Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Wisdom from the Word

Since coming to my internship congregation, I've begun to use the daily devotion booklets that they provide, which are published by Augsburg Fortress, and called "Christ in Our Home". The daily devotions provide a Scripture reading, a reflection on that reading, and a prayer. It is a simple way to take five minutes at the beginning of my day to center myself on God.

Today's Scripture and reflection were just right for some of the frustrations I occasionally feel working in the church, which I wrote about in my last post (Ramblings). I wanted to share some of what I read as further reflection on my previous post.

The Scripture passage is Romans 16:17-20, and the author focuses specifically on verse 17: "
I urge you, brothers and sisters, to keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned; avoid them."

While I thought that initially this message was a little harsh, the author's reflection helped me look at it from a different perspective... "In today's reading, Paul is talking about people who purposely bring division and place obstacles into the paths of others. We know the type; we know only too well that sometimes we are this type. We can let division and obstacles block our walk with Christ -- or we can step around them and continue on."

1 comment:

Dana said...

I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying doing a daily devotional. I have decided that in my learning contract for internship (which I have not finished or submitted yet) I am going to put that I as a person need to work on making sure I have personal devotional time, whether that be an expression through artwork, or reading, or a structured devotional book. I think it's something that I have lost since being in seminary, and need in order to keep my relationship with God strong and growing. :)

On a side note, I miss you.