​​I would like to make a radical proposal.  
Close your Bible. 
Just for a day. 
Do not open it to a random page hoping the God of Random Pages will direct you to your secret message for the day.
Do not parse the verb tense or guess at the proper translation of the language of the ancient ones. 
Do not play Bible verse ping-pong with people with differing opinions about "What the Bible Says"
Let the Bible be.
Just for a day.
Let it be words from ancient ones who cared enough about us to write something for us to read. 
Then close the Bible.
Just for a day.
Be the Word of God pulled through the synapses,
the muscles,
the bowels,
the blood,
the divine spark,
and the holy mystery of who you are today. 
Today if you are
Weary or bullied
Confronted with injustice or victimized
Standing in front of a bigot
Or a broken one...
Be the Word of God.
Do what the ancient ones did.
Use your own grace-flavored words. 
Pull love through your gut for
the sake of the one
in your presence today.
 
Deb Grant
 

​resilience noun
re·sil·​ience | \ ri-ˈzil-yən(t)s  \
Definition of resilience
1 : the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress
2 : an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change

I take exception to this definition of RESILENCE.  It is not a noun and recovery does not come easily.   It is a person with a name and a face and a life.  I met resilence a few days ago.  Her name is Anna.  She lives in the tiny portion of her house that was not destroyed after the hurricane hit 18 months ago.  She is finally rebuilding little by little.  After the storm, she took care of family down the road and then many other neighbors before turning to her own needs. She said that serving others was her way of coping with stress and despair.  She showed me her living room that had two by four wood wall studs showing and the center was stacked with sheets of new drywall waiting for installation when they had time. She showed me her living room like some people would show their newly remodeled home.  What looked like unlivable conditions months away from being completed looked to her like hope and renewal.  RESILENCE is not a noun.  It is a person named Anna. There are thousands like her.  Hurricanes turn nouns into flesh and heartbeats. 

Today, I offer a poem. I wrote poetry a lot when I was a child until the adults told me to consider a more appropriate profession for a woman. They suggested a nurse or a secretary. I thought about being a secretary. For about an hour. Maybe less. 

A parable

Choose a subject.
Write a biography.
I chose
Boss Tweed.
He died in prison.
His lungs filled with infection.
He drowned in bed. 
A public servant.
A thief in plain sight
Overcharging for plumbing.
Silencing the outraged 
with food and books.
Millions stolen from public pockets
Millions spent for structures 
and silence.
No money for bail,
But he kept escaping.
He was brilliant.
A parable of power and greed
That no one cares to read
So I chose Boss Tweed.
Perhaps to learn 
How corruptible we are.

-Deb Grant, 3/8/19
​

​ELOGOS readers,
Thank you for your patience.  Since retiring from parish ministry, I have been intentional about what I embrace and what I let go for this present season of my life.  Writing ELOGOS is one of those things I want to continue. But I will be changing it.  It will evolve much like I am evolving into this new personal time and the present age for all of us.  ELOGOS started about 25 years ago as a quick, short, pithy devotion based on 1-2 Bible verses for college students who had no patience with hitting a down key to scroll on their first generation cell phones or pagers.  The phones have dramatically changed and so have I.  There is much more fluidity to life than stability. 
 
So for this season, I will continue writing ELOGOS.  It will happen as frequently as I can make it happen.  I can't promise every day. I may surprise myself.  It will not be based on the Biblical lectionary texts for the upcoming Sunday.  That is a part of the fabric of parish ministry that I have stepped away from.  I will use different mediums for my place to swim a bit in the present waters of light, mystery, and wisdom.  I have no idea what that will look like, but that is the fun of it.  
 
If I have disappointed you and lost you already, I wish you well on your journey of faith and thank you for letting me walk with you for however long you have been reading ELOGOS.  Do feel free to unsubscribe or send a message to that effect and I will do it for you. Three volumes of past ELOGOS devotions are still available in print or Kindle from Amazon.  The ELOGOS website: elogosdailydevotions.com has about 5 years worth in the archives if you wish. 
 
For the rest of you,  Thank you.  Let me know what you think, feel, ponder.  I will do the same. 
 
With Joy,
Deb

​Luke 3:8-11
Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” 
* * * * * * * *
I am pondering what Jesus would think of the explosion of interest in ancestry research and interest in knowing from which human clan our DNA sprouts. With a little spit, a few shekels and the click of the internet that information is now at our fingertips. The family tree information by itself is not a bad thing. It is at best curiosity, a nifty little hobby. But throughout human history, we have a tendency to wave our ancestry around in other people's faces. Growing up in New England, I endured the haughty postures of people whose people "came over on the Mayflower." Some, though definitely not all, people born on Galveston Island boast their "BOI" status like a badge of privilege over tourists and more recently settled island folk. Even worse, and dare I say evil, are those who claim a race or clan as more superior. Jesus pushed back on this posturing of ancestry. The WAY of the Gospel family tree is marked by charity. Unconditional love in action. The most important moment in the life of our family tree is what we do today for someone in need. 
* * * * * * * *
What then should we do today, Lord, to reveal the Body of Christ? Amen

​Luke 3: 4-6
As it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
* * * * * * * *
This word is filled with good news and bad news. First, the bad news. No one who lives on a mountain wants to hear that it is going to lose elevation. Throughout history, a castle is put on a hill to be seen as lofty and higher than everyone else. Mountain locations were a defensive necessity against an invading enemy. Mansions are built in isolated locations with spectacular views. Mountains by themselves are not deserving of being lowered.....they represent the powerful, the rich, the arrogant. The good news is for those who are slogging through unpaved, muddy rutted paths, for those whose journey seems to go in circles, for those who find obstacles in their way, for those who travel without shoes without anything or anyone to protect them or welcome them. All will see the salvation of God. It is just that for some, they will still be thinking about their loss of elevation. 
* * * * * * * *
Holy God, wake us up. Amen.

​John 18:37
Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’ 
* * * * * * * *
What I truly know about God could only be measured by a tool invented by a theoretical physicist that hasn't been born yet. That fact, in my adulthood, was incredibly annoying. That fact now, in the beginnings of my first true childhood, is delightfully freeing. So forget knowing everything. The sooner you do that, the better. I have enjoyed believing that there is within me, and I trust that I am not alone in this, a part of God's image - a divine spark - a kind of tuning fork - that is tuned to my spiritual inner ear. Every once in a while, it strikes a chord I recognize. I like to think it sounds like a cello, but I am just partial to cellos. Nevertheless, there is something within me that recognizes it as the truth. It is not a byte of data that I can string together like a necklace and claim as wealth. It is more like a breath of wind that passes through me or a puddle I step in. The sound vibrates the source of love within me and I hear its voice as someone I recognize, as someone who would never lie to me and who I will never fully know, but that is not a problem. Not a problem at all. 
* * * * * * * *
Holy One, resound in my life and keep sending us cellists. Amen.

Mark 13:5-8
Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.
* * * * * * *
Of the many videos and photos I have seen of the California wildfires and the horrific destruction and loss of life, I was particularly moved by one video. The camera was pointed out the windshield of a car escaping the flames. The audio captured the voices of small children in the car with their father at the wheel. The children were terrified. The father was steering through smoke, flames and abandoned cars. And yet, his voice was calm and soothing as he reassured his children with a bold promise - that they would be okay. If I have learned anything, I have learned that disasters happen, that sometimes our worst fear comes into being. We want to know when the bad thing will happen even though we can't prevent it. We want to know so that we can run more quickly or more quickly turn to those we love to say, "goodbye." But more often than not, we just panic. Or we can choose to be purveyors of hope and new life even in the face of our deepest fears and death itself. 
* * * * * *
Put the fire out, Lord, and grant us peace. Amen ​