Category: church devotions

Sunday Shorts: The Quiet Woman

church devotions, Devotions, Lectionary devotions, Sunday devotions

Ordy 13BsMark 5:27-28 She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him, hidden by the crowd and touched his cloak, thinking to herself, “If I only touch his clothes, I will be healed.”

Over the many years that I have worked in ministry, I have seen many women sincerely serve God in their own quiet way. Some of them have worked behind the scenes preparing food for different social events; others have written cards or given flowers to folks who were experiencing illness, loneliness, or grief. I have also watched other women professionally minister to their called congregations, serving with love, enthusiasm, intelligence, and compassion, even in the face of gender discrimination which still can be found in some unenlightened churches. Their quiet endurance is something that I constantly admire and I am grateful for the essential ministry of women which keeps Christ’s Church alive throughout the world.

In today’s Gospel story (Mark 5:25-34), a wee quiet woman seeks Christ’s ministry of healing. She has suffered from a blood disease that has plagued her life for years. She has sought medical help and spent most of her resources trying to find a cure. When she hears about Jesus coming to her town, she knows within her heart that this will be her last opportunity of being healed.

Her illness, though, has left her without any helpers. She may even have felt excluded from the rest of the religious community because blood issues among women at that time were deemed to be unclean. Perhaps she doesn’t want to draw attention to herself in case someone recognizes her, so she quietly and timidly reaches out to touch Christ’s cloak as He is passing. She believes that whatever power He has can be instantly transferred to her without causing a scandal.

Jesus, however, feels some of His divine power draining from Him, so He immediately stops and asked who touched Him. His disciples explain that many people in the crowd who were pushing and jostling with each other to get near Him, must have brushed against Him. But Christ knows what has really happened and the wee quiet woman, who has already been healed, is terrified of what could now occur. In her heart, she must have thought that Jesus would have rebuked her for stealing some of God’s power and so she kneels before Him, trembling.

Christ then does something beautiful here. Instead of rebuking her, He commends her for being faithful and He even calls her “Daughter,” which meant that she was not only physically healed but that she was completely restored to God. For years, she had been on the outside of the faithful community; now, she was fully accepted back into God’s love.

There are many women in the church who are faithfully serving Christ. They don’t look for any rewards, public praise, or congregational recognition. They just seek to serve Jesus quietly, efficiently, and effectively, empowered by His presence in their lives, and encouraging others by sharing God’s love which has helped them, healed them, and restored them.

Point to ponder: Who are the quiet women in my congregation? Am I grateful for their faith and service?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, today we give You thanks for the quiet women in our churches whose support, compassion, and ministries sustain local congregations everywhere. Bless them for their devotion, leadership, and service which has kept our faith alive for centuries. In Your Holy Name, we gratefully pray. Amen.

 

John Stuart is a retired Scottish Presbyterian pastor now living in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Sunday Shorts: A House Divided

church devotions, Devotions, Lectionary devotions, Sunday devotions

Ordy10BsMark 3:25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

Have you ever seen the old movie “Fall of the House of Usher?” It starred Vincent Price, in what was his only role with blonde hair. It’s based on Edgar Allen Poe’s short story of the same name and was what we called a “Creepie” back in Scotland. If ever a movie was rated by stars, this one was a Black Hole. It was terrible, full of overacting, cheap scenery, and clumsy effects. The best part of the movie comes at the very end, when the old house sinks into the mire it is built upon, and some Gothic text appears on the screen, quoting today’s verse. They don’t make them like that nowadays – and as my father used to say, “That movie was never released in theaters, it must have escaped.”

When Jesus spoke those words so long ago, He was referring to the unpleasant fact that His religious enemies were calling His miracles acts of demonic possession. Instead of glorifying God for His compassion in helping sick and sorrowful people, the scribes and Pharisees were trying to turn the people against Jesus. In other words, they were causing a division amongst God’s people. It must have been a sad time for Christ because He was doing His best to make the world around Him a better place with healthier people, both physically and spiritually. To be condemned for doing something good by religious leaders who should have known better, must have impacted Jesus emotionally.

There’s a lot of fearful talk about civil war coming to the US after the forthcoming election. We used to be a nation that accepted the outcome and strove to upbuild one another, but ever since the turn of this new century, we have let the demons of distrust and deceit damage our souls. I wish we could get back to moving forward and not give in to those who promote division, hostility, and violence. I pray each day that our nation will not become a house divided, but rather that the teachings, compassion, and love of Christ will impact and influence us all. For the sake of our dear children and grandchildren, we must be better than this.

Point to ponder: Am I contributing to the hostility and division among us? What would Jesus do?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help Your church here on Earth to overcome our differences and divisions. Let a united witness be evident in every congregation and community. Keep us more in tune with Your ways, so that we may turn our lives around and make the entire world a better place, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. In Your Holy Name, we humbly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is a retired Scottish Presbyterian pastor now living in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Sunday Shorts: Ticked Off

church devotions, devotional art, Devotions, Lectionary devotions, Sunday devotions

Ordy 9BcolsMark 3:5 Jesus looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. (NIV)

Jesus was ticked off. Someone needed help and the religious folks wanted to keep their religious rules intact instead of reaching out to the man with the withered hand. Their lack of compassion in a House of God is what made Jesus angry. In a sacred place where the community worshiped God, compassion was meant to be available to everyone. Instead, the regular attenders closed their hearts and minds to what was needed because they only wanted their religious rules to be strictly heeded.

Despite their lack of compassion and stubborn pride, which incidentally, embarrassed the man with the withered hand, Jesus broke all of the rules and customs to do what was right, rather than pander to what was so obviously wrong to Him. We tend to think that Jesus only got angry in the Temple when He overturned the moneychangers’ tables in the sacred courts, but here we have Jesus getting angry because good people – good religious people – were doing nothing to help and justified it by hiding behind their sacred rules.

The world throws a similar angry accusation at the Church today. How many issues and problems could be solved in our communities, as well as all over this planet, if Church people – Christ’s followers – were to help those in need instead of hindering the outcast, the alien, the different, the poor, the hungry, the war-trapped, and the unloved? Sometimes church people – even me – get angry when faced with other people’s problems because it would offend our moral or religious codes that we keep inside of ourselves. But instead of us getting angry, we should ask ourselves this honest question: is Christ angry with us because we say or do nothing?

Point to ponder: Who needs my help today?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, following You leads us into difficult situations and causes us a great deal of discomfort. Challenge our indifferent ways and change us so that we may help those in need whom we encounter. In Your Holy Name, we humbly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is a retired Scottish Presbyterian pastor now living in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Sunday Shorts: Three Old Men

church devotions, devotional art, Jesus and Nicodemus, Lectionary devotions, Sunday devotions

TYSaJohn 3:1-2 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 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.”

The older I get, the more that I want to learn about Jesus and read about God. As a pastor for almost forty years, I thought that I knew a lot, but I now realize that there’s infinitely more to learn about Christ and more to experience about God than I could ever dream or imagine. This doesn’t daunt me or make me feel foolish; instead, God intrigues me and Christ excites more than I could ever have believed. Being old is a beautiful time to reflect on the gospels, as well as to share them, which is what motivated two other old men: the apostle John and Nicodemus.

When John was an old man, he could look back on his decades as a disciple of Christ and remember some of the encounters that Jesus had with other people. Christ’s personal touch was important to John. Many of the folks who had first-hand experiences with the Lord were passing on to the next world, and he knew that he would also soon be joining them, so he wanted the new generations of Christians to experience what Jesus was like by recording several individual conversations that Christ had with exceptional people.

In the Gospel story from John 3:1-17, a rabbi called Nicodemus came to ask Jesus some important questions. He arrived at night, perhaps tired after a long day of working for God, or maybe secretly because of the other Pharisees’ negative opinion of Jesus.

During the conversation, Jesus answers several questions lovingly and truthfully. There appears to be a lot of mutual respect taking place. Later on, Jesus may have told His disciples about the conversation, or Nicodemus may have told them after he became a follower of Jesus. Either way, John had a firsthand account of what was discussed, and he never forgot what he had been told. It was a life-changing moment for the old teacher; it was where his personal discipleship with Christ began. It is good that John recorded the conversation in his gospel, because John 3:16 is where a lot of people’s relationship with God has also begun.

Point to ponder: How much time do I set aside to ponder God and think about Christ?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, there is so much about You that we have yet to experience, as well as so much that we can glean from the personal conversations that You had with people long ago. In the quietness of our nights, after our work is done, speak plainly and gently to our souls. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

 

John Stuart is a retired Scottish Presbyterian pastor now living in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, he will be delighted to read your emails which you can send to stushie57@outlook.com.