Resources for Prayer and Devotions
Meditations from Carol Dean Henn
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Each helps the other, saying to one another, “Take courage.” Isaiah 41:16
My mother took her first airplane flight at age 49. She was terrified. If there was any way she could have backed out, she would have. But once we were in the clouds, a great change happened. She loved it! Flying became one of her most favorite things. She would have taken a ‘flight to nowhere,’ just to be in the air. She loved any trip that involved plane flights. Although she would never have thought of herself as adventurous, at age 70, Mom climbed the stairs to the top of the Statue of Liberty, her favorite landmark, and looked out from the windows in the statue’s crown. At 75, she climbed to the rim of Mt. Haleakala, the volcano on Maui. When she was 80, she walked steep mountain trails in Colorado. At 85, she accompanied me on weekly trips to Maryland to help care for a family member there. By age 90, after being diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, her challenge was to walk from room to room at home, and she tackled that test with determination as well. Courage is an elusive quality. Those who have it seldom see it in themselves, and while courage usually surfaces under stress, it is also related to joy—the willingness to find joy in living. “Help me to find my courage, Lord – it’s there, I know -- that I might also find peace … and joy!” ©Carol Dean Henn, 2018 Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is at hand. Zephaniah 1:7 The world is just too noisy; not only in the sense of loud music coming from cars and the rumble of so many trucks on the highway, but also in the volume and vileness of the ugly comments that fill news broadcasts and editorial pages. No wonder so many people are saying “I don’t even watch the news anymore.” We can’t take it. Something in us is sick of the fear and the nastiness and the ugliness of what now passes for political life and international affairs. Our instincts are right. Governance and political life weren’t meant to be this way. Contact among nations wasn’t meant to be this way. Perhaps, if we sit silent before God for a while, our souls can be soothed, our fears can be calmed, and we can be given the wisdom that allows us to deal with this too-noisy world. Perhaps … in some way … we can even begin to mute the noise and heal the divisions. Perhaps ©Carol Dean Henn, 2018 Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. 1 Peter 4:10 The voices that ring out from the choir loft are thrilling. They actually sound angelic. In Sunday School classrooms, people gifted with the ability to teach – to open minds, to make things understandable – reach hearts as well as minds, for adults as well as children. In the kitchen, cooks who create magnificent meals are at work preparing a church dinner, while many others set up tables, put out dishes and silverware and prepare to serve the meal. Ushers gather the offering and secure it until it can be counted and entered into the account books. In the nursery, babies smile and coo in the loving arms that hold them, and it’s hard to tell who is smiling more-- the little ones being cuddled or the big ones doing the cuddling. In places of worship throughout the community and the country, people offer the gifts they have for the good of others. At its best, a church is an open door for those who can give and those who are in need. Walk through those doors, whether you’ve come to give or have come in need. We are all welcome as stewards of God’s grace. ©Carol Dean Henn, 2018 I will extol you, O Lord, among the nations, and sing praises to your name. Psalm 18:49 Even for those of us who easily and happily praise God, extolling his name ‘among the nations’ seems like a far stretch. On the other hand, Facebook and social media connect people across the country and around the world. These Meditations now go to a national and international e-mail list. Print media carry messages to all corners of the earth, and there is almost no place in on earth that isn’t connected to television and the internet. What amazing resources and opportunities we have to tell family, neighbors, friends – and the whole world – that God is good! Even if we praise him in our little world, it will be praise that is sweet to his ears. ©Carol Dean Henn, 2018 The Lord said, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
Genesis 15:1 Once again, a verse reminds us to ‘not be afraid.’ It is hard for us to imagine the enormity of Abraham’s journey—going off to find a new land, leaving everything familiar behind. And yet, many of us do the same thing. We begin new jobs, move to new cities, leave our childhood home to go to college, then begin the adventure of beginning a new life with someone we love. So much of life involves stepping out in faith and beginning new adventures, large or small. At every such moment, at every such step, we can hear God saying to us, “Do not be afraid … I am your shield, your very great reward.” Trust that promise. It is God’s. ©Carol Dean Henn, 2018 He is not far from each one of us. For “In him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:27-28 We often want to complicate things. But our God is a God of simplicity, directness, and small miracles, and we should never underestimate the power of simple things. In World War I, almost every family in Britain lost someone to the war-- a son, a brother, a husband, a father. An entire generation of men was wiped out. The end of the war brought the horrors of influenza. People who were alive and healthy in the morning were dead by sunset. Hundreds of thousands more lives were lost. A writer in that era, walking one day along London’s Richmond Bridge, saw that a chocolate shop that had been closed throughout the war was once again open for business. Posted nearby were notices that a shipment of bananas from the Canary Islands had been unloaded in Liverpool, and more shipments of bananas were due from Jamaica the next week. Chocolate and bananas. For that writer, those two simple foods signaled the end to a time of incalculable loss and misery.* “Lord God, let me always be grateful for simple things-- time for quiet rest, a cup of hot tea, a kind word, sunshine on my face, and … chocolate and bananas.” *Example taken from ‘The Great Silence’ by Juliet Nicolson ©Carol Dean Henn, 2018 Clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4 :24 For people who have lost a great deal of weight, it is a pleasure to go shopping and to buy things in smaller sizes. It’s even more satisfying to put on those new, smaller clothes and go to places and events where, we know, people are noticing our new look. Eating healthier and reaching a sensible weight not only benefit us physically, but emotionally and psychologically as well. It’s the same when we have a new relationship with God, with Christ. Something about us has changed; we can feel it and we know it shows. Others can see and sense it too. Perhaps we smile more. Maybe we seem to have a new peacefulness about us. Perhaps we’re kinder, more inclined to listen and to focus on others. If God has been at work in your life, let it show. Be as proud of your new spiritual self as you would be of a newly toned and fit body. Showing your new self, ‘created according to the likeness of God,’ will not only make you feel better, it will be a witness to God’s love and power. ©Carol Dean Henn Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you. Zechariah 1:3 If God is so powerful, why does he always ask us to do something? Why does our relationship with God have a give-and-take, a two-part dialogue? Well, if you were God, would you want it any other way? Would you want to interact with robots you had pre- programmed to say and do what you want? Of course not, because those words and actions would have no meaning. We must come to God, seek him, turn to him, speak to him, be with him, and return to him. And while we do these things, he is coming, seeking, turning, speaking, being with, and returning to us. We couldn’t have a real relationship with a robot God. He wants a real relationship with us, too. ©Carol Dean Henn, 2018 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them.
Isaiah 41:17 The truth that God needs us – you and me – to do his work in the world is especially true when it comes to helping those in need. Yes, God sent manna from Heaven for the Israelite's. He told Moses to tap a rock to produce flowing water. And God is still working miracles in the world today. But most of the time, he needs us to hear his call and provide the help that others need. Sometimes, it’s so simple. A few weeks ago, I was speaking to Jack, a God-centered member of our congregation. He told me that he keeps a box of nutrition bars in his car. When he sees someone at the side of the road, holding a sign asking for food, he hands a few protein bars to that person. In 2016, when we had many steamy summer days with triple-digit temperatures, I got in the habit of leaving an ice-cold bottle of water in the mailbox for my delivery person. That was much appreciated. Donated clothing or housewares, food brought to the church pantry, money donated to service organizations; anything and everything helps. Of course, the God who sent manna from Heaven can do this on his own, so why does he prefer working with us? Perhaps because he knows that we are blessed when we help others. John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to
stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him. Whoever is not against us is for us.” Mark 9 :38-39a,40 People are often frightened by what they do not understand. The disciples didn’t understand this man who had the power to cast out demons, and yet he was not one of Christ’s followers. How could this be? In his divine wisdom, Jesus tells John that those who act in love – who are obviously trying to heal, to help others – are doing God’s good work, regardless of their labels or affiliations. We can use the same guidance today, when we encounter amazing occurrences or people we can’t understand. People all over the world, who have been gifted by God, in all of time, have been able to heal, to convey wisdom, even to see into the future. Some of these people are called shamans; some, healers; some, ‘intuitives’. Labels should not matter as much as our willingness to respect and accept those who live and act in love and compassion, regardless of their faiths, creeds, or cultures. ©Carol Dean Henn |
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AuthorCarol Dean Henn of St. John’s Windish Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, PA |