Tuesday - November 4, 2025

SCRIPTURE Proverbs 22.1 A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. WORDS OF HOPE Greed is an inglorious miseducation which teaches us that the difference between less and more is our happiness. The assertion is that those with less are poor and that those with more are rich. Ironically, the acquisition of wealth is thought to lead one to happiness; however, endeavoring for wealth which cannot be enjoyed after one’s years are spent acquiring it is a bitter venture only realized by the time it is too late to get the time back. This is poverty: spending your whole life trying to get rich and gaining nothing but regrets and the desire for more time in the end. Our true wealth is the time we have to spend with the ones we love. We have time to discover the beauty of this world, to build relationships, and to leave this world better than we found it. None of these things require money to attain more than the requirement of our time. Happiness is inexpensive but time is priceless. Yet, for every one person who finds satisfaction there are nine hundred and ninety-nine who want more. This is blindness: there is enough food in the world to feed everyone, but people are dying of hunger. There are people who live modest lives. They may wear the same clothes every day and only eat what they can grow but are smiling from within out of an abundance of wealth that few understand. It is long overdue that humanity asked the honest question...why? Why do we need so much? We have the resources needed to meet the physical needs of every living person on Earth but lack the vision to make it happen. Jesus once warned us that it profits us nothing if in the end, we gain the world but lose our souls. PRAYER God our provider, Teach us not only to desire what we have, but also, to share what we have with others. Keep us from the path of confusion, and from trying to monopolize wealth and happiness. Grant this world the true riches of Your love. Let Your companionship be treasured far more than jewels. Help us, to not only see our own needs, but also, the needs of our neighbors. Bless You, for You provide all that we need and more than we desire. Amen. DEVOTION AUTHOR Jonathon McClellan Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

SCRIPTURE Matthew 24:23-24 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’—do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. WORDS OF HOPE Sometimes I think we are all looking for a Messiah, someone to come in and fix everything. And we want it to happen fast. Maybe that’s why politicians who claim to have all the answers seem so popular. After all, messiahs make everything so much easier. We can feel free to make a mess of our lives if we believe there is an easy fix. A “get out of jail, free” card. A magical solution to everything. We can feel free to continue to sully the earth and destroy the environment, as long as we believe some outside force will magically make everything better. Isn’t that what some preachers tell us? If I read the words of Jesus correctly, he never really says any of that, and he warns us of false Messiahs, prophets and tricksters. He doesn’t even claim that for himself. What he offers us is a way. A way of living and behaving that can bring heaven to earth. It is not cheap salvation, but a process that takes time and work and most of all an ethical compass that reminds us, “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” PRAYER May we remember that we are God’s hands here on earth. May the words of Jesus guide our work and our lives that we may indeed bring the kingdom of heaven to earth. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Hardy Haberman

SCRIPTURE Psalm 57.1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me; for it is in you that my soul takes refuge. In the shadow of your wings, I will take refuge. WORDS OF HOPE The Israelite King Saul was hunting to kill the young warrior David who had sought refuge and hid in a distant cave. Sometimes the world around us may be turned upside down with dangerous threats and loss. Like David, we too need a sure and safe refuge to anchor our lives and quiet the worries of our heart. The world may offer potential solutions or mind-numbing options, but David models for us the best solution for these moments of crisis... turn to God's loving care. You may hide under the protection of God’s wings and still get scratches and a nosebleed, but you won't end up mortally wounded! In all things, give praise to God! In I Chronicles 16:8-9, we read: "Give thanks to the Lord, call on God's name, make God’s deeds known among the people. Sing, sing praises to God." David didn’t stay hidden in that cave. After he fought the Philistines and recaptured the Ark of the Covenant, he brought it safely back to Israelite territory and ordered celebrations. This verse begins a hymn of praise to God. Since then, many official statements and hymns have been composed to praise and thank God. But, what about your personal life experience? Is it filled with genuine thanksgiving to the Creator God? What is your personal hymn of praise? Each of us receives more blessings per hour than we can count. Do thanks flow off your tongue giving thanks and praise to our Lord? Praising God's nature and love is the basis of our spiritual life. From ancient rabbinic literature it is said: "In the world to come, all sacrifice [and offering] will cease, but the sacrifice of thanksgiving will remain forever; equally, all confessional statements will cease, but the confession of our thanksgiving to God will remain forever." Let it be so in our lives. PRAYER Lord God, as I journey through daily activities, may the multitude of these divinely inspired words help me to focus on your desires for my life. Keep me safe and on the right path with you. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Donald (Luke) Day Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

SCRIPTURE  Nehemiah 8. 2-4 So, Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand…And he read from it facing the square … from early morning until midday, in the presence of the women and the men and all those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood all the Levite Priests. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it, all the people stood. WORDS OF HOPE All of us have heard a sermon, or perhaps many sermons, that have truly transformed our lives. The Bible, especially the Hebrew Scriptures, has its share of sermons, too. This one delivered by Ezra the scribe transformed the lives of an entire nation. And all he did was read aloud the Books of Moses. The people were profoundly changed by the Word of God. Nehemiah, the first Governor of Jerusalem during the Second Temple period, likely recounted this Hebrew Scripture event as a first-hand witness. As a background to the story, the people, after many years in Babylonian captivity, had just returned to their homeland. Many of them had not had the opportunity to hear a reading of their own Holy Scriptures for decades. The young among them had never heard it. Ezra’s public reading was more in the nature of the headline act at a rock concert. A special stage had been constructed for the event and his backup vocals were a team of venerable Levites, the famous tribe of priests who could answer scripture questions on the spot. It was a Revival even beyond the level of the legendary Billy Graham Crusades from the middle of the last century. Ezra’s formula was one of faith in the power of the word when read aloud, accurately interpreted, and applied, to inspire spiritual renewal. He was building a cohesive community with a shared commitment to follow God's laws of mutual love. The event also reminds us that this was a time in the history of the children of Israel when their patriarchal society gave way to welcoming all women as well as young people who were old enough to understand the message. All were included. Some were shocked, saddened by their years of neglecting their own scriptures, but Ezra reminded them that the ultimate purpose of God's Words is to inform us of the salvation they bring. Today, we have the privilege of hearing God’s message read every Sunday at church, and being a literate society, every day in our own homes if we choose. The next time you are asked to please rise for the reading of the Gospel, remember that Ezra’s congregation stood from early morning until noon to hear the reading of God’s Word. In your own life, whether in church or during those voluminous conversations on social media, do you stand for the Word of God? PRAYER God of Salvation, may your Words always be our own Words and may they always be words of Hope. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Dan Peeler Order of St. Francis and St. Clare

SCRIPTURE Job 38. 4-7 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone— while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? WORDS OF HOPE I love today’s excerpt from Job, with God as the divine architect laying out the Earth as a work of art. All of us can be artists, designers of our own lives. Some of us even do it for a living. For as long as I can remember, my artistic ideas usually didn’t come to me inspired by just one or two things. Life isn’t that way. I am blessed to come up with concepts I’ve been calling “idea clusters” for the last few years. Looking back, the first time this happened to me was probably while I was in the third grade. I had a formulaic idea of how to draw superheroes and fast cars. Superheroes dreams came out of watching multiple Saturday morning cartoons. Drawing race cars and hot rods was inspired by one called the Wacky Races. All were inspirations to create my own original concepts. The ideas flooded my brain, often well past my bedtime, and the sketches and lists began. I had such a strong inclination for getting the ideas down because I learned quickly if I let it go, the next morning I would have forgotten those inspirations. I’m still that way. Having ideas so strong that I need to keep detailed notes to make sure I could revisit after a deadline. In our very anthropomorphic concept of God, I’m in wonder at all the creation ideas that sprang forth, as if God wouldn’t be able to sleep until the ideas were manifested. But remember, God did rest on the Seventh Day! That’s more human and less Divine than I can get my head around. I don’t know how our world came to be. I’ve seen clusters of asteroids and meteors form planets and moons on the science channel. Theoretically, something had to manifest in the way of natural causes for these celestial bodies to form. Genesis defines it as Divine Creation. Science suggests that the raw material was stardust. Isn’t it humbling to imagine that we are literally made of Stardust? -Those clusters of particles that beg for a purpose from an almighty Creator. Raw materials in God’s idea clusters. Is Genesis somehow literal in saying humanity was made from dust? God’s stardust? It sounds prophetic, doesn’t it? Is that what happened? And here WE are…another miracle, God’s works of art in this thing called Creation. That’s probably enough to ponder for a day. What idea clusters do you have? Are you making a list? PRAYER Wonderous Creator, today, may I join the morning stars to sing together and shout for joy with the angels of the wonders of your Creation. Amen DEVOTION AUTHOR Charlie C. Rose Order of St. Francis and St. Clare