Morning Devotion for the Season of Eastertide
May 11, 2022
Invitatory
On this day the Lord has acted; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
Alleluia. The Lord is risen indeed: Come let us adore him.
Reading: I Thessalonians 2:1-8
You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition. For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority. Instead, we were like young children among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.
Meditation – Peter Vanderveen
I can remember a time – though this memory is fast being crowded out – when political attack ads were largely limited to a season preceding elections. They have now become part of our daily diet.
And I’m old enough even to remember a time in a more distant past when political ads could still be affirmative rather than wholly toxic. But neither policy nor integrity count for much in election politics. And because the only true goal is to secure one’s position and power, and because fear and anger and resentment are far more motivating than satisfaction, denigrating everyone else has become the dominant mode of campaigning.
In almost every ad, the same droning voice lists whatever evils are currently trending. The same array of doctored images discredit clueless and stupid or conniving opponents. Washington – or the capitals of any state – serve only as the name of cesspools that candidates single-handedly promise to clean-up (it doesn’t matter that this never comes to fruition). And we excuse all this as simply being a necessary process: because it has proven that it works – if not for the country then at least for whoever is running for the office that they want to destroy when they get there.
How, then, can we be surprised when there seem to be so few signs of social or cultural cohesion. Inevitably, the sheer ugliness of the constant cycling of political manipulations tears the greater fabric of our local and national community.
Already two thousand years ago, Paul knew the effectiveness and the seduction of offering others whatever lie might be most expedient. He, too, knew the temptation: flattery gets you whatever you want. At least in the short term. But it’s strictly self-serving. And eventually all that’s left is someone in power and the masses of disaffected persons who realize, too late, that they’ve been had. Paul chose a different path: he simply gave witness to the Gospel. Put otherwise, he tried, in every way that he could, to tell the truth – and nothing other than this. No gimmicks. No slogans. No convenient bait and switch tactics. No constant measuring to determine whether the Gospel was what people wanted to hear. He was confident enough that the Gospel itself was itself worthy above all other considerations. There’s something deeply refreshing about this. Redeeming.
And the result he cited tells us all we need to know. By taking himself out of consideration – what all this work would mean for him and his future – and by holding only to the greater drama of God’s acting, he allowed the Gospel to forge a new community, where people could meaningfully share their lives with one another. How utterly out of synch this is with the current lot of brash influencers vying for our devotion to them, some with Bibles in their hands. There’s so much we could learn from Paul, whose voice, still centuries later, is often new and always bent toward God’s disposition to draw us together.
What if we could find a way to talk less about politics and show in our lives more of the Gospel – humbly, with love and compassion?
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
