Author: Betsy

Selah!

Posted on by Betsy

An apparently angry and frustrated pedestrian has used AI to create a fantasy video of what should happen to cars that blow through stop signs as people are just about to cross the street. In one scene, the almost obliterated pedestrian hops back to the sidewalk and hits a button that causes a circular saw to come up from the road and cut the car in half. In another version, the button ignites a rocket that implodes on the car. A third scenario involves large panels that pop up in front of crosswalk, causing the car to glide up and over the pedestrian like a kid’s car ramp toy. The lesson for drivers? STOP. LOOK. LISTEN.

Today’s psalm has three places where we are invited to stop, look, and listen. The Hebrew word for this instruction is Selah. Found 71 times in the psalms, Selah is a musical notation similar to a “rest,” where the musician is given a pause in the performance. The resting function in the psalms allows the reader to take a moment to pause their study and actually mediate on the passage before going on.

Life would be better if we all paused, rested, and meditated. How often do we hustle and bustle through our day without once stopping to experience God, look for the divine activity in our situation, and listen to holy words of instruction? Did you pause today?

David wrote this beautiful maskil as a song of penitence. We can hear his ransomed soul rejoicing as he experienced the blessings of forgiveness. Happiness is a result of true confession, deep repentance, and God’s covering over of our exposed sins. Psalm 32 was St. Augustine’s favorite psalm, and he had it inscribed on the wall by his bed so that he could meditate on it as he was dying. How much better would life be if we had a copy of this inscribed on our hearts so that we could meditate on it as we are living?

Psalm 32:1-11

32 The one whose wrongdoing is forgiven,
    whose sin is covered over, is truly happy!
2 The one the Lord doesn’t consider guilty—
    in whose spirit there is no dishonesty—
    that one is truly happy!

3 When I kept quiet, my bones wore out;
    I was groaning all day long—
    every day, every night!—
4 because your hand was heavy upon me.
    My energy was sapped as if in a summer drought. Selah

5 So I admitted my sin to you;
    I didn’t conceal my guilt.
    “I’ll confess my sins to the Lord, ” is what I said.
    Then you removed the guilt of my sin. Selah

We are invited to Selah twice here and consider the heaviness of God’s convicting hand on our sinful hearts. Have you felt this heaviness in your own soul? David said that his “bones wore out” with his unconfessed sin. Does your soul remember a time when it felt dry and oppressed? The removal of guilt through admitting our sins through honest confession is the only way out.

6 That’s why all the faithful should pray to you during troubled times,
    so that a great flood of water won’t reach them.
7 You are my secret hideout!
    You protect me from trouble.
    You surround me with songs of rescue! Selah

This Selah allows us moment to meditate on the secret refuge that is offered to all who come in honesty and hope. God is our refuge and strength! What does that mean to you?

8 I will instruct you and teach you
    about the direction you should go.
    I’ll advise you and keep my eye on you.
9 Don’t be like some senseless horse or mule,
    whose movement must be controlled
    with a bit and a bridle.
        Don’t be anything like that!
10 The pain of the wicked is severe,
    but faithful love surrounds the one who trusts the Lord.
11 You who are righteous, rejoice in the Lord and be glad!
    All you whose hearts are right, sing out in joy!

God invites us to stop, look, and listen to the instructions, teachings, and the direction that we are shown every day under God’s watchful eye. Faithful love surrounds us, if we just take a beat and pause long enough to perceive it. Do you see it?

Selah!

Stop, Look, and Listen by Kathy Schumacher

A New Devotional Resource

Posted on by Betsy

Good Tuesday morning, friends! A reader asked me on Sunday if I have any new books coming out. I am currently under contract with Cokesbury (the United Methodist Publishing House) and have been putting all my “book efforts” there. As it happens, a book I co-authored is currently available at Cokesbury.

The Daily Bible Studies series is a companion piece to the Adult Bible Studies curriculum. However, Daily Bible Studies is a stand-alone piece that can be used outside of the classroom for personal devotional use. The current study can be read and used at anytime. It happens to go with the summer curriculum but could be used daily right now.

Anyone can order a copy if you are looking for a devotional book in print.I am one of three writers and I bet if you read me a lot, you can tell which 35 devotionals were written by me without looking!

Use this link to order yours today.

https://www.cokesbury.com/Daily-Bible-Study-Summer-2025

Lord of the Dance

Posted on by Betsy

I am obsessed with the hymn called “The Lord of the Dance.” Do you know this song? It tells Jesus’ story from his preexistence to his resurrection in five theology-packed verses. The tempo and the tune are as jaunty as the refrain, which proclaims that Jesus is the Lord of the dance, and we are invited to dance along. Marvelous!

The third verse is especially meaningful for our Scripture reading today:

I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame:
The holy people said it was a shame.
They whipped and they stripped and they hung me on high,
And they left me there on a cross to die. (UMH 261)

Luke 6 (Common English Bible)

6 One Sabbath, as Jesus was going through the wheat fields, his disciples were picking the heads of wheat, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. 2 Some Pharisees said, “Why are you breaking the Sabbath law?”

3 Jesus replied, “Haven’t you read what David and his companions did when they were hungry? 4 He broke the Law by going into God’s house and eating the bread of the presence, which only the priests can eat. He also gave some of the bread to his companions.” 5 Then he said to them, “The Human One is Lord of the Sabbath.”

When Jesus proclaimed himself to be the Lord of the Sabbath, he shattered all of their preconceived notions of sabbath-keeping. They tried to trap him into performing a healing on the sabbath, and Jesus did not disappoint.

6 On another Sabbath, Jesus entered a synagogue to teach. A man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 The legal experts and the Pharisees were watching him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. They were looking for a reason to bring charges against him. 8 Jesus knew their thoughts, so he said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” He got up and stood there. 9 Jesus said to the legal experts and Pharisees, “Here’s a question for you: Is it legal on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” 10 Looking around at them all, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he did and his hand was made healthy. 11 They were furious and began talking with each other about what to do to Jesus.

This Scripture reminds us that many people solidly grounded in tradition can’t accept that fact that meeting a human need is more important to God than adhering to a tradition, especially one that is faulty in reason and logic. Hosea 6:6 clearly explains that God wants mercy over sacrifice. Loving others has always been more important than any ritual application of rabbinical law that hurts a person. That is completely out of harmony with God’s purpose for us.

Jesus’ bold statement that he was Lord of the Sabbath was a loud and direct claim to his deity. As such, he had authority over the law. Notice that the Pharisees are watching him closely, expecting him to perform a miracle of healing that will violate their rules. This was an acknowledgement that they believed he could do miracles! And of course our Lord responds by schooling them about good and evil and the choice to save a life or destroy it. It is never, ever wrong to do something good. Sadly, the Pharisees neglected acts of compassion and love for the needy, allowing their time to be consumed by the minutiae of man-made regulations.

The Pharisees’ understanding of the sabbath missed the point. The point was about keeping the day holy and entering God’s presence by ceasing your toiling for a day. What better way to worship God and enter into his presence can we find than helping one of his children who is hurting?

Do we as a church ever fall into Pharisaical thinking? Do we put discipline, polity, and process before people? How can we better reflect the goodness of God to all people, even if it violates the Building Use policies?

Jesus invites us to the dance. May we all join and rejoice with the Lord of the Dance.

Nature’s Dance by Kathy Schumacher

So Grand

Posted on by Betsy

Even though I am surrounded daily by all of the natural beauty of the Outer Banks, my favorite experience of observing nature’s majesty was a trip I made to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Have you ever seen it? It is absolutely breathtaking. The Canyon is bigger than the state of Rhode Island at 1,904 square miles. It contains over 1,000 caves, mostly unexplored. Native American tribes consider the Grand Canyon to be the gateway to the afterlife. Over 5 million visitors go every year to see this incredible phenomenon. Just to give you a sense of its size, the drive from the Visitor Center on the North Rim to the one on the South Rim is over 200 miles. One day I hope to see it by helicopter.

You may be wondering what the Grand Canyon has to do with today’s Scripture. I think our response to something as spectacular as this majestic place is much like the response of the people who believed in Jesus’ name only because they saw miraculous signs. We have a great admiration for the grand show of it all, but that superficial reaction is not sustainable.

John 2 (Common English Bible)

23 While Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover Festival, many believed in his name because they saw the miraculous signs that he did. 24 But Jesus didn’t trust himself to them because he knew all people. 25 He didn’t need anyone to tell him about human nature, for he knew what human nature was.

Jesus couldn’t entrust himself to this googly-eyed crowd. There was no depth of faith, no measure of understanding, and no sincere profession of faith here. In his way of having a divine knowledge of the situation, he knew that a crowd of followers looking for signs would soon burn out. He knew what human nature was, and it was fickle. Once the next conjurer or magician came along, their attention would be distracted away from him and his mission.

And yet, he still loves us. He completely understands the fallibility of human nature, and he still loves us! Jesus can read us like an open book, see us in our fallen state, and yet is able to perceive the image of God in which we were made. If that’s not amazing grace, I don’t know what is.

Light faith may be better than no faith, but not by much. God deserves a true, honest, deep faith from us, and that takes work and dedication. One quick look of admiration and awe won’t cut it, much like attending church only on Easter and Christmas can’t feed the soul.

Jesus is looking for sustainable followers who grow through prayer, Scripture study, weekly worship, and service. Which kind are you?

And Yet We’re So Small by Ann Wood

Advocacy

Posted on by Betsy

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you had to speak out as an advocate for justice? I recently talked with a mother who attended several meetings at her son’s school in an attempt to be his advocate. Taking a stand against preexisting rules and calling for fairness was a challenge for her. But there are times when we cannot be silent and must take action.

The United Methodist Church has a long history of justice advocacy. John and Charles Wesley visited prisoners and tutored local neighborhood children. As the early church grew, our work shifted to opposing things like slavery, smuggling, inhuman prison conditions, alcohol abuse, and child labor. Today you can find United Methodists working, marching, and speaking out on current justice issues such as environmental care, racial justice, and full-inclusion matters.

We take our example from the work of our Lord. Today’s passage reveals Jesus going up against the establishment in order to advocate for a man’s health and well-being. Notice that the Pharisees were watching him closely as he did this.

Luke 14 (Common English Bible)

14 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to share a meal in the home of one of the leaders of the Pharisees, they were watching him closely. 2 A man suffering from an abnormal swelling of the body was there. 3 Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, “Does the Law allow healing on the Sabbath or not?” 4 But they said nothing. Jesus took hold of the sick man, cured him, and then let him go.5 He said to them, “Suppose your child or ox fell into a ditch on the Sabbath day. Wouldn’t you immediately pull it out?” 6 But they had no response.

The fact that Jesus was in the home of the Pharisee leader and the man with dropsy was also there suggests that he was a guest as well. Do you think it might have been a set up to see if Jesus would break the sabbath law? I do. What they failed to realize was that Jesus was much more conversant in the commandments than they were. There was no prohibition against healing on the Sabbath or pulling your ox out of a ditch for that matter. The “law” was something the establishment had conjured up. Jesus was right and righteous in this matter. He questioned their understanding of the law, but they refused to respond. He answered them by responding to the question and taking action in one single moment. That’s what advocates do: They answer and act.

Where are you being called to answer to justice and act in advocacy? How can you respond to this text today the way Jesus would respond? Whatever God tells you to do, go and do it. That’s exactly what Jesus did.

New Day Rising by Michelle Robertson

Holy Bread

Posted on by Betsy

I recently visited the church I served for 16 years and ran into a young woman who had been a child when I was there. She and my daughter were friends and often hung around after church to help clean up. She smiled as she shifted her new baby to her other hip and told me she remembered how much she loved helping me clean up communion, since they got to finish all the bread that was left over. Because the elements had been consecrated at the altar, we had a practice of either eating the rest of it or offering it to the birds outside the sacristy door. Our holy bread was never thrown away. When the communion coordinator switched to Hawaiian Bread, the birds got left out. I had more kids helping “clean up” than I needed! A wonderful core memory was made for all of them, and many of them still worship in that church today as adults.

In our Scripture today, David is on the run from Saul, who has descended into a delusional paranoia and is out to have David killed. David knew where to go when he was in trouble. He went straight to the house of God and sought the assistance from the priest Ahimelech. He told a lie to get in, though, by pretending that he was on the king’s mission rather than running for his life away from the king.

1 Samuel 21 (Common English Bible)

21 David came to Nob where Ahimelech was priest. Ahimelech was shaking in fear when he met David. “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?” he asked.

2 David answered Ahimelech the priest, “The king has given me orders, but he instructed me, ‘Don’t let anyone know anything about the mission I’m sending you on or about your orders.’ As for my troops, I told them to meet me at an undisclosed location.3 Now what do you have here with you? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever you can find.”

David knew that the Tabernacle had a table that held 12 loaves of “show bread” that was a symbol of God’s continuing fellowship with Israel. “Show Bread” is also known as the “bread of faces” or the “bread of presence.” It was to be eaten in front of God as a guest and friend of God’s hospitality. It was typically consumed by the priests, but Ahimelech offered the bread to David because he and his troops were hungry. But first the priest inquired about the ceremonial cleanliness of the troops, as this was holy bread and not to be consumed casually. David assured them that none of them had been with women while on their holy mission, and so the bread was given. This brings up a question for us today. Do you prepare yourself for communion by cleansing yourself of your sins first? Do you offer confession and pray for forgiveness? So often the ritual overtakes us and communion just becomes something we do on the first Sunday of the month.

So the priest gave David holy bread, because there was no other bread except the bread of the presence, which is removed from the Lord’s presence and replaced by warm bread as soon as it is taken away.

Jesus mentioned David eating the showbread when he and his disciples were criticized by the Pharisees for plucking and eating raw grain on the sabbath. In Matthew 12, he reminded the Pharisees that the priests carry out their Temple duties on Sabbath just as any other day and are still innocent.

We are reminded in this passage today that meeting human needs as they arise is more important than adhering to religious observances and rituals. Eating together, especially when people are truly hungry and need to be fed, is the way we form bonds of friendship that are sacred and can become permanent. Like the young mother who was back in church with her child remembering the sweet flavor of left-over communion, we can make life-long connections with people over a shared morsel. How will you share your bread with someone today?

Show Bread by Becca Ziegler

Harvest Tithe

Posted on by Betsy

How does your community assist those in need of food and basic supplies? Here in the Outer Banks we have several options, including a Beach Food Pantry as well as a Mobile Pantry that travels from location to location. These agencies are supported by private donations and local farmers who supply fresh produce every week. Volunteers sort, bag, and assist patrons who use these agencies to make ends meet in a high cost area where housing is extremely expensive. Our United Methodist Conference also provides gleaning opportunities at nearby farms where volunteers gather up fallen produce after a harvest and deliver it to regional food banks for distribution. Gleaning is hard but rewarding work and is a favorite activity for our church youth groups.

Gleaning is a biblical concept, commanded by God in Leviticus 19:9-10:

9 When you harvest your land’s produce, you must not harvest all the way to the edge of your field; and don’t gather up every remaining bit of your harvest. 10 Also do not pick your vineyard clean or gather up all the grapes that have fallen there. Leave these items for the poor and the immigrant; I am the Lord your God.

This was a law of compassion, allowing the poor to work for their sustenance with dignity and without the need to ask for charity. Offered as a form of public assistance, it trained the farmer to have a generous heart and reminded those who were fortunate enough to have a field that produced crops that the field was actually the Lord’s in the first place. That is why we talk about “God’s tithe and our offering” when the plate is passed on Sunday morning in church. Everything we have belongs to God. We are only returning a small portion back to God to do God’s work in the world.

Deuteronomy 23 is a reciprocal reminder to the poor and the traveler that generosity should not be abused, but respected.

Deuteronomy 23 (Common English Bible)

24 If you go into your neighbor’s vineyard, you can eat as many grapes as you like, until full, but don’t carry any away in a basket.25 If you go into your neighbor’s grain field, you can pluck ears by hand, but you aren’t allowed to cut off any of your neighbor’s grain with a sickle.

God’s point is much the same as when manna was provided in the desert. Moses was instructed to tell the people to only gather up what was needed for one day, trusting that God would provide “our daily bread” every day. Hoarding was unnecessary in a community of faith where provisions were shared. It was this law that enabled Jesus and his disciples to pick wheat grain and eat it as they traveled through Galilee. The Pharisees accused them of breaking the sabbath law, but not of stealing.

What part of providing for the poor are you taking in your community? Are you faithfully returning God’s tithe? Is God training you to have a generous heart? Do you trust God to provide for your daily needs?

We are called to do what we can to give what is God’s to God’s people. No one should go hungry in the land of milk and honey.

Harvest in the Land O’Plenty by Becca Ziegler

Keepers

Posted on by Betsy

I have a natural curiosity about the lighthouses that dot the East Coast. There are five lighthouses located on the Outer Banks where I live. Lighthouses used to be run by Lighthouse Keepers, whose job it was to climb twice a day to the top and maintain the oil, wicks, Fresnel lenses, and flame. From the early 1800’s to the very last East Coast light house to be automated in 1998, the keepers and their families worked seven days a week to keep the light on.

Our Scripture today invites us to be keepers of a different sort. We are invited to keep the sabbath holy. This fourth commandment was intended to provide a day of rest, just as God rested on the seventh day of Creation. Notice that sabbath wasn’t just offered to the free Israelite men but was wholly inclusive in its scope. Women, slaves, immigrants, and even animals were to receive this blessing of rest, making this directive quite extraordinary for its time and context. God is very clear in explaining why: Israelites were once immigrant slaves in Egypt, but God brought them out of their bondage. God offers every living being the same essential dignity of the right to a day of rest.

Deuteronomy 5 ( Common English Bible)

12 Keep the Sabbath day and treat it as holy, exactly as the Lord your God commanded: 13 Six days you may work and do all your tasks, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. Don’t do any work on it—not you, your sons or daughters, your male or female servants, your oxen or donkeys or any of your animals, or the immigrant who is living among you—so that your male and female servants can rest just like you. 15 Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That’s why the Lord your God commands you to keep the Sabbath day.

Sabbath keeping is not just about resting and taking a break from labor, but more importantly is intended to be a day given “to the Lord your God.” Clearly God is saying that the seventh day is to be both sacred and separated from the rest of the week, and the purpose in setting down the plow and letting the cooking fire go out is so that the focus can be on praising and honoring the Lord of all creation. By ceasing our work, we can look heavenward and give God all the glory for what we have. Were we to keep working without ceasing, we might never pause long enough to worship. And God truly deserves our worship.

Early Jewish communities took this keeping to levels that weren’t practiced in Christian communities. In Luke 6:1-2, the Pharisees objected to the disciples picking, rubbing, and eating grain on the Sabbath. According to the minutiae of the law, the disciples violated sabbath keeping. By picking grain and breaking it down in their hands to make it edible, they broke the commandment twice. In modern Jewish orthodox communities, light switches may not be turned on, cars may not be driven long distances, and phones may not be used on the sabbath.

How do you keep the sabbath? Do you rest and regenerate? Do you give that day back to the Lord in worship and adoration? What does a holy keeping mean to you?

We are called to be keepers of the light of Christ to the world, By spending our sabbath in worship, our flame can be renewed, and we will be rested enough to be about the work of our Father.


Flame Keeping

The Loud Family

Posted on by Betsy

I once dated a young man in college who came to my house for Thanksgiving to meet my parents. As soon as we walked in the front door I yelled, “I’M HOOOOME!” From the basement my father bellowed, “I’LL BE RIGHT UUUUP!” and my mother shouted, “I’M COMMMMING!” from a back bedroom. As my date rubbed his ears he quietly said, “Good Lord. I’m dating the Loud Family.” He married me anyway. Truth be told, my father was a wonderful baritone in a Barbershop Chorus and my Mom was a school business administrator who volunteered as the band announcer. We were a family who was trained to be heard. It is no wonder that I ended up in the pulpit.

Psalm 81 encourages us to join the Loud Family. With words like “out loud, shout, and open mouths,”we get the clear message that our response to God should be forthright and audible.

Psalm 81 was written by Asaph for a festal event, most likely the Feast of Tabernacles. This celebration commemorated God’s saving act of bringing the Hebrew nation out of slavery in Egypt. Part of remembering the wilderness journey included a reading of the Law and an invitation to renew the covenant they made to be God’s people. It was good for them to recall and renew. Can you remember a time when God lifted a burden from your shoulders? Do you give loud praise for your deliverance? It is good for us to remember and renew as well.

Psalm 81:1, 6-10
1Rejoice out loud to God, our strength!
    Shout for joy to Jacob’s God!

6 “I lifted the burden off your shoulders;
    your hands are free of the brick basket!
7 In distress you cried out, so I rescued you.
    I answered you in the secret of thunder.
    I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah

The celebration included a warning. Having been tested and trained during the hard journey, God now reminded them that they were prohibited from taking on the false idols of their neighbors. So in addition to the instruction to shout out loud, they were also told to listen.

I think it must be quite a challenge for God to get our attention, given the cacophony of noise we surround ourselves with on a daily basis. Do you spend time in deliberate silence each day, just listening? It is the best way to know God.
8 Listen, my people, I’m warning you!
    If only you would listen to me, Israel.
9 There must be no foreign god among you.
    You must not bow down to any strange deity.
10 I am the Lord your God,
    who brought you up from Egypt’s land.
    Open your mouth wide—I will fill it up!

We are assured that God hears us in our loud cries for deliverance and deserves our loud proclamations of praise. And in the silence of presence, God will speak words of instruction and hope for the future. Open your mouth wide, and let God fill you with words of wonder, awe, and reverence today. Then go and shout it from the rooftop.

Get Loud by Becca Ziegler

Reality Show

Posted on by Betsy

Do you remember television before the onslaught of reality shows? There were a lot of lighthearted programs that focused on family issues like Full House and The Waltons, game shows like Jeopardy and The Price is Right and a fair amount of first responder shows like NYPD Blue and ER. The story telling was predictable and safe. Then came “reality” television where people are thrown into a situation and we watch them as they encounter one another in real life. I think there is a lot of coaching by the producers to get the kind of content that sells, but when reality takes over, tempers flare, and the true self is revealed (see any of the Housewife iterations).When the true self comes out it is painfully truthful, but at least it is real. And we can’t stop watching.

Our passage today is the same one we looked at on Ash Wednesday. Our focus then was to think about our Lenten fasts. Did you choose something to fast from? How did it go? But today we will focus on the type of worship and relationship God desires from us. You will quickly see that God is not interested in a shallow pretense of adoration and empty ritual but seeks the real thing from us.

Isaiah 58 (Common English Bible)

Shout loudly; don’t hold back;
    raise your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their crime,
    to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 They seek me day after day,
    desiring knowledge of my ways
    like a nation that acted righteously,
    that didn’t abandon their God.
They ask me for righteous judgments,
    wanting to be close to God.

God called out their hypocrisy in seeking him out while they only pretended to act righteously. Indeed, they abandoned God while faking a desire for knowledge and righteousness. Then they brought their bitter complaints that God hadn’t answered their selfish prayers and faux fasting. God’s response was swift: Your fast was meaningless. By continuing to oppress their workers, by fighting violently with each other, and by pursuing self-satisfaction on fasting days, they had simply offered God a shallow semblance of worship, not the real thing.

3 “Why do we fast and you don’t see;
    why afflict ourselves and you don’t notice?”
Yet on your fast day you do whatever you want,
    and oppress all your workers.
4 You quarrel and brawl, and then you fast;
    you hit each other violently with your fists.
You shouldn’t fast as you are doing today
    if you want to make your voice heard on high.
5 Is this the kind of fast I choose,
    a day of self-affliction,
    of bending one’s head like a reed
    and of lying down in mourning clothing and ashes?
    Is this what you call a fast,
        a day acceptable to the Lord?

True worship and adoration of God includes setting free all those who are downtrodden and oppressed, acting decisively to break the yoke of injustice, and providing sustenance for the hungry and homeless. Only then will our lives be filled with light and blessings.

6 Isn’t this the fast I choose:
    releasing wicked restraints, untying the ropes of a yoke,
    setting free the mistreated,
    and breaking every yoke?
7 Isn’t it sharing your bread with the hungry
    and bringing the homeless poor into your house,
    covering the naked when you see them,
    and not hiding from your own family?
8 Then your light will break out like the dawn,
    and you will be healed quickly.
Your own righteousness will walk before you,
    and the Lord’s glory will be your rear guard.

The challenge is before us. God desires a deep, pure, and real response to the goodness and good news what we have been given. God deserves more than our faux fasts. We are charged with setting aside our performative religion and getting right with God. May we pray the prayer of confession from our communion liturgy every day in a real and wholehearted effort to make things right:

Merciful God,
we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart.
We have failed to be an obedient church.
We have not done your will,
we have broken your law,
we have rebelled against your love,
we have not loved our neighbors,
and we have not heard the cry of the needy.
Forgive us, we pray.
Free us for joyful obedience,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (United Methodist Hymnal, page 8)

Amen.

With Our Whole Heart by Kathy Schumacher