Printable version of today’s devotional guide

Where Do I Begin?

Begin each day with the Prayer of Illumination to help, prepare your heart to hear God’s word for you.  Read “to be formed and transformed rather than to gather information…Read with a vulnerable heart.  Expect to be blessed…Read as one awake, one waiting for the beloved.  Read with reverence.”*

Let us Pray a Prayer of Illumination:

All-Seeing One, above me, around me, within me —
guide my vision as I engage with your sacred words.
Look down upon me, look out from within me, look all around me.
See through my eyes, hear through my ears, feel through my heart.
God of Wisdom, touch me where I need to be touched;
    and when my heart is touched, give me the grace to lay
    down this Holy Book and ask significant questions:
Why has my heart been touched by you?
How am I to be changed through your touch?
All-Seeing One, I need to change, I need to look a little more like You.
May these sacred words change and transform me.
Then I can meet You face to face…when I shall be healed forever.
Your Word and the touch of your Spirit bring healing…
    a healing that will last.
O Eye of God, look not away.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me. Amen.

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WEDNESDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK – Day 29

SPIRITUAL WISDOM
1 Corinthians 2:6-10, 13-16

Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him” —these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God…And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.

Those who are un-spiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritual discerned. Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny.

“For who has known the mind of the Lord. So as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

SPIRITUAL BUT NOT RELIGIOUS

When people learn that I am a pastor, if they themselves do not ‘go to church’ then they will often follow it up with, “I’m spiritual but not religious.” And that may be very true. There may be a spiritual component to their lives that they rely on very much to inform decisions about how they are to live their lives. But I wonder about their definition of religion. For me religion is a discipline that keeps me connected to my spirituality. I need the daily discipline of sitting with scripture – the major tool for both my religion and my spirituality – in order to be reminded daily that there is a power greater than me out there; that the world does not revolve around me.            

My daily reading of scripture informs my faith in God even as the Holy Spirit leads me to a greater understanding of the relevance of my religion in the world around me. My daily reading of scripture reminds me that there are things that I cannot explain going on in this world, and that there are mysteries beyond my understanding.  My discipline provides evidence that forces are at work that I cannot even fathom, forces that bring blessing out of tragedy and sometimes, tragedy out of blessing. For who has known the mind of the Lord. So as to instruct him? And so those of us who are spiritual and religious dwell in the mystery of God’s wisdom, and trust in God’s glory as revealed in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

 PRAYER

 Strengthen me, Lord, to see your glory revealed in all things; and let your Holy Spirit guide me through it all. Amen

FOR FURTHER REFLECTION

How do you live your faith: spiritually or religiously or both?

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Notes:
This week’s devotional resource was written by Rev. Wendy Depew Partelow, President of the American Baptist Churches of New York State Board of Missions, and edited by Rev. Mark H. Breese of Community Missions. The content was created specifically keeping in mind the populations served by Community Missions.

REFERENCES AND RESOURCES

Scripture Verses are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), HarpurCollins Publishers, 1989.

The choice of Daily Scripture texts are taken from Lent & Easter, Wisdom from Thomas Merton, Linguori Publications.

*One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., Virginia, 1996, pg. 368-369. [ISBN:0-910034-63-X Large Print]

**James C. Howell, Servants, Misfits, and Martyrs, Upper Room Books, Nashville, 1999. Pg 26-28