Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
NL Daily Devotion for Tuesday, April 16, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Boldness is so necessary in the work of justice. It’s not the same as bulldozing over others to force our own agenda. It’s not a violent kind of strength, but a strength that arises out of humility. Boldness is courage—a willingness to do what is right even when it is not popular, or in some cases even legal. The early Christians were facing threats of violence regularly, but they knew what they had been called to do—proclaim “The Way” of Jesus, a new way of being in relationship with God and one another for the flourishing of all creation. It went against the status quo. It called out hypocrisy and injustice in the powers that be. It made a lot of comfortable people uncomfortable.
Like it or not, most of us are now the status quo, or at least benefit from it in real ways. Those engaged in justice work certainly need to pray for boldness as they face resistance. But we all, even those doing such work, need also to pray for an openness to the boldness of others. Instead of feeling called out and defensive when someone has the boldness to speak truth that we find uncomfortable, we can ask God to help us listen for truth and be willing to take action to change ourselves for the betterment of our fellow children of God—which is everyone.
Where am I called to speak with boldness? When have I been called to listen to boldness with humility?
