Of the Earth
(Devotion edited by Graeme Harrison)
PRAYER:
Creator God.
Through your hand and through your Word, you have given us life and given life to all our world.
You call us to be stewards and co-creators.
Awaken within us a deep respect for where we walk. Help us to tread lightly on this land and to cherish the gifts endowed upon us.
We make this prayer through the Holy Spirit, who has moved in this world for all time. Amen
(Prepared by Evangelisation & Spiritual Formation Team, © Brisbane Catholic Education)
Read:
Genesis 1:24-31. Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
24And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so.
25God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
30And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
(Genesis 1:24-31 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
A Reflection from Jurgan Moltmann’s book “The Spirit of Hope- Theology for a World in Peril”
Before we human beings till and keep the earth and assume any rule over the world or any responsibility for creation, the earth cares for us. It creates the conditions that are favourable for the human race and has preserved it down to the present day. It is not that the earth is entrusted to us: we are entrusted to the earth. The earth can live without us human beings, but we cannot live without the earth.
… the human being is the last being God creates and therefore, the most dependent of all God’s creations. For their life on earth, human beings are dependent on the existence of animals and plants, air and water, light, daytime and night time, sun, moon, and stars, and without these things, we cannot live. Human beings exist only because all these other creatures exist. … So it is impossible to conceive of the human beings as a divine potentate over and against nature.
Human beings are a part of nature. … It is only when we become aware of our dependence on the life of the earth and on the existence of other living things that we shall turn … into truly human beings.
Forgiving God
(Devotion by Ros McDonald)
Prayer:
Come to us, O God of surprising grace.
Break into the places in our lives
which we think are not worthy of your entry,
and show us the measure of your love for us.
Break through into newness
in all our life together, O God,
in the wonder of your transforming presence.
Amen.
(Sourced from Uniting in Worship 2, Uniting Church in Australia, 2005)
Read:
Psalm 32: 1-5(NIV)
Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you. In particular, notice the emotional distress of the writer.
Blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord does not count against them
and in whose spirit is no deceit.
When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the Lord.”
And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
Thought for the Day:
It’s easy to carry around a burden of guilt, for actions and words we regret, or for actions which we think we should have done, and words which we didn’t say. Sometimes our actions and words are wrong and hurtful and our guilt is there because we know that we have not lived up to the Christian way of life. Sometimes we feel guilt unnecessarily, for events that were not our responsibility, or that we had no control over.
Whatever the reason for our guilt, we can bring it to God in prayer, as did the writer of Psalm 32. This is a gutsy thing to do, because having been forgiven by God, we can become free to change and perhaps to take some action.
For many people, living in stage 4 lockdown intensifies their feelings. Did you notice the emotional distress of the writer of the Psalm? Notice too, the experience of being blessed, described in the first stanza of the Psalm, after the writer brought his/her distress to God. We have a God who became human in Christ Jesus, who understands us completely and loves us passionately. If you are in emotional distress, talk with God in prayer, then talk with someone you trust.
Finish by rereading the prayer.
In All Things God Works for Good …
(Devotion by Graeme Harrison)
PRAYER:
Everything
God in my living
There in my breathing
God in my waking
God in my sleeping
God in my resting
There in my working
God in my thinking
God in my speaking
Be my ev'rything
Be my ev'rything
Be my ev'rything
Be my ev'rything
God in my hoping
There in my dreaming
God in my watching
God in my waiting
God in my laughing
There in my weeping
God in my hurting
God in my healing
Christ in me! Christ in me!
Christ in me the Hope of Glory!
You are ev'rything
(Tim Hughes © 2005 Thankyou Music (Admin. by SHOUT! Music Publishing Australia) For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com CCLI Licence # 113082 Used with permission)
Read:
Romans 8:28-36. Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
(Romans 8:28-36 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
I can’t tell you how often I have seen verse 28 on posters, bookmarks and mugs. I can tell you how often I have seen verse 36 similarly displayed; zero. The reason is that we want verses around that make us feel that everything is going to be ok. Verse 28 seems to say that but verse 36 seems to contradict. There is no contradiction in Paul’s mind.
This is because he understands that verse 28 is a statement about the universe and everything; that God is moving in life in such a way that love wins at the end of history. He is not trying to say that God’s action will only let good things happen in the life of the individual Christian. That is why verses 28 and 36 are not contradictions in Paul’s mind. Bad things do happen to people who love Christ and follow him. Paul himself was imprisoned and executed just a year or two after this letter was sent. Paul did not feel cheated by this. He was happy enough knowing that he experienced God’s personal love in the here and now (including when unjustly bound in prison) and that dwelling in that unconditional love was his inheritance forever.
How do you feel about your life in the world? Do you resonate with Paul, that despite everything you are the most fortunate person alive because of Jesus?
That is your inheritance to claim.
Overcome Evil
(Devotion by Graeme Harrison)
PRAYER:
A prayer for remembrance
O Lord,
remember not only men and women of good will,
but also those of ill will.
But do not remember all the suffering they have inflicted upon us;
instead, remember the fruits we have borne
because of this suffering –
our fellowship, our loyalty to one another,
our humility, our courage, our generosity,
the greatness of heart that has grown from this trouble.
When our persecutors come to be judged by you,
let all these fruits we have borne be their forgiveness. Amen.
Found on the clothing of a dead child
at Ravensbruck concentration camp
(Sourced from A Treasury of Prayers in Uniting in Worship, copyright 1988 Uniting Church in Australia)
Read:
Romans 12:17-21. Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
(Romans 12:17-21 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
Yesterday was Hiroshima Day. It is a testimony to human wisdom. Apparently, it was reasoned that the wartime Japanese government would never surrender and that hundreds of thousands of American soldiers would lose their lives fighting street by street through the cities of Japan. Instead, if the USA dropped a weapon of mass destruction onto two cities and wiped out everyone including infants and non-combatants the Japanese government would be so appalled at the inhumanity of their enemies that they would surrender. Famously, it worked. No American lives were sacrificed but every principle that the allies were fighting to protect was sacrificed.
How do you overcome evil in this world? Do live by Jesus teachings or do we abandon them when the level of evil seems too big? Whatever you are facing in your life, may you “overcome evil with good.”
Humorous God
(Devotion by Ros McDonald)
Prayer: God of Merriment
God of merriment, help us keep our sense of humour.
Help us to see the comical side of human self-importance.
When we take ourselves too seriously, enable us to chuckle at our folly.
Fill us with the robust joy of Easter.
God of merriment, because of all your victories in Christ Jesus,
liberate us to share in the song of the morning stars
and the joyful shouts of the children of God,
now and forever. Amen.
(Adapted from Jesus Our Future, Bruce Prewer, 1998)
Read:
Luke 6: 41-42 (NRSV)
Ask for God’s guidance, then read this slowly. As you read for a second time, imagine the scene described.
Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbour, “Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye”, when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye.
Thought for the Day:
It’s easy to get so familiar with the bible that we miss the humour. There are many examples of Jesus using humorous exaggeration to make a point. The idea of someone with a huge log sticking out of their eye trying to extract a speck out of the eye of another is ridiculous. Words like these blow away our tendency to think of Jesus as always serious and intense. Through Jesus, we meet a God who has a sense of humour, a playful God. Today may God help us to celebrate the humorous and the playful.
Beginnings 6
(Devotion by Graeme Harrison)
PRAYER:
Word with infinite names
O Jesus, Word with infinite names,
show me what and how
I should ask from you in my requests.
O Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me.
Excerpt from a prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ,
St Nicodemos of Mount Athos, 18th century
(Sourced from A Treasury of Prayers in Uniting in Worship, copyright 1988 Uniting Church in Australia)
Read:
Romans 5:12-19. Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
Adam and Christ Compared
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—
13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.
15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
(Romans 5:12-19 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
Some people set in motion things that change the world for all people who come after them. Gandhi, Hitler, Martin Luther, Florence Nightingale, and more. Paul in his letter to the Romans speaks of Adam and Jesus. They are in this category except bigger in impact.
Adam passed on his self-centredness and lack of faith in God to his children and grandchildren and descendants so that this became the new normal for all people on earth. The results of this is the brokenness all around us.
Jesus through his selfless love and faith in God ignited the same things in the hearts of people. They in turn changed the world around them and passed this on to the next generation not by genetics but by faith. The result is abundant life and healing spreading through the world over time. Hospitals, education for all, equality of all human beings, social welfare for those in need, charities, Red Cross, independent judiciary, and much much more all have emerged as Christian responses over time to heal the brokenness of this world. Real change in the heart leads to real change in the world. Paul sees Jesus as a new Adam except doing what Adam should have done from the start; living with simple faith in God.
The new Adam brings a new creation.
Paul sees all of humanity lining up behind one or the other of these ‘Adams’ and the communities they create.
This begs the question, “Are you in Adam or in Christ?”
Beginnings 5
(Devotion by Graeme Harrison)
PRAYER:
Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your Kingdom's cause
As I walk from earth into eternity
Hosanna,
(Quoted from song Hosanna by Hillsong United ccli license 113082)
Read:
Genesis 3:8-21. Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labour you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
(Genesis 3:8-21 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
There are many themes in such a small story. Don’t try to engage them all in a short devotion time. I wonder which theme leapt out at you today from the text?
Having just preached on Romans 8 and the Holy Spirit’s role in helping us to pray alongside the suffering Jesus whose heart is heavy when he sees this broken world, I can’t help but notice how God still loves them and makes clothes for them even though they have rejected him. How God must have suffered even as he lovingly made each item of clothing for them as a gift. Love causes us to suffer when things go badly wrong. That is why the Holy Spirit invites all Christ followers to not turn away from the brokenness all around. Love does not turn away. The Spirit invites us to join with Jesus in “making garments of skin” for the world. Who will you make ‘garments of skin’ so that they will know love in a selfish world?
(Postscript. Bill Hybel’s called these moments of passion to do something about the brokenness in your ‘neighbours’ lives’, “holy discontent”; the building motivation that precedes action) I commend the book to you. Here is a link to a review of the book as the book is no longer available https://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/review-of-bill-hybels-holy-discontent.html)
Beginnings 4
(Devotion by Graeme Harrison)
PRAYER: To walk with a perfect heart
Lord,
for your tender mercies’ sake,
lay not our sins to our charge,
but forgive that which is past
and give us grace to amend our lives;
to decline from sin and incline to virtue,
that we may walk with a perfect heart before you,
now and evermore. Amen.
Ridley’s Prayers, 1566
(Sourced from A Treasury of Prayers in Uniting in Worship, copyright 1988 Uniting Church in Australia)
Read:
Genesis 3:1-7. Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
1Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
(Genesis 3:1-7 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
You are full of questions again about the story like “Where did the serpent come from?”, “Why did God let this happen?”, etc. But this is not a science lesson or a history lesson. This is a lesson about what it means to be human and out of kilter with God. This is not just about the past and how things got wrecked but about how this encounter is replayed in all our current life choices now. Every day we encounter the choice to trust in God and God’s way or go our own way and choose our own wisdom. Everyday the serpent’s mocking voice whispers in our ear, “Did God really ask you to do that? That way if foolish! Wouldn’t it be wiser to …”
Where are you struggling to do things Jesus’ way rather than the ‘world’s’?
Beginnings 3
(Devotion by Graeme Harrison)
PRAYER: A collect of the morning
Holy and everliving God,
by your power we are created
and by your love we are redeemed;
guide and strengthen us by your Spirit,
that we may give ourselves to your service,
and live each day in love to one another and to you,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Sourced from A Treasury of Prayers in Uniting in Worship, copyright 1988 Uniting Church in Australia)
Read:
Genesis 2:18-25. Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
19 Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
(Genesis 2:18-25. NIV)
Thought for the Day:
Curious bits of phrasing appear all through this part of the story. Why go through the pretence that any of the animals would be a suitable companion? Was it just an attempt to help the man draw his own conclusion? Why choose a rib? The ancients tended to locate the deeper parts of the personality in the abdomen (not in the brain as our culture assumes) so maybe it is trying to say that they shared the same type of ‘soul’ (they did not have a soul vs body concept in those times).
And why is notable that a husband and wife were not ashamed of there nakeness?
But leaving aside all our wonderings about how other cultures think, it is plain that the main thing that this story gets across is that a human being is not a solo creature. We were made to be social animals. Our current lockdown and social distancing has revealed this more than ever. Even when our lives might be at risk we try and find loopholes to the laws that keep us safe because our need to be with others is just so powerful.
It is your need. But it is also someone else’s need too. Perhaps you could call them …