DAY 14

Saturday Sunrise by Rachel Kramer

Acts 15

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A Greeting
"Come," my heart says, "seek his face!"
Your face, Lord, do I seek.
(Psalm 27:8)

A Reading
When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church
and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had
done with them. But some believers who belonged to the sect of the
Pharisees stood up and said, ‘It is necessary for them to be
circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.’ The apostles
and the elders met together to consider this matter. After there had
been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, ‘My brothers,
you know that in the early days God made a choice among you,
that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the
message of the good news and become believers. And God, who
knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy
Spirit, just as he did to us; and in cleansing their hearts by faith he
has made no distinction between them and us. Now therefore why
are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the
disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able
to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through
the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.’
(Acts 15:4-11)

Music

 
Meditative Verse
Real circumcision is a matter of the heart--
it is spiritual and not literal. 
(Romans 2:29b)

A Poem
Know that your brokenness can be healed
and that your wholeness can be restored.
Reaffirm your divine covenant today,
by completely trusting upon the Lord!
- from "Poem: Called to Worship (IX) by Joseph J. Breunig, 3rd

Verse for the Day
Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
my body also rests secure.
(Psalm 16:9)

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Acts 15 reflects the tension in the early church around the practice of circumcision and whether it must be a part of the evangelization of the nations. There was “no small debate” about these things, the writer tells us, as the elders and apostles of the Jerusalem church maintained that believers must follow the customs of Moses, and Peter and Paul and Barnabas try to convince them otherwise by relating their experiences among the Gentiles. An uneasy agreement is reached that would profoundly alter the future of the church. The practice of male circumcision predates Judaism, but the Jewish custom began as a result of God’s covenant with Abraham, described in Genesis 17. As an expression of faithfulness, the Israelite men are required to manifest a sign of God's covenant with them on their bodies. (This continues a commitment of Scripture and the body that is present also in the wearing of texts on the forehead and on the arm, another sacred obligation.) In the Genesis text, the rite of circumcision is never considered for women. After outlining the requirement for men, the voice of God moves on to talk about Sarah becoming the mother of the generations to come. In today’s world, however, at least 200 million girls and women in thirty countries (source) have experienced female circumcision. Believing that it assists in ensuring chastity and purity, it is most often imposed on girls and women against their will, mostly by other women, participating in the expectations of patriarchal cultures. There is nothing in any scriptural text of any of the Abrahamic faiths that requires or endorses circumcision for women; nonetheless, the rite is observed in communities of all three traditions. In today's video from UNICEF, linked below, advocates work with communities to end the practice now known as female genital mutilation (FGM) and assist girls and women in being well in body and soul.

Click here to go to video.

The next devotional day is Sunday, June 12th.


LC† Acts of the Spirit is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto.
Join our Facebook page. Follow us @LuTConnect.
 

DAY 13

"The Anacapas at Sunset" by Brian Hawkins

Acts 13 & 14
Water, Earth

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A Greeting
O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
(Psalm 8:1)

A Reading
'Friends, why are you doing this?
We are mortals just like you, and we bring you good news, that
you should turn from these worthless things to the living God,
who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in
them. In past generations he allowed all the nations to follow their
own ways; yet he has not left himself without a witness in doing
good—giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and
filling you with food and your hearts with joy.’
(Acts 14:15-17)

Music
 
The hymn is sung in Hebrew and in English.


Meditative Verse
He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth, which he has founded forever.
(Psalm 78:69)

A Poem
Out on the broad lake a breeze will find us
That’s wafted around the planet to cool our divinity.
The clouds will hover above us in a giant halo
As we watch our brother, the sun, descend,
His gentle face turned toward us, his godly expression
Undarkened by accusation or disappointment
Or the thought of something he’s left undone.
from "Days of Heaven" by Carl Dennis

Verses for the Day
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God,
who made heaven and earth, the sea,
and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever.
(Psalm 146:5-6)

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The stories of Acts 13 and 14 nearly all take place in or near synagogues, as Paul and Barnabas move among the Greek islands and mainland evangelizing the Jewish communities there. Inside the synagogues, it seems, things go well: they speak and are heard. But outside the temple, they are spurned and persecuted by leaders and the elite. As they move from place to place, they encounter false prophets, enact healing and proclaim the gospel, and the number of followers grows. Some of these new followers even believe that Paul and Barnabas are Greek gods in human form: in today’s reading Paul hurries to correct them. He does so by referring to God’s role as the primary creator: the one who made the heavens and the earth and the seas between them, which no mortal can do. Heaven and earth and seas come together often in scripture, echoing their place at the beginning of the biblical story. ‘Water’ (‘mayim’ in Hebrew) makes up the last two syllables of ‘heaven’ (’shamayim’). And 'land’ (‘adamah’) contains the name of the first biblical human being, ‘Adam’. The seas that are between heaven and earth contain the waters of life, and the breath of the Holy Spirit that moved over them at the start of Genesis. Paul reminds us of how the rains that fall, and the food that is eaten, are part of how God witnesses to the link between heaven and earth. So what happens to that link when we defile water, and let it become poisoned? In today’s video, a First Nations community describes what it is like to live permanently with untreated, undrinkable lake water. In pointing to the physical effects of poisoned water on the body, they help remind us that the waters of heaven and earth are inside us. "Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy", the cantor sings. If we can heal the poisoned waters in some of our peoples, we are better able to
become that sanctuary.



The next devotional day is Friday, June 10th.

LC† Acts of the Spirit is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto.
Join our Facebook page. Follow us @LuTConnect.
 

DAY 11

"Omo Valley Sunset, Ethiopia" by Rod Waddington

Acts 11

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A Greeting
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
(Psalm 25:1)

A Reading
At that time prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted by the Spirit
that there would be a severe famine over all the world; and this
took place during the reign of Claudius. The disciples determined
that according to their ability, each would send relief to the
believers living in Judea; this they did, sending it to the elders
by Barnabas and Saul.
(Acts 11:27-30)

Music

 
Meditative Verse
You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to use,
to bring forth food from the earth.
(Psalmgreetin 104:14)

A Prayer
Heavenly Father,
Open my eyes to see as you see and weep as you weep
Open my heart to love the broken and care for those without hope
Open my hands to hold what I have lightly and to share cheerfully
Open my mouth to speak for the voiceless and to shout for mercy
Open my ears to the gentle whispers of your Spirit and
to obey what you say
Open up my life to the call of your voice
and the needy cries of the dying.
from "Written prayers on hunger for you to use in your church",
a resource of tearfund.org

Verses for the Day
He lets the hungry live, and they establish a town to live in;
they sow fields, and plant vineyards, and get a fruitful yield.
(Psalm 107:36-37)

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The story of the early church reads like a signpost, offering arrows pointing in various directions with who is going where. As miracles are performed and conversions made, boundaries are broken and theologies and customs are deeply challenged. The Jerusalem community confronts Peter on converting Gentiles and so he retells his story of Cornelius in order to convince them. Their response is ‘silence’. Unrest. Uncertainty. Fleeing from persecution, Jesus followers head for Phoenicia, Cyprus and particularly Antioch. Barnabas goes to find Paul and bring him there and it is in Antioch that the term “Christian” comes into use. Our reading tells us that the apostles were joined in Antioch by prophets: one named Agabus foresees “severe famine over all the world”. Despite being scattered, persecuted and uncertain about each other, the immediate response of the apostles is to “send relief”. On Day 6 of the LC† Welcoming the Stranger Lenten project, as part of a week on climate refugees, we looked at the many many biblical stories of famine that scattered peoples from their homelands and conditions. (Click here to revisit that page.) In 2016, unprecedented droughts in Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Mauritania, Mali, Zimbabwe and South Africa resulting from El Nino-caused lack of rain in the all-important rainy seasons, have left these areas devastated. Each of the regions affected normally produce the grain for that country’s food staples. For a second or third year in a row, they no longer can. To a person experiencing drought and famine, there is only the hot sun, the dry earth and a longing for water. The apostles’ impulse to “send relief” means the bread of life in the words of Jesus can become the grain that feeds the hungry.



The next devotional day is Monday, June 6th.


LC† Acts of the Spirit is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto.
Join our Facebook page. Follow us @LuTConnect.
 

DAY 9

"Dunes of Gold" by Patrick Emerson

Acts 9
Paul

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A Greeting
It is you who light my lamp; the Lord, my God,
lights up my darkness.
(Psalm 18:28)

A Reading
When he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples;
and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was
a disciple. But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and
described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had
spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the
name of Jesus. So he went in and out among them in Jerusalem,
speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He spoke and argued with
the Hellenists; but they were attempting to kill him. When the
believers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent
him off to Tarsus. Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee,
and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the
Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.
(Acts 9:26-31)

Music

 
Meditative Verse
O send out your light and your truth; let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.
(Psalm 43:3)

A Prayer
Christ as a light
illumine and guide me
Christ as a shield
overshadow me.
Christ under me;
Christ over me;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all powerful...
Christ as a light;
Christ as a shield;
Christ beside me on my left and right.
A Celtic canticle, found in Celtic Daily Prayer:
Prayers and Readings from the Northumbria Community,
a resource produced by the Northumbria Community

Verse for the Day
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
(Psalm 119:105)

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Acts 9 offers the first of three accounts in the book of Acts of the conversion of Saul the persecutor of Jesus' followers, to Paul the apostle and early founder of the church. They all describe how Paul was making his way to Damascus in Syria to arrest more people, when he was blinded by a flash of light on the road and Jesus appeared and spoke to him. Jesus not only forgives Paul but calls him to be a leader in his church. Immediately, Paul goes forward into Syria as a force of light. When we hear Paul’s story, it's hard not to think about what a blinding light means today to anyone walking on the road from Damascus: rather than a sign of God's presence, it is likely a dangerous moment of war. Paul's instantaneous conversion began a new path of prophetic witness. Those early days were rough for him because he carried a dangerous and dire reputation. Jesus forgave him, but would the others? It takes Barnabas, who will eventually become closely associated with Paul’s missionary voyages, to convince the apostles to accept him as one of them. Can today's blinding lights of war become the lights of reconciliation and love? In the LC† Welcoming the Stranger Lenten project, the story of Paul's conversion was used to begin a week of looking at refugees and migrants displaced by climate change. The link between the drought in the Fertile Crescent and the war in Syria was discussed then. (Click here to revisit that devotional page.) Drought caused by climate change meant that grain could not be grown in what was otherwise the “breadbasket” of Syria. In today’s video, as part of the ongoing efforts in Canada to support Syrians through refugee sponsorship and contributing aid, some Canadian farmers have joined together to farm grain that they then sell and send to Syrians displaced by war. Farmers still able to work, are assisting farmers who had to flee, down the roads once traveled by Paul.



The next devotional day is Thursday, June 2nd.


LC† Acts of the Spirit is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto.
Join our Facebook page. Follow us @LuTConnect.
 

TITLE PAGE

Fresco in the church of the baptistry at the Zica Monastery,
near Kraljevo, Serbia. Photograph by BrankaVV on Wikipedia.

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 The 2016 LC† Acts of the Spirit devotional project
is now finished. It ran from May 15 - June 30, 2016.

  Join us at Advent, Lent and Pentecost for daily
meditations, readings, prayer and music!

Blessings on your day!

 †

The LC† devotional projects are a ministry of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto.
Join our Facebook page. Follow us @LuTConnect.