{"id":23007,"date":"2025-01-13T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/urc-daily-devotion-13th-january-2025"},"modified":"2025-01-13T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T06:00:00","slug":"urc-daily-devotion-13th-january-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/urc-daily-devotion-13th-january-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"URC Daily Devotion 13th January 2025"},"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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Monday 13 January 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

St Luke 9: 10 – 17<\/strong>
On their return the apostles told Jesus all they had done. He took them with him and withdrew privately to a city called Bethsaida.  When the crowds found out about it, they followed him; and he welcomed them, and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed to be cured. The day was drawing to a close, and the twelve came to him and said, \u2018Send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a deserted place.\u2019  But he said to them, \u2018You give them something to eat.\u2019 They said, \u2018We have no more than five loaves and two fish\u2014unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.\u2019  For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, \u2018Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.\u2019  They did so and made them all sit down.  And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. And all ate and were filled. What was left over was gathered up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.<\/p>\n

Reflection<\/strong>
Luke 9 began with the twelve sent on mission to heal and bear witness. We glimpsed fearful Herod, worried about Jesus. Stories of missionary blessing and bewildered tyrant; worlds are colliding as the realm of God breaks into the day.<\/p>\n

Then, today\u2019s text. Imagine the delight. The disciples must have been filled with the wonder, joy and maybe, being naughty, the pride at all they\u2019ve done. Jesus wants a private debrief. But as God\u2019s work is unfolding some things become unstoppable it seems. People are, in every way, hungry in this story. They long to listen. They want good news. They need to be healed. Is Jesus the one? Has the Messiah finally come? I notice that, as so often, Jesus responds to context. Private debrief forgotten, he gives himself fully to the needs of the crowd. It takes all day. Which is when the disciples get twitchy. They see problems and impossibilities; too many people, too few resources. Jesus is concocting a disaster and they ask him to stop: \u201cSend the crowd away\u2026\u201d  <\/p>\n

But these are the same disciples who have shared the good news just days before. They\u2019ve discovered the wonders of the ways God will work with them to change the world. The miracle that now unfolds is as much about hearts as about stomachs. Jesus invites the disciples back to where they were days before when they trusted that God was at work with them. The loaves and fish become more than enough because, in the hands of Jesus, blessings overflow. He invites his friends to trust him even as a new challenge engulfs them. He reminds them that what they bring is enough in God\u2019s grace. <\/p>\n

Where are we today? Perhaps we\u2019ve plenty of signs of God\u2019s blessing to cherish. Perhaps our day dawns daunting and dangerous. Perhaps something of both, interwoven. Hold on to this story of how God works with us, with what we bring, to work wonders. Keep trusting.<\/p>\n

Prayer<\/strong>
God, when our gifts feel too small to make a difference, too fragile to survive, too worn, help us to offer them all the same. Then, in your wonderful ways, do with them and us what you will. Amen.
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Today’s writer<\/span><\/h2>\n

The Revd Neil Thorogood, Thornbury URC and Trinity-Henleaze URC (Bristol)<\/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 Monday 13 January 2025 St Luke 9: 10 – 17On their return the apostles told Jesus all they had done. He took them with him and withdrew privately to a city called Bethsaida.  When the crowds found out about it, they followed him; and he welcomed them, and spoke to them … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “URC Daily Devotion 13th January 2025”<\/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-23007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23007","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=23007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23007\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}