Each Wednesday, a devotion is posted here, sent via email to our email list and also posted on our Facebook page. If you would like to be part of our email list please contact the church office. In addition, check out past Devotions on our Facebook page.
I often receive feedback that the devotions are rich in content and are complex. Reading devotions whether short and concise or longer and complicated should never be read once quickly. All types of devotions should be read multiple times using contemplation, reflection and pausing. In those spaces of contemplation and reflection we experience the Holy Spirit interacting with us. Sometimes, individuals will reach out and provide their thoughts and reflections on their devotion. My intent has always been to create a dialogue. So read these in the way that best works for you to experience the Holy Spirit and create a dialogue with others in our community.
Wednesday September 20, 2023
Hi St. Andrew’s UMC Community …
Did you know that September 15 – October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month. You can learn more at https://www.hispanicheritagemonth.gov/. Today’s devotion is focused on how God made each person unique as we celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month.
God Made me Me!
In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month here is a devotion that reminds us that God makes everyone diverse intentionally. An excerpt from God Made Me Hispanic. And It Was Good. An exploration of my ethnic identity in Christ by Rebecca (Gonzales) Kelsall. The full story can be found at https://www.cru.org/us/en/blog/help-others-grow/discipleship/god-made-me-hispanic-and-it-was-good.html.
How Hispanics Look Like Christ (And Everyone Else Does Too)
God opened my eyes to the values I’d grown up with, Latino values, scrawled all over His Word after a conversation about the beautiful differences among cultures. I realized, because Christian Latinos didn’t teach me about Christ, I learned a lot about how majority American culture reflects Christ, and nothing of my own.
But we, Hispanics, were His brainchild too. Each of us and each of our cultures, reflects Him in specific, amazing ways. In learning more about our ethnic identity, we learn more about ourselves and more about the great God who created us in His image. Here are some of my favorite Latino values that I believe are passed on from our Heavenly Father.
Familia
Familia is perhaps the strongest, most pronounced among Latino values visible in U.S. culture.
When I say family is a value, I mean something different than the way we all love and treasure our families. The way majority culture values independence, Hispanics value a constant community that cares for one another, particularly within biological and marital ties. I was moved to tears when my friend Holly reminded me, “the value of family is biblical. The church is a family. And the church started as a biological family. The Lord delights in familial love.”
Tradition
I’m a newlywed. My husband hails from New Hampshire and his ethnic background is primarily Swedish, Irish and English. He’s white. As we planned our very New Mexican wedding, he commented that he’d heard me talk about tradition, but he never saw it so clearly as he did in our wedding plans. There are certain things done at every wedding: The mother and father give away the bride; La Marcha, a dance that includes everyone at the reception, kicked off the dance party; we all met up the day after to bless the bride and groom and open any gifts. It was tradition. God gave His chosen people plenty of symbolic traditions throughout Scripture. They served to remind the people consistently of God’s steadfastness, whether in justice or kindness or provision to the poor. Tradition was God’s idea.
Celebration
While family is probably my strongest-held Latino value, celebration may be my favorite value. By nature, I am more contemplative and introverted, but I grew up attending large parties with lots of food, family, dancing and fun. That has made me always feel at home in a happy crowd. The Santa Fe Fiestas is my town’s version of a celebration week many Hispanic-American towns hold annually to honor ancestors from Spain is one of my favorite celebrations. There is Spanish dancing, Hispanic and Native American merchants selling jewelry and art, and the best food. Sometimes we can forget that our loving Father wants to give us the fullness of joy and actually commands us to rest and celebrate. God explains the Feast of Booths for all of His people like this, “For seven days you shall keep the feast to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful” (Deuteronomy 16:15).
Questions to Ponder
- Who is your biological family? Who is your chosen family? Who is your Christ family?
- What traditions do you hold on to that shows you are a Christian? How do you feel if someone has a different tradition then yours and still considers them Christian?
- How do you celebrate your Christianity with others?
Prayer
Oh God of diversity who makes us us and me me. Help me to not focus on the differences of others but to embrace the differences as You embrace all diversity. Help me to see my uniqueness and help me to celebrate how unique I am. Amen.
by Rev Dave Piltz
