Mark's thoughts: Daily Devotion at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

 

St Paul told Timothy: “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:14-17). 

 

There are two important points to note about Paul’s statement.  First, he indicates that Timothy has been acquainted with the Scripture from childhood.  His grandmother Lois and mother Eunice (2 Timothy 1:5) had shared God’s word with him. Second, Paul says that Scripture makes us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus and equips us to live as God’s people. 

 

This means that as adults Scripture is important for our life in two different ways.  First, those who are parents have been given the vocation of raising their children in the faith. Paul says, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). It is the responsibility of parents to see that their children come to know the Scriptures.  At the same time, God’s Word continues to be necessary for us during all of our lives.  Through the Scriptures the Holy Spirit nourishes and strengthens us in faith.  He trains us in righteousness and equips us for every good work.

 

For both of these things to happen, we need to have daily interaction with God’s Word – we need to read it. In order to assist in this, on Sunday, August 10 we are going to begin something new in the life of faith at Good Shepherd.  Each Sunday there will be a “Daily Devotion” insert in the bulletin with a simple pattern that includes the key elements of our devotional life:

 

Invocation and sign of the cross ╬

Scripture readings

Apostles’ Creed

Learn by Heart texts (Scripture and Small Catechism)

Lord’s Prayer

Prayers for family, friends, Church, nation

 

The Invocation and sign of the cross ╬ begins the devotion with a reminder that we are the baptized children of God who have shared in Christ’s saving death and resurrection (Rom 6:3-5; Colossians 2:11-12).  The Scripture readings are taken from Lutheran Service Book’s Daily Lectionary. Two readings of 15-35 verses each are provided for each day, one from the Old Testament and the other from the New Testament. Under this arrangement, nearly all of the New Testament and approximately one-third of the Old Testament are read each year.  For families with small children I encourage the use of The Story Bible  published by Concordia Publishing House. This work faithfully contains the language of Scripture accompanied by beautiful depictions of the biblical accounts.

 

The Apostles’ Creed confesses the faith of the apostolic and catholic Church that is based on Scripture. The Learn by Heart Scripture verses and Small Catechism passage are the texts that the Catechumens are learning that week.  By speaking them out loud together each day, parents are helping their children to learn these key elements that are used in Catechesis.  At the same time, Catechesis is a life long process, and so repetition of these texts continues to make them part of us so that they shape and form the way we think and speak.

 

Having heard God’s Word and responded by speaking back that word to him in the confession of the Creed and Small Catechism, we then close with prayer. Prayer begins with the prayer that Christ taught us – the Lord’s Prayer.  Jesus’ words guide us in the topics for which we should pray. Then we conclude with specific petitions for family, friends, the Church, and our nation.

 

The Scripture readings are those in The Treasury of Daily Prayer. They are also available through the InPrayer app from Concordia Publishing House. In order to assist members in the use of this devotional format and the Daily Lectionary Scripture readings, a new page entitled “Daily Devotion” has been added to the Good Shepherd website.  The page provides the same devotional format as the bulletin insert for the week.  In addition, it contains the link “Scripture readings” which provides the texts ready for reading through the Concordia Theological Seminary website.  If you bookmark the Daily Devotion page on your phone or tablet you will have everything you need for devotions each day.