Devotion
We Are Invited
Frances Taylor
The Kingdom of Heaven is ready and we are invited. But are we like the original guests to the king's wedding, putting off the invitation and finding something else to do that they consider more important. We might also be like those invited to fill the hall when no one else would come, and grateful to be invited. And some of us respond gladly to the invitation and then just don't show up. Again, this is directed first at the Jewish listeners who were promised a Messiah and saved from Egypt and then had better things to do than to keep God's commands and even ignored or killed the prophets who kept trying to bring them back. The highways and the byways include those the Jewish leaders considered unworthy, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the maimed, the lepers, the Samaritans and the Gentiles. The thing we have to remember is that all are invited to the banquet in the Kingdom. This includes those we consider worthy of the invitation and those we do not. In God's eyes, we are all equal, all God's children, all invited to the family gathering. Just like all families, there can be a little dysfunction, a few wayward children, but in the end families come together. We need to decide to answer the invitation, save the date, plan for the wedding and show up every day so that when the servants come to let us know that the banquet is ready, we will be ready to come.
Prayer
Loving and forgiving God, thank you for all the times you send us reminders that the Kingdom is waiting for us. All we need to do is follow Jesus who not only knows the way to you but is the way. Amen.
Night Prayer
A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.
Inspiration
Often, we speak before we have to opportunity to think about our words. In the heat of the moment, we immediately express negative feelings without analyzing the situation first. We jump to conclusions when directing meetings and speak in haste with our children before evaluating all sides. As leaders in any setting, we must be tactful and make decisions by weighing all details. Instead of expressing emotions with our authority, we must seek to mediate justly and reflect the mercy of God with our decision-making.
Prayer
Dear Lord, Please forgive us when we jump to conclusions and fail to lead with mercy and grace. Guide us to reflect Your character when You place us in a position of authority. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Devotion
A Simple Creed
Frances Taylor
Although the last verse of this passage is considered to be a portion of a hymn prayed by the people in the communities around Ephesus, I think of it as a creed, a simple statement of beliefs. It lets us know that they believed that Jesus was God, coming in the flesh, who was justified, or vindicated as another translation has it, by the Holy Spirit, seen by the angels, which could mean actual angels in heaven, or that he was seen by the disciples and others considered to be holy, preached by those disciples to reach out to a world that believed in the message of the Good News and was received by the Father into heaven where he would reign. Of course, I could be wrong about the actual meaning of the hymn, but it really doesn't make any difference. It makes me think about creeds, or statements of belief. I know there are a few formal ones such as the Apostles' Creed, or Baptismal Creed, and the Nicene Creed which expands a little on the first. But ...
Morning Prayer
For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
Inspiration
It may seem that the lives of some non-believers are often much easier and carefree than our own. Unshackled to principle, they may float free between pleasures with no particular conscience. But this 'freedom' is not true freedom, and one shouldn't mistake it for what it really is; being lost in the wilderness. This 'freedom' of the non-believer does not extend into the afterlife, and is in fact, shackled only to this, our material world. Since they have not had to endure the call of their consciences, they will not find our God's eternal peace.
Prayer
Lord God our Creator and Father, let me endure all that is sacred, just and fair in this world. Help us understand in facing our sufferings that we are doing so for you sake, in your glory. Thus, give us grace and show us mercy, for in answering to our consciences, we know we are doing your work. Help us stay pure ...
