Weekly Email Devotions - Page 9 of 19 - St. Peter's Lutheran Church

This Is My Body

I’m a bit mortified. We’re taking communion out of Dixie cups. Dixie cups with sea creatures on them, to boot. (When I headed over to my morning home communion visit I forgot to refresh my stock of plastic communion cups in my communion kit.) So … as take out the elements to prepare Holy Communion…

Millions of Stars

“He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them. Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.” (Psalm 147:4-5) Our thanks go out to Brendan Armitage for gifting us this beautiful reflection during the Advent-Christmas season. “Good evening from the North Atlantic; I’m not much for…

Faith as a Broken Box

The picture heading this devotion is not awaiting our trash pick-up this morning as you read this devotion. No, it is actually an important protective spirit in my household. It is the box which has housed the Christmas wreath that has hung above the front door to our home since we moved into it in…

Faith Rituals in a Secular World

Everyone is decked out in their uniforms for their morning responsibilities. They gather in a circle and create a bit of sanctuary amid the chaos that surrounds them … laughter, movement, local urchins running around, and beverages being consumed. Their leader offers up ritual words for the task before them, invoking God’s blessing on their…

Snowmen of Grace

I’m a little cranky. I know, you can’t believe it, can you? (Evidently, you don’t spend enough time with me away from church.) On this particular day that I am referencing, I’m cranky because while I love to shovel snow, what I love about it is seeing the results of my labor. On this day…

The Terrible Gift of Free Will

The problem of pain, of war and the horror of war, of poverty and disease is always confronting us. But a God who allows no pain, no grief, also allows no choice. There is little unfairness in a colony of ants, but there is also little freedom. We human beings have been given the terrible…

Blessed is the True Judge

Baruch dayan ha’emet ברוך אתה ה’ אלוהינו מלך העולם, דיין האמת It is the phrase that is spoken among Jews when a fellow Jewish person dies. Translated it means “Blessed is the true judge.” A fuller version of the phrase is “Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam, dayan ha-emet” which means “Blessed are You, Lord,…

Tempered Strength

If I asked you to list ten words that describe you, would “meek” be on the list? My guess is that it would not. It probably would not make a list of one hundred words you would compile. I’m not sure when I have last heard the word “meek” used in conversation. But it has…

A Different Kind of Witnessing

We meet in the slightly chill air of an overcast morning … twenty or twenty-five of us. Most of us have come right from church service. We stand on a brick walkway or in the mulch or atop a few cement steps. Trees surround our gathering area, though not entirely. Those who pass by on…

Mushroom Grace

It seemed to show up in my lawn overnight and got very comfortable … very quickly. It wasn’t a miraculous arrival, but it seemed like it. It enjoyed a couple of days of hospitality, but was then banished to salad-bar fodder for the squirrels and other denizens of our unruly lawn, after I cut the…