{"id":17751,"date":"2021-09-03T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-03T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/urc-daily-devotion-3rd-september-2021"},"modified":"2021-09-03T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-09-03T05:00:00","slug":"urc-daily-devotion-3rd-september-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/urc-daily-devotion-3rd-september-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"URC Daily Devotion\u00a0 3rd September 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday 3rd September <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Esther 4: <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went through the city, wailing with a loud and bitter cry;  he went up to the entrance of the king\u2019s gate, for no one might enter the king\u2019s gate clothed with sackcloth.  In every province, wherever the king\u2019s command and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and most of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Esther\u2019s maids and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed; she sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth; but he would not accept them. Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king\u2019s eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why.  Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king\u2019s gate,  and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king\u2019s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and charge her to go to the king to make supplication to him and entreat him for her people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him a message for Mordecai, saying,  \u2018All the king\u2019s servants and the people of the king\u2019s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law\u2014all alike are to be put to death. Only if the king holds out the golden sceptre to someone, may that person live. I myself have not been called to come in to the king for thirty days.\u2019  When they told Mordecai what Esther had said,  Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, \u2018Do not think that in the king\u2019s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews.  For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father\u2019s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.\u2019  Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai, \u2018Go, 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.\u2019  Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reflection<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When the king decrees the destruction of all Jews, the crisis comes to a head. As a religious act, Mordecai puts on sackcloth and ashes and goes into the city crying aloud bitterly. Nothing spreads so quickly as bad news. Consequently, in an appeal to God\u2019s mercy the people fast and mourn.  Spurning her gift of new clothes, Mordecai explains to his cousin Esther she must intervene \u201cfor such a time as this.\u201d<\/span>
 
Esther is an unlikely heroine. Until now Esther has kept her head down. She has not been willing to enter the king\u2019s political circles. So when Mordecai calls upon her to act on behalf of her people in exile, we can imagine her saying \u201cWho? Me? I don\u2019t have any power or authority. I\u2019m just an orphan, a woman and a Jew\u201d. She has not thought of herself as the agent of change or able to make a difference.  Yet as a Jewish woman who is also Queen Esther, she is in a unique position to save her people.  <\/span>
 
Esther\u2019s Jewishness, which she has so carefully hidden at court, now comes to the fore. Is she most deeply a Jew? Or a cousin? Or a Persian queen? Or simply another woman whose life is determined by others in power? Who will she decide to be?<\/span>
 
Initially resisting Mordecai\u2019s request, Esther does indeed intervene, knowing that she will risk her own life by approaching the king. In return, she calls upon the support of her Jewish community, asking them to fast and pray for her. Rescue comes through claiming her God and her faith publicly. <\/span>
 
Esther\u2019s struggle with identity and risk raises all sorts of critical questions for us today: what power does any one of us really have to make a difference? What kind of risks are we willing to take on behalf of the vulnerable? Where are the Esthers who will risk going into difficult places to speak a word of life for such a time as this? <\/span>
 
Prayer<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

God of justice,<\/span>
when we are tempted to keep our heads down<\/span>
help us to find our voice<\/span>
to advocate for those who have no voice<\/span>
that peace and justice may prevail, <\/span>
for new beginnings for all people, <\/span>
for freedom to replace fear <\/span>
and for there to be a better tomorrow. <\/span>
Amen.<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday 3rd September Esther 4:  When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went through the city, wailing with a loud and bitter cry;  he went up to the entrance of the king\u2019s gate, for no one might enter the king\u2019s gate clothed with … <\/p>\n

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