DevotionalResources - University United Methodist Church

DEVOTIONAL RESOURCES For many years, the members and friends of University United Methodist Church have published daily devotional journals during the Advent and Lenten seasons. They share their struggles, joys, and sorrows as they seek God's guidance for daily living. We hope they will touch your hearts and souls as well.
ADVENT SEASON 2007 Nov 28, 2007 O come, O come Emmanuel! As the deer thirsts for the water so my soul thirsts for Thee, O my God! This is the posture of Advent and the way we enter into daily worship and devotion of God. Yet, even Jesus' disciples told him that they did not know how to pray. Sometimes we need devotional guides to help us get into that position of openness to the Holy Spirit. This guide has been written by members and friends of the University United Methodist Church of Redlands to prepare our hearts for the Advent of Jesus Christ. As you read each day's devotion, I invite you to hold that writer and his or her extended family in prayer. Then pray for the church and the ministries we extend to the community. Let us bathe our church and community in prayer as we struggle to find the Holy and the Devine in the Christmas season. In this holy season of expectation, my prayer for you will be that your heart will be opened to the ways that the Incarnate Christ will appear in your life and in the lives of your family and friends. Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love! May the Love and Peace of Jesus Christ be yours, Pastor Glenn Hoskins READ TODAY'S DEVOTION		LENTEN SEASON 2007 Feb 2007 The goal for our church this year is to have everyone study the Bible at least once a week in some way. Study can be reading a Bible passage, going to a class, hearing the Bible on CD or tape, or reading a devotional. There are many devotionals that our church provides from our denomination and others, but this devotional is very special for two reasons. First, this devotional comes from the hearts and minds of the people in our church. Second, it is written during the Lenten season where we all retune our hearts to God again. If you read this devotional everyday, you will read through about 95% of the Gospel of Luke. I will warn you that when you read the words of scripture, you are entering into an alien world. The English language, freedom, democracy, rights of the individual, and our American values do not exist in the Bible. You will enter a world of Greek, Latin and Aramaic languages, slavery, religious and political oppression, and an agricultural and pastoral society of the Middle East. As hard as it is to imagine this kind of society, I would like you to live in it for the amount of time you read the scripture passage. Then with that knowledge and experience, come back to the 21st century and try to apply the words of Luke or Jesus to your life. This is the approach we will use as we read the Gospel of Luke this Lenten season. Finally, some acknowledgments: A big thank you to all of you who submitted articles, Rev. Don Miller who pushed us each Sunday to get them in, Alan and Barbara Graham who helped to physically put together the pages, and Edna Steinman who edited our devotions and made us better writers. Most importantly, my deepest thanks goes to our secretary Liz Roark who typed our words, published our works, and put up with our procrastination. Grace and Peace Pastor Glenn Hoskins READ TODAY'S DEVOTION