Tuesday, May 31, 2016

DAY 9

"Dunes of Gold" by Patrick Emerson

Acts 9
Paul




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)



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.

 

Monday, May 23, 2016

DAY 5

"Northern Lights over black church at Budir, Iceland" by Diana Robinson

Acts 5
'Pneuma' and Wind




A Greeting
Teach me to do your will, for you are my God.
(Psalm 143:10a) 


A Reading
Now many signs and wonders were done among the people through
the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico.
None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in
high esteem. Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord,
great numbers of both men and women, so that they even carried
out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mats,
in order that Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he
came by. A great number of people would also gather from the
towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented
by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.
(Acts 5:12-16)

Music

This medieval Icelandic hymn is a request to God for personal healing.

Meditative Verse
I commune with my heart in the night;
I meditate and search my spirit.
(Psalm 77:6)

A Reflection
Open your heart to Him
and let yourself receive the one
who is opening to you so deeply.
For if we genuinely love Him,
we wake up inside Christ's body
where all our body, all over,
every most hidden part of it,
is realized in joy as Him,
and He makes us, utterly, real,
and everything that is hurt, everything
that seemed to us dark, harsh, shameful,
maimed, ugly, irreparably
damaged, is in Him transformed.
- from - from "We awaken in Christ's body", by Symeon the New Theologian,
a 10th century orthodox monk. Found on the website
Poetry Chikana: Sacred Poetry from Around the World
. English version by Stephen Mitchell.


Verse for the Day
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
(Psalm 51:10)



Signs and wonders characterize much of the storytelling of the book of Acts, as the apostles seek to evangelize and form the earliest Christian communities. Healing miracles are the most common, and the reading makes clear how even a passing encounter with the apostles was believed to be renewing. These acts of healing include sending ’unclean spirits’ out of afflicted people. The Greek word used for ‘spirit’ in this case is the same as that used in the phrase ‘Holy Spirit’ - ‘pneuma’. There are five Greek meanings for ‘pneuma’: the Holy Spirit; the soul; a spirit greater than human beings but lower than god like an angel; that which fills us with emotion; and a simple movement of wind or breath. The reading reminds us, however, that there is such a thing as a ‘pneuma’ that is ‘unclean’. Because our human spirituality is vulnerable to harmful influences, our understanding of the Holy Spirit as part of the triune God allows us to find our way back to the ‘pneuma’ of renewal. This is perhaps why at all times, Peter and the others resist personal credit: “We are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit”, he says. The meaning of ‘pneuma’ that conjures the ‘wind’ or ‘air’ will be explored further in coming days. For now, take a moment with the video below, to imagine lying beneath a tree. Let the wind revitalize you, stirring and perhaps cleaning out the darker places, and creating a space where the Holy Spirit may revive you.



The next devotional day is Wednesday, May 25th.

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

Sunday, May 8, 2016

TITLE PAGE

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

 †

 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.