Lectionary Reading: Genesis 8:1-19, and 9:8-13
We can all remember the wonder we felt as children when we first saw a rainbow. It was a mystery that appeared after the rain. Later it became a game to look for the beauty of the colors forming an arch and stretching across the sky. Our teachers and parents assured us that if we looked hard enough we would find that rainbow and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The rainbow is one of God’s gifts and with it is one of life’s lessons. God gave us the promise that we will never be destroyed by floods. A lesson that we are reminded of often during our life. The bigger lesson that we learn it that God made a promise, a covenant, and he always honors his covenant. (Maybe this is the pot of gold.)
As we read today’s passage in Genesis it is clear that God has given us other gifts. God’s covenant with Noah assures of his desire to preserve the family, the animals, and all other species that work together to preserve the balance of nature. The gifts we see in the rainbow of light, darkness, color and order are all gifts of a compassionate father.
As I watched the Olympians crowned with the wreaths of laurel I was reminded of the dove returning to the ark carrying a laurel (olive) leaf. This leaf was God’s sign to Noah and his family that the flood was over and new growth was taking place on the land. This is a sign of new life and hope. It has also become a sign of peace. Seeing these young men and women compete, share their talents, and celebrate with one another gave hope for the peace we all so deeply desire. As the Olympians returned to their home countries we can only hope that this sign of hope, peace, and new life has gone with them. These are all God’s gifts to us and with these gifts comes the responsibility to keep the covenant of what God has given us.
Prayer: God help us to be an instrument of your peace. Just as you established a covenant with your people when you made that promise so long ago help us to protect the earth, and promote peace as we hold your gifts close to our hearts. Help us to be aware of each gift as it is given to us that we might praise you. Amen
Marilyn Holleron
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Monday, November 29, 2004
Devotional 11-29-04
Lectionary Reading - Genesis 6:11-22
This poem is dedicated to all who remember the hurricane season of 2004. May we never forget God's awesome power and infinite love.
Second Chances
Oh, how You must have suffered as You watched mankind with woe,
Continually be evil and pretend, then, not to know.
And how You tried to warn them as they lived their lives in sin,
Until You made Your mind up that mankind should start again.
So then it fell to Noah and his family so obedient
To build an ark and fill it in a way that was expedient.
In modern times we've worried about rains and floods. We've had 'em,
But forty days and forty nights of rain we cannot fathom.
As water spread throughout the earth, did people understand
That they had gone too far this time, and You would take their land?
Oh, what You must have gone through as You gave a final glance.
Your children would be sacrificed to give a second chance.
You put a rainbow in the sky, so You would not forget,
But mankind did and, like a child, forgot it had been wet.
Your patience, tested once again, was not to be undone.
Our last chance was Your precious gift. Our last chance is Your Son.
Heavenly Father, giver of so many chances, thank You for this joyful season and all those with whom we share it. Amen
Becky Warren
This poem is dedicated to all who remember the hurricane season of 2004. May we never forget God's awesome power and infinite love.
Second Chances
Oh, how You must have suffered as You watched mankind with woe,
Continually be evil and pretend, then, not to know.
And how You tried to warn them as they lived their lives in sin,
Until You made Your mind up that mankind should start again.
So then it fell to Noah and his family so obedient
To build an ark and fill it in a way that was expedient.
In modern times we've worried about rains and floods. We've had 'em,
But forty days and forty nights of rain we cannot fathom.
As water spread throughout the earth, did people understand
That they had gone too far this time, and You would take their land?
Oh, what You must have gone through as You gave a final glance.
Your children would be sacrificed to give a second chance.
You put a rainbow in the sky, so You would not forget,
But mankind did and, like a child, forgot it had been wet.
Your patience, tested once again, was not to be undone.
Our last chance was Your precious gift. Our last chance is Your Son.
Heavenly Father, giver of so many chances, thank You for this joyful season and all those with whom we share it. Amen
Becky Warren
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Devotional 11-28-04 Evening
For the beauty of the earth
For the beauty of the skies
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.
So many blessings surround us, and one for which I am most grateful is the blessing of music. The scripture reading from The Upper Room today as I write this is Ephesians 5:19-20, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to he Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Ever since I was a small child I have loved to sing. When I was about ten years old my mother took me to a voice teacher, a gruff old man who looked a lot like Beethoven with busy white hair and brows. He told my mother I didn’t have any special talent, and he wasn’t interested in coaching me. So much for my budding operatic career!
Not to be deterred from her hope of having a musician in the family, Mother started me in piano lessons with dreams that I would become a concert pianist (Mother always dreamed big!) Well, that dream was never realized; I simply didn’t have the talent for it, but it did expose me to music of all kinds.
My piano teacher, and later on, my voice coach (yes, I did find one) were kindly people who exposed a teenager to the wonderful world of music, both secular and sacred. Singing in the choir has been such a blessing to me almost all my life, and I am thankful for the words and music of so many “hymns of praise.” In this Advent season as we hear the familiar carols and hymns, let’s be grateful that we can enjoy this special blessing form our heavenly Father -- the blessing of music.
Jean Dean
For the beauty of the skies
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.
So many blessings surround us, and one for which I am most grateful is the blessing of music. The scripture reading from The Upper Room today as I write this is Ephesians 5:19-20, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to he Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Ever since I was a small child I have loved to sing. When I was about ten years old my mother took me to a voice teacher, a gruff old man who looked a lot like Beethoven with busy white hair and brows. He told my mother I didn’t have any special talent, and he wasn’t interested in coaching me. So much for my budding operatic career!
Not to be deterred from her hope of having a musician in the family, Mother started me in piano lessons with dreams that I would become a concert pianist (Mother always dreamed big!) Well, that dream was never realized; I simply didn’t have the talent for it, but it did expose me to music of all kinds.
My piano teacher, and later on, my voice coach (yes, I did find one) were kindly people who exposed a teenager to the wonderful world of music, both secular and sacred. Singing in the choir has been such a blessing to me almost all my life, and I am thankful for the words and music of so many “hymns of praise.” In this Advent season as we hear the familiar carols and hymns, let’s be grateful that we can enjoy this special blessing form our heavenly Father -- the blessing of music.
Jean Dean
Devotional 11-28-04
STOP, LOOK AND LISTEN!
Scripture: Matthew 24:36-44Matthew 24:36-44: “Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
As I am writing this devotion, the eyes of the Nation are on the third hurricane in three weeks to hit North America. Hurricane Ivan is speeding toward the Gulf of Mexico. At this time no one knows when or where the storm will make landfall. Residents in the predicted landfall areas are again boarding up their houses and gathering needed supplies. People have already evacuated in some areas and moved inward to watch and wait.
Watchfulness and preparation are the themes of the lectionary reading for today. With Thanksgiving behind us, most of us will now find ourselves in the whirling winds of preparing for Christmas. Without realizing it, we are swallowed up in the demands of the season. Others of us are being tossed by paralyzing personal storms of illnesses, grief and loneliness. When life is blowing and pushing all around us, it is easy to miss God’s voice calling us to “Stop, look and listen.”Stop the “busy-ness” and quiet our minds. Begin to prepare our hearts for the Lord’s arrival.
Look and watch for the Lord’s comings and goings in our daily lives. Watch for God’s peace in the eye of our personal storms.Listen for God’s voice. His voice is not in the wind or in the thunder, but in the whisper of a parent’s prayer, or the soft cries of a baby wrapped and lying in a manger.
Prayer: Lord, open our eyes and our ears that in the midst of life’s storms we will hear your voice, and receive your blessings. Keep us always watchful and prepared for your comings and goings in our lives. Amen
Rev. Jan Thornton
Scripture: Matthew 24:36-44Matthew 24:36-44: “Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
As I am writing this devotion, the eyes of the Nation are on the third hurricane in three weeks to hit North America. Hurricane Ivan is speeding toward the Gulf of Mexico. At this time no one knows when or where the storm will make landfall. Residents in the predicted landfall areas are again boarding up their houses and gathering needed supplies. People have already evacuated in some areas and moved inward to watch and wait.
Watchfulness and preparation are the themes of the lectionary reading for today. With Thanksgiving behind us, most of us will now find ourselves in the whirling winds of preparing for Christmas. Without realizing it, we are swallowed up in the demands of the season. Others of us are being tossed by paralyzing personal storms of illnesses, grief and loneliness. When life is blowing and pushing all around us, it is easy to miss God’s voice calling us to “Stop, look and listen.”Stop the “busy-ness” and quiet our minds. Begin to prepare our hearts for the Lord’s arrival.
Look and watch for the Lord’s comings and goings in our daily lives. Watch for God’s peace in the eye of our personal storms.Listen for God’s voice. His voice is not in the wind or in the thunder, but in the whisper of a parent’s prayer, or the soft cries of a baby wrapped and lying in a manger.
Prayer: Lord, open our eyes and our ears that in the midst of life’s storms we will hear your voice, and receive your blessings. Keep us always watchful and prepared for your comings and goings in our lives. Amen
Rev. Jan Thornton
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