Author: Cooper

Author Holly Reimer

John 2:13-22

Reflection: v. 19, ‘Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.’

At this point, with where I find myself struggling to navigate almost a year of a pandemic and navigating my own sense of justice, these few words speak newness. God isn’t going anywhere. God can’t be terminated or dismantled. We see that the grave can’t hold God. In Scripture, the Temple is a place where God dwells.

The temple is resurrected. Officials have been fighting Jesus’ message of peace, convinced that it is actually the absence of peace, something created to stir up contention. Jesus certainly stirs things up, but in ways that acknowledge a need for change. What the leaders and authorities have actually been living and teaching is peace for some, but not for all. While this is Jesus’ response to the officials’ demand for a sign, I also see it as hope. Hope is something I am feeling most in need of, and particularly a hope that will lead to peace. I live in the hope, that in spite of all the hostility and fear in the world, that God does not cower nor does God cease. There is no threat, violence, bigotry, hate, or fear that is going to keep God from being present. Most importantly, we can find in God a never-failing presence that is working for peace. We find peace in the way of Christ, peace in how we are to care for one another, maybe even peace in how we care for ourselves. It’s a peace that, even in the midst of a literal death, brings life.

Prayer God, in you may we find peace and hope.

Digital Version of Devotional

Author Holly Reimer

John 2: 13-22

Reflection: v. 19, ‘Temple’

It’s not about the Temple. It’s about what is done there. I find myself surprised at the first part of this passage. Jesus is so demonstrative in his anger and in his frustration with the ways the Jewish leaders and authorities have chosen to be present at the Temple. I am surprised also by their shock and uncertainty and how little they comprehend. Even after all of this, they still are focused on the building and the Temple itself, rather than what the temple represents—what can be found in the temple. It is not about buildings. It is about what we use them for. Mercy has been finding space and shelter outside, on the lawn of another church.

It is here where we continue to be a community that worships, sings, and prays together. It is a space where we offer resources of food and clothing and finding ways to keep folks warm with hot coffee, gloves, sleeping bags, and space heaters. It is not about the building but how we are using the space to care for God’s beloved children. It is so easy for us to lose sight of God, because we get distracted by stuff. We get distracted by buildings and things that we accumulate.

I love that this is Jesus resetting us. Now is the time to change, there is no time to waste, there are no words for Jesus to try to change hearts and lives. Jesus acts. The Temple—the building—is about the God we come to worship. And the God we come to worship proclaims that we are to care for our beloved brothers and sisters. Folks, we have been doing a terrible job. So it is time to dismantle, to be incensed by the things that have consumed us for far too long, and to hit the reset button. Let us see Christ most fully in how he was present to people. It is time for us to be present to people, to care for one another, and to put an end to violence and discrimination, bigotry and hate. Let us not be okay with the things we continue to bear witness to in this world.

Prayer Lord, may we care more about people than we do about things. Amen.

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Author Holly Reimer

Exodus 20:1-17

Reflection: v. 2, ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt.’

I trust and believe that God wants wellness for each of us. A part of this wellness and goodness comes in the form of setting boundaries. History has shown us what tyrannical leadership looks like, leading to trauma and fear. Tyrannical leadership seeks goodness and mercy for some, while others face violence and injustice. However, the God of the Israelites, the God who comes to be present in flesh and dies a gruesome death, is one who wants all to receive goodness and mercy. Everything God asks and commands of us works for this end.

God creates boundaries and challenges us to live in such a way that we can find and live into the wellness that God does indeed want for each person. As a part of my relationship with God, it matters how I exist in my relationship with God and in all the relationships around me—myself, others, and the world. What I do and how I act affects those around me and my choices should never lead to the destruction and oppression of others.

I pray we can challenge this resistance and opposition we have to commandments from a God who liberates. In so doing, may we all find freedom.

Prayer May we see your commandments, O God, as an opportunity for all to find the wellness and goodness you seek. Make us humble of heart, and open to correction. Amen.

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Author Holly Reimer

Psalm 19

Reflection: v. 10, ‘More desirable than gold’

God’s commandments are more desirable than gold. In our current economic time, this can be hard to believe. Yet if we think about God’s commandments as a part of instruction for all humanity that brings life to all humanity, then that is something very rare, more desirable than gold. It is rare indeed for us to care for our neighbors —I’m not talking about the radius surrounding our houses, but our other neighbors, too. We pursue wealth at the expense of people. Employers and corporations enforce ‘bottom lines’ that put employees and their families at grave risks. Our country was built on the backbone of oppression—making money and enslaving humans. What would it look like if we desired God’s things like we desire gold and money? What would it look like if we worked for justice—for love and well-being—for everyone with the same zeal that we attack the ‘Almighty Dollar?’ We wouldn’t have children beaten and bruised, black men and women shot or imprisoned for the color of their skin, folks rejected and abused for sexual orientation, and brothers and sisters without adequate healthcare and housing this winter in the midst of a global health crisis.

Prayer God, may we desire people more than we desire money. May we care for our neighbors in ways that speak to a community of compassion, hospitality, and grace. Make us passionate about loving your children.

Author Holly Reimer

Psalm 19

Reflection: v. 9, ‘The Lord’s judgments are true’

We live in a world that pushes back against words like ‘commandments’ and ‘rules,’ believing that it is through these things that we lose freedom. For some, this has been true. I do not believe that God desires for us to obey the rules merely to show God’s power over us, but because of what God wants for us. In light of recent events following the Senate election in Georgia, and the ways that freedom is represented differently for some, I think about these verses as instruction for humanity. How we treat one another matters. How we act is important for everyone and has a lasting impact. So, while God is not imploring us to follow rules for the sake of following rules, God is doing so because we are doing a terrible job of caring for one another on our own.

God’s instructions are perfect, God’s laws are faithful, God’s regulations are right, and God’s commands are pure. These things are true because they seek life for everyone in such a way that speaks of righteousness—as opposed to the oppression of one group of folks over another. God came to show us a better way. We like to think that we know better and that our struggles are new, but God has seen violence, chaos, destruction, and hatred before. This is not what we have been created for, and God sent Christ to show us a way that sets us free from these things. As the psalm says, ‘Honoring the Lord is correct, lasting forever.’ Remember, the Law isn’t correct because God seeks to be proven right, but because God seeks to give life, and life most abundantly for all. If what we are doing only brings life to some, then we are misled.

Prayer Lord, may we seek truth in the ways we treat one another as valuable human beings—doing so, not because we have been commanded to do so, but because our hearts and minds are open to the possibility of justice for everyone. Amen.

Author Holly Reimer

Psalm 19

Reflection: v. 3, ‘Their voices can’t be heard—but their sound extends throughout the world.’

In this particular part of the psalm, the author is offering praise to God through the works of creation. It strikes me as I think about who God is and how I feel God’s presence. God’s presence for me isn’t something I see as I would the presence of my niece or nephew, but it resounds in the way it makes me feel. There are some days when I want to see God enfleshed—I want to see Jesus as the people of Scripture did. Although I cannot see God in this way and at this time, I am able to see God’s presence in my community. Even more, it is in how I experience God’s presence in this communal embodiment: in the compassion of coworkers, in the concern demonstrated by my brothers and sisters, in the playfulness and laughter of members of my community.

I may not ‘see’ God in these moments, but it is something that resounds within me, something that is felt deep in my core. When the psalmist says it is a sound that extends throughout the world, it means that the reverberations are so powerful that there are no limits to where it goes. The glory of God is something that is so simple, yet so profound and powerful that there are no limits. God has come to be present with us through Christ Jesus, and yet there were those who still did not recognize him. But as we draw closer to Good Friday and Easter, we remember that even in the moments where the words and deeds of Christ are neither heard nor seen, the ways God cared for God’s creation continue to be felt throughout the world. God cannot be silenced, hushed, or muted. Our ears may choose not to hear, but the presence of God remains.

Prayer God, may we not let ourselves be hushed, muted, or silenced as we seek to let your love be felt throughout the world. Amen.

Author Miss Kim Saunders

Psalm 22:23-21

Reflection: v. 24, ‘For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted’

The psalm reads, ‘For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted.’ This is indeed abundant love for everybody—all day, every day.

It also says that the poor afflicted shall eat and be satisfied: those who seek him shall praise the Lord. To me, this means we should always indeed receive the Lord’s love daily.

With abundant love in your heart, daily love lives forever! May your hearts live forever!

Prayer Lord, thank you for loving us all so abundantly!

Author Steve Smith

Reflection: v. 33, ‘he rebuked Peter’

In this story, Peter rebukes Jesus, and then Jesus rebukes him for rejecting what he was saying about himself. He wasn’t upset with Peter, because he knew Peter would change his ways sooner or later. But he did want to set him straight about what he was saying.

He goes on to encourage the disciples to renounce and leave their unfaithful ways and join him. That’s like getting on the winning team, if you want to win.

Let’s not worry about death. Though this passage talks about death, it also reminds us of life. When you accept Christ—he rose in three day—we rise immediately at death and ascend to the Father in heaven. That’s it.

Prayer Jesus, lead us to set our minds on divine things, on life with you!

Author Bethany Apelquist

Romans 4:13-25

Reflection: v.18, ‘hope against hope’

Do we have a reason to hope? I don’t know about you, but sometimes I look around and I think the odds are stacked against us. I can’t help but feel a little bit of despair, especially after this hard year. We’ve just started, but it feels like the season of Lent, the season of mourning, the season of waiting in darkness has gone on for a long time. We are in the midst of the longest night we have collectively experienced. Did Abraham and Sarah have a reason to hope? God had made a promise to Abraham, but it seems that the odds were stacked against them, too. He was 100 years old, and Sarah was barren. Yet Paul says that Abraham had hope against hope. There was something deep within Abraham that believed in God’s promises, that believed in God’s faithfulness. I think that if we look towards Jesus in this season, we, like Abraham and Sarah, will find hope against hope. Make no mistake, hope is a bold and brave choice, a choice that believes that God is moving in our world, that believes that God is indeed faithful. To have hope can look reckless to some. Hope is a choice that moves and stirs us, a choice that will change the world. Hope looks like sharing a meal, refusing to accept that some will go hungry. Hope looks like tending wounds, rejecting that healthcare is just for some. Hope looks like singing loudly, believing that joy is for all. To have hope is to look at that which is broken and believe that redemption is possible. Most importantly it is hope that helps us believe that death will never have the final word, it is hope that believes that resurrection is just around the corner even on the longest nights.

Prayer God of hope, be present to us on the longest nights, and let hope break like the dawn!

Author Bethany Apelquist

Mark 9:2-9

Reflection: v. 5, ‘let us put up three shelters’

Take a moment to imagine this scene: bright lights, figures appearing, a voice from the heavens, Jesus transforming right in front of your very eyes. Peter has experienced something incredible, something like he has likely never experienced before. And what is Peter’s response? What is his impulse upon encountering the divine on that mountain top? His impulse is to put up shelters. With all the commotion of this text, I think it’s easy to skip right past this moment, but Peter’s response is one that in many ways makes a lot of sense. Peter’s is a response that we too may consider when we encounter the divine. In the ancient Jewish tradition, to build a shelter was to build a welcoming place for God. Each year people would gather for a festival in which they built shelters. These shelters were to make a place for God to come to earth. What if we believed like that? What if we believed that when we offered shelter we are making space for God to dwell? What if we believed that when we create space for others we create space for God? What if we believed that every time we offer hospitality, we welcome in God’s very presence? It is my prayer this Lenten season that we are like Peter—that our impulse leans toward creating space, that our impulse moves us toward hospitality, that when we encounter God it moves us toward love. It is my prayer that we remember that God is in our midst, that when we share with others, God is there, that we build shelters for all God’s beloved.

Prayer God of housing, create space in our hearts for hospitality, that we may create shelter for your image here on earth.