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Remembering Freedom
I have always thought of freedom as a political good. Because I was raised in a Read More
Jennifer E. Copeland | Read Psalm 29:1-11
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Sign Up TodayAnother named storm headlines the news. Some years we’ve run out of letters from the English alphabet and have had to move on to the Greek alphabet. And those are only the storms that make it to the majors. Plenty of other storms create their own level of havoc without...
“The Holy Spirit work within you, that being born through water and the Spirit, you may be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ” (Baptismal Covenant I, The United Methodist Book of Worship).
Water is an important theme throughout the Bible. The authors of scripture use water as an image of transition and sometimes challenge, and they tie it back to God’s renewing work. Isaiah records the divine promise that God will not abandon Israel, even if they pass through trying waters—a reference to the deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptians. The psalmist declares that God’s voice covers all the waters, so nothing can come against us that is beyond God’s reach. In Acts we see the connection between baptism—passing through the water—and the gift of the Holy Spirit. The emphasis is on the inclusion of the Samaritans, a group considered unclean by many but not by God. We see clearly the connection between water baptism and the Spirit in the baptism of Jesus himself.
Read Isaiah 43:1-7. Isaiah presents an image of God’s favor that is at once particular and universal. How do you experience God’s love for you and for all persons as part of the body of Christ?
Read Psalm 29. God’s creation, in its wildness, incorporates destruction. In the face of disaster, how do you find a way to say, “Glory”?
Read Acts 8:14-17. Our baptism is in the name of Jesus and the name of the Spirit. To what wildness does the Spirit prompt you?
Read Luke 3:15-17, 21-22. Remember your baptism and listen for God’s call out into the wildness of the world.
Respond by posting a prayer.
The Upper Room lifts the spirits of residents I serve as a correctional chaplain. Christians and non-Christians read the devotions, reminding them of an alternative path to a loving God that will walk alongside them through the good and ugly of life.”
The Upper Room Chaplains’ Ministry provides military, VA hospital, and prison chaplains copies of the daily devotional for their ministry. Give today to support the Chaplains’ Ministry.
