Jacob’s Mistake
(Devotion by Graeme Harrison)
Prayer: A Prayer for True Abundance of Life
Eternal God,
grant to us this day and every day
such readiness and delight in following Christ,
that whether our lives are long or short
we shall have lived abundantly;
in Jesus’ name. Amen.
(Source A New Zealand Prayer Book – He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa quoted in A Treasury of Prayers in Uniting in Worship, copyright 1988 Uniting Church in Australia)
Read:
Genesis 28:10-19 Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel
(Genesis 28:10-19 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
Jacob fled his homeland after stealing his older brother’s birthright which was the blessing handed down since Abraham. During his escape he was overwhelmed by an encounter with God while asleep.
So what was Jacob’s mistake? He thought the place was holy when it was actually him who was holy. So he named the place Bethel. God knows better so later on he gave Jacob a new name, Israel.
Isn’t this a common mistake we make? We sense God’s presence during a worship service so we think the worship space is holy. We draw need to God during a certain song of praise so we think the song is holy. But it is all the wrong way around. It is you who is holy. You are the holy ground where God touches the earth.
What does this mean for you?
Mockers
(Devotion by Graeme Harrison)
Prayer: A Morning Prayer
As I rise up out of the dark,
a lover of humankind,
I beseech you,
enlighten and guide me also
in your commandments,
and teach me to always do your will. Amen.
(Sourced from A Treasury of Prayers in Uniting in Worship, copyright 1988 Uniting Church in Australia)
Read:
Psalm 1:1-3 Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
Mocking is an Australian pastime. I should know because I spent a lot of my young adult years indulging in it. Mocking involves laughter but it is not satire. It is more bitter than that. And there lies one of its dangers. The bitterness spreads inside your mind and poisons the whole of your life. It eventually becomes hard to feel positive about anything or toward anyone. This is fatal for a Christian.
Another danger is perfectly understood by the Psalmist; mockers sit. They are seated because they are spectators. They are not making the world a better place. Instead they mock the efforts of those who are doing things. Mocking is different to giving positive critique which is offered to help the person do better next time. It is given in a spirit of love with the hope that things will improve because of what I have said. Perhaps that is the real test if you are in doubt about whether you are mocking or offering positive critique (a distinction that is important for parents talking to frustrating children!) Do I believe my comments will improve the situation?
Sink your roots deep into the life-giving water of hope that Christ offers us and do not sit with the mockers.
Of Burdens and Relief
(Devotion by Graeme Harrison)
Prayer: A Prayer for Mercy
Look upon me in compassion, O God,
with your merciful eyes
and accept my fervent confession.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Instead of freedom from possessions, O Saviour,
I have pursued a life in love with material things;
and now I bear a heavy burden.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.
Lord, you love humankind and desire that all should be saved.
In your goodness call me back and accept me in repentance.
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me. Amen.
Excerpt from the Second Canticle, the Great Canon by St Andrew
(Sourced from A Treasury of Prayers in Uniting in Worship, copyright 1988 Uniting Church in Australia)
Read:
Matthew 11:25-30 Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
(Matthew 11:25-30 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
A Minister friend of mine had a breakdown from overwork years ago. This began a search in her life. She wondered how following Christ could be such an burdensome thing. She instinctively knew there was something wrong with her theology, her faith and her practice. Jesus himself claims his burden is light so one of them has to be wrong.
I notice that Christians often fall into three categories like Goldie locks and the Three Bears when it comes to the difficulty level of following Christ. Some are overburdened and groan under the weight. Some are bored with their faith and feel no burden because they are not challenging themselves to follow in his footsteps. And some are just right. These are the ones who feel the engagement of a challenge that is manageable. This type of ‘burden’ of discipleship is satisfying and interesting. The only stress involved is the adrenalin rush of overcoming a challenge.
So how goes the ‘burden’ of your walk with Christ? Overburdened and desperate, under burdened and boring, or just right?
Love your Neighbour
(Devotion by Graeme Harrison)
Prayer: Glory to God
The poor and the needy will praise you, O Lord.
Glory to the Father,
glory to the Son,
glory to the Holy Spirit, who spoke through the prophets.
God is my hope,
Christ is my refuge,
the Holy Spirit is my shelter. Amen.
Excerpt from a prayer,
St Auxentios, 3rd century
(Sourced from A Treasury of Prayers in Uniting in Worship, copyright 1988 Uniting Church in Australia)
Read:
Leviticus 19:1-18 Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.
3 “‘Each of you must respect your mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.
4 “‘Do not turn to idols or make metal gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God.
5 “‘When you sacrifice a fellowship offering to the Lord, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf. 6 It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day; anything left over until the third day must be burned up. 7 If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is impure and will not be accepted. 8 Whoever eats it will be held responsible because they have desecrated what is holy to the Lord; they must be cut off from their people.
9 “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.
11 “‘Do not steal.
“‘Do not lie.
“‘Do not deceive one another.
12 “‘Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.
13 “‘Do not defraud or rob your neighbour.
“‘Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight.
14 “‘Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord.
15 “‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favouritism to the great, but judge your neighbour fairly.
16 “‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people.
“‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbour’s life. I am the Lord.
17 “‘Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbour frankly so you will not share in their guilt.
18 “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.
(Leviticus 19:1-18 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
Sometimes when I read the laws in the Old Testament I feel as though I am in a foreign culture where I don’t understand how anything works or what they are getting at. Other times I resonate and know that we share a lot in common as people and share a vision of what it means to be a great human being. Then and now, we serve a God of love and justice and our desire is that we might be like this God in a world where few things are not broken. “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. … love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.
Legacy
(Devotion by Graeme Harrison)
Prayer: The love of God’s name
Lord of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things:
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
increase in us true religion,
nourish us with all goodness,
and in your great mercy keep us in the same;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Book of Common Prayer, 1662
(Sourced from A Treasury of Prayers in Uniting in Worship, copyright 1988 Uniting Church in Australia)
Read:
Deuteronomy 6:1-9 Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
“These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
(Deuteronomy 6:1-9 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
Could this be the most important legacy to leave to following generations?
Deuteronomy is Moses farewell speech to the Israelites who had been wandering in the wilderness and were about to enter the Promised Land. He could not go with them and was near death himself. In this lengthy he book he picked out what was the most important thing for the following generations to know, the teaching that must never get lost in the chaos of life. This was it. I wonder what you would have said in Moses’ place?
God as Mother
(Devotion by Graeme Harrison)
Prayer:
God our heavenly mother,
Thank you for giving us life twice over.
For creating us from nothing and nurturing each one of us with richness of your creation,
for creating each one of us unique and distinguishable from one another,
For giving birth to a new spirit within us when Christ found us in our sins
For washing us clean and clothing us in Christ’s white robes
For picking us up and encouraging when we fall again
and again
and again
For always being there for us,
we give you our love.
Amen
Read:
John 3:1-8 Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
1Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
(John 3:1-8 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
God is spirit and not flesh. We know this and yet custom and habit make it difficult for many of us to talk to God as mother. Jesus did not hesitate to state that the key qualities of motherhood are found in God. Those qualities may vary from culture to culture but one thing is held in common by them all; it is the woman who gives birth. God gives birth to the most central important event of any Christian life, the renewing of our spirit within us when we first come to faith. Jesus claims God as mother at the beginning of every single Christian life!
And a strange thing happens when we embrace the fact that the feminine has its origin in God; the dignity of women everywhere is affirmed. The image of God is female too.
May you embrace your heavenly Mother this Mothers Day as we honour those who gave us birth.
Pray Continually
(Devotion by Graeme Harrison)
Prayer:
Abiding in God
O loving God,
to turn away from you is to fall,
to turn towards you is to rise,
and to stand before you is to abide for ever.
Grant us, dear God,
in all our duties your help;
in all our uncertainties your guidance;
in all our dangers your protection;
and in all our sorrows your peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
St Augustine, 354-430
(Sourced from A Treasury of Prayers in Uniting in Worship, copyright 1988 Uniting Church in Australia)
Read:
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus
(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
The passage speaks for itself.
The only insight I have from my own personal experience is what you imagine in your own head when you see the word “pray”. As a really young Christian I assumed that “pray” meant those formal poetic prayers that you would hear in Church worship. Needless to say I reacted with a groan when I read this passage. Curiously, I talked with God on and off about it all day because I could not get my mind away from the thought that my life was going to be weighed down with this impossible burden. It was a relief to be able to share this problem I had with God and talk it through with him.
I think God must have been quite amused because at the end of the day his Spirit opened my eyes to the fact that I had been praying continually all day about ‘praying continually all day’.
Continual prayer is not a burden, it is God making our lives more joy filled.
Memory Aid
(Devotion by Graeme Harrison)
Prayer:
A prayer to the Almighty God and Father who loves Humankind
I bless you, O Lord,
that you have worked wondrous mercies upon me, a sinner,
and have been most loving to me in all things:
nurse and governor,
guardian and helper,
refuge and saviour,
protector of both soul and body.
I bless you, O Lord,
for you have granted me the power to repent from my sins
and have shown to me myriad occasions
to return from my malice.
For you have mercy and save us, O God,
and to you we send up glory, thanksgiving and worship,
together with your only-begotten Son,
and your all-holy, good and life-creating Spirit,
now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Excerpt from a prayer
to the Almighty God and Father who loves humankind,
St Basil the Great, 4th century
(Sourced from A Treasury of Prayers in Uniting in Worship, copyright 1988 Uniting Church in Australia)
Read:
Psalm 77 Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
1 I cried out to God for help;
I cried out to God to hear me.
2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;
at night I stretched out untiring hands,
and I would not be comforted.
3 I remembered you, God, and I groaned;
I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.
4 You kept my eyes from closing;
I was too troubled to speak.
5 I thought about the former days,
the years of long ago;
6 I remembered my songs in the night.
My heart meditated and my spirit asked:
7 “Will the Lord reject forever?
Will he never show his favour again?
8 Has his unfailing love vanished forever?
Has his promise failed for all time?
9 Has God forgotten to be merciful?
Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”
10 Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.
11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
12 I will consider all your works
and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”
13 Your ways, God, are holy.
What god is as great as our God?
14 You are the God who performs miracles;
you display your power among the peoples.
15 With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
16 The waters saw you, God,
the waters saw you and writhed;
the very depths were convulsed.
17 The clouds poured down water,
the heavens resounded with thunder;
your arrows flashed back and forth.
18 Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind,
your lightning lit up the world;
the earth trembled and quaked.
19 Your path led through the sea,
your way through the mighty waters,
though your footprints were not seen.
20 You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
(Psalm 77 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
Life messes with our heads. Sometimes we find ourselves in dark and confusing places just like the writer of this psalm. In his case, it sounds as though he(or she) has done something that contradicts both his faith and his own expectations of himself. Self-doubt and recrimination are made worse by his new found doubt about whether God still cares for him. What is the key that unlocks the door to escape this downward spiral of thinking?
Remembering God’s past behaviour.
For the Psalmist he escapes his dark imaginings about God by focussing on what God has actually done. Remembering the stories of the sacred Scriptures reminds him that God is faithful. In Ps 77 he particularly remembers his ancestors’ crossing of the Red Sea at the very moment when it appeared their destruction by Pharaoh’s armies was certain. At this moment of despair God proved faithful. So the Psalmist is reassured in their own despairing situation that God still loves him and is for him not against him.
Remember God’s deeds and overcome the dark thoughts when they come.
“Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and forever. Amen.”
Ask Seek Knock
(Devotion by Graeme Harrison)
Prayer: Here I am, Lord
Here I am, Lord –
body, heart, and soul.
Grant that with your love,
I may be big enough
to reach the world,
and small enough
to be at one with you. Amen.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta, 1910-1997
(Sourced from A Treasury of Prayers in Uniting in Worship, copyright 1988 Uniting Church in Australia)
Read:
Matthew 7:7-11 Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
(Matthew 7:7-11 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
Often in prayer I wonder whether it is ok to ask God to do something or to ask God for something. God is not a machine that produces what you want if you tap your spiritual credit card in prayer. Yet god is not fickle like gods in many polytheistic religions across the world. God wants to be known as faithful. A God of covenants and promises who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. So how then do we pray?
It is tempting to see Jesus’ teaching today as a blank cheque but that would not be true to the context of the teaching. It is set in the Sermon on the Mount which is a condensed form of Jesus’ teachings on how to live life in the new Kingdom of God. So the context for this prayer is the question, “How can I be a faithful follower of Jesus in my context?”
It seems that God delights to work on this question alongside you in your life.
Go ahead; ask and seek and knock on that closed door. What is it that you want to know?