Category: Devo180

Collages (November 22, 2012)

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…Opening To…

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice. (Meister Eckhart)

…Listening In…

After he took his seat at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight. They said to each other, “Weren’t our hearts on fire when he spoke to us along the road and when he explained the scriptures for us?” (Luke 24:30-32; context)

…Filling Up…

About six years ago a woman broke my heart, thus spiraling me into the worst year of my life: I sunk into myself, hardly spoke to my friends, and rarely left my futon. I couldn’t let go of the vision of the future life that I had invented for myself. I couldn’t understand why God would take away the person that I thought was going to be my wife.

What I didn’t realize at the time is that God doesn’t comprehend our lives in the limited linear fashion that we do. When this woman broke up with me, my vision of the future became firmly cemented in the past. My future was empty, or so I thought. But I think that God comprehends our lives as a whole – not as a series of events. We view our lives as though flipping through the pages of a magazine, one to the next. God sees our lives as collages, in which all the pages are pasted together.

So today, I invite you to give thanks for something in your past that didn’t seem like a cause for gratitude at the time. Reflect on how this event fits into the overarching narrative of your live. I give thanks now that I didn’t marry this woman, because the person I would go on to marry was living in another state at the time. I just hadn’t met her yet. But God already knew her. God had already pasted her page into my collage. I would reach her in time. Thanks be to God!

…Praying For…

Dear God, you know our pasts, our presents, and our futures. Help me to take the long view of my own life, trusting in your directing creativity to lead me on the best paths, even when they seem difficult at the time. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, eager to look for your blessing in my life and eager to be a reason that others give thanks to you.

Things that have Never Been (November 21, 2012)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice. (Meister Eckhart)

…Listening In…

Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough. (To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee)

…Filling Up…

Yesterday, we talked about thanking God for something you’ve always known and had never realized you should be thankful for because it never pinged your radar. Today, we’ll take a look at the opposite – thanking God for things that have never been. This type of gratitude is possibly even more difficult than yesterday’s because it involves stepping into other people’s shoes in order to appreciate your gifts and blessings.

When we stand in another’s shoes, we gain the capacity for perspective. Sometimes, it’s difficult to see things when you’re right up close to them and seeing them from the same angle you always do. To give thanks for something you’ve never had, you might need to view your life from that other perspective. Perhaps you’ll give thanks because diseases that have affected people all over the world for hundreds of years won’t affect you because you were inoculated as a baby. Perhaps you’ll give thanks because you’ve never known a time when your stomach was so empty for so long that you forgot how to be hungry. Perhaps you’ll give thanks because every time you slept outside in your life, you did so because you chose to – and you always had s’mores as the campfire died down.

Today, think of something you’ve never experienced, something you don’t want to experience because it is unhealthy or degrading or worse. Now thank God that this thing has never happened to you. But don’t stop there. Recognize that this thing that has never been always is happening somewhere in the world – maybe next door, or a few blocks away, or across an ocean. How can you help make that thing change from an always is to a never again?

…Praying For…

Dear God, you never abandon people when they suffer. Help me to realize the gifts you have given me, and give me the strength and the imagination to use those gifts to address the brokenness of the world. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, eager to look for your blessing in my life and eager to be a reason that others give thanks to you.

Things that have Always Been (November 20, 2012)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice. (Meister Eckhart)

…Listening In…

First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because the news about your faithfulness is being spread throughout the whole world. I serve God in my spirit by preaching the good news about God’s Son, and God is my witness that I continually mention you in all my prayers. (Romans 1:8-10; context)

…Filling Up…

There are so many things for which to give thanks: my discovery that I do, in fact, like sweet potatoes; the new album from a favorite band; the first ice on the edges of the pond. I have given thanks for each of these things over the last couple of days, and each has been something new – a change from an earlier condition or a recent addition to the world at large.

Now, I don’t know about you, but for me giving thanks for new things or for things that have recently changed takes up most of my gratitude time. The new things jump out at us. They vie for our attention. The things that have always been there, however, remain in the background, quietly making our lives comfortable or joyful or meaningful. Because the things that have always been don’t call attention to themselves, we fail to give thanks to God for them as often as we should.

Today, think of something that you can’t remember doing without: it can be as basic as breath or your dog’s earnest affection. It can be the simple fact that you’ve always had clean clothes in your drawers or a hot meal on the table. Think of something you’ve never given thanks for because it has silently endured throughout your life, never calling attention to itself and never failing to make your life better. Until today, you’ve never realized it was an eligible candidate for thanksgiving, so today give thanks to God for it.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you are the source of things that endure, the creator of old things and new things; help me to notice the things in my life that have always been there making my life better and to give thanks for them. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, eager to look for your blessing in my life and eager to be a reason that others give thanks to you.

Taking and Breaking (November 19, 2012)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice. (Meister Eckhart)

…Listening In…

Then Jesus took the bread. When he had given thanks, he distributed it to those who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, each getting as much as they wanted. When they had plenty to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather up the leftover pieces, so that nothing will be wasted.” (John 6:11-12; context)

…Filling Up…

Since it’s the week of Thanksgiving in the good ole U.S. of A, let’s spend a few days examining thanksgiving in its non-holiday variety. Each day, we are going to talk about a different aspect of thanksgiving, but first, we should start with some background to locate the word in its Biblical context.

Long before Thanksgiving became an official holiday when our 16th president Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it so in 1863, long before the pilgrims sat down to dine wearing their buckle hats and the sanitized version of history, long before anyone from another continent even knew this one existed, Jesus stood in a grassy place with five thousand of his closest friends. He was unwilling to send them away hungry, so he sent his disciples to scout for rations. They turned up a meager supply – five barley loaves and two small fish, a laughable amount by any standard.

But Jesus takes the bread and breaks it all the same. And he distributes it to everyone, and everyone eats just enough with plenty to spare. Between the taking and the breaking, Jesus adds an all important step. He gives thanks. He gives thanks even though the food could barely feed five, let alone five thousand. He gives thanks to God for what he has, meager though it is, and it turns out to be enough. The Greek word for “thanksgiving” has travelled all the way down into English and become the word Eucharist, the word some churches use for Holy Communion. So whenever we come together to share the bread and wine, we are actively giving thanks to God for the blessings of this life, which is what Jesus did in that grassy place long ago.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you are the source of all blessing. Give to me vision to see that blessing, a heart that is always ready to thank you, and hands that work toward the coming of your kingdom; in Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, eager to look for your blessing in my life and eager to be a reason that others give thanks to you.

Knock Your Socks Off (November 16, 2012)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say. (J.R.R. Tolkien)

…Listening In…

During the journey, as [Saul] approached Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven encircled him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice asking him, “Saul, Saul, why are you harassing me?” Saul asked, “Who are you, Lord?” “I am Jesus, whom you are harassing,” came the reply. “Now get up and enter the city. You will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9:3-6; context)

…Filling Up…

Do you want your life to change? When you find Jesus or when Jesus finds you, don’t expect him to hand you a pamphlet on Christianity and send you on your way. Expect him to knock your socks off. Expect God’s love to hit you hard and leave you breathless because the next breath you breathe in will be a breath of the Holy Spirit. The next step you take after that momentous, life-changing occasion will be a vaulting leap forward.

The apostle Paul was literally knocked to the ground. You remember him, right? His name was Saul first. It was changed when he was. Saul was railing against those upstart followers of Jesus of Nazareth. He was persecuting them. He was hunting them. He stood by and watched Stephen, the first martyr, as Stephen was stoned to death. And then on the road to Damascus, Jesus cried out to him. Jesus found him on the road. Jesus knocked down, and the brilliance of God blinded him. The next time Paul opened his eyes, he couldn’t see anything in front of him, but he could see a new road beginning at his feet. It was the road that Jesus set before him.

The road is long, but Christ is tireless. When we need rest, we will find it. When we need strength, it will be there. I began this week talking about things falling into place. I know that if we keep striving to find Jesus in all that we do, the pieces will continue to fall. They may not fall into the places that we expect them to or want them to, but they will fall into place.

The road goes ever on, and we follow it with weary feet, but the one who is the road, the one who walks with us on the road, the one to whom the road is leading – our God – will keep us from stumbling.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you breath life into me with each breath and you pick me up off the ground when I fall down. Help me to rely on you as I journey down your road. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, rejoicing that you walk with me on the road, you stand at the end of the road, and you, indeed, are the road.

Unmasked and Uncovered (November 15, 2012)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say. (J.R.R. Tolkien)

…Listening In…

As Jesus passed alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon and Andrew, throwing fishing nets into the sea, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” he said, “and I’ll show you how to fish for people.” Right away, they left their nets and followed him. (Mark 1:16-18; context)

…Filling Up…

When I find Christ, I am encouraged to keep struggling, to keep striving, all the while knowing that I am by Christ’s side. But wait just a minute. Encouraged is the wrong word: it’s too…academic. Let me try again.

I am enlightened, emblazoned, infused with joy, made brilliant with hope. I am unmasked and uncovered by love and set running with new strength. That’s a little better, but still doesn’t capture it!

Every time we discover Jesus on the road, the encounter is different. We may meet him in a place – say, on a cliff top overlooking a patchwork-quilted farmland or in a city bus depot that smells of urine and wet newspaper. We may meet him in another person – say, in your brother who is always so annoying or in your soccer coach who is pushing you to try your hardest even when you think you have nothing left. But while these encounters may look different, every one of them carries the potential for us to meet Christ.

Indeed, there are so many ways to meet Christ that you might think we would find him everyday. This is not so, but why? Jesus wants to be found; indeed, he is doing a whole lot of finding on his own. But I think we aren’t always looking because we are rarely ready for enlightening, emblazoning, momentous events to sweep us down a new road. Being unmasked and uncovered – these are life-changing events. So the question is: do we want our lives to change?

…Praying For…

Dear God, you infuse the world with your presence, but I often miss it. Grant me the courage to allow Jesus to find me on the road. Grant me the grace to find him. And grant me the humility to let him change my life for the better. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, rejoicing that you walk with me on the road, you stand at the end of the road, and you, indeed, are the road.

It is Completed (November 14, 2012)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say. (J.R.R. Tolkien)

…Listening In…

After this, knowing that everything was already completed, in order to fulfill the scripture, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was nearby, so the soldiers soaked a sponge in it, placed it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. When he had received the sour wine, Jesus said, “It is completed.” Bowing his head, he gave up his life. (John 19:28-30; context)

…Filling Up…

The end is far off, and the end is also very near, for walking on this road with us is the best of all traveling companions, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus is the end of our journey in the sense that he is the reason we are journeying. He is, in a sense, the goal, the conclusion, the culmination of our journey.

Right before he died, Jesus called out from cross, “It is completed.” What was completed? You could answer this question in all sorts of ways, and scholars and theologians have, let me tell you. One way you could answer it is this: When Jesus called out, “It is completed,” he was proclaiming that he finished the road that he was working on, the path that leads all of us back to the God who created everything.

Of course, earlier in the Gospel according to John, Jesus also said, “I am the way.” So not only did Jesus complete the path; he is the path. Christ is the end of our journey and our partner on it. This means the end is always moving with us. If we can find Christ on our journey then it is ended. Not ended in the sense of finished, but ended in the sense of “completed.”

I know it sounds like I just said the same thing twice and told you it was different, so I understand if you are confused. Here’s an example. When I met the woman I ended up marrying, my journey was not at an end, although it felt like perhaps I was beginning to travel down a new path. Rather, I felt a sense of completion that encouraged me to keep going – now with a partner by my side. Likewise, when I find Christ I am encouraged to keep struggling, to keep striving, all the while knowing that I am by Christ’s side…

…Praying For…

Dear God, you sent your son Jesus Christ to show us the way to you. Help me to walk with him on the way that he paved to you, and along that road, let me discover the person into whom you are making me. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, rejoicing that you walk with me on the road, you stand at the end of the road, and you, indeed, are the road.

Present to God (November 13, 2012)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say. (J.R.R. Tolkien)

…Listening In…

Jesus said, “…Pray like this: Our Father who is in heaven, uphold the holiness of your name. Bring in your kingdom so that your will is done on earth as it’s done in heaven.” (Matthew 6:9-10; context)

…Filling Up…

Our roads are spirituals ones. They are long, and the end is far off. Or is it? These roads are unlike any physical roads that we have ever traveled. The end is, paradoxically, both far off and very near.

The far off end is the misty, half-seen vision of the Kingdom of Heaven, where we are enveloped in God’s presence and consumed by a love that we have until then only known in part. Because of our limited, human existence, we are bound to walk down the road in a linear manner – from one event to the next. Therefore, we perceive this great enveloping of God’s love as something that will happen in the obscurity of the distant future. We still have plenty of present to churn into past before that will happen.

But because God’s nature is eternal, God doesn’t much bother with past, present, or future. Everything is present to God, and I mean that both spatially and temporally. I use the word “present” acknowledging both uses of the word: present in the sense of “the word you say to the teacher during roll call,” and present in the sense of “events happening now.” (Also the third meaning, present as “gift” fits in here somewhere.)

Thus, what we perceive as a far off future end of the road is constantly trickling and tumbling into our present, giving us strength and courage to continue the journey. This trickling and tumbling of God’s eternal presence might by a definition of grace.

So the end is far off, and the end is also very near…

…Praying For…

Dear God, you are the foundation of earth and heaven, of space and time. Grant me the grace to see your presence tumbling from your eternity into my daily walk with you. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, rejoicing that you walk with me on the road, you stand at the end of the road, and you, indeed, are the road.

Getting to Bree (Nov. 15, 2010)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say. (J.R.R. Tolkien)

…Listening In…

The blind man said, “Teacher, I want to see.” Jesus said, “Go, your faith has healed you.” At once, he was able to see, and he began to follow Jesus on the way. (Mark 10:51-52; context)

…Filling Up…

What emotions do you feel when things begin to fall into place after a time of swirling and turmoil? Relief? Excitement? Trepidation? Peace? Joy? When you move from a place of relative difficulty to a place of relative ease, how do you respond? If you laid your life out on a road, what would that road look like and where would you currently be on it? When we move from a state of turmoil to one where things start falling into place, we may be tempted to think that the long road is finally coming to an end. But even if the road getting to that point has been long, it is, in truth, still just the beginning.

(Okay, just a quick warning: I’m about to talk about The Lord of the Rings, and I’m going to talk about the book, not the movie, so stay with me. Don’t worry if you never read them. My point will be clear either way.)

You might feel like one of the hobbits upon getting to Bree. You have escaped from Black Riders. You have gotten hopelessly lost in the Old Forest. A mean, old willow tree has suffocated and drowned you. Tom Bombadil has found you. And the Barrow-Wights have very nearly succeeded in ending your journey for good. But the story has hardly begun, and these first adventures merely point to ones greater and more harrowing down the road.

Our roads do not contain trolls and elves and wizards, but they are of mystical quality. We may not encounter armies of orcs and great cavalries of men, but we will find high adventure. Our roads are spirituals ones. They are long, and the end is far off…

…Praying For…

Dear God, you are with me through the ups and downs of my life. Help me to seek you both in the good times and in the bad, and help me never to be complacent on my journey. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, rejoicing that you walk with me on the road, you stand at the end of the road, and you, indeed, are the road.

The Promise (November 9, 2012)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer… I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me… Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. (Frank Herbert, Dune)

…Listening In…

You didn’t receive a spirit of slavery to lead you back again into fear, but you received a Spirit that shows you are adopted as his children. With this Spirit, we cry, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15; context)

…Filling Up…

The more fear that we have, the more we deprive ourselves of fear’s antidote. That antidote is trust. When we were children, we faced our fears because we trusted our parents’ advice. We believed that they would not lead us astray, and they didn’t. The darkness did not frighten us to death. The monsters did not pounce.

So how come we have so much trouble trusting in God? How come fear tends to trump trust more often than not? I think the answer is this. Trust takes energy. While fear creeps along, keeping us from action, trust derives from the kind of sustained relationship, which establishes and nourishes faithfulness. God always keeps God’s promises. God is always trustworthy. The trouble is we have to trust that God is trustworthy. We have to practice the faith that God has given us in order to maintain our ability to trust in God.

And fear constantly diverts this ability. But when we practice trust, when we believe that God’s keeps God’s promises, we can face our fears, we can keep at bay the gnawing dread of deprivation. Our grown-up fears may be concrete and relentless. But I am convinced that they are no match for the power of trusting in God.

Over this weekend, I invite you to take some time to be silent and to turn your thoughts inward. What do you fear? What kind of deprivation is at the root of that fear? And how will practicing trusting God help you face that fear? In your reflection, remember this good news. When Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid,” he is not just giving a command. He is giving a promise that when we face our fears, we will not be alone. When we face our fears, they will pass through us, and when they are gone, only God, holding us in the palm of God’s hand, will remain.

…Praying For…

Dear God, the only reason I know there is something called “trust” is because you are trustworthy. Help me to practice trusting you so that I can ward off fear. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you God, ready to face my fears with the knowledge that you are with me.