Today's Lectionary TextActs 10:34-43Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”  Today's Devotional
God’s message is for everybody. That’s what Peter said. The Message puts these words in his mouth: “Nothing could be plainer: God plans no favorites! It makes no difference who you are or where you are from…” How we embrace that word! Our proclamation comes in many languages and expressions that we know are pleasing to God. What a joy when we see Christ in one another.
And what sorrow when we fail to see fully, what God sees in each of us, what God has forgiven in every one of God’s beloved children – the young ones, the older ones, the ones who look like me and the ones who don’t, the ones who pray without ceasing in their simple homes or shelters, the ones whose politics or perspectives are different from mine, those whose mistakes in life are written in bad decisions that fill the news. It’s the most basic of our faith claims: Christ died for each of these, lives for in everyone. It’s still the same Easter promise. Only when I truly claim the Gospel hope for myself in its fullness, can I see the Christ in you and in them and in us. Even though Peter is a witness to Christ, he has a kind of conversion of thinking through his encounter with Gentile Cornelius. What was the last encounter you had which caused you to rethink the implications of your faith? Be open to the fact that people you encounter today are potential instruments of the Holy Spirit, leading you to new understandings about God and your resurrection faith. Prayer for ReflectionLord, bless us into receiving Easter deeply into our very beings, that we might live it out into the world.
-Excerpts from Catch Fire in 50 Days: Joining the Movement of God’s Mission in the World by Blake Busick and Christie Latona, devotional from Kristie Olah. Yesterday’s devotional was from the same book, with devotional adapted from Sungho Lee. If you would like to receive sermon notes, song suggestions, and prayers for Sundays during Easter from “Catch Fire in 50 Days” to help with worship planning each week, go to www.greatplainsumc.org/catchfire. |
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