Wednesday - January 31, 2024

The Reverend Dr. Neil G. Thomas

SCRIPTURE


Mark 5. 1-20


Jesus Restores a Demon-Possessed Man


They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.


When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”


Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”


“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.


A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.


Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.


As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.


WORDS OF HOPE


At first glance, this scripture seems a little weird. Jesus arrives on the other side of the sea and is confronted by a man who has made his home among the tombs, among the dead. This is his environment and his expectation based of his circumstances and Jesus meets him. Mark says that the man fell to his knees at the sight of Jesus and is confronted by his own question, “What do you want from me?” In the ensuing conversation Jesus offers him freedom from the impure spirits that had tormented him and sends them into surrounding pigs who run off, rushing down a steep bank and into a lake where they are drowned.


Those who witnessed these events, those who saw the impact of Jesus’ encounter with the man were both confused and perhaps frightened, asking Jesus to leave their region. The man is left to witness to his own people just what Jesus had done for him and, with his testimony, the people were amazed.


Of course, as with all Scripture you must be able to contextualize them within the times that they are written. Pigs are not kosher and the book of Deuteronomy states that the Israelites shall not eat their flesh or touch their dead carcass. In their tradition they are unclean, and it is understandable why pigs are used in this miracle.


The bigger story, for me, in this miracle is in the question that the man asks of Jesus, ““What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” While this is a question from within him, from the “legion”, this is a question that is vital for us all.


We are so often taught a theology of asking God for things. This is not a bad thing. In my daily prayers I often find myself asking God for things, for answers, for other people to be blessed. However, it is less regular that I sit in my own life and ask God to tell me what God wants from me. Is this your story as well?


The more I thought about this today, the more I realized that perhaps, if I spent more time asking God this question, perhaps I would have more clarity for my life and my vocational work.


Believe me, I am grateful to a God who has often rescued me from numerous situations that could lead me on a destructive path or a path that is not beneficial. I am grateful to God who has offered me ways to follow the call that I believe that God has placed in front of me. I am grateful to God who reminds me every day that my everyday actions can make a difference. Today, I am convicted by the question what more can I do for God and what does God want from me.


The conclusion of this story is a testimony to what happens when you are listening to God’s response to our question. For the man in the story, he found wholeness and healing. He found a new life that bore testimony to others, leading them to belief in Jesus.


Friends, our story is a testimony for others and Jesus calls us to live our story – a story that is still evolving and not yet finished. However, this story has an impact and will help others to see your changed life. This is the miracle.


In the words of one of my favorite hymns, Amazing Grace, “I once was lost but now I’m found.”


May we take a moment, amid our asking God for blessings, to also ask God, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?”


PRAYER


God, thank you for your faithfulness toward me, hearing my prayers and responding to my needs. Hear me today, O God, as I ask You – What do you want from me? Amen.


DEVOTION AUTHOR


The Reverend Dr. Neil G. Thomas

Senior Pastor

Pronouns: he/his/him

Need Some Inspiration? Read our Daily Devotions

Wednesday - November 4. 2026

By Hardy Haberman • November 4, 2026
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

Tuesday - November 3, 2026

By Charlie C. Rose • November 3, 2026
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

Monday - November 2, 2026

By Dan Peeler • November 2, 2026
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

Friday - October 30, 2026

By Charlie Rose • October 30, 2026
SCRIPTURE  Joshua 1.9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” WORDS OF HOPE Tomorrow is All Hallow’s Eve, so it’s time to unpack your Playsuit. Did you ever have one of those? The Sears catalog when I was a child had what they called “Playsuits,” their versions the big-name superheroes like Superman or whatever cartoon character that was popular on TV at the time. Plus, a host of other occupational outfits like police and firemen, doctors and nurses. Boring. That said, I always loved the generic superhero suits. They had a day-glo green “spider guy” who vaguely resembled a makeshift sort of alien Spider-Man. In fact, there were all kinds of generic knockoffs for frugal shoppers like my mother. Generic Captain America, a watered-down version of Daredevil, which we all knew used to be Batman but was painted red instead to get another use of the same mask mold. Then there were costumes marketed specifically to satisfy churches that insisted on calling Halloween a “Harvest Festival” because they thought the designation “Halloween” was of the Devil. In a super conservative Christian home, you might be sent out as Jesus or maybe Moses. God knows merchants could have raked it in if they had thought about calling their mummy costume Lazarus. How embarrassing for those kids whose parents weren’t as well-versed in their Bible knowledge to know the Good Book is full of bad guys and makes plenty of mentions about witches, ghosts, monsters like Leviathan, and whole colonies of giants bigger than Goliath. Halloween was a big deal in my Christian-Lite home. It still wasn’t as big as Christmas, and it had not become the obsession it has become today. Nowadays, for fear of the actual monsters behind some strangers’ doors, Halloween for kids has evolved into benevolent parking lot events such as trunk or treat, often scheduled in full daylight. Great for safety, but in my generation’s estimation, Spooky music and bounce-houses do not a Halloween make. Today’s kids will never know what we had back then. Halloween was cool. There were rules to creatively dressing up if you wanted to earn your candy. There. I said it. Halloween was earned and every Bit-O-Honey and Tootsie Roll you got were the fair wages of participating in ghoulish delight. It was a fun sort of pretend scary. And whether we were aware of what walking around to scare off the evil spirits meant, we were carrying on the original traditions in All Hallows’ Eve’s history of purifying the place for All Saints’ Day. I’m not saying the holiday is no longer fun. It is. Plenty of haunted houses and parties happen still. But it’s become another heavily commercial holiday, cashing in on pre-made stuff and less on home-grown creativity and bowls full of spaghetti worms. I do miss those spaghetti worms! PRAYER Thank you for holidays that bring us closer together, and for the one we call Halloween that teaches us creativity, laughter, and especially love, can conquer all our fears. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Charlie Rose Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

Thursday - October 29, 2026

By Reed Kirkman • October 29, 2026
SCRIPTURE Romans 2.17-29 (The Inclusive Bible) Now, if you place your confidence in your religious identity, if you rely on your understanding of God’s teachings and take pride in your relationship with God. WORDS OF HOPE National Cat Day Lions, tigers, and tabby cats?? Today is National Cat Day, and I’m convinced God has a sense of humor. I imagine God winking: “Yes. This is how I intended it to be.” Cats are affectionate, stubborn, dramatic, and ridiculous. They race through apartments, ponder empty walls, then curl into sunlight. Perhaps we need creatures who remind us to laugh and slow down. We buy expensive toys, only for cats to declare a cardboard box the greatest gift imaginable. Apparently, I don’t decorate my apartment; my cat, Nelson does. Maybe there’s theology here. We chase what is impressive, forgetting joy in simple things. Sometimes the cardboard box is enough. I’m convinced God created cats to make sure gravity exists. Pens, cups, phones, anything near an edge becomes an experiment. Newton had an apple. I have Nelson. My orange tuxedo cat believes gravity requires lifelong research. Perhaps cats are secretly liquid. How else can they curl into balls, become loaves, and squeeze into impossible spaces? Nelson tests physics daily and keeps humans humble. Nelson depends on me for food, water, shelter, and affection, but I depend on him for companionship, laughter, and comfort. When he rubs against me, I imagine him saying, “Of all the humans in the world, this one is mine.” Nelson is my unofficial therapist, philosopher, comedian, treat inspector, computer supervisor, guru, and occasional menace. This may be my apartment, but it’s Nelson’s home. I pay the rent. He apparently owns the place. Perhaps cats can teach us to rest. We live in a culture that measures worth by productivity, where sitting still can feel like failure. Meanwhile, a cat sleeps for hours without guilt. Rest is not laziness. Joy is not frivolous. We are human beings, not productivity machines. When Nelson curls beside me and purrs, I remember I can stop, breathe, and simply be. His purr becomes a soundtrack for Sabbath. One of my favorite saints is Saint Gertrude of Nivelles, a seventh-century abbess in what is now Belgium. She devoted herself to prayer, hospitality, and caring for the poor and travelers. Her association with cats developed through later tradition. Her story reminds me holiness isn’t about escaping everyday life; it’s about meeting life with generosity and care. Love is rarely tidy, and grace rarely arrives on schedule. The sacred doesn’t always announce itself with stained glass or choirs. Sometimes it arrives with four paws, whiskers, a loud purr, and a ridiculous sleeping position. Compassion can mean welcoming a stranger, helping a neighbor, or sitting beside an animal. Today, I’m grateful for cats, especially Nelson, my orange tuxedo philosopher. I’m grateful for the laughter, toys, zoomies, gravity experiments, naps, and purrs. Creation reminds us love needs not be grand to be real, and holiness needs not be complicated to be profound. Sometimes holiness has whiskers. Sometimes grace has four paws. Sometimes wisdom comes in an orange-and-white package covered in fur. When Nelson purrs beside me, I imagine God whispering, “See? There is still joy here today.” PRAYER God of all creation, thank you for the cats who teach us to laugh, rest, wonder, and love. Bless the animals who share our lives and comfort us when we need it. Hold close those we have loved and lost, and help us notice the sacredness in every purr, every raised tail, and every moment of companionship. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Reed Kirkman

Wednesday - October 28, 2026

By Dan Peeler • October 28, 2026
SCRIPTURE  Matthew 19.16, 21,22 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”…Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”…When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. WORDS OF HOPE Today’s Scripture excerpts are from the Gospel of Matthew relating the story of one of Jesus’ many appearances before a large crowd. A young man in the crowd asks him about the state of his eternal soul, mistakenly thinking that he would have to work his way toward perfection to be secure of his fate. Jesus gives him an answer meant not only for the others in the large crowd to hear, but eventually, words for us to contemplate today. His answer must have made the young man and the crowd uncomfortable, but many of us as well. It was all about money. “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor?” The Young man was wealthy and went away sad. How would you feel? Is this the requirement for following Jesus? In comparison to most of the worlds’ population the majority of America’s population would be considered wealthy; not just the billionaires, but any of us who are not worried about the possibility of even having our next meal, or fearing it could be our last. Jesus knew the minds of his audience and of each individual who came to him for advice or healing. He knew the mind of the young man and what was of the most importance in his life. He didn’t say sell all of your possessions, but the young man heard it that way. The thought of parting from what he held most dear sent him away sad, no longer curious about anything else Jesus might have to say; no longer worrying about his eternal soul. It’s an interesting challenge for each of us. What in our lives is our roadblock to following the examples set by Jesus? What comes to our minds when Jesus’ simple invitation to “follow me” sounds like a monumental task? Do we just lose faith and walk away sad or decide to hang around a while longer and hear what else he has to say? PRAYER Understanding God, help us to remember that often the teachings of Jesus that make us feel uncomfortable are the ones we need to hear the most. DEVOTION AUTHOR Dan Peeler Order of St. Francis and St. Clare
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