ends with the victims being much richer and more privileged than their rulers ever were. Revelation is specifically directed to the early Christian churches who, along with the Jews of the first century, had suffered through many years of prejudice, ethnic hatred, Totalitarian rule, and an emperor who was literally worshipped as a god. This idea of their world having “passed away” and replaced by an idyllic new world was standard prophetic language used by Isaiah, the Apostle Paul, and even Jesus on occasion to award their depressed audiences with a glimmer of hope. Isn’t that the way a large percentage of people feel this New Year’s Eve? But, I’ve had similar feelings on this occasion in previous years; regrets for failures, big and small, for things I have done, but usually for things I never got around to doing. Add to that the dissatisfaction with the government, the decrease in civility in our interactions with our neighbors; you know the list. The first century Christians’ lists were much longer. In the days Jesus walked among us, God was thought of as an anthropomorphic deity who sat on a throne above the clouds. Jesus preached that this wasn’t the case, that the Spirit of God was always among us available to guide and inspire us, to forgive us for our shortcomings and teach us to forgive others and ourselves. God would not be seated on a throne descending from above in a golden cloud city. Jesus made that concept archaic. God was beside them then and is beside us now. That knowledge gives us hope for every New Year. PRAYER Forever-present God, thank you on this New Years’ Eve when we can reflect on the state we have made of the world and our lives. May this ending of an old year remind us that there is never an ending to your love and guidance for us as we precede with hope to a better new one. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Dan Peeler Order of St. Francis and St. Clare