-
Sabbath Devotional :: The Vessel
Sharing these thoughts tonight with a mostly spent lamp and immense gratitude for your prayers and fasting. In preparation for teaching the parable of the Ten Virgins in a gospel doctrine class a few years ago, I learned a few things about ancient Jewish wedding traditions. The groom became betrothed (or legally married) to the bride first, but then went back to his father’s house to prepare a home for the new couple and left her to prepare herself and her dowry for their new life together. This separation was generally for about a year, but the exact time of his return for her was not set. The custom was…
-
Sabbath Devotional :: Alma and Amulek — Joining Together to Make a Difference
After serving as the chief law-giver and judge of the people for nine years, Alma the Younger became increasingly distraught with what he observed among his people. People were growing prouder and vainer, focusing more on “riches and upon the vain things of the world,” becoming “scornful, one towards another,” and persecuting those who believed differently. There were “great contentions among the people” as well as “envyings, and strife, and malice” — and this division, this conflict, this hate existed not only outside of the church but inside it as well, festering like a cancer among people who had outwardly professed to have adopted the doctrine of Christ. The “wickedness…
-
Sabbath Devotional :: The Parable of the Plastic Bag, or The Lord Shall Prepare a Way
I want to tell you a story. I call it “The Parable of the Plastic Bag.” Technically, it’s not a parable, because it’s true. But “The True Story of the Plastic Bag” just doesn’t have the same ring to it. So, here’s the story. Which really happened, just as I tell it. One morning several years ago I went for a run. As I ran, I was praying and thinking and sort of spiritually planning my day. I had a lot to get done, and knew I’d have to stick to a very tight schedule. But it all seemed very routine and small-circle-focused (meetings, appointments, kids’ school activities, lessons, laundry,…
-
Sabbath Devotional :: Eyes and Hearts Wide Open
It’s no secret that life is full of ambiguity. Here at MWEG, in particular, we’ve all learned that, while some issues can be reduced to simple blacks and whites, more often than not, the “ethical” solution is nuanced and not immediately clear. We rely on the Spirit and the clarifying power of love as we seek answers. How, though, can we repeatedly and successfully grapple with the distance we know exists between the real and the ideal? Listen to these words from Bruce C. Hafen: “The English writer G. K. Chesterton once distinguished among ‘optimists,’ ‘pessimists,’ and ‘improvers.’ The most productive response to ambiguity . . . is at level…
-
Sabbath Devotional :: Jesus and the Bent Woman
The Gospel of Luke shares an intriguing story in Chapter 13:10-17. For the last recorded time in his ministry, Jesus teaches in the synagogue. Among the listeners is a woman. In that day only men’s presence “counted” for quorums, so there may not have been many women in attendance. This woman is unique not just because she’s in the minority, but because she suffers from an ailment that has curved her spine so severely that for the last 18 years she hasn’t been able to stand up straight “at all.” She constantly faces the ground, the dirt, the trash and debris. She can’t look people in the eye. Imagine how…
-
Sabbath Devotional :: Am I One of the People Who Helps?
One of my Jewish friends mentioned, ‘the Anne Frank game’, but I didn’t know it was a widespread phenomenon until I saw a video about it in the Anne Frank House and Museum in Amsterdam. It’s not an official game — that would be crass — but a conversation that crops up among Jewish friends all over the world originating with the question, “Who would be the five helpers in your life?” As you know, the Frank family and others were assisted by five beloved helpers who sacrificed their time, money, safety and risked their lives to protect friends and strangers. When rereading the diary this summer, I was amazed…
-
Sabbath Devotional :: Three Words
My husband Chris (a wise man, as opposed to a wise guy) directed my attention today to the transcendent scripture Psalm 46:10 (KJV): “Be still, and know that I am God.” If you transliterate that into Hebrew you get these three words: raphah yada’ ‘elohiym These are the meanings of those words: raphah: to sink, relax, sink down, let drop, withdraw yada’: to know, learn to know, perceive, find out, discriminate, distinguish, know by experience, recognize, admit, acknowledge ‘elohiym: gods, The God, judge, goddess, divine one, godly, great If ever there were a need for me to ruminate on this scripture and its rich, holy and layered meanings, it is…
-
Sabbath Devotional :: The Master’s Work of Peacemaking
As we put an action-packed 2017 behind us and prepare ourselves for the year ahead, I hope we can each take a few moments to think and evaluate how our work at MWEG has made us feel. It would certainly be very easy in this challenging year for us to feel any number of negative emotions about the current state of affairs in the world — stressed, depressed, panicked, angry, even despairing. But if those are the predominant feelings we experience in our efforts, we must renew our focus on the one who (we hope) is always guiding our efforts — the Prince of Peace. Peacemaking has been our clarion…
-
Sabbath Devotional :: Eve, Mary, and the Tree of Life
(Suggestion: Take a second to study this print of Mary and Eve by Sister Grace Remington of the Cistercian Sisters of the Mississippi Abbey before reading the scripture chain below.) ***** “And when the woman saw that the tree was good . . . and a tree to be desired to make her wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and also gave unto her husband with her . . . And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.” (Moses 4) ***** “And Mary said, ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word .…
-
Sabbath Devotional :: Advent
Last week my husband and I began our Sabbath with a quiet family devotional focused on the theme of this special First Advent Sunday: Hope. Today is the second Sunday of Advent. Its theme is Love. Here is this year’s schedule of my interpretation of the four Sundays of Advent, plus a couple additional related worshipful family devotionals for the season. This could be a wonderful tradition to add to your December Monday night Family Home Evenings, if you don’t wish to add this faith-filled Christian tradition to your Sundays. Make it your own, and peace be with you! – Linds P. Jackson. WEEK 1: HOPE (purple candle) Hymns Readings…
