Prayer: Dear God, you are our rock. From the first to the last. There is no other. Help us to know that always. Amen.
Reading: Isaiah 44; 6-8 (Click to read text) Stop and GROW: After reading the text, discuss/ponder the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Book of Faith questions, which are part of Camp Mount Luther's GROW Time with campers. QUESTION 1: What scares, confuses, challenges, or doesn’t make sense to me in this text? QUESTION 2: What delights me in this text or is my favorite part of the story? QUESTION 3: What stories or memories does this text stir in me? QUESTION 4: What is God up to in this text? Reflection: There is a popular book by Marie Kondo about how to tidy up your house and, accordingly, your life, too. Basically, if something doesn’t “spark joy”, get rid of it. Millions of copies of this book have been sold and a sequel as well. However, I was helping my mom sort through an entire spare room of “stuff” and came across a small wooden sign with this quote, “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” – William Morris I looked up William Morris and this quote (wikiquote.org) and learned Morris was born in 1834; died 1896! Obviously neither Morris nor Kondo were the first or will be the last with this idea. In Isaiah chapter 44 verse 6, the LORD proclaims, “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.” Then at the end of verse 9, the LORD asks, “Is there any god besides me?” and then proclaims, “There is no other rock; I know not one.” Think about it. Do we have other rocks besides God? The kind that we think are solid but really are wobbly. The kind that get in the way and cause us to stumble. How do things and possessions become like idols? In what ways do such things compete with our devotion to God alone? Let’s listen to who truly is the first and the last for there is no other rock. --Ruth Gates
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