Interfaith Devo: Stick it out

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Stick it out

Hebrews 10:32-39 (I like the Message version)

What word of instruction do I hear?
Stick it out. Do not abandon your faith.

It is so easy to give up hope. We go through hard times, lose loved ones, suffer rejection. We struggle with our addictions or the addictions of our friends/family. We lose a job. Fail a test. Fall behind on our bills. We try to do the right thing and get kicked in the face for all our trouble. Life can really get us down.

I've just started to read Jonathan Kellerman's new psychological thriller, "Compulsion." And early on he compares a man's cry of sorrow to the sound of animals at the slaughterhouse. Kellerman describes the sound as the end of hope.

Everything in me rebelled at the statement. I don't know how anyone can live without hope. Life is hard, and sometimes it seems like we are surrounded by sin and death and violence and poverty and injustice and cruelty. But I am pinning all my hopes on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe in God's power to create and to re-create. At the heart of the Christian faith is the belief that God is at work in the world to bring about new life. No matter how hopeless our situation might seem, God will make things right. It may take some time for us to be able to see what God has done or is doing. But if we can stick things out, hold on to our faith, refuse to give up or to give in, we will see all the glorious things that God has done.

For what would I like to give thanks?
For friends and family who wouldn't let me give up hope.

How have I missed the mark?
I let things bother me. I get down and discouraged.

How is God present in this text?
God is on the way. God is coming to our rescue. God has been working things out for us even before we knew there was a God or a problem or a reason to be concerned. God wants to save us from all our enemies. God wants us to live happy, joyous, and free. And we can when we trust in God all the way.

Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul.
Thank you, Lord, for making me whole.
Thank you, Lord, for giving to me
Thy great salvation so rich and free.
(words and music by Mr. and Mrs. Seth Sykes)

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Praying Scripture

First of all: there are lots of ways to pray. And I'm of the opinion that it doesn't matter so much to God HOW we talk to God as long as we ARE talking to God. (Though I suppose God would like to be treated with respect -- I mean, who doesn't?) And, it's probably more beneficial to us if we allow God to participate in the conversation. (After all, don't you just hate it when one person does all the talking and never lets you get a word in edgeways!)

So I'm not trying to tell you that this is the ONLY way to pray or the only way to meditate upon The Bible. I'm simply sharing with you a practice that I have found helpful. I have adapted information from a book entitled "Saved from Silence: Finding Women's Voice in Preaching," which was written by Drs. Mary Donovan Turner and Mary Lin Hudson (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 1999. pp. 109-11).

We'll start with a passage of scripture. You can read it in any version you like. Most of the time, I will be using the New Revised Standard Version.

Before reading, sit quietly and take a few moments to slow down. Get in touch with what you are feeling at that very moment. Read through the text. Now read it again, but more slowly this time. And listen for the instruction that you hear. What is the passage telling you to do? This instruction may come from a word, phrase, or image that is used in the text, or it may come from a sense of the whole passage.

As you read the passage again, listen for something for which you would like to give thanks. For what are you grateful?

Read the text again. This time, be aware of how you have "missed the mark" in your own life. Admit to the mistakes you have made or bad attitudes that you have or bad habits that you have developed. Ask yourself: Is there anything about this text that produces fear or anger in you?

Read the text again. Think about how God is present to you in this text. What word, phrase, image, or feeling stands out for you? Rest in the feeling? Let that feeling lead you to resting in God.

Close with a personal prayer of thanksgiving.

Author

Interfaith Devo is written by the Rev. Jolinne Balentine, director of the Interfaith Student Center at UT Martin. Jolinne is an ordained elder in the Memphis Conference of the United Methodist Church and has served churches in Brownsville and Memphis, TN, and in Benton, KY, before moving to Martin in June 2007. Jolinne studied journalism and sociology at Memphis State University and theology at Memphis Theological Seminary. She and her husband, Cliff, have one daughter, two cats, five hermit crabs, and a Beta fish.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Stick it out

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