Devotion - Tuesday, April 14

If you were in worship last Sunday, you may recall that we read from I John.  Part of the back story of John 1 is the attraction of the community with "new" things.  They were said to be eager to find "new" insights/wisdom/ways of knowing God (or gods).  In writing to them, John chooses words carefully so as to hold their attention but help direct them to the old, old truths.

This morning I was reading I John 2:1-11.  Here, we can see this attempt quite clearly.  

The tension is still with us.  We are inclined to be attracted to something which we didn't previously know or to follow that which seems different or exciting.

One of the things we learned while traveling in Germany was the significance of the parrot.  There were parrots on the widows of the chapel at the monastery in Erfurt where Luther took his vows.  The parrot was the symbol for God's servants: they were to repeat what had been told them, without adding new words or thoughts.  Even the tour guide who told us these things had a tone of disbelief that this would be the appropriate behavior of God's people.

And yet, it is "the message we have heard" (I John 1:5) which we proclaim as the word of salvation.  It is the old, old story of God's involvement in the world which we are to carefully repeat.  This old, old story must continue to serve as the foundation of our modern day application of the word to our lives.

Seek the new thing which God is doing in your life and in your midst.  But cling to the old, old story and to the truths which never go out of style.

BTW - If you are keeping up in your reading of Daniel, today's appointed text is Daniel 2:1-16.