URC Daily Devotion Saturday 14th December 2024

St Luke 6: 12 – 16

Now during those days Jesus went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God.  And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot,  and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Reflection

Jesus prayed all night. Jesus called twelve to be his closest circle of people. It would be easy to read today’s passage and want to insert a break between what appear to be separate sections. But this is not just anyone; this is Jesus! The two halves are most definitely linked.

I remember when I was approaching my ordination feeling, yes, I’ll admit it, jealous, jealous of my Anglican contemporaries who would be going on an organised retreat for two or three days before they were ordained. Granted, having group ordinations, makes retreats easier to organise. I managed to arrange a couple of nights private retreat for myself and I was glad I did. In my own way I was able to link into a treasure of another tradition, and it was good.

Years later, studying for an MA in Spirituality alongside many Catholics, I found myself standing up for one of the treasures of our URC tradition. My colleagues were used to decisions being made by an individual with power. Some were interested to hear more about what they saw as our democratic system.

Yet, of course, our church government is not about democracy, but about corporate discernment. At its best the URC is a Theocracy. Together we seek the will of God. 

But I wonder how often our opening devotions at meetings really enable us to engage with God? Are they sometimes perfunctory? Do we have too many words and not enough listening? And do we prepare in prayer as individuals before we even set forth for the meeting or switch onto Zoom?

The future is not straightforward for our denomination, for Christianity, or indeed for our world at the moment. Perhaps we should be thankful we are not all involved in all the decision making which will be needed. However when we are involved, Jesus challenges us to engage with God in deep prayer so we can listen and discern God’s will. And when the decision-making lies with others, maybe we can support them with our prayer. 

Prayer

Decisions, decisions!
Which, where, who, what, when, how . . . ?
Oh God, whenever we have to make decisions, 
grant us the patience to discern your will 
and the courage to follow it. 
Amen.