Month: July 2017

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

Christian Fellowship

Friends

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

“…Instead I have called you friends….”
John 15:15b, New International Version

This is a picture of a picture.  A dear Brother in Christ is a photographer.  In his mid-90’s he still travels the unsung trails of northern California, snapping photographs.  This one he took years ago while visiting his son in Australia.  He gave the photograph to me.  Indicative of his wit, he penciled the following on the white matte below the picture:  “Are you sure your mom said it was alright for us to do this?”

The photograph is in my office and it reminds me of a couple things—my Brother gives me permission to think and do things others might tell me not to.  So does my God, for that matter, frequently.  The second reminder is more important for me:  it reminds me of the Brother who gave it to me.  It reminds me of our friendship.  It reminds me of Friday mornings at the Church Office when he would bring yesterdays-donuts, gleaned from some luncheon he had crashed, and we would sit with cups of coffee, making the donuts edible by dunking them, and chatting about all kinds of things.  Invariably we ended up chatting about Church and faith and the Lord and fellowship.  Always, he would chuckle his irascible chuckle and I would be glad of our friendship and our time together.

My friend Don is for me a type of and reminder of Christ himself.  Jesus calls me ‘friend’.  He calls you ‘friend’ as well, by the way.  Did you know?  Do you remember?  Don taught me that I can practice my friendship with Jesus by practicing it with my Christian Sisters and Brothers—by being Christ.  And being Christ is being a friend.

I hope to get some time to walk a beach this summer.  Perhaps with my wife, and perhaps our grandsons.  Maybe we’ll dress in penguin suits.  Probably not.  But we will be together as Friends—friends in Jesus.  Find a friend today and practice the gift Christ gives.  Practice the gift that is Christ.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, CO

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

Life Is More Than Living for the Weekend

Eugene, Oregon Copyright Douglas P Brauner

It is okay to find joy in our labor.

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

I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work.
Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God.
Ecclessiastes 2:24 New Living Translation

The honey bees were oblivious to the drought that has seized Oregon when I took this picture. As I walked along the path of my old stomping grounds in Eugene, gazing at the nearly empty ponds, I noticed that many bees were busy doing what they always do; collecting pollen. Were they unaware of the drought? Were they worried about the future?

Probably not.

Eugene, Oregon Copyright Douglas P Brauner
Eugene, Oregon
Copyright Douglas P Brauner

These bees (and there were many of them) were doing what God designed them to do even though the land was thirsting for water. This bee has its head buried in its work. Though there’s a small amount of pollen visible on its legs, other bees were so laden with pollen that they could hardly fly. It looked as though they were enjoying their labor.

How many of us would say with the Preacher in Ecclesiastes that work is a “pleasure”? We’re told to live for the weekend, but is the weekend everything we expect it to be? We fight horrible traffic trying to get to our weekend destination only to find ourselves more upset with life than the worst day of work. Is this what we expect of the weekend? Is this what we live for?

Don’t get me wrong. I know that we need re-creation time. I know that we shouldn’t spend every hour of every day burying our heads in our work, but can we view work as a pleasure “from the hand of God”?

Since Christ has redeemed us, he has also redeemed our labor. Maybe we shouldn’t take pleasure in work itself, but knowing that God is at work through us, his redeemed creatures, while we work. Whether we’re a stay-at-home parent, construction worker, or a volunteer at a food pantry there is pleasure in our work when we believe that God has redeemed that work.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, CO