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 November 20, 2024

Hi St. Andrew's UMC Community ...

We are a week away from Thanksgiving. How does that make you feel? For some it is an exciting time and for others it is a sad and lonely time. During this time, regardless of what is going on in your life can you take a moment and give that sadness to God? Is there a way to let that go and live into God's freeing nature that provides a place of gratitude and thankfulness? Today we consider how God liberates.

God’s Liberation

Genesis 15:13

Elsa Tamez wrote in the Bible of the Oppressed, “Rather oppression and liberation are the very substance of the entire historical context within which divine revelation unfolds, and only by reference to this central fact can we understand the meaning of faith, grace, love, peace, sin, and salvation. God’s self-revelation occurs in the context of a history of conflict; it is also clear that in this history God is on the side of the subjugated.”

Elsa spent her life understanding how God reveals God’s self in conflict. You can read about her here at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/44193.Elsa_Tamez and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsa_T%C3%A1mez.

In Genesis we are reminded that God knows that life will have challenges and those challenges are rooted in people seeking and exerting power. Oppression comes in many forms, and all forms of oppression hurts another. Oppression is the opposite of how we were designed, and yet somehow God knows many will choose oppression instead of love.

Where in your life have you been oppressed, and where have you been the oppressor? In those times that you have been oppressed did you rely on God to overcome the injustice and inequity? Or did you let your anger overcome you? When you have oppressed another, have you recognized the harm caused?

God is a God of liberation, but oftentimes it seems human systems keep oppressing. Liberating is more than creating justice, it is also freeing one’s self of anger, regret, shame, guilt, etc. Where do you need to let go and be freed by God? Freeing of emotions that hold you back is something God offers minute-by-minute if you choose it. Freeing of systems of injustice and oppression is more complicated as people need to choose love. So what is one thing you can do to take God up on the offer to free you of the emotional pain?

Dear God, You offer me daily a way to free and liberate myself of the emotional pain oppression causes me. I pray I take Your offer and give You my emotional pain so I can be freer in this life regardless of the challenges that I face. Amen.

by Rev David Piltz