{"id":22086,"date":"2024-06-07T12:15:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T11:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/daily-devotion-for-friday-7th-june-2024"},"modified":"2024-06-07T12:15:00","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T11:15:00","slug":"daily-devotion-for-friday-7th-june-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/daily-devotion-for-friday-7th-june-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Daily Devotion for Friday 7th June 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

Galatians 5: 1, 13-15<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you\u2026.It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don\u2019t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that\u2019s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God\u2019s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That\u2019s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out\u2014in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?<\/span> (The Message)<\/p>\n

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

The United Reformed Church (URC) and the Presbyterian Church of Myanmar (PCM) has a long and solid relationship. Our 2016 renewed partnership commitment has among its affirmations, a <\/span>\u201ccommitment to give and receive from each other, learn from one another, and to pray for one another as we seek to serve and walk the way of abundant life of God in Christ\u201d. In my encounter with the PCM, I witnessed numerous enriching encounters, overflowing hospitality, and deep resilience among the leadership and members of PCM.<\/p>\n

As we continue to accompany our PCM partners in the midst of ongoing oppressive socio\u2014economic and political realities under a repressive regime, a local proverb comes to mind: <\/span>\u201cThough the centipede has one of its legs broken, this does not affect its movement\u201d. The long-suffering PCM family and minoritized groups people in Myanmar remain resilient, yearning for and engaging in a long haul struggle for freedom. Whatever the cost, we must remain in solidarity with them.<\/p>\n

Galatians 5:1ff invites us to consider such a cost given that \u2018freedom is for freeing\u2019. For, the Christian calling is towards a \u2018freeing\u2019 vocation, habit, and orientation. Discipleship lived in freedom must be a personal and collective responsibility towards this ongoing work. Hence, the imperative to grasp freedom as a vocation. Freedom in Christ is a way of living and not licence to do what we like individually or nationally, unmindful of the effects of our actions on ourselves and others. It is liberation to be our authentic selves. This means to be for others, always working for release from all forms of enslavement, ensuring vigilance against empire\u2019s guile and cunning reach. Freedom is for freeing! This vocation\/journey needs a spirituality for the long haul to nourish us for transformative work toward a different world.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

God-of-a-promised-hope-who-waits-and-heals: <\/span>
may our hearts, so often floating in a sea of choppy waves, <\/span>
find calm in you;<\/span>
 may our fevered, wounded and bruised bodies <\/span>
find freedom and wholeness in your love; <\/span>
may the unexpected miracles we experience this day <\/span>
make us more humble to receive your grace; <\/span>
and may the urge to bring hope, care and compassion <\/span>
in distressing situations find sustenance in your promise <\/span>
of full and flourishing life for all. Amen<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Galatians 5: 1, 13-15 Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you\u2026.It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don\u2019t use this freedom as an excuse to do … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Daily Devotion for Friday 7th June 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":[162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22086","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=22086"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22087,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22086\/revisions\/22087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}