http://www.ucc.org Daily Devotional Feed webmaster@ucc.org webmaster@ucc.org United Church of Christ Convio Content Management System Module en-us www.ucc.org-309487118 http://www.ucc.org/feed-your-spirit/daily-devotional/known-by-our-enemies.html Make no mistake about it, our identities are confirmed as much by our foes as they are by our friends. We are known not just by the company we keep, but by the haters we incite. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus warns his followers to "Beware when all people speak well of you." Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600 www.ucc.org-309448496 http://www.ucc.org/feed-your-spirit/daily-devotional/my-last-will-and-testament.html As an adult, it took me far too long to make a will. Who wants to consider the time of one's death? I didn't. Besides, there was nothing complicated about my estate, I reasoned. Anything I had would just go to my family. Wouldn't that just happen naturally? Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600 www.ucc.org-309486356 http://www.ucc.org/feed-your-spirit/daily-devotional/very-good-not-perfect.html For which we can be grateful. "Perfect" would have been like, "don't touch a thing." "It's perfect, don't mess it up." It's complete, finished . . . perfect. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600 www.ucc.org-309447975 http://www.ucc.org/feed-your-spirit/daily-devotional/evaluation.html There is nothing like an evaluation to shake things up. Paul and Barnabas are doing a review. They are taking the risk of looking back. If you love something, like the gospel, enough, you won't dare be unaccountable to it. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600 www.ucc.org-309380628 http://www.ucc.org/feed-your-spirit/daily-devotional/for-the-institutionalized.html I'm not saying every committee meeting the church has ever held mattered; most of them didn't. I'm saying that all institutions are annoying, AND that the church is the one that brought your faith to you. So when you're feeling ground down by yours, right after you refuse to chair another task force, but before you decide to quit forever, just remember this: the work you're doing is at least as much for your grandkids as it is for you. Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600 www.ucc.org-309188794 http://www.ucc.org/feed-your-spirit/daily-devotional/write-your-own-ending.html You may not be able to find today's reading in the regular part of your Bible. Chances are good that it is hidden in the footnotes in very small print with a line that says, "Not part of the best manuscripts, probably added later." Mark, scholars tell us, really ends at 16: 8 with the words, "They said nothing to anyone for they were afraid." That doesn't so much end as it breaks off. But then someone came along and added on. Wanted to pretty it up. Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600 www.ucc.org-308392381 http://www.ucc.org/feed-your-spirit/daily-devotional/restless.html Relationships, love, and even our own faith leave us "restless," as Augustine put it, until our hearts rest in the assurance only God provides and nothing less. Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600 www.ucc.org-308391803 http://www.ucc.org/feed-your-spirit/daily-devotional/not-staff.html A few years back I got grumpy about hearing myself, as an ordained minister, referred to as "staff," as in "our church staff." In a way, of course, it was true. My colleagues and I were "church staff." But in another way it seemed to me misleading and a bad sign. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600 www.ucc.org-307574581 http://www.ucc.org/feed-your-spirit/daily-devotional/overlooking-insults.html It's only natural to want to give an immediate response to an insult. If we've been injured, we feel that we have the right to respond immediately with wrathful indignation. After all, the sooner we let those who hurt us know how we feel, the better. And if our responses are bitter and acidic, so be it! Maybe next time they'll think twice before they cross the line with us. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600 www.ucc.org-307572937 http://www.ucc.org/feed-your-spirit/daily-devotional/lessons-from-the-shoe-museum.html I was struck by how long human beings have been torn between practicality and beauty. In some rare cases, they pulled off both, as was the case with a pair of Cherokee moccasins covered in hand-sewn glass beads hundreds of years ago. They looked both beautiful and comfortable, something to delight both the wearer and the world. But do we always have to strike that balance? As Marilyn Monroe’s bright red stilettos bear witness, sometimes the extremes are what we remember most. Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600