Daily Devotions
Meditation, Prayers, and Assorted Stuff for July 2, 2020
Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey, “Becoming Fathers and Mothers”
What are we going to do when we get home? When the two sons of the parable of the prodigal son both have returned to their father, what then? The answer is simple: They have to become fathers themselves. Sons have to become fathers; daughters have to become mothers. Being children of God involves growing up and becoming like God. Jesus doesn’t hesitate to say this: “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect, be compassionate as your heavenly Father is compassionate” (see Matthew 5:48 and Luke 6:36). How? By welcoming home our lost brothers and sisters the way our Father welcomes us home.
Today’s prayer is from “Awed to Heaven, Rooted to Earth,” a collection of prayers by Walter Brueggemann.
And Then You…
We arrange our lives as best we can, to keep your holiness at bay, with our pieties, our doctrines, our liturgies, our moralities, our secret ideologies, Safe, virtuous, settled. And then you— you and your dreams, you and your visions, you and your purposes, you and your commands, you and our neighbors. We find your holiness not at bay, but probing, pervading, insisting, demanding. And we yield, sometimes gladly, sometimes resentfully, sometimes late … or soon. We yield because you, beyond us, are our God. We are your creatures met by your holiness, by your holiness made our true selves. And we yield. Amen.
Today’s links!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=15&v=lZvU5uf7WcE&feature=emb_logoThis is really weird and really fascinating at the same time. Behold, the Boston Typewriter Orchestra performing an original composition.
https://www.inspiremore.com/rural-style-shuffle/A farmer in China found a unique antidote for his depression—a dance he and his wife created that’s since gone viral.
https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2020/03/draw-mickey-mouse-at-home-with-a-disney-parks-artist/ Learn how to draw some of your favorite Disney characters (with a little help from Disney artists).
https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/guinness-fertilises-christmas-trees-as-lockdown-black-stuff-recycled-1007058.htmlWhat do you do with a COVID-caused overabundance of beer? If you’re the folks at Guinness, you use it to fertilize Christmas trees. Sing along with me, “Rockin’ around the Christmas tree….”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/nyregion/par-jigsaw-puzzles-lockdown.htmlFeeling bored? Why not tackle a hand-sawed, $4,500 jigsaw puzzle?
https://flowingdata.com/2020/06/22/age-generation-populations/ Here are a couple of interesting charts, the first showing what percentage of the United States’ population is made up by each generation, and the other the most unisex names in American history.https://flowingdata.com/2013/09/25/the-most-unisex-names-in-us-history/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvWWXv59apYAnd, finally, gearing up for the Fourth, here’s the Dallas Winds featuring 94 piccolos playing John Philip Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”
Sunday worship at 9 AM, with “Doughnut room” time starting at 8:30 AM. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/815064120, Meeting ID: 815 064 120
****************************************** Dial in to participate at +1 312 626 6799.
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Copies of “Our Daily Bread” have arrived in the church office. Feel free to stop by and pick up a copy, or help distribute them to others.
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Don’t forget communion at Zoom church on July 12! Stop by the church office to get a prefilled cup and wafer set. Help distributing them is much appreciated as well.
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In-Person worship resumes, July 19! Watch for more details. (Zoom church will continue to be offered as well.) **************************************************
Stay safe and stay well!