Month: April 2017

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PWTE Daily Devotion

Sheep Is Not a Four Letter Word

Festival Feast.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“We’re his people, his well-tended sheep.”
Psalm 100:3, The Message

Navarro Vineyards in Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley uses Baby-Doll sheep to keep the growth between the rows of vines in check.  This particular breed of sheep is too short to reach and eat the pruned vines and more importantly, the clusters of grapes!  My wife loves visiting this winery, and not just because we are members.  She watches the sheep while I enjoy some wine.  She talks to them, too!

I like Eugene Peterson’s The Message.  I especially like his treatment of the Psalm verse for today.  Too often preachers point out the many failures (and with some, the outright stupidity) of sheep.  And then, they make a point about us!  The greater truth is, even if these other comparisons are accurate, as God’s sheep we are objects of God’s heart.  He has prepared a Festival Feast for his sheep in his Word, and the Word in action in the Eucharist.  God loves his sheep!

The Shepherds of ancient Israel loved their sheep.  They cared for them, protected them, led them beside cool waters and made sure they grazed in rich pastures.  Their labors were in a way prophetic of the Shepherding ministry of the Good Shepherd—our Lord Jesus Christ.  In the still-full glow (hopefully) of Easter, we are a people who feast on life, life to the full.  Just as Jesus the Good Shepherd promised.

That is why he came, remember.  That we may have life, life to the full.  For Navarro’s sheep, life to the full includes full bellies.  God has placed us in the vineyard of his creation, and of his new creation the Church simultaneously.  As I write today, I do so with the knowledge that a dear friend, father, and brother in the faith was called to glory yesterday, the day after Easter.  He is among God’s well-tended sheep.

So are we, brothers and sisters.  Do not wait for heaven for the Psalmist’s words to be true for you.  In Christ, in his Word, Sacrament, and the communion of his Church, they are true already.

Text and picture, copyright Don Schatz

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

Should I Fly or Not?

This parrot's owner placed it in this tree while we visited on her front porch. Lepaterique, Honduras

Our perspective on life changes because of Jesus’ resurrection.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” 
Romans 6:5 English Standard Version

This might be a free range parrot, but it belongs to a family in Honduras.

This parrot’s owner placed it in this tree while we visited on her front porch. Lepaterique, Honduras

A group of us were making home visits in Lepaterique, calling on children who are sponsored by Compassion International. This is one of my favorite days in Lepaterique. You never know what you’ll see. The mother of a child we visited greeted us by placing this parrot in the tree next to her home. It stayed in that tree as we gathered on her front porch.

It appears that this parrot is contemplating its future. Should it fly off into the ill-defined skies or stay where things are comfortable, where there is a meal every day and protection from predators? (Okay, so it can’t fly, but a bird can dream, can’t it?)

In Romans 6, Paul writes about what it means to be connected to Jesus’ death and resurrection through baptism.

We die in the water.
We live in the water.
Life changes in the water.

It’s as if God places us on a branch and encourages us to fly into the unknown of what it means to live in him. We are no longer shackled to the branches of sin. We have been placed on the branch of grace, and we are free to fly like we’ve never flown. Sin no longer has dominion. Christ does.

We are free range people who belong to Christ. In our flight, we trust the promise of his abiding presence to lead and guide us. Do we know where God will lead? Probably not, but we know that it’s better to fly into his future than to stay stuck and only dream about that life.

We’re not like this parrot. We can fly because we are connected to Jesus’ resurrection.

Picture and Text Copyright Douglas P Brauner

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

How Much Do Our Burdens Weigh?

Our God is a Rock like no other.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

This massive rock sits near the shore of Turquoise Lake near Leadville, Colorado. You can’t climb it or stretch your arms around it. If you could lift it, the rock would soon crush you from its weight. It will stay there among the trees for all time.

Have you ever carried a burden so heavy that you feared you might be crushed by it? Maybe it’s sin or guilt. Maybe it’s grief. Maybe it’s life’s adversities. It weighs so heavily on your heart and soul that your focus is on nothing else, leaving you nearly paralyzed to live the life God planned for you.

“The Lord helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads.”
Psalm 145:14 New Living Translation

There is a rock bigger than the one near the shore, even bigger than the one you are struggling to carry.

“No one is holy like the Lord! There is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.”
1 Samuel 2:2 New Living Translation

The Lord is the Mighty Rock who can easily carry your burden. He asks you to trust Him with it, to submit it to Him, because He is mightier than any burden you have known. He carried the weight of our sins for us—he can save you from being overpowered by a rock of defeat, despair and hopelessness. However, you must relinquish the burden! Too often our fears, or our need to control, hinders us from surrendering it to Him, so we keep trying to balance and support the weight of that oppressive rock, to our breaking point.

Jesus will never break. Through His death and resurrection He overcame the greatest burden of all—the sins of the entire world—more massive than any burden we will ever carry. His love, forgiveness and grace destroys all your rocks, reducing them to dust and blowing them away.

“You will keep in perfect peace
    all who trust in you,
    all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
Trust in the Lord always,
    for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.”
Isaiah 26:3-4 New Living Translation

Copyright text and photo Desiree Bustamante