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"Running in Faith" is an electronic devotional guide written by members of Abiding Presence Lutheran Church. Each week, writers use their personal interpretation of scripture to write an inspirational message they hope will help readers take their Sunday faith into weekday lives. Your comments are appreciated and, when related to a particular devotion, passed to the writer. We hope you will share these devotions with friends and coworkers. We are always happy to add new names to our e-mail list. Please contact us if you wish your name to be added. |
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Devotion for the week of July 1, 2002 ".. for the Lord searches all hearts, I am reading -- working my way through -- Peter Ellis' twenty plus volumes of "Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul" at Shewsbury". In one of the books, Brother Cadfael says, I have been about the world long enough to know that God's plans for us, however infallibly good, may not take the form that we expect and demand. I am a very organized person and delight in planning things. I expect things to work, or be done, the way I plan them. Most of the time, these characteristics are to my advantage. There are times, however, when I get too caught up in the checking of details, schedules, and the following of plans. In fact, I get so busy I loose track of the overall goal/results. A good example follows: For a long time, I have been praying for something for someone else. Tagged onto my prayers for benefiting another person have been, of course, that if that person were happy it would also make me happy. Recently, God answered my prayer. However, not in the form I anticipated! In fact, it took me a period of time to realize that my prayer had been answered because I was too busy looking for the answer I wanted. I didn't t realize an answer had been given. The person I had been praying for recognized an answer to prayer had been given and was indeed very happy with it. God heard my prayers, searched my heart, and understood my plan and thoughts. However, in his wisdom he knew that the way I designed the prayer to be answered would have made me happy but not the person I was praying for.
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Devotion for the week of July 8, 2002 "The Lord is my light and my salvation; According to the June 10, 2002, issue of Time magazine "now more than ever we are worrying ourselves sick." On July 4th I went with a friend and two loved ones to see my son perform in the Philadelphia Independence Day Parade. As we sat on the curb waiting for the parade to begin, a large military cargo jet flew very low over the parade route. No one thought it was a military tribute. Everyone thought terror had come to Philadelphia. The crowd was completely silent, and that silence lasted until the sight and sound of that plane disappeared. Fear surrounded and engulfed me and I looked to the heavens and prayed that the possibility we were all imagining would not be a reality. Of course my fear was short lived, we had a wonderful day, and the plane apparently was part of the celebration. When I was a girl my Mom would try to stop my worrying by quoting what her Mother always told her, "people who cross their bridges before they come to them have to pay the toll twice." I often repeat these words to myself when I find myself fretting about some worry in my life. Jesus says "come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." As Christians we need to bring our list of fears and worries to the Lord. He does not want us to carry our burdens alone, He does not want us to pay the toll twice. He does not want us "worrying ourselves sick." He wants us to come into the shelter of his love so that we may receive his peace.
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Devotion for the week of July 15, 2002
The last few months have been ones of loss and sorrow for my wife and me. We lost a dear friend of both Nancy and mine to cancer, the husband of my cousin to heart attack and now our sister-in-law has been in a coma for the past five weeks caused in an auto accident. The scripture passage has been on my mind for while now and challenges me to consider my faith. It just doesn't seem fair that just at the time that people find happiness and joy that their lives be interrupted dramatically; that their loved ones should suffer such pain and sorrow. This is a normal human reaction to the anguish of others and ourselves. And yet when I consider the question that Jesus asked, "Believeth thou this?", I am brought back to reality and the need to continue. Acceptance of tragedy is very difficult. When I think more deeply on this, I am reminded that though there is pain and sorrow in my life and in the lives of those I love, that there is hope and solace in the promise of Jesus that he is "the resurrection". The words of the hymn, "Blessed Assurance" bring comfort to me and release. I find the strength to go on and be of comfort and support to my family and others. And, I find understanding, acceptance and peace in my faith.
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Devotion for the week of July 22, 2002
On the Liturgical Calendar, July 22 is dedicated to the Feast of Mary Magdalene, First Witness of the Resurrection. . Who is this woman? Some regard her as a sinner and a wicked woman. Surprisingly, there are many churches names in her honor, including two ELCA parishes. Mary Magdalene is mentioned in the Gospels as being among the women of Galilee who followed Jesus and his disciples, was present at his crucifixion and burial, and who went to the tomb on Easter Sunday to anoint his body. She was the first to see the risen Lord, and to announce his resurrection to the apostles. Accordingly, she is referred to in early Christian writings as 'the apostle to the apostles'. Mary, or Miriam, was a common name of the day . Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany (sister of Martha and Lazarus) and the unnamed penitent woman who anointed Jesus' feet were identified as the same person by Pope Gregory, and therefore the Roman church, but scripture does not support this tradition. . Eastern tradition regards them as three separate persons. St. Ambrose and others preferred to leave the question undecided. Mary may have been born in Bethany, gone to Magdala to live for a while, and returned to Bethany at a later date. The name might have been taken from the braided locks she wore, which later made her the patron saint of hairdressers!. The Bible never explicitly says that Mary Magdalene was ever a prostitute at any point in her life. The confusion between Mary Magdalene and the unnamed prostitute comes from proximity; the story of Mary Magdalene came immediately after it in Luke 7. Mary Magdalene was the one from whom the seven deadly spirits had come out. In the first passage, sins of an unnamed woman were forgiven. In the latter, which specifically names Mary Magdalene, no mention of forgiveness is made, only curing. The relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus is also subject of much speculation. Mary Magdalene is included in the list of women who were committed to minister to Jesus and the disciples. She had accumulated enough wealth to provide financially toward Jesus' ministry, They may (or may not) have had a romantic relationship. One researcher even suggests that they were married. Although this may seem shocking, since we believe that Christ was both true man and true God, one must consider the possibility. Another researcher puts forth a treatise that Mary Magdalene was the RBeloved DiscipleS spoken of in the Gospel of John and was actually the author of that book. Some authorities say that Mary traveled with John and Mary, the mother of Jesus, to Ephesus , but others claim she traveled through the Mediterranean to Southern France. Here again is one of the stories in the Bible in which scripture and tradition become so interwoven that the facts are lost. What is true, according to scripture, is that Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus followers, she was with him at critical times of his life and death, and was the one to announce to his disciples that he had risen. The disciples looked into the darkness of the tomb and they saw the linen wrappings lying the on the floor and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head now sitting in dust. Empty. The tomb was empty and the disciples went home. Mary stayed behind weeping just outside the entrance to the tomb. Two angels spoke to her. She then saw Jesus, who also spoke to her. She assumed he was the gardener, and asked where they had taken the body of her Lord. She did not recognize him until he called her by name. Jesus appeared to Mary in the darkness of the tomb in her own time of darkness and fear just as he appears to us in the darkness and emptiness of our own sorrow. He calls us each by name and lets us know we are not alone. Last week, at the Triennial Gathering for Women of the ELCA in Philadelphia, I was fortunate to lead two workshops entitled, 'Women of the Bible speak to Women of Today'. (Copies available upon request.) If we had an opportunity to speak with Mary Magdalene, what would her message be to us? What questions would we ask her? How can we share the good news that Mary told to the disciples?
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Devotion for the week of July 29, 2002
Follow me! These passages have always impressed me. I can remember as a child wondering how these men could make such a decision without speaking to family, arranging for someone to look after their house, or at least getting one change of clothes to take along. It seemed impossible that the simple phrase, "Follow Me" had the power to have those who heard it give up all their material belongings and step out into the unknown. As an adult, these passages still cause me to pause and wonder how Simon, Andrew, and Matthew, the tax collector, were able to make such a life changing decision on the spur of the moment. There was obviously something in the way Jesus said, "Follow Me," that had special meaning. This wasn't something that was done on a whim. I think that those who followed Jesus did so because of the message of hope and love that they received through his ministry to the poor, the hungry, the sick, and those with special needs. They were willing to give up everything in order to be a part of this ministry. Down through the ages, people have listened to this invitation of Jesus to "Follow Me." Unfortunately, too many people have simply listened and then gone off on their own. It seems to me the message we can receive from the scriptures used for this devotion is that Jesus always extends his invitation to us. Our responsibility is to listen and prayerfully ask, "How can I best follow Him." This may mean a change in our life style, a career change, ministering to others in any number of ways, becoming more involved in studying the scriptures and praying, or being receptive to a request to pitch in when assistance is needed.
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