Tag: Lectionary devotions

Sunday Shorts: Anxious Prayers

Devotions, Lectionary devotions, Sunday devotions

Ordy 12BcolsSunday shorts: Anxious Prayers

Mark 4:38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” (NIV)

Sometimes I get frustrated with God, especially when my prayers of concern take a while to be answered. I’m usually a patient person, but when I get anxious, I can’t help feeling that God is either ignoring me or doesn’t understand the situation. I can remember years ago, when a church staff member created an almighty conflict in the congregation I served, how vexed I was because I was being falsely blamed for their misconduct. I repeatedly prayed to God to deal with the situation and make others understand the truth. I even spelled out to God how to do it and wondered if He really cared about what I was unjustly enduring. Eventually, it was positively resolved, but I still carry some pain from that unsettling time.

I hear the same anxiety and frustration in the voices of the disciples who are caught in a terrifying storm as they try to cross Lake Galilee (Mark 4:35-41). While the waves are violently crashing against the boat and the wind is fiercely howling, they are terrified about losing their lives. Meanwhile, Jesus is sleeping soundly at the boat’s stern, resting on top of a cushion. The disciples can’t believe that He is so totally unaware of their predicament and so they anxiously shout at Him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

Christ awakes from His deep sleep and responds to their pleas by stilling the storm. The wind and waves become calm; the situation is dealt with; they can now resume crossing over to the other side. Jesus probably went back to sleep again, leaving His disciples no longer anxious, but completely bewildered. They now ask themselves, “Who is this? Even the wind and waves obey Him!”

Perhaps you’re presently anxious about something beyond your control. Maybe you’re also waiting for God to answer your prayers of concern. It may take time to be accomplished, but please know this: God hears your prayers and knows what needs to be done.

Point to ponder: What currently concerns me? How am I asking God for help?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You know everything about our lives, especially the situations and worries that we presently endure. Please help us to remain faithful to You as we hand over all our anxious concerns and deepest issues. Calm the storms in our lives and enable us to continue our journey with You. In Your Holy Name, we 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: Restored by Love

Devotions, Lectionary devotions, Sunday devotions

E3bsLuke 24:47 Repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (NRSV)

When Jesus came back from the dead, His first message to the disciples was similar to what He initially expressed as He began His ministry. At that original point, He urged people to repent and believe the good news because the Kingdom of God was near (Mark 1:15). After being resurrected, the message that His disciples were now given to proclaim was simple: people were being urged to repent and their forgiveness of sins was to be declared.

This meant that when Jesus died on the Cross things were changed for all of humanity. Whatever debt we owed to God because of our sinful ways was cancelled completely. Before the Cross, people needed to appease God with sacrifices; after the resurrection, we were urged to sacrifice our pride and humbly confess our mistakes in order to be given total forgiveness of our sins.

I don’t know about you, but that divine transaction of my debt being imposed on Jesus when He was nailed to the Cross gives me hope. I’ve done some really bad things in my life that I truly regret and wish never happened. I would be as miserable as sin if I didn’t know Jesus as my Savior, so when He offers me true forgiveness in return for my repentance, I’m ready to take that gift.

Perhaps you’ve been carrying some guilt in your heart and it keeps you awake at night. Maybe you’ve done something foolish that you regret and it torments your mind. Whatever it is, it can be rectified; whatever you’ve done, you can be restored to God’s favor and love. Jesus has completed what was necessary to reconnect all of us to our gracious God – all we simply have to do is repent.

Find a quiet place today and have a quiet time with God. Unburden your soul and let the tears of regret fall from your eyes. There is nothing that you have done that God cannot forgive through Jesus. God already knows what it is, so just allow yourself to be relieved by simply whispering it to God. Repentance will restore you and Jesus will embrace you. Let His power to forgive, renew you; let His ability to love, release you.

Prayer: Lord, You know us completely. You’ve seen all of our mistakes and are totally aware of all the things that bother our consciences. Help us to find some quiet time to be with You alone, to confess our faults, address our sins, and unburden all that we are sinfully and selfishly carrying. Allow us to take the opportunity of the forgiveness, peace, and love that You offer. In Your Holy Name, we humbly confess and pray. Amen.

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