Category Archives: Devotion

Fitting in when you have a Disability

Reading for Second Sunday after Pentecost: Genesis 3:8-15 and Psalm 130

Peace be with you!

Teenagers have a difficult time figuring out their feelings, identity, and place in the world. They face issues of sexuality, drugs and drinking, peer pressure, fitting in, and physical changes to their bodies. Teenage years symbolize the transition between childhood and adulthood, the time when an individual gains more independence and depends less on his parents. Boys experience a change in their voice, more facial hair, and growth spurts, while girls experience changes to the shape of their bodies and the beginning of menstruation. Teenagers also enjoy several milestones: getting their driver’s license, becoming a legal adult, being able to serve their country in the armed forces or on a jury, and being able to vote. Teenagers experience a wide set of physical and psychosocial changes to their bodies and their world.

Compound the rapid changes of the teenage years with having a disability and the individual will struggle even more with fitting in and finding their identity. Even before her teenage years, a child with a disability struggles with fitting in, because she is physically or cognitively different from their peers—whether she needs a power wheelchair to get around or whether she cannot control her outbursts.

The serpent tricked Eve into eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge (Genesis 3:1-7). By eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened and they gained knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:5b, 7). They also learned they were naked and hid from the Lord (Genesis 3:10). Similarly, teenagers with disabilities feel a need to hide from their peers, because no matter how hard they try they cannot keep up physically or psychosocially.[i]

In his memoir, Off Balanced, Zachary Fenell (who has mild cerebral palsy and walks with a limp) describes his high school years. Fenell recalls being shy around his classmates and spending most weekends alone in his bedroom. As a junior and senior, Fenell was intentional about talking to the few guys in his homeroom, though he was still isolated outside of school. Fenell recalls going to an auto show with two friends in high school. Although he refused to tell his friends, Fenell struggled to keep up and grew tired more quickly than they did. Looking back as an adult, Fenell acknowledges he could have asked his friends to sit down throughout the day. Instead of enjoying the auto show, Fenell found it to be an endurance test.[ii]

Teenagers with disabilities have to make choices as to when and how to disclose their limitations to their peers. Teenagers fear appearing different, and having a disability intensifies this fear. Fenell did not want to appear weak to his two friends, but he also found that not telling them of his limitations came at a price—not enjoying the auto show as he could have.

Just as the serpent tempted Eve with the forbidden fruit, he temps individuals to blame God for their disabilities. The temptation is accompanied by fear and apprehension of not being good enough. It is easy for individuals to blame God for their disability, because he created them in his image. Yet the devil is the one who brought pain and suffering in the world by tempting Eve with the forbidden fruit. It was the serpent’s actions that got Adam and Eve kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Without the serpent’s manipulation and promotion of evil, Adam and Eve would never understand the pain and suffering of hard work or childbirth and no one would be disabled. The serpent introduced pain and suffering into the world.

However, God uses pain and suffering against the devil by using it to bring God glory. When the disciples ask Jesus who sinned—a man born blind or his parents—he replies, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him” (John 9:2-3 NRSV). In Cerebral Palsy is a Blessing, I explained how cerebral palsy is a pawn between God and the devil and how I view it as a blessing. It has given me the ability to give God glory through my work.

Even though God kicks Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, he never abandons them. God stays with Adam and Eve their whole lives and is with them through every tribulation. In Psalm 130, the psalmist writes how the Lord redeems us from this sinful, broken world with his power and love. The Lord redeems us from our physical and cognitive limitations and raises us to new life. Although we may feel isolated, God is always with us.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for being with us as we try to find your calling for us in this world. Help us to feel your presence in the darkness where we experience pain. Lead us through the trials and tribulations of this world. Redeem us from our shortcomings and raise us to new life through Jesus Christ. Amen.

[i] Note: I believe that having a disability is not the result of sin—past, present, or future, unless your actions, such as drunk drinking, causes your disability, though God may use your disability to get you back on the right path. Disabilities exist, because Satan introduced sin, pain, and brokenness into the world. Satan tries to use disabilities to tempt us to hate God for making us disabled when in fact it is his fault, not God’s fault. The parallel between teenagers who have disabilities and Adam and Eve breaks down here, because God punishes Adam and Eve for their sin—eating the forbidden fruit.

[ii] Zachary Fenall, Off Balanced (2011), Kindle edition, ch. 5, “An Emergency.”

Creating an Inclusive Community without the Accepted Normal

Reading for Trinity Sunday: Romans 8:12-17

Peace be with you!

Being welcomed into a community is important because it creates a sense of self-worth and dignity for a person. People create communities based on a common opinion or thought process, although each person has a unique perspective as a result of their past experiences. Communities adopt new individuals into their fold and share their ideas.

Erin M Diericx with ladies at Shepherd of the Hill
© Copyright 2015 Original Photo take by Margaret Schrantz

For people with disabilities, being adopted into a new community takes time and patience. The person with a disability has to first overcome physical barriers, such as stairs, lack of space to maneuver a wheelchair, and bathrooms. Second, the person with a disability has to break down psychosocial barriers, such as being seen as different and incapable of functioning like the others. Communities, including congregations, have a difficult time accepting those individuals who are unable to conform to the accepted normal.

As Christians, God adopts us when we confess Jesus Christ is our Savior and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us (Romans 8:14). God has no perceived notion as to what physical abilities his children should have. God does not care if you have a limp, cannot walk, are missing a limb, or cannot hear and/or see. There are no physical or psychosocial requirements to be adopted by God, other than simply believing Jesus Christ is your Savior.

Furthermore, Jesus only gives us two commandments: 1) to love your God with all your heart and 2) to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40; John 15:12). Jesus gives no other requirements (time, space, or social standing). Jesus himself ate with sinners, prostitutes, tax collectors, Samaritans, Canaanites, and others outside the Jewish tradition. Jesus challenged the Jewish authorities by healing a man on the Sabbath (Mark 3:1-6) and challenged social norms by having a conversation alone with a Samaritan woman (John 4). Jesus pushed against social norms into order to develop real relationships with people. Jesus said, “The healthy do not need a doctor but the sick do” (Mark 2:17; Luke 5:31; Matthew 9:12). Jesus did not come for the individuals who are perfect; he came for broken people.

Then why do congregations turn away people with disabilities? Congregations follow the social model of only inviting those individuals who fit the accepted normal. We fall into the same trap as the Pharisees: making a ritual mold for everyone to fit into. By doing so, we create an exclusive church structure—the very thing Jesus challenged. In Discovering the Trinity in Disability: a Theology for Embracing Difference, Myroslaw Tataryn and Maria Truchan-Tataryn write:

“The categorization of people labeled with disability as ‘those’ people, as ‘special,’ as Other is something of an absurdity, because traits of disability have always been part of human experience. Even the use of disabled as a categorization of people is problematic, considering that the term represents a limitless set of potential human anomalies that would not necessarily render anything in common between those bearing the label.”[i]

In other words, if you live long enough, having some form of disability is inevitable. The older you get, the more prone you are to physical abnormalities due to strokes or heart attacks, which can cause you to need a walker or wheelchair. Congregations take care of the elderly as they decline in their physical abilities, yet a younger person with a disability is discouraged from becoming an active member of the church. Although I disagree that there are no fundamental commonality between the different disabilities, I do agree with the idea that disability is a common human experience.

And if you believe in the notion of disability being as a result of sin being a part of the world, then everyone should have some form of disability. We are all sinners. This is why God sent Jesus in order to give us God’s forgiveness, grace, and love in the world where people have pain and suffering.

Erin M Diericx with Father Ladd & Judy Harris and The Rt. Rev. Gregory O. Brewer, Bishop of Central Florida at Shepherd of the Hills on February 16, 2014.

Church is called to be an inclusive group with people from all walks of life. I am blessed to be a part of a congregation that engages with me and uses my spiritual gifts. Due to my speech impairment and spastic movements, it has taken time to build relationships with various members of the congregation. I had to spend time with various individuals and demonstrate my spiritual gifts and abilities in order to break down any and all psychosocial barriers. God adopts us all into his family no matter what your race, age, heritage, and abilities. In the same way, my congregation has adopted me into their fold and the various members love me for who I am—a child of God who just happens to have cerebral palsy. When a church openly welcomes people with disabilities, the congregation allows God’s love to be expressed to people with all abilities—disabled or abled.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for adopting us into your fold, despite our abnormalities. Help us to resist the need for an “accepted normal” as a community. Lead us to welcome those a bit different from us into our fold and to build relationships with individuals with all abilities. Thank you for giving us space to build relationships with one another. Amen.

[i] Myroslaw Tataryn and Maria Truchan-Tataryn, Discovering the Trinity in Disability: A Theology for Embracing Difference (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2013), 14.

Bringing People of All Abilities Together

Reading for Day of Pentecost

Acts 2:1-21

© Copyright 2015 Original Artwork by Erin M Diericx

Devotion

Peace be with you!

According to Dictionary.com, disability is “a physical or mental handicap, especially one that prevents a person from living a full, normal life or from holding a gainful job.” The word disability has a negative connotation, and its definition implies anyone with a disability—let alone someone with multiple diagnoses—cannot live a full, normal life.

As an individual who has had her disability since birth, I have had to wrestle with what it means to be someone with cerebral palsy. Back in the early 1980s, doctors did not know how cerebral palsy affected the person and their ability to live their life. In fact, the doctors told my parents I would never walk, talk, or sit up. The doctors assumed I would be under my parents’ care all my life and would never live in my own house and pay my own bills. In my poem entitled “Never Mind the Doctors,” I talk about feeling the world is against me and seeking to prove the doctors wrong. I feel triumphant that I so often managed to do just that.

Even as we celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the disabled culture is still working educate society that a person with a disability has the ability to hold a sustaining career and have a family. Society still holds on tight to stigmas that people with disabilities cannot lead productive and fulfilling lives, because the prefix dis- implies an inability to do anything.

On the day of Pentecost, the disciples were gathered and a wind filled the entire house (Acts 2:1-2). The Holy Spirit gave the men the ability to speak different languages and to understand one another (Acts 2:4, 6). The devoted Jews who were present began questioning if these men were drunk (Acts 2:13). How could Italians, Serbians, people from Croatia, Romania, and Greece, Asians, citizens of Egypt, Libya, and Arabia, and people in the Middle East all be speaking about God’s deeds (Acts 2:9-11)? How could they even be speaking to one another, let alone be sharing the news? These people did not go together. They did not socialize with one another. And yet here they are, discussing the good news of Jesus Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit together. How could this be?

Peter reminds the Jews of Joel 2:28-32: “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:17-21 NRSV).

Peter saw the day of Pentecost as a fulfillment of scripture as the Holy Spirit entered the world. Pentecost started as a Jewish holiday to commentate the fifth day after Passover when Moses received the Ten Commandments. Now fifty days after Jesus’s resurrection from the grave, the disciples and other followers of Jesus receive the Holy Spirit as their advocate. The Holy Spirit breaks down the language barrier, so people around the world are able to hear and understand the good news of Jesus’s crucifixion, death, and resurrection. For the first time, the word of God becomes accessible to all people.

Jesus promised abundance of life by sending the disciples an Advocate who will continue to unfold God’s love for all to know (John 16:8-11). The Advocate will seek protection and prayer requests on our behalf as a mediator. The Advocate will lead the disciples and us by the truth of what is to come in the future. The Holy Spirit bears the good news, so the disciples could be empowered to share it with the world. Jesus sends us the Holy Spirit to embody and model the good news for us, so that we can know and come to understand what it means.

In the disabled culture, the day of Pentecost gives people hope that God recognizes many different abilities. People who have disabilities are able to do many things and should be recognized not by their disabilities but their abilities. The Holy Spirit gives people— disabled or able—of all abilities the power to live fulfilling lives to God’s glory. The Holy Spirit becomes an advocate for people with disabilities by empowering them with other gifts. People with physical disabilities are able to help the aging population with adaptation to homes and in public, because they understand what it means to feel isolated by barriers. People with cognitive disabilities see the world differently, and they are able to better relate to children since they think on their level.

If we as a society could think about people based on their abilities, not their disabilities, maybe we could make the world a better place for people of all abilities. The Holy Spirit equips people based on their abilities to spread the good news. The Holy Spirit breaks down physical barriers in order to welcome people with disabilities into the community where people share the love of Christ. The Holy Spirit advocates for all people to be welcomed to worship God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for making your word accessible to everyone. Help us to understand each other’s needs in order to allow everyone to live fulfilling lives. Break down the barriers separating us from one another. Set our hearts on fire as we welcome people with different abilities into our community. Thank you for sending us an advocate. Amen.

Reflective Questions

Please answer the following reflective questions in the comments below. Please agree to disagree and be respectful to each other. (If you have not already done so, please also take a moment, to sign the behavior covenant by commenting on it.) You can answer as many questions as you would like.

What are your abilities?
How has the Holy Spirit advocated on your behalf?
Where have you seen the Holy Spirit working in the world?

Living in the Crisis but Moving Forward in Faith

Reading for Seventh Sunday of Easter

Acts 1:15-26

Devotion

Peace be with you!

When someone you trust and depend on betrays your trust, it’s easy to be left emotionally reeling. Everyone experiences betrayal at some time during their life. A cheating spouse breaks the trust between husband and wife. A close friend revealing your secret to another person can break your trust. When you lie during a job interview, you are deceiving the employer. Betrayal can occur in many forms, yet the realization of being betrayed causes anguish and distrust.

For individuals who are dependent on personal caregivers to help with everyday care, betrayal is an issue they deal with on a semi-regular basis. For example, a person with a cerebral palsy, such as myself, has to immediately trust any newly hired personal caregivers with intimate parts of their lives—from showering and dressing to running errands. Care tasks even include going to the bank, filling out withdrawal slips, and handling the cash. Sometimes the person with a disability hires a personal caregiver who just does not mesh well with the household (the individual with a disability, any frequently visiting family and friends, and the other personal caregivers). Other times the relationship between the individual with a disability and a personal caregiver can become strained if their friendship affects their working relationship. Sometimes a personal caregiver will become physically or emotionally abusive to get the individual with a disability to do what they want.

No matter the cause, any betrayal of trust can cause emotional heartache. In addition, finding a new aide one can trust and work with can be time-consuming and tedious. Firing an untrustworthy caregiver is not always immediately feasible; daily needs still have to be met even if he or she is unsatisfactory. If the individual with a disability uses an agency, they can ask for the personal caregiver who betrayed them not to be scheduled to do their shifts. Unfortunately many agencies are short staffed and occasionally the personal caregiver will still have to do a shift. If the individual with a disability hires and fires their own personal caregivers, they have to make sure their other staff can cover the open shifts before firing them.

In Acts 1:15-26, the disciples are processing Judas’s betrayal with Jesus. Judas did not just betray Jesus to the Pharisees, which ultimately caused his crucifixion and his death, but he also betrayed the other eleven disciples who shared their lives with him. The disciples shared intimate details of their lives with him. If he could betray Jesus, did Judas violate the personal confidentially? Did they have to worry about their families? How could Judas blindside them?

On top of this, the disciples needed to appoint another man to join them as a disciple and a fellow brother. How could they trust another man not to betray them? How could they open up to someone new? Who could they depend on? Once someone has broken your trust, it is difficult trust others, especially a new person. After firing a personal caregiver who has betrayed me, I find myself in a similar situation as the eleven disciples did in Acts 1:15-26—in a crisis but moving forward in faith.

In their time of turmoil, the disciples trust the Lord to call the right man to replace Judas. The disciples trust the Lord to lead them to a trustworthy man who will walk beside them and keep their secrets. Although casting lots may seem strange, in biblical times nothing was believed to happen by chance. In the Old Testament, Casting lots was not seen as gambling, but by removing the human element it left the decision up to the Lord as commanded by Urim and Thumim. Today casting lots meant acknowledging God’s presence in the discernment process of figuring out his will. The discernment process takes time and energy.

The eleven disciples proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas and Matthias (Acts 1:23). The eleven disciples spent time in prayer, asking the Lord to reveal which man was the best one to replace Judas (Acts 1:24-25). The disciples had to discern which man would work well with them to do God’s work in the world. It was an important decision for the disciples and could not be made lightly. In the end, the disciples decided Matthias was chosen to replace Judas (Acts 1:26).

Just as the eleven disciples discerned who would replace Judas in their circle, individuals who need personal caregivers should invite God into their hiring and firing processes. When I invite God into the process, I am always amazed and blessed by who God sends me, although not everyone works out as one would hope. These ladies help me with daily routines, as well they become a part of my household and my family; they become my right hand. I am so thankful God is willing to help me with difficult decisions and that I am not alone.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for helping us make decisions, especially the ones that affect our daily lives. Help us to treat others with respect and care. Guide us to the people who will build us up and let us flourish. Thank you for blessing us with wonderful friends, family, colleagues, and personal caregivers. Amen.

Reflective Questions

How do you invite God in your decision process?
Who has God blessed you with in your life?

Breaking Down Boundaries—physcial, psychosocial, and spiritual

Reading for Sixth Sunday of Easter

Acts 10:44-48

Devotion

Peace be with you!

The world imposes physical, psychosocial, and spiritual boundaries on us. Stairs, hills, gates, doors, and hallways are physical boundaries, which keep us in or out of certain places. The ways in which we are welcomed or not welcomed, taught to behave, and loved or hated by others create psychosocial boundaries, which form our thoughts, opinions, and ideas about the world. Accepting one faith tradition over another—such as Christianity, Islam, or Judaism—forms spiritual boundaries of laws and beliefs in which individuals live.

People with disabilities understand physical, psychosocial, and spiritual boundaries. Physical boundaries keep people with disabilities (especially those in wheelchairs) from enjoying certain places due to step(s), steep inclines, narrow aisles, and carpet. These boundaries restrict our ability to enjoy certain places, whereas ramps, wide aisles, and tile allow us to enjoy a place without fear of tipping over steps or rugs. If a community does not welcome people with disabilities, then they will not come to the community’s events. On the other hand, if a community does its best to remove any physical boundaries in their building and is welcoming and accepting to people with disabilities, then they will come and be more willing to be involved.

Psychosocial boundaries have a lot to do with an individual’s attitude and how others welcome them into a community. If individuals with a disabilities have a low self-esteem and do not try different activities, they prevent themselves from enjoying what the world has to offer.

When it comes to spiritual boundaries, people with disabilities have been shut out of the church in the past. Since churches are not required to follow the ADA standards, physical boundaries, such as steps, narrow aisles, and a lack of space open in the worship space, prevent individuals with disabilities from even entering a church—let alone becoming a part of the community. Then, even if a church is wheelchair accessible, the members’ attitudes toward people with disabilities affect whether they will return a second time. Because of my spastic movements and my speech impairments, many people think I am cognitively disabled when they first meet me. It is not until I inform them I have a master of arts in New Testament that people will treat me like any other adult.

In The Disabled God, Nancy L. Eiesland writes, “Naming carnal sins against people with disabilities and other bodies relegated to the margins in the church and society and taking responsibility for the body practices of the church that segregate and isolate these individuals and groups is the difficult work of making real the possibility of the conversion to the disabled God. Often these processes engender conflict and tension as marginalized people seek their place in the decision-making processes of the church and make their nonconventional bodies models for ritual practice and as people who have endowed and overseen the body of the church fight to maintain control.”[i]

Within Christianity, spiritual boundaries can happen when pastors imply people are disabled due to sins of past generations or that their lack of faith prevents them from being healed. This makes individuals with disabilities feel as though they do not belong in the Christian community.

In our Scripture passage for this week, Peter addresses Cornelius and others. The Jews who are circumcised are questioning how the uncircumcised Gentiles can receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:45). Before Jesus came along, Jews and Gentiles did not mix. The Jews built a spiritual boundary between the Gentiles and themselves, because they believed they were superior as God’s chosen people. In the same way, people who are not disabled have made themselves superior to individuals with disabilities in the past.

Likewise, the church makes people with disabilities think God cannot love a broken, imperfect body. Yet, Eiesland writes, “To be human is to sin…”[ii] Therefore, we are all broken and in need of salvation through Jesus Christ. Peter challenges the Jews and people without disabilities by asking, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” (Acts 10:47 NRSV).

By the grace of God, we—Jews, Gentiles, people without disabilities, and people with disabilities—are all able to receive the Holy Spirit; we are all broken and in need of grace, salvation, and love from God. And he is ready and willing to give us this grace. No one should be denied access to the Lord’s fountain and table on account of being broken. The sacraments exist precisely for broken people.

Therefore, as the Christian community, we are called to share the good news of the forgiveness, grace, and love of Jesus Christ. We need to recognize Jesus as the disabled God who was crucified for our sins. At the resurrection, we see the holes in Jesus’s hands, feet, and side. Jesus fulfills God’s promise to become human and to take on our pain and afflictions. Nancy Mairs writes, “[Jesus] died as that body and yet somehow did not die then or ever but lives on in our bodies which live in God.”[iii] This is what overthrows the spiritual boundaries from before Jesus’s time on earth and allows us to be in a relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for overthrowing spiritual boundaries and allowing everyone and anyone to know you. Help us to break down physical boundaries, which prevent anyone with a physical limitation from entering the church. Help us to break down psychosocial boundaries that keep us for welcoming strangers. Lead us to welcome those different from us. Thank you for becoming human and taking on our pain and suffering. Amen.

Reflective Questions

How can you make your church more accessible for people with disabilities?
How do you welcome those different from you into the church?

[i] Nancy L. Eiesland, The Disabled God: Toward a Liberatory Theology of Disability (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994), 109.

[ii] Nancy L. Eiesland, The Disabled God, 70.

[iii] Quote from Nancy L. Eiesland, The Disabled God, 99.

Letting the Lord Take the Lead

Reading for Fifth Sunday of Easter

Acts 8:26-40

Devotion

Peace be with you!

The Lord leads you to places you would not go otherwise. I went to a conference one year without a personal caregiver or a plan as to who would help me eat each meal. I ended having meals with colleagues I would have never thought to ask for help. Because of this, I ended up having important conversations about faith, major life changes, and language around disabilities. I was glad I had listened to the Lord by going where he was sending me.

Philip must have felt the same kind of anxiety when the Lord instructed him to go to Gaza from Jerusalem along the wilderness road (Acts 8:26). Philip must have questioned what he was doing in such a place, especially when the Lord told him to approach an unknown chariot (Acts 8:29), which could have belonged to anyone. Despite any anxiety, Philip went up to the chariot and heard the passenger, an Ethiopian eunuch who was in charge of the queen’s entire treasury, reading Isaiah (Acts 8:27, 30a). As an Ethiopian court official, the eunuch was an outsider—as a foreigner who choose to be castrated to show his loyalty to the queen—to the Jewish ways and was probably not permitted to enter the temple in Jerusalem.

When Philip approaches the chariot, he hears the eunuch reading Isaiah 53:7:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,

and like a lamb silent before its shearer,

so he does not open his mouth.

In his humiliation justice was denied him.

Who can describe his generation?

For his life is taken away from the earth” (Acts 8:32-33 NRSV, quoting Isaiah 53:7).

Philip asks the eunuch if he understands what he is reading, and the eunuch tells him he needs instruction to know what the text is saying. The eunuch invites Philip to join him in the chariot (Acts 8:30-31). The eunuch asks if the prophet Isaiah is talking about himself or someone else (Acts 8:34). Philip takes this opportunity to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the eunuch (Acts 8:35).

The eunuch is the first recorded African to hear the good news. The Lord commissions Philip to share the good news with a foreigner who is unlike anyone he has encountered before. The physical and psychosocial boundaries of the Jewish traditions no longer apply to the Christian church. The good news is breaking down the boundaries. What prevents the eunuch from fully participating in the Jewish traditions—his heritage— now is not an issue. Everyone (Jews, Catholics, Gentiles, Samaritans, blacks, Caucasians, Indians, Hispanics, and all other people) is able to know God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit through the work of Jesus Christ. In the middle of the wilderness, Philip and the eunuch find water and stop the chariot. Philip baptizes the eunuch. Then Philip disappears, and the eunuch worships the Lord (Acts 8:38-39).

You never know when you are going to get the chance to share the good news with an outsider—someone who does not know the Lord. Introducing someone to the Lord furthers the work of Jesus and spreads the good news across the world. A fifteen minute conversation with a stranger can change the course of their life and the lives of others with whom they then share the good news. When you allow the Lord to work through you, he leads you to amazing places and introduces you to amazing people.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for the person who introduced me to you. Lead me to the individuals who need to hear the good news. Open my heart and mind to your plan for my life. Help me to step out in faith. Thank you for the many ways you use me to further Jesus’s work. Amen.

Reflective Questions

Who introduced you to the Lord? Write them a thank you note.
Where is the Lord leading you?

Christians’ Dirty Little Secret

Reading for Fourth Sunday of Easter

Acts 4:5-12

John 10:11-18

Devotion

Peace be with you!

As Christians, we have to face the cold, hard truth: Jesus had to be crucified, because we would not accept God’s mercy any other way. We join the crowd everyday and yell, “Crucify him, crucify him!” when with turn our backs on God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—when we lie, steal, spread rumors, cause harm to others, and say yes to Satan. It is the dirty little secret that we, Christians, try to bury under the rug.

We are not proud of our dirty little secret. We do our best to keep the Ten Commandments. We do our best to love God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We do our best to love our neighbors as ourselves. We do our best to follow Jesus’s footsteps. We do our best to care for the poor and the less fortunate. We do our best. However, our best is never going to earn us salvation in kingdom of God, because the wrath of God is never going to allow us in.

But why did Jesus have to die on the cross? God could have given us forgiveness and mercy without sending Jesus to die on the cross. The problem is the wrath of God represents an absent God, and to solve the issue meant sending Jesus into the world to be with us. (1) Jesus comes into the world to show us God’s unconditional love, mercy, and forgiveness by interacting with us in the world of conditions. We get to witness Jesus’s pain, joy, and triumph in the world. God comes into the world to meet us face-to-face through Jesus.

Yet we could not fully understand and appreciate God’s unconditional love, mercy, and forgiveness without Jesus dying on the cross, because we cannot comprehend God freely giving us mercy. The cross becomes the pass we need to be in a relationship with God the Father. We had to see God bear our pain to get a glimpse of God’s view from above.

Our dirty little secret is transformed by God into good news. Through the selfish act of crucifying him, Jesus raises us to new life in his resurrection and ascension to the kingdom of God (Acts 4:10, 12). His resurrection overcomes Satan’s power of the grave and gives us forgiveness, grace, love, and eternal life instead. Through God’s transforming of our greatest sin—crucifying Jesus—we are able to be in a relationship with God the Father.

No one knew what they were putting into action when they were shouting, “Crucify Jesus; crucify him!” God sent Jesus to be crucified as the sacrifice for everyone’s (Jews, Catholics, Gentiles, Samaritans, blacks, Caucasians, Indians, Hispanics, and all other people) sins—past, present, and future sins. Everyone is forgiven through Jesus’s crucifixion, death, and resurrection, because God understands we are broken humans who fall for Satan’s tricks. God understands we cannot earn salvation on our own merits. God understands we need someone to intercede on our behalf. God understands we need Jesus in the world and to die for our sins, so we could begin to understand him as a merciful God.

Therefore, our little dirty secret is the cornerstone of our faith (Acts 4:11). It is what allows Jesus to die for our sins and to offer us eternal life in the kingdom of God. When we repent and give our lives to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, we are welcomed into the kingdom of God. Jesus’s crucifixion, death, and resurrection becomes the way the wrath of God is satisfied. The resurrection shows us how Jesus is the good shepherd who lay down his sheep (John 10:11, 15). He spreads his arms out on the cross and gathers the lost sheep together in a community. Jesus’s work welcomes believers into the kingdom of God, so they are no longer to be under God’s wrath.

Our dirty little secret is not that we crucified Jesus but that we need Jesus Christ to die for sins, so we can be in a relationship with God the Father. The resurrection becomes a sign of God’s promise of eternal life. We may be sinners, but God the Father has made the ultimate sacrifice through Jesus. Therefore, when we repent, we are forgiven and receive grace and love from God.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for sending your Son to die for our sins. Help us to understand why we had to crucify Jesus. Help us to accept your forgiveness as we forgive others who sin against us. Comfort us when we fall and lift us up to everlasting life. Thank you for offering us eternal life through Jesus’s resurrection. Amen.

Reflective Questions

What emotions do you feel knowing you crucified Jesus?
How will you share the good news: God’s act of transforming our dirty little secret into new life?

(1) Forde, Gerhard O. “Caught in the Act: Reflections on the Work of Christ.” Word & World. (1983: 3/1), 22-31.

Photo Credit: Amber Sue Photography, www.ambersuephotography.com

You are Forgiven when you Repent…No matter How Big or Small the Sin

Reading for Third Sunday of Easter

Acts 3:12-19

Devotion

Peace be with you!

People stare at what they do not understand. Last Wednesday during the #CPChatNow Twitter discussion, one young lady who has cerebral palsy shared her experience of spending a week in the hospital with her son who is five years old who had his appendix taken out. The young lady shared how people would stare at her when she walked with the five-year-old and his IV. I could relate her; I know well what it is like to have people stare at me, an individual who has cerebral palsy, when I am in public. Over time you get mostly immune to the staring and pointing, but some days it still gets old and unnerving. Some of us shared that we would like to ask the people who stare at us, “What are you staring at?”

As Christians, nonbelievers and others stare at us when we are publicly doing God’s work. People question why we help the poor, the needy, the homeless, and so on. These individuals do not understand our call to share the good news with anyone who will listen. They do not understand the love of God. People stare at what they do not understand.

In our Bible reading today, we see a lame man being healed by Peter and John. Peter and John meet him when he is begging for alms outside the temple (Acts 3:3). After being healed, he enters the temple with them, jumping up and down and worshipping God (Acts 3:6, 8). The people in the temple are astonished by the man’s ability to walk when he was previously not able to stand (Acts 3:11).

Peter addresses the Israelites’ lack of faith and answers the onlookers’ question: how can this previously lame man now walk? For Peter, it is a question of faith and being witnesses to the good news. As a Jew himself, Peter calls the Israelites out on their mistake: rejecting and condemning the Holy and Righteous One to death (Acts 3:13-15a). The Israelites are responsible for Jesus being crucified on the cross. Pontius Pilate wanted to release Jesus, but the Israelites wanted him to release Barabbas and to crucify Jesus, which he complied with (Acts 3:13). However, it is not only the Israelites who crucified Jesus but also the Romans and Peter himself. Everybody is guilty of crucifying Jesus.

Peter goes on, “Nevertheless, God raised Jesus from the dead, and this is why we believe in the good news and share the good news with others” (Acts 3:15b-16). God fulfilled what he promised through the prophets through sending his Son for you to crucify in order that we may have forgiveness of sins (Acts 3:18), even the jealous, the ignorance, and the rejection of Jesus were used by God for good (Acts 3:17). The events of Holy Week took place according to God’s will as the prophets foretold.

Peter finishes his sermon with, “Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wipe out” (Acts 3:19 NRSV). Jesus’s crucifixion, death, resurrection, and ascension become the way in which we are able to be in a relationship with God the Father. When you repent for all of your bad decisions, you are made new in the eyes of the Lord. It does not matter if you killed someone, stole from your neighbors, lied to your parents, cheated on your exam, or [whatever “it” is] you did in the past. It does not matter that the Israelites had Jesus killed. It does not matter how big or small the sin. As long as you repent, you are forgiven and are made new by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for sending Jesus to die for our sins. Give us courage to repent of our sins—no matter how bad they are. Clear our minds to understand that we are forgiven for all of our sins. Lead us to share the good news with others. Thank you for your forgiveness, grace, and love. Amen.

Reflective Questions

Describe a time when people stared at you. How did it make you feel? How did you react?
What does it mean to you to be forgiven?

Creating an Interdependent Community

Reading for Second Sunday of Easter

Acts 4:32-35

Devotion

Peace be with you!

How often do you simply put your trust in the Lord? I get anxiety when I have an open shift come up suddenly. An open shift means I have no one to come feed me a meal, to help me with household chores, and/or to take me to my appointments. I really get frantic when this happens, and I start calling friends who will help me in a jam. I also get anxiety when I get low on the essentials, like toilet papers, food, and so on. Because I cannot drive a car and need a personal caregiver to take me shopping, I cannot just run to the store whenever I want.

After Jesus’s ascent into heaven, his first followers engage in a minimalist lifestyle. These first believers become one community where individuals work together for the common goal of spreading the good news of Jesus’s resurrection. No one goes hungry or suffers; the community takes care of everyone’s needs. The apostles live on the generosity of the communities to which they travelled. People sell their land and houses and give proceeds to provide for the apostles’ every need (Acts 4:34-35). The community of believers care for one another.

By living as minimalists, the apostles and the other believers put their trust in the Lord. Unlike Thomas initially did (John 20:19-31), the apostles trust the Lord will present ways to meet their needs without having riches. The apostles are self-giving by sacrificing the luxuries of the world and sharing what they own with others. No one believer claims to own his own anything but shares it with his other brothers in Jesus Christ. Because of their faith in Jesus and their trust he would provide for their every need, the apostles never go without (Acts 4:34).

The apostles and believers experience a new way of life when they give up the things—property and material things—to ensure everyone is blessed in this world. When the apostles and believers give up things they do not need, they become closer to the Lord and grow more aware of where he is working in their lives. The Lord leads the apostles and believers to amazing places where their gifts can be used and to people who need to hear the good news or a word of hope.

Like the apostles, I have had to create a community where I can depend on friends, family members, and personal caregivers. I would not be as successful without my interdependent community. Although I strive to live as a minimalist , I try to only buy what I need. I only stock up on items which I know I will use over time, such as paper towels, toilet paper, juices, Coke, etc. There are just some situations I plan ahead for, such as having corndogs always in my freezer in case of the rare occasion I cannot fill an open shift. In a society where we strive to as independent as possible, the apostles give us a way to create a healthy, interdependent community where people work together to ensure everyone receives the blessings of this world. When we work together, we build healthy relationships and a safe community for all.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for giving us the example of the apostles. Help us to live as minimalists and trust you will provide for our every need. Lead us to the people and the places where we are needed. Be with those who struggle to let go of the things of the world. Thank you for giving us new life in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Reflective Questions

How do you put your trust in the Lord?
Describe a time when the Lord provided for something.
List only one hundred items that you absolutely need to survive. Remember each collectible counts as one.

Finding the Empty Tomb

Reading for Easter Sunday

Mark 16:1-8

Devotion

Peace be with you!

Twenty-five years ago this May, my mom jumped on a plane with my newborn brother to help care for Ed, a family friend who was waiting for a new heart. Back then heart transplants were fairly new. In fact, Ed was only the eighty-third heart transplant done in Tampa. Ed and his wife, Kathy, remember my mom driving ninety miles per hour down the interstate that day in May when he got the call that they had a new heart for him. Ed still is mystified why someone who died would give him new life.

This is the kind of mystery Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome face that early morning when they go to the tomb to anoint Jesus’s body according to the Jewish tradition. On their way, the women wonder how they will roll away the stone Joseph had used to cover the opening to the tomb.

But when the three of them get to the tomb, the stone is already rolled away AND Jesus’s body is missing! Who would be strong enough to roll away the stone? Who would want Jesus’s body? Where did they take his body? Nowhere in their panic is there any memory of Jesus attempting to explain that he would rise in three days. In their minds, someone has taken Jesus’s body.

Then a man in white appears to Mary Magdalene, Mary, and Salome. They are frightened. But the angel says, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you” (Mark 16:6-7 NRSV). Despite this encouragement, the women run from the tomb as fast as they can and, in their fear, tell no one (Mark 16:8).

Mark 16:8b says Mary Magdalene, Mary, and Salome told no one what the man in white told them. Can you imagine if they had? People would lock those three up in some mental hospital. And who is this man in white? The women may have thought they had seen a ghost. Or perhaps they wondered if they had gone mad. What would they even say? “Jesus’s body was not in the tomb, but some man in white was there and said Jesus would meet us in Galilee just like he said.” Who would believe them? We believe Mary Magdalene, Mary, and Salome, because we understand how the story comes together.

The people who walked on earth with Jesus may have initially missed the fact that Jesus had risen from the dead. They missed the fact that Jesus has overcome death and given us life. But we have not gone to the empty tomb clueless. We have heard the story over and over again. We understand Jesus had to die to save us from our sins and to overcome death so we could enjoy eternal life. God’s light is still in the world; all we have to do in believe in Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection. It is a mystery, of course. We may not totally understand how or why God would sacrifice his Son for us, except that he did it out of love to give us eternal life.

Jesus later appeared to Cephas, the twelve, five hundred brothers and sisters, James, all the apostles, and the Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 15:5-8). And now Jesus appears to you and me today. Jesus meets us wherever we are in life. Jesus meets us where we live. Jesus meets us morning, noon, and night—whatever time we call out his name. Jesus wants to meet with us to bring us into a relationship with God the Father. That is God’s whole plan of sending Jesus to walk on earth with us: to bring us into a relationship with him. What a glorious gift!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17 NRSV).

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you Jesus Christ’s death on the cross to redeem us from our sins. Help us to understand the mystery of Jesus’s crucifixion, death, and resurrection. Come to us in our daily lives, so we can meet with Jesus and be in relationship with you. Keep us in the light, so we may know your love. Thank you for meeting with us in both ordinary and extraordinary ways. Amen.

Reflective Questions

How does Jesus continue to redeem you of your sins?
Where does Jesus Christ meet with you? How does he appear to you?