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Renewal Through Routine
The Upper Room Disciplines has been a source of strength and comfort to readers for decades. Read More
Laura Huff Hileman | Read Psalm 139:1-6 , Read Mark 2:23-28
Holy humility is what the Pharisees lack as they try to trip up Jesus with their questions about the sabbath. When they harangue him about harvesting and healing on the day of rest, they seem to be speaking out of a deep human vulnerability: the need to manage the Mystery...
Loving God, it is so hard to be human! Restore us to sacred awe. Forgive our small-minded fear, and help us have compassion for ourselves. Show us how to release the drive to know it all and to simply trust you. Amen.
In this week’s readings, we’ll explore seven ways that our embodiment manifests both the vulnerability of being human and the “extraordinary power” from Christ within—the treasure in the jar of clay. These paradoxes include the mysteries of being both fearfully and wonderfully made, how sickness and wounding makes us vulnerable to life-giving healing, how physical hunger opens us to the abundance of the kingdom of God, how our abandonment to sleep can reveal our hidden strengths, how true knowing includes not knowing, how aging can render us open to the “life of Jesus” within us, and how our mortality is charged with God’s infinity. All these point to this paradox of faith: That which makes us feel vulnerable opens us up to the living God. As Paul says elsewhere, “In our weakness lies our strength.”
Read Mark 2:23–3:6. Who among the people in this passage fires an emotional response for you? The hungry? The hurt? The holier-than-thou? What is the feeling you carry toward each of these figures?
Read Psalm 139:1-6 and 13-18. How does it feel to be so thoroughly known by and transparent to God?
Read 1 Samuel 3:1-20. Have you ever had a dream or a vision that helped you sense God was unquestionably with you?
Read 2 Corinthians 4:5-12. Has there been a time in your life when suffering helped reveal God’s glory?
Respond by posting a prayer.
