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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 June 2, 2002
This particular verse has haunted me and lingered in my prayers for an entire week! Does it mean that verbal witness to the faith is not really necessary? They'll know we are Christians by our love. Does it mean that those who think they've got this Christian life thing down pat shouldn't be so presumptuous? Does it mean that there might be folks out there who are kind of quiet and not often present in the life of the church who may be more committed than we think? Theologians call them "anonymous Christians." Beyond the deeper questions, what troubles me about the verse is this whole matter of the relationship between word and deed. Does Dan Whitener "walk the talk?" Do I make promises to the Lord and others that I fail to keep? Does my deficient faith at times lead me to chicken out when it comes to doing the will of God? Scathing statements like the aforesaid one from Matthew lead us to confession of sin. God who is gracious and merciful invites us to confess our loose and raveled connections between word and deed, inner motivation and outward commitment. In the moment of confession, God forgives us our sin and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. -- that includes all our false, empty, and unkept promises.
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Devotion for the week of June 9, 2002
In the film Amadeus, the Emperor Joseph II dismisses Mozart's masterpiece with the comment, "There are simply too many notes." He was wrong about Mozart, who had written, as he claimed, "just as many notes as are required, neither more nor less." Nevertheless, it is true that the natural integrity of any creative endeavor is destroyed and its meaning distorted by too many repetitious, distracting, or confusing components, whether that be too many notes in an opera, too many brush strokes on a canvas, too many images in a poem, too many flourishes in a dance, or even too many elements in a life. Uncontrolled, unhelpful thoughts that are repeatedly directed along the same familiar worn out paths, perhaps programmed from long ago, freeze the mind and hold it hostage, weakening our capacity for creative expression and understanding. Unhealed, raw feelings that are constantly allowed to storm through our lives frazzle the heart, diminishing our ability to be sensitive, loving, and compassionate. Undirected, irrelevant activities that are routinely permitted to clutter our days exhaust the will, draining energy for the vital tasks that are more central to our values and goals. Perhaps all these frenzied efforts are driven by unspoken fears that we are not good enough, not strong enough, or not doing enough. Ironically, our struggles are quite ineffective in resolving these fears. Moreover, whatever our motives, at such times we are concentrating too much on merely personal concerns. We cannot always prevent feeling overwhelmed by life's crises and necessities from time to time, but we can strive for direction and balance. The mind that is focused on the Lord is characterized by strength in adversity, fearlessness, and equanimity, whatever transpires. As a natural consequence, thoughts, feelings, and actions will then be brought into accord with higher spiritual purposes. Immeasurable power, infinite courage, and perfect peace are the gifts of God, freely given. What is asked of us is only that we keep our eyes on Christ in all the days of our lives, and prayerfully dedicate them to His service.
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Devotion for the week of June 17, 2002 "Jesus said to the twelve, This verse was part of the Gospel reading for this past Sunday. It is in the instructions that Jesus gives to the twelve apostles whom he sends out in his name. In fact, it seems to be the central mission that they have: Proclaim the good news, the kingdom of heaven has come near! As Jesus' disciples, we are charged with the same mission -- proclaim the good news. In this time when many of us go away or go out to different places, I hear Jesus' words ring loud and clear, "When you go out, proclaim the good news." I hear it when I am in the car with my children heading for grandparents' houses. I hear it when I am preparing to travel to Namibia, Africa. I hear it when I am sitting by the pool with neighbors. I hear it when I am working with congregations in the NJ Synod. I hear it when I am having conversation with a friend who is struggling with life. And I wonder if I am fulfilling this calling; am I proclaiming the good news by what I say and do in the places I find myself each day. But there is more to Jesus' words than just command to share the good news. For in his words to the apostles, and to us, there is a sense that the good news we have to share is the same good news that has come near to us. We have experienced the kingdom of heaven near to us. We have received Jesus' life-giving words in our own lives. We live as children of God, claimed and redeemed by Jesus himself. We proclaim what we know -- the kingdom of heaven has come near, in the very person of Jesus the Christ. So we do go out and proclaim, but we also receive and hear that proclamation ourselves. The kingdom of heaven comes near to us in our proclamation and in our failure to proclaim. The kingdom of heaven comes near to us in the voice of a family member or friend. The kingdom of heaven comes near to us in the embrace of a loved one or the smile of a stranger. The kingdom of heaven comes near to us in the bread and wine of a common meal and the prayers of a gathered people. Let us rejoice this week in the ways we experience the good news we are called to proclaim.
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Devotion for the week of June 24, 2002
Nearly 50 years ago, when I was preparing to graduate from high school, a significant statement was made about God's people ministering in God's world. Assembled in Evanston, the World council of Churches said: "The time has come to make the ministry of the laity explicit, visible, and active in the world. The real battles of the faith today are being fought in factories, shops, offices, and farms, in political parties and government agencies, in countless homes, in the press, radio and television, in the relationship of nations. Very often it is said that the church should "go into these sphere"; but the fact is that the church is already in these spheres in the persons of its laity." This statement of a day when Bill Haley and the Comets were "rocking around the clock" may appear to be old hat -- outdated, irrelevant, and inconsequential. But, I'd argue that the call to "go...serve the Lord" in our daily lives is as fresh as Sunday's liturgical sending, as new as Monda's morning paper, and as important as the Scriptural mandate to use our God-given gifts in serving others (Romans 12:6-8; 1 Peter 4:10-11; and, Ephesians 4:7, 11-12). Where we are -- in the home, at the office, on the farm -- in a sales meeting, a hospital room, a classroom, a bank, a store -- there the church is and there, too, God is. The Lord is with us not only on Sunday morning in the church; he abides with us throughout the week -- in workplace and marketplace, neighborhood and nation. And, as we serve others as public servants and private citizens, do our parenting and grand-parenting, live out the love of Jesus in caring for the elderly, poor, destitute, and alienated, teach, fight fires, audit, operate, plow the fields, drive, and manage business, we minister "for the common good."
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