Tuesday - August 13, 2024

SCRIPTURE  Philippians 1:6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. WORDS OF HOPE My granddaughter is really into the natural world. Whenever she visits, we always explore my backyard for specimens: snail shells, interesting rocks, cicada “shells”, etc. So, it came as no surprise when a beginner rock tumbler set appeared on her Christmas wish list last year. Grandpa obliged and it appeared under the tree on Christmas morning. Upon opening she immediately wanted to try it out with the sample rocks included. (no delayed gratification at 7 years old!) While Anna and I set it up, her mother read the instructions: “For step one, add grit and water, tumble for 4-5 days.” DAYS!?!?!? I thought it only took a few hours! Then, after step one there are steps 2, 3, and 4 till the rock is completely smoothed and polished. Driving home that evening it occurred to me that our lives in God are very much like the rocks in a tumbler. So often we think God can just shape, smooth and polish us overnight, or at least in a day or two. The reality is that it takes a lifetime of “tumbles,” various types of “grit” and the water of God’s spirit to make the transformation. So, take heart! We are all in process! God is polishing our lives into the beautiful gems we were created to be. It just takes time. PRAYER Dear God, thank you for the good work you’re doing in me. May I trust your hand in all the tumbling and gritty moments of my life. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Les Geiter

SCRIPTURE Philippians 4:19, MSG You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, God’s generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. WORDS OF HOPE God My Provider A person will work their whole life getting richer, and by the end of their life, never know what it was to be rich. Why spend years for what you will only enjoy for days? So long as we have time, we have wealth, for a person’s happiness is in how they remember their time. Seeing as no one knows how much time they have, can anyone afford to waste it? We lack time more than we lack money. The one who has little is not poor and the one who has much is not rich, but the one who finds happiness is satisfied. There are people living in mansions who cannot buy happiness and there are people living in clay houses who would never sell it. If you can count it, if you can measure it, then its value is limited. Happiness can neither be counted nor measured; by this, we know that it is priceless. Therefore, do not waste your wealth, that is, your time, on trying to be wealthy. For once the money is spent, you will need more. Many people never enjoy peace because they think that they do not have enough money. They forget that its very purpose is to be spent, and if not spent by them, then by someone else after they are gone. No one keeps their money. Life does not begin when you have it, but when you wake up and begin your day. At the start of the day, we are gifted with time. How will we spend it? God has already considered everything that we need so that we may have peace in the world. Be at rest, for God will provide. PRAYER Jehovah Jireh, Bless You for the gift of life. We could never pay You back for the time You have given us. Yet sometimes, we fear not having enough. Help us to appreciate what we already have in You so that we may enjoy our time. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Jonathon McClellan Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

SCRIPTURE  1 Peter 2.9-12 But you are God's chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into divine marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things that God has done. The Scriptures say, "Once you were nobody. Now, you are God's people. At one time no one had pity on you. Now God has treated you with kindness.” Dear friends, you are foreigners and strangers on this earth. So, I beg you not to surrender to those desires that fight against you. Always let others see you behaving properly, even though they may still accuse you of doing wrong. Then on the day of judgment, they will honor God by telling the good things they saw you do. WORDS OF HOPE Today’s Scripture reading has had many interpretations throughout the centuries after it was written by or in the name of one of Jesus’ most volatile and determined Disciples. Whether Simon Peter himself wrote it or not, it is certainly written in the spirit of the truehearted man we met in the Gospels and Acts. Peter’s audience was made up of brand-new followers of Jesus, many of whom had grown up according to the letter of the Hebrew laws with a priest as their guide and interpreter. Now, Peter is reminding them that each of them is a high priest with direct access to God, granted through the words of Jesus himself. Their faith has made them the chosen ones whose words and actions were to become standards for their current followers, and it turned out, for future Christ-followers in thousands of generations to come. Simply stated, he was reminding them to take their responsibility seriously. They were part of Jesus’ Way now, with standards foreign to the tumult of the oppressive Roman Empire, a world of rulers who considered themselves gods, whose civilization was centered on mindless wars, hate, lies, bigotry, making the rich richer while starving the poor. Peter was both pleading and demanding that the followers of Christ’s Way must not bow in surrender to this culture of hate, not become a part of it, nor should they even give the impression they were sympathetic to any of it. They now belonged to Jesus and his culture of Love. Peter still speaks to us today, and loud and clear as always. Are we the chosen people? You bet we are! If we, or any other people of faith elsewhere in the world, have chosen to follow the words and example of Jesus Christ, our only choice is to be and to perpetuate his unconditional Love; to God, ourselves, and all of our neighbors, that love which triumphed, even over death, and perpetually saves us from corrupt systems that should have died in the first century. We are commissioned to serve Christ, not just to proclaim we are born again. Following Jesus does not mean to arrogantly award ourselves with a shallow label of “Christian” only to oppress others into becoming clones of us. We are chosen to love them, to BE Christ in the world. Nothing less will do. PRAYER God of Truth and Justice, thank you for being the Way, for directing us to your path, and for never leaving us stranded without your guiding presence. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Dan Peeler Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

READING The Empty Dark Oh let me, too, be willing to sit in the empty dark and let the darkness enter me. Let me not pretend to know how it will be. Let me lose my plans, though it terrifies me. Let me not imagine any better time to practice than now. Let me be the bowl that sings when touched, the bowl that is content with its own stillness. If I want answers, let me sit with my longing. If I want lessons, let me find them right here. And if it is dark, let me not run from the dark, but lean into it. And if it is light, let me long for the light. Let it enter me. Let me not pretend to know how it will be. Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer WORDS OF HOPE I have been so grateful for the many renown spiritual writers committed to posting during this time of chaos, division, and violence. They speak truth to power and write with insight and compassion about how to stay grounded and hopeful in spite of the darkness. Among this contemporary pantheon is Diana Butler Bass whose substack platform The Cottage draws readers from around the world. Beside her longer posts, during Lent each morning she sent brief Lenten moments— short scripture readings, songs, poems, and excerpts from her books. It has been a rich resource for individual practice and for sharing with our life group. Featured each Friday was the wonderful poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, with “The Empty Dark” being her first offering. She prefaced the reading by saying that the creative spark for the poem was a line in a letter from her friend Michael Phelan which said: “Answers don’t arrive if you’re afraid of sitting in the empty dark of the room of not knowing long enough for them to arrive on their own schedule.” She confessed that it is something she yearns for, and her poem on the subject drew me in. *** With palms upturned and comfortable on my lap, I sit in the early morning dark for what has become an important spiritual practice. Deepening my breath, I play the audio clip of Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer reading her work and then let the stillness surround me, enter me, opening a space inside to be filled by whatever the Spirit lifts up for me to listen for, attend to. The quiet itself is centering and healing—a balm for the chaos and violence of our world. That is a gift in itself. But often enough a message, a guiding direction, a reassurance of Love comes as well. Once an urge to offer a class on grief in Hamnet bubbled up. Another morning I saw the crack in the trunk of my Grandmother Oak tree and honored the strength of her endurance while aching at her injury. A line from Hamlet arose at another time: “Now cracks a noble heart”….and feelings of sorrow came. I was especially drawn to “Let me be the bowl that sings when touched” and felt the touch of the Holy at the edges of my heart. I prayed: Let me sing again. Twice the line “Let me not pretend to know how it will be” came up with power—reminding me that too often I let anxiety or fear carry me down a road of unknowing or when I imagine I can predict the outcome of something. Now it has become a mantra whenever such thinking swells. This practice—which can be done with poetry or song lyrics or a passage of spiritual reflection as well as scripture—can be a rich way of hearing the voice of the Divine. PRAYER Word of God speak in the stillness of the empty dark. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Dr. Pat Saxon

SCRIPTURE Matthew 20:17-28 (Inclusive Bible) When the other ten heard this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the nations lord it over them, and the powerful exercise authority over them. But it is not so among you. Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be the servant of all. For the Chosen One came not to be served, but to serve, and to give life for many." WORDS OF HOPE - Chemists Celebrate the Earth Day I remember taking chemistry in 10th grade, back in 2010, at McKinney Boyd High School. Most of my classmates barely glanced at the periodic table, but I was captivated. I could memorize every element, every atomic number, every symbol after just one glance. That fascination has never faded—though now my attention is shared with the stories of people I meet, the rhythms of life in the natural world, and the delicate systems that sustain all living beings. Chemistry teaches us to see the Earth anew. Every element, every reaction, every cycle is part of an intricate, interconnected system that sustains life. Sunlight sparks photosynthesis, turning energy into leaves, flowers, and fruits. Nutrients flow through soil, feeding roots, forests, and fields. Oxygen is released for every creature to breathe. The tiniest microbe, the humblest insect, the soil beneath our feet, the rivers, lakes, and oceans—each is part of a sacred network of life. This is the wonder of chemistry: it unveils the hidden threads of Creation. Life is a miracle of bonds, cycles, and balances. And everywhere in it, God is present—the divine architect behind every molecule, every forest, every drop of water, every flicker of life. God does not shy away from beauty. God revels in it. God marvels at the flowers blooming in spring, the trees swaying in summer winds, rivers alive with fish, fiery autumn leaves, and rainbows stretching across the sky after storms. God says, again and again, “It is good—no, very good.” And that goodness is everywhere: Delicate and playful: sunflower petals catching sunlight, jasmine drifting in evening air, deer leaping across meadows, squirrels scampering, rabbits hopping, otters sliding through streams, hummingbirds darting in golden rays, butterflies dancing on warm winds, ducks swimming in the lake, and cats curling in sunbeams. Fierce, wild, and majestic: tigers prowling forests, bears standing watch from mountains, eagles soaring above cliffs, wolves racing through snow, sharks gliding silently through oceans, crocodiles lurking in rivers, snakes coiling in grass, lions guarding their pride, mountain lions leaping across cliffs, octopuses exploring coral gardens, and owls gliding through moonlit nights. Strange, joyful, and curious: penguins waddling on ice, flamingos preening in shallow waters, kangaroos bounding across grasslands, armadillos shuffling, chameleons changing colors with the sun, foxes slipping between shadows, sea turtles drifting with currents, even to giraffes with their long necks reaching to eat the leaves. All of it—cute, fierce, delicate, wild, joyful, strange, playful—bears the signature of the Divine. And then there is humanity: a kaleidoscope of beauty, identity, and story. People of every skin tone, hair texture, eye color, and shape. Genders that are female, male, transgender, nonbinary, genderfluid, and beyond. Pronouns—she, he, they, xe, ze, and every way we claim our identities—each an image of the Divine. Faiths of every kind—Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Indigenous spiritualities, Earth-centered paths, and countless journeys we are still discovering—each reflecting God’s boundless creativity and care. Every person, every story, every life is a reflection of God’s love. Chemistry also opens our eyes to the vast cosmos. As Crosby, Stills & Nash sang in Woodstock in 1970: "We are stardust, we are golden, We are billion-year-old carbon." We are made of star-stuff, intimately connected to the universe itself. Even within our own solar system, God’s creativity shines. There is Mercury, scorched and airless; Venus, wrapped in clouds of acid and searing heat; Earth, lush and vibrant; Mars, red and dusty; Jupiter and Saturn, swirling with storms and magnificent rings; Uranus and Neptune, distant, icy, and mysterious; and Pluto, small and far, carrying its heart-shaped feature as if the cosmos itself remembered love in its outermost reaches. Each planet, each star, each galaxy, and every black hole exists in delicate balance—too hot or too cold would disrupt the dance of life. And yet here we are, on a planet just right for life to flourish. As Goldilocks reminds us: not too hot, not too cold; not too harsh, not too mild—just right. We are connected to it all. To the soil beneath our feet, the waters that flow, the air we breathe, the stars above. And yet, this planet—Earth—is home. The one place where chemistry, balance, and love converge, creating life in all its richness. That is both a gift and a responsibility.  Jesus reminds us in Matthew 20 that greatness is not about power—it is about service. To serve others. To serve the Earth. To protect what is fragile. Caring for creation is an act of love. It is an act of faith. It is choosing to live in harmony with the systems that sustain life. Chemistry teaches us how life works. Faith calls us to care for it. So, on this Chemists Celebrate Earth Day, may we do more than observe. May we notice the beauty. May we honor the diversity of life, of people, of pronouns, of faiths. May we protect the fragile balance that sustains life. May we love more deeply. Because this Earth is not just a collection of elements. It is a living system. A sacred home. A reflection of divine creativity and care. And it is still—beautifully, vulnerably—very good. PRAYER God of Creation, thank you for all that you have imagined, and all that we are still discovering. Thank you for the elements that form our world, for the breath in our lungs, for the waters that sustain us, and for the delicate balance that makes life possible. Help us to be stewards of your love and your Creation. Teach us to care for this Earth with humility, to protect what is fragile, and to honor the beauty woven into every part of life. Remind us that we are connected— to the soil, to the stars, to one another. May we serve as you have called us to serve: with compassion, with justice, with love that reaches all people and all creation. And may we never forget that this world—so intricate, so vulnerable, so alive— is still, and always, very good. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Reed Kirkman