Thursday - February 27, 2025
D. Pat Saxon
SCRIPTURE
1 Corinthians 4
Love is patient, love is kind…
WORDS OF HOPE
I thought I would never get over grieving Charley’s death. My sweet rescue boy who died of pancreatic cancer in June of 2023. Since that day I’ve been a kind of Ancient Mariner in the neighborhood, attaching myself to folks walking dogs and telling my tale of woe as well as inviting myself to friends’ homes to play with their pups. But recently I started just to look at shelter websites and rescue organizations on line, including East Texas. And for some reason, amidst all the diverse and wonderful creatures, one face captured me—a midsized greyish dog , with a spread of white across her neck, and white blaze on her face. A thoughtful face, fitting for a dog named Sage.
With subtle heart-openings day by day, I decided that after Christmas I would go visit the Friends of Marshall Adoption Center and meet Sage. When I got there, the volunteer who greeted me was over the moon excited since Sage had been with them for over a year—their longest resident. No one could understand it because she is a sweet and loving girl. I discovered that Sage was in foster care while recovering from knee surgery a few months ago. Her foster mom Amy brought her to the center to meet me, and everyone was hoping that she would be adopted out. Anticipating bringing her home, I had packed up a sack of new toys and treats and brought a bed for her, but because she had a post-surgical check up in a few weeks, we thought it best to delay and let Amy continue to keep her. Patient love, I kept hearing in my head. Patient love.
Amy was a wonderful foster mom who would have adopted Sage in a heartbeat except that she and her husband already had 3 large “boomer children” and one aging dog. But we kept in close contact. I’d send queries about Sage’s personality, medical issues, and progress. Amy would answer and include pictures and videos that I would moon over. (Embarrassing, I know. Grandparents, you understand!) In the interim, I “puppy proofed” the house, looking for everything toxic (moving Christmas poinsettias up higher) or too enticing for a dog to resist—like shoes and trash baskets with no tops. I replaced pickets in my old fence—caring less about how they looked than that they would hold up against the pressure of canine shoulders on a scent. All the while, the tide of anticipatory love grew stronger.
Valentines weekend I drove out to pick up Sage. Though thunderstorms were forecast for the day, it was clear when I got there and began to reconnect with the volunteers who filed out in numbers to say good bye to this sweet girl. There were lots of tears—of gratitude and relief (one more dog saved) and affection. And then we loaded her into the car and started home. Her forever home.
In the few days that we have been together, her personality has been emerging as we share a space and take the 3 walks a day necessary for her rehab. She is curious about everything and loves to sniff, not with just a passing whiff, but with the attention of a mindfulness master: she causes me to stop to smell the roses, behold the golden glory of pansies, and turn my head upward at the cooing of a mourning dove, as she watches and listens.
Now, who rescued who?
PRAYER
God of patient and kind love, call us to make room in our hearts for creature kin who, though wounded, have so much love to give. Amen.
DEVOTION AUTHOR
Dr. Pat Saxon
Need More Inspiration? Read our Daily Devotions
SCRIPTURE John 15:12 (NIV) My command is this: love each other as I have loved you. WORDS OF HOPE It’s almost a New Year and time to get back to the basics. Jesus talked about love many times. He lived his life, coming from a place of love and he died for all of us, because he loved. In this scripture, he is saying, I command you to love each other like that! I admit, I am a bit daunted when I face this challenge. As I see it, that leaves no room for me to pick and choose which, among his children, we will love. It leaves no room for us to mete out little bits of love. This is full out, love, as we have never loved before. We cannot count the cost. We cannot just love with our hearts. We have to love with our whole beings. That's a bit overwhelming, but God has provided the miracle of the Holy Spirit to make up for our human weakness. There is no limit to what God can do through us if we let ourselves be challenged beyond limits. I know that I have seen God transform lives, and give hope where there was no hope. I believe God can use committed people who trust him, to create change in our families, our communities and our world. It can happen if we love as Jesus Loves. PRAYER Beloved God, God of Amazing Love, I read your word, and I feel excited and challenged. I feel small when I consider what big things are needed. But I know you, God. I know you will make me brave when I am afraid. I know you will put people in my path who need your love. Help me to do what is needed rather than what I think I can do. Help me to love bigger than I know how to love. Help me to love as you love. I give myself to you. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Carole Anne Sarah
SCRIPTURE Acts1.8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. WORDS OF HOPE Anticipating the beginning of the year, we begin to think about the type of spiritual fuel we will need to empower our daily life with others. When we read today’s Scripture, we stop at the divine gas station and get our tank full for the new day's opportunities. But, before we head out from the station, we may need some advice about current traffic conditions or problems... get some help to travel the route. Consider this prayer: "Christ Jesus, may I go forth next year to be and to do your divine will in all the opportunities you give me each day." In the days the Greek Scriptures were written, servants were foolhardy to go out into the daily marketplace and expect to accomplish their master’s request if they were not accompanied by a recognition or authorization from the master for whom they worked. Similarly, we cannot expect to do God's business without the divine living presence with us. It's that simple! If we don't recognize the need to live our active lives with God's constant presence, we venture forth on our own and without that divine loving presence. Now, the real problem is not one in which God chooses not to work with and through us; rather, it is our constant need to recognize that we must have the living presence of God to facilitate our life actions! For that reason, we need to pray each day and be very mindful that we seek God's presence to be expressed in all that we do. God is very willing to go with us, but we cannot ignore the divine presence’s help. It's so easy to get caught up in the moment's actions, thinking that we have it all figured out, and forget about God's always-present help for the situation. Each day, we need to think about our self in the plural - we together – act and speak with others. And the "we together" must always be God and us! PRAYER Christ Jesus, may we TOGETHER go forth this day to be and to do your divine will. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Donald (Luke) Day Order of St. Francis and St. Clare
SCRIPTURE Acts 6. 8-15 Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and others of those from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and argued with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. Then they secretly instigated some men to say, ‘We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.’ They stirred up the people as well as the elders and the scribes; then they suddenly confronted him, seized him, and brought him before the council. They set up false witnesses who said, ‘This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law; for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses handed on to us.’ And all who sat in the council looked intently at him, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel. WORDS OF HOPE December 26 is an interesting day in the church and secular calendar. It is Saint Stephen's day in Western Christianity (December 27 in the Eastern orthodox.) It is the day which Stephen, one of the first chosen leaders of the disciples was martyred. In the passage immediately before the one above, Stephen has been chosen as one of seven to help with the distribution of food among all the disciples. Stephen is described as a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. Essentially the seven were chosen because the Apostles were not able to handle the duties of the day today and also preach the gospel. In the United Kingdom and many parts of the former British empire, today is Boxing day. Is the day on which servants and tradesmen were given a Christmas box containing a little money, a small gift, perhaps some food leftover from the Christmas table. This seems to be an appropriate thing to do on the second day of Christmas, (the 12 days of Christmas last until January 6 with the arrival of the Magi). The first day of Christmas is the great gift of the birth of Christ, the second day, is a day to recognize and give something to those who perhaps have less than we do. Or at least two people who work very hard so that we have more than they do. Just as Stephen became a servant, (a waiter at the table, as the previous passage says), so we have many of those who serve. Boxing Day gives substance to that recognition. Today is also Thank You Note Day. It is intended for handwritten thank you notes to be produced and to be sent. With email and text messaging and various electronic means of greeting ‘cards’ we have perhaps lost some of the simple joy that comes from receiving a handwritten note in the mail placed on our front door. I personally admit I'm a sucker for this. Since I was a small child, I have loved going out to the mailbox to see what has arrived. I don't know if I got the same sort of serotonin boost that they claim people get when their phone dings, but I suspect that's exactly what happened. I am old enough that within a week of having received a Christmas present, my mother made me sit down and write thank you notes. This is something that I fear we are losing in our society. And I will bluntly state that this is a bad thing. So today as a devotion I ask you to sit and make a list of people who are giving you something not just for Christmas but throughout the entire year. Sit down and write them a thank you note. You may be thanking them for a physical gift; or you may be thanking them for a job well done; support or love or friendship. These too are valuable gifts. If you can, send it through the Postal Service or deliver it yourself. And in all of that, don't forget to thank the God who brought those people into your life. Don't forget to thank the God who sent Jesus to show you a way to God. And try with great devotion, prayer, and meditation to make your thanks more than an obligatory action (like many of mine that my mother made me do) that is a true heartfelt thanks for things, small and large that have been done for you in your life this last year. PRAYER God of gifts, God of life, God of all, thank you for this world and all that is in it, and all the people with whom we interact each day. Help us to see that of God in every person so that we may be thankful for their presence. Bring to us the thankfulness that we need for our friends and our enemies that we may all come together in peace. DEVOTION AUTHOR Weber Baker Order of Saint Francis and Saint Clare
LYRICS READING Be born in me, be born in me. Trembling heart, somehow I believe that you chose me. I’ll hold you in the beginning. You will hold me in the end. Every moment in the middle make my heart your Bethlehem. Be born in me. Sung by Francesca Batistelli https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eimaffzsLk WORDS OF HOPE It’s been a season of waiting, of longing, of calling out for Emmanuel to come—into our world, into our lives. And Francesca Batistelli’s beautifully rendered song, a contemporary imagining into Mary’s heart-cry as she awaits the birth of Jesus, provides a resonant reflection for this Christmas Day. In the first stanza of the song, Mary acknowledges her desire for order, but thrown into confusion about the encounter with Gabriel, her anxiety and uncertainty about her worthiness surface. But this is not a process of logic where she weighs pros and cons. No, before her “head agrees,” her “heart is on its knees” in awe and humility and she feels the sacred blessing: “Holy is he, blessed am I.” With “trembling heart,” “somehow” she believes she was chosen, and by the ending of the song, her surrender is complete. Centuries ago, the German mystic and philosopher Meister Eckhart boldly asserted that the nativity means little if Christ is not born in us in our time and culture. We are meant to be the mothers of God, a God who always needs to be born. So we, like Mary, pray, “Be born in me, be born in me”--sometimes from a place of pure joy, sometimes in confusion or doubt, or from deep sorrow or desperation at the state of our world. To become a Christ-bearer is to know an expansion of the heart, to become an embodiment of a love that risks vulnerability, that expands the boundaries of our lives, that “wraps [themself] inside the unexpected so we might know that Love would go that far.” It is a love that journeys to the margins to bring home the excluded and oppressed and is emboldened to seek justice on their behalf. This has always been the story: the Divinity at the center of the universe who so yearns for their creatures that we are conceived and held in love always, with a caring which does not abandon us—even when friends do, or a beloved dies, or troubles come, or evil manifests its ugly face in the world. We have been fashioned in this love, through this love, and for this love. So when we act in and live out this compassion, we become Mary, birthing Jesus over and over. In no way is this about worthiness. God loves us, and there is nothing that can make God love us more and nothing that can make God love us less. This is the good news of the message of Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrate this day. May we all give thanks and praise. Blessed Christmas! PRAYER Divine Love, help us remove any impediments and heal any wounds that would diminish our embodiment of your radiant love. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Dr. Pat Saxon
SCRIPTURE Genesis 21. 1-7 Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah and had said and did for Sarah what had been promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” WORDS OF HOPE On this Christmas Eve, as we anticipate the birth of Christ into the world, today’s scripture reading reminds us of another miracle birth to the two people who were the founders of our faith. Sarah and Abraham had been promised a child for many years and in fact Sarah was about 90 years old when the birth of Isaac finally occurred. Isaac’s name means “Child of Laughter” and Sarah hoped that everyone who ever knew of the story of his birth would share the same kind of joy that she had experienced. These would certainly have been Mary’s wishes as she gazed on that baby in the manger. That manger in which the newborn Jesus lay no longer exists. Long ago, it fell into uncertainty or the weather of time. But spiritually at each Christmas season, it continues to draw us into its presence and offer weary humanity it's redeeming hope. The poet and writer Marty Haugen put it this way: "Holy Child within the manger, long ago yet ever near; Come as Redeemer to every stranger, calm our hope for every fear. Once again, we tell the story how your love was shown. Holy Child within the manger, lead us ever in your way, so that we see in every stranger how you come to us today. In our lives and in our living give us strength to live as you did, so that our hearts may be forgiving and our spirits strong and true." Now in this Christmas season, that welcoming stable manger is found everywhere hearts and lives are open to God's divine embrace. PRAYER I pray that each of us will be richly blessed by the kiss of the Christmas message, and may it invigorate our Christian witness to the world. As we meet others, may we be that shining light first shown to us by the Christ child. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Donald (Luke) Day Order of St. Francis and St. Clare
SCRIPTURE “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” WORDS OF HOPE During this time of year when we are surrounded by images of elves and reindeer and snowmen and Santa Claus, and, yes, Jesus too (though he hasn’t been born yet), the most important “character” of this Advent season is often overlooked. In fact, this entire time of year for many is just a big blur of red and green amidst a mad rush to Christmas morning. If we want to properly celebrate Christmas, we must first fully participate in this season of Advent, a season of prayer and reflection, of waiting, of recognizing and honoring both the faith and example shown to us in Mary. One of my favorite parts of worshipping in the Anglican tradition is that this passage from Luke, known as the Magnificat or The Song of Mary, is a regular part of the Daily Office of Evening Prayer; it is the canticle said or sung after the first reading every single day. Though I see these words almost daily, they seem to stir my soul more deeply during this Season of Advent. Because the Magnificat is an integral part of the service of Evening Prayer, it has been set to music by many composers, further “magnifying” Mary’s words, words that she spoke to her cousin Elizabeth after the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she was the bearer of The Messiah. (If you are looking for some music to help you pray your way through these last few days of Advent, do an internet search for settings of the Magnificat.) “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” If only we could all speak these words with the honesty and commitment with which Mary does. Amidst the fear and uncertainty that came from being told that she, a virgin, was pregnant, Mary was able to sing these words from a place deep in her soul, the manifestation of her profound faith, a faith marked by humility, absolute trust, and awe. She proclaims this faith in the words, “he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.” Mary continues on with words that could be seen as a foreshadowing of The Beatitudes. She proclaims that the proud have been scattered by their thoughts, the mighty have been brought down and the humble exalted, the hungry have been filled and the rich sent away empty. Mary declares these things as one who has seen them firsthand and knows them to be true. She was not only talking to Elizabeth back in the first century; she was also speaking to us. We are one of all those generations to come that “will call me blessed.” As this season of Advent comes to a close and we prepare for Christmas, let us maintain a place in our hearts for Mary. May we welcome the Christ-child not only amidst wrapping paper, lights, and reindeer hoofs, but with the same awe, wonder, and responsibility to care for him as did Mary and Joseph on that night in Bethlehem. A PRAYER Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, untroubled maiden. You are blessed among women, you who brought forth peace to people and glory to the angels. Blessed too is the fruit of your womb, who by grace made it possible for us to be his heirs. (An adaptation by Matthew Fox of the traditional “Hail Mary.” DEVOTION AUTHOR Kris Baker Order of Saint Francis and St. Clare