Category Archives: Daily Bread Devotional

Resurrection: Between the Now and the Not Yet
Ron Harmon, Council of Twelve Apostles

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
  a stronghold in times of trouble.
And those who know your name put their trust in you,
  for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. -Psalm 9:9-10

I shared with a good friend the other day who was suffering because of the loss of her life companion. Death feels so final in the moments following loss. Even the most eloquent expressions of hope don’t breathe life into the darkest moments of despair.

I wanted nothing more than to move past this space to hope and yet was disturbed with an awareness that this was fertile ground-space where the seeds of resurrection would take root and grow. Neither one of us could just “move on.” We were changed and the “not yet” could only unfold as we fully claimed the impact of the “now” on our lives.

Two distraught disciples traveled from Jerusalem to Emmaus. It was Sunday, the third day of the most disruptive and dark weekend of their lives. They were talking about the horrific events that had just taken place. There was no going back to the way things were. They were in the space between “now” and the “not yet.” Their emotional turmoil was a necessary part of claiming the impact of the “now” on their lives.

Then a stranger (Jesus) joined them and inquired about what had happened. He chose to abide with them in the difficult place of their suffering. In the raw and receptive space of the “now” the living Christ was revealed as they broke bread together.

Where does one look to find the beginnings of resurrection? Does it occur in one glorious flash of divinity after the long hours of suffering? Or is it hidden in our complacency until reality abruptly presses us into raw receptivity?

May we live fully in the “now” together, cultivating receptive space and open to glimpses of the “not yet” unfolding in our midst.

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Spiritual Practice

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Beginning
Barbara Howard of Independence, MO, USA

Reprinted from Journey of Joy, Herald House, 1990, p. 130

“Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.”  -Philippians 3:13

As we packed to move from the large house we had occupied for more than twenty years, I fought back tears. Now that our family was shrinking a smaller home would be welcome, yet it brought sadness, too. I could not pack those years and bring them along.

Several days before the move I spotted a birdhouse still hanging in the cedar tree. It had been vacant for some time, so I reached to take it down. Then I noticed a carefully woven nest with several broken eggshells inside. The birds had labored as we had to create a home, yet they had abandoned it, leaving it behind like a small, empty tomb. Soon our house would be empty, I thought.

I was reminded then of Christ’s tomb and how its emptiness symbolized a beginning, not an ending. My sadness was replaced with a deep sense of gratitude for the many years of shelter our house had provided us, aiding in preparation for a new phase of life.

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Spiritual Practice

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Persistence
Deb Crowley of Urbandale, IA, USA

This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
  let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. -Isaiah 25:9

Persistence. This is the guide word I chose for 2018. I’m a pretty good procrastinator. For example, I started a crotchet project in August 2016. I finished the base but was stumped at the next directions that were different from any I had seen before. Discouraged, I set it aside. With persistence as my guide word, I opted to take up the project once again and figure it out! Completion of this project led to starting and finishing another.

Spring is persistent. As seemingly endless winter days drag our spirits down with cold weather, gray days, and unwelcomed snowstorms, we long for fresh spring air to fill our bodies, hearts, and souls! Slowly, magically, spring triumphs. A robin appears in the yard, green sprouts of crocus and daffodils poke through the barren earth, and the sun appears, teasing with warm breezes that bring freshened hope.

As we neared the end of a long forty days of Lent walking the path of Jesus during his most difficult days, we yearned for light and renewal!

The resurrection is persistent. Easter comes. Once again we rejoice in new life, new hope, new possibilities because of God’s gift of Christ.

But resurrection delights only when there has been darkness, death, or uncertainty. Or procrastination. Set aside whatever might hold you back or take you away from the light of Christ! Take up the cross or burden weighing you down and move forward. One day, one step at a time.

You are not alone; we’re in this together! Our church community is not perfect, but always seeking to find ways to support, uplift, guide, and strengthen those whom God loves so deeply. Community of Christ is persistent. Count on it!

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Spiritual Practice

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Resurrection-Happening Every Day
Shirley Vallier Remmenga of Fort Collins, CO, USA

Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ-he is Lord of all. -Acts 10:34-36

I have a little cactus growing near my kitchen window. When I purchased it some time ago, it was a perfect flat little plant with greenish and reddish fleshy parts (modified leaves). It pleasured my eyes and heart. As time went along, the “leaves” began to shrink and die. I thought it was on its way out. However, it didn’t take long before a new little plant began to show its head. It was growing out of the dying parts. It was vigorously upright and bright green. This delighted me. As the original plant died, this new one flourished. Resurrection happened right there in that little pot.

Resurrection happens all the time. In the spring, the seemingly dead trees and grass change into living, growing leaves and blades; baby animals are birthed and populate the woods, meadows, and mountains; the boredom of winter (experienced by many people) ceases as life and energy return to the out-of-doors; old ways of thinking and doing die and new ways take their place. The list goes on and on.

Resurrection, the process of dying and being reborn, happens as we connect to, listen to, and respond to the Presence, the Holy Spirit, the God Within. We need not go searching for this Spirit because it dwells within and without and is available all the time.

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Spiritual Practice

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Resurrected!
Rick Maupin of Lee’s Summit, MO, USA

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.  -Colossians 3:16-17

It is almost too bad we know the rest of the Easter story, or at least we think we do. Because of our familiarity with the story we may be missing some of the surprise of Easter. Our familiarity may limit what we expect to hear and experience.

Many come expecting to see Easter lilies and an invitation to sing, “Alleluia, he is risen.” Most will be able to describe the scene at the tomb before we read again the story in Mark. If asked what is next, many of us would recount disciples walking down a road with the resurrected Jesus, talking and eating with him. Many of the children can predict the stone sealing the tomb is not a problem.

There will be no gasps of surprise when congregation members hear the tomb is empty. So, is it possible Easter has become too predictable, too domesticated, and even routine?

That first Easter morning the women in Mark’s story thought they knew what they would find at that tomb. They set out on their journey expecting to find a small cave sealed with a stone and a decaying body inside. However, the empty tomb surprised them, as well as the young man who told them Jesus had gone ahead of them into Galilee. Their response, according to Mark, was fear and silence.

Let us not be bound by our expectations and familiarity with the Easter story. Let us go find the resurrected Jesus in the Galilees of our world. When we do, this familiar story will be filled with new surprises. But let’s not be fearful and silent; let those surprises erupt in voices singing in new ways, “Alleluia, he is risen!”

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Spiritual Practice

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Easter and the Cause of Zion
Tony Chvala-Smith of Independence, MO, USA

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
  break forth into joyous song and sing praises. -Psalm 98:4

Community of Christ believes the Risen Lord has called us to pursue peace and establish the cause of Zion. We understand this as the call to share the peace of Jesus Christ in all its personal, interpersonal, community, and worldwide dimensions. In the Bible, Zion is the term for Jerusalem, the holy city. For us this image of the city has become one of our central symbols: a city is a powerful symbol of community. Shaped by these biblical images from the past, our hope for the future is communal.

As Easter restored the broken community of the disciples, so the cause of Zion calls us to promote local and worldwide ministries that signal the peaceful reign of God on Earth by working to mend neighborhoods, nations, and nature. This work is difficult, but not futile. The Bible closes with the image of the new holy city coming to Earth (Revelation 21). We take that to be a promise that community is the future of the human race. The age to come is about perfecting life together. God, whose threefold name reveals the divine community, intends human life to reflect the divine reality. That is the end to which we were created. That is the end for which our humanity is being renewed. Because of this promise, we embrace in hope the cause of Zion.

(Excerpt from A Way of Life, available from Herald House: https://www.heraldhouse.org/products/a-way-of-life-1?_pos=1&_sid=6128a2629&_ss=r&variant=20877108248679)

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Spiritual Practice

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Christ Is Risen!
Jaylene O’Keefe of Independence, MO USA

…the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said.” -Matthew 28:5-6

In the dark and difficult days of Lent, we talk a lot about hope-bold hope, stubborn hope. The muddy mess of winter’s end can’t hide the promise of spring’s return.

And here it comes! Look at the gardens. Leaves unfurl, welcoming the sun. Birds and bugs tune up their voices. Color returns to every branch and bud. As Parker Palmer wrote: “Spring teaches me to look more carefully for the green stems of possibilities” (Enter Spring).

As Christians our Easter rejoicing centers on the hope we know, the hope we share, the peace and presence of Jesus in our lives. We are Easter people, not just once a year, but every day-praying and serving, hoping and loving, living the promise of the Resurrection. Do you see through Christ whom we are becoming? Do you see our green stems of possibilities?

Here is God’s testing of true Easter people,
spirited people with service to give,
taking to heart the compassion of Jesus,
feeling how others must struggle to live;
we are a part of God’s upside-down kingdom,
we know the heart of the gospel’s demand,
taking our part with the leftover people,
widening the space of the lines in the sand.

-“Leftover People in Leftover Places,” Shirley Erena Murray,
\xc2\xa9 2007 The Hymn Society (admin. Hope Publishing Company)
Community of Christ Sings 275

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Spiritual Practice

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Embrace Transformation, Part 6
Katie Harmon-McLaughlin, Spiritual Formation Ministries

They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.  -John 19:40-42

Holy Week is a reminder to us that the Christ-way is not a part-time journey. It requires nothing less than our whole selves. “Metamorphosis is more than just incremental change and adjustment,” writes President Veazey. “We may all have to give up something that seems very important to us. But at the same time, we together will experience a liberation-a liberation from many of the things that seem so heavy on us at times. And our experience as we move forward will give us assurance that this, indeed, is the direction God has in mind for us. And it is the direction that will bring blessing into our lives. And it will be like discovering the gospel as if for the first time, even though we have journeyed a long time with it in our movement” (“Metamorphosis,” January/February 2020 Herald).

“Remain here, stay awake with me,” urges Jesus as we move through this Holy Week. Stay present, alert, and bring your whole self. This is just the beginning.

Lenten Reflection Questions:

• What might it look like to bring your whole self to the journey of transformation?
• What does the image of metamorphosis mean for your life or community?

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Lenten Spiritual Practices

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Fasting and Giving-$40 in 40 Days

A Lenten fast gives us an opportunity to make space in our lives so that God can live in and through us. It’s a time to evaluate what we hunger for most and what we consume. This year, we’ve been invited to tithe as a spiritual practice by setting aside $40 during the 40 days of Lent. If you are participating, pay attention today to the dollar you have given. What might you have done with that dollar otherwise? How does Lenten generosity invite you to reflect on what is “enough” in your life? Who might you invite to join you in this practice? How might your gift be magnified by the many others responding to the same call?

You can make your $40 offering anytime during the Lenten season online or through your offering envelope for Worldwide Mission Tithes.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Embrace Transformation, Part 5
Katie Harmon-McLaughlin, Spiritual Formation Ministries

After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.  -John 19:28-30

We remember that we are part of something bigger-this whole beautiful, complex, hurting, and healing cosmos. We are part of God’s work in the world to unify and restore and redeem. We are part of the divine life that connects us and fills us and encourages us to be who we were truly meant to be. Lent is the season that shouts from our depths-don’t settle for less than the immensity of divine love as the source of your life! Don’t settle for a lesser vision than the dream of shalom for all creation! Don’t settle for your culture’s assumed barriers, boundaries, categories, and ideologies that falsely divide and demean. There is yet more! Our urgencies, agendas, priorities, and passions are reordered in proper proportion to the depth and width and breadth of this sacred invitation and vision.

Lenten Reflection Questions:

• What is the “more” to which you are called this Lent? 
• What deeper vision is being revealed during Holy Week in your life?

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Lenten Spiritual Practices

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Fasting and Giving-$40 in 40 Days

A Lenten fast gives us an opportunity to make space in our lives so that God can live in and through us. It’s a time to evaluate what we hunger for most and what we consume. This year, we’ve been invited to tithe as a spiritual practice by setting aside $40 during the 40 days of Lent. If you are participating, pay attention today to the dollar you have given. What might you have done with that dollar otherwise? How does Lenten generosity invite you to reflect on what is “enough” in your life? Who might you invite to join you in this practice? How might your gift be magnified by the many others responding to the same call?

You can make your $40 offering anytime during the Lenten season online or through your offering envelope for Worldwide Mission Tithes.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Embrace Transformation, Part 4
Katie Harmon-McLaughlin, Spiritual Formation Ministries

So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.  -John 13:14-15

Beneath the surface, at the heart of the matter, Lent is about a return to God as the source of our living, God as the ground of reality, God as the sacred presence in all creation, God as redemptive movement throughout time. It is not up to us alone. We release our need for control. We take a breath. We take a step back. We find relief in humility. We see again a wider picture beyond the immediate concerns that have consumed our attention.

Lenten Reflection Questions:

• How do you find relief in humility? 
• What has been the heart of Lent in your life this year?

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Lenten Spiritual Practices

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Fasting and Giving-$40 in 40 Days

A Lenten fast gives us an opportunity to make space in our lives so that God can live in and through us. It’s a time to evaluate what we hunger for most and what we consume. This year, we’ve been invited to tithe as a spiritual practice by setting aside $40 during the 40 days of Lent. If you are participating, pay attention today to the dollar you have given. What might you have done with that dollar otherwise? How does Lenten generosity invite you to reflect on what is “enough” in your life? Who might you invite to join you in this practice? How might your gift be magnified by the many others responding to the same call?

You can make your $40 offering anytime during the Lenten season online or through your offering envelope for Worldwide Mission Tithes.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.