Prayer: Father, forgive me my sins. Turn not your face from me; enfold me in your arms. Heal my broken heart, that I may re-enter the world ready to serve you, righteous and strong. Amen.
Reading: Psalm 34: 15-22 (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: I recently watched a Disney nature show, Growing Up Wild (2016), with my niece and nephew. From it, I learned that Colobine monkeys have a rigid social system. Their hierarchy can result in a baby monkey being utterly ostracized. In a way, he is viewed as evil, undeserving, unrighteous. He cannot look on the face of his lord, the group leader; he is cut off from remembrance and left to scavenge on his own… …until the leader (in this documentary, anyway) takes pity on him. The zoologists observed the chief monkey redeemed our little wayward Colobine, coming to him in his need and wrapping him in his arms for a very emotional hug. I was a bit overwhelmed watching it, to be honest. At first the words in these verses seem cold and harsh. They are taken out of context (go ahead and read the rest of the psalm!), but remember, too, the context of the entire Bible. So often, God speaks through His prophets of the justice deserved for our sins, and yet, more often we hear of His forgiveness when the sinner repents, turns back to the Lord, and cries out. The promise of belonging and rescue is there, for the asking. No one need remain an offender in the eyes of God. --Heather LeBlanc
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