Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Then he said, ‘What is that monument that I see?’ The people of the city told him, ‘It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.’ He said, ‘Let him rest; let no one move his bones.’ So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, November 30, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I feel like this month of devotions has been a comedy show. You know how comedians will often come back at the very end of their show to something hilarious they said at the very beginning of their show? It’s one of my favorite tropes, honestly. So (appropriately or not) I think it’s funny that the devotion for November 1 (1 Kings 13:1-34) tells this long, drawn-out and kind of weird story about an unnamed “man of God from Judah” who dies and is laid to rest in Jerusalem and now here, on November 30, in 2 Kings (and 15 kings of Judah later in history) we are brought full circle to the resting place of this unnamed “man of God from Judah.” I don’t know that it has any deep, spiritual or hidden meaning. I just can’t stop giggling about it.
Sometimes things bear repeating, not just for comedic effect, but because they don’t sink in the first time. They say a person has to hear things a minimum of seven times (and in different ways) for that information to become internalized. Sometimes I think it must be more than that! Honestly, this is why we need to study scripture and discuss it with members of our community, hear it preached, sing it, and maybe even act or dance or craft it. We need to fully experience it if we hope to make it part of ourselves, to have it ”written on our hearts” as God’s covenant promise says. As we move into December and toward the beginning of a new church year, I encourage you to encounter God’s word repeatedly, that you might grow in trust and faithfulness one day at a time.
Which scriptures are most familiar to me? Is it because of repetition? How can I expand my connection with the Bible?
