Monday - April 3, 2023

SCRIPTURE  John 8:6b-8 Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. WORDS OF HOPE Having raised a daughter and a non-binary child, there were several times when my parental instincts and my feminism and allyship clashed. This happened frequently during their middle school and high school years. Often, I found myself unlearning the man I was taught to be. As a feminist, I wanted to raise children who were outspoken and independent, who took ownership of their choices, and who weren't afraid to challenge a misogynistic culture. However, I learned, sometimes rather harshly, that raising independent children means accepting that they won't always agree with me or follow my perfectly good advice. Never was this struggle more real than when it came to the clothing they chose to wear. When they walked into the room wearing something revealing, provocative, gender-bending, or simply different, decades of cultural conditioning came rushing back. I believed they deserved autonomy over their bodies and the freedom to express themselves. Yet, there I was, struggling to practice what I believed. In John 8, religious leaders set a theological trap for Jesus. Men stood ready to stone a woman to death because they accused her of adultery. And there was Jesus, drawing in the dirt (what WAS he drawing, anyway?). But notice what Jesus didn't do. He didn't say a word to the woman about what she was wearing, how she got there, or what she might have done to deserve this. Instead, Jesus turned the attention back to the men holding the stones. He made them take a good, hard look at themselves. Too often, our instinct is to ask someone to change their behavior rather than confront the culture that makes us uncomfortable. Sadly, many Christians have become quite skilled at using scripture as a weapon to police everyone else's behavior while conveniently overlooking their own. But Jesus was radically serious about self-examination. Remember the plank in your own eye before worrying about the speck in someone else's? He was repeatedly gentle with those who recognized their shortcomings and remarkably harsh toward those who considered themselves righteous enough to judge others. All people deserve safety and respect, regardless of what they wear. No one should have to make themselves smaller, less visible, or less expressive to accommodate someone else's discomfort. I had to learn that my discomfort wasn't necessarily evidence that my children were doing something wrong. Sometimes it was evidence that I still had some unlearning to do. Perhaps that's the challenge of this story. It's easy to identify with the woman surrounded by judgmental people. It's much harder to recognize ourselves among the men holding stones. Jesus didn't ask the woman to make herself more acceptable to the men holding the stones. He asked the men to examine themselves. Maybe that's where our own unlearning begins. PRAYER Mother, Father, non-binary God, help us recognize the judgments and assumptions we carry, especially those we have mis-taken for love, protection, or righteousness. Give us the humility to examine our own hearts before questioning the choices of others. Teach us to put down our stones and honor the sacred worth of every person. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Thomas Riggs

SCRIPTURE  Luke 22:47-53 While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, “Judas, is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Son of Man?” When those who were around him saw what was coming, they asked, “Lord, should we strike with the sword?” Then one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders who had come for him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as though I were a rebel? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour and the power of darkness!” WORDS OF HOPE To begin, I need to point out that the above passage of scripture is one of three versions of this particular story. In the gospel of John, it specifically named Peter as the one who draws his sword; and Malchus as the one who is struck. In Matthew’s version is the famous “those who live by the sword shall die by the sword.” Matthew also tells us that that disciple abandoned Jesus when he was arrested. I chose this particular one because it is the only one in which Jesus heals the man who is struck. Today is the International Day Against Violence and Bullying. And when I read about this day this passage, or rather all of these passages, dealing with Jesus’s arrest, came to mind. Clearly violence is here in the passage. A sword is drawn, a person is struck; but Jesus admonishes his followers that violence is not the answer. And he then heals the wound. Bullying is here too in all three versions. It clearly states that a crowd approaches Jesus, not just the high priest, his servants, or temple guards alone. In my mind, this is a form of bullying. Those who have come to arrest Jesus want to make sure that his followers can be contained. They want to make sure that Jesus is intimidated. That of course does not work on Jesus because Jesus knows what is to come. But as Matthew tells us; “you worked on the disciples.” So, what can we take from this and use in our own lives? Though it is hard to stand up to a bully or bullies; if we know where we come from, and we know where we’re going, and we are certain of our place in God; we can be more like Jesus. We can be more like the disciples were after the Pentecost. We can stand against violence and bullying. And just as Jesus does with Malchus we can bring healing to those we see who are bullied. PRAYER Great God, you have commanded that we love one another. Bring us to that place of love in whatever circumstances we find ourselves so that we may project that love to all around us so that those who would harm us or try to intimidate us are rendered powerless. And bring us in that love to a place where we neither commit violence nor try to intimidate others so that we may truly and follow the Way of Jesus. DEVOTION AUTHOR Weber Baker. Order of Saint Francis and Saint Clair

READING “Just because it's common sense, doesn't mean it's common practice.” - Will Rogers WORDS OF HOPE Today is “Use Your Common Sense Day” and also the birthday of humorist Will Rogers. His observations and many columns for the New York Times in the 1930’s still endure as delightful skewers of the famous and the infamous of the era. One of the things that made his humor so endearing was his ability to cut through the clutter of the news and political rhetoric and get to the underlying truth which was often the seed of the humor itself. He was particularly poignant when it came to his views on religion. He wrote this quote around the time of the Scopes trial in Tennessee. “The Lord put all these millions of people over the earth. They don’t all agree on how they got here, and ninety percent don’t care. But He was pretty wise when He did see to it that they all do agree on one thing. (whether Christian, Heathen, or Mohammedan) and that is that the better lives you live the better you will finish.” If that’s not great common sense, I don’t know what is. PRAYER May we all use our God-given common sense when faced with difficult times. Sometimes that means doing what Will Rogers suggested, “The best way out of a difficulty is through it.” Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Hardy Haberman

SCRIPTURE  1 Corinthians 1.30 By God’s doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption. WORDS OF HOPE There are days when I feel numb. This election season has done that to me. The campaigns and hype have been emotionally draining, and they left me feeling empty, waiting for some good thing to happen. I avoided the news as a rule. My opinion about too many things was easily reduced to how I would vote. I voted early and I hope on this Election Day you will follow through on that important privilege as well, if you haven’t already. But today’s Scripture isn’t a review of political ramblings. It’s about Christ being present throughout all of our profound emotions that come and go with or without much effort. Emotions often exist as a summation of life experiences, the triumphs, and disappointments; the random joy, anger, and sadness that define life on earth. I confess I’m usually an optimistic brain type. Like Lady Gaga’s “Born That Way”. We have a certain predetermined overriding attitude that makes us naturally feel one way or the other. We each have our recipe of chemicals within each of us that both gives us insight in our fellow Earthlings, and a glance into our often-predetermined moods. I like to think I’m in control of that, but am I? Truth is, I know too well what situations I’ve created, the failures and successes of personal history that brought me to this day, resulting in what my thoughts and actions create. I own my creation no matter how tough or how lax I’ve been on myself and I live the life I created. I must face my own profound happiness, anger, and sadness. I accept that my mood is the sum-total of unique randomness. In the Gospels, the Son of God faces the same issues. Christ is not a time traveler, but a voice for all time. Christ’s wisdom and insight into our humanity is profundity in itself. The mystery of the Word that became flesh is a wonderful, but abstract idea, giving a path to helping us deal with the unexplained or follies of living. If we dare listen to that Word, we are given God’s Door for an exit; an exit from emotional strife, dependency, sadness, the complexities of life and the ability to let go of the tiny details and embrace simplicity itself. The redeeming Christ gives us permission to love, to forgive, to create, and the most elusive thing granted to all of us, just to BE. PRAYER Thank you that regardless of environments, circumstances, or the state of our current emotional lives, your love and wisdom are always there to guide us and to redeem us. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Charlie Rose Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

SCRIPTURE  Joshua 4.8-9 The Israelites took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant had stood. And they are there to this day. WORDS OF HOPE Today’s Scripture reading is an excerpt from the narrative about memorializing God’s parting of the Jordan River before the Holy Ark of the Covenant. The story ends saying the cairn (a human-made stack of stones) is “there to this day.” That would have been written between 600-500 years before the birth of Christ. The stacking of the stones would have occurred about 500 years earlier. There’s no sign of the stone marker now. Building monuments to our achievements or significant historic incidents is an ancient human practice. They always last many years or even generations after their builders, but whether torn down by other people or by time, they never stand forever. Our generation continues the tradition, from small historic markers along the road to massive sculptures like Mount Rushmore, we are surrounded by our own versions of the cairn of Joshua. One of my historian cousins was once employed to search the countryside for sites of incidents worthy of historical markers. One of her markers stands on an early 1800’s cemetery near my house. The gravestones are mostly illegible, and my cousin is gone as well, but her diligent work still stands. My cousin’s name was Kay. She left behind many miles of markers celebrating the history made by other people, but not one to herself. Kay was a lifelong member of the largest Presbyterian in Dallas and involved in every humanitarian endeavor the church had to offer. She chaired countless ministries to foreign countries, serving the poorest of the poor and helping them help themselves by working with women’s cooperatives in Guatemala and Mexico, selling their hand made textiles at mission markets across the region. She would also always bring home loads of beautiful woven crafts and home decorations which she would market through several churches and benevolent organizations, with 100% of the profits going to the villages. Kay’s marker was her life, her spirit more durable than any stone, and she will be remembered for generations by the people Jesus loved the most. Her spirit is alive in her daughters as well. It seems to be a generational blessing in that branch of my family, and I have no doubt it will continue long after her daughters’ works are completed. Joshua honored the works of God with a stone memorial. Kay honored the works of God by doing them. There are powerful people in Washington DC today eager to clutter the environment with stone memorials to themselves. I pity them. Everything they build will crumble, but the works of the spirits of people like my Cousin Kay will live forever. PRAYER God who inspired our ancestors, we thank you for the lives and legacies of people like my Cousin Kay and for the spiritual monuments they left behind. May their examples continue to be the foundations for the markers we each have the opportunity to build every day. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Dan Peeler Order of St. Francis and St. Clare