All Good Things….

Alas. The time has come for the Almost Daily Devotional to say good-bye. After almost 4 years of almost daily offerings, my attention is turned toward new vistas. Thank you for your faithful readership and your many words of thanks and encouragement.

For those looking for a daily devotional, I would recommend The Mockingbird Devotional, easily accessed by this app:

Or check out Mockingbird Ministries’ website for great posts, podcasts, and sermons at mbird.org.

In other news, I’m working with Mockingbird to publish an old school Daily Devotional in book form! We hope to cull the best of the Almost Daily Devotionals and deliver them to your bedside table. So, stay tuned!

Gratefully yours,

Paul

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Cali Yee 6/24/22 Cali Yee 6/24/22

June 24, 2022

The Almost Daily will be on Summer Vacation until August 8th. But fear not! You will receive a devotional each Monday through Friday from the excellent Mockingbird Devotional entitled Daily Grace. Enjoy! - Paul Walker

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.” (John 9:1-3 RSV)

In the account of this miraculous healing, there is a ‘front-story’ and a backstory.

The ‘front-story’ is of an adult man who was born with a major disability, a ‘birth defect,’ which Christ fixes.

The backstory concerns the cause of the man’s disability. Had his parents done something wrong that caused their son to be born blind? Or had the son somehow erred, maybe in the womb or in an earlier life—to speak ‘Eastern’ for a sec—and had that mistake caused, by way of retribution or karma, this terrible physical consequence? The world in which Jesus was operating wanted to know. His disciples wanted to know.

Christ changed ‘the narrative’ completely. He offered a backstory, behind the ‘front-story,’ which confuted the disciples’ way of looking at it. The only true backstory would have to be God’s Backstory. The cause of the man’s blindness was God’s plan, 25 years or so after the man’s birth, to unveil His healing character through His incarnate Son on that particular day. We could ask a thousand questions about symptoms, causes, and timing, but the answer Christ gave is, “That’s the Way God Planned It” (Billy Preston, 1969).

Apply this to yourself. I can give you a thousand guesses, surmises, and suggestions concerning why my life’s the way it is and why it’s turned out the way it has. But the only bona fide insight, at least from the Gospel of John, is that God planned it that way. Ultimately—though not necessarily in the moment of the pain at its worst—that insight, concerning God’s transcendent plan and timing, is consoling to the max. May I recommend it?

[Paul Zahl, Daily Grace - Mockingbird Devotional Vol. 2]

Cali Yee 6/23/22 Cali Yee 6/23/22

June 23, 2022

For thus says the LORD: Your hurt is incurable, your wound is grievous. There is no one to uphold your cause, no medicine for your wound, no healing for you... For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, says the LORD... (Jeremiah 30:12-13, 17)

One thing has become abundantly clear to me as I’ve gotten older: left to my own devices, my “hurt” really is incurable. I don’t know about you, but I’ve looked to all manner of things in an attempt to self-medicate amid the gaping brokenness of a fallen world. I’ve turned to wine, to Mexican food, to television, to gossip, and when I was younger, to boys. Escape, escape, escape. Feel better, feel better, feel better. Some of us are so skilled at avoiding this pain that we’ve convinced ourselves we’re fine. Others of us are more manic about the whole thing, gripping, searching, clawing for anything at all that might bring light to this cavernous darkness. We are yet disbelieving that, like Jeremiah says, there really is no earthly medicine for our wounds. But if you let go of your rickety guardrails for a minute, can’t you see he’s right? That none of your attempts at self-fulfillment have satisfied your unrelenting need? Can’t you see that your wounds are just too grievous?

In the above passage, God tells the Israelites that he himself will be the medicine for their otherwise incurable hurts: “For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal.”

Like the African-American spiritual goes:

There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin-sick soul.

God sent Jesus as the utmost Balm of Gilead. What does this mean for our hurts on an average day? In Jesus, we have a friend whose name is Love, whose name is Comfort, whose name is Hope, and he is always with us. His is a hand to hold, a lap on which to lay our heads. He graciously walks alongside us through the minutes and years of suffering, improbably crafting that suffering into something beautiful, something new, something altogether redeemed. In the arms of Jesus, we are ultimately carried home, welcomed back like beloved children. There will be no more hurt, there will be nothing left to grieve. And we will feast alongside our Maker and our Savior, finally and fully healed, finally and fully whole.

[Charlotte Getz, Daily Grace - Mockingbird Devotional Vol. 2]

Cali Yee 6/22/22 Cali Yee 6/22/22

June 22, 2022

My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:1-2)

The late, great Warren Zevon wrote the 1976 rocker “Poor Poor Pitiful Me.” He wrote it ironically, and in it, he “complained” about an excess of female attention. His version (not Linda’s!) is well worth a listen.

The temptation to self-pity is a strong one. One’s pain is one’s pain, and it is real, obviously. When people come to see me and try to shuffle off their struggle as illegitimate because others have it worse, I always attempt to validate whatever it is that brought them in to see me. Just counting one’s blessings at the expense of expressing one’s pain never works in the long run. So-called comparative suffering is no real help. You need more.

There is a counterpunch to this, though. It can be helpful, when lost in one’s own pity party, to be reminded that no one person has the corner on pain. The adage “misery loves company” can be interpreted in two ways. Yes, it’s good to know that we are not the only ones who suffer. But it is also helpful to be comforted by another’s company. Perhaps this is why the Apostle Paul says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

Ultimately, Christ became miserable for our sake, suffering for our sins. He has carried the final burden.

Lord Christ, you went to the cross to bear my burden. I ask you, even now, to take that burden anew and give me your peace that passes understanding. Amen.

[Paul Walker, Daily Grace - Mockingbird Devotional Vol. 2]

Cali Yee 6/21/22 Cali Yee 6/21/22

June 21, 2022

“And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry...” (Matthew 6:28-31)

I worry about literally everything. I worry about finances, my health, my safety, my future, keeping the house spotless (though we have three kids), making sure I parent perfectly, whether we’ll have enough money when we retire, whether we will ever be debt-free, etc.

And when I read this passage, it doesn’t alleviate my anxiety. It heightens it. This word comes to us for one specific purpose: to definitively diagnose that we are, in fact, of little faith and can do nothing about it. Note that Jesus nowhere in this passage tells us how we can remediate our sad condition.

We who are of little faith have yet a greater hope: one who was belittled on the cross and raised to become our faithfulness. We can’t not be what God tells us not to be, and neither can we not be who he says we are in Christ.

If God’s care for us were contingent on our faithfulness to Him, we would all be in serious trouble. The law of God essentially declares, “Be faithful to God or die.” A better word, though, informs us that Jesus was faithful to the point of death, and therefore God cares for us more meticulously than He does for the individual blades of grass, more gracefully than He does for the birds of the air.

The good news is that our capacity to worry can never exceed His commitment to us. Christ was condemned for our anxieties that we might be credited with His faith in God.

[Jason Thompson, Daily Grace - Mockingbird Devotional Vol. 2]

Cali Yee 6/20/22 Cali Yee 6/20/22

June 20, 2022

“I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” (John 16:33)

I am a sucker for de-motivational posters—you know, the ones with the photos that ooze inspiration but have messages that are less-than-inspirational. There’s one that depicts an Olympic hurdler, leaping his way to the gold, presumably. The tagline reads, “Obstacles: No matter how many you overcome, there’s still an infinite number waiting.” We all face hurdles—in relationships, parenting, our occupations—that call out for us to overcome them. Yet even as we conquer these obstacles, new ones arise.

This is why Jesus’ words in today’s verse are so affecting. They run opposite to the messages of “overcoming” found on modern airwaves and contemporary bookshelves. Jesus’ subversive message of peace and courage comes through antithetical means. Instead of giving us swords and spears with which to take down the bastions of Satan’s domain, the primary posture of those “in the Lord’s army” is one of prostrate, desperate faith. We “overcome” simply by resting in his overcoming.

Jesus’ words to us are not a summons to triumph over daily obstacles by the centrifugal force of pulling on our own bootstraps. Rather, his good news invites us to submit to and rejoice in his already-accomplished victory on our behalf.

We are not the fighters. We are not the overcomers. He is. Jesus, in word and deed, is the true and better Overcomer. He identified himself as the One who overcomes all. All darkness, death, and sin quakes as the Savior subdues all in order to accomplish his purposes in us and for us (Jn 1:4-5). And this is no “might be,” “I hope so,” “maybe” possibility. It is true right now, even in your season of darkness, that Christ has overcome the world, overcome everything that is opposed to the light, to beauty, truth, and grace.

[Brad Gray, Daily Grace - Mockingbird Devotional Vol. 2]

Cali Yee 6/17/22 Cali Yee 6/17/22

June 17, 2022

“Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16)

A note about the book of Esther: The name of God is not mentioned once. Pretty interesting, given that it was included in the Bible, right? Take a look for yourself if you don’t believe me. I love that God shows up in this story anyway, his invisible hand the guiding force of the narrative—just like in our own lives.

When I was younger and heard about Esther, the teaching was focused on the “big” things she did for the kingdom of God by stepping up for the Jewish people. And, certainly, being instrumental in the saving of an entire race would qualify as big. Victorious, even! But first? She must take this very small step of entering the king’s chamber—less a victorious march than a trepidatious step toward potential death.

There’s not a lot that’s glamorous about risking execution, but that’s exactly what Esther will be doing if she approaches the king—and the passage tells us she’s happy to look for another way out (take this cup from me, anyone?) before she assents to the plan. She knows she can’t do it alone— she needs her people, and her unseen God.

“If I perish, I perish,” Esther assents, unknowingly pointing forward hundreds of years to the One for whom there was no if. Esther, it turns out, did not perish, but succeeded in entreating the king to save the Jews. Fast-forward hundreds of years to the One who did perish, and in so doing saved all of humanity by his unseen but ever-present hand.

[Stephanie Phillips, Daily Grace - Mockingbird Devotional Vol. 2]

Cali Yee 6/16/22 Cali Yee 6/16/22

June 16, 2022

There are many who say, “O that we might see some good! Let the light of your face shine on us, O LORD!” You have put gladness in my heart more than when their grain and wine abound. I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O LORD, make me lie down in safety. (Psalm 4:6-8)

Some people call this a “night psalm.” David, on the run from his enemies, must be having trouble sleeping, and for good reason! As the psalm opens, David calls out urgently for God to be “gracious” in hearing his prayer (v. 1).

As king and spiritual leader of Israel, David feels bound to instruct his subjects on how to get right with God. He cautions them about their deceitful words and rebellious anger, and he calls them to practice silent meditation as they lay on their respective beds (v. 4).

With all this drama going on, however, how will David ever get some sleep himself? Yet, as the psalm draws to a close, the same David who passionately seeks God’s intervention and vigorously upbraids his enemies now receives in his heart the spiritual equivalent of warm milk and cookies. David prays for the light of God’s face, and seems to get his answer as a God-given “gladness” nestles deep in his heart. Now, at last, David is finally able to roll over and sleep in peace (v. 8) under God’s protective hand.

[Larry Parsley, Daily Grace - Mockingbird Devotional Vol. 2]

Cali Yee 6/15/22 Cali Yee 6/15/22

June 15, 2022

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...” (Matthew 28:19)

I once read this verse and concluded that in order to be faithful, I had to buy a plane ticket, learn a foreign language, and convert as many Muslims as possible. Of course, evangelization is a big part of the Christian faith, but I’m no longer sure that that’s all the Great Commission is about. There is a lot here that does not necessarily demand our patronage of the airlines. In fact, when we read this passage through the lens of a personal burden, we may be distracting ourselves from a more startling idea.

The setting: a mountain in Galilee. The resurrected Jesus has met his disciples there. He does not tell them, “Make disciples of the teachable, the intelligent, the people with magnetic personalities.” He says, “Make disciples of all nations.” In the Greek, “nation” relates closely to “ethnicity,” which was especially notable for a time when gods were associated with specific places and people groups. The Jews had their own God, and the Romans had theirs, and the Persians had theirs. Each god, or pantheon of gods, dealt with an exclusive group.

But Jesus means to take everyone under his wing, and he will not be stopped by the boundaries of ethnicity or geography. In the Great Commission, Jesus describes his ideal group: everyone. “The disciples” are not an exclusive class. No one is left out, not the poor, the sick, the young, the old, the weird, the excessively normal. Not even you, with your failures, and ugly secrets, and all of those dumb things you said at the party last night.

Every day, we sort ourselves into little nations based on political beliefs, wealth, clothing, body type, taste in music. So today, when you encounter a stranger from a strange land, bear in mind that they, like you, are God’s beloved. God wants that person to be included. And remember, too, Jesus’ final promise: that no matter which nation we come from, He is with us always, to the end of the age.

[CJ Green, Daily Grace - Mockingbird Devotional Vol. 2]

Cali Yee 6/14/22 Cali Yee 6/14/22

June 14, 2022

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)

Chief among my real-world concerns as a kid was how I dressed. I’d heard adults say, “Dress to impress,” and I took that to heart. Consider the long-treasured clothing itinerary I dreamt up at age 9 for a 1985 trip to Disneyland:

Monday: Jams and red tank top
Tuesday: Izod with shorts
Wednesday: Shorts and Spuds MacKenzie shirt
Thursday: Jams and polo (Vans)

Not unlike Tamatoa—the glam-rock coconut crab in Moana who sings “I’d rather be shiny!”—I have often found myself on a futile search for acceptance, affirmation, and influence, even through something as seemingly trivial as clothing.

In true “What Not to Wear” fashion (pun intended), and through the use of His Law, God shows us that when we seek to “clothe ourselves” in this way, we exacerbate our spiritual nakedness. The burden of clothing ourselves is the fashion emergency that has our Father stooping low to give us His Son, who was stripped naked so that we might, at long last, be covered.

With fruit juice still on their lips, our oldest ancestors hid their nakedness with clothing that cost animals their lives. Out with the old and in with the new: God’s garments are intended to “show off” His glory and resurrection. The Divine Dresser helps fashion-disasters like you and me wear “the garments of salvation.” Trust and believe this: Hope, humility, a sense of humor, and gratitude are always in style. And no matter what you see in the mirror, God sees you as the perfect model to wear His designs. You are an integral part of the beauty that “brings forth its shoots” and “will cause righteousness and praise to spring up” (v. 11).

You’re a model. You know what I mean. You do your little turn on the catwalk!

[Matt Magill, Daily Grace - Mockingbird Devotional Vol. 2]

Cali Yee 6/13/22 Cali Yee 6/13/22

June 13, 2022

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. (Acts 2:42-45)

If this were the only snapshot we had of life in the early church, we probably wouldn’t trust it—especially if we’ve logged more than a handful of hours in a local church. And of course, it is not. In this book of Acts, we soon witness church people lying and cheating, negotiating bitter divisions, and struggling with false teaching and false prophets.

Still, in our passage, we get a glimpse of some of those magical moments that I hope all of us have experienced at one time or another in a local church: this rich sense of friendship mingled with prayer, this ravenous hunger for the gospel, and the sheer joy of breaking bread with one another, whether we are celebrating communion or divvying up a potluck. I pray you’ve belonged to a place that is animated by the silent conviction that nobody who sits in one of our pews is going to go hungry while the person sitting next to them has a stocked pantry back at home.

Yes, sadly, church does not always work that way. But when it does, as it did in our passage, it is not surprising that God’s unmistakable grace keeps drawing outsiders in (v. 47). May God fill our lives with more of the gracious ‘magic’ that only the Spirit can bring.

[Larry Parsley, Daily Grace - Mockingbird Devotional Vol. 2]

Cali Yee 6/10/22 Cali Yee 6/10/22

June 10, 2022

But Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent...” Then the LORD said to him, “Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.” But he said, “O my Lord, please send someone else.” (Exodus 4:10-13)

I’ve never been big on conventional heroes—the Captain Americas or Neil Armstrongs of the world. To me, the most compelling figures in literature and life are those that are flawed or vulnerable in some meaningful way, and I’m pretty sure God shares this proclivity, at least if the Bible is anything to go by.

Moses is one of God’s great anti-heroes. Despite lowly origins, he grew up in the royal court of Egypt to become what one can only infer was a cocky, hot-blooded young man—the sort who neither doubts his own righteousness nor his ability to fix things. But then he murders an Egyptian and is forced to flee for his life. Through the next forty years in rural anonymity, he passes from excessive confidence to profound self-doubt. By the time God visits him in a burning bush, Moses is hardly inclined to see himself as the heroic type.

And yet God nevertheless charges him with the epic task of confronting Pharaoh and bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses naturally wonders, “Who am I?” and peppers God with a litany of quite sensible misgivings. Despite God’s reassurances, Moses still isn’t having it. Then, as if the burning bush thing wasn’t enough, God proceeds to turn Moses’ staff into a snake, then back into a staff, and then covers Moses’ hand with leprosy before healing it again. After all this, as we see in the passage above, Moses still pleads inadequacy and begs God to “send someone else.”

Who can’t relate? Who doesn’t after all feel inadequate and fearful when confronted by the vast problems of this world or by our own weaknesses and failings, not to mention by the awesome mystery of God? But in this Exodus story, God reminds Moses that we are never the real heroes anyway. And just as God took a murderous “basket case” like Moses and made him the deliverer of his people and conduit for the Torah, God takes even us and breathes life and purpose and the strength of love into our dreary lives. We’re still anti-heroes, to be sure, but we’re God’s anti-heroes, and God’s not done with us.

[Benjamin Self, Daily Grace - Mockingbird Devotional Vol. 2]

Cali Yee 6/9/22 Cali Yee 6/9/22

June 9, 2022

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” (1 Corinthians 1:18-19)

If you grew up in an oppressive religious environment, there’s a good chance you’ve had to “deconstruct” your faith in order to keep it. That’s what I’ve done anyway: taking apart the beliefs I received and trying to analyze, sort, and reassemble them as something I can stomach.

This method of “deconstruction” came from a twentieth-century French philosopher, Jacques Derrida. (Stay with me.) For him, it was a way of protecting minority voices, of opposing absolutism, of dismantling dominant ideas by pointing out internal incoherence. What’s more interesting to me, and more relevant to everyday life, is where Derrida got his idea. He got it from another modern philosopher, who got it from Luther.

In Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation, he wrote against pretended wisdom. Anyone considered moral or powerful had gotten it all wrong, he said. They were “theologians of glory,” believing God was only in obvious progress and success. “Theologians of the cross,” however, could see God’s activity where it really was—in the worst parts of life, “destroy[ing]” (literally, deconstructing) established power and knowledge. God didn’t delight in people’s pain and humiliation, but God delighted to identify with people there, first and finally in the cross.

Yet Luther didn’t come up with this idea either. He got it from Paul, here in 1 Corinthians. And Paul in turn got it from Isaiah. God’s work won’t be contained by what’s polite, convenient, or presentable. God “destroy[s] the wisdom” of those things, because they try to ignore God’s real activity, and its friendship with shame and confusion and failure. And that’s where God is, in Jesus, on the cross.

This history of “deconstruction” helps me orient my faith in “secular” contexts. But even more than that, it actually addresses my experience. Against my intuition, and against what I’d have done, God tells it like it is, and meets us where we are, and shows up where we don’t expect.

[Kendall Gunter, Daily Grace - Mockingbird Devotional Vol. 2]

Cali Yee 6/8/22 Cali Yee 6/8/22

June 8, 2022

While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.” (Matthew 26:6-11 NIV)

For someone who’s been telling his followers to feed the hungry and give away all of their belongings, this seems like an odd thing to say. It’s also a bold thing to say: “The poor you will always have with you.” There’s no strategic plan to rid the world of poverty in ten years. However, there is a very strategic plan in place that will lead to Jesus’ crucifixion in a few minutes. But back up—the poor will always be with us?

Jesus seems to be telling his disciples that in spite of their best intentions and right actions, this world will never be perfect. Jesus is also telling his disciples that his life is about to end. And just in case he wasn’t abundantly clear, Jesus plays his crowd favorite of turning the world upside-down, elevating the erstwhile shamed woman into the hero of the hour.

It has become cliché to say that someone “meant well,” but that’s almost always a veiled insult. Nobody says that someone “meant well” when someone actually did well. And yet Jesus’ words over the woman who anointed him with oil tell us that no act of love is wasted. Even if it only appears that “she meant well” to the well-meaning but quick-to-criticize disciples, her act of love toward Jesus was not wasted.

This passage brings to mind the words of Henri-Frédéric Amiel, a nineteenth-century Swiss moral philosopher: “Life is short. We don’t have much time to gladden the hearts of those who walk this way with us. So be swift to love; make haste to be kind.” Your impulsive acts of love and kindness are not wasted, even when rule-minders might make you feel that they are.

[Carrie Willard, Daily Grace - Mockingbird Devotional Vol. 2]

Cali Yee 6/7/22 Cali Yee 6/7/22

June 7, 2022

“Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near... Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:28, 34-36)

Few questions are guaranteed to produce anxiety faster than “Are you ready?” Are you ready for the exam? For the big game? Are you ready to get married? For the baby to arrive? Ready for the court date? Ready for the empty nest? Are you ready for retirement? Are you ready for...today?

Most of us, if we’re honest, do not feel ready for anything—at least in the sense of being “prepared.” And those of us who think we are ready usually aren’t. A wise person once said that if you wait until you’re ready to do x, y, or z, you’ll wait forever.

The question of readiness inspires panic because it creates in us a sense that our efforts will possibly not be enough, that there’s not enough time left before some impending change or judgment.

In today’s passage Jesus counsels his disciples to “be on your guard” and “be alert at all times” for the Second Coming. He doesn’t want them weighed down by worry or distraction. He wants them ready. Is this his way of conveying that classic sign “Jesus is coming—look busy”? Shape up or ship out? I don’t think so. Because it’s not doom on the horizon but redemption!

The judgment of the Son of Man is indeed coming, but that judgment isn’t like others. The judgment of God in Christ is forgiveness. Authoritative, God-initiated, God-sustained, God-fulfilled forgiveness. This pardon does not depend on your own perceived preparedness but on the trustworthiness of the Judge.

You may not be ready for anything else in life, but on account of the one whose “words will not pass away” (Lk 21:33), you stand perfectly primed for the only impending judgment that counts. So lift up your heads and let your hearts rejoice: No matter how you may feel at this moment, you are ready.

[David Zahl, Daily Grace - Mockingbird Devotional Vol. 2]

Cali Yee 6/6/22 Cali Yee 6/6/22

June 6, 2022

So [Hagar] named the LORD who spoke to her, “You are El-roi”; for she said, “Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?” (Genesis 16:13)

She was a runaway. Young, scared, defenseless. As if that weren’t enough, the baby in her belly was fathered by a married old man whose jealous spouse had made her life a living hell. Hagar hadn’t asked for any of this. She was no gold-digger who’d winked her way between some rich old codger’s sheets to woo him away from his wife. In fact, it was his wife’s idea in the first place! Old Sarah told old Abraham to make a baby with her maid because God was dragging his feet about giving them their own promised son. Then, once Hagar was pregnant and started acting a little high and mighty, Sarah conceived disgust for her and eventually impelled her to flee.

It all seems like an episode from Game of Thrones—minus the dragons.

So there was Hagar, on the run, at the end of her rope, in a godforsaken place. In other words, she was in the ideal location for heaven to pay her a visit. “[T]hough the LORD is high, he regards the lowly,” says the poet (Ps 138:6). To paraphrase Luther, the lower down we are, the better God sees us. He sees Hagar. Visits her. Blesses her. And fills her with hope again. So she gives this gracious God a gracious name: El-roi, “the God who sees.”

Hagar, the patron saint of the used-up and thrown-away, is the only person in the Old Testament to name God. She, and the divine name she chose, are vivid reminders that God is never blind to our pain, our shame, our tears. He is the God who sees. He saw Hagar. He sees us, even when it feels like we’re buried so deep in the darkness of depravity, depression, addiction, divorce, or bankruptcy that even divine eyes can’t penetrate the blackness enveloping us.

Hagar was shocked that she remained alive after seeing God. Oh, dear Hagar, it gets even better. When the Lord sees us, we not only remain alive: We are vivified, enlivened, filled with divine life. Because El-roi not only sees us; he loves us into life and hope again.

[Chad Bird, Daily Grace - Mockingbird Devotional Vol. 2]

Paul Walker 6/3/22 Paul Walker 6/3/22

June 3, 2022

“All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.” (Romans 8:14-15)

Fear vs. security. Fear seems to be the default setting of human beings. Maybe that’s why the most commonly repeated phrase in the Bible is “fear not” or “do not be afraid” or “have no fear.”

According to Paul, fear gives way to unassailable security via your adoption as God’s son, God’s daughter. Nothing can touch you now! What would it be like to believe that?

“Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Proper 22 – BCP)

Paul Walker 6/2/22 Paul Walker 6/2/22

June 2, 2022

“I got a feelin' / And it won't go away, oh no / Just one thing and I'll be OK /I need a miracle every day”. The Grateful Dead got it right. I need a miracle every day.

The onrush of condemnation/suffering/bitter division/unhealed wounds won’t go away. All that can be summed up under the Power of Sin. Luther told us that Christian life means “that the old creature in us … is to be drowned and die through daily … repentance, and … that daily a new person is to come forth and arise up to live before God in righteousness.”

St. Paul says, “Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.” (Romans 4:4-5) Trust in God is renewed by God daily. Well, at least Almost Daily! That is the miracle every day.

“Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend us; and, because we cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern us always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Proper 13 – BCP)

Paul Walker 6/1/22 Paul Walker 6/1/22

June 1, 2022

“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.” (Job 12: 7-10)

On this first day of June, a poem called All in June by the Welsh poet William Henry Davies.

A week ago I had a fire
To warm my feet, my hands and face;
Cold winds, that never make a friend,
Crept in and out of every place.

Today the fields are rich in grass,
And buttercups in thousands grow;
I'll show the world where I have been--
With gold-dust seen on either shoe.

Till to my garden back I come,
Where bumble-bees for hours and hours
Sit on their soft, fat, velvet bums,
To wriggle out of hollow flowers.

Hope you enjoy your day today and have a good long look around.

“Almighty and everlasting God, you made the universe with all its marvelous order, its atoms, worlds, and galaxies, andthe infinite complexity of living creatures: Grant that, as we probe the mysteries of your creation, we may come to knowyou more truly, and more surely fulfill our role in your eternal purpose; in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (For Knowledge of God’s Creation – BCP)

Paul Walker 5/31/22 Paul Walker 5/31/22

May 31, 2022

A New Yorker cartoon pictures a man drowning in a river with Lassie on the bank. “Lassie! Get help!” yells the man. In the next frame we see Lassie getting help – she is lying on a shrink’s couch unpacking her neuroses.

Everyone needs to get help in one way or another. Ultimately, directly or derivatively, our help comes from God. “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121: 1-2)

“O Lord our God, accept our prayers; in the multitude of your mercies, look with compassion upon us and all who turn to you for help; for you are gracious, O lover of souls, and to you we give glory, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.” (Collect at the Prayers – BCP)

Paul Walker 5/27/22 Paul Walker 5/27/22

May 27, 2022

“I am only dust and ashes, but allow me to speak, since, see, it is to your mercy that I am speaking and not to man, my mocker. You, too, my smile at me, but you will turn and have compassion on me.” That is Augustine on prayer from his Confessions.

Nice way to think about prayer. When we speak to God we are speaking directly to His mercy. When we speak to people, or to ourselves, we are often speaking to judgment or suspicion or ridicule or inattentiveness. Very, very few people know how to actually listen. Nobody is able to listen with only mercy.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” (James 1:5)

Let us pray.

“O Lord our God, accept the fervent prayers of your people; in the multitude of your mercies, look with compassion upon us and all who turn to you for help; for you are gracious, O lover of souls, and to you we give glory, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.” (Collect at the Prayers – BCP)

All Good Things….

The Christ Church Weekly