DAILY BYTE
The Reverend Canon Sam Wells says that in all actions – every sitting, every standing – every good day, every bad day – every time we feel close to God and every time we feel distant, we are seeking to be God’s companions.
Companions strive to have a real, honest, open relationship with God. Companions try to realize that God does know our past, does know our future, but chooses to live with us in the present, regardless how painful, how frustrating, or how filled with joy.
Rashi is a second century rabbi and scriptural commentator who writes that verse 2 of Psalm 139 reads, “You discern to make me a companion from afar,” to “draw me to Your companionship,” “your endearment.”
God does, indeed, see and understand us in our struggle, if we’re feeling accused, downtrodden, or merely exhausted. God then draws us to Himself because God loves us through all these ways of dying and rising in everyday life.
The psalmist then writes, “You search out my path - you scrutinize it, measure it…and are acquainted with all my ways.” How especially intimidating this statement is!
To think that God scrutinizes or “surrounds our path,” as Rashi writes. To think that as people who are companions walking with God, God is familiar with everything we do and everything we are – that God surrounds us with Scripture, with friends, with God’s own Holy Spirit, to raise us up to see and be honest, transparent people, to be the people God knows and desires us to be.
Have you ever had someone tell you something about yourself and then realize 1. that you never acknowledged such a thing about yourself before, and 2. that they are right?
That for better or worse, you are, indeed, who they say you are, even though you’d never noticed or wanted to admit it. It is both strange and wonderful that God already knows all the things we know about ourselves, all the things others notice about us, and all the things deep in our souls that no one knows at all.
The psalmist writes, “you are acquainted with all my ways.” All of them. Not just the ones we want people to see. Not just the ones we hide - but all of our ways. All of the ways we’ve been in the past. All of the ways we’ll be in the future. And, all of who we are now, in this moment, as we talk to God, saying GOD, YAHWEH, you alone, know me!
And we respond, I am your companion – with everything that you know about me, help me to walk with you.
GUIDING SCRIPTURE
Psalm 139:2 (Rashi)
You discern to make me a companion from afar.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Loving God, help me to be your companion. Surround me with people who can encourage and love me, and surround me with your Word so that through all things I am and do and experience, I will find comfort in the fact that you know me and that you know who I can become, as I walk with you. Amen.
Friday 26 June 2009
Tuesday 30th June - The Presence of God
DAILY BYTE
The Psalms have been the prayer book of the people of God for centuries, so just like we often pray today, Psalm 139 offers us a prayer working through both the frustration that we often feel in life and the assuring and challenging guidance that we receive from God.
The very first word of this psalm is Yahweh – Lord. From the very beginning, the psalmist, and we, are calling out to God. Why do we call out to God?
When have you done that in the past few weeks? Have you received disappointing marks? Have you felt like you’re on your last thread? Has someone you love died or become ill? Has someone made you feel as though you are inadequate in the sight of God? Have you hurt someone, intentionally or unintentionally?
Some scholars have argued that the person who wrote this psalm was someone who had been accused of idolatry or some other crime offensive to God. Some argue that this person is crying out in the first verse that they are innocent, begging God somehow to corroborate that innocence. This is what we do, isn’t it? When someone speaks against us, or when we feel we’ve been wronged, we protest.
We say to the person who has wronged us or to God, YOU! GOD! You know me! You know I wouldn’t do this! You know who I really am! You have searched me – you have examined me, and you know me! Please stand up for me! Please believe me! Please don’t leave me to fend for myself in the face of accusations and a life that seems unfair!
Sometimes, we really are innocent. And sometimes, we ask God to defend us when we can’t admit that we’re truly wrong. Many reasons exist for why we cry out to God, probably very few of them pure.
But, the psalms never leave us in the same state of mind for very long, dwelling on our offenses and our impurities. Somewhere between verses 1 and 2, the psalmist begins to think of all the ways God does actually know who we are. Even though we all have shadowy sides to us and pure, loving sides, God still searches us, knows us, and miraculously, remains with us.
“You know when I sit down and when I rise up…”
These motions describe the entirety of our days and nights both physically and emotionally. Think about how many times you sit down and get up every day. We sit when we’re tired, when we’re going to share a meal, when we’re bowled over from both good and bad forms of surprise, when we’re attentive and ready to learn from a teacher. When we sink into our chairs from the shame of causing someone pain.
We stand when we’re greeting people we both love and hate, when we’re preaching the Word, recovering from an illness, or running to or from something. Even if we are physically unable to stand, there are ways that we raise ourselves to the attention of the world and ways that we allow ourselves to rest.
Through every action and every rollercoaster of emotion, God is in the midst of it all.
Do you know that God is with you – through every up and down, every coming and going today?
FOCUS READING
Psalm 139:1-4 (NIV)
O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, every time I sit down and stand up, every time a word comes from my mouth, loving or hurtful, and every time a feeling is felt in my heart, help me to remember your presence with me and be thankful. Amen.
The Psalms have been the prayer book of the people of God for centuries, so just like we often pray today, Psalm 139 offers us a prayer working through both the frustration that we often feel in life and the assuring and challenging guidance that we receive from God.
The very first word of this psalm is Yahweh – Lord. From the very beginning, the psalmist, and we, are calling out to God. Why do we call out to God?
When have you done that in the past few weeks? Have you received disappointing marks? Have you felt like you’re on your last thread? Has someone you love died or become ill? Has someone made you feel as though you are inadequate in the sight of God? Have you hurt someone, intentionally or unintentionally?
Some scholars have argued that the person who wrote this psalm was someone who had been accused of idolatry or some other crime offensive to God. Some argue that this person is crying out in the first verse that they are innocent, begging God somehow to corroborate that innocence. This is what we do, isn’t it? When someone speaks against us, or when we feel we’ve been wronged, we protest.
We say to the person who has wronged us or to God, YOU! GOD! You know me! You know I wouldn’t do this! You know who I really am! You have searched me – you have examined me, and you know me! Please stand up for me! Please believe me! Please don’t leave me to fend for myself in the face of accusations and a life that seems unfair!
Sometimes, we really are innocent. And sometimes, we ask God to defend us when we can’t admit that we’re truly wrong. Many reasons exist for why we cry out to God, probably very few of them pure.
But, the psalms never leave us in the same state of mind for very long, dwelling on our offenses and our impurities. Somewhere between verses 1 and 2, the psalmist begins to think of all the ways God does actually know who we are. Even though we all have shadowy sides to us and pure, loving sides, God still searches us, knows us, and miraculously, remains with us.
“You know when I sit down and when I rise up…”
These motions describe the entirety of our days and nights both physically and emotionally. Think about how many times you sit down and get up every day. We sit when we’re tired, when we’re going to share a meal, when we’re bowled over from both good and bad forms of surprise, when we’re attentive and ready to learn from a teacher. When we sink into our chairs from the shame of causing someone pain.
We stand when we’re greeting people we both love and hate, when we’re preaching the Word, recovering from an illness, or running to or from something. Even if we are physically unable to stand, there are ways that we raise ourselves to the attention of the world and ways that we allow ourselves to rest.
Through every action and every rollercoaster of emotion, God is in the midst of it all.
Do you know that God is with you – through every up and down, every coming and going today?
FOCUS READING
Psalm 139:1-4 (NIV)
O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, every time I sit down and stand up, every time a word comes from my mouth, loving or hurtful, and every time a feeling is felt in my heart, help me to remember your presence with me and be thankful. Amen.
Monday 29th June - The Loo
DAILY BYTE
“You know when I sit down and when I rise up.”
These words from Psalm 139 are delicately printed in Times New Roman font on a sheet taped to the wall opposite the toilet in the women’s loo at Stanwich Congregational Church in Greenwich, Connecticut. Several times a day when I worked there, I would leave my office and go read those words, and needless to say, they made quite an impression on me. The first time I read them, I giggled. The second time, I still giggled. The third time, I thought to myself, my word – what does it actually mean that God is with me every single time I sit down and rise up?
What does it truly mean for our lives that in every movement we have ever made or will ever make, every thought we have ever thought or will ever think, God is there, knowing everything and understanding everything, whether we happen to be thinking about God, or we’re thinking about the five thousand things we need to be doing that day.
We tend to focus a lot in Christianity on the power of God to know the future, but God’s knowledge of the future is not all that’s important to us. God exists outside of human time so that God knows the future but also the past, and God exists in our present! It is hard to comprehend, but as you read last week, God knows everything about us. Even the skeletons in our closets - the things inside of us that we cringe to admit.
God even knows the things that we don’t know or haven’t been able to recognize about ourselves. If you’re thinking that this sounds a little scary, you’re probably right. This may be both the scariest and most wonderful concept known to us today and to the people of God throughout history. Psalm 139 expresses both the scariness and the beauty in God’s knowledge of us. It’s about our relationship with God, and no relationship can exist without both parties making an effort to know who the other truly is deep down inside, through all times and places, no matter how messy they are.
So if, at this time in the hectic pace of life, relationship with God seems to be something that we can save and work on later when we’re less busy, we are severely mistaken. God is present with us in this time, and we are forced in this psalm, to confront Yahweh and for Yahweh to confront us.
It’s a difficult challenge, but the Psalm guides us through, so take the challenge to journey with it this week.
FOCUS READING
Psalm 139:1-3 (NRSV)
O LORD, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
“You know when I sit down and when I rise up.”
These words from Psalm 139 are delicately printed in Times New Roman font on a sheet taped to the wall opposite the toilet in the women’s loo at Stanwich Congregational Church in Greenwich, Connecticut. Several times a day when I worked there, I would leave my office and go read those words, and needless to say, they made quite an impression on me. The first time I read them, I giggled. The second time, I still giggled. The third time, I thought to myself, my word – what does it actually mean that God is with me every single time I sit down and rise up?
What does it truly mean for our lives that in every movement we have ever made or will ever make, every thought we have ever thought or will ever think, God is there, knowing everything and understanding everything, whether we happen to be thinking about God, or we’re thinking about the five thousand things we need to be doing that day.
We tend to focus a lot in Christianity on the power of God to know the future, but God’s knowledge of the future is not all that’s important to us. God exists outside of human time so that God knows the future but also the past, and God exists in our present! It is hard to comprehend, but as you read last week, God knows everything about us. Even the skeletons in our closets - the things inside of us that we cringe to admit.
God even knows the things that we don’t know or haven’t been able to recognize about ourselves. If you’re thinking that this sounds a little scary, you’re probably right. This may be both the scariest and most wonderful concept known to us today and to the people of God throughout history. Psalm 139 expresses both the scariness and the beauty in God’s knowledge of us. It’s about our relationship with God, and no relationship can exist without both parties making an effort to know who the other truly is deep down inside, through all times and places, no matter how messy they are.
So if, at this time in the hectic pace of life, relationship with God seems to be something that we can save and work on later when we’re less busy, we are severely mistaken. God is present with us in this time, and we are forced in this psalm, to confront Yahweh and for Yahweh to confront us.
It’s a difficult challenge, but the Psalm guides us through, so take the challenge to journey with it this week.
FOCUS READING
Psalm 139:1-3 (NRSV)
O LORD, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
Friday 19 June 2009
Sunday 28th June - Ethelbert Children's Home
Weekend Blurb
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
Ethelbert Children's Home cares for 60 abused, abandoned and neglected children from various backgrounds and cultures. They come to us frightened and hurting, not knowing who to trust or what security is. We gather them in and start the process of healing, helping them to trust again and to feel secure and cared for. Our aim is to nurture them so that one day they may leave here able to cope with society and become worthwhile citizens, capable of contributing to the world around them.
A donation can be sent to:
Ethelbert Children's Home, PO Box 28119, Malvern, Kwa-Zulu Natal, 4055.
www.ethelbert.co.za
Thank you for caring.
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
Ethelbert Children's Home cares for 60 abused, abandoned and neglected children from various backgrounds and cultures. They come to us frightened and hurting, not knowing who to trust or what security is. We gather them in and start the process of healing, helping them to trust again and to feel secure and cared for. Our aim is to nurture them so that one day they may leave here able to cope with society and become worthwhile citizens, capable of contributing to the world around them.
A donation can be sent to:
Ethelbert Children's Home, PO Box 28119, Malvern, Kwa-Zulu Natal, 4055.
www.ethelbert.co.za
Thank you for caring.
Saturday 27th June - Ethelbert Children's Home
Weekend Blurb
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
Ethelbert Children's Home cares for 60 abused, abandoned and neglected children from various backgrounds and cultures. They come to us frightened and hurting, not knowing who to trust or what security is. We gather them in and start the process of healing, helping them to trust again and to feel secure and cared for. Our aim is to nurture them so that one day they may leave here able to cope with society and become worthwhile citizens, capable of contributing to the world around them.
A donation can be sent to:
Ethelbert Children's Home, PO Box 28119, Malvern, Kwa-Zulu Natal, 4055.
www.ethelbert.co.za
Thank you for caring.
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
Ethelbert Children's Home cares for 60 abused, abandoned and neglected children from various backgrounds and cultures. They come to us frightened and hurting, not knowing who to trust or what security is. We gather them in and start the process of healing, helping them to trust again and to feel secure and cared for. Our aim is to nurture them so that one day they may leave here able to cope with society and become worthwhile citizens, capable of contributing to the world around them.
A donation can be sent to:
Ethelbert Children's Home, PO Box 28119, Malvern, Kwa-Zulu Natal, 4055.
www.ethelbert.co.za
Thank you for caring.
Friday 26th June - God Transforms
DAILY BYTE
In the BBC program, ‘How clean is your house,’ two ladies go into the very worst and messiest British homes to clean them up. These are the types of homes that for years and years have not been tidied, and every owner of these homes has a number of things in common. They are ashamed of the complete mess of their homes to the extent that they don’t entertain anymore (but apparently not ashamed enough to have them viewed on T.V.). They are also sick and tired of living in such a mess, but their homes are in such a state of total disorder that they don’t know where to even begin. The mess is beyond them and they need a team of experts to sort it out.
When I told you yesterday that: ‘God loves us as we are,’ I did not finish the sentence. The complete sentence reads: ‘God loves us as we are but God loves us too much to leave as we are.’ We need to know that not only does God’s love accept us and cover over even the very worst of our sins, but also that God loves us too much to leave us all broken and hurting. We may be incapable of cleaning up our mess but God is both loving and powerful enough to cleanse and make us whole.
Today’s scripture reading reminds us that we don’t have power enough to sort out our own inner worlds. No external practices of religion, by themselves, are enough to take care of our inner brokenness. Instead, God sent Jesus who would bring to us God’s message of forgiveness and grace, and also open us up to God’s transforming power.
We need to trust not only in the love of God as we discussed yesterday, but also to trust in the power of God to transform and heal us. God can change us and make us better people. God can change our characters so that we become more like Jesus in our hearts and actions.
When we begin to face up to our brokenness, we need to know that we can do so with a sense of rising joy and anticipation. For the Good News is that God can take that brokenness and make us whole!
For God loves us as we are, but loves us too much to leave us as we are.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Almighty and Powerful God, it is with a sense of rising joy that we continue to face up to our inner brokenness. For we remember that we do not have to do so with a sense of despair or futility. We remember that we can trust not only in your love to accept us, but also in your power to totally transform us and make us new. For this we give thanks. Amen.
FOCUS READING
Romans 7:21-8:2 (NIV)
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Romans 8
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
This week’s devotions have been written by Gareth Killeen, a minister at Manning Road Methodist Church in Durban. E-mail any comments & feedback to bdc@mrmc.co.za
In the BBC program, ‘How clean is your house,’ two ladies go into the very worst and messiest British homes to clean them up. These are the types of homes that for years and years have not been tidied, and every owner of these homes has a number of things in common. They are ashamed of the complete mess of their homes to the extent that they don’t entertain anymore (but apparently not ashamed enough to have them viewed on T.V.). They are also sick and tired of living in such a mess, but their homes are in such a state of total disorder that they don’t know where to even begin. The mess is beyond them and they need a team of experts to sort it out.
When I told you yesterday that: ‘God loves us as we are,’ I did not finish the sentence. The complete sentence reads: ‘God loves us as we are but God loves us too much to leave as we are.’ We need to know that not only does God’s love accept us and cover over even the very worst of our sins, but also that God loves us too much to leave us all broken and hurting. We may be incapable of cleaning up our mess but God is both loving and powerful enough to cleanse and make us whole.
Today’s scripture reading reminds us that we don’t have power enough to sort out our own inner worlds. No external practices of religion, by themselves, are enough to take care of our inner brokenness. Instead, God sent Jesus who would bring to us God’s message of forgiveness and grace, and also open us up to God’s transforming power.
We need to trust not only in the love of God as we discussed yesterday, but also to trust in the power of God to transform and heal us. God can change us and make us better people. God can change our characters so that we become more like Jesus in our hearts and actions.
When we begin to face up to our brokenness, we need to know that we can do so with a sense of rising joy and anticipation. For the Good News is that God can take that brokenness and make us whole!
For God loves us as we are, but loves us too much to leave us as we are.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Almighty and Powerful God, it is with a sense of rising joy that we continue to face up to our inner brokenness. For we remember that we do not have to do so with a sense of despair or futility. We remember that we can trust not only in your love to accept us, but also in your power to totally transform us and make us new. For this we give thanks. Amen.
FOCUS READING
Romans 7:21-8:2 (NIV)
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Romans 8
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
This week’s devotions have been written by Gareth Killeen, a minister at Manning Road Methodist Church in Durban. E-mail any comments & feedback to bdc@mrmc.co.za
Thursday 25th June - Taking Our Sunglasses Off
DAILY BYTE
The book ‘Bono on Bono’ is about the life, thought and faith of the lead singer of the mega group U2. At one point in the book Bono says: ‘… it is impossible to meet God with sunglasses on. It is impossible to meet God without abandon, without exposing yourself, being raw.’ Perhaps this is why so many of us struggle to meet God in intimate and meaningful ways – because we struggle to expose ourselves with raw abandon?”
Our society applauds strength, capability and invulnerability. Little wonder then that we struggle to admit to our inner brokenness for that entails facing personal weakness, need and vulnerability.
Facing our brokenness is about becoming vulnerable. It is about exposing ourselves with raw abandon. In one of the first cases of inner brokenness ever recorded, after Adam and Eve had sinned, they became aware for the very first time of their nakedness, and their consequent vulnerability. With this awareness came the desire to run and hide from God. They were unsure of what God’s reaction would be to their sin and resulting inner brokenness.
Consequently, one of the strongest and most consistent messages of the Bible from then on is how we can completely trust God with our weaknesses and failures. We can be wholly vulnerable with God about our inner brokenness because the Bible tells us that God loves us completely and utterly as we are. We can also trust God to know the absolute worst of us, to see the ugliest skeletons hidden in our closets, and still to love and embrace us.
This was David’s experience as recorded in Psalm 51. Legend has it that David composed this Psalm after being exposed by the prophet Nathan for committing adultery with Bathsheba and for having her husband murdered. David tried to keep his sin hidden to the extent that he even lived in personal denial as to its true evil. When he was courageously challenged by Nathan, David, to his credit, repented. He trusted God’s love for him enough to bring the very worst of his inner brokenness before God.
This is where we need to begin as well – by being truthful to God and ourselves as to who we really are. This does take courageous vulnerability but remember that God loves you completely and utterly as you are.
Read the words of Ps 51 and personalize it – wherever you read the word ‘me’ or ‘I’, insert your own name there instead.
PRAY AS YOU GO
O’ Lord we pray that you would open us up to the true extent of your incredible love for us. Help us to trust that you love as we are, with all our weaknesses and failings. Help us trust that you love us despite the ugliest skeletons we may be hiding in our closets and in this trusting help us to be completely vulnerable before you. In Christ name. Amen.
FOCUS READING
Psalm 51 : 1-7 (NIV)
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
The book ‘Bono on Bono’ is about the life, thought and faith of the lead singer of the mega group U2. At one point in the book Bono says: ‘… it is impossible to meet God with sunglasses on. It is impossible to meet God without abandon, without exposing yourself, being raw.’ Perhaps this is why so many of us struggle to meet God in intimate and meaningful ways – because we struggle to expose ourselves with raw abandon?”
Our society applauds strength, capability and invulnerability. Little wonder then that we struggle to admit to our inner brokenness for that entails facing personal weakness, need and vulnerability.
Facing our brokenness is about becoming vulnerable. It is about exposing ourselves with raw abandon. In one of the first cases of inner brokenness ever recorded, after Adam and Eve had sinned, they became aware for the very first time of their nakedness, and their consequent vulnerability. With this awareness came the desire to run and hide from God. They were unsure of what God’s reaction would be to their sin and resulting inner brokenness.
Consequently, one of the strongest and most consistent messages of the Bible from then on is how we can completely trust God with our weaknesses and failures. We can be wholly vulnerable with God about our inner brokenness because the Bible tells us that God loves us completely and utterly as we are. We can also trust God to know the absolute worst of us, to see the ugliest skeletons hidden in our closets, and still to love and embrace us.
This was David’s experience as recorded in Psalm 51. Legend has it that David composed this Psalm after being exposed by the prophet Nathan for committing adultery with Bathsheba and for having her husband murdered. David tried to keep his sin hidden to the extent that he even lived in personal denial as to its true evil. When he was courageously challenged by Nathan, David, to his credit, repented. He trusted God’s love for him enough to bring the very worst of his inner brokenness before God.
This is where we need to begin as well – by being truthful to God and ourselves as to who we really are. This does take courageous vulnerability but remember that God loves you completely and utterly as you are.
Read the words of Ps 51 and personalize it – wherever you read the word ‘me’ or ‘I’, insert your own name there instead.
PRAY AS YOU GO
O’ Lord we pray that you would open us up to the true extent of your incredible love for us. Help us to trust that you love as we are, with all our weaknesses and failings. Help us trust that you love us despite the ugliest skeletons we may be hiding in our closets and in this trusting help us to be completely vulnerable before you. In Christ name. Amen.
FOCUS READING
Psalm 51 : 1-7 (NIV)
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Wednesday 24th June - Soul X-Rays
DAILY BYTE
Today we continue with the story of Jesus challenging the Pharisees for their unhealthy focus on external works. This story emphasises how essential it is for us to know our hearts. If we are to grow spiritually and be transformed it is vital that we are able to acknowledge and own the reality of our inner worlds.
The founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley, used to insist that all his small groups began their meetings with the question: ‘How goes it with your soul?’ Sadly, this is not a question we often ask each other these days. It is far easier and less messy to remain in denial about the dark corners of our hearts and to ignore the deep pains and hurts we harbour within.
When I was a teenager I broke my arm quite badly in a skate-board accident. I remember the agony of being placed in uncomfortable positions while the radiologist took x-rays. This painful procedure was very necessary however for the doctors to see where to place the pins and screws to properly heal the break. In the same way we need to regularly undergo a good, honest soul x-ray. It is an uncomfortable, even painful process, but so necessary for our healing and transformation. I would like to make a few suggestions as how to undergo a ‘soul x-ray’. Begin by asking yourself the following hard questions:
1. Jesus said ‘the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart’. Elsewhere it is said ‘the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.’ What kind of words come past your lips in unguarded moments? Can you discern a pattern of anger, prejudice or fear? How do you speak to loved ones behind closed doors? How do you speak about those who are different to you or from another cultural group?
Reflecting on this will give you some insight into your status beneath the surface.
2. Look back at some recent times of crisis or stress. What did they reveal about your heart? How did you react?
There is nothing like stress to bring down the masks and expose the hidden truths of the soul.
3. Finally, a good indicator of where we are at beneath the surface is to check on your recent social interactions. Who have you chosen to embrace and who might you have excluded? Who are you when you are in the wrong company? Does your character change to suit the crowd, or are you constant, determined by an inner strength? Do you treat the most powerful person in your life and the weakest with the same respect and dignity?
Admittedly, none of these are easy questions, however, wrestling with them can prove to be a very useful spiritual exercise. They perform, as it were, an x-ray of our souls – they give some indication of what lies beneath the surface.
PRAY AS YOU GO
O’ God of all Truth and Love. We would ask that the light of your grace would be known in the very depths of our souls, even the darkest corners and most tightly shut cupboards. Help us to bring out that which has been hidden, help us to face up to that which we have feared. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
FOCUS READING
Matthew 15:17-20 (NIV)
"Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a person 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a person 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make them 'unclean.' "
Today we continue with the story of Jesus challenging the Pharisees for their unhealthy focus on external works. This story emphasises how essential it is for us to know our hearts. If we are to grow spiritually and be transformed it is vital that we are able to acknowledge and own the reality of our inner worlds.
The founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley, used to insist that all his small groups began their meetings with the question: ‘How goes it with your soul?’ Sadly, this is not a question we often ask each other these days. It is far easier and less messy to remain in denial about the dark corners of our hearts and to ignore the deep pains and hurts we harbour within.
When I was a teenager I broke my arm quite badly in a skate-board accident. I remember the agony of being placed in uncomfortable positions while the radiologist took x-rays. This painful procedure was very necessary however for the doctors to see where to place the pins and screws to properly heal the break. In the same way we need to regularly undergo a good, honest soul x-ray. It is an uncomfortable, even painful process, but so necessary for our healing and transformation. I would like to make a few suggestions as how to undergo a ‘soul x-ray’. Begin by asking yourself the following hard questions:
1. Jesus said ‘the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart’. Elsewhere it is said ‘the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.’ What kind of words come past your lips in unguarded moments? Can you discern a pattern of anger, prejudice or fear? How do you speak to loved ones behind closed doors? How do you speak about those who are different to you or from another cultural group?
Reflecting on this will give you some insight into your status beneath the surface.
2. Look back at some recent times of crisis or stress. What did they reveal about your heart? How did you react?
There is nothing like stress to bring down the masks and expose the hidden truths of the soul.
3. Finally, a good indicator of where we are at beneath the surface is to check on your recent social interactions. Who have you chosen to embrace and who might you have excluded? Who are you when you are in the wrong company? Does your character change to suit the crowd, or are you constant, determined by an inner strength? Do you treat the most powerful person in your life and the weakest with the same respect and dignity?
Admittedly, none of these are easy questions, however, wrestling with them can prove to be a very useful spiritual exercise. They perform, as it were, an x-ray of our souls – they give some indication of what lies beneath the surface.
PRAY AS YOU GO
O’ God of all Truth and Love. We would ask that the light of your grace would be known in the very depths of our souls, even the darkest corners and most tightly shut cupboards. Help us to bring out that which has been hidden, help us to face up to that which we have feared. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
FOCUS READING
Matthew 15:17-20 (NIV)
"Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a person 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a person 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make them 'unclean.' "
Tuesday 23rd June - Inside-out Spirituality
DAILY BYTE
In our scripture reading today, Jesus challenges the Pharisees for having an unhealthy focus on the potential dangers of outward things on their souls. For example, they constantly worried about ritual cleanliness; believing that what you ate, drank or touched could make you unclean within. In other words their spirituality was from the outside-in.
In contrast to this, Jesus taught that what goes into us does not make a person unclean, but rather it is what comes from within us – from our hearts and inner worlds – that makes us unclean. Focussing solely on external issues completely misses the point as far as Jesus was concerned. You could say then that Jesus taught an inside-out spirituality!
We shouldn’t be too quick to look down on the Pharisees though, for theirs is a common mistake made by many sincere God-followers. We try to act in a certain way, avoid certain activities and places, listen to certain music, develop the right lingo and voila! - we feel like ‘good’ Christians - but within us we still harbour the same old deceit, envy, prejudices, greed and lusts. Nothing really has changed. We too easily forget that true transformation is being changed from the inside-out!
The Pharisees were offended by Jesus’ message because it contested much of what they had built their whole faith upon. Jesus challenged their belief that one could ‘earn’ their way into God’s presence through good behaviour. Jesus also challenged the way that their faith communities excluded certain people from their midst because they did not, or could not, keep to all their strict regulations and rules.
Similarly, we need to be aware that if we allow our faith to concentrate solely on external issues, such as ‘being good,’ then we too may find ourselves trapped in legalism. We may also find that we tend to exclude certain people from our lives because they do not fit our ideas of what it means to be a Christian.
Jesus made the point pretty strongly that this kind of religion is like a plant that the heavenly father has NOT planted and will be pulled out by the roots. It is not a type of faith that will bring life either to us or those we encounter.
True transformation is being changed from the ‘inside-out’.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Almighty God, we confess to you the ‘unclean’ things that come out from within us. We pray that you would transform us from within, and trust that your Spirit would forgive, heal and change us from the inside out. Amen.
FOCUS VERSE
Matthew 15:10-14 (NIV)
Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.' "
Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?"
He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
In our scripture reading today, Jesus challenges the Pharisees for having an unhealthy focus on the potential dangers of outward things on their souls. For example, they constantly worried about ritual cleanliness; believing that what you ate, drank or touched could make you unclean within. In other words their spirituality was from the outside-in.
In contrast to this, Jesus taught that what goes into us does not make a person unclean, but rather it is what comes from within us – from our hearts and inner worlds – that makes us unclean. Focussing solely on external issues completely misses the point as far as Jesus was concerned. You could say then that Jesus taught an inside-out spirituality!
We shouldn’t be too quick to look down on the Pharisees though, for theirs is a common mistake made by many sincere God-followers. We try to act in a certain way, avoid certain activities and places, listen to certain music, develop the right lingo and voila! - we feel like ‘good’ Christians - but within us we still harbour the same old deceit, envy, prejudices, greed and lusts. Nothing really has changed. We too easily forget that true transformation is being changed from the inside-out!
The Pharisees were offended by Jesus’ message because it contested much of what they had built their whole faith upon. Jesus challenged their belief that one could ‘earn’ their way into God’s presence through good behaviour. Jesus also challenged the way that their faith communities excluded certain people from their midst because they did not, or could not, keep to all their strict regulations and rules.
Similarly, we need to be aware that if we allow our faith to concentrate solely on external issues, such as ‘being good,’ then we too may find ourselves trapped in legalism. We may also find that we tend to exclude certain people from our lives because they do not fit our ideas of what it means to be a Christian.
Jesus made the point pretty strongly that this kind of religion is like a plant that the heavenly father has NOT planted and will be pulled out by the roots. It is not a type of faith that will bring life either to us or those we encounter.
True transformation is being changed from the ‘inside-out’.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Almighty God, we confess to you the ‘unclean’ things that come out from within us. We pray that you would transform us from within, and trust that your Spirit would forgive, heal and change us from the inside out. Amen.
FOCUS VERSE
Matthew 15:10-14 (NIV)
Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.' "
Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?"
He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
Monday 22nd June - The Sinkhole Syndrome
DAILY BYTE
In his book ‘Ordering Your Inner World,’ Gordon MacDonald tells the story of a Florida sinkhole. The residents of an apartment in Florida woke up one morning to a terrifying sight. The street in front of their building had collapsed. Cars had tumbled into the pits and the building itself would be the next to go.
Sinkholes are peculiar to Florida and are caused when underground streams drain away during drought, causing the ground at the surface to lose its underlying support.
It must be a particularly frightening occurrence to be walking along a perfectly normal looking street and then without warning the whole street collapses into a sinkhole!
In many ways our lives are susceptible to a similar ‘sinkhole’ type syndrome. All may appear wonderful on the surface. We may even spend a lot of effort on sustaining our life on the visible surface level to the extent that we convince not only others, but also ourselves that in fact all is well. However, the truth of the matter is that deep within our spirits may be gradually eroding away. Because we are then living in a state of denial, we discover too late that our inner world is in a state of disorderliness.
When that is true we’re vulnerable to the ‘sinkhole syndrome’ of the soul.
One of the most difficult things to do in life is to face the reality of who we are within: To face up to our sins and mistakes, our past hurts and regrets. All the things that if left un-dealt with can potentially cripple us spiritually and emotionally.
Insight is a word we often use but not really with enough appreciation for its full meaning. To have insight is to be able to grasp the inward or hidden nature of things. The reality is that many people choose to live without insight into their own souls. We refuse to face up to our own brokenness for a variety of reasons, but the truth of the matter is that if we do not do so we risk a ‘sinkhole syndrome’ – the implosion of our entire outer world because of an inner collapse.
‘The one spiritual disease is thinking one is quite well.’ G.K. Chesterton.
PRAY AS YOU GO
O’ God how difficult it is to look within ourselves. We pray that you would keep us from the temptation of living our lives only at the surface level. We pray that you would take us on a transformative journey of insight and depth. Amen.
FOCUS READING
Psalm 139:1-7
O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
In his book ‘Ordering Your Inner World,’ Gordon MacDonald tells the story of a Florida sinkhole. The residents of an apartment in Florida woke up one morning to a terrifying sight. The street in front of their building had collapsed. Cars had tumbled into the pits and the building itself would be the next to go.
Sinkholes are peculiar to Florida and are caused when underground streams drain away during drought, causing the ground at the surface to lose its underlying support.
It must be a particularly frightening occurrence to be walking along a perfectly normal looking street and then without warning the whole street collapses into a sinkhole!
In many ways our lives are susceptible to a similar ‘sinkhole’ type syndrome. All may appear wonderful on the surface. We may even spend a lot of effort on sustaining our life on the visible surface level to the extent that we convince not only others, but also ourselves that in fact all is well. However, the truth of the matter is that deep within our spirits may be gradually eroding away. Because we are then living in a state of denial, we discover too late that our inner world is in a state of disorderliness.
When that is true we’re vulnerable to the ‘sinkhole syndrome’ of the soul.
One of the most difficult things to do in life is to face the reality of who we are within: To face up to our sins and mistakes, our past hurts and regrets. All the things that if left un-dealt with can potentially cripple us spiritually and emotionally.
Insight is a word we often use but not really with enough appreciation for its full meaning. To have insight is to be able to grasp the inward or hidden nature of things. The reality is that many people choose to live without insight into their own souls. We refuse to face up to our own brokenness for a variety of reasons, but the truth of the matter is that if we do not do so we risk a ‘sinkhole syndrome’ – the implosion of our entire outer world because of an inner collapse.
‘The one spiritual disease is thinking one is quite well.’ G.K. Chesterton.
PRAY AS YOU GO
O’ God how difficult it is to look within ourselves. We pray that you would keep us from the temptation of living our lives only at the surface level. We pray that you would take us on a transformative journey of insight and depth. Amen.
FOCUS READING
Psalm 139:1-7
O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
Sunday 21st June - Greyville Inner City Mission
Weekend Blurb
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
Greyville Inner City Mission
Greyville inner city mission (GICM) is an organisation which reaches out to the poor, homeless, destitute and broken people living in Durban’s inner city. GICM’s main activity is to provide these people with restoration, rehabilitation, shelter, food, and clothing and help them develop a real and life giving relationship with Jesus. GICM does this by providing 6 people off the street with shelter, food and assistance to improve their lives. GICM also gives a daily meal to all those in need at lunch and a dinner on Thursday evening which is usually accompanied by worship and a Christian message. The 6 people living at GICM assist in preparing and serving these meals and providing clothing to those in need, as well as maintaining the property. GICM is based in Greyville (a suburb of Durban) opposite Game City Centre and next to the KwaSuka Theatre.
If you would like to make a donation to or if you’d like to get involved please call Cecil on 082 444 8133.
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
Greyville Inner City Mission
Greyville inner city mission (GICM) is an organisation which reaches out to the poor, homeless, destitute and broken people living in Durban’s inner city. GICM’s main activity is to provide these people with restoration, rehabilitation, shelter, food, and clothing and help them develop a real and life giving relationship with Jesus. GICM does this by providing 6 people off the street with shelter, food and assistance to improve their lives. GICM also gives a daily meal to all those in need at lunch and a dinner on Thursday evening which is usually accompanied by worship and a Christian message. The 6 people living at GICM assist in preparing and serving these meals and providing clothing to those in need, as well as maintaining the property. GICM is based in Greyville (a suburb of Durban) opposite Game City Centre and next to the KwaSuka Theatre.
If you would like to make a donation to or if you’d like to get involved please call Cecil on 082 444 8133.
Saturday 20th June - Greyville Inner City Mission
Weekend Blurb
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
Greyville Inner City Mission
Greyville inner city mission (GICM) is an organisation which reaches out to the poor, homeless, destitute and broken people living in Durban’s inner city. GICM’s main activity is to provide these people with restoration, rehabilitation, shelter, food, and clothing and help them develop a real and life giving relationship with Jesus. GICM does this by providing 6 people off the street with shelter, food and assistance to improve their lives. GICM also gives a daily meal to all those in need at lunch and a dinner on Thursday evening which is usually accompanied by worship and a Christian message. The 6 people living at GICM assist in preparing and serving these meals and providing clothing to those in need, as well as maintaining the property. GICM is based in Greyville (a suburb of Durban) opposite Game City Centre and next to the KwaSuka Theatre.
If you would like to make a donation to or if you’d like to get involved please call Cecil on 082 444 8133.
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
Greyville Inner City Mission
Greyville inner city mission (GICM) is an organisation which reaches out to the poor, homeless, destitute and broken people living in Durban’s inner city. GICM’s main activity is to provide these people with restoration, rehabilitation, shelter, food, and clothing and help them develop a real and life giving relationship with Jesus. GICM does this by providing 6 people off the street with shelter, food and assistance to improve their lives. GICM also gives a daily meal to all those in need at lunch and a dinner on Thursday evening which is usually accompanied by worship and a Christian message. The 6 people living at GICM assist in preparing and serving these meals and providing clothing to those in need, as well as maintaining the property. GICM is based in Greyville (a suburb of Durban) opposite Game City Centre and next to the KwaSuka Theatre.
If you would like to make a donation to or if you’d like to get involved please call Cecil on 082 444 8133.
Friday 19th June - Thirsting to Give
DAILY BYTE
Are you thirsty?? If you’re not thirsty now, do you think you’ll be thirsty by the end of the day? We all get thirsty. The last time I checked, The Guinness Book of World Records said that the longest length of time a person has ever gone without water is eighteen days. Usually, people can only live about three days without water. Not very long! But, this is the way we are all built, as humans. We need water, and we all get thirsty!
The prophet Isaiah knew this, saying, “Ho, everyone who thirsts come to the waters….” And he connects this universal need for water with another universal need that we all seem to have… Since we’ve been discussing giving and money this week, you may be able to guess the need Isaiah is talking about, so let’s not beat around the bush.
Isaiah talks about money.
Does he say, however, “everyone who needs money, come and get it?” No - the Scriptures say, “and you that have no money, come, buy and eat!” You that have no money… It seems counterintuitive… If you have no money, how can you buy food?
Isaiah says, you people of God who have no money of your own, you are being offered something that’s free, something without a price. In other words, when it comes to the kingdom of God, if you have money, the money that you think is yours is not really your own. It does not belong to you. It has, however, been entrusted to you by a God who tells us all to “Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
God gives sustenance and life to us without a price. All that we have has been freely given. And now, we are entrusted to return to God the gifts and resources that were part of God’s kingdom in the first place.
The scripture challenges us to determine the amount of money we are called to contribute to the feast of God’s vision of uniting to share love, grace, and the sustenance of God with other members of the community. If you tithe, already contributing ten percent of your income to the church, it’s easy to slip into complacency, congratulating yourself in the fact that you’ve given all you’re “biblically” required to give. But, the Bible really leads us to another option – the hard task of continuing to envision this feast and reevaluate how much you are called to contribute, even if that means you are called to sacrifice more than ten percent of your income…
And, if you have not reached a point where you give ten percent of your income to ministry, pray heavily over the concept of the feast that we have envisioned this week, and consider what opportunity God is providing you to nourish others without fear that God will run out of water, wine, and milk for you. Even in a financial crisis, there is an abundance of resources in this world - resources that belong to God and that we all have the opportunity to share with one another. So, if you’re thirsty, come and share God’s waters.
FOCUS READING
Isaiah 55:1 (NASB)
Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Gracious God, we are thirsty for the quenching life you give. But we also recognize within ourselves a deep need to share the life you have offered us freely. Help us not to grasp greedily onto your abundance. Instead, encourage it to flow out of us lovingly and freely. So let it be.
Are you thirsty?? If you’re not thirsty now, do you think you’ll be thirsty by the end of the day? We all get thirsty. The last time I checked, The Guinness Book of World Records said that the longest length of time a person has ever gone without water is eighteen days. Usually, people can only live about three days without water. Not very long! But, this is the way we are all built, as humans. We need water, and we all get thirsty!
The prophet Isaiah knew this, saying, “Ho, everyone who thirsts come to the waters….” And he connects this universal need for water with another universal need that we all seem to have… Since we’ve been discussing giving and money this week, you may be able to guess the need Isaiah is talking about, so let’s not beat around the bush.
Isaiah talks about money.
Does he say, however, “everyone who needs money, come and get it?” No - the Scriptures say, “and you that have no money, come, buy and eat!” You that have no money… It seems counterintuitive… If you have no money, how can you buy food?
Isaiah says, you people of God who have no money of your own, you are being offered something that’s free, something without a price. In other words, when it comes to the kingdom of God, if you have money, the money that you think is yours is not really your own. It does not belong to you. It has, however, been entrusted to you by a God who tells us all to “Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
God gives sustenance and life to us without a price. All that we have has been freely given. And now, we are entrusted to return to God the gifts and resources that were part of God’s kingdom in the first place.
The scripture challenges us to determine the amount of money we are called to contribute to the feast of God’s vision of uniting to share love, grace, and the sustenance of God with other members of the community. If you tithe, already contributing ten percent of your income to the church, it’s easy to slip into complacency, congratulating yourself in the fact that you’ve given all you’re “biblically” required to give. But, the Bible really leads us to another option – the hard task of continuing to envision this feast and reevaluate how much you are called to contribute, even if that means you are called to sacrifice more than ten percent of your income…
And, if you have not reached a point where you give ten percent of your income to ministry, pray heavily over the concept of the feast that we have envisioned this week, and consider what opportunity God is providing you to nourish others without fear that God will run out of water, wine, and milk for you. Even in a financial crisis, there is an abundance of resources in this world - resources that belong to God and that we all have the opportunity to share with one another. So, if you’re thirsty, come and share God’s waters.
FOCUS READING
Isaiah 55:1 (NASB)
Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Gracious God, we are thirsty for the quenching life you give. But we also recognize within ourselves a deep need to share the life you have offered us freely. Help us not to grasp greedily onto your abundance. Instead, encourage it to flow out of us lovingly and freely. So let it be.
Thursday 18 June 2009
Thursday 18 June - Accepting the Calling
DAILY BYTE
When my dad found out I would be born, he chose to accept the calling to be my father. This meant that he chose to offer me as much unconditional love as possible, mirroring God’s love, a love that has nourished my dad throughout his life. My dad knew that choosing to care for me and show me that love would mean that he was also accepting that this would cost him a lot of money – over two million rand, as he once reminded me with a wry smile.
And yet, he accepted the opportunity to give me life and sustain that life by continuously living up to his promise of feeding and loving me. Not all fathers accept this calling and opportunity, just as all of us, as the disciples we proclaim to be, do not always accept the opportunity to provide for others in our biological families, our families of faith, and the broader world family.
Today, picture the feast table that God is calling you to set. Who is sitting there? Who are you called to sit with at a table full of God’s spiritual and physical food?
Picture people in your community life whom God is calling you to nurture and offer love and grace. Is it the person sitting next to you in the cubicle at work or the desk at school? Is it your child? Is it your neighbor? Is it the person that you hate or fear most?
In your mind and heart, invite these people into a new vision for the ministry God is calling you to in your life.
And then, think and pray about how the feast for these people will be prepared. Let’s get down to the nitty gritty. What do you need to do? How much prayer and how much money are you called to offer to help usher this vision – this feast of sharing God’s abundant, nourishing love with others - into reality?
Lock that vision in your heart, but before you get lost on an island of individuality, broaden your scope and picture a vision of the feast table of the whole church. Every congregation and denomination. Picture us sitting together at long tables. Who do you see in this community who needs the nourishing, good food of God’s love, grace, and promises?
The church, this country, and the world are at many crossroads in history – financial, environmental, spiritual – you name it. And as God’s people, we have some difficult and crucial decisions to make about how we live out God’s callings.
You are undoubtedly aware of the global economic crisis and of the numerous retrenchments and struggles to find jobs in our local community. You may be increasingly aware of the costly ways we treat the planet, as we not so jokingly blame all manner of ills on global warming. You may, or may not, be aware of the resources that are required for a church to support and carry out acts of love and service in the community - ministries that attempt to set a feast for people in the community whom we are called to invite to the table of God’s love, grace, and sustenance, both physical and spiritual.
The bottom line is that people cannot live without physical water and food like beans and peanut butter. The bottom line is also that people cannot live without living water and spiritual food, such as Scripture, communion, and fellowship with one another.
So, yesterday we talked about giving as a calling. In what ways are you accepting specific callings God desires you to fulfill? Who is at the feast table, and how much money, time, and love might God be calling you to offer them?
FOCUS READING
Luke 14:13-14 (ESV)
But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.
IF YOU ARE FEELING BRAVE…
Ask God to help you discern how to use your money and other resources. Then, take a step in the direction in which God calls you. Create a plan of giving to the church you attend. Get involved in a ministry that is reaching out to serve. Accept a calling, and see the miraculous things God can do with one step that can seem so small.
When my dad found out I would be born, he chose to accept the calling to be my father. This meant that he chose to offer me as much unconditional love as possible, mirroring God’s love, a love that has nourished my dad throughout his life. My dad knew that choosing to care for me and show me that love would mean that he was also accepting that this would cost him a lot of money – over two million rand, as he once reminded me with a wry smile.
And yet, he accepted the opportunity to give me life and sustain that life by continuously living up to his promise of feeding and loving me. Not all fathers accept this calling and opportunity, just as all of us, as the disciples we proclaim to be, do not always accept the opportunity to provide for others in our biological families, our families of faith, and the broader world family.
Today, picture the feast table that God is calling you to set. Who is sitting there? Who are you called to sit with at a table full of God’s spiritual and physical food?
Picture people in your community life whom God is calling you to nurture and offer love and grace. Is it the person sitting next to you in the cubicle at work or the desk at school? Is it your child? Is it your neighbor? Is it the person that you hate or fear most?
In your mind and heart, invite these people into a new vision for the ministry God is calling you to in your life.
And then, think and pray about how the feast for these people will be prepared. Let’s get down to the nitty gritty. What do you need to do? How much prayer and how much money are you called to offer to help usher this vision – this feast of sharing God’s abundant, nourishing love with others - into reality?
Lock that vision in your heart, but before you get lost on an island of individuality, broaden your scope and picture a vision of the feast table of the whole church. Every congregation and denomination. Picture us sitting together at long tables. Who do you see in this community who needs the nourishing, good food of God’s love, grace, and promises?
The church, this country, and the world are at many crossroads in history – financial, environmental, spiritual – you name it. And as God’s people, we have some difficult and crucial decisions to make about how we live out God’s callings.
You are undoubtedly aware of the global economic crisis and of the numerous retrenchments and struggles to find jobs in our local community. You may be increasingly aware of the costly ways we treat the planet, as we not so jokingly blame all manner of ills on global warming. You may, or may not, be aware of the resources that are required for a church to support and carry out acts of love and service in the community - ministries that attempt to set a feast for people in the community whom we are called to invite to the table of God’s love, grace, and sustenance, both physical and spiritual.
The bottom line is that people cannot live without physical water and food like beans and peanut butter. The bottom line is also that people cannot live without living water and spiritual food, such as Scripture, communion, and fellowship with one another.
So, yesterday we talked about giving as a calling. In what ways are you accepting specific callings God desires you to fulfill? Who is at the feast table, and how much money, time, and love might God be calling you to offer them?
FOCUS READING
Luke 14:13-14 (ESV)
But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.
IF YOU ARE FEELING BRAVE…
Ask God to help you discern how to use your money and other resources. Then, take a step in the direction in which God calls you. Create a plan of giving to the church you attend. Get involved in a ministry that is reaching out to serve. Accept a calling, and see the miraculous things God can do with one step that can seem so small.
Friday 12 June 2009
Wednesday 17th June - The Calling
DAILY BYTE
Only recently, have I begun to understand giving money to the church as a calling, an opportunity to serve God that I can choose to ignore. If we can ignore it, then we can also choose to accept it, receiving then the chance to experience the abundant life that can come out of sharing our individual resources and our combined resources as a community of faith.
Now, my dad could have spent the money for the feast he gave me and my friends on a lot of other things - lottery tickets, a second car, a fancier meal for only himself… And it’s easy to argue that spending thousands of rand on a feast is not being a good steward of resources. Let’s be clear. I’m not challenging you to go out and buy all your neighbors trout and chocolate mousse…
But the prophet, Isaiah, asks a crucial question about how we do spend our resources: “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, Your earnings for what does not satisfy?”
We do spend our money on many things that bring little real satisfaction in life, don’t we? We buy the twentieth pair of shoes because they’re on sale and they’re in style and ever so slightly different from the 19th pair we already have. We spend money on the newest gadgets available so that we can barely find our way from one end of the street to the other without consulting the GPS. Even at seminary, where little extraneous income was to be found, there was still a lot of what we would call somewhat affectionately, “retail therapy.” Yes, we do spend a lot of money on the shoes, the gadgets, the chips and popcorn and nachos of this world that ultimately won’t give us any satisfaction or nutritional value, while at the same time, we are each individually and all as a community of faith called instead to set a feast of love with our resources together – a feast that will offer the only true therapy - covenantal, everlasting, love and grace.
We are called to allocate our income in ways that provide physical and spiritual nutrition to ourselves and others! In other words, Isaiah challenges us all to share together and to “eat what is good!”
Isaiah challenges us, the people of God, on God’s behalf to “Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear and come to me; listen, so that you may live.” This is the scripture’s challenge for you today! Isaiah urges the people of God to listen for how God is calling us to live.
Isaiah tells us to turn to God – to accept the calling to take care of our human bodies and the bodies of others but also to nourish our souls and the souls of others. Because - all are called to eat God’s free feast of grace and love, and we are all also called to prepare that feast for others.
How are you allowing God to nourish you? Are you eating what is good? How are you nourishing others so that they may also live full, rich lives? Are you accepting this calling?
GUIDING SCRIPTURE
Isaiah 55:2b-3a (NRSV)
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear and come to me; listen, so that you may live.
Only recently, have I begun to understand giving money to the church as a calling, an opportunity to serve God that I can choose to ignore. If we can ignore it, then we can also choose to accept it, receiving then the chance to experience the abundant life that can come out of sharing our individual resources and our combined resources as a community of faith.
Now, my dad could have spent the money for the feast he gave me and my friends on a lot of other things - lottery tickets, a second car, a fancier meal for only himself… And it’s easy to argue that spending thousands of rand on a feast is not being a good steward of resources. Let’s be clear. I’m not challenging you to go out and buy all your neighbors trout and chocolate mousse…
But the prophet, Isaiah, asks a crucial question about how we do spend our resources: “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, Your earnings for what does not satisfy?”
We do spend our money on many things that bring little real satisfaction in life, don’t we? We buy the twentieth pair of shoes because they’re on sale and they’re in style and ever so slightly different from the 19th pair we already have. We spend money on the newest gadgets available so that we can barely find our way from one end of the street to the other without consulting the GPS. Even at seminary, where little extraneous income was to be found, there was still a lot of what we would call somewhat affectionately, “retail therapy.” Yes, we do spend a lot of money on the shoes, the gadgets, the chips and popcorn and nachos of this world that ultimately won’t give us any satisfaction or nutritional value, while at the same time, we are each individually and all as a community of faith called instead to set a feast of love with our resources together – a feast that will offer the only true therapy - covenantal, everlasting, love and grace.
We are called to allocate our income in ways that provide physical and spiritual nutrition to ourselves and others! In other words, Isaiah challenges us all to share together and to “eat what is good!”
Isaiah challenges us, the people of God, on God’s behalf to “Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear and come to me; listen, so that you may live.” This is the scripture’s challenge for you today! Isaiah urges the people of God to listen for how God is calling us to live.
Isaiah tells us to turn to God – to accept the calling to take care of our human bodies and the bodies of others but also to nourish our souls and the souls of others. Because - all are called to eat God’s free feast of grace and love, and we are all also called to prepare that feast for others.
How are you allowing God to nourish you? Are you eating what is good? How are you nourishing others so that they may also live full, rich lives? Are you accepting this calling?
GUIDING SCRIPTURE
Isaiah 55:2b-3a (NRSV)
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear and come to me; listen, so that you may live.
Tuesday 16th June - The freedom
DAILY BYTE
Have you ever thought about the fact that God did not have to create us, and no one forced God to live constantly in a loving relationship with us – a relationship that cost us what? Nothing. Consider that just like the free feast we heard about yesterday, God also provides a feast of sustenance, love, and forgiveness to us for free. We are the recipients of the greatest free meal of all time.
Therefore, because of this gift given to us, we have also been given the opportunity to share this love with others – to spread the Gospel - the good news that all who are thirsty will be filled with enough water and food to sustain their lives. We are called to prepare a feast of sustenance, love, and grace to those we love, those we hate, and even people we don’t know.
If, however, you’re an accountant or a chef, you may already be aware that preparing a feast often costs a lot of money. Therefore, while we are called to give away the free gifts of sustenance, love, and grace that have been given to us, in our world’s economy, it often costs money and other resources to share those same gifts with others in the world.
When my dad accepted the opportunity of providing a feast for us, he knew that it would cost him a pretty penny. It also seems that God knew when creating us that the gift of free love and grace to us would result in an ultimate price for God – the suffering and death of God’s Son.
But, regardless of your financial state, even in this current recession, through God’s promises to us and through Christ’s gift of freedom for us in life and death, in both tight financial times and in the jubilation of receiving a Christmas bonus, we have been given the opportunity to give of our time, our resources – yes – our money, no matter how small or large the amount may seem to us - so that we can offer to others the kind of love that God offers us for free.
Let me say that again another way: because God has offered us a feast of love, grace, and resources free of charge, we are given the opportunity to share that same kind of love and grace with others through the contribution of our love, grace, and - resources.
If we are “stewards” over creation, caring for everything God created and owns, let’s take seriously the way God calls us to set the table for this kind of feast, sitting with others, eating with them, learning with them, and listening to them so that all the people God loves in this world and specifically this community of South Africa will be welcomed into the abundant life that God offers us for free.
FOCUS READING
1 Peter 2:16 (ESV)
Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.
PRAY AS YOU GO
God, you have given everything to us freely and abundantly. Help us to give freely of Your resources to others, in return. Amen.
Have you ever thought about the fact that God did not have to create us, and no one forced God to live constantly in a loving relationship with us – a relationship that cost us what? Nothing. Consider that just like the free feast we heard about yesterday, God also provides a feast of sustenance, love, and forgiveness to us for free. We are the recipients of the greatest free meal of all time.
Therefore, because of this gift given to us, we have also been given the opportunity to share this love with others – to spread the Gospel - the good news that all who are thirsty will be filled with enough water and food to sustain their lives. We are called to prepare a feast of sustenance, love, and grace to those we love, those we hate, and even people we don’t know.
If, however, you’re an accountant or a chef, you may already be aware that preparing a feast often costs a lot of money. Therefore, while we are called to give away the free gifts of sustenance, love, and grace that have been given to us, in our world’s economy, it often costs money and other resources to share those same gifts with others in the world.
When my dad accepted the opportunity of providing a feast for us, he knew that it would cost him a pretty penny. It also seems that God knew when creating us that the gift of free love and grace to us would result in an ultimate price for God – the suffering and death of God’s Son.
But, regardless of your financial state, even in this current recession, through God’s promises to us and through Christ’s gift of freedom for us in life and death, in both tight financial times and in the jubilation of receiving a Christmas bonus, we have been given the opportunity to give of our time, our resources – yes – our money, no matter how small or large the amount may seem to us - so that we can offer to others the kind of love that God offers us for free.
Let me say that again another way: because God has offered us a feast of love, grace, and resources free of charge, we are given the opportunity to share that same kind of love and grace with others through the contribution of our love, grace, and - resources.
If we are “stewards” over creation, caring for everything God created and owns, let’s take seriously the way God calls us to set the table for this kind of feast, sitting with others, eating with them, learning with them, and listening to them so that all the people God loves in this world and specifically this community of South Africa will be welcomed into the abundant life that God offers us for free.
FOCUS READING
1 Peter 2:16 (ESV)
Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.
PRAY AS YOU GO
God, you have given everything to us freely and abundantly. Help us to give freely of Your resources to others, in return. Amen.
Monday 15th June - The feast
DAILY BYTE
Are you afraid of the word, “stewardship?” Does it hold any meaning for you? Does it remind you of nothing other than churches begging for money?
Well, this week, we’ll delve into the topic of stewardship by first talking about – well – food. Just stay with me. I love to eat good food. I mean really, who doesn’t? About a year ago, my dad came to visit me for a weekend. He lived over six hours away from me, so this was his only opportunity to give about six months worth of love to me and my friends, since he would not see most of us again for quite a while. So, my dad offered to take me to dinner and promised I could bring as many of my friends as were available. I remember him saying, “Think of someplace you want to go that your budget would not normally allow.” I told him that could be KFC for all the money we had, but he lovingly retorted, “No, think of someplace really nice that you love or have always wanted to try.”
Well, it turned out that more people were able to come than we thought. But, a promise was a promise, and so off all twelve of us trooped to a delicious and expensive restaurant named Vin Rouge. And there was wine, and there was a scrumptious spread of crusty bread, olive oil, garlic, butternut squash soup, grouper, crab, mussels, potatoes, trout, almonds, greens, and the crème de la crème, crème brulee itself, caramelized sugar melting in our mouths, mingling with the taste of a Belgian chocolate mousse with the consistency of ice cream – it was made with such fine milk. My taste buds are salivating, even as I write this and as I remember that this feast was a crucial moment in my understanding of stewardship. And you’re probably wondering how…
In the Scripture this week, the prophet Isaiah speaks: Whoa, “all who are thirsty, Come for water, Even if you have no money; Come, buy food and eat: Buy food without money, Wine and milk without cost” (TNK).
Can you see any connections between this feast for the people of God offered on behalf of God by the prophet Isaiah and the feast offered to my friends and me by my father?
My dad’s feast for us was the bread, wine, and milk – the sustenance of life – given freely to me and to those I love.
It is difficult, is it not, to understand that something is free? After all, we learn at an early age that nothing in life is free – many of us know the horrible embarrassment that rises in our guts when we arrive at the till of a store or restaurant only to discover that there isn’t enough money in our wallets to pay the bill. The stare from the shop worker makes us intensely aware that we’ve broken some cardinal societal rule in our inability to pay for goods we need to survive.
And yet, Isaiah presents in this passage a feast for all, not just for those who can afford to pay. He presents enough water to quench thirst and enough milk and wine to provide sustenance and a little twinge of joy.
My dad offered me and people he didn’t even know enough water, milk, and wine to quench our thirst and provide us with sustenance and added joy. My friends could not believe that they were receiving this meal, the value of thousands of rand, for free, simply because my dad accepted the opportunity to give an abundant feast to those he loves.
Do you eat of the feast that God freely gives to you? What does this story teach you about God’s abundant love that has made us stewards over all creation?
FOCUS READING
Isaiah 55:1 (Tanakh)
Whoa, “all who are thirsty, Come for water, Even if you have no money; Come, buy food and eat: Buy food without money, Wine and milk without cost.”
Are you afraid of the word, “stewardship?” Does it hold any meaning for you? Does it remind you of nothing other than churches begging for money?
Well, this week, we’ll delve into the topic of stewardship by first talking about – well – food. Just stay with me. I love to eat good food. I mean really, who doesn’t? About a year ago, my dad came to visit me for a weekend. He lived over six hours away from me, so this was his only opportunity to give about six months worth of love to me and my friends, since he would not see most of us again for quite a while. So, my dad offered to take me to dinner and promised I could bring as many of my friends as were available. I remember him saying, “Think of someplace you want to go that your budget would not normally allow.” I told him that could be KFC for all the money we had, but he lovingly retorted, “No, think of someplace really nice that you love or have always wanted to try.”
Well, it turned out that more people were able to come than we thought. But, a promise was a promise, and so off all twelve of us trooped to a delicious and expensive restaurant named Vin Rouge. And there was wine, and there was a scrumptious spread of crusty bread, olive oil, garlic, butternut squash soup, grouper, crab, mussels, potatoes, trout, almonds, greens, and the crème de la crème, crème brulee itself, caramelized sugar melting in our mouths, mingling with the taste of a Belgian chocolate mousse with the consistency of ice cream – it was made with such fine milk. My taste buds are salivating, even as I write this and as I remember that this feast was a crucial moment in my understanding of stewardship. And you’re probably wondering how…
In the Scripture this week, the prophet Isaiah speaks: Whoa, “all who are thirsty, Come for water, Even if you have no money; Come, buy food and eat: Buy food without money, Wine and milk without cost” (TNK).
Can you see any connections between this feast for the people of God offered on behalf of God by the prophet Isaiah and the feast offered to my friends and me by my father?
My dad’s feast for us was the bread, wine, and milk – the sustenance of life – given freely to me and to those I love.
It is difficult, is it not, to understand that something is free? After all, we learn at an early age that nothing in life is free – many of us know the horrible embarrassment that rises in our guts when we arrive at the till of a store or restaurant only to discover that there isn’t enough money in our wallets to pay the bill. The stare from the shop worker makes us intensely aware that we’ve broken some cardinal societal rule in our inability to pay for goods we need to survive.
And yet, Isaiah presents in this passage a feast for all, not just for those who can afford to pay. He presents enough water to quench thirst and enough milk and wine to provide sustenance and a little twinge of joy.
My dad offered me and people he didn’t even know enough water, milk, and wine to quench our thirst and provide us with sustenance and added joy. My friends could not believe that they were receiving this meal, the value of thousands of rand, for free, simply because my dad accepted the opportunity to give an abundant feast to those he loves.
Do you eat of the feast that God freely gives to you? What does this story teach you about God’s abundant love that has made us stewards over all creation?
FOCUS READING
Isaiah 55:1 (Tanakh)
Whoa, “all who are thirsty, Come for water, Even if you have no money; Come, buy food and eat: Buy food without money, Wine and milk without cost.”
Monday 8 June 2009
Sunday 14th June - Udobo
Weekend Blurb
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
The Udobo School is a pre-primary school that gives hope through love and education to children from poor and marginalized backgrounds in the urban area of Montwood Park, Durban, South Africa. Some of the children are orphans as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The name ‘Udobo’ is the Zulu word for ‘fishing rod’ and is based on the adage, “Give me a fish and I’ll eat for a day, teach me to fish and I’ll eat for a lifetime”. The school program provides for social, emotional, cognitive, intellectual, aesthetic and physical development of the children within a loving, caring, and safe environment. A Trust called ‘The Udobo Ed-U Foundation’ was established to receive funding on behalf of the school both locally and abroad.
The Udobo Ed-U Foundation
First National Bank of South Africa
Branch No. 221026
Branch Name : Mobeni
A/c : 62061351442
Forex SWIFT No. FIRNZAJJ762
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
The Udobo School is a pre-primary school that gives hope through love and education to children from poor and marginalized backgrounds in the urban area of Montwood Park, Durban, South Africa. Some of the children are orphans as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The name ‘Udobo’ is the Zulu word for ‘fishing rod’ and is based on the adage, “Give me a fish and I’ll eat for a day, teach me to fish and I’ll eat for a lifetime”. The school program provides for social, emotional, cognitive, intellectual, aesthetic and physical development of the children within a loving, caring, and safe environment. A Trust called ‘The Udobo Ed-U Foundation’ was established to receive funding on behalf of the school both locally and abroad.
The Udobo Ed-U Foundation
First National Bank of South Africa
Branch No. 221026
Branch Name : Mobeni
A/c : 62061351442
Forex SWIFT No. FIRNZAJJ762
Saturday 13th June - Udobo
Weekend Blurb
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
The Udobo School is a pre-primary school that gives hope through love and education to children from poor and marginalized backgrounds in the urban area of Montwood Park, Durban, South Africa. Some of the children are orphans as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The name ‘Udobo’ is the Zulu word for ‘fishing rod’ and is based on the adage, “Give me a fish and I’ll eat for a day, teach me to fish and I’ll eat for a lifetime”. The school program provides for social, emotional, cognitive, intellectual, aesthetic and physical development of the children within a loving, caring, and safe environment. A Trust called ‘The Udobo Ed-U Foundation’ was established to receive funding on behalf of the school both locally and abroad.
The Udobo Ed-U Foundation
First National Bank of South Africa
Branch No. 221026
Branch Name : Mobeni
A/c : 62061351442
Forex SWIFT No. FIRNZAJJ762
The BDC is a weekday devotional aimed at anyone and everyone who struggles to keep up with the stressful demands of daily life.
This is why there are no weekend devotions prepared; however look out for your next update which will be this Monday.
Every weekend we will use this space to focus on a different mission project. This is an excellent opportunity to see how many people are striving to make a real difference in this country, and also how you might become involved.
The Udobo School is a pre-primary school that gives hope through love and education to children from poor and marginalized backgrounds in the urban area of Montwood Park, Durban, South Africa. Some of the children are orphans as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The name ‘Udobo’ is the Zulu word for ‘fishing rod’ and is based on the adage, “Give me a fish and I’ll eat for a day, teach me to fish and I’ll eat for a lifetime”. The school program provides for social, emotional, cognitive, intellectual, aesthetic and physical development of the children within a loving, caring, and safe environment. A Trust called ‘The Udobo Ed-U Foundation’ was established to receive funding on behalf of the school both locally and abroad.
The Udobo Ed-U Foundation
First National Bank of South Africa
Branch No. 221026
Branch Name : Mobeni
A/c : 62061351442
Forex SWIFT No. FIRNZAJJ762
Friday June 12th – Freedom from oppression
DAILY BYTE
Finally, we worship to keep us free from the potential oppression of any dark, circling clouds. Victor Frankl relates his experiences of being in a concentration camp during the Second World War. One afternoon the men of this camp had tramped back several miles from a work site and were lying exhausted and sick and hungry in their barracks. It was winter and they had marched through a cold, dispiriting rain.
Suddenly one of the men burst into the barracks and shouted for the others to come outside. Reluctantly, but sensing the urgency in his voice they stirred themselves and staggered out into the courtyard. The rain had stopped and after months of non-stop depressingly dark gloom, a ray of sunlight was piercing through the lumpy, leaden clouds. The sunlight was reflecting on the little pools of water that had gathered on the concrete floor of the courtyard.
‘We stood there,’ said Frankl, ‘marvelling at the goodness of creation. We were tired and cold and sick, we were starving to death, we had lost our loved ones and never expected to see them again, yet there we stood, feeling a sense of reverence as old and as formidable as the world itself.’
Worship is for those moments where we feel trapped in beds of exhaustion, disappointment and disillusionment: moments when we feel too tired or too angry to get up and worship and are dispirited by the dark storm clouds that are hanging over our lives.
Worship is the discipline of sometimes dragging ourselves week after week, day after day, into God’s presence, when we are feeling dry or angry or sad. Worship is stubbornly clinging to the hope that one day, despite all apparent evidence to the contrary, the light will break through those clouds. For we know that above those clouds, the sun still drenches the world in life-giving rays. We may not be able to see it for now, but it is there … and it always will be.
So why do we worship? Well, perhaps the greatest truth of this is that worship runs like a thread throughout the Bible and throughout humanity because worship is that which brings us out of ourselves, out of the world’s mould and out of the darkest clouds into a place of God’s sunlight.
Worship is not just about one thing, like the songs that we sing, or the prayers that we pray, or the experience of being together, but it is all those things together and more besides. When we worship we are listening for the strains of God’s gospel that fill the air even more powerfully than the greatest of musical compositions. When we worship we are opening our hearts to God. When we worship we are gulping in the air God created us to breathe. When we worship we are remembering how God really shaped us to be. For we all know deep down that we never stand to tall as when we learn to bow our knees before God and that when we are God’s then we are truly free to be ourselves.
Ultimately, we worship to be free and we worship to stay free.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, help us to remember that discipline is indispensable to worship. Give us the strength we need to worship you despite the darkest clouds that may be hanging over our lives and despite any feelings of dryness, anger or sadness that we may be struggling with. For it is when we open our hearts to you in worship and when we bring to you a sacrifice of praise, that we can know the fullness of the freedom you created us to live in. Amen.
FOCUS READING
Psalm 112. 4 MSG
Sunrise breaks through the darkness for good people — God's grace and mercy and justice!
Finally, we worship to keep us free from the potential oppression of any dark, circling clouds. Victor Frankl relates his experiences of being in a concentration camp during the Second World War. One afternoon the men of this camp had tramped back several miles from a work site and were lying exhausted and sick and hungry in their barracks. It was winter and they had marched through a cold, dispiriting rain.
Suddenly one of the men burst into the barracks and shouted for the others to come outside. Reluctantly, but sensing the urgency in his voice they stirred themselves and staggered out into the courtyard. The rain had stopped and after months of non-stop depressingly dark gloom, a ray of sunlight was piercing through the lumpy, leaden clouds. The sunlight was reflecting on the little pools of water that had gathered on the concrete floor of the courtyard.
‘We stood there,’ said Frankl, ‘marvelling at the goodness of creation. We were tired and cold and sick, we were starving to death, we had lost our loved ones and never expected to see them again, yet there we stood, feeling a sense of reverence as old and as formidable as the world itself.’
Worship is for those moments where we feel trapped in beds of exhaustion, disappointment and disillusionment: moments when we feel too tired or too angry to get up and worship and are dispirited by the dark storm clouds that are hanging over our lives.
Worship is the discipline of sometimes dragging ourselves week after week, day after day, into God’s presence, when we are feeling dry or angry or sad. Worship is stubbornly clinging to the hope that one day, despite all apparent evidence to the contrary, the light will break through those clouds. For we know that above those clouds, the sun still drenches the world in life-giving rays. We may not be able to see it for now, but it is there … and it always will be.
So why do we worship? Well, perhaps the greatest truth of this is that worship runs like a thread throughout the Bible and throughout humanity because worship is that which brings us out of ourselves, out of the world’s mould and out of the darkest clouds into a place of God’s sunlight.
Worship is not just about one thing, like the songs that we sing, or the prayers that we pray, or the experience of being together, but it is all those things together and more besides. When we worship we are listening for the strains of God’s gospel that fill the air even more powerfully than the greatest of musical compositions. When we worship we are opening our hearts to God. When we worship we are gulping in the air God created us to breathe. When we worship we are remembering how God really shaped us to be. For we all know deep down that we never stand to tall as when we learn to bow our knees before God and that when we are God’s then we are truly free to be ourselves.
Ultimately, we worship to be free and we worship to stay free.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, help us to remember that discipline is indispensable to worship. Give us the strength we need to worship you despite the darkest clouds that may be hanging over our lives and despite any feelings of dryness, anger or sadness that we may be struggling with. For it is when we open our hearts to you in worship and when we bring to you a sacrifice of praise, that we can know the fullness of the freedom you created us to live in. Amen.
FOCUS READING
Psalm 112. 4 MSG
Sunrise breaks through the darkness for good people — God's grace and mercy and justice!
Thursday June 11th – Freedom from being falsely shaped
DAILY BYTE
So we worship because it keeps us free from ourselves, but worship also keeps us free in other ways as well. The Phillips translation of Romans 12 warns Christ-followers not to allow the world to ‘squeeze’ them into its mould. Romans 12 reminds us that worship is a defiant and radical protest against being squeezed into the world’s shape.
For we live in a world that insists life is about money, success and image. We live in a world dominated by fear, stress and anger. We live in environments that stunt our spiritual imaginations and teach us to greedily hoard our emotions and possessions. In almost every movie, TV show, magazine and advertisement there are invitations for us to conform to this ‘mould’. It’s like we are continually and repetitively being called to worship something that is not God and follow a way of life that does not originate from God.
Such pressure to conform to the world’s mould is nothing new. The ancient Israelites struggled against a world that tried to mould them into the shape of Baal worshippers. The early church wrestled against a world that tried to shape them around Emperor Worship. Many Christians either lost their lives by refusing to engage in such worship, or they became Emperor Worshippers by day and Christ-followers by night.
Don’t for a moment think that we are free from such pressures today. For our world tries its best to convince us that there is nothing more to us than being consumers of products and that there is nothing of value to us other than our appearances.
This is the message we hear day after day, hour after hour, and if we allow ourselves to be squeezed into such a mould then we ARE NOT free!
This is why we need to worship. We NEED to go to church and sing and pray of a God who is both incredibly great and generously loving; of a creator who made us with all the dignity and purpose of God’s own children rather than being mere consumers; and that there is so much more to us than we could ever have imagined possible before. It’s almost like when we are worshipping we are gulping in the air we need to survive. It’s almost like worship clears the smog out of our lungs and the fog out of our brains.
Tony Campolo tells the story of going for a stroll along the boardwalk in Atlantic City and encountering a little girl who was carrying a massive stick of candy floss. It was so big that it absolutely dwarfed her. Tony exclaimed in surprise: ‘You’re so little and that candy is so big. It’s bigger than you are!’ She replied: ‘You don’t understand mister. I’m really much bigger on the inside than I am on the outside’.
Worship reminds us of our true shape, of our inner value, and that we are created to be bigger on the inside that we are on the outside. We need to worship so that we will stay true to that shape and to keep us free from being moulded by the world.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, this is why we worship you – because we need to. For it is when we immerse ourselves constantly in your presence, that our souls and spirits are shaped in your image. Help us to keep from being moulded by the world. In Jesus name. Amen.
FOCUS READING
Romans 12. 1-2
With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my sisters and brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him. Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.
So we worship because it keeps us free from ourselves, but worship also keeps us free in other ways as well. The Phillips translation of Romans 12 warns Christ-followers not to allow the world to ‘squeeze’ them into its mould. Romans 12 reminds us that worship is a defiant and radical protest against being squeezed into the world’s shape.
For we live in a world that insists life is about money, success and image. We live in a world dominated by fear, stress and anger. We live in environments that stunt our spiritual imaginations and teach us to greedily hoard our emotions and possessions. In almost every movie, TV show, magazine and advertisement there are invitations for us to conform to this ‘mould’. It’s like we are continually and repetitively being called to worship something that is not God and follow a way of life that does not originate from God.
Such pressure to conform to the world’s mould is nothing new. The ancient Israelites struggled against a world that tried to mould them into the shape of Baal worshippers. The early church wrestled against a world that tried to shape them around Emperor Worship. Many Christians either lost their lives by refusing to engage in such worship, or they became Emperor Worshippers by day and Christ-followers by night.
Don’t for a moment think that we are free from such pressures today. For our world tries its best to convince us that there is nothing more to us than being consumers of products and that there is nothing of value to us other than our appearances.
This is the message we hear day after day, hour after hour, and if we allow ourselves to be squeezed into such a mould then we ARE NOT free!
This is why we need to worship. We NEED to go to church and sing and pray of a God who is both incredibly great and generously loving; of a creator who made us with all the dignity and purpose of God’s own children rather than being mere consumers; and that there is so much more to us than we could ever have imagined possible before. It’s almost like when we are worshipping we are gulping in the air we need to survive. It’s almost like worship clears the smog out of our lungs and the fog out of our brains.
Tony Campolo tells the story of going for a stroll along the boardwalk in Atlantic City and encountering a little girl who was carrying a massive stick of candy floss. It was so big that it absolutely dwarfed her. Tony exclaimed in surprise: ‘You’re so little and that candy is so big. It’s bigger than you are!’ She replied: ‘You don’t understand mister. I’m really much bigger on the inside than I am on the outside’.
Worship reminds us of our true shape, of our inner value, and that we are created to be bigger on the inside that we are on the outside. We need to worship so that we will stay true to that shape and to keep us free from being moulded by the world.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Lord, this is why we worship you – because we need to. For it is when we immerse ourselves constantly in your presence, that our souls and spirits are shaped in your image. Help us to keep from being moulded by the world. In Jesus name. Amen.
FOCUS READING
Romans 12. 1-2
With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my sisters and brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him. Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.
Wednesday June 10th – Freedom within
DAILY BYTE
Worship is the means through which God keeps us free. But if that is true, then what exactly do we need freedom from? Well firstly, and this may sound kind of weird, but we need to worship to keep us free from ourselves. You see worship is that which reminds us that we are not at the centre of all life, in fact we are not even at the centre of our own lives, and that to be free from the tyranny of self-obsession we NEED to worship God.
This is what happened in the story of David and Michal (see focus reading). Many of us may read that story and think ‘oh no, do I have to dance before God for my worship to be found acceptable?’ But the main issue of this story is not the dance, it is self. David put aside himself to worship and was released in a wonderful way whereas Michal could only think of herself, and what others were thinking of her, and so she was not only unable to engage in worship for herself, but resented and despised David for it.
It wasn’t about David’s dance – it was about his heart! We can make worship just as much about ourselves if we dance for the attention of others, as we can by refusing to dance in the first place. The warning in this story is not to make worship about ourselves. As Michelangelo is recorded to have said: ‘When I am yours, O God, then at last I am truly myself.’
The point is that we worship to remind ourselves that we are NOT at the centre of it all, and if we insist on living as if it is then we will forever live in a space between emptiness and barrenness. We will never be filled.
We worship in order that we might take ourselves off the throne of our lives and place God on that throne.
Read the following Eugene Peterson quote carefully. It is wordy but well worth absorbing:
‘We worship so that we live in response to and from this centre, the living God. Failure to worship consigns us to a life of spasms and jerks, at the mercy of every advertisement, every seduction, every siren. Without worship we live manipulated and manipulating lives. We move in either frightened panic or deluded lethargy as we are, in turn, alarmed by spectres and soothed by placebos. If there is no centre, there is no circumference. People who do not worship are swept into a vast restlessness, epidemic in the world with no steady direction and no sustaining purpose.’
PRAY AS YOU GO
As we worship you this week, O God, we pray that you would give us an ever deepening awareness of what it means to be ‘kept free’ from ourselves. Help us to live our lives in a such a way that we are not the centre of our lives, but you are. Help us to truly be yours Almighty God, in every way, so that we might free to be ourselves. Amen.
FOCUS READING
2 Samuel 6:16-22
As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.
They brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the LORD. After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty. Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.
When David returned home to bless his household, Michal came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!"
David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD's people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honour."
Worship is the means through which God keeps us free. But if that is true, then what exactly do we need freedom from? Well firstly, and this may sound kind of weird, but we need to worship to keep us free from ourselves. You see worship is that which reminds us that we are not at the centre of all life, in fact we are not even at the centre of our own lives, and that to be free from the tyranny of self-obsession we NEED to worship God.
This is what happened in the story of David and Michal (see focus reading). Many of us may read that story and think ‘oh no, do I have to dance before God for my worship to be found acceptable?’ But the main issue of this story is not the dance, it is self. David put aside himself to worship and was released in a wonderful way whereas Michal could only think of herself, and what others were thinking of her, and so she was not only unable to engage in worship for herself, but resented and despised David for it.
It wasn’t about David’s dance – it was about his heart! We can make worship just as much about ourselves if we dance for the attention of others, as we can by refusing to dance in the first place. The warning in this story is not to make worship about ourselves. As Michelangelo is recorded to have said: ‘When I am yours, O God, then at last I am truly myself.’
The point is that we worship to remind ourselves that we are NOT at the centre of it all, and if we insist on living as if it is then we will forever live in a space between emptiness and barrenness. We will never be filled.
We worship in order that we might take ourselves off the throne of our lives and place God on that throne.
Read the following Eugene Peterson quote carefully. It is wordy but well worth absorbing:
‘We worship so that we live in response to and from this centre, the living God. Failure to worship consigns us to a life of spasms and jerks, at the mercy of every advertisement, every seduction, every siren. Without worship we live manipulated and manipulating lives. We move in either frightened panic or deluded lethargy as we are, in turn, alarmed by spectres and soothed by placebos. If there is no centre, there is no circumference. People who do not worship are swept into a vast restlessness, epidemic in the world with no steady direction and no sustaining purpose.’
PRAY AS YOU GO
As we worship you this week, O God, we pray that you would give us an ever deepening awareness of what it means to be ‘kept free’ from ourselves. Help us to live our lives in a such a way that we are not the centre of our lives, but you are. Help us to truly be yours Almighty God, in every way, so that we might free to be ourselves. Amen.
FOCUS READING
2 Samuel 6:16-22
As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.
They brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the LORD. After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty. Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.
When David returned home to bless his household, Michal came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!"
David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD's people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honour."
Tuesday June 9th - Why We Worship
DAILY BYTE
So if worship is the most important thing the church does, then the issue of WHY WE WORSHIP becomes very important. Of course we worship because God deserves all the praise we could possibly give him, but we need to know that there is not even a hint of divine arrogance behind God’s call for us to worship. The true question that we need to grapple with is not does God need us to worship him, but rather DO WE NEED to worship?
The Bible is very clear on this matter, we worship because God thoroughly deserves it, but we also worship because we so desperately, desperately need to!
When we worship, we are breathing in and out the breath of God (the Spirit of God). In other words, worship is like taking deep breaths of God’s Spirit – worship brings us life! But even more than that, worship brings us freedom as well. In fact, freedom is at the very heart of why we worship.
There is an amazing scene in the movie ‘The Shawshank Redemption,’ where the main character, who has been unjustly imprisoned, manages to get hold of a classical music record. He locks the warden out of his office and plays this record over the prison sound system. As the strains of the beautiful music fills the air, the prisoners stop wherever they are and whatever they are doing. Some of them close their eyes and you can literally sense their spirits soaring up and beyond the prison concrete high walls and fences along with the music
That’s exactly what worship does for us! It lifts us up and beyond the ‘prisons’ we encounter in daily life such as our addictions or strongly negative emotions like fear, anxiety, anger or hatred. Worship can free us from self-made prisons and culturally imposed prisons. The message of worship is that God created us to be free and that because of God’s all surpassing power and love we CAN live free!
Through song and word, prayer and sacrament, fellowship and togetherness; our spirits are lifted above any and all prison walls. Worship is a protest against death and imprisonment of body and soul, spirit and mind. Worship is gathering all that we have and entrusting it to God. Worship is having our minds transformed to think in new ways, it is being radically changed and transformed.
Like prayer, worship is not an attempt to change God’s mind or sweet talk God into doing things our way, but it is about God changing us and us coming into alignment with God’s way. Worship is that which reminds us that there is something greater than even the worst of our fears and worship reminds us that we are made for love and not for anger or hatred. Worship is breathing in the breath of God and living God’s freedom! For the truth of the matter is that we never stand as tall as when we learn to bend our knees before God.
Ultimately, we worship to be free and we worship to stay free.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Worshipping you Almighty God, is like gulping in the air we need to breathe. We worship you not only because you deserve all the praise we could possibly give you, but we also worship you because that is what we need to do to stay alive and free in your Spirit. Help us to worship you in every possible way and in every moment of every day. Amen.
FOCUS VERSE
Exodus 7. 16
The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you to say, ‘Let my people go, so that they may worship in the wilderness.’
So if worship is the most important thing the church does, then the issue of WHY WE WORSHIP becomes very important. Of course we worship because God deserves all the praise we could possibly give him, but we need to know that there is not even a hint of divine arrogance behind God’s call for us to worship. The true question that we need to grapple with is not does God need us to worship him, but rather DO WE NEED to worship?
The Bible is very clear on this matter, we worship because God thoroughly deserves it, but we also worship because we so desperately, desperately need to!
When we worship, we are breathing in and out the breath of God (the Spirit of God). In other words, worship is like taking deep breaths of God’s Spirit – worship brings us life! But even more than that, worship brings us freedom as well. In fact, freedom is at the very heart of why we worship.
There is an amazing scene in the movie ‘The Shawshank Redemption,’ where the main character, who has been unjustly imprisoned, manages to get hold of a classical music record. He locks the warden out of his office and plays this record over the prison sound system. As the strains of the beautiful music fills the air, the prisoners stop wherever they are and whatever they are doing. Some of them close their eyes and you can literally sense their spirits soaring up and beyond the prison concrete high walls and fences along with the music
That’s exactly what worship does for us! It lifts us up and beyond the ‘prisons’ we encounter in daily life such as our addictions or strongly negative emotions like fear, anxiety, anger or hatred. Worship can free us from self-made prisons and culturally imposed prisons. The message of worship is that God created us to be free and that because of God’s all surpassing power and love we CAN live free!
Through song and word, prayer and sacrament, fellowship and togetherness; our spirits are lifted above any and all prison walls. Worship is a protest against death and imprisonment of body and soul, spirit and mind. Worship is gathering all that we have and entrusting it to God. Worship is having our minds transformed to think in new ways, it is being radically changed and transformed.
Like prayer, worship is not an attempt to change God’s mind or sweet talk God into doing things our way, but it is about God changing us and us coming into alignment with God’s way. Worship is that which reminds us that there is something greater than even the worst of our fears and worship reminds us that we are made for love and not for anger or hatred. Worship is breathing in the breath of God and living God’s freedom! For the truth of the matter is that we never stand as tall as when we learn to bend our knees before God.
Ultimately, we worship to be free and we worship to stay free.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Worshipping you Almighty God, is like gulping in the air we need to breathe. We worship you not only because you deserve all the praise we could possibly give you, but we also worship you because that is what we need to do to stay alive and free in your Spirit. Help us to worship you in every possible way and in every moment of every day. Amen.
FOCUS VERSE
Exodus 7. 16
The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you to say, ‘Let my people go, so that they may worship in the wilderness.’
Monday June 8th – Worship
DAILY BYTE
So why do you go to church? People have lots of different reasons why they DON’T go to church such as church being too full of hypocrites or the sermons being too long and boring. But I actually find it a far more interesting question to find out why people DO got to church. Why do we worship? Why do YOU worship?
Without a doubt, worship is the most important thing we DO as a church. Throughout the Bible there is this constant thread running through an incredible diversity. The people in the Bible all differ so much; they come from different times and cultures, they differ in the way that they think and who they were, but there is one common thread linking them all – they worshipped.
That same common thread runs through all the world: we have so many different churches that speak different languages and have different theological emphases but we all have one thing in common – we worship. Some like to run about with flags during worship, others crave well-crafted liturgies and soaring cathedrals but we ALL worship.
That’s what makes us a church after all, as opposed to being a social agency or a club. We worship! Worship is that which orientates our lives around God. God becomes our reference point, our life’s compass, and our past, present and future. Worship is reminding ourselves again and again that God alone is God and worthy to be worshipped.
William Temple once said: ‘To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God; to feed the mind upon the truth of God; to purge the imagination by the beauty of God; to open the heart to the love of God and to devote the will to the purpose of God.’
Reflect upon this quote and upon your own worship life. How much does worship form a part of your daily life? Do you actively worship as part of a church? As we will be learning this week, worship is absolutely vital to our spiritual growth and so worshipping in the community of a church is incredibly important. Worship is the most important thing that the church does, and therefore it stands to reason that worship is also the most important thing every individual Christian does as well.
PRAY AS YOU GO
O Lord of earth, sea and sky. You are our King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You alone are our God and worthy to be worshipped. Help us to worship and love you with all of our heart, soul, and mind. In Jesus name. Amen.
FOCUS READING
Psalm 63. 1
O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is not water.
So why do you go to church? People have lots of different reasons why they DON’T go to church such as church being too full of hypocrites or the sermons being too long and boring. But I actually find it a far more interesting question to find out why people DO got to church. Why do we worship? Why do YOU worship?
Without a doubt, worship is the most important thing we DO as a church. Throughout the Bible there is this constant thread running through an incredible diversity. The people in the Bible all differ so much; they come from different times and cultures, they differ in the way that they think and who they were, but there is one common thread linking them all – they worshipped.
That same common thread runs through all the world: we have so many different churches that speak different languages and have different theological emphases but we all have one thing in common – we worship. Some like to run about with flags during worship, others crave well-crafted liturgies and soaring cathedrals but we ALL worship.
That’s what makes us a church after all, as opposed to being a social agency or a club. We worship! Worship is that which orientates our lives around God. God becomes our reference point, our life’s compass, and our past, present and future. Worship is reminding ourselves again and again that God alone is God and worthy to be worshipped.
William Temple once said: ‘To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God; to feed the mind upon the truth of God; to purge the imagination by the beauty of God; to open the heart to the love of God and to devote the will to the purpose of God.’
Reflect upon this quote and upon your own worship life. How much does worship form a part of your daily life? Do you actively worship as part of a church? As we will be learning this week, worship is absolutely vital to our spiritual growth and so worshipping in the community of a church is incredibly important. Worship is the most important thing that the church does, and therefore it stands to reason that worship is also the most important thing every individual Christian does as well.
PRAY AS YOU GO
O Lord of earth, sea and sky. You are our King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You alone are our God and worthy to be worshipped. Help us to worship and love you with all of our heart, soul, and mind. In Jesus name. Amen.
FOCUS READING
Psalm 63. 1
O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is not water.
Friday 5 June 2009
Friday 5th June - When the Spirit Speaks for Us
DAILY BYTE
The scriptures tell us that God does not leave us living in the land of silence alone. Instead, God has given us ears to hear one another’s cries, eyes to see one another’s pain, and places in which to sit in silent solidarity with our fellow humanity, recognizing the pain and allowing the Spirit to work to bring healing and hope.
The Book of Job reminds me of a time when I sat in the silence of pain. I was visiting families with a care worker in Cato Manor squatter camp. The group journeyed through the dirt paths to a shack holding four young women, about my age, two babies, and a grandmother. They graciously let us in, and we sat there staring at each other quietly, as they answered the care worker’s questions. With each answer to a question, I could feel a sob rising up because the faces of these women were often smiling, but their story was one of deep pain.
The grandmother’s daughter had died, leaving one of the babies behind. Home Affairs was behind in its paperwork, so they had no death certificate for the mother and no birth certificate for the baby, which meant they could not receive aide for the baby, who had a swollen belly and skin problems. They had been living in Cato Manor for over ten years in a small tin scrap and cardboard shack.
In this story you hear that the great need for lament. The care worker kept asking us if we had questions, so we tried to ask some, but it seemed that silence spoke louder than any questions or comments of concern.
And so finally it was time to leave, and all 12 of us crammed in this shack settled into a silent moment of prayer. Gradually, out of the silence rose the hum of prayer in isiZulu, in Afrikaans, in English – and as we prayed in these tongues, it was as if the wind of God was moaning and groaning for these women.
I curse the day we were born it cried, as it floated past the motherless baby. And yet, this is the day the Lord has made – this moment where God is present in God’s own creation. So let us rejoice and be glad in it, as we continue to breathe with one another in and out the breath of YAHWEH, the God who gives life, through every moment of pain and joy.
It seemed the prayer would last an eternity. And the miracle is, that it does.
As we continue to seek the face of the suffering God, the God who died on the cross, the God who took the form of vulnerable humanity, born in a shack –
As we continue to live in the silence of pain, fulfilling our great commission as people of God – the church – to be present with one another, leading one another through pain and into hope –
Through the Spirit of this God, we will remember God’s promises, we will be given the strength to hear the pain, go to places of pain, truly see the pain, and we will be able to sit in the perfect silence of the pain, without the perfect words but with the perfect mystery and hope of Christ, the rock on whom our humanity is thankfully, joyfully shipwrecked.
GUIDING SCRIPTURE
Romans 8:26
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Holy Spirit, when I cannot pray in the face of suffering, allow me to hear your groans. Intercede for me. Intercede for the world. Amen.
The scriptures tell us that God does not leave us living in the land of silence alone. Instead, God has given us ears to hear one another’s cries, eyes to see one another’s pain, and places in which to sit in silent solidarity with our fellow humanity, recognizing the pain and allowing the Spirit to work to bring healing and hope.
The Book of Job reminds me of a time when I sat in the silence of pain. I was visiting families with a care worker in Cato Manor squatter camp. The group journeyed through the dirt paths to a shack holding four young women, about my age, two babies, and a grandmother. They graciously let us in, and we sat there staring at each other quietly, as they answered the care worker’s questions. With each answer to a question, I could feel a sob rising up because the faces of these women were often smiling, but their story was one of deep pain.
The grandmother’s daughter had died, leaving one of the babies behind. Home Affairs was behind in its paperwork, so they had no death certificate for the mother and no birth certificate for the baby, which meant they could not receive aide for the baby, who had a swollen belly and skin problems. They had been living in Cato Manor for over ten years in a small tin scrap and cardboard shack.
In this story you hear that the great need for lament. The care worker kept asking us if we had questions, so we tried to ask some, but it seemed that silence spoke louder than any questions or comments of concern.
And so finally it was time to leave, and all 12 of us crammed in this shack settled into a silent moment of prayer. Gradually, out of the silence rose the hum of prayer in isiZulu, in Afrikaans, in English – and as we prayed in these tongues, it was as if the wind of God was moaning and groaning for these women.
I curse the day we were born it cried, as it floated past the motherless baby. And yet, this is the day the Lord has made – this moment where God is present in God’s own creation. So let us rejoice and be glad in it, as we continue to breathe with one another in and out the breath of YAHWEH, the God who gives life, through every moment of pain and joy.
It seemed the prayer would last an eternity. And the miracle is, that it does.
As we continue to seek the face of the suffering God, the God who died on the cross, the God who took the form of vulnerable humanity, born in a shack –
As we continue to live in the silence of pain, fulfilling our great commission as people of God – the church – to be present with one another, leading one another through pain and into hope –
Through the Spirit of this God, we will remember God’s promises, we will be given the strength to hear the pain, go to places of pain, truly see the pain, and we will be able to sit in the perfect silence of the pain, without the perfect words but with the perfect mystery and hope of Christ, the rock on whom our humanity is thankfully, joyfully shipwrecked.
GUIDING SCRIPTURE
Romans 8:26
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Holy Spirit, when I cannot pray in the face of suffering, allow me to hear your groans. Intercede for me. Intercede for the world. Amen.
Thursday 4 June 2009
Thursday 4th June - Sitting in Silence
DAILY BYTE
We’ve heard this week that Job’s friends respond to his suffering by hearing about it, journeying to witness it, seeing it with their own eyes, and now they respond by sitting.
They sat with him for seven perfect days. Seven perfect nights. The number seven signifies perfection or completion in the scriptures. It was perfect - humanity sitting in solidarity with humanity in the presence of the suffering God. And no words were necessary.
Later on in the Book of Job, Job’s friends make long speeches, attempting to comfort and trying somehow to justify his suffering. But, a scholar named Gutierrez says that “every true statement [in the Book of Job] comes out of silence.”
Because from this silence – which no one fills with trite phrases or nervous chitchat – comes a great moment of truth.
Out of the silence, Job curses the day he was born.
Have you ever heard someone who’s really struggling curse the day they were born?
“I wish I had never been born.”
That statement comes out of a place of deep hurt, doesn’t it?
But the presence of Job’s friends sitting with him in the silence allows room for the Spirit to groan for that hurt. Groaning grief must be expressed for true healing to occur. It is crucial for Job and for us to be able to lament, to find our voice of weeping to God – even if the things that we have to say are ugly. Even if the stories we have to tell are difficult and painful to hear.
Are we afraid of the truth that the world is a painful place? Are we afraid of the silence that will make room for that truth to be heard?
Is that why, when we hear of suffering we are hesitant to go, to see, to sit in its midst? Is it too real? Does it bring up too much of our own pain?
Even if we are afraid or hesitant, Job tells us that we must allow for silence – that we must stop filling life with noise and nervous talking. We must sit in solidarity with others, allowing the space for the Spirit to groan and bring laments of truth and healing.
Because we know that life is not always “ok.” As fragile human beings, we must admit that we do not always have all the answers and that sometimes life seems to be covered in boils, almost infected by fears and pain.
And yet, in all of this lament, God is with us, groaning and weeping, and leading us to rejoicing, turning our mourning into dancing.
What are you lamenting today?
GUIDING SCRIPTURE
Job 2:13 (ESV)
And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
IF YOU ARE FEELING BRAVE…
Pray and ask God to give you the courage to go and sit with someone who is suffering.
We’ve heard this week that Job’s friends respond to his suffering by hearing about it, journeying to witness it, seeing it with their own eyes, and now they respond by sitting.
They sat with him for seven perfect days. Seven perfect nights. The number seven signifies perfection or completion in the scriptures. It was perfect - humanity sitting in solidarity with humanity in the presence of the suffering God. And no words were necessary.
Later on in the Book of Job, Job’s friends make long speeches, attempting to comfort and trying somehow to justify his suffering. But, a scholar named Gutierrez says that “every true statement [in the Book of Job] comes out of silence.”
Because from this silence – which no one fills with trite phrases or nervous chitchat – comes a great moment of truth.
Out of the silence, Job curses the day he was born.
Have you ever heard someone who’s really struggling curse the day they were born?
“I wish I had never been born.”
That statement comes out of a place of deep hurt, doesn’t it?
But the presence of Job’s friends sitting with him in the silence allows room for the Spirit to groan for that hurt. Groaning grief must be expressed for true healing to occur. It is crucial for Job and for us to be able to lament, to find our voice of weeping to God – even if the things that we have to say are ugly. Even if the stories we have to tell are difficult and painful to hear.
Are we afraid of the truth that the world is a painful place? Are we afraid of the silence that will make room for that truth to be heard?
Is that why, when we hear of suffering we are hesitant to go, to see, to sit in its midst? Is it too real? Does it bring up too much of our own pain?
Even if we are afraid or hesitant, Job tells us that we must allow for silence – that we must stop filling life with noise and nervous talking. We must sit in solidarity with others, allowing the space for the Spirit to groan and bring laments of truth and healing.
Because we know that life is not always “ok.” As fragile human beings, we must admit that we do not always have all the answers and that sometimes life seems to be covered in boils, almost infected by fears and pain.
And yet, in all of this lament, God is with us, groaning and weeping, and leading us to rejoicing, turning our mourning into dancing.
What are you lamenting today?
GUIDING SCRIPTURE
Job 2:13 (ESV)
And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
IF YOU ARE FEELING BRAVE…
Pray and ask God to give you the courage to go and sit with someone who is suffering.
Wednesday 3 June 2009
Wednesday 3rd June - Clinging to the Rock
DAILY BYTE
The theologian Karl Barth says, “Job is like a sailor, clinging to the rock on which he’s shipwrecked.”
We have discussed being in the midst of suffering this week. This is not an easy topic. It is not an easy task. So, when we go to places of suffering and stay there in the midst of it, what do we cling to?
Some would say that if you have to “cling” to something, you are a weakling, not strong enough to stand on your own without a crutch. But perhaps, clinging to something is not a sign that our weakness is bad and should be rejected but it is an acknowledgment that our weakness is simply the reality of being human. We may like to think that we are superhuman, but really, we are just plainly and wonderfully human.
When we cling to God, the rock who created us as fragile, breakable creatures, we glimpse a great mystery. We see a greater vision of the face of Christ – the rock that suffered for and suffers with every shipwrecked, broken human being.
And so, Job’s friends heard about this great mystery of suffering, and they dared to go and journey to it. But then, they see it for themselves. Hearing about something like a shipwreck and actually seeing it are two very different experiences, are they not? Before visiting a place like an AIDS hospice, you might imagine a little of what it would be like, but it is completely different actually going there and sitting with people in the midst of their suffering.
When Job’s friends saw him, the Scriptures say, “they lifted up their eyes,” as if toward heaven, but instead, their eyes met their friend, and they could hardly recognize him – this boil-ridden, grief-stricken, fragile human being.
And when they realized what had happened to him, they “lifted up their voices,” but not with words. They lifted up their voices with weeping for him and with him. No words are necessary.
All they could do was rip their clothes – showing their mourning and distress, and they threw dust heavenward – toward the God who had made Job, who made us all from the crumbling dust of the earth.
This moment of wailing is a moment of solidarity between the whole of humanity and the whole Spirit of God, who is present within every moment, every gesture, every wail.
When you see and experience the presence of suffering, where do you see God present in it? In someone’s crying? In other acts of grief? Do you feel shipwrecked like Job? Why can you and do you cling to this God?
GUIDING SCRIPTURE
Job 2:12 (ESV)
And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven.
The theologian Karl Barth says, “Job is like a sailor, clinging to the rock on which he’s shipwrecked.”
We have discussed being in the midst of suffering this week. This is not an easy topic. It is not an easy task. So, when we go to places of suffering and stay there in the midst of it, what do we cling to?
Some would say that if you have to “cling” to something, you are a weakling, not strong enough to stand on your own without a crutch. But perhaps, clinging to something is not a sign that our weakness is bad and should be rejected but it is an acknowledgment that our weakness is simply the reality of being human. We may like to think that we are superhuman, but really, we are just plainly and wonderfully human.
When we cling to God, the rock who created us as fragile, breakable creatures, we glimpse a great mystery. We see a greater vision of the face of Christ – the rock that suffered for and suffers with every shipwrecked, broken human being.
And so, Job’s friends heard about this great mystery of suffering, and they dared to go and journey to it. But then, they see it for themselves. Hearing about something like a shipwreck and actually seeing it are two very different experiences, are they not? Before visiting a place like an AIDS hospice, you might imagine a little of what it would be like, but it is completely different actually going there and sitting with people in the midst of their suffering.
When Job’s friends saw him, the Scriptures say, “they lifted up their eyes,” as if toward heaven, but instead, their eyes met their friend, and they could hardly recognize him – this boil-ridden, grief-stricken, fragile human being.
And when they realized what had happened to him, they “lifted up their voices,” but not with words. They lifted up their voices with weeping for him and with him. No words are necessary.
All they could do was rip their clothes – showing their mourning and distress, and they threw dust heavenward – toward the God who had made Job, who made us all from the crumbling dust of the earth.
This moment of wailing is a moment of solidarity between the whole of humanity and the whole Spirit of God, who is present within every moment, every gesture, every wail.
When you see and experience the presence of suffering, where do you see God present in it? In someone’s crying? In other acts of grief? Do you feel shipwrecked like Job? Why can you and do you cling to this God?
GUIDING SCRIPTURE
Job 2:12 (ESV)
And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven.
Tuesday 2 June 2009
Tuesday 2nd June - Hearing the silence
DAILY BYTE
When my mom was dying, I remember very little of what people said to me, but I do remember vividly hours and hours of silence. We have all entered rooms or conversations where sufficient words to combat the pain or relieve the suffering escape us.
Often we try to fill the silences with common sayings – like “It is God’s will” and “Everything will be ok” – when we know it’s simply not that easy. We dare to say, “I know how you feel…” when we couldn’t possibly.
We have used these words to fill the silence, but why is it that we are so afraid of silence? Why is it that we try so hard to make our words function as the Holy Spirit instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to be in and around and filling the absence of our words?
Why is it that when people are suffering or in need, we insist that we must say the perfect thing and “do” something to fix it instead of simply being present in the midst of it? Why are we so busy filling the silence with our deeds of feeding others, clothing them, making our homes perfect to impress them, or nursing them to health that we forget to sit in silence and recognize the face of the God in them, which they can then see in us?
Let’s hear today what the Book of Job may have to say about this, keeping four things in mind this week: Job’s friends heard. They came. They saw, and they sat.
Job has lost his children, his property, his health, and he’s covered in boils. His is the face of unimaginable suffering, and when his friends hear about what has happened to him, they make a decision. They decide to come to meet him.
They come from different places and different journeys – just as each of us do – but they are still all countrymen of Job – they’ve all got a common humanity.
And so, having heard the need of a fellow human being, they make an appointment together to “console and comfort him.” In the Scriptures, this is a traditional expression of being in solidarity with someone in grief. It is a gesture of compassion and friendship, and if it’s missing, it makes suffering even more difficult to endure.
Being sick or sad does tend to seem less difficult when we’re not alone. Perhaps this is because when we involve ourselves in hearing the cries of people who are suffering, we involve ourselves deeper and deeper with a God who suffered for us and suffers with us.
Are your ears open to hearing the suffering of others? And if you can hear it, do you dare to go and meet it face to face? Do you actually believe that this can draw humanity closer to God?
GUIDING SCRIPTURE
Job 2:11 (ESV)
Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.
PRAY AS YOU GO
God, you hear us when we suffer. You come to us when we need you. In fact, you are with us all the time because we need you all the time. Help us to hear the cries of your people and have the courage to respond. Amen.
When my mom was dying, I remember very little of what people said to me, but I do remember vividly hours and hours of silence. We have all entered rooms or conversations where sufficient words to combat the pain or relieve the suffering escape us.
Often we try to fill the silences with common sayings – like “It is God’s will” and “Everything will be ok” – when we know it’s simply not that easy. We dare to say, “I know how you feel…” when we couldn’t possibly.
We have used these words to fill the silence, but why is it that we are so afraid of silence? Why is it that we try so hard to make our words function as the Holy Spirit instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to be in and around and filling the absence of our words?
Why is it that when people are suffering or in need, we insist that we must say the perfect thing and “do” something to fix it instead of simply being present in the midst of it? Why are we so busy filling the silence with our deeds of feeding others, clothing them, making our homes perfect to impress them, or nursing them to health that we forget to sit in silence and recognize the face of the God in them, which they can then see in us?
Let’s hear today what the Book of Job may have to say about this, keeping four things in mind this week: Job’s friends heard. They came. They saw, and they sat.
Job has lost his children, his property, his health, and he’s covered in boils. His is the face of unimaginable suffering, and when his friends hear about what has happened to him, they make a decision. They decide to come to meet him.
They come from different places and different journeys – just as each of us do – but they are still all countrymen of Job – they’ve all got a common humanity.
And so, having heard the need of a fellow human being, they make an appointment together to “console and comfort him.” In the Scriptures, this is a traditional expression of being in solidarity with someone in grief. It is a gesture of compassion and friendship, and if it’s missing, it makes suffering even more difficult to endure.
Being sick or sad does tend to seem less difficult when we’re not alone. Perhaps this is because when we involve ourselves in hearing the cries of people who are suffering, we involve ourselves deeper and deeper with a God who suffered for us and suffers with us.
Are your ears open to hearing the suffering of others? And if you can hear it, do you dare to go and meet it face to face? Do you actually believe that this can draw humanity closer to God?
GUIDING SCRIPTURE
Job 2:11 (ESV)
Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.
PRAY AS YOU GO
God, you hear us when we suffer. You come to us when we need you. In fact, you are with us all the time because we need you all the time. Help us to hear the cries of your people and have the courage to respond. Amen.
Monday 1 June 2009
Monday June 1 - The Voice of Silence
DAILY BYTE
The Book of Job is not a frequently perused, nice-to-read-at-bedtime or cheery-greet-the-beautiful-morning text… Most people tread lightly around it. There’s too much suffering in it and too much shouting at God.
But it seems to me that this text brings exactly the kind of hope and light that we need because our lives, as we encounter many people and places of both pain and hope, seem often to mirror Job’s.
And so, although it’s slightly intimidating, let’s venture into these waters this week and think seriously about the ways we, as people who desire a deeper relationship with God, engage with one another and with God in the midst of suffering.
We’ve just celebrated Pentecost, a time when we are awed by the ways that the Holy Spirit has moved through speaking in many different tongues. We praise people who can articulate what they hear and see through proficiency with language. Preachers and writers, of course, are the first ones to prize communication through speaking and conversing!
But we seem to be missing something crucial about our communication with God and with one another if we forget about how the Spirit of God has worked in the midst of silences.
I thought about simply leaving this Monday’s devotional blank – allowing for, perhaps, a welcome silence in the relentless drone of the day. However, I thought the better of it, since it seemed slightly awkward and confusing to receive a devotional with nothing in it…
So even though this message is full of words, take a few moments today to reflect on what you hear and see in moments of silence.
Because if you’ve ever been present in the midst of suffering or pain, you know that silence has a voice of its own.
What does God’s voice in the silence say to you today?
GUIDING SCRIPTURE
Lamentations 3:25-28 (NRSV)
The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for one to bear the yoke in youth, to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it…
The Book of Job is not a frequently perused, nice-to-read-at-bedtime or cheery-greet-the-beautiful-morning text… Most people tread lightly around it. There’s too much suffering in it and too much shouting at God.
But it seems to me that this text brings exactly the kind of hope and light that we need because our lives, as we encounter many people and places of both pain and hope, seem often to mirror Job’s.
And so, although it’s slightly intimidating, let’s venture into these waters this week and think seriously about the ways we, as people who desire a deeper relationship with God, engage with one another and with God in the midst of suffering.
We’ve just celebrated Pentecost, a time when we are awed by the ways that the Holy Spirit has moved through speaking in many different tongues. We praise people who can articulate what they hear and see through proficiency with language. Preachers and writers, of course, are the first ones to prize communication through speaking and conversing!
But we seem to be missing something crucial about our communication with God and with one another if we forget about how the Spirit of God has worked in the midst of silences.
I thought about simply leaving this Monday’s devotional blank – allowing for, perhaps, a welcome silence in the relentless drone of the day. However, I thought the better of it, since it seemed slightly awkward and confusing to receive a devotional with nothing in it…
So even though this message is full of words, take a few moments today to reflect on what you hear and see in moments of silence.
Because if you’ve ever been present in the midst of suffering or pain, you know that silence has a voice of its own.
What does God’s voice in the silence say to you today?
GUIDING SCRIPTURE
Lamentations 3:25-28 (NRSV)
The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for one to bear the yoke in youth, to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it…
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