Category: Devotionals

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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.

Author Maurice Lattimore

Mark 8:31-38

Reflection: v. 38, ‘For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it’

This made no sense at all to me in my early days—Jesus dying and raising to life in three days, or the idea that in losing your life, you could gain life. This was straight nonsense. But little did I know, that after years of hell and madness that led to all kinds of unrighteous living, that these very words would come to be a reality in a life like mine. Amen!

In God having no preference of people, and in my falling on my knees asking for forgiveness, God accepted me into the family and gave me understanding on spiritual things I did not know before. Now I know what it means to lose your life in order to gain real life. When this transformation takes place in your life you begin to look at other things higher than yourself. Amen!! Because you have been reborn into the loving family of Christ Jesus, welcome to the family of hope, peace, love and much forgiveness. Amen!!

Prayer Help us, O Lord, to find our lives in you who saves us!

Author: Maurice Lattimore

Psalm 22:22-31

Reflection: v. 24, ‘he did not hide his face from me’

In this psalm, I believe King David is asking the people, all those who fear God, all the descendants of Israel who revere him, to praise the Lord. In relation to this in my own life, throughout the times of my unrighteous ways of living—the controlling, the manipulation, even when I was still stealing and using drugs, lying and hurting people—even with all this madness going on in my life, God never gave up on me. God heard the cries of my inner spirit and soul. There were still consequences behind this way of life, but God never left nor forsake me. Amen!

At this point in my life, I’ve decided that all vows I make to God I will keep, because God has forgiven me and allowed me to be a part of the family of faith. Amen! If you haven’t yet done so, give your life to God, and God will make your path straight. Amen and Amen!!

Prayer Peace and love always. To God be the glory! Hallelujah!!