Lon B. Chesnutt - A Devotional for Progressive Christians

A Devotional for Progressive Christians

Lon B. Chesnutt

Copyright 2016 Lon B. Chesnutt.

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New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

ISBN: 978-1-4897-0984-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-0983-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016916341

LifeRich Publishing rev. date: 12/21/2016

Contents

As language is important for our understandings, the use of very ancient words and phrases has become problematic for many Christians. This brief writing tries to give an alternative way for understanding scripture and articulating implications in these tumultuous days.

These particular Biblical passages follow a guide found in Reuben Jobs PRAYING IN A NOISEY WORLD and then utilize the list of Suggested Scripture Lessons in the 1992 edition of THE UNITED METHODIST BOOK OF WORSHIP. Out of the scripture passage for the day, I have selected what seems to me the key verse for comments. The pattern of selection is not as significant as is the method of treatment for each scripture passage, which is explained below. Bible quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version.

This booklet was first prepared as a Prayer Journal of my own reflections. After some rereading and thinking, it seemed that it might be helpful for others who are having difficulty with an older form of personal devotions. Thus in following the traditional pattern of scripture reading, reflection, and a brief prayer, I have tried to explore the relationship of Bible reading and its meaning for ones personal life.

The use of non-traditional language in addressing God or thinking about Deity is an attempt to move away from the understanding of Divinity as an outside source of power. Traditionally, this super-power breaks into our lives with revelations about what we should believe. Instead, these pages are designed to help us shift the source of responsibility. The Divine is already in the workings of our own thinking, feeling, and decision-making inner self. Our task is to acknowledge that presence and then take responsibility for what we do.

Ephesians 2: 8 10 Grace has saved you For we are what he has mad e us.

The relationship between initiative of the Deity and initiative of the individual has always been a concern for me. Earlier in my life and thinking it seemed that scripture and Christian teaching proclaimed that God acted first and planted whatever good things I did within me, as the above passage can read.

But its only come to me in recent times that theres an alternative understanding of the way God can worknot Deus ex MachinaGod coming from an outside place into my lifebut God being a part of my life and using who I already am to face every issue coming before me. Then I can make the most responsible judgment or decision possible. This shifts the understanding of Deity from an external force or power into an inside creativity that is always there, ready to be utilized. Its more than me, but I must take the initiative for any decisions made. Perhaps thats the way that we take action on behalf of the Deity.

Prayer: Holder of who I am, bring together new strands of possibility that are within me and direct them toward the character of love, which I would like to become. For the sake of a fuller life, its time.

John 8: 31- 38 You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.

Its important to remember your history and to draw ideas from it, but its also important to realize that you should not be bound by whatever happened back then. Staying with only what you can remember and claim from the past is dangerous because that closes your eyes and ears to what is happening around you. It especially blocks out what may just be opening up beyond you.

My task is to find ways to test an idea thoroughly enough for its values before making a major investment of my time and energy.

For me, the struggle is to decide which new door to open and explore. There are so many opportunities and so many limits to time and energy.

Prayer: Spirit of Wonderment, continue to pull together different aspects of my experiences into new conclusions and new opportunities for my life so that every day is a joy to behold. In the name of Jesus the explorer, affirmative.

Psalm 100 For the Lord is good, his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generat ions.

These are my favorite five verses in the Hebrew Bible. They summarize an understanding of the Divine in such a positive and joyful manner.

This closing verse underscores the basic faith or trust of the entire Bible; it is an affirmation of the goodness of all that exists. It includes the natural world, all the animals in all their forms, and the total human journey. This attitude would stop wars and change the world if humans could only come to adopt it.

Only the Divine maintains steadfast love because that is a form of existence that we humans attain only to a partial degree, though we hold it as an ideal goal of life.

To include all generations in this permanent attitude is one of the most comforting statements ever made. It counts me in as valuable!

Prayer: Truth-releaser that is deeply protected within my psyche, unleash also the freedom that honesty nurtures in the spirit so that I can be one step nearer the wholeness that is intended in our creation. Spoken in the name and power of forgiveness, as it is.

Luke 11: 1- 10 Your kingdom comes on earth as in he aven.

Silent time in ones private time can be difficult. Its hard to close out other thoughts as distractions. One possibility is to see them as a way the Divine, or God, or the More becomes accessible within us. Then you can deal with them and explore their meaning at the moment.

Lukes version is the short form of the Lords Prayer and it speaks directly on needs and responsibility without dressing it up with fancy adjectives or phrases.

Including regular scripture reading as part of daily routine in private time is a good practice to include. It puts you in contact with the faith tradition as a starting place. The temptation is to approach scripture from a scholarly or historians point of view asking, What was the author trying to convey at this point? But recently, Walter Winks Biblical methodology as a New Testament teacher centers around asking a more basic question, What is this passage saying to me at this moment? The real task today is to include both these questions.