{"id":22549,"date":"2024-10-22T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-22T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/urc-daily-devotion-22-october-2024"},"modified":"2024-10-22T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T05:00:00","slug":"urc-daily-devotion-22-october-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/urc-daily-devotion-22-october-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"URC Daily Devotion 22 October 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
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inspiration in your inbox<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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22 October 2024<\/strong><\/span>
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James 1: 9 – 11<\/strong>
Let the believer who is lowly boast in being raised up, and the rich in being brought low, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field.  For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. It is the same with the rich; in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away.<\/p>\n

Reflection<\/strong>
Turning the world upside down is the great clarion cry of the Christian message. From the words of Mary in the Magnificat, and Jesus\u2019 teaching about the folly of relying on material things of this world, to these reflections in the epistle of James, we have the vision of a new world order where the lowly and poor will be raised up and the rich will wither away.  <\/p>\n

In its collection of bon mot aphorisms, the Book of James has something of the flavour of the Book of Proverbs and other Old Testament Wisdom literature. In its style of language what can come over is a rather simplistic notion that the poor need not worry; they should be patient and endure the trials of this world; the treasures of the rich will pass away and the lowly will get their deferred reward in the life to come. This mantra formed the bedrock of the unjust world of mediaeval feudal Christianity, and of many oppressive regimes since.<\/p>\n

But the power of James\u2019 message, and indeed of the whole gospel story, is that when it talks about the rich and poor its focus is on the quality of one\u2019s spiritual life rather than on the material world and how much one has or has not of it.  The richness of the kingdom of God is not just something to be attained in some distant future and realm \u2026 it is a state of being and flourishing that is to be entered into and enjoyed now!<\/p>\n

Prayer<\/strong>
Lord,
Open my eyes and my heart
to your good news revelation.
 
Help me
to see
to embrace
to live now
the rich liberating
life of the Spirit;<\/p>\n

made possible through the sacrificial love
of Jesus Christ, our Lord.   Amen.<\/p>\n

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Today’s writer<\/span><\/h2>\n

Professor Graham Handscomb, Member of Christ Church URC Chelmsford <\/span><\/span><\/h4>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright \u00a9 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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inspiration in your inbox 22 October 2024  James 1: 9 – 11Let the believer who is lowly boast in being raised up, and the rich in being brought low, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field.  For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “URC Daily Devotion 22 October 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-22549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22549","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=22549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22549\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}