Henning Memorial United Methodist Church

Today’s Reflection

Rebekah and I tell the following story from our epic trip “out West,” back when Andrew and Naomi were still snarky teens. We drove from Tampa all the way to Colorado and beyond, 6,800 miles over three weeks.

One day, in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, we signed up for one of those “abandoned gold mine” tours. The train took us a half-mile into the heart of the mountain. Eventually we came into contact with darkness on a level I had never experienced before. Our guide turned off all the lights until there was just one remaining. …

Close your eyes and put your hand two inches in front of your face,” the guide said. “Keep them closed. Now I’m going to turn out the single remaining light, and I want you to open your eyes after I count to three.”

The result was shocking. Not only could we not see our hands in front of our faces, we could see absolutely nothing at all. …

About thirty seconds later, our guide told us all to hold perfectly still and to be completely quite because he was going to light a small wooden match. When he did, the effect was amazing; we could see everything!…

My mind could not stop working as I thought about the effect that even one small spark of light will always have on darkness. As the Gospel of John says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it” (New Living Translation).

- Derek Maul
Reaching Toward Easter

From pages 14-15 of Reaching Toward Easter: Devotions for Lent by Derek Maul. Copyright © 2011 by Derek Maul. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

Are you observing a specific spiritual practice in preparation for Easter this year? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me.
Psalm 25:1-2, NRSV

This Week: pray for those who are beginning a new spiritual discipline. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section below.

For Your Spirit:

Join Upper Room author Derek Maul in our Lenten eRetreat, Reaching Toward Easter. Log in anytime anywhere to this online retreat and find video, audio, and online conversation to keep you focused on Jesus through Lent. Learn more.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Polycarp (February 23).

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

• Genesis 9:8-17
• Psalm 25:1-10
• 1 Peter 3:18-22
• Mark 1:9-15

Sponsored by Upper Room Ministries ®. Copyright © 2012, a ministry of GBOD | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Today’s Reflection

JESUS’ GOSPEL is that life in the kingdom of God is now available, that we can live with God in the here and now and discover in God’s presence a radical new way of life. The gospel is not about getting into heaven so much as it is about getting heaven into us before we die. …

In Mark 1:17 Jesus says, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” On one hand, Jesus affirms the availability of the kingdom to everyone. On the other hand, Jesus, calls men and women into a journey of transforming discipleship. Both go together. …

We cannot experience the reality of the kingdom without becoming disciples. … Are you on the journey of transforming discipleship?

- Trevor Hudson & Stephen D. Bryant
The Way of Transforming Discipleship Participant’s Book

From page 33 of The Way of Transforming Discipleship Participant’s Book, A Companions in Christ resource, by Trevor Hudson and Stephen D. Bryant. Copyright © 2005 by Upper Room Books. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

Where are you on the journey of transforming discipleship? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
Genesis 9:12-13, NRSV

This Week: pray for those who are beginning a new spiritual discipline. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section below.

For Your Spirit:

Join Upper Room author Derek Maul in our Lenten eRetreat, Reaching Toward Easter. Log in anytime anywhere to this online retreat and find video, audio, and online conversation to keep you focused on Jesus through Lent. Learn more.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Martin Luther (February 16).

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

• Genesis 9:8-17
• Psalm 25:1-10
• 1 Peter 3:18-22
• Mark 1:9-15

Sponsored by Upper Room Ministries ®. Copyright © 2012, a ministry of GBOD | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Today’s Reflection

IN JESUS’ FIRST SERMON in Mark 1:14-20 he says to the disciples, “I’ve got good news for you: the kingdom of God is at hand.” He seems to say most simply that God is accessible and available to everyone. We are able to live with God in God’s kingdom even now. Can you imagine what this good news meant for people in Jesus’ time? They repeatedly had been told that only certain people were acceptable to God. Now they were hearing that God was accepting ordinary men and women into the kingdom, no matter who they were or where they were from. This was the gospel that Jesus preached.

Unfortunately, some of us grew up hearing a different gospel. The gospel I first heard went something like this: “Come to Jesus, get your sins forgiven, and get ready to go to heaven.” Please don’t misunderstand me. Getting our sins forgiven so that we can go to heaven is essential. But this is not the whole gospel that Jesus preached.

- Trevor Hudson & Stephen D. Bryant

The Way of Transforming Discipleship Participant’s Book

From pages 32-33 of The Way of Transforming Discipleship Participant’s Book, A Companions in Christ resource, by Trevor Hudson and Stephen D. Bryant. Copyright © 2005 by Upper Room Books. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

What does “the kingdom of God is at hand” mean to you? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.
Genesis 9:8-10 NRSV

This Week: pray for those who are beginning a new spiritual discipline. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section below.

For Your Spirit:

Join Upper Room author Derek Maul in our Lenten eRetreat, Reaching Toward Easter. Log in anytime anywhere to this online retreat and find video, audio, and online conversation to keep you focused on Jesus through Lent. Learn more.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Martin Luther (February 16).

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

• Genesis 9:8-17
• Psalm 25:1-10
• 1 Peter 3:18-22
• Mark 1:9-15

Sponsored by Upper Room Ministries ®. Copyright © 2012, a ministry of GBOD | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Today’s Reflection

I CAN STILL REMEMBER when I first gave myself to God. I was sixteen, wondering what life was all about and desperately looking for something that would give my life a sense of direction and purpose. … Just a few days before, a close school friend whose God-committed life had impressed me deeply, had told me about the Cross. He had explained to me that the crucifixion was Gods way of showing how much I mattered. I took my friend’s words seriously. Looking into the night sky, I remember saying something like this: “God, thank you for your love that I see on the Cross. I give my life to you. Please come into my life and do whatever you want with me.”

It was a profoundly significant moment for me. I did not see flashing lights, or hear voices, or feel goose bumps. But, from that moment on, I knew that in some deep way I had become different. No longer did I want to be at the center of my own life. I really wanted God to be God in my life.

- Trevor Hudson
One Day at a Time

From page 29 of One Day at a Time: Discovering the Freedom of 12-Step Spirituality. Copyright © 2007 by Trevor Hudson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

Can you describe a point in time when you gave your life to God? Or would you describe your walk in faith differently? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”
Mark 9:7, NRSV

This Week: pray for those who are lonely. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section below.

For Your Spirit:

Join Upper Room author Derek Maul in our Lenten eRetreat, Reaching Toward Easter. Log in anytime anywhere to this online retreat and find video, audio, and online conversation to keep you focused on Jesus through Lent. Learn more.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Martin Luther (February 16).

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

• 2 Kings 2:1-12
• Psalm 50:1-6
• 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
• Mark 9:2-9

Sponsored by Upper Room Ministries ®. Copyright © 2012, a ministry of GBOD | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Today’s Reflection

AFTER FIVE MONTHS of my special needs baby girl being home from the neonatal intensive care unit, I found myself craving time alone with God. One morning, while in the midst of unending care-giving, I decided it was time to ask my mom to sit with her so I could find a moment of solitude.

It was a wet, chilly day. A light rain fell on my face as I stepped off the porch and walked up the hill into the middle of the woods. I stopped and stood there. The trees towered above. …

Holding out my arms, I said, “Here I am, God. All of me!” In that moment I realized just how broken I was. I was in desperate need of time alone with God. I sat down on a fallen log and God seemed to say, “Sit here and rest with me.” Fully available and undistracted, I opened myself to God — all of me, to all of God.

In our society today, we place such importance on convenience — from fast food to instant answers to devotionals on the go. Sometimes it seems like just another inconvenience to take time for solitude with God. But, I think, there is no such thing as spiritual fast food. There’s no substitute for the nourishment that comes from sitting alone with God in silent prayer, in reflection on scripture.

- Kristin Evans

Alive Now, July/August 2011

From “Spiritual Fast Food?,” pages 28-29 of Alive Now, July/August 2011. Copyright © 2011 by The Upper Room. All rights reserved. Used by permission. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

The season of Lent is fast approaching. Have you given any thought to what you might do for spiritual growth during its forty days? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
Mark 9:2-4, NRSV

This Week: pray for those who are lonely. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section below.

For Your Spirit:

Join Upper Room author Derek Maul in our Lenten eRetreat, Reaching Toward Easter. Log in anytime anywhere to this online retreat and find video, audio, and online conversation to keep you focused on Jesus through Lent. Learn more.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Martin Luther (February 16).

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

• 2 Kings 2:1-12
• Psalm 50:1-6
• 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
• Mark 9:2-9

Sponsored by Upper Room Ministries ®. Copyright © 2012, a ministry of GBOD | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Today’s Reflection

REAL FREEDOM to live in this world comes from hearing clearly the truth about who we are, which is that we are the beloved. That’s what prayer is about. And that’s why it is so crucial and not just a nice thing to do once in a while. It is the essential attitude that creates in us the freedom to love other people not because they are going to love us back but because we are so loved and out of the abundance of that love we want to give.

- Henri Nouwen
A Spirituality of Living

From pages 28-29 of A Spirituality of Living by Henri J. M. Nouwen with John S. Mogabgab, Series Editor. Copyright © 2011 by The Henri Nouwen Legacy Trust. All rights reserved. Used by permission. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

Have you ever thought of prayer as being a way that God reminds you of God’s love for you? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.
1 Chorinthains 4:5, NRSV

This Week: pray for those who are lonely. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section below.

For Your Spirit:

Join Upper Room author Derek Maul in our Lenten eRetreat, Reaching Toward Easter. Log in anytime anywhere to this online retreat and find video, audio, and online conversation to keep you focused on Jesus through Lent. Learn more.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Martin Luther (February 16).

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

• 2 Kings 2:1-12
• Psalm 50:1-6
• 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
• Mark 9:2-9

Sponsored by Upper Room Ministries ®. Copyright © 2012, a ministry of GBOD | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Today’s Reflection

WHAT HAS YOUR ATTENTION at this very moment? This reading? Perhaps, but we all know that we can give modest attention to several things at once. We eat, read, and listen for the phone all at the same time.

When our search for something consumes all our energy and all our faculties, everything else fades away and disappears. Even a ringing phone goes unanswered when we are seeking to give answer to another call deep within.

What are you searching for that consumes all your energy and attention? The quest for God is a search worthy of such all-consuming passion and energy.

-Rueben P. Job
A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God

From page 375 of A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God, by Norman Shawchuck and Rueben P. Job. Copyright © 2003 by the authors. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

What are you searching for that consumes all your energy and attention? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah
Psalm 50:6, NRSV

This Week: pray for those who are lonely. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section below.

For Your Spirit:

Join Upper Room author Derek Maul in our Lenten eRetreat, Reaching Toward Easter. Log in anytime anywhere to this online retreat and find video, audio, and online conversation to keep you focused on Jesus through Lent. Learn more.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Martin Luther (February 16).

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

• 2 Kings 2:1-12
• Psalm 50:1-6
• 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
• Mark 9:2-9

Sponsored by Upper Room Ministries ®. Copyright © 2012, a ministry of GBOD | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Today’s Reflection

EVERY TIME I work myself into a self-indulgent state of gloom, God surprises me with a ray of hope. …

My states of gloom are shortsighted, based as they are on headlines that most often ignore creative innovators and pioneers, people shaping a better future. …

The self-indulgence of despair takes energy away from the real call of Jesus, which is to look keenly and expectantly for signs of hope — signs of the inrushing energies of God’s kingdom. Self-imposed despair can even block the never-ending hope that flows from God, in whom hope has its origin.

The God of always-springing hope has our backs when we are tempted toward hopelessness, and is both the ground and goal of our deepest hopes.

-

Weavings, Feb/Mar/April 2012

From “Hope Springs Eternal” by Robert Corin Morris, pages 5-6 in Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life, February/March/April 2012. Copyright © 2011 by The Upper Room. All rights reserved. Used by permission. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

Describe a time when you have experienced unexpected hope. Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

50:1 The mighty one, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Psalm 50:1, NRSV

This Week: pray for those who are lonely. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section below.

For Your Spirit:

Join Upper Room author Derek Maul in our Lenten eRetreat, Reaching Toward Easter. Log in anytime anywhere to this online retreat and find video, audio, and online conversation to keep you focused on Jesus through Lent. Learn more.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Martin Luther (February 16).

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

• 2 Kings 2:1-12
• Psalm 50:1-6
• 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
• Mark 9:2-9

Sponsored by Upper Room Ministries ®. Copyright © 2012, a ministry of GBOD | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Today’s Reflection

SOMETIMES PEOPLE FEEL they’re not worthy of God’s love and forgiveness. Growing up in church, I have heard many times that God loves me; but our ears can become deaf to messages we hear a lot.

I feel unworthy of God’s love because of my flaws, the mistakes I make, and the words I say that I wish I could take back. But nobody is perfect; everyone is a sinner. …

No matter how hard we try to be like Christ, we will always fail; but God forgives us and loves us. Whether or not we feel worthy of love, God extends love to us. All we need to do is accept it.

- Zachary Wengerd
devozine, Nov./Dec. 2011

From “Love and Forgiveness” by Zachary Wengerd, page 53 in devozine, November/December 2011, the devotional lifestyle magazine for teens. Copyright © 2011 by The Upper Room. All rights reserved. Used by permission. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

When do you most clearly feel the love God has for you? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven.
2 Kings 2:11, NRSV

This Week: pray for those who are lonely. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section below.

For Your Spirit:

Join Upper Room author Derek Maul in our Lenten eRetreat, Reaching Toward Easter. Log in anytime anywhere to this online retreat and find video, audio, and online conversation to keep you focused on Jesus through Lent. Learn more.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Martin Luther (February 16).

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

• 2 Kings 2:1-12
• Psalm 50:1-6
• 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
• Mark 9:2-9

Sponsored by Upper Room Ministries ®. Copyright © 2012, a ministry of GBOD | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Today’s Reflection

WE TOUCH that very holy part of ourselves when we extend God’s love to anyone in need, touching God’s spirit within others. We distance ourselves from God when we withhold love. …

Treating others with compassion and mercy is our expression of love for God.

- Christopher Maricle
The Jesus Priorities

From pages 45 and 47 of The Jesus Priorities: 8 Essential Habits by Christopher Maricle. Copyright © 2007 by Christopher Maricle. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

Extend God’s love to someone in your life through showing them compassion and mercy. Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.
2 Kings 2:2, NRSV

This Week: pray for those who are lonely. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section below.

For Your Spirit:

Join Upper Room author Derek Maul in our Lenten eRetreat, Reaching Toward Easter. Log in anytime anywhere to this online retreat and find video, audio, and online conversation to keep you focused on Jesus through Lent. Learn more.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Martin Luther (February 16).

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

• 2 Kings 2:1-12
• Psalm 50:1-6
• 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
• Mark 9:2-9

Sponsored by Upper Room Ministries ®. Copyright © 2012, a ministry of GBOD | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Today’s Reflection

YOU ARE GOD — not me, not us;
help me to remember this simple fact each day.
You are the Center of creation — not me, not us;
help me to recognize my place within the orbit of your grace.
You are the Source of all life — not me, not us;
let me find in you my kinship with all creation.

- Sam Hamilton-Poore
Earth Gospel

From page 113 of Earth Gospel: A Guide to Prayer for God’s Creation by Sam Hamilton-Poore. Copyright © 2008 by Sam Hamilton-Poore. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

Pray today’s prayer. Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.
Mark 1:45, NRSV

This Week: pray for older adults. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section below.

For Your Spirit:

Eleven year-old Tanika Rodrigues brings hope to the people of Eldorado Park, South Africa. She delivers over 150 copies of every issue of The Upper Room daily devotional guide. To watch an inspiring video about Tanika, follow this link.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Margaret Gaffney Haughery (February 9).

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

• 2 Kings 5:1-14
• Psalm 30
• 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
• Mark 1:40-45

Sponsored by Upper Room Ministries ®. Copyright © 2012, a ministry of GBOD | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Today’s Reflection

WE TOUCH that very holy part of ourselves when we extend God’s love to anyone in need, touching God’s spirit within others. We distance ourselves from God when we withhold love. …

Treating others with compassion and mercy is our expression of love for God.

- Christopher Maricle
The Jesus Priorities

From pages 45 and 47 of The Jesus Priorities: 8 Essential Habits by Christopher Maricle. Copyright © 2007 by Christopher Maricle. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

Think about people with whom you have interacted this week. Were there times when you showed compassion and mercy, thus extending God’s love? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!”
Mark 1:40-41, NRSV

This Week: pray for older adults. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section below.

For Your Spirit:

Eleven year-old Tanika Rodrigues brings hope to the people of Eldorado Park, South Africa. She delivers over 150 copies of every issue of The Upper Room daily devotional guide. To watch an inspiring video about Tanika, follow this link.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Margaret Gaffney Haughery (February 9).

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

• 2 Kings 5:1-14
• Psalm 30
• 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
• Mark 1:40-45

Sponsored by Upper Room Ministries ®. Copyright © 2012, a ministry of GBOD | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Today’s Reflection

SO OFTEN we go through the motions in our spiritual lives. We sing, we pray, we worship, we give the impression that we know that we are God’s beloved. But often in the deep places of our hearts, the assurance is not there; and we know it.

We need to come home and let the Spirit of God whisper, “You are God’s beloved.” I cannot tell you who you are. Others cannot tell you who you are. Only the Spirit of God can.

-Trevor Hudson and Stephen D. Bryant

The Way of Transforming Discipleship

From page 24 of The Way of Transforming Discipleship by Trevor Hudson and Stephen D. Bryant. Copyright © 2005 Upper Room Books. All rights reserved. Used by permission. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

Spend quiet time in prayer, listening to God’s Spirit say to you, “You are my beloved.” Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.
1 Corinthians 9:25, NRSV

This Week: pray for older adults. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section below.

For Your Spirit:

Eleven year-old Tanika Rodrigues brings hope to the people of Eldorado Park, South Africa. She delivers over 150 copies of every issue of The Upper Room daily devotional guide. To watch an inspiring video about Tanika, follow this link.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Margaret Gaffney Haughery (February 9).

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

• 2 Kings 5:1-14
• Psalm 30
• 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
• Mark 1:40-45

Sponsored by Upper Room Ministries ®. Copyright © 2012, a ministry of GBOD | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Today’s Reflection

SPIRITUAL FRIENDS accompany one another, and accompaniment takes practice. Just ask any pianist who has ever had to play along with a singer. Or ask any basketball player who relies on a teammate for an assist. … It’s easy to hang out together, but it takes practice to walk with another person so that we can anticipate that individual’s responses and actions. To be in step with others without getting ahead of them or lagging behind takes practice — and grace. …

The practice of accompaniment involves listening without having our own agenda. It means that I put my needs on hold so that I can really hear another. Deep listening is life-giving and perhaps one of the greatest gifts we can give our friends. Several decades ago, Catherine de Hueck Doherty said that listening offers the gift of healing to others and that it is possible even to “listen a person’s soul into existence.”

- Steve Matthews
Companions on the Pilgrimage (vol. 4 Participant’s Book, The Way of Pilgrimage)

From page 27 of Companions on the Pilgrimage, Participant’s Book vol. 4 (by Steve Matthews) in The Way of Pilgrimage series. Copyright © 2007 by Upper Room Books. All rights reserved. Used by permission. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

What does it take to be a good spiritual listener? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
Psalm 30:11-12, NRSV

This Week: pray for older adults. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section below.

For Your Spirit:

Eleven year-old Tanika Rodrigues brings hope to the people of Eldorado Park, South Africa. She delivers over 150 copies of every issue of The Upper Room daily devotional guide. To watch an inspiring video about Tanika, follow this link.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Margaret Gaffney Haughery (February 9).

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

• 2 Kings 5:1-14
• Psalm 30
• 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
• Mark 1:40-45

Sponsored by Upper Room Ministries ®. Copyright © 2012, a ministry of GBOD | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Today’s Reflection

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE is a life that is guided by God’s Spirit, the same Spirit that guided the life of Jesus. So how can we be in touch with the Spirit, hear the voice of the Spirit, and allow ourselves to be guided by the Spirit? This is not easy in a world where there are so many things going on and so many voices calling for our attention.

Can we create some space for God where we can hear, feel, experience the Spirit of God, and where it becomes possible for us to respond?…

I believe we can look at solitude, community, and ministry as three disciplines by which we create space for God. If we create space in which God can act and speak, something surprising will happen. You and I are called to these disciplines if we want to be disciples.

- Henri J. M. Nouwen
A Spirituality of Living

From pages 14 and 18 of A Spirituality of Living by Henri J. M. Nouwen with John S. Mogabgab, Series Editor. Copyright © 2011 The Henri Nouwen Legacy Trust. All rights reserved. Used by permission. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

How do solitude, community, and ministry help you create space for God? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.
Psalm 30:3, NRSV

This Week: pray for older adults. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section below.

For Your Spirit:

Eleven year-old Tanika Rodrigues brings hope to the people of Eldorado Park, South Africa. She delivers over 150 copies of every issue of The Upper Room daily devotional guide. To watch an inspiring video about Tanika, follow this link.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Margaret Gaffney Haughery (February 9).

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

• 2 Kings 5:1-14
• Psalm 30
• 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
• Mark 1:40-45

Sponsored by Upper Room Ministries ®. Copyright © 2012, a ministry of GBOD | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Today’s Reflection

TODAY WE KNOW a great deal about fellowship and about psychological needs, but we have remarkably little experience of Christian community; that is, of being the body of Christ. In Christ, we care for one another in the context of awareness that God is doing more for each of us than any of us can desire or even imagine!

This awareness of God’s care does not exempt us from the responsibility of being a caring community, but it does relieve us of the compulsive serving that so often distracts us from our own responsibility to and direct engagement with God. In our gathered community, a Spirit is at work that is more powerful than any individual care and that is deeply engaged with every single one of us. The community of Christ’s body is one in which we know one another through the eyes of Christ.

-Norvene Vest
Gathered in the Word

From pages 43-44 of Gathered in the Word: Praying the Scripture in Small Groups by Norvene Vest. Copyright © 1996 by Norvene Vest. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

How is God working in your Christian community? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

So [Naaman} went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.
2 Kings 5:14, NRSV

This Week: pray for older adults. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section below.

For Your Spirit:

Eleven year-old Tanika Rodrigues brings hope to the people of Eldorado Park, South Africa. She delivers over 150 copies of every issue of The Upper Room daily devotional guide. To watch an inspiring video about Tanika, follow this link.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Margaret Gaffney Haughery (February 9).

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

• 2 Kings 5:1-14
• Psalm 30
• 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
• Mark 1:40-45

Sponsored by Upper Room Ministries ®. Copyright © 2012, a ministry of GBOD | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

Today’s Reflection

I AM CALLED to offer all that I am — my time and my talent, my work and my worship, my resources and my rituals — offer it all up to be broken and shared and given away and counted as but loss for the sake of the Christ. It is incumbent upon me to be about the task of laying down my life, hour by hour, day by day, for the sake of Christ and those whom he loves, which is all of us, of course, even those that I cannot name and may never meet.

- Robert Benson.
That We May Perfectly Love Thee/em>

From page 89 of That We May Perfectly Love Thee: Preparing Our Hearts for Holy Communion by Robert Benson. Copyright © 2011 by Robert Benson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.

Today’s Question

Is there anything you are holding back from God? Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture Reading

Elisha sent a messenger to Naaman, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.”
2 Kings 5:10, NRSV

This Week: pray for older adults. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section below.

For Your Spirit:

Eleven year-old Tanika Rodrigues brings hope to the people of Eldorado Park, South Africa. She delivers over 150 copies of every issue of The Upper Room daily devotional guide. To watch an inspiring video about Tanika, follow this link.

Saints, Inc.:

This week we remember Margaret Gaffney Haughery (February 9).

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

• 2 Kings 5:1-14
• Psalm 30
• 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
• Mark 1:40-45

Sponsored by Upper Room Ministries ®. Copyright © 2012, a ministry of GBOD | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA