Devotional 12-2-22

 Read Romans 15:4-13

Focus verse  15:7 
⁷ Accept one another then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. 

This fall, I have been honored to be one of the volunteers at our Thursday evening common grounds meals for anyone in the community who needs food.  A couple of weeks ago, after we had served dinner a man came up to me and handed me an envelope. He said “this is to help with the kitchen” and gave me a hug. After he left, I saw inside there was a $20 bill. I was surprised, but we never know which people we will impact when we do ministry, and we don’t know their back stories. We also don’t know how they will help to influence us and our community. I bless this man, who was offered a free meal and paid as if he was in a restaurant.

This fall, a group of us gathered on Wednesday evenings to talk about Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, for which this verse is one of the concluding parts. Paul had been writing to a divided community, made up of Jewish converts to Christianity and also gentile converts. The two groups did not always agree although they both believed that Jesus had done some thing amazing for them and for the world. This verse is one of Paul’s strongest statements about being inclusive. At Johnson Memorial we believe that God loves and calls all people. The people we serve on Thursday nights who may seem to be a different community than the one we see on Sunday morning, are loved and blessed by God. The people we see on the streets of Huntington are blessed and loved by God. During this advent season, when we remember that God has given this greatest gift to the world through his son Jesus Christ, let us remember again that this gift was given to all. Every person is sacred and beautiful. We are often given gifts that we don’t even realize or understand until after the fact; let’s try and be intentional about recognizing all our gifts now, and all the people who embody them. 

Let us pray: Amazing God, who loves and cares for us all, during this holy season help us to open our hearts and minds to your presence and power. Help us to go past our preconceptions and categories, and remember that your love and power is for everyone. Thank you so much for loving us, forgiving us, and offering us new life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Rev. Terry Deane