IN THIS SEASON

Welcome to In This Season! Our series of devotions appears Monday, Wednesday and Thursday of each week.

TODAY: MAY 16, 2022

Today’s Devotion was Written by Cassandra Morgan

Deuteronomy 32:2
2 Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.

As spring has finally sprung … or turned to early summer as Minnesota tends to do … we are blessed with the visible glories of God blooming and blossoming all around us. Greening grass, budding flowers, trees becoming full again; spring reminds us that what dies will be reborn, and what goes into darkness will find light again. I find spring to be a time of excitement, joy, and life! The warm weather invites us all back outside into the living spirit of God.

Every single time I step outside I breathe full lungs of God’s gifted air. I smell the fragrant life growing all around. I hear the Holy Spirit flow through the trees, and I feel it on my skin. We are gifted with these things each day but whether we observe them is up to us. May it be our goal to always appreciate these gifts we are given.

With reminders all around us, I pray that I am a visual representation of the Holy Spirit’s renewing presence. I want to greet others with the excitement of new life, and the good news of Christ’s resurrection. Through death we are reborn and given greater love than we can comprehend.

God all of that is good,
Be in our hearts as we enter this season of newness. Help our eyes to see your Spirit flowing in the world and help our voices to join in the mission of the Spirit, spreading Your goodness into the world. Make of us living proof that your Holy Spirit is present with us now and forever.
Amen.

MAY 12, 2022

Today’s Devotion was Written by Kara Paulson

“Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:16

I love the back story of something happening now at Mount Calvary. A church member was listening to the radio to a report about the crisis in Ukraine. As she listened, her heart went out to the people suffering under attack. Instead of feeling helpless, she tried to think of something she could do.

Here in Minnesota, it’s yard sale season, she thought. Maybe some friends and I could hold a sale for the people of Ukraine. The idea took hold and began to grow. Bargains & Borscht was born! Mount Calvary will now host this sale and the whole community is invited! Ukrainian borscht and other treats will be sold, as well as clothes, books, and household items. All the proceeds will benefit the people of Ukraine!

Desmond Tutu said, “Your ordinary acts of love and hope point to the extraordinary promise that every human life is of inestimable value.”

Sometimes we get the idea that only big and showy acts are worth doing, but our day-to-day caring and love is just as precious in the eyes of God. And sometimes our ordinary acts blossom into something even bigger than what we planned!

Let’s put our ordinary (and extraordinary!) acts of love and hope out into the world today. They, and we, hold inestimable value to our Father in heaven.

Prayer:
Almighty God, grant that your holy word may enter into our hearts through your grace, that it may produce in us the fruit of the Spirit for witness and service in the world, and to the praise and honor of your name. Amen. (LBW p. 72)

MAY 11, 2022

Today’s Devotion was Written by SFC Trina Volbrecht, Retired

John 13:34-35
“Let me give you a new command: love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples – when they see the love you have for each other.”

As Memorial Day approaches, I spend a lot of quiet time thinking about three soldiers. Young men who I knew, trained, appreciated, and thought of as family. They were killed on July 16, 2010. I think about who they would be today if it hadn’t happened. We mark their birthdays. I think about the threat of death from our enemies. The anger felt at the culprits who did this. The sense of evil and destruction. The deep fear felt by other younger soldiers who were counting on us leaders to pull them through the darkness. I watch as the world continues in destruction. Repeating terrible atrocities that wreck more destruction. My soul still aches.

And then a peace from above settles in. It was twelve years ago, and with time comes healing. With healing comes a reconciliation of Jesus’ command to love, even our enemies. It is hard work, but without it our understanding of how much God loves us cannot be known. A perspective of how complicated each individual is and the messiness of individuals who lose sight of love. Jesus bids us to love everyone, even when it feels impossible. And when life has forced you to approach what feels impossible, Christ is right there holding us, loving us, encouraging us to dig deeper and create space for God’s love to pour in.

Lord, thank you for walking, loving, and guiding us, even when we cannot see beyond the mess of this world. And as new light shines, help each of us to feel the conviction of loving each other more completely each day. Continue to love those who have been left behind when loved ones have passed too soon. Amen.

MAY 9, 2022

Today’s Devotion was Written by Andrea Fieldhouse Griner

“Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar and all that fills it;
let the field exult and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
before the Lord…” Psalm 96:11-13a

It has been a week – my mom’s birthday and Mother’s Day. How to celebrate someone who is gone? I suspect it is a question asked by many who have lost loved ones. I usually dread the coming of these two days and find my soul anxious. Strangely enough, it went a bit better than I expected. This year was peppered with some good memories. On a fluke, I took my mom’s birthday off and busied myself doing things that she and I loved doing together. I also sat outside and reveled in the beauty of the space around me. My mother loved working outside, planting gardens, watching birds, enjoying her sacred space. She and I did a lot of yardwork together and she loved Mother’s Day as we showered her with wonderful rose bushes and hibiscus trees.

I speak and write frequently about nature and how God speaks so clearly in it. In a mentoring session this week, I asked Addi where she most often saw and felt God. She immediately responded with, “nature.” For me, that is what allows JOY to enter any time of sorrow and grief. So, whether is it raining, snowing, or the sun is shining; whether you are in the mountains, the lakes, or your own backyard, “the heavens are telling the glory of God.” Please note the absence of the 90-degree days as the only glory I find is my air conditioner!

Remember as you traverse the week ahead, keep your eyes and ears open! Nature and God have a lot to show you!

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