Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” ”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, February 20, 2021
by Dr. Kimberly Leetch, Clergy Stuff
Jesus' disciples went on a mission to change the minds and hearts of others. They returned, themselves utterly changed. The hearts and minds of the disciples were opened because they did the hard work. They took the risks. They left everything to follow. They left as infants and returned as scholars. Their work changed them forever.
I am a fantasy geek - you know this. What comes to mind is The Hobbit trilogy. In the first scene in the Shire, a little, inexperienced, sheltered hobbit is invited to embark on an adventure. The adventure would last a couple years, three movies, and many exciting encounters. During the last scene of the final movie, the hobbit Bilbo returned to find he had been declared dead, and his home being auctioned off one item at a time. Bilbo enters his home to find it in shambles, having been looted by the auctioneers. It was a fitting end. The messy state of his home mirrored the messy state of his soul. He had returned utterly changed. He was not the same hobbit that left the Shire years before. He had left as an infant and returned a scholar of life. It makes me wonder sometimes if I am content to sit in my hole in the Shire, or if, perhaps, God is calling me on an adventure that will change me forever.
Will a new adventure change you forever, this year? What’s your thoughts?
