{"id":21713,"date":"2024-02-12T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/urc-daily-devotion-12-february-2024"},"modified":"2024-02-12T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T06:00:00","slug":"urc-daily-devotion-12-february-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/urc-daily-devotion-12-february-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"URC Daily Devotion 12 February 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark 7: 1 – 22<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them.  (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders;  and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.  So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, \u2018Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?\u2019  He said to them, \u2018Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis people honours me with their lips,<\/span>
    but their hearts are far from me;<\/span>
in vain do they worship me,<\/span>
    teaching human precepts as doctrines.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.\u2019 Then he said to them, \u2018You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition!  For Moses said, \u201cHonour your father and your mother\u201d; and, \u201cWhoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.\u201d But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, \u201cWhatever support you might have had from me is Corban\u201d (that is, an offering to God)\u2014 then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this.\u2019 Then he called the crowd again and said to them, \u2018Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.\u2019  When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable.  He said to them, \u2018Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile,  since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?\u2019 (Thus he declared all foods clean.)  And he said, \u2018It is what comes out of a person that defiles.  For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder,  adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly.  All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

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

The 1995 romantic-comedy <\/span>The American President opens with the US Commander-in-Chief being told that Lewis, his speechwriter, wants to see him. \u201cWell, it wouldn\u2019t be a Monday morning unless Lewis was concerned about something I did Sunday night,\u201d quips the president, before the lift doors open, and Lewis accuses him of cutting a paragraph from a speech.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Monday morning again \u2013 are we concerned about anything we said or left unsaid on Sunday night? For some of us, it might be a harsh word spat out in frustration during an awkward conversation at church. For others, it might be an unguarded comment that slipped out after a glass of wine or a pint of beer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then there are the things we didn\u2019t say, the paragraphs we cut from our own personal speeches, the words we could feel the Holy Spirit nudging us to share, but which got stuck in our throats.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile\u2026 it is what comes out of a person that defiles,\u201d Jesus said. \u201cFor it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the Gospel, Jesus\u2019s harshest words are reserved for hypocrites: \u201cYou abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Words matter, perhaps now more than at any other time in the church\u2019s 2,000-year history. Two or three generations have passed since many families engaged with the Church. We now need to reexamine the words we use to help communicate God\u2019s love to the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our focus must shift from teaching human precepts and holding on to human traditions, and instead replace them with words about God\u2019s inclusive and overwhelming doctrine of love.<\/span><\/p>\n

The words we\u2019ve used in days gone by are now unlikely to be suitable for a poster on the church\u2019s noticeboard or a post on the church\u2019s Facebook page. Finding the right words can be tough, but Jesus gives us a model to follow, by focusing on words of love.<\/span>
 
Prayer<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

God of the Word and of the words,<\/span>
please forgive us when we defile ourselves <\/span>
with evil intentions from our hearts, <\/span>
when cruel words slip from our lips.<\/span>
Help us to forgive each other when we cause hurt with our words. <\/span>
Instead, please fill us with the words we need to share your love <\/span>
with our families and friends, our neighbours and enemies.<\/span>
In the name of Christ, Amen.<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark 7: 1 – 22 Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them.  (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “URC Daily Devotion 12 February 2024”<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21713\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}