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MEDITATION:

Written by Gary Inrig, a contemporary pastor and Christian author. This is excerpted from his book “The Parables Understanding What Jesus Meant.”

A.W. Tozer begins his masterly study of the character of God, The Knowledge of the Holy, with a provocative sentence: “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” For some, such a claim seems to be pious rhetoric, the kind of thing a preacher is expected to say on Sunday morning. The agenda of modern secular man has little place for God. I remember a philosophy student insisting to me that life’s really important questions weren’t about God at all, but to such things as the nuclear issue, environmental crises, economic dislocation, political upheaval, and personal matters of self-worth and personal dignity.

For others, Tozer’s words have a ring of truth. What I think about God is important. In fact, those other questions can only be answered in the light of who He is and what He says. But that creates a dilemma. In the theological cafeteria of the 20^th century, which God should I choose? Or should I build my own God a la carte, combining ideas that seem to me to be palatable and appealing? From where do I get my understanding of God?  I have no doubt that the Lord Jesus would have agreed with Tozer emphatically. What enters our minds when we think about God really is the most important thing about us. Over and over, Christ sought to scrape away the residue of misinformation and misunderstanding that obstructed people’s view of His Father.  But He also makes it clear that knowledge of God is not equivalent to theological orthodoxy, important as that is. The evidence that we know God is not so much our ability to define the divine attributes, as it is our response to people. Right knowledge of God is present when we imitate our Father’s response.

PRAYER:

Written by Irenaeus of Lyons (130-202), Greek bishop noted for his role in expanding and guiding Christian communities in what is now the south of France.

I appeal to you, Lord, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob and Israel, You the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Infinitely merciful as You are, it is Your will that we should learn to know You. You made heaven and earth, You rule supreme over all that is. You are the true, the only God; there is no other god above You.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ…and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, grant that all who read what I have written here may know You, because You alone are God; let them draw strength from You; keep them from all teaching that is  heretical, irreligious or godless. Amen.

MEDITATION:

Written by Michelle Lee-Barnewall, a contemporary professor of biblican and theological studies and Christian author. This is excerpted from her book “Surprised by the Parables.”

In the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin (Luke 15:1-10), it does not really matter how the sheep and the coin were lost or how lost they were. What matters is that someone comes to find what is lost, and there is great joy at the finding. While we tend to focus on our sin, Jesus challenges us to focus on God and remember the grace he has given us. We can see God as someone who eternally calculates our flaws and how short we have fallen from what is demanded, or we can see God as the one who pursues us valiantly and is filled with joy when he finds us. When we see sin in ourselves and others, we can hide, deny, and condemn, or we can open our hearts so we can be found. God constantly offers grace, but what also matters is how we respond and receive it and the one who offers it to us.

PRAYER:

This prayer is from the “Carmina Gadelica,” six volumes of prayers, hymns, blessings, songs, proverbs and literary folkloric poems from the Gaelic speaking regions of Scotland.  Compilation of the works began by Alexander Carmichel between 1860 and 1909.

God, bless to me this day,

God, bless to me this night;

Bless, O bless. Thou God of grace,

Each day and hour of my life;

Bless, O bless. Thou God of grace.

Each day and hour of my life.

God, bless the pathway on which I go,

God, bless the earth that is beneath my sole;

Bless, O God, and give to me Thy love,

O God of gods, bless my rest and my repose;

Bless, O God, and give to me Thy love,

And bless, O God of gods, my repose. Amen.

MEDITATION:

Written by Henri J. M. Nouwen, (1932-1996) was a Dutch priest, professor, writer and theologian. This is an excerpt from his book “Thomas Merton: Contemplative Critic.”

Here we have come back to the compassion that must be formed in one’s heart, a compassion that comes out of a deep experience of solidarity, in which one recognizes that the evil, sin, and violence which one sees in the world and in the other, are deeply rooted in one’s own heart. Only when you want to confess this and want to rely on the merciful God who can bring good out of evil are you in a position to receive forgiveness and also to give it to other men and women who threaten you with violence. Precisely because Merton had discovered this nonviolent compassion in his solitude could he in a real sense be a monk, that is to say, one who unmasks through his criticism the illusions of a violent society and who wants to change the world in spirit and truth.

PRAYER:

This prayer is from the Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church, originally  issued in 1917.

Lord God, heavenly Father,

because of our many sins

we deserve no peace,

but in your mercy, spare us.

Stop or hinder those who plan evil.

Restrain all violence

and anything that would harm us.

Protect your people.

Correct the wayward.

Heal the hurting.

Grant us peace. Amen.

MEDITATION:

This Meditation is from the Lead Like Jesus Devotional blog.  The Lead Like Jesus organization was cofounded by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges.

Leading like Jesus doesn’t mean we always know what to do. Discerning the path forward frequently requires multiple considerations, some of which are not readily clear. Jesus modeled for His disciples a constant turning to the Father as He navigated the ups and downs of life. When He needed to select key leaders, He spent the night in prayer. After a long day of ministry, He stayed up late or woke up early to spend time with the Father. When in doubt, when pressure mounts, when you need to find a way forward, follow Jesus’ example, and turn to the Father.

PRAYER:

From the Gregorian Sacramentary, A 10th century illuminated Latin manuscript ascribed to Gregory 1.

O Lord, we beseech You  mercifully to receive the prayers of Your people who call upon You; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may

have grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

MEDITATION:

Written by Robert D. Jones, a contemporary pastor, professor, counselor, author, and speaker. This is an excerpt from his book “Anger: Calming Your Heart.”

Where should we begin our reflections on handling anger? We could start with the varied ways we express our anger—sometimes we vent, sometimes we stew. We could start with why we get angry—what triggers our anger and what drives it. Or we could start with the antidote to anger—godly behaviors that should replace it, such as self-control, patience, and forgiveness. But the best place to begin is with God, and his explicit invitation for us to come to him.

Whatever our situation, whatever our emotional state, we should go to God. As John Calvin put it, “there is no time in which God does not invite us to himself. For afflictions ought to stimulate us to pray; prosperity supplies us with an occasion to praise God.” Negative emotions like anxiety or sadness can’t keep you from God; positive emotions like happiness and contentment shouldn’t keep you from God. God invites you to come.

Anger easily arises when your circumstances bring suffering or when friends, family, or coworkers mistreat you. But God invites you to talk to him. Commit yourself to praying about your anger and seeking God’s help.

PRAYER:

From the Gelasian Sacramentary, a book of Christian liturgy, which is the oldest western liturgical book that has survived.  The book is linked to Pope Gelasius I. It was compiled near Paris around 750.

Almighty God,

hear our prayers

and pour on us your loving tenderness,

that we who are afflicted by our sins

may be refreshed by the advent of our Savior;

through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

MEDITATION:

Written by Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), an English preacher, known as the “Prince of Preachers.”. This is an excerpt from the book “365 Days with Spurgeon.”

There are some people who always live upon what they have been. I speak very plainly now. There is a brother in this church who may take it to himself; I hope he will. It is not very many years ago since he said to me, when I asked him why he did not do something—“Well, I have done my share; I used to do this, and I have done the other; I have done so and so.” Oh, may the Lord deliver him, and all of us, from living on “has beens!” It will never do to say we have done a thing. Suppose for a solitary moment, the world should say, “I have turned round; I will stand still.” Let the sea say, “I have been ebbing and flowing these many years; I will ebb and flow no more.” Let the sun say, “I have been shining, and I have been rising and setting for many days; I have done this enough to earn me a goodly name; I will stand still;” and let the moon wrap herself up in veils of darkness, and say, “I have illuminated many a night, and I have lighted many a weary traveler across the moors; I will shut up my lamp and be dark for ever.” Brethren, when you and I cease to labor, let us cease to live. God has no intention to let us live a useless life. But mark this; when we leave our first works, there is no question about our having lost our first love; that is sure. If there be strength remaining, if there be still power mentally and physically, if we cease from our office, if we abstain from our labors, there is no solution of this question which an honest conscience will accept, except this, “Thou hast lost thy first love, and, therefore, thou hast neglected thy first works.”

PRAYER:

From the Mozarabic Breviary. a liturgical rite of the Latin Church once used generally in the Iberian Peninsula (Hispania), in what is now Spain and Portugal.  Developed during Visigoth (Arian Christian) rule of the Iberian peninsula  in the 500s AD.

O Lord,

make us flourish like pure lilies

in the courts of your house,

and make us display to your people

the fragrance of good works

and the example of a godly life;

through your mercy, O our God,

you are blessed,

and live and govern all things,

now and forever. Amen.

MEDITATION:

Written by Shilo Taylor, a contemporary youth pastor and Christian author. This is an excerpt from her book “A 40-Day Guide to Life in Christ.”

All around us we see love fail. We see relationships end in breakups. We see marriages end in divorce. We see friendships end. Some love us based on our performance. They love us as long as we look good, keep it together, and do what they want. We love people who don’t love us back or maybe they love us but do a lousy job showing it. We let people down and miss opportunities to love well. We think we love, but we doubt our love when our feelings go away and the relationship has challenges. God’s love is nothing like those “loves.” His love endures forever. God’s love is not based on what we do or don’t do. Our choices bring consequences, and they must be faced, but they won’t change God’s love for us. God pursues us no matter how much we reject him. His love for us is unconditional and permanent.

Jesus’ death and resurrection are the grandest acts of love anyone will ever do for you. Jesus left his throne in heaven to come to earth as a humble person who was beaten and killed, a Savior who offered himself on a cross as your sacrifice. Clearly Jesus’ love for you is not empty, mushy, or wimpy. It is strong and unfailing. His death and resurrection took away your sin and gives you true life with him. He can back up his promises to care for you and meet your needs. The love of God changes who we are and how we relate to other people. His love is unfailingly patient, kind, protecting, merciful, and hopeful. His love seeps into us, and then it pours back out of us onto the people around us. His love gives us strength to do things that seem impossible.

PRAYER:

Written by Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), a laywoman, scholastic philosopher, and theologian associated with the Dominican Order.

Holy Spirit, come into my heart; draw it to You by Your power, O my God, and grant me charity with filial fear. Preserve me, O ineffable Love, from every evil thought; warm me, inflame me with Your dear love, and every pain will seem light to me.  My Father, my sweet Lord, help me in all my actions. Jesus, love, Jesus, love. Amen.

MEDITATION:

Written by Paul Estabrooks, a contemporary Christian author of the daily devotional “Standing Strong Through the Storm.”

Joshua Sauñe had not planned to speak at his brothers’ funeral. Had he planned a speech, it certainly would not have been the one he delivered on that remarkable September day in 1992. “Shining Path is not my enemy, Satan is my enemy,” he told the mourners who packed the Presbyterian Church in Ayacucho, Peru. “The people who killed my brothers need Christ just as you and I do.” The funeral of Quechua evangelist and Bible translator Rómulo Sauñe, his brother Ruben and their cousins Josué and Marco Antonio, was one of the largest Ayacucho witnessed during the decade that the communist guerrilla army known as Shining Path terrorized the city. Nearly 5,000 people, the vast majority of them Quechua-speaking native Americans like the Sauñes, turned out to grieve the fallen Christians, murdered September 5. God was there that day, too, performing silent miracles in the lives of several of the mourners.

Joshua was Rómulo’s only surviving brother and had come immediately from his home in the United States when he heard of the murders. All during the long flight to Peru, Joshua seethed with anger. He later told a friend that, in the very moment he rose to address the crowd, God took away the hatred he felt for the Shining Path terrorists that had caused his family so much suffering. In its place, God gave Joshua a burning desire to carry on the evangelistic work that his brothers, parents, and grandparents had faithfully performed. “I suddenly saw (that) if I was going to fight Shining Path, I should fight with the Bible,” Joshua said. “It was the first time I understood that.” Not long afterward, Joshua abandoned his successful art career in Arizona and moved back to Peru with his family to work with Runa Simi, the indigenous ministry founded by Rómulo and his wife, the former Donna Jackson. Between evangelistic campaigns in the Andes, Joshua and Missy Sauñe have worked to establish community self-help projects and schools for the widows and orphans of Shining Path violence.

PRAYER:

Written by Benedict XVI is a retired prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Pope until his resignation in 2013.

God grant that violence be overcome by the power of love, that opposition give way to reconciliation and that the desire to oppress be transformed into the desire for forgiveness, justice, and peace…May peace be in our hearts so that they are open to the action of God’s grace…May all members of the family community, especially children, the elderly, the weakest, feel the warmth of this feast, and may it extend subsequently to all the days in the year. Amen.

MEDITATION:

This meditation is from a daily devotional from Worthy Ministries.

A young couple was visiting a renowned jewelry store in New York City. They browsed through cases of magnificent diamonds with their gleaming yellow light along with many other splendid precious stones. Among those beautiful stones, one in particular caught his wife’s eye. It was completely lusterless and didn’t seem to be in the right place.

“That is one terrible looking stone, do you see that?” she said. The curious husband asked a clerk if they could see the stone. The clerk opened the case, took out the stone and held it in his hand for a few minutes. When he opened it, there was a perfectly flawless stone. There was not a place on it that didn’t gleam with the splendor of the rainbow. “How did you do that?”, they asked in surprise. “This is an opal”, he replied. “It is what we call the sympathetic jewel. It only needs contact with the human hand to bring out its wonderful beauty.”

Merely a touch brings out this stone’s beauty. We live in a world where beauty is hidden under pain, sin, and suffering. How many lives only need the warm touch of human sympathy, love, and compassion, to make them gleam with a radiant splendor? Reach out and touch someone today for His glory! Share with them the love of God and not only will they receive a glimmer of joy, but you will gleam with His radiance too! When the Lord asked whom shall I send, Isaiah replied “Hineni (here am I)”.  Let’s say “Hineni” today and be used by the Lord to bring out the beauty of those around us!

PRAYER:

Written by George Whitefield (1714-1770), an English Anglican cleric and evangelist who was one of the founders of Methodism and the evangelical movement.

You who holds the wind in your fists, and the waters in the palms of your hands, accept our thanks for your past mercies. Set apart our travels, and if it is best, carry us with speed to where we should go. Send me wherever and whenever it seems good to your divine majesty.

Raise my heart and make your power known in the hearts of your people. Add daily to your church those who will be saved. They are noted in your book; let them also be written on my heart.  Come Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen.

MEDITATION:

Written by N.T. Wright, a contemporary theologian, writer, teacher, and Anglican bishop. This is an excerpt from his book “The New Testament In Its World.”

A Christian worldview generates basic beliefs about God, Jesus, the atonement, resurrection, spirit, the future, and so forth. We might see this set of beliefs as those elements of the Christian faith that transcend culture (though they include the call to be culture makers and culture transformers). They constitute a kind of portable story which Christians take with them wherever they go. And from the basic beliefs there emerge what we may call consequent beliefs, beliefs that vary more widely based on context and environment, as Christians in all places have to navigate and negotiate how to live faithfully in their unique situation.

Part of the urgent task facing global Christianity in our  day is to figure out what is basic (and therefore unalterable) and what is consequent (and therefore open for debate). The New Testament provides the basis for a theology and a worldview in which we can explain and enact, under the guidance of the Spirit, several things universal to human experience: justice, spirituality, relationships, beauty, freedom, truth, and power. A Christian worldview tells us what those things mean, what to do with them, how to enjoy them, and how not to abuse them. A Christian worldview, focused on such topics, will enable us to engage in authentic worship, enact the Christian vocation, and promote the flourishing of humans, individually and together.

PRAYER:

This prayer is from the United Church of Christ Book of Worship.

Grant us, Lord God, a vision of your world as your love would have it: a world where the weak are protected, and none go hungry or poor; a world where the riches of creation are shared, and everyone can enjoy them;

a world where different races and cultures live in harmony and mutual respect; a world where peace is built with justice, and justice is guided by love. Give us the inspiration and courage to build it, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.