Prayer: Dear God, you look on the heart and see our hidden qualities. May we also look beyond outward appearances and see each other with your eyes of love and purpose. Amen.
Reading: I Samuel 15:34–16:13 (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 heard a story of a very short yet very talented and accomplished trombone player. By very short, as I understand, this person was well under 5’ tall. Now, working the slide of a trombone takes certain arm length so adjustments had to be made to extend the player’s reach. Also, this person played bass trombone which requires even more lung capacity and air flow to play. Now, one would think when suggesting and assigning instruments to the eager incoming band students, the director would not have naturally suggested bass trombone to this particular person. But somehow for some reason somebody made the decision and trombone it was. Reminds me of the story of Samuel, sent by God to Jesse to find a king among his sons. Jesse, of course, starts by calling his oldest but God tells Samuel, “No, not him.” Jesse calls the next oldest who is also rejected. This goes on through seven of Jesse’s sons until the only one left is David, the youngest who was still out in the field tending the sheep. Obviously, Jesse had not even considered David in the running for being chosen to be king. But God did and David it was. By only looking at outward appearances, how much do we miss of who people really are and able to do? Even when we look at ourselves, do we really see deep down to our hearts and what God knows of our potential and purpose? Imagine what would be! --Ruth Gates, Camp Mount Luther Family Camper
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