Forward Movement is an official, non-profit agency of the Episcopal Church whose mission is to create compelling content for Christian living. Since 1935 we have published the quarterly devotional Forward Day by Day, as well as pamphlets, booklets, and books that encourage and nourish people in their lives of prayer and faith.
TUESDAY, June 9 (Columba of Iona)
Deuteronomy 30:11-20. No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
Catch 22: Needing so to be accepted we change, and lose the self that needs acceptance.
The child, who must accommodate his parent or suffer, quickly becomes a people-pleaser, ignoring the word of God in his heart around which a callus begins to grow.
In school, the teacher is god; in socialization, the peer. Sediment settles on the callus.
When hormones and love awake, the heart is compromised again, to make the relationship work. The sediment calcifies.
At work we become who the boss would have us be; at church our boss is God. Increasingly alienated from self, we grasp at distraction--shopping, television, chemicals, sweets, activity, growing ever farther from that still, small voice within.
"No, the word is very near to you; it is...in your heart."
God wants to circumcise our hearts, to carve away the calcified layers. Yes, it will hurt, and the operation is not one but many, as each layer laid down must be removed, but only with their removal can we begin to hear God speaking within.
PRAY for the Diocese of Mississippi (Province IV, U.S.)
Ps 61, 62 * 68; 2 Corinthians 11:1-21a; Luke 19:1-10
View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com.
A Meditation for Pentecost
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