Running in Faith is an electronic devotional guide written by members of Abiding Presence Lutheran Church to help readers take their Sunday faith into weekday lives. Each Devotion represents the personal opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent Abiding Presence Lutheran Church. Permission is granted to link to this page and to use the Devotions for personal, non-commercial purposes only.

Week of April 6, 2008
Diane S.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness
and all these things shall be added unto you.
Matthew 6:33 (KJV)

We are a culture obsessed with the god of progress, today defined most often in scientific and materialistic terms. The revolutions in technology and communications in particular have captivated the world, their impact ever broader in range, ever more minute in application. As adherents of this ethos, we seek nothing less than the total transformation of the world and power over it.

On a personal level, we walk the spiral path of continual striving toward the goals we have set for ourselves. Over the course of our lives, we slowly shift from the enthusiasm of youth enthralled with grand possibilities to the disillusionment of experience aware that its future is gradually but inexorably contracting, and then we repeat the process over and over with newly elucidated, more "realistic" ambitions. Through it all, we seek to exercise some control over our own lives, gain more knowledge, become better people, and serve those in need.

Still we strive and still we languish, eventually recognizing that all that progress, all that achievement, impressive though it may be, does nothing in the end to change the heart of the universe or the nature of our own being. Not that the world's massive problems do not demand resolution or that our personal issues do not need attention. Nor that our goals, either collective or individual, are necessarily unworthy or our work completely inefficacious. Indeed, on many levels, our efforts have alleviated suffering and made the world a better place to live.

But they are insufficient at best and destructive at worst, and always will be as long as they are carried out by an unenlightened humanity. And spiritual awakening requires a journey inward, to gradually rid the self of ego-striving, disguised so often in altruistic attire. A journey to the Light, to the only source of true compassion and genuine insight, to the only power that can ultimately change the world. A journey out of time and space to the stillness at the core of this spinning cosmos. We have no choice if we are to succeed. We must seek first the kingdom of God, not as a luxury to bask in its peace and quiet, but as a necessity to immerse ourselves in that eternal stream of love and wisdom. Only in this way can our human activity truly contribute to a lasting peace and social justice for all

Week of April 13, 2008
David M..

Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it." So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" He replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?"    (Acts 8:27b-31a)

For those of you for whom English is your first language, did you ever wonder who is most responsible for the English translation of the Bible? Most of you may guess "King James of England", who authorized the version completed in 1611. This version was worked on by 47 scholars and took about eight years to complete. However, this answer would be incorrect. The so-called King James Version actually owes much of its debt to William Tyndale, a clergyman born in 1494. It has been said that "Tyndale is the mainly unrecognised translator of the most influential book in the world. Although the Authorised King James Version is ostensibly the production of a learned committee of churchmen, it is mostly cribbed from Tyndale with some reworking of his translation." How did this state of affairs come to be?

Well, you see, Tyndale's decision to translate the scriptures into the native tongue of his land ran afoul of the church hierarchy, as it had it other countries where it was first attempted. The church felt that the Bible in the hands of the laity was simply too dangerous. The common folk should be told only what the church felt they needed to hear, and only upon its own interpretation. Instead of as Philip had done, giving the people the scriptures and then helping them to understand it, the church decided it was safer to leave the Bible in a language they could not understand, Latin, and instruct the people only in what they thought best, and filtered through their own theological lens. Tydale was told to cease and desist his attempts at delivering the scriptures to the people in English under pain of heresy. He decided to leave England, knowing that the climate on the European continent was more favorable to a reformer, thanks mostly to Luther.

So in 1524 Tyndale left and began travels in Europe, moving from place to place where conditions were most friendly. He worked in Hamburg, Cologne, Worms, and Antwerp. Printers worked with him and soon English Bibles were arriving in England and were quickly consumed by the public anxious for this newfound freedom to read the word of God for themselves. King Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey responded by declaring the books forbidden, arresting booksellers, confiscating the Bibles, and having them burned. In fact, only three copies of the first edition of Tyndales' 1526 New Testament survive to this day. Tyndale also fueled Henry's wrath by opposing his divorce in a treatise written in 1530. Henry's spies eventually caught up with Tyndale in Antwerp in 1535. He was betrayed to the authorities, who were Catholic, and imprisoned. He was charged as a heretic and burned at the stake in 1536. His last words were "Lord, open the King of England's eyes!"

Soon after, as Henry decided to appoint himself head of the Church of England, and break away from Rome, he decided an English Bible wasn't so bad of an idea after all. He charged one James Coverdale to prepare the Bible, which he did using all of Tyndale's New Testament and what of the Old he had translated, all from the Greek and Hebrew. Coverdale, however, used the less accurate Latin Vulgate to finish the rest of the Old Testament.

So you see, Tyndale dying prayer was in fact answered, he in fact gave his life to fulfill it. Many phrases in Bible translations still used today are directly from Tyndale: "let there be light, the powers that be, my brother's keeper, the salt of the earth, a law unto themselves, it came to pass, gave up the ghost, the signs of the times, the spirit is willing, fight the good fight". He coined the words Passover, atonement, scapegoat, and Jehovah. The next time you are reading your Bible, remember the man who was the first to make it possible for you to do so, William Tyndale. The ELCA commemorates Tyndale as a martyr for the faith on October 6. The Church of England remembers Tyndale's sacrifice with this prayer:

"Lord, give your people grace to hear and keep your word that, after the example of your servant William Tyndale, we may not only profess your gospel but also be ready to suffer and die for it, to the honour of your name."

P.S. For those with further interest, there is an excellent 1986 movie about Tyndale called "God's Outlaw"

Week of April 20, 2007
Nancy E.

From the lips of children and infants,
you have ordained praise.
Psalm 8:2

I was at the tenebrae service on Good Friday evening. Sitting behind me was a mother and her young child. Pastor Dan had just completed the reading he had selected for the seventh word,

"It is finished." John 19:30

His text was taken from the book God in Pain by Barbara Brown Taylor, chapter 15 entitled, "Believing What We Cannot Understand".

"That is, in the end, the message that the cross calls us to believe without knowing how or why; that come hell and high water; come affliction and hardship, persecution, hunger, nakedness, peril and sword; come whatever may, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord, who has promised us that everything, finally, shall be well. Amen"

The child behind me repeated his, "Amen." -- the only person in the congregation to do so. Quickly, the child whispered, "Mama, I was the only person to say Amen." And then asked her, "Why?"

Indeed, out of the mouth of that child came great wisdom, "Amen." That is, the child confirmed, "So may it be."

Lord, help me to believe without knowing how or why even when I cannot always understand.

Week of April 27, 2008
Pastor Dan

Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye,
but do not notice the log in your own eye?
Luke 6:41 NRSV

One of the key biblical, devotional thought patterns is the parallelism. Without getting too technical, parallelism is basically stating and restating a primary thought several times so that the point gets driven home deep into the heart. One can find parallelism most prominently in the psalms, but also in the wisdom sayings of Jesus.

As an expanded illustration, I have used the verse quoted above and restated it with the help of paraphrase and commentary to illustrate the beauty and devotional benefit of the parallelism. May the Holy Spirit go to work on us with the Word here to curb our often damaging judgmentalism.

It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own.
Eugene H. Peterson, The Message

It is frightfully evident, then, that we use one scale to weigh our neighbors and another for ourselves.
Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

Please refrain from judging your neighbor until you have walked a mile in her moccasins.
Cherokee Indian folk saying

Let us pray. . . . Lord of mercy, from your merciful heart-- form me into a disciple who is poised to listen, ready to show mercy, slow to speak, and doubly slow to judge. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen