| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions |
| | | | | This week: God as moving on. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com . God as moving on - just has. Whatever we thought was to be the God we wanted - becomes more than our imagination will allow. God as moving on calls forth love and justice and peace. Then, when we are sure we are being loving, bringing forth justice and creating peace, God as moving unveils the many other ways we can walk within the ways of God's expanding love, justice and peace. Unfortunately, we often expect that our vision of love, peace, and justice is the end. When we are able to get 'there,' we will have done our part. And yet, God as moving on shows us that we have been invited on a journey that will keep us moving into new experiences that call for love, peace, justice, and so much more - all of which expands our life so that we are created anew each day. O God of love and new life, are you moving us again today? Please continue and then move us again. Amen. |
 | | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions |
| | | | | This week: God as moving on. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com . God as moving on continues to come to us from a direction we have not yet anticipate. This God will not be put into a mold and cast into something we can keep for ourselves - like jewelry. God as moving on may also be the God who takes us back over old ground so that we see it with new eyes and come to see how God is able to transform us and yet keep us in touch with all that we have been. God as moving on understands that we have been brutalized or traumatize or misunderstood or been foolish. And yet, all of that is a part of us and all of that must be seen within the grasp of this God who is able to help us move on into new life. To move on, we cannot dismiss what was - but we can remember the presence of this God as moving on who will never let those days of pain overwhelm us. God as moving on is seeking to move us on into days of healing and wholeness and joy even when we still seem to linger deep within the pains of or lives. O God of love and new life, move us on through our pain and empower us to be creative in the midst of all that has tried to dismantle and harm us. Move us on into the knowledge of your presence - eternally. Amen. |
 | | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions |
| | | | | This week: God as moving on. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com . God as moving on was just here with us but is now moving on to a new place and bidding us to follow. We usually want God to come to be with us - but we want God to stay with us as we would have life be. God as moving on comes into any and every space or life without hesitation or partiality - and then, God moves us on to a new place that will reflect more than whatever we have tried to make of ourselves. God as moving on is full of invitation. Come and see - Come and hear this - Come and live anew, in order that we may never try to keep God stuck in one place with one people or in one time. God as moving on reminds us of that which is beyond us and yet is as much of God's Reign as all the stuff we considered to be all that there could be. Just beyond here is the there that helps us see more and more of the glory of God as God keeps moving on and creating all things anew. O God of love and new life, when you invite us to come and follow you we are not quite sure what that will mean for us. Therefore, we hesitate or stumble or turn and go the other direction. Within your invitation, take hold of our hearts and help us to not fear what is not yet visible to us and then nudge us to move on with you. Amen. |
 | | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions |
| | | | | This week: God as moving on. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com . We can expect that injustice will be all around us but God as moving on will not stay in the middle of it all and let it dominate us. God as moving on is pressing or the way of truth and justice even when that way is being covered over by all the ways injustice finds ways to rule. God as moving on is like that itch that will not go away. God persistently raises a voice filled with the vision of that which is not yet. That vision does not settle for what is and it will not merely put up with what is and it will resist every attempt to keep things just as they are. God as moving on means to move us into a new place so that we will see the world around us with eyes able to discern how far away from the Reign of God even the most pious and religious actions will run. God as moving on does not settle for less than the Reign of God that is always coming right at us. O God of love and new life, open our eyes that we may see the movements of your Reign. Amen. |
 | | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions |
| | | | | This week: God as moving on. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com . God as moving on does not wait for us to 'get it.' We may hold back and hold onto old ways and hold grudges and hold onto what we want and have - but God moves on. God as moving on is the power of new life that will not stick around in the world of death and revenge and self-consumption. God as moving on is the power of new life that spilled down onto the house of Cornelius - a power that did not ask for permission or ask whether or not everyone was ready. You see, God is moving on to make God's Reign visible and alive even when we are want to stay put and keep questioning if we can move along with our God. God as moving on will not move on simply to fit into the kind of plans we have for success. In fact, our great plans and our great notions of what will 'work' for us and for others are usually going in the opposite direction of our God as moving on. We tend to move on to that which will provide security and comfort. God as moving on is moving on into the life that brings justice, mercy, peace, and unbounded hospitality. O God of love and new life, inspire us to move on along the way of your Reign as it comes upon us this day. Amen. |
 | | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions |
| | | | | This week: God as beyond words. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com . At the end of a week of writing on God as beyond words - with more and more words - I cannot help and laugh at myself. And yet, it is important that we all learn to laugh at our attempts to draw the defining line about God and to also laugh at how we take ourselves so seriously without bringing to life the life of this God who leads us beyond our fears and shortcomings and our inflated egos. So today - on this Friday - go ahead and laugh at all we try to do and say so that we can be free to go beyond our words and be amazed by grace. O God of love and new life, amaze us again and bring us into the fullness of your life. Amen. |
 | | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions |
| | | | | This week: God as beyond words. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com . When words fail - touch and presence and being in the same room can revive us. God as beyond words is the God who becomes life rather than becomes more words. More and more words can and do come quite easily. Recently I heard someone talk wonderfully about how their were caught up in a new sense of spirituality that seemed to be giving him new insights. As an observer, the words are just words. He sounds and looks and reacts just he always did. Fingers still point, judgments against others persist, and the world of 'us verses them' is still the power of life or him. Words are wonderful cover. Words keep our hearts hidden and put forward fine dreams without making the dreams real. God as beyond words are the hopes and dreams of a new life and a new world that simply come alive and make heads turn because that life is so alien and wonder-filled. O God of love and new life, please help that love and life show in, with, and under all that we are. Amen. |
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