{"id":23135,"date":"2025-02-15T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/urc-daily-devotion-saturday-15-february-2025"},"modified":"2025-02-15T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-15T06:00:00","slug":"urc-daily-devotion-saturday-15-february-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/urc-daily-devotion-saturday-15-february-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"URC Daily Devotion Saturday 15 February 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

St Luke 12: 54 – 56<\/strong><\/p>\n

He also said to the crowds, \u2018When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, \u201cIt is going to rain\u201d; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, \u201cThere will be scorching heat\u201d; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?<\/p>\n

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

So, after a run of warnings and reassurances, some in stories, some in straight talking  \u2026 well mostly warnings if we\u2019re honest \u2026 Jesus pulls it together with words that rung hard then, and continue to ring so today.<\/p>\n

I hear the expression \u2018It\u2019s common sense\u2019 frequently (often by politicians and those commenting on the political situation) and have long come to the conclusion that there is no such thing. My version of what is common sense, is so very different from that of others. <\/p>\n

And yet, is that not, effectively what Jesus is saying here? <\/p>\n

\u201cUse your brain, your eyes, your experience, friends. If you\u2019ve been listening to what I\u2019ve just been saying it should be blindingly obvious how you should respond! You should use the same mechanism you use when you see rain clouds or other familiar weather signs? Based upon your life experience and your basic intelligence \u2026 your common sense if you insist \u2026 for goodness sake, look at the signs of the times, weave in the teaching I have been sharing with your and \u2026 put it into action?\u201d<\/p>\n

I look around at the world in turmoil, a climate crisis, a challenging economy and at times I just want to scream exactly those words. Instead, I put on my \u2018hopeful hat\u2019 and pray instead.<\/p>\n

I remember a dear man once saying to me, \u201cI mean, if we really took the Gospel seriously, we would behave differently, behave better \u2026 but \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps it is time to actually listen to the teaching and warnings and behave differently, behave better \u2026 and drop the \u2018buts\u2019! <\/p>\n

Prayer<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Jesus, we\u2019re not weather forecasters but we can see the signs in the sky.
We\u2019re not world leaders, but can see that the wars, 
conflicts and inhumanity being meted out across the globe are wrong.
We are not experts in climate change or economics, but we can see that there has to be a better way.
Teach us and others to not just read the signs, but to seek to do things your way. 
Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St Luke 12: 54 – 56 He also said to the crowds, \u2018When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, \u201cIt is going to rain\u201d; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, \u201cThere will be scorching heat\u201d; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “URC Daily Devotion Saturday 15 February 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-23135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23135","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=23135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23135\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}