Devotional 11-30-21

 Please read Philippians 1:3-11, Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi.

This is my prayer: that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight.  I pray this so that you will be able to decide what really matters and so you will be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ. I pray that you will then be filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes from Jesus Christ, in order to give glory and praise to God.

Change isn’t easy. For thirty-nine years, I taught English and social studies to middle school students. As teaching tools changed from blackboards and chalk to computers and smart boards, I was forced to change with them! When my students would tease me with the adage, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” I would counter with the idea that we “old dogs” couldn’t be taught new tricks because we already knew ALL of them! One thing I did know for certain. Keeping up with constant change was going to be rough on this old dog! 

My mother had lost her battle with cancer in 1997; nothing could change that, but someone who helped me navigate changes in my life was my friend, Sunday school classmate, fellow chorister, and mother confessor, Mary Dial!  Mary and I had not always been close, but when she was in a collision and needed a ride to church, I offered to give her a lift! After all, she lived two blocks from my house, and the arrangement would be only until she got her car back! 

Then she decided it would be best if she didn’t drive anymore! That was really hard on her because she was used to coming and going when she wanted. It was extremely hard on me because I was used to coming and going when I wanted! But she needed me. Little did I know that I needed her, too. 

As weeks turned into years, I took the Locust Street, Norway Avenue, Greenoak route to choir practices, church services, Super Bowl parties, Christmas parties, Young at Heart luncheons, and Marshall concerts! But the tradeoff was in the therapy sessions that took place in my car! She would ask how my week was going, and my tirade would begin. She would listen, commiserate, and then quietly talk me off the ledge. 

Eventually I moved from the neighborhood. Mary’s family and the church van drivers took over; there were fewer rides and shorter conversations. Then the isolation of the Covid Pandemic and health concerns kept us apart completely. On November 12, 2021, her daughter, Terrie, was kind enough to message me that Mary had passed away.

I know that this sounds more like a eulogy than a devotional, but Mary was an example of what Advent is all about! She was thankful for all that she had been given! She loved everyone she met from the Walnut Hills bus driver to her great-grandson. I think what impressed me most about Mary was her youthfulness and her ability to keep an open mind. She rarely became “preachy” or judgmental. She loved being with people, learning about them, and listening to them! Just as Paul hoped in the above scripture, she learned that love became richer as she gained knowledge and insight. Then she passed it on to her family and friends. I thank God that I was one.

Dear God, thank you for your son, Jesus Christ. As we enter the season celebrating his birth, help us to remember that we know “the rest of the story,” that the baby will grow into a man whose message is clear: love one another. Thank you also for those who have helped us cope in a changing world and have shared with us love that has become richer through knowledge and insight. We ask this in your name.  Amen

Becky Warren

Devotional 11-29-21

 Please read Malachi 3:1-4 and Luke 3:1-6

My father, Floyd Taylor, died in 2009 at the age of 80. During the last ten years or so of his life, we had  many deep theological and political conversations. He was a mature, lifelong Christian and I was questioning and growing. He wrote anonymous devotionals for his church’s newsletter, often inviting me to critique and edit. He helped me write today’s devotional.

Throughout history, humans have searched for meaning, purpose, and identity in relation to a higher power. This searching has taken many forms, including idolatry, mythology, and religion. In God’s own time, God revealed God’s self to a receptive and spiritually mature Abram. Thus began a covenant relationship between God and God’s people. Humans being human, the relationship has not always been smooth sailing. Over the centuries, prophets would predict a liberator who would protect God’s people and make the way smooth.

Again, in God’s own time, God chose a further, more intimate revelation, offering a new covenant through his Son Jesus Christ. At the time of today’s Gospel reading, John the Baptist was roaming around the area of the Jordan River preaching repentance, that God’s revelation was imminent. 

Try to imagine living in that time and place. How would you react to John the Baptist and his message? It is easier for us who have the rest of the Gospel story to guide our thinking. We know of the life and ministry of Jesus. We know some believed and changed their ways, but ultimately Jesus was rejected. Which side would you have been on?

How are we doing some two thousand years later? Is the way any more straight than it was when John was preaching? Has all humanity seen God’s salvation?  What if a John the Baptist presented today? How would we receive his witness? Would it depend on our party affiliation or political leanings?

How do we know? By God’s grace, we just come to know and believe. It may be a sudden awakening or a slow thought-out process.  After becoming a true believer and Christian we should move on in love, trust, and service.  However, the more things change the more they stay the same—we are often just as “stiff-necked” as those of old.  When we are assailed by the difficulties in life we may fall away or develop an “I can do this myself mentality.”

Jesus interceded for us through his death and resurrection and sent the Holy Spirit to support us.  During this Advent Season, I invite you to look for God’s presence. What do you see, what do you hear, that reassures you of God’s presence in your life?

Jeff Taylor

Devotional 11-28-21

 “An invitation to a discipline of daily prayer”

As the new Christian year and the holy season of preparation for the yearly remembrance of Christmas (Advent) begins we are called as followers of Jesus Christ to discipline ourselves, to renew our commitment to be Christ-centered in our lives. We are being given the annual opportunity to renew our faith and to practice those times when we stay connected with God, who loves us enough to have entered human life. We are reminded again in our celebrations and experiences that God chose to become human and dwell among us as Jesus, a baby in Bethlehem. The season of Advent, the beginning of a new Church Year, and our preparations for a holy Christmas, is the opportunity to renew and discipline ourselves in a life of intentional prayer. 

For some twenty years now in my life journey as a United Methodist Christian and a Benedictine Oblate I have been committed to the praying what the Church has for centuries called “The Liturgy of Hours”. My spiritual discipline has included daily prayer (joining with the Church universal) – Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Night prayer. Very specifically involved in this experience of prayer is joining the Church throughout the world and down through the centuries in praying from the Scriptures three canticles (hymns) that are entwined with the Advent & Christmas story. My personal prayers, intercessions and quiet reflection conclude with the canticle in these three significant times of daily prayer.

The three canticles, found in Luke’s Gospel (Mary’s Magnificat,1:46-55; Zachariah’s Benedictus, 1:67-79; and Simeon’s Nunc Dimittis, 2:29-32) hold a unique place both in the Bible and in the life of the Church. They point and draw us into the very message of this holy season – God choosing to become human and dwelling among us. God with us! These ancient hymns are rich in meaning and praise. 

As we pray them daily, along with many across the world, we as contemporary followers of Christ adopt the words of Mary, Zachariah, and Simeon as our own. They express our praise of God, a reminder of who we are, what our life is all about, and for what purpose we are each called. They can help to keep us Christ centered in our daily life. 

Our United Methodist Book of Worship says – “From the earliest days of the Church, Christian worshipers saw the rising of the sun and lighting of the evening lamps as symbolic of Christ’s victory over death. . .The Orders of Daily Praise and Prayer enable United Methodists to celebrate daily the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (page 568).

I invite you to join in a regular discipline in this holy season and into a new year to pray with the universal Church – Morning (Benedictus [Luke 1: 67-79]; Evening (The Magnificat [Luke 1:46-55]) and Night (before bedtime) (Nunc Dimittis [Luke 2:29-32]). We join with others across the world and down through the centuries in the universal life of daily prayer.  How much each of us and our world needs this life of prayer.

Rev. Dr. Bill Wilson, retired 
Former Assistant to the Bishop, W.Va. Conference, UMC