 |
| Image by Trey Ratcliff |
†
A GREETING
O sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
(Psalm 96:1)
A READING
God appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, ‘My lord, if I find favour with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.’ So they said, ‘Do as you have said.’
(Genesis 18:1-5)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’
(Jeremiah 1:5)
A REFLECTION
"Come Lord Jesus" is a leap into the kind of freedom and surrender that is rightly called the virtue of hope. The theological virtue of hope is the patient and trustful willingness to live without closure, without resolution, and still be content and even happy because our Satisfaction is now at another level, and our Source is beyond ourselves. We are able to trust that he will come again, just as Jesus has come into our past, into our private dilemmas and into our suffering world. Our Christian past then becomes our Christian prologue, and "Come, Lord Jesus" is not a cry of desperation but an assured shout of cosmic hope.
- from "Preparing for Christmas: Daily Meditations for Advent"
by Richard Rohr
VERSE OF THE DAY
I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
(Isaiah 43:19)
†
 |
| Image by Moose Winans |
Although technically a fruit or nut, the acorn contains a vibrant seed inside a tough husk that when released — becomes one of the mightiest trees on earth. Throughout scripture, oaks are associated with the first ancestors of the biblical story. The Oak of Mamre or the Oak of Abraham, appears frequently in Genesis. The narrative of Abraham is filled with nearly constant travel, in which he and his family find themselves often at odds with the inhabitants of wherever they have landed. Within that ongoing story, the oaks of Mamre offer contrasting permanence, a place to pitch a tent, to negotiate, to bury those who have died on the journey.
It isn’t until after Abraham has settled at Mamre, that three figures come to visit him. Abraham immediately recognizes something sacred in them. He offers them rest, prepares his best food, and alerts his wife Sarah. After they have finished eating, in the verses that follow the reading, the men tell Abraham that Sarah will give birth to a son, despite that she is long past childbearing years. The promise of a son comes as the direct result of Abraham’s hospitality. He has served them, as if serving God. To open the home and receive the stranger, offering the best of everything, is one of the ways that God’s people could fulfill the Torah commandments for serving God. Though he is a stranger himself, Abraham does not hesitate to offer what he has.
Death and burial would become generally associated with oak trees. When Sarah dies, Abraham negotiates with the Hittites for a field that contains a cave where he can bury her. He receives "the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area" (Genesis 23:17), including the great oak of Mamre. The oak tree is therefore associated with a wide range of significant moments of passage.
As a new year dawns, how can the trees of our community remind us of God's enduring presence in times of fear or trouble? On this New Years Day, can you find a tree and spread your hands across its bark, so that you might feel how much God’s creativity lives in it — and in you?
* * * * * * * *
AN ACORN TIME LAPSE
The acorn has an interesting etymology: originating in the Goth word ‘akran’ it means fruit that comes from wild land, or land that is not farmed. Its wildness is partly found in its capacity for longevity as oaks can live for thousands of years. As we mark a change from one year to the next, how can the life of an oak tree challenge our sense of time?
†
LC† Seeds of Hope is a project of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook, and on Twitter. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!