Do you receive the Still Speaking Daily Devotionals?

[b.hopeful]

I signed up for them and really enjoy them. Here's today's devotional:

Room at the Table

Excerpt from Acts 15: 1-21

"They were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders."

Reflection by Susan J. Foster Who's in and who's out? Who is welcome and who isn't? From the founding of our Christian church, this has been a central question for God's people. Who will be allowed into God's presence -- and who gets to decide?

Just as Paul and Barnabas wrestled with this issue, so must we. On any given Sunday, a church may receive a phone call with a question: Is your church handicapped accessible? Is child care provided? Is there a safe place for my little one? Do you use microphones? Do you have a sound system that will help me hear? The underlying concern in all of these questions is the same. People want to know: is there a place for me among you? Are you prepared to welcome me just as I am?

Recently a woman called our church to ask, "I am a lesbian and I'm looking for a church. Will your congregation accept me?" It made me sad that she felt that she needed to ask. I was glad to be able to say, "Yes, come and worship with us. We are a church and denomination with an extravagant welcome for all of God's children."

People yearn to be included in our communities of faith. We cannot assume that people know that they are welcome in church. It is our job to open our doors -- and our hearts -- so that we too can bring "great joy to all believers " (Acts 15:3).

Prayer

Welcoming and loving God, help us to recognize another child of yours in the people we meet today. Let us offer to them the same compassion, forgiveness and care that you first give to us. Amen.

 

[b.hopeful]

On this note.....when we were foster parents, at any given time the needs of our family changed considerably. There was always some hesitation about how they would handle this child with ADD or this child with ODD. When I was nursing my second daughter, I wouldn't send her to the nursery during service. I told the pastor(a mother herself) that I was more comfortable having her with me and she was most understanding. Everyone was understanding....and everyone knew that if I had the shawl on....there was a baby eating under there. It felt good to be myself and feel welcomed....not in spite of who I am, but because of who I am. I have one visible tattoo that is rather hard to cover and someone asked if I covered it for church. Of course not! It never occurred to me that I should! Most importantly, as the mother of a child living with mental retardation...it comforts me to know that no matter where he is on his journey with this disability....his church will make room for him at the table.

 

[b.hopeful]

"Nice"

Excerpt from Acts 15: 22-33

"For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well . . . When they gathered the congregation together, they . . . rejoiced at the exhortation."

Reflection by Ron Buford

The inebriated aunt of a friend, maligning belief in God's radical acceptance of all people, slurred, "Honey! Make no mistake about it. God is not nice."

Our view of God is often determined by our earliest parent memory -- until we reshape it as adults. For many with harsh, stern, hurtful memories, a God breakthrough is essential. And when breakthrough comes, it can be hard to accept. Many who think they have rejected God have simply not yet had a breakthrough. Unhappy Christians are the same.

The Law can be bad news for the poor: You don't have money to renew your license; you drive to work to get paid to renew it; you get stopped and put in jail; you lose your job. Such a life, foreign to many, is a way of life for millions. Religious laws are the same.

Each of our lives has some weighing poverty from which we similarly cannot seem to escape. But Jesus says, "Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest."

As the church institutionalized in the Book of Acts, it struggled with weighing down the people with more laws, more pain (for example, circumcision of adult males wanting to follow Jesus). But listening to the Stillspeaking God, they announced that adult circumcision was not necessary . . . a liberated people cheered! People know good news when they hear it.

When we get it right, we discover and convey a God who is not mean and mutilating but life-giving and liberating. Reject the unhappy, stuck people's view of a mean, avenging God who only slander God. Embrace the true God of life and possibility.

Honey, make no mistake about it, God is nice!

Prayer

Free us from the burdens and poverty that weigh us down; free us for a needed breakthrough to you, O God. Let us discover the true You, the God of life and possibility. Amen.

 

[Supernaut]

Thank you for posting the devotionals!! Really cool.

 

[b.hopeful]

Restrictions and Invitations

Excerpt from Acts 16: 6-10 (NIV)

"Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them."

Reflection by Kenneth L. Samuel

On this Veterans' Day we salute the brave men and women who have served in the American armed forces to protect and defend our Constitution and the freedoms of our democracy. Few can argue that the culture and economic influence of America reaches around the globe. Yet we as a nation must be very careful and deliberate in deciding which arenas around the world we can successfully enter and positively impact. Quagmires are created when we find ourselves in too many places with too few resources and inadequate exit strategies.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is universal, but the disciples of Jesus themselves could not be ubiquitous. Luke reports in Acts that the Spirit of Jesus prevented Paul and his companions from going in one direction and invited them to advance in another. Exactly why, we are not told, but as a believer, Paul trusted the Spirit to direct him to the people and places where he could do the most good and where the gospel of God's grace was most needed. Paul was an educated, articulate, gifted evangelist, but he never got cocky enough to ignore divine direction. May the U.S. military, which solicits God's blessings, seek to follow God's direction as well.

Prayer

Lord, we thank you for the doors you open and the doors you close in our personal and corporate lives. Please give us the wisdom to always be attentive to your intervention, and open to your guidance. Amen.

 

[b.hopeful]

No problem! The board is a bit slow so I thought this would be a nice boost!

 

[Supernaut]

I agree... the devotionals are nice. I would be interested in signing up for them myself... (just not sure how to go about doing so).

I very much agree that God is still speaking and I enjoyed reading these. Thank you.

I agree! Though I too haven't any idea how to sign up for them

 

[b.hopeful]

Holy Persistence

Excerpt from Acts 14:5-7

And when an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to maltreat them and to stone them . . . they continued proclaiming the good news.

Reflection by Donna Schaper

She works for a large company. The week after they rolled out a new $495,000 product, they laid off another group of employees. Apparently the new product doesn't need as much work on it as the old models, or the company needs to have the kind of margin of profit other investors insist upon, which is around 27%.

Her response was magnificent. "My partner and I already have a plan for our future, and we will continue to pursue it, whether I am a part of the next lay off group or not." When we talk about keepin' on keepin' on, this lady leads the way.

Clearly our economic system, no matter the recession or the greed, plans to keep on doing things the way it has always done them.On the cheap, except for those who profit from the cheapening. Michael Moore's new movie sends our hero to Wall Street, where he demands that Wall Street give the people back our money. My friends do it another way; they don't allow corporations to knock them off their moral or spiritual horses.

When stones get thrown at people, they need to keep on proclaiming the good news that rich and poor alike have value in the eyes of God and therefore in their own as well.

Prayer

O God, you who have been stoned by greed for way too long, teach us your holy persistence, that we can keep on hoping, believing, even caring. Amen.

 

[b.hopeful]

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[spinningtutu]

Provided I'm still alive in a few weeks, I'll remind myself to subscribe...