Thursday - September 29, 2022

SCRIPTURE Isaiah 66:14-16 You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bodies[a] shall flourish like the grass, and it shall be known that the power of the Lord is with his servants, and his indignation is against his enemies. For the Lord will come in fire and his chariots in a whirlwind,[b] to vent his anger in fury and his rebuke in flames of fire. For by fire will the Lord execute judgment, and by his sword on all flesh; and those slain by the Lord shall be many. WORDS OF HOPE Sounds like a lot of smiting and slaying, and it’s verses like these that assure me that the Bible is written in many voices by many people. Isaiah was a prophet, at least according to tradition, and his book was written both before and after the Babylonian exile of the Jews, which pretty much confirms that the writings were by different people. Much of the work is angry and wrathful, which is no surprise since the Hebrews were captives in Babylon, so I take a lot of the fire and brimstone as the hyperbole typical of prophets trying to get people to listen. Today, those words sometimes make it hard for me to hear the message, which I believe is a reminder to stay true to our belief in God and be assured that God’s plans will come to pass, just maybe not on our time frame. If anything, he speaks to me of patience, and that is something I can always use. PRAYER God of many names, may we hear the words of the prophets and understand their context as well as their overarching message. As the Prophet Isaiah wrote of the message he received from God, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it. I am making a way in the wilderness. and streams in the wasteland.” Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Hardy Haberman

SCRIPTURE Ephesians 6:10-20 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having belted your waist with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having strapped on your feet the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be alert with all perseverance and every request for all the saints, and pray in my behalf, that speech may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. WORDS OF HOPE This passage and Ephesians has always been one for me that has seemed antithetical to the Christian message in many ways. Gearing up for war; gearing up for battle? I know I’ve seen churches who dress children up in cardboard versions of Roman armor labeled in a way that matches this passage. But if I look at it more closely, I begin to realize that we’re not talking about going to battle necessarily. After all, it does say that to strap on the preparation of the gospel of peace implies going forward in a peaceful way. And except for the sword, most of these items are defensive; they protect you from what comes at you. So why would a Christian writer, whether it is Paul or someone else, use this imagery? I think two things need to be considered. First, he’s writing to the Ephesians. Ephesus in Asia minor had always been at a point of battle. Alexander, the Great had stopped here. The Persians had come here. The Greeks had fought here, and finally the Romans had taken control. Lots of armies moving through. So, the imagery of soldiers is one that would resonate with the Ephesians. There may not have been a time in the memory of anyone when soldiers were not around. And the Ephesians were not Jewish. So many of the Jewish images used in other letters, and the gospels would not have the same resonance as this. But immediately following this militaristic description of evangelism, is a call for prayer. Indeed, the military description ends with the Spirit which is described as a sword, which is the word of God. And the call for prayer says to pray at all times in the Spirit. This positioning of ideas is clear. Just as all of the armies that have come through and have brought the sword to bring what they saw as the truth of their system; now Christians use the word of God to bring the truth of salvation. This would reinforce to the Ephesians; how different the new message of Jesus is from the old message of conquest and tyranny. There is one other thing about armor. When someone is wearing armor, or even a uniform, it is obvious to everyone who they are. Not only does it show that they are prepared, protected, and serving their government. The armor of God shows that we are prepared, protected and serving God. And so, the letter writer reminds us that what people know of God is what they see in us. PRAYER Dear God, help us to always show ourselves as followers of your Christ. May we be prepared. May we be protected. May we, and faith, and peace go forward to show others your love and salvation. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Weber Baker Order of Saint Francis and Saint Clare.

SCRIPTURES Revelation 7:9 ..after this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.  Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. WORDS OF HOPE The scene is a dimly lit bar & grill and it’s Sunday night around 9:30pm. There’s a small stage in the front corner, a large floor with table seating, a bar area with barstools, and booth seating on the far wall. In the back corner, there’s a table for two, but it’s reserved for someone very special. We showed up way too early, which meant we got to hear the musicians on the stage jam a little before the downbeat. It also meant that from our booth, we could watch people come in. Among the first to arrive were two trans women, who grabbed a table near the bar. Then a middle-aged woman came in and started arranging tables together for a birthday celebration. There were young people whose ID showed they just turned 21 and old people who are probably up past their normal bedtime. Some people were dressed up to perhaps to impress a new friend, and others were in old t-shirts and faded jeans. There were black people, white people, Native American people… persons of every ethnicity, age, economic status, and gender identity. This place is Bunker’s Music Bar & Grill on the North Loop in Minneapolis. And every Sunday night since 1987, a band known as Dr. Mambo’s Combo drops some wicked and unmistakable Minneapolis funk-soul. The band reflects the crowd, members being older and younger, black and white, dressed up and dressed down. Back when he was still alive, a Minneapolis native known as Prince would sit in the back corner and sometimes make his way on stage. The empty table for two in the back corner is still reserved for him. We found ourselves at Bunker’s because the tour guide at Paisley Park, the waitress at another bar, a server at a local restaurant and my niece all said that Dr. Mambo’s Combo was not to be missed. At one point, during a break between sets, Kas motioned to the room and said, “Churches should look like this”. A place where anyone and everyone is welcomed and accepted, where you can shed the identity that the world puts on you and be completely yourself. You’re tied together by rhythm, cadence, and transcendence, so there are no cliques, castes, cabals, or inner circles. Of course, we’ll move over and make room for you. Of course, you can sing along to Steve Wonder or Chaka Khan or Janet Jackson. It was shortly after Kas’ comment that I started imagining a middle eastern man in an outer robe and tunic. He was laughing with the trans women, dancing with the birthday girl, and chiming in to James Brown. I think Jesus loves a good party and adores diversity. I want to be at that party too. PRAYER God of all, In Christ, we are one— no divisions, no barriers, only love. Open our hearts to see each person as beloved, to honor differences and celebrate unity. May we live as one body, guided by Your grace. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Thomas Riggs

SCRIPTURE Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. WORDS OF HOPE Creating Space for Hope There are times on the journey of life when we wonder about this thing called hope. Your 17-year-old son is diagnosed with terminal melanoma. The neighbor next door takes his own life, leaving his spouse to provide and care for their four children ages 3 to 11. At age 62, your position at work is eliminated and there are few prospects for your area of experience. Despair can seem more familiar than hope at times. The writer of Lamentations declares: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for God’s compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait for the Lord.’” (Lamentations 3:22-24) When I was at a particularly low place in my life, I recall the words of a friend who said, “You can choose to get bitter or better.” Hope chooses the latter. Hope is more than wishful thinking; it is an intention. We choose—we declare our intent to create space for hope to exist and to thrive. The gifted poet, Emily Dickinson, struggled with depression most of her life and never lived to see her works published. Still, she penned the words, written in the mid 1800’s, that endure still: “Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all - PRAYER Holy One, may we leave space—indeed, create space—chiseling it out of rock if necessary, for your precious gift of Hope. Holy Spirit come, dwell with us and make it so! Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Rev. Dr. Gary Kindley Pastoral Psychotherapist DrGK.org

SCRIPTURE Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Colossians 3:12 WORDS OF HOPE The morning Joyce died a dear friend came to the hospital and would stop at nothing before she wrapped me in her arms and held me while I wept. She stayed with me as I walked through the official leaving of her body, grown cold to my touch, and then followed me home to make toast—the only thing I could eat. Then she cleaned out the refrigerator so that there would be room for casserole-comfort. I know intimately the relationship of loss and kindness of which Naomi Shihab Nye speaks in her poem: “Before you know what kindness really is/ you must lose things,/feel the future dissolve in a moment/like salt in a weakened broth./What you held in your hand,/ what you counted and carefully saved,/ all this must go so you know/how desolate the landscape can be/ between the regions of kindness.”* How desolate a landscape indeed. We are sadly seeing in our country right now cruelty and hatred of a magnitude which still shocks and horrifies, sanctioned even at the highest corridors of power. So, this morning on World Kindness Day let us commit ourselves to an ethic of kindness. Recently, I heard a conservative pastor say that you don’t really have to agree on anything to be kind. If we accept the truth in that assertion, kindness can become one of the paths back to each other. Contrarily, looking at the roots of the word “unkind” are telling. “Uncynde” in Old English means “unnatural, not in accord with the regular course of nature.” Therefore, our unkindness is unnatural, not living in accord with our God given nature. In our unkindness we do not see that “no [person] is alien” to us, to paraphrase John Donne’s famous poem.** Kindness begins when I see you, witness your struggle, discomfort, or pain, and something inside of me stirs in the heart—compassion, empathy, desire to alleviate suffering—and moves me to turn that feeling into action. Kindness, then, whether the simplest act of opening a door for someone on a walker, comforting a young person who has been excluded at school, taking meals to our unhoused neighbors, or committing ourselves to the long faithfulness of a critically ill friend’s care, is the resilient spiritual thread that weaves us together in our humanity, helps create kindred out of strangers, brings heaven closer to earth. To return to our poet: “Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,/you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing./You must wake up with sorrow. /You must speak to it till your voice/catches the thread of all sorrows/and you see the size of the cloth.” When we understand the size of the fabric of world sorrow, or as Fr. Richard Rohr calls it, “the tears of things,” it’s as if we cannot do anything other than take kindness with us every day—“like a shadow or a friend” (Nye). PRAYER God whose steadfast loving kindness transforms our hearts, “For as long as space endures/And for as long as living beings remain/Until then may I, too, abide/To dispel the misery of the world.”*** Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Dr. Pat Saxon *A link to Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem https://poets.org/poem/kindness ** John Donne, “No Man is an Island” *** The quoted part of the prayer is the Dalai Lama’s.