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...for the Sake of the World
ELCA 2005 Devotional Guide for C
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by E. Louise Williams & Richard R. Caemmerer
Familiarity can dull our sense of wonder. When Augustine
wrote the words, he was pointing out that Jesus miracle of
changing water into wine is not really more surprising than
Gods making wine the old-fashioned way. God waters the
grapes with rain making them juicy, and the juice ferments
into wine. Thats as much a miracle, says Augustine, as what
Jesus did at the wedding of Cana. But we dont always notice
that miracle because we are so familiar with it. We expect it.
Sometimes, we who are active in the life of the church hear
about Gods love and forgiveness so often that we forget
how amazing it really is. Familiarity may dull our sense of
wonder. The God of all creation accepts us and loves us just
as we are. The Holy One is always ready to welcome us
home no matter how far we have strayed or what we have
done. These devotions invite you to be amazed again at
Gods grace in which we live.
I encourage you to take a little extra time for devotions
during your meetings this year. Give yourselves some time to
use the reflection questions as a way to remember how
Gods grace has been active in your lives individually and as
a congregation. And take time to talk with one another about
thateither in groups of two or three or all together.
I encourage you, too, to think about how that amazing grace
of God informs and shapes what you do during your meeting
and, more importantly, in your congregational activities.
It is amazing that God loves and forgives us. What is
perhaps more amazing even than that is Gods entrusting to
us the job of sharing that grace, that love and forgiveness, in
the world. God so much loves the world that God sends us as
bearers of Gods amazing grace.
May you know Gods grace deeply and may you share it
generously and joyfully.
E. Louise Williams
Valparaiso, Indiana
Authors Introduction
Monthly themes and Bible verses
January Baptismal Reflections Matthew 3:1317
February True Treasure Matthew 6:1921
March God Forsaken Matthew 27:4546
April Following Christ Matthew 28:510
May Making Disciples Matthew 28:1920
June Holy Interruption Matthew 9:2022
July Like Heaven Matthew 13:4450
August The New Day Matthew 15:2128
September Reconciliation Matthew 18:1517
October Being in Love Matthew 22:3440
November Finding Jesus Matthew 25:3140
December Gods Parade Matthew 3:13
When you gather around the baptismal font, you might be
able to see Gods amazing grace reflected in the water.
Whether or not you can remember your own baptism, it
is reflected there in the water. In that moment God was
touching you, loving, calling you by your own name,
marking you with the cross of Christ, and sealing by the
Holy Spirit a promise that will not be broken. The same
God who spoke at Jesus baptism, speaks also to you:
You are my son. You are my daughter. My beloved.
I am so very pleased with you.
Reflected in the baptismal water are also the faces of
all the other people who have been washed in that
water. These are people who by Baptism are joined with
you in the body of Christ. They are the people who
welcome you and nurture you in the faith. They are the
people who are your companions on the journey. They
share bread and wine with you at the communion table.
They speak words of encouragement and challenge to
you. They are the people who help you and who receive
the gift of your aid. They join with you in the work of
your congregation. They are the people who sometimes
rub you the wrong way. They are people who are some-
times hard to be with, hard to love. The baptismal water
can remind you that all are marked with the cross of
Christ and live in the forgiveness of sinseach
a beloved daughter or son of God.
In the baptismal water you might see a reflection of the
Spirit of God who comes to inspire, encourage, and call.
The Spirit calls you and everyone who ever was or will be
washed with those baptismal waters to a life of ministry,
a life of service in the name of Christ. With Baptism come
both the invitation and the power to shine with the light
of Christ and to join in bearing Gods creative and
redeeming word to all the world.
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Matthew 3:1317
And a voice from heaven said, This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.
Matthew 3:17
Prayer
Gracious God, help us to see ourselves and each other as your baptized, beloved
children, and inspire us anew for the ministry you call us to do in Jesus name.
Amen.
For ref lection and discussion
How does Baptism shape the way you view yourself, each other, and
the work that you share in your congregation?
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You have made us for yourself, O God, and our hearts
are restless until they find their rest in you. Those
centuries-old words of St. Augustine still ring true for us
today. We can sometimes feel that restlessness in our
own beings. We can see it in family and friends close
to us. We might sense it among the people in our
congregation and in the places where we live and work.
We can see the signs of that human restlessness in the
whole culture.
It is as if God created each human being with an empty
space in the heart that can only be filled by God.
We may try to fill that space with something else
possessions or people, drugs or alcohol, food or television,
hobbies or work (even work at church). But none of
those treasures can still our restless hearts.
Perhaps, by Gods grace, you have at some time, even if
for just a little while, experienced that rest in God which
is our hearts true desire. There, at rest in God, we have
a little taste of the wholeness and peace that God
desires for us all. There we find this amazing truth
that where Gods treasure is, there is Gods heart also.
God treasures us! Gods heart is in us!
This month we begin Lent. Lent is an invitation to
rediscover the desire of Gods heart. Lent provides
opportunities to rid ourselves of some of the treasures
that keep us restless. Lent invites us to uncover again
Gods treasure and to discover Gods heart beating
in us.
And if we find Gods heart beating in us, we may find
a new kind of restlessnessanother longing, with God,
for everyone, for the whole creation to know wholeness
and peace.
Matthew 6:1921
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21
Prayer
Gracious God, may we treasure what you treasure and long for what you desire.
Amen.
For ref lection and discussion
What are some of the treasures that get in the way of your hearts true desire?
What can you or your congregation do to rediscover the desire of Gods heart?
Every large city has oneespecially the cities in the
less developed parts of the world. Their garbage heaps
are probably a lot like the one called Golgotha, the
place of the skull, where Jesus was crucified. It was a
god-forsaken place.
The garbage heap of Cairo, Egypt, is on Mount
Mokattam. It is a city within a city where some 30,000 to
40,000 people live, and eke out a living by collecting
garbage and sorting and recycling it. Its a place where
the poorest of the poor live. Their rattlely pick-up trucks
and donkey carts can scarcely make it through the narrow
streets, which are heaped with garbage and trash. The
streets are lined with cave-like stalls where families
especially the women and childrenwork to sort what
they have collected, tying up the cardboard, crushing the
aluminum cans, and boxing the plastics. And above those
stalls are the small apartments where the people live
sometimes without electricity, water, or sewage disposal.
In the midst of this dark, dirty, disease-ridden place a
small group of Sisters of St. Mary, deaconesses of the
Coptic Church, share a small apartment. They operate a
clinic, a school, and a sheltered workshop for people
with disabilities. They live among the people they
serve. Because Jesus has gone to such a god-forsaken
place, they can dare to be there, too. They are a sign,
even on the darkest of days, that death does not have
the last word.
If you, today or any day, feel like you are in some god-
forsaken place, know that you are not alone. Jesus has
already been there, and some follower of Jesus may
take the risk of standing with you in that placea sign
of hope and the resurrection that will soon come.
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Matthew 27:4546
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Matthew 27:46b
Prayer
Gracious God, give us courage to follow you even to god-forsaken places. Amen.
For ref lection and discussion
What are some of the god-forsaken places people are in today? Have you
individually or as a congregation stood with someone who felt forsaken
by God?
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Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
The shouts of joy echo in our churches as we celebrate
this season of resurrection and new life in Christ.
It might be tempting for us to gather around the empty
tomb, amazed at what has happened. We might also be
tempted to focus on the signs of resurrection in our own
lives or in the life of our congregation and to think that
is what Easter is all about. The empty tomb, the
announcement of resurrection and the signs of new life
are only part of the message of Easter.
The rest of the message moves us into the future. The
angel at the tomb said the risen Christ is going ahead to
Galilee. Following Christ does not end at the empty
tomb. Following Christ always takes us on to another
place, to where we are not yet, to some Galilee where
Christ goes before us.
To live the resurrection is to be called to movement,
to change, to transformationas individuals and as
congregations. Sometimes it can be frightening to leave
behind the places where we have already seen signs of
resurrection. It can be scary to step out into the
unknown, into ventures of which we cannot see the
ending, as one prayer puts it.
But this is not just change for the sake of change
because we are bored or want something new. Our trip
to Galilee is for the sake of the world, for the sake of
those who still need to know Christs resurrected life.
How can we dare to do this? Because Christ is already
there. The one who has gone ahead of us into the tomb
and triumphed now goes before us into Galilee and
promises to meet us there.
Let us then not hang around the empty tomb, but let us
go on to Galilee where we can expect to find the risen
Christ in the most unexpected places.
Matthew 28:510
Indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him. Matthew 28:7b
Prayer
Gracious God, give us good courage to follow you to places we have not yet
reached. Amen.
For ref lection and discussion
Have you ever risked going to some new place and met Christ there? To what
Galilee might the risen Christ be inviting you or your congregation now?
Jesus made disciples by going to the places where they
lived and worked and inviting them to come along. Jesus
made disciples by spending time with them and teaching
them. Jesus made disciples by patiently showing them
a new way of living.
Jesus gathered all kinds of peoplefishermen and tax
collectors, religious leaders and sinners, women and
men, rich and poor, young and old, healthy and sick. No
one was left out of Jesus invitation to follow me.
In the process of making disciples, Jesus bore much. The
disciples sometimes doubted. They were sometimes
afraid. They tried to talk Jesus out of going to Jerusalem
and dying. They competed among themselves for the
best place in the kingdom of heaven. They asked question
after question. They tried to keep children away from
Jesus. They interrupted Jesus times of prayer and fell
asleep when Jesus asked them to watch and pray. They
abandoned and denied him.
These were the disciples Jesus made and loved with
such amazing grace. They were people a lot like us.
What is perhaps even more amazing, is that God
entrusts those disciplesand uswith making more
disciples. We will be agents of Gods amazing grace if
we model our disciple making after Jesus. We will
extend the invitation to all no matter where they come
from or what they have done. We will go to where they
live and work. We will spend time with them, teach
them, and show them a new way of living. We will bear
their doubts and questions, their sins and shortcomings.
But mostly we will introduce them to Jesus whose
love is greater than anything we can imagine and
whose promise is sure: I am with you always, to the
end of the age.
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Matthew 28:1920
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.... Matthew 28:19a
Prayer
Gracious God, fill us with your grace and empower us to make disciples as Jesus
did. Amen.
For ref lection and discussion
How did you become a disciple? In what ways does your congregation
make disciples like Jesus did? How do you fall short of that model?
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It came as an interruption. Jesus was on a mission
responding to the request of an important leader whose
daughter had just died. An insignificant person who had
at least two strikes against her interrupted the trip. She
was a woman, that is, a person without much status or
many rights in that culture. Secondly, she had been
bleeding for twelve years, making her unclean according
to the religious laws of the day. She would have been
outcast and isolated. People would not have touched her
lest they, too, became unclean.
No doubt, this unnamed woman felt insignificant and
too unworthy to approach Jesus directlyas the leader
had. She only wanted to touch the tassels on the outer
garment of the one who had been healing so many
throughout the land.
When she reached out and touched Jesus cloak, Jesus
stopped, noticed, and addressed her directly: Take
heart, daughter; your faith has made you well. Her life
was changed forever. She had not interrupted Jesus.
She was part of Jesus mission, too, for no one is too
insignificant or unworthy for Gods amazing grace.
Thats good news, especially when we feel outcast,
isolated, insignificant, or unworthy.
Jesus example reminds us to be open to interruptions
especially when they come from those outside the inner
circle. We may find that what looks like an interruption
is really a part of our mission, too. And in the one who
cries for help from the margins, we may well find a
whole and healing faith that will inspire and encourage
us all.
Matthew 9:2022
If I only touch Jesus cloak, I will be made well. Matthew 9:21b
Prayer
Gracious God, open us to interruptions that are part of your mission, too. Amen.
For ref lection and discussion
Have you ever experienced an interruption that proved to be a special opportunity
to share Gods grace? In your congregation or community, who are the people on
the margins who might be reaching out to touch the fringes of your garment?
Imagine that you are a fishjust doing your thing and
suddenly caught up in a swirling, disorienting
motion.You are turned fin over gills in a net that
sweeps up you and everything else in its swath. It is
both exciting and scary. The net gets more and more
full of fish of every kind, edible and inedible, clean and
unclean, healthy and sick. But it is also full of all kinds
of other thingspieces of boat hulls, old sandals, a
toolthings broken or lost or thrown away. Flotsam
and fish are caught up in the nets powerful movement
toward the shore.
The kingdom of heaven is like...
There was a man who was a saver. He grew up, during
the Depression, the son of a farm hand, deep in the hills
of Missouri. He didnt throw much away.You never
knew, he said, when you might need that piece of
wire or that bit of two-by-four or parts from that old
threshing machine. What if the sorters on the shore
are like that manpicking up what at first glance
seems some old piece of trash and seeing instead
something of value, something to be saved, something
to go into the baskets?
The kingdom of heaven is like...
The sorting will come, but only angels at Gods beck and
call dare to do it, and then only at the very end. We
already have a glimpse of how that sorting might go.
We know who was thrown out to the place where there
was weeping and gnashing of teeth, to that hill where
they burned the trash outside the city, to that graveyard
where people wailed and mourned. An angel was there,
toosorting it out. Jesus who was crucified is not
here; for he has been raised. (Matthew 28:56)
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Matthew 13:4450
The kingdom of heaven is like... Matthew 13:47a
Prayer
Gracious God, catch me up in your kingdom. Amen.
For ref lection and discussion
When have you felt caught up in the kingdom of God? How can a congregation
be like the net in the parable?
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A rabbi, it is said, once asked his students if they could
tell when night ended and day began.
Is it when there is enough light so that from a great
distance you can tell a sheep from a dog? one asked.
No, replied the rabbi.
Well, another asked, is it when from a distance you
can tell an oak tree from a maple tree?
No, thats not it, said the rabbi.
When is it? the exasperated students asked.
It is, said the rabbi, when you can look in the face of
any human being and see there a brother or a sister.
Until then, night is still with us.
At first, Jesus looked at the woman seeking help and
seemed to see only a Canaanite, a Gentile, a person not
included in the job description to seek the lost sheep of
the house of Israel. But the woman would not give up.
She was persistent and insistent in asking for help for
her demon-possessed daughter.
It was as if morning dawned. Jesus looked again and
saw a woman of great faitha kind of faith that was
absent in many among Jesus own people. She asked
for a crumb, and she received the whole loafpraise
from Jesus, healing for her daughter, and a life changed
forever by Gods amazing grace.
It seemed to be a turning point for Jesus, too. The
boundaries were no longer so clear. Sisters and brothers
of Jesus could be seen in unlikely faceseven in ours.
In the light of that grace, we go out, ready to cross
boundaries, to look for sisters and brothers and to
welcome the new day.
Matthew 15:2128
Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish. Matthew 15:28a
Prayer
Gracious God, give us eyes to see your childrenour sisters and brothers
wherever we go. Amen.
For ref lection and discussion
When have you been surprised to find a sister or brother in an unlikely place?
What are some of the boundaries your congregation can cross to reach out to
new sisters and brothers?
The Bible is filled with stories showing the great lengths
to which God will go to win someone back. God seems
relentless in pursuing those who have strayed. We
remember, for example, Jesus parable of the shepherd
who left behind ninety-nine sheep to look for the one
who had gotten lost.
This is the backdrop for understanding Jesus instructions
for dealing with a member of the church who has sinned.
It is all for the purpose of bringing that one back into the
fold. Go and talk to the sinner, Jesus says. If that
doesnt bring them home, take someone else along to
help you. And if that fails, involve the whole church.
Far too often when someone in the church does some-
thing wrong, we talk to others about that person and
what they have done. Instead of bringing reconciliation,
we drive the wedge of separation even deeper.
Jesus words invite us away from being judgmental and
harsh into the heart of God who does not want even one
to be lost. Jesus words are an encouragement to woo
the straying one back.
Is that true even of the harsh sounding final step? If the
member refuses to listen even to the church, let such a
one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. For
Gentile and tax collector, read outcast and despised.
Remember how Jesus treated Gentiles and tax collectors.
Jesus went to their homes. Jesus sat at table with them.
Jesus was their friend.
This is pure grace, and it is there for us and for the
whole world.
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Matthew 18:1517
Let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Matthew 18:17b
Prayer
Gracious God, help us who live in your amazing grace, to love as you do. Amen.
For ref lection and discussion
How do you deal with sinners in your congregation? Who are the Gentiles
and tax collectors in our world?
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It was the last of a long series of trick questions meant
to trip up Jesus. What is the greatest commandment?
Of all the things God asks us to do, what is the most
important? Jesus reframes the question. The greatest
commandment isnt so much about doing something. It
is more like being in love.
Jesus isnt talking about the I really need someone to
be with or the Im really attracted to you or the
warm wonderful feeling kind of love. Its more the
I want to spend my life with you or the I want to give
myself to you kind of love.
Its the kind of love a mother has: she hates what her
son has done, but writes and visits him faithfully for all
the years he is in prison. Its the kind of love someone
has who sticks with a friend, no matter how difficult,
through the loss of a marriage, the loss of a job, or the
loss of hope. Its the kind of love a husband has who
goes every day to the nursing home to spoon-feed meals
to his wife with Parkinsons disease. Its the kind of love
that wants all the best for the beloved and works for it.
That sounds like a tall order. But it is really no order at
all. Its an invitation. This invitation comes from the God
who has fallen in love with usthe relentlessly loving
God who says, I want to give myself to youfor better
or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health
even death wont part us. Ive marked a cross on you
in baptism to remind you that I want to spend my life
with you. And look around at these other cross-marked
people, the Church, the body of Christ, given, out of my
love, for you and for the whole world.
The loving heart of God is where the answer begins.
Now what was the question?
Matthew 22:3440
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart . . . and your neighbor as yourself.
Matthew 22:37a; 39b
Prayer
Gracious God, you love me with all your heart. Teach me to love you and my
neighbor with my whole being. Amen.
For ref lection and discussion
Where do you see someone in love with God and neighbor? What happens in
your congregation when people become preoccupied with obeying commands
rather than living in love?
Where are you likely to see Jesus? Reading your Bible?
Hearing a good sermon? Gathered around the communion
table? In someone who is helpful and gracious to you? In
someone who offers you forgiveness?
Of course, by Gods grace, we do meet Jesus in Word
and Sacrament and in people who share Gods love and
grace with us.
Jesus suggests that we might look also in other
placesin people Jesus describes as hungry, thirsty,
estranged, naked, sick, imprisoned. They are the ones
who have the greatest need or the least power. They are
the most vulnerable and the easiest to ignore or forget.
They are the people hard to love and sometimes even
harder to be around. In them Jesus can be found.
Maybe you have had a glimpse of this. Maybe you have
welcomed a stranger or visited someone in prison or sat
with someone who was ill or given food to someone who
needed it, and found yourself strangely blessed by the
experience. Maybe you set out to be Christ to another,
and you met Jesus in them. When that happens, it is a
gift of Gods grace.
There is a more grace-full message still. If Jesus can be
found in those needy and vulnerable ones, Jesus can
also be found in each one of usand not only when we
are strong and giving but also, and especially, when we
are weak and in need.
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Matthew 25:3140
Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you
did it to me. Matthew 25:40
Prayer
To see thee more clearly, for this we pray, O God. Amen.
For ref lection and discussion
Have you ever met Jesus in one you served? Who are the least of these in
your congregation, neighborhood, or world?
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The people felt far from God. They were far from
homein exile. The prophet Isaiah painted a picture for
them, and Matthew recalls it. The prophets picture
imagined God leading a royal procession, a parade
through the wilderness back to Jerusalem.
The road needed to be preparedthe mountains leveled,
the valleys filled in, the crooked straightened out, and the
rough places made smooth. The road needed to be
preparednot so that God could make the trip. God
would not be stopped by mountains or valleys or slowed
by curves and potholes. The road needed to be prepared
for all those who would be following God in the
paradethe people wearied and worn by their long
years in exile, people who couldnt make the trip home if
the way was too difficult.
In this season, we prepare for Christs coming once
more. The amazing thing is that Christ comes whether
or not we are prepared. Christ is not stopped by our
busy-ness nor slowed down by the things we dont get
done. Christ has a way of breaking into our lives, ready
or not.
When Christ comes, along come all those who are part of
Christs parade: People who feel far from God. People
who are homesick. People wearied and worn by life.
People for whom lifes journey is especially hard. For their
coming into our hearts and homes and congregations,
special preparation might be required. In order to receive
them, we might need to slow our pace or build a ramp.
We might need to listen with particular care or offer
some additional support.
When we think about it, though, we might realize that it
is not just those other people who need help along
the way. We, too, may sometimes feel wearied and
worn. We, too, may feel far from God and far from our
hearts true home. Especially when we wonder if we can
continue on the journey, Gods gracious word is:
I am smoothing and straightening the way for you.
Come, and be part of my parade.
Matthew 3:13
Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Matthew 3:3b
Prayer
O God, you have prepared a way for me. Help me to be a way-preparer for others.
Amen.
For ref lection and discussion
Who are some of the people who have smoothed the way and straightened the
path for you? How might your congregation better prepare the way for those who
are part of Christs parade?
E. Louise Williams, through writing, teaching, retreats and
spiritual companionship, encourages people to tend to their
relationship with God. She serves as executive director of the
Lutheran Deaconess Association, Valparaiso, Indiana. She is
an adjunct assistant professor of theology at Valparaiso
University and president of DIAKONIA World Federation of
Diaconal Associations and Communities. She has served as
parish deaconess in Missouri, California, and Alberta,
Canada. She grew up on a farm near Rolla, Missouri.
About the Author
Richard Caemmerer is the founder and director of Grnewald
Guild, a community in the Cascade Mountains, Washington,
that celebrates the relationships between art and faith. He
has been the artist and designer for over 600 church facilities
around the world, and his paintings are in numerous private
and public collections.
The drawings in this booklet are suggestive of the larger
picture that is our life together in Christ. Hands dominate the
images and suggest or emphasize a particular connection with
the accompanying meditations.
Permission is granted to reproduce this material for one-time local use, provided that all copies include the copyright notices
printed on this page.
Texts and artwork are available for free download on the Web at www.elca.org/co/2005dev
All Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian
Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA and used by permission.
Copyright 2005 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Produced by the ELCA Department for Communication, 8765 West Higgins Road, Chicago, IL 60631.
Printed on recycled paper.
About the Artist