This week: God as the first day of the week. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com. God as the first day of the week is the God who abides with us on and through all the other days because all the other days are shaped by the resurrection to new life that is now ours to live. No matter what day we are entering or what the conditions of the day may be, there is our God utterly available and relentlessly creating possibilities for us to see new ways of approaching the life that is unfolding before us. God as the first day of the week may not come at us with a big bang. It simply may be an encounter - an insight - a relationship - a question. In all of that, doors open for us. God as the first day of the week shouts out 'let's go and face all things knowing that God is always revealing the life that is promised and the life that is meant for all God's children. It is Friday - it is the first day of the week within God's Reign. O God of love and new life, let's go. Amen. |
 | | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions |
| | | | | This week: God as the first day of the week. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com. I'm always looking for new ways to enter into life in a way that is filled with hopefulness no matter how the day may look. It is not always easy. I then thought about the 'first day of the week' at early dawn - after the crucifixion - after the stone-cold days in the tomb - when, for most folks, hope would have been mere wishful thinking. And yet, God as the first day of the week makes today a creation of hope - a time for grand imagination that announces another way to take hold of the day and live. God as the first day of the week is hope that abides with us. The day is not filled with magic. It is filled with the same life we always have - but now it is life that need not fear the tales of death that usually are able to shut us up and shut us down. God as the first day of the week dictates the new creation even when evidence around us shows that the old ways are still trying to take hold of the day. As we wake up in the midst of this day, we are already placed into a new domain in which we can grab hold of the resurrection life that is handed to us. O God of love and new life, help us imagine this new life that you hand to us and then guide us as we step into the abundance of life that awaits us. Amen. |
 | | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions |
| | | | | This week: God as the first day of the week. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com. God as the first day of the week is the opportunity to open doors - all of them. It is in the presence of this God that we can step into the day, look around, and take hold of the unfolding of God's Reign. It becomes the first day of life that is not able to be contained by any other power. It is the day of liberation and freedom. It is the day of reconciliation and hopefulness. God as the first day of the week shapes the character of what is possible. Therefore, we are never left with only a few choices for what we are able to do in life. Rather, the day is open to the wideness of God's creative power that comes even when we have experience death and any of its forms. God as the first day of the week is the power to be a part of the creative process of justice and peace and mercy and kindness re-making all things. O God of love and new life, we are so often aware of the door through which we are not able to go - doors we have been told are closed to us. And yet, you open those doors and bid us to enter and experience life beyond the many ways we have been restricted and held back. Lead us through those doors, O God. Amen. |
 | | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions |
| | | | | This week: God as the first day of the week. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com. God as the first day of the week means it is safe to begin again. The baggage from yesterday can be left behind and the new life of God's unbounded welcome is now at hand - and that is all that there is. God as the first day of the week does not settle for the many ways we attempt to rule the day and act as though we are the ones who hold the knowledge of good and evil. God as the first day of the week is the sound of the Alpha and the Omega. In other words, there is no other sound. Graciousness is the day. Forgiveness is present even when we attempt to bring in the 'stuff' that so often is killing us. God as the first day of the week sets the stage for the healing of all things. We are healed and we become a part of God's healing presence. The new creation really is at hand through this God who is present when the tomb went empty and has never been able to be the end of the story. O God of love and new life, we are able to enter into life more robustly as we come to see that you already are the creator of the first day of the week and you graciously welcome us into the life of the day. Amen. |
 | | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions |
| | | | | This week: God as the first day of the week. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com. Think of the first day of the week as the garden outside of the empty tomb. I just read something that contained that image. There on the first day of the week was life within a new creation. God as the first day of the week is creation without the threat and power of death - without coercion - without us against them. In that garden there is freedom. It is a freedom to live as though there is no power to fear - only life to enter freely and life that can be freely shared in and through all things. God as the first day of the week presents us with only one option - a new creation. Now is the resurrection. Now is the life. Now is the celebration of God's graciousness. Now is the first day of the week - the essence of God's domain. God as the first day of the week puts a new spin on the day we often hate so much. If all we do with the first day of the week is the same-old, same-old, it is a day we will avoid or a day we will try to rule. But, when the first day of the week is the resurrection power that no longer tolerates death - it really is a new day for us. O God of love and new life, give us the new day as you have promised. Make each day - the new day - the day of resurrection - the day that brings life to all your children. Amen. |
 | | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions |
| | | | | This week: God as resurrection full. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com. I want to know that fullness. Too often, I allow too many powers within this day to pull me into the ways of death - the ways of limited life - the ways of paybacks - the ways of retribution - the ways of finger-pointing madness. I need this God as resurrection full to overwhelm me and give me the power to face any other power and then rest in the confidence of new life wrapped up in God's gracious resurrection power - and that alone. This week - once again - I found that it takes others to nudge me into the hands of that power of new life. God as resurrection full is the God who approaches me and holds me and pushes me through the lives of those around me. I believe that God as resurrection full means that God abides in the life that is possible in and through all things. God's peaceable Reign is fully at hand and fully possible - even when I am being convinced that it is impossible. God as resurrection full is God calling my name - just as the risen Jesus called out to Mary in the garden outside the tomb. Death is then dismantled and life is attached to me - to me. I want to know that fullness. O God of love and new life, pour your Spirit of new life into us that we will be filled with the power of the resurrection. Amen. |
 | | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions |
| | | | | This week: God as resurrection full. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com. The day is resurrection full. That is a promise. Death may have its ways here and there. Death may even be able to persuade us not to live to the fullest. And yet, the day is resurrection full - the day is creation coming to life in new ways. God as resurrection full gives no room for other voices. Those other voices let death and its powers shape how we move through the day. Therefore, God is resurrection full - no room for anything else. So we are invited into the fullness of that life. It is really a life that blows over us and into us so that the fullness of God's resurrection life will become our very breath. God as resurrection full is not threaten by all the things we often let take hold of us and move us and control us. We are made full of whatever is possible next. One person noted that God does impossible things with impossible people. People taken up by the power of resurrection are empowered to enter the impossible and live even there - full alive - fully resurrected. O God of love and new life, take us and use, O God. Amen. |
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