Our Weekly Devotionals are created by our staff and members to inspire reflections and conversation.
Generation Gap
“What concerns do you have about the future of this generation of teenagers?” he asked me, while holding the phone up to my mouth with the Voice Memos app recording my every word. Casey, my 15-year-old son, had an assignment for his sociology class in which he had to interview someone from the Baby Boomer generation about their thoughts and concerns about Gen Z and Alpha. For the record, I was born in 1982, which puts me right at the end of Gen X and at the beginning of the Millennials, so I am not in the age group for the assignment, but when your kid waits until last minute to do his assignment, we stretch the rules a little. Ironically enough, this has me a little worried about the time management skills of his generation, but I digress.
Commitment
Usually, I struggle to know what to write for a devotional. But as I write this one, my wedding is a week away. It’s an obvious choice to reflect on the nature of the commitment I am preparing to make. And I have been—in the few moments between work and wedding planning and life—thinking about what it is to promise another person my devotion and love for the rest of my days on this earth.
Eclipse
Today when you read this, a total solar eclipse will cross North America from Sinola in Mexico to Newfoundland in Canada. Those of you who were in Kansas City on 22 August 2017 will remember the total solar eclipse that passed over our own city well. For me, it was cloudy when the eclipse occurred, yet the effect on the nature which surrounded those of us watching together was profound as all of the nocturnal fauna started to appear from their daytime slumber and chirp and sing as though night had come early for them.
Generational Hope
Sometimes we get out of our way and find hope.
It’s six thirty in the morning and I let the dogs out, stepping on the patio to take an extra breath of the newly humid air. Grass and other familiar smells tickle my nose, birds chirp with surprise at the sudden seasonal change. Like kindling, smoking then at once beginning to flame.
In Chillicothe later that day I head outside at lunch, intending to do a twenty-minute Peloton walk, but it’s too cold, too windy, too cloudy. Fits and starts, but spring is surely coming.
A Season of Hope
Caleb discovered his love of baseball just as the Royals became truly awful, again. That has not stopped him from tracking every statistic, following every player, and understanding all of the trades. He loves Royals baseball. So, last week we went to Phoenix, AZ to see two Royals spring training games. We watched them win against the Guardians in Goodyear, AZ and went to a home game in Surprise, AZ where they beat the Cincinnati Reds. Bobbie Witt, Jr. hit a home run, and Caleb was very excited.
Spring Arrivals
I guess my house has a powerful maternal vibe. As spring begins each year, well, I never know quite what’s coming. My neighbors laugh at my house-meets-nature stories, because they just don’t have the odd things happening that I do at their own places.
As spring arrives, I find myself grudgingly going along with most of the strange appearances and the universally accepted assumption that my place is not just mine. They were here first, after all, before this little house was built beside the woods.
When Would You Suffer for Another?
I struggle a bit with Easter. That Christ had to die for our sins never held much logic to me. It makes more sense that Jesus died because of our sins, rather than for our sins. And the focus during the Easter season on the suffering of Jesus seems to risk overshadowing his teachings.
This week, though, it occurred to me that maybe I've been looking at Easter the wrong way. .
RAISED ROYAL
It was only a couple of years after my parents landed in Kansas City as refugees from Cuba that I was born at Baptist Hospital on Rockhill Road. My sister now lives in the house where we grew up. In summer, there were long games of catch between my Dad and my brother in the front yard. I’d sit on the stoop, as we listened to Denny Matthews call the Royals games on the radio. I can close my eyes and smell the hot concrete and feel the cool grass under my bare feet.
Love Builds Up
We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.
-1 Corinthians 8:1
A patient comes in for a second opinion. Or a last chance. Or they have been putting this appointment off due to fear or embarrassment. They are apprehensive, suspicious, broken or have low expectations. Angry or crying. Arms flailing and voice raised or a confusing whisper. Or no voice at all, a driver or caregiver or armed guard or granddaughter in the room, equally uncomfortable or on edge.
Sixty Four Ounces
Well, I’ve already managed to fail the one New Year’s resolution I opted to make this year. Just a mere 18 days into 2024, I gave up on my goal of drinking 64 ounces of water a day, and I put my giant water bottle with the motivational ounce markers in the cupboard.
This was supposed to be such an easy change for me – pick an easy resolution, they said, and you’ll easily see it through. Nope. Not me.
MORE!
While I’ve never really been one for buzzwords and such, I’ve found myself focused since the start of the new year on one word in particular…MORE. Its presence on my mind and heart has admittedly been a bit strange because, when I think of it, my focus is not at all upon what one might think of in the context of our materialistic American culture that has commodified most everything including people, relationships, and even time.
Commitment
It’s dark when my alarm goes off these days; even when I hit snooze. The sun doesn’t brighten the sky much before 7 AM, and the clouds can cover it all day. So, my longstanding goal of waking up earlier is facing some big obstacles.
Giraffes on Horseback Salad
I don't quite remember how I first came across the unproduced screenplay Giraffes on Horseback Salad written by Salvador Dalí for Harpo Marx. But now you too know of its existence. Today, you can find a version of the screenplay as a graphic novel which sits in front of me as I write this. Dalí's friendship with Harpo is a joyous one considering neither spoke the other's language very well.
Rest
I confess I do not like this season when all of nature, wrapped in blankets of snow, seems to sleep or at least conserve energy. Socialized to value productivity over rest, wintertime always feels painfully foreign to me, like wasted time. Yet, lately, reading the book, Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey, I have been challenged to rethink my values around the concept of rest.
Ins and Outs of 2024
My past new year’s resolutions have been being a SMART-goaling, manifesting, vision board, word-of-the-year kind of energy. I might commit to write a sentence a day, eat more vegetables or floss. But this year, none of those activities seemed appealing. The idea of resolutions seemed tired. Our 15 ½ year old dog Grace died on Dec. 28th. It was not unexpected, and she left this world peacefully. However, the loss has hit us all hard. So, in honor of Grace, you might consider this alternative activity that made its way around social media: think about your Ins / Outs for 2024.
A Lesson in Welcoming the New Year
One of my most poignant memories of New Years is a moment I was not there to experience. In my role as the family archivist, I was working my way through old photos, and I decided it was time to go through the movies. I had Dad’s projector set up in the basement with the beam of light aimed at the wall, trying to decide what to have converted into a current video format, and what I should pitch, of the thousands of feet of movie film in the tins in the box on the floor.
Juxtaposed Childhoods
My sister and I have been typing my father's small, handwritten script from the first notebook of his autobiography. This morning, I typed 5 pages from his childhood about sledding. The details of his memory are astounding...how could he remember so much about whizzing down hills, racing with his 5 older brothers, missing the dinner bell, and crashing into trees in the dark?
Mary
Advent and Lent are the same season, the pastor explained. The waiting and the anticipation, the richness of the deep purple that adorns the worship space, the cast of “lead characters” in the familiar texts. Of course they are; Advent and Lent are the same season.
Christmas Dream
We spend most of the year blocking out the cries of the poor and suffering. In Hamas, Ukraine, and Sub Saharan Africa. In our oceans and lakes. In our atmosphere and feedlots. In much of the United States.
Maybe we read some news stories. Or doom scroll headlines and pictures on social media. Or spend an afternoon volunteering somewhere. Or write a check.
But mostly we do nothing.
Just A Moment In The Day
Sometimes the essence of our faith can be revealed by spontaneous simple events, not by a miracle or exorbitant transformation.
A few weeks ago, I must admit my ride to downtown on I-35 was spoiled by a driver who leaned into my lane and sharply cut dangerously in front of me. It didn't bring the best out in me and caused a lingering sullenness. I continued going downtown, our group picked up grocery donations and then headed to Cherith Brook.