Prayer: Joyous and giving God, I give you thanks this day for your spilling all over gladness and goodness. You make my heart sing even when things are tough and rough. You have shown deep compassion and you don’t stop loving. Guide me this day and be with all those that I love and care about,… Help me also to love those that I might label as “enemies.” Teach me to see each as yours and loved by you. Yet, also reprove the wicked and turn back evil. Show us ways today to preserve your all your works and your beautiful Creation. In Christ Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-18 (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: Sometimes, I laugh too much or smile too much. There I said it. Maybe I take this passage too much to heart. There have been a few interpersonal moments where communication hinges on me taking the conversation seriously. I am a goofball and I know it. I know that you cannot sing into the face of someone that is experiencing a hardship or deep sadness. You must just be there with them and try to be an anchor of hope and a flower in the rain. This is the nature of rejoicing always, it is a positivity that is not fake or contrived, but a realistic perspective that sees the full arch into the Reign of Christ. It knows that there is no confusion about the gardener and the stone rolled away if the memory of the thorns and nails is too hard to forget. This runs deeper than a platitude. You cannot just say a sickeningly sweet proverb to someone in pain and walk away. Joy is more honest than temporary happiness. Joy knows the ultimate truths that are inconvenient and incontrovertible. You can’t take the top off of joy because the bottom of hell has a massive escape hatch. --Andrew Fitch
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