Thursday – June 16, 2022

SCRIPTURE Genesis 1.1 In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth… WORDS OF HOPE Do you like to ponder the origins of the Universe? Is it thrilling or scary? In the 1968 film, based upon the book by Pierre Boulle, Planet of the Apes, we’re given an opportunity to question something for ourselves. In it, the wise orangutan played by Maurice Evans tells the astronaut, Taylor (Charlton Heston), “to not go looking for his destiny because he may not like what he finds.” I think there’s a great deal of truth to that for many of us. We earthlings are constantly in search of something that builds up our human-born egos. Perhaps, it’s also true that I must question whether I really want to know anything about the beginning of everything because, I might not like what I find. It may unravel my personal security of the presumptions I desperately cling to. Let’s think about that for a minute. Some of us grew up with Bible stories about the first two people. In the book of Genesis, Adam was, poetically, formed from the dust of the earth and then Eve was formed of Adam. Today’s scientists tell us we are all made of stardust, the same chemical composition, and technically the dust of the earth. So far, we’re not too far off. Later, in our school years we began getting glimpses of the evolution of humankind on Planet Earth, as well as our billions of other life forms. So many theories about how and why these things exist, but they, too, were created from the stardust that landed on the earth. But, who created that stardust? The big bang theory seems reasonable; the idea of multiple universes exploding out simultaneously and forming (hypothetically) identical planets with millions of doppelgangers of us. (That would explain why all the beings the Star Trek explorers meet on other planets are always humans!) Should we question whether these multiple universes were created by the same omnipresent God, the One who made a plan for everything and everyone, which obviously has to include distant planets which were formed a long time ago in galaxies far, far away. The truth is out there and it’s also right here, in our hearts. The poetic writers of Genesis and the theorists of our scientific community often conflict but sometimes coincide. My prayer is that mutual respect is always present and as we seek the answers, may we ask the right questions. PRAYER Thank you for giving us exploring minds. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Charlie C. Rose Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

SCRIPTURE Ezekiel 38:7 Be prepared and prepare yourself and all your companies that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. WORDS OF HOPE Sometimes we don’t get to prepare. A fatal diagnosis leads to the death of a loved one six weeks later. A truck careens through a red light, crashing into a neighbor’s car, sending them to months of rehab before they can walk again. The company downsizes right before Christmas, laying off dozens, including yourself. But often enough the opportunity to prepare comes from a holy place and brings outsized blessings. At the end of a contemplative prayer session in early January, a vision of a wholistic pre-and post-surgical spiritual practice took shape for the total knee replacement which lay before me in March. As soon as the details were clear, I began to incorporate elements of the practice into daily life. Particularly deep and anchoring was the pre-dawn centering prayer practice—and time for “chatting” with God. Both the deep quiet and close, conversational prayer have drawn me into the oceanic Love and Grace of the Divine. Attending to the physical dimensions of life was also crucial. I was already walking daily to immerse myself in beauty and to strengthen my legs, but I also knew that the inflammatory response to sugar, which I loved, was not “a friend” to a healing body. Though I had often curbed sweets, something about placing this quest in a wholistic spiritual practice led to greater obedience, and I added other healthy eating habits too—more omega threes, fruits and vegetables, for example. My mental and emotional life needed some tuning up as well. I was led to discern the health of my interactions with others. It wasn’t that I lived in the land of “positivity.” My conversations with others were true and deep, but sometimes relationships can become toxic, and that energy is anything but healing. Once an email from someone threatened to draw me into a long replaying of a former colleague’s abuse. But I heard it for what it was, rejected the invitation, and kept my equanimity intact. Excessive rumination and worry also got bumped out of the brain space, and my inner critic took a vacation to the Bahamas. Listening for departures from the practice was important so I could rebound as quickly as possible. As you may imagine, even with a solid practice, as surgery approached, anxiety increased (though not soaring to intense heights). I turned to a couple of women who are “tender mothers” for me and asked them if they would be standby supports to whom I could turn if I needed. Throughout the months, everything was wrapped in a cloak of prayer. Now, it’s important to say that my preparation practice, as any other spiritual practice, doesn’t have to be anyone else’s. Each of us can create a process that suits and supports us. For example, one woman I met in the hospital liked the idea and said that time spent with her grandchildren—the delight of her life—would be essential for her. Just recently I found a website that suggests doing guided meditation for best surgical outcomes. https://healingworksfoundation.org/guided-imagery/guided-meditations-to-promote-successful-surgery/ Shaping our own practice, we become co-creators with the divine. PRAYER Risen Christ, you have said that you go ahead of us to prepare a place for us. May your holy presence guide and direct all the practices of our lives. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Dr. Pat Saxon

SCRIPTURE Isaiah 28.23 Give ear and hear my voice, Listen and hear my words. WORDS OF HOPE In this Season of Eastertide, celebrating those 40 days the resurrected Christ walked among us, you are invited to meditate on imagining yourself in the role of one of Jesus’ close disciples recalling the still-fresh occasion of being with him and the others during the Last Supper. There are men in the room who are older than you are and wiser, more experienced, who seem to know what to say in difficult situations. There are others who are simple fishermen who followed Jesus because they were invited by Him. For you, it has been almost three years now that you have been with Jesus and you wonder tonight what it was that first attracted you to him and the group that surrounded him? Was it just plain curiosity or a feeling of adventure? Remember how your friends thought that you had lost your mind when you told them that you were going to follow Jesus? But, somehow, deep down ... you knew that you really had to...that you really wanted to see what Jesus had to offer. And what a three-year period it has been! You realize how you have grown to really admire this man from Nazareth. In fact, you have grown to love him in a way that is difficult to describe as all love is. You just feel totally at home with him...secure with him...in fact, you feel totally accepted by him even as you make dumb mistakes like the one in Galilee last week. You told him what had happened and apologized and he broke into a large grin. He told you it was okay and invited you to share in a piece of bread and a cup of wine that he had. Although the whole business is a bit crazy, you know that you are where you are supposed to be. You turn to Peter who is on your left for some more wine and he passes you the jar as he tells you to help yourself. You really don't want to sleep while there is still a chance that Jesus will speak. You turn to your right now and look at Jesus and see that he is talking quietly with John who everyone knows is his best friend. He is talking too quietly to hear so you start talking with the others near you. Suddenly there is a lull in all of the chatter that happened quite spontaneously, and Jesus looks around the room and smiles and you and the other smile back. Your heart begins to beat faster, and you are not sure why. As Jesus begins to speak you and the others shift your body position to see him better and in order to pay better attention to what he is saying to the group. Jesus is seated four people away from you to your right. He speaks: “As my Abba has loved me, so I have loved you, live on in my love. You will live in my love if you keep my commandments, even as I have kept my Abba's commandments, and live in God’s love.” His eyes were moving from one person to the other and you are struck when his eyes meet yours. The feeling you have is that he is speaking directly to you and as if there were no one else present in the room. He continues: “All this I tell you that my joy may be yours and your joy may be complete This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you.” PRAYER Speak to me God, for your servant is listening. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Bob Shea Cathedral of Hope / United Church of Christ

SCRIPTURE Genesis 11:1-9 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.’ And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’ The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. And the Lord said, ‘Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.’ So, the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore, it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. WORDS OF HOPE Today is English language day; set aside as a day to recognize English as a somewhat ubiquitous language throughout the world. Think if you will about how a Chinese pilot landing a plane in Rio de Janeiro will speak to the control tower in English. Consider how many people consider the King James Version of the Bible to be the pinnacle of translations. The discussion of the Bible and translations has come up several times in our small group. And during this sermon series on learning to love the Bible, it might be a good time to reflect on the number of translations into English that there are. The first English translation was the Wycliffe Bible. This Bible was created, contrary to the law of the church at the time which said the Bible in daily use had to be in Latin. Only advanced scholars and church authorities could read the original Greek or Aramaic. It was only after the Church of England broke away from the church of Rome that an authorized (King James Version) came into existence. Translating the Bible presents no doubt some issues. Just as the English of King James has changed, so too had the ancient Greek changed. It is possible that the language of the gospels from the first or second century C.E. was not understood in the same way by the time of Shakespeare. We see from the ancient story of the tower of Babel, that language can be a tool or a weapon. In his poem “the Stranglehold of English lit”, African poet Felix Mnthali speaks of English as a tool of colonization: …. Eng. Lit., my sister, was more than a cruel joke— it was the heart of alien conquest. … For your devotional time today stop and think about words and how we use them. If you are a native English speaker, think about the language you grew up using. Take a moment and find your favorite Bible passage and see if you can read it in more than one English translation. Are there differences and are they significant? Most importantly, do they speak to you? PRAYER Loving creator, give us a heart of understanding what it is you would have us do with our lives and in our lives. Help guide our thoughts and our speech so that language becomes a tool of communication and not a weapon that we use to minimize, marginalize, or discriminate against others. May all our words, be words of love; for You are love. DEVOTION AUTHOR Weber Baker Order of Saint Francis and Saint Clare

SC RIPTURE  John 13.34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you Love One Another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. WORDS OF HOPE A Love that Never Runs Out Oh, how lovely it is to give love. When I give love, it is like the walls of a dam burst open. I realize, that as the waters travel freely, I am able to give even more love than before. The heart is a muscle like any other, and the more it is exercised, the stronger it becomes. Here’s the magic of giving love: eventually, and sometimes immediately, you get it back. Love is not something you put in a jar and leave in your pantry, but it is given like a meal. That meal can feed five, five hundred, or five million, and like any meal, it gives strength to the one who eats it. This strength is actually a capacity for giving more love. So, as you give love, you create even more love, in yourself and others. Love teaches love, kindness teaches kindness, and mercy teaches mercy. Without knowing it, by giving a kind word, we are leaving something behind for the next generation. Look for every opportunity then, to love, for love turns this world into a paradise. If love teaches love, then hate teaches hate, cruelty teaches cruelty, and apathy teaches apathy. We must then overcome hate with love. Without wood a fire goes out. If we do not feed our neighbors hate, then there will be less hate. The same is true of love. There are a lot of fires in the world burning our people with a contagious hatred. We are surrounded by this flame. Our choices will either save this world or hasten its destruction. God’s people must be determined, dedicated, and diligent if we are to break the dams surrounding our hearts and cause love to flow like a mighty river. Overcome hate with love. Do not return hate for hate, but forgive, show mercy, and compassion. Then, you will have understanding. Love will lighten your heavy heart and change your enemy into a friend. PRAYER Loving and merciful Spirit, you have given us the most precious gift of love. Let us not bury it within ourselves. Help us to be vulnerable, and if we are injured for the sake of love, heal our hearts. Open our eyes to see the countless opportunities You have given us to love, and may we get it back a hundred-fold. Bless You Great Spirit for all that we shall receive. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Jonathon McClellan Order of St Francis and St. Clare