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Keeping the Scriptures Close
Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NRSV)
This scripture is a beautiful reminder of how important it is for people of faith to keep the scriptures close to them. We are to keep them in our hearts, teach them to our children, talk about them everywhere, and even put them in places we cannot avoid like our hand, our forehead, and the doorway of our homes. In other words, God’s word is to inform us constantly.
We’ve had an amazing opportunity to keep the scriptures close over the last three years. We were in the season of Lent when the pandemic began. That meant that were already sending out daily devotions electronically. When the world shut down, we were able to stay connected through the Lenten devotions written by congregation members. As it became clear that the church building would be closed a while, I made the decision to simply continue the daily devotions as a way of keeping God’s word on our modern day doorposts which are our phones and computers.
It has been a blessing to have the congregation write the devotions for Advent and Easter each year. It has also been a blessing to have Pastor Kim and others join in from time to time. However, it has truly been a blessing to write many of the devotions myself. I estimate that I have written something like 750 daily devotions on a multitude of topics over the past three years.
With my retirement coming in June, it is time for these daily devotions outside the seasons of Advent and Lent to come to an end. Pastor David will need to be able to focus on getting to know the congregation and bringing his call into focus here. However, it is not time for you to stop having God’s word written on your modern day doorposts. You can continue your daily devotions through Lent. If you are not receiving the ones written by church members, sign up here. For ongoing daily devotions to your inbox you can start your own subscription to the Upper Room devotional email. The cost is minimal and you can subscribe here. You can also pick up a print version in the Cedar Avenue entry of the church. Another option is to try the daily devotions written by the staff of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago. These are free, and you can sign up here. A final suggestion is to pick up a daily devotional book written by Rueben Job. The title is A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God. This approach requires the discipline of pulling out the book every day, but he was an insightful spiritual writer and included many excerpts from various spiritual writings to nourish your soul. There are of course endless options, these are just a few to get you started.
The daily devotions have been one of the blessings that came from the painful season of the pandemic. I hope you have enjoyed them, and I hope they have helped you grow in faith and faith practice. I know that I have enjoyed writing them. Please enjoy the Lenten series that began on Ash Wednesday. The final of the everyday devotions will be on Easter Sunday.
Peace in Christ
Pastor Mary
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