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Weekly Devotional

December 8, 2008
 

1 Thessalonians 5:11-24  Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.  ¹² But we beseech you, brethren, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,  ¹³ and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.  ¹⁴ And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.  ¹⁵ See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.  ¹⁶ Rejoice always,  ¹⁷ pray constantly,  ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  ¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit,  ²⁰ do not despise prophesying,  ²¹ but test everything; hold fast what is good,  ²² abstain from every form of evil.  ²³ May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  ²⁴ He who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

Last night I had an interesting discussion with a couple here in the congregation about prayer.  One of the things I mentioned is that there is a Lutheran way to pray the rosary.  (Don’t worry, I’m not turning catholic.)  The website where I originally found the information is now undergoing a re-do, so it was not available.  However, I did find the information on the ELCA website.

The rosary prayer on the ELCA website is for use during the season of Lent.  However, it can be used anytime.  The website stated “Whether prayed using prayer beads or not, the idea of this "Lutheran Rosary" for Lent is to help people ease into the spiritual discipline of prayer. We do suggest making a calendar to keep track of individual prayers for each day.  People who are not in the habit of daily prayer may want to start with just one "daily prayer" on Ash Wednesday, then expand by one each succeeding day; others may prefer to pray the whole "rosary" every day during the season.”  I would like to expand that and say that the idea can be for more than just Lent.  Having a daily prayer life is a spiritual discipline that is unlike any other.  Prayer is an intimate connection between you and God, a connection so valuable that only you can have it.  It is a powerful aspect to our daily lives and to our daily living.

While Ash Wednesday is a great time to start a new discipline, so is the New Year.  2009 is approaching fast, so along with all your other resolutions, perhaps make one that will really stick.  Make daily prayer a part of your life.  For those of you that would like to read more about the Lutheran Rosary, it is at http://archive.elca.org/communication/rosary.html.  The petitions for the beads include the Apostle’s Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, Martin Luther’s morning and evening prayers, Psalm 150, and then daily petitions also.  If you would be interested in starting a daily ritual such as this, and would like to start it before Lent, please let me know and I will be happy to help you with petitions for ongoing daily prayer.

In our prayers this week: 

Alma, Ann, St. John’s Lutheran, Doris and her mom, and Richard Green (Edith Green’s husband)

God’s Peace,

Pastor Judson