Grace
To spend at least a third of each work-day and week-end seeking to free my neighbours and neighbourhood from urban poverty…
Readings
Devotion 1
Wait: Spend some time waiting on God, bringing to God those places in your life that seem to have run dry of creativity and joy.
Read: John 2:1-12 as a Lectio Divina.
1) Have one person read the verses through twice.
2) Speak out any words or phrases that stand out to you.
3) Read through the verses again.
4) What thoughts, feelings, and impressions do you sense? Share them.
5) Read the verses a final time.
6) What challenges or encouragements emerge? Share them with the group.
Share:
- Share communion
- Spend some time in prayer together, praising the God who brings new hope to life.
Devotion 2
Wait: Take time to sit in silence together, aware of the presence of God’s Spirit
Read: John 2:13-25
Ask: Are there ways in which you hear God’s voice in this story?
On this passage, Jean Vanier writes:
“Instead of worshipping God, people were making an idol of money.
They were selling animals for sacrifice at an unjust price.
The money changers were taking a big commission,
impoverishing those who wee already quite poor
because of the temple tax they had to pay
with temple money, not Roman money.
Isn’t this thirst for money at the heart of so many injustices
in our world?
Money brings power and power crings money.
People, even children, can be used as slaves,
exploited by money-makers,
ruining their health and lives.”
Ask:
- Take time to repent of the corporate sins of exploitation and greed.
- Take time to repent of the ways in which you have participated in systems of exploitation and greed.
- In what ways is God challenging you to act today?
Share: Communion
Pray:
- End with the Lord’s prayer
Devotion 3
Wait: Spend time waiting on God, aware of God’s deep love for all of creation.
Read: John 3:1-21
Being “born again” is perhaps an expression which has been much misused. For some, it is a way of distinguishing “real” Christians from pretenders, or a way of talking about an experience which legitimates a person as a follower of Jesus. While no doubt there are certain things which are integral to what it is to be a follower of Jesus, perhaps we should be careful when we go down the road of trying to work out who is really “born again”.
Yet Jesus’ challenge to Nicodemus remains. Those who want to participate in God’s reign must be born again, or “from above” — the verb anōthen carries both meanings. Wes Howard-Brook says of this phrase, “The Johannine Jesus challenges this ruler — and those he represents — to give up their status, their worldly glory, and join the Johannine community by being baptized.”
Ask:
- Where do you hear God’s voice in this story?
- In what ways have you experienced being born “from above”?
- What challenges or encouragements do you hear in this story?
Share:
- Communion
Pray:
- End with the Lord’s Prayer.
Devotion 4
Wait: Spend some time waiting on God, aware of his presence in the storms of life.
Read: John 3:22-4:3
Ask:
- What characteristics of John’s testimony stand out to you?
- In what ways might we give testimony to Jesus in our neighbourhoods this week?
Share:
- Communion
Pray:
- Spend time praying for each of those present in the room and for the wider UNOH team.
- End with the Lord’s Prayer.