In the fall of 2018, I heard a voice calling me to create a devotional that connects God’s children closer to God, closer to each other, and closer to the saints and sinners who make up the Bible. I heard it in the midst of a season when leaders who call themselves Christian were distancing us from God, from each other, and from those same stories that teach us who we are in the world. I hope these devotions offer comfort, encouragement, and deepening connections to God’s earth and God’s many and diverse children, so that we may be a people building God’s Beloved Community together. You’ll find a devotional here every Wednesday in 2019, and in other places I posted about below.* The devotions are written as if from God, and I hope I did not fail in my effort to honor both God and you in the process.
–Sandhya Jha
Jeremiah 6:13-14 For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace’,
when there is no peace.
—-
Someday you will find a way to honor each other and recognize that the land does not belong to you but you belong to the land. And there will be peace. And yet from generation, people place fear of each other and fear or not having enough (and greed for more than they need) ahead of their relationship to me. It is true of your generation also. Jeremiah was a faithful prophet who reminded his people of this. Can I call on you to be my prophet for peace? Today I invite you to reflect on your role in naming how people need to place each other before their own needs in order to truly be my people.
*You can find us Tuesdays on Twitter, Wednesdays here, Thursdays on Instagram, Fridays on Facebook, and if you sign up here, you’ll get a devotion in your inbox every Sunday!
Sandhya Rani Jha 